New College Admissions

This blog is run by work-study students in the Admissions office at New College of Florida. Please note that bloggers will *not* be able to answer questions about the average time it takes to receive a decision letter, a financial aid package, or how long the review process takes. All questions pertaining to the status of your application should be directed to your admissions counselor.

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I'm an incoming freshmen and I'm planning on applying for an LLC. I was wondering, are there many freshmen who live in LLCs?

Historically, first-year students have lived in the Pei dorms (1st Court, 2nd Court & 3rd Court) and built bonds with their fellow first-year students there. Within the past two years, the rules have changed such that first-year students are now living in all of the dorms (including LLCs) in order to encourage bonding between the first years and the rest of the student body; I myself have a first-year roommate. I believe most first years still reside in Pei however.  

Congratulations on your acceptance! 

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Incoming First Years!

You should know that on FB, there’s a group called “NCF Class of 2021″ which you can join to meet your new classmates! 

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Thesising at New College Pt. 2

Whoops, didn’t mean to end that quite yet.  As I was saying, Nat Sci students usually write their thesis on a lab experiment that they have done. Some students end up writing their thesis on what’s already known about their topic; this is known as a library thesis.  I’m quite nervous about my own thesis at the moment and am feeling the time crunch. Apparently, every thesis student goes through this in the last few weeks but it feels unique to me!      Many New College students do their bacc exams on May 1-3rd, which are known as reading days. All classes are canceled so that the student body may attend baccs (both to learn about their friends' theses and also to get ideas about what to expect for their own baccs) and so that professors can attend the baccs that they have signed up for.  These baccs are open to the public for the first half hour or so, and then everyone is asked to leave so that the baccing student and their professors may have a private conversation about their thesis. This may take up to 2 hours and can range from a friendly conversation about how they might continue their thesis to a more spirited defense.         Not all New College students bacc on bacc days however, the official, final deadline for all baccs and the following edits to be made is May 22nd. For reference, graduation/commencement is on May 26th.  Once a person has bacced, they usually (collapse immediately in relief) go on to make edits to their thesis as instructed by their committee members and then print a final copy to be preserved, forever, in the campus library.  A permanent reminder that they successfully completed a thesis. 

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Thesising at New College

             At New College, all graduating students are required to write an undergraduate thesis in their fourth/final year. Students may continue another person’s thesis by focusing on a new aspect, or come up with their own project.  There have been an extraordinary number of theses written by New College students. If you happen to visit our campus, I encourage you to visit the racks and racks of bookshelves that house the final copies and marvel at the sheer number of words written.  All students must, in their third year, choose and persuade 3 professors to be their thesis/ baccalaureate committee, one of which will be their thesis sponsor. The thesis sponsor signs off on the final copy of the thesis.  The other two help guide you a bit in the thesis process but primarily appear at the baccalaureate exam (known as a bacc), in which the professors ask you to explain and justify pretty much everything about your thesis. Your thesis sponsor will only let you bacc if they think you will pass this exam.  As I’m a Natural Sciences person, I can’t really tell you much about other divisions’ theses requirements but I can tell you about Nat Sci requirements! Usually, Nat Sci theses may be started as an Independent Study Project in February of the third year or at the start of the fourth year. Nat Sci theses are usually about 80 pages long and require an experimental/lab work component.  

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Hi so I recently got accepted to New College and I love the school so much but I've been concerned about what the students and staff at the school feel about things like LGBT rights or women's rights and other liberal values. I noticed during the election that county voted for Trump and this just has me concerned that I might be discriminated against because I'm a Hispanic bisexual woman.

             The student and staff at New College are unanimously pro-LGBT rights, women’s rights, and other liberal values. This past year, MANY New College students organized and attended the protests against Trump. I recently published an official email from our school president to the entire school to the effect that New College is a school dedicated to preventing discrimination. I am certain that you would not be discriminated against here for any of those qualities.               On the flip side, Sarasota has a LOT of old, conservative people. It’s very much a town for rich old people. This was reflected in Sarasota voting for Trump this past election cycle.  We call the campus the “New College Bubble” because the population of the school is so different from our surroundings and because, most of the time, there’s not a lot of reasons to leave campus.  

