#au2019

[realmosworld]

Bye bye Las Vegas. It was a great week with many customer and partner meetings. #au2019 was a great success for @holobuilder. The launch of SpotWalk with @bostondynamicsofficial was awesome. Now a short visit in Europe. Any one at BIM World Munich next week? #airplainart #contech #robotics (at McCarran International Airport) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5JhpEuHrlp/?igshid=1a89vt2unpll1

[lodplanner]

Anna and Elsa seem pretty pleased with our choice for Autodesk University stickers this year. If the kids haven't used them all by then - stop by booth AE276 next week to grab one. ‪#autodesk‬ ‪#au2019‬ #bim @plannerlyaec www.plannerly.com https://www.instagram.com/p/B4x5rKTpdJ4/?igshid=8aebgb56omrr

[blvntwhite]

Visited Alvernia University in Reading, PA today with my mom and I am so excited to be spending the next four years of my life there.

[alvernia-admissions]

The "Gut" Feeling

Some parents prefer pro and con boards. Some gamblers prefer the coin flip. Some free spirits prefer to throw their arms up, pack up their necessary belongings and hitchhike out west. These are all options that may seem appealing when narrowing down your college search.

But before you make it halfway across the country, let me offer you another option. Through narrowing down your search to several factors, you can arrive at that “gut” feeling, or that final push to knowing where you belong.

Hold on, I dropped my pen. Oh, never mind IT WAS JUST SOME KNOWLEDGE. Listen up, because if my twenty-two years on this green earth has taught me only one thing, it was how to arrive at this gut feeling when choosing a college. Here are four factors to consider:  

Location: There’s a big difference between Denver, Colorado and Denver, Pennsylvania. Are you more of a small town girl, or a city boy from say, South Detroit? Or perhaps you’re somewhere in between: maybe the hustle and bustle of Philadelphia is too much, and a smaller, yet still relevant city like Reading starts to feel more and more like your home away from home.

Size: Alvernia is a school with about 1,500 traditional undergraduate students. With this comes a close-knit community and a welcoming atmosphere, a small classroom environment and a 12-to-1 student-teacher ratio, and a focus on individualized attention. However, this may not be for everyone. There are plenty of large schools with excellent programs; it’s your job to weigh the benefits of each and determine where you feel most comfortable.

Programs: If you were set on being an engineer ever since you were a little kid making neighborhoods out of Legos, then Alvernia may not be the place for you, mostly because we don’t have engineering. But we do have a diverse range of academic programs suited for nearly any type of student. Through our SEARCH program, students are exposed to all aspects of academia, and if you’re one of the many students coming in undecided, Alvernia and its excellent faculty members will guide you through your four years here, setting you up for success after graduation.

Financial Aid: Though Jessie J’s 2011 hit Price Tag may have been catchy, its message should not be applied here. Sometimes it is about the money. Lucky for you, small colleges like Alvernia offer many different scholarships and aid opportunities, with 98% of our students receiving some sort of financial aid. Don’t let it dictate your decision, but crippling debt is never fun; as with the three previous factors, it should be part of the discussion.

All right, so you know to consider these four factors when making a college decision, but what if you’re still lost? Well the only way to truly figure out what you want out of your college experience is to visit! And to do so early and often.

Lucky for you there’s plenty of opportunities to visit down the homestretch (for college decisions, this is from February to April).

There are still open houses and information sessions to attend. This is a great way to talk to professors and get a campus tour.

Better yet, come for an overnight visit or a shadow. You can contact our graduate assistant, Elle Burkert, at 610-685-3423 or [email protected] and she can pair you with a student of the same academic discipline as you, or even a student athlete. You can attend a practice with a team or sit in on a class. What better way to see a college than through the lens of a current student?

And of course, I strongly encourage coming to our Accepted Students Day, this year on Saturday, March 21st. It can serve as a final staple in your college selection process, exposing you one last time to professors, students, classes and the overall Alvernia experience.

Remember, this is just one perspective. There are plenty of other factors that can go into your decision, but this is a good starting point. The important thing is to trust your gut instinct. You know you more than anyone else. Once you’ve figured that out, everything will fall into place.

Trust me. It’s my job. And don’t forget, I went through this same process five years ago; I’m not a stranger to this whole college thing. Sometimes a little advice from a seasoned vet can go a long way.  

- Brandon Pytel, Admissions Counselor