COLLEGE CAMPUS VISITS - PART TWO

College Campus Visits - Part Two

The car is packed, GPS programmed and you are about to set out with your teen on what can be a great opportunity to bond and impart words of wisdom as he or she embarks on their college search. On the other hand without careful planning, knowledge about the process, patience and communication, the campus visit can be needlessly difficult.  Here is how to get the most out of your visits.

First, here’s a tip from a seasoned college parent. Put your high school student in the “driver’s seat”.  Let them take the lead and ask the questions they need to make an informed choice. Your teens will appreciate you for hanging back a bit and not being the overbearing or dorky parent.  Trust me, someone else’s parent will inevitably ask your question, sparing your student the “embarrassment.” That is not to say don’t ask any relevant questions.  Just try to  relax and enjoy the experience of watching your child take the next step on life’s path.

The two major components of a campus visit are: the information session and the tour. Students need to check with each school to determine the process for scheduling visits and interviews. Many schools require preregistration, which can often be done online.

Campus Information Session:  Information sessions and tours generally follow one another and are scheduled throughout the day.  Upon arriving on campus, students should sign in at the admissions office. Colleges do keep track of the number and type of contacts students have made with their school.  Contacts demonstrate an interest in attending and may make a difference in an admission decision, all other things being equal.  It is appropriate to send a thank you note to the information session leader as well as the student tour guide.

The information session lasts about an hour and is conducted by a member of the Admissions staff.  An overview is given about the school history, physical facilities, admissions criteria, academic programs, clubs, activities, residential life, academic support and career services, and financial aid. Bring a notebook or checklist to jot down information and impressions. Time is allotted for questions that are appropriate for the entire group verses detailed queries regarding a single student.

Campus Tour:  Grab your walking shoes and a camera and you will learn fascinating trivia and more on a campus tour.  For example, did you know: The Brown University Band marches backwards through the center of the Van Wickle gates to avoid the superstition that students who pass through the gates won’t graduate? Led by current students the tour is an excellent way to gain a fresh perspective on what campus life is like from a peer. A typical tour includes visits to a residence hall, library, student center, dining facilities, recreational complex, and classroom buildings. Tour guides can be a wealth of knowledge about the social environment, residential life and the rigors of the curriculum. Recognize that since guides formally represent and are trained by the school they may not reflect the perspective of every student.

Other things to see and do while visiting:  Here are a few more suggestions of valuable things to do that are not generally included in the information session or tour. Have a meal in the cafeteria to evaluate the food and watch the student interactions.  Arrange to sit in on a classroom in a subject of interest and/or meet with a professor.  Tour or drive around the surrounding town and area.  Read the campus newspaper and bulletin boards. Walk around on your own and talk to students about their experiences.

Depending on the timing of your visit this can also be an ideal time to schedule an interview if offered. Interviews can be optional or a required part of the admissions process, depending on the college.  Tips for college interviews are the subject of a future article.

Additional ways to get a glimpse of campuses:  Setting a foot on campus is the best way to get a feel for how well you fit, but there are other methods. Sign up for visits from college representatives at your high school. Check out online virtual tours at: www.youniversitytv.com and virtual college fairs at: www.collegeweeklive.com.  Attend one of the upcoming spring National College Fairs in Hartford, Boston or Providence. Visit www.nacacnet.org for more information.

Francine Schwartz is the Founder of Pathfinder Counseling LLC.  As an Educational Consultant and Certified School Counselor, she has guided numerous families through the college search and selection process.  For assistance contact Francine at: 860-460-8829

fschwartz@pathfindercounselingllc.com www.pathfindercounselingllc.com

Article Reprinted from “The Jewish Leader” January 28, 2011

All rights reserved

COLLEGE CAMPUS VISITS - PART ONE

College Campus Visits - Part One

Harbingers of spring, instantly recognizable, they appear yearly in groups on every college campus.  Their leader is a confident young adult with the amazing skill of walking backwards.  Ducks returning from lands to the south, you might ask?  No, what you are witnessing is the start of the campus visit season.  As a college consultant who has visited close to a hundred campuses and moreover a parent who has participated in this rite of passage with my own three offspring, I will share some tips with you to help make your campus visits productive and stress free.

