Hi Everyone!  We’ve decided to make a slight change in the domain name of the UMBC Admissions Counselor’s Blog.  The new address for the blog will be umbcadmissionsblog.wordpress.com.  The new blog will soon be linked to the Undergraduate Admissions website but in the mean time please check the new address for all future posts.

Thanks!

In the Admissions world the SAT is always a hot topic. I think this has been increasingly the case since the SAT was changed to the new format, which includes a third section, the Writing section. Many students don’t enjoy taking the exam and the idea of adding another section certainly didn’t help that sentiment. The SAT has been a part of most undergraduate applications for years; however, some schools are now starting to drop the SAT from their required materials for an application. I won’t go into all of the details of the debate as to whether or not this is a good move, there are probably as many arguments for one side as there are for the other.

However, I will address one issue related to this topic, and that is whether or not the SAT is a good measure of a student’s ability. Many students feel as if their SAT score is what defines their undergraduate application, a feeling that is often incorrect. For many institutions the SAT is only one part of many credentials that an institution reviews in making an admissions decision. It is true that the SAT does not measure a student’s creativity or their drive to succeed, but that is not what it aims to do. The SAT is a reasoning test, and it has been used for many years to measure a student’s ability to reason and problem-solve, skills which are important. This is why I think it is important for students to realize that the SAT is only part of their application. At UMBC we ask students to submit their SAT scores, but we also ask for their high school transcripts, an essay and letters of recommendation as well as information about their extra-curricular and co-curricular activities. The reason we ask for all of this information, including the SAT, is we like to learn about the entire package, and we like to see well-rounded students.

I want to wish seniors good luck in preparing their admissions applications; it can be quite a task. I hope you keep this bit of information in mind when applying to schools­­– that most institutions attempt to look at the student as a whole, so no matter what your opinion on the SAT, remember that there is more to you than a score !

As Josh mentioned in his last blog, tomorrow, Friday July 11th, is the first of two Summer Preview Days here at UMBC.  We’re looking forwared to meeting many of you tomorrow!  If you’re a prospective freshman and would like to attend the Summer Preview Day tomorrow and have not yet registered, please call our office to sign up.  If, however, you’re planning on attending the August 4th SPD instead, you can register online at http://www.umbc.edu/undergraduate/experience/visit_freshman_sum.html.  By the way, it’s supposed to be sunny and in the upper 80’s tomorrow, so do dress accordingly.  If you’re like me, you’ll want to bring a sweater along just in case the A/C is pumping in any of the buildings!  For the latest UMBC forecast, see http://weather.umbc.edu/.

Before we head out for a long holiday weekend, I thought I’d remind our readers about some summer activities here at UMBC.  Some may think that college campuses all but shut down over the summer, but I’m here to let you know there’s still plenty to do here in July despite the fact that the majority of our students have temporarily disappeared.  If any prospective students out there have thought about living on or near campus over a summer, read on to get a taste of what you’ll encounter…

The Student Events Board, or SEB, is offering an array of events over the summer, so check out http://umbcseb.tumblr.com/ for the full schedule.  I am especially fond of the free cotton candy days! 

Next week a bus will take alumni and other fellow UMBC-ers to a Nationals game.  The following week six bucks will get UMBC students a ticket to an O’s game as well as transportation.  Not bad!  They’ll have plenty of money left over for a hot dog and a giant foam finger.

Summers here at UMBC include workshops to help students plan their educations, as well.  The Graduate School will sponsor a workshop on funding your graduate education this month.  This may not sound useful to you now, but applying to grad school is no easy feat, so you’ll be happy to have assistance when you’re not bogged down by tons of coursework.

Of course, I should also mention that since we’re only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Baltimore, you’ll have plenty to do there, as well.   The SEB site points out the upcoming ArtScape festival (which is the country’s largest free arts festival, by the way).  Plenty of other events take place on a daily basis in the city.  One of my favorite resources for information on festivals, concerts, and other events is City Paper’s events calendar.  You’ll find it online at http://citypaper.com/calendar/default.asp. 

Have a good Fourth, everyone!

 

We’re back with our third and final installment of our blog on The Campus Visit! Hopefully at this point you have had the chance to venture out and visit a few campuses, I know we have been busy here in the Undergraduate Admissions office and have certainly enjoyed meeting some new students. With all of the information that we have provided so far on campus visits we would be remiss if we didn’t mention what we have to offer here at UMBC, so here is goes!

One of our most popular ways to visit UMBC is through our Information Sessions and Campus Tours. From now until about the middle of August we are offering daily information sessions and campus tours for prospective students. The information session is a short presentation led by one of our very own Admissions Counselors (including myself and Laura) that covers everything from “How do I apply?” to “What student life opportunities are available?.” It is our job to know about UMBC and we hope we can give you the best information possible to be a well informed student. But of course, feel free to ask questions! After the information session you will be able to take an hour long walking tour of the UMBC campus. Your tour guide will be a current UMBC student so you should definitely pick their brain for a student’s perspective. For a list of dates and information about how to sign up for an Information Session please view the following website: http://www.umbc.edu/undergraduate/experience/tour.html

In addition to our Information Sessions we also offer a few larger programs for you to see the University. During the summer we offer Summer Preview Days, and in fact, we have one coming up next week! These programs are a full day program that will allow you to learn about student life, academics, and so much more. We also offer many tours throughout the day and we welcome you to bring along your family and friends. Information about our Summer Preview Days is also available online, please see the following website: http://www.umbc.edu/undergraduate/experience/openhouse.html

Coming soon to the Undergraduate website you will also find information about our Fall open house programs. Additionally, keep an eye out at your high school for a UMBC Admissions Counselor in the Fall semester. The Admissions Counselors spend a lot of time visiting high schools and we would love to see you and help you out!

