Sometimes students will also sit in on a class or two, in hopes of getting a feel for what the educational experience will be like. Only a few, however, consider direct contact with professors during the visit.

Why would a visit with a professor be important on a campus visit?

Explore majors

Many students are still trying to learn about different majors as part of the larger decision about what college to attend. What better way to learn about an unfamiliar major than to talk to an expert? A professor in the department can give a first-hand account of what one is supposed to learn in that department.

Most professors are accustomed to “selling” their discipline to undergraduates, and most are willing to take the time to talk with prospective students and efficiently introduce them to the department. To give a concrete example of this, a student of mine was trying to decide whether she was more suited for a business and marketing degree, or whether she was more interested in psychology.

She had taken some introductory courses in both in high school, and she liked both. But she didn’t quite understand what the difference would be in terms of the courses she would be required to take. The format of those courses, and the career implications of both disciplines. So when she recently toured three campuses, she talked to two professors on each campus–one in marketing and one in psychology.

Upon her return, she had developed a very clear idea that while she wanted to take a few more courses in psychology, she was absolutely sure that she would be a marketing major in college. This self-awareness came through well-organized discussions with experts. Not only will her applications be stronger for having made this effort, but she is more certain of her academic path in college.

Establish contact with someone who shares your academic passions

If a student has a particular interest in (for example) the history of the Cold War and believes that he would like to focus on that period while pursuing a history major, it makes sense to learn more about the individuals in the history department who share that passion. And there is no better way to learn about that professor as a person than by sitting down in his office for a few minutes. By establishing rapport as an applicant, it will be easier to build on that rapport once you matriculate.

Gather information that will help on your application

Admissions officers all want to know why you have chosen to apply to their college. If you have taken the initiative to meet with a professor, and you can clearly articulate what makes a particular department stand out, or that you want to pursue advanced study with a particular professor (of Cold War history, for example). Then you can make a strong case for why you are academically suited to this school. Meeting a professor demonstrates that you are doing your homework and that you are really considering the academic fit between your interests and college offerings.

How do you prepare your questions to ask professors on a college tour?

If you decide to include a visit with a professor during your campus visits, you need to be prepared. Not only do you need to think about what sort of questions to ask, but you need to think about the practicalities of asking to meet with a professor in the first place.

It’s really not so hard to connect with professors. In many cases, they are really hoping to teach students who are genuinely interested in the academic subjects to which they have devoted their lives. They want to meet you.

Of course, this is less true at the most highly selective colleges. They are inundated with requests by applicants to meet with them. And don’t be too surprised of professors at these competitive schools refuse to meet with you. They just don’t have the time or interest.

But at schools that may be just a bit less competitive, professors are eager to help recruit bright-eyed and bushy-tailed students who want to learn the subject that they teach.

So how should you go about asking professors for a meeting while on a college tour?

Tips for contacting professors on a college tour

Identify the appropriate professor

For some purposes, you may want to start with the department chair. If you are hoping to talk to a specific person (because you share their academic interests), then go right to that faculty member. You can find full lists of faculty in every department on a college or university website. Make sure you find their bios, their teaching responsibilities, and perhaps even links to the courses they teach. Do your homework before you initiate contact. Remember: faculty members are teachers, and they like students who do their homework.

Start with an email

Explain briefly who you are, when you will be on campus, and why you want to meet with the professor. Address the professor formally, and respectfully (i.e., not, “Hey, professor!”). Set the tone by demonstrating that you are serious. The note does not have to be dull, but it has to be formal. Sign your name at the bottom and give your email and phone number. Also, your parents should not do this for you. The email must come from you. Professors have even less patience for parents than admissions officers.

Establish your goals or agenda for the meeting

Are you trying to learn more about a couple of different majors? Do you want to learn about research opportunities in a particular field or sub-field? Do you want to understand more about this professor’s research and teaching interests? How well your particular interests can be supported in the department?

Did you read about a particular program or curriculum element that interests you, about which you want to learn more? Don’t just say “I’d really like to meet you.” Tell the recipient of your email why you want to meet. Refer to specifics in the course catalog, the professor’s publications, or the departmental website.

Follow through

If the professor recommends that you contact someone else, thank her for the guidance, and then immediately turn around and follow that advice. I repeat: do not forget to say “thank you.” If the professor does agree to meet you, make sure to write down the appointment (and tell your parent or whoever is accompanying you on the campus visit), and then call and/or email the professor the day before to confirm the appointment.

