Congratulations Ivan...& Happy Trails

Well, we received news this week that Ivan (best known for his famous picture evaluating applications from this past winter, but also known for being a tremendous person, the only Spanish speaking counselor we have, and the rather invaluable liaison to Lawrence High School among other things) is leaving the university after about a year and a half of service. This is sad news for the office and for the university. We are losing an alum, a good worker, and a good person. However, it is happy news for the also recently married Ivan (see above and below pics). Even though he is leaving his alma mater, he is leaving for Spain, for a new international teaching career, and what basically amounts to a chance at a new life with his new wife, Betsaida. Best of luck to Ivan and Betsaida.

I really liked this picture:

I'll check in some time next week. For now, have a good weekend.

Thoughts On Summer While Turning 30 and Watching the Hood Blimp Fly Overhead

Well, again, it's been a while, so I figured I would check in with some random summer thoughts.

This summer has been an interesting one as I feel like it has had a lot of trouble actually feeling like summer. I don't know if that is because every time I go to the beach it seems to be overcast and/or windy or because I didn't take enough vacation. That said, a not-quite-summer-feeling-summer is a heckuva lot better than any day that does not happen during the summer.

So what have I been up to? Let's see here...

I've been obsessively reading Chuck Klosterman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Klosterman who is perhaps the best young (relatively speaking) American humor essayist of my generation. Some would call him "low culture" while others will and have called him "America's Most Annoying Writer" but those people are generally either incredibly jealous of his career, crazy, or humorless, or all of the above. If you are into clever humor, seemingly strange metaphors that go nowhere but then miraculously come around only to make perfect sense, and sports...and rock & roll...and heavy metal...or music in general - basically, if you have a personality - you will enjoy Chuck Klosterman's writing. I highly recommend him, but don't start with Fargo Rock City, his first effort, start with this http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=517695. Then go from there.

I have also just recently completed uploading all of my cd's into I-tunes, which was fun. I now have almost a week's worth of music on I-tunes, which feels like a lot but which I will surely be sick of soon. The fun thing about going through the uploading process was that I was able to have time to read liner notes that I either never took the time to read or totally forgot about. Actually, most liner notes are pretty disappointing. The major exception to this tends to be Pearl Jam. Check out Vs. if you need an example.

A few weeks ago I attended one of my best friend's wedding. The wedding was great, not just becuase of the excellent location (it had a stellar view of The Cape Ann Light Station on Thacher Island off of Gloucester, MA...see picture above), but because it was a really small wedding. There were maybe 50 guests, and I knew most of them. One of the great things about the intimacy of the wedding is that you actually got to hang out with old friends, something I rarely get to do any more as life gets in the way very often. One thing about most of my old friends is that a lot of them live really far away, in places like Chicago, Colorado, and California to name a few. So to get everyone together in one spot like that is pretty rare these days, and it made for a really special occasion the likes of which happen only a handful of times. Anyway, that was cool.

So what else happened? I went to the Boston Bruins Rookie Development camp held last week at Wilmington's Ristuccia Arena, or whatever they're calling it these days.

I have a serious love/hate relationship with the Bruins. On one hand I will always love them because they are my team, they are in my blood, and I can never stop caring about them. On the other hand, they have crushed my soul on numerous occasions, including - but certainly not limited to - this past offseason, where they decided to really not do anything noteworthy other than make a couple of questionable trades. Note that I did not say "bad trades," I simply said "questionable." Here is what would not have been questionable; trading Glenn Murray and signing Chris Drury as a free agent. Anyway, I don't want to belabor this point or else I should make this a Bruins blog instead of a UMass Lowell Admissions blog, but I'm sure you get what I'm saying here. Wow that was a tangent. So, the development camp was fun. I stole lots of drills that I can use next year when I'm coaching at Lowell High and I was reasonably impressed with some of the Bruins youngsters, so there is reason for optimism. They keep pulling me back in.

I just took a look at some of our print materials for next year and they are looking 100 times better than they used to look. They are much more current and real than they have been in the past. Just to let you guys know in case you did not already know this, but admissions in general has turned into a huge business. More accurately, the "business" of admissions has given birth to a burgeoning admissions industry complete with consultants, conferences, "publications packages", etc. The long and short of it is that it is simply not a coincidence that many of you will be receiving upwards of 100 pieces of mail from colleges you may or may not have heard of and that some of those things will look so awesome that you will instantly want to go to school at those places. Most of those were done by huge companies who specialize in marketing to your demographic. What makes our stuff kind of cool is that it is more organic. We really are trying to engage our students in the process more and I think it is paying dividends. Granted, we don't have the kinds of resources that those other places do for publications but we give it the old college try, and I think what we come up with is pretty decent stuff this year. I'm proud of it for the most part.

