The Home Stretch

2

Hello Insider readers! It’s been awhile since I checked in, so I wanted to share some quick thoughts on my first reading season with you this morning. It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly at the end of application review. In some respects, it feels like we’ve been reading for-ev-er, and in others, it feels like we’ve just begun. However, there is one thing that I can say with confidence as a first time reader– this process has been unlike any other I’ve experienced. I (along with my fellow counselors) have now read hundreds upon hundreds of Common App essays, supplemental questions, activity summaries, and teacher recommendations. We’ve been wowed by the creativity, honesty, worldliness, humor, maturity and passion reflected in the prospective members of the Class of 2017. We’ve laughed at some very hilarious essays, cried during a few heartbreaking ones, and been reaffirmed in our belief of the incredible power of young people with big ideas.

Here’s a look at life as a reader. I spend a lot of time here, at my little at-home desk…

My "office away from office"

…with my constant companions of hot tea and water.

Hydration station

My yoga mat is perpetually rolled out for random stretch breaks and spontaneous sun salutations…

Yoga and reading... they're all about going with the flow

…and my shoes are always ready to go for a run, my ultimate sanity-saver.

Ready, set... RUN

Oh, and I’ve been knitting too.

The fruits of my reading-break labors thus far

‘Tis the Season

4

Happy Holidays from Johns Hopkins University! Here in Mason Hall, we’ve been celebrating the season by playing our Pandora Christmas music stations non-stop, hosting student group holiday parties, and wearing our favorite green and red sweaters and neckties. There’s an undeniable energy in the air, but for us Admissions professionals, it’s not coming from a gingerbread and candy cane overload (although that may be part of it, too). For us, the holiday season coincides with another wonderful time of the year: Early Decision season. In the past month and a half, we reviewed over 1,400 applicants who wowed us with their unique experiences, passions, and voices. On Friday evening, we’ll be releasing notifications and welcoming the first members of the Class of 2017.

There is perhaps no time of year as emotionally charged as the holidays. There’s the excitement of reunions with loved ones, the joy of giving and receiving gifts and sharing good food, and the reflections that inevitably accompany the end of one year and the start of another. But feelings of stress can be compounded in such a high-intensity time, especially if you’re a high school senior about to receive a decision that seems so huge in magnitude to many of the situations you’ve faced up to this point. Although these may seem like weak words coming from someone sitting in an Admissions Office far away from you and all of your hopes and dreams, I’ll write them anyway: Everything will be fine. You are not defined by your admissions decision. Although this may feel like the moment that will decide the course of your life forever and ever, it’s not.  We talk about the idea of “fit” a lot in our office, and we believe that there are many schools that can serve as a good fit for each student. Trust that you will end up in a place that is a good fit for you, whether that’s JHU or another institution.

             Speaking of admissions decisions, if you are an Early Decision applicant and have not yet logged into your ISIS account, please do so. You’ll need to set up your password to access your decision once they are released this Friday, December 14, at 6:00 p.m. EST. See more info in our previous post: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/blog/2012/12/an-update-on-early-decision-notifications/. An e-mail with instructions on how to log in was sent to all applicants last Friday, December 7; a reminder was sent to those who hadn’t yet logged in yesterday, December 11. If you haven’t received an e-mail, please let us know at gotojhu@jhu.edu or (410) 516-8171 and we’ll help you out!

             One last note: this entry marks our 400^th Hopkins Insider post. This is quite a milestone in and of itself, but it gets better: the very first Hopkins Insider blog was posted by Admissions_Daniel on December 12, 2005—exactly seven years ago. During that time, H.I. has been viewed by thousands upon thousands of prospective students searching for an open and ”behind-the-scenes” perspective on the college admissions process. We hope to continue to bring warmth, humor, and lots of important information to those navigating their college searches, and we thank our readers for your support and thoughtful comments. Here’s to another 400+ blogs and many, many more years of the Hopkins Insider.