Congratulations on your acceptance into New College. I hope you won’t hold our surroundings against us. :) 

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Even if it’s not federally mandated, New College is anti-discrimination. 

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New College Tutorials!

At New College, you can design your own class and get college credit for it as a tutorial. To my understanding, you have to have a syllabus already planned and then persuade a professor in that subject area to sponsor it. Tutorials can be a Module long (1/2 the semester) or a full semester in length. Since students usually open the tutorial that they have planned to other students, this results in lots of interesting courses that you can take! 

Some examples of Spring 2017 Tutorials: 

Microbiology Tutorial Graphic Novel Tutorial Advanced Neurobiology Seminar Fundamentals of fMRI Philosophy and the City Composting Tutorial Dance for Parkinson Marine Collecting and Aquarium Science Organic Gardening  Staging Blackness and Performing Whiteness Movement Tutorial

AAAAGH, it’s my last semester at New College but there are so many awesome classes/tutorials I haven’t taken yet!!! 

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The NCF miniclass schedule seemed popular last semester so here it is again! 

As a 4th year Chem/Bio AOC, I’ve already taken most of the classes in my discipline. My plan for this year is to take a few classes and focus on writing my thesis! Luckily for me, the Advanced Research Writing class is designed for exactly that! 

PSA for any students planning on taking Science courses at New College, for your own sake, START THEM IN THE FIRST SEMESTER.  Take either General Biology or General Chemistry in the first semester.  I’ve seen a lot of Nat-Sci kids get their schedules screwed up because they started their science track late.  Your advisor should be able to advise you on the specifics for your own situation. 

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Edible Plants on Campus

http://arcg.is/1NEXMzX

Credit to Orion Morton for making this amazing map of the edible/medicinal plants on campus.  If you click on the icons on the map, they’ll give you the name of the plant.

My favorite plants on campus are the Lychee trees but the Mulberry bushes are also really good! I have a fun pic from my second year with my hair all wild, my hand stained completely red with mulberry juice, and my face smiling widely.  :D 

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Living Learning Communities at NCF

So one of the neat things that we do at New College is Living Learning Communities (LLCs)!  LLCs are intentionally created groups - aka sections of residential dorms - where people commit to following a theme and attending meetings geared around that theme.  Traditionally the themes are set by the staff but this year, students at NCF are being invited to create their own! 

Requirements:  - A minimum of 4 people in the LLC - A faculty member to act as the LLC sponsor - Members are required to attend LLC-specific events

Established LLCs: 

- V houses our "LGBTQ Community" - W hold the "Wellness Community" - X dorm is our "International Village" - Y dorm is our "24 Hour - Quiet" - (AYYYYYY, that’s my dorm!) - Third Court in Pei is our first-year "SUCCESSQUEST" living learning community.

Prospective LLCs this year include:  Sustainability LLC Green/Environmental LLC Music and Performance LLC Spiritual Wellness LLC Writing/Thesis LLC (This one is probably going to become popular because thesising at New College is infamous for causing people to retreat into their “thesis caves” to write. And write. And write.)  Nihilism LLC (this one is only half a joke)

For those students planning on attending New College - start thinking about what kind of LLC you’d like to live in! 

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Cross Registration at NCF

A new program that has been established at New College is the Cross Registration program, where New College & 4 other colleges (State College of Florida , Ringling College, University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee and Eckerd College) have collaborated to offer regional students greater learning opportunities through cross-registration. This means that New College students can also take classes at Ringling College (which is hella expensive btw) for the normal low cost of taking classes at New College!  This is very exciting to me and I hope that some of you, my dear readers, get the opportunity to take advantage of this program! For more information, be sure to visit our spiffy new website! 

- Sarah

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Post-election at New College

Hello readers! 

