so basically i start my guess where they went to college so when you go to school i attended the university of bridgeport now i'm a first generation american born in brooklyn new york and i wanted to get away from a large urban environment from my college experience i also played baseball and i was in the high school so had aspirations of one day making it to the show as as as is known and i apply to colleges kind of all over the country primarily looking for a baseball institution and i found the university of bridgeport by chance my my high school baseball coach referred me up there i went i met with the coach  too far away from new york city to the metro north train right away my parents were able to come and visit me and see me play baseball division two pretty competitive when i was there so i majored in marketing and my bachelor's degree in marketing take three out of four you started three out of the four years when i was there was fortunate enough to meaning cap in my senior year and had a great great wonderful experience they possess they so let's go back in high school before we get started  how did you end up picking the school they just started freshman year and you start senior year of high school when did it all begin the about goal in college so growing up in the inner city area and my parents not knowing the college process i think i started later than most of my peers when i got to college really at the end of my junior year is when i started the college process and it really click i always wanted to go to college but it  really clicked that i need to start doing research on which college would be the best fit for me as a sixteen seventeen year old my primary focus was at the baseball program and which wasn't really the best way to kind of consider which were you going to spend the next four years of your life after you graduate high school so i visited a couple schools i went to schools that academically i was a good fit for athletically i wasn't a good fit for too far away from home if i would have gone to some schools that were three or four hours of flying to distance instead of just driving so really when i became a senior my guidance counselor my baseball coach where the two people that were able to lean on and my parents were great supporters they they they said hey wherever you want to go we're going to support it was trying to make it happen financially as well and i just fell in love with the coach at bridgeport the campus they had a marketing department which was what i wanted to do at the time so everything kind of fell into place and i made my decision about april my senior that's where i was going well for and so know you're at bridgeport going to school there how do you go from there to becoming the associate director of the admissions at the central connecticut state university when the harsh reality of not playing professional baseball hit me i knew that i needed to get a job and fortunately for me i was very involved in the college community and one of the things that i did was touring so i was able to have a job my junior senior college as a tour guide to the admissions office and it just so happened that that year that i was graduating there was an opening as an admission counselor at the university of bridgeport therefore i worked there for two years at the university of bridgeport i learned and grew a lot was in the office in the system dark to position at albertus magnus college opened up and i applied and got that position which is in new haven and i worked there for twelve years and they were very small institution and i wanted to see what i can do at a larger institution and an so let's get into admissions so what are some of the requirements that a high school student needs to have to go to a university like central connecticut so we take a holistic approach to broken up into four different schools the the requirements change from one school to the next depending on the focus of the school so for example our engineering school of engineering science technology and math students in that particular program we like to see them more focused in the science and math areas within their high school graduating through two precalculus calculus physics various components depending on what their majors are and in addition to that there are math and critical reading or evidence based reading now at the essay called that score that we really need to ensure that students will be in the right path to graduate in four years so overall the academic profile is about a three point  evidence base reading and writing with addition to that and the math to score how many students get accepted every year into the school we made about sixty two percent of all applicants each year so depending on the student situation really inshore if they're being admitted going back to what i mention about the holistic aspect i think not only at such a connecticut state but it's a responsibility of admission person to admit students that they feel will be able to graduate from their institutions so we're looking at a student's application we do take into consideration if they've moved within their four years if the ninth grade year was a year that kind we have theater music programs so their talent base initiatives as well that we're looking at and of course diversity we want to make sure that we're servicing a very diverse population since we are a state institution so tell me a little bit about financially at the school because a lot of of parents always ask you know colleges are expensive these days how can i go there is there any financial aid at the school is there anything  that people can look at financially so it's funny you mention that because it's financial aid is a topic that goes throughout the whole entire spectrum whether you're talking about  high income family or maybe a single parent low income family that's a concern for every single person so such going to stay currently has the lowest wishin of any four year university in the state of connecticut so it's one thing that we're very proud of but in addition to that we consider our degree to be a very valuable degree with all the services that are provided opportunities this is going to explore we have a very large well known socrates over eighty percent of them have the highest degree within their field there's ten thousand undergraduates that kind of home the campus so is a lot of action happening on the campus so one of the things i always advise parents is when they're looking at affordability is number one what can you pay out of your own pockets financial need