Posts Tagged ‘penn state’

Legacy Student Status and College Admissions: Where Do You Fit In?

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Does your family have a history of attending the same college? Maybe you’ve been wondering how this so-called “legacy status” affects your college admission status! Grandpa or grandma, mom or dad, bachelor’s degree or master’s degree, if members of your family graduated from your dream school, see what kind of impact (if any) that could make on helping you get “in!”

Dartmouth College hopeful? They might just take a peek at your legacy status.

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What is a Legacy Student?
A legacy student is a college bound student with parents or even grandparents that are college alumni of the very same college where a prospective student submits an admissions application. Some colleges also have grants or scholarships just for legacy students!

College Admissions and Legacy Status
Some colleges may have different legacy student policies regarding the type of degree an alumnus earned, like if the degree is an undergraduate degree or a graduate degree. They may favor an undergraduate degree and not count a graduate degree towards legacy status.

Other colleges will count any children or grandchildren as legacy students if the degree was earned at their institution – no matter if it was earned as an undergraduate or a graduate. Depending on your family history, that could be very good news for you!

Resources for Legacy Students
You can often easily judge if legacy status has any weight based on information found on the college  website. Many will let students know if legacy status is something that they even consider as a positive factor towards college admission. A simple search on the college website should provide the information you are looking for!

Some colleges possess more legacy resources than others. The University of Pennsylvania, for example, possesses Legacy Advising Sessions so legacy students and their parents can find out more about their selective status with regards to UPenn admissions procedures.

Another UPenn program, Linking Legacies, is something that prospective legacy students should take advantage of! Linking Legacies connects current legacy students with prospective legacy students so they can ask their questions and get actual legacy student responses via mail.

Saint Joseph’s College and Michigan State University have a legacy program for current, prospective, and past graduates to easily network and keep in touch. Bucknell University is another college that lets not only children and grandchildren of college alumni claim legacy status, but also stepchildren, great grandchildren, and even great grandchildren — with special programs for prospective legacy students and then some!

Hintz Family Alumni Center at  Penn State University.

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Some colleges prefer to make their take on legacy status a bit more secret. Yale University is one college thought to put a bit of emphasis on legacy status – and have often admitted more legacy students than not! Dartmouth College, on the other hand, openly shares its legacy admission rates.

If you discover a high rate of legacy students then it’s probably safe to assume that it might just have a bit to do with a student’s offer of college admission!

Final Thought
If your school puts particular emphasis on legacy status, it doesn’t mean that you should stop studying and start slacking! Legacy student or not, any college is still going to prefer a hard-working, valuable member of society to one that doesn’t even meet the standard admission requirements.

On the other hand, should you get accepted into your dream school, your legacy status should never make you feel as though you didn’t make it “in” because of your hard work! Your legacy status is only part of the (rather large) college admissions puzzle: your GPA, class rank, standardized test scores, community service, letters of recommendation, college interview, and then some, make up the remaining pieces.

5 Unique College Majors (and the Cool Jobs They Can Land You)

Monday, December 7th, 2009

800px-Golf_player_Hawaii_2002If you’re planning to attend college in the next couple of years, you’re probably still wondering about what to major in. There’s nothing wrong with that—you have two years at college before you need to make a final decision. A major in biology could set you up for further studies at medical school, and a pre-law degree will help you master the basics of tort and criminal law if you’d like to become an attorney one day, but if you’re not sure where your path will take you, why not consider some of the more unique majors available? Here are some fascinating college majors from American universities that you’ve probably never heard of—and the cool jobs they can lead to.

Viticulture. You may be too young to drink wine, but that doesn’t mean you’re too young to make it! Cal Poly, in San Luis Obispo, California, offers a hands-on Wine and Viticulture major, where students will learn all the basics about growing grapes and turning them into high-quality wine, using the school’s own 100-acre vineyard as a testing ground. Once you’ve finished the program, you’ll finally be old enough to try out your own wine—and will be prepared to launch your very own winery. Check out the program details here. http://cafes.calpoly.edu/departmentsAndMajors/majors/wineAndViticulture.asp

Professional Golf Management. If you’re a golf nut, but aren’t quite qualified to go pro, maybe you should consider running your own golf course. A degree in Professional Golf Management from Penn State University will teach you how to do just that, with courses in subjects like Turf Grass Management, Analysis of the Swing, and Golf Car Fleet Management. And perfecting your swing is part of the program: students must pass a golfing proficiency test out on the green before being awarded with a diploma and a membership to the PGA. Sounds like a good excuse to spend plenty of time out on the course (as scholarly research).