Be prepared with questions to ask professors on a college tour

Come to the interview with three or four pertinent, relevant questions that relate to your agenda. Remember, this is not an admissions interview. You have asked for this appointment to gather information. So make sure you know what your questions are. Come with a pad of paper and a pencil, and be ready to take a few notes. Since you are asking for advice, be prepared to receive it. Furthermore, your notes may come in handy when you have to write that essay, “Why I want to go to College X.” You can make some specific references to things your new professor friend taught you.

Don’t be afraid

Just because someone has the letter “Ph.D.” after his name does not make him particularly scary. Professors are people, too, and they actually like it when students take an interest in them and their work. Most have chosen this profession because they enjoy students and genuinely enjoy dispensing advice. So if a professor agrees to meet with you, it’s because he wants to, and because he takes his job seriously.

Don’t invite your parents

As you explore a campus–and the people who inhabit it–you need to act independently. Professors expect you to act like an adult. Nothing will make you seem more juvenile than having Mom and Dad in tow. Of course, Mom and Dad may like to hear what the professor has to say. But this is your journey of discovery.

This relationship is one that you need to build yourself–adult to adult. So gently remind your parents that you are perfectly capable of handling this meeting alone and that you will meet them at the front door of the building in thirty minutes. While some parents may be a bit miffed not to be invited to this meeting secretly They’ll be impressed by your demonstration of your maturity and independence.

Need Some Help in Developing Questions to Ask Professors on a College Tour?

The expert college admissions counselors at Great College Advice can help guide you in coming up with your own list of questions to ask professors on a college tour. It’s not easy to think through what it is you want from your college application. It can be even more daunting to think about sitting down with a professor in his office to ask about your academic interests.

If you feel like you need some professional guidance, give us a call or contact us.  We’d be happy to talk to you about how we can help you map your college journey.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

The post Questions to Ask Professors on a College Tour first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Because of the increasing number of applicants, more and more colleges are starting to tap their network of alumni to conduct prospective student interviews in place of on-campus interviews. As an alumni interviewer for my undergraduate alma mater — Dartmouth College — for many years now, I want to provide you with a first-hand peek into the process. This post gives you a full list of alumni interview questions.

I’ll start by saying that every college prepares its interviewers slightly differently. Some give loose guidelines about how to approach the discussion with the student while others provide far greater specificity in what the interviewer is supposed to do and ask.

Further, depending on the location in which you are interviewed, the volunteer alumni interviewers may have more or less training in how to successfully interview candidate for admission.

In all cases, however, the goal of the interview is to humanize the application process. Understanding what makes a student unique can be very difficult to glean from the black and white pages of an application. The interview can shed light on how a student thinks and interacts thereby presenting the real, whole person, not just words on a page.

Need more info on how to prepare for the alumni interview? Click here.

How does the interviewer get to understand the whole person during the interview? By asking lots of questions, of course! Interviewers may try to explore many different aspects of the student’s world from academics to extracurriculars to personal life to future plans to level of interest in the college.

So, what kind of alumni interview questions can students expect when they sit across the table from me? Here are some examples:

Alumni Interview Questions About Academics/High School Experience

• Tell me what courses you’ve taken and if you have a favorite or least favorite one. If you do, why is it your favorite/least favorite subject?
• What do you think are the strengths/weaknesses of your high school?
• If you had to go back and do your high school experience all over again, what would you change and why?
• Do you have a favorite teacher? If so, why is he/she your favorite?  What makes the teacher good?
• Have you encountered a particular academic challenge during your years in high school? If so, what was it and how did you handle it?
• Is there something that you will always remember from your high school experience?
• If you could create your own course in high school, what would it be and why is it of interest to you?
• Tell me about a particularly “hot” issue that has arisen in your high school and your thoughts on it.
• If your teachers were to describe you to me, what words would they use?
• Can you discuss a project or paper that you were particularly proud of during your high school career?
• What are you doing to challenge yourself either in school or out of school?
• Name a book you’ve read recently outside of school. Did you like it/dislike it? (Note: this is one of the most common alumni interview questions).

Extracurriculars and Interests

• What are your most notable interests and hobbies, and how are you pursuing them?
• What activities are you involved in at school? Which are the most important to you?
• What have you personally gotten out of your involvement in your activities?
• Do you have what you would consider to be any particularly unique interests?
• Are there any accomplishments that you are particularly proud of with respect to your activities?
• How have you spent your summers while in high school?

