Mr. K's College Knowledge

With the Holiday Season upon us, so is the early admissions notification season. Students have begun receiving many acceptances, academic scholarships, financial aid packages, and students are finally starting to see themselves at one or two specific colleges…reality is beginning to set in! A percentage of students have even been accepted to their Early Decision (binding) school and now know where they will be attending in the fall of 2018...how exciting!  However, even though there are a ton of good things happening now, many students also received unpleasant decisions from colleges in the early round with either denials or deferrals. From my desk, the trend continues of schools becoming more and more difficult to get into, even for the most accomplished students. With more young men and women applying to college within our country and across the world, many college application numbers continue to go through the roof, meaning more students will be denied or deferred than ever befor

Hey Everyone! With Thanksgiving only two days away, the Christmas music will be starting in just three days. It is hard to believe, but we can now see the end of the college application season, with January 1st being one of the biggest college deadlines. January through the end of April will be filled with a lot of joy as acceptance letters roll in, and seniors begin making their plans for collegiate life in the fall of 2018. January, into the early months of spring also mean another thing in the world of college admissions: the cycle begins again for current juniors, as this will be the time the majority of juniors begin taking the standardized college entrance exams: ACT and SAT. Although a growing number of colleges are going test-optional , which means they do not require (really!) SAT or ACT scores to be considered for admissions or scholarship money, the vast majority of colleges still use scores as a major part of the admissions process. Below, I will first give you a f

I graduated from high school in 2004, and while it is upsetting that the students I am advising in the college process now, were in diapers at that time, it really was not that long ago (or at least I keep telling myself that). I graduated from Westfield High School in New Jersey, a very competitive public school of about 400 students per grade. Myself included, pretty much everyone in the school applied to around six colleges, all of which were in the United States or Canada. Applying to international colleges was never a consideration, I mean why would it be...there are thousands of amazing schools in America, why travel across the ocean just for your college degree? The thinking was always that students from other countries are the ones who need to come to the American colleges, not vice versa. Well, in the past 14 years there has been a gradual rise in American students attending colleges and universities in other countries. Even more, in the past three years, I have personally s

Seniors & Families, It is almost October 1st...and as a college counselor, that only means one thing. No not football, apple picking, or the leaves changing...it means deadlines! We have been talking about college admissions and the application process for close to a year now...and now the first deadlines are around the corner...we can see them, and for some, that can make us very nervous! But no need to worry, you got this!  You have your list of colleges, you are working through the applications, you are ready to send your SAT/ACT scores, and you talked to your teacher months ago in order for her to commit to writing your letter...right? Many already have a teacher committed to writing a letter, others are just learning they need a teacher recommendation letter as they are reading this. If you fall in the latter category, don't freak out, but right now is the time to find a teacher and ask (beg) for a letter.  You may be asking yourself, why do colleges need letters o

Hey Everyone, While summer break is almost here, the college news and updates never end! Since Penn State is a popular out-of-state public university for students in the New York/New Jersey area, I thought it would be helpful to share their latest application information. Penn State has always used their own college application, which has been pretty simple for students and counselors to operate, and they really have not changed much in recent memory. However, for the fall of 2017, Penn State will make two big changes to their application process. First, they will no longer request that high school officials send in the student transcript. Instead, students will be asked to self-report their grades. Other public schools do this, such as Rutgers and University of South Carolina, and is fairly simple. On the application, students will input each course and their grade received for all three years, and the senior year courses in which they are enrolled. Then if the student is accept

It is great to write that New York has become the first state in the country to offer free college tuition for middle-class residents. Middle-class students can now attend State Universities and City Universities, both 4-year and 2-year colleges, tuition free beginning in September 2017! For this upcoming year, students who are in families that make under $100,000 per year are eligible for free tuition, and by 2019 that amount will go up to $125,000 per year. Besides meeting the financial requirements, students must also enroll full-time at their college (30 credits per year) and they must live and work in New York state for as many years as they received the scholarship. If they do not, their scholarship will be transferred to a loan. Also, it is important to know that this scholarship just includes tuition , students who choose to live on campus, will still be responsible for paying for room and board. This is a step in the right direction to make college more affordable for

Key Stats: ·           Location : Santa Clara, California (about an hour from San Francisco, and right next to San Jose) ·           Type : Private, Catholic Jesuit University, in a defined campus with a suburban surrounding ·           Size : Just about 5,500 total undergraduates ·           The total  cost of attendance  is just over $64,000 per year, but SCU does offer a good amount of financial aid and merit based scholarships .  Admissions Stats: Santa Clara University is a top ranked university in the country, and is a fairly selective school to get into. Last year, SCU had almost 16,000 applications and accepted about 7,600 students for an acceptance rate of 48%. Their average SAT score range for accepted students is: 1270-1450 and the average ACT score range for accepted students is: 28-32 . There are three different ways to apply to Santa Clara, Regular Decision, Early Action, and binding Early Decision. Academics: Santa Clara has three main schools in their

