The Cathedral Blog

Wisconsin College Tour — Final Day

Wisconsin Tour- Final Day

I spent my last night in Appleton, Wisconsin, home of Lawrence University.  I had a little taste of home when I watched the evening news and the Indiana Ice vs. Green Bay Gamblers highlights (most notably Torey Krug) were shown.  By the way, they won!!!
We were on the Lawrence campus before many of the students were awake.  Lawrence is a small, but complex university. There are students from nearly all 50 states and about 50 countries. It is internationally diverse and very eclectic.  Approximately 10-12 % of the schools population is international and only a quarter of the students are from Wisconsin. Lawrence is exclusively an undergraduate institution with no graduate programs…hence, no teaching assistants.
Lawrence University is the only school that has both a music conservatory and liberal arts school.  Music students can a conservatory experience as well as a liberal arts education.  Approximately 22 % of the enrollment is comprised of music majors. In addition, Lawrence is known for having a variety of opportunities for students in the classroom including the Freshman Year Experience, tutorials and independent studies.
On the campus tour, we were able to tour their brand new student center that will open this fall. It has everything a student could want…great dining facility, movie theatre, coffee shop, etc.  We also toured the fairly new science building which was very impressive.
Lawrence University does a holistic review of it applications and is a test optional school, which means you can elect to have them review your file minus your standardized test scores. This is a good option for students who have struggled with test scores, but are very strong students in the classroom. They do recalculate your gpa based on your academic core classes.  In the near future, they will not be cutting back on financial aid.
At the end of our visit, we were treated to a performance from Kinkaviwo.  Kinkaviwo, meaning Children of Kinka, is the African drumming ensemble at Lawrence. The group primarily performs music of the Ewe people from the Volta region of Ghana. The pieces include Adzogbo, Gahu, Adzrowo and Kinka. This style of music utilizes a call and response between the master or lead drum and the rest of the ensemble. All performances include singing, dancing and drumming, and students are encouraged to learn and perform these different elements.  I even participated by playing with the group. I wonder if Sanuk needs a new drummer?
It was an amazing trip!  If you would like to learn more about any of the schools on the COWS Tour, click on the links below.
www.marquette.edu <http://www.marquette.edu>
www.beloit.edu <http://www.beloit.edu>
www.wisc.edu <http://www.wisc.edu>
www.ripon.edu <http://www.ripon.edu>
www.lawrence.edu <http://www.lawrence.edu>

Mrs. Pivonka

Wisconsin College Tour — days 3 and 4

The University of Wisconsin-Madison
We arrived in Madison late afternoon on Wednesday. The “We” refers to me and my 43 new best friends.  There are 44 counselors from all over the country attending this tour.  The farthest away are college counselors that work at a school across the street from Stanford University in California and the closest to our school is a counselor from Zionsville High School.
I was not sure what to expect from UW since we have such stellar BIG school options in Indiana, but I am so impressed with this campus.  When we arrived, the sun shining on the lake just took my breath away.  We stayed at the Edgewater Hotel; just on the edge of campus and my view of Lake Mendota is just beautiful. Too bad I was only in my room to sleep since they had us booked solid the entire visit.
We walked to campus for a presentation and dinner via fraternity row.  Very active! There are also quite a variety of off-campus housing options on the edge of campus.  Freshmen are NOT required to live on campus, but certainly can if they want to get the on-campus experience.  Of course, we had to make a stop at the bookstore and I was able to get some UW things, including a UW Volleyball t-shirt since our very own Mary Ording will be playing here next year!
We sat in a lecture hall that I thought was “not too big” and heard all about the admission process and facts about campus.  One interesting fact is that the University of Wisconsin is one of the top in the country for not only sending students to work in Fortune 500 companies, but also to the Peace Corp.  The admission process is not much different than IU or Purdue, but since you would be an out-of-state student, you may be scrutinized a little more than an in-state student.
We finished off the evening with a great dinner with staff and students as well as a trip to the Union, which sits on the lake and was very active for a Wednesday night.
Wednesday A.M.:  I continued my visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison this morning. We started with breakfast at the Edgewater Hotel just down the street from campus and had a spectacular view of the lake (same view from my room).  In the picture that I included with the blog, you can see that our view was not only of the water, but the crew team practicing.  It was awesome!
On campus, we visited the genetics building and had a presentation on the science programs at the University.  They talked about DNA and nanoscale research (Help Mr. Mauger!!!) and I was given a sample of fish DNA to take home…very cool!  I was very impressed that UW is one of the top schools in the country in federal and non-federal funding for research.  There are opportunities for eager students to get research opportunities early in their college experience on this large campus.
I was amazed at how many languages the University of Wisconsin offers.  According to our “bus” tour guide (there was a brief rain shower, so we got on the bus), UW ranks second in the number of languages offered. In addition to the traditional offerings, you can also take languages such as Polish, Turkish, Arabic and many more. The most interesting one is Elfish…you know, from the Lord of the Rings!  They had a large part in developing the language on campus according to the tour guide.
One of the most unique things about Wisconsin was that they have a Dairy Studies major and make all of the milk, cheese and ice cream that is consumed at UW on campus!
Although we have great in-state Big Ten options, this was really an impressive campus!

