Skidmore

Located in beautiful Saratoga, NY, Skidmore College is less than an hour from us. 2400 undergraduates attend coming from 40 states and 30 countries. 60% are female. The current campus was built in the 1970’s or more recently with a new music building just about completed. So things are quite new although the college has existed for nearly a century. Their main dining hall was awesome and loved by the students! The current campus is huge, if you take in to account a wooded area said to be the size of Central Park, but the area containing all the buildings is compact enough to easily walk in a few minutes. It is a nice looking campus with many covered walkways for those who don’t wish to fully brave the NY winters.
Skidmore has 65 majors with English, business, studio art, psych, poli sci, biology, and international affairs being (in order) the top 7. Dance, theatre and music are also strong programs and points of emphasis on campus.
The bill here is $50,000 and half the students are able pay this amount without financial aid from the college. They are a ‘need aware’ school.

Colgate University

Colgate is in Hamilton, NY, Hamilton College is in Clinton, NY. Let’s keep that straight. The two schools are about 20 minutes apart.

Hamilton, NY (the city that is home to Colgate) is truly a college town. The folks who live there tend to work on campus, the professors live in the town, and student meal cards are said to work ‘everywhere’ in town.

Colgate University is, in my opinion, the most beautiful campus I’ve visited so far. It’s also quite competitive. The average admitted student will have about a 1400 SAT (verbal+math) or a 32 ACT. Almost half of the freshman class will be accepted Early Decision. Their 2800 students are very diverse, coming from 48 states and 37 countries- whenever a school makes a point of this, it means it is a priority and source of pride for them, so if you are from upstate New York, you really need to be exceptional to have a shot at getting in here.

At $51,000 per year, they are expensive but the average student leaves with just $14,000 in debt. They are also what’s known as a ‘need aware’ school, which means if you don’t need financial aid, you might have an easier time getting in.
Students that do attend tend to live on campus, stick around on weekends, study abroad at some point, major in a liberal arts field, graduate on time, and become supportive alumni. About 35% will also join a frat or sorority.

Coincidentally, while taking this tour, I ran in to 08 grad Hilary Edmunds!

Hamilton College

Hamilton is located in Clinton, NY- just outside of Utica. It’s a beautiful campus with just 1775 students. Almost all live on campus and about half will study abroad at some point. Classes are quite small typically and there are no distribution requirements, which means you take the classes you want to take, not a prescribed set of ‘gen ed’ classes required by the college. It is a writing intensive, liberal arts school offering just the BA degree and requiring a Senior Program said to be similar to a graduate level honors thesis. It’s also a competitive college with typical SAT scores above 1400.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera this trip.

Pratt MWP

Located right in the small city of Utica, Pratt’s upstate New York campus at Munson-Williams-Proctor is for the serious art student. Everyone takes the same classes freshman year. The school offers just 3 majors; fine arts, art education, and commercial design (graphic design, illustration, advertising) and students leave after 2 years to finish their BFA at either Pratt in Brooklyn (75% do this) or another college offering the BFA. Once accepted at MWP, you are already accepted in the Brooklyn site for your junior year.
Just 150 students attend the Utica campus with 2/3 being female. 90% live on campus.

While taking a tour with the Director of Admissions, I peeked in to a painting class being taken by VHS class of ’07 grad Hillary Van Dyke-Restifo

Utica College

Utica College is currently affiliated with Syracuse University, but this will be changing in the near future. For now, students graduating from UC receive a diploma from SU !
Here’s a 4 year college for the B or even C student and SAT’s are optional. Fewer than 2500 undergrads attend, half live on campus and many are involved with athletics.

The most competitive majors are Physical Therapy (a 6 year doctorate program), Occupational Therapy (a 5 year Master’s) and Nursing where high school GPA’s are required to be higher and SAT or ACT scores are required. Criminal Justice is also a very popular major.

