Tag Archives: admissions

My Scripps Story

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“I really don’t think I’ll be going to a women’s college,” I sighed, sitting in front of my open computer. “But, you should apply to at least ONE women’s college. You eliminate at least half of your competition that way,” my mother argued. We talked about this possibility for quite a while until I finally decided to apply to Scripps College, because 1) their supplementary application materials were minimal, 2) because it was one of only three or four schools I wanted to apply to in my home state of California, and 3) I HAD to apply to at least one women’s college. Little did I know the wonders and whimsy I would experience upon arriving.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I had known the kind of college I wanted to attend since probably the middle of my high school career. Being the introvert that I am, I really appreciated a small, integrated school environment with a strong foundation in the liberal arts eduction. I applied to an many of these schools as possible, increasing my odds and potential yield (as any good college-obsessed high school senior will advise you). So when I didn’t get into many of the schools I was originally excited and enthusiastic about, I was obviously disheartened.

One of the few schools who responded well to my application was, wouldn’t you know it, Scripps College. I even remember getting a hand-written note from Dean Marcus-Newhall on my acceptance letter specifically mentioning my supplemental essay. I was pleased and interested, but still not convinced that a women’s college could win me over. It wasn’t that I had any particular prejudice against all-girls’ schools as a whole. I think I felt as if I somehow didn’t appreciate the women’s college experience as much as others. By attending a women’s college, I felt like I had to somehow embody a “women’s college” girl, which I both didn’t feel comfortable doing and felt like others could do better.

Nonetheless, I was accepted there, so, because of its close proximity, we decided to visit Scripps for its Admitted Students Weekend. As we approached the college, I sighed. I had spent the last two weeks traveling to two of the other colleges that had accepted me. I was incredibly excited about both of the institutions, but had been sadly disheartened about what I had found. I didn’t feel connected to either of the colleges and neither seemed like a place I could see myself going. Both my mom and I agreed about the two previous schools and were not exactly enthusiastic about visiting another, potentially disappointing college. Needless to say, the mood was lack luster.

The first thing I remember seeing on Scripps campus was the huge tower of green and white balloons meant to flag down prospective students and families. I was immediately taken aback by the welcoming atmosphere and smiling faces of the admission staff. It felt almost surreal as I was whisked away into Balch Auditorium with dozens of other women whispering in excitement. I don’t think my affect really changed until I met my temporary host, Maddie, who I see all the time around school today! She was really the first one who opened my eyes to the wonders of Scripps. She took me, nested within a bigger group of prospective students, to the Margaret Folwer garden. She picked some oranges for us as we walked up the quad. She brought us to her residence hall and introduced us to at least five or six of her friends who just happened to be walking by. And this is when I got the first inklings of why I truly love attending Scripps. Every person I met, be them current or prospective students, truly felt like a friend. I found myself itching for more, to be able to talk with everyone for even just a minute longer. The way I describe it today is that everyone at Scripps is a version of me, someone with whom I can relate. And while none of them seemed to be the head-to-toe “Scripps woman” I’d envisioned, everyone seemed to posses certain qualities of respectable, kind, gentle, and caring young women. It was only when pulled together that they embodied the true Scripps community.

I remember speaking to two of my new awesome friends (shout out to Emily and Moriah!) after the weekend was drawing to a close. One of them boasted that she had turned in her acceptance forms as soon as she’d arrived on Sunday. The other claimed that she was off to the Office of Admission right then to turn in her papers. Today, I constantly express the same enthusiasm that we all felt after experiencing Scripps for the first time. I try everyday to expose others to this fantastic community, only attainable through the contributions of everyone.

4 Tips from an Interviewer (Me!)

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In past posts, I’ve talked about different aspects of the interview process (including some outfit suggestions over on Poonam’s blog). However, I realized I’ve only briefly touched upon my experience with interviews from the other side of the table, so to speak. I work in Scripps Admissions about nine hours a week interviewing prospective students for the class of 2017. While the standards I hold high school seniors to are (probably) not the standards we are all likely to be held to in the slew of interviews we’ll be having this year and post-graduation, there are still some general thoughts and tips I’ve collected that I think are applicable to any interview. As we all know, there is no one type of Scripps student, and the prospies who really leave a lasting impression on me are all very different, but tend to share a number of qualities.  They are…

1. Knowledge of subject: Sometimes, I’ll talk with someone who is interviewing on a whim, meaning usually that they were at one of the other 4CS, saw Scripps and fell in love with the campus, and happened to snag a walk-in interview. But generally, people who are interviewing have visited before, have gone on a tour, or read all about Scripps in Fiske’s guide, so I expect them to have some knowledge of Scripps and be able to discuss why Scripps appeals to them. The same applies for any sort of interview—whether for an internship, job, or grad school, you should be able to tell your interviewer why you contacted his or her organization specifically. Identify some key aspects of the organization they’ve made clear they are proud of (easily found on their website) and bring those up in your interview. When students mention interest in the CORE program and in interdisciplinary learning, I know they’ve done their research.

Luckily for prospies, the beauty of our campus is something we’re really proud of, and it’s not too hard to research! (credit education-portal.com)

2. Preparedness: Knowledge of subject is part of this, but preparedness means more than just knowing about where you’re applying. Preparedness also means thinking about what questions you might be asked and preparing answers. This is not to say that pausing a few seconds after you’ve been asked a question to gather your thoughts is a bad idea, but that having an idea how you might answer some basic questions will help you stay articulate, clear, and not repeat yourself or talk in circles. Be prepared, stay calm. We are extremely lucky to have CP&R around to prep us with mock interviews for just this reason. Take advantage of the fabulous staff!