Ripon College
Ripon College was one of the most pleasant surprises on this tour!  I was familiar with Ripon because they had visited our campus this fall, but had no idea how impressed I would be with the campus and programs.  It was quite impressive.
Ripon is a small liberal arts college located about 1 ∏ hours northwest of Milwaukee.  There are about 1000 students attending Ripon and the campus reminds me of Indiana schools such as Hanover and Franklin.
Ripon is known for small class sizes, individual interaction with faculty and community outreach.  The students seem very engaged on campus.  Ripon is a true liberal arts college.  They have all the traditional majors that most liberal arts colleges offer as well as Business Administration.  Some unique programs include:  Leadership Studies, Museum Studies and National Security.
I was very impressed with the financial aid/scholarship program Ripon offers.  They offer a very strong merit program and also work closely with students to try to meet as close to 100% need as possible.  The average indebtedness for a Ripon graduate is only $19,000.
In addition to traditional scholarships and financial aid, there are some special scholarships such as Boys/Girls State, National Latin Exam (this should make the Latin teachers happy!) Forensics, diversity and fine arts.  In addition, as an alum of this tour, I (as well as Mr. Jaskoski who attended a few years ago) I can recommend a student for a $2000 scholarship.  Being a Division III school, there are no athletic scholarships, but they do have a thriving athletic department.
The visit finished with a performance from the theatre department, a student panel and a dinner with the president, who is one of the most approachable presidents I have met.  Students here love Ripon and feel that it is the perfect fit.  To help students find that perfect fit, they pay for admitted students to fly in on admitted student day.  With the free application until December 15th and the free airline ticket for admitted students, you can’t help but think that Ripon is worth considering.
We traveled to Appleton for the night.  We do not get much free time or sleep and will be on the bus before the first bell rings to head to Lawrence for the last leg of the trip. It is so worth it to see all of these great colleges.  Stay tuned…

Mrs. P

Wisconsin College Tour — days 3 and 4

Wisconsin College Tour — day 2

After a wonderful trip to Marquette University, we loaded the bus first thing Wednesday morning for Beloit College.  Finally, the sun has joined us on the trip and it will get even better as we go through the week.

Beloit College is located in Beloit, Wisc., which is located on the Illinois/Wisconsin border.  It is the oldest college in Wisconsin and is considered a good college choice for students who are looking for something different.  It is a beautiful eclectic city (about 36,000) with a real community feel.

Beloit students are very engaged.  They are willing to think at a higher level and outside the box.  The curriculum is considered writing intensive.  The students are encouraged to call their professors by their first name and the professors are very accessible to students.

Beloit claims that they find their students “one at a time”.  In other words, they truly look at each application individually and focus on much more than just grades and test scores. Students, who apply to Beloit, tend to also apply at Grinnell, McAllister, Lawrence Oberlin, Kenyon, etc.  Beloit is a Colleges That Change Lives (I have the book in my office) school and also crosses applications with Whitman, Reed, Kalamazoo and Earlham (in Richmond, IN).

Beloit’s most popular major is “undecided”.  Other popular majors include anthropology, creative writing and international relations.  They also have a 3-2 engineering program with Washington University-St. Louis.  There is no set core curriculum at Beloit.  Students work with their advisor to determine what areas they would like to grow and learn.  Every freshman takes a Freshman Year Experience seminar with a faculty advisor.

Study abroad is a bit different at Beloit. Many students do go with the traditional Western European options, but some go to places like Senegal, Russia, Czech Republic, Japan, Ecuador, etc… about 50% of students study abroad.
The visit occurred on “Spring Day” and the kids were enjoying a day of no classes and a lot of activities such as enjoying bubble tea and playing human foosball.
Next stop … University of Wisconsin-Madison!

Mrs. Pivonka

Wisconsin College Tour — day 1

Early this morning, I left Indianapolis for the great state of Wisconsin.  For the next three days, I will be participating in the C.O.W.S Tour (Counselors Observing Wisconsin Schools)

.  I will be visiting Marquette, Beloit, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ripon and Lawrence.  I will have an opportunity to experience each campus first hand and will be sharing my experiences with you through this blog.

Marquette

Marquette is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As many of the 28 Jesuit institutions in the United States, Marquette is situated in an urban environment. Most of the students describe the campus and its surroundings as a comfortable city with plenty of activities.
During my visit, I had the chance to talk with current students and faculty.  The students were from all over the country and very passionate about Marquette. They feel very challenged and loved the diversity in the classroom, which allows them to pair classroom learning with service learning and experiential aspects such as internships and projects.

There were a couple of areas that really impressed me:

Nursing:  Marquette has a very competitive direct admit nursing program.  It is considered very rigorous and they boast 100% employment and 94% passing rate on the standardized exam.
Engineering:  This is a direct entry program that is taught by faculty, not teaching assistants.  It also has a co-op program that allows students to get professional experience while still in school.
Physical Therapy: This program has a great reputation and does have a direct admit doctoral program.  Students will participate in 30 weeks of clinical experience in this program
Study Abroad: In addition to the traditional study abroad options that most colleges offer, Marquette has a program in South Africa that seems very popular. Students study at Western Cape University while also doing service learning projects.
They also have a domestic program where students can go to Washington D.C. and live near and work at the Capitol.
Although it was cold and rainy, the campus was beautiful and a great option for Cathedral students.
Next stop…Beloit College!!!

Kathy Pivonka