In Their Own Words: Counselors on the Application Process

0

Hello from Mason Hall! I hope those of you affected by Superstorm Sandy are recovering and finding relief. With the Early Decision deadline behind us (unless you were impacted by the storm, in which case you have until Tuesday, Nov. 6th to submit your application) and the Regular Decision deadline swiftly approaching, we Insiders thought it would be fun to gather some advice and reflections on the application process from our counseling staff. Read on to learn what Shannon Miller, Katie Rieder, and John Birney do when they need a break from work, what grabs their attention in an application, and what they wish they had known when they were in your shoes.

1) What really piques your interest when you’re reading a file? What gets you most excited about a student?

Shannon Miller: The part of the application that piques my interest the most is definitely the essay. This is the part of the application where I feel like I REALLY get to know the student who I have been reading about in all of the other pieces. It is where I get to hear his/her voice and imagine him/her on our campus. I know the student is a fit for us when after reading the essay I can see them in one of our classrooms, imagine them as a great roommate, or picture them giving back to our community.

Katie Rieder: Students that are passionate, and that passion is palpable in their application. It doesn’t matter what the student is passionate about – it could be jump roping, building robots, or being in beauty pageants. But if I find myself wanting to know more because the student is so excited about it, that’s a very good thing.

Demonstrated passion makes an application stand out.

John Birney: While academic achievements should be applauded, I’m really excited when I read students who are committed to being involved in various activities, and taking on leadership roles within them. Student-life is such a large part of what makes a school and its campus special, I do try to find students who will continue to make a positive impact on our campus by enhancing the various activities that excite them.

 2) If you could talk to your 17 year old self now, what is the one piece of advice you would give yourself about applying to college?

SM: Start earlier – I was a parent’s worst nightmare. I didn’t visit colleges until after I knew where I was admitted, and then we did a whirlwind tour of 7 colleges in 3 days. When it came to the application, I was THAT student submitting everything the night before the deadline. Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVED my college experience (and definitely wouldn’t have changed it!), but the whole process would have been a lot easier and a lot less stressful if I had put a little more effort into it. I am NOT saying that you should be starting the college hunt in 7^th grade, or that you need to have your final list by 9^th. What I am saying is that during your junior year, you should start thinking about what you like, and how schools can match those interests, both inside and outside the classroom. Maybe, visit a few local schools – one large, one medium, and one small sized – to see where you feel comfortable. Then you can branch out further during the spring and summer, so when you go into your senior year, you have a solid list of where you want to apply. This will also allow you to focus on the application a bit earlier…maybe get some ideas rolling for that essay before the school year even starts. We all know that the fall of your senior year can be a bit crazy, so if some of the basic application stuff is already done, you can enjoy it a little more!

KR: Breathe.  It will work out.  And look forward to buying all new clothes. People dress very differently for college on the East Coast vs. the Midwest, where I grew up. That part of freshmen year was really fun.

JB: So much has changed since the days I applied to college! I would encourage myself to ask a lot of questions about what I really desire in a college experience, and then apply that to the vast amount of research that is available now, that wasn’t available then. Once I figured out my college choices, I would seriously consider applying Early Decision to my first choice school.

3) You’ve been reading applications for eight hours straight and you have one hour of “me time.” What do you do?

SM: It all depends on how I am feeling. Sometimes I will curl up on the couch and watch one of my favorite TV shows, sometimes I will go for a run, sometimes I’ll meet my friends for dinner, and sometimes I’ll go shopping. The one thing I do know about my “me time” is that I will definitely NOT be sitting by the computer…I need that time to give my eyes a break after all the reading I have been doing!

KR: Return all the clothes that I didn’t like/didn’t fit that I bought during an online shopping spree, which occurred while reading for 8 hours straight the week before. I obviously have a deep-seated shopping issue (see my answer to #2). I’d probably also make a nice dinner.

JB: Watch a Hopkins sporting event. It’s great to watch our competitive teams consistently win over our conference rivals – all while suppressing the memory that there are still more applications to read!

J.B. enjoys JHU athletic events, like lacrosse games, as his break from app reading.

 4) Choose one of the Common App essay topics. Write the first four sentences of your response to this topic.

SM: “Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.”

