The Freshman Path

Just another UMass Boston Blogs weblog

January 5, 2012
by tania.glinski
0 comments

Patience is Still a Virtue

It’s the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you “Be of good cheer”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With applications flowing and documents rolling 
Into the mailroom for Fall
It’s the hap- happiest season of all

That’s right ladies and gentleman, as you have all been busy enjoying your lovely holiday break… our office has been busy processing your application material as quickly as possible.  Sadly, we don’t work as fast as Santa’s elves. So we appreciate your patience as we work to update your application.

When you submit your application to our office, you will receive an acknowledgement email and letter letting you know that we have your application on file. Included in the letter is an Identification Number and PIN allowing you to log-on to our website and check your application status.  As the letter states, it takes 7-10 business days (about two weeks) to process each documents as it arrives and update the information online.  So please, please, please, check your status regularly online and allow for the full processing time to occur. I understand that you are eager to move the process along and receive your decision, but we need you to be patient as we process all the material coming from our thousands of applicants in the order that it is received. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Happy New Year!

November 9, 2011
by tania.glinski
3 Comments

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I was never a coffee drinker… that was until I found myself waking up so I could climb behind the wheel and drive several hours west before the sun even had a chance to throw a shade of color in the sky. Traveling to high schools around New England has taught me to appreciate caffeine. And although I would never put myself in a category of elite coffee drinkers who can identify a Cafe Misto from 20 feet away, I will say that I have grown to appreciate a good cup and especially a yummy one.

So that being said, I just wanted to say how much it made my day, when I stopped by the Atrium Cafe in the Campus Center for a warm crisp North End panini and saw that the Eggnog Latte, Gingerbread Latte, and the Peppermint Mocha where now in season. I debated for a bit and settled on the Gingerbread. Yummmm!

November 4, 2011
by tania.glinski
4 Comments

The Dreaded Admissions Essay

For some reason, when I meet students and talk with them about the application process, their biggest concern is the essay. Now don’t get me wrong, the essay is a significant part of the application, but it is not supposed to cause you to have a nervous breakdown. So let’s talk about this requirement.

At UMass Boston, we are looking for a 500 word essay (approximately one-page single-spaced) on an essay topic of your choice. On our Undergraduate Admissions website we list several different essay topics to help guide you. But keep in mind, we are trying to give you a suggestion that will allow you to open up and talk about yourself.

Think about this: when reviewing your application, most of the information is just numbers. Your transcript just allows me to calculate your GPA, and your SAT or ACT scores are a just another set of numbers. These numbers help us to understand how you are performing academically in comparison to our other applicants, but they don’t tell us your life story. Most of the applications that I read will belong to a student I have never met or even spoken to. How can I decide if you would be a good fit for our school if I don’t know anything about you? The essay is your opportunity to tell me about yourself.

If you were to sit down with me as I looked at your transcript and test scores, what would you want to tell me? Maybe you would tell me how difficult your Advance Placement AB Calculus course is, and although you have a D in the course, you are working harder and learning more from the challenge than you ever expected. Maybe you want to tell me how during your first two years of high school you didn’t much care about academics, but now you are realizing the benefits of an education and working to improve your GPA. Maybe you are interested in being a nurse and you want to tell me about what life changing experience inspired you to pursue a nursing degree.

Please take the time to tell me about yourself. This season I am sure that I will read a dozen essays about applicants’ grandmothers, and another handful about best friends. But sadly, I am not reviewing Nana, or your best friend, Lily. So please, please, please be sure to give me some insight into who you are through your essay. If you are a few words over or under on your word count, don’t worry. Just be sure to provide us with a clear and concise essay about you. And don’t forget to edit it! Make sure you have a friend, relative, or teacher read through it to check for typos or any confusing points.

