Campus Visits

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Colleges Are Not Created Equal

Colleges Are Not Created EqualLast month I spent some time travelling in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island where I met some amazing students, faculty and admission counselors at several colleges. As much as I enjoyed the trips personally, it also brought to mind just how important it is to understand what a college is all about before you apply.

In a post from last year, I talked about some of the major distinctions that make a college who it is. However, it’s so important to get beyond the basics like size, geography, ranking and cost.

Why?

Because if you don’t understand a college’s personality, you may end up in the wrong place. End up in the wrong place, and you may be very unhappy.

For example, at Messiah College, a Christian college in Mechanicsburg, PA, everything is about meaning and faith. What does it mean to be me, what I know and what I believe in? What does it mean to be an athlete, a writer, a musician, a male, a female, straight or gay? Messiah encourages deep conversation about everything we experience in life and how it relates to our faith.

At Clark University in Worcester, MA, the student body is very liberal and very unique. Clark is a place where difference is celebrated as diversity and the more diverse, the better. Cliques do not exist at Clark as all students are involved in a little bit of everything; it is common to find a student who is a strong athlete and a great artist as well.

I walked around Messiah feeling peaceful, like I wanted to take it all in and figure out the meaning of life. At Clark, I was constantly wondering what else I would see around the next corner and how colorful or loud it might be.

My personal reflections aside, there’s so much to like about each school. They both offer a liberal arts education strengthened by their pre-professional programs in business, engineering and health sciences. They also have generous merit scholarship programs for their best students which you can check out here and here.

But they are very different places and that’s important for you to know because a student at either school would more than likely feel very much out of place at the other school.

So, as you look at colleges and visit their campuses, pay close attention to how the campus feels, how the people feel and how the atmosphere feels. You want to walk away with a more informed opinion of how you would fit in so that you make sure to end up in the right place.

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation.

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Eric Dec 04, 2013 , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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How One Student Made The Most Of His College Visit

Making The Most of College Visits

I received a call the other day from one my students, Nick, who had spent the day at SUNY Oneonta, a regional state university situated in the middle of upstate New York. He was scheduled to attend their information session but had also called ahead to secure an interview with an admission counselor. With the school residing nearly four hours from his hometown, it wasn’t likely that he was going back for a second visit before application season takes off. The school had only recently shown up on Nick’s radar and with a day off from school for Rosh Hashanah, he and his dad made the trek to campus.

Once the interview was over, Nick and his dad decided to skip the information session. He felt they had already received so much good information from the admission counselor that sitting through a 45-minute presentation would be redundant. They took a chance and decided to go off the beaten path to explore campus on their own.

Nick is a prospective music industry major so they decided to visit the music building to take a look around. Once inside, they ran into a few students. They made small talk with the students and then happened upon a professor who was on his way to teach a class. After introducing himself, the professor offered to show them around the building. He talked about the program’s strengths, the opportunities that were there for a student like Nick and also showed them around the sound recording studios. But it’s what happened next that got me so excited for Nick.

Realizing the time had come for his class to start shortly, the professor invited Nick to sit in on his class.

Nick accepted this professor’s offer and spent the next hour and half getting a taste of what a college class would feel like.

I’m so proud of him for doing what he did and I couldn’t have scripted it any better even if I had tried. If Nick had just sat through the information session, he would have missed out on all of this. He never would have sat in on the class, he never would have had a first hand look at the studios and he never would have called me with the level of excitement in his voice that I heard that day.

Instead, he took a chance, struck up some conversations and ended up having an experience that may just end up being a game-changer by the time his applications have been submitted and the dust has settled.

Now, that’s how you make the most of a college visit.

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a FREE 60-minute consultation.

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Eric Sep 08, 2013 , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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Seven Tips For A Successful Interview

Dobler College ConsultingThis post originally made its debut on my blog last March, but as we’ve been talking college visits for the last couple weeks, it’s only natural that the conversation include interviews:

Last week I wrote about how important it is for students to be the ones to make the call when an interview needs to be scheduled. Today, I wanted to follow up on that idea with some tips on how to have a successful interview. In my career, I have interviewed hundreds of students – sometimes because I wanted to know more about them and sometimes because they wanted to come in and talk about their application and tell their story. I loved it when students sought me out first; when they wanted to make that concerted effort to demonstrate their interest and their potential.

