Vermont Colleges Trip Part III

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Norwich University, Northfield, VT

Norwich University was surprisingly one of my favorite visits and a one of a kind in terms of schools we visited.  First, it was absolutely beautiful.  Norwich is the oldest private military college in the United States.  Norwich is a partial-military school with about 2300 undergraduates, 1400 cadets and 900 civilians.  Interestingly, students who enter the university as a cadet have the option to transfer into the civilian population and students who graduate as cadets have no obligation to go into the military after.  I find this a great option for students who want a military education and learning environment but don’t want to commit to service post-graduation.  While 58-60% of students do enter the military after gradation, about 42% go into other levels, such as working for the government or other similar services.  All branches of ROTC are offered at Norwich (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force).  Norwich is actually the birthplace of ROTC.  The staff at Norwich emphasized a safe environment with a very low crime rate, possibly due to the living honor code share by all students.

Norwich offers 20 different varsity sports at the Div III level, hockey being most popular on campus.  Cadets and civilians are integrated throughout the campus – they work together in classes, sports, clubs and extracurricular activities, etc.  They share almost every aspect of campus life except for housing.  Cadets must rise at 5:30am and have a very regimented schedule, something that Civilians simply didn’t sign up for. 

Impressively, there is a 98.1% placement rate within a student’s career field of study within 8 months of graduation. 

While we didn’t get a strong feeling of why civilians seek out Norwich, I assume that they are drawn by the university’s guiding values, integrity, leadership opportunities and structure that is provided.  Norwich is a small school and provides attention and a supportive community, much like the other Vermont schools we visited.

www.norwich.edu

Vermont Technical College, Randolph, VT

Vermont Technical is Vermont’s only technical college.  It has 9 campuses across the state and has a variety of programs including agriculture, equine studies, business, nursing, respiratory therapy, dental, auto tech, professional pilot tech, vet tech, engineering tech, computer information tech, and more.  On the main campus in Randolph which is located in the geographical center of the state, Vermont Technical has about 1600 students with residence halls for about 620. 

We were told that most students do leave campus on the weekends.  While we were assured that there are still students around and things to do on the weekends, if you are looking for a school where most students stay on campus, this school may not be for you.  Students coming to Vermont Technical should pretty much know what they want to study, as these are very specific, career oriented majors.  The college, like many others we saw, focuses on real-time, hands-on experience taught by professors who are experts in their field.

http://www.vtc.edu/

Landmark College, Putney, VT

Landmark College is unique in that it is a college exclusively for students with learning disabilities.  At a total undergrad population of 500 students, it offers multi-modal learning mostly in associate’s degree programs, although a Bachelor’s program was just approved for the fall (BA in Liberal Studies).  Prospective students must have a Learning Disability (LD), ADHD, or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) to be considered.  About half of the students at Landmark transfer in after they have been unsuccessful elsewhere.

There are a few different entry points into the college.  Students can enter at credit level, at partial credit (reading and writing skills at 7-10 grade level), or a non-credit language intensive curriculum (significant difficulty in reading and writing).  The college has a very small student to faculty ratio at 5:1.  Students are provided with programs that are really tailored to students with learning difficulties.  As I mentioned there is a multi-modal delivery method of instruction, teaching that exposes the “hidden curriculum”, explicit skills instruction, and asynchronous materials organization.  Students have an advisor whom they meet with on a weekly basis who is also the primary contact for parents (high level of communication with parents at Landmark).  The school also provides students with different levels of assistive technology, such as Dragon and Kurziwel, and all textbooks are scanned and available digitally. 

Landmark is a highly residential campus with 98% of students living on campus. Associate programs include General Studies, Liberal Arts, Life Sciences, Computer Science / Game Design, Business Studies, and Business Administration.

Landmark is meant to be used as a stepping stone for students to discover the power of successful learning and the skills they need to be successful in their future academic pursuits.  The average stay for a student at Landmark is about 3 semesters.  There is a full transfer office to help students with the transfer process.  There is a direct correlation from length of stay at Landmark College to completion of a Bachelor’s degree program.  Of students that completed a full 2-year program, 80% go on to complete Bachelor’s degree programs.  The number one transfer college is University of Denver in Colorado but students go on to a variety of different places.

While Landmark is a bit pricy at $58,000, the entire amount can be tax deductable as a medical expense.  Families can also deduct travel expenses and book supplies.  Landmark is currently working towards making their college more affordable.

http://www.landmark.edu/

Stay tuned for the next leg of the trip!!

Coming up next... Marlboro College, Southern Vermont College, Bennington College...

About Smart Track™ Toolkit: The toolkit is a web based service that assists families with everything from admissions and test prep, to student athletics and financial aid. Our intuitive software and on-demand workshops are key components to making sure students find their top choice colleges, and families can afford to send them there.

About the author: Laura Guarino is the Student Services Coordinator with the College Resource Center, LLC. Laura has a degree in Human Development from Boston College and recently received her Master’s degree in School Guidance Counseling.  She is also enrolled in a certificate program in College Admissions Counseling.  Laura is at the forefront of the college admissions process for the families of The Smart Track™ Toolkit.

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