SUNY IT

The SUNY Institute of Technology used to be called SUNY Utica/Rome and until 6 years ago, was an ‘upper level’ college only for transfer students. That has changed. This is now a 4 year college with 2000 undergraduate students. 75% are male (like most tech schools), 600 live on campus but they hope to have another 300 bed dorm built within the next 2 years.
Here’s another school where a B student can get accepted. Once enrolled, students can major in things like computer science (with a game design concentration), business, nursing, health info management or engineering tech. It is small but it’s also a college that I predict will see a lot of growth in the next decade. It’s got the SUNY price tag, it’s centrally located, and offers majors that are in demand

Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross was the 5th and final school I visited during my Worcester visit. It’s a beautiful but hilly campus with 2800 undergraduates. 56% are female (they would like to be 50/50), 16 % are minority, 88% graduate within 4 years. Most students stay on campus on weekends, attending their Div 1A sporting events, dances or movies. There is a lot of school spirit here even after graduation as evidenced by their strong alumni network.

Pre Med/Bio is a popular major as is theatre. More than 1/3 spend their junior year abroad or in DC or NYC. SAT’s are optional. HC looks for students in the top quarter of their class and does keep track of how much interest a prospective student shows. Which means, if you are interested in attending HC, be sure to visit.

WPI

Worcester Polytechnic Institute or WPI, is not nearly as popular to Voorheesvillians as our beloved RPI, but might be a good fit for many of our students. Most students major in engineering, science, math or computer science. Robotics, fire prevention/ protection and game design are majors that are fairly new and likely to get very popular in a hurry.

WPI has a unique 4 quarter system where students take just 3 classes at a time for just 7 weeks. Even engineering majors are encouraged to study abroad for a quarter or more. Even more unique is their non-punitive grading system. There are no D’s or F’s here. If you don’t earn a C or better, it disappears from your record.

There are 3400 undergrads, 75% of whom are male. Academics here are rigorous but Forbes Magazine lists WPI as the 9th best college in the country to attend if you want to get rich!

Clark University

Clark University in Worcester, Mass. is one of just 40 schools profiled in the Loren Pope book, ‘Colleges That Change Lives’. Most students live on campus, stay on weekends, have a liberal arts major, study abroad at some point and attend either graduate school or a PeaceCorp or AmeriCorp type program after 4 years. For students with good grades, Clark offers a tuition free 5th year to complete a Master’s Degree.
Accepted students typically have above average grades and test scores but a C student or a student with lower test scores still may have a chance here. It’s a small college, with just 2200 students. 60% are female and almost 10% are international students. Diversity is priority #1 according to their director of admissions.
Each college in this city boasts about the consortium of schools that share transportation to and from each campus, library materials, and even classes for the 35,000 college students attending college in Worcester on a typical day.

Worcester State College

Worcester State College is attended mainly by commuters. Most students living on campus are freshmen, many of whom go home on weekends, making it not just a commuter school, but also what is known as a ‘suitcase school’. Unlike many residential campuses, the parking lots here seems to dominate the landscape.
Voorheesville students looking for quiet weekends and to major in nursing, speech therapy or occupational therapy might want to consider WSC. The cost for out-of-staters is in the low $20’s and it is possible to take one course per semester at either Clark, WPI, Holy Cross or Assumption- schools with much higher price tags.
Worcester, Mass. has, perhaps, the worst roadway system/ traffic patterns in all of North America. Lanes merge unexpectedly, other lanes become turn only without much notice, potholes are everywhere and pedestrians seem to believe that they can simply cross whenever and wherever!

Assumption

Assumption is a small Catholic college with just 2150 undergraduate students located in a very nice section of Worcester, Mass., about 2 ½ hours from VVille. Worcester is the 2nd largest city in all of New England. The campus itself is the largest of the 8 colleges in the city, with it’s 39 buildings spread out but still obviously in a self-contained campus. 60% are female, 90% of students live on campus and most reportedly do stay on campus on weekends. Most accepted students will have a gpa in the mid 80’s with slightly above average SAT scores.
The relationships students make with their professors was a point stressed during their info session. AU has had 8 Fulbright Scholars in the past 8 years. Business, English, psychology and natural sciences are the most popular majors. Sports are played at the Division II level.

Sarah Lawrence College

Just above NYC in Westchester County, Sarah Lawrence is a small (1300 students) liberal arts school that is unique in many ways. Students typically take just 3 classes per term. Classes are very small, students get to know their professors very well, and each class requires a major independent study project. The college’s main focus is on writing and most students will continue on to grad school.
Total cost per year is over $53,000. Most live on campus, most study abroad at some point. Most are female (79%). SAT and ACT are not required.
It’s a very pretty campus, with many stone buildings in a nice neighborhood. The relationships students make with their profs and their ‘dons’ (advisors) was a point stressed during the tour and info session.

