Delaware Valley College

New Life Sciences Building

Student Union

Academics - In December, I visited Delaware Valley College (DelVal) in Doylestown, PA.  DelVal is a small residential college, only an hour from Bridgewater, with some pretty unusual majors and academic programs, especially for a small private college in the northeast.  These include Agribusiness, Conservation and Wildlife Management, Small Animal Science, Zoo Science, Animal Science, Equine Sciences and Management, Livestock Science and Management, Zoology, Equine Studies, Food Science, Hydroponics, Sustainable Agriculture, and Turf Management.  The school’s motto is “Science with practice” and it requires an experiential-learning component (i.e., all DelVal students will have a real-world experience).  Students with over a 3.5 GPA and 1100 or more on their SAT (2 parts) are typically invited to be part of the Honors Program.

Campus - Most of the buildings are white and are arranged around a grassy quad. In the Spring, the new Life Sciences building will open.  The college includes 225 acres of field crops, 60 acres of orchards, an apiary for beekeeping, greenhouses, dairy and livestock operations, and a farm market.  The school is an arboretum.  I got the feeling that parking may be in short supply.

Extracurricular activities - When you are not studying you can join one of the more than 75 clubs and organizations or one of the 22 NCAA Division III athletic teams.  Go Aggies!  When I visited, the Apiary Club was selling honey and beeswax candles outside the all-you-can-eat Dining Hall.  There is a SEPTA railroad station on campus that will take you to Philly in 30 minutes.

Merit Aid - There is sizable merit aid ($16K or more) for freshman with GPAs of 3.0 or more and SAT scores (Critical Reading and Math) of 1000 or more.

What is your experience with DelVal?

Fairfield University

Basics – Earlier this fall I visited Fairfield University, a private Jesuit University with 3300 undergraduate students on a 200-acre campus in Fairfield, Connecticut.



Academics – The university offers 41 majors and 16 minors. The average class size is 23 students. 96% of the classes are taught by someone with a terminal degree; there are no teaching assistants. Freshmen take a First Year Experience class one hour a week, with their summer orientation group, to learn about the school services. Students can double major or take a major and a minor. Students take 60 credits in the core and 60-70 credits in their major(s). 50 – 60% of the students study abroad and their scholarship/aid goes with them. There is a very high concentration of Fortune 500 companies within a commuting distance from the university.



There are 70 – 80 freshmen in the School of Nursing. The nursing students start their clinicals early and 100% of the nursing students passed their nursing board exam the first time. Nursing students can study abroad in Ireland or Italy.



There are 60 – 70 freshmen in the School of Engineering, which has five engineering majors. Students interested in other engineering majors can participate in a 3/2 engineering program. Engineering students can study abroad in Bolivia and often get internships at Sikorsky.



The students in the Dolan School of Business typically do two or three internships and can participate in a business plan competition. The competition winners get money to launch their business.



The largest school is the school of arts and sciences, which includes many pre-professionals. More than 96% of the pre-med students get into medical school.



Campus Life – 96% of the students live on campus. Housing is guaranteed all four years and is organized by the year of college the student is in. The dorms include a mini-frig/microwave. Juniors and seniors have options for apartments, townhouses or suites. Seniors can petition to move to Fairfield Beach, which is on the water, about one mile from campus.



Freshmen cannot have cars on campus. Sophomores cannot have cars on campus, except for the nursing students. There is a bus on campus, as well as zip cars. There are two train stations within walking distance of the campus. Students can get to New York by train in 1 to 1.25 hours.



There are over 100 clubs at Fairfield University. You can start a club if you have between 10 and 12 students and a club advisor. There are NCAA Division I sports, club sports and intramural sports. Basketball is the biggest Division I sport. The university brings in outside speakers.



Mass is available daily; there is no required chapel attendance.



Admissions and Financial Aid – Fairfield University accepts the Common App. The school offers Early Action, Early Decision, and Regular Decision. The school is test optional and there is an optional interview by a counselor or senior student. Most high school students accepted by Fairfield University had an A-/B+ average in high school.



