Friday, September 18, 2015
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Welcome back!
The College Counseling office is back in full swing and we are so happy to welcome our newest addition, Ms. Stacy Richardson! Ms. Richardson joins us from the College Counseling Office at Gonzaga College High School, where she spent three years. Before her time at Gonzaga, Ms. Richardson was an Associate Dean of Admission at the College of William and Mary. Her office is located on the first floor of Fennessey so please stop by and say hello!
Thursday, May 28, 2015
The year in review
Last week, Ms. Maglio and Ms. Prugh presented to the Board
of Trustees to share the college news for the Class of 2015 and also some
“newsworthy” items from the past year. Here is some of the national news that
we presented to the board. Next week we will share the matriculation list for the
Class of 2015!
Noteworthy
National News in College Admissions
·
Set to
debut one year from now, the newly redesigned SAT will require students to
demonstrate in-depth knowledge of subjects they study in school. In place
of the infamously tricky questions, the exam will be a more straightforward
test of material that students encounter in the classroom. The essay will
require students to provide evidence in support of their arguments and will be
graded on both analysis and writing. Vocabulary will move away from the obscure
language for which the SAT is noted, instead emphasizing words more commonly
used in college and the workplace. The
new SAT will launch in March 2016 and the PSAT/NMSQT in October 2015.
·
In his
January State of the Union Address, President Obama announced a plan to
eliminate two years of tuition for community college students. The proposed
program would be open to any student who has completed high school and will
cost $60 billion over the next decade.
He also announced that the Department of Education is working on a new
ratings system that will measure college performance so that students and
families can select colleges that provide the best value.
·
In March,
the board of Sweet Briar College, a 114 year old women’s college in southern Virginia,
voted to close the school “as a result of insurmountable financial challenges,”
leading many to wonder if other colleges would face a similar outcome.
·
In
November, Rolling Stone Magazine published a 9,000 word article that described
the assault of a freshman student at the University of Virginia in 2012 and
how the university mishandled the incident. The article sparked a conversation
about sexual assault on campus and how schools nationwide often respond to
brutal crimes with indifference. Rolling Stone has since retracted the article
after a review conducted by the Columbia University School of Journalism
concluded that it was “a journalistic failure that was avoidable.”
·
In March,
The Economist published data from a
report by PayScale, a research firm, calculating the returns to higher
education in American universities. Top universities may be growing more
and more selective but the returns on a college degree depend far more on the
field of study than the selectivity of the university itself, the report finds.
Engineering and computer science students earn the most, achieving a 20 year
annualized return of 12%. Engineers were also the least dependent on the
prestige of the university- graduates from less selective schools experienced
only a slight decrease in average returns. Business and economics degrees also
pay well but degrees in the arts or humanities provide more mixed economic
returns.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Rhodes College--Memphis, Tennessee
Rhodes College campus |
One of the comments that I hear most
frequently in meetings with juniors is that they want to go to a college “in a
city but with a campus.” Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee perfectly meets
those criteria! Memphis is a fun city with a lot of culture, big time sports,
great food (ask me about the barbeque pork nachos that I ate!) and so many
opportunities for research and internships.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital |
My time in Memphis
actually began by going to visit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which
is located just a few minutes away from the Rhodes campus. I had heard about
St. Jude from the commercials on TV and their giving campaign around the
holidays but had no idea what an amazing facility it really is. St. Jude is a
hospital for children with cancer and they do not charge their patients for any
of their medical treatment. It currently costs $1.8 million a day to run the
hospital and all of that money comes entirely from donations. Rhodes students
are the only people who are able to intern at St. Jude- every year, they have
tons of students getting hands-on opportunities to be involved in cutting edge
cancer research. Over 70 percent of Rhodes students do academic internships in
their junior or senior year because there are so many places to intern in
Memphis. The director of career services told us that there are more law firms
in the city wanting Rhodes students as interns than there are students to fill
all of them!
the library |
Rhodes is a small liberal
arts college that has around 2,000 students on a beautiful Gothic campus. Many colleges say that they look like
Hogwarts and this is definitely one of them! I had the ability to attend an
Introduction to International Relations class of only 25 students and the
professor was able to call on the students by name during their heated
discussion of the World Bank. The average class size is 14 students and some of
the most popular majors are biology and business.
