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They are really making some progress with the construction of the new Fitness Center... the outer section of the building is really starting to take shape (it's huge!!). For the full story on the new facility and an artist's rendering of what it will look like when it's complete, click here! The Fitness Center is scheduled to open next fall!!!!
Welcome back everybody! Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving holiday! Thank you to everyone who responded to the blog that I posted last week-- I've heard some good stories about large application numbers and some of them are posted under the "Comments" section of last week's blog below.
I also received this question over the break and am reposting it here for all of you:
I am a high school junior from Seattle. I have been searching for colleges since freshman year and I've finally narrowed my list down to about 8 schools which I feel are great fits. I am curious to know what factors or aspects make a student's application competitive or strong?
-Lauren
A very appropriate question for the point in the process that we are at now, as our current office conversations are about a number of different factors that we feel are important in the admission review process. First and foremost, we are going to be looking at high school academic performance. The students who are most competitive in our applicant pool have typically taken 4 years of the 5 core academic subject areas during high school: English, math, natural science, social science (history), and foreign language. In addition, we are looking for students who have taken on an appropriate level of challenging Honors and Advanced Placement courses in the context of what is offered at their specific high school. Context is very important to us so a student will never be penalized for not taking a class that their high school doesn't offer... but we do want students to take advantage of advanced level courses in areas they will be successful academically and might want to pursue at the college level (i.e. if a student wants to be a Biology major, we really want to see 4 years of math [through Calculus, hopefully] and 4 years of a lab science... and if the high school offers an AP Bio class, that would be a great class to take!). Of course, we also want students to do well in the demanding curriculums they have chosen, so GPA will be looked at hand-in-hand with course selection throughout our review.
At PC, our admission review is very holistic so we look very closely at the subjective pieces of a student's application in addition to the academic portion. These credentials include extra-curricular involvement, the application essay, and letters of recommendation. We have a very active and involved campus community, and while we look first at academics in the review, we are always looking for students who will contribute to our community as well. Dedication to clubs/organizations/teams and taking on leadership roles in these groups are what we are truly looking for and impressed by... rather than a laundry list of every activity you've ever participated in since kindergarten. It is the QUALITY of the involvement, not the quantity (I think I've talked about quality before...).
As an institution that accepts (and only uses) the Common Application, our applicants have a lot of choices on the college essay. The Common App gives students six essay topics to choose from, and the final one is "Topic of Your Choice." So, you are free to write about anything you would like, and we encourage you to write about something that comes naturally to you. The best essays we see each year are the personal ones, where we are able to get a sense of what a student is passionate about or what is important to them. The essay is a way for us to move beyond the numbers (GPA, class rank, test scores, etc.) and see a student's personality shine through. Whatever your topic is, remember that spelling and grammar are important! Presentation counts! We take the essay seriously on our side of the desk and we hope that you have done so on yours.
Finally, recommendations from your guidance counselor and teacher(s) are the final subjective pieces we will consider. These letters will give us a sense of your high school career; how you've grown, matured, improved in your study habits, etc... (Hopefully you have improved in these areas and not moved in the other direction!)... You may choose any academic teacher you would like for the one required teacher recommendation, although I will say that we do prefer a teacher you have had recently (junior or senior year) rather than a teacher you had just once way back in 9th grade. A teacher you have had multiple times (such as during freshman year and then again junior year) or in multiple settings (a teacher who was also your coach or advisor of a club) often can write a great recommendation, but again, it is completely up to you to choose the teacher who will write the best letter for YOU.
And, finally, as you know if you have been keeping up with my postings (or PC news in general), we are "test-optional" with regard to SAT/ACT scores. Students are not required to submit test scores to receive full consideration for admission. We have found that high school academic performance (curriculum and GPA) is a better indicator of success at PC than standardized test scores.
That's the long answer! Those are the main components we are taking a look at when we review applications, and doing well in each of these areas certainly makes an application stand out in a positive way. What makes an application stand out negatively? Carelessness... misspelled words, incomplete answers, extremely short essays-- and believe me, we've seen all of those things (unfortunately) during the Early Action review process.