I overheard my mom talking to my dad – “the washing machine is clogged AGAIN…this time, with pizza crust. I just got all of the noodles out yesterday!” My sister, Catie, sat in the hallway crying, not knowing any English, and definitely not understanding why my mom was so frustrated. Of course, Catie put her leftovers from dinner in her pockets. Where else was she supposed to hide them?

JB: “Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.”

I’m not someone who cries. That’s not to say that I never have, or never will again, it’s just that shedding a tear isn’t on my daily list of things-to-do. At the birth of my first son Jack, I cried (more like a sob).  When my second son Carter was born, there I was weeping again. I cried when I presented my sister at her wedding; I even shed a tear at the when I hear the “Christmas Shoes” song. I’m learning that crying is really not all that bad, and recently, I cried at work.

See? Counselors are human too. They take shopping  and sports breaks, have things they would change about their college processes, and have interesting stories to share!

Best of luck as you complete your applications, and check back soon for more exciting news from Homewood!

Charmed by Charm City

0

Don’t get me wrong—I love to talk about Johns Hopkins. Whether I’m here in the office or out on the road, I thoroughly enjoy sharing information and anecdotes about our beautiful 140 acre campus, our lack of core curriculum, our undergraduate research and internship opportunities, our 370+ student groups, and many other aspects of JHU life that make us who we are. But one of my favorite parts of any information session I give comes when I get to talk about the totally awesome and vibrant city that surrounds JHU: Baltimore!

When I started my college search way back in 2006, I thought I would probably apply to lots of small liberal arts schools in the Northeast. After dedicating my first college visit trip to exploring many campuses of this kind, I came away thinking they were beautiful, wonderful… and absolutely not for me. I could easily see how many students would fall in love with these institutions, but I felt that the small liberal arts schools, many of them located in small rural towns, resembled my high school experience too closely. My realization was not that I didn’t like this kind of environment—in fact, I loved my high school and where I grew up—but rather that I was ready to experience something new and different. In part, my attraction to JHU stemmed from its size and location: a mid-sized school in a mid-sized city, a place with a lot going on, yet still very manageable for a newbie city dweller like me.  

In my humble and personal opinion, living in Baltimore is one of the coolest things about going to JHU. It’s sometimes hard for me to articulate what it is about this city that makes it so compelling, but I always come back to the idea that whoever came up with the nickname “Charm City” really hit the nail on the head. Baltimore may not be the chicest city, or the most picturesque in every area, but it has a special quirky essence that makes it very easy to love. Here’s what comes to mind for me when I define something that has “charm”: it isn’t flawless on the surface, but there’s an inherent quality that draws you in, something about it that you just can’t shake. If I were to assign Baltimore a persona, it would be a slightly kooky but lovable family member, the one that sometimes drives you crazy but also makes you crack up, the one that you don’t often understand but always gives you some good stories to tell.

Flowers at a huge local farmer's market-- it takes place under a highway overpass near my apartment each Sunday!

Baltimore is made up of many different neighborhoods, each with their own names and unique characteristics. The area that surrounds our campus, Charles Village, feels like a little college town. There are lots of cute restaurants, shops, and cafes for students to check out, as well as a grocery store, dry cleaners, laundromats, and places to get a haircut. Just a couple of miles to the south you’ll run into Mount Vernon, home of the Peabody Conservatory and the Walters Art Museum. Just beyond Mount Vernon is the downtown and Inner Harbor area of Baltimore. Neighborhoods like Fells Point, Canton, Harbor East, and Federal Hill have great views of the water and are full of fun places to eat, shop, run/stroll, or just hang out. Take a short walk to the west of our campus and you’ll find Hampden, where the musical Hairspray is set. Hampden has, in my (again, humble and personal) opinion, some of the very best places for college students (and recent graduates!) to grab some good eats, at interesting and affordable establishments like the Golden West Cafe, Rocket to Venus, Corner B.Y.O.B., the Dogwood Restaurant, and 13.5 Wine Bar. For some visual aids, follow JHU_Noah and JHU_Lucie through Episode 4 and Episode 5 of ”Learn More, See More, B’more: Neighborhoods of Baltimore.”

