Darn It! I forgot Renny…

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University of San Francisco is a small, liberal arts school that has its core values rooted in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. The school is located in the heart of San Francisco, atop one of the many steep hills in San Francisco and has two campuses – Lone Mountain and the Main Campus. There are just under 5,000 undergraduates at the school and has 3,700 or so graduate and professional studies students. In total, there are around 8,700 students at USF. The student:faculty ratio is 14:1 and the average number of students in a core class is 28 (20 in majors).  Students must take courses within a required Core Curriculum – 11 classes in 6 designated areas, a service learning course, cultural diversity and foreign language. Students meets these requirements in addition to satisfying requirements for their major and/or minor. The school has a renowned community service learning program, where students study issues and then work in the community to earn credit (i.e. Perhaps study health care as it homeless population and work in a shelter health clinic)– all USF students must take own of these class to graduate. A typical array of majors is available to students, as well as the opportunity to study abroad. The programs available to undergraduate students are College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Nursing, and the School of Business and Management. There is also 4+3 Law Program and 5 year program in Computer Science and Teacher Preparation. Jesuits are known for their work around the globe and students are encouraged to go off campus and to travel around the world.

The school is explicit about student diversity and has a Diversity and Multicultural Recruitment and Retention Office that works with admissions and the student population. The ethnic makeup of the school is ranked in the top 20 of U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review. Fall 2008 Breakdown – White 39%, Asian-American 20%, Latino/Hispanic 15%, International 7%, African American 4%, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 2%, Native American 1%, and Unidentified 11%. The school went so far as to publish its graduation rates for different students groups on the website, something I appreciated!

Admissions requirements are the Common Application. A selective college, the average GPA is 3.5 and the average combined SAT for admitted students is 1120 (ACT 25). Tuition-wise, costs are just under $45,000 and 67% of the student population receives financial aid.

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Pomona College is located in the desert of the Inland Valley of Southern California. The school is modeled on the New England Ivies, but the architecture is all California (an hour away from the Mojave Desert, LA, Pacific Ocean and the San Gabriel Mountains!). It is in a college town that might remind someone of Nothampton, MA (minus the winter!). This a small (1,500 students) private, liberal arts college which is considered a part of the Claremont College system (including Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps). The school prides itself in personal touch with a student:faculty ratio of 8:1 and the average class size is 14. Our tour guide said it is the norm to get an email from a professor when you miss class. Additionally, all freshmen are assigned a Sponsor Group – a sophomore who essentially “looks out” for a group of new students this helps students settle in quickly and gain needed support right away. Students also can sign up to live in living and learning communities where dorm mates have common interests.

In addition to Sponsor Groups, Pomona takes pride in its extremely low freshman attrition rates – very students who enroll leave the school (95-100%). There are also offices focused on the retention of African-American, Latino/Chicano and 1^st Generation College students. This must contribute to Pomona having such a low graduation rate gap between White and African-American students. The class entering in 2008 is reported 8.7% African-American, 11.5% as Latino. The school is 50/50 male to female ratio.

Pomona is purely an undergraduate institution and professors teach all the classes, this includes freshman seminars. Freshmen must sign up for 1 of 24 “Critical Inquiry” seminars with 15 classmates. The school has General Education requirements and students are expected to be able to high level and original research upon graduation – Senior Thesis is a culminating piece of work. Students have take a “Breadth of Study Course” in each of 5 areas and demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language – beyond meeting requirements in their major. The school prides itself in students doing community service learning and field work. High percentages of Pomona students go on to graduate study and over 90% are admitted to graduate school on their first attempt.

