Posts Tagged ‘university admission’

The 10 Most Expensive Private Colleges

scholarshipsIllustrationIconLast week we gave you the list of the ten least expensive private schools. Today, from US News, we bring you the 10 most expensive private colleges.

Before you take a looksy and get all choked up because your dream school costs $40,000 a year, remember that doesn’t mean you can’t apply for merit aid and scholarships to lower that price by whole lot.

Without any further delay, here are the top 10 most expensive private colleges:

1. Connecticut College
Tuition and fees 2010-2011: $43,990
Cool fact: Chartered in 1911, the founding of the college was a response to Wesleyan University’s decision to stop admitting women.

2. Columbia University
Tuition and fees 2010-2011: $43,304
Cool fact: Columbia is the oldest university of higher learning in the state of New York.

3. Vassar College
Tuition and fees: $43,190
Cool fact: Vassar has a student organization called The Barefoot Monkeys, which is aCircus Arts, Firespinning, and Juggling Club. You will not only be paying for a multidisciplinary education, but also some old school entertainment.

4. St. John’s College (MD)
Tuition and fees:
$42,592
Cool fact: Founded originally in 1696 as a preparatory school, it received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest colleges in the United States.

5. Trinity College
Tuition and fees: $42,420
Cool fact: Trinity has a student to faculty ratio of 10:1.

6. Bucknell University
Tuition and fees: $42,342
Cool fact: The sixth president of the university, David Jayne Hill, had an epic mustache.

7. St. John’s College (NM)
Tuition and fees:
$42,192
Cool fact: Both St. John’s College campuses are known for their Great Books Program where student-led discussion is the basis for most classes and teachers take a non-directive role.

8. Wesleyan University
Tuition and fees:
$42,084
Cool fact: Wesleyan offers a BA/MA Program in the sciences leading to a Bachelor’s degree in the fourth year and a Master’s degree in the fifth year. Tuition for the fifth year of the Master’s degree is waived.

9. Bard College at Simon’s Rock
Tuition and fees:
$41,990
Cool fact: Simon’s Rock is an “early college”, designed for students to enroll immediately after completing the tenth or eleventh grade, rather than after graduating from high school.

10. Carnegie Mellon University
Tuition and fees:
$41,940
Cool fact: John Forbes Nash, the subject of A Beautiful Mind and winner of the 1994 Noble Prize in Economics, was a 1948 graduate.

How much does tuition price affect your college decision? Leave a comment!

Studying abroad: Is it Worth Leaving Your College Campus for?

093009_study_abroad-1Getting into your college of choice might be one of your proudest accomplishments.  Considering the time it took to find the perfect college for you, get the grades, score high enough on the ACT or SAT, send in all of your admissions materials and figure out how to pay for college,  is it really worth it to leave your college campus for a study abroad program?  An article in USA Today suggests that maybe staying on campus is as valuable, if not more so, than leaving campus for a foreign experience:

Academics:
Remember high school? You spent days polishing your application essays and nights worrying about a rejection letter from the university of your dreams. You’re at that university now, paying a small fortune for the small class sizes, award-winning professors and diverse, gifted classmates that you dreamed about two or three years ago. And now you’re trying to leave?You have probably already started taking those advantages for granted. Unless you’re considering a semester at Oxford, you might be unpleasantly surprised at the academics at your host school. There’s a reason foreigners come to America’s universities – they really are the best in the world.

Classes:
As budgets are cut, so are class schedules. Unless you’re in the biggest major on campus, there are classes that are offered very infrequently – classes that you’ll miss out on. It might be the seminar on women in journalism or on South American popular revolutions. Ever since the spring of my first year, I had been yearning to take a class on natural language processing (don’t ask – it’s really nerdy). I would have missed out on the chance to take that course if I had gone abroad. The kicker is that your junior year is when you start having enough priority to register for the classes that filled up when you were a freshman or a sophomore.

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Traditional Language Programs in Universities Have Declined Steadily Over Decades

Bonjour! Hola! Ciao!

