Carleton College--Minnesota

Sayles-Hill Campus Center

Looking back on my college search from its conclusion, I see how little I knew when I began. I knew I wanted a small liberal arts college. I knew I wanted a school with few or no graduate students so that the focus of the college, and specifically the professors, would be on the undergraduates. I knew I wanted a chance to develop a close relationship with my professors and to be involved in research. I knew I wanted a school of high academic quality, but I also knew I wanted to keep my distance from the Ivies. I knew I wanted to stay out of the city and to avoid party schools. I knew I wanted to be surrounded by intelligent classmates.

It might sound like I had a good idea of what I wanted, and I certainly believed I did. As it turns out, I was not emphasizing the most important thing enough: the people. From the second I began playing “ghost” with three fellow prospees on the shuttle from the Minneapolis airport to Carleton, I knew I could see myself going to school with these people. I met them at the airport at 10:30 in the morning, and one more joined our group when we got to campus. We had lunch together, walked around the art gallery together, and we met up with another group of five at the rec center. We hung out there for a couple hours, caught the 3:30 tour as a group, and met some new friends and played more “ghost” at admissions before dinner. With assigned seating, we were separated for dinner, but we met up again to sit together at the musical performance. After meeting our student hosts for the night, we all went to the s’mores and Arb walk event from 9-10. Only we met some more Carleton students and didn’t leave until 10:45, and when we did, we went to Sayles to play pool, play foosball, and watch hockey until 12:45. I spent almost all of 14 hours with these people I had just met from all over the country. From Georgia (2), Tennessee, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Maryland, North Carolina, and Massachusetts (2) there were ten of us who got along incredibly well. And we also met prospees from other places – Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas Hawai’i and Costa Rica to name a few.

Question of the Week



"Now that I know the significance of the SAT Subject Tests, how have Severn students done in the last five years?"

Answer:
SAT Subject Test Scores: Class of 2007 - 2011

Section              Middle 50%     Mean    Students Tested
Bio--Ecology      640-710            681             9
Bio--Molecular   590-680            635             64
Chemistry           560-660            605            35
Eng Lit                580-710            640            58
French                580-680            650            4
Math Level I        570-690            631            90
Math Level II       640-730            685            107
Physics               530-670            624             8
Spanish               540-700            635            11
US History          590-720            655            131

Penn State

Penn State University

We arrived the night before our tour and stayed at the Nittany Lion Inn—a beautiful hotel on campus. The hotel gave us a ride to the opposite side of campus to attend a 9am Information Session and 10am tour.  The information session was pretty standard. But here are a few interesting facts:

**Penn State is actually made up of 20 different campuses with University Park being the flagship campus. The admission requirements for University Park are definitely more rigorous. If you are borderline, they suggested applying for Summer Session and taking two classes in July/August and guaranteeing your placement on the main campus. Otherwise, you could be offered one of the other smaller campuses (10 of which have on-campus housing) for your first two years.

**Total enrollment is over 88,000! With somewhere around 40,000 on the main campus-- 79% in state, 21 % out of state.

**Apparently, one out of every 127  U.S. college graduates went to Penn State!

**Penn State Admissions Office does not use a SAT “super score”. They use the highest total from one test (not the highest components from multiple tests).

Food for thought...

Picking a College 101

By Jen Miller Marketplace Money, Friday, April 15, 2011

Listen to this Story

Students are deciding what college to attend. So here's some advice: Choose the one that's cheaper.

Tess Vigeland: Many families across the country had to make a tough decision this college acceptance season. They had to tell their kids that they just couldn't afford their first-choice school. Maybe not even their second-choice.

Commentator Jen Miller has some advice for dealing with that dilemma.

Jen Miller: Pick the cheap school.

I had my heart set on Boston University. I was going to study marine biology, then move to Australia to study the coral of the Great Barrier Reef. I saw this as my only path to success and happiness.

That same year, my parents were divorcing. There was no money for BU unless the school offered scholarships or grants. And they didn't. The University of Tampa, however, did. My parents told me I had no choice: I was Florida-bound. I was incensed with all the rage a 17-year-old can muster. My parents hated me. The world hated me. I was doomed. I'd never be a successful, coral-studying, Australia-living marine biologist because my parents decided to get divorced instead of letting me go to my dream school.

Did I mention I was 17?

Well, guess what? The world didn't collapse. The sky did not fall. My life, of course, was not ruined. I picked another major, and graduated with a budding writing career. Plus, I had no guillotine of massive student loans hovering over my neck.

So I could take a risk. I pursued a career as a freelance journalist and author. Yes, it was my passion, but it's so much easier to follow your passion when you don't have the equivalent of a mortgage payment for a monthly student loan. My parents forcing me to go to the cheaper school was the best thing they could have done. Today, I still see so many of my peers in their 30s struggle to get out from under the financial obligations of expensive, old degrees.