changes each year financial restrictions changes each year so planning over the course of four years for a degree is very difficult when you can't forecast what a is a word that people think just race but there's diversity in a lot of different areas women to engineering scholarships are becoming huge that's a gender diversity scholarship that people can consider so really starting that early scholarship wrapping them up allowing students to kind of take control in ownership over those scholarships to private organizations will help them kind of make affordability maybe the third or fourth reason why they're choosing the institution is sort of the specific departments that provide scholarships so having that on the application most suited to the common application now would be something that would be of asset to the student because it can open them up doors for scholarships and also admission to various schools and departments i would when i was in college i was told to fill out a brag sheet which i may not be a term that's used as often as it is that was back then but back she's really kind of  professional resume for college admission what have you done and what can you do and what kind of asset can you bring to the university and i would encourage every student to start doing that as early as possible adding to it as they move closer to senior year because that would really help them admission but also with financing their in their college education now how about the essays at the school from on the application i know that you don't want to you know want to hear as ses on you know the piece of the world or anything like that tell the parents out there you know what type of essays do the admissions representatives usually look for a great question so there's a kind of  joke within college admission you know you get the essays about the big game or the big injury or the loss in the family and or the kind of the big three threes within college admission that you're reading and truthfully those kind of don't stand out  i think i think them the best kind of essays are those that are personal to the students but a lot of us as an admission office to kind of get to know the student without having to interview them very short and concise would be my preference in terms of writing an essay we could just over ten thousand applications so we're reading just over ten thousand essays and it's very hard to kind of remember all those essays as you're reviewing and trying to make a decision on which students will be at mit made into the university so essays that kind of allow us to get a better idea of who you are the students or from a parent standpoint who your child is really will allow us to make the determination of such was the best fit for them interesting it's a interesting concept you know there's been so many admissions people have come onto the show and they all have a different take on it it's very interesting now at the school do they have different regions for different admissions representatives of where they are they focus on to come to the school yet so central to being one of the state universities at the in connecticut  we travel to every county in the state not a small state so that doesn't take much of the staff however outside of connecticut we travel in southern new york and century northern new jersey  the entire state of massachusetts and rhode island is kind of our primary areas of recruitment we do have opportunities to go into southern or northern new england and then also down into philadelphia at times as well so we were trying to broaden our our base as we look at the landscape throughout the nation it tells us that high school students there's not as many as there were twenty years ago and universities are looking to all increase their enrollment so there's much more competition with trying to get students on your campus so now we're looking internationally we're looking and going more into the southern states as well to try to see where we can get more students from and because of the volume so really our personal contacts help us to guide students and parents through the admission funnel when you're applying after your admitted what you can do although we have fantastic advisors a financial counselors and business office people were usually the first point of contact for those families so until they matriculate and are comfortable within their first year experience they usually continually call us as their first  point and we try to put them in the right direction to make sure that all their fears and concerns which are extremely valid taken care of and they've made the right decision and they're going to be graduating for years so that's what we really want to do although we have people that travel in different areas we're kind of all one team in the office so what is what is central connecticut state university like for families that don't even know where it is yeah well it's in new britain connecticut which is about fifteen miles miles south of the state capital hartford so we're really centrally located to everything in new england so you can get to providence and our boston into new york city just over two so it's a really nice nice suburban campus one of the great things about our campus is that it's completely enclosed so students who want to go to the dining facility football game to theater show to their dorm room will never have to cross the street when take a shuttle so it's a really really well organized campus which is really nice there's about ten thousand on the graduate students as i mentioned earlier so students from forty different countries and thirty different states so there's regional diversity we have a one to one male female ratio gender diversity we have about thirty percent of our students a student the colors of his diversity within race as well so it's a really really great opportunity to kind of meet people from a lot of different areas academically our largest school currently is am in school of liberal arts and social sciences so psychology and criminology those every person the party sits in the seats for recess criminology and psychology has popular majors but we have a music program we have a theater program we also offer hospitality and tourism journalism as a major as well we were established in eight hundred forty nine as a teacher's institution sort of school of education a professional study is a big part of the university currently we have more teach in the state of connecticut to sion so it's a it's a great great place k through twelve education and then we have preschool