My job as a college counselor requires that I visit colleges and universities across the globe to maintain and develop relationships with college admission officers and to stay current on new and innovative academic programs and trends in the industry. Prior to my work as a college counselor, I spent nearly fifteen years traipsing across much of America as an admission officer hustling from one high school to the next to spend a few minutes with prospective students and their counselor before dashing off to the next school to do the same thing. It was a bit of a broken record that began in September and didn’t end until November. When I was working in college admission, my suitcase never really got put away during travel season – it was close to a non-stop grind for two to three months every fall. Sure, my frequent flier miles and hotel points were bursting at the seams, but the travel itself was never particularly glamorous. As a college admission officer I had to coordinate every detail of every trip from securing rental cars, flights and hotel arrangements to scheduling visits at scores of high schools (and finding them pre-smart phone and Siri) and meals were often nothing more than an opportunistic bagel on the fly or lonely meal at a mid-rate hotel when the day was done. Life on the road as an admission officer can be a solitary existence. There are times, still, when my travel as a college counselor is solitary, but those experiences are more by design as opposed to necessity. More often, I’m traveling as part of a group, which was the case with my most recent trip to New York where I was an invited guest of Syracuse and St. Lawrence University. That’s right, an invited guest – all those aforementioned issues related to travel, logistics, meals and entertainment were taken care of by my hosts. All I had to do was get myself to Syracuse, which only took about 5 ½ hours by car. Total round trip miles traveled this trip: 958.
During my Syracuse visit I toured campus, met with current students, and visited the various schools and colleges that make up the enterprise that is Syracuse University. There are 13 schools and colleges supporting over 200 majors providing opportunities for the roughly 15,000 students to pursue just about anything. Syracuse is a Tier 1 research university, but they are also deeply committed to undergraduate teaching and advising. Their Communications School has long been considered one of the nation’s finest programs and lots of praise is heaped in their direction, but there are many more reasons to consider a Syracuse education. One such school that caught my attention was the School of Information Studies, known on campus as the iSchool. This program continues to be a leader in preparing students for a fast-paced digital future by teaching technological, communication, management, and design skills necessary to develop solutions for any industry to launch a startup. Across the campus, not just in the iSchool, there was a common refrain from faculty and campus leaders of “high-tech” and “high touch” in describing the Syracuse program.
Staying true to form, snow was falling all day which created a pretty layer of frosting on the beautiful campus.
As day turned to night, we were escorted to the Carrier Dome for a dinner reception that preceded the big game – UNC was in town to play Syracuse in basketball and a record-setting crowd was in attendance to cheer on the Orange (woot-woot!), including our group of college counselors. There is enormous institutional pride that is palpable on campus, and the student section at the game was large and loud all night long. Regrettably, the Orange came up short, but the place went bananas when they tied the game with just over a minute to play. We departed Syracuse by bus and headed into the North Country, a term New Yorkers apparently use when referring to the state’s extreme northern frontier, to visit St. Lawrence University. SLU, as it is affectionately called, is a classic small, residential liberal arts college of 2,500 students nestled in the small town of Canton, NY.
SLU presents an oasis of opportunity for students inside and outside the classroom. Students here embrace the winters and benefit from a close-knit campus community that is loaded with happy students. Part of my visit to SLU included sitting in on a class, and I ended up in College Physics with 12 other students. While the material on electricity and magnetism was well over my head, what I learned was that the students are really engaged in the learning process and that SLU professors are genuinely committed to teaching. I was also reminded that SLU has a really strong First Year Program (FYP), one of the oldest living-learning programs in the country, helping students make successful transitions from high school to college since 1987. Students live together and study in a team-taught FYP, developing the writing, speaking, and research skills needed for college. SLU is also home to the second oldest college outing club in the country which has a longstanding reputation of providing opportunities for hiking, backpacking, canoeing, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing or cross country skiing almost every weekend. Additionally, nationally-recognized “Peak Weekend” continues the tradition of placing a St. Lawrence student on every high peak (46) in the Adirondacks during one weekend in the fall. And of course, I would be remiss if I failed to note that hockey is the premier sport on campus, competing at the D1 level in the competitive ECAC Conference. My visit to SLU concluded with front row seats to watch the Saints face-off against Quinnipiac to close out their regular season. So, next time you’re cruising along the NY thruway, don’t roll past these two great options. Check out what Syracuse has to offer and venture north off the beaten path to discover what SLU has in store…you might be pleasantly surprised!
