It's Application Season!!

I hope that this will help you with any questions that you have regarding what is required of your for you application to St. Mike's. A few points to clarify -

1. The application fee is waived if you visit St. Mike's BEFORE submitting your application - we cannot refund you after you pay the application fee, so please be aware of the requirement to visit before submitting your application.

2. We do not print our application, so when I say "one page front and back" I really mean two screens on the computer - it just helps me to visualize the actual length of the supplement by thinking of it this way, but don't let it confuse you...we're all online!

Hope this video helps - as always, e-mail me with questions (cpratt@smcvt.edu) or visit www.smcvt.edu/apply for all of this information in written form.

Best of luck!

Anatomy of a College Fair

whoa. 

College Fairs are a major part of my job as an Admission Counselor, but they can still be pretty overwhelming! I've observed a lot of students as they navigate a College Fair, and I've come up with a few tips for you guys -

First, you should make a plan of attack - I see lots of students wandering around aimlessly, and some come up to my table more than once, forgetting if they talked to me or not because of how many schools they've been to. If you can get to the fair a few minutes early that really helps because you can take a look at the list of colleges present and mark off the ones that you want to go to, and can cross them off after you've chatted with the rep. That way you won't miss anything - or accidentally go somewhere twice!

Typically, the popular schools in a particular area (think state schools or schools that are close to where the fair is located) will be swamped at first, so try to make it to your "off the beaten path" schools first. That way you talk to the rep without feeling rushed by other people and can go back to the local, more popular schools when they calm down a bit.

When you get to the table, ask the rep questions that you know you couldn't get the answers to on the school's website. For example, I could recite our Admission criteria in my sleep because of how many times I get asked for it, but you could easily find that on our website. Instead, try asking the rep if they are an alum and what their favorite part of their experience was, or what type of student would be a good match for the school, or ask for information about unique programs within the area you would like to study. Go beyond what you could find on the website and take advantage of the time that you have with a rep in front of you! This will also help you remember which school said what - every school's admission criteria is going to blend together if you hear 15 of them in the span of an hour, but asking unique questions will be memorable.

College fairs are overwhelming, but can be very helpful - plus there is lots of cool materials to take home with you to remind you of what websites to look at, and usually, reps will be more than willing to give you their business card so that you can contact them with further questions.

Good luck!!

Road Runner!

So this is officially my third week on the road and everything has been going great! I've visited lots of great schools and met with wonderful students and counselors, been to some great college fairs and had several Coffee with a Counselor meetings.

Admission Counselors tend to refer to themselves as "Road Runners" because of how much they are out and about and how savvy they get about navigating life out of a suitcase. Here are a few things I've learned so far -

1. WATER! Completely, utterly necessary at all times of the day. I have my regular water bottle going all the time, plus always grab a free bottle from college fairs, hotels, high school visits, wherever.

2. Shoes - you always know a rookie Admission Counselor by his/her (typically her) footwear - you won't catch me dead in anything that might squish my feet, give me a backache or make it any more uncomfortable to stand for several hours straight. I'm the queen of Dansko clogs!

3. U-Turns - apparently in New Jersey you don't make left turns. Very confusing at first, but now that I've got the U-Turn in my back pocket, I'm everywhere.

4. Hair - yep, my long locks are gone. I just couldn't do the road anymore with my hair constantly getting stuck, caught, pulled, yanked, tangled, whatever. Like the new 'do?

'Till next time, you can find me cruising the roads of NJ and NY looking for anyone who wants to hear about St. Mike's. Maybe you??

Tuesday's Tip

With all of this tweeting about my time on the road, I wanted to give you Tuesday's Tip about how you can connect with me - check this out to see my travel schedule! If I'm coming to your high school, try to come down and see me at your Guidance/College Counseling office and if I'm at a College Fair in your area, be sure to stop by, say hello and learn more about St. Mike's!

I would LOVE to meet you while I'm out on the road!

New Jersey Bound

Today I was looking up traffic laws in New Jersey, which is my first travel destination. This might sound odd, but it was actually quite practical - I wanted to know if it was illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in NJ (it is). I also learned that it is illegal to pump your own gas and for automobiles to pass horse-drawn carriages on the street.

At least I know. :-)

hello BUSY!

Things have really picked up here in the Admissions Office! All off the counselors are preparing to head out on the road either next week or the week after - I'll be taking off on Sunday, September 19th for a week in New Jersey and a week in Albany, NY. I can't believe that it's actually here!

Traveling as an Admission Counselor is an involved process for sure - from ensuring that the car rentals and hotels are taken care of to programming your GPS and EZ Pass to packing your car to the brim with St. Mike's materials to letting students and high schools know when you are coming. Our office is a frenzy of packing materials into boxes, coding materials for different types of visits, assembling bags for counselors and so much more. I'm thankful to have one more week to prepare before taking off.

One really interesting program that counselors host while out on the road is our Coffee with a Counselor program - each counselor goes to a local coffee shop where they are traveling and sets up appointments for coffee and conversation with interested students and their families. I will be hosting Coffee with a Counselor sessions in Florham Park, NJ, Albany NY, Hackensack, NJ, Warren, NJ, Rye, NY and Syracuse, NY. I would love to meet with you if you live in one of these areas! Check out www.smcvt.edu/coffee for more information about this program, to learn about the dates and times in other locations and to make an appointment!

I Like St. Mike's!

Campus is absolutely beautiful today - temps in the high 80's and beautiful sun! It's one of those days where I'm reminded of how beautiful Vermont is and how much I appreciate living here.

I was just taking a look at the St. Mike's YouTube channel and watched an awesome video that will give you a good view of how beautiful our campus is - it's a true bird's eye view! Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Best of luck to all you seniors out there beginning your last year of high school!