November 1, 2011
by tania.glinski
1 Comment

Just Asking Questions

I was at a school in New Hampshire last month and had such a great experience. I had a table set up with a bunch of UMass Boston information on it, and it was the tail-end of a college fair. There were only a few dozen students milling around their gym talking to various college representatives. A young man walked up to me, introduced himself and extended his clammy, jittery hand for a shake. I asked him how he was, and he responded, “I am so nervous.” I laughed, I smiled, and of course I began to find out why. He was a sophomore, who wanted to start looking at schools, but he didn’t know what to look for. Of course his teachers, peers, and guidance counselors had encouraged him to go to the fair and get exposed to the schools. But here he was embarrassed and nervous because he did not know what to say. So we talked about popular questions to ask a college representative and things to look out for in schools. So here is my advice:

If you don’t know anything about the school, that is OK. That is why you are talking to the school’s representative. Make us do the work by saying – “Tell me about your school.” Then if something interesting comes up, ask questions about it. Here are some other questions:

  • How big is your school?

16,000 students…

Really wow, that big?

  • Do you have [insert major here]?

Yes, in fact we have more than 95 programs of study for you to choose from.

  • What are your most popular programs?

Psychology, Sociology, Criminal Justice, and our College of Management are our most popular programs. We are also very well known for our Nursing program.

  • How big is your average class size?

Only 26 students.

  • What do your students do for fun?

Besides enjoying city life using UMass Boston discounts, they participate in over 100 clubs on campus, attend concerts, play intramural and varsity sports, go sailing…

  • What Grade Point Average (GPA) and SAT scores do I need to get in?

Our average freshman comes in with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and a combined score of 1050 on the Math and Critical Reading portion of the SATs.

These are some good starter questions (and answers) that are the most popular ones that I hear on the road.  As you begin to learn more about schools, you will come up with more questions. But whatever you do, there is no need to be nervous. As a counselor, I am just excited to have the opportunity to talk to you about UMass Boston and tell you about all the wonderful things our school has to offer… so if anything, I should be the nervous one.

October 17, 2011
by tania.glinski
1 Comment

I’d like fries with that, please.

Visiting colleges: interesting, exciting, entertaining, informative, overwhelming, confusing, exhausting…

There are good college visits and bad college visits… so before you get out there, here are some ways to make the most of your time at a school and some helpful hints when you hit the road to try to find your new home.

Do your research! Don’t make your whole family pile into a car on a Saturday morning to drive five hours to a school that is closed that weekend for holiday recess! That sounds crazy! Who would possibly do that? Well, it has happened before. Or how about going to a school and sitting through an information session and then noticing… wait – “You don’t offer engineering?” Make a list of schools that interest you, and offer what you enjoy. Then look at their website to find out the schedule for visiting. Go to an information session & tour if possible. Some schools expect you to sign up in advance, so sign up and pay attention to where you should go on campus for it. If you are visiting multiple schools in that area, try to balance your time to take advantage of the programs offered by each admissions office, have a little downtime to feel the campus, and, of course, give yourself enough time to travel to the next campus.

*Travel Hint: If you are traveling in an extremely rural area and map out the time it should take to get from one school to the next as 25 minutes… chances are it will take about 25 minutes unless you get stuck behind a tractor for a mile, or Bertha the cow is stuck in the middle of the road blocking traffic (yes, those are dorky jokes that you are supposed to laugh at). So even though it says 25 minutes, add some time to get lost, to find parking, to find the building that you are going to, to stop at the restr0om before the session starts, etc. Now if you are traveling in an urban area and it is supposed to take 25 minutes to get the school – that means it would take 25 minutes to get there if there was no construction and absolutely no other cars on the road to get in your way. Double the time, triple the time, call the school and see if they have any suggestions… just remember that every city has traffic. And the last thing you want to do when going to a school, is stress out before you even get there about whether or not you will make it on time. Another thing: make a travel soundtrack for everyone to enjoy for the journey.

Once you are there, don’t just physically be a body on campus… actually pay attention and ask questions. When you are sitting in an information session and you are not sure what the speaker is talking about, ask them to clarify with examples. If you really want to know about something on campus that wasn’t covered on the tour, ask the tour guide.

