Happy Holidays from the Admissions Staff!
An Unexpected Gift
I had a million things to do this weekend. But like most of you living in the Northeast, I woke up to a winter wonderland. Snow was falling, the wind was blowing, and roads had yet to be treated. So the “to do” list was put on hold. Instead, I played. As a family we finished decorating the Christmas tree, giggling at homemade ornaments from pre-school days. My dog and I made snow angels and wrestled in the snow. I happily prepared a very complicated family favorite for dinner without the slightest concern for the time. I could not have asked for a better day.
The list of things to be done remains, but this break in the frenzy of holiday preparations was an important reminder to relax, slow down, and just enjoy the moment.
Wishing you the peace and joy of this holiday season!
Ann McDermott
Director of Admissions
Application Reading Has Begun!
It’s December 15th already. Here in the Holy Cross admissions office that means two things. First, that Christmas music is continuously streaming out of Fr. Markey’s office (even as I type this the sounds of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” are drifting across the hall). Two, travel season is officially over and reading season has begun! So what does reading season mean? Well it means that our 13 admissions counselors are spending the majority of their time reading and summarizing thousands of applications.
We all have our preferences for what time of day we like to read best. There are a few of us who like to read first thing in the morning. One crazy staffer gets up a 5 am to get a head start! But then there are a few of us who like reading in the evening better, sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning. But whatever the time we prefer to read, we are each reviewing about 40-50 files a day!
It takes a lot of time, but it can be fun. We finally get to see all the hard work you’ve been doing over the past few months. Reading all of your essays and all of those recommendations, we’re hearing your story, one piece of paper at a time.
Amanda Juriansz
Assistant Director of Community Outreach
I Can’t Afford Holy Cross
Did you break out in a sweat, hyperventilate, or struggle to breathe for a second when you first saw the nearly $50,000 price tag for attending Holy Cross? Without a doubt, $50,000 per year is a hefty price to pay for a college education whether it be in this dire economy or in a vibrant economy of several years ago, and some of you may have decided to not apply because of the sticker shock. However, you might be surprised at how affordable Holy Cross can be for you and your family because of our very comprehensive and very generous financial aid package.
We are a school that is fully committed to meeting every family’s demonstrated financial need in order to attend Holy Cross. In essence, if you are admitted into Holy Cross and demonstrate financial need, you can be assured that we will meet that need by 100%.
There are two caveats to that policy. First, the need we determine is based on federal guidelines and looks at your family’s household income and asset values and is not based on what you determine to be your personal financial need. Second, we only consider you for financial aid if you submit all of your paperwork to us on time by February 1st at the latest. There are two important forms that you need to submit to Holy Cross in order to be considered for financial assistance: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the CSS Profile. To access these forms, please visit our financial aid site. In addition, if you come from a single parent household, the CSS Profile will require you to submit the Non-Custodial Parent form that asks for financial information from your non-custodial parent. Also, if your family owns a business or a farm, the CSS Profile will require you to submit a Business/Farm supplement that asks income information from these two sources. If either of these circumstances applies to you, it is very, very important that you submit the additional information that is asked of you. If for some reason, you are not able to get the required information (i.e. your non-custodial parent has never been in the picture), you need to contact the financial aid office immediately to explain your situation and get instructions on how to proceed. If you submit all the required forms in completion to Holy Cross, you will be fully considered for financial assistance from Holy Cross.
With all this said, at the end of the day, you should never let a college’s price tag deter you from applying. Every college has its own way of disseminating financial assistance and scholarship funds and you never know what you may qualify for and ultimately receive for financial assistance. The most expensive schools can sometimes be the most affordable schools because financial aid provides you with enough assistance to lower the price tag. Instead, you should choose a school that has the programs and the atmosphere that is the best fit for you, apply to those schools, complete all the necessary forms for financial assistance and scholarships and then see what you end up receiving in financial assistance. Once you get all your packages, you can sit down and decide what schools are financially viable for you and your family.
Tran Kim-Senior
Assistant Director of Admissions
Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment
Application Deadlines: Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute!
Every year around this time we take a staff photo which becomes our office holiday card. The card is sent to student volunteers and to guidance counselors we’ve met during our travels. It’s meant as a gesture of thanks for volunteers and one of goodwill toward our high school counterparts. We don Santa hats and Holy Cross gear and enthusiastically grin for the camera. Our smiles show that we love our jobs and that we truly wish those around us a wonderful holiday season.