Oh yeah, another thing that happened is that I turned 30. This was traumatic for me, but probably not the way you think it was traumatic for me. It was traumatic because about two years ago - when I was 28 - I started having dreams that I was turning 30. I would wake up in a panic and swear that I was suddenly 30, and I was just not happy with this development in any way. However, one unexpected byproduct of these nightmares is that those recurring dreams forced me to deal with the whole turning 30 thing two years before it actually happened. When it did happen it was almost totally uneventful, except for the fact that everyone around me said it was a big deal, so I had to acknowledge that it was. I guess it is when you think about it. Still, I feel absolutely no different than I did last week at this time.

Oh yeah, by the way, I watched that show on National Geographic. Sadly, I was slightly bored by it, and the UMass Lowell content was not until almost the end of the show. But on the bright side I thought the actual segment involving UML was decent. See below post for details if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll check in at a later date.

UMass Lowell Baseball Research Center on National Geographic

http://m-5.uml.edu/umlbrc/

One of the coolest things about working at UMass Lowell is that we are home to the Baseball Research Center. The research center was founded by a grant from Major League Baseball and Rawlings in 1998 and has done everything from simulating bat and ball collisions to actually testing all the bats and balls that are put into play in NCAA baseball. The ball used in the 2004 World Series win by the Red Sox was tested at UMass Lowell. It's really cool stuff. Check out the web page via the link above. You can even watch video demonstrations about some of the stuff they are doing in the center.

National Geographic is featuring the baseball research center this week. On July 6, at 9:00 p.m., theBaseball Research Center will be featured on a segment for the show, “The Science of Summer.” The show will re-air on July 7 at midnight, July 8 at 11:00 a.m., and July 13 at 5:00 p.m.

Check it out.

Writer's Block

One weird thing about having a blog and not really having any kind of angst or deadline (or readers?) or anything is that you realize that either you do not have much to say or that you are incredibly boring...and still do not have much to say. Hopefully you're not just getting lazy and becoming one of those people who just ingest popular culture to the detriment of original thought.

I remember when I was in college I could, and would, just bang out some writing for a class, for a journal, for myself, or for a long lost girlfriend or something. I don't seem to be able to do that any more.

In college I also read something by Andre Dubus (the original Andre Dubus, not the UML professor who wrote The House of Sand and Fog who is Andre Dubus III, the son of the Andre Dubus I am talking about) discussing the writing process. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like good and therapeutic writing is like a rain cloud where all of your thoughts and emotions and everything gather up in a cloud in your head, and the cloud burst - the rain - is what flows out onto the paper.

I also have read something similar from Carlos Santana (by the way, if you only know Santana from his duet thing with Rob Thomas, immediately try and find a clip on youtube or something of Santana doing 'Soul Sacrifice' at Woodstock - that is the real santana in my opinion), where he describes good improvisational music being akin to water rushing through a musician whose function then becomes that of a hose watering the audience of flowers.

The Santana image may be a bit overstated or melodramatic, but I actually think it nails it, and I do think that is almost exactly what Dubus was talking about. I think that if two guys who are as brilliant as those two artists are/were saying it, there has to be something to it, right?

The reason I bring that up is that I feel like I haven't had a real hose moment in a long time on paper. I haven't been able to conjure up the cloud all that often. It could be the confines of this blog are such that it restricts true expression, but that should not be the case.

I also have a memory of one of my favorite English professors demanding from us that we promise him that we won't become one of those people who just stops reading and/or stops challenging themselves to think. I remember making a genuine effort to be true to that promise, to actually engage myself in some kind of thoughtful activity for the remainder of my life. I'm not convinced I've done as good of a job as I can do, but hopefully renewing that promise like this can change that, and can help me think of something to write about.

Of course, as writing workshop teacher after writing workshop teacher will tell you, the difference between those who make money writing and those who are just merely good/lazy writers is that the ones who make money make themselves write, and write a lot, and then re-write.

The point is, it is not just about the hose. You can't always wait around for those rain cloud moments where dramatic and meaningful words cascade onto paper like guinness suds down a pint glass. Sometimes you have to write about the fact that you can't think of anything to write about and hope that if you stay dedicated that you will eventually have something to say beyond, "I have nothing to say," which is basically what I'm saying in this post.

