welcome to the secrets of college planning and the whole state of the youth vote and today we're going to get some insight on emissions my guest today is jennifer canalis and she's the director of admissions at kean university or kane university  and welcome to the show thank you for having me here no problem so i usually start my guess where they went to school so would you go to school i went to a medium size liberal arts college in westchester new york peace university oh yeah i earn my bachelor's degree in applied psychology and human relations are great and schools after that or if i did i went on to pursue my master's degree in school counseling from new york institute of technology g graduating from pace i was such a fan of my alma mater that i really wanted to become a recruiter for the school and becoming an admissions counselor for pace and i loved it it was so much fun i really found so much reward in working with students and families and helping select their you know the best college fit for them and it was easy to talk about the school because i was a graduate of the school and so really i fell in love with higher education right after college while i moved on to graduate admissions role and after that i moved on to the online division and the spearheaded the online admissions process for online so i got an incredible amount of experience working with a wide range of students from traditional freshman to transfer you graduate to international and so when i relocated to new jersey i was looking for a school where i could get back to my roots and  progressive institution with some really wonderful exciting things happening again and so i was hired as the director of admissions overseeing undergraduate and graduate moment well first and so now usually the  process is probably a very tedious process but give us the admissions process at cain university or any university really what's that what's the admissions process well i would say that it depends on who you are some students start the college search process as early as their freshman or sophomore year for very you know ambitious students and i would recommend starting the process as early as at least the sophomore year or at least having that kitchen table conversation with the parents you know and talking about what really interests you to make sure that you're starting to get a narrow focus with over three thousand colleges and universities in the country it's really it's a difficult choice and many families don't know where to go or how to start that process so there's a lot of search college search tools out there that help you to narrow your focus to identify what size campus you're looking for if you're looking for an all girls and all boys what type of you want to be in are you interested in the sun or the slopes it's a really interesting process for students so you know for kane students typically in their sophomore year there you know trying to learn about k maybe they've their peak in their interest about what kane has to offer by their junior year they're really starting to do the college you know visits and coming to campus for tour or for open house meeting with faculty current cane students and then senior year is when they start the application process the application opens as early as september one and that's when they start the application so universally do they go through a particular process do you have admissions representatives that go to different schools in the area how does the process work for the school absolutely so from an admissions recruitment standpoint we start doing college visits in the fall probably around late september when we go to individual high schools across the state and within the tri state area and all the way down to maryland into pennsylvania but we're state institutions so we really try to cover you know our bases across the entire state of new jersey so we'll do college fairs at high schools across the state and then we also engage in national college ak hosts national college fairs at some you know big convention centers like new york at the jacob javits center so really we really try to connect with as many students on the road and their families as possible  call it you know recruitment season is the fall season and that's when our we're out on the road speaking with mostly juniors and seniors and while they're completing their applications and when we get back from the road about the first week of december that's when november and then we're on a rolling in mission basis so what that means is that students can apply as early as september but really we accept applications all the way up until august one so we're constantly reviewing applications of course for a traditional freshman applicant we always strongly suggest that they apply as early as possible and definitely by december one we even have an early action option so that students can apply early and then also receive their decision earlier than now is there when they come to the school what what is it that appeals to students to come to roshi so what appeals to students that come to kane i would say kane has a long standing history in the state of new jersey we were founded as new york state teachers college over one hundred sixty years ago so there is definitely a lot of canaan across the state so i think students are oftentimes legac and they're coming to the campus because you know they have a parent that graduated there but can has come a long way in one hundred sixty years we were founded as a teacher's college and remain to be one of the largest producers of teachers in the state of new jersey for the past three consecutive years we've been named archana have been named state teachers of the year so we're very proud of our heritage in that you know respect but today they find more cutting edge types of really career driven degree programs in business in architecture or in even the stem science fields so there's a variety of different options to choose from a cane whether you're interested in studying one of our fifty undergraduate degree programs or one of our over eighty graduate degree options there's really something for everyone but what i like to say about cain is that it's all about access it's there is the opportunity for students to earn this world class education but not every institution can provide a world class education at such an affordable rate so we offer the most comprehensive education at the deepest discounted rate in the state so now that that brings up  question of financial aid or or monies at the school because it's a small school is there any monies available at the school that the parents can look at absolutely i think that our scholarship offerings is probably one of the most under under us under notified our people that know about them we have such robust financial aid and scholarship offerings students can apply for financial aid for the very traditional grants and loans but if you apply the cane you're automatically going to be evaluated for a merit based incentive award and that's based on admissions criteria so that's based on your academic coursework and those range anywhere from two thousand dollars per year all the way up to full in state tuition so there's quite a bit of scholarship opportunities and then of course you know federal financial aid is always an option as well so you know there are extra curricular activities at the school clubs things like that absolutely  is actually one of the most diverse campuses in the