Scholarships to Skidmore

Skidmore is a top school, often referred to as a "little ivy." We have at least one graduate there now and they have accepted, and offered scholarships to, German School graduates in the last few years.

They have three merit scholarships you may be interested in:

1) Filene Music Scholarship. You do not have to plan to major in music. It is $10,000 for each of the four years.
2)Porter Presidential Scholarships in Science and Math. You do not have to plan to major in math or science. It is also $10,000 for each of the four years.
3)Math and Science Scholarship. It is much like the one above.

Right now, it appears that Skidmore will be visiting the German School on October 19th. If you are at all interested, you should have good questions ready for the admissions officer.

These are great opportunities for German School students.

Scholarships

I've heard interesting things about scholarship.com. Try it out and tell me what you think. There are a lot of scholarships out there, and you will have to wade through many that don't apply to you, but if scholarship money is important to you, it is worth a try.

The local clubs where you live (The Women's Club, Rotary Club, Library Club) may offer small scholarships, some based on community service. Again, if you are really serious about scholarship money, give those a try. I know several young people who have received small amounts from such organizations, and every little bit helps.

For those devoted to human rights,

Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut has a very comprehensive Human Rights Program. It's the first one in the country and can be pursued either through an interdisciplinary, self-designed major or through the Human Rights Minor. Sample courses: International Human Rights Law, Women's Rights as Human Rights, The Politics of Human Rights in Latin America. Every year, several students work for 12 weeks as PAID interns at major human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Lawyers Without Borders, Urban Justice Center. To find out more about the program, contact Sonia Cardenas, Director, Human Rights Program, Trinity College, hrp@trincoll.edu.

The "Near-Ivies" -- Start Looking and Visiting

The Ivies have their place, of course, but it is important to look beyond to other schools that may, possibly, offer just as fine an education. A recent report listed the colleges below as "near-ivies." Note that Wellesley has some information nights coming soon discussed below,that University of Virginia has some coming up listed below, too, that it would be easy for you to pop on down to NYU to take a look, we have a recent German School graduate at Washington University in St. Louis you can probably talk to, that I have information about a scholarship to Washington you may be interested in and, finally, we have a even more recent graduate at Tufts:

Carnegie Mellon University
Duke
John Hopkins
NYU
Northwestern
Tufts University
University of Virginia
Washington University of St. Louis
Wellesley College
Williams University

Small, Quirky Colleges Famous For High-Quality Teaching

All of the colleges below are small, very liberal, have very small classes and are very highly ranked for the quality of the teaching.

1. Bard College, New York State Very small, perfect for the radical, hyper-intellectual philosopher/ artist. Truly personalized academic attention.

2. Denison College, Ohio Known for the close academic family.

3. Hampshire College, Massachusetts Very small, woodland setting, part of the Five College Consortium (With Smith, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, UMass). More hippie than hip, discourages letter grades, has one of the highest graduate-school acceptance rates in the country. Only appropriate for the very self-directed.

4. Harvey Mudd, California 750 students, nine majors, all in math or science. The academics are very intense.

5. Kenyon College, Ohio One of the top liberal arts schools in the country. Very highly intense academic atmosphere. Great writing program.

6. Knox College, Illinois Intellectual, liberal, passionate.

7. Ohio Wesleyan This school has one of the highest percentages of international students and truly encourages community service.

8. Reed College, Oregon Very quirky and very intellectual. There are few other colleges in the US , including the Ivies, where the academic bar is so high. Be prepared for lots of work.

9. Sarah Lawrence, New York The motto is "You are different. So are we." The academic system is borrowed from the Oxford/Cambridge tutorial model. No tests, only long, long papers. No grades, only written evaluations. Often listed as the best school for teaching academic writing in the county. Only the very self-directed should consider this school, because of the extreme freedom.

10. Wabash College, Indiana All men. They say they find it easier to concentrate on academics that way.

Wellesley

This is another terrific college. You can do a usual college tour with them, or you can sign up for one of three morning expanded sessions. The college is in Wellesley, MA, so it isn't entirely too far. I know several people who went to good medical schools from Wellesley and really enjoyed the Wellesley education.

The mornings are:
9-12
Saturday, September 25
Monday, October 11
Saturday, November 13

The morning features student-led tours, panel discussions, and information sessions wtih admission and financial aid counselors. The September 25 session will have extra information about science majors.

Juniors or seniors can go to the morning sessions.

Only seniors are invited to The Overnight, noon to noon, Sunday and Monday, October 17-18. It has everything the morning sessions have, plus class visits, cultural events, and an overnight in a dormitory.

You can find out more information online or call 781-283-2270

One More Detail about Danforth Scholarship

It must be submitted by the college counselor before October 15, so don't delay in informing the college counselor if you are interested.

Scholarship to Washington University/Admissions Info

Washington University in St. Louis in another fine university. We have at least one German School graduate attending there now, and she gives it high marks.

There are several events in the near future where a representative of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will meet with interested students and their parents.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 7:00 to 8:00 at the Doubletree Tarrytown, 455 South Broadway, Tarrytown, New York.

Sunday, October 24, 2010, 12:00-1:00 at the Directors Guild Theatre, 110 West 57th Street, New York, New York.

The Danforth Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship offered by Washington University in St Louis and the German school can nominate students who demonstrate high ideals, personal integrity, selflessness, a commitment to community, and a dedication to leadership and academic excellence. The competition for these scholarships is very high, but if a student is interested, they should notify the college counselor.

First Blog/University of Virginia

If you are interested in American or Canadian or British colleges or universities, you should keep checking here.

First bit of information: University of Virginia, which is a fine school, is hosting two evening programs in our area. The university dean will be there, along with a panel of current students to talk about life at U.Va. It is not necessary to RSVP -- just show up. The first one is on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 6:30 PM at the UV/Yale Club of New York at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, New York. The second one is on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 7:00 pm at the Millburn Public Library, 200 Glen Avenue Millburn, NJ, 07041.

There will be a lot of information about the college admissions process. If you haven't been to a college night yet, consider this one.