Pomona is a highly selective college median SAT scores for admitted students are: CR 680-770, Math 680-760 and Writing 690-770. 53% of applicants receive scholarships and 19% are 1^st generation college students (23% of enrolled students are from the Northeast portion of the U.S.). Applications are evaluated based on 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade courses. Students need to take the SAT I or ACT with writing, and two SAT IIs. Basically, admissions officers at Pomona are looking to see that a student has taken full advantage of the academic program available to him or her at their school (AP, Honors, Dual Enrollment, etc.). Minimally, 4 years of English and Math (to calculus), 3 years of language, 2 years each in laboratory and social science are expected. recommended. Additionally, a student’s character and community involvement are discerned through teacher/counselor recommendations and personal statements. Regular admissions has a deadline of the first week in January (www.pomona.edu/admissions). Students submit Common Application and Pomona supplement.

Pomona was ranked 5^th Best College Value by Kiplinger Magazine, 5^th by Hispanic Magazine and 7^th by The Blacks in Higher Education Journal. It is also ranked 1^st as per capita college endowment (which is great for overall financial resources and aid).

Tuition is over $46,000. Nearly $33,000 per student is the average financial aid award and the school just adopted a “no loan” program (www.pomona.edu/financialaid).

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CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a college associated with the City University of New York and located in midtown Manhattan. The school is a liberal arts college that focuses on criminal justice. Students who attend are expected to gain a well-rounded liberal arts education as they study criminal justice. Students satisfy general education requirements and can gain an Associates Degree, a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree.

I had a difficult time contacting the school and was not able to go on a tour, sit for an information session or meet with an admissions officer. Unfortunately I ended up on hold for more than 30 minutes and was given a number that was not in service. This was disappointing as we have a number of students interested in criminal justice. Luckily, my brother is an English professor at John Jay. I did interview him on video and he’s working to put me in touch with the admissions director at the school. Sometimes it is not easy to contact a school. In your search you have to decide whether or not these organizational issues are a reflection of the college or just a fluke…If you want to learn about the school you may have to try harder or change your approach! I do know that there is an Open House in November. I’m going to work to be in touch with John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Admissions Office.

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Rutgers is the flagship campus for the New Jersey state university system. It has a huge campus and is an interesting blend of old (as in colonial) and new. Initially, the college was Queens College, as in Queen of England, and some of the oldest buildings in the country are housed on the campus – one section of campus is modeled after Cambridge in England and is very beautiful. Now Rutgers has five campuses and takes up a large expanse of landscape in New Brunswick, New Jersey: Douglass (all women’s), Cook, Livingston, Mason Gross (Fine Arts and Music), and Busch. A shuttle system gets students around campus and students are encouraged to choose housing based on the environment they prefer versus the majors/programs that are on a particular campus. Freshmen tend to live in freshman housing and there is a pretty extensive freshman orientation program that happens over the weekend the summer before school starts to orient new students. There is an honors program at Rutgers and those students live together and have special programming as a result of their status. We had to tour by luxury bus because the campus was so large.

Our tour guide Alyssa (see video) was very comfortable on the microphone! One thing I won’t forget is the “Grease Trucks” where students can purchase a sub that contains chicken fingers, mozerella sticks, French fries and marinara sauce – fine college dining at its very best! Eeeewww.

The school is located 45 minutes away from New York City and 10 minutes from Princeton, NJ. Some students take advantage of such close proximity to NYC to get internships, but there are a number of corporate headquarters in New Brunswick like Johnson & Johnson (the baby powder and Q-tips). There is the host of majors and concentrations that you would find at a large state school. Rutgers is a Division I school for athletics, you may remember the Scarlet Knights’ women’s bball team and Imus In the Morning’s racist comments of a couple of years ago. These women tend to make it at least the Sweet Sixteen in March Madness (men’s – not so much). But if you want some crazy school spirit, Rutgers is a place to consider (the basketball arena is the LOUDEST in the nation!). Something to note is that NCAA championships provide schools with lots of $$$ – the science campus was pretty spiffy as a result. As the flagship university, graduate-level research is a big focus of academics.

