How to Apply to College will empower learners of all backgrounds to demystify and better understand the college search and selection process, combining the expertise of an Ivy League admissions office and a leading college access and success organization. Led by expert educators, including Eric J. Furda, Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Sean Vereen, President of Steppingstone Scholars, Inc., this free course will help students, family members, college counselors and any inquisitive learner to navigate each stage from the start of the college search process through the transition into a college environment. Through dialogue with students applying to and currently in college as well as campus advocates, How to Apply to College also aims to close the information gap for students who may be the first in their family to attend college and students who are underrepresented in higher education. A range of video and web resources are provided through a collaboration with a number of educational partners including The Common Application, with nearly 700 colleges on the application platform, and Raise.me, which provides a new way for high school students to earn money for college starting in 9th grade based on their achievements in school and life. Other resources and tools featured in the course include Naviance, College Greenlight, College Scorecard, BigFuture by the College Board, College and Pell Abacus, ZeeMee and Federal Student Aid.
Balancing the Distractions
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Del curso dictado por University of Pennsylvania
How to Apply to College
48 calificaciones
De la lección
Transitions to College
This segment is the culmination of our journey together as you consider your college options and set yourself up for success in planning for the transition to college. The goal isn’t to ‘go to college,’ rather the goal is to ‘graduate from college.' Hear from faculty, academic advisors and students on how to navigate these transitions to maximize your experience and success.
Conoce a los instructores
Eric J. FurdaDean of Admissions
Dr. Sean VereenPresident
Steppingstone Scholars, Inc.
[MUSIC]
>> So I'm curious to know from Ben and Courtney, were there any misconceptions or
anything that was kind of unexpected about college that changed as you
began to actually be on campus and go through the process of studying and
trying to balance work and life and friends and things like that?
>> I definitely had many misconceptions going into college.
Two major ones were whether or not I would fit in at Lehigh and
whether or not I would devote all my time towards studying and
those were two like completely,
like just wrong like mindsets I had going into college.
For example, from the start, there was like
absolutely no intention for me to join a fraternity.
But I can safely say like after less than a year,
I can call like a whole fraternity like a place where I feel safe and
comfortable and call like 20 kids that I just met like my brothers.
But in other words, once you step onto the college campus and
start your college career, you're basically given a blank slate.
You can be whoever you want to be.
It's a new chance for you.
And one piece of advice would be,
with like each person you meet, look at them like they're a million dollar baby.
Because everyone has a story and it's incredible to see how different or
similar their stories are and it's just awesome to meet new people, and just learn
about them, and sharing your stories, and your experiences with your peers.
>> Courtney. >> One misconception that I did have about
college was that they would help, like they would prepare you for
the workforce and I did believe that in an academic standpoint.
But also as a mental standpoint,
you have to be the one that wants to become prepared.
So again, how we're taught in like high school and
elementary school when they say, when you get to college, they don't care about you.
And I don't believe that to be true,
but I do feel like it takes a lot of independent mindset.
It takes you to be the one to get out there and do the work, and
prepare yourself for working for after college.
We were so baby in a way in like high school like we were taught what time we
went to class, we were taught what time we got to school.
But however, once you get to college,
you're pretty much on your own in terms of responsibility.
So I was saying, a misconception I had is that they would help you through.
And in an academic standpoint, that is true, but
everything else you have to get it on your own and that is what you really want.
>> Definitely it is true, but glove kind of come off and
it is up to you to make everything happen once you get to college.
[MUSIC]
So Bridget and Courtney, did you find it difficult?
I know Temple is a very large school.
Holy Family is a smaller school, but
then community is very large in comparison to Holy Family.
Did you find it difficult to socialize with other students or
take part in student organizations or to just generally get involved on campus?
>> So you're right, Temple is huge.
I went to Abington Friends School for high school events.
I graduated with 62 other students.
So, I came from a very small school and went to a very big school.
But I would say that once I got in Temple, I didn't feel as big.
