Experiencing Admitted Students Day through the eyes of a future student

Saint Joseph’s University welcomed over 1,000 prospective students from 17 different states to Hawk Hill for Accepted Students Days on April 1 and 2.

The two day event, which has been part of St. Joe’s recruitment process for the past 11 years, is meant to show future Hawks what it’s like to live on Hawk Hill and help them make their college decision.

“The purpose of the Admitted Students Days is to provide prospective students a view of the campus community at Saint Joseph’s,” said Maureen Mathis, assistant provost in undergraduate admissions “What sets Saint Joseph’s Accepted Students Days apart from other schools are the students, faculty and administrators who participate. Everyone is truly engaged over the weekend showing their commitment to and love of this great community.”

Lily Schillinger, a high school senior from Rutland, Vt., made the trip down for accepted students day on Sunday with her mother, Maureen.

Our day started at 9 a.m. in Michael J. Hagan Arena, where the prospective students and their parents found seats to listen to the opening presentations. Hawk Hosts dressed in black polos peppered the gym floor as they mingled with possible students and their parents. Schillinger stopped to have her mom take a picture with the Hawk mascot before the speakers began.

After the initial presentation, our second stop of the day was to the Chapel of Saint Joseph for mass where she met her sister, Grace Schillinger, ’20, who currently attends St. Joe’s and is the reason Schillinger knows about the university.

“I first visited St. Joe’s as a sophomore in high school when my sister [Grace] was visiting,” Schillinger said. “She was looking at Catholic colleges and I think she was looking at schools in Pennsylvania so that’s how she found it.”

Coming into the day, Schillinger was fairly certain she’d be attending St. Joe’s.

“I haven’t submitted my deposit yet, but I think I’m going here,” she said.

As far as her plans for getting involved at college and what she wants to study, Schillinger mentioned that she did not know what she wanted to major in and what clubs she was looking to join.

After mass, Schillinger and her mom headed to Merion Hall for an academic session about linguistics. Sitting in an actual St. Joe’s classroom seemed to affirm what she was looking for in a college classroom because she prefers smaller class sizes.

Later I sat down with Schillinger in Campion Dining Hall, she explained to me what she thought of the day so far.

“It’s fabulous,” she exclaimed. “Everyone seems really nice and I really like how people wave and say ‘hi’ and know each other.”

Later in the afternoon, we headed to Doyle Banquet Hall for the Community Fair. The Philadelphia Service Immersion Program (PSIP) table caught Schillinger’s eye first. She also spoke to students from the Student Union Board and Adventure Club.

The more people Schillinger spoke to, the more it reaffirmed her decision to come to Hawk Hill. She also began to get a better understanding of what she might want to study.

As we exited Campion Student Center, a Hawk Host who works with the Kinney Center approached Schillinger to talk to her.

“After talking to students who work in the Kinney Center, I think I’d like to minor in that [autism behavioral studies],” Schillinger stated. “I went to the information about Spanish and I might do something with that.”

Our final stop of the afternoon was The Perch for the Hawk to Hawk event where the Hawk Hosts answered prospective students’ questions.

One student asked Hawk Host, Andrew Gallo, ’17, to reflect on what his favorite part of St. Joe’s is.

“I love when people come up to me and say ‘You were my tour guide and you were the reason why I chose to come here,’” Gallo said. “That really means a lot to me.”

He was Schillinger’s older sister’s tour guide when she first visited St. Joe’s. Gallo was one of the first positive impressions, not just for her sister but for Schillinger as well.

“This really seems like a special school,” she said. “I noticed that when I first came on the tour. It just seems like everybody’s really close.”

As our day wrapped up, Schillinger said she is excited to become part of the St. Joe’s community.

“I feel like it’s a good space for me,” she said. “I’m looking forward to meeting new people. I haven’t seen or heard anyone who’s also from Vermont which is kind of terrifying, but I think I’m most excited about being able to branch out.”

As far as being nervous about her first semester next fall, her worries were similar to most incoming freshmen.

“I’m a little nervous about not making friends, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Shillinger said. “I think they’ve done a really good job of making it so that there’s no way to not make friends. Especially because I think I want to do PSIP and I think that’s a really quick way to meet people.”

Schillinger is looking forward to new experiences at St. Joe’s next fall.

“There’s a nice mix of things that I know and things that I don’t; things that I’m comfortable with and things that are a little outside my comfort zone, but that I’m willing to try,” Schillinger said.