Alumni Interview Questions About Personal Life

• How would you describe your hometown?
• Tell me about your family.
• What words would your friends use to describe you?
• What is your most embarrassing moment?
• Tell me what 3 books I’d have to read to get a better sense of who you are.
• Talk about an ethical dilemma that you’ve faced and how you’ve handled it. (Note: This is one of those alumni interview questions that also can appear as an essay question on the application).
• If you had one year and unlimited funds, what would you do?
• How do you want people to remember you?
• If you had a weekend with absolutely nothing scheduled, how would you spend your time?
• What’s your opinion on (a current event)?
• What would you change about yourself?
• Do you have a “bucket list”? What are some things about it?
• Do you have a hero/heroine? If so, who and why do you hold him/her in such high esteem?

College/Future Plans

• How would you contribute to life on a college campus?
• What are you looking forward to most about college?
• Do you have an idea about what you would like to major in?
• What would you like to do after college?

Alumni Interview Questions About School Interest

• If you were standing in front of the admissions committee, what would you tell them to convince them to admit you? What makes you unique?
• Describe the kind of college environment you are looking for.
• Why are you interested in my school?
• Why do you think that my school is a good fit for you?
• What have I not told you that you want to know about the school? (a.k.a. What questions do you have for me?)

While you can’t anticipate every question that an interviewer might ask, the questions above give you a good sampling of areas that your interviewer might explore. Spending some time pondering these alumni interview questions can go a long way to preparing yourself before you have your interview.

Andrea Aronson

College Admissions Advisor, Westfield NJ

The post Alumni Interview Questions – An Insider’s Guide first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant 
***************

Here’s the transcript if you’d like to read:

I’m here on the Campus of the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. And I could say that the College of Wooster is another one of those Mid-Western surprises. I’ve had on this trip where you walk into the campus and are really shocked by how really wonderful it is. I can’t say I was completely shocked because I knew from reputation that this is a really solid academic school. It’s kind of under the radar screen for a lot of people but a fantastic little liberal arts college in Ohio.

The thing I wanted to mention is the way I visit colleges. I tend not to go on canned admission tours. I tend to just show up kind of unannounced without a lot of fanfare or giving them prior warning of my visit. Then I walked into the Admissions Office today at 4:15, okay it closes at 5.

Immediately they said, let’s get you in touch with the person, what are the admissions reps and he sat down with me. He talked with me for about 40 minutes. He gave me kind of a personal tour of the campus as much as he could before he had to run off to pick up his wife. But really took a personalized – he gave me personal attention. And that’s really indicative of what the College of Wooster is all about spending the time and the energy and giving personal attention to each and every student.

Loren Pope put the College of Wooster in his book 40 Colleges that Changed Lives and, you know. It’s not surprising just my little experience here on an August day when the campus is pretty dead to walk into the Admissions Office and get a lot of personalized attention. We just met with the professor he was walking out of his office, stood there and talked with us for a few minutes, really impressive place.

Yes, the landscaping and the architecture yes that’s kind of a surprise to me. Because it really does kind of help to get a feel of the physical plant of a college. But really by reputation College of Wooster is one of those places that they take – maybe their students are diamonds in the rough not necessarily the tippy top academically. They will take students who have academic potential and they will mold them into scholars. That is really the hallmark of education here at Wooster, excellent education, someplace that is definitely off the radar screen for a lot of students but it shouldn’t be. This is a high value education and it deserves more attention.

The post College of Wooster – Changing Lives first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Thanks to the miracle of the iPhone, Mark can share his opinions with you via video.

Mark’s Musings include tips on choosing the best colleges, advice on how to prepare for admission, reactions to news in the world of higher education, and thoughts about growing up in America. These musings come out on a relatively random schedule: whenever the mood hits.
Sometimes it will be a rant about a terrible college tour he just endured. Sometimes it will be a response to a question he received through this website. Sometimes he’ll be nicely dressed and clean shaven, and other times he’ll look like a wreck.
But no matter the subject, the setting, or his clothing choices for the day, Mark will share his unvarnished thoughts about his work in advising students from all over the world about how to navigate high school, the college admissions process, and the world of higher education.

To receive Mark’s Musings on the college admissions process and more, sign up below!