I joined a living learning community for my first year and
it's pretty much your house with who have similar interests as you.
So I was the leadership with the learning community, so
I was with people who value leadership as part of the learning experience.
And so, my roommate was part of it.
Everybody in my hallway.
So a week before to started,
we hang out like we moved in on campus before everybody else did.
We had a peer mentor which was an older college student that answered all of our
freshman questions and we had an advisor who was a director of leadership, and
development, and still is at Temple.
And so I kind of started with the foundation before school even started,
which I would definitely recommend to anybody.
There's various Living Learning Communities,
just research them for your school.
Another thing is join a lot of Lisserves.
I know at Temple, there's welcome week where at least two days out of the week,
all of the student organizations are outside telling you about what they do,
because they want you to join their organization.
So even though I know I didn't have time or
the energy to join 50 organizations, I still made sure to give them my email.
So I knew what they were doing at any given week, at any given day which really
helped, because, yeah, I'm a poet, but I had to put school first.
So I did poetry on my own, but
I still love going to the poetry slams that Temple had.
I wasn't part of all the African organizations, but
I still knew what they had.
So if they had a big event that, I wanted to be part of.
I could just pull-up my email, search the organizations name and
know when and where it would take place.
This kind of gave me some guidance.
Because in a big institution,
everything happening at the same time is really good for
me to have an organized way of knowing what's available and planning my time too.
Because sometimes, they would tell you things a week in advance,
a month in advance.
And so definitely joining a Listserve, joining a Living Learning Community and
reaching out to older students and faculty could help you so much.
>> Courtney.
>> When I went to Holy Family, I did find it a little difficult to
socialize with other students, because it was a Catholic college and
I'm not Catholic and it was not very diverse as well.
So in my door, it was about four other African Americans
in my entire door and coming from school.
I was like, you see something like that, but
I didn't take it as a bad thing is as good as all a new experience.
So once I accepted that, I still was not shy and
I wasn't afraid to talk to other people.
And surprisingly enough,
like a lot of use were from Philadelphia and surrounding areas.
We just didn't grow up in the same environment, so it was new, but
it wasn't brand new.
So I would definitely say like even if you're not like everyone else,
don't shun yourself away just because you want to look the same.
That doesn't mean that you guys didn't go to the same schools or the same
parties and stuff like that, but just because you're not like everyone else.
Don't check yourself away and I was also on the track team.
I didn't go to school.
I didn't start college with anybody when I went to school.
So it was very, very, very new to me and
I was the only freshman female on that team as well.
So, I was very standoffish at first.
However, one thing we did have in common is that we all run track and
we all had a passion for running track, so that really allowed me to mesh and
feel comfortable with other females and males alike.
It was different, because I was the only freshman, so
I didn't know anything about college track.
It did help me through it a little bit.
But at the same, track is an individual sport that you
had to take out the mental aspect and just put the physical aspect in things.
It was a lot of getting used to, but it was doable.
It just took a lot of hard work, but it was doable.
>> And then finally, to wrap.
Is there one piece of advise that you would give other first-generation
students, Bridgette or Courtney about surviving the first year of college or
transitioning to college?
>> One piece of advise I would give is know yourself.
College is new for everybody.
Whether your sister went, whether your mom went.
You never went, because your new.
It's new for you, yet know who you are before you get there,
because you will be surrounded by so many different kinds of people.
There will be good people and there will be bad people.
There will be people that you want in your life and
there will be people who are toxic for your life in all aspects.
If you know who are and know what you value, know what you want,
you will be able to decipher if you need to keep somebody in your life or
if you need to just discard them.
Because when you're focused on your future and yourself,
there's no time to focus on if this person likes me or
is this person is talking behind my back or this or that.
You have to grow yourself and you can't be worried about people that
are not trying to grow themselves, and grow you.
So knowing yourself will help you do that and it will help you figure out what
classes you want to take, who you want to associate yourself with.
That's the most important thing, I think you should keep in mind for college.
[MUSIC]
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