The Inner Harbor

I’ve had a few revelations about my adopted East Coast city since I graduated from college and started to see it through the eyes of a “young professional.” One thing I’ve noticed is just how much hometown pride the local population displays. Maybe it’s especially strong right now given the awesome performances by the Orioles and Ravens, but I generally feel that the sense of spirit is particularly high in this city. Businesses encourage their employees to participate in “Purple Fridays” and wear purple clothes on the Friday before Ravens games. O’s game days resemble Halloween because of how much orange and black can be seen on the streets. Many people I’ve met who were born and raised in Baltimore seem very dedicated to staying here, and young people who relocate here for one reason or another find that it’s a great place to live too.

Camden Yards, home of the Orioles

In that same vein, I’m always amazed by how easy it is to take advantage of so many aspects of Baltimore life. The public transportation system has continued to improve, and now it’s pretty easy to get around the city using the Johns Hopkins shuttle and the Charm City Circulator. Baltimore is also quite affordable; I find that I’m able to indulge my foodie side fairly regularly and check out new restaurants with friends. I can go to lots of museums, like the Baltimore Museum of Art (which just so happens to be located right next to the Homewood campus!), for free. I can walk up to the ticket counter on a summer night and get into an Orioles/Red Sox game for under $20. There are festivals and city-wide gatherings cropping up all over the place: Artscape, HonFest, the Baltimore Book Fest, and the Maryland Film Festival are a few that come to mind. Our city has so much going on and it’s all easy to access as well.

Enjoying Hampden's annual HonFest with my friend Charlotte

When I was an undergraduate student, I loved the fact that I could head down to Penn Station, hop on a commuter train and be in Washington, D.C. in about 45 minutes. Coming from the Midwest, this was incredibly novel to me! I appreciate our proximity to other major East Coast cities even more now that my close friends have dispersed a bit and now live and work in D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. It’s great to be able to visit them for a weekend and I love the fact that I can be in a completely new environment in a couple of hours or less.

One of the most meaningful things I learned as an undergraduate at Hopkins was how valuable it can be to truly explore and experience the world around you. Students here are doing it all the time, whether through research, internships, volunteering at a local non-profit, enjoying a crab feast, running along the Inner Harbor, or taking in a concert at Power Plant. Baltimore is a great place to be as an explorer of the world, and I can’t wait to dig deeper below the surface of my quirky, cool Charm City—there’s definitely more than meets the eye.

The messy remants of a very fun crab dinner

The New Counselor Chronicles: Fall Travel Planning

1

Happy fall from Mason Hall! We are enjoying the cool, crisp weather here in Baltimore. The switch from summer to autumn brings the start of a new season in the world of admissions, too—fall travel season! As soon as September hit, our office was buzzing with the activity of counselors getting ready to hit the road. Boxes were packed, schedules were finalized, and flight and hotel reservations were made.

As a new counselor, this was my first experience planning my own recruitment travel. My travel territory currently includes North Carolina and several New England states. I took input from several of my fellow counselors this season, and from those ideas, along with my own experiences, I’ve compiled a list of travel tips that made my first trip to North Carolina a success.

1)       Create a Travel Binder. This lovely accessory has quickly become an indispensable piece of my daily ensemble. It goes everywhere I go when I’m on the road. It contains my carefully crafted itinerary, lists of addresses and phone numbers, daily maps of all of my stops (just in case my GPS should have a bad day), college fair and Explore Hopkins details, and flight and hotel information. Having all of this information together in one place makes it easier to see how the days flow and prevents mishaps like showing up at a school on the wrong day or arriving at the airport at 7 a.m. instead of 7 p.m. (not that these things have ever happened to admissions counselors). The Travel Binder also provides lots of opportunities for customization, as each counselor can design his or her own cover. I opted for a simply designed print-out, while Admissions_Ardi went with a hand-crafted version. 

A beautiful thing in the mind of an admissions counselor.

"Hmm... can I squeeze in just one more visit on Tuesday?"

2)       Send yourself a gift. Getting packages in the mail is always exciting. One of the great things about being an admissions counselor is that I get to send myself packages on the road all the time! It’s cool to walk in to a hotel and have the concierge say, “Oh, Ms. Wolf? You have a package!” and then I get to say, “Oh, really?! I do? How exciting!” They don’t have to know I sent it from the office a week ago and that it’s full of Hopkins brochures and business cards.  

