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Happy New Year…. Happy Reading?

Alyssa-t
The New Year has officially begun but this year as I welcomed 2009 I did it with a little bit of hesitation.  I have spent the past few months hearing about what “reading season” is like in admissions but did not know what to expect.  I had my first full day of reading yesterday and am beginning my second one today.  I can honestly say that despite the paper cuts, frequent trips for caffeine, and refilling the lead in my mechanical pencils — I am enjoying it.  Each of the applications I have read seems to tell me a story and my job is to present that story to our selection committee.  Through your counselor and teacher recommendations, interview write-up, high school transcript, personal essays, newspaper clips, and pictures I like trying to get to know each and every one of you.  When I pick up an application for the first time I feel as if we are just meeting each other.  As I finish the last page in your file I want to feel like I know a lot about you.  As I read each application I ask certain questions to myself, like how will you enhance the Holy Cross community?  Will you excel academically?  Will you bring something different to the campus?  Do you already bleed purple?  Do you strive to be a man or woman for others?  Ideally, I discover the answer to these questions in time.  I can admit if I happen to be reading your application, I am guilty of being a bit protective of my Alma Mater.  I want to make sure the students that we accept this year will not only thrive and contribute during their college years but will continue to do so after their time on the hill has ended.  You may have visited, interviewed, come for a day-visit, attended a football game and online chat.  I get it, you are hooked, and you love Holy Cross.  But do you also care and love for your family, the community around you, and the greater world.  Do you want to make a difference after college and work to live out the Jesuit mission?  Holy Cross students are a special type, they definitely have the brains but they most undeniably have the heart.  Basically amidst all the numbers (grades, test scores, GPA distribution charts, class rank) I really want to see your heart.

Alyssa Trometter
Admissions Counselor
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Tis the Season….For Reading Applications!

Suzanne
You’ve finally scaled the cliff that is first semester senior year. SATs are behind you, essays are edited, and recommendation letters are signed, sealed and delivered. As you hold your breathe and finally convince yourself to click submit on the application, You’re there. You’ve reached the summit. It’s now out of your hands and into ours.

As you wait, we begin furiously reading your applications and working to make decisions on our applicants. We’re buckled down in the office or at home in some of our most comfortable clothes and each day we read about all of the wonderful things you’ve accomplished in your lives. For me, I love every minute of it. All of the counselors at Holy Cross have spent months on the road, meeting with students and guidance counselors, and conducting several interviews hearing about your high school experiences. After this journey, for me, reading applications is when everything comes together. It’s the first time that I get to see all that an applicant has submitted and all that he or she can potentially bring to Holy Cross. So while it takes a long time to get through these applications, its time well spent. We try to put as much thought and time into evaluating an application as you put into making it shine. Tis the Season, thanks for applying!

Suzanne R. Timmons
Assistant Director of Admissions
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What’s a verification sheet? Is it important?

Diane-s
It’s about that time of year – applications are pouring in, the phone lines are flooded with calls, and admissions counselors are buried under stacks of files.

You’ve sent in your Common Application, checked with guidance to make sure that they’ve sent along their packet, what’s next?

Verification Form!

Here at Holy Cross we require one final piece of information from you, a verification form. This magical piece of paper will arrive to you in the mail 7-10 days after you send in your application. Enclosed with a letter thanking you for your application, you will find a light purple sheet of paper.

When you receive the form, you will need to do the following:

•    Check over the information at the top and make sure that it is accurate
•    Provide your social security number and birth date (we often have duplicate names in our system, and need to make sure that we can match you to your application)
•    Answer the questions regarding standardized testing, contact with Holy Cross, and limited enrollment programs (*note – we will not use your testing unless you check off the “Yes” box on this form, nor can you be considered for biology or premed with out returning the form)
•    Mail the form back in as soon as possible!

It’s simple, quick, and easy! It will take two minutes and I’d highly recommend filling it out as soon as your receive it, before it makes it’s way to that universal “to be answered” stack of papers in your house.

That’s it from me. Have a great holiday, and enjoy your break from school!

Diane Soboski
Assistant Director of Admissions
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What Happens to my Application Once It’s Been Submitted?

