College Tours
I came early to take advantage of the pre-college tours and we saw an incredible range of schools! We had great admissions sessions with all the schools, but it was especially interesting to hear how Stanford and Berkeley evaluate applicants.
Special kudos go to Menlo College for their organic kitchen for students where we had a great lunch, to the College of St. Mary’s for best motto, “Come to Learn, Leave to Serve”, and to Santa Clara University for the most amazing roses I have seen or smelled in a long, long time!
posted by Becky Grappo, IECA
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Dear Becky,
Thanks for mentioning our fantastic organic kitchen at Menlo College. Our students love the food and are still talking about having lunch with the IECA Counselors.
David Placey
Dean, Enrollment Management
Menlo College
Silicon Valley’s Business School
We are so pleased that you enjoyed your visit to Menlo College and that you had a pleasurable dining experience. We are very proud of our sustainable and organic program and we pride ourselves on this commitment. As a leading corporate citizen, we work to improve the quality of life for our people, our clients, our customers and the communities in which we do business. We support sustainable efforts by offering organic, locally grown products, engaging in an active composting program, educating our customers on our practices and products from cage-free eggs, hormone free milk, organic taste tests, farm to table promotions, fair trade coffee and many more. Thank you for sharing your feedback and feel free to contact us with any additional questions or comments.
Erin Gaynor
Service and Catering Manager for Sodexo at Menlo College.
Hi Becky,
I’m a new associate member and could not attend the conference this year. Can you share some information regarding what you learned about the evaluation process at Stanford and Berkeley?
Stefanie Caldwell (IL)
I have 4 pages of notes from each school! But In brief, what we heard from both schools is that they are looking for top talent who have challenged themselves academically and been high achievers. Both schools also discussed evaluating an application and the applicant’s background “in context”. In other words, what were their life circumstances and how did that affect what they could accomplish? How did the student take advantage of THEIR environment?
Stanford said that they are looking for students who have shown a sustained passion and interest over time. They want to know who is going to be a dynamic and intellectually curious presence on their campus. No surprise there….I wrote in my notes that they are looking for “internal drive and hunger to blossom once they get here”.
A few take away points from Berkeley – they are looking for students who do a few things extremely well, or those who have a commitment and passion for extraordinary, sustained achievement in academic endeavors. When it comes to the personal statement, they want candidates to talk to them. They want a moment of personal introspection about an applicant’s individual life context. If there has been an obstacle to overcome, then “don’t complain but explain”. The student should talk about how he/she got over it, not got stuck.
The visits reinforced what we already knew, i.e that both institutions are highly selective. I was impressed with how hard the admissions officers sincerely try to find that “special something” in the applicants who apply.
Becky Grappo, IECA (Oman)
Hi, Stefanie. If you’d like to check out my notes on the visit to Stanford, I put them online here. Happy to share!
http://greatcollegeadvice.com/a-visit-to-stanford/