nation and so by being one of the most diverse campuses in the nation we have diverse set of clubs organizations special interests groups that you can be a part of we have degrees do you look at as well sure so we have over fifty different undergraduate degree options right now of those degree options some of the most popular are criminal just this biology the psychology communications but what we are really focusing on right now is developing career driven programs so that will lead students directly to a career fields and so we've developed honors curriculums so we've developed honors curriculums in sustainability studies in the stem field we are home of new jersey's center for science technology and mathematics which is a center of excellence in the state we have also developed the global business honors program which is really the the term for international business these days with really a commitment to global education and placing our students in areas around the world where all they will experience  opportunities so do you find a lot of international students they talk to the schools will know our international student population is smaller than i think i'd like it to be and we've been so focused on servicing our statewide students but i do see in the future about we'll you what's the process that that the student is taking throughout the throughout the i guess the year the year from the time they start applying here from yes wallace and so march yeah so much for i would say for a traditional applicant they might submit their application and you know or start their application process with maybe a college advisor that they're working with at their high school or even on their own and when they're gathering all their application documents that's really what will help them complete their application so before they even apply sometimes they're really narrowing down where am i going to apply so once they've determined where they're going to apply they'll submit the application came except the com application as well as the kin edu application so you can apply online directly at you and then we look for a variety of supplemental items so we ask every student for their high school transcripts standardized test scores whether it's the s a t or the t we also look for two letters of recommendation and an essay for those last two requirements are not required they're really more strongly recommended than required but i always advise students to submit them because your some of the schools is a range that each school takes shore i mean i think every school has there are you know set admission requirements or preferred minimum admission requirements and so you know cain is you know earlier i said cain's all about access and i think that kaine is about access to first students across the state and we have a variety of different admission programs that we can and students to whether they fall into that very average score of a three point zero high school a or about a thousand on the s a t we just look at the critical reading and math component not the writing section and will continue to with the new s a t as well but like i said we have honors curriculums that require students to have higher scores than that so that they can really compete with the academic rigor in those types of programs and then we have programs for individuals that maybe their scores fall slightly low but there's indicators in their academic history that would really prove that they could be  wonderful additions to the kyng community and that they really do have the academic potential to succeed so you are placing students where they academically fit so the students that are more  brainiacs they do well in different type of classes than the ones not as not as i don't know challenged potentially you know overall we're looking for a pretty average you know type of score of three point zero and about a thousand on the s a t s but absolutely for the students that we'd like to be able to provide opportunity to access to we also want to ensure that we're going to be able to provide them with the academic support that they need in order to succeed so even though sometimes students aren't awarded admission it's really just because we want to make sure that we're admitting students that can succeed at the college and so that's our that's our main object so you know i've heard a couple of admissions people that have come out to the show and i always i'm always wondering about a certain thing that parents always bring to me is is there some type of quota that admissions has that schools have you can  class of talented students that can really contribute to our campus community so i don't know that it's just about a number and there's definitely not a a sole focus in specific areas i think that you know what we're looking for is students that are a good fit for cain and so you know some some schools might have very specific quotas in certain areas but as a large state institution you know we are really committed to providing that access and really bringing in students that are going to really match that of the community so you know usually when they get to the christmas holiday area furred missions representatives and they're looking at all these applications i mean you're looking at piles of applications from diverse amounts of different kids how do they go through the process how do they weed out which ones are good not as good go on this  well and it back in the day we did have piles of folders you know on ana and mission counsellors task and right now everything's really electronic driven since they're submitting their applications online and submitting their high school transcripts  online so what's really nice about that is that we have the tools and technology that helps us stay official in our review process so that we don't have to miss any part of the application really when we're looking for students reviewing a student application we're looking at it very holistically of course we have these really pretty sat average indicators of what you know a student would would need to succeed at kane and that's that three point zero roughly g a but we really don't look there first i would say that when a student smits their application on first looking at their physical application what information have they provided to me that i wouldn't have known by just looking at their high school transcript or just looking at their s a t scores so we're asking on the application for areas of interest so that they can indicate to us that they're interested in the specific athletic you know team or they're interested in community service types of programs then i know that this already might be a good fit for the student they've already kind of done their research and then we move on to you know reviewing their essay their personal statement because that's really the voice that the student has in their application that's where they can share with us what what they want us to know about them then we look at the letters of recommendation so that we can review what may be their employers or even current faculty members have to say about their academic aptitude then we'll look at the high school transcript and s a t s course once you reach a goal of admissions you just stop or or is it where you say these kids know you you go into the spring semester or next year or what happens when you win you still have a lot more kids that you're interested in but you don't have the room anymore we're pretty