Oh I’m jealous! I had to book a bunch of doctor appointments for Monday so we don’t have any visits. Please report back on Juniata and Bing! I think Juniata will be too small for D, but I definitely want to see Bing. My niece is also a 2021 and lives in NY - it’s her top pick so far. @BktoNJ interested to see your thoughts on Rutgers - mine refuses to even tour because of the bus situation!
Have fun everyone!
I definitely will. As of now it’s D’s top choice, she is excited to go see it.
Sorry hit send too early. She is a little disappointed, she emailed our local admissions rep this week to introduce herself and say she is coming to visit, but she hasn’t gotten any response. She asked her a few questions like what are some important things she should see, and no answer. Is that normal? I thought sending the email would be a good thing and show interest in the school.
A classmate of my D’s joined the Army Reserves after high school, then did a medical assistant program and worked for a while. Now she is going to college for nursing. She is 5 years older than other students but I think she will be successful because of her life experience.
Impressions from our Juniata College open house this weekend:
Our take away is that if DS ends up at JC, we’ll be confident that he’ll be well supported and adequately challenged, that he’ll find at least several wonderful professors/mentors, will make some excellent friends and have at least a few extraordinary opportunities. For him specifically, I think it’s a good size and feeling for him to actually take advantage of some of these opportunities. It felt small but quite full and very active (including many away opportunities throughout the years)
JC presents itself as a place where students are deeply supported to explore, take risks and figure out what you really want to do, and how you want to be engaged in community and globally,preparing you for a career in a fast changing world. I was sold that they are largely successful in that ambition.
The campus is compact and easy to navigate on a hill outside a small quaint town in central PA. It’s hours from any city but has an Amtrak station with a direct line to Pittsburgh, (2.5 hours) DC and Philly (3 hours) and NYC (4 hours) etc. State College, home of Penn State is about 40 minutes drive and there’s an airport there too. Students are allowed to have cars on campus and reportedly half do. It’s not a suitcase school though, most students get involved with things and are around on the weekends. It’s a few miles from a large state preserve and lake that students and faculty talked about a lot. Clearly they take advantage, free kayak rentals for students at the lake, an annual “Mountain Day” event with students and faculty that seemed like a beloved field day in the fall. There’s also a “field campus” there for Environmental Science students who can do research there for a summer or a semester.
Most students live on campus and there are a variety of housing options for upper classmen including campus owned houses. All the dorms had kitchens and lounges, there are ping pong and pool tables in the dorms and in the student union. Laundry is free. We ate Breakfast and Lunch in the one large airy dining hall and both were good with lots of options. A smoothy bar, multiple vegan and vegetarian options, a clean plate zone which was allergen free. Students were hanging out, talking, studying together. Everyone was friendly to the kitchen staff who were very friendly in return. There were a variety of areas in the dining hall, upstairs, down, booths, open tables etc. and gorgeous views from 30 foot windows looking at the mountains.
Money-- Every single student is given at least $24K in merit. Every one. I’m sure they have a good reason not to lower the tuition instead LOL. Max merit is reported to be $34K. Need based FA follows merit. Lots of opportunity for credits for AP (score of 4 or 5), dual enrollment etc. The endowment is kinda low compared with other LAC’s we’re looking at. It’s about $80K/student for a pretty tiny school (1500 UG’s) not a number to discount. My son said it felt like it had more money than Allegheny which in fact has twice as much per student. His father and I disagreed though the campus was fine. The library was the only really uninspiring point but they just got a donation to rebuild it entirely and it’s supposed to be done by fall 2021. The renderings reflected the kind of collaborative space that fits with the campus culture. It may indeed be a college on the rise.
Every student is assigned 2 advisors, one from an area of most interest and one from outside that department. There are no “majors” at JC, but “Programs of Emphasis” (POE’s) that are created by the student in collaboration with the advisors. They are like majors and minors but with fewer requirements within a department and more influence from the student’s passions. Students seemed deeply engaged in their work and all spoke about close relationships with their professors. We saw it in action around campus, in the dining hall etc. Professors all have an “open door” policy and most office suites had an ante room with couches where students could work and then ask the prof. questions. We met with the head of the “Politics” department who was wonderful, thoughtful, engaged and clearly has strong supportive relationships with his students. For example a former student is now at the State Department in DC. Together they came up with an assignment for current students to write about a current event with Iran and both the professor and the DOS staffer graded each paper. One of the student’s papers was so intriguing that the DOS staffer circulated it around his department and the student is now doing an internship there this semester.