From these experiences, here are seven tips to help you make the most of campus interviews:

  1. Arrive at campus at least 10-15 minutes early and make sure you have contact information for your interviewer with you. This way, if you get lost, get stuck in traffic or cannot find parking right away, and are going to be late, you want to make sure they know WHY you are late. Don’t want to worry about this at all? Get to campus 30 minutes early and then you have some time to walk around on your own and collect your thoughts prior to the interview.
  2. Have a game plan for what you want to accomplish. Yes, the interviewer is going to want to know certain things about you, but you also need to take an active role in the interview – what do you want the interviewer to know about you, your accomplishments, interests, and goals? Use your answers to provide specific examples the help demonstrate your brand.
  3. Bring a list of questions with you in a small notebook so that you are prepared for when the interviewer asks if you have any questions for them. The interviewer will be impressed that you were prepared and it will show them that you are taking your college application process seriously. Just don’t ask basic questions that can be found on the school’s website. Focus on what’s important to you in your college search.
  4. Try as hard as you can to be yourself. You don’t need to interview in a suit but do dress appropriately for the interview so that you are comfortable. The last thing you want to experience is a distraction from your ill-advised choice of clothing. Outside of your appearance, you also want to provide the school with a look at the authentic you and you’re not going to accomplish that if you are pretending to be someone you are not.
  5. Speak clearly and listen attentively – you’ve earned this opportunity, now go in and own it. Talk to the interviewer, not the floor, walls or ceiling. Likewise, listen closely to the questions you are being asked and, if you need to, take a moment to think about how you want to respond. You want to make sure you are answering the questions but also sticking to your game plan of what you want them to know about you.
  6. Don’t be afraid to follow up an answer to a question with a question of your own. For example, if you are asked about continuing a sport or activity, once you’ve answered, ask the interviewer about what they did in high school and if they were able to continue it in college. Did they find this difficult and what were the specific challenges?
  7. Always thank the interviewer for his or her time. Get their business card or (contact information if it is a student interviewer) and send them a thank you email or card within 24 hours of your visit. Keep it simple and to the point but take the opportunity to restate your desire to attend their college. Admissions counselors LOVE thank you notes!

If you have any questions about how to make the most of college interviews, please use the comment section below.

You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com for help on preparing for interviews and to complete a mock interview before you go in for the real thing.

 

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Eric Mar 03, 2013 , , , , , , , , No Comments
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How To Make The Most Of A College Visit

Dobler College Consulting

Note: I will be conducting a free college admissions workshop titled, “Navigating The College Admissions Journey” on February 26th. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more.

Last week I gave you 8 great questions to ask on a college visit. As we inch closer to March and more moderate weather a lot of you will be visiting colleges. And you should. This is a great time of year to visit. But you also need to make sure you are making the most of these visits.

Typically, colleges will have you sit in on an information session where you will hear from an admission counselor and possibly a current student or two before you go out on an hour to hour and a half long tour.

You will learn a lot about the school but you want to get beyond the basic facts so that you really get a feel for the campus, the people who teach and work there and the students who go there.

And here’s how you do it:

1. Sit in on a class in your major

This is a great way to get a feel for the academic quality of the school. Obviously one class is not going to tell you everything, but it should tell you some things. If you can shadow a student in your major for a day and actually attend a few classes and meet some other students, that would be even better!

2. Meet with a faculty member

If there’s one thing faculty like to do, its talk about what they teach. Their lives revolve around their work and if you are very decided with your major and want to know more about what you can expect from this school, scheduling a meeting with a faculty member who teaches in your major is a great way to go.

3. Attend a game or event

Check the college’s schedule ahead of time and see if there is anything going on when you will be visiting such as a basketball game, a visiting comedian or even a guest lecturer. This is a great way to get a feel for just how into their school the student body really is. If you find that there really isn’t a whole lot going on, that should tell you something about life outside the classroom.

4. Have lunch in the cafeteria

Leave yourself some time to have lunch in the cafeteria or even the student center. Let’s be honest, food is important and you want to get a feel for the quality of it. But this is also a great way to sit back and people watch. Can’t make it for lunch? Breakfast or dinner will also work.

5. Stay overnight

Some colleges will have formal overnight programs and others will not. You should always ask because if there’s a chance you can spend a day and then stay overnight in a residence hall with some current students, you will learn so much about the school.

If you’re interested in doing any of these items, especially the ones that need to be arranged, make sure you call and ask several weeks ahead of when you plan to visit. If you just show up at a college and expect them to get you into a class or into a meeting with a faculty member on the spot, it’s not going to happen.

