Boston Tour Blog, Part 4 and End

Beautiful Boston College

Our last day of the tour started with a soggy walk around Boston University.  Our tour guide told us about the benefits of a truly urban campus, showed off the university's various colleges, and explained how a large urban institution can feel like a tight-knit community.  No one seemed daunted by the off-and-on rainstorm (someone said Boston was crying over our impending departure), and aside from the lack of seating in the crowded student dining hall, I think BU was a highlight for many.

The afternoon took us to the much more traditional-feeling campus of Boston College. Think gothic architecture, beautifully manicured quads and lawns, and an obvious Catholic presence.  We learned about BC's Jesuit legacy and how that shapes student life.  BC is a place where academics are important, but where students also focus on giving back and being part of something larger than their campus community. Our tour guide was a fellow St. Louisan, but only allowed me to distract her for a few minutes to talk about Cardinals baseball.  Probably better for everyone that conversation was cut short.  Tour director Erik wouldn't let us leave without paying homage to the similarly diminutive Doug Flutie, whose statue stands proudly outside the football stadium.  We boarded the bus one last time, and that was it for our Boston tour - off to the airport after some nice farewells with Frank the Driver and Erik the Tour Director.  Four days, eight colleges, lots of eating, some bus-ride bonding, and a lot of badly imitated Boston accents - all told, it was an action packed fall break.

Boston Tour Blog, Part 3

The view from Amherst College

After a scenic bus ride west, we started our day at Amherst College. We learned about the open curriculum, the 5 school consortium (Amherst + UMass, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Hampshire), and the student-centered nature of the liberal arts at Amherst. Our tour guide told us about the importance of residential life and on-campus clubs and explained how such a diverse group of individuals comes together as a community.

We then ate an amazing lunch at UMass-Amherst. The dining hall offered hand-rolled sushi, among other more traditional staples. Oh, and hibiscus water. That's a thing. Who knew? Anyway, we feasted. Then we walked around campus - a much bigger campus than Amherst College and than most we had seen previously. We saw a dorm room, the library, the gym, the student center, and we browsed the bookstore. We then spent 2 hours hanging out in the college town that is Amherst, MA. We did some more feasting - favorite local burrito and pizza places for most of the group (I told you food was a theme on this trip, taking a back-seat only to the college tours on level of importance). A long bus ride back to Waltham ended our penultimate day on tour. Tonight we'll pack. Tomorrow we'll see Boston University and Boston College. Then we'll fly home. It's been a whirlwind fall break.

Boston Tour Blog, Part 2

Today we learned about the Salem Witch Trials, ate delicious seafood, basically drove into a parade (and the grid-locked traffic jam surrounding it), and checked out a massive street festival in Harvard Square.  That was all before we visited our first campus of the day.  

The day started in Salem at the Witch Dungeon Museum.  It's probably an understatement to say that Salem gets geared up for Halloween.  Children and adults alike were dressed in costumes, a guy in a demented clown mask played saxophone on the street corner, and the locals were surely counting the days 'til next Friday's Zombie Prom.  That's a real thing.  After some educational programming about the Salem Witch Trials, we ate lunch in Salem then boarded the bus for what was supposed to be an easy trip to Northeastern University. 

Hanging out in Harvard Yard

As it turned out, a Columbus Day Parade (we assume) made it nearly impossible to get into downtown. Frank, our expert driver, navigated us through closed roads and less-than-accommodating tourists in SUVs.  Erik, our tour director, called a quick audible and we skipped Northeastern to head to Cambridge. We would re-visit campus later.  

After some pretty serious bus-ride napping, we arrived in Cambridge with an hour to kill and were provided with the perfect outlet. A massive festival was happening in Harvard Square, including live music, more people in costumes, and lots of street vendors.  We browsed the Harvard Coop (their bookstore), ate ice cream, and people-watched.  