The post Mark’s Musings on Higher Education first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Air Academy HS
Alexander Dawson School (CO)
Arapahoe HS (CO)
Bear Creek HS
Bishop Machbeuf HS (CO)
Boulder HS
Broomfield HS
Castleview HS
Cedar Ridge Academy (CO)
Centennial HS
Cherry Creek HS
Cherokee Trail HS
Cheyenne Mountain HS
Colorado Academy
Columbine HS
Compass Montessori (CO)
Conifer HS (CO)
Custer County HS
Denver Academy
Denver East HS
Denver School for the Arts
Denver Waldorf School
D’Evelyn HS
Douglas County HS
Elizabeth HS
Fairview HS
George Washington HS (Denver)
Grandview HS (CO)
Grand Junction HS (Colorado)
Highlands Ranch HS (CO)
Kent Denver School
Kiowa HS (CO)
Lakewood HS (CO)
Lewis Palmer HS (CO)
Littleton HS
Middle Park HS (CO)
Monarch HS
Mountain Vista HS (CO)
Mullen HS (CO)
New Hope Academy
Niwot HS
Overland HS (CO)
Palisade HS (CO)
Peak to Peak Charter School (Colorado)
Pine Creek HS (CO)
Ralston Valley HS (CO)
Regis Jesuit HS (Denver)
Rock Canyon HS (Colorado)
Smoky Hill HS (CO)
Summit County HS
Valor Christian HS (CO)
Watershed School (CO)

The post Colorado High Schools of Students Who Got Great College Advice first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Below is a partial list of the secondary schools that our students have attended as we have helped them map their college journeys.

SELECTED PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Choate Rosemary Hall (CT)
Hotchkiss School  (NH)
Phillips Andover  (MA)
Lawrenceville School (NJ)
Cate School (CA)
Holderness School (NH)
Northfield Mount Herman School (MA)
Germantown Friends School (PA)
Moses Brown School (RI)
Emma Willard School (NY)
Cushing Academy (MA)
Lawrence Academy (MA)
Brentwood School (BC, Canada)
Fountain Valley School (CO)
Bishop Fenwick HS (MA)
St. John’s Prep (MA)
Mid-Pacific Institute (HI)
Saint Thomas Academy (MN)
Colorado Academy (CO)
Kent Denver School (CO)
International School of San Francisco (CA)
Signature School (IN)
Prospect Hill Academy (MA)
Interlochen Arts Academy (MI)
Judge Memorial HS (UT)
Xavier HS (WI)
Harrow School (UK)
Woldingham School (UK)
Chinese International Schools (Hong Kong)
Shanghai American School (PRC)
Geelong Grammar Schools (Australia)
Anglo-Chinese School (Singapore)
Beijing 101 Secondary School (PRC)
American School of Muscat (Oman)

SELECTED USA PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS

We have worked with students attending some of the most competitive high schools in the country, many of whom have pursued Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) curricula.  We have worked with students who hail from just about every state in the country (we’re working to add Alaska and South Dakota!).  Below is just a sampling of the great schools where our students have attended.

NEW YORK

Scarsdale HS
Stuyvesant HS
Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women

MASSACHUSETTS

Lexington HS
Belmont HS
Hingham HS
Burlington HS
Ipswich HS
Needham HS
Bedford HS
Melrose HS
Somerville HS

CALIFORNIA

Pacific Palisades HS
Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
Westview HS
Cerritos HS
Woodcreek HS
Redlands East Valley HS
Rancho Cotate HS (CA)

NEW JERSEY

Ridgewood HS
Westfield HS
Cranford HS (NJ)
Metuchen HS (NJ)
Rumson / Fairhaven HS (NJ)

ILLINOIS

Buffalo Grove HS

COLORADO

Cherry Creek HS
Fairview HS
Boulder HS
Denver East
George Washington
Cheyenne Mountain HS
For more Colorado Schools, click here

MISSOURI

Clayton HS

MAINE

Yarmouth HS

UTAH

Snow Canyon HS

WYOMING

Laramie HS

NEBRASKA

Hastings HS
Scotch Plains Fairwood HS

TENNESSEE

Tullahoma HS

INDIANA

Indiana Academy for Science, Math, and Humanities
Munster HS

NORTH DAKOTA

West Fargo HS

PENNSYLVANIA

Lancaster HS

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Newmarket HS

DELAWARE

Cape Henlopen HS

SOUTH CAROLINA

JL Mann HS

TEXAS

Kempner High School

NEW MEXICO

Maya Gold

The post Secondary Schools Where Students Have Received Great College Advice first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Transcript:

I’m here on the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida and behind me, you can see the Performing Arts Center. This is where one of the three presidential debates in 2012 between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was held. But it’s really the Performing Arts Center for a music conservatory here at Lynn. It’s a smaller program but it is highly renowned. It’s primarily international students, kids come from all over the world to study music here. And, bonus, it’s free.

So if you get in, you don’t pay tuition. And if you still need more money because you have a financial need. Then scholarships might be available to help pay for the cost of room and board. So if you’re looking for a music conservatory. There are not many better deals in the country than the Lynn University Conservatory.

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