Hope this answers your question, Lauren! Thanks for writing!
Very vague title, huh? That's to draw you in and make you want to keep reading (I was an English major, you know... It's one of those English major tricks!). Anyway, the question in the title is referring to the number of colleges to which a high school senior is applying. How many colleges/universities should you apply to? And how many is too many?
I bring up this question for all of you who will be applying regular decision, and the reason I bring it up is because we have had the question asked multiple times at our campus information sessions in the past couple of weeks. As the college admission process gets more and more competitive across the board, students are applying to more and more schools to make sure they are accepted "somewhere." Unfortunately, that only compounds the issue, as students apply to more schools, schools get more applications, it becomes more difficult to gain admission to these schools, and the circle keeps going and going and going...
(Way) back when I was applying to colleges during the 1999-2000 school year, I applied to five schools, having a clear top choice (Providence College! Who would've guessed it!??!?) and three other schools that I could definitely see myself attending. The last school I applied to was definitely more of a "safe choice" for me, but it did have some of the same criteria I was looking for in the top 4 schools I applied to (such as being in the Northeast... my parents would've missed me too much if I went to the West Coast). Now, I know you'll say that 2000 was a much simplier time and the competition to gain admission to certain colleges wasn't as intense (although some of my high school classmates would beg to differ!), but the majority of my classmates were applying to 6-8 schools at the most...
Fast-forward to the present: The other day, one of my colleagues spoke to a mom whose son is applying to 16 colleges. I spoke with a guidance counselor that has a student who is applying to 27. Twenty-seven?!?? THAT is too many. Can that student really see himself enrolling and spending four years at ALL 27 different places he's applying? I'm going to go out on a limb and bet that he can't... And by the way, if you're looking for my humble opinion (which you are, since you're reading this blog!!), 16 is far too many schools to be applying to as well.
I'm not here to tell you that I think there should be a limit on the number of schools a student should be able to apply to. I am also not here to say that since I applied to five colleges, you should apply to five colleges. It did work for me, but I understand that everyone has their own unique college search experience. What I am asking you to do is to attempt to narrow down the list of schools you are going to apply to. With so many schools on the Common Application, it's now so easy to just press a button and apply to a school you may have never even considered. (of course there is the matter of the application fee that might help to keep that number down... in case you were wondering, applying to 27 schools with an average application fee of $60 = over $1,600! That's just to apply!)... I understand that students are applying to large numbers of schools because they want to cover themselves and make sure they receive at least one acceptance letter, but the best way to make that happen is by narrowing down your choices and applying to the RIGHT schools!
Visit campuses, talk to students, talk to admission counselors, and find out all you can about those 27 different schools on your list. (Believe me, if you visit 27 different campuses, your list will start to become smaller!). Understand the admission review process at each of the colleges on your list and - this is the tough part - be realistic about your choices. It's perfectly fine to have what is commonly called a "reach" school, a place that you are very interested in but you (and your guidance counselor) are not sure about your academic fit to that institution. But they shouldn't all be reach schools. Admission counselors constantly talk about "match" and "fit" to an institution, and those should be words you are using as well. You want to find colleges and universities that are the right fit for you personally, both inside and outside of the classroom, and not fall into the trap of applying somewhere just because 10 of your friends are doing it.
If you were looking for a magic number of schools to apply to, I am going to disappoint you. The purpose of this posting is really to encourage you to narrow down your list of schools as much as possible, focusing on QUALITY (the colleges that truly are the right fit for YOU) rather than QUANTITY (27 schools... see above). Instead of spending hours filling out dozens of applications and supplements and writing essays for 20+ different schools, put that time and effort into the applications for the schools that really are a good fit for you. Spending more time on fewer applications means you'll be making a better presentation of yourself to the colleges you are applying to and I promise you that admission counselors do take note of how the application is presented.
