TRANSCRIPT:

So today I’m on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and it’s January so I have to wear a fleece because it’s a little chilly, but a gorgeous sunshiny day, and we have Lake Virginia behind me. This is beautiful. The campus is located right on this lake, there’s this walking path that goes all the way around so if you’re trying to clear your head before an exam or after an exam, it’s awesome, it’s a really, really beautiful place. No wonder Princeton Review calls it the number 1 most beautiful campus in America.

Not So Free Things

But I chuckle, I go to these tours all around the country, I go on tours and learn about the colleges, and they’re led by really great students who are energetic and enthusiastic, and they like to tell us about “free” things that you can do on this campus. So for example, you can take out a kayak or a rowboat or a canoe for “free” on the lake here, or you get “free” laundry.

Other campuses have “free” massages at finals or other kinds of “free” things. And I always chuckle, I always laugh with parents, because parents know exactly that isn’t free, right? I mean, it’s something that you’re paying for with the price of your admission, your student fees, your room and board, it’s all built into the price, it’s baked in. So from a student’s point of view, yea, it’s “free.”

But it’s not free, okay? Nothing is for free. We realize in the world that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But it is funny to see what students find meaningful when they’re taking these tours, and the laundry thing is so important because kids know that no longer is Mom, usually Mom, sometimes Dad, no longer is Mom going to be doing your laundry. So having “free” laundry sounds pretty great.

That’s really cool from a student’s point of view, but number 1, kids, you’re going to have to do your laundry yourself, and no matter what, you’re paying for it somehow. So get that through your head as you’re taking these tours, and separate what’s free, what’s not free, and remember that there is no free lunch. Anywhere.

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TRANSCRIPT:
So here today I’m on the campus of Rollins College, it’s in Winter Park, Florida, not too far from Orlando, big city. And it’s a beautiful campus, kind of Mediterranean style, and really nice buildings, architecturally harmonious, we might say. And the location is great because not only is it warm, although it’s January right now, it’s a little nippy, sunny and beautiful but a little nippy, and it’s got the best of both worlds: it’s a smallish town, Winter Park is an older town in Florida that’s been around for a long time, but then you’ve got Orlando with Disney and Universal and all the attractions of a big city. So it’s kind of a nice combination being in a more suburban or residential area of a very large city.

So a great place to come if you’re looking for the place where you can wear your flip flops every day and enjoy the Florida sunshine. The other thing that’s really beautiful about this campus is that they are on this lake, Lake Virginia, so you’ve got a big waterfront down here that is absolutely gorgeous. So there’s a reason why Princeton Review recently called this the number 1 most beautiful college campus in America.

The post College Counselor Visits America’s Most Beautiful Campus first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

TRANSCRIPT:

So it’s January and I’m here on the campus of Rollins College. And that’s a great time for anybody to visit Florida. If you’re from the north and you’re looking for something warm, this is the place to look. But I learned a few things today as I was tooling around about the curriculum here. Along with a couple of interesting factors.

Do Your Homework on Classes

One, as a freshman, everybody takes a one-semester course called the Rollins Conference Course or the RCC. That’s organized on a theme, has about 12 students, and every student is assigned to one of these classes. They are multi-disciplinary. And not only are they led by a faculty member that becomes the adviser for the student, but there are two peer mentors in that class, too, that integrate immediately with students, and the students are also chosen and live relatively close to each other in the dormitories. So not only are they meeting each other in the dormitory but they’re also meeting each other in the classroom. That’s a great way to sort of integrate students immediately into this community of about 2,000 students.

Neighborhoods

And then, they also are assigned what they call neighborhoods, and those are also theme-based. So those would be things like sustainability or maybe arts-related or something else. And they take their core courses. The general education requirements. They take those courses with their neighborhood which is a little bit larger than their RCC class.

It’s also another way to bring freshmen together. As well as begin to connect students with one another, both socially. I mean there’s plenty on a college campus that kids do socially to get together and meet one another. But they also meet each other on an intellectual level, on an academic level. And that’s what any college including this one would want. They want their kids to be involved. And engaged with professors and learning and developing that academic community that every college aspires to be.

This is how Rollins does it, and it seems to be working and this neighborhood thing is brand new. So only I guess the first or second year of that program. So it’s trying very hard to ramp up the academic climate here and connect kids in that way.

PE Classes

So as you’re looking at colleges and you’re trying to figure out their curriculum, make sure you ask those questions and do your homework. Make sure you understand what it is that students are going to be expected to do. I even learned that here at Rollins you have to take two PE classes. Even in college. So anyway, make sure you understand and you inquire and you do your research to know what’s being asked of you when you get to the college. And what will you need to do in order to graduate. At Rollins, you’ve got the RCC. And you’ve got the general education requirements in your neighborhood. It’s a fun way to organize things. But check out every other school you’re looking at, to see what they offer and what they require.

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