Tips for Freshman/Sophomores

The most important thing I want to convey is that there is absolutely no better way to decide whether a school is the right match than to set foot on its campus.  My advice is to begin visiting a few colleges as early as freshman/sophomore year of high school.  The purpose of these initial visits is to get a feel for the types of schools out there.  Choose a few schools close to home of different sizes from a large state university to a smaller private liberal arts college.   Utilize family vacation time to informally visit colleges, in the area where you are traveling.  Remember that these visits are only preliminary to assist in formulating your needs and preferences.

Tips for Juniors

Junior year is the time to hone your college choices. Try to have most visits completed well before the fall of Senior year when the application process begins in earnest.  Visiting when school is in session is an ideal way to see the campus in action.  Realize that spring vacation of Junior year may be one of the last times you can visit campuses when students are there.

At this stage identify what factors are important to you in selecting colleges. Some areas may have higher priority than others..  Gathering information through visits and other methods will enable you to find schools that are a good fit and also to eliminate other schools. Focus on the following factors.

1.Type:  Choices include two year associates degrees or technical certificates; four year bachelors degrees; five-year programs with a co-op component and combined bachelors and master degree programs.

2.Location:  Factors include the distance from home and whether the college is in an urban, rural or suburban area.

3. Size:   Is the college large (greater than 10,000 undergraduates), medium (3,000 – 10,000) or small  (Under 3,000)?

4. Academics: Does the college have a strong program in your area of interest? Is the college geared to the Liberal Arts offering a broad choice of majors, which may be advantageous for students still exploring their interests?

5.Students:  What is the makeup of the student body? Are students mostly in state or out of state; commuters or living on campus?  How diverse are the students in terms of race, religion, political, sexual orientation, socio economic, and cultural factors?   What is the social atmosphere like? Most importantly can you envision yourself as part of this group living and studying together?

6.Cost:  What is the cost for tuition room and board? What percentage of the students receive financial aid? Would you qualify for merit-based aid?

7. Additional Factors: Depending on your individual interests and needs, investigate the following: athletic programs both NCAA, intramural and club sports; ROTC; and resources for students who need extra support due to physical, learning or emotional disabilities.

Finalize a list of schools to visit. If you have schools that are very similar and time does not permit pick one school and chose to visit the others later once accepted. Call, email or schedule your visit online with the admissions office well in advance since many schools require a reservation to take a tour or attend an information session. If optional or mandatory interviews are offered schedule those as well.

Carefully map out a logical route covering no more than two schools in one day. I found it worked well to drive to a location the night before and take the early  morning tour when well rested.

Tips for Seniors:  Utilize the early fall to make any last minute visits. Once you receive your acceptances take advantage of the opportunity to revisit schools during accepted student days.   Arrange an overnight stay in the dorms. Remember you are the one who will be living and studying on this campus. Review all of your options with a critical eye and get answers to any last minute questions you have. 

Part II will cover additional things to consider when visiting a college campus.

Francine Schwartz is the Founder of Pathfinder Counseling LLC.  As a Certified School Counselor and Educational Consultant she has guided numerous families through the college search and selection process.  For assistance contact Francine at: 860-460-8829 or fschwartz@pathfindercounselingllc.com www.pathfindercounselingllc.com

Article Reprinted from “The Jewish Leader” 2/25/11

All Rights Reserved

10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COLLEGE WEBSITES

10 Things You Should Know about College Websites

One of the best resources for students thinking about college is the college website (or portal). Here you'll find the most distinctive and best features of each school—or at least what the college would like you to think are its best features. Here's what to do:

1. Surf the college. You might think you're going to the University of X, or X State, but actually all universities are made up of different entities called colleges (or sometimes schools). So for the best information, navigate to the college page of the university website—for example, the college of liberal arts, engineering, or business or the school of visual arts, hotel management, or buffalo herding. Sometimes these colleges will be named after famous people, in which case you'll have to look for the name of the guy who put up the $100 million for the naming rights—e.g., the John G. Hoofalos College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

2. Tab to the tabs. The main information you'll need should be under one of these tabs or buttons at the top of the page: ADMISSIONS, ACADEMICS, RESEARCH, and CAMPUS LIFE. Be sure to start with them. Also, be on the lookout for tabs for both PROSPECTIVE (or FUTURE) STUDENTS and CURRENT STUDENTS. There's usually much better information for those already at the college than for those thinking they might like to go there.

3. Scour the admissions area. Here you'll find out essential matters about the admissions requirements, application procedures, deadlines, and that all-important info about financial aid. You'll be able to guess if you can get in and, once in, whether you'll be able to afford to stay.

