I Took the SAT. Here's What I Learned

An interesting article by a University Professor on the SAT test.

I Took the SAT. Here's What I Learned

Explore Colleges Which Would Love to Have you

An informative article which urges parents and students to look beyond the Ivies and the prominent universities to lesser known colleges and universities in USA. Many of these universities have strong profiles

http://www.forbes.com/sites/willarddix/2016/05/26/explore-colleges-that-would-love-to-have-you/#ed231da6e6cb

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) The University for Creative Careers

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) was founded in 1978 by Richard G. Rowan, Paula S. Wallace, May L. Poetter and Paul E. Poetter to provide college degree programs not previously available in southeast Georgia and to create a specialized professional art college to attract students from throughout the United States and abroad. The curriculum was established with dual goals of excellent arts education and effective career preparation for students. SCAD is one university — offering degrees in four distinct locations and online via eLearning. Each SCAD location provides a new experience. Students can choose to study in any location, at any quarter during their education.

 SCAD students choose from more than 40 degree programs and nearly 60 minors to customize an unparalleled art and design education that suits their creative talents.

15 percent of SCAD students are international, and they represent more than 100 countries.

SCAD utilizes a quarter-based academic calendar. Admissions is rolling admissions.

The student to faculty ratio is 18:1.

 SCAD students choose from more than 40 degree programs and nearly 60 minors to customize an unparalleled art and design education that suits their creative talents.

15 percent of SCAD students are international, and they represent more than 100 countries.

SCAD utilizes a quarter-based academic calendar. Admissions is rolling admissions.

The student to faculty ratio is 18:1.

The most popular majors at Savannah College of Art and Design include: Illustration; Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects; Graphic Design; Cinematography and Film/Video Production; and Fashion/Apparel Design.

The four year graduation rate is 47%  

SCAD confers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Master of Urban Design degrees, as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates.

International Students admission requirements
Documentation of financial support for the first year is required for SCAD to begin the process for an international applicant to obtain a visa. Submission of official certification of sources and funds at the time of application is strongly encouraged and may expedite the visa process. SCAD eLearning applicants residing outside the U.S. are not required to submit certification of sources and funds.

 Although international students are not eligible to receive U.S. federal or state financial aid, all admitted students are automatically considered for institutional scholarships. These funds are limited and are awarded to the earliest qualifiers.

Through the office of admission, SCAD administers a number of scholarships for entering students. Scholarship recipients are expected to be particularly strong and positive leaders at SCAD, excelling academically and representing SCAD well within the community. Scholarships are available to both United States citizens and non-U.S. citizens and are awarded to entering students prior to first-quarter attendance.
Entering students may be offered a scholarship from SCAD based on demonstrated academic and/or co-curricular achievement, including leader- ship, volunteer and community service, involvement, and artistic accomplishment. Financial need, as indicated by completion of the FAFSA or other documentation, is taken into consideration for need-based scholarships.

SCAD academic scholarships $1,500 to 12,000 Must demonstrate academic achievement

SCAD achievement scholarships $1000 to $7500 Must demonstrate overall achievement

May and Paul Poetter scholarship Full tuition Must demonstrate superior academic achievement

Frances Larkin McCommon scholarship Full Tuition Must demonstrate superior artistic achievement

International Baccalaureate Scholarship

International Baccalaureate diploma recipients who apply, are accepted and enroll at SCAD, having met or exceeded admission requirements, are awarded a scholarship of at least US$3,000 and up to US$15,000 on a score-based scale, per year of enrollment at SCAD, up to 225 attempted quarter hours, or until completion of a bachelor's degree. This award may not be granted in addition to other academic scholarships.

International Student Scholarship

A limited number of scholarships is awarded each year to degree-seeking international students who apply and are accepted to SCAD. To be considered for an international student scholarship, applicants should meet or exceed normal admission standards and must request scholarship consideration by submitting a 500-word essay explaining how an international education would influence their artwork, goals and experiences.

