College of the Atlantic

I had the opportunity last week to participate in a counselor visit program at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. I love the chance to visit schools like COA because they help give me examples of colleges that are very much unique in their identity and illustrate the point that all colleges are not 'the same.'

Let me open with some real talk: COA is not for everyone and it shouldn't be. If you are considering it, let me be frank in sharing that the on-campus dorms (where I stayed last week) have composting toilets. This speaks to COA's commitment to sustainability and emphasis on environmental responsibility, but if that sort of thing doesn't ring your bell it should be your first clue that you should explore other schools. (Full disclosure, the toilets actually weren't so bad, just a relevant detail I think prospective students might care about.)

Toilets didn't scare you away? You kept reading! Great, let me share more about this fascinating little gem. COA is a tiny school (under 400 students!) where only one degree is awarded -- a Bachelor's in Human Ecology. Human Ecology, here, is left open to interpretation but the loose idea is that students are tasked with exploring how humans interact with their environment through interdisciplinary courses. Some students concentrate their studies on food systems and sustainable agriculture, others connect music and philosophy, another might eventually pursue Veterinary school after exploring literature and chemistry. Like any liberal arts curriculum, the idea here is that asking deep questions and learning across academic subjects produces intellectually nimble young adults ready to work in a variety of fields. While there are not rigid guideposts providing students ready-made pathways to a degree, there is an expectation that students will have a passion for learning and that passion will grow during their time as a student at COA.

We had the opportunity to visit the college's two working farms (one for animals and one for produce), both of which provide food served in the dining halls. We met with students and professors, all of whom I experienced to be grounded and earnest in their love of learning.

Most impressive, from a college counseling prospective, has to do with COA's age and size in comparison to their endowment. They graduated their first class in the early 1970s and have managed to amass an endowment that lands them in the top 100 in the nation (per student). (Note - this is not to imply that this school is pretentious, snobby, or elite by any stretch. If anything, their frugality and practicality is what keeps their finances as strong as they are).  This translates into the ability to meet about 98% of demonstrated need for incoming students, a rarity at a school that is not hyper selective in terms of acceptance rate. Of note, they do not require the CSS Profile (using a home grown institutional form instead) and do offer merit aid up to 50% of the cost of attendance.

Plumbing quirks aside, this school is not the right fit for all students. Bar Harbor is gorgeous in the summer, but know that winters in vacation towns in Maine can be challenging to deal with (due to both the shortened daylight and reduced number of residents). COA copes with that partially by running a trimester system with no classes held between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Be aware that this is also not a party school. When asked about the social scene on campus, the most popular activity was reported to not be parties but potlucks (driven by the fact that the dining hall is not open on weekends and all dorms have full kitchens). With Acadia National Park located nearby, there is also a thriving outdoor adventure scene to be had all year round - with access to great hiking, cross country skiing, and camping. The best candidates are curious thinkers who are ambitious active learners. They do not have any sports teams, but are certainly far from being categorized as a sedentary campus.

One of the other counselors here made note of the intentional nature of this school. Every campus decision occurs through community wide discussion and input. They intuitively care about every detail and are careful not to waste resources. Thank you so much to the College of the Atlantic for their generosity in sharing their campus with me. What a wonderful school to be able to add to the right student's list!

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NYSACAC 2019 + Syracuse University Visit

 

The annual NYSACAC Conference is going on right now at Le Moyne College, a small Jesuit college in Syracuse, New York. Founded in 1946, Le Moyne was the first Jesuit school to be founded as a co-ed school and unsurprisingly they are also the first to appoint a female lay-person as President (she spoke to us today and she her energy is certainly contagious). I'm here at the conference this year in a few different capacities, including both High School Delegate on the Executive Board and session presenter. My session earlier today focused on the Financial Aid Quadrant Approach that I shared with families and students in the Fall. The goal is helping young people minimize their out of pocket cost by identifying schools with the highest chance of having the lowest price.

This morning, I had the opportunity to tour Syracuse University. With 14,000 students, Syracuse is a medium sized Research I school comprised of nine different undergraduate colleges. Students must indicate the college where they are applying on the Common App, but can keep the specific major undecided if they are not sure about their exact pathway. Syracuse values interdisciplinary study and many students take courses or add minors in other divisions besides the one through which they were admitted. Over 70% of students live on campus all four years (and all students are required to live on campus for the first two years) so there is very much a cohesive campus community surrounded by the urban backdrop of the city of Syracuse. New campus initiatives include: a first year reading assignment for all freshman students to read a book centered on the theme of diversity and a renovated wellness center that combines mental, physical, and emotional health into one building. One of the nicest features about Syracuse is the fact that they both meet 100% of demonstrated financial need of admitted students AND have merit aid to offer the top 25% or so of the admitted class so it can also be a good fit in terms of affordability. Thank you to the Syracuse team for welcoming us today!

I'll be at the conference one more day before returning back to school on Friday. As always, it is a pleasure and a privilege to serve the organization and connect with colleagues, new and old.

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Pacific Northwest Tour - Lewis & Clark College

Original estate manorhouse, now the Lewis & Clark Admission Office

Students personalize their mailboxes with stickers.

Today was the final day of the tour and we spent it visiting Lewis & Clark College. A liberal arts college with about 2,400 students located in the suburbs of Portland, this school has a gorgeous campus (formerly a private estate and country club built by a Jewish family unwelcome to join existing clubs in the 1920s). There are towering trees and a lovely wooded landscape that can't help but make you feel transported to a peaceful forest retreat away from the urban grid of Portland just a few miles away.

Location is one of the major features that Lewis & Clark prides itself on, being both in a major city and in the Pacific Northwest situated right between the Oregon coast, a state park, and nearby mountains for skiing. There is a focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship and students are very much drawn toward global experiences and applying their learning to the real world.