4. Scope out the "extras." Take a peek at the special programs at the college—for example, the first-year experience (FYE) course or freshman seminar, the honors college, the study-abroad program, and any community service ("service learning") and internship opportunities. These differ widely from college to college and can be a good gauge of the mission and focus of the college, as well as of how many bucks it has to spend on such programs. And while these might seem like "extras," they could be some of the most valuable educational experiences you're going to have at college.

Extra Pointer.

And while you're at it, how about the free services offered up every year: the writing center, the academic advancement center, the tutoring service, the health service and counseling center, and the center for students with disabilities? All of these could be valuable to you and could be a measure of how many resources the college has.

5. Bone up on the requirements. Many colleges have a number of courses that you are required to take—sometimes called core courses or general education (gen. ed.) requirements. And if that weren't enough, there are distribution requirements—different areas of study (for example, humanities, social science, science) in which you have to take a specified number of classes. Carefully consider how many such "must do" courses there are and how restrictive a college program you're buying into. It's well worth knowing in advance just how much force-feeding you'll be subjected to.

6. Check out the majors. Some schools might have only about 20 majors, while others can list as many as 354. So, especially if you have a field you think you'd like to learn about, it's important to check to see that the college actually teaches that area. You'd be amazed at how often some hapless student arrives at college only to find that it doesn't have the major he or she planned on taking.

Four-Star Tip.

And while you're thinking about majors, it'd be a good idea to click on the link for the department home page for that major. There you'll find a list of requirements for that major, a list of the faculty who teach in that major, and, with any luck, some course pages with actual syllabuses. Check out what the faculty teach and what they think about in their research.

7. Cruise the course schedule. Colleges have two kinds of listings for the courses taught. One is the course catalog, which lists every possible course offered at the school—a sort of history of all courses that have ever been taught and a hope chest for ones that might be taught. The other is the course schedule, a listing of the courses actually offered in a given semester (e.g., Fall 2008, Winter 2009). Concentrate on the course schedule. Ask yourself: How many courses are being taught, how big are the courses, how many hours a week do they meet, and are they lectures or discussions (or both)?

Extra Pointer.

At some (more secretive) schools, the course schedule is password protected. If you can't get to the course schedule, wait till you visit the campus and then ask a student if he'll log in to let you see the course schedule. (Promise that you won't peek at grades and personal E-mail. Or maybe your accomplice can watch over your shoulder while you surf the schedule.)

8. Assess the atmosphere. Colleges have met YouTube. So at many college websites, you'll find professional-level videos offering you "tours of the campus." These videos will give you a pretty good idea of the things the school wants to highlight—their shiny new buildings, modern labs, lovely student center, enormous football stadium, beautifully landscaped lawns, and enticing offerings at the food court. Enjoy the tour, but take it with a grain of salt. They never show you the overflowing toilets in the dorms, the lectures with 1,000 people in them, and the buckets under the leaks in the up-for-demolition psych building.

9. Go clubbing. It's always nice to see what kinds of student clubs a college has. You might just be dying to join the Jews for Jesus or the Wiccans, the Young Green Republicans or the Democrats for Ron Paul, the Rock/Paper/Scissors Club or the Death Cab for Cutie fan club. And, even if you don't want to join in on the fun, the information will give you a better feel for what's going on at the school and what the students are like.

10. Start the conversation. Sign up to receive information.  This will place you on the school mailing list, which puts you on the college radar screen.  Some schools will communicate via snail mail and others will simply send you periodic emails to keep you interested in what they have to offer.  The other advantage is that college reps will have your name when they come visiting the area.  You may be invited to presentations or even to lunch depending on the rep’s schedule or particular agenda.  It never hurts to show interest and signing up for basic information from a school is a good first step toward establishing a conversation.

Adapted from an article by:   Lynn F. Jacobs <http://www.usnews.com/Topics/tag/Author/j/jacobs_lynn_f/index.html>  and Jeremy S. Hyman <http://www.usnews.com/Topics/tag/Author/h/hyman_jeremy_s/index.html>

SECT Women's Network Features Pathfinder Counseling P-2

http://sectwomensnetwork.org/newsletters/SECTWNmarch11.pdf

Click on the link above to see the Spotlight Article from the Southeastern  Connecticut Women's Network.