SUNY Purchase

Compared to many of the colleges I’ve visited thus far, Purchase is a relatively new institution. The first students were admitted in just 1971. Today, there are more than 4000 undergrads. About 1200 live in the school dorms- one of which is dubbed ‘Fort Awesome’- and a significant number live in private apartment complexes that are right next to the campus. Over 1/3 of students are fine, visual or performing arts majors, giving the campus a reputation as a college for artistic types, but nearly 2/3 major in the liberal arts where admission criteria tends to be more relaxed.

During my visit, I was able to have lunch on campus with 2008 VHS grad Catherine McTague. She took a break from her hours and hours of painting to show me around.

Lots of brown bricks, not as attractive as many of the private schools I've seen on the trip so far, but everything seems pretty new.

Very close to NYC, the Westchester County traffic can be brutal. Priced like all SUNYs at about $15,000.

Bard

The campus at Bard College is over 500 acres large with just under 1900 students. The typical student at Bard has about a 3.5 gpa. SAT and ACT scores are said to be unimportant to the admissions office. Instead, they are more interested in interesting, flexible students who can add to the student body. Letters of recommendation and extracurricular activities are, therefore, more important here than at some of the other colleges I’ve visited thus far.
Liberal Arts, visual and performing arts are certainly the most popular majors, but the admissions officer I spoke with says they are seeking more math and science students and are building a new science facility. The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts is that building pictured with the crazy silver roof. The pictures don’t really do it justice.
Unfortunately, info on retention rates and post-college plans were not readily available. These are important factors for any college, so if you are considering Bard, be sure to find out about them.

Vassar

One of the original ‘Sister Schools’, after over a century as an all-girls college, Vassar only became co-ed in the 1960’s. Currently, they claim their 2400 students to be about 60% female. Almost all students live in campus housing all four years (unless they are studying abroad) and seem to really love their school and their classmates. An interesting fact about Vassar; the bathrooms are co-ed!
On average, students only need to take 4 classes per term. Faculty members are said to be extremely available. There is no core curriculum, so students have a lot of flexibility to take courses that appeal to them.
I had a chance to eat lunch in one of the dining areas with 2 student tour guides who felt that everyone there was very smart, very hard working but maybe too liberal. One of the student guides was VHS grad Austin Saddlemire. Austin is currently a junior and just reurned from a semester in Madrid. He also bought me lunch!
Did I mention that we dined with Kyra Sedgewick and her daughter?! That’s Kyra and Austin in the photo. She wanted me to star in her TV show, but I told her, “No Kyra Sedgewick, I have a lot of other colleges to visit.”

Marist

Just about 1 mile up the road from CIA, Marist is also a very scenic campus overlooking the Hudson River. Just over 4000 undergrads can major in many of the liberal arts or sciences with athletic training being a popular choice, but their strongest programs are probably in business and communications.
At $36,500, Marist’s price tag seems like a bargain for a private college. Admissions criteria have gotten more selective with a typical accepted student having better than a 3.1 gpa and more than 600 on each section of the SAT or 26 on the ACT.
I took the Marist tour last year playing the role of parent and remember being very impressed with their up to date technology and the general looks and condition of the facilities. I stopped in for a quick visit this week to pick up some new written materials. While there, I suffered a nasty paper cut but, fortunately, was able to carry on.

Culinary Institute of America

The Culinary Institute of America is probably the best known and most highly regarded culinary school in the country. Only about 90 minutes from home, this scenic campus on the Hudson River doesn’t have the most rigorous admissions standards in terms of traditional academic numbers, but applicants must have 6 months of experience in the food industry prior to enrollment. Once enrolled, students face an intensive, hands-on experience with every aspect of food preparation.
The 2700 students mostly live on campus, are split fairly evenly male/female and traditional (right out of high school) and non-traditional (adult) students.
There are 4 fully functioning restaurants on campus staffed and supplied by CIA students. Students can chose from just 2 majors; Culinary Arts Management and Baking & Pastry Management. Students can start at several different times during the year and can choose to pursue either an Associates of Bachelors degree.

Williams College

First the bad: despite trying to set up a meeting with an admission counselor, I could not get my phone calls returned and was, therefore, unable to get all my questions answered. Because of this perceived slight, I really wanted to dislike it.
Williamstown is a very small place, so if you're looking for big-city excitement, the small towns in Western Massachussetts are not for you.