Lauren-T
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Well it’s that time of year again.  For some of you, this time means finishing up some work before the holiday break, searching for the best deal at the mall or relaxing and spending time by the fire with family and friends.  For the world of admissions, it means that reading season is almost upon us.

At this point in time, many of you are probably wondering exactly what happens to your application once it’s been sent to our office. Once your application file is received and is considered complete (it has your application, counselor recommendation letter, teacher recommendation letter, and transcript) it is filed alphabetically in a number of huge filing cabinets located in our office. An admission counselor is assigned to each drawer and is required to complete what we call a “first read” of your application. This requires our lovely yellow reading sheets, in which we record you name, high school, GPA, rank, test scores (if you chose to submit them of course!), the courses you’ve taken, the number of honors, APs, accelerated, advanced classes you’ve taken, the grades you’ve received, and what contact you’ve had with Holy Cross. We also read ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you send us and briefly summarize each, as well as recording what service, leadership, and extra-curriculars you have been involved in.  Once the entire sheet is complete, your application is ready for a “second read” by another counselor.  The role of the second reader is much less taxing than that of the first.  This second reader double checks the work of the first reader and then records anything else that might stand out. After the second read is complete, the reading of your application is now complete and it is ready to go to our committee!

Happy holidays, happy application completing and happy winter!

Lauren D. Thornton
Admissions Counselor
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Holiday Greetings

2008 Admissions holiday card

Wishing you and your families the very best this holiday season!

The Holy Cross Admissions Staff
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I Want an Interview… and I Can’t Get One.

Lynn
Two months ago I wrote a blog about the importance of the interview.  Many of you got the message.  You probably got the same message if you attended an information session on campus or if you met a Holy Cross representative at your school this fall.  You nodded, you understood, you made a mental note — and then you missed the deadline.  Or you called our office recently and found out that we are booked solid through the end of the month.  What now?  Remember not just that we told you to have an interview, but what we said about why.  We want to know you, and our full schedule does not change that fact.  But unfortunately, that fact does not change our full schedule.  So you may not be able to have an interview after all, but you can still help us to know you better.  Some students choose to submit a letter or e-mail “filling in the blanks” that may exist in the absence of an interview.  Such letters can provide additional information about accomplishments, interests and passions.  They can answer some of the questions an interviewer might ask.

If you write it, we’ll read it.  So start filling in those blanks.

Lynn Verrecchia
Sr. Assistant Director of Admissions
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Taking Time to Reflect on the Application Process

Drew
In his commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, the writer David Foster Wallace began his speech with the following parable:

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”

Foster’s point was that “the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see.”

In the college search and application process, it is so easy to get wrapped up into the details – deadlines, checklists, forms, supplements and requirements.  Taking care of these things is necessary but it can cause students and parents to lose perspective in this process.  This process is one that enables – nay demands, reflection and personal growth on the part of the student and that is perhaps the most valuable part of the college search process.

So as we reach the end of 2008 and you meet your final deadlines, submit your final forms and complete your final checklist, stop for a minute to think about how far you’ve come since this process began, how you’ve matured, begun to think and act independently and are now prepared to make one of the first truly adult decisions of your life – where to spend the next four years.

If you take that time to reflect back on this process, you’ll be prepared with your answer if you’re ever asked the question.

“The water is great – never better.  Thanks for asking.”

Andrew N Carter
Associate Director of Admissions
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Sharing is Caring – The Kindness of Holy Cross Students

Julia
The people that surround you during your four years of college can truly make or break your experience.  With that in mind,    I just want to take a moment to reflect on how wonderful Holy Cross students can be.  Here’s just one example:

A few weeks ago I was buying some soda pop at the food shop in Hogan.  It was morning, and I was carrying my standard four or five bags (far too many for a normal person) and I’ll admit it, I was flustered.   So flustered,  in fact, that after the clerk had rung in my purchases,  I couldn’t find my wallet.   Panicking, I put all my bags on the ground and knelt down to begin the great search.

On the verge of dumping my belongings all over the floor,  I was stopped by the sweet sweet sound of  “I’ve got it, don’t worry”.   I tried to protest, but the student (whom I’d never met) had already paid for me.

