Mr. K's College Knowledge

As seniors are waiting for and receiving decisions for their Early Action and Early Decision applications for colleges, I wanted to share some tips on when receiving admissions decisions from colleges. Ø   If you have been accepted to a school through Early Decision, you should withdraw your applications from any other colleges you have applied to or were planning on applying to. Remember, with Early Decision, you, your parent, and school counselor all signed an agreement, that if accepted this would be the school you would attend. Ø   If you have been deferred from Early Decision or Early Action to regular decision, do not get upset, as you still have a chance. For ED, you are no longer committed to attending the school, even if you are accepted through regular decision, so more options have just opened up. To be deferred means the college liked what they saw in your application, but they need a little more information and time before potentially accepting you. For these scho

Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) Total undergraduates: 6,900 students Middle 50% for acceptance SATs: 1640-1890, ACT: 23-27, Acceptance Rate: 59% This is a medium sized private school located on a suburban campus in Long Island, 25 miles outside of New York City. Campus is divided in two with the north side housing the residential halls (38 of them and 87% of students live on campus) and the south side housing all of the academic buildings. Hofstra has 143 different majors, with biology being their top major and business being one of their most popular. They have a state-of-the-art trading room, and internships are very big across all majors. They also offer a 5-year Journalism Master’s program. Class sizes are small with an average of only 21 students per class. 2014 will be the first year that Hofstra is going test optional in their admissions process. As long as the student has a good GPA, they are advised to not submit SAT scores below 1080 (Math and Critical Reading

Le Moyne College is a small, liberal-arts Jesuit school of about 2,800 undergraduate students located in Syracuse, NY. Only 4 hours from New York City, Le Moyne is situated on a beautiful campus only minutes from the action of downtown Syracuse. They have many different majors ranging from business to psychology to engineering, and have some excellent partnerships with Syracuse University. They have a 3-2 Bachelors and Masters engineering program with Syracuse, a 4-1 Bachelors and Masters Forensic Science program with Syracuse, and a 3-3 Law School Program with Syracuse and Fordham. Students in this law program with a 3.65 of higher GPA after junior year can bypass the LSAT exam and go right into law school at Syracuse of Fordham. Specifically, at Syracuse, students will also receive a 50% discount on tuition for years 5 and 6 (students do not receive this discount at Fordham). Le Moyne also has a brand new business building and a 20 million dollar science complex was completed three

First of all, I just wanted wanted to extend a special thank-you to all active duty and Veterans of our country's armed forces. Thank you for all you have done and sacrificed and will continue to do so to protect our freedom. On Veteran's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to inform you all of a new initiative Michigan State University has started. They are now offering in-state tuition price for out-of-state residents who have a parent that is a Veteran or is active-duty in the armed forces. This takes the overall cost of attendance from $44,230 per year to $22,450 per year...quite the difference. This is also before any additional merit scholarships or financial aid comes into play for the student. If you feel you may qualify for this, and are interested in Michigan State University, make sure to indicate this status on your MSU application. Also, be sure to look into any other schools that may have similar opportunities. As always, happy searching! Joseph D. Korfmacher

As all of the seniors are in the busiest part of the college admissions process, I’m sure most people are counting down the days until they are finished with completing applications, writing essays, finalizing the college list, and paying for those application fees! Juniors most likely are just beginning to explore what colleges are out there and are beginning to think about what and where they want to study during their four years of higher education. Wherever you are in the college search and application process, I think it is always good to hear about more schools you may not have thought about. I recently was able to be part of a 2-day, 3-college tour with counselors from across the country. During the trip, we visited Wheaton College, Emerson College, and Providence College. These three very different colleges were an absolute joy to visit, and I want to share some information with you on all three of these schools. Trust me, there are some schools I would not recommend to my stu

As a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University , I will try my best not to be biased with my information and updates on Saint Joseph’s University (SJU), but with that said…it is an absolutely fantastic all-around university. SJU is located in Philadelphia, but is outside of the main city center, in a suburban setting. SJU is a 10 minute drive or train ride to downtown Philadelphia, so it offers the best of both worlds in regards to the college environment experience. SJU is a Catholic (Jesuit) liberal arts university, with a terrific school of arts & sciences and business school. Although some students may have a major and career already figured out, this is not necessary at SJU, as nearly 70% of applicants are undecided. Being a liberal arts college at its core, all students, regardless of major, must take 18 core courses across all disciplines, including a foreign language, English, history, science, and more. Students also must take 8 electives, which if used properly, can poss

