Late Ha! Ha! Wednesday Blog

Hi everyone:

I do hope that you are all awaiting this message with bated breath. Things are looking up and I think this year is going to be Versan's largest ever fair for boarding schools:

Canada:
Albert College
Trinity College
Rothesay Netherwood
Havergal


USA:
Deerfield
Hockaday
St. Stephen's
Kent
The Ross School
Washington Academy
Baylor
Dana Hall
Darrow
Verde Valley
Tilton

This will be at the Terra Nova Hotel from November 19-20. Students should be getting their resumes, applications ready for the pre-selected schools. I suspect that this evening is the event with Choate Rosemary so I think that some of you will be in attendance. It is at the Courtleigh Hotel from 7 -*:30 p.m. I also got word from Northfield Mount Hermon and Mercersburg that they will be coming...

SAT registration deadline is looming for those sitting the exam in December 2009. Hurry...the deadline is October 31.

Please rush the forms in by fedex. We have forms at the office. Stand-bys for November, please come by for the forms and get those done with cheques in tow.

TRIP TO CANADA
Well...this was a revelatory trip. I now know that students will enjoy a lower cost for their academic studies in Maritime Canada. The annual rates ran from $20,000 to $23,000 the most. Another advantage was that students are allowed to work on and off campus. At the end of 3 years, one can obtain Canadian citizenship. A lovely concept. Scholarships range from $500-$5999 off the tuition. But all in all-a bargain.

I liked all the schools for ifferent reasons.

St. Mary's University (Halifax): excellent business and football. Lovely campus, great diversity, largest international student component of all the schools seen. The Head of the university had a chance to meet with me to discuss having more Jamaicans there. The International recruiter is a gem. There are about 5, 500 students.

Dalhousie University: I was overwhelmingly pleased by the Admissions team having lunch with me and discussing the strengths of this school. I saw a great place for students who love the sciences, architecture, education, nursing, Business, study abroad, Law, Dentistry. I found it on equal footing with McGill. This is a home-run and in a scenic place. There ae 15000 students.

King's College: is a part of Dalhousie and holds the Core courses (Analysis of the 100 Books) similar to that of Columbia University's program. It is great for Music, Theater and Journalism. There are approximately 1500 students.

Acadia University is in a small town and has 3000 students. Great for Business, Environmental Science, Nursing and Education. Great student unions. Lovely dorms.

Rothesay Netherwood is a private boarding school. The school runs from middle school to high school. A competitive school that holds a great Art program and a highly rated IB program. They will be visiting Jamaica soon for our fair. We have two Jamaican students there.

University of New Brunswick-is known for Engineering, Robotics, Biomedical Engineering, Software Engineering, Architecture, Law, Kinesiology, Business...

There are two campuses. There is one in Fredericton and the other in Saint John. Saint John is the smaller of the two. Small town but quite cosmopolitan.

Then there was St. Thomas University, a small campus ensconced on the New Brunswick Frederickton locale. For a very bright child who wants small classes and just a mere three professors teaching you for a particular discipline over a 4 year period...it is a scholar's program and the graduate who led my campus tour made me realize that this school was precious.

My next disappearing act is Nov 8-13 where Duke University, Wake Forest and other North Carolina schools will host me for the week. I will not have this blog so late in the day again...but it is still Wednesday!

I am working late this weekend and most of next week.

Congrats to Rochelle Anderson who pulled off a 650 on her GMAT exam. I also saw Tanya Bedward take that courageous step with her GRE last Saturday-hope she reaps the whirlwind. And as we hunker down now for SSAT, SAT and LSAT for the remainder of the year, we urge you all to come in finish those apps, get any new books on the market as well as fine-tune all the athletic scores we are making in our alliance with www.mygameplan.biz. So happy about that....

Keep on reading...