The Rhodes mascot is the Lynx |
We learned about athletics at
Rhodes also- as a Division III school, about 35 percent of their students are
varsity athletes and some students even play more than one sport! They
have a ton of school spirit- their mascot is the Lynx and they are the only
college in the country with the Lynx as a mascot. Besides all of the athletic
opportunities on campus, Memphis has an NBA team and I got to see the Grizzlies
in action. Students can get tickets to the games for just $5!
Rhodes is a great school if
you are looking for smaller classes, a close community, and active school
spirit in a city that gives you so many opportunities. The people at Rhodes
have that wonderful southern hospitality and warmth- I had lunch with a student
who attended Flint Hill School in northern Virginia and he said that even he
has started saying “y’all” after being there for four years!
Thank you to the Admissions
Office at Rhodes for a wonderful visit!
LP
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
You Should be Applying to Georgia Tech if....
You want to be an Engineer.
But you probably already knew
that.
Before my March visit to Georgia Tech’s counselor program, I was well
versed in their Top Ranked Engineering programs. Even so, touring the Engineering, Science, and Computer Science facilities was truly eye opening. If you are a student who wants to study a STEM related field, there is no question that Georgia Tech should be on the list of colleges you are considering.
But Georgia Tech has so much more to offer than Engineering! Let's talk about Atlanta. There aren't many campuses that are in world class cities and are also self-contained. With ample green space, there is a clear sense of what is the campus and what is the city. The campus is stunning and Bobby Dodd Stadium is right in the center of everything. The skyline of Atlanta is visible all around the campus and any kind of shop or restaurant is easily accessible. If you love the campus/city environment of colleges like Georgetown, Boston College, and UPenn, you will love this campus!
If you've never visited Atlanta or if (like me) it's been years since your last trip there, check out this piece from The Huffington Post.
You want school spirit.
Southern schools are serious about their football programs, but for some reason I knew more about Engineering at Georgia Tech than the history, traditions, and spirit of the student body there.
Read all about the Ramblin' Wreck song, the Yellow Jacket mascot, and "Rat Caps" here.
There's also Greek life, if you are interested. And, just for fun, a 184 foot water slide and one of the top ranked College Recreation Centers in the country.
You want to be a.....
The sky is the limit! Whether students are studying the liberal arts, foreign language, architecture, or finance, they are doing internships and co-ops and they have jobs when they graduate. In fact, Georgia Tech as been recognized nationally for Return on Investment.
Thanks to the Admissions Office at Georgia Tech for a fabulous visit!
Published by: TSM
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Jesuit Colleges Fair for Juniors and their Parents
Twenty Jesuit Colleges will be on campus Wednesday March 4th during the lunch period (12:05-12:45pm) for a mini-fair in the Heritage Room. The same
schools will also host an evening fair at Georgetown Prep on March 4th from 7:00-9:00pm
in the Hanley Athletic Center.
Representatives from the
following Jesuit schools will be at Visitation on March 4th:
Canisius College, College of the Holy Cross, Creighton University, Fairfield
University, John Carroll University, Le Moyne College, Loyola University
Chicago, Loyola University Maryland, Loyola University New Orleans, Marquette
University, Regis University, Saint Joseph’s University, Saint Louis
University, Saint Peter’s University, Spring Hill College, University of
Detroit Mercy, University of San Francisco, University of Scranton, Wheeling
Jesuit University, and Xavier University.
Georgetown University will attend the evening event at Georgetown Prep.
Hope to see you there!
Friday, January 30, 2015
Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo...Possibly The Happiest Place in America
Back in December I attended was invited to visit CaliforniaPolytechnic State University – or Cal Poly for short. While I’ve visited a good
number of colleges on the west coast, I have never visited the central coast of
California and was eager to learn why the city of San Luis Obispo is nicknamed the
Happiest Place in America (not to be confused with this place, which calls
itself the Happiest Place on Earth.
Getting There: This
was definitely an adventure. San Luis Obispo has a tiny airport and there are
no direct flights from the east coast.
