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Scott Seseske, Assistant Dean of Admission
Hometown: Pittsfield, MA
Education: B.A. in English from Providence College (Class of 2004), Member of Liberal Arts Honors Program
Geographic Responsibilities (travel territories): MA (Berkshire and Franklin counties; Lowell, Concord, and
Wellesley areas), AZ, CA, HI, NM
Office Responsibilities: Admission Ambassador Coordinator, Recruitment
Publications Task Force (Electronic Communication & Blog Coordinator), School/College Relations Committee, Web 2.0 Coordinator
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As the first semester of your senior year comes to a close, please make sure to have your guidance office send along your midyear grades to PC (and all of the other schools you have applied to!). Your senior year performance is very important as the Committee on Admission makes the decision on your application, and we want to make sure that we have the most complete picture of your four-year high school career as possible.
By the way, if you attend a high school that operates on a trimester system rather than semesters, your first trimester grades "count" as midyears during our review process. If your second trimester does end in early February and you want to have those grades sent along to us, we will take a look at them if they reach us in time... but, again, your first trimester report fulfills the midyear grades requirement!
The review process is well underway, with our first reads of all Regular Decision applicants scheduled to be completed in mid-February. Decision letters will go out sometime in mid-March... I'll let you know more as we move forward with the process!
The spring semester is always a popular time for visits on campus... whether you are a high school senior who has already been accepted (congrats!) or applied Regular Decision, or a junior just starting the college search, we look forward to welcoming you to PC in 2010! Here are the visit opportunites available over the next few months:
Campus Tours
Tours have started up again this week! Led by a member of the Friars Club, a student service organization here at PC, walking tours of campus last for about an hour and will give you an insider's look at the College. You will explore various campus facilities in addition to learning about academic and student life from your tour guide.
What will you see on a campus tour? Generally, tours will depart from Harkins Hall (the main administration building on campus) or from the location of a Group Information Session. Along the way, you'll visit academic buildings (classrooms), the Phillips Memorial Library, St. Dominic Chapel, a residence hall/room, Raymond Dining Hall, Slavin Center (our student center), and the Concannon Fitness Center/Peterson Recreation Center.
During the spring semester, tours depart from the Harkins Hall Rotunda at the following times:
*9:30 AM, 11:30 AM, and 2:30 PM - Monday through Friday
*11:30 AM and 2:30 PM on Saturday
Registration is not required - simply arrive at the Harkins Hall Rotunda (on the first floor) a few minutes before the scheduled tour departure time.
Please note that there are no campus tours available on Sundays, during the College's Spring Break (February 27 to March 7) or during Easter Break (April 1-5).
Group Information Sessions
Group Information Sessions offer you the opportunity to learn more about PC's academic and co-curricular life, as well as gain insights into the admission, financial aid, and merit scholarship processes. Each discussion lasts approximately 45 minutes to an hour and consists of presentations from members of the Admission staff and current students. The goal of each session is to provide a comprehensive overview of PC, and answer any and all questions you may have about the college. Each session is followed by a tour of campus. (The information session and the tour combined will last for about two hours).
Information Sessions are aimed primarily at juniors during the spring semester, and are held during February and April school vacation periods and on select Saturdays in February, March, and April. After viewing the Information Session schedule and selecting the date you would like to attend, please call the Office of Admission at (800) 721-6444 to schedule your visit.
Day Visits
The Day Visit program provides high school seniors who have applied to PC the opportunity to spend a day with one of our student ambassadors and experience what it means to be a Friar. During the Day Visit, visiting students will be able to attend class with an ambassador, interact with students and faculty, and enjoy a meal in one of our dining halls.
In January, February, and March, Day Visits are limited to Providence College applicants only. In April, the Day Visit program is open only to accepted students.
Space is limited each day, so please call for reservations at least two weeks in advance of the date you would like to visit. Call (800) 721-6444 for more information regarding the availability of dates.
Students Invited to PC at Early Action
Stay tuned for invitations to a variety of campus events, designed to welcome you and your family to the Providence College community and answer your questions about PC as you make your final college decision!
To our students who were accepted to PC Early Action:
Need-based financial aid packages will be mailed on Tuesday, January 19. The Office of Financial Aid spent the past couple of days finalizing this information, so for those of you who applied on time for need-based aid, you will be receiving your packages in the mail this week.
Students accepted Early Action who have not yet applied for Financial Aid, but want to do so should make sure to meet the Regular Decision financial aid deadline (both the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE submitted by February 1). By meeting the Regular Decision aid deadline, you will still be awarded a need-based package without penalty (in other words, you will receive the same package you would have received had you met the EA aid deadline!).