Food Science. Have you always loved both chemistry and cooking? A degree in Food Science from Cornell University provides a chance to combine these two passions, teaching you about engineering, microbiology, chemistry and other scientific fields as applied to everything that ends up on your plate. This is definitely not a lightweight major—you’ll need to take a series of courses in calculus, organic chemistry, and microbiology to even begin the program—but it’s a fascinating and rewarding field. If you think coming up with Ben and Jerry’s next flavor would be a dream job, this is your way in.

Bagpipes. In tribute to founder Andrew Carnegie’s Scottish roots, Carnegie Mellon University offers America’s only bagpipes major, complete with its very own scholarship. The program focuses on both the history of bagpiping and the performance itself—though bagpipes students are given a separate building to practice their craft in, as the instrument is incredibly loud. The university has only graduated a handful of bagpipes scholars so far, but if you’re a fan of the infamous instrument, this might be just the trick for you to score a scholarship to a great school—and receive plenty of high-paid invitations to perform at weddings after graduation. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09127/968364-298.stm

Criminology. If you’re addicted to TV shows like America’s Most Wanted and Criminal Minds, a degree in criminology (available at many colleges, including the University of Southern Maine) might be the best way to get into the fascinating and high-paying field of criminal profiling. Criminology courses in an undergraduate program typically include a mix of psychology and sociology classes focusing on the American criminal justice system, as well as an internship with a police department or government agency. Though you’ll need to complete a master’s degree in criminology to become eligible for most jobs in the field, a B.A. in this fascinating field is your first step on the way to a high-level profiling career with a police department, the FBI, or even the CIA.

7 of the Most Bizarre Mascots at American Colleges

Friday, December 4th, 2009

UC Berkeley’s got Oski the Bear, Penn State has the Nittany Lion—and UC Santa Cruz has the fierce and powerful… Sammy the Banana Slug?

Strange, but true.  UC Santa Cruz isn’t a sports-focused school, so students unofficially adopted the slow-moving slug as a humorous commentary on the school’s lack of athletic prowess. At one point, college officials tried to switch the mascot to a sea lion, but the protest from students was so great that the slimy yellow slug was reinstated, and you’ll find countless odes to Sammy in toy, t-shirt, and shot glass form at the school’s campus bookstore.  UCSC isn’t the only school with a not-so-normal mascot. Here are just a few other quirky mascots representing colleges around the United States:

Randy Son Of Robert/Randy

The Anteater. California students have a quirky sense of humor, it seems: the Anteater is the official mascot of the UC Irvine sports teams. During school sports games, students often chant, “Zot, zot, zot!” — supposedly, this is the noise that the anteater’s tongue makes as it laps up ants.

John the Poet. Poets aren’t normally thought of as sports stars, but at Whittier College, which is named for poet John Whittier, the school decided to pay tribute to its literary star on the playing field. Richard Nixon is the school’s most famous grad, but we’ve got a feeling Whittier won’t be swapping the Poet costume for a Nixon mask any time soon.

Speedy the Geoduck. Ever heard of a geoduck? You might be surprised to know that it’s not a duck at all, but a type of mollusk, probably not too far removed from Santa Cruz’s Banana Slug, Sammy. Speedy is the face of Evergreen State College in Washington, which boasts The Simpsons creator Matt Groening among its alums. Maybe one day, a life-sized Bart will join Speedy on the courts for a little pre-game fun.

Artie the Fighting Artichoke. In the 1970s, Scottsdale Community College asked students to vote on a mascot for the school’s sports teams. However, most students were annoyed that the administration was devoting much of the school’s funds to sports rather than academic programs, and came up with a few ridiculous options to choose from: The Artichokes, the Rutabagas, or the Scoundrels. The Artichokes won the vote, and the giant green veggie has been raising school spirit ever since.

alvarezperea/Alberto Alvarez-Perea

The Billiken. St. Louis University’s Billiken looks a bit like E.T., with giant pointed ears, but apparently, the odd-looking creature bears a striking resemblance to one of SLU’s early coaches. Billikens were all the rage for a six-month period in the early 1900s, and are intended to be used as good luck charms. For a sports team, that sure sounds like a good omen.

The Fighting Okra. Okra is a Southern staple on the dinner table—and the ferocious Fighting Okra is a staple at Mississippi’s Delta State University . Although the school’s athletic department has chosen the more appropriate Statesmen and Lady Statesmen as monikers for its teams, the Fighting Okra has long served as an unofficial mascot and student favorite.

Who did we miss? Share your favorite bizarre mascots in the comment section below!