I would love to hear your feedback on this subject, and if you have applied/are planning to apply to double-digit numbers of colleges, I'd be very interested in your reasons for doing it! Please leave your comments and I will respond as soon as I can! Happy Thanksgiving!
Welcome to Friday! Ready for Christmas? (Oh, wait, it's not even Thanksgiving yet??) ... I don't know how it is in your area, but two Providence radio stations (and one Boston station) are already playing all-Christmas music. A little too early for me, but I guess it's good to get in the spirit for the season...
Anyway, speaking of Christmas-time, it is looking like our Early Action decision letters will be mailed in late December. So what can you do in the meantime to help your cause? Popular question around these parts! In all honesty, there really isn't too much more that you can do at this point-- all of your information has arrived and the admission staff is very busy thoroughly reviewing each application. The most important thing to do is to continue to do well in your senior year courses (we don't want any of that "senioritis" setting in!). And if you are interested in visiting campus (again or for the first time), remember that we are closed from Wednesday, November 22 through Sunday, November 26 for Thanksgiving break (there are NO campus tours or Group Information Sessions on Saturday, November 25!). Tours resume on Monday the 27th and run through Friday, December 8, which is the last day of undergraduate classes at PC for the semester. Feel free to come see us!
Oh, in case you missed it, the men's basketball team was victorious in their regular season opener Tuesday night. They beat Fairleigh Dickinson 96-71 and next will face-off against city rival Brown University Saturday night.
That's the latest from Friartown... Enjoy the weekend (and the Christmas music!).
*Scott
The PC Men's Basketball Season officially kicks off TONIGHT! After winning both of their exhibition games, the Friars battle Fairleigh Dickinson in their first regular season contest at 7:00 PM at "The Dunk" in Downtown Providence! GO FRIARS!!
...And, by the by, good start to the season for the Women's Basketball team... they are 2-0 after beating cross-town rival Brown University 62-53 on Sunday!
Happy Monday (and Veterans Day Observed for those of you who didn't observe it on Friday!). It must be the middle of "reading season," as I spent much of my weekend... in the office! (Although I did sneak out Friday night to take in the Boston Celtics game up at the Garden... Former PC basketball star Ryan Gomes scored 11 points in the Celts loss to the Utah Jazz).
Speaking of athletics and activities, it's great to see so many of our applicants have such dedicated involvement to their sports teams, their community service groups, their student councils, their drama clubs... (I could go on and on!). I have been particularly impressed with the students who are holding down a part-time job during the school year and continuing to do well in the classroom. One application I read yesterday was from a Massachusetts student who works 20 hours per week at a restaurant during the school year-- and at the same time balances that job with a demanding honors-level curriculum that she does very well in. 20 hours is a LOT of time to spend working during the school year, and I have a great deal of respect for all of you who continue to work at your part-time job after the summer ends... I mentioned some of the very unique and exciting experiences that some of our applicants have had (world travel, etc.) in my last posting, but I have to say that commitment to an after-school job or internship is just as impressive. It shows us that a student is responsible, is committed, is willing to work hard... all of which are qualities we love to see in the students we invite to Providence College!
Hope all of you had a great Veterans' Day Weekend! Enjoy your Monday!
My first "reading day" is in the books! I read about 25 applications today and from just that small percentage of the Early Action pool, there are a great deal of very strong students out there! In other words, you guys are doing some outstanding work inside of the classroom! Not to mention some amazing things outside of class-- playing in soccer tournaments in Denmark, rebuilding New Orleans with your community service groups, tutoring your classmates in Latin and helping them pass their classes, traveling across the Atlantic to meet your new baby sister that your family has adopted... and the list goes on and on (and today was my first day of reading!). Keep up the good work! It's a short entry today as I have a few more applications waiting for me tonight... I'll talk to you soon!!
Well, I said reading season was coming, and has it ever arrived! The counseling staff met for 4 1/2 hours Monday for our annual "reading meeting," the official starting point for the application review process. Our Early Action (EA) deadline of November 1 has come and gone, of course, and we did receive some applications. More than just "some," actually.