And with that, and without an ending, I will just say Don't Stop...Beleivin', and fade to black.

Admissions Cookout

Today is our office cookout. We do it every year and it is really a good time. However, today is also about 55 degrees, overcast, and there is sporadic rainfall. This is not ideal cookout weather. For better times, here's a couple of pics from our cookout two years ago:

Good Times on Youtube

Something we have been thinking about a lot lately here in UML admissions is how to use the internet to recruit students, or at least to give prospective students an idea of what is going on around here. One thing that a management class recently used is youtube.

However - and, to me, this is the absolute beauty of the internet and social networking sites and video sites like youtube - a quick search of the term 'UMass Lowell' on youtube yields way more than just the senior management projects. I thought I might check some some of those other results out. Here are my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfCb9ljX3Y4
A date auction at UMass Lowell. Those that I knew that attended (I did not) said it was a good time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiHo3aQbiK4
A medley of late 80's and early 90's rap played by a live band at our spring carnival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Twp0TV6rw
A firefighting robot. Stick with it before you decide that it is actually just a maze navigating robot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rxkST0K_-A
A bungee race from Spring Carnival. I must say, this looks totally unfun to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnQ_wAoNwL4
This is fairly uneventful, but it does show our club men's volleyball team in our rec center and they don't get a lot of publicity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GuIKWQSPA
This is a clip from UML's Mothers of Rock, which is an event that our MEISA program sponsors in conjunction with our Women's Week at UML. Good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNSbo4366dY
"Resonance: An Attempt To Shatter Glass" The title speaks for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDp-EGDyI_U
This is strangely captivating. I really enjoy this one because it so accurately captures the parking experience here at UML. Hey, we are what we are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLF9yZUFHmI
I'm not sure I should be posting this one, but hey, it's funny and it came up in the search.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-TwIW2pd6c
For the record, Marty Meehan is our new Chancellor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aew4qLJKNvo
Recording at UML.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNTfI3_IUGY
This is a glimpse into Dr. Moser's class. Dr. Moser is original in a lot of ways. If you are a future management student, you will most likely want to take a class with him. He is one of those professors who you will tell stories about after college. Some day you will realize that those are the ones who are the best professors.

Spring Carnival Pictures

We were supposed to have spring carnival a few weeks ago but it got rained out. Yesterday was the Spring Carnival redux, and it was a good time as usual. There were bands, all the clubs had booths and were selling food and t-shirts and all kinds of, well, carnival type stuff. They also had various inflatables from a rock climbing wall to those bouncy castle things where people revert back to childhood instantly. All in all, a good time was had by all. Folks, I was an English major, and you should never have the word 'all' three times in a nine word sentence. I don't think there is any grammatical rule against it, it just looks weird. Anyway, I digress...below are the pics from carnival. Enjoy:

UML Tour Guide Wins Big

Nicole Plante, one of our excellent tour guides here at UML (Her profile can be found here: http://www.uml.edu/admissions/visituml/tour%20guides/plante.html), would never advertise this about herself, but she's a dominant runner. She is also a stellar student in one of our most competitive and difficult majors. Anyway, the below story speaks for itself.

http://intranet.uml.edu/umltoday/fs/viewannouncement.aspx?id=636

LOWELL (May 8, 2007) – Senior Nicole Plante (North Adams, MA) was named the recipient of the Laurie Mann Award while senior Jason Tejchma (Muskegon, MI) received the David Boutin Award for female and male student-athletes of the year Tuesday night at UML's Athletic Awards Night.

The Mann and Boutin Awards are presented to the UML female and male student-athletes who excel in the classroom, playing field, exemplify leadership as well as give back to the community. The awards are named after Laurie Mann, a member of the UML women’s basketball team from 1993-95, who passed away in 1998 after a long battle with cancer; and David J. Boutin, a member of the baseball team from 1988-90 who also lost his life to cancer.

Plante, a finalist for the Laurie Mann Award last year, will graduate as the most decorated female student-athlete in UML history, all but booking her place in the Athletic Hall of Fame. A seven-time All-American, Plante has enjoyed a senior year for the ages, earning All-America honors in cross country as well as the 5,000 meters and distance medley relay at the NCAA indoor track and field championship in March. On the cusp of a national championship, Plante finished second at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championship and second in the NCAA indoor 5,000 meters championship. Should Plante earn All-America at the NCAA Track and Field Championship May 24-26, she will surpass former standout Jill Croft (1998-02) for total All-American honors in a career.