The Cost of Attendance at Fairfield University is about $56K per year. The school offers both need-based and merit aid and uses the CSS/Profile. The largest merit aid package is $22K a year. It typically goes to students with an A/A- grade point average, who scored 2000 or higher on their SATs, and who had strong involvement in their high school/community.



What is your experience with Fairfield University?

Lynn University

Basics – Lynn University is a small, private coed university in sunny Boca Raton, Florida established fifty years ago.  When you arrive you come into a circle of flags from around the globe.  50% of the students are from Florida, 30% are from other states, and more than 20% are international.  Typically there are thirty to fifty NJ students each year.  Perhaps you have heard of Lynn University because they hosted one of the presidential debates.

My tour guide, Katya, was an international student.  She was an undergraduate at Lynn and is currently pursuing her MBA there.  Her sister also attends Lynn.  Katya had been on the dance team, was a Resident Assistant, and was a buddy to students with Autism and Downs Syndrome in the ACCESS program.  She liked Lynn because the professors were very accessible. 

Majors – Popular majors include marketing, hospitality and international business in the School of Business.  Investment management is a new major.  A new business building is being built.

The International School of Communication includes majors in media design, multimedia journalism, film and drama.  I saw the hands-on TV and radio production studios in the communications building.

The conservatory of music has 50 students, all on full scholarship. The liberal arts college includes a criminal justice major.  Lynn University offers aviation management in their flight academy.

Other Academics – All freshmen get a mini-iPad loaded with course material for required classes. 

The school offers three-year Bachelors degrees as well as 3 + 1 Bachelors/Masters degree for many majors.

Lynn offers study abroad in 40 countries for the January term, the summer, a semester or a year.  Lynn has sister schools in Dublin and Greece.

Support Services – 19% of the students take advantage of the comprehensive learning disability services at the Institute for Achievement and Learning, where an academic coach works with students on a weekly schedule.  This institute has 20 professional tutors with at least a Masters degree, a Writing Center with professional staff, and assistive technology.  There is support for students with Aspergers.

Retention – 69% of students return for their sophomore year and 40% graduate within 6 years.  To improve their retention, Lynn has recently instituted a mentor program for all students.  One staff member, who is not a professor, mentors five to ten freshmen. 

Extracurricular Activities – The school has NCAA Division II athletics.  The biggest sport to watch is basketball.  The women’s golf team recently won a championship.  Lynn just started a men’s Lacrosse team.  A new stadium for soccer and lacrosse will be finished in the Spring. 

There are three sororities and two fraternities at Lynn. 

Students are very involved with community service, cultural clubs, the psychology club, the communications club, intramurals and club sports. 

The second photo shows the monument built to remember students and faculty who died while doing community service in the January term in Haiti when the earthquake hit.

Campus housing – The freshman housing was pretty typical of most universities: doubles with a shared bathroom down the hall.  The unique feature of the freshman dorm was a sink in each room.

Admissions / Financial Aid – Admissions are rolling and the college is test optional.  95% of applicants are admitted.  Students with SAT scores for Critical Reading and Math between 890 and 1040, with a minimum GPA of 2.9, qualify for merit aid between $6,000 and $12,000 a year.  There is one Presidential full scholarship. 

Who would be happy at Lynn? – A student who is open to interacting with students of different nationalities and who is interested in participating in the school’s extracurricular activities would be happy here.

What is your experience with Lynn University?

Sacred Heart University

In late September, I set off to Fairfield, Connecticut to visit a private Catholic college, Sacred Heart University. 

First, I had a tasty lunch in the McMahon Commons Food Court with a student I had worked with, who is now a Sacred Heart Sophomore.  He told me, “I fell in love with the school.”  He was looking well and was involved in college life through bowling, the choir, community service, and campus ministry activities. 

Then, off I went to the information session and tour.  Here’s what I learned.

Basics - Sacred Heart was founded in 1963.  It has about 3800 undergraduates with an average class size of 21 and common core classes of between 20 and 30 students.  There are four colleges: Business, Education, Health, and Arts & Sciences.

Extracurriculars - Students can get involved in the over 80 clubs and organizations.  These include athletics, theatre arts, Greek life, community service, and more.

