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| Swarthmore College |
Members of the Higher Education Consultants Association
(HECA) and the Independent Educational
Consultants Association (IECA) were asked this week to name the most
beautiful college campuses in America.
And who better to ask than a
group of professionals dedicated to making “best fit” matches between high
school students and colleges?
In fact, independent educational
consultants (IEC’s) rack up literally hundreds of thousands of miles each year visiting
campuses in every corner of the country on fact-finding missions to gather
information and learn what makes individual colleges special or unique.
“In 2013, I visited 53
colleges/universities,” explained Emily Standish, whose consulting business is
headquartered in Portland, Oregon. “To
date this year, I have visited 30.”
Sandy Clingman in Virginia
reports that she’s visited over 70 colleges in the past year, and Abby Siegel, who maps
her visits on her website, is nearing 300 campus tours in her career as an
IEC.
And they come from all over the
world. “I visit at least 15 institutions
a year and have been known to visit 35 in one year,” said Laura O’Brien
Gatzionis, who annually travels all the way from Athens, Greece, to scope-out colleges
for her students.
These trips constitute an
important part of the job of an IEC and are a key component of the value-added IEC’s
bring to the college advising process.
As a result, it’s fair to say
that no other group in the college advising business can boast of having as
much “on-site” experience as the corps of IEC’s who can be found sitting in
information sessions, following along tour guides, chatting with students, or
eating lunch in the dining hall.
IEC’s take seriously their
responsibility as the eyes and ears of college-bound students and their
families, budgeting considerable time and money to support regular travel to
conferences and tours. A recent tour of
Virginia colleges sponsored by HECA filled within ten minutes of posting—and that’s
not unusual.
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| University of Richmond |
IEC’s don’t receive
reimbursements for these trips or time-off from their responsibilities. They
are year-round travelers anxious to squeeze one more campus into an otherwise full
schedule.
And even vacations aren’t off-limits,
as it’s not unusual for IEC’s to take college detours while on family trips.
“I always tell my husband that
one day we will rent a silver Windstream mobile home and drive across the
country visiting all of the schools I have missed! Not sure that sounds like a
great vacation to him but it's like a trip to Disney for me!” said Kristina
Dooley, of Estrela Consulting, in Cleveland, Ohio.
But it’s more than just “seeing”
a campus that drives IEC’s to make college tours a top priority. It’s because the only way to experience the
culture and “vibe” of a college is to be here.
“To me, all college campuses are
beautiful. It's not the location or the architecture, it's the combination of
youth and ideas, research and history—combusting into the flame of
knowledge!” explains Ann Scheder-Bieschin, of Carina College Admission
Counseling, in Cotati, California. “The energy on many campuses is
exciting. “
And when asked about her list of
beautiful colleges, Jeana Kawamura, an IEC based in Newport Beach, California,
adds, “I think that the real beauty of a campus is when they open their doors
and embrace a student's search for a positive and appropriate place to learn.”
Dedicated IEC’s have ongoing love
affairs with colleges. When asked to
nominate the most beautiful liberal arts colleges in America, they generated a list
of over 90 institutions. Of
these, 16 exceptionally attractive schools came out on top (check this column on
Friday for America’s Most Beautiful Universities):
1. Swarthmore College and the University of Richmond
3. Pomona College
4. Lewis and Clark College and Middlebury
College
6. Kenyon College, Rhodes College, and Wellesley
College
9. Scripps College
10. Furman University
11. Sewanee:
The University of the South
12. Bucknell University and Colgate University
14. Colby College, Rollins College, and Vassar
College
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