committed i mean i think that there's you know to to making sure that students have their admission decision for the term starts  we try to we give admissions decisions on a rolling admission basis so if a student applies by say january one they should expect to receive their admissions decision within approximately a month and the bulk of our applications are really received between that december one and that march first deadline so the bulk of them are really all kind of received and then after that time we're pretty quick in getting admission decisions out right away and then of course we accept applications up until august one so on some programs like our stem program they have a very hard march one deadline some of our design programs are theater programs they have you know earlier deadlines and so if you've applied after the fact we might invite you to select a different major to be considered for but historically and our goal is to make sure that everyone has an admissions decision and you know luckily we're a large enough institution with enough faculty so i love that question what makes cain different than every other institution that's out there and i would say there's a few key advantages to attending again one is definitely the affordability factor with what's going on in higher education today and families really not wanting to accumulate a lot of debt after graduation the conversation about affordability is probably more prominent now than i think ever before so knowing that you can really obtain this world class education maybe even in your backyard right here and not have to travel to far out of state and get to benefit from that in state tuition rate is quite a significant key differentiator since we are the most affordable education in the state of new jersey so that's definitely one indicator the differentiator another i would say is potentially location people are often surprised to know that cane sits on over one hundred eighty five acres of beautiful lush green space and when you step on campus you really feel this collegiate atmosphere but surrounding year are these brand new state of the art facilities and so really there's this nice balance between a very traditional college campus feel with the skateboards and you know some frisbees on the lawn with really this dedication to technology and it's quite incredible that our state institution is able to provide different types of technology students can utilize our cave our cave is an area where students can actually see a three d model of the heart and they can stand in the middle of it and that you only have a planetarium on campus there's really a lot of opportunities for students to get hands on in their education again and then one of the final differentiators is i would say the diversity came as extremely diverse i mentioned earlier one of the most i received colleges in the nation and has been rated by diversity inc as one of the most diverse colleges in the nation and what's so great about that is that students who are interested in really diving into a cultural experience they can do that kane and really benefit from the diversity of thought in the classroom and even outside of the classroom well that's they do the they get involved in a lot of the community as well absolutely came is really has really promoted a culture of caring kane has been for the past five consecutive years ranks on president  community service honor roll we are constantly giving back to the community whether we are building community gardens or raising money for homeless and building shelters there's really so much that's happening again that is really committed say well when we go around to the high schools we typically go to college fairs so we're invited or we go on a private visit where you know we schedule an appointment and then advertise that came will be there that day so more often than not students are self selecting that they're interested in cane and they do that by word of mouth maybe you know they've received some literature from us maybe they've visited campus or like i said earlier maybe a legacy graduated from k the cane is really a household name and so oftentimes students are kind of self selecting that they're interested in learning a little bit more about kane and what's great about our admissions counselors we have an entire team that's really dedicated and passionate about helping students find the perfect fit so it's really nice that we can be in their communities come to them and help answer any questions that they might have to help them narrow down their search and are you going just to try state area which is new york new jersey connecticut  as well we do we go into pennsylvania will actually be in pennsylvania later on at the end of the month and as you know we go down to delaware we do maryland and we really do try to cover the entire state wow that's fantastic so so you're you're you're which is is quite broad you have to get kids from outside that area will be here we do we get students from a variety of different areas around the nation predominantly from the new york area staten island so close to cambridge but really we're  starting to see greater interest in southern florida southern california so i'd like to see you know our recruiters head out to those directions fairly soon so that we can meet some of the students that are in those areas as well and an alumni at the school when they graduate from from canaan versus what are you looking at what are they looking at i would say graduates of cain so many of them continue on to get their graduate degree from cane  we have a large population of students that are really they're just proud a lot and we call them double cane alarms so they go on to get their graduate degrees they travel and of course so many of them find jobs immediately after graduation with either the help of their faculty advisors or some professors of they've worked with or even our career development team when you come to the end of our show and usually i ask my guess what advice you want to give the parents that are out there their sons and daughters that want to go to school like in university what advice would you like to give them i would say what i say to everybody is no matter where you are in the college search process it's important to not just visit the the twice get to know what the campus feels like see with the food taste like see what the students are like and really get to even meet with some of the faculty members even if you're undecided on what it is you want to study in open house is a really great opportunity for students to come mingle with deans faculty members current students and then come back again come back for a private tour even once you're accepted and come back for an accepted student and that's really what's going to give parents  students that informed information so that they can make an informed decision and really that their gut instinct will tell them you know if they're if they're making a good choice and i can confidently say that students that are selecting kane i'm confident in their decision and we have so much to offer for them including a wide array of international opportunities came also has a campus and when joe china one of only three american institutions in china so whether you come to kane and study at the union campus or in china or even down the shore at our toms river campus in ocean county community college there's really a lot of access that's provided to cane students and so i