Please visit the SCAD website for additional information on applicable scholarships

Portfolio and Writing as part of admission
Students may submit a portfolio as part of the application process. Although portfolios and auditions are not required for undergraduate admission, applicants are strongly encouraged to present performing arts, riding, writing or visual arts portfolios or to audition when possible to enhance the application file and to be considered for scholarships. Since undergraduate portfolio submissions are for scholarship consideration and do not ever adversely affect the likelihood of a student's acceptance, submitting a strong portfolio can be of enormous benefit to students.

Savannah Film Festival

SCAD hosts an  annual festival, filled with cinematic creativity from both award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year more than 40,000 people attend the eight day Savannah Film Festival. The festival is host to a wide variety of competition film screenings, special screenings, workshops, panels, and lectures. Trustees Theater, 216 E Broughton St. savannahboxoffice.com.

Bard College

Bard 's main campus is located along the Hudson River in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Bard College’s setting is less like a typical campus than a vast village spread out across 500 acres of parks and woodland. The secluded school is close to the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains.  It is located approximately 45 minutes away from Poughkeepsie by car and approximately the same distance from New York City by train.

Bard was founded in 1860 as Stephen's College by by John Bard in association with the Episcopalian church.  In 1934, the name was changed to Bard College.
Bard has campuses in New York City, Boston, California, Germany, and Russia.


Bard offers courses of study in four divisions—Arts; Languages and Literature; Science, Mathematics, and Computing; and Social Studies—and interdivisional programs and concentrations. Students may also earn a five-year B.S./B.A. degree in economics and finance. The Bard College Conservatory offers a five year programme in which students pursue a dual degree- a B. in Music and a B.A. in a field other than music.


In affiliation with the Schools of Engineering at Columbia University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Dartmouth College, Bard offers programs of study leading to dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering.

Another option for Bard students is the 3+2 program with Duke University’s master’s programs in forestry and environmental management.

The Levy Institute M.S. is an innovative two-year degree program that draws on the research and policy expertise of the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. The program emphasizes theoretical and empirical aspects of policy analysis through specialization in one of four Levy Institute research areas, and students are required to participate in a graduate research assistantship. Undergraduates have an opportunity, through a 3+2 program, to earn both a B.A. and the M.S. in five years.

The student to faculty ratio is 10:1.

The Four year graduation rate is 60%.

Bard is a NCAA Division III school.

Bard was ranked # 45 in the US News National Liberal Arts Colleges.
Bard was ranked #1 in the Princeton Review for Best Classroom Experience; #4 for the Most Liberal students; # 7 for the most accessible Professors; and #9 Professors get High Marks. 

The most popular majors at Bard College include: Visual and Performing Arts; Social Sciences; English Language and Literature/Letters; Biological and Biomedical Sciences; and Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.

To select their major, Bard students must pass through the "moderation" process, which includes a written explanation of their choice and a discussion with professors who help them think carefully about their interests. Before graduating, all Bardians must complete a senior project based on their major, under a faculty member's supervision.

Bard College is need blind for American citizens and permanent residents.

Bard Entrance Examination offers a new way to apply to Bard. The examination is composed of essay questions in 3 categories - Social Sciences, History and Philosophy; Arts and Literature; and Science and Mathematics. The Bard Entrance Examination is an online essay test open to grade 12 and 13 students.  Completion of the test is equivalent to an application for admission.  Candidates who score B+ or higher will receive an offer of admission.  The dedline for submitting a completed examination is November 1.  To log on to the exam, please go to http://www.bard.edu/bardexam.

Bard's First Year programme -
All first-year students participate in a common curriculum—the Language and Thinking Program, First-Year Seminar, Citizen Science—and take elective courses.
First-year students arrive in August. They spend three weeks reading extensively in several genres, working on different writing projects, and meeting in small, dynamic discussion groups with the aim of learning to read and listen more thoughtfully, articulate ideas more clearly, and review their own work critically. The First-year seminar is a two-semester course that presents seminal intellectual, cultural, and artistic ideas in the context of a historical tradition.
First-year students return to Bard in January for a first-of-its-kind course that focuses on a specific scientific issue—infectious disease, for example—and looks at it from different methodological and conceptual approaches.

