College Admissions Insider

By some counts, there are about 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S.

As a prospective student, you can slice and dice that list in a seemingly infinite number of ways.

You could sort by state, you could look at urban schools and rural ones, you could filter out schools that you consider too big or too small, you could look at what majors are offered, you could look at whether the school offers Division I, Division II or Division III athletics. The list goes on and on.

You could also look at public schools and private schools. Of those 4,000 colleges in the U.S., about 60% are private and 40% are public.

But what are the fundamental differences between private and public schools? Are there advantages and disadvantages to each? And how should students begin comparing the two?

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, we'll answer those questions and more. Our guest is Lauren Rambo, Bucknell’s senior assistant director of admissions and the University's southeastern regional representative.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Plan a visit to Bucknell
• Undergraduate admission requirements
• @iamraybucknell, our student-run Instagram
• Info about applying to Bucknell
• Build a Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Latest news for prospective students

When you visit campus for a preview session and guided tour, chat with our student ambassadors, or experience an interactive virtual tour of campus, you'll have a front-row seat as you explore this place we call home.

This combination of in-person and virtual visit offerings means you can learn more about Bucknell in the way that fits you and your family best.

They're the three letters on the mind of pretty much every college-bound high school student: G, P and A.

But understanding how colleges and universities will interpret your grade-point average isn't so simple.

Some institutions recalculate applicants' GPAs using their own scale. Some only count certain core classes in their calculations, meaning electives don't factor in to the final number. Some universities even look at how an applicant's GPA might have improved over time.

GPA calculation was on the mind of College Admissions Insider listener Marile Borden recently. Marile is a parent from Massachusetts whose daughter is in her senior year of high school.

Marile wrote in to ask, "Have you considered an episode around GPAs? I'd love to hear if and how you recalculate GPA, as well as your thoughts on the age-old question: 'is it better to get a B in a harder class or an A in an easier class?'"

She also says it's tough to know if a certain GPA is in the ballpark because every school seems to calculate grade point averages a little differently.

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, we'll answer those questions and more as we take a deep dive into GPA calculation. Our guest is Kevin Mathes '07, Bucknell's dean of Admissions.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Plan a visit to Bucknell
• Undergraduate admission requirements
• @iamraybucknell, our student-run Instagram
• Info about applying to Bucknell
• Build a Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Latest news for prospective students

When you visit campus for a preview session and guided tour, chat with our student ambassadors, or experience an interactive virtual tour of campus, you'll have a front-row seat as you explore this place we call home.

This combination of in-person and virtual visit offerings means you can learn more about Bucknell in the way that fits you and your family best.

By now you know that so many things go into a university’s decision of whether to admit someone.

They might look at extracurriculars, essays, letters of recommendation, demonstrated interest, test scores (if you submit them and the school isn't test-optional), and, of course, grades.

But higher-ed institutions don't just take a surface-level view of those A's, B's and C's. They look closer to see just how difficult the classes were — something called academic rigor.

That can bring up a lot of questions, like: Is it better to get an A in a standard class or a B in an honors one? Will a student be penalized if their school doesn't offer advanced classes? And what about prerequisites — classes that you must take in high school to be even considered by certain schools?

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, we untangle all those questions and more. Our guest is Jill Medina, Bucknell's senior associate dean of Admissions. Jill has worked in higher education for more than 25 years, including 17 years in selective college admissions.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Plan a visit to Bucknell
• Undergraduate admission requirements
• @iamraybucknell, our student-run Instagram
• Blog post: 80 questions to ask on a campus tour
• Info about applying to Bucknell
• Build a Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Latest news for prospective students

When exploring colleges, there's only so much you can do online. At some point, you have to see these places for yourself — all five, 10 or 30 schools on your list.

Unless a family member has unlimited vacation days (or a teleportation machine), the only way to realistically visit multiple schools in a reasonable amount of time is by planning a college visit road trip.

But how do you organize one of these info-gathering trips? How can you keep all these visits straight in your head? And what's the best way to maximize that family time as you travel together from destination to destination?

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, we provide a road map for success. Our guest is Alison Almasian, director of college counseling at the Taft School, a private boarding school in Watertown, Conn., Before that, she spent 22 years in college admissions.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Plan a visit to Bucknell
• Blog post: planning a college visit road trip
• Blog post: 80 questions to ask on a campus tour
• Info about applying to Bucknell
• Build a Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Latest news for prospective students

When you visit campus for a preview session and guided tour, chat with our student ambassadors, or experience an interactive virtual tour of campus, you'll have a front-row seat as you explore this place we call home.

This combination of in-person and virtual visit offerings means you can learn more about Bucknell in the way that fits you and your family best.

College is more than a place to learn, meet interesting people and grow. For most students, it's also where you'll live — perhaps for four years of your life.

Young people who may be accustomed to living in their own room at home will suddenly be sharing a room (and bathroom) with others.

That fact makes finding the right housing fit just as important as finding the right academic fit. So how do you do it?

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, we'll swing those doors wide open. Our guests are Stephen Apanel, Bucknell's Director of Housing Services, and Ashley Hubler, Bucknell's Assistant Director of Housing Services.