As a counselor, something I found appealing was the fact that Lewis & Clark can offer high quality of education while simultaneously having a generous rate of admission. For the vast majority of Eleanor Roosevelt students, this could be a target or likely school but it wouldn't result in sacrificing on key factors like proximity to a city/airport, strong faculty, and happy students. The school has been testing optional since 1991, a sign that they genuinely are able to serve and welcome students with all sorts of strengths. About 8-9% of the pool applies without testing, but those students end up being 20% of the enrolled class.

From my observation, Lewis & Clark is a good fit for a student who is outdoorsy, artsy, and self identifies as someone a little off the beaten path. They do not have any Greek life and the student I had lunch with made a point to say it was not a party school. Instead, most students prefer to go hiking or camping on the weekend, socializing in the great outdoors as opposed to a bar, club, or big party. One of the highlights of the visit was getting to hear anecdotes from professors at breakfast about their interactions with students. It was clear that teaching is a priority and personal attention from faculty is the norm. A few spaces on campus could potentially use some renovation, but I respect their approach to fund other institutional priorities above interior decorating (especially given the precarious state of liberal arts colleges that don't have giant endowments). It also goes with their mission of environmental sustainability to not replace or redecorate functional spaces.

I want to sincerely thank all five campuses for their hospitality over the past week. I also very much thank the ElRo PTA for their funding support of the college office and Mr. Saliani for his commitment to professional development in granting me permission to attend amazing opportunities such as this. I feel so much more well versed in these schools and am ready to recommend them to the right students.

Pacific Northwest Tour - Reed College and Willamette University

Our next school was probably the one I felt most knowledgeable about prior to the tour. Reed College's reputation precedes it. It is known as an ultra-rigorous intellectual liberal arts college and indeed that is the place I got to see in person yesterday evening and this morning.

Reed is a school full of bright students that aren't so much after grades as they are after knowledge. They are smart without needing to brag about it or be rewarded for it through gold stars or pats on the back. That isn't to say they are completely cynical or jaded all the time (of all our student panels so far, when the Reed students got jazzed about a topic they smiled the biggest, giggled the loudest, and showed great amounts of enthusiasm) but they are seemingly not here just to go through the motions. They value process as much as they value product.

Thesis Tower

Sample Thesis about the Physics of Skipping Stones

All students at Reed write a thesis and we got to visit the tower in the library where all of them are bound and kept.  Submission of the thesis is turned into a three day campus wide celebration, complete with ceremonial burning of past drafts, food, pomp and circumstance.

Learning is taken very seriously at Reed. There is an 'Honor Principle" that is intentionally not written down in order to emphasize the nature of being part of the Reed community. Students are to treat others as they would want to be treated (NOT 'they' as in themselves 'they as in the other person). This urges students to be good community members, taking the perspective of their peers and professors and acting in their best interests. This includes a universal academic honesty policy, where all exams are self-proctored and students don't cheat. I suspect this is both because they don't need to and because it doesn't benefit them. Most Reed students don't even know their grades or GPAs. That sort of quantification of intelligence are overshadowed by the pursuit of inquiry, creativity of thought, and exploration of knowledge.

This is a place that breaks the mold in a lot of ways. Things like not participating in college rankings (and thus not having a giant focus or motivation toward things like yield rates, acceptance rates, or driving up application numbers). They also don't employ adjunct professors, a practice that is widespread across most other institutions of higher education. They don't have NCAA sports, but reminded us, more than once, that high school student athletes can and should still apply and are welcome with open arms.

The only school on the tour to meet full demonstrated financial need of admitted students, Reed can be grouped with its other philosophical peer schools like Amherst, University of Chicago, and Williams. But unlike those schools, their acceptance rate hovers around 35%, meaning they are a much more realistic option for the right fit student. I also observed that the place Reed puts its money is into the people and the classroom experience (read: financial aid and high quality engaging professors) as opposed to facilities. Case in point: I was expecting a gorgeous brochure-worthy 100 year old library for a school this chock full of voracious readers and was instead met with a space last renovated in the (aesthetically painful) timeframe of 1989.

I would classify that 'right fit' student as someone who aims to be a lifelong learner. A person for whom thinking deeply brings joy. I very much value schools like this because they really do have an identity that sets them apart from the rest.

A study hearth at Willamette U.

Our second school of the day was Willamette University, a small college of about 1,700 students located in Oregon's state capitol of Salem. And they are not just in the state capitol, they are literally across the street from it - meaning that students have direct access to not only politics but also virtually every industry and branch of state and local government including sustainability, education, business development, and healthcare.

The overarching themes of this school were clear: community/civic engagement and teaching. Students raved about their professors and we met the most faculty here than of any school so far. The school motto is: "not unto ourselves alone are we born." A message that hearkens back to their past affiliation with the Methodist church, but more so appears to embody the ongoing commitment to teaching students to grow both academically and as human beings, responsible for bettering the world and building bridges of understanding with others.

Willamette is the oldest school in the Western US (founded in 1842) and occupies a unique space within the world of higher ed. With a firm commitment to the liberal arts, Willamette is also a place with graduate programs (including 3-3 and 3-2 combined degree programs in fields like law, business, and engineering) but with a size that is much smaller and more intimate than other universities. No undergraduate class here is over 50 students. They are testing optional and offer merit aid to all applicants, even those who don't submit scores.

