Posts Tagged ‘liberal arts’

Another Summer of Boredom? Think Pre-College Summer Programs!

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Considering another summer spent playing video games, bumming at the mall, or vegging out in front of the TV?  Not that there’s anything wrong with taking a little break but – that’s not going to set you apart from the college bound crowd!  To make yourself really stand out to college admissions (and earn a college credit) you might want to look into a pre-college summer program offered by a college or university!

Option #1: Spend another summer mowing the lawn?

Nate Kay / Nate Kay

From math summer programs to summer business programs – if you want to study it, it’s out there!  What a great way to check out the actual workings of a college!

Staying in the dorms or residence hall, eating the cafeteria food, and exploring the college campus give you a sense of the college atmosphere before you ever make that official campus visit!  Take a look at a small sampling of the big variety of pre-college summer programs to fit any student!  Get in touch with the colleges and see what is still available (or the application due dates for next year).  Explore your options – you’ve got years left to plan!

Love science and math?  You might have met your match!  The School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) presents a Summer Academy in Applied Science and Technology (or SAAST).  High achievers can choose from five fabulous UPenn summer programs in exciting fields: biotechnology, computer graphics, computer science, nanotechnology, and robotics in an intense three week course full of hands-on learning — and fun!  Successful completion of this UPenn summer program could net you a college credit!

Looking for something even longer? Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) has a six week long summer college for high school students program with a shot at earning seven college credits (with non-credit two and three weeks programs, too).  There are a lot of choice from – more than thirty courses from the Liberal Arts section alone!  There’s also Fashion Design, Law, and Architecture (to name a few more).   Connect with the Summer of Syracuse 2010 group on Facebook and start planning!

College + Workshops + Seminars. Students in the University of Maryland Young Scholars Program choose one intro-level three week college course (mock trials, kinesiology, or landscape architecture to name a few) for college credit.  Scheduled workshops at the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland) mix things up a bit, including Stock Market Planning and Tai Chi as well as informative seminars with topics like social media privacy or tips about traveling abroad – talk about a nice (and super fun) little bonus!

Or Option #2: Hit the books, meet new people, get college credit, and have a ton of fun?

Horia Varlan / Horia Varlan

More fun than a barrel of monkeys! The Emory College of Arts and Sciences at Emory College (Atlanta, Georgia) offers up a six week residential or commuter program with courses like Public Health, Sustainability, Film Studies, or Anthropology..  When not listening to speakers or participating in student-panel discussions, students live it up on awesome scheduled tours and field trips, like to the Planetarium, the High Museum, or an Atlanta Braves baseball game.

Say goodbye to summer boredom! The five week High School Summer Scholars Program at Washington University in St. Louis (St Louis, Missouri) is for high school Sophomores and Juniors – and you could net yourself up to seven college credits!  Dig in to courses like geology, mathematics, Italian, dance, history, or economics.  With scheduled trips, social events, and free time (of course), it could be the makings for a summer to rememberWUSTLhsscholars is on Twitter – so you can get connected!

Cornell University Summer College Programs for High School Students (Ithaca, New York) attracts students interested in veterinary medicine, business, or even college success (a program to help ease your transition to college and then some!). You can browse through Cornell University summer program highlights through photos, videos, a Facebook page, even blogs!  What’s even betterThey are all eligible for college credit!

We weren’t kidding when we said there were plenty of choices!  So go ahead, start planning and creating the summer of your dreams – and jump into college life!

Seven Schools with Great Financial Aid Packages

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

collegemoneyThese days, money is tight for just about everyone—and college is one of the biggest expenses your family will ever face. A four-year program at many private universities will cost over $200,000, not counting the cost of textbooks and other extra fees. While some students may be eligible for scholarships (we’ve got one for you here) and financial aid, there’s always a concern that a school might reject you because you’re not able to pay their tuition.

Not these schools. With “need-blind” admissions policies, they pay no attention to how much money you have when deciding whether or not to admit you. Better yet, some schools even claim to meet full need, which means that they’ll provide grants to make up the difference between the family’s expected contribution, based on income, and the cost of tuition. While most students are able to obtain loans to help pay for college, these need-granting schools will generally contribute money that the students will never have to pay back, which can take a lot of the stress out of the college experience.

Want to see which schools have the best financial aid policies? Here’s a selection of colleges that aren’t likely to leave you with mountains of debt.

