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Published: July 13th 2008
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Dear All,
I am staying in one of Iona College’s dormitories tonight and tomorrow. Some schools allow high school counselors to stay in a dorm, a guest house, a Bed and Breakfast or a hotel at their expense and as a professional courtesy.
My day began with an information session and tour of Iona, a 35 acre campus located just 20 miles from New York City. From the Information Session and tour, I learned this small school does a good job of nurturing its students. My tour guides confirmed this. Both tour guides said if you miss your morning class, you might as well not show up for lunch as your professor(s) will surely ask where you were.
Random Facts from the Tour
The campus is safe. The police station and fire station are very close. Security officers are also very visible. No alarming crime statistics were apparent. Both female tour guides said they have always felt very safe on the campus and in the neighborhood.
The school has more than sixty clubs and organizations.
There are 21 Division I sports teams Track, football and basketball are most popular. The school also has a club crew team.
92 % of the students receive some kind of financial aid. The average award package is $13,000
Endowment is strong. New facilities include a Student Union, an athletic complex and two more dormitories.
Business and Communications are two of the most popular and strongest majors.
Housing is guaranteed only for the first two years.
Greek life is exists, but does not dominate the campus.
Community service is a significant part of the campus. One of my tour guides was in an outreach ministry program and shared with us the powerful experience of serving food to the homeless in the city.
Fitness Room, as on all college campuses, is popular. Tour guide mentioned that the room is full of her friends around 4:00 pm when they all watch the show, “The View”.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
You cannot help but step onto this campus wide-eyed. As I walked up to the school’s Visitor Center a few yards from the 116th Street Metro Station, I observed massive buildings and several grassy quads. Students love how they can wonder off into the city and then walk through Columbia’s gates and feel very much at home and secure.
Information Session
Forty-five minutes into the information session, the fire alarm went off in the building and all 80-100 of us were asked to evacuate the building. The two most significant points I took with me from the Information Session were the following:
1) Your music, art, humanity courses are superior to what are offered at most colleges because, in addition to having world renowned professors in many fields, you are literally a metro stop or two away from art exhibits, musical concerts, internships and community service projects and/or anything else you may wish to pursue. Everything you could ever imagine is here.
2) It may be difficult to replicate at many other schools the constant intellectual stimulation and discourse you may have in New York city 24-7. Great conversations are had with professors and fellow students on and off campus. The city (and often the students) never sleep.
Other Information Session Details
There are two schools at Columbia University—The Engineering School and Columbia College (college of arts and sciences).
There is no Business program/major
The Admissions officer said Columbia alumni are more likely to ask fellow alumni what their favorite academic core experience than to ask about any other aspect of the school.
Incoming freshmen must read the first six books of the Iliad before coming to school. He said, “Imagine everyone reading the Iliad and then holding discussions with fellow students from different countries, different backgrounds.
All incoming students must take the University Writing program.
Just before the fire alarm went off and the admissions counselor talked about admissions criteria, most of which is available on the schools website. He did say half or more of the students who apply are admissible, but there simply are not enough places in a class to accept all students.
Tour (Random Facts Offered)
The tour was led by Amanda, a sophomore biology major from Garden City, New York
Very few classes are offered on Friday so that students may take advantage of the city.
Columbia is the only Ivy League school to have a library open 24 hours a day.
Freshman dormitory also houses the school cafeteria and a snack pit.
Global Leader Forum is often held when world leaders come to New York in the fall for The World Summit. Columbia hosts leaders each year. This past year, the President of the University made the controversial decision to allow Iran’s President to speak on the campus.
Students come from 90 different countries and 50 different states
There are approximately 450 different clubs and organizations on campus.
The school has several world renowned professors (83 Nobel Prize winners (?), second only to Cambridge), several of whom will have students over for dinner, invite them Our tour guide said she was surprised to find one of her professors recently wrote an article in Vanity Flair.
Teaching Style—Many professors use PowerPoint and allow students to print their PowerPoint slides before class.
Columbia is located in the second safest precinct out of the 76 precincts in New York.
An entire athletic center is four stories below ground.
Note To Parents and Students: Several tour guides have encouraged prospective students to really research their school before, during and after visits so that they can answer the question, “Why would you be a great fit at X school? “ Writing an essay (1-2 pages) is something I often encourage of students whether the question is asked on an application or not. If a student is competitive in all other ways, the scales may tip in the student’s favor who shares his high level of interest and ability to maximize the opportunities available to him on campus.
Financial Aid: If you want to apply Early Decision and need/want to get a sense of how much the school may cost, fill out the FAFSA and or CSS Profile (if required) with tax information from the year before. Share this information with the college’s Office of Financial Aid. Officers in this department should be able to give you an estimate of what kind of monetary assistance you might expect.
Signing off from a guest dormitory room on Iona’s campus. Tomorrow, I will see New York University.
Best,
Kirk
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