Over 250 of the students accepted Early Action have already joined the Providence College Class of 2014 Online Community and, if you haven't joined yet, we invite you to do so in order to meet your future classmates, chat with current PC students, and receive updated enrollment information. The access link was e-mailed to the account you gave us on your application. If you have trouble gaining access, please e-mail your full name and the high school you attend to admission@providence.edu, and we'll get it straightened out!
The admission staff is now working on reviewing the applicants who applied to PC at the Regular Decision deadline, and I'll be providing updates on that review process as we move forward!
...And January 15, of course, is the Regular Decision application deadline. If you're planning on applying to PC's Class of 2014, please be sure your application is submitted online via the Common Application website today or postmarked by today!
Stay tuned for updates on the Regular Decision admission review process!
Decision letters have reached mailboxes of those students who applied Early Action, and one of the questions we get every year comes from applicants who have been deferred to the Regular Decision review process: what does this mean?
First of all, the process part: When a student receives a defer decision at EA, the committee on admission will re-examine their application in the context of the entire applicant pool, with the student's mid-year grades and any other new information submitted that may aid in our review. Generally, a deferral means that we see a student's potential to be a fit to Providence College, but in a competitive admission process we want to have the most up-to-date academic information and review the student in relation to the remainder of the applicants before we make our final decision.
A defer decision is not intended to be a "soft deny" - we do deny students at Early Action each year, typically when the Committee feels that the student is not competitive in the overall context of the applicant pool and the student's specific record is not likely to change significantly with new information from the student (such as senior year grades). Rather, a defer gives us the opportunity to receive additional information and, again, understand where the student fits in the context of our entire applicant pool, not just the Early Action group.
What should students who have been deferred do at this point? The most important thing is to do well in the classroom senior year. The midyear grades we receive and consider for all students who have been deferred (and all Regular Decision applicants as well) are often a major factor in the admission decision. We may have deferred a student because we see an upward progression in grades, and with the continuation of that trend into senior year, that student may be invited at Regular Decision. On the other hand, a student who shows a weak first semester performance is not likely to receive an acceptance letter in March.
In addition to having midyear grades sent to us from your guidance office, a student who has been deferred is welcome to share any additional information that they feel would enhance their application file. If you have received an award or joined a new activity since you sent us your application, please feel free to send along these updates to our office. If Providence College has emerged as your top choice college, don't hesitate to let us know that as well. Letting us know PC is the place you want to attend won't help if you have a "C" average first semester, but it never hurts to let us know of your interest in attending.
If you have questions about the defer decision, please don't hesitate to either post them here or call our office at (401) 865-2535 to speak with a counselor. We'll be happy to explain the process in more detail and help you understand what we are considering moving forward.
*Scott
Remember, any students who have been awarded a merit scholarship will receive that information with their acceptance letter.
Need-based financial aid information will not arrive with your decision letter. Need-based aid packages will be mailed to students who met the Early Action CSS PROFILE deadline in mid-January.
Best wishes to you and your family for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (And yes, Early Action decision letters will still be mailed on Thursday, December 31!).
Not the most creative title, but it gets the point across! Here's where we are in the Early Action process:
Committee on Admission meetings continue through the end of this week. By Friday, we will have completed the admission review of all of our Early Action applicants. What happens next? We prepare the letters to go out, making sure that each student receives the appropriate letter/information in line with the decision that they received (invite, defer, or deny). With over 3,600 EA applications, this will take a little time, so please be patient with us!
Next week, the admission staff will begin merit scholarship review. As you know if you've been reading this blog, we have some new scholarship levels this year, meaning the scholarship review process will require a little more time to complete than it did last year. The admission committee will come together again next week to finalize the merit scholarship process, deciding which students will be invited to join the Liberal Arts Honors Program, and also which students will receive Academic and Friar Scholarships. (Read more about the Merit-Based Scholarships here).
Merit scholarship information will be packaged with acceptance letters, so accepted students who have also been awarded a merit scholarship will receive all of this information together. Decision letters will be released (via mail only) on December 31, and should arrive in mailboxes during the first week of January.
Need-based financial aid awards will NOT be packaged with acceptance letters. These packages will be mailed to students who completed the CSS PROFILE on time (EA deadline was December 1) sometime in January. A note on EA financial aid deadlines: if you are an Early Action applicant and you have not yet completed the PROFILE, you will not receive a financial aid package in January. However, if you complete the PROFILE and FAFSA by the Regular Decision financial aid deadline (February 1), you will still be considered "on time" for financial aid, and will receive your financial aid package (if your family qualifies) when Regular Decision financial aid awards are mailed in late March.