We also met with the advisor for the Mock Trial team which has been so successful that they came in first in their regional competition and just beat Cornell, NYU, and Columbia in a national championship losing to Stanford by 1 point. They travel the country and the College pays their expenses. Another extra curricular travel opportunity is the concert choir who went to Germany and Morocco in the past year and are heading to Chile in the spring.
JC is proud of their study abroad and study away opportunities which are plentiful and most students take advantage. They include some internship opportunities in Europe. Most students also participate in research and every year in the spring students from every discipline present their work in science, arts and humanities. Students talked about the strength of their Environmental and biology programs and Juniata boasts a Nobel Physics prize winner who comes to campus often and sponsors something or other. My son is not that into science (he’s not had any good teachers unfortunately) so I don’t have too many details. JC does have a Pass/fail option for classes so students can take a class in something outside their comfort zone without affecting their GPA. I love that idea. We had it at my school too and I used it well. He thought he would take Bio and see if he could actually like science.
My son is into music and there were some compromises there. There’s a strings orchestra but not a full symphony for non-majors as with other LAC’s we are looking at (Allegheny, Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, St. Olaf). There are other ensembles, winds, concert band, percussion, jazz ensemble, and several vocal ensembles but virtually no classes to take at all. The ensembles do have credit ( I think 1per semester which adds up). There are also lessons for some credit and an extra fee. Guitar and vocal lessons have NO fee and you still get some credit. They are open to beginners which was very positive for my son who wants to take voice.
He’s not into sports but about ⅓ of students participate in their varsity DIII teams. Mens and Womens volleyball are both extremely successful. Seems like women’s lacrosse drew lots of interest too.
The biggest, and probably only real criticism I have is around diversity and inclusion. It’s not a very diverse place though they have made successful efforts to open up the school to families with low income, about ⅓ are eligible for Pell grants and many are first gen. college students. There are also about 10% international students. BUT it’s very white and I didn’t see or hear this addressed at all. We didn’t hear about student cultural centers or clubs, didn’t see any evidence of a discussion around racial awareness and inclusion (though we did for LGBTQ members of the community) The student panel shocking to me, was all white with absolutely no geographical diversity (5 from PA and 1 from NJ). The student body is only 3% African American, 4% each Asian American and Hispanic. I didn’t see anything at all in the open house that suggested the college was working effectively or with interest to increase that diversity. I’ve reached out to our admissions officer about this and will report if she responds.
@NJWrestlingmom As far as Rutgers, I’m glad we went! While I’m doubtful that a giant state school is the best fit for my DS21, I tried to go with an open mind. I was pretty sure that he would at least apply to Rutgers and see, but not sure now that’s even likely. It’s obviously an amazing institution with absolutely everything you might want to pursue and for already high achieving, or focussed, driven, students it could be amazing. I don’t see it as a good place for a kid who is undecided, wants to explore and still try things out, who’s been comfortable a little invisible in HS, and especially one who due to ADD and whatever else still would benefit from support and attention.
The 5 campuses is real. Students take buses all day between classes, dorms, jobs, activities etc.
Students are NOT ASSIGNED AN ADVISOR. I didn’t really need to hear any more after that. You can pick an advisor when you declare your major. There’s and advisory department where you can go for help but no one really knows you it seems. Our tour guide was really good. And an impressive young woman who had so many interests and achievements but she made it clear over and over that you had to ask for (and even beg for) what you wanted and needed. Not for us. Possibly DS will apply just to nudge me LOL but it’s not a go for us.
Thanks @BktoNJ - Rutgers definitely NOT what D21 needs! It’s a shame, has the big football/sports she likes but the bus thing and no advisor are not for her!
She is a tough one - S17 I worry about academically; D21 I have no worries about there, but socially she needs to find the right fit. Juniata sounds more up her alley, but it’s smaller than her high school so that’s a tough sell! I also think bigger makes it easier to find your niche in some ways. So much to consider!!!
@NJWrestlingmom . It’s like threading a needle, isn’t it? Does she have a hook? An area of interest or activity that could pull her in?
We are planning on going to TCNJ open house in March. It’s a bit more of an academic reach for S21 but good size and contained atractive campus.
Juniata is smaller than his HS too but somehow with kids travelling all over, engaged in all these activities it didn’t feel that small.
She is not hooked. She’s debating doing cheerleading in college, but that’s up in the air.
I wanted her to love TCNJ, but it was a hard NO. Freshman dorms leave a lot to be desired! It’s also really close to home so she’s hoping to go a little further away.
We went to see SUNY Bing yesterday, D really liked it and said she can see herself there. She still has a few schools she wants to look at, but Bing is at the top of the list still. Our guide was great and so involved in all that the school has to offer beyond academics and D could relate to that. She was even a competitive dancer like my D, so they chatted about that and what dance the school has to offer as clubs and even for general electives.