SURPRISE! Okay, not really.

3)       Confirm your visits. Before I left for my trip, I took some time to call each of the high schools I planned to visit one more time and confirm the date and time of my visit. It’s nice to touch base with my contacts one more time before I become less accessible and ask if there are any last minute details of which I should be aware.

4)       Pack a GPS and a sense of humor. Another thing I couldn’t live without on the road? A GPS system. I tend to be a bit directionally challenged, so I was a little worried about getting from school to school on a tight schedule. But my GPS, in her very polite British accent, guided me to each destination with ease. It’s also important to take the little mishaps that occur every once in a while with a smile—or at least some yoga breathing. Missed exits, angry drivers honking, hitting every red light possible when you have to be at a school in 2 minutes… it happens. Be cool.

5)       HAVE FUN! Yes, recruitment travel is work, but it’s also a lot of fun! We get to explore new places and speak with “the locals” in each region we visit. I was encouraged to ask counselors for restaurant recommendations and favorite attractions in the area to fill in the little bits of downtime I found in each day. For me, running is a big part of my routine and I love to explore each new city I visit by pounding the pavement. When I was in Charlotte, NC, I ran by the Nascar Hall of Fame!

As I continue with my fall travel in New England, I’m sure this list will expand substantially. Look out for other travel-related blogs from other counselors coming your way soon, as well as some exciting updates from the Homewood Campus! 

Movin’ On In

2

Last week, Admissions_Ardi and I took a stroll over to the freshman quad to watch some of the move-in activity. As usual, it was a scene of perfectly organized chaos. And when I say perfectly organized, I mean just that. JHU’s move-in day reflects the excellence, efficiency, and enthusiasm that we value in our academic and extracurricular lives here on campus. For new students and parents, I think it’s the perfect introduction to the incredible place that will serve as a home away from home for the next four years. The freshman quad was filled with Peer Ambassadors and Orientation Ambassadors who were busily moving boxes and bags from packed minivans, smiling all the while. A student-run business, The Complete Dorm Room, doled out pre-purchased XL sheets, fans, and school supplies to slightly harried parents. And, of course, there were lots of freshman students, looking just a tad nervous as they observed the confident returning students hauling their stuff.

The Complete Dorm Room staging area

Nervousness is a pretty typical (and reasonable!) emotion to feel on move-in day. But when I asked some of your favorite student bloggers to share memories of their freshman move-in experiences, it became clear that nervousness was always quickly joined by another emotion; namely, amazement at the painlessness of the process. From JHU_Tess :

      “I remember the dread on my family’s faces the morning of my freshman year move-in. The previous year my older brother had gone to college, and to say that his move-in was a disaster would be the understatement of the century. So as we drove to Homewood, the tension in the car was palpable. As it turned out, there was no reason to be concerned. My family still discusses to this day how we didn’t lift a finger throughout the entire process. Everything was organized and efficient, and by the time I made it up to my room, the Hopkins movers had already brought up all my stuff!”

      From JHU_Lucie : “When I moved into AMR 2 as a freshman, my family was incredibly nervous wondering how we’d get everything into the room; you see, I’m a twin, and my dad’s car was filled to the brim with college items for TWO people. When we pulled up in front of the dorm, our car was swarmed with move-in helpers wearing ‘I like to move it move it’ t-shirts, and, in what felt like 30 seconds, our car was empty!”

The bonding that occurs during move-in was also a theme. From JHU_Erica :

       “I’ll never forget rolling my suitcases from the hotel across the street to AMR 2. It started pouring down rain and I was dripping wet when I arrived to my room, but all the volunteers and students were so friendly and welcoming! My entire house bonded over the terrible move in weather since most of us were soaking wet!”

From JHU_Ruthie: “The way PAs and OAs collect the student from the car allows the freshman to meet someone new the instant they step onto campus, and that kind of immediate bonding only happens because everything is structured so effectively. I remember the PA who moved me in last year – she actually turned out to be one of my Alpha Phi sisters after I rushed! I hope that I’ve had the same positive effect now that I’m on the flip side.”