Perhaps the more than any of the other three schools we've seen so far, Willamette was transparent about their areas for growth. To be frank, this part of the country is not very racially/ethnically diverse and each of the schools we have seen have a ways to go before their schools accurately represent the makeup of our country (both in terms of Pell eligible students and underrepresented students of color). That said, I was most impressed with the answers Willamette gave on this topic. They were reflective and gave real action items and ways their community is striving to do better. The initiatives appear to genuinely be from the top down and there is an ongoing dialogue between students, faculty, and the administration around areas of diversity, access, and inclusion. Bravo to them for not shying away from these difficult conversations, not skirting these topics with visitors like us, and seeking out ways to move forward together as leaders in the West.

Willamette struck me as a place where, in the true spirit of a CTCL school, a typical student can come to be the best version of themselves. The energy is positive and I found it to be more bubbly than the other schools we've seen so far.

Our final school awaits us tomorrow - excited to finish out this great week!

Pacific Northwest Tour - Whitman College

Stix, students climb on for good luck before exams or big papers.

Whitman College

 So I'm going to start by being honest - no one goes to Whitman College by accident. The reason I say that is it is not a place you stumble upon. We drove 4+ hours to get there (it is located in the south east corner of Washington state) so, as you might imagine, the it is a very intentional place. The students who attend feel a connection to the community and opt to be there on purpose. (*Note: driving from Portland or Seattle is not the only way to reach campus, a student from NYC would likely opt to fly to one of these cities and then take a short regional flight to one of two airports, either 7 minutes or 45 minutes from campus).

Whitman has about 1,500 and is totally focused on the undergraduate experience. There is a challenging curriculum paired with individual support. Virtually all majors have a thesis requirement and a senior comprehensive exam (often with an oral component). Writing is taken seriously. There is Greek life, but I certainly didn't get a party school vibe. These are opportunities to connect with peers, not be exclusionary.

Students are earnest and seek out connections, both with one another and with the local community. Lifting one another up is considered part of the fabric of the school culture. My tour guide chose to come to Whitman after getting into schools like Yale. Her reason? She said that she valued the "humble intelligence" of Whitman students.

Whitman is test-optional and about 25% of the students opt to go this route. They are admitted to the school at the same rate as those that submit test scores (about 50% acceptance rate, for those wondering). They still utilize an old school holistic reading process, with at least two readers per file. There is not currently a supplement for the application and anyone who applies before December 1 doesn't have an application fee either. Barriers aren't really Whitman's thing. They are much more interested in identifying the students who will be the best fit and helping them grow and develop.

Like many small liberal arts colleges, Whitman is a place with room to grow in terms of diversity. But unlike many schools, they seem to be making efforts across all parts of the school (not just the Admission Office) to make their campus a safe place for difficult conversations. Pretty much every presenter/person we heard from mentioned the annual Privilege and Power Symposium, a day each spring when classes are cancelled and the campus engages in a day full of panels and discussions around topics of access, privilege, identity, and social justice. There is also a term that I (and other counselors) noticed being used here which is 'first generation working class' - something that Whitman has a clear focus on and a population they appear to both seek out and subsequently empower. In addition, like our other visits, LGBTQ+ students are embraced and celebrated, it seems we have found a common theme for this grouping of schools.

Whitman is not yet in a place where they can meet full demonstrated financial need for admitted students, but they said their average gap is currently only about $4,000 a year. In the scheme of things, this is still pretty darn great and makes this an attractive option for students looking to minimize debt. About three quarters of students receive financial aid, a stat that speaks some of the difference one might feel from the highly selective East Coast small liberal arts colleges that have a stereotype of being full of only majority full pay students.

Appealing for their ability to push students to grow without an environment of pressure and anxiety, Whitman strikes me as a happy place with a thoughtful and reflective student body. The surrounding area is small compared to New York City, but is far larger and more developed than the neighborhoods of placed like Wesleyan or Beloit.

While we technically had a tour of Reed late this afternoon, I'm saving my blog post about them until tomorrow.

Pacific Northwest Tour - University of Puget Sound

On a day when my colleagues and students at Eleanor Roosevelt managed to have, what turned out to be, a false alarm snow day, I was out of the office participating in day one of the Pacific Northwest Five Consortium Tour. We got the chance to see the University of Puget Sound, located near Seattle in Tacoma, Washington.

Gorgeous atrium by UPS alum Dale Chihuly.

UPS is one of the schools added to the more recent edition of Colleges That Change Lives list. These are schools that consider themselves to be places of transformation and where students can bank on lots of personal attention. With stunning views of Puget Sound, Mt. Rainer, and Craftsman style homes in a residential section of Tacoma, this is a lovely school with 2,400 undergraduates. Their identity is rather sporty/outdoorsy (not a huge shock given the geographic location) and there is access to pre-professional majors like Business that are deeply rooted in the liberal arts. There is a core curriculum that is writing heavy and lets students delve deeply into seminars that span from topics like The Third Wave: Rock After The Beatles, to Imagining Blackness, and Exploring Bioethics Today. They are testing optional

My largest takeaways, from a college counseling perspective, have to do mainly with ways that UPS doesn't always follow the herd. For example, they have a practice of not maintaining a significant waitlist. This means they don't string students along or keep a cushion of 'courtesy waitlists' of students the have no intention of later admitted. Instead, their waitlist might contain 20 students, those that they truly might end up reaching out to if a space arises. They also have a relatively tiny international population (though they admittedly are looking to grow it). They have approximately 2% of their students identifying as international, something that I find refreshing at a time when so many schools seek out up to 20% of their class from full pay international students as a way to increase their operating budgets. Also, while they have Early Decision, it is not a huge enrollment stream, so Early Action and Regular Decision students still get a very fair shake.

I was thrilled to be able to have breakfast with Audrey P., ElRo Class of 2016 and current UPS senior. To me, it seems she is thriving. I was most impressed by her senior Capstone project where she is looking at the influence of pregnancy on incarcerated women as it intersects with race/ethnicity. It sounded like a fascinating topic and I'm so glad to see her doing well and representing our school on this campus!