The behind-the-scenes picture is a bit more harried. Our hectic fall travel season and various in-office responsibilities push the holiday card to the back burner for several weeks. It is typically all but forgotten until one attentive staff member points out that the holidays are in fact around the corner. We scramble to find a day when everyone will be in the office and a time when interviews are not scheduled. We raid the bookstore and scrounge for purple scarves that have not already been scooped up by students and visitors. We cringe at the gloomy skies that insist on threatening rain on picture day, because we know that rescheduling is not an option. We pay for expedited shipping and keep our eyes fixed on the mailbox. We stay late to print labels and address envelopes. We send the card out with hours to spare. Then, and only then, do we sit back and enjoy the picture ourselves.
In the end, our students and colleagues see only the final product. They smile at our gesture and pin our photo to their bulletin boards. They appreciate what we have done. The frantic nature of picture day does not show. Only we know that making this picture happen was a race to the finish.
Last minute application filers deal with similar stresses. The computer suddenly crashes; a teacher assigns a major project; a family emergency crops up. That essay is due tomorrow and suddenly the conditions are not ideal. Just as we learn (and relearn) every year, the applicant learns that a looming deadline leaves little room for error. Though your final product is meant for others, the process is for you. Aim for more than just a strong outcome–try to allow for a positive experience along the way.
Holy Cross’ Early Decision application deadline is December 15. The Regular Decision deadline is January 15.
Lynn Verrecchia
Assistant Director of Admissions
Purple IS Green: Environmental Sustainability at Holy Cross
I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I’ve had students ask me about the Environmental Studies major at Holy Cross. On these occasions, I typically can easily rattle off the number of majors we have on campus and the requirements of the program. Today though, I learned some even more important facts and statistics about the way in which Holy Cross is pursuing environmental sustainability. Listed below are a few things that I took away from this professional development opportunity:
- Holy Cross has adopted a green building policy, with the intent of meeting LEED silver certification standards with all new major construction and renovations.
- The College manages an active composting program (using leaves, hedge clippings, etc.) that generates approximately 700 yards of compost for use in the College’s flower/plant beds. Additionally, the College has purchased and employs mulching mowers for the 100+ acres of lawns.
- Kimball Main Dining Hall went “trayless” in March 2009. It is expected that 25 to 50 percent less food will be wasted, and up to a half gallon of water will be saved per tray not washed, saving 900 gallons of water a day.
- Beginning in the spring of 2009, the College began growing vegetables and fruits in a community garden adjacent to the Hart football practice fields. Faculty, staff, and students are involved in this collaborative project.
So, if you are considering Holy Cross and wonder if we plan to “go green”, the answer is, we already have! For updates on our sustainability, keep an eye on our sustainability website.
Suzanne Timmons
Assistant Director of Admissions
Open House Feedback
In the midst of travel season, I awoke with a start at 2:00 AM. A bright red light was flashing in my room and an alarm was blaring in the most annoying way possible. Suddenly, I realized that it was the fire alarm going off and quickly grabbed some shoes, my rental car’s keys and evacuated my hotel room. There was indeed a fire in my hotel during the early hours of that October morning and I spent the better part of my coveted sleeping time sitting in one of the hotel’s many ballrooms. During those groggy three hours between two o’clock and five o’clock in the morning, I met two other women who just happened to be college admissions counselors as well. After comparing notes from “the road” and discussing our various travel territories and office responsibilities, I walked back to my now second hotel room (water damage soaked my first) with some fresh ideas about how to improve how I coordinate my respective programs here at Holy Cross. Needless to say, those three hours were not spent in vain and I was fortunate to come away with a new set of goals for doing my job better than ever before.
We in the Office of Admissions here at Holy Cross are always trying to improve what we do for our prospective students. Thus, we wholeheartedly appreciate your feedback after attending the numerous events that we host both on- and off-campus. If you were able to attend either of our Fall Open Houses during these past couple of weeks, please take a moment to fill out this survey. By taking a small amount of time out of your day to provide us with this invaluable feedback, we can ensure that our admissions programs will be new and improved for future groups of prospective students. Until that night in that hotel ballroom, I did not realize what you could learn and how I could change what I do in only a matter of minutes.
Lauren Thornton
Admissions Counselor
Civility: The Etiquette of Holy Cross
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The summer before I entered Holy Cross, my Class Dean suggested all future Crusaders read Civility by Stephen Carter. My parents bought it for me at the bookstore during Gateways and it sat on my shelf all summer. Two days before I moved into Mulledy Hall I reluctantly read it and, (to my surprise) loved it. During my four years on “the hill,” I was pleased to find that random acts of kindness existed and the Jesuit ideal of “men and women for others” lived strong…..and it still does.