"Hey, I just ,met you, and this is crazy, but here's your dorm keys, so move in maybe." Carly Rae would be proud.

I loved reading what each SAABer remembered about his or her move-in day, and as I did, I couldn’t help thinking back to my own experience four years ago. Because I was a Pre-O kid coming from Minnesota, my parents weren’t able to help me move in to my room—instead, we left my stuff at the Outdoor Pursuits basecamp when I went off for my trip. When I returned from Pre-O, some of my leaders helped me load my stuff into a van and haul it over to AMR II, where I was met by a team of eager, friendly student movers. Within minutes, all of my boxes and bags had been dropped in the middle of my second floor room in Gildersleeve house. I couldn’t even begin to think about settling in without taking a shower first—I was pretty sure I would scare away any fellow freshmen I encountered in my post-Pre-O state.

Admissions_Ardi and I got a little nostalic and snapped some pictures in front of our AMR II houses.

I'm a Gildersleeve girl for life.

After wandering around the maze that is AMR II for a several minutes looking for a bathroom, I finally found one and spent a good half hour washing away the after effects of a week on the Appalachian Trail. Pre-O had also left me with a nice, big pile of very dirty clothes, so my next stop was the laundry room. Although I had practiced doing my own wash several times that summer, I still managed to load my quarters into a dryer instead of a washing machine, which led to several more trips up and down the stairs to get dollar bills to make change to put into the correct appliance. At this point, I was famished, so I went off in search of dinner. The FFC wasn’t open yet, so I tried to make my way into Charles Village. Instead, I got totally turned around and found myself near what I would later be able to identify as the Hopkins Club (which is basically in the opposite direction of Charles Street, for those of you who aren’t familiar with campus). I had done a pretty good job of staying calm until this point. I had gotten to my dorm, picked up my keys, found the bathrooms, done my laundry, met my R.A. But now I was hungry and lost, and I was losing it. My chin was trembling as I dialed my home number on my cell phone, and by the time my mom picked up, I was sobbing. We laugh about that phone call now, but at the time, she says, it was so hard to be so far away, feeling like she couldn’t help me. She did, however, get me calmed down enough to continue my quest for dinner, which eventually led me to Chipotle.

Reaching Chipotle was like discovering an oasis in the desert. In high school, my friends and I would actually drive 45 minutes from our small town just to get Chipotle. I would soon learn that novelty of this particularly chain restaurant was lost for me when I no longer had to go to such great lengths to get it. But right then, it was just what I needed. As I sat there with my burrito bowl, awkwardly pretending to read some of the freshmen brochures I had brought along to distract me, a couple of older-looking girls walked in. As they waited in line, another group of girls entered, and a reunion full of happy squeals and shrieks ensued. I couldn’t help but smile a little. They sounded just like me and my best friends from high school when we saw each other after time apart. They seemed really happy, so sure of themselves, and so at ease in a place that was so foreign and strange to me at that moment. I know it sounds super corny, but I actually remember thinking to myself, “That will be me, someday soon.” Before I knew it, a year went by, and I came back to a campus I could navigate easily and met my friends for dinner at our favorite Charles Village spots. That process repeated itself two more times, and suddenly, I was walking across the stage in Homewood field, a college graduate, with a crew of amazing best buds cheering me on.

For those of you staring down the college application process, it might be tough to envision finding yourself in a place where you feel as comfortable as you do now. The truth is, there will be moments of uncertainty, even when you arrive on your chosen college’s campus. You might find yourself overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you brought, or caught in the rain with your bags, or pretending to read brochures in a Chipotle. But it’s okay, because everyone else is having those same kinds of moments. Then something wonderful will happen: maybe, after a laundry fiasco, you’ll meet your future roommate in the hallway of your dorm (like me) or, like JHU_Allysa, you’ll find love during O-Week:

      “I met my boyfriend during Orientation! In addition to Aaron, I pretty much met all of my best friends during Orientation week and today, out of all of my friends, they are the ones I know that will be my friends for a lifetime.”