“Nicole is everything we embrace as a member of the track and field and cross country teams at UMass Lowell,” said UML head coach Gary Gardner. “Without her, the women’s teams would not have achieved as much as it has over the last four years. She has set a new bar as an athlete, a student and a teammate.”

Currently, she owns the fastest time in the country in the 10,000 meters (34:07.03) as well as the second-fastest time in the 5,000 meters (16:32.56). She has also qualified for the NCAA Championship in the 3,000 meters (9:55.03), but will likely forego the event to concentrate on the 10,000 and 5,000. In the track record books, Plante owns every indoor and outdoor distance record, which she has set several times over.

A nursing major, Plante has been an exemplary student and has maintained a 3.221. Outside of her athletic and academic commitments, Plante has been active in community service in her native North Adams, MA, where she volunteers at a local homeless shelter and offers free babysitting. In Lowell, Plante has been a volunteer track and field instructor and has assisted in UML athletic department projects such as the Special Olympics and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Plante is the daughter of Richard and Betsy Plante of North Adams, MA.

Livin On a Prayer

Break out the stonewashed jeans, tassled leather jackets, and start pegging those pants boys and girls because one thing is apparent after today's first New Jersey fair session: 80's fashion is back! Well, maybe that kind of 80's fashion isn't back, but I certainly saw some things that would have fit right in back in the 80's, including but not limited to an Iron Maiden shirt, Vans shoes, and tight and tapered jeans on guys. I saw traces of this revival with the arrival of The Strokes, then girls started wearing leggings under skirts and long boots tucked into tight jeans, but I think it is now official that 80's fashion has fully come around for some folks. Needless to say, Jeff Spicoli would have thought these duds were awesome.

Here's hoping Z Cavaricci and B.U.M. Equipment can be overlooked in this back to the 80's craze. Anyway, I'm out for the day. I'm going to buy my girlfriend some Jordache jeans and a Benetton shirt and I'm going to snag a Champion sweatshirt with a matching turtleneck.

Ed

On The Road Again...

Mt. Katahdin

Somewhere on the Maine coast

One great thing about my job is that I get to travel. For work I have been as far south as Washington, D.C. and as far north as Presque Isle, Maine. That is a lot of time spent in the car. That is also a lot of great scenery to take in, cool local spots to check out, great restaurants to hit up, etc. I love travel. ...I can't wait to be on the road again. - Willie Nelson tribute.

Oh wait, I am on the road again. Jeez, it seems like just yesterday we were wrapping up fall travel, looking forward to some structured days in the office, and waiting for the applications to start rolling in. Four months later, after a decent five hour drive, I'm checking in with the blog from the Hampton Inn in Somerset, NJ, which reminds me of a few things.

I really enjoy coming to New Jersey for a variety of reasons, mostly but not exclusively due to memories of past trips. The state that sends the most college students out of state is a hotbed for college recruiters, and it is also the site of my first ever college fair, which was a good time and made me think to myself, 'Hey, I think I could do this for a living.'

During that first year I went down with my boss and was very pleasantly surprised to see that the trees had all bloomed and there was green everywhere. In fact, the area of New Jersey I was in was dramatically different from the stereotypical drive down the turnpike that is pictured in the opening credits of The Sopranos. Where we were was very suburban and very leafy, and the green trees do wonders for the mood. Seeing those trees full is like officially saying goodbye to the long winter. You don't know how bare brown trees affects you until you make a dramatic shift from bare trees to full trees in one afternoon. That happens every year too, and this year was no exception. When I arrive back in Lowell, I know that the trees are soon to be full of green and that is always a nice feeling.

My second year here I stayed in a hotel in New Jersey (which I won't name) off route 1 about 40 minutes outside of NYC. My view outside my window was a junkyard. I'm not making that up. The best part was that there were literally junkyard dogs there. That's right, not just a dog, but a literal pack of junkyard dogs. There must have been 20 of them. I never really thought about junkyard dogs other than in the context of the guy with the name Junkyard Dog of WWF fame from my youth, but they really do exist I guess. Here's proof:

Like I said, you can't make stuff like that up. Side note: I now stay in a hotel that is not adjacent to a junkyard.