Spanish ClassFewer and fewer undergraduate students are saying “Hello” to the Romanic Language majors.  According to The Chronicle of Higher Education college undergraduate majors in German and the Romance languages have been vanishing from American higher-education:

In the 1970-71 academic year, Romance-language majors were offered by close to 76 percent of American four-year colleges. But by 2005-6, only about 59 percent offered them. German programs saw a similar decline: In 1970-71, about 44 percent of colleges offered the major, but in 2005-6, just under 27 percent did so. Leaving aside “secretarial science,” those are by far the largest relative declines discovered by the Riverside scholars.

Would you ever study the romantic languages?

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5 Ways to Network and Make Friends in College

college-friendsIf you’re a high school senior, you have less than a semester left of school and your highly anticipated start of college is on the horizon.  After spending 4 years in high school, you might want to prep yourself for the changes you’ll experience going away to college.  And one of the biggest changes is making new friends.

This post from the Uloop blog gives college students 5 easy ways to network and make friends in college:

Switch It Up
Although it is very easy to be a part of the same organizations that you have been a part of for your entire life, it is more beneficial to branch out to various organizations that have different backgrounds, connections, and client bases than your own. For example, even if you are not politically driven it may be rather prudent to join Young Republicans, Campus Democrats, etc. Or on the flip-side, if you have been a part of a politically affiliated organization for a long time, then maybe you should switch it up and join the Adventure Club or Fencing Club. By doing this, your face and name gain recognition across demographics.

Approach the Unfamiliar
Oftentimes people get so wrapped up in their own lives that they forget that there are six billion other people on the planet. Yes, friendships are amazing, especially the lifelong ones. However, someone that you have known since pre-school will not vanish if you do not hang out with them for a couple days. Be approachable and approach those that you don’t know. For example, if someone is wearing a shirt that says “Combat Airsoft” you may feign interest in order to spark a conversation which could lead to a friendship. No one ever got anywhere by staying in their shell, and neither should you.

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College Application Rates 2011: Which Schools Saw A Decline?

College applicationWe heard before that with the economy the way it is, more and more people have been on the college search train and that application rates have actually seen a staggering increase at colleges and universities across the country.  But, the The Huffington Post informs that some schools have seen the opposite.  What do you think this means for admissions?  Do you think applying to a school with a lower application rate will help with you get in? Or applying to a college with an increased application rate will make it harder for you?

Here are the colleges that saw a decline in applications for the 2015 class:

  • Tulane University: -13.65%
  • SUNY Stoney Brook: -11.91%
  • Grinnell College: -7.61%
  • Wesleyan University: -6.07%
  • Elon University: -6.06%
  • Lafayette College: -3.16%
  • Rutgers University: -2.29%
  • University of Maryland College Park: -1.69%
  • Colgate University: -1.37%

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Crazy College Stories: College Professor Sticks A Camera in His Head Only to Find Camera is Not Wanted

It’s time for, drum roll please, a crazy college story! College and university life is definitely the time for trying new things, but where does it go too far? s-WAFAA-BILALS-BODY-REJECTS-HEADCAM-largeWould sticking a camera in your skull suffice to say the experience has “gone too far”? At New York University, arts professor Wafaa Bilal, recently implanted a camera in the back of his head only to realize his body did not want it. According to The Huffington Post, “[Bilal] underwent surgery on Friday after his body rejected one of the titanium posts anchoring the device to his skull.”  The article goes on explaining:

Late last year, Bilal had the digital camera inserted into a two-inch hole drilled into the back of his head. According to The Chronicle of High Education, the body-modification artist who performed the surgery also installed three posts between Bilal’s skin and skull to root the setup in place.

Bilal intended to wear the camera around for a year as part of an art project, titled “The 3rd I,” commissioned for the opening of the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, reports the AP. “But the setup caused constant pain, because his body rejected one of the posts, despite treatment with antibiotics and steroids,” The Chronicle now writes.

The troublesome post has been removed, but the other two remain. “I’m determined to continue with [the project],” Mr. Bilal said, according to The Chronicle.

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5 Things Every College-Bound Senior Needs to Do Before Spring Break Ends

With some quality time off of school, make sure you take advantage of this low-stress period to accomplish some big priorities, like, COLLEGE.

Here are 5 things every college-bound senior needs to do before Spring Break ends:

1. Visit Your Schools in Question: If you’re unsure about which college or university is the right match for you, you might to avoid simply flipping a coin. “Heads? Okay, State it is!”  Make an informed decision, not a random one.  If the schools in question are in close proximity to you, take a mini trip during Spring Break to remind yourself why you liked them in the first place, or even, why one school might actually be a better fit.