You can connect through San Francisco or Los Angeles and take a prop
plan into SLO or, if prop planes make you nervous you can connect through
Phoenix. I opted for a connecting flight
in San Francisco and upon landing in San Francisco I learned that my flight had
been cancelled due to bad weather in other parts of the state. This turned out
to be a blessing in disguise because I rented a car and drove down the coast
from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo. If you have never been to the west coast
I highly recommend making the drive at least once. I've lived my whole life on
the East coast and the beautiful geography of the California coastline never
ceases to amaze me (mountains and beaches and more mountains and more beaches –
the scenery is truly breathtaking.
The University: Cal
Poly is a public institution (part of the 23-campus California State University system, not to be confused with the 10 campus University of California system).
The student body is mid-sized for a public institution at 19,703 and houses six
undergraduate colleges (Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences,
Architecture and Environmental Design, Business, Engineering, Liberal Arts,
Science and Math. Students apply directly to a major and admission criteria
varies from college to college so it’s important to study up on all of the
programs before applying!
The Campus: Wow,
wow, wow! The campus is self-contained, residential, and walkable. Best of all,
it is filed with palm trees, surrounded by mountains (I snapped photo after
photo of the palm trees and the mountains…it is so different from our geography
on the East coast), and a short jaunt from the ocean. The facilities are
fantastic and include state of the art and modern engineering, business, and
science facilities. The fitness center, complete with an outdoor rock climbing
wall, is among the nicest, most student friend, and best equipped fitness
centers I have ever toured.
Seeing the stables that are part of the School of Agriculture was such a treat for DC counselors! |
There is a working dairy farm at the School of Agriculture - part of Cal Poly's Learn By Doing philosophy. |
Outdoor pool at the fitness center with a beautiful view. Yes, you can swim in the outdoor pool in December! |
The Students: Cal
Poly’s guiding philosophy is “Learn by Doing” and we heard this again and again
from the students. The curriculum focuses on real world application and Cal
Poly students are doing projects and presentations and internships and are so
actively engaged in their programs of study. I heard so much about academics
and studying and research that I was beginning to worry that they didn’t have
any fun (this is definitely not a party school!). I should not have been worried because the
students I met were eager to share about their lives outside of academics. When
they are not studying or interning, students venture into San Luis Obispo which
has a very lively and beautiful downtown area with shops and restaurants and
things do to (a smaller and more family friendly version of M Street – with palm
trees – have I mentioned the mountains?). I would describe Cal Poly students as
“outdoorsy” so they also spend time hiking and exploring the amazing coastline,
horseback riding (you can “borrow” a horse and take horseback riding classes on
campus or you can board your own horse in the stables on campus). Apparently it is not unheard of for a student
to ride a horse to class (you won’t see that at Boston College!). The beach is
also a popular destination and I learned that Cal Poly is one of the top “surfschools” in the country. Greek life is also popular and those over 21 sometimes
venture into the nearby wineries (Cal Poly offers a degree in Wine andViticulture). Obviously there is plenty of fun to experience! And because I get
this question all the time, the student “uniform” seems to be jeans and cowboy
boots or workout pants, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. The students are
hard-working but laid back California casual in their appearance (no J Crew or
Sperrys or otherwise preppy attire in sight!)
Who Should Consider
Cal Poly: If you are adventurous enough to consider colleges on the west
coast please look beyond UCLA, UC Berkeley, and USC! If you like those
colleges, you will like Cal Poly. If you are looking for a top Engineering or
Architecture program, look at Cal Poly. They boast some of the strongest
programs in the country in both fields. If you like UC Boulder but are worried
about the size, think of Cal Poly. If you like the idea of hiking and biking
and warm weather year round, this is your school!
Thank you to the wonderful admissions staff at Cal Poly for
an amazing visit and wonderful hospitality.
Published by: TSM
Thursday, January 22, 2015
What’s a Nittany Lion? I traveled to Penn State to find out!
Last week, I
had the opportunity to visit Pennsylvania State University to learn exactly
what a Nittany Lion is and to check out their awesome campus located in State
College. Penn State has 24 different campuses in cities across Pennsylvania and
their largest campus is called University Park, which is located in the city of
State College. University Park is home to 46,000 undergraduate students, including
11 current Visitation alumnae! The campus is an easy 3.5 hour drive from the DC
area and there is so much to see…..
