Summer Tips for Juniors

Congratulations to my high school seniors, most of whom have made the final college decision this past week! I wish you all happiness and success this upcoming fall, and am thrilled that I'll be running into many of you on Valpo's campus come August!

As summertime is quickly approaching, I'd like to transition over to some tips and reminders for all of my juniors (Class of 2011). I know going to college still seems pretty far away, but it's never too early to begin planning. Here are a few things to keep in mind over the summer:

• PLAN YOUR ACT/SAT TEST DATES: A lot of students wait until their senior year to take these tests; however, I encourage you to start signing up as soon as possible. This will give you time over the summer and into the fall to test multiple times, if you’d like to. (Remember, some schools, including Valpo, will look at your highest score, so it can only help you!)


• PLAN YOUR COLLEGE VISITS: Summer is a great time to start visiting schools. Even though classes aren’t in session and few students will be on campus, take advantage of your free time to visit a variety of universities. If you’d like to plan a visit here to Valpo, just let me know.


• START THINKING ABOUT YOUR APPLICATION: In your free time over the summer, it’s not a bad idea to start thinking about the various aspects of your college applications—including references, resumes, and essays. Ask professors, coaches, or mentors for references with plenty of advance notice. Start putting together a resume, or “brag sheet,” that lists your various involvements and accomplishments. Finally, begin writing and editing preliminary drafts of your essay. Since these things take time and careful planning, it’s never too early to start!


• START SAVING FOR YOUR EDUCATION: This summer is a great time to start putting away money from your part-time job to help cover expenses associated with college, like books, travel, and spending money.

I hope these tips are helpful at this beginning stage of your college search process. If there's anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Keep up the great work!

-Laura@Valpo

Earth Week at Valpo

In this post I'm taking a break from my normal college search tips to share with you some exciting events happening at Valpo this upcoming week--

Next Monday, April 19th, kicks off Earth week here at Valpo! Academic departments and student organizations, as well as Valpo's Subcommittee on Campus Environmental Sustainability, have planned a variety of activities on campus to educate the community on ways to be more environmentally friendly.

The events start on Monday with a lecture by John Albrecht, senior sustainability director from the Chicago firm Nelson Architecture & Engineering Services, describing his work on various sustainable architecture and design projects around the nation.

The schedule for Tuesday includes a "Taste of Waste" presentation by student environmental advocacy organization, Earthtones. Earthtones members will sort through the remnants on students' cafeteria trays outside the Founders Table, and give information on how students can utilize the reusable options available in campus dining facilities to cut down on waste.

On Wednesday Dr. Young Choi will discuss the results of a recent survey he conducted of woodland and plant vegetation at our own local Taltree Arboretum and Gardens. Dr. Choi's talk will also focus on the value and importance of native plant species, and the challenges that exotic and invasive plant species present to our local ecosystem.

Earthtones members will present again on Thursday, this time giving information on recycling during their "Garbology" session. President of Earthtones, Sarah Tucker, said that, "The first Garbology [last year] was well received by the campus community. We had a representative from Able Disposal who clarified exactly what was and was not recyclable before it was thrown away. Many of the passing students were unaware of the sheer amount of material that is recyclable."

These activities are a great way for students and community members to get more involved in integrating environmental sustainability into their everyday lives. They also fit in nicely with the university's efforts in constructing LEED certified buildings on campus, including the Harre Union and Christopher Center Library (both LEED Silver-standard buildings), and the latest endeavor, the Donald V. Fites Engineering Innovation Center, planned to earn LEED Gold-standard status.

I hope everyone has a peaceful and happy Earth Day on the 22nd, and that your local community has some exciting events planned as well! If you'd like to learn more about Valpo's environmental sustainability efforts, or have questions about the university in general, just let me know! As always, keep up the great work with your college search!

-Laura@Valpo

Post-Grad Plans?

Okay, okay, so I know that most of you are more concerned at the moment with what you're going to do after high school, that thinking about your plans over four years from now seems like quite a stretch. However, during your college search it's important to at least have this in mind, especially when you're checking out the resources that various schools offer their students with regard to post-graduation planning. Great questions to ask your Admission Counselor, Tour Guide, or another representative of the schools you're considering are:

• Does your school offer career counseling, including job fairs, mock interviews, and resume workshops?
• What is your graduate placement data, including the percentage of students who have received job offers or been accepted to graduate schools within six months after graduation?
• Are there opportunities for internships, or other forms of hands-on, experiential learning?
• What employers regularly visit campus to recruit?
• What sort of advising is available for students who plan to go on to graduate school?