I can't stress enough the importance of meeting deadlines for financial aid, so here they are one more time:
Early Action Applicants: FAFSA due by February 1 (CSS PROFILE was due December 1).
Regular Decision Applicants: CSS PROFILE & FAFSA due by February 1.
One final note - when completing the PROFILE and FAFSA online, the information does not come immediately to our Financial Aid Office, but rather to the appropriate processing center. Our financial aid deadline of February 1 means that the information needs have reached PC from either PROFILE or FAFSA by that day, and the forms need to be complete. To be safe, our Financial Aid Office suggests you complete PROFILE and FAFSA at least 7-10 business days before the February 1 deadline!
Questions about the admission or merit scholarship reviews? Please don't hesitate to call the Office of Admission at (401) 865-2535 or e-mail us at pcadmiss@providence.edu. Questions about need-based financial aid? You can reach the Office of Financial Aid at (401) 865-2286.
The final review of applications in our Early Action process takes place in the committee on admission setting, and it began yesterday. The committee review is scheduled to run through the end of next week!
That's me preparing some application files before the rest of the committee arrived!
While a student's academic performance is the most important factor in the admission review process at Providence College, each student's involvement, leadership positions, essays, recommendations, and personal qualities play essential roles in helping the admission staff to build not only a strong academic freshman class, but also a vibrant and active campus community.
The holistic nature of our admission review means that our counseling staff looks closely at the activities each student has been involved in during their high school years. What stands out to us? Showing dedication to and taking on leadership roles in these activities. We are not looking for the student who has the most clubs listed on his activity sheet; rather, we are looking for students who have been meaningfully involved outside of the classroom. This means students who have more than just a surface level of involvement (something more than, "I go to a meeting for that club once a month, but I don't really participate in any of the club events"). We're looking for students who have shown commitment to groups that they are involved in and, again, taken on leadership roles within organizations, on athletic teams, or in part-time work environments. It is the depth of a student's invovlement that makes an applicant stand out! In short, quality of activities, not quantity of activities is what matters!
(And, by the way, there is no one activity that is valued more highly than another. Whatever areas a student has demonstrated a significant commitment to are respected during the review process).
The college essay and Providence College Supplemental Statement are two pieces of writing that we also find very helpful during the review process. Both of these writing samples help us to get a sense of who students are on the personal level (it helps us move beyond the "academic numbers") and to get a sense of how well a student writes (important at PC because of our liberal arts curriculum!). The strong essays we read each year give us a sense of what is important to a student, what they are passionate about, and really provide us with information that we don't have elsewhere in the application. (In other words, the essay isn't a listing of courses or activities, which we already have on the transcript and activity sheet). For the Providence College Supplemental Statement, we are trying to get a sense of why each student sees PC as a fit for them specifically, and both of these writing samples can play major roles in the admission decisions that students receive.
Recommendations are the final subjective pieces of information that we consider, and come from counselors, teachers, and others who know a student well (including advisors, coaches, managers at part-time jobs). Counselor recommendations paint a picture of the applicant's high school career, bringing to light things about the student that may not be apparent from simply looking at the academic numbers on the high school transcript. The counselor can often provide useful context for the student’s academic performance, and explain any special circumstances (i.e. course rigor, schedule conflicts, personal or medical issues) that may have arisen during the high school career. It is truly difficult for us to complete a thorough evaluation of a student’s application without this essential piece. Teacher recommendations help us to understand a student's strengths and weaknesses in the classroom, and often depict how a student has grown in certain areas (i.e. problem solving, writing skills, lab work). Finally, additional recommendations from outside of the high school academic environment can be helpful when they provide us with additional information that we haven't received elsewhere in the application.
Understanding the student's personal story is just as important as understanding their academic career, and these subjective pieces help the committee on admission to see beyond the numbers on the transcript. We take pride in the holistic review that we complete at PC because we are able to build not only a strong academic class, but also a vibrant, active, caring campus community. And as we've seen from many of the PC Statements we've read at Early Action, that community aspect is a very important reason as to why many applicants see Providence as a strong fit.
We've talked a little bit about the high school transcript and specifically how we look at curriculum as we review applications. Now, let's talk about performance- measured by a student's grade point average- and how we use your GPA in the review process.