Admissions is competitive. Rutgers uses its own application, it is online and asks that students submit their own transcript (Self Reported Academic Record SRAR) – they do check the grades you submit…Rutgers does have a number of out of state and international students. Prospective Students choose their top three programs when they apply (Liberal Arts, Nursing, Business, Marine Biology, etc.) Financial Aid is submitted using the FAFSA. An independent student, ready to be a little further from home might consider taking a look at Rutgers.

The New School Welcome Center is just below Union Square and located in a funky, airy building. Multi-media abounded. I met with Eric Sherman (see the video), the admissions officer responsible for MA at the New School’s Eugene Lang College: The New School for Liberal Arts prior to the information session and tour. Eric was great – friendly, informative and just not rote at all (I loved his fun plaid shirt). He emphasized that Eugene Lang College is a small (300 freshmen), liberal arts college that students tend to self-select because they consciously choose a non-traditional, urban education. The student:faculty ratio is 8:1 and courses are all taught in seminar style. 40% of the students are international students. Eric was excited to hear about The Springfield Renaissance School and undaunted by our standards based grading. He mentioned that he has seen lots of different transcripts and would rely on school counselors to help decipher anything on a student’s application. The school is fairly new (1980’s) and has a fair amount of flexibility within its liberal arts curriculum. I hope some The Springfield Renaissance students take a look.

Eugene Lang is one of eight schools housed in the New School and was founded in 1985. Parsons School of Design (of Project Runway fame) is one of those schools, and students have some access to classes within those program. There are 5 year dual degree programs with Parsons and the Jazz and Contemporary Music Programs. The information session was across the street in a small auditorium, I’m not sure how we didn’t lose anyone in the traffic…The host outlined the eight schools within the New School and let the film roll. The presentation was pretty spectacular, I guess that is a perk of having a premier film school under your umbrella. The New School was founded in 1919 and points to progressive educator John Dewey (who said, “children learn best by doing”) as a linchpin in its philosophy.  A couple of Columbia University professors frustrated by the “old thinking” of Columbia went downtown and founded the New School. It was home to many persecuted intellectuals from Europe after World War I. These “Exiled Thinkers” founded a school that emphasizes:

• Critical thinking
• Debate
• Public engagement
• Social Justice
• Contributing to society (positively)
• Theory AND Practice
• Creating change
• Being good citizens

One thing consistently emphasized is the experimental nature of the school. Students can sign up for class that allows them to design and build a boat  and put it in the Hudson to see if it will float (I wonder if they have to get shots)! (see comment thread…)

Financial Aid is both need and merit based. As with all these Big City schools, the cost of studying in NYC makes the REAL cost pricier for sure.

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The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey is located on the New Jersey Shore in the middle of acres and acres of pinelands. Atlantic City and miles of beaches are the closer landmarks. The buildings have a space aged 70s feel and are interconnected and the school is in the middle of a huge building project on a student center. A small, liberal arts state college with just under 7,000 students attending. Admissions are competitive (SAT CR/M1130) and admitted students are in the top 25% of their high school class. An interesting feature of the school is Instant Decision Days – show up with your admissions materials, meet the criteria and you are in! Otherwise, when your file is complete, you receive a decision (latest application submissions for this fall was May 1^st). It is a Div III school and seems to have a bunch of “Osprey” spirit – Men’s soccer has done very well.

Academically, Stockton describes itself as hands on. There is an Honors Program that allows students to work directly with a professor on a research project and present at a conference prior to graduation. There is a General Studies requirement that makes up 25% percent of the courses a student will take in order to graduate. Criminal Justice, Nursing, Dance, Literary Studies, Business, Computer Science, Biology and Marine Biology are some of the majors that students can choose.

Tuition with room and board for out of state students in 2008-2009 was $26,153. There are both need based and merit based scholarships.

There are colleges similar to Stockton closer to Springfield, so a student interested in Stockton would have to want to attend for a specific major or to be in this location (i.e. Marine Biology).