In closing, I want to share how struck I was by the inclusive and welcoming climate for LGBTQ+ staff and students. It seems that the entire community was committed to helping all incoming and continuing students feel welcome and comfortable enough to be themselves. Not to say their work is done or that any campus is perfect, but the conversation appeared to be ongoing and at the forefront of the campus consciousness.

Tomorrow: Whitman College!

Thanks Goucher!

Goucher College

• Another Maryland CTCL school, this small liberal arts college has their eyes set on the future. They have massive construction on campus that will include a future freshman housing village, new centralized dining hall, new science center, and new interfaith center. 
• Every single student studies abroad, something that no other college in the country can say. 
• In the words of their dynamic President Jose Bowen, many colleges are in the business of content but Goucher believes that the jobs of the future haven't been invented yet so they are in the business of making sure students learn how to learn. 
• Speaking of the charismatic President, he allows students to sign out his dogs for walks, a phenomenal idea that I've never seen on any other campus. 
• The new dorms have been designed based on data analytics. Things like requiring students to have roommates in their freshman year (as opposed to luxury singles), sacrificing room size for common spaces (and putting faster WiFi in those common spaces) to encourage interaction with peers. These small things nudge students into building connections with others and investing themselves with on-campus life instead of the world of high school through their phones or Facebook accounts. 
• Goucher does not require a CSS Profile for Financial Aid and there are merit scholarships available up to $30,000 per year. 
• Last year they became accredited to award degrees to people who are incarcerated, a really wonderful and rare thing for a liberal arts college to be involved in and a sign of their commitment to educate all types of students and do work related to social justice. 

Overall Impression-- This is a school that does things with intention.  It is refreshing to see a place think about what students truly need, not just what they want. For them to be committed to turning out better people, not just issuing diplomas.

What a pleasure it was to be hosted by these 11 colleges this week. Thank you to the Crab Crawl and the ElRo PTA for their supporting my participation.

Thanks St. John's College and Washington College!

St. John's College

• St. John's, in Annapolis, is the third oldest college in the country, founded in the late 1600s. They offer no majors-- instead all students earn a Bachelor's in the Liberal Arts. Don't let this fool you though into thinking graduates are without academic passions or career options. Students go on to graduate school in droves and are well prepared for the working world in jobs that require communication, critical thinking, and deep knowledge.
• The curriculum is interdisciplinary and led by 'tutors' -- what they call professors here. All tutors teach all subjects, so it is possible to have an instructor who is as new to a topic as the student. 
• There are no textbooks. Instead, students read 40 'Great Books' and learn even fields of math and science by reading the texts of people like Ptolemy and Einstein. 
• Grades are not shared with students unless they go to the Registrar and ask to see them. Instead, students get real interactive feedback from their tutors and have a chance to talk about their progress. If you are the kind of student who thrives on checking the decimal points of your GPA, this probably isn't the school for you. 
• The video you see above is the entirety of the first year cohort, taking their chorus class (part of that universal curriculum). Even for students without a musical background, this course is intended to help students understand not only the beauty of music but also how to work together, how to approach things that are unfamiliar, and maybe even how to appreciate Latin (the perennial anthem of the school is a chorus favorite: a psalm performed in Latin). Seeing it in person gave me chills.
• This is a quirky place. In addition to reading, they devote their time to the likes of croquet and swing dancing. It is a place of juxtapositions-- simultaneously nontraditional and ultra-traditional (doesn't get much more traditional than reading Plato), hyper intellectual and open to taking students who don't have straight As or high test scores (they are testing optional). 
• They have a second campus in Santa Fe!
• Earlier this year I went to a reception in NYC at the home of the author of this article. He calls St. John's the most future proof college in the country. 

Overall Impression: Schools like St. John's are what make being a college counselor fun. In a world where I devote my time trying to prove that fit matters and that all schools are not interchangeable, a campus like this comes along and makes my job easy. Admittedly, this is a once in a decade kind of school-- meaning the odds of having a student interested in taking this kind of intellectual risk, interested in working this hard, and bold enough to look past college selectivity in place of fit. But, with that said, they are seeking 140 students per year who truly thrive in this kind of space.

Washington College

• Washington College is the only college in the nation to use George Washington's namesake with his blessing. He sat on the equivalent of the 'board of trustees' when Washington College was founded in the late 1700s and his legacy is woven throughout campus. 
• Located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Washington College boasts 60% of their student body from out of state. 
• On tour, we got to have an impromptu conversation with a Professor and he was earnest in his enthusiasm for the students and community. This is a place that will provide individual attention. 
• Their most popular majors are Business and Biology. 

Overall Impression: For a student seeking slightly warmer weather than New York, a small campus environment steeped in history, and the chance to qualify for merit scholarships, Washington College checks all of those boxes.

Thanks McDaniel, Mount St. Mary's, and Hood College!

McDaniel College

• The CTCL chapter for this colleges starts with the sentence "If you are looking for a place without pretense and full of genuine care, McDaniel should be at the top of the list."
• This campus felt authentic and personal with a slice of Division I style school spirit. 

