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College Connections

Introducing College Connections

We are pleased to bring you College Connections, an online communications series dedicated to the college discovery and discernment process. The purpose is to provide the entire Rambler community with relevant topics, tips and timelines, along with diverse insights and voices to help guide you through the journey and hopefully ease some of the anxiety inherent in the college search and admissions process. We always welcome reader feedback. You can share comments with your college counseling team at collegeconnections@loy.org.

In The News

There is a lot of information out there about colleges and the college admissions process, the below articles are some of the more helpful articles we have found.

List of 3 news stories.

7 College Admissions Trends to Watch in 2023

CollegeData.com

Where will you get into college in 2023? Here are 7 trends that might affect college admissions in the coming year, according to admission experts. Understanding how the landscape of college admissions continues to shift will help you manage your expectations and make smart decisions throughout the college admissions process. Here are 7 trends to keep an eye on in 2023.

Read full article.
What do Colleges Want?

Georgia Tech Admission Blog

Along with my staff, we have written extensively in the past about "what colleges are looking for." We’ve covered GPA, rigor of curriculum, activities, and involvement, essays, more about essays, plenty of ink spilled and callouses grown writing about writing, teacher recs, interviews, etc. And all of that is accurate, helpful, and worth checking out. But what do colleges really want? Regardless of their size, geographic location, or athletic conference, they want the same thing—Choices and Options. They don’t want to have to "just have a salad" and bring their own dressing. They want a full menu. And their desire—or hunger, as it were (really just wrote this entire blog to use that phrase)—for choices and options, explains a lot about your college admission experience.

Read full article.
A College Admissions Expert Explains What Going Test-Optional Means for High School Seniors

Education Week

College admissions season is in full swing, with hundreds of thousands of high school seniors either painstakingly completing college applications or waiting anxiously to hear whether they’ve been accepted.

Read full article.

In the News Archive

College Connections Archive
October 2015 to April 2018

Hidden Gems

Berea College
4/21/2023
Berea College offers high-quality education to academically promising students with limited economic resources. As a federally recognized Work College, Berea doesn't just admit students; it hires them. From its founding in 1855, Berea College has provided work so students can earn money to help pay their education expenses through their Labor Program. The program requires every student to work a minimum of 10 hours per week in one of the 120 different labor departments across campus.
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Endicott College
4/21/2023
With nearly 3,000 undergraduate students, Endicott College sits on the Atlantic Ocean in Beverly, Massachusetts. Endicott requires all students to have at least one internship prior to graduation. Internship opportunities are available both nationally and internationally.
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Merrimack College
4/21/2023
One of the fastest-growing colleges in the U.S., Merrimack College is a private Catholic Augustinian college just twenty-five miles from Boston. Merrimack has about 4,000 undergraduate students who are able to enroll in 100 undergraduate academic programs within five schools.
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University of Toledo
4/21/2023
The University of Toledo is a national, public research university where students obtain a world-class education and become part of a diverse community of leaders committed to improving the human condition in the region and the world. The University offers a co-op program that alternates periods of on-campus coursework with periods of full-time, paid work assignments directly related to the student's major.
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Florida A&M University
2/14/2023
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is an 1890 land grant, doctoral/research institution, and Historically Black University located in Tallahassee. For more than 130 years, FAMU has been committed to the values of accountability, inclusion, innovation, and integrity.
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Morehouse College
2/14/2023
Morehouse College is an all-male, Historically Black University located southwest of downtown Atlanta. For over 150 years, Morehouse has been dedicated to developing men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service.
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North Carolina A&T State University
2/14/2023
North Carolina A&T State University is a public, Historically Black University. It is the largest HBCU in the United States with 13,000 students. The university's goal is "to foster creativity and excellence to extend beyond the classroom into an exciting, rewarding career or the opportunity to extend one's education in graduate school."
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Spelman College
2/14/2023
Spelman College is an all-female, Historically Black College that empowers women to change the world. Spelman offers a holistic education dedicated to academic excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and the intellectual, creative, ethical, and leadership development of its students.
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Davidson College
12/8/2022
Located in Davidson, North Carolina—just north of Charlotte—Davidson College focuses on helping students develop humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for a life of service and leadership following graduation. Davidson meets 100% of students’ financial needs through grants and student employment.
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Grinnell College
12/8/2022
Located in Grinnell, Iowa, this liberal arts college of approximately 1,700 students is committed to contributing to the common good. Grinnell College practices need-blind admission of all applicants and meets 100% of demonstrated need without loans.
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Swarthmore College
12/8/2022
Founded by Quakers, Swarthmore College is now a non-sectarian liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, just 11 miles from Philadelphia. Swarthmore meets 100% of students' financial needs through scholarships and grants, and 52% of students receive financial assistance.
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Washington and Lee University
12/8/2022
Washington and Lee is the ninth oldest college in the United States and is located in the Virginia mountains. Washington and Lee University makes the college experience affordable through generous need and merit-based scholarships. Financial aid is available through grants, scholarships, and campus work.
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Bard College
10/21/2022
Bard College is located in Avondale-on-Hudson, New York, and is only 90 miles north of New York City. The campus is located in the Hudson River Historic District. Bard was the first college in the U.S. to offer a human rights major.
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Birmingham Southern College
10/21/2022
Birmingham Southern College (BSC) focuses on helping students develop, learn, and engage in the wider world. Located in Birmingham, Alabama, BSC has 1300 students and more than 90% of them receive financial aid. BSC is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
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Earlham College
10/21/2022
Earlham College is a private liberal arts college that has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social justice, mutual respect, and community decision-making. Located in Richmond, Indiana, Earlham is known for its classroom experience.
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Juniata College
10/21/2022
Juniata College is a private liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. There are currently over 1250 undergraduate students allowing for 75% of classes to have fewer than 20 students. 100% of students receive some sort of financial aid.
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Duquesne University
4/18/2022
A Catholic Spiritan University in Pittsburgh, Duquesne is committed to educational excellence, moral and spiritual values and service to the Church, community, nation and world. Duquesne has nine academic schools including a top-ranked nursing school.
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Illinois Wesleyan University
4/18/2022
Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois. Illinois Wesleyan offers a "May Term" course option and refers to it as a 4–4–1 system. This allows any student who completed a full course load in either the spring or fall semesters of that academic year to enroll in a "May Term" class that lasts three weeks. Upon completion, the student receives the equivalent credit of taking a single course during one semester.
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Quinnipiac University
4/18/2022
Located in Hamden, Connecticut, Quinnipiac University is a private university with nine colleges and schools. It offers 58 majors and the physician's assistant school was ranked 15th nationwide by U.S. News and World Report in 2021.
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University of Cincinnati
4/18/2022
The University of Cincinnati is a public research university that offers over 300 majors and minors available. The University of Cincinnati offers students a balance of educational excellence and real-world experience.
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