I am very happy to bring all of you some great information on Susquehanna University . I’ve personally visited their campus, and it is a terrific place for any type of student to spend their college years. Please take some time to read these highlights on the school, sent to me from their admissions team. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, and as always, happy searching! Susquehanna University, located in Selinsgrove, PA., educates students in the liberal arts and sciences and provides them with real-world, professional experiences through the School of Arts and Sciences and the  Sigmund Weis School of Business . The business school ranks among the top 5% of business programs worldwide to have earned AACSB accreditation, a marker of excellence. Recognized by the New York Times as one of the  10 most economically diverse colleges  in the nation, Susquehanna was also named a Best Northeastern College by the Princeton Review’s 2015 Best 379 Colleges. Our 2,200 stude

Saint Peter’s University - This is a small (little over 2,000 students) in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is New Jersey’s only Jesuit University. Their top programs are business, criminal justice, and education, where students are licensed to teach in both New Jersey and New York upon graduation. They have a newly renovated school of education and school of business, with a new stock room. They offer a great study abroad program primarily in Barcelona and Seoul for interested students. Although 50% of students commute, housing is available all four years. 97% of students receive financial aid, but the merit scholarships are what make Saint Peter’s a great catch. All accepted students are awarded at LEAST a $12,000 scholarship towards tuition and $2,000 towards room and board. Also, students with a 3.5 GPA and 1300 SAT (Math and Critical Reading) are in the running for a full scholarship, in which 40 are given out each year. All applicants are also given free applications, which save y

Hello everyone, I wanted to share with you an email I received from the University of Southern California, which has created a new degree program that looks extremely interesting. This is great for students thinking about going into the media arts field. See the message below from Dr. Harke, the Dean of Students at USC, and as always, happy searching! “The Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts + Practice is for students interested in harnessing the power of digital storytelling and media design for uses in diverse fields, from business to education, from architecture to medicine, from urban planning to law.   The program combines the history and theory of 20th and 21st century media forms with hands-on production experience and research. This program is one of the most exciting programs to come to USC in many years.” Please visit the website for this program at MAP-USC Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

Bentley University - This is a fantastic school right outside of Boston, which specializes in Business, but is not just limited to this concentration. Bentley has an extremely high-tech campus with seven officially high-tech buildings and they even have a 3-D printer accessible for student use. The student population of 4,200 allows for small class sizes and personal relationships with professors. Bentley is a very active campus with 80% of the students participating in varsity or club sports, and 80% of students choose to live on the beautiful green campus all four years. Their top three majors are management, marketing, and finance, and business students have access to one of the nation’s best trading rooms on a college campus. Business students are given real money from the college to trade with and learn from. With career preparation and readiness at the forefront of Bentley’s mission, they are happy to report that 98% of seniors in the past few years have been placed in jobs or a

The fall is a busy time for everyone involved in college admissions, and for me, part of my job is to learn about new trends at colleges and help spread the word about interesting college programs and updates at schools across the country. As information comes across my desk and I listen to admission representatives speak to students during visits, I want to update families about the pieces of information I think everyone should know. These following “quick-hitters” should provide you with tips, trends, and general helpful advice about schools you may be interested in applying to. Hampshire College (Amherst, MA): Will now NOT accept test scores as part of the admissions process. While there are many test-optional schools out there, Hampshire is one of the first colleges to be test-blind, in that they consider all parts of the applicant, but will not look at SAT or ACT scores. St. Bonaventure (St. Bonaventure, NY): Fantastic business program, especially finance and accounting.

New information just crossed my desk about two great Jesuit colleges, Saint Louis University (SLU) and Saint Joseph’s University (SJU) in Philadelphia. Saint Joseph’s University SJU has recently welcomed their largest freshmen class in the school’s history with over 1300 students. Their physical campus has nearly doubled in size over the past few years, and they are starting to fill-up some of that extra space! SJU has also implemented four new majors and five new minors including: Majors: Entertainment Marketing, Information Technology, Linguistics, Secondary Education, and minors in Creative Writing , Environmental & Sustainability Studies, Journalism, Justice & Ethics in the Law, and Medieval, Renaissance & Reformation Studies. Saint Louis University SLU has already started accepting applications for admission and will begin delivering answers out on a rolling basis beginning October 15 th . Although many of their application deadlines are late

