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April 27, 2006
Tips for students attending a college fair
During College Fairs, we as representatives of institutions have a lot of pressure upon us. We are there to represent our given institution and provide you with the best information about our school.
In some cases, you may visit a fair that has +300 schools! Talk about information overload!
The following are tips so that the college fair experience will not be overwhelming but very beneficial for you.
1. For most fairs, there is a list given out prior to the event. Browse the list and be open minded about all institutions. The one you finally choose may be the one you least expect!
2. To prevent writer’s cramp, create labels with the following information. This will save you time from filling out cards and getting a cramp in your wrist.
Name
Address
Phone
Date of High School Graduation
High School
Email
Major of interest
Sport of interest
P.S. – This also helps out the Admissions Counselors!! With labels, there is no second guessing on names and addresses! We are Admissions Counselors, not hand writing analysts. :)
3. Have a few set questions you want to ask each school of interest. This will help narrow your search.
Ex: What type of scholarships do you provide?
What is your average SAT/ACT, and GPA scores?
Posted by AshleyHoffman at 2:24 PM | Comments (3)
April 24, 2006
Success of Scholarship Event!
Friday, April 21st was Seton Hill's first Scholarship Event...and I must say it was a hit!! This event was to recognize students that are excelling academically. The President’s Cabinet, Faculty and Staff of Seton Hill invited students that received honors, presidential scholarships and division scholarships to come and partake in the evenings events.
We had a student come all the way from Michigan! It was absolutely great! I wish I had this type of event when I was entering college.
This was a great opportunity for students that were 75% sure they were coming to SHU to come and mingle with current students, faculty and staff and make their decision a 100%!
Over 50 students attended with their parents along with a number of SHU faculty.
Personally, I can’t wait until next year’s Scholarship Event!
P.S. The food was also great!
Posted by AshleyHoffman at 10:56 AM | Comments (6)
April 11, 2006
What's the hype over college admission?
It seems as if my days of applying, being accepted, rejected, etc. are all a blur, not to mention, it seems as if it were back in the day!! With blogs, forums, and mom and dad saying, “you won’t get a good job without a degree”, people are going into college overload. It feels as if the whole college process has become second nature to high school juniors and seniors; just as much as the prom and graduation.
I have just spent some time browsing college forms for high school students such as College Confidential, lunch-money.com, and gradschoolforum.com. It is amazing/scary/questionable to me. Let me explain.
Is it necessary to be so extremely ‘freaked out’ about college admission? People are saying how they want to go to Ivy League schools, go where mom and dad went, go where sissy and big bro went, go where my boyfriend is going, etc. etc. the list goes on. If you are truly, I mean truly meant to go to that institution, you will get in! Maybe this is my “higher power” belief coming into play, but I think it is not all about the facts or grades that get you into places….but that’s a whole different blog entry :)
To avoid this craziness that I have been reading on said blogs, my advice is to plan and research each school that you are looking at and don’t stress out! This is a fun time in your life and you only do it once! Take advantage of it!
Posted by AshleyHoffman at 5:08 PM | Comments (6)
April 7, 2006
Deny, Deny, Deny...
As I was watching the Today show this morning, as I do every morning, I couldn’t help but watch the plug about the dreaded dare I say, college application! It seems as if ‘top students’ are being denied at universities all over the country. Why is this?
They didn’t seem to have a reason as to why students were getting denied; they just are. They neglected to explain what constitutes them as top students. Are they top athletes, do they excel in their chosen field (music or art) but have poor academic grades? We do not know.
Speaking for SHU standards, if a student is the next Leonardo DiVinci but has a 0.00 as a GPA, I am sorry to say the student would be denied.
A lot goes into evaluating a file for admissions and I think that concept sometimes gets overlooked. Some may think that we just look at the grades and say ‘yeah or nay’ and move on; which is not true! We look at a file for grades, first and foremost, but we also look at any added information the student may contribute. The additional essay that we require now is a great resource for getting a feel for who the applicant is as well as the letter of recommendation. Personally speaking, the more letters of recommendations you have, the better. We get an idea of who the student is by others that interact with you on a daily basis (for the most part).
Please don’t get discouraged in the Application process. Institutions have different requirements and make sure you understand their requirements prior to applying. Don’t assume that all universities have the same requirements and deadlines. So dare I say, once again, do your homework!
Posted by AshleyHoffman at 3:16 PM | Comments (1)
April 4, 2006
Fun Filled Week @ SHU!
I apologize for all who have been visiting the blog and there hasn’t been an entry in a while! It has been very busy here in Admissions with our many events coming up.
Tonight, the Pittsburgh Steelers are on campus to play our Faculty/Staff in a game of basketball! This event has been sold out for weeks! We are so excited to have the Super Bowl champs on campus.
Tonight is also our last Sleepover of the year! We will have prospective students on campus to participate in the game and tomorrow they will be sitting in on classes, taking a tour of campus and finding out what it is like being a student at SHU. Registration begins at 5:00PM and the game starts at 8:00PM.
Friday we also have a group of students coming from Salisbury-Elk High School, Salisbury, PA. They are coming for the McKelvey Luncheon. The McKelvey foundation provides scholarships to students who are low to middle income high school seniors attending school in rural communities of PA, West Virginia, and New York. Students who demonstrate “Entrepreneurial Spirit” and who are involved in their community apply. The Foundation will provide the winners with up to $10,000 per year for each of the four years at a McKelvey partnering college. Visit their website to see other institutions that are in correlation with the McKelvey Foundation.
While on campus the students will participate in an admissions discussion, tour the campus and have lunch.
Welcome McKelvey Students!!
Posted by AshleyHoffman at 11:33 AM | Comments (1)