Who said FALL was suppose to be this HOT!!!

So while the rest of us here on the counseling staff are dealing with tripple digit temperatures (113)... others are out on the East Coast enjoying the color changing leaves and rainy conditions that are typical of fall weather. Santiago just left for his traveling season this past weekend and took Cecil along for the adventure. Allow me to take the time to introduce Santiago. Santiago Ybarra is our new Asscociate Director of Admission and joined the Pitzer Office of Admission just a few months ago (actually a month after I joined the team).



Here is a message from Santiago:


" Cecil says hi from rainy New England. It was a very California 86 degrees when I landed in Hartford at 5:45pm, but two days later it started raining. The "desert chicken" known as Cecil wanted to stick his head in the ground but I managed to convince him to take a picture outside of Charlemont, MA. He's been to 5 schools and two states, and tomorrow he'll be hitting 4 more schools and 2 more states. He thinks the leaves are turning Pitzer Orange just for him!" - Santiago

And here we… GO! Travel Season is upon us ALL!

Greetings friends of the Pitzer College Office of Admission! My name is Tim Campos and aside from being an alumnus… I am what some might call “the rookie” admission counselor. I have been working full time in the office these last few summer months and just recently hit the road to begin FALL TRAVEL…YAY! It has been quite some time since anyone has posted on the blog. Well let me first start off by saying that our previous admission counselor, Adam Rosenzweig, has left our office to purse greater adventures (we wish him the best of luck!).

But WOW! Time sure has passed. I think I have lost sense of what day it is and what time zone I am in at the moment. The travel season is off to a great start (minus my run in with food poisoning!). The admissions profession provides those of us on the road not only the opportunity to meet so many talented and excited prospective Pitzer students like yourselves, but the lifestyle also allows for us to embark on many unique travels all around the U.S. With that said I have made it a point to have my own “Man vs. Food” adventures while on the road and take Cecil along with me to some of the must-eat dining experiences. When I found out I would head Southeast to Atlanta, Georgia… I knew for a fact that I would be making a stop at The Varsity! This place serves over 200,000 hotdogs everyday and has been around for decades. I was excited for this and had to limit myself to only TWO chili cheese slaw dogs! Of course Cecil had to pick up a snazzy hat from the Varsity.


While in Atlanta I had the chance to meet up with another college admission counselor. It’s great to meet up with friends while on the road and explore the city together. We had a chance to take a tour at the World of Coke-a-Cola there in Downtown Atlanta. Can you believe that they have over 60 Coke-a-Cola products from around the world!!! Ok so I will admit that I did have my fair share of tasting of these products, which by the way… I enjoyed the various carbonated beverages from Latin America the most.




So that about wraps things up folks. Be sure to continue following my blog. Check back this week as I will be posting about my musical adventures in the Graceland… that’s right, Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee! And as always, be on the lookout for “Where in the World is Cecil the Sagehen”. AND of course… my next “Cecil vs. Food” posting

Cecil hanging out with students from The Galloway School in Atlanta, GA.

First admitted students on campus!

Last Friday we hosted the first of two Admitted Student Days on campus. This is a hugely exciting event for us! After months of traveling, interviewing, reading, and deliberating we were excited to finally see some of the fruits of our labor. All admitted students were invited to visit campus either last Friday, or this coming Friday. Below, Megan Dooley '10 leads an attentive tour.It was a beautiful day in Claremont! Below, Associate Director of Financial Aid Yvonne Gutierrez-Sandoval speaks with an admitted family in front of our new Gold LEED Certified First Year residence halls.In the afternoon, Dining With Democracy (our student-coordinated lecture series) was hosting an event called Ayiti ("Haiti" in Creole) on the Mounds. The event included a panel discussion on various social and cultural perspectives on Haiti, a discussion of religion in Haiti, as well as some super fun drumming and dancing! Needless to say, it was a fantastic afternoon for admitted students to see what they have to look forward to. Many of us in the Admission Office reserve a moment during this exciting time of year to reflect on all of the applicants who we could not offer admission to. This was an incredibly competitive year at Pitzer, and many capable and qualified applicants were disappointed by the letter they received from us. Looking ahead, we sincerely hope that all students find a place that they are excited to call home for a few years, whether at Pitzer or elsewhere, and we remain thrilled with the students who will be joining us in the fall! Welcome aboard, class of 2014!

