An Admission Process That's About YOU!

Here's a little story that might make you feel better about your college application process. When I was seventeen years old and informed by my teachers that it was time to apply to college, I had no idea where to begin. There were no websites that would help me narrow down the list of schools or social networking sites that would connect me to others to learn more. I learned about the college I eventually chose by borrowing a VHS tape from my school and playing it over and over again. I only applied to 4 schools and forgot to send part two of the application to several of them! I wrote my college applications with a pen and when I made a mistake I would use "white out." I was so nervous about this process that I once called the admission office of a college and hung up the phone when the counselor picked up because I thought she might be writing down everything I said and using it against me in my application!

Well times sure have changed and your college search process certainly does not have to be this way! There are an outstanding number of resources to help students today and counselors are always excited to speak to you about your hopes and dreams. I share my story with you because the admission and financial aid staff at Pitzer College knows how complicated and emotional this process can be. We dedicate our life's work to helping young people and their families navigate the journey to higher education.

If you are reading this, you are probably a student embarking on the college admission process, or a family member wanting to know more about Pitzer College. I hope that as you explore these blog posts, you learn more about what makes Pitzer an extraordinary place.

At Pitzer, we are eager to find the next generation of socially responsible and engaged citizens of the world. We seek students who are ready for a global education and want to use their degrees to make a difference in the lives of others. Whether it's through medicine, art, music, math, science, film or writing, students are using their Pitzer education to stay ahead of the curve and learn ways to best tackle our world's problems. Our community is built on five core values that shape everything we do. If this kind of education excites you, Pitzer College may just be the right college for you.

My goal is to make sure that you have as much information as you need and that my staff and I personalize this process for you. To that end, it is my pleasure to re-introduce Admission Unpeeled, the blog you’re currently reading. So much of the admission process is about stories, and our goal is to showcase the stories of the people that make Pitzer what it is: our students. Our students are a diverse group of young people who have had some wonderful experiences, experiences they are eager to share with you. With each new post, I hope you will learn more about what makes Pitzer a special environment for the students who call it home.

Finally, I know that choosing a college can be emotional, but I believe this process can be exhilarating. And remember, it's ok to be a little selfish. If you are a student, this process is about exploring what is most important to you. I'm sure many people will give you advice about college, but in the end, the one having to live that experience will be you. Shut off all the noise and listen to the person who knows best – YOU. If along the way, you find out that Pitzer may be one of the schools that "fits" you, my staff and I look forward to working with you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Angel B. Perez

Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid

Pitzer College

How Many Viewbooks Can You Fit in a Suitcase...

1,000!!!

Angel B. Pérez, Interim Vice President for Admission and Financial Aid, packs 1,000 Pitzer Viewbooks for his trip to CHINA!!!

Inside College Admissions: Pitzer College

Inside College Admissions: Pitzer College
by Rebecca Green

Jul 13, 2011


We interviewed Admissions Director Angel Pérez to get the inside scoop on applying to Pitzer College, a Claremont College known for community service and study abroad.


Noodle Education: What’s one great insider tip for students hoping to get into Pitzer College?
Angel Pérez: Pitzer is an interesting place—did you know that testing here is optional? We don’t have the traditional method of looking at applications. We focus on making sure kids understand the mission and core values of the college. We have four core values and we look for students who are not only academically successful, but who bring those core values to life. In fact, less than half our applicant pool submits test scores.


NE: One thing that would surprise our readers about students at Pitzer is…
AP: Students are involved in every single part of the governance structure of the school from the hiring committees to the board to the finance committee (In fact 8 students were on the committee when I was being hired!) They make a real impact from faculty hiring and curriculum to finance decisions.


NE: What should I be sure to see or do on a campus visit to Pitzer?
AP: The Grove House is the center of campus life. It’s an old 1800s structure that was brought to the campus from Pomona. It’s got an organic café, open-mike night, a place for outdoor classes – it’s a little slice of heaven. They make cookies that are so good, my friends who are guidance counselors ask me to send them cookies from the Grove House. I’d also recommend a visit to the on-campus garden that’s maintained by our students—there are chickens running around and it’s a big part of our sustainability values.


NE: What is one thing students should NOT do when applying to your school?
AP: Well, watch out for the cut & paste—I recently got a letter from a student telling me why she wanted to get off the waitlist for Skidmore. But more importantly, when you’re writing your essay, if you’re writing about someone else, make sure to bring it back to you. It’s a big mistake that students make to tell us why their grandmother had an impact on them, then write all about their grandmothers, but never get back to how she impacted them.


NE: I’ve just been waitlisted at Pitzer. Any advice?
AP: Number 1: Send that card back! If we don’t receive that postcard, we assume you’re not interested. I get calls all the time in May asking about the status and I tell them I assumed you weren’t interested.