First of all, we recalculate all GPAs at PC, and compute each applicant's grade point average on our own, Providence College, unweighted 4.0 scale. Why do we do this? Simply put, each year we receive applications from thousands of different high schools, and it feels like there are thousands of different grading scales out there. We see everything, from 4.0 scales to 5.0 scales to 100-point scales, to high schools that do not calculate GPAs. I remember one application from my first year working in the Office of Admission where the high school had a 13-point scale and the student had an 11.28 GPA. Hmmm... what does that 11.28 mean in the context of our review process and in comparison to all of the other applicants we are looking at? Good question. That's why we recalculate! When we move into our Committee on Admission process, where our entire counseling staff is gathered together to make the final decisions on around 2,500 applications, it is helpful if we are able to look at these students on the same "playing field" -- or grading scale, so all students (including the one with an 11.28) have their GPAs converted to our PC scale.
Moving all applicants onto our grading scale not only makes sense for our committee process, but also helps us to get a true sense of how each student has performed in his or her academic courses. These include the subject areas of English, Math, Natural Science, History/Social Science, Foreign Language, and Religion/Theology for students who attend religiously affiliated schools. We also count any other courses that are taken at the Honors or Advanced Placement level; for example, an AP Studio Art course or an Honors Business elective would be included in the GPA recalculation.
However, since we are focused on the academic courses you have taken, there are also some courses that we will not count that your high school might include in your GPA. These can include such courses as Physical Education, Health, Driver's Ed, Yearbook, Photography, Basket Weaving 101, and any other non-academic course. This way, the GPAs we consider include only the academic areas we are most interested in, and are not inflated by non-academic classes.
What type of GPA are we looking for? ...
Continue reading "The Reading Process- Part 2 (Transcript/GPA)" »
Mid-November means that the Early Action application review process is underway! As I mentioned last week, the 15 members of the counseling staff completed our annual "reading meeting," and we've each started reading our first batch of applications.
As you may know, we initially review applications by geographic territory at PC; and as you can see from my bio at the top of the page, that means that the applications I have on my desk this afternoon are from Western Massachusetts, the MetroWest area outside of Boston, and the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, and New Mexico. (And, actually, in my office right now, I have applications from all of those areas - except for New Mexico! No applicants from there yet in this year's pool.). We read by geographic territory because it helps us to better understand the context of the high school environment that our students are coming out of. So, I read every application that comes in from Needham High School in Massachusetts, my colleague Christine Hickey reads every application from Chaminade High School on Long Island, and so on... which really helps us to get a sense of the academic environment of your high school.
We begin the review by taking a close look at your high school transcript, and this academic component is the most important piece of your application. As I look over a transcript, the first thing I will consider is a student's curriculum, and ideally I am looking for four years of the five core academic subject areas (English, Math, Science, History, Foreign Language). I am also looking for students who have taken on a level of appropriate academic challenge during high school, taking advantage of advanced level (Honors, AP, IB, college-level) courses when available.
Remember, we are talking about "appropriate challenge," which doesn't mean a student has to take every AP or Honors course his or her high school offers to be a competitive candidate. For example, if you are not a strong math student, we certainly understand why that AP Calculus BC class isn't on your transcript. We always will consider your strength of curriculum in the context of the high school you attend... for example, if you go to a school that doesn't offer an AP Biology class, we aren't going to penalize you for not taking AP Bio! Along with your transcript, your high school has sent our office a Profile, which helps us to understand what courses are available for you to take. Generally speaking across our applicant pool, most students who are invited to PC have taken on an advanced level curriculum over their four years of high school... and, of course, have shown a strong performance in those courses!
More to come on the high school transcript in my next post: we'll talk about how we consider your performance (G.P.A.) hand-in-hand with the curriculum you've taken. And we'll also move beyond the academic information and look at how we handle activities, involvement, leadership, essays, and recommendations. Stay tuned!
(Wow, that's a long title...)
Greetings from the busy Office of Admission at PC, where the operations staff is getting all of our Early Action applications ready to review! Today, though, I want to talk a little bit about some new Merit-Based Scholarships that are available to students applying to attend PC next fall.