850 students participate in the 31 NCAA Division I teams, including men’s football, women’s basketball, and men’s baseball.  600 students participate in 24 club sports, where they practice two or three times a week and travel to tournaments about once a month.  There are also intramural sports. 

There are four fraternities and six sororities at Sacred Heart.

Students provided over 53,000 hours of community service last year.  Building homes during Spring Break throughout the US, with Habitat for Humanity, is popular.  So are local community service in Bridgeport and Spring Break missionary trips.

Housing - Housing is guaranteed all four years and is required for the first two years.  The dorm rooms include a mini-frig and microwave.  Upper class housing is not on the main campus.  There is shuttle service to upper class housing, the supermarket and the mall. 

Applying and Financial Aid - Sacred Heart is a Common App school.  The average GPA of the high school student who applies is 3.2.  The school is test optional, with an SAT average of 1100 (Critical Reading and Math) and an ACT average of 24.  There is Early Action, Early Decision and Regular admission.  On the financial aid side, Sacred Heart is a CSS/Profile school.  93% of students get financial aid.

What is your experience with Sacred Heart?

Dickinson College

When I visited Dickinson College at the end of August, I was treated to an information session hosted by Greg Boyer, an admissions officer who reads NJ college applications.  Greg wins the prize for the admissions officer most excited by the college he represents. Greg shared the following information about Dickinson College:

Academics – Dickinson has 42 majors.  34% of the students are science majors. Business, economics, political science and history are also popular majors.  Spanish is the 6^th most popular major.  Students can develop their own major. 

66% of the majors have a global perspective.  50% of the professors have lived abroad.  Dickinson offers 13 foreign languages, more than any other liberal arts college in the country.

The average class size is between 16 and 17 students.  There is a close student / faculty relationship.

The school studied retention of knowledge and decided to make their classes into workshops with hands-on application.  For example, instead of taking Biology 101, students might take the Science of Cancer. Students studying science, do research.  65% of students will do an original publication before graduation.  Art history majors must curate an art exhibition before graduating.  There are two archeology labs that simulate dig experience, as well as opportunities to participate in archeology digs in two locations. 

There are general education requirements, which include a freshman seminar, a US diversity class, 2 lab sciences, 1.5 semesters of physical education, and classes from three different areas.  Being “green” is integrated into the curriculum.  ROTC is available.

Study Abroad and Internships- 60% of students study abroad with 85% of them on a Dickinson program.  Financial aid can be used for study abroad. The Dickinson study abroad programs are not in major tourist cities; they have their own buildings and staff and students have an opportunity to do an internship while abroad. 

85% of students do internships.  Internships in New York City, Washington, DC, and abroad are available.  Greg studied abroad in Italy and completed an internship there with a boss who only spoke Italian.

Students – 81% of the students are from outside of Pennsylvania.  Students come from many foreign countries, with the largest numbers of foreign students coming from China and Bulgaria.

Surrounding area – Dickinson is in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which is the county seat.  In addition to Dickinson College, there is the Dickinson Law School, a war College, and ballet training in Carlisle.  There are 33 restaurants within 3 blocks of the college.

Extracurriculars – There are 125 clubs.  35% of the student body goes Greek.  Men can rush in the second semester and women can rush in the third semester.  Students have done 46,000 hours of community service in Carlisle. The men’s lacrosse team was second in the nation last year. There is a strong mock trial and debate team.  Intramural and club sports are popular, including  equestrian.  You don’t have to be a Theatre major to be involved in the theatre productions.

 

Facilities – There is a “new” $85 million science center.  The college has a 188- acre organic farm six miles from the main campus; the produce is used in the school dining hall and also supports a local food bank.

College president – There is a new college president who was a dean at Williams and on the biology faculty.

College history – Dickinson was founded by Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1786.  Dr. Rush was a physician to George Washington, the founder of psychology, an abolitionist, wanted students to be educated in useful arts and sciences and to push them intellectually.  Dickinson was the first US college to offer modern foreign languages and the first to offer field study.  This history infuses what happens at the college today.

Franklin & Marshall College

The Basics - Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a residential college of about 2,000 undergraduates on a 125-acre campus in Lancaster, PA.


