Admissions

I was just talking to a friend who's becoming a senior this year about college selection. I told her to visit and FEEL it--she'll know if it's right for her.

In my opinion, the last thing a student should care about when looking for a college is prestige. Even that word makes me shudder.

Let's face it--Seton Hill isn't exactly a Havard. Nor is it listed with the Gettysburg types. Does it make SHU any less educational? Any less an option?

My sister went to Gettysburg, and as wonderful as the school is, in the end, she dropped out. So did friends from Penn State, Shippensburg, West Chester, and even places like Lehigh, Dickenson, and Princeton. In the end, the schools didn't work.

The name of the college has NOTHING to do with how successful a student will turn out. Many argue that it's to help in competitive businesses, and perhaps that's true: I know I'd rather a lawyer from Harvard than Anywhere Uni, but that's COMPLETELY based on a name, and Anywhere Uni has every chance at creating a successful, efficient lawyer just as Havard does.

But the thing that bothers me most...people like my friend Mary. She's a brilliant girl, and applied to only Ivy Leagues. And got rejected from each. Now she's "stuck" with Bucknell, and she's dreading college. She hasn't even gone to the campus, because she "knows" she'll hate it.

NAME MEANS NOTHING, and it bothers me to no end to think that Mary is going to a well-known school that is going to give her NOTHING, because she won't LET them give her anything. She's going in with a bad attitude, and I guarentee in a year or two, without a change, she'll end up transferring.

Prestige has nothing to do with what a student takes from a school. Besides--smaller schools, like SHU, are more personal and friendly anyway. I'd pick SHU over Harvard or Bucknell any day. :)

Hi, this is all great, but lets get beyond the big names. You didn't tell me anything convincing about SHU!!! Convince me that I would enjoy learning in this environment, not why I shouldn't go IVY!! So what are you doing, what are you learning about, what do you hope to accomplish ere, and what are the three qualities that SHU possesses that moved you toward this university instead of somewhere else?

Hi Lynn!
In response to your question, I asked the young lady who posted the comment to reply to you. I hope this answers your question! :)

This is what she says:

"What do I learn here? I learn my lessons well because my teachers connect and teach ME, not just a class. What will I accomplish? I'll not only accomplish the earning of a degree, but the successful experience of living within a beautiful community, which inspires and motivates me to do my very best.

As for the three qualities, I wanted the following out of my college: 1) A safe environment , 2) A friendly environment, 3) A connection to my professors.

Smaller campuses create a safer, more friendly atmosphere. I, a young teenage girl, feel comfortable walking alone at night. That's a huge deal, and one that can rarely be found on campuses these days. A friend of mine asked a security guard to walk her home one night, and he said that while he was glad to escort her, he assured her there was no need. This campus is SAFE, and the main factor is because of the campus's size.

Not only do you feel safe, but you feel accepted. Faces are friendly and warm, and very quickly, you know many of the students. Being able to connect to the student body makes the activities that the campus sets up much more fun. There is, however, always the chance to meet someone new, and that keeps it exciting!

When at Ivy Leagues and large campuses, your chances of connecting with a teacher dramatically decrease. With classes with 200 kids, it's impossible for the professor to know each and every student, and focus on the student's strengths and weaknesses, whereas a class with 13 students makes a much more personal, comforting, and exciting atmosphere.

When I had my interview with Mr. Huls, one of our many inspiring music professors, he promised me that I "could not hide," and that if I missed class, not only would he know, but he'd make every attempt to find me. Large schools and Ivy Leagues (as far as I've heard) couldn't care less if you show up to class. After all, it's not their grade that's on the line, so why should they care? That's not the case at Seton Hill. If the student fails, then the professor failed.

At Seton Hill, each and every professor has opened their classes with explaining the importance they find in creating a student-teacher bond. Their goal is to see their students succeed. While professors at larger schools may hope their students do well, rarely do they have the time to go up to each struggling student and make a connection. Rarely will chemistry and math professors be able to give individual help to their hundreds of students. But at schools like Seton Hill, their doors are always open, and they always have the time to help.

At the end of the day, both Ivy Leagues and SHU will hand you the same sort of piece of paper as you wear your cap and gown. But it's schools like Seton Hill where you learn to become the best you can be, because students and staff constantly inspire you. Seton Hill finds ways to celebrate each student. That cannot happen at "the Big Names." It can only happen in a loving community, and the finest example is Seton Hill University.

I attended a large state instituion, and I can tell you that when I started teaching at Seton Hill, I had to adjust my teaching style. When my professors taught a literature survey to a room full of 300 English majors, they did a lot of talking and not a lot of listening. Don't get me wrong, those professors were brilliant, and their lectures were inspiring and memorable, but there were so many of us undergraduates, and the professors were also teaching graduate students, so there really wasn't time for them to get to know us. At most large schools, the entry-level classes will be taught by graduate students, who won't have a lot of classroom experience. Once again, I had memorable and rewarding experiences in classes taught by graduate students.

So, without slamming my own experience at a large state school, I can say that the educational environment at a small school is more personal. If that's an important factor that you're considering, then a small school has benefits that you won't find at a big school. Of course, my big school had its own astronomical observatory, nuclear reactor, and at one point two competing daily student newspapers. So being at a large school has benefits, too. But no, I never felt like it was a "loving" place. There were other values that the school emphasized -- honor, democracy, civil discourse, etc.