We then toured Harvard.  We first saw Harvard Yard, which was full of activity.  Josh, our North Carolinian tour guide told us all about the various traditions around housing and dining and pointed out where a number of famous alumni and ex-presidents lived and sometimes high-kicked dressed in drag (see: JFK and the Hasty Pudding Peformers).  Josh also taught us how to Primal Scream like Harvard students (fully clothed, however, unlike actual Harvard students).  

After dinner we drove back into the city to see if we could have better luck visiting Northeastern. Lovett alumna and NU Huskies basketball player Te'Erica Eason recruited a sophomore teammate, and the two of them led us around campus.  We learned about the co-op and internship opportunities Northeastern is known for, saw the only Taco Bell in Boston (so they say), and walked a beautiful city-campus that really didn't feel very urban at all, considering its proximity to the Boston city center.  Now it's time for bed.  Tomorrow's an early start; we're headed on a little road trip west to Amherst.  

Boston Tour Blog, Part 1

We all made it to Boston last night: 11 HIES students, 8 Lovett students, and 2 college counselors from each school.  It only took 8 hours from original departure time to hotel check in.  Spirits were surprisingly high during the 4 hour flight delay (must've been the anticipation of lobster rolls and cannolis).  And the energy was surprisingly good this morning, given the 1 AM lights-out call last night.

Our action-packed first day included a tour of Brandeis, co-led by HIES alumna Amber Abernathy and Lovett alumna Carlyle Vincent.  We learned all about Brandeis' emphasis on social justice, its wonderful study abroad programs, and its unique sophomore housing option - a castle.

Following lunch (food is playing a critical role on this tour), we visited the beautiful campus of Tufts University where we learned about PT Barnum's role in the school's history and its subsequent link to Jumbo the Elephant, hence their mascot.  Go Jumbos.  That history was eloquently shared by Tufts history professor Reed Ueda.

We ended the day with a walking/driving tour of Boston and a meal, followed by some shopping, on Newberry Street.  That's a productive day.  And this chaperone is exhausted.

Along with this tour blog, you can follow our progress on the HIES college counseling Twitter and Instagram accounts: @hiescollege; instagram.com/hiescollegecounseling.  Hope you enjoy following our tour online as much as we enjoy it in person.

Give it a second; it's going to space

I like what Louie CK once said on Conan about technology and patience.  You should watch the whole thing.  But if you're feeling just a little too impatient yourself, start at 1:40.  

It's a lot of work to apply to college.  I remember sitting in my high school library, filling out my 9th application by hand.  That's right.  Pen and paper.  That makes me feel old.  I was marginally interested in the school and tired of doing applications.  So I stopped.  I didn't get past the personal info on that application and I never applied to that school.  8 applications would have to be enough.  There were other things to think about, other things to do.  I couldn't drag myself through another checklist for another college.

Though online applications have streamlined the process, those checklists are still long.  And it's understandable that students worry, especially about the things on those checklists they can't control.  They have to rely on us to send transcripts, recommendations, and the like.  

So here's the good news: Mrs. Best is a deadline-beating machine.  Seriously.  She cares just as much about our kiddos getting into college as any of our counselors.  And in the vast majority of cases, Mrs. Best can "send your stuff," as our form calls it, with the click of a button.  

Here's the catch.  Once that stuff gets sent, it isn't immediately received and processed into your file by the admission office.  In some cases, it takes the college up to 2 weeks to process transcripts, even when received electronically.  To complicate things, many colleges will continue to send you that pesky "we're still missing your transcript" email right up until the date it actually gets processed into your file.  That means there's an awkward lag period where the college might tell you they don't have your transcript, even though we can give you a confirmation number and tell you when the college received it.  It's kind of like watching that youtube clip above and waiting for it to buffer.  You've clicked play.  You've seen some of it, and you know there's more - it's just hanging out there frustrating you.  Give it a second; it's going to space.  