to twelve for dance which is a really really popular thing we have a dance education major the only school in the state to offer it music education our education technology education and if is it for preschool to twelve nursing is another very popular program for students who are looking for something in the medical field and it's a b s and program and then our staples of the of the university of the program and finally our school of business it's a c is be a credit it is mandatory internships within the department and we have five majors within the school internships are something that our university reprised the self on  so just over ninety some of the students are doing an internship and then we also offer a unique study abroad program students can go as little as seven days to long of the year to forty different countries very cool the center for international education fight but it's a great great opportunity to kind of see the world as a college student as i mentioned earlier with division one s let ics so our winter sports have a really good year gym in track and field women so women both won the e c our football so saturday in the fall is like most saturdays throughout the country in the fall with a lot of camaraderie on campus three theaters as well so a lot of music programs our jaffer example actually won the villanova jazz festival last may so they're coming back this year to kind of hopefully regain the title again so a lot of kind of things the students can do and i think one of the nice things about central is that there's something for everyone there but it's still very personable in its approach average class size about twenty five we were sixteen one five to ratio you're able to connect with students staff and faculty alike our president dr tara was very visible on campus walking around she was an engineer so she's very inept in making sure that we are doing things that students want new buildings are being built on campus we're renovating some other things so she's kind people think it's out down time but we're simultaneously trying to finish one class while working on the next class so there's a lot of programs that we have for students or starting just kind of to make sure that all right i've paid my bill but i just want to make sure that the right place for me and and so we're working with them to make sure that they have everything that they need in order to have a school transition from high school year to freshman year of college in addition to that we're planning for the next year so we're planning our college fairs our high school visits our open houses that we have in the fall off campus visit days so there's a lot of planning going on in there in the summer stage and you do that yourself we do so everything is kind of under our umbrella within admission recruitment so each councillor's responsible to create their own high school visit schedule and then we have one person in the office who filters through all the college fairs and assign them as needed we have another person the office th oversees our events so she'll create the open house schedule and and the patients will all in conjunction with work with marketing to a promote the event and during the fall is kind of a world when we are rolling in the mission our application goes up august first we begin reviewing as early as october want so we're traveling and reviewing the application kind of have a nice balance so usually i'm in the office two days a week and out of the office three days a week just to make sure that the office work and those students who applied early have a reasonable response and everything is done all along and everything is done online so we're not exclusive coming up we have our own application however ninety eight percent i think last year applied first time c is able to send in their information as well pretty easily so the technology has made it a much easier process for the students in the applicant applying to the colleges it typically takes us about two weeks to review  everything we try to keep that to be deadline some ensure that students who apply and get their information are able to receive a decision within two weeks now in starting october first is when you start looking at the fall classes correct right so how long does that go until that goes until january february well for us it usually goes until may yet so we when i left for today  we had just about two hundred thirty applications that were on the review sheet so those people we well like to give a decision within two weeks and every day there's more applications coming in so so this does a lot of applications and that doesn't include transfers which typically they begin applying march or april as the close of the in this semester so we were reviewing all the way through may for the most part till we have no more space and and that includes a space for people on campus for for room and board and correct correct we have ten residential hall of one is under renovation currently so there are nine lives on campus so we want to ensure that we give students the opportunity to get the decision back quickly so that they can go ahead and ensure that they have a space on campus we just built a brand new building which opened up last fall two thousand and sixteen prior to that there were huge weightless to get on to the residential campus and since we've opened up that was a six hundred fifty best facility we've been able to kind of give to the families out there that you know their sons and daughters are ready to go to college what advice do you want to give to those families well number one advice would be visit universities pay a lot of money to make sure that their social media and web sites look great and the materials are going to have great language in it and everything is going to sound wonderful as you're looking and reviewing at home go visit the universities you have a great opportunity to kind of walk through the campus and get a feel of the culture on the campus make sure that's the right environment for you i tell students all the time you're making before your decision what to make one your decision to transfer out you're making  you decision take your time go visit the schools keep your families involved many times the reality of we can't afford to send you to that school becomes too late in the process you're looking at a pr software days or days go visit the university don't assume that you know a school because someone on the street when they're or because they're in your backyard you know going to form a visit ask questions ask questions ask questions