College of Wooster - Seeking tips for campus visit/interview

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of Wooster
1

<p>My wife and I are taking our son to visit College of Wooster next week. He graduates next year, and would potentially enter in the fall of 2011.</p>

<p>We will be doing the usual visit stuff (taking the tour, my son will sit in on a class, we will meet with the admissions staff). In addition, my son will be interviewing.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Is there anything unique to Wooster that we should make sure to see, ask about, etc?</p></li>
<li><p>My son has read up on all of the standard interview questions for college interviews. Can anyone give us an idea of what they will ask in the Wooster interview?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I’m extremely proud to say that I will be attending Wooster next fall! In preparation, I arranged a local off-campus interview, and participated in an on-campus interview as well for a scholarship. I can tell you now that his as well as your enthusiasm is a great start!
I’m one of those students who knows exactly what she wants out of an education, and what Wooster can offer, and they seemed to like that. It would be nice to have a certain passion; from what I’ve seen this year, that seems to be what sets Wooster students apart: they truly care for something.</p>

<p>The admission process for Wooster isn’t fairly selective, honestly, but I guess there are a few key things.

  1. Wooster’s claim to fame is called the Independent Study program, or I.S. It’s nationally recognized, second only to Yale’s capstone, I believe. They’ll be happy to tell him all about it.
    They’ll take you by to see the usual things, like the quad, the freshman dorms, and the Kauke Arch. They pride themselves on their knowledgeable tour guides, so if you’ve got an upperclassman, you’ll get any question answered. The campus is lovely, especially so if you visit outside of Ohio’s looooong winter.
    If he’s sitting in on a class, I wouldn’t be afraid to ask questions if he’s curious. The professors I met during my visit to Wooster were kind and they genuinely knew their stuff! </p>

<ol>
<li>Though my interview was off-campus and generally rather informal, I can’t imagine any Wooster interview being uptight or extremely formal. He should just be himself. At either interview, I was asked a combination of questions concerning why I chose Wooster, what I thought I knew about Wooster, and anything I’d have liked to know more about. They also asked me about my classes, my passions, things I enjoyed doing outside of class. From what I could tell, they ask questions meant to determine character, another thing Wooster loves. </li>
</ol>

<p>If a student isn’t in the top 10% of their class (I’m only in the top 50%, myself), it doesn’t mean they won’t get in. They look more for potential than current status. For this reason, I think they quite like a nice ACT score if the GPA isn’t extremely high. I, for example, have a 3.3 GPA (chronic underachiever, haha), but a 31 ACT (still got a hefty scholarship, by the way). Naturally, an average ACT won’t discourage a strong GPA.</p>

<p>Last tip about admissions: As a premier liberal arts college, Wooster emphasizes skill in writing. If you can write a good, unpretentious admissions essay, you’re in, indefinitely. </p>

<p>I hope this helps your son in his visit and research of Wooster!! Maybe I’ll even see him 2 falls from now. =}</p>

3

<p>Sounds like you’re well-prepared. Relax and enjoy the trip!</p>

<p>The way it works is this – the prospective student is interviewed privately, and then the parent is invited to join. If your student is merit-scholarship caliber, that will be discussed while the parent is present. You’ll hear the details about how to proceed with scholarship applications, etc.</p>

<p>Hope it’s a nice day when you visit. Beautiful campus this time of year…</p>

<p>Don’t be afraid to approach and question random students. I think you’ll like what you see and hear.</p>

4

<p>Thanks to all. We had a great visit, and the interview went well. Gave my S a lot to think about.</p>

5

<p>Did your son like the campus? … My daughter liked it on the first visit, but didn’t fall completely in love until we drove up from Kentucky for a second overnight. She’s now a happy graduating senior, with full-ride offers for graduate school at two major universities. She’s also waiting to hear (any day now) from Teach for America. … In my opinion, you can’t do better than Wooster. It educates well, while opening minds, hearts, and doors of opportunity. Good luck to your son.</p>

6

<p>We have visited Wooster twice and now it’s down to the final two choices but cannot decide. The other candidate is Ohio Wesleyan University. They gave a nice scholarship package. Any advice or insight to help finalize the decision is welcome for our daughter to make her decision. Thanks a lot!</p>

7

<p>Tough decision. Our experience at Wooster has been A++, and our daughter graduates next month. Don’t know much about Ohio Wesleyen, other than the fact that it’s also a respected liberal arts college.</p>

8

<p>collegedoordie-good luck…from what I understand they are both great choices! We will be looking at both of them next fall with our D.</p>

9

<p>holliesue’s right–both are great choices. Toss in Wittenberg and Dennison for good measure, and you have an incredible foursome. :)</p>

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<p>Hindoo-we are also going to visit Wittenberg next fall!</p>

11

<p>We also visited Denison while doing the Ohio college visits and it is located in such a charming town and is very much on top of a hill overlooking the town. Physically fit students are necessary for that campus! Unfortunately their aid package was not competitive and that is necessary for us.</p>

12

<p>just so everyone knows, an interview is not required, and is only meant as an extra thing to measure what activities, etc. you’d be interested in while attending Wooster (if you did) and to put a face and a human componant to the application (if you applied before coming to campus and sitting down with an interviewer - vice-versa if you did an interview before applying). now some scholarships i believe may require an interview as part of the competition, but that is entirely dependent on each individual scholarship as per their needs. many students get into Wooster without an interview :)</p>

<p>but, we will be glad to see you all on campus this fall! :)</p>

13

<p>Thanks to all! You help next-class students as well!</p>