College Tour Recap!

As the 2^nd annual college tour came to an end last night when the bus of 40 juniors pulled back to 144 Grand Street, students were able to carry with them a great amount of knowledge and an overall fantastic experience from the five colleges and universities they visited in the Boston area. Please take a minute to look over a few of the pieces of information we gained from inside each of the schools we visited, as you may discover some things that will intrigue you!

Emerson College

·         Marketing is very big, with about 25% of students majoring in this. Many more minor in marketing.

·         Biggest concentrations are communications, journalism, visual and performing arts, and English.

·         State-of-the-art TV and production equipment available to students as early as freshmen year.

·         Graduates have great success rates in sports and entertainment fields such as ESPN, NFL, and the NHL.

·         City campus

·         D3 sports

·         Nutritionist included with tuition

·         70:30 girls to guys ratio

·         2 years guaranteed housing

·         3,500 undergraduate students

·         48% of applicants accepted

Boston College

·         9,000 undergraduates

·         60% of students major in Arts & Sciences fields

·         No Engineering school

·         Core curriculum of 15 courses in liberal arts as requirement

·         Can use AP scores (4 or 5) to place out of some courses

·         No Greek life

·         50% students are guaranteed housing for 4 years and 50% are guaranteed housing for 3 years

·         Study Abroad very big at BC

·         Most seniors live on campus

·         No early decision available

·         Restrictive Early Action option (cannot apply ED anywhere else, but decision is not binding at BC)

·         Four schools at BC: Arts & Sciences, Management, Education, and Nursing

·         80-90% of students on pre-med track are accepted into medical school each year

·         28% acceptance rate

Northeastern University

·         Co-op education very big here

·         In the city, but a traditional campus feel and atmosphere

·         50% of co-op students are offered jobs from one of the places they worked while at NU

·         Very strong engineering program

·         Apartment style living on campus starting sophomore year

·         16,000 undergraduates/13,000 graduate students

·         Ranked 2^nd among U.S. universities in career services

·         92% of NU graduates either employed or in graduate school nine months after graduation

Boston University

·         Guaranteed housing for 4 years

·         Greek life active

·         Varsity crew

·         Ranked top-10 Bio-engineering program

·         Very big in community service (90,000 hours of community service completed in 2010-2011

·         Gigantic applicant pool (43,000 students applied last year)

·         Demonstrated interested big influence!

·         ROTC available in three divisions

·         Campus is only 1-2 blocks deep, but 1 ¾ miles long

·         18,500 undergraduates

·         45%  acceptance rate

Holy Cross

·         3,000 undergraduates

·         No graduate programs

·         Full-year Study Abroad opportunities are very popular

·         Test-optional school

·         Demonstrated interest very big and interviews are available

·         10:1 student faculty ratio

·         33% acceptance rate

·         Jesuit ideals alive and well at HC

                                                                                                         Joseph Korfmacher, MA

College Tour Departure!

40 Prep juniors will be leaving bright and early tomorrow (4/24) at 6 am to travel to 5 colleges and universities in the Boston area. After a few years of Prep-run college visits not being held, these tours were brought back to life in 2011. Last year was a one-day trip to 3 colleges in the Philadelphia area. With that trip being such a success, the annual college tour was expanded to a two-day, one-night trip to 5 colleges. The schools on the college tour this year are Emerson College, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, and the College of the Holy Cross. Students will tour campuses, listen to information sessions, and get a chance to meet the admissions representatives that may be reading their applications a few months from now!

The Prep College Counseling Department plans on continuing these college tours in the coming years, so be on the look-out for future tour dates and registration instructions. The college trips usually fill-up within a few days, so act quick! Also, as there are hundreds and hundreds of colleges and universities in driving distance, if there are any schools you would like to see as a part of a future college tour please e-mail Mr. Joseph Korfmacher at korfmacherj@spprep.org

Once Mr. Korfmacher and the Prep students return, please visit the blog to get insider news on the trip and helpful information about each school we visit!

 Joseph Korfmacher, MA

Getting the Most out of Financial Aid

Students have been receiving decisions from colleges and universities for awhile now, and with those acceptances, come financial aid reports. Many private colleges cost around $35,000 in tuition and another $10,000 in room and board. This is a cost of attendance (COA) of $45,000, which is certainly not rare. As financial aid reports come in, students and parents may be happy to see that they received $5,000 per year in merit scholarships and another $5,000 in financial aid. $10,000 a year is great…but that leaves $35,000 per year to possibly pay out of pocket, which comes to $140,000 for a four year education. For most families, this is a very scary sight and if a student is in love with a school, many parents will do whatever it takes to make sure their son or daughter is able to attend.

Loans often come into play, either through the school or privately, and although this is certainly not ideal, in many cases this is the only option. However, as most high school students apply to multiple colleges, they will receive multiple acceptances and multiple financial aid reports with various financial assistance figures. One procedure many schools of higher education offer is to request for additional funds. Basically, families can send in their financial aid report from school B that may be giving significantly more money than school A, to school A’s undergraduate/financial aid department. Families can highlight the difference in reports, and some schools will try to match the other school.