The bottom line is, it will be okay. Before you know it, you’ll be watching a group of new freshmen loitering around the dorms. Who knows? You may even be one of those peppy Peer Ambassadors helping them transition into a new dorm and a new stage of life.

PCACAC Summer Institute: Where the Counselors Become the Campers

0

Hello from Baltimore! Summer continues to fly by and here we are, at the beginning of August. I remember this as the point in every summer when I would start to get antsy to go back to school—partly because I enjoyed going to class (I’m definitely a little nerdy, I’ll admit it!), but also because I was so excited to reunite with my classmates/dorm mates/sorority sisters, etc. I loved that sense of being with people that shared my academic and extracurricular passions—they just “got” me. It always felt pretty effortless to fall right back in.

Earlier this week, I got the opportunity to meet a new group of people whose presence made me feel right at home. I spent Monday and Tuesday as an attendee of the PCACAC’S Summer Institute at the University of Delaware in Newark. PCACAC (pronounced “PAK-ak” or “pa-KAK-ak” depending on who you ask) stands for the Potomac & Chesapeake Association of College Admission Counseling, and it’s the regional branch of our profession’s national organization, the National Association of College Admission Counseling. This group brings together professionals from “both sides of the desk,” as they say, meaning that both high school guidance counselors and college admissions counselors can be members. It’s a great way to engage with our peers from other schools in the Mid-Atlantic who might be traveling to the same high schools we are, or college counselors who work at the schools we’re visiting in the fall. I couldn’t believe how easily I was able to connect with this group—it certainly didn’t feel like I was with a bunch of complete strangers after a few short hours. I know that the counselors in our office are a pretty lively bunch, and these folks certainly reinforced this perception of college admissions professionals.

PCACAC’s Summer Institute is geared toward people who have recently entered the field of college or admissions counseling, so many of the sessions I attended covered the more basic topics of the profession. Our first group session, for example, was called “Ethics in the Admissions Process,” and gave us an overview of the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice. There are certain rules and deadlines that we have to follow as admissions counselors when we’re communicating with all of you, just as you have deadlines and rules when applying to college.  It was very interesting to look at different case studies of ethical and unethical situations—some of them surprised me! I also attended sessions that focused on making effective high school visits, incorporating social media into the admissions process, and balancing travel with student group management. It was so great to be able to attend sessions that were specifically designed to answer some of my biggest questions as a first-time admissions counselor, and I’m hoping that they will make me an even more effective ambassador of my office and school!

I had one of my new counselor friends take this dorky picture of me with my PCACAC Summer Institute certificate

When our sessions ended for the day, we headed to a local restaurant in Newark for some dinner and networking. As I said, networking with these people was anything but boring! We had a great time chatting about all kinds of things, both admissions-related and not. The restaurant had a Trivia Night going on while we were there, and some members of our group jumped right in and won the $50 prize! I was pretty exhausted by the time I reached my dorm room (oh yes, we stayed in the dorms!) and said goodnight to my roommate Jenny (yup, we had roommates!). The dorm facilities were very nice and I kind of enjoyed the nostalgia trip back to my freshman year in AMR II, plastic mattress and all. I never thought I’d be digging out my XL twin sheets again! One thing was distinctly different, however: these dorms had AC! Instead of waking up in the middle of the night sweating (eww), I woke up chilly! These times, they are a-changin.

Independence Hall, my dorm for the night

My PCACAC experience felt a little bit like summer camp for admissions counselors, except in this case, the counselors were the campers! I have a feeling that if I run into any of my new counselor acquaintances on the road this fall, we’ll greet each other like old friends.

We’re pretty excited about meeting many of you during our travels this fall, too! Keep an eye on the “Visit” section of our website for updates about upcoming counselor visits in your area as well as on-campus events!

Home Sweet Home(wood)

8

Hello there, Hopkins Insider readers! My name is Laurin Wolf, and I’m the newest addition to the admissions counseling staff at JHU. I’m so excited to be part of the team and to help represent my alma mater. Yes, I’m also a proud 2012 graduate of Johns Hopkins! Over my past four years on the Homewood campus, I completed a degree in the Writing Seminars, met a lot of amazing people (some of whom will be my friends for life), and learned a lot about myself. I also went on many adventures in Charm City, where I learned important life skills like how to eat a crab.