Lately there’s been a lot of political activism on the New College campus, in reaction to the presidential election results. New College students have attended and organized rallies & protests. My personal favorite was the event that happened last week in which chalk was provided for students to write & draw supportive messages on the Overpass (bridge for foot traffic between the Residential side of campus & the Academic side of campus.) Sample messages: 

Good shit happens too. {( HUGS)} You are not alone.

In these tumultuous times, I think these reminders of community at New College are important. 

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New College and the Election

I think our president said it the best in this email: 

This week brought to an end the most acrimonious Presidential campaign in recent American history. While the election is over, many on our campus are feeling anxious and some are fearful about the future. Today, on Veteran’s Day, while we honor those who fought to preserve free elections and to ensure that ours remains a nation of laws, let us also remember that their sacrifice allows us to affirm confidently that New College will always stand for civility, critical thinking and rational discourse. In particular, New College is committed to diversity in all its forms, and will ensure that every member of our campus community is safe and respected.

Steve Miles, Provost

Don O'Shea, President

Robin Williamson, Dean of Student Affairs

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I have a 4.4 cumulative GPA, but got a score of 1125 on the SAT. Test taking has never been my strongest suit, due to my frequency to mix numbers up in my head by accident, but that's one of the main reasons New College is such a dream school for me. Given that, and the fact that I have an AICE diploma and take almost honors/ap/aice classes, do you think that I have any chance of acceptance despite my low score? I've heard New College can be rather selective,and cant help but be a tad worried.

We would love to have you apply and typically admit over 60% of those who complete applications.  It’s a holistic review with the main factors being:

1) rigor of courses taken2) weighted academic GPA (and rank if there’s one)3) essay (from the Common Application)4) SAT/ACT scores5) recommendation(s)6) extracurricular activities

We also look at interest in New College.  Check in with your admissions counselor with questions.  We’re happy to help.

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Midterms Season and Fall Break!

Hello all! 

To those not in the know, we have finally concluded the dreaded Week of Midterms. The last paper has been turned in; the library can finally close. Now everyone just kinda wants to celebrate! It’s the beginning of Fall Break, slightly shadowed by Hurricane Matthew’s appearance in the Atlantic. 

Please stay safe everyone, especially if you’re on the West Coast of Florida. New College treasures its prospective students, students, and alums. 

A lot of students choose to stay on campus for Fall Break, whether it be to work on their theses or just to hang out with friends without the interruptions of classwork. Events are being hosted by Student Affairs and Ham (our dining hall) is going to be open so there will be things to do and food readily available this week. I myself am going home for the week (and I’ll probably work on my thesis too.) 

Be safe everyone! 

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What are the hours of the fitness center?

The fitness center and the pool are open on: 

Weekdays - 8 am - 9 pm (which seems super late to me!)  Weekends - 10 am - 6 pm

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What is New College like for a cis straight male? I'm a member of my school's Gay Straight Alliance, and as a debater, I am totally wary to and supportive of the LGBTQ+ cause, but likewise, I value my needs. Are cis straight people minorities at NCF?

Well, as a cis straight female I can’t give personal testimony on the male portion but I can safely assert that cis straight people are NOT minorities at NCF. According to the statistics (available elsewhere on the blog) taken by the CWC, 51% of the population identify as heterosexual. Cis is a bit harder to state confidently because of the way that the survey was taken (Women vs. Men vs. Transgender is not a very accurate or respectful paradigm) but cis people are definitely the majority on campus.

Regarding the cis straight male bit, men are definitely minorities here at New College, coming in at less than 30% of the population. I asked my (cis straight male) boyfriend about his experience and his response was: 

Answer: it really should not affect your stay at New College too much. There will be people who by proxy will try to lay blame for any number of things on you and automatically judge you because of it, but that's true in most places no matter what your race/gender/identity. The vast majority of students either will not care or keep their opinions to themselves about your identity. The few that will care are best avoided, since accusations CAN lead to trouble. The best approach is to just not concern yourself, accept that there will be a certain amount of soapbox yelling against you on the internet, and focus on your studies and your friends. My status as a cis white male at New College was really not worth the time worrying about. - Nikita Myullyari

So there you have his two cents. Feel free to ask more questions! 

- Sarah