If you find yourself worrying about whether a school has your transcript, just ask Mrs. Best.  She can tell you when it was sent and whether the school received it electronically.  Just know that it might be a few days before the college acknowledges receipt.  They have a lot of stuff to process into files.  In the meantime, you can marvel at the fact that you just have to click submit, and off goes your application without you even thinking about using a pen.  

Early Trends for 2015 Admission Cycle

Over the last few weeks, colleges have begun publicly reporting some of their numbers for the 2015 application cycle.  One trend that continues from the last few years is the deliberate manner in which colleges are working to increase their applications.  There are a few reasons schools would want to do that, besides just becoming more selective.  One Bloomberg article nicely spells out why a few small colleges in the Northeast have grown their applicant pools. 

As the above article points out, even the most selective schools continue to grow in applications.  Harvard received 3000 more applications this year than last.  Though some argue that regardless of application growth, the Ivies continue to only benefit an incredibly small subset of the population. 

There's also this nice piece about how tuition hikes help to raise a college's profile.  As colleges continue to raise tuition, it's important to understand philosophically why some private schools are making that choice.  Many times, that reasoning is different among public universities, whose recent tuition increases are largely in response to state budget cuts to higher ed funding. 

Building on another trend from the last couple of years, more and more students are applying early.  At the same time, highly selective colleges are leaning more on their early decision pools and filling increasing amounts of the freshman class from this small group of students - in some cases over 50% of the class.  Relying so heavily on the early decision pool has a lot to do with the growing number of applications students are submitting, predominantly because of the Common App.  By filling half of its class through binding early decision, a college hedges against not knowing which of its regular decision applicants are actually interested in the university.  Early Decision, too, disproportionately benefits affluent students.  Admitting 50% of your freshman class from ED usually means you've admitted a large chunk of your class without having to worry too much about how much need-based financial aid those students will need to receive in order to enroll.  

Lastly (not that it should be all that surprising) we've learned in more detail this year about how schools bend admission standards for high-priority applicants.  The University of Texas has come under fire, but they're certainly not the only place where the president wields his/her influence to push students through the admission process.

Notes from the HIES Alumni Panel

Last week, eight alumni gathered as a panel to offer insight into their college search, application, and match process and to share how their transition to college has been.  First-semester freshmen Amber Abernathy, Madison Collins, Robert Beeland, Michael Henley, Bailey Lyles, Ashlyn Masters, Peter Myer, and Grant Wilmer spoke to the junior and senior classes.  It's exciting to hear how well our graduates are doing in college, and it's fun to notice the ways in which they've grown and changed.  Each is having a unique experience at their school and each had some especially poignant things to share with the group.  Below are some notes from the panel.

• Take AP tests seriously - testing out of intro-level classes is really helpful for your schedule.  
• If you can, take calculus in high school - especially if you are interested in business, engineering, or pre-med.  College calculus classes move quickly.  Having a foundation from high school is a huge help.  
• Work hard at HI and you'll be well prepared for college courses.  
• The easiest way to make friends is to be open and unafraid of stepping out of your comfort zone.  Remember that every other freshman is just as new as you, and just as interested in meeting people and settling in. 
• Pay attention to your daily routine.  Find what works for you in terms of managing classes with your sleep schedule and social activities.  
• There are lots of things happening, and you can't do everything.  Be careful to pick and choose what you're involved in so that you also have time to take care of yourself, manage your studies, and sleep.  
• Trust your instincts when picking a school.  Even if you apply to many places, remember how you feel when you visit a campus.  If you need to, keep notes to remind yourself of your first impressions on a campus.  

Panelists

Amber Abernathy, Brandeis University

Madison Collins, Virginia Tech

Robert Beeland, Sewanee: The University of the South

Michael Henley, University of Southern California

Bailey Lyles, University of Georgia

Ashlyn Masters, Auburn University

Peter Myer, St. Andrews University (Scotland)/ The College of William and Mary

Grant Wilmer, Carnegie Mellon University