Mr. K's College Knowledge

Hey Everyone, Boy, it is cold out there, but the class of 2018 is really heating it up with their college acceptances (corny I know, blame it on the cabin fever)! If you missed the latest addition of the Xavier E-news, one of the articles highlighted the early college acceptances for our seniors. I wanted to re-post the article here, for all to see. Take care, and enjoy the read...hopefully under a blanket! Class of 2018 Shines in Early Round of College Admissions In this year’s early round of college admissions, Xavier’s Class of 2018 distinguished itself with great success. "With early admissions in the rearview mirror, the Class of 2018 now has their eyes set on regular admissions, where decisions most often come out in March and April,” said Director of College Counseling  Joseph Korfmacher . “In the meantime, it is important to celebrate the early successes of this talented class. Our seniors have already reported over 400 college acceptances and close to $9,000,000 in...

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 b...

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 ...

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...

Hey Everyone, This is a post from last year that I thought would be good to recycle...enjoy! As seniors are waiting for and receiving decisions for their Early Decision and Early Action applications for colleges, I wanted to share some tips to help 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 lik...

Hey Everyone, As November 1st nears, seniors (and counselors) are officially in the thick of it all...sending out applications, getting back the latest SAT and ACT scores, and finalizing the college lists. It is a very exciting time, but a little scary as well...take a breath though, we will all get through it! For juniors, you are just beginning to think about potential colleges, and starting to line up your own SAT and ACT schedule...the possibilities are endless right now, so enjoy this time! I think at times we imagine admissions counselors to be these mythological people that live in a far away play, deciding the fate of our youth. In reality, admissions counselors are real people, with similar lives to all of us...some even have their own children going through the college application process! The New York Times recently interviewed a few admissions counselors from colleges across the country to ask them the type of advice they are giving their own teenagers who are applying ...

During the last week of summer, I was lucky enough to be invited to Lafayette College along with four other NYC college counselors. I hopped into a minivan with the four counselors, and the Lafayette College admissions representative behind the wheel, and an hour and twenty minutes later I arrived in Easton, PA to Lafayette’s beautiful suburban campus.  I spent the day there, learning more about the school’s academics, admissions, and overall community. Here’s everything you need to know about Lafayette College, plus my personal perspective below. Key Stats: ·          Location : Easton, Pennsylvania (the first exit leaving New Jersey) ·          Type : Medium-sized, private liberal arts college with a very strong engineering program ·          Size : 2,500 students in a residential campus/suburban setting ·       ...

Last week, I was fortunate enough to travel to High Point University , in High Point, North Carolina, for a college counselor fly-in, to learn more about the school. To be honest, I did not know much about HPU, but I was extremely impressed with what they have to offer for students. Since I spent an entire day there, I was able to gather a ton of information, which I will try to breakdown for you below. I hope this can help you get a good grasp on the type of place HPU is, and it just may possibly be the right place for you! By the Numbers: High Point University was recently ranked the #1 most innovative college in the south and for the past four years, HPU has been ranked the #1 Best Regional University in the south by US News & World Report HPU has also been ranked by students as having the #1 food options in the country 20% of students are from North Carolina, while 80% are from the other 49 states and 38 countries There are just about 5,000 undergraduate students, whic...

As seniors are waiting for and receiving decisions for their Early Decision and Early Action applications for colleges, I wanted to share some tips to help 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 ac...

Hey Everyone,  I honestly cannot believe it, but Thanksgiving is next week, which means two things: we will all soon begin to loosen our belt buckles, and many those Regular Decision deadlines are only a month away! As many students have applied Early Action, decisions will be coming soon, and there is always an opportunity to add a school or two through regular decision. One school students may want to look into adding for regular decision, is Franklin & Marshall, which I was lucky enough to visit earlier this week. I wanted to give everyone a brief look into F & M and what they are all about! Academics and General Information Let's get down to the basics. Franklin & Marshall is a residential, four-year liberal arts college located in Lancaster, PA. The school has about 2,300 undergraduates and the campus screams "classic college" with vast green space and beautiful buildings and facilities spread throughout. I haven't spent much time at all in Lan...

Well seniors are all definitely in the thick of things right now, as we blow through October, and head into November. Many Early Action/Decision deadlines are November 1st, and Regular Decision Deadlines are right around the corner. There is no slowing down now, and I wanted to  re-post a blog I wrote a couple of years ago. My hope is this will help students and parents to make sure they have everything covered.  For seniors who have applied to all of their schools, a few of their schools, or none of their schools, take a look at the following list of what you can be doing now for the college admissions process: ·          Revise your college list: Take a look at your college list and make sure you have 2-3 safeties, targets, and reaches in each category. Hopefully you have done your research on these colleges and visited some of them. It is imperative that you are happy with all of the colleges you apply to, not just the rea...