Now the good: It’s a great place! Small, friendly, nurturing, strong academics, nice facilities, students seem to know and like each other. It reminded me a lot of VHS and I can easily picture any strong student from our school who has enjoyed his/her high school years being very comfortable and happy at Williams College. Those interested in dance, writing and the arts would be an especially good fit.

Cost per year= $48,000 but students are expected to graduate with no debt thanks to a very large endowment. Williams, like Union, is one of America's oldest colleges and considered by many to be one of the best. Just across the state border, it's less than an hour from home in good weather.

MCLA

Massachussetts College of Liberal Arts or MCLA, formerly known as North Adams State in North Adams, Mass. is less than an hour from home. Under a special arrangement for students from New York State, attending MCLA costs about the same for a NYS kid as does a SUNY school.
Gaining admission is based mainly on grades and test scores, but most students above an 80 average and average SAT scores would have a decent chance of getting in.
North Adams, Mass is considered to be an ‘Art Mecca’ with MassMOCA in town and several art galleries, music and dance venues nearby and in town.
With only 1600 students, it is very small, as is the town itself but students do stay on campus on weekends, seem to like the school and to get along with one other.
Ironically, my tour guide was from Latham, and is friends with the famous Michalski triplets! Once again, small world!

RPI

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is trying to be known by it’s full name and, for some reason, get away from the RPI moniker we know and love. My visit and 90 minute tour was on a bitter cold day. The only student on the tour with me was from Texas. His father, ironically, was roommates in college with Mr. Cillis from Voorheesville! Small world.
RPI is one of the best engineering schools on the planet and many VVille grads have successfully pursued higher education at this outstanding college. The new EMPAC center boasts the second best acoustics in the world at a school without a music major! Students here are exposed to hands-on work in science and tech labs early and often and graduate as desired job applicants. Just 15 miles from home, RPI is an outstanding opportunity for those students who can meet their rigorous admissions standards.
As with most tech schools, there are far more men than women. As I believe one of our own female grads attending RPI was quoted in the Times Union; “the odds are good, but the goods are odd!”

Union College

On 2/4 I met with the Director of Admissions, Anne Fleming Brown.
Union is one of America’s first colleges and is considered one of it’s best by The Princeton Review, Rugg’s Recommendations, The Fiske Guide, Peterson’s and other publications.
Although the city of Schenectady has it’s share of problems, Union has been instrumental in improving the neighborhood around campus. The campus itself is gated all the way around and picturesque when not covered in snow.
Union is on a trimester calendar and reputed to be quite rigorous although students will normally take just 3 classes at a time for 10 weeks each.
Gaining admission to Union is a bit different from many schools. It is test-optional, meaning that students who do not do well on SAT or ACT should not report their scores. Letters of recommendation are, therefore, extremely important. VVille students applying to Union MUST visit the campus or risk being denied acceptance.
Total cost is about $49,000. Just over 2100 undergrads attend Union.

SUNY Albany

Monday, February 2 was my first day of sabbatical. My first visit was to the admissions office at SUNY Albany. Marcia Hoyt-King, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions, was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to show me the inner workings of their admissions decision making process. As you might expect from a school that receives well over 20,000 applications, the amount of paper was staggering. It was very informative and a great behind the scenes look at what goes on after students and counselors submit application materials to college.

SUNY Albany is a terrific college with a growing national reputation. It should certainly be thought of with the same reverance as SUNY Binghamton, Stonybrook, UBuffalo or Geneseo and is as selective or more so than many private colleges. This fact is sometimes lost on students since it is so close to home.

Mr. Kelley's Sabbatical

During the Spring Semester of 2009, I will be on Sabbatical. During this time, I plan to visit many colleges and several high schools.

The College Board's search engine lists 61 Four year colleges within 100 miles of Voorheesville and 417 within 200 miles. Of these, nearly 100 are featured in the Princeton Review's "Best 366 Colleges" book. While I won't be seeing all of these schools, I will try to see several dozen and to meet as many admissions counselors as possible.

The high schools I will see come from Newsweek's "Top Public High Schools" list. If you know anything about this list, you realize that it is a controversial issue and the criteria used by Newsweek wasn't very scientific. However, since VHS has consistently been the top rated school in the Capital District (#410 in the USA), it must have some merit!