Anyway, one other reason I really enjoy coming to New Jersey is to see what the upcoming trends will be. For some reason - I suspect it has to do with the enormous malls and proximity to New York City, but that's just a hypothesis - kids in New Jersey wear what will be trendy everywhere else before kids everywhere else wear it. I know because I have witnessed this trend for the last four years. Hollister, the emo kid look, Growing Up Gotti hairstyles, those short sweater things (I think they're called smocks or something), popped collars, you name it; I swear I witnessed the start of the trend in New Jersey.


The other big reason I like coming to New Jersey is the pizza. I'm serious, the New York and Sicilian style pizza here, with few exceptions, is tremendous. I thoroughly enjoy it.


Finally, my trip to New Jersey is like the start of the next cycle. It is the first chance to meet new prospective students even before we have enrolled last year's class, and that is always pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to it.


The only real negative aspect of the trip for me is that you cannot get here from New England without crossing the Hudson River. That's not a big deal for most people, but I am absolutely terrified of big bridges. There are few bridges bigger than the Tappan Zee and the George Washington. That's the only part of the trip that I don't like. I just drive slow and put my hands at the 10 and 2 position and think about getting to the other side. I never seem to get rid of the nerves though.


I just wanted to add this from an e-mail I got from housing today. This is from the director of housing and I'm pasting it as it came in the e-mail. I hope that's okay. Anyway, here it is: "...all contracts received or postmarked after May 1st will be considered “waitlisted”. Students on the waitlist will not be assigned until everyone on the on-time list (what we call the TBA or to-be-assigned list) is placed. Once we get to our waitlist, everyone will be assigned by their distance away from the university and the time that they got their contract in."


I'm off to bed. I'll try and post something tomorrow too.


Ed

Some Cool Stuff

RC, one of our tourguides who is pictured above, is a freshman Music Business major from Portsmouth, NH. He's a great kid. Anyway, RC hosts a radio show on our radio station, 91.5 WUML. You can find WUML here:

http://www.wuml.org/

and here:

http://www.myspace.com/wuml.

You can also find a direct link to the show's own site here:

http://www.myspace.com/rockcandywuml.

The show is on Fridays from 4-6 p.m. As the blurb on the site says, "tune in for a little bit of jazz, folk, and indie! Expect to hear Minus the Beat, Sufjan Stevens, and Ampere."

RC is also very involved in the music business program and wants to take it to new heights. I fully support that. Anyway, check that out at your leisure.

In other news, the Baseball Research Center at UMass Lowell is a great place. They test bats and balls put into play in high school, college, and even MLB. It is a really interesting place, even for non-science majors. Below is the website for the center followed by the link to an article on wired.com that was posted very early in the morning.

UML Baseball Research Center:
http://m-5.eng.uml.edu/umlbrc/index.htm


Wired.com artilce:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.05/posts_baseball.html

Purple Cow.

Once concept we discuss semi-frequently in a Management class I attend at times is the concept of the Purple Cow. The Purple Cow is something that helps a business differentiate itself, or be noticed. I also always think of it as the thing that makes people stop and go, "What is that?" And now you have their attention. The analogy works like this - Let's say you're driving through the midwest or Vermont or something. You're driving through the country and you see cows. You are interested in them at first, but once you drive by farm after farm after farm you start to not see the brown cows, the white cows, and the spotted cows. What you would notice, however, is a purple cow. This is the goal of advertising; to stand out from competitors and be noticed.

The above pic is one of our tourguides, Phanny (pronounced Pah-nee like the Native American Tribe the Pawnee. Or, as her facebook page says, "Not FANNIE!") I just really liked the picture and wanted to post it because it has purple cow written all over it in that you can't look at the picture and not have a reaction. Bonus points go to the guy in the background for being so fired up. More bonus points go to Phanny for wearing a UML sweatshirt while getting this pic taken. Thanks, Phanny.

This week is April vacation for high school students in Massachusetts and our tours are gigantic. I'm going to try and snap a picture of them this afternoon. We love all the visitors, and we thank everyone for coming, but one thing we really like to stress here is that you will not feel like a number if you attend UMass Lowell. On most daily campus tours we give we make sure that people feel like they are given individual attention. With that said, given that our tours are five, six, or even seven times the size of our normal tours this week, we feel that a lot of the personal touch that you normally get with a daily tour is being lost. We understand that there are people who can only make visits during vacation. However, if you are going to be in the area again and want to make time to take another visit during a less busy time we would recommend that. We have daily campus tours at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Please give our office a call and schedule a tour at (978) 934-3931.

So Much For Keeping Up With The Blog

Jeez, it seems like every time I commit to keeping up with the blog I run out of stuff to talk about. We've been really busy since the last post, and it seems like there just isn't a lot of time to get the blog in. I have to make myself do it more I guess.