If there's no way you can afford $50,000 a year in tuition and fees without jeopardizing your retirement or setting your child up for a life of repayment, there is only one thing you need to know: Pick the cheaper school, even if that means your 17-year-old rants and screams that his or her life is over.
I promise you, they'll thank you for it.

Eventually.

---

Vigeland: Jen Miller is a freelance journalist in Philadelphia.

Question of the Week

    "How important is course selection for next year?"         

An applicant’s academic program is always the most significant factor in the college admission process. Therefore, students are well advised to take stock of the range of courses available to them and select the most challenging courses possible for their level of ability and degree of interest.

For the most part, colleges will evaluate an applicant’s academic record within the context of his or her high school. In other words, colleges will evaluate students according to the choices available to them. If a school offers AP English, for example, and an applicant has chosen not to take it, some colleges will want to know why. There may be a perfectly good reason, but it had better be a good one if the college is highly selective.

The most selective colleges in the nation are accustomed to seeing the most rigorous courses. And here’s the kicker: they expect the best grades, too. Not always—not for every applicant—but for most.

Like most independent schools, Severn enrolls students with a range of interests, preferences, and abilities. To meet these levels and degrees of differences, Severn offers students various curricular and co-curricular options. There are, for example, more course offerings at Severn than any one student could possibly take. Furthermore, not every course is the appropriate course for every student.  Students are urged, therefore, to choose the courses that are the most challenging for them and, one would hope, the most personally rewarding.

A special note to juniors: Colleges will ask for a transcript that includes the courses you have selected for the entire senior year. They will be keenly interested in the courses you have selected for your final year of high school. Often they will ask for 1^st quarter grades, and almost always they will ask for a mid-year transcript, with courses and grades. Your senior year counts, from beginning to end. Plan to make the best of it academically, and give those who will be supporting your college applications—your counselor and your teachers—the best evidence possible to advocate in your behalf.

So, choose wisely and chose well. But keep in mind that the goal is not to prepare for one college; it’s to prepare for any college, and for a life of learning. Become, in other words, an educated person. Your teachers and advisor, and others familiar with your academic ability and preferences, will help direct you to a path that leads to this worthy goal.

NCAA Registration for Recruited Athletes

All college-bound students with plans to participate in a Division One or Division Two sport must register online with the NCAA Eligibility Center. The address is www.eligibilitycenter.org.

Once the registration process is complete, students will be instructed to have their SAT or ACT scores sent directly from the test agency to the Eligibility Center, preferably before the fall of their senior year. The NCAA score-report code is 9999. Severn does not report test scores.

Also, while on the registration site, students will be instructed to have their high school transcript mailed to the Eligibility Center. The transcript must be a record from grades 9 through 11. In other words, the transcript cannot be sent until after the student has completed six semesters of high school.

If the student attended another high school before transferring to Severn, the NCAA must have a transcript from both schools. Transfer students are responsible for making the transcript request of their other school.

Severn will mail six-semester transcripts in June for all students who have registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center.

To have your transcript delivered electronically by Severn, we will need your Docufide ID, available on the Transcript Request Form, which you can access and download from the Web site of the Eligibility Center in June.

Please contact your college counselor with your questions or concerns about this policy.

Question of the Week

        "What are the SAT Subject Tests
        and why should I take them?"

The Subject Tests (also known as SAT-II tests) are content-based tests, required or recommended by approximately 30 colleges or universities, usually the most selective in the nation. These highly selective institutions use the scores as another means of evaluating an applicant’s level of academic achievement.  The scores serve as a yardstick, of sorts, against which an admissions officer can measure grades awarded in an imperfect system. An A at one school, for example, may not mean the same as an A at another. The score on a national standardized test helps level the playing field.

The best results on these tests are earned, generally speaking, when the material is most fresh in a student’s mind, which is why students should consider taking the Subject Tests in terminal courses at the completion of the course, usually in May or June.   We think that the best candidates for the Subject Tests are those earning an A-range grade in an honors course, but there are exceptions to this general rule.

Students can “bank” the test scores and use them if/when they need them by exercising an option known as Score Choice.  As a consequence, students can take a Subject Test multiple times, and they needn’t report the scores to colleges, unless, of course, the college requires them.   For instance, a handful of colleges will not permit their applicants to withhold their test results. They insist on seeing all the scores. And just to keep matters interesting, there are some colleges that will accept the ACT with Writing in lieu of the Subject Test requirement. With all of these variations in policy, it is important for students to consult the testing guidelines published on each college’s Web site.

Before electing to take a Subject Test, students should seek the advice of their respective teacher and review the complete test, copies of which can be ordered online from the College Board or purchased at a local bookstore.   