Spring is in the air...

Danny Irving (class of '08, Admission Counselor) and Jackie Legazcue (class of 2010) couldn't be more excited about the beauty that spring brings to campus. I guess it's just a purple kind of day!

The "testing option" debate

Our Director of Admission, Angel Perez, was quoted today in the Chronicle of Higher Education as part of a discussion on colleges that no longer require standardized test scores from their applicants. We're proud of our testing option and grateful to be included in this nation-wide discussion.

Applicants to Pitzer College have many choices to consider in lieu of standardized test scores. Students with a cumulative 3.5 unweighted and academic GPA (without Health and P.E., for example) as well as students in the top ten percent of their high school class (for schools that rank their own students) are completely exempt from submitting testing. Students who do not meet those requirements and still would like to forgo standardized tests may submit AP or IB test scores in English and Math, or simply submit a graded math test from Algebra II or a more advanced course, as well as a graded essay from their most current English course.

Our testing option is designed to give students as much freedom as possible to represent themselves academically. Some people love the tests, some people don't. We get it! We have found that a demonstrated commitment to hard work is a much more consistent indicator of academic success at Pitzer than high test scores.

Happy reading!

Pitzer in the news!

I wanted to share some of the attention that Pitzer College has been receiving in the news recently.

The Los Angeles Times ran an article this weekend exploring some of the sustainability initiatives around campus. At Pitzer we really strive to live our values. The most gratifying aspect of our culture of sustainability is that it grows right out of our students. Many of the projects discussed in this article and many more that may be seen around campus are direct results of student effort. In an era when everything "green" is hotter than a mid-1990s Macarena, it's nice to be able to say that our attitude toward our environment is truly organic and home-grown!

Last week, Pitzer was featured in an article discussing another hot topic in higher education: gender-neutral housing. This article addresses some of the questions that have been raised as more colleges embrace this progressive attitude toward students' abilities to choose who they live with.

Last but certainly not least, Laura Skandera Trombley, President of Pitzer College, published her most recent scholarly study of Mark Twain this month. Mark Twain's Other Woman: The Hidden Story of his Final Years is now available on Amazon and in bookstores. As an internationally renowned Mark Twain scholar President Trombley balances her roles as both adminstrative leader and scholar with grace and candor. I was lucky enough in my first year at Pitzer to take a course on Victorian America which President Trombley "team-taught" with Stuart McConnell from the History and American Studies field groups. For those of you interested in President Trombley's work I encourage you to explore her personal website.

...and then it was March!

Woosh! Was that the month of February I just saw go by my window? I hardly noticed! I must have spent the whole month hunched over my desk reading applications!

If you're a returning reader, welcome back! If this is your first glance at the blog, thanks for your interest in Pitzer! We're approaching the light at the end of a very long and rewarding tunnel. We're only a week or so away from finishing all of your applications! At this time, everyone's application has been read at least once by the Admission Counselor responsible for your territory and is now circulating to a "second reader." We use this system to ensure that the first person who sees your application has the best chance of being familiar with your high school (and may have even met you while we were traveling). Second readers give each application a fresh perspective and help us get a more holistic picture of our applicant pool. It's been an absolute honor and joy to see your essays, recommendation letters, interview notes, MyCollegeI videos, art supplements etc.

So what's next? Next week our whole team will come back together for an intense week-long summit that most schools simply call "committee." We basically lock ourselves in the conference room and discuss what we've read so that we can build a well-rounded class. Committee is fun, emotional, exhausting, and rewarding. It is also the most poignant reminder that we innevitably receive far more excellent applications than we have the possibility of offering admission to. More on committee in the weeks ahead.

I'll leave you with this fun piece of news. Our very own Angel Perez, Director of Admission, has been asked by the Washington Post to write about the college search and admission processes. His first article is a great checklist for any high school student who is pondering the college question.

That's it for now. See you soon!