My first
stop was to take a selfie with at the Nittany Lion Shrine.
It is a tradition
for students to pose with the Nittany Lion on graduation day. The word
“Nittany” comes from the Algonquin word Nit-A-Nee meaning “single mountain.”
The original inhabitants of the area used the word to describe one of the
mountains near the campus, which was at one time populated with mountain lions
(not anymore!) After checking out the shrine, I drove to see Beaver Stadium,
which is the second largest college football stadium in the country and seats
107,000 people. I can’t even imagine how exciting it would be to see a football
game there- the stadium is massive and fills to the brim on game days.
Walking
around downtown State College, I was amazed to see so many shops and
restaurants. The downtown area is directly across from campus so it was filled
with students at lunch time. There are plenty of places to pick up your
requisite Penn State gear!
Approximately
13,700 students live on campus and all first year students are required to live
on campus and are guaranteed housing. The campus is easily walkable but I
passed lots of buses, which would be great on particularly cold days. Even
though there are a lot of buildings and dorms, it is not that hard to walk from
one end of campus to another.
Penn State
offers more than 160 different majors, which are housed in the different
academic colleges. One of the most well-known academic colleges is the Smeal
College of Business. The business school building has state of the art
classrooms and a trading room, which allows students to experience hands-on,
real-time analysis of financial markets and manage an actual investment
portfolio through the Nittany Lion Fund.
Inside the Smeal College of Business |
While Penn State does offer some large
classes, 85 percent of first-year classes at University Park have 50 or fewer
students. As students being to take courses in their specific major, classes
get even smaller.
No visit to
Penn State is complete with a trip to the Berkey Creamery. In 1892, Penn State
began offering America’s first collegiate instruction in ice cream
manufacturing. The Creamery sells over 2.5 million ice cream cones each year
and it features a wide array of unique flavors.
YUM |
I tried the Berkey Brickle,
which is vanilla ice cream with a caramel swirl and pieces of peanut brickle-
it was delicious! Thankfully, I was told in advance that you are only allowed
to order one flavor of ice cream- you cannot mix and match. The only person
that was allowed to order more than one flavor at a time was President Clinton
during a visit to campus in 1996!
University
Park has so many resources available to undergraduate students.
Student Union. And Actual Students. |
Home to one of the biggest research libraries
in the country, as well as the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, which is the
largest multi-faith centers in the country, and the student union building that
has offices for the more than 900 various student organizations, it is clear
that everything is done on a bigger scale at Penn State! After my visit, I can
definitely understand why our students love the university.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Class of 2016 - here we go!
Today is the first day of second semester and that can only mean one thing....high school seniors are relaxed and high school juniors are:
A. Excited to begin the college process!
B. Counting the days until spring break.
C. Wondering why took so many hard classes this year.
D. All of the above.
Hopefully the answer for the Class of 2016 is A. The college process officially begins with the first day of College Counseling groups tomorrow. In preparation, juniors should check their schedules, and be sure to:
A. Excited to begin the college process!
B. Counting the days until spring break.
C. Wondering why took so many hard classes this year.
D. All of the above.
Hopefully the answer for the Class of 2016 is A. The college process officially begins with the first day of College Counseling groups tomorrow. In preparation, juniors should check their schedules, and be sure to:
1) Read pages xiii - xxiv. in our class textbook The College Finder (available in our bookstore).
2) Bring your i-pad to class fully charged with the Fiske Guide app downloaded and ready to go (Mr Haller sent this to you back in October.)
It's going to be an exciting semester!
Published by: TSM
Monday, January 12, 2015
O-H-I-O!!
The Buckeye State: home to eight US presidents; the first man to step on
the moon (Neil Armstrong); and currently, 22 Visi grads are there attending
college!
This year nine Ohio colleges visited our department to bring us news of
interesting things going on at their school.
Word is out, Ohio schools have a lot to offer in the way of academics,
sports, travel abroad opportunities, and campus life, so check them out! The number in parenthesis reflects the number
of Visitation graduates currently on campus:
University of Dayton, Dayton, OH (6)
Denison University, Granville, OH
John Carroll University, University Heights, OH (3)
Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (1)
Miami University, Oxford, OH (10)
Ohio University, Athens, OH
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH
Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH (2)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)