Dorm Life - At F&M, you will live with the students in your freshman seminar class in one of the five college houses. Students are interviewed for a half hour to pick a compatible freshman roommate. As a sophomore, you have the opportunity to move to suite style living. As a junior or senior, you can move to a college-affiliated apartment. Even if you don’t live in one of the five college houses as an upper-classman, you can use space in the college house you lived in as a freshman, for all four years.


Common Hour - On Thursdays from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM, everything closes for common hour, where a talk or performance is provided with free pizza, drinks and fruit. The first common hour of the school year usually is a talk given by the college president. The college president also has open office hours when students can stop by and talk with him.


Surrounding neighborhood - F&M is in Lancaster, which has about 60,000 residents. Students can walk downtown or go by shuttle bus and take advantage of restaurants, movies, the farmer’s market and the art scene (including First Friday). The school is less than a mile from an Amtrak station.


Financial Aid - F&M is a CSS/PROFILE school that meets 100% of need; it does not provide merit aid to freshmen. If you are applying early decision, you can get an early read on your aid package.

Applying - F&M uses the Common Application, does a holistic review of your application, and recommends that you have an interview. The school is test optional; two pieces of graded writing can be used in lieu of the SAT or ACT. The school has a 36% acceptance rate with 52% of students applying Early Decision. Early Decision I has a November 15 application deadline and Early Decision II has a January 15 application deadline.


Academics - Students declare their major after the sophomore year. The most popular major is Business, Organizations and Society; Government is the second most popular major. F&M offers nine foreign languages and requires students take three semesters of a foreign language (or place out of the language).


Study Abroad – F&M has its own study abroad programs in France and in England. F&M students also participate in 200 other study abroad programs. Study abroad programs vary in length from a 6-week summer program, to a semester or a year. Students can use their financial aid package when studying abroad.


Greek Life - 35- 40% of students are in one of the seven fraternities or four sororities. Students can rush starting in the second semester of college.


Sports – The school competes in NCAA Division I wrestling and in NCAA Division III for other sports. Club and intramural sports are popular.


Who would be happy at F&M? - The admissions representative felt that the type of student who would be most happy at F&M is one who wants to be involved in academics, extracurricular activities and the community.


What is your experience with F&M?

The Insider’s Guide to the College Interview

Admissions personnel, alumni, or students may interview prospective students as part of the admissions process.  The interview lets the college get to know the prospective student as a person, not just as a name with list of grades and scores.  As much as the interview is a tool for the college to see if they want an applicant and to woo them, it is an opportunity for an applicant to learn more about the college and see if they want to attend.  Two alumni interviewers provided the following advice.

George Gawrys, a former alumni interviewer for MIT recommends:

1.      Be ready to describe why you’d be a good choice for the school (what will you contribute to the student body besides your brains, grades, and SAT scores).

2.      Be ready to talk about what you’ll major in and why, even if you are not sure.

3.      Act like the school is your first choice, even if it’s not.

4.      Have important questions ready to ask about the school and its locale.  Do some research on the school and familiarize yourself with the departments, reputation, and even some of the faculty.

5.      Don’t be shy, but don’t be arrogant either.

MIT

Curt Schmidt, an alumni interviewer for Lehigh University, indicates that Lehigh interviews are considered informational and that most students from central New Jersey interview on-campus with a representative of the Admissions Department, because of Lehigh’s close proximity.  An interview with a local Lehigh alum can be arranged, upon request.  Curt shared the following advice for those interested in interviewing with an alum:

1.      Request an interview with an alum that has a similar major or career to the one you are considering.  Alumni can provide insight into the college placement and career counseling available.

2.      Stay relaxed and confident, and answer honestly. 

3.      Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.  I will have to think about that.”

Lehigh

If you accomplish the following four things at the admissions interview, it is likely to be a success:

1.      Demonstrate good interpersonal skills.

2.      Show that you are knowledgeable and strongly interested in attending the college.

3.      Share information about yourself and your interests that make you desirable to the college.

4.      Get answers to important questions you have about the college.

Please chime in and share your insights.  If you interview prospective students for a college, what advice would you give?  If you recently had a college interview, what do you wish someone had told you, before the interview?