Listen as we discuss the benefits of off-campus and on-campus housing, specialty housing options like Affinity Houses, and roommate selection.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Bucknell Housing Services
• Residential Colleges at Bucknell
• Bucknell's Affinity Houses
• Info about applying to Bucknell
• Build a Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Latest news for prospective students

When you visit campus for a preview session and guided tour, chat with our student ambassadors, or experience an interactive virtual tour of campus, you'll have a front-row seat as you explore this place we call home.

This combination of in-person and virtual visit offerings means you can learn more about Bucknell in the way that fits you and your family best.

If a typical college semester is about 15 weeks long and students eat three meals a day, that means they're eating 315 meals on campus each semester. That's more than 600 meals during each academic year.

That makes food a pretty important part of the college experience — and an important part of choosing which college to attend. This is especially true for students who have special food allergies or dietary needs — or even those students who want to make healthy decisions about food.

So what should students be looking for when deciding which school will meet their dietary needs and preferences? How can families ensure their student will be given plenty of allergy-sensitive options? And, on top of all this, is there a way to know that the food will be both delicious and nutritious before applying?

That's what's on the menu for this episode of College Admissions Insider. Our guest is Bucknell nutrition specialist Tanya Williams, who shares some essential insight.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Blog: Navigating college with food allergies
• Bucknell Dining Services
• General info about applying to Bucknell
• Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Information for prospective students
• Information for parents of prospective students

The college application process is highly personal — no two journeys are ever the same.

Even still, we can learn a lot from those who have traveled that road before by asking what they did right and what they wish they'd done differently.

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, we invite listeners to our first college admissions roundtable. It's a chance to hear from current college students about each step of their application process.

Listen as three Bucknell students — Emily, Gabe and Ryan — share their application stories. When did they start building a list of colleges to consider? How did they narrow that list down? What do they wish they had done differently when applying?

They have a lot to teach us, so take a listen!

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• General info about applying to Bucknell
• Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Information for prospective students
• Information for parents of prospective students
• Life at Bucknell
• Meet other Bucknell students

When you visit campus for a preview session and guided tour, chat with our student ambassadors, or experience an interactive virtual tour of campus, you'll have a front-row seat as you explore this place we call home.

This combination of in-person and virtual visit offerings means you can learn more about Bucknell in the way that fits you and your family best.

Today's high school students don't just rely on websites and viewbooks. They turn to social media to help them get a complete picture of life at a particular college.

At some schools, the reverse happens, too. Some colleges and universities (not Bucknell) actually look at an applicant's social media to give them a fuller picture of the prospective student.

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, Becca Haupt, the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Bucknell University, delivers a deep dive into the world of social media.

Becca and the hosts discuss:

• What prospective students and their families should be looking for when examining a school's social channels
• How to go beyond the school's official channels to see what people are "unofficially" saying about a school
• What high school students should do if they're applying to a school that reviews applicants' accounts
• How to keep a healthy outlook about college applications when looking at other people's posts

 Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• General info about applying to Bucknell
• Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Information for prospective students
• Information for parents of prospective students
• @BucknellU on YouTube
• @BucknellU on Facebook
• @BucknellU on Instagram
• @iamraybucknell on Instagram

These days, your dream school will look at way more than grades. They want the complete package: someone who shows promise both inside and outside the classroom — not some computer who can ace any exam but does little else.

So how do you present that complete package to a college? Which out-of-the-classroom parts of your life are worth highlighting? Do some extracurriculars look better on a résumé than others? And what should you do if your after-school time is consumed by a single activity — perhaps a job or a sports team or taking care of a family member?

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, Candace Leake, Bucknell’s associate director of Admissions for access and outreach, shares the best ways to show colleges who you really are through your application.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• General info about applying to Bucknell
• Getting involved at Bucknell
• Beyond the classroom at Bucknell
• For prospective students
• For parents of prospective students
• Bucknell Custom Viewbook
• Bucknell Virtual Welcome Center

When you visit campus for a preview session and guided tour, chat with our student ambassadors, or experience an interactive virtual tour of campus, you'll have a front-row seat as you explore this place we call home.

This combination of in-person and virtual visit offerings means you can learn more about Bucknell in the way that fits you and your family best.

There are dozens of reasons a student might choose to take a gap year, a voluntary yearlong break taken between the end of high school and the start of college. It might be to travel, find a job or internship, or complete volunteer or service work.

In recent years, we've seen that about 3% to 5% of students take a gap year after high school. At Bucknell, that number is about 1% of each incoming class.

But what are the pros and cons of taking that year away? How do you apply for a gap year deferral if you've already gotten into college? And what should students keep in mind before and during their gap year?

In this episode of College Admissions Insider, Bucknell’s assistant director of admissions, Kristin Morrow, offers advice to students deciding whether a gap year is right for them, including insights into how that pause might impact their applications and admission to the colleges on their list.

Read a transcript for this episode

If you have a question, comment or idea for a future episode, email [email protected].

Please note: Information presented in this episode was accurate at the time of recording, but may have since changed. Participants may have changed roles or no longer hold positions at Bucknell University.

Links:

• Blog post: Is a Gap Year a Good or Bad Idea?
• General information about applying to Bucknell
• For admitted students
• For prospective students
• For parents of prospective students
• Bucknell Virtual Welcome Center
• Bucknell Custom Viewbook