And when you are done with the planned sessions at the school take a minute to relax and get a feel for campus. When I went to schools with my family, we always asked if we were allowed to eat at the dining hall… and we did. Why? Not only do you get an idea of how good the food is, or what the variety is, but you are sitting down with all different students. These students are just eating a meal, just studying, or just hanging out with friends. They are in their true form. So eavesdrop, see what they are talking about, get a feel for if you think you would be interested in hanging out at their table. Majors, minors, internships, research–they are all crucial parts of your education, but so is the student body, the clubs, and the socializing. So don’t forget to take a breather, order some fries, and just take it all in around you.

October 5, 2011
by tania.glinski
1 Comment

One School Two School Red School Blue School

One School Two School Red School Blue School.. soooooo many schools! As the school year begins, it is a reminder that it is time to think about the thousands of colleges and universities around the country and around the world, and finding the right fit for you.

  • Where should I apply?
  • How many should I apply to?
  • What should I look for?
  • Where do I start?

Way back when, I remember visiting my first college the day before classes began my freshman year of high school. A little crazy, over-prepared, way too early, however you might describe it… I was just always planning ahead. I was lucky enough to have the resources and supportive parents needed to visit all the schools on my list. And where did I get my list? Well, one summer day, I journeyed over to my local Barnes & Nobles with pen and notebook in hand and grabbed Princeton Review’s Complete Book of Colleges and settled down at a picnic table in the children’s section. I didn’t know if I wanted to go to a private school or a public school or if I wanted a student body of 50,000 or 500. So I started with what I did know.

What I knew I wanted:

  • business major, (but maybe an economics, psychology or theater major too)
  • semester in Washington D.C.
  • study abroad options
  • competitive school (where the average student had a GPA and SAT scores similar to mine).
  • Within four hours from home (My older sister had attended a university in Pittsburgh, PA and after driving her out there to move her in and out, and occasionally a trip to fix her computer, my parents said, “No More!”)

So with all that- I got to work.

I went school by school, looking at each biography of the schools in my limited area and recorded all the ones that had what I wanted and also things that I thought were interesting. Then I journeyed on to their websites to research more about the schools.

  • What were the pictures of campus like?
  • What activities do the students participate in?
  • What about the town it was in… was there anything to do out there, or too much to do out there?
  • Was it a safe campus? (since my mom wanted to know)

I knocked more schools off my list here and there, and of course when I took the SATs, I modified the list again based on my score and where I was more likely to get in. I soon realized that I wasn’t ready for a city and that I didn’t want to move to an area any colder or with anymore snow than I already lived with. After visiting dozens of schools, I narrowed my search eliminating huge schools and very small schools, and selected my top four (back then, students did not apply to as many colleges as they do today). I had many friends who reversed my process a bit by applying to more schools and then visiting only the schools they were accepted into and could afford.

Nowadays, systems like Naviance and websites like Collegeboard.com do much of the work for you. Instead of reading page by page through hundreds of bios, you can log on to the website and create a search with all the aspects of a school you are interested in. Always check with your guidance office to see what suggestions they may have and what resources are available – maybe there is a college you like coming to visit your school. But after the computer does the work and creates your list, it is important to do more research to get a feel for that school. Find a school that has many possibilities for you. Select a school that not only has a major of your choice, but also other majors that are appealing, just in case you change your mind down the road. I wanted to spend a semester in Washington D.C. because I had a great time at a conference there when I was in high school. When I got to college I realized I wasn’t as interested in government and politics as I thought. I always thought I would study abroad, but I found out I could do a domestic exchange program instead. So I studied in Hawaii, and within 48 hours of arriving on Oahu, I was tumbling off a surfboard while attempting to ride the waves. So keep your options open.

There are plenty of fish in the sea – I mean schools in the world. And I do not think there is only one right school for each student. But I do think there is a wrong school for a student – specifically one that does not offer the opportunities that he/she is looking for. So make your list, research the schools, visit all you can, and find a group of schools that you like and that fit you.

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