This summer, the Bellevue College information session is held every Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in R102. The session provides incoming and future students with more information about the overview of the college, the admission process, majors offered, financial aid and scholarships, and more.
The information session on Thursday, July 5 was attended by approximately 25 people, 13 of whom are students that are planning to transfer or go back to school. The planned area of study of the people who came to the session varied from pre-nursing, anthropology, business, athletic training and others. Health sciences advisor, Robin Bridges, and general advisor, Emily Macpherson, presented the session.
Among the topics discussed by Bridges and Macpherson, there was a comparison of price of student’s tuition fees in University for Washington and Bellevue College. The huge difference of tuition fees between the two educational institutions is part of the reason many students choose to go to Bellevue College.
In the middle of the session, Bridges explained, step by step, the admission process. The admission process of new students and transfer students differ and in the middle of Bridge’s explanation, it was revealed that approximately half of the session comers have never been to college and the other half already have college credits.
Advisor Robin Bridges also talked about how students are able to get help around the campus. She talked about services like TriO and MultiCultural Services that are available at Student Services at B building. The services are able to provide first generation college students of limited income and/or disabilities with service-leadership that supports students in general and diverse populations in particular respectively.
As an advisor, Bridges recommended students to get advised to make sure that they are taking the right class for their selected major. She also talked about the most common questions students ask when they come to advisors. Bridges said that students that came to her mostly ask about what classes to take, the last date to drop a class without getting a W on the transcript, education plans, and financial aid.
Bridges added that she received approximately 10 to 12 students that need advising each day. She reminded that the number of students that come to advisors depend on the season and also the popularity of the major. In addition, she advised students to make an appointment before meeting an advisor because some days advisors are fully booked, making drop-ins impossible.
At the end of each information session, there was a question and answer session which enables future students to ask about topics that were not discussed in the session or clarification questions.
One question that was asked by a future student was “Are there any classes students can take to figure out their major?” General advisor Emily Macpherson explained about the human development class called career exploration that students are able to take to explore their career options.
Questions like “Are my credits from ___ years ago still good?” are one of the more popular questions, added Bridges.
Anne Delisle was among the potential future students that came to the information session. Delisle said that the information session was really helpful, especially because they explained the admission process well. She became interested in attending Bellevue College after a training program that was presented by a Bellevue College faculty held at her current job.
Delisle was not satisfied with her old occupation as a translator and realized how much she likes spending time with children. She is planning to take the Early Childhood Education program at Bellevue College, hopefully winter 2013.