• Founded 150 years ago as Western Maryland University, they changed their name in the early 2000s because they were not, in fact, in Western Maryland (the name was rooted in the Western Maryland Railroad company).  
• More than requiring that every student have a perfect record, they concern themselves more with course selection and rigor (particularly in the senior year). They have been test-optional for more than 20 years.
• They have the McDaniel Plan, a core curriculum with multiple choices embedded within it. 
• I often reference to families that there are private colleges that will, in many cases, cost the same or less than a SUNY. Sound the alarm because McDaniel is one of those places. Sound the other alarm too because they only require a FAFSA to apply for aid, not a CSS Profile. 
• In what is one of the most unique scholarship options I've heard of, they started a new Educator's Legacy Scholarship for any child of an educator (broadly defined as a teacher, Principal, Secretary, Cafeteria Worker, ANY person working in a K-12 school) that will automatically give $25,000 in financial aid per year to admitted students. Only Carleton comes to mind as another school making a serious and identifiable effort to recruit and serve middle class families. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. (They also have similar initiatives for children of Veterans and children of Alumni). 

Overall Impression: I won't try and hide it, McDaniel is the kind of campus I'm constantly looking to add to my arsenal. Situated on a classic college hill, the setting is beautiful, the people are committed, admission is attainable, and merit scholarships are available. Football, and school spirit, is a huge part of campus culture, but the small setting means it doesn't come at the sacrifice of personal attention.

Mount St. Mary's University

• Founded in 1808 (the second oldest Catholic college in the country!), Mount St. Mary's retains a strong connection to its religious foundation. 
• They have an undergraduate college but also a seminary and future priests share are sprinkled among the people you'll see walking around the campus. 
• They recently added Cyber-security as a major, one of few schools with program that isn't online.
• Division I athletics with under 2,000 students, it is a rare combination. 

Overall Impression: Over 60% of students identify as Catholic and on the spectrum of Catholic schools I would place this one towards the 'more religious' end of the scale (there are 5 chapels on campus, for example). The staff was clearly very passionate about their work and students seemed happy to be attending. 

Hood College

• Originally a Women's College, Hood went co-ed to commuters in the 1970s and then fully co-ed with men living on campus in 2003.  
• This change angered many alum and they sent back their signet rings as a way display their dissatisfaction. Hood however took those lemons and made lemonade, re-gifting the rings to students who couldn't buy their own. Over time, this became a new tradition where the family of deceased alum send back the ring to be passed on to a new generation. 
• The campus is in Westminster, Maryland - a very cute area with historic streets and a sprawling park. The campus buildings are all done in the Georgian style and bricks and columns abound. 
• The President holds open office hours, demonstrating just how student centered the school.

Overall Impression:  At dinner, an administrator had the students in the room recite the impromptu Hood acronym that summarizes their school: Hope, Obligation, Opportunity, Democracy. Hood is a school full of kind and good-natured people.

Thanks Notre Dame of Maryland University, Loyola Maryland, and Stevenson University!

Notre Dame of Maryland University

• Women's college with a small, safe, tight knit community-- small as in under 1,000 students.
• Test Optional since last year, though test score submission is required for the Honors program.
• I say it in junior meetings all the time, but it is so exciting to see in person: Women's colleges carry the torch for college access and enrollment diversity. This school was full of dynamic young women of color and first generation college students (referred to at ND as Trailblazers). Their energy was palpable. 
• This campus is adjacent to Loyola's and the schools even share a library. A great way to still have a co-ed community at a single sex college. 

Overall Impression: If you seek a supportive community and a place where you and your peers can be transformed, this might be the right fit for you. Seeking a party school? Ultra intense admission/academics? Large lectures where you can be anonymous? This isn't the place for those things.

Loyola University Maryland

• 4,000 undergraduate students make up this Jesuit school. 
• Mostly comprised of stone buildings with modern and updated interiors, Loyola's campus is desirable in quite a few ways. It has a defined space without being cramped or exceedingly sprawling. 
• Offers majors in Arts & Sciences, Business, and Education. 
• About 70% of students self identify on an enrollment survey as Catholic, but levels of practice vary widely. 
• Two thirds of students study abroad and there is a core curriculum to give all students a solid foundation in all major disciplines, including Religion. 
• Payscale.com rates them as the #2 school in all of Maryland, behind the Naval Academy, for mid-career salary rates. 
• Fun fact: the Starbucks on campus sells more coffee than any other Baltimore location, including BWI airport.  

Overall Impression: This school probably would be the school, so far, to be the best fit for the largest number of Eleanor Roosevelt students. The vibe was happy without being fluffy. The facilities were clean and bright and proximity to the city with an enclosed suburban campus is the best of both worlds. 

Stevenson University 

• Formerly Villa Julie until 2008, Stevenson University has literally been reborn from the ground up over the past ten years. They are in the process of transitioning to their new Owings Mills campus, a place where all buildings and spaces are less than 10 years old. This new iteration is a school that is focused on connecting higher education to career, so students all leave with a clear set of goals and a pathway to a job. 
• They prioritize student success and launched a new program last year where every student has a Student Success Coach -- a guide to help students stay on track and progress toward their degree and beyond. 
• A large number of professors are adjuncts, but as a result they are a wonderful resource for internships since many of them work in the real world and can connect students to jobs opportunities and colleagues.   
• It is clear that a lot has been invested in creating an athletic department to give on-campus life a new dimension. The transition from commuter school to residential college is obvious.
• This is the first campus of the tour to proactively discuss Disability Services with us in a meaningful way. I see this as a wonderful sign as a counselor because it means they are eager to work with all students and unafraid to continue (if not enhance) services provided at the high school level. They say they want to remove the stigma of having a learning difference and they are walking the walk. Bravo!
• International students are eligible for financial aid.

Overall Impression: For a student who would thrive with a little scaffolding, Stevenson seems like a place that won't let you fell through the cracks very easily. With their brand new campus, they are also a good fit for students who care a lot about the physical plant of the school and who crave modern amenities and architecture. 

Thanks MICA and Johns Hopkins University!

I'll be spending this week in the Baltimore area visiting 11 private colleges on a counselor tour called the Crab Crawl. Because know how demanding these tours are, I'm going to prioritize getting summary information up on the blog each night, even if it comes in the form of a bulleted list.