The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 87.8 percent.

Bard College Conservatory of Music is ranked #17 by The Best Schools.com

Notable alumni of Bard College include journalist Matt Taibbi; actor Christopher Guest; and the founders of Steely Dan, musicians Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York.  Vassar College was founded in 1861 and  is one of the first of the Seven Sisters, a group of historically women’s colleges in the northeast including Mount Holyoke,  Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe (now part of Harvard), Bryn Mawr and Barnard.

The campus is located on 1000 acres near a residential neighbourhood.  98% of the students live on campus.

Student faculty ratio: 8:1


The 4 year graduation rate is 90%

Vassar is a NCAA Division III institution

The five most popular Majors: Social sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Visual and performing Arts, Psychology, English Language and Literature/Letters.

Financial Aid and scholarships
Vassar adheres to a need-blind admission policy, which means that admission decisions for all first-year students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are made without regard to the student’s financial situation. Vassar meets 100% of the full demonstrated need of all admitted students, international or domestic, for all four years.Applicants should use the FAFSA in the case of American citizens and permanent residents when applying for financial aid and international students would use the CSS Profile.




Vassar does not have a core curriculum. The general curricular requirements are flexible: each student must fulfill the Freshman Course (first-year writing seminar) requirement, the quantitative course requirement, and the foreign language requirement. In addition to these general requirements, the student must fulfill the specific requirements of his/her major. Students choose among 29 departments, 6 interdisciplinary programmes, 12 multidisciplinary programmes and 50 majors.

Vassar-Darmouth Dual Degree programme in Engineering
Under this cooperative program, Vassar students (usually majors in physics, mathematics, or chemistry) spend their junior year at Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering. They return to Vassar for their senior year to receive their degrees, and then have the option of returning to Dartmouth for an additional year to earn a general engineering degree.






Notable alumni include computer pioneer Grace Hopper, poet Elizabeth Bishop, actress Meryl Streep, actress Lisa Kudrow and writer-director Noah Baumbach.

Stevens Institute of Technology

Stevens Institute of Technology is located on Castle Point, Hoboken, NJ.  Stevens’ proximity to New York City and the surrounding metro area cultivates unmatchable internships, cooperative education placements, and other project-based learning opportunities for Stevens students. Hoboken was ranked the 9th best College Town in the 2012 Princeton Review National Ranking.  Hoboken is 10 minutes from Manhattan.

Stevens Rankings
Ranked 3rd in USA for 20 year net return on Investment (ROI) for graduates in the 2015 Payscale College ROI report
Ranked 5th in USA by Cappex in its 2015 list of "Safest Colleges"
Ranked 30th in the category of Top 100 Values in Private Universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in its 2015 list of Best College Values.
It received 13th National Ranking for Career Services in the Princeton Review 2012.

Stevens’ Systems Engineering graduate program was ranked 42nd in the US and it's Materials Engineering graduate program was ranked 61st nationally among programs in the U.S. News & World Report's “Best Graduate Schools” 2015 edition.

Undergraduate Student Population 2,892

Student to faculty ratio: 10:1

88% of freshmen live on campus and there is a 94% freshman retention rate.
75% undergraduates participating in co-ops, internships and research

Stevens is a Division III school and has over 26 Varsity Sports

SAT/ACT
SAT 1210-1380 for CR and Math
ACT 27-32

Acceptance rate 38%

Inside Stevens Library

Engineering Design Spine
At the heart of Stevens’ engineering curriculum is a standout series of eight core design courses referred to as the Design Spine. The first five core design courses are taken by all students and are taught by professors who bring the benefit of their industry-based design experience into the classroom. The last three courses are taken within their discipline – a junior course followed by a two-semester capstone senior project.