So what have we been up to? Well, a lot of events and travel, which is more time out of the office and away from the computer. I was down in Connecticut for a week trying to recruit some nutmeg staters. That was great. If you are ever in the Fairfield County area and want the best chicken parm sub you have ever tasted, go to Mike's in Fairfield. It's right downtown ironically abutting the plaza in which there is a domino's. Mike's is a Fairfield institution, as any Fairfield resident or Fairfield U. alum will gladly tell you.



We also recently hosted our two accepted student receptions. They seemed to go well, and the surveys we collected reflected that for the most part. Those days are some of the more gratifying days of the year as we get to see faces on campus rather than just names on applications. Seeing someone at one of those receptions after meeting them during the fall or during the spring of their junio year, well, that's why this job is fun.



Another really cool development that happened without any contribution from our office is a facebook page for the incoming UML class of 2011. We're happy to see people excited and forming a "community" even before they get to campus. That is just great stuff. Way to go guys and girls.



Anyway, that's about it for now. I would say I'm going to keep up with the blog, but that hasn't really worked out so well. Just to stay consistent, I'll post a random pic I took last year as I was driving through the North Campus. One of the cool things about our school is that the original buildings are still very heavily used, and a kind of living history is evident everywhere. Here's a great example:

Notice the "Lowell Textile Institute" engraving. I love that stuff.

Big Doings at UML

As the title of the post suggests, we've had some big stuff happening around here lately. Last Wednesday we got a new Chancellor of the University, Congressman Martin Meehan, a/k/a, Marty Meehan. For those of you unfamiliar with what a Chancellor is, they are like the CEO or the President of the University. They are immensely important people in terms of the direction of the university. Here is a picture of the announcement on our website:

One of the great things about this announcement is that Marty Meehan is a Lowell native and a UMass Lowell alum who made it big in politics and is deciding to come home. I can't say enough about how excited we are about the possibilities of this announcement. Throughout the process Meehan made it clear that he really and truly knows the university inside and out, and also has a true passion for it. His noted ability to raise funds could be a major plus for the university as we go forward as well. We only have good feelings about this.

Anyway, it was an exciting day. All the major news outlets were there, all the politicians from the area were there, and, of course, all the upper administration for the university was there. That said, we admissions folks got third row seats! Below is Christine, Erin, and Ivan smiling at our good fortune.

Good times. Below are some of those aforementioned tv network cameras.

These pics were taken on a cellphone so they are a little grainy, but it kind of captures the spirit of the thing. (gold star to anyone who gets that movie reference). Thanks to Nikki, one of our fabulous tour guides, for these shots.

Taking A Break

This upcoming week is Spring Break at UMass Lowell. Not for admissions counselors though. Most of us have worked on and off all weekend finishing the remainder of the folders so we can get timely decisions to applicants as soon as possible. Anyway, today I was running out of steam so I decided to take a break, snap some blog pics, and throw up an entry (no pun intended).

The above pics are from the Dugan Hall Art floor. The first is a picture of the poster advertising The Big Show, which has been running since February and will run until March 29. The Big Show showcases artwork by Art and Design students. If you are a fan of art, and thinking about coming to UML, this is a good chance to see what Art students are actually up to.

The second pic is a picture of the Dugan Gallery sign with a really cool scene behind it. The first time I walked by that little desk/chair/collage-wall thing, I stopped and tried to figure it out for a while. I couldn't, but I know I like it, and that's the important thing...I think.

The third picture is the hallway of the Dugan Art area with some drawing stuff that is in the works on the walls.

The Dugan Art area is in the basement, which has to be ironic somehow. There is always some great stuff to look at while you stroll through there, and it is nice to know that we have such a vibrant art community here at UML. If you're interested, you can stop by most any time. You should also check out the Art Gallery over in MacGauvran as well. There is always some great stuff going on there too.

One other thing that I thought was interesting: I don't really get bathroom graffiti. I mean, I usually comprehend the messages, but I don't understand the motivation very often. I don't think I've ever been using the restroom and had the urge to communicate anonymously to people via the wall, but many people do. Our custodial staff does a great job of cleaning that up, but one message in the downstairs bathroom I found particularly amusing. It simply says, "The bubbler upstairs has the best water on campus," which is not very funny or entertaining, but it is useful information. For those who live more than like two hours outside of Boston, a 'bubbler' is a water fountain. I'm not one who generally agrees with vandals, but in this case I definitely do. If you plan on visiting campus and bring along a Nalgene or something, I guess you should re-fill it in the bubbler on the first floor of Dugan. Maybe you can do that when you're on your way downstairs to see The Big Show.