Yesterday, I contemplated what my most distinct memory of the 2009 travel season was and as a result I reflected on several months on the road. One might think it was interviewing bright minds or meeting fabulous students, counselors, secretaries and teachers who all brightened my days on the road. Undoubtedly, my interactions with those people were some of my favorite memories but definitely not the most distinct. The day that truly sets itself apart was a lunch that managed to make me feel completely alone.
I had an hour break between high school visits so I decided to get some soup at Panera. As I placed the bowl down on the table the massive platter went flying and landed all over me. From my hair down to my shoes, I was covered. It was there, in a crowded restaurant, I became truly amazed with the lack of civility in today’s society. To my amazement not one person came over and offered a helping hand. Sadly, that day served as a tragic realization that civility sometimes fails to exist in our society.
Standing there embarrassed and smelling of vegetable broth I had a flashback to my first year at the Cross. I was in Kimball, enjoying a meal with my friends, when a girl slipped on a wet tile and went flying. The throngs of students that rushed to her side would have made Stephen Carter proud. I truly believe civility is commonplace at Holy Cross and I find myself constantly amazed by positive student actions. Sadly enough in the “real world” it is increasingly more difficult to find.
After all, my clumsy arm did ruin my cream pants but it was the pure example of fading civility which managed to destroy my entire day.
Alyssa Trometter
Admissions Counselor
How do I Know if Admissions has Received all of my Application Materials?
You’ve filled out the Common Application and submitted it online, double and triple checking to make sure that you’ve attached your essay upload. You’ve filled out the paper work at your guidance office requesting that they send along your transcript and recommendation letters to Holy Cross (in Massachusetts, not Indiana). You’re positive that everything has been sent to us. We have it, right? You think we have it. You hope we have it. How do you know if we have it?
There’s no need to stay up nights worrying about whether or not we have your materials, you can now check the status of your application materials online! Simply go to our online checklist, click “register”, put in your personal information and you will be provided with a glimpse into our database. More specifically, you’ll see your application checklist as it appears in our records.
Furthermore, you’ll be able to tell exactly what (if anything) is still missing. A list of required application materials will appear along with notation of whether or not each item has been received.
***One caution – It takes some time for us to receive your materials in the mail, open our mail, sort our mail, and input the pieces of your application into our system.
DO NOT PANIC if you do not see all of your materials listed. You may be positive that you sent in that Verification Form, you know that you put the right postage on it, it should have been here, it’s not listed, you may check compulsively – it WILL eventually appear. Give it some time, and if after 10-14 days you still don’t see your materials appear, feel free to call our office and we’ll tell you whether or not we think you need to submit the missing piece again.
We wish you all the best of luck as you finish up those college applications over the next few months. You’re in the home stretch of your application season, and we can’t wait to begin ours!
Diane Soboski
Assistant Director of Admissions
What Can I do with a Liberal Arts Degree?
With the economy the way it is right now, you might be concerned about your future. Even though you’re just starting the process of applying to college, you can’t help but think, “Where will I be in four years?” or “What will I be able to do with a liberal arts degree?” As an undergraduate Sociology major, I have to admit, I (as well as my parents) often had the same fears. So what does Holy Cross offer to students to help them make the most of their liberal arts experience? Take a look at the Summer Internship Program. As a rising junior or senior, you have the opportunity to intern at corporations, non-profits, hospitals, banks, law firms, advertising companies, etc. all over the country. Summer internships are paid; they are often set up by alumni or parents and are frequently designated specifically for Holy Cross students. They are excellent places to connect the writing, analytical, and communication skills that you’ll learn in your liberal arts courses to the “real world.” I did my summer internship at AICUM (Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts), an organization that works with private colleges in the state of Massachusetts. I was a research and policy intern; throughout the course of 3 months, I did research on the use and value of the SAT in the Admissions process and ended up writing a 50 page report. It was partly through this internship that I became interested in working in higher education, and ultimately ended up as an Admissions Counselor.
Don’t see an internship that appeals to you? Not to worry, the Career Planning Office would be more than happy to help you in your search for an internship, summer job, or even career after graduation. They will work with you to help perfect your resume and cover letter. There are also many alumni career panels throughout the year, where alumni come back to Holy Cross to talk about their careers and how they got from Holy Cross to where they are now. Check out our alumni success stories.
The liberal arts education you receive at Holy Cross won’t prepare you for any one specific career; what it will do is provide you with the foundation and skills you will need to be successful in any field you should choose to pursue.
Nicole Zervos ’09
Admissions Counselor
