College Visits the Week of Sept. 30, 2013

Northwestern University

Considered “most selective” by US News, Northwestern admitted only 15% of its applicants in 2013 but students here know how to work hard as well as play hard, whether participating in Greek life or cheering on NU’s Big Ten football team.  Located just outside Chicago in Evanston, Northwestern has 9,500 undergraduates and  is home to the world-renowned Medill School of Journalism, the McCormick School of Engineering, and the Bienen School of Music.

Reed College

Fiske calls Reed “One of the most intellectual colleges in the country”.  For the last 50 years, all freshmen start the Reed curriculum with Humanities 110, “a yearlong interdisciplinary course focused on society and culture in archaic and classical Greece and imperial Rome” which sets the tone for the rest of core curriculum.  Reed has an undergraduate enrollment of 1,400 students and is located in Portland, Oregon.  

Located in Lawrence, Kansas, a quintessential college town, University of Kansas offers its 20,000 undergrads strong pre-professional programs, extensive undergraduate research opportunities, an excellent honors program, Big 12 Conference sports, and a lively social scene.  Noted programs include Architecture, Business, Engineering, and Premed.

University of Kansas

Washington University in St. Louis

Rated “most selective” by US News, Washington University accepted 17.9% of their applicants in 2012.  A medium-sized university located in St. Louis, Wash U has strong pre-professional programs within 5 schools including Arts& Sciences, Architecture, Art, Business, and Engineering.  With a beautiful campus, a relaxed, Midwestern feel, opportunities to conduct undergraduate research, and a great social scene, Washington University in St. Louis has a lot to offer and has seen applications skyrocket in recent years.

Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Syracuse’s College of Visual and Performing Arts is the largest professional college on campus and houses the departments of Art, Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Design, Drama, Transmedia (computer art, film and video, and photography), and the Setnor School of Music which also houses the popular Bandier Program, a selective program that prepares students for the music industry. The VPA offers 33 undergraduate programs and grants several degrees including a BA, BS, BFA, BID (Bachelor of Industrial Design) and BM.

Also known as “Happy Valley”, Penn State is located in the small city of University Park, PA and enrolls 38,000 undergraduates.  It is one of the nation’s top tier public universities with 260 undergraduate programs and strongest programs in the sciences and engineering.  Its meteorology program is quite notable.  One out of four US meteorologists is an alumnus.

Penn State

University of Florida

Located in Gainesville, University of Florida is a large public university with 35,000 undergraduates. Strong in pre-professional programs such as engineering, business, and pharmacy, University of Florida is also home to the College of Journalism and Communications with was the first journalism program in the country to offer students an electronic newsroom.  Fiske rates University of Florida as a “Best Buy” for 2013, one of only 20 public universities to make the list which requires a combination of top academics and a lower sticker price.  Tuition for 2013 is $28,540 for out-of-state. 

Questions?  

Please contact Elise Aries in the College and Career Center 818-889-1262 ext. 375 or email: ahsccc@lvusd.org

College Visits the Week of Sept. 23, 2013

University of Massachusetts-Lowell

At number 10 on Forbes “Best Value Colleges” for 2013 and Business Insider’s “Most Underrated College in America”, University of Massachusetts-Lowell is turning heads. A medium-sized college with just over 12,000 undergrads, UMass-Lowell offers 120 undergrad degree programs in five colleges as well as the Commonwealth Honors Program.  A signature program at UMass-Lowell is their Bachelor of Music in Sound Recording Technology.

Miami University, located in Oxford, Ohio, is on a picture-perfect campus of 2,000 wooded acres. Recognized by U.S. News & World Report for its strong commitment to undergraduate teaching, it is well known for its classical liberal arts education; Popular majors include marketing and psychology.  MU competes in the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. 

Miami of Ohio

Located on 110 acres in uptown New Orleans lies Tulane University with an undergraduate population of 8,400 students.  Tulane has strong programs in the natural sciences, environmental sciences, Latin American Studies, and “Political Economy” where students study an interdisciplinary mix of economics, political science, and philosophy. According to the Common Data Set for 2012-2013, over 35% of full-time undergraduate students received an average non-need-based (merit) award of over $21,000.  Greek life is big and so are Mardi Gras and sports.  Tulane competes in NCAA Div. 1. 

CalArts

Considered a training ground, a professional center, and a laboratory of the arts all rolled into one, CalArts enrolls 938 students at its Valencia campus in one of six schools: Critical Studies, Dance, Art, Film/Video, Music, and Theater.  For undergraduates, Cal Arts offers a BFA which requires students to take 48 units of Critical Studies in addition to their program requirements.  Standardized tests are not required but auditions/portfolios are a big factor for admissions as are application essays and students’ high school transcripts.

Founded in 1907, University of Redlands is a liberal arts college with 3,000 undergrads and a lot to offer.  Located in the small town of Redlands, CA, University of Redlands is halfway between LA and Palm Springs and is surrounded by Southern California’s highest peaks.  Besides the fabulous location, Redlands offers the unique Johnston Center for Integrative Studies where students create their own plan of study with their professors.  Further setting it apart from other liberal arts colleges is Redlands unusual professional offerings in education, music, communicative disorders, and business, its most popular major.  University of Redlands competes in NCAA Div. III athletics.

University of Redlands

At Evergreen State College, you won’t find grades or majors. It was established in 1967 as Washington State’s experimental college and has retained that flavor in its team-taught open curriculum.  Undergraduate enrollment is 4,000 and Fiske rates Evergreen as a “best buy” with out-of-state tuition for 2012-13 at just under $19,000.  Evergreen is in Olympia along Puget Sound, one hour’s drive from Seattle.