Freshman Experience
Entering Stevens students are required to participate in the Freshman Experience, a sequence of two common courses: Writing & Communication Seminar and Humanities Colloquium. Together, these courses help to develop critical thinking, confidence and creativity – essential cornerstones of innovation. 

Special Programmes
Accelerated Law (6year Bachelor's/JD)
Accelerated medicine (7 year B.S./M.D.)
5 Year Master's Programme
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summer research Programme
Cooperative
Internship
Pinnacle Scholars Program

Drew University

Drew University is located in Madison, N.J. Madison is a pretty town which is approximately 45 minutes from NYC by train. Drew University was established in 1867 as a seminary.

Consisting of the College of Liberal Arts, the Drew Theological School and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University has a total enrollment of 2,369 students. (1,582 in the College of Liberal Arts, 351 in the Caspersen School and 436 in the Theological School.) The Theological and Caspersen schools offer degrees at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels, while the College annually confers B.A. degrees in 30 different disciplines.

Student Teacher ration: 12:1
Average class size  17 students

Average GPA 3.41
SAT Composite 1570 - 1830
ACT 22-27

International Baccalaureate
High achieving IB students are eligible for merit scholarships, ranging from $15,000 – $25,000 per year (for four years). On top of merit awards, your CAS portfolio may be submitted for review when you apply for the Civic Engagement scholarship. Drew also grants advanced college standing to IB students.  By recognizing your scholarly achievements with academic credits, you will benefit from additional savings on your tuition costs.

Drew University is a NCAA Division III school.

 

Drew is generous with financial aid and provides its students with more than $27 million a year in direct support.   International students may qualify for:
International Student scholarships
Civic Engagement Scholarships
RISE Science scholarships
Presidential Scholarships in the Arts

Rise Science scholarships for students pursuing a Science major. Applicants complete the RISE scholarship application, and an essay and must submit a recommendation from a Mathematics or Science teacher.

Civic Engagement Scholarship
 Students who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to community service and civic engagement throughout their high school years are eligible to apply for a Civic Engagement Scholarship.  Applicants should demonstrate leadership in organizing and implementing community projects, as well as working with people from diverse backgrounds. Application involves Civic Engagement scholarships application, Essay, recommendation letters and Detailed resume of service activities.

Presidential scholarships
Presidential Scholarships are awarded to students with a high school GPA in the A- range in an honors curriculum. In addition, students must have an SAT score in the mid- to high 1100s (Critical Reading + Mathematics) or a total ACT score of 26. Students intending to major or participate in the performing or fine arts may submit a digital recording of musical or theatrical performances or a digital portfolio of art work in place of standardized testing results.
Drew is ranked Top 10 University Theatre by the Princeton Review.

Drew Special Admission Programmes

• 5 year B.A. and Masters of Arts in Teaching
• 7 Year Dual Degree Medical program - Simultaneous admission to Drew  and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.   Successful candidates spend three years of study at Drew and four years at Rutgers-NJMS, completing both B.A. and M.D. degrees. This program is space limited and very competitive.
• 5 Year Dual Degree programme with Columbia University - Students selected for Drew’s dual-degree engineering program spend three years earning a B.A. at Drew, based on our top-flight liberal arts education. Students then move to the engineering program at Columbia University and in two years earn a B.S. or B.Eng. in Engineering. 

Drew INTO Programme
The INTO New York at Drew partnership gives Undergraduate Pathway students the chance to study their first two years in a small, liberal arts university and then progress to the final two years of your undergraduate degree program at Drew or one of several well-known universities in the New York City area.

Housing
Housing at Drew University is guaranteed for 4 years.  90% of students live on campus.

Famous Drew Alumni
Jeff Smith, Chef and cookbook author
Aileen Quinn, Actress, songwriter
Dale Peck, Novelist