Also, tell us if there’s anything new. You filled out an application in December, so let us know if there’s anything that can update your file, or an extra recommendation. (Though don’t inundate the staff.) Also, look at the website and find out who’s in charge of admissions in your territory, and communicate directly with him or her.


To read the article, please visit:
http://www.noodle.org/noodlings/college/inside-college-admissions-pitzer-college

FINALLY!!! Reading season is over and ADMIT packets are on the way!!!

After months of traveling and weeks of reading applications... the time has come! Committee is done and I can proudly say that I have successfully helped shape the future class of 2015!!!

Do you ever wonder what happens to that BIG BRIGHT ORANGE CONGRATULATIONS envelope the moment it leaves our office??? Well allow me to provide you with a quick explanation:

1. The admit packet is labeled (Alyshia is one of our Diversity Interns)


2. Fernando (our Graduate Admission Fellow) seals the envelope with lots of PZ LOVE!

3. Files are ready to leave the office.

4. Fernando poses once more with the admit packet!

5. Santiago (Associate Director) helps load the car with all the packets to be taken to the post office.

6. We (the counselors) drive to the Claremont Post Office to hand deliver the admit packets.

7. Arnaldo Rodriguez (VP of Admission & Financial Aid) helps load the mail cart.

8. And there you have it... the admit packets awaiting delivery.

HAPPY NEW YEAR... and now back to applications!

"Hello friends of the Pitzer College Office of Admission. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed a spectacular New Years! After all of my fall travel and recruiting, I needed a break and decided to "fly the coop". Where did I go??? I headed to the only place where sagehens can relax and grab some of the best Cuban food... MIAMI!" -Cecil T. Sagehen

After a nice and peaceful winter break, we (the counseling staff) are all back in the office and ready to process those applications. Tons of mail, lots of paper cuts, and so much alphabetizing... but of course it is all worth it in the end. Being an admission counselor has helped me understand how more than ever, we need more students like YOU!

So please bare with me in the next few weeks. If you submitted an application, it is being processed at the moment thanks to our entire counseling and support staff. No need to call... that recommendation letter is NOT late, those SAT scores will arrive soon, and your transcript should be arriving any day now. What more do you have to worry about? You have done your part of the application... so just sit back, relax, continue being the rock star student you are and wait to hear back from us in the coming months.

Until then... open mail (paper cuts), alphabetize, file, etc... it's like I'm an admission robot!!! ha ha.

Día de los Muertos

First off, hope you all had a safe and FUN Halloween! The only time of the year (well for the most part) that you can dress up as someone/something else and nobody can say a word about it! Cecil sure had his share of fun this past weekend. He Helped out with candy at the Office of Admission (and by help I mean he consumed most of it).

With Halloween comes another celebrated holiday, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Día de los Muertos is celebrated throughout Mexico and the Southwest states, and coincides with the Christian All Souls and All Saints Days. On November 1st & 2nd people remember those who are deceased. November 1st is considered the Dia de los Angelitos—the day to remember children that have died, November 2nd is the traditional Día de los Muertos (day of the dead). Pictures of the deceased are placed on Día de los Muertos altars with their favorite food and drink. Candles to light their way home, and soap and water to freshen-up after their long trip back are also often placed on altars. Trinkets they were fond of, symbols they would understand, and gifts are left to communicate to them that they are always in the hearts of those they left behind, and that they are still part of the family even though they are not physically with us any longer.

Every year the Latina/o Student Union at Pitzer College puts on an amazing benefit dinner and altar presentation, complete with music from the Claremont College Mariachi group, Mariachi Serrano de Claremont, along with traditional danza azteca (Aztec dancing). This year all proceeds from ticket sales will benefit an AB540 art student scholarship provided by Im: Arte, an art collective based in Los Angeles. Students attending the Fall 2010 Diversity Program will have the opportunity to join the Pitzer community for this much anticipated event!

For more information on Im: Arte visit their website at www.imarte.org


Oh and by the way... this week is the first Fall Preview Pitzer Day (along with the Diversity Program) this Friday November 5th and then again next Friday, November 12th. Check back soon for coverage of the preview days by our one and only exclusive reporter; Cecil T. Sagehen as he takes us behind the scenes of the day's activities.

We love you all, but please don't call

Happy New Year everyone!!!!! Welcome to 2009.

This means that all of your applications should be complete. We do know that a lot of people were having trouble with the common application, so we have decided to extend the deadline to Sunday, January 10th, at midnight PST. So if you haven’t finished that app, don’t despair, get working on it double time.

Now onto the title.

I know this is a stressful time of the year and you all want to know if we have received all of your application materials, but with how much mail we get, we won’t be able to check to see if we have received everything for at least two weeks. We were out of the office from December 24th through January 2nd. This means that we had 8 days worth of mail waiting for us upon our return. Take a look at how much mail that was for last Friday.

