Thanks University of New Hampshire!

Photo: Emily Colman

 This April vacation brought me to the University of New Hampshire, a school that I am pleased to say will be making its way into many conversations that I have with ElRo students as we discuss college options. This medium sized land (and sea and space) grant university truly offers the best of lots of different things. There are all kinds of majors: from engineering, to business, to nursing, to the liberal arts (check). It is a gorgeous New England campus with buildings that have managed to be renovated without losing their character (check). The location about an hour from two cities (Boston and Portland) and smack in between the ocean's coastline in one direction and mountains in the other (check). And did I mention that almost every ElRo student would be admissible? This is bordering on unicorn status: the 'likely' that you can like if you are a high achieving student. If I had to compare it to other places, I would say it feels to me like a less hippie University of Vermont and a smaller and more beautiful University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The students I saw seemed grounded and happy. In fact, in a recent Gallup pilot survey of 19 colleges, UNH alumni reported being the happiest later on in life out of all 19 participant schools. If New Hampshire sounds obscure to you, rest assured that they have an Amtrak station on campus. So NYC students can connect through Boston to get there without needing a car. We also go the chance to eat in the dining hall four separate times - something that I really value on college tours. Part of why UNH probably felt this was a good idea is that the food is some of the best college dining food I've had. I wasn't surprised to learn that their dining services are all in-house, not outsourced to a corporation. They had Vegan-friendly, Allergy-friendly and even Passover friendly options.

The curriculum is divided up roughly in thirds - with most divisions having 1/3 of the classes from the major, 1/3 from the core curriculum (known as Discovery) and 1/3 other electives. This allows for exploration and guarantees that all students will leave having some general knowledge in 10 different subject areas that make up the Discovery coursework.

A clear goal of the University is to encourage more study abroad. We learned that, as a nation, the United States sends about 260,000 students per year to study abroad whilst accepting about 1,000,000 foreign students to study abroad here. We can do better and UNH wants to be part of that change.

This school is a real gem. If you want a public D-I school within only a few hours of New York City I strongly recommend you go and visit. The out of state tuition is about $40,000 per year, but many ElRo students would qualify for merit aid that could bring that total down to about $25,000 per year before need-based aid is factored in for those that qualify. I have a good friend who is a fellow college counselor in California and she tipped me off to UNH a few years ago, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I can attest: this is a school that deserves to be on a lot of lists.

Thanks ICE!

Last night, I attended a counselor event at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) located in downtown Manhattan. With so much of my knowledge being around traditional four year bachelor's degree programs, it was nice to get to see a culinary school. It is certainly a change of pace.

First, let's be clear, going to culinary school is not for the faint of heart. Working with food is a demanding profession and it is only the right fit for people with a passion for it (because you certainly probably won't be financially compensated, at least not at first). The hours can be challenging, you are on your feet for hours at a time, and learning the skills takes tons of practice. With that said though, for people who love food, the culinary arts is a wonderful track and one that gets you out into the real world and working with your hands (as opposed to sitting in a lecture hall for four years).

At this event, we got to tour the facility and then actually do the prep work to cook the meal we ate for dinner (fresh pasta!). It certainly gave me a huge amount of respect for those working in the restaurant industry. ICE just moved to this location, connected to Brookfield Place, last year and it really is a lovely space. They have everything from classrooms, to test kitchens, to a chocolate lab, to a hydroponic garden where they grow their own herbs and produce.

Culinary school is pricey, no bones about it. But, when you consider that the training only lasts about a year, it isn't that much more of an investment than a traditional four year college the cost is just concentrated over a shorter period of time. (In fact, it could end up costing less, depending on a student's financial aid needs. For example, spending $40,000 in one year or spending $15,000 per year at a four school, I think you can do the math on your own. . . )

One theme they seemed to emphasize is that working in the world of food is much less glamorous than it looks on tv. The students who are best suited for these careers are those who truly love the job. People who just enjoy watching cooking shows or casually cooking for their family are probably not going to make it through the program. On the other hand, people who want to understand the craft and science of fine dining can build a lifelong career via this path. It requires patience and discipline, but their training and externship program gets results.