Maryland Institute College of Art - MICA

• Oldest continually operational visual arts college in the country, founded in 1826
• A good fit for intellectual thinkers seeking technical training in the arts
• Students seeking a BA in a Liberal Arts setting can expect to take 30-45% of their courses in art and design. By contrast, students at a place like MICA getting a BFA can expect to take 65-70% of their courses in art and design. 
• Option to cross register at other Baltimore area schools, Johns Hopkins in particular
• Particularly useful for students interested in prosthetic design or medical drawing to be able to take science courses
• Portfolio of 12-20 pieces required with application
• Compared with other art schools, MICA is an accredited art school that offers a decent balance between structure and exploration
• They do offer academic merit aid, something not found at every art school
• 1220+ on the SAT or 26+ on the ACT
• The artist who did the recent portrait of Michelle Obama, now at the Smithsonian, is a MICA Professor

Overall Impression: For the right student (artsy, funky, creative, seeking a community of makers) could be a great way to earn a degree in art and still be prepared to enter the working world and make a living (career services and internships were emphasized, my tour guide, for example, has an internship at the Whitney Museum this summer). 

Johns Hopkins University

• Urban residential campus with an undergraduate focus (a little over 6,000 students total). About 70% of students study the Arts & Sciences and 30% study Engineering.
• Students here describe themselves as working hard academically but also working equally hard to be involved in the campus community. 
• Research is a strong aspect of academic life, across all disciplines. 
• The supplemental essay was changed recently to ask about collaboration. Johns Hopkins has a reputation for being cutthroat, but they see themselves as much more collaborative. They consider who else is in the room-- the Professor and other bright and interesting peers-- to be an essential element toward attracting the right students to their campus. 
• They do not track demonstrated interest and have discontinued interviews as part of the application process. They do offer informal small group chats to students seeking that on their campus visit. 
• About 40% of the class enrolls via Early Decision, so visit with enough time to decide if this is a route you want to take. 

Overall Impression: Our tour guide told us one of the main factors he used in deciding where to enroll in college was the ability for him to continue running his antique license plate store on Ebay. I cite this to illustrate that this is a place that embraces quirkiness (it was also my favorite moment on the tour). Students are driven, excited about learning, and seem to find fun in non-traditional places. 

Thanks UT Dallas!

Thank you to the University of Texas at Dallas for hosting me on their campus last week in order to learn about the McDermott Scholars Program. Let’s get a few things out of the way first:

1)   I knew nothing about UT Dallas before this trip. I’ve only ever been to Texas once before and as Midwesterner turned New Yorker, it hasn’t been a school on my radar.

2)   McDermott Scholars isn’t your run of the mill merit scholarship for bright students. It is a full service, highly competitive, all inclusive scholarship that includes not only full tuition and room and board but also a stipend, round trip airfare home twice a year for students in the continental United States (1x a year for international), $12,000 toward a study abroad experience, and what amounts to year-round mentoring, enrichment, and cultural experiences both on campus and off.

3)   This school might be too smart for you. Yes, you read that right. If your vision of college is tailgating and creating a class schedule with nothing before noon and three-day weekends, you can save your energy on exploring UT Dallas. You will hate it. See Exhibit A below.

Ok, cool, you kept reading. You want to go to college to learn something and learn it deeply. So now, what is this school and where did it come from?

UT Dallas is a young school. That explains why you might notice the trees aren’t tall, and the library doesn’t have stained glass windows, and there aren’t 80 year olds meeting up for reunions. They don’t have a football team, so you haven’t see them on ESPN. In fact, they are much better known for their Chess Team.  Originally founded in the 1960s as a post-graduate think tank, UT Dallas only enrolled their first freshmen in 1990. Since that time though, they have grown and now they have an enrollment of over 25,000 students, about 65% of which are undergraduates. Admittedly, many students commute but residence life on campus is strong for those that live there and because the college itself is young and the on-campus housing is even younger, the facilities are bright and modern. (For context, there are about 5,000 students who reside on campus full time. Keep in mind though for people worried that is too small of a resident population, you are still talking about the equivalent of an entire small liberal arts college living in campus housing. Yes, it is a small portion compared to the entire student body, but no you won’t feel isolated or alone.).

One of the school’s original founders was Eugene McDermott, a brilliant and generous man who was one of the founders of Texas Instruments (TI). You likely know TI because they have a corner on the high school calculator market. I myself was a proud owner of a TI-82 back in my AP Calculus BC days.  After his death, his wife Margaret continued her commitment to UT Dallas and in 2001 endowed the McDermott Scholars program, my hosts for this trip. (At 106 years of age, she is, to this day, a passionate supporter of UT Dallas).

McDermott Scholars are the cream of the cream. To be eligible to apply, students must have at least a 1490 or 34 test score. Then the expectation is to have top grades, leadership, and character experiences to match. Sixty students are invited to the final round of the interview and ultimately about 24 are selected and attend UT Dallas. There are some strings attached, like being required to live on campus all four years and participate in sponsored trips (both with the group and independently to study abroad). Students in the program pursue research opportunities, internship opportunities, and many go on to apply for and win prestigious graduate fellowships and admission to law, medical, and business schools.

