On a recent trip to the East Coast, I had the opportunity to visit some college campuses that I’ve always wanted to experience.
First up: Villanova University
A few takeaways from my visit:
- Villanova is an Augustinian Catholic university (the only one in the nation) focusing on the values of truth, unity, and love. All first-year students take a 2-semester seminar course with their dormmates as a way to build relationships among students and strengthen higher-level reading and writing skills.
- The university has 6700 undergraduate students with 85% of those students living on campus. Philadelphia is a quick train ride (12 miles from the city) and NYC or DC can be reached in 1.5 hours.
- Nova Nation is strong, and not just due to the basketball team's 2016 and 2018 national championships. We visited on a wet, rainy day (embarrassed to admit I had to buy an extra umbrella or two at the campus bookstore) but our tour guide’s enthusiasm for the school was not dampened by the weather. He talked about his favorite part of returning from breaks was wearing his Villanova gear in the Philadelphia airport and people flashing him the Villanova sign. There was lots of talk on our tour about the strength of the Business and Engineering programs as well as placement opportunities in summer internships.
- If not able to visit in person, Villanova Admissions gives online info sessions. Two students I worked with this year attended sessions online and were able to learn great details about the Villanova experience that they connected with to include in their application's supplemental essays.
Go Wildcats!