Of course, many recent graduates have had to work extremely hard to secure jobs in our current economic climate. Here at Valpo, we are very proud to report our Graduate Report for the class of 2009 (click here to view the report), including an overall placement rate for our students of 90.4%.

So, the moral of the story is that it's never too early to start thinking about what you might like to do after college, or to merely explore schools that support and assist their students in this next phase of their lives. Keep working hard on your college search, especially to all of the seniors who are nearing the end of their high school careers and in the midst of making some very challenging decisions about where they'll be headed off to this fall. Just relax, weigh your options, and trust your gut! The school that feels "just right" when you step on campus is probably a great place for you to spend the next four years... Best of luck!

-Laura@Valpo

Valparaiso Top 10

I always receive questions about what there is to do for fun around Valpo. As a Valpo native, I can definitely tell you that although this may seem like a small town, we have over 30,000 residents and tons of activities to keep you busy! Here are just a few local hotspots I’ve gathered from personal experience and recommendations from friends and students:

Top 10 Things to do in Valparaiso:
(in no particular order)

1. Relax at a coffee shop. There are a number of great local coffee shops both downtown and near the north side of Valpo. Check them out to enjoy their free WiFi, fabulous Open Mic nights, and delicious drinks and snacks.

2. Visit the Dunes. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is open year round, and is a beautiful place to enjoy swimming hiking, or just relaxing in the sun. You can take Highway 49 about 15 miles north of campus to find this National Park.

3. Visit the Brauer Museum of Art. Located here on Valparaiso University’s campus, the Brauer features rotating exhibitions of several renowned artists throughout the year. To find out what show they’re currently displaying, as well as their hours of operation, click here.

4. Go bowling. Visit our local bowling alley, just a few miles from campus, on Wednesdays for $1.50 games!

5. Grab some ice cream! Take a walk downtown from campus and enjoy a scoop (or two) of ice cream at one of our local ice cream parlors.

6. Check out a Crusader sporting event. Year-round students come out to support their classmates who compete in any of Valpo’s Division I sports teams. Gather a group of friends, put on your brown and gold, and stop by a basketball game, football game, swim meet, or golf tournament (and use your student ID to get in for free!).

7. See a movie at Valpo’s own (and one of the few remaining) drive-in movie theatre! Pack up your car with snacks, bring your blankets and friends, and enjoy a double-feature out on the lawn.

8. Take the South Shore train into Chicago. Trains leave daily from Dune Park, a train station located north of campus in Chesterton, and take passengers directly into the heart of downtown Chicago. Going to the city for the day or a weekend gives students a chance to go shopping, visit museums, take in sporting events, and visit friends and family.

9. Spend some time outdoors at Taltree Arboretum. Hike, read, draw, or just relax in the gardens and trails.

10. Check out a concert here at VU. Performers on campus this year include Owl City and Jason Derulo, and in the past acts such as David Cook, Augustana, and Ben Folds have performed at Valpo.

I hope these ideas have helped answer a few questions about what Valpo students do for fun, and what activities you can enjoy when you have free time during your visit to campus. If any of my local readers have more favorites they’d like to share, please leave a comment!

No matter where you’re at in your college search, I’d encourage you to explore the local area during your visit to campus. While most universities (Valpo included) do a great job of organizing campus events to keep students busy, you’ll also want to get a feel for the local area you might be living in for the next four years. Drive around a bit off the beaten path, ask students or Admission Counselors for recommendations of local restaurants, and see if the area feels like a good fit for you.

That’s all for today! Enjoy your Spring Break, keep up the good work with your college search, and of course, let me know if you have any questions!

-Laura@Valpo

Paying for College

I know the topic of paying for college is probably a frequent (but not very enjoyable) thought right now, especially for high school seniors and their families. Although I'm not a financial aid counselor, I have learned some great bits of advice from my colleagues in the profession. Today I'd like to share my top 5 tips to help you navigate this (potentially confusing) Financial Aid season.

1. File the FAFSA. The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is available online at www.fafsa.gov. Plan to file in the spring of your senior year of high school (anytime after January 1st of the year you plan to start college). If you have questions, just contact the Office of Financial Aid at any of the schools you're applying to, they'd be happy to help you through the process. Be sure to check with your individual schools to find out if they have a Scholarship Priority deadline, so that you don't file too late and miss out!

2. Once you've filed the FAFSA, you should receive a Financial Aid package from the schools you're considering. Read through them and make sure you understand your options, including the differences between scholarships, loans, grants, and work study. I don't want to get into too much detail here, but once again, don't be afraid to contact the Office of Financial Aid with your questions-- that's what they're there for!