It may have only been $2.50, but during that stressful moment, it made all the difference in the world.   I truly believe that this student’s behavior exemplifies the values that Holy Cross students hold so dear.

(And my wallet was in my pocket).

Julia Sanders
Admissions Counselor
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Multiculturalism at Holy Cross

Tran
During my four years in admissions, I have always played a hand in multicultural recruitment and have observed that diversity in colleges is an area that is increasingly receiving a lot of attention.  In terms of figures, Holy Cross is on par with many of our peer institutions in the area of racial diversity with about 17% ALANA (African American, Latino American, Asian American and Native American) students in the general student body and about 21% in the current freshman class.  As an Asian-American myself, I tend to look at racial diversity in whatever environment I am in very closely and I have come to realize that I can’t look only at percentages alone.  The reality is that there simply are not many ALANA students on college campuses and not many ALANA professionals in the working world (though I do think the situation is improving incrementally) so looking for institutions where 50% of the student body is ALANA for example is futile because you’ll be hard pressed to find an institution that has those kind of numbers, especially private institutions.

What I think is more important to focus on when looking at the issue of diversity on college campuses is the climate surrounding the issue of diversity.  What infrastructure is in place to nurture multicultural education?  What student organizations exist to focus on a variety of cultures and provide students associated with those cultures a home base while providing students who are not associated with that culture a learning opportunity?  How does the administration and faculty support and nurture multicultural learning?  Though I have not been at many institutions, I have observed campus life on two other small liberal arts institutions prior to Holy Cross and can say that I have been most impressed by the infrastructure that is in place at Holy Cross.  To date, we have 12 student organizations that identify as Multicultural Student Organizations (MSO’s) and focus on issues that range from a variety of cultural backgrounds such as Hispanic, Asian and Caribbean cultures to LGBTQ issues to women’s affairs.  Furthermore, there is a well thought out support system in place to make sure that these organizations have the support and resources they need to be successful on campus.  The Office of Multicultural Education at Holy Cross also plays an instrumental role in providing multicultural awareness on campus.  The office educates, promotes and serves to empower the campus community on issues of diversity, multiculturalism and the value of human differences through classes, workshops, training sessions peer education and consultations.  At Holy Cross, we also require all students to take a cross cultural studies course as one of their core requirements to stimulate critical reflection on issues involved in encountering other cultures and to “help students think systemically about the fundamental assumptions underlying cultural differences.”   Some of these courses Introduction to Comparative Politics, Writing Madness in Africa, and Introduction to Islam.  And these are only the official structures that are in place.  There are a number of informal ways that different members and offices in the community strive to promote diversity on campus that you won’t find mentioned in our catalog or on our website.

Though much of what I have written focuses on cultural and racial diversity, we at Holy Cross also value diversity in the area of spiritual views, political beliefs, sexual orientation, geography and thought.  We as admissions professionals work hard to create an incoming class that is diverse on a variety of levels and see one representation of this in the over 80 different student organizations on campus.  And ultimately at the end of the day, we are all different from each other even if we are of the same race, ethnicity, religious faith, etc and the challenge we place before students is the task of fleshing out those differences, embracing them and learning from them.

Tran Kim-Senior
Assistant Director of Admissions
Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment
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Test Scores: To Submit or Not to Submit

Annmcdermott
Some of the most common questions I get asked from students, parents and counselors are the following:  “At what point should a student decide to not submit testing?”  Or “When will submitting testing help my chances?” In reality this decision is entirely up to you.  If you feel your testing says something about you and your abilities, feel free to send them along. We will look at them in conjunction with your transcript, your recommendations, essay and interview (if you have had one) and make our assessment.  If, on the other hand, you feel that your test scores do not represent you well, then do not hesitate to withhold them. We will not make any assumptions about your testing, and will focus our attention on your transcript and the other accompanying credentials that are contained in your application.

Holy Cross has always placed far greater weight on the academic experience of a candidate as demonstrated through the high school transcript then on a single test or combination of tests.  Our experience has shown that the rigor of a student’s program and overall academic performance can best illustrate commitment, motivation, and willingness to take on challenges.  Our process credits students who have achieved at a very high level in the classroom, with far less importance placed on testing.

So, submit or not to submit?  The choice is yours!

Ann McDermott
Director of Admissions