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Thanks Macalester!

This morning we visited our final school of the tour, Macalester College in St. Paul. Unlike the other schools yesterday, Macalester would, by far, be the easier transition for a NYC student because of its urban proximity. The school is surrounded by traditional urban sprawl (with both lovely homes and retail shops/dining options) and is only a few miles from the airport. A “mission driven’ liberal arts college, Macalester focuses on core values like: internationalism, academic excellence, civic engagement, and multiculturalism. While the arts and humanities are alive and well, Macalester also offers interdisciplinary majors like Data Science and International Studies – both of which are very popular. All students have to complete graduation distribution requirements, creating structure made up of flexible options for each of the mandated categories. Both the President and the students we talked to mentioned Macalester’s encouragement of problem solving and creativity. They regularly hold 'Mac-a-thons' and one great idea that was born out of these incubation sessions is something called Nüdl – a student created mealshare program that pairs up culinary hosts with people looking to make new friends and try new foods. Students sign up for the ‘Nüdl’, pay the host a nominal fee (as in, $3-$5 to cover the cost of the food), and get together to eat. The student we were chatting with was Honduran and hosting a Nüdl for six people later that day. It sounds so amazing! 

With 2,000 students, Macalester’s commitment to global issues is nothing new. While they have Kofi Annon as an alum, the UN flag has been flying on their quad since the 1950s, decades before Annon assumed his role as Secretary-General. They have had international students since before it was cool to have international students. Perhaps my favorite part of the morning though was the mini-lectures they arranged for us. Too many schools overlook this great resource on these types of counselor tours. They give us faculty on panels but they don’t let the faculty shine in their natural habitat: the classroom. This is a missed opportunity, because the 20 minute music lecture we got this morning was highly engaging, enjoyable, and educational. What better way to see the liberal arts in action than by showing us, not just telling us. If you want a small liberal arts school in a thriving city and you care about social justice or social action, Macalester checks off a lot of boxes and awards merit aid. 

Overall, my first trip to Minnesota was a huge success. Thank you to these three schools for hosting me and giving us such an in depth look at your campuses!

Thanks St. Olaf and Carleton!

Greetings from Minnesota! Despite growing up in the Midwest, I've never had the pleasure of visiting Minnesota before, but I'm happy to report that I have the opportunity to see three great schools this week. I was greeted at the airport by a therapy dog, there to just hang out with the airport visitors. Welcome to the Midwest. Can you imagine this being a thing at LaGuardia? Yeah. I thought not.

St. Olaf's current renovation project - totally gutted for an interior make-over.

Weekly 'word of the week' buttons in the library -- quirky and fun!