For more information and for free online practice exercises, follow this link to the College Board:

http://sat.collegeboard.com/about-tests/sat-subject-tests

For test dates and deadlines go to:

http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-subject/register/test-dates

College Road Trip Map

Sample map detail

A great tool for your next college road trip! 1200 top colleges in the US and Canada, located relative to cities and interstate highways, identified as public or private, single-sex, and religiously affiliated, with a handy index by name on the bottom.

There is also a grid of basic contact and comparative information on the back (including web addresses on this edition!).

Available online for $9.95 from Hedberg Maps: http://hedbergmaps.com/store/catalog/10013 

and at some Barnes & Noble locations

Of course, there are also interesting maps on Family Connection including the "Top 20 most popular colleges where our students applied". (See college maps under the "College" tab on Family Connection).

Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College

As I began my college search, there were only two things I knew for a fact that I wanted: a school that had a good sailing team and a pretty campus. Oh, and I guess I wanted to go to a good academic school, too. Other than that, I was pretty much open to anything. During my search, I looked at everything from relatively large state schools in New England to major universities in California to a couple super tiny liberal arts schools. Quite frankly, my “dream school” changed depending on the day of the week. Now, having gone through the entire process and seen my fair share of colleges, I understand that choosing the right school has a lot more to it than solely strong athletics and aesthetics. Eventually, after reflecting upon my time here at Severn, I realized that it is the little things, the intangibles, such as strong student-teacher relationships, sense of community and an intellectual environment, that truly make or break an educational experience. These are precisely the factors that influenced my college decision.

I am very proud to say that next year, I will officially be a member of the class of 2015 at Bowdoin College. Located in Brunswick, Maine, Bowdoin is a small liberal arts school comprised of approximately 1,800 students. With brick architecture, tall trees and a plethora of green areas, it is truly the quintessential New England collegiate campus, not too mention that Maine is only one of the most beautiful states in the country! The easily accessible outdoors and skiing opportunities are definitely a huge plus as well. Brunswick itself is a very quaint little town that has train tracks running down the main street. There are several shops and restaurants along it but the town is really no more than a village.

Academically, Bowdoin is exactly what I was looking for. It is well known for its strong academic curriculum and open learning environment. Also, being able to connect with my teachers has been one of the biggest advantages for me at Severn. Bowdoin’s small student body is very conducive to this kind of relationship, something that is very important for my personal learning style. Professors at Bowdoin are known to work simultaneously with students on their professional projects as well invite students over to their houses for dinner on a regular basis. The sense of community is empowering. When I was on my tour, every student I walked past would enthusiastically say, “Come to Bowdoin!” or “You won’t find a better place than this.” There has obviously got to be a reason for such enthusiasm! Also, the academic prowess of the college is very impressive. Athletically, it is a member of NESCAC, the New England Small College Athletic Conference as well as a NCAA Division III member. While we are no athletic powerhouse, we do boast the National Champion Curling Team as well as one of the best men’s hockey teams in the country! Go Polar Bears! (Yes, our mascot does reflect the fact that our school is located in the Arctic North) If anyone has any questions about the college process or Bowdoin, feel free to contact me.

--Kaylee (2011)

Question of the Week

"What’s the deal with all the mailings I’m getting about joining honor societies and  leadership groups? Are they scams or legitimate?"

 Honor Societies and Leadership Programs:  About this time of year, high school students will receive information in the mail from various honor societies and youth leadership organizations, inviting them to join or  participate in a summer program. The programs usually run for about ten days and are located throughout the United States, including Washington, D.C. People to People, the National Youth Leadership Forum, and the Congressional Youth Leadership Council are just a few of the organizations that conduct summer programs. All charge a fee, usually between $2,000 to $3,000. The honor societies are also usually fee based.

     It is possible that Severn students may find their names on an organization’s mailing list either because they have been nominated by a teacher or because they have been identified through a search of data collected and sold by a national testing agency, such as the College Board. Severn students in the past have participated in one or more of these summer programs, and their experiences have usually been very positive. Nonetheless, because these organizations are run for a profit and charge a fee, Severn cannot endorse any one of them. For the same reason, colleges and universities do not consider mere participation in these programs as anything special. They view them as a “paid-for” experience, which is not to say that participation may not be worthwhile.

THE 25TH ANNUAL AIMS COLLEGE FAIR
TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2011

FOR HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS AND THEIR PARENTS

AT THE CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL
2004 GREENSPRING DRIVE
TIMONIUM, MARYLAND 21093

FIRST SESSION: 5 - 6:30 P.M.
SECOND SESSION: 7:30 – 9 P.M.
(**College Reps will not be available from 6:30-7:30)
More than 200 colleges will be represented