Mr. K's College Knowledge

Two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to visit Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. To ensure I stay on top of the world of college admissions, I often visit universities across the country, but this was my first ever international college trip. International college admissions has been increasing in the United States in recent years, and after this trip, I began to truly understand why this was happening. Bocconi University is a large urban university in the heart of Milan, which is a European business, financial and cultural hub, where history merges with modernity, and tradition with innovation. Bocconi reminds me of NYU, except the students are dressed better and the gelato is unbelievably tasty! Bocconi students have the luxury of a beautiful urban campus, located right next to an expansive park, and they are only 10 minutes from center city Milan. Walking around campus, I could easily tell that the students were serious about their academics, and had...

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 ...

Last weekend, I flew to Boston, and took a bus 30 minutes to Easton, Massachusetts to visit Stonehill College . I spent two days there, learning about their community, academics, and meeting students, administration, and faculty. It was a wonderful opportunity to truly engulf myself and get a true understanding of what Stonehill College is all about. While there, there were a few key values about the school that became very clear; the Stonehill community is a family, where students receive an incredible education, are friendly to others, and truly want to help others, while improving themselves along the way. Stonehill has a quintessential New England campus on over 400 acres, where students are genuinely happy to be and receive a top notch education. Here’s everything you need to know about Stonehill College, plus my personal perspective below. Key Stats: Ø   Stonehill is a Catholic, Private, Holy Cross institution (same as Notre Dame) Ø   Stonehill opened in ...

As promised, I wanted to briefly write about my visit to St. Edward's University, in my new favorite city, Austin! St. Edwards is located just a few miles south of downtown Austin, in a beautiful residential area, on top of a hill with gorgeous 360 degree views of the city. Right near campus is the extremely cool South Congress (SoCo) district with tons of shops and restaurants. Austin has to be one of the best cities in the country for almost any type of person. Austin has a laid-back lifestyle, warm weather with over 300 days of sunshine a year, and a fantastic food and music scene. There are food trucks everywhere, and Austin is considered the "Live Music Capital of the World". If you are someone who wants a change of scenery from the northeast, and you want a fairly small, intimate college, St. Edward's University is a great option to add to your list! St. Edward's University has just under 3,600 undergraduates, coming from 45 different states, with an aver...

As seniors are watching their college decisions roll in, juniors are beginning the college search process, and underclassmen are beginning to think about life after high school, there is one topic that has likely crossed all of their minds. That topic is their life and what they see themselves doing for a career. There is no set schedule for when individuals should know what type of career would be best for them, as some know when they are 10-years-old and others don’t know until they are 40-years-old. As high school students it is completely normal not to have a solid grasp of a type of job or field you see yourself in, and contemplating about what you would like to do for the next 40+ years is not the easiest concept to wrap your head around, but it is definitely something all high school students should be thinking about. As jobs are becoming more competitive and specialized, it would greatly benefit any individual to choose the right major for themselves in college and getting sta...

Hey Everyone, I cannot believe it, but we are actually close to the end of July, and it feels like this summer is flying by! I hope everyone has been utilizing their extra free time and traveling to a few colleges. There is still time, as most colleges will have information sessions and tours throughout August. Also, for you Xavier students, classes start late this year because of a late Labor Day, so you have even more time to visit colleges. Be on the lookout for open houses at schools across the country, as many of those occur in September and October, and most of them you will need to sign-up for in advance. Okay, with that announcement out of the way, I want to talk about my trip to Elon University earlier this month. As many of you know, I visited seven schools in Virginia and North Carolina, however, there was one that truly stood out to me, and that was Elon University. I honestly was shocked by their campus and what they have to offer to students. This is a school that is ...

Overall Information The last college I visited on my tour, (don't worry I will be writing about the other schools soon enough) was Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. When you ask most people in the Northeast to say something they know about this college, most will say Steph Curry. Yes Steph Curry, who recently won the NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors, graduated from Davidson and dominated the national college basketball scene. However, what people do not know is that Davidson is home to one of the very best liberal arts educational institutes in the world. You do not hear about them too much, but Davidson is an incredible place to study and turns out some of the very best and brightest every year. The school has just under 2,000 students and is located in a quaint little town of just 18,000 residents. And for being a small school in the south, they have a large presence of students from all over the country, including 20% from the Northeast. For such a ...

Hey Everyone, I hope the summer is going well for you and all of you rising seniors and juniors are making plans to visit colleges this summer, as you know, I feel it is the only way to truly know if the school is a right fit for you. I am currently in Williamsburg, Virginia in the middle of a 7-college tour. Yesterday, I saw the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond. Later today, I will be going down the street to check out the College of William and Mary, then I am off to Elon, UNC, Wake Forest, and Davidson to round out my trip. I will pick a few schools to blog about during this trip, so please check out the blog over the next couple of weeks, and if you have twitter, follow the Xavier Guidance Twitter account for live updates and pictures from my trip @XHSGuidance. Overall Information Today, I want to spotlight, the University of Richmond , located in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond is home to incredible academics, the Spiders as their mascot, and my wife's a...

Many of you know that I recently traveled to six New England colleges and universities to better acquaint  myself with the schools' academics, student life, location, and overall environment. I was able to tour the schools, chat with current students, and connect with admissions counselors at each stop along my trip. This was a great experience for me, as I was able to dig deep into each school, and truly understand what they are all about, and this will hopefully allow me to better guide and counselor future students going through the college search and application process. I also believe that the connections I made with the admissions counselors at each school will be invaluable in the coming years throughout this process. I am looking forward to sharing with all of you some information, personal insight, and a few pictures from each schools over the next two weeks. During my trip I visited Yale University, Trinity College, Harvard University, Boston College, Dartmouth College,...

Last week, I visited 10 colleges and universities in Connecticut and New York. Over the next two weeks, I will discuss my thoughts on these schools, share valuable information, and post a few pictures from each school. The first school I want to share with you is Marist College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York. Located only 2 hours north of New York City, it is situated on a beautiful 200 acre campus on the banks of the Hudson River. As soon as you pull off the main road onto their campus, you are struck by the beauty of their surroundings. Lately, Marist has put a lot of time and money into their campus and buildings, and it shows. Most of the buildings are a similar color of gray stone, all of the Division 1 sports fields are located throughout the campus, and their center of school is a gorgeous lawn on a small hill facing the Hudson River. General Information Marist College has just under 4,800 students, which is a really nice size, and boasts a 16:1 student to faculty rati...