There are so many levels of advisers that she will have access to, and the career services seems great. They even do internship trade shows of sorts. Research projects are pretty open to all also, even freshman.
Anyone explored Bard? It wasn’t really on our radar in part because of my associations 30 years ago, I didn’t think he could get in, and I didn’t think we could afford it if he did. But they sent him an email about merit and we ran the NPC, turns out it’s likely totally in the running financially. It doesn’t seem to publish it’s common data set so stats reported by 3rd party formats are all over the place (is acceptance rate 64% or 32% LOL?) They also clearly have a more interesting admissions process including instant decision, when they tell you the next day after you spend the day at Bard. My cousin, a classics professor at Boulder has great things to say about it and has several close friends who have taught there. It has great music, strong humanities, quirky…Anyone dug deeper recently?
D21 loves three schools which will now be super reaches given first semester grades…ugh! Current GPA is weighted 3.78 but that will go down pretty dramatically this year unfortunately. All honors classes. Will do AP Stats senior year and the rest will be honors classes. D is dyslexic which makes life harder. We now have to find safeties and matches. Not looking for merit ( even if she could qualify, COA has to be under $55k per yr, doesnt want to stay in NJ. No hook. Pretty average kid, first SAT score 1130 without prep so hoping for decent increase in May score now she that she has just started working with a tutor. Interest in doing Business. Sweetspot seems to be schools between 5,000 to 20,000. Looking for school spirit, not too crunchy granola or super artsy but not jockville either. Prefers warmer weather so not keen on New England. Refuses to consider midwest. Attends a big, very racially and economically diverse, very socially liberal high school. All suggestions welcome. Thanks.
@scotiagal JMU is the first one that comes to mind. Maybe Univ. South Carolina
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She loved JMU but it is likely to be a super reach now probably unless she can turn around her grades and get the SAT up to over 1200+. So many kids are applying there now with much higher stats than hers.
We’re going to look at JMU - I expect D will love it. We’re also going to see App State - NC but mountains so it does get cold. Probably not a safely because it’s NC.
What about WVU? It’s super popular by us, big school spirit and definitely a safety. She’d probably get merit and it’s well under $55k even without it. U of Alabama? Definitely has spirit and under your cost.
She doesn’t want to be in a city which might nix Alabama. We have sent kids from our high school before to both Alabama and South Carolina and they have almost all transferred elsewhere after the first year, the culture shock was just too much. I always think of WVU as a big party school but that could be wrong. She loved Delaware and Elon. Didn’t like Christopher Newport or UNC Greensboro. Really didn’t like Mary Washington. Found Rutgers NB too big and spread out.
@scotiagal My D18 is at South Carolina and absolutely loves it but it may be a reach for yours now as well…their admissions stats keep going up every year and I have been shocked this year to see kids with great stats getting deferred or denied. It’s also in a pretty big city (which my D loves) so it might not be a great fit for yours, anyway. There aren’t any public schools in VA that are a great fit for my D which is a shame.
@scotiagal maybe Towson in MD? Big in terms of number of students but the campus is very walkable and well laid out. Football team is D1 (though in FCS division but it’s a competitive team). Lacrosse team is also D1 and highly ranked every year so if she likes sports/school spirit, she may find it there. I toured with my son (he went elsewhere) and we were both pleasantly surprised at how much we liked it.
She drove around Towson but she didn’t do a tour and I think that can make a difference. We planned to take a daytrip down to look again. NJWrestlingMom, I’ll suggest she look at WVU, she would qualify for merit and it is a definite safety so thanks for the suggestion.
Nursing school is very anxiety producing (so my students tell me). Direct entry programs are extremely competitive and pricey. They have way more applicants than spots in the nursing program so they likely will not “hold a spot” to allow a student to “try out college” first. Once entered into nursing, they have to get a B or higher in each class. The classes go in a certain sequence so its hard to do it part time or if you fail a class it can delay you a year or more. For the non direct nursing programs, again, grades are essential in getting into the actual nursing program with many students needing a 3.75 or higher to get in. We have a couple hundred applicants for 92 spots.
Maybe looking into tech schools with dorms may be a good option. My son has LD’s, graduated with a 504 plan in place (had an IEP from age 3-junior year). I was terrified he wouldnt even graduate high school. Hes at a tech school 3 hours from home living in a dorm. Hes slowly maturing. His grades first semester at college were higher than they were his whole junior and senior year in high school. Hes starting as a surgical tech is the plan (hes waitlisted to start the program as its a summer start program and he needed to complete more prereq’s due to poor grades in high school). The small tech school class sizes (25 or less) plus the dorm lets him live the college life but as a learning speed his brain is more suited to!