Here's the scoop: Beginning with students applying for admission to the Class of 2014 (students entering in September, 2010), there are now three tiers of merit-based scholarships for which students may qualify:
1. Liberal Arts Honors Program
2. Academic Scholarships
3. Providence College Friar Scholarships
Students invited into the College's highly selective Liberal Arts Honors Program (find out more about LAH Program) will receive one of three levels of merit scholarship: St. Dominic Scholarship (full tuition excluding room and board); St. Thomas Aquinas (3/4 tuition); or St. Catherine of Siena (1/2 tuition). All of these scholarships are renewable for up to four years as long as students remain active members of the Liberal Arts Honors Program and maintain the required GPA. Merit scholars are typically at the top of their graduating class and have completed the most rigorous program of study possible during their high school career.
The second group are academic-based merit scholarships available to students who have demonstrated superior academic performance during their entire high school career, but were not selected for inclusion in the Liberal Arts Honors Program. These scholarships include the St. Joseph Scholarship ($14,000 annually), the Albertus Magnus Scholarship ($11,000 annually), and the St. Vincent Ferrer Scholarship ($8,000 annually). Students who have achieved consistent A- to A grades throughout high school in all subjects – and have taken a rigorous program of study – will be considered for these awards (note that an A-minus GPA is not a guarantee of a scholarship, but represents the performance required to be in consideration).
Finally, Providence College Friar Scholarships are merit awards intended to recognize high school seniors who not only have demonstrated the academic discipline necessary to succeed in the classroom, but display extraordinary commitment, leadership and responsibility in their extracurricular pursuits. While we do not have a prescription for the type of activity that warrants recognition, it is important to note that serious contributors to their pursuits are more attractive than those who have simply been members of a number of organizations. Students who have academic achievements that earn them admission to Providence College and also demonstrate a true commitment to their out-of-classroom activities will be recognized with awards ranging from $4,000 to $8,000 annually.
More information on these Merit-Based Scholarship opportunities can be found here. Also, you can see the letter sent to parents on October 15, 2009 announcing additional financial assistance availability for students applying to the Class of 2014 here.
As always, should you have questions about merit scholarships or need-based financial aid programs, please don't hesitate to call our office to speak with a counselor: (800) 721-6444.
Now, it's time to begin reviewing Early Action applications! Until next time...
The applications have arrived! November 1 has come and gone, and here we are at the start of our Early Action application review process in the Office of Admission. What happens now?
First of all, the applications have to be prepared for the counseling staff to review. Information from applications submitted online through Common App is moved into our computer system, and applications that arrived by mail are entered into that same system. Then, our operations staff does an excellent job of matching up supporting credentials that have come in the mail (such as transcripts, teacher recommendations, etc.) with the application itself. After all of the application "pieces" have been matched up, they are sorted by geographic territory and passed on to the admission counselor who will be the first reader. (Find out which counselor is responsible for your high school.)
This process of entering, matching, and sorting applications is well underway, and the counselors will start the review process at the end of this week. On Thursday, all 15 counselors will meet to talk about this year's process; we'll talk about what we're looking for from our applicants, the size of the incoming freshman class, and other things that will help us to all be consistent as we begin reviewing the applications from our territories. As the process moves forward, I will keep you updated here, and I hope you will continue to come back to see how the overall admission review is going.
A couple of months back, I wrote to the high school seniors that November 1 would come up quickly... and it sure did for us as an admission staff! We've all come back from the road, and have already shifted gears into "reading season." More updates soon!
Good luck to all of you who will be completing your Early Action application this weekend, for our deadline of November 1.
Happy Halloween, too!
*Scott
As we creep closer and closer to the November 1 Early Action application deadline, many students and families continue to call our office and e-mail our counseling staff with questions about the admission process, financial aid, visit opportunities, and academic and student life here at Providence College. We encourage you to continue to contact us by phone and e-mail: the Office of Admission phone number is (800) 721-6444, and the general Admission e-mail address is pcadmiss@providence.edu. You can also find the admission counselor responsible for your geographic area on the Contact Our Office page of this website.
However, there are also a number of other ways to stay up to date on admission information, student life, and general PC news (outside of this blog, which you've already found!). Please consider taking a look in the following places:
PC Prospective Student Network: This is a Providence College-specific social networking site, where prospective students can connect with each other and current PC students. In addition to reading current student blogs, watching videos, viewing photos, joining groups related to intended major, and posting questions in discussion forums, you can find out about visit opportunities, events happening on campus, and what's happening in the application review process as well.
Facebook: The Providence College Office of Admission page on Facebook is updated daily with information on the admission process, campus visit opportunities, and general campus news. It's a very helpful spot to find the latest information on the PC application process.
E-News: Our monthly e-newsletter contains information about the college search process, application information, and campus happenings pertinent to prospective students and families. If you don't already receive our E-News Updates, you can sign up here.
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