Even for applicants who might not be McDermott material, UT Dallas might still be a great option. Over 25% of undergrads receive some formof merit scholarship and all scholarship recipients are ALSO automatically ableto pay in-state tuition rates, even when they don’t live in Texas. That means that an ElRo student who is strong but might not be McDermott eligible could still attend UT Dallas for less than the price of a SUNY if you are from a family that doesn’t qualify for federal or state aid. (The lowest merit scholarship qualification starts at 1410 SAT/30 ACT –about half of ElRo’s class would potentially be in the running). Unlike a lot of other schools, UT Dallas is also a high quality school that still believes in admitting all qualified applicants. Translation – this is a Likely for many ElRo students who struggle to find places they can be surrounded by bright students AND be guaranteed admission. (I’m looking at you, Northeast colleges who drive application numbers and track demonstrated interest and ability to pay and drive ED apps and EA apps in order to find ways to deny capable students just to boost US News rankings). Don’t believe me? The average SAT is 1320 and the average ACT is 29, yet over 60% of applicants are admitted. Self-selecting pool of bright applicants seeking a highly intellectual environment equals unicorn status of the large school with academically strong student body. And oh, what’s that, you care about diversity? Like many colleges, they have room to improve with African American students*, but 70% of students identify as students of color and I saw real meaningful interactions on campus between people who didn’t look like one another. I’ve been to over 100 colleges and can confirm this is not the case everywhere.

*Note, they do have recently founded chapters of Historically Black Greek organizations, so baby steps are being taken.

If I had to try and categorize UT Dallas I would say it is a place that reminds me of a more selective RIT with students who have the personalities that would gel with kids who attend Beloit. That is to say: a mostly STEM oriented school where learning and relationships are paramount and who see college as a vehicle to a career and satisfying intellectual curiosity. They instituted an honor code a few years ago, so things like trust and honesty are pillars of the campus experience. Admittedly, most students here are from Texas. If that’s a deal breaker for you, c’est la vie. But lots of out of state public colleges (UVa, UNC, etc) have an overwhelming majority of in-state students and it doesn’t stop our students from applying. And before you paint Texas with a broad brush, know that UT Dallas is LGBTQ friendly with gender neutral housing and staff report that both ends of the political spectrum are represented on campus. It should also be noted that both International and Undocumented students are welcome on campus and both groups are eligible for merit aid.

I very much enjoyed learning about this hidden gem of a school and I can only hope that one of our ElRo students would be lucky enough to be named a McDermott Scholar. Many thanks to my hosts for a wonderful experience!

P.S. - Additional piece of trivia, prior to being assassinated JFK traveled to Dallas to give a speech at UT Dallas (though at that time they were not an Undergraduate college) about the US commitment to science and technology.

Thanks Pace University!

This past Friday, I attended a counselor day at the Manhattan campus of Pace University. With so many schools in the NYC area, I'm always excited at the chance to see a campus that is new to me. Though I'm familiar with Pace and knew about their offerings generally, nothing beats walking around the buildings and seeing the students in person.

The first thing that I found out is that the Pace Manhattan campus is actually larger (in terms of student body) than the Pleasantville campus, this was not something I had realized! They are home to over 6,000 students and have four high rise dorms in the Financial District (many with UNREAL views-- see above) ready to house students looking for an urban college experience. (About 70% of freshman live on campus).

When counselors were given the chance to dive a little deeper into certain aspects of the school, I opted to learn more about the Honors program and the Computer Science Department. The Honors program sounds like a great potential fit for many ElRo students. The criteria for Honors admission includes having at least a 90 average and scoring above a 27/1270 on the standardized admission tests. The program includes an automatic scholarship of at least $15,000 per year and gives students access to take at least 8 honors classes during their tenure at Pace. The Computer Science department is also clearly a place full of passionate students. It was emphasized that a prior background in coding or computers is not required in order to be successful, so long as the student is a problem solver and comes ready to learn.

Other attractive elements of Pace include the performing arts department (though these programs are not for the casual performer, plan on an audition and competitive programs with limited seats).

Thank you to Pace for hosting this event!

Pre-NACAC College Tours - MIT/Harvard/Wellesley

 Thanks to the generous support of the PTA, I'm lucky to be attending my ninth NACAC National Conference, located this year in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference starts Thursday, but I spent today on a pre-NACAC tour of MIT and Harvard (co-presented with Wellesley, even though we didn't get a chance to see the campus in person). Though I'd had peripheral exposure to these campuses before (I went to college only a few T stops away) it was nice to get to see the schools through the admissions lens and hear directly from staff about their missions and unique identities.

The morning portion of the program was held at MIT. I'll start by saying, the table centerpieces at breakfast were Rubik's cubes set inside glass containers -- a pretty great way to embody the spirit of MIT: quirky problem solvers that fancy themselves to be the kind of people who live on being just a little bit tongue in cheek. The campus buildings are often interconnected - a series of hallways that vastly improve quality of life in the winter but that also represent the intellectual intersection of departments across the transcripts of the students that walk through these spaces. All students are admitted undeclared, so all students are expected to be able to handle core requirement classes that include the likes of calculus, chemistry, physics, biology, AND the social sciences and humanities. This is to say that even the Literature majors are finding derivatives and the Computer Scientists read Shakespeare. This is a place for innovators that are both book smart and who thrive in hands on learning experiences. It is best for students with creative minds -- we were told they are the kinds of students who like to build things and break things. Loners are the ones who struggle - collaboration is valued. In fact, one of the slides we were shown said something to the effect of "we are looking to choose a 1,100 person team to climb a fairly interesting and rugged mountain--together." MIT isn't the kind of place one applies to on a whim. They use their own application platform and don't follow the same tune as many other highly selective schools. Do a ton of activities? That's nice, but MIT will only let you list four and they should be from grades 10-12. Have a super polished longform personal statement? That works other places, but here you'll need to complete 5 short answers instead. The students we heard from on the panel were clearly very intellectual, but they also had palpable passion and clearly viewed their time at MIT as a journey (complete with some high highs and low lows). MIT seeks those who are brilliant enough to tackle the world's problems and who can be bold enough to find solutions for the 'greater good.' It was an impressive morning and a great way to kick off the conference week.