3. Apply for additional outside scholarships. There are several scholarship search engines online (note: all of which should be free-- if a scholarship search engine tries to charge you a fee, it's probably a scam.) Valpo has also accumulated a list of TONS of scholarship opportunities here. Apply to both local and national scholarships, and remember, every little bit helps-- even $100 scholarships can add up after you've won a few!

4. Consider working to help pay for college-related expenses. Most schools have lots of on-campus jobs available. Here at Valpo, students work in the library, Career Center, Office of Admission, and Union- just to name a few! Once again, even working only 10 hours a week adds up after a whole semester, and can really help with extra expenses like books and travel.

5. I know you might get a bit of sticker-shock when seeing the cost of a school, especially if it's private and/or out of state; however, I always recommend that you wait until you've received your Financial Aid package before you make your final decision. You never know what types of scholarships, grants, and loans might be available to you-- they might actually make a school with a higher "sticker price" cost less than you expected. In addition, some schools offer a Financial Aid Estimator, basically a mock-up of the FAFSA, that you can fill out during your sophomore or junior year. Although these results are tentative, they can help give you a better idea of what you might actually have to pay to attend a certain school. (You can find Valpo's Aid Estimator here.)

I hope those tips were helpful! I have to give thanks to my colleague, Robert Helgeson, Valpo's Director of Financial Aid, for sharing much of this information with me. Robert gave an excellent presentation on general Financial Aid information this past week at Valpo's Regional Spring College Fair, and I learned quite a bit! If this post sparks any more specific questions about financing college, just let me know and I'd be happy to help, or get you in touch with someone who can! :)

Enjoy your weekend, and keep up the hard work with your college search!

-Laura@Valpo

Going to College Far From Home

Since a majority of the students I work with live far away from Valpo, the thought of moving hundreds of miles away from friends and family for four years can certainly be intimidating to many of them. Recently, while chatting with a few students, they shared with me their concerns about staying in touch with their high school friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, teammates, youth group members, and family while living in a different state. In this blog post I'd like to talk about my own thoughts and experiences on this topic, and I invite you to share your opinions or questions in the comments section! [And as a side-note, this photo features two of our awesome Ambassadors in Admission-- Hannah, from Ohio & Lexi, from New Jersey!]

To begin with a bit about my personal story, I chose to attend a university located almost 600 miles away from my hometown. Not only was it far from the town I'd grown up in for the past 18 years, but its location also meant that I would have to drive 12 hours or take a flight to get to and from campus. Adding more anxiety to my decision was the fact that there were just a handful of students from Indiana at my university, none of whom I'd met before starting classes there. My close friends from high school had chosen colleges and universities all over the country, none of which were located anywhere near the school I planned to attend.

While at first this new phase in my life seemed practically terrifying, I soon learned to look at it as an exciting new challenge and opportunity for growth. My family was there to love and support me as always, although I learned to substitute breakfasts with my mom and movies with my sister for Skype chats, lengthy emails, and care packages. Although I missed seeing them everyday, we valued the time we had together over breaks, making the most of the days or weeks that I was back home. I was probably MORE in tune with my friends' lives while we were away at school-- constantly posting Facebook messages and photos, sending text messages, and using our "free nights and weekends" cell phone plans to update each other on the past Saturday's fun.

Of course, I made new friends while away at college, too. I joined clubs, a sports team, and a sorority, bonded with the people living in my freshman dorm, and really hit it off with students within my major. I wasn't replacing my old friends, but rather making new connections as I grew and developed throughout my time in college. I came to learn that the test of a true friendship was being able to have fun together after spending time apart; summers with my "high school friends" were just like old times, and going back to college after breaks, my "Bucknell friends" and I picked up right where we'd left off. It felt great knowing that I had groups of people who supported and loved me in both places!

If the thought of coming out to Valpo from wherever you live still seems a little daunting, take these things into account:

• -Valpo has an amazing break schedule, including a 4-day Fall Break in October, a week long Thanksgiving Break in November, a 3-4 week Winter Break (depending on your finals schedule), a 2-week Spring Break in March, and a 3-day Easter Break in April. That gives you plenty of time to take trips throughout the semester to visit family and friends.
• -Going away to college is an excellent opportunity to learn about yourself in a new situation. Becoming more independent, forming new relationships, and pushing out of your comfort zone are great skills to develop!
• -There are Valpo students from nearly every state, and over 40 countries on campus. Everyone is learning to adjust to a new environment when they arrive at VU, so you won't be alone!
  