It is entirely up to each individual school if they will consider matching what other colleges provide in financial aid, either in merit scholarships or with financial aid assistance, such as grants. However, it is certainly worth a shot, as many students have had success with this in the past. If you plan on doing this with a college, make sure it is not done in a “pushy” way. All that needs to be done is a short e-mail kindly asking the admissions department to compare financial aid reports, and to express to the school that it is still a top choice. Explaining that the student still has a strong desire to go to the school, but it would be much easier if the financial aid report was closer to those of other colleges can work at many schools. As May 1^st gets closer and closer, give this procedure a chance, as it surely can’t hurt!

One final bit of advice…as FAFSA reports are most often completed with the previous year’s tax returns, if anything significant has changed over the year, let financial aid offices at colleges aware of this. They certainly are not mind readers and most schools are willing to work with families in case of major changes in family income including loss of a job or unexpected medical bills. Please do not be afraid to get on the phone and give them a call if anything should happen!

Underclassmen and parents…check out this website, which is run through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This website provides a really helpful online tool that will provide financial aid statistics, and estimates for out of pocket, cost of attendance. It will allow you to compare up to three colleges at a time.

Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

May 1st Deposits!

April is going fast and May 1^st will be here sooner than you can write a $500 check! Speaking of checks, most colleges have a May 1^st deadline for sending in your deposit (usually about $500). This deposit needs to be in by the deadline to ensure you have a spot in next year’s freshmen class. When doing this, carefully look over and complete any paperwork that needs to be sent in to the colleges with the deposit. DO NOT assume that everything is automatic. If you plan on living in the dorms, make sure you acknowledge that somewhere in the paperwork.

            For students who have been put on the waitlist, also known as purgatory, to one of your top choices, it is understandably a stressful time. Most colleges do not accept students off of the waitlist until well after May 1^st, sometimes deep into the summer. Although it is not a great situation, students want to make sure they have a spot at some college. So even if you are a student who is still holding out for your top school where you were waitlisted, pick your top choice from one of the schools you were accepted into and send your deposit there. Never assume you will be accepted off of the waitlist! As many of you will find out, the deposits for colleges are almost always non-refundable. Meaning, if you do eventually get accepted off of the waitlist after May 1^st, and do choose to attend the school, you will be out of the $500 you sent in to one of your other choices. There is no way around this, and can be a tough decision, but it is better to know this before. Good luck with final decisions, and parents…get used to writing those big checks for the foreseeable future!

Joseph Korfmacher, MA

The Importance of College Visits!

As April seems to be flying by, and May will be here before we know it, that means one thing—most colleges will be ending their scholastic year with students going home for summer. This does not leave too much time for high school students and their parents to visit college campuses, with the student body still there.

Visiting colleges and universities is one of the most important parts of the college search process. Obviously academics, majors selection, internship opportunities, and reputation are important factors to selecting the right school, but the overall “feel” one gets at a college should be near the top of the list of deciding factors. With advances in technology, most colleges have elaborate websites where there are hundreds of pictures of the school and even virtual tours one can take. Although this is better than nothing, it does not have the same effect as actually walking the campus, watching students interact, sitting in on a class, talking with school faculty, and just listening to your gut reaction to the overall collegiate environment. Every school will be a little different, and the absolute best way to truly know if you will be happy at a certain college is by physically being there and soaking everything in. Also, although it is not always possible, try and visit the school while the college is in session full-time. For most colleges this will be from late August to early May. While visiting a college, you can only gain a true gut feeling and perspective of the school life when students are there and the campus is vibrant with the personality of its students.

The following list contains a few helpful hints and strategies when planning on visiting different colleges on your list:

--As mentioned earlier, try to visit college when school is in session, as that is when you will get the true feeling of the environment.

--Call the undergraduate admissions office at the college you will be visiting to set up a guided tour. This way you will have someone with extended knowledge of the college explain the school’s layout and will be able to answer any questions you may have about the school.

--Think of questions to ask while visiting the college! You will most likely be living at the college you choose for 4-5 years, so it makes sense to do your research on everything about the school and its surroundings. Questions ranging from activities available for students, housing availability, food services, the amount of students that stick around on the weekend, internship opportunities, service opportunities, intramurals, community surroundings, and much more should all be on your list to ask admission representatives at each school.

--If you are traveling far to visit a college, plan ahead and see if there are any other schools that you may be interested in and can stop at on the way. You won’t have that many opportunities to visit colleges, so make the most out of each trip!

--Try to schedule a time to sit in on a college class, and if you know what you want to major in, try to sit in on a class in that field.

--Again, if you know your major, try to schedule a meeting with a professor in that field. This will give you a better idea of what to expect in that major and overall field.

--Take pictures and notes! Hopefully, you will be visiting multiple college campuses. In order to avoid getting schools mixed up, snap some photos and jot down a few notes to keep everything fresh in your mind!

--Soak it all in and have fun! There is no getting around the fact that the college search process in an important part of your life, but most of you will only be doing this once in your life (unless you go to graduate school), so try to live in the moment and enjoy visiting some very beautiful and exciting college campuses, which very well could be your next home!

                                                                                                                    -Mr. Joseph Korfmacher, MA