Here is Justin’s first trip to the mail room. It only took about 3-4 trips that morning.

Then the mail just starts to pile up.

And Cecil gets in the way making life more challenging.

So understand that we can’t possibly go through all that mail in one day. I mean even Arnaldo, Vice President of Admission and Financial Aid was in the back with a letter opener and date stamp.

He did an excellent job!

We were all working hard, even Cecil helped out.

Don’t forget even more mail came in during the afternoon.

After all the mail is opened it has to be alphabetized and entered into our computer system so that we can match it to your file.

The stack of credentials are huge!

So on behalf of myself and most other college admission counselors I know, please hold off on checking your application status for two weeks. If your teacher recommendations or school profile are running a little late, we aren’t going to blame you for that. As long as you have sent us your common app and supplement you don’t need to worry.

I also wanted to point out that the only city with available interview slots for January is Seattle, so if you want to be put on the waiting list for Emeryville, Santa Clara, Portland, DC or Chicago give us a call, but don’t be surprised if the list is long.

Now that the applications are due and we as counselors are no longer traveling, it is time to play the final round of where in the world is Cecil the Sagehen. This is the most difficult picture yet, so if you can get this perfectly I will automatically send you a Cecil. Be very specific. To be honest Cecil is actually not in this picture. He wouldn’t fit in my luggage, so we are really playing where in the world is Danny the Admission Counselor, but the principle is the same. (I was going to photoshop him in, but respect you guys too much to cheat.)

If no one gets it by Wednesday I will post a follow up picture, but it won’t be much easier.

AND THE WINNER IS......

The winner of the Haiku Contest is……Justin Voss.

This means he gets to publish his back up haiku. (and will forever lord this victory over me) [That’s right Daniel! My superior haiku truly encapsulated the essence of Pitzer through the experience of the Grove House. I would like to thank all the little people that made this victory happen. Namely, myself for creating such a wonderful haiku.- JV]
(As one of Justin’s many rewards for winning the contest, I am letting him hijack my blog all week and add whatever creative comments he wants. Note creative comments, not constructive *sigh*)

Blue bird of the night
Show me all your sagehen might
Best run out of sight.

Justin won with 2 votes, followed by a tie for second place between Jasmin and Angel, who both got 1 vote, and in last place me, with 0 votes. [Wait, only 2 people voted for me? Well, a win is a win. – JV]

The order of the haikus was:

Haiku #1: Jasmin
Haiku #2: Danny
Haiku #3: Justin
Haiku #4: Angel

This means that Jacey guessed the order correctly. Very very impressive Jacey, I guess you know us too well.
I also liked the haiku you posted to the blog [me too, we may have to steal this for something- JV].

An education
of art, dance, music, and thought
breeds the culture sought
-by Jacey

What I am confused about, is how everyone single person guessed which haiku was mine, and yet no one voted for it. What’s up guys?????? [Danny, did you read yours? –JV]

All bitterness aside, we are holding our committee for Early Decision this week. Committee is a very misleading title. It sounds so soft and friendly, but after discussing files for 5 hours the title takes on a whole new sinister meaning. On the plus side we get to come to work in casual dress. YAY!

Take a look at us putting together the acceptance packets

[How come I have to do all the hard work?- JV]

So remember boys and girls, when you get those letters in the mail, it was the Admission Counselors who shed blood, sweat and tears (and suffered many paper cuts) to get you that nice acceptance packet. The letters will be in the mail by this Friday, December 19th, so don’t start checking those mailboxes quite yet.

Since we are rapidly running out of time for Where in the World is Cecil the Sagehen, I decided to go with the trickier to two photos. So where is Cecil today? [Let the record show that most of these pictures have been mine. If only Ansel Adams took pictures of Sagehens across the country, imagine how famous he could be- JV]

Stay tuned for more posts later this week.

Welcome to Pitzer Unpeeled

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in a college admission office? Even if you haven’t, you now have the chance to find out. Pitzer Unpeeled is a brand new blog that gives you the opportunity to get to know the Pitzer Admission staff and to find out what everyday life is like for us. You can read about our travels across the country, ask us questions about Pitzer or the college admission process in general and just get to know Pitzer and our office a little better.

My name is Danny Irving and I am the newest Admission Counselor at Pitzer College as well as an alumnus. I am a proud Sagehen from the class of ’08 and double majored in Economics and Organizational Studies. I am originally from San Diego and graduated from Francis W. Parker High School. My territories for Pitzer include; the San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, the Inland Empire, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan , Nevada, Texas and Utah.

I am going to be your guide for your blogging adventure so please come visit us frequently and join me for my travels across the country.