If you have any questions you would like to ask, use the comment box below or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com. If you think this makes a lot of sense, consider sharing it with someone you know.

 

Learn More at Dobler College Consulting’s College Admissions Workshop

I will be hosting a free workshop titled, “Navigating The College Admissions Journey” this Tuesday, February 26th at the Huntington Branch Library in Shelton, CT. For more information or to reserve your seat, head over to my Events page.

The workshop shares strategies to help your son or daughter navigate the college admissions process while eliminating mistakes that tend to reduce their chances of admission. Topics include college lists, online resources, essays, interviews, campus visits and what you need to know about making college more affordable.

All workshop participants will receive information handouts and will be eligible for special discounts off private college counseling services.

Don’t live in or near Shelton? You can easily get in touch with me to set up a free 60-minute consultation to help address your pressing college admissions-related questions and issues.

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Eric Feb 24, 2013 , , , , , , , No Comments
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8 Great Questions To Ask On A College Visit

Dobler College ConsultingNote: I will be conducting a free college admissions workshop titled, “Navigating The College Admissions Journey” on February 26th. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more.

 

With the long weekend upon us and a need for a change in scenery after 30+ inches of snow last week, I decided to visit some colleges. On Friday, I drove up to the Boston area and spent the day at two excellent business schools: Bentley and Babson.

While the tour guides at each school did a great job sharing information and talking about their classes and overall experience, I was really surprised that the students and families visiting had very few, if any, questions to ask. And it wasn’t for lack of opportunity either. The tour guides at both schools repeatedly invited questions but, for the most part, were met with silence.

So, I thought I would use today’s post to give you some inspiration for things you want to know more about when you are visiting a college campus:

1. Can a student in (insert your major here) graduate in four years but still complete internships and/or study abroad?

If a four year program becomes a five year program due to experiential opportunities being added in, you need to decide if the additional cost and time are worth it.

2. What’s it like to study (insert your major here) at this college?

This is a variation of the “Do you have my major?” question, but it is likely to yield a more informative answer since it asks the tour guide or admissions counselor to qualify what your four years will feel like.

3. What is the percentage of courses that close early or require signing up for a waiting list?

You want to know how the college departments handle this issue and if it prevents students from graduating on time.

4. What is the percentage of students who find work in their academic area within six months of graduating?

Four to five years of college should lead to something productive afterwards – knowing how many students in your field are finding something relevant and how quickly is worth knowing.

5. What kinds of career-related services does the school provide?

Some schools have departments specifically dedicated to career-related services that start working with students as early as freshman year. At others, the services may be minimal and not well publicized. How much career-related support the school offers matters.

6. As far as experiential learning goes, how early can students start doing internships and/or co-ops? 

While a college education is earned through time in the classroom, success after college is mostly earned through experience and the mastery of skills and abilities. In today’s economy, completing one internship is an absolute must. Completing several is even better. To do that, you have to start early. Will the college support that?

7. How is the college trying to improve itself?

Seeing active construction or a new building obviously speaks to the physical upgrading and expansion of a campus. However, improvement is not always a physical thing. How is the university or college working to improve the quality of its teaching and its services? 

8. What types of support services are offered for academics?

What is the support system on campus? Who are the advisors and what is the advising structure? Counseling? Is there a peer mentoring program or even a faculty/staff mentoring program? Is there a freshman year experience program and, if so, how is it run?

At the end of the day, tour guides are going to share with you what the colleges want them to share. Do yourself a favor by asking questions that get beyond the basics. Ask questions that affect you personally and that will help you qualify whether or not this school is the right one for you.

These are only suggestions to help you get thinking about what’s important to you, but if you have any questions you like to ask, use the comment box below or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com. If you think this makes a lot of sense, consider sharing it with someone you know.

Learn More at Dobler College Consulting’s College Admissions Workshop

I will be hosting a free workshop titled, “Navigating The College Admissions Journey” on February 26th at the Huntington Branch Library in Shelton, CT. For more information or to reserve your seat, head over to my Events page.

The workshop shares strategies to help your son or daughter navigate the college admissions process while eliminating mistakes that tend to reduce their chances of admission. Topics include college lists, online resources, essays, interviews, campus visits and what you need to know about making college more affordable.

All workshop participants will receive information handouts and will be eligible for special discounts off private college counseling services.

Don’t live in or near Shelton? You can easily get in touch with me to set up a free 60-minute consultation to help address your pressing college admissions-related questions and issues.

Read More
Eric Feb 17, 2013 , , , , , , , No Comments