By Isaiah Gaddy
Today is last day of our 10-day college tour. This is the 44th annual college tour of the Carver Center and this year the focus was on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) schools. After an overnight stay in Mercer, PA we took a twenty minute ride along the rolling hills and fields to the campus of Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. I secretly asked myself, who would want to be all the way here in Amish country. I quietly raised this question with Ms. Novelette. She informed me that this school was selected because it was named among the top STEM schools for women and minorities.
Westminster College was founded in 1852 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It is a small private liberal arts college. There are 1500 undergraduate students and 42% are men and 58% are women. There is a 12:1 ratio for students to staff and a class size of 20 students. The campus is immaculate. There were only a few students on campus because it is still spring break. We were greeted with a lot of enthusiasm and received a formal presentation from the director of admissions. We were all encouraged to start the college placement process as early as the ninth grade because your ninth grade grades are important because it is a part of your G.P.A. Also important is the academic track we select. A strong academic track will create more options for us when the time comes for college selection. Applications to college should start in mid-November of our senior year. Admission requires at or above 3.4 GPA, 23 on the ACT and 1100 on the SAT. Incoming freshmen have until their sophomore year to declare a major.
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There are forty different academic programs offered. The top three majors are Biology, Education and Business Administration. There is also a strong pre-law program. Westminster has received many distinguished recognitions especially in Education. There are many opportunities for merit-based scholarships. The top three are the Presidential scholarships which gives full tuition, the Vance Award which awards $22,000 per year for 4 years and the Titan Award which is $14,000 to $20,000 per year.
There is such an amazing feeling that I have from touring the grounds of the school. This may be the perfect setting for me. This is the placed to get and stay focus.