As I look out my window at the snow, sleet, and freezing rain pummeling my sidewalk, I am wishing I was back in sunny California, on the top of a hill, looking at the city of San Francisco go on and on towards the ocean. The sky is a vibrant blue, with a slight chill in the breeze. Surrounded by eager college students on the move, I could definitely picture myself here as an undergraduate student at the University of San Francisco. USF has a beautiful and manageable campus with epic views of the Bay Area...with restaurants, shops, museums, and not to mention the countless tech industry companies within walking distance, University of San Francisco seems like an ideal place to study, grow, and prepare for a successful career. Here’s everything you need to know about University of San Francisco , plus my personal perspective below. Key Figures: University of San Francisco was opened in 1855, and was the first university in San Francisco. USF is one of the 28 Jesuit universiti

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Northern California with about 50 other Jesuit High School, college counselors. We had a wonderful conference, talking about all of the updates in college admissions, and then we visited six colleges and universities (U of Pacific, U of San Francisco, Cal-Berkeley, St. Mary's College, Stanford U, and Santa Clara U). They varied in size, environment, program offerings, and rigor. Usually on big trips like these there are one or two schools that I am not a fan of...not on this trip though, as they were all awesome. I could honestly see many students from the east coast taking the 5 1/2 hour plane ride to either San Francisco or San Jose to any of the six schools I visited. Over the next few weeks, I will try to write about each college and give my feedback...and of course, add some of my pictures! The first school I want to discuss is probably the least well known of the six, University of Pacific, located in Stockton, California. He

Hey Everyone, I had the pleasure of speaking with a representative from the University of East Anglia yesterday, and it sounds like a great opportunity for students potentially looking to study abroad. University of East Anglia is a medium sized university in the relatively small city of Norwich, England. For many, it can be tough to imagine going to college anywhere but in the United States, but it is important to have an open mind, and consider options outside of the states. For one, it can be CONSIDERABLY cheaper to study abroad, and it is a great opportunity to be immersed in a completely different culture and environment, and students can get some of the best education in countries outside the U.S. Below you will find a few highlights of the University of East Anglia and their website, so take a look, give it some thought, and truly imagine yourself completing your undergraduate years in another part of the world! UEA is located in a quintessential English city, very cozy,

Hey Everyone, Visiting colleges is the single most important part of the college decision process. It is so important for students (and parents) to get on campus, walk around, see the people, and experience the environment...both physical and social. Whether you are a senior trying to figure out which college is best for you to attend from the ones you were accepted, a junior beginning to visit colleges on your list, or a sophomore/freshmen just beginning to get a taste for college, visiting schools is a must. Almost all colleges allow for visits throughout the school year and summer. When scheduling a college visit, you will want to try to attend an information session and a campus tour. This can be done by going to the college website, and to their admissions page. Most of the time you can select from a set of dates and times that work best for you. Then all you have to do is show-up on time and let the college take care of the rest. You can learn a lot about a school from thei

For the first time in recent memory, College Board is changing the months that they offer the SATs. Through this year, they have always held the SAT during the months of October, November, December, January, March, May, and June. However, starting this summer, there will be an August 26th SAT for students to take. They will continue offering 7 SAT dates, and will be discontinuing the January SAT . I think this is a great decision by College Board for a couple of reasons. For one, it gives seniors another opportunity at the beginning of the school year to take the SAT before college applications. Also, more importantly, the August date will give seniors more time , and will eliminate the rushed feeling and the anxiety that comes with the fall test dates. Many early application deadlines for colleges are November 1st. For many students, this only leaves them with the early October SAT. While this test date is usually fine for early application deadlines, there is always the worry that

We are quickly heading towards February, and the college application season has been long, and draining. You most likely have put hours upon hours of your life researching, visiting, contemplating, and applying to colleges. This is a huge decision, and all the hard work will pay off. However, if you are not satisfied with your college list, you do not just have to settle with what you have now. There is still time to search for and apply to colleges across the country. Yes, January 15th was a big day for regular decision deadlines, but there are still hundreds of great colleges and universities that are still accepting applications. If you are not satisfied with your college list, or you have been accepted into a few colleges, but the the financial aid award letter doesn't offer as much as you like, keep looking. There are still a ton of schools that have deadlines in February, March, April, and even some that are rolling admissions and go into the summer. Below I will list a s

January is a great time in college admissions. Most of the Early Decision and Early Action decisions have come in, and seniors’ college landscapes are starting to be filled in. The majority of students have finally finished all applications, and will be patiently waiting for those regular decisions to come in, most likely in March or April. Many students are receiving many acceptances, academic scholarships, financial aid packages, and students are finally starting to see themselves at one or two specific colleges…reality is beginning to set in! However, even though there are a ton of good things happening now, many students also received unpleasant decisions from colleges in the early round with either denials or deferrals. From my desk, the trend continues of schools becoming more and more difficult to get into, even for the most competitive students. With more students applying to college within our country and across the world, many college application numbers are going through th