• -Valpo is located 1 hour southeast of Chicago, giving easy access to airports, train stations, and bus stations for travel to and from home.
  

If you'd like to hear more about my experiences going to college far from home, or if you want to talk to one of our Valpo students about their VU experience, and the welcome they received upon their arrival freshman year-- just let me know! As always, best of luck in your college search... keep up the awesome work!

-Laura@Valpo

Housing

I've been trying to keep track of the questions that students and families ask me most often, so that I can share them with you here on my blog. One of the most frequent questions I get is about HOUSING. My main piece of advice is that when you visit a university ask if you can see a typical dorm room (it's usually part of the campus tour). I stress the word typical, because while a university may have gorgeous suites for their upperclassmen, you also want to see what your living environment will be like freshman year. Ask about what you can and can't have in the dorm room (televisions, refrigerators/microwaves, lofts, pets, etc.), and what kind of amenities the buildings have (lounges, kitchens, computer labs, laundry rooms). While I don't think you should make a college decision solely based on which school has the fanciest dorms, it is important to consider where you'll be living 24/7 for the next few years. I'd say as long as a dorm is comfortable, clean, and fairly up-to-date you're all set!

Here's a little more about Residential Life at Valpo--

• -Valpo currently has 9 residence halls and 2 apartment complexes for our students.
• -Students live on campus Freshman-Junior years, and have the option of moving off campus for their Senior year.
• -Freshmen CAN choose their roommate, if they'd like. If you have a friend from high school, church, or camp that's planning to attend Valpo as well, just request each other as roommates on your Housing & Tuition Deposit Form. In addition, housing is not finalized until later in the summer (after Valpo's June orientation, FOCUS), so if you meet someone at FOCUS you have the option of requesting them as your roommate as well.
• -Free 75-channel cable TV in all dorms!
• -Each residence hall has student lounges (used for studying, group meetings, or just relaxing and watching movies!) and laundry facilities.

To see photos and floor plans of Valpo dorms, as well as more Housing info, check out the Residential Life website here.

Well that's it for today... as always, good luck with the college search!

-Laura@Valpo

Study Abroad

Have you ever traveled outside of the United States, or would you like to someday? I think travel is a great way to learn about other cultures firsthand, while also learning more about yourself. During my time in college I spent a semester abroad in Granada, Spain. I not only learned about Spanish art, politics, and culture, but I also perfected my Spanish speaking skills. International travel also pushes you out of your comfort zone, helping you to mature and learn more about yourself while living in a new environment.

Every year hundreds of students from Valpo study all over the globe. VU has study centers or partnerships with programs in England, China, Germany, Mexico, France, India, Japan, Spain, Namibia, and Greece. As a part of these programs students participate in classes, internships, and service projects. Click here to see some photos taken by Valpo students while studying abroad last year.

Asking about Study Abroad options is a great thing to keep in mind during your college search. Diverse programs not only show the university's interest in global learning, but also provide you with an excellent opportunity to gain "real world" learning experiences outside of the classroom. If you'd like to learn more about any of Valpo's programs, or if you'd like to hear more about my time in Spain (warning: you better have a few hours to spare!), just let me know!

As always, keep up the hard work with college searching and decision making! I look forward to seeing lots of you on campus soon for Admitted Student Days, Junior Open Houses, and personal visits!

-Laura@Valpo

Welcome!

Welcome to the first post on my new Valparaiso University Admission blog! Let me begin by introducing myself...

My name is Laura, and I am the Admission Counselor at Valparaiso University that works with students from Ohio and the Northeast (check out the listing of all the states I work with to your right!). I was born and raised in Valpo, and then moved to Pennsylvania to pursue my undergraduate degree at Bucknell University. After my four years in PA, including short times living in both New York City and Spain, I moved back to my hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana. I really enjoy my job, especially helping students at tough points in their college search while they're trying to find that "just right" school that will become their home for the next four years! I welcome any questions you have regarding Valpo's academic programs, campus activities, or student life. I'd also be happy just to give advice on your college search based on my work here at the Office of Admission, as well as my personal experience choosing a college not too long ago!

I'll be posting on a regular basis, keeping you all updated on--

• -important dates/forms/things to remember
• -exciting Valpo events happening on campus
• -when I'll be traveling to a high school or college fair near you
• -as well as some fun along the way!
  

If there's anything you'd like to know more about, please leave me a comment-- I'd love your suggestions!

Until my next post.... best of luck with your college search, keep up the good work!

-Laura@Valpo