College Visits the Week of October 14, 2013

Located in Ithaca, NY, one of America’s top college towns (also home to Cornell University), Ithaca College overlooks Cayuga Lake and is home to 6,400 undergraduates.  It offers over 100 undergraduate degree programs and has a highly notable school of communications and broadcasting as well as a strong music school with an interesting sound recording major where students are required to work (for pay) at Ithaca’s own recording services studio.  Student’s also run the college’s TV station, 2 radio stations, 2 magazines, and a weekly newspaper, all of which have won top national honors.

Ithaca College

Cal Lutheran University, a private university with an undergraduate enrollment of 2,804, is located in Thousand Oaks. As a Lutheran university, students are required to take two religion courses as part of the core curriculum but students represent many faiths. CLU offers undergrads 36 majors, 34 minors, and 7 pre-professional programs including a BS in Exercise Science, an interdisciplinary program that prepares students for the fields of allied health, human movement, and physical education.  CLU competes in NCAA Div. III.

Cal Lutheran University

Everything about the University of Minnesota is big.  The undergraduate enrollment is 34,469.  The campus spans 1,204 acres crossing the “Mighty Mississippi”.  Students can choose from over 140 majors in 7 schools with notably strong programs in engineering and management information systems.  There are 600 student organizations and the “Golden Gophers” compete in the Big Ten, of course. U of M has a “Four Year Graduation Plan” which guarantees that students will be able to get all of their classes needed for graduation in 4 years or the university will pay for the extra credits.  One small thing, the out-of-state total cost of attendance is a relatively small $31,794 (including books and personal expenses).

University of Minnesota

Named for the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Louis Dembitz Brandeis, Brandeis University is a highly selective university (US News-“most selective”) located just outside Boston with an undergraduate enrollment of 3,341 students. Known equally for excellence in the sciences and global studies, Brandeis is also known for its outstanding Near Eastern and Judaic studies as it houses the largest faculty in the field outside Israel.  Although over half its students are Jewish, Brandeis is committed to diversity and social justice as demonstrated by its many chapels and designated prayer spaces for its Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim students. 

Brandeis University

Located in the small city of Fort Collins at the foothills of the Rockies, Colorado State University is a public university with an undergraduate enrollment of 21,000.  CSU offers 60 undergraduate majors and strong programs include prevet and the STEM fields. The CSU Rams compete in Div. I-A.

Colorado State University

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst is located in Amherst, MA and is just 90 miles from Boston.  Along with Amherst, Smith, Hampshire, and Mt. Holyoke, UMass is part of the Five College Consortium, which allows students to take classes at all member colleges.  UMass offers its 20,000 undergrads 88 majors.  Management and engineering are strong programs and the Center for Student Business offers students the ability to manage nine campus businesses.  The Minutemen compete in NCAA Div. I.

University of Massachusetts

Twenty percent of University of Alabama’s 23,000 undergrads are enrolled in UA’s honors programs which offers students smaller classes, priority registration, and the opportunity to write a senior thesis. Fiske calls UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences “one of the country’s top communications schools”.  The total cost of attendance for out-of-state students is $37,100 and approximately 22% of undergrads receive merit scholarships averaging almost $10,000.  The Greek system and sports (especially football) are big here.  University of Alabama competes in NCAA Div. I.

University of Alabama

Located in the small town of Pullman, Washington, Washington State University has an undergraduate enrollment of 23,135.  Students can choose from 100 majors in 12 colleges including communications in the Edward R. Murrow (alum) College of Communications where students help run the university’s television and radio station.  Greek life is big with over 40% of students belonging to a fraternity or sorority.  WSU competes in NCAA Div. I.

Washington State University

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 October 7, 2013

Fiske calls Macalester “an international island in the heart of the Great Plains” and describes both its curriculum and politics as “liberal”.  At just under 2,000, Macalester is a small liberal arts college located in St. Paul, Minnesota with strong programs in international studies, economics, natural sciences, and political science.  New majors include international development and media and cultural studies.  US News describes Macalester as “most selective” with only 37% of applicants accepted.  The “Scots” compete in NCAA Div. 3.

Macalester

Gettysburg College

As expected, Gettysburg College is strong in American History with the battlefield in its backyard but it offers much more.  With 2,500 students, Gettysburg is a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania and part of the Central Pennsylvania Consortiums that allows students to take classes at nearby Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson.  Other strong programs include English, business, the natural sciences, and political science.  Gettysburg competes in NCAA Div. 3.

University of Chicago

University of Chicago is a private university with 5,000 undergrads and a student population of 10,000 in the Chicago community of Hyde Park.  Known for its comprehensive Common Core and academic rigor, strong programs include economics and all the social sciences as well as linguistics, the biological sciences and math.  Undergrads may take classes at any of the university’s graduate and professional schools.  With only 19% of applicants accepted, US News considers U of Chicago “most selective”.  The “Maroons” compete in NCAA Div. 3.

University of Nevada-Reno

University of Nevada-Reno is a large public university with an undergraduate enrollment of 15,000 offering more than 50 undergraduate degrees and 11 undergraduate engineering majors.  The university is home to one of the largest earthquake-simulation labs in the country and specializes in earthquake research.  The Reynolds School of Journalism has produced six Pulitzer Prize winners.  The “Wolf Pack” competes in NCAA Div. I.

Located in the historic Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Suffolk University has an undergraduate enrollment of 5,770 and offers over 70 majors. Suffolk is also home to the New England School of Art and Design.  The school competes in the NCAA Division III.

Suffolk University

Located in the small city of Boulder nestled in the scenic Rocky Mountains, the University of Colorado-Boulder enrolls 24,000 undergraduates.  Consistently among the top universities to receive NASA funding, Aerospace Engineering is a strong program along with the sciences, psychology, and music. Varsity teams now compete in the Pac-12 and CU-Boulder’s club sports program is ranked among the nation’s top three for the athletic and academic performance of its teams. 

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 competes in NCAA Div.II. 

Mount St. Mary's

Mount St. Mary’s College is a small, Catholic, women’s college in Los Angeles with an undergraduate enrollment of 2,500 students housed on two campuses, the Chalon campus in the Santa Monica Mountains, home to most of the undergraduates, and the Doheny campus near downtown, home to most of the graduate programs. Undergraduates can choose from 35 different majors and minors. The health professions and related programs are the most popular majors.

George Mason University

Located in Fairfax, Virginia, George Mason University gives students another option for studying in the D.C. area.  It is a public university with over 20,000 undergrads.  Ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top five “up-and-coming” institutions, GMU has strong programs in Economics, Engineering, and Public Policy as well as 74 other degree programs.  The Patriots play in NCAA Div. I.

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. 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