Anyway, back to folders for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Everyone Likes Sunsets, Right?

One of the cool things about where our office is located here on campus is that we have a great view of the Merrimack River and we routinely have a great view of some pretty sweet sunsets. This is the sunset from today. Since I think most everyone likes sunsets, I figured I'd post a couple of pics.

The Shelves

This is another picture of the shelves a few days after I took that picture below. Not bad, eh? We're getting there. Hopefully we can maintain our sanity in the meantime. Ha.

It Has Been Too Long, Folders, & Housing

When I started this blog, I told myself that I would update it every few days, or at least once a week. Well, looking at the date of the last post, it has been almost a month since my last post which is downright inexcusable. I feel negligent. Anyway, what happened was this:

Folders...lots of folders. Even though we are on rolling admissions and evaluate applications as fast as we can, we still get bombarded at this time of year. If you have applied and have not heard from us yet, chances are your folder is in one of these piles. But do not fret. We have a goal of completing every folder that came in before the February 15 priority deadline before our Accepted Student Reception, which is in late March. If you do not hear from us by then, please get in touch with us asap so that we can evaluate your application.

Here's another one of our counselors, Ivan, hard at work evaluating folders:

I wanted to make some notes here too.

The first is that Ivan and I debated whether or not to make this pic casual or candid or whatever before we decided that by us even discussing it we ruined any candidness. So I just told him to smile and I snapped the pic. I think it turned out okay.

The second is a little more serious. For as long as I have worked at UMass Lowell (I started in April of 2003) we have had guaranteed housing for students who got their deposits in before May 1. All fall and winter we were operating under that assumption as well, and telling anyone who asked that, yes, we have guaranteed housing provided students get deposits in before the deadline. Last week we were informed of a policy change regarding housing. Starting immediately, housing will be first come-first serve. In other words, students will be provided housing in the order that their contracts and deposits were received. We were told there should be no measurable effect on whether or not people get housing, but seeing as how this is different from what we've been telling people for at least four years, I figured I would make a note of it.

The impact to the admitted student who wants housing is this: You need to get your stuff in as soon as you decide UMass Lowell is the place you want to go to school. Any questions should be directed to the Housing Office, which can be contacted at (978) 934-5160.

The next note I wanted to make is regarding my last post about The Wall of Fame. I just wanted to say that in no way am I suggesting that students send us a whole bunch of stuff just for the sake of it. I don't think our processing staff would appreciate that too much. However, I would say that if you feel like you want to send us something that absolutely tells us something about you that we cannot tell by looking at the rest of your application materials - and this missing something is critical to who you are as a person - then go ahead and send it. Don't make stuff up though. In general, that is probably a good rule to live your life by.

The Wall of Fame

You may ask, "What is the Wall of Fame?" Well, I'll tell you. But first, a story followed by some points.

When I graduated from high school, our valedictorian strutted to the podium to give her speech and the crowd started buzzing. You see, she was wearing a dress made out of duct tape. Through her speech, we discovered the profundity and general excellence of duct tape, including but not limited to it being a pretty cool dress making material. The point is, though I do not remember the particulars of her speech, I have never looked at a roll of duct tape in the same way again, and I will always remember it. My valedictorian would have made the wall of fame. And that's kind of the point of this post.

The first pic is an old WLTI poster. WLTI is what our radio station, WUML (http://www.wuml.org/ which is, incidentally, the largest student-run radio station in the country), was called back when UMass Lowell was two separate schools; Lowell Technological Institute and Lowell State College. At our accepted student reception two years ago I met a father who had this poster folded in half in a folder he was carrying. He took it out, showed it to me, and said that he had worked at WLTI back in the 70's. Then he gave it to me and asked that I give it to someone who might like it. I gave it to the Wall of Fame.

The second picture is self proclaimed 'Taped Crusader.' He basically had a utility belt and various articles of clothing made out of duct tape. I'm pretty sure he and my high school valedictorian are soul siblings. I'm very sure he was an instant Wall of Famer.

The third pic is a guy who participates in the largest Revolutionary War reenactment in the country, which takes place in the White Mountains of New Hampshire annually. The only reason I know that is the above pic and the essay that accompanied it. But I know that because of that applicant. Again, that's part of the point. He's a Wall of Famer.