Meet Admissions_Laurin

Here’s a little bit about me: I’m from a small town in Minnesota, where lakes, ice hockey, and the Mall of America reign (and no, I don’t think I have a Minnesota accent, although some people disagree). My name is really, actually spelled L-a-u-r-I-n (I’m named for my paternal grandfather, who went through almost his entire life never knowing the correct spelling of his own name). I feel a deep kinship with our founder, Johns Hopkins, as I have no doubt that he, too, was constantly having to confirm the spelling of his first name (“Yes, yes, you heard me right… that’s Johnssssss Hopkins”).  As a student at JHU, I was a member of a sorority, served on the staff of a literary publication, joined a community service/running club in downtown Baltimore (you can read my Hopkins Interactive guest blog about that experience here), studied abroad in Barcelona, held multiple internships and, as you might have guessed, hung around the Admissions Office a lot! I was a Blue Key tour guide, an Admissions Representative, and a student worker during my four years here. When I found out about the open Admissions Counselor position, I was totally psyched. The job combined many of the things I was looking for in a career—the opportunity to meet new people, see new places, and use my writing skills—AND I would get to get to do all of this on behalf of the school I loved. Plus I would get to spend even more time with your favorite bloggers Admissions_Daniel and Admissions_Shannon—and who wouldn’t want that?!

With my friends Kate and Charlotte at Commencement

Like the rest of the counselors here in the office, I’ll be hitting the road in the fall for recruitment travel and I am thrilled about this aspect of my job. That’s because I’ll get to meet some of you in person!  My territory will include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. You’ll start seeing more and more of me on this site, as another part of my role in the Admissions Office will be overseeing the fantastic group of students who contribute to Hopkins Interactive, more formally known as the Student Admissions Advisory Board (SAAB). I’ll also be supporting the Admissions Representatives with my colleague (and fellow Hopkins alum!) Dana Messinger. I have a feeling that every day in this office is going to be a little bit different, and that makes me even more excited to be on board.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve given my first solo information sessions in front of groups of prospective students and their parents. It was a little nerve-wracking at first but mostly a lot of fun! I love engaging with people and I could probably talk about JHU for 5 hours straight (though that would be a little boring for my group and exhausting for me). My next challenge is to figure out ways to make my info session my own and discover my unique voice when I’m up in front of a crowd, while still dispensing all the key points. As a Writing Sems major, this is something I’ve worked on a lot, so I’m looking forward to putting those skills into practice in a new way. I’ve also been busy planning my first trips and learning more about the ins and outs of the office. I’m going to a conference for local admissions counselors at the University of Delaware at the end of the month, where I’ll have the opportunity to meet some of my colleagues from peer institutions.

In addition to sharing my musings on the life of a first-year Admissions Counselor, I also hope to give all of you readers some insights into the life of a recent Hopkins grad living in the city and taking on the “real world.” I expect that this transition will provide moments of triumph, frustration, and downright hilariousness (much like my freshman year of college, actually)! For example, all three were rolled into one incident late last week when I found myself standing on a rickety set of plastic drawers wearing a pair of platform high heels, desperately trying to detach a faulty smoke detector whose incessant beeping threatened to keep me awake all night. Granted, it was probably not the safest choice I’ve ever made (don’t try this at home!) but I think it was a good use of my Hopkins-learned ingenuity. Next order of business: befriend a giant, or at least someone with a ladder. As silly as all of this may sound, I hope that my quest to find balance and happiness in my LAC (Life After College) will be interesting and useful to you, too.

Keeping good company with two other adventurous city girls.

Well, the summer heat is certainly on here in Baltimore, but it’s nice and cool in Mason Hall (it’s actually freezing—I’m wearing a fleece jacket and a blanket as I type this! That’s one aspect of office life I haven’t yet adjusted to). Come visit us if you have a chance (there’s still time to check out a Hopkins Preview this month), and enjoy the rest of the sweet summer. Until next time…