Mr. K's College Knowledge

Students rejoice! Nearly 20 college admissions officers told the Washington Post's On Parenting section what they are actually looking for in the candidates they screen. A common theme? Letting your personality shine through in the essay. This should come as no surprise since I work with many of you on this exact idea. For example: "When you write your college essay, use your authentic voice. If you’re a serious person, write your essay with a serious voice. If you’re a funny person, be funny. If you’re not a funny person, your college essay might not be the best place to try on that funny writer voice for the first time". - Ken Anselment, Lawrence University dean of admissions and financial aid "I look for beautiful, clear writing that comes to life on the essay page and offers insight into the character and personality of the student. Beware of being someone you are not in the essay. Beware of outside influence. Editing by adults or professionals often ...

Seton Hall University is a medium-sized school of just under 6,000 students in South Orange, NJ. It is a Catholic university with terrific majors in nursing, business, engineering, and much more. In January, Seton Hall began its quest to add even more to their school, by signing a memorandum of understanding with Hackensack University Health Network to form a new, four-year school of medicine. If all goes well, when this is finalized, this partnership will establish the only private medical school in the state of New Jersey. The location on this campus will be in Nutley and Clifton at a state-of-the-art biomedical facility. In an email sent from Seton Hall's President, Dr, Gabriel Esteban, he estimates that by 2020, there will be a shortage of 2,500 physicians in the Garden State. He goes on to state that "HackensackUHN and Seton Hall's joint venture to create a premier academic institution will help combat the physician shortage by providing key educational, research, a...

     Hello everyone, I have decided to mix-it-up a little bit and have you hear directly from Xavier seniors about their experience throughout the college application and admissions process. The first student to share his story and give feedback and tips is senior, Krist Sokoli . I will continue to add blog posts from other seniors this week and next, so continue to check back to get inside information from those who just went through the process this year. Enjoy! 1.  What was your experience like through the college search and application process? a.        My college search and application experience was pretty  laid back  partially due to me starting my research and work during junior year. I had made sure to ask a lot of the seniors where they were applying to and why they had chosen those schools. I also made sure to ask what they thought about other schools. I found that most of the answers were honest and t...

So seniors…you are beginning to hear back from the colleges you applied to and most are happy to hear that you have been accepted to many of the schools. However, in the majority of cases, that initial joy inside you and your parents goes away when you see the amount of merit scholarship you are receiving. Sure, $10,000 is a big amount of money to earn in merit scholarship awards and is a great start…but for numerous schools, this is just 1/5 th   of the total amount it costs to attend. As countless private schools are reaching $40,000- $50,000 each year to attend, a $5,000-$10,000 merit scholarship just is not enough. So what do you do? Are you just expected to give up on a college that you think it a perfect fit? Well before you do that, check out these options that can help subsidize the total COA (cost of attendance) of college! FAFSA     - January 1st is the official start date to complete and submit the FAFSA to colleges. Many colleges have deadlines (that are...

Whether you are a potential DI/D2 student-athlete, a parent of one, or you know someone who might participate in college sports, this information will be important for you. In order to play a sport in college (D1/D2 only), the student must be eligible. Eligibility is measured by a sliding scale, with the lowest possible GPA being a 2.0. With a 2.0, the student must achieve a 1010 (Math and CR only) on the SAT's to be eligible. From there, the higher a student's GPA, the lower their SAT needs to be in order to be eligible.  However, starting with high school class of 2015 (current sophomores), it will get just a little harder to become eligible to participate in Division 1 sports right out of high school. The NCAA eligibility center has decided to increase their eligibility standards for Division 1 athletes. These new rules will go into effect starting August 1, 2015. Whereas students prior to 2015 needed a minimum core GPA of 2.0 and 1010 SAT (Math and Critical Reading) or ...