Today, the tour began with a visit to St. Olaf College, located less than an hour from the Twin Cities. The largest of the three schools I'd be seeing with about 3,000 students, St. Olaf describes themselves as 'intensely residential.' It was hard to ignore just how bright and shiny all of the facilities were. Virtually every building we stepped into (save the dormitory, which was by no means ancient, just more of a standard dorm you'd expect) was either new or fully renovated. A defining characteristic of St. Olaf would be their thriving music scene. Though they are not a conservatory, a staggering 45% of the student body is involved in either a choral or instrumental group on campus (this includes both music majors and those who just enjoy music as a hobby). I came to learn that their annual winter choir concert is broadcast on PBS every year and every dorm has at least one Steinway piano in a common space for students to play. Their Jazz Band just returned from a trip to Cuba where they had the opportunity to play for President Obama. They are one of only a handful of Liberal Arts colleges in the country to be fully accredited in all four arts disciplines (visual art, music, theater, and dance).  Values and ethics are important at St. Olaf, no doubt in connection with their Lutheran roots (an affiliation that is still alive and well, with daily, albeit optional, Chapel). This is the kind of campus where you'll encounter scenes of students leaving laptops, phones, bags, purses and coats unaccompanied without a second though. Jarring for a New Yorker (truth be told, half of the time I won't even take my cell phone out on the subway), but embraced in Northfield, Minnesota. Add this to the list of schools with a serious Honor Code. The school calendar is set up on a 4-1-4 system, with a January term that allows for students to take one in-depth course either on campus or abroad. This school part of the 'Colleges That Change Lives' network and I can see why their small, caring, and creative community fosters a sense of meaning and connection. I also have to give credit where credit is due: their dining hall rocked. Perhaps the final reason to consider St. Olaf though would be the fact that they are able to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need AND at the same time are not impossible to get into (Naviance lists their acceptance rate at right around 50%). When I try to think of other schools that meet need and are able to take such a high percentage of qualified applicants, it makes my brain hurt--- and not just because I have been up since 6 am today. St. Olaf checks off a lot of 'boxes' on the 'things to be desired in a college', not to mention the fact that you could be reminded of Rose Nyland's spirit every day for four years.

Carleton!

Read the legend on the right for the different quiet levels in the library at Carleton. Obsessed!

Campus snapshot, with the bookstore in the background.

After lunch, we headed over to Carleton College, which you can actually see off in the distance from St. Olaf's campus. With only about 2,000 students, Carleton is filled to the brim with interesting students who love to learn passionately, think deeply, and come from all across the country (and world). They are collaborative, "research abundant," unpretentious, and seek/receive not just knowledge but also friendship from their professors. Carleton runs on a trimester system and this allows their students to fit in an extra course per year (remember the theme of wanting to learn passionately? If fitting in extra classes doesn't appeal to you, Carleton probably won't appeal to you). We were told that Carleton students "have a high idling speed" -- meaning they are not satisfied coasting. Students seek engagement both inside and outside of the classroom. Understand that it isn't a place only for the arts and humanities -- Computer Science actually just passed Biology as the most popular major on campus. STEM kids need not avoid these kind of small schools, we got to meet a graduating Physics major currently picking among EIGHT PhD program acceptances of which she's narrowed it down to two: Cornell and Northwestern. If you don't know how impressive that is, let me just save you some Googling: it's impressive. At this point in my career, I've been on over 140 college tours, so when I encounter a new tour strategy for the first time, I notice. My Carleton tour guide (A Stuyvesant grad-- go NYCDOE!) did something I've never seen before: whenever our tour passed by someone she knew on campus, she yelled out to them "Hey ____, what's your favorite part about Carleton?" and they would yell back their answer. She did this about a dozen times over the course of the hour tour and it was GENIUS. What better way to accomplish two goals at once: show us the beauty of a small school where you can walk around for an hour and run into a dozen people you know on a first name basis and show your tour group that regular people who aren't tour guides have positive things to say about the school. [Their answers, for what is worth, included multiple votes for "the people," multiple votes for our tour guide, more than one academic department, and the Ultimate Frisbee team] Like St. Olaf, Carleton also meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for admitted students. It seems to me that the students who thrive here are those who take joy in studying -- a professor on a panel even shared that she felt she has to keep an eye on how much work she assigns because she knows the Carleton students won't rest until they've done it all --- their motivation can sometimes overtake their judgement. This is something that might sound familiar to a lot of ElRo students. . .

The bus schedule to get students where they need to go.

Lest anyone be nervous that I'm just selling the Midwest Kool-Aid and I'm trying to dupe city kids into a place where they will be stranded from real life, please know that both of these schools have daily shuttles to and from key places where students might need to go--so no car or driver's license is necessary. Students can easily get to Target, the Mall of America, and the airport in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I'm not be facetious when I say, where else would a college student from NYC need to go? Today was a phenomenal day. Excited to see Macalester tomorrow!