Goucher College , a small, private liberal arts school in Baltimore has just come out with a new way to apply to their school. The traditional way to apply still exists using the Common Application, but they have created a very unique way to apply that may interest some students. We know that many schools are beginning to go test-optional , where they do not look at test scores, but put more focus on the academic transcript. However, Goucher is taking it a step further with their creation of the Goucher Video Application (GVA) . If you choose to go this route, test scores and transcripts are not required. Yes, you read that right…they do not consider test scores or high school transcripts for admission! If you are accepted to Goucher, you will need to eventually send your transcript to be considered for merit scholarships, but not to be accepted to the school. This is a great option for students, who have not done well in the traditional structure of high school and standardized tests

Anyone who is going through the college search process knows there are limitless factors to consider when choosing the right college. For students with learning differences, the quality of the school's support program may be near the top of that list of important factors. Colleges range in what they offer, costs, experience of support personnel, and overall effectiveness of the program. If you are a student or a parent of a student with learning differences, it is very important that you research these programs and ask a ton of questions when visiting the schools. There are many great schools across the country with excellent support programs, but the one I wanted to present to you today is Marist College. Past students have had great experiences there with their support program, and it is a school I can highly recommend. For those interested, Marist College is having an informational open house specifically about their learning disabilities support program. This program will tak

As always, I want to try to provide everyone with the most up-to-date resources on college admissions, and I want to share this very helpful website. It is called, College Results Online , and is part of The Education Trust. This website has a ton of information on graduation rates (something you all should be comparing at colleges), financial aid and average net cost after financial aid, and much more. It also allows you to search and compare schools on various factors that are important to you. I would encourage you all to take some time to look through this website and hopefully it will come in handy for you during the college search process. Take care, and happy searching! -Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

Just a quick post here in alerting everyone of the new policy at the highly selective Wesleyan University. As we are seeing with many colleges each year, Wesleyan has decided to go test-optional in their admissions. This can be very helpful for the students who have performed well in the classroom, but just can't seem to showcase their best during standardized testing. Students no longer have to send in their test scores for the admissions process. For more specific information on Wesleyan's new policy, please click on their website link here . Enjoy, and as always, happy searching! -Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

So you are officially a senior...this is exciting right? Only one more year of high school and then you are off to pursue the major of your choice at hopefully the college of your choosing! Although many students would like the college application process to be over already, you still have many months left. Some of the more important months throughout this process are June, July and August. The summer is a crucial time to prepare, search, and begin to formalize your college application plans. It is definitely not a time to sit around and do nothing. So look at these following tips on ways you can best utilize your summer days to best prepare yourself for the fall when you finally apply to college! Get Involved: Depending on the selectiveness of the colleges you are applying to, admissions counselors are looking for applicants who have done something positive during their time off. Whether it is traveling, taking a pre-college summer class, volunteering, or working, make sure you

I want to bring to your attention a unique opportunity for students to obtain two bachelor’s degrees from two separate colleges, one being the University of Notre Dame. King’sCollege in Pennsylvania has collaborated with Notre Dame to offer this dual degree program. This is a chance to experience life at two different colleges, and is a remarkable chance for students to graduate from Notre Dame, who may not originally have been able to be accepted to the University.  Although different environments, both of these schools are part of the congregation of the Holy Cross, and each are committed to the same academic and personal values. So how does this program work, you may be asking? Students should have at least a 3.2 GPA to get into this specific program, and they will complete three years at King’s College, earning a BS in fields such as Physics, Chemistry, Environmental Science or Computer Science. While at King’s, students will also take courses in the liberal arts to help wi

I’m going to stay in the Pacific Northwest, with the next college to showcase. Seattle University is a Jesuit university in the middle of stunning Seattle. It has just over 4,500 undergraduate students with a diverse population of students and a myriad of top notch programs to study. When I first arrived on campus, I was struck by the beauty of the campus and how it meshed very well with the surrounding environment. Although the campus is right outside downtown Seattle, you are surrounded by water and snow-capped mountains, and the modern and unique architecture of the school buildings is quite breathtaking. I know Seattle is far for us east-coasters, but as I talked to students, faculty, and administration at Seattle University, I realized this was truly a special place with so much to offer for students across the county, and it is a place I would feel very comfortable recommending. Here are a few fun and helpful facts about the school, so enjoy! Student Population : 4,500 Unde