Right now we have just about 3,100 Early Action applications in our office... which is up nearly 40% from the 2,200 we received last year at the EA deadline. First off, nobody panic! (That's what the counseling staff has been repeating lately!!). Obviously, it is a considerable increase from last year's number at the Early deadline. The question that immediately surfaced for us today was, "How many students can we accept Early Action while leaving enough remaining spaces in the freshman class for all of the qualified applicants we expect will apply Regular Decision?" The answer to that question...?
Let's start with this: While we are very excited to have so many qualified candidates apply Early Action, we are not about to have the entire class enrolled from the EA pool because we are very aware of the fact that many strong students do wait to apply until the January 15 deadline, and that is perfectly fine. We have always stressed that there is no competitive advantage to applying EA at PC, and that will continue to be the case as we will still have spaces available in the freshman class for our strong Regular Decision applicants! As for those of you who did apply Early Action, we will be passing along decision letters in late December.
A popular question we receive every year about the Early Action review process is: "If I am not accepted Early, is my application automatically moved to the Regular Decision pool?" The short answer is no, applications are not automatically moved to Regular Decision, and the long answer is as follows:
There are three decisions possible on EA apps: (1) INVITE- This is great, obviously, and because at PC our Early Action program is non-binding, students who are accepted EA have until the national reply deadline of May 1 to let us know if they want to enroll. (2) DEFER- We do defer some students to the Regular Decision pool each year, and we do this because we need more information to make an appropriate decision on their application. Most often, this information is in the form of first semester senior year grades; while we will see your senior courses if you have applied Early Action, we will not see your grades and sometimes we do need to wait until your first semester has been completed to make a final decision. (3) DENY- We do deny students EA, and this is a final decision at PC (meaning a student denied Early cannot reapply at the January 15 deadline). The reason we deny students EA is that we do have a consistent review from Early to Regular, and so we know that if a student is not competitive in the Early Action pool, they will not be competitive in the Regular Decision group either. So, we give out the decision up front to give the student and family time to pursue other options.
So that is where we are in the Office of Admission. We are busy organizing files and recalculating grade point averages as we prepare to start reading the 3,100 EA apps. Before I return to the big pile of transcripts on my desk, I also do want to say thank you to Adam and Eileen, the first two (brave!) souls to post questions on this blog... Thank you both for "breaking the ice" and we'll hope that encourages more questions and comments as the "reading season" progresses!
P.S. Congrats to the PC men's soccer team for earning a berth in the 48-team NCAA Tournament for the second straight season! They will take on Hofstra in their first-round game on Friday night!
It's a great time to be a Friar fan! If you haven't been keeping up on the current successes of the PC sports teams, well, that's why I'm here-- to keep you informed! We'll start with the men's soccer team, led by head coach Chaka Daley. They beat Cincinnati last Saturday 2-0 to advance to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament and will look to keep their amazing season rolling against St. John's on Friday.
Speaking of amazing seasons, congratulations to both the men's and women's cross country teams! Each team claimed their respective BIG EAST Conference Title last weekend, marking the third time in the history of the two programs that they've swept the team championship titles in the same year. Hats off to head coach Ray Treacy and the entire cross-country staff, which was also honored as staff of the year on both the men's and women's sides.
Moving on to the women's side, the Friar field hockey team continued their outstanding year with a 2-1 victory over 9th-ranked Connecticut on Saturday. The win moved PC up to #11 in the national rankings this week, which marks the eighth straight week the Friars have been ranked in among the top 20 teams in the country.
And finally, that winter sports season has come out of nowhere and is underway! "Friartown" is buzzing today over the men's ice hockey team, which upset #3 Boston College last night 5-3 in a frenzied Schneider Arena on the PC campus last night. Great time for freshman Greg Collins' first career goal (it came with less than 2 minutes remaining in the 3rd period!!!).
That's the update from Friartown!!! As for the Admission Office, today is the Early Action application deadline! That means we are very busy!!!
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