3. An ability to string everything together: This is something that I think we really learn to develop in college, but whenever I interview a high schooler who has already begun to weave a narrative for herself I am impressed. Being able to link your education, extracurricular interests, and hopes for the future looks good to an interviewer. A prospective student I interviewed recently did this well: she would begin discussing an high school activity that she’d been interested in since she was very little, and in the middle of her passionate explanation it would naturally come out that that she was captain of the team, or club. This happened throughout the interview, and it proved to me that not only that she filled many leadership roles but also that she had come into them organically because of her passion for what she was involved in. Be able to present a whole picture of yourself. Thread the things you talk about together so as to not come across as having become involved in things simply to pad your resume, but because you are really passionate about them.

4. Confidence: The previous three play into this, but generally exuding an aura of confidence in yourself can never be a bad thing. If a prospie obviously believes in herself, I will too. If you can communicate that you possess capabilities above and beyond what are required for the job, internship, or graduate program you are interviewing for, that confidence might just be what sticks in your interviewer’s mind.

(credit snellingnj.com)

Many of you have probably already had enough interviews that you also have some tips you’d like to share! What are some of those things you wished you’d said or done in an interview and now always make sure to remember? Have a great week all!

 

On Interviews and Business Casual

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By my next blog post, I’ll have completed the three interviews I have scheduled for next week; there are lots of mock and campus interviews in my future.

I’m guessing this is likely the last year I’ll have to differentiate actual interviews from fake ones, and I feel fortunate to have CP&R as a resource that is able to provide the mocks. If you haven’t utilized their mock interviews I would highly recommend scheduling one. In my mock Fulbright interview with Gretchen, I was able to respond to questions directly related to the Fulbright and then go over how my answers could have been stronger. While I know we are all brilliant and qualified for the fellowships, internships, and jobs we’ll be interviewing for, it only makes sense to take advantage of the practice runs that are mock interviews. Having certain responses down, e.g. a challenging situation and how you got through it and grew from it, will mean you can focus your energies during the conversation on being articulate and engaging rather than scrambling for answers. This will make a huge difference, and I can tell you this with 100% authority as someone who interviews prospective students and sits through quite a few both very well prepared for and ill prepared for interviews every week.  For your viewing pleasure, this is one of my favorite interview scenes ever. Here’s hoping nothing like this ever happens to you!

This brings me to my next and quite related subject, which is interview and job attire. In honor of CP&R’s recent professional dress fashion show, I’ll be talking a little bit about what I’ve been wearing to work interviewing prospective students with the Scripps Office of Admissions. The fact of the matter is, I kind of always thought that I would hate wearing professional dress or even business casual because it would be restricting and no fun. Instead, it turns out I adore it. The secrets to the ease in which I’ve been dressing are two: Marshalls and Forever 21. At these two stores, I found a number of very inexpensive jackets, pencil skirts and flowy pleated skirts, and blouses (sleeveless, short sleeve, and button-up) in a wide enough variety of colors and patterns that even after a month of piecing together outfits for the office, I’m able to mix things up. Throw in fun jewelry like that wooden fish necklace I picked up at a garage sale this summer and some staples, namely black straight-legged trousers from Gap and incredibly comfortable black flats from Born, and I have lots of delightful outfits to wear to work.

How are other fellowship applicants feeling about the upcoming interviews? Which questions are you looking forward to answering and which are you dreading? And most importantly, should I do a work attire photo shoot for next week’s blog? Vote yes or no in the comments section. Have a great week, everyone!

Planning for the Future

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I have a confession to make: I really like to plan. I like to research grad programs, career ideas and internships. I like to record my findings in lists and, if I’m feeling a little crazy, spreadsheets. I like to be able to see all the possibilities, so that when I set my sights on a few opportunities, I know that they’re the best for me.

(The downside of this is that I’m always living in the future, but this post is not about that.)

My work experience at Scripps opened my eyes to careers in higher education. After my Fulbright, I’d like to get more work experience in admissions or study abroad programming, but there’s not much I can do until spring. Even so, I occasionally trawl the waters of HigherEdJobs.com, the Forum on Education Abroad, and the Association of International Educators job board, just to read job descriptions and get an idea of what’s out there.

What I have been doing is planning for grad school. Getting my Masters degree is solidly within my 5-year plan, which is why I took the GRE this June. I wanted to have the test done before I was out of school mode, but I gave myself a month after graduation to study. Having a deadline helped motivate my study, and having something to keep me occupied after graduation helped keep me sane. I am happy with my scores, but if I had to do it again I would change how I studied. I used Barron’s New GRE test prep (which I do recommend) and studied writing, then verbal, then math. I’m convinced I would have improved my score if I had started with my most rusty subject, math, and moved forward from there, instead of leaving it until the end when I was burnt out and in crunch mode.

The last week has been marked by daily afternoon thunderstorms, so while I stay inside and catch up on season two of Nikita (no shame), I have been making notes on higher education administration (HEA) programs around the country. This became easier when I found the grad school database hosted by NASPA, the association for Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. It’s not an exhaustive database, but it helped me immensely in putting together a starting list of 19 schools.

HEA programs come in all shapes and sizes. They can be titled M.A., M.Ed. or, less frequently, M.S. They range from nine months to two years. There are small and large cohorts. Some programs prefer research and theory to practice. Some programs cover tuition 100% with graduate assistantships, other programs are reputed as “cash cows” for their schools. Sometimes it is called Higher Education, sometimes it is Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs, and sometimes it is Policy, Planning & Administration with a concentration in Higher Education. Among these options, I don’t know what I want yet.

Luckily, graduates of these types of programs are abundant at Scripps. I can research as much as I want on the internet, but having real people to ask about the honest pros and cons of their experience is priceless. They have the kind of insights I won’t find in marketing materials.

This all leaves me with choices to make and narrowing down to do. I have plenty of time before I make any decisions, but I like to be prepared.