2. Contact Current College Students: By Spring Break your senior year, you’ve probably done considerable college research already.  But since the deadline to making a decision is approaching, finding out about nitty gritty stuff might help your decision-making. Send an email or a Facebook message to a friend, or a friend of a friend, or person you had gym class with junior year who’s already enrolled and attending a school you’re interested in. Ask questions about the social life, how much homework they have, where they like to hang out on campus.  For many, college is a passion and they’d be more than willing to chat with you about it.Scholarships

3. Find Scholarships!!!!: A break from a school gives you the perfect opportunity to dig up as many scholarships as you can.  If you’ve already received your financial aid award letter, you’ll know how much more of your tuition you’ll have to cover.  Finding scholarships is a great way to cover a big portion, if not all, of your tuition.  There are easy-to apply-to-scholarships out there, especially on Cappex.com, so get going!

4. Talk with Your Family or Guidance Counselor: Flesh out your college or university options with people who are looking out for your best interest and education.  Go over your choices, the different tuitions, locations, and find out what your biggest advocates think about your college choices.  Since higher education is such a big and important decision, and a costly one, listening to input from people who want to see you succeed can help you make the right choice.

5. Avoid Going Crazy Waiting for an Acceptance Letter:  The final word of wisdom we hope to instill in you is to avoid mental breakdowns over an acceptance letter.  Many acceptance letters arrive over Spring Break, so try to avoid biting your nails off or freaking out your friends with your anxiety.  Getting into a school or not will not make or break you.  No matter where you land, you are in charge of making your college career what it is. So relax ,and enjoy your Spring Break.

5 Easy Ways to Keep Your College Roommate Happy and Make Your University Experience All the Better

roommates530

Probably the last thing on your mind while you’re searching for and applying to colleges is who your roommate will eventually be.  But, the reality is that after the admissions process,  in most situations, you’ll have to live with a stranger your freshman year in a college dorm room.

Whether you wind up becoming best friends with your roommate or cordial acquaintances, here is some advice from ULOOP.com on how to maintain a good relationship with your college roommate:

Do have roommate nights. Grab a bowl of popcorn, sit on the couch, or your extra long twin bed, and put in a chick-flick. My roommates and I always have Gossip Girl Mondays. Having these nights keeps your bond strong; it’s an easy way to break away from some of the stress of school, especially when it’s midterm week and you don’t say a word to your roommate because you’re cramming for your Chemistry test.

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Admitted College Students, Stay Immune to Senioritis

Ok, so you found the college you’ve been dreaming about.  You applied. You waited. And waited. And waited. You searched for scholarships. And finally a big, thick envelope arrived in the mail inviting you to join the class of 2011.

Senioritis

Remember though, being admitted to a college or university doesn’t mean you can forget about your high school studies. Try not to fall victim to ‘Senioritis’ because certain colleges might just check in on your progress.

This recent post in the New York Times blog The Choice takes note that accepted  applicants should keep a “shoulder to the wheel” during their second semester:

The following day, the mail arrived with a letter addressed to Nicole from the office of admissions at Wesleyan, which had accepted her under its binding early decision program last fall.

This letter had a much less congratulatory tone. It read:

As your thoughts and energy turn to your final term of high school, I want to remind you how important it is to keep your academic focus. At this point the single most important thing you can do to prepare for four tremendous years at Wesleyan is to keep your ‘nose to the grindstone and shoulder to the wheel.’

To be more specific, we expect you to continue the courses that you committed to take, to maintain achievement commensurate with your ability, and to sustain your extra-curricular commitments and leadership.

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A $10,000 College Degree?

r-STUDENTS-UNDERGRAD-GRADUATION-large570College is extraordinarily expensive.  Students search hard for scholarships and take copious amounts of time applying for financial aid.  So, wouldn’t it be a dream come true for students to get a degree that wouldn’t leave them in dept for the rest of their lives?

The Texas Tribune writes that Governor Rick Perry wants his state’s college and universities to offer a $10,000 bachelor’s degree:

Perry also wants lawmakers to consider outcome-based financial support for those schools, basing a substantial portion of their funding on the number of degrees they issue with particular attention to degrees for at-risk students and for those in critical or essential areas of study.



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