Harvard University. Last year, Harvard admitted Khadijah Williams, a homeless straight-A teen from Los Angeles, providing her with a full scholarship that covered all of her classes, textbooks, room, and board. This isn’t a first for them—the school has been long known for a remarkably generous financial aid policy, covering all costs for families who make below $60,000 and reducing the cost of college for middle-income families by as much as 50 percent. This year alone, they are awarding $145 million in need-based aid. So if you’re Harvard material, don’t worry about the price tag: you’ll find a place there

Bowdoin College. Bowdoin College, a small liberal arts school in Maine, may have a high price tag—$53,250 a year—but very few students are expected to pay that entire amount. The school offers need-blind admission, and more than 40 percent of students receive grants to help pay tuition, which do not need to be paid back. For a chance at a debt-free education in beautiful Maine, take a look at Bowdoin and its financial aid policies.

Bryn Mawr College. Bryn Mawr, a women’s college in Pennsylvania, has a generous grant assistance program, offering more than $20.4 million in financial aid to 62% of the student body. For more information, visit the school’s financial aid page.

Cornell University. This Ivy League university in upstate New York has always been generous with financial aid, but it recently announced an even more impressive initiative: starting this year, families with incomes below $75,000 will not have to pay any loan money, and families who earn between $75,000 and $120,000 will not have to pay back more than $3,000 for each year of school. The remainder of the money beyond the family’s expected contribution will be covered in full by the school. Check out their policies here.

Macalester College. This small, but highly competitive liberal arts school in Minnesota provides need-based financial assistance to all eligible students, which is about two-thirds of the entire student body. The average yearly financial aid award is $32,258, though some students are eligible for full scholarships. Find out more.

New College of Florida. Though it’s a public school, this university has only 785 students—and 90% of them are receiving financial aid assistance. With annual tuition, room, and board of just $12,567 for in-state students and $34,169 for students from out-of-state, it’s already one of the best educational deals around. Find out about their financial aid here.

Swarthmore College. This highly selective liberal arts college pledges to meet all student financial need after the expected family payments have been made, and awards more than $34 million in scholarships, loans, and other assistance to 70 percent of its student body every year. Swarthmore also offers a deferred payment plan, which allows families to pay tuition and other student fees in smaller monthly increments, interest-free, for a one-time participation fee of $60. Check out the options.

There are plenty of other fantastic schools with great financial aid packages available to the cost-conscious student. To find more, take a look at this list from US News and World Report —and make sure to register for our $2,000 scholarship!

Want a Unique Academic Experience? Try One of These Schools.

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
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Timothy Hursley

At most colleges, you need to complete two full years of general education requirements and then focus on your major requirements. You take between three and five courses at a time, and are graded on a scale from A to F. But some unique liberal arts colleges are bucking the trend, establishing innovative academic programs that help students to discover and engage with their passions. If you don’t want a run-of-the-mill academic experience, take a look at these unique schools.

Colorado College. This small school in gorgeous Colorado Springs offers the unique Block Plan, which allows students to focus on one course at a time for a three-and-a-half week period (though some intensive courses require multiple “blocks”). This innovative structure gives students the opportunity to plunge into their studies, engaging in field trips and independent projects along with several hours a day of classroom instruction and discussion. There are rarely any lectures: the average course size is just 16 students. After the intense block course is over, students have 4-and-a-half day weekends, in which they can either relax on campus or take advantage of one of the school’s many adventure excursions, such as hiking or mountain biking.

St. John’s College. This small school has two campuses: one in Anapolis, Maryland, and another in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The lecturers are folks you may have heard of: Plato, Aristotle, and Freud, to name just a few. Rather than spotlighting individual professors’ courses, the entire school follows a Great Books curriculum, in which all students spend the first two years reading, discussing, and engaging with the same books and other media, ranging from the ancient to the modern. There are no lectures; instead, students are given the chance to debate ideas and philosophies on equal ground with their instructors. And you won’t find any textbooks teaching you how to interpret the texts: here, the classic books, and your fellow students and professors, are your only guides.

Brown University. Brown is part of the Ivy League, but has vetoed the competitive academic atmosphere of its counterparts in favor of a more flexible curriculum, focused on the students’ interests. At the school, there are no general education requirements; students are allowed to enroll in any courses they choose, including classes at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design. There’s also no need to worry about grades for courses outside of your concentration: students may elect to take courses for “satisfactory” or “no credit,” which means that the fear of not performing up to par won’t stop them from trying something new.

Reed College. At Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, students work with professors in 10-to-1 ratios, typically in roundtable conference style. Though they receive grades at the end of courses, they aren’t mailed to the students, and few are aware of their GPAs—discussion and engagement with the courses are far more important than exam scores. The rigorous academic program concludes with a year-long senior thesis, which can be anything from a scientific project to a novel-length book, which students will then defend before faculty members. Reed also offers a unique program called Paideia, which allows anyone—faculty, students, and janitors alike—to create their own weeklong courses, which have included esoteric subjects like Underwater Basket Weaving and Garden Gnome Construction.