As always, you are also welcome to stop on into the Undergraduate Admissions office or give us a shout over the phone. Laura and I hope this information on campus visits has been helpful. Thanks have a great holiday!

We promised you more information and tips on visiting colleges this summer, and I am here to deliver! Josh made some great points about planning your visits. As most of you are likely already aware, once you’ve decided which campuses you’ll visit this summer, you’ve still got a little homework left to do before you go! Make sure and prepare a checklist of priorities (i.e., what you’d like to accomplish on “X’s” campus) and questions to ask admissions staff, students, faculty, etc. If you’re not quite sure where to begin with all this, first remember that you will not necessarily accomplish all you set out to do on a particular campus in one day, and that’s okay! While it would be great to step onto a college campus and talk to an admissions counselor, a professor, current students, and a coach all in one day, it might not be possible. After all, faculty and students are busy people and might be away at a summer conference, teaching or attending a class, or be otherwise occupied when you visit. If you’re unable to meet face to face with someone you can always ask the admissions office for that individual’s contact information or for other resources that will assist you with getting your questions answered. The fact is, it’s good to assume that if a certain university is a real possibility, you’ll be back again and can accomplish more on the second visit (e.g., for an open house or other campus-wide event).

If you need some inspiration for questions to ask on your college visits, or just some pointers for maximizing your time on various campuses, a great resource for you is the NACAC website. “NACAC” stands for the “National Association for College Admission Counseling.” It’s full of experts on everything having to do with college admissions. As a prospective student, you’ll likely find some of the information at http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/Events/CollegeFairs/NCF/nationalcollegefairsstudents.htm helpful–it’s meant to assist high school students attending fairs sponsored by NACAC, but the tips it provides will help visitors to actual campuses, as well. Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the page for the PDF checklist of what to bring to a college fair–it will give you lots of potential questions to ask the staff, faculty, and students of the schools you’re considering.

Students and parents alike will undoubtedly find the information at http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/StepsNewsletter/default.htm useful, as well. This link will take you to NACAC’s online newsletter, “Steps to College,” which includes stories on everything from sorting through all the mail you’ve received from myriad colleges to creating more checklists to assist in planning your college visits (in case you didn’t get the idea, admissions folks love checklists!).

Hope you find this information useful! Once again, “stay tuned” for more tidbits of advice in planning your campus visits this summer.

Hi Everyone! I hope you are enjoying this great Friday weather! I just wanted to remind everyone that the UMBC Summer Session II is fast approaching. If you are interested in getting a class out of the way this summer this is an excellent opportunity. The second summer session runs from July 7-August 15 and registration for this session will continue through July 11. For more information on the Summer Session II and how to go about registering, please visit the following link:

http://www.cps.umbc.edu/aps/Summer_Session5.asp

Summer is here! By now many high school students have wrapped up their final exams and are on to the next step. For rising high school seniors, that next step is thinking about college! Summer is an excellent time to get a lot of work done in preparing for college. It is a bit early to start sending out those applications and preparing your essays, but right now is a perfect time to start visiting and checking out some prospective schools.

In deciding where you want to visit you don’t have to know what your top schools are or the schools you intend to apply. That’s what this visiting stuff is about! Come up with a list of potential schools that you are interested in by looking at things such as size, location, and programs offered. I would recommend diversifying your list a little as well. You may think that you only want a large school, but checking out some smaller schools will give you a real perspective of what the different campuses are like.

When you go to schedule your visits you may be asking, “What is the best way to plan?.” In this increasingly paperless world the best resource you have is the university or college website. Most admissions website will have lists of when they offer campus tours, what events they are hosting, and other special events available. When planning out your visits I also recommend leaving plenty of time to spend at each institution. You will want to plan on spending more time on the campus than just what is required for the tour, information session, etc. You may want to spend extra time checking out the campus on your own, talking to students, and visiting other sites. Along these lines, I also wouldn’t recommend scheduling too many visits in one day, even if the schools are close together. As a last reminder, if you are interested in special visits while on campus, such as meeting with a coach or professor, make sure to plan those ahead of time. You wouldn’t want to be on campus when that person wasn’t there!

I hope you all are having a great summer and we hope to see plenty of students here at UMBC visiting. As always, let us know if you have any questions about UMBC. Also, you’ll notice this is only Part 1 of the campus visit process, stay tuned for more information to come soon J

We haven’t mentioned orientation for some time here, so I just wanted to remind new incoming and even prospective students that you can find information on what Orientation 2008 at UMBC entails by looking at http://www.umbc.edu/orientation/.   Families planning on attending family orientation days can also use this site to check out a sample agenda for what their orientation will look like.  All of us here in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation look forward to welcoming all of you to our campus throughout the summer–we’ll see you soon!

Just wanted to post a fun link that is on the UMBC homepage. Take a minute and check out what some of our graduates are up to:

http://www.umbc.edu/classof2008/