Questions?  

Please contact Elise Aries in the College and Career Center 818-889-1262 ext. 375 or email: ahsccc@lvusd.org

College Visits the Week of Sept.16, 2013

Tufts University, a highly selective university just a stone’s throw away from Harvard and MIT, is located in Medford, MA and has an undergraduate enrollment of 5,194. Globalism, active citizenship and environmentalism are multidisciplinary themes that link over 60 academic programs in the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering, the university's two undergraduate programs. With a 9:1 student-faculty ratio and an average class size of 20, the undergraduate curriculum at Tufts is writing and discussion-intensive.

Tufts University

University of Connecticut

The University of Connecticut is one of the nation's leading public research universities.  Located in Storrs with an undergraduate population of 16,000, UConn offers strong academic programs that include the biosciences, engineering and business. The UConn Huskies also have the longest winning streak in NCAA history for men or women’s college basketball.

Yes, there are great, small liberal arts colleges in the West and Occidental (Oxy) is one of them.  Located between Pasadena and Glendale near Eagle Rock, Occidental has just over 2,000 undergrads. Fiske calls Oxy’s Diplomacy and World Affairs Program “innovative”.  It features internships at the UN and in D.C.  Other strong programs include English, music, and chemistry. Merit scholarships to qualified students (39% of undergrads) averaged $11,369 last year (Common Data Set).  Oxy competes in NCAA Div. III.  Notable alum: Barack Obama.

Occidental College

University of Illinois

A Big Ten school, the University of Illinois is located in the small twin cities of Urbana and Champaign and is said to have the largest Greek system in the nation.  Undergraduate enrollment is 31,540 and the academics are top-notch with strong programs in Business, Engineering, Architecture, Communications, and the Natural Sciences.

Indiana University, Bloomington

Located in Bloomington with an undergraduate enrollment of 30,000, Indiana University is a top public university.  Although it is most known for its stellar Men’s Basketball team, IU has a world-renowned music conservatory (The Jacobs School of Music), and top programs in Business, Biology, and Journalism.  The Greek life is strong here and Bloomington is a fabulous college town.

Grand Canyon University

Grand Canyon University is a private Christian university located in Phoenix, Arizona, where more than 6,500 students are currently enrolled. The school offers a variety of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs in the fields of education, business, fine arts and production, nursing, health care and liberal arts. Grand Canyon University is an NCAA Division II school and athletic scholarships are offered in most sponsored sports. 

College Visits the Week of September 9, 2013

Loyola Marymount University is a medium-sized Roman Catholic university right in LA overlooking the Pacific with strong programs in film and television, business, and engineering.  A number of programs are designed to support freshmen so their first year is successful.  Opportunities for internships and studying abroad are plentiful.  LMU competes in Div. I athletics.

Looking for a beautiful, medium-sized liberal arts school with small classes, accessible professors, a school of business, a vibrant Greek system, Division I athletics in the South where it is warm and where you might stand a chance of admission?  If this sounds appealing, be sure to check out Elon University.  

Elon University

Trinity University

Looking for a quality liberal arts college in the Southwest?  Put Trinity University on your list.  Located in beautiful San Antonio with an undergraduate enrollment of just 2,600 students, Trinity University's most popular majors are Business, English, Education, and Modern Languages.  In fact, Trinity has the fastest growing Chinese Language program in the country and students can now take religion and anthropology in German, Spanish, and Russian.  Trinity competes in NCAA Div. III.

Located in Orange County, Chapman University has an undergraduate enrollment of 5,300 students and a student-faculty ratio of 14:1.  Popular majors include Business, Film/Video, Speech Communications, Psychology, and Public Relations. With 20 varsity sports, Chapman competes in the NCAA Division III.

Otterbein University

Located in suburban Westerville, Ohio, Otterbein is a small university with 2,500 undergraduates.  It was founded in the United Methodist tradition and offers both liberal arts and professional studies curricula.  Popular majors include Business, Nursing, and the Arts.

The region's only major private university with one of the country's best football teams, USC has become a top destination for the arts, technology, media, and international trade.  The school has an undergraduate enrollment of 16,500 and admission has become more competitive in recent years due to the school's preeminent programs and lush LA location that draws students from all over the globe.

USC

Located in Claremont and part of the Claremont Colleges, Harvey Mudd has found a way to marry humanities with science and engineering programs so outstanding that they rival nearby Caltech.  Percentage-wise, more students from Harvey Mudd go on to receive their Ph.D.s than from any other school in the nation.

Located in Stockton, California, University of the Pacific is a medium-sized private university with 3,800 undergraduates and is considered quite selective.  The University houses 9 schools and 80 undergraduate majors.  Popular majors include business, biology, and visual and performing arts. Twenty percent of students go Greek and San Francisco is only 90 miles away.

Syracuse’s VPA is the largest professional college on campus and houses the departments of Art, Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Design, Drama, Transmedia (computer art, film and video, and photography), and the Setnor School of Music which also houses the popular Bandier Program, a selective program that prepares students for the music industry. The VPA offers 33 undergraduate programs and grants several degrees including a BA, BS, BFA, BID (Bachelor of Industrial Design) and BM.

      

Steamroller print-making on the quad


















Questions?  
Please contact Elise Aries in the College and Career Center 818-889-1262 ext. 375 or email: ahsccc@lvusd.org