Next we headed to Harvard, for a co-presentation about both Harvard and Wellesley. As a women's college, Wellesley's mission remains the same now as it has always been: to educate dynamic female leaders. Core tenets of a Wellesley experience include confidence, leadership, and sisterhood. The majority of the faculty is female and students are involved in running all aspects of the school -- from the Trustees meetings, to residential life running the dorms, to sitting on the admission committee (yes, you read that last one right). There is an honor code, so students are expected to uphold high levels of ethical decision making. One of the most exciting initiatives to emerge in the past two years is the new career advising system that gives every student a personal career advisor for all four years - an individualized program giving unparalleled attention to outcomes and employment opportunities. I hope that I get the chance, sooner rather than later, to see this place in person!

As for Harvard, the description of the students is that they are organized and disciplined leaders. We were told that admission decisions are driven by the gut as much as the head and heart. This makes sense in a way because in an almost universally strong pool like theirs, relying on the gut can be a much more reasonable endeavor. The risk is low and the payoff can be huge. Their committee is, of course, looking for phenomenal academics but also outstanding character and for the student to have a full and meaningful life beyond the classroom. Unfortunately, the Harvard 'tour' is not much of a tour at all in that we didn't go inside a single building. I think this is an effort to not have tour groups gawk at Harvard students as they try to go about their studies? But, it makes it harder to get a tight grasp on the community (not to mention that it also doesn't move the needle much when trying to fight the ivory tower stereotype). What is clear is that Harvard does an outstanding job of identifying young people with strong potential for success. Whatever their methodology is, it's working. Their historic campus and reputation make them both highly sought after and rightly proud of their legacy and achievements.

Tomorrow is the official opening day of the conference, and I look forward to seeing my colleagues from around the nation (and world!). Thank you to MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley for their time and attention to today's program.

Upstate Visits - Day 3

Hartwick College

On my final day of the trip, we went to visit Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta. These two are located just minutes away from each other so they make a good pair when it comes to visiting campuses.

The one thing I think bears repeating about Hartwick is: this campus is on a massive hill. The pro here is that the views from various parts of campus are really lovely. The con is you need to be prepared to walk up and down a lot of inclines (though our tourguide informed us that many students hack the system by learning what buildings have elevators that can help things be a bit easier to navigate.). During our stay it was clear that Hartwick is investing some major dollars in the campus look and feel because there were construction projects going on all around. One main change is going to be a new pedestrian walkway on a road that was formerly bustling with cars. As a school that offers merit aid, this campus might be the right fit for students looking to attend a private school on a public college budget. Check out the net price calculator to estimate the cost for your individual financial situation.


Our final campus for this trip was SUNY Oneonta. The most noticeable contrast to Hartwick was the physical layout of the campus being much flatter. Of course, topography should not necessarily be number one on your list of campus factors, but since these two are so close to one another I think the contrast bears highlighting. Much like Oswego, I was pleasantly surprised by the renovation efforts on the campus. The spaces are bright, clean, and modern. Oneonta is also an example of how not all four year SUNY schools charge the same price for Room and Board. Oneonta's non-tuition fees are approximately $14,000 (compared with a school like Binghamton with Room & Board plus fees closer to $17,500). It isn't a massive difference but when you consider that many ElRo students would also get merit money to attend Oneonta, the savings really does compound over the course of four years. Still not convinced? SUNY Oneonta's campus is the proud home of the only Starbucks in a 50 mile radius.

Summer sometimes gets a bad rap when it comes to being a time to visit campuses, but I encourage you to not overlook this free time as a chance to really dig into seeing schools in person!

Upstate Visits - Day 2

The View from the Admissions Office, HWS.

The middle day brought us to Hobart and William Smith Colleges and SUNY Oswego.

Hobart and William Smith are actually two colleges (one for men and one for women) that operate on the coordinate system - meaning they have one campus and one office of admission but issue separate diplomas and have different mascots and school colors. For them, they see it as an advantage of being able to keep traditions from both schools and allow for double the number of leadership positions for students (each has their own student government, etc).

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are located at the edge of Lake Seneca, one of the Finger Lakes, and let me start by saying the view of the lake from their Admissions Office is absolutely stunning. The Wegman's chocolate chip cookies they give away there aren't too shabby either. An HWS education is rooted in the liberal arts. Instead of a core curriculum or firm distribution requirements, students are asked to complete 8 goals by the time they graduate. These goals can be reached by way of classes but they can also be reached through experiences and extracurriculars. This allows for students to shape their education with the freedom to take classes they want, but without going 100% to an open curriculum. Approximately 60% of students study abroad, just one of the ways they prepare students to lead lives of consequence (that's their tagline).

On our HWS tour we passed by a bulletin board with little tabs on a map for every place students had internships right now. This is a close up of the Northeast. They seem to have it covered :)

That afternoon, we headed farther north to visit SUNY Oswego.

Oswego

Another lakeside campus, this time along Lake Ontario, was our next stop: SUNY Oswego. Something felt different about this SUNY campus. A large part of this 'feel' is the facilities. Almost all of the campus has been renovated or rebuilt in recent years. That means you are walking through many crisp hallways, creative architecture, and technologically up to date spaces.

Is this what you pictured when you think of SUNY?

Well, that's Oswego.

Hockey is a big focal point here (no surprise there) and yes, you need to be ready for cold winters if you enroll. But, they also make a concerted effort to connect buildings and allow for travel between spaces without going outdoors for too long (same strategy as University of Rochester, though not via underground tunnels). I'm so glad I had the chance to see this campus. I was really impressed and thing it just goes to show the diversity that New York State has to offer.

PS - Our namesake also had the chance to visit this place