The Wall of Fame is a wall I have behind my desk with all the interesting stuff that has come in accompanying applications over the years. I love it. It's inspiring and is, in a lot of ways, why I do what I do.

By now you may have an idea of what I'm getting at. If you do something different and interesting in your life, tell people about it. And you may think you're not that interesting, but neither is duct tape, and yet, as we can see, it is interesting. Not everyone is the star quarterback of the football team or the insert-cliched-interesting-thing-here, but anyone can be the be interesting. And interesting equals memorable, and memorable equals admissions people doing everything they can to get you in to their school. All it takes is a little creativity and a lack of fear to be different. If you do this, you'll make the Wall of Fame.

By the way, I would write about the Drawer of Fame, but it is a little less visual. The Drawer of Fame is a drawer I have with all the interesting cd's and dvd's that have rolled in to the office over the last few years. There is some great stuff in there. Anyway, maybe I'll post on that some other time. For now, back to work.

Ed

Weekend Snapshots

Can't visit UML during the week? That's okay. We have a few options on weekends in the next coming months. We call them Weekend Snapshots. A snapshot is basically a tour with a little bit more comprehensive introduction, overview, and Q&A. We also have certain dates where there is a special focus. See below:

January 20, 2007: Focus on the College of Engineering (Engineering Students Only)
February 3, 2007: Special Focus on Music and Fine Arts
March 3, 2007: General
May 12, 2007: General

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in attending, please register ahead of time. To Register, please click here:

http://www.uml.edu/admissions/weekendsnapshots/rsvp.html

or call us at 1-800-410-4607 or (978) 934-3931.

Assessment Testing

Assessment Testing:

This is Christine. In a short time, all of you admitted students will be getting lots and lots of mail from her about Assessment Testing. Please complete your testing as soon as is conveniently possible.

The importance of completing your testing is huge. Why? Well, a lot of reasons, but mostly because you can't sign up for classes without finishing your testing. Plus, Christine will get angry if you don't, and, given her obvious ferocity (see accompanying picture), you do not want to get Christine mad.

Winter Wonderland And Facebook

Well, folks, we are finally getting snow here in Lowell. It's almost felt like a non-winter with all the non-snow we've been getting. And frankly, since we believe that the inclement weather builds character, we feel we've been lacking in character this winter. Bring on the character.

Also, we now have a facebook page. You can find that here:

http://uml.facebook.com/profile.php?id=501503568&hiq=umass%2Clowell

We are also working on a facebook page for the class of 2011 so students who are coming to UML can speak with other classmates and hopefully get a feel for who your peers will be. Check that out at your leisure.

Have a nice day.

Guidance Counselor Hockey Night

We are hosting a guidance counselor hockey night on January 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the Tsongas Arena here in Lowell. Tickets are free to those who RSVP to me at Edward_Seero@uml.edu and counselors can bring up to four guests. There will be a meet and greet/q&a type thing beforehand where light refreshments will be served beginning at 6:00 p.m.

For those who would rather attend an art show or a music ensemble, I apologize. The good news, however, is that we host a variety of these types of events pretty much weekly and they are always free, so check them out if you're interested.

Admitted Students

John Bender from the Breakfast Club knows how you feel...except most of you probably never went to Saturday detention...or disrespected authority...or played air guitar with your shoe on fire. You know what? Forget it. I just liked the picture and it's my favorite movie. Congratulations.

Inaugural Post

Well, it's 2007 and UMass Lowell Admissions finally has a blog. Not much to say right now, except that we are happy to be here and we hope many happy-to-be-here students will join us in the fall of 2007.

We're going to be updating this on a regular basis starting today, so check back in every few days if you want. If you're a prospective student with questions about UMass Lowell, a current student who wants to chime in, or just a casual surfer checking stuff out all are welcomed. Thanks for stopping by. Leave us a comment or two and we'll be happy.

A little introduction: My name is Ed Seero. I am an Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admission here at UMass Lowell. I am originally from Andover, MA. I graduated from Assumption College with a B.A. in English in 2001 and am sporadically working on my M. Ed. here at UMass Lowell. By sporadically I mean I'm on the 10 year plan. Before Assumption, I went to The Pingree School in South Hamilton, MA, so I'm a Highlander at heart despite my non-Scottish descent.

Two fun facts about me:

1. I spent the first seven years of my life living in Saudi Arabia.
2. I coach Varsity Ice Hockey at Lowell High School.

Ed