Norwalk Community College students transfer to Ivy League (reprinted from NCC)

Two years ago the Admissions Office at Norwalk Community College launched the L.E.A.P. program, an innovative transfer advising initiative to assist top student scholars with the admissions process at selective, four-year institutions. L.E.A.P. stands for Leadership Development, Educational Transfer, Advising, and Preparation–the four major components of the program. The name L.E.A.P. was inspired by an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled: “Making the Leap: With Support, Community College Graduates Succeed at Competitive Private Colleges,” by Jamilah Evelyn.

One of the goals of the L.E.A.P. program has been to raise the number of NCC students who transfer to highly selective private colleges and universities, including those in the Ivy League. Each year the L.E.A.P. program hosts admissions officers from four-year institutions for transfer information sessions that are held on the NCC campus. NCC students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher are invited to attend these information sessions, where they can learn about program offerings and admission requirements at each school.

This year for the first time NCC students will be transferring to four of the eight Ivy League universities: Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Penn. Six members of the NCC class of 2010 will be Ivy League bound in the fall semester:

Columbia University: Catherine Lucia, Mary Jo Matera and Magdolna Molnar
Cornell University: Byron Kittle
Harvard University: Alexandra Schroeder
University of Pennsylvania: Marc Daniels

The School of General Studies at Columbia University has become a perennial favorite for NCC’s top students. The three women who will be attending Columbia in the fall each met with Erica Rosen, a Senior Admissions Manager who has visited the NCC campus on several occasions. Catherine Lucia was enrolled in the Liberal Arts Honors Program at NCC. She plans to study art history at Columbia and her long-term aspiration is to pursue graduate studies in this subject. Magdolna Molnar, who goes by “Madeline,” plans to study mathematics and economics and hopes to receive a MBA from Columbia Business School. Mary Jo Matera, who is known as “M.J.,” was a class speaker at this year’s NCC Commencement. She plans to study psychology at Columbia.

Byron Kittle, who will be attending Cornell University in the fall, intends to study communications and hopes to pursue a career as a news writer. NCC students are regularly admitted to Cornell and past transfers include NCC alumnus Tavarae Lewis, who was featured in the “I Created Me @ NCC” advertising campaign and on the cover of the NCC course catalog. Tavarae pursued pre-medical studies at Cornell.

Alexandra Schroeder will be attending Harvard University Extension School, where she is the recipient of a Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship. This scholarship fully covers the three prerequisite courses required for admission to the Bachelor of Liberal Arts program. Alexandra has already completed one Harvard course and after completing two additional courses in the fall, she will become NCC’s first graduate to transfer to Harvard. She has a deep passion for music and the arts, and looks forward to exploring a variety of courses in the program. Alexandra’s long-term aspiration is to study musicology at the graduate level.
   
This past year for the first time the L.E.A.P. Program hosted the University of Pennsylvania for a transfer information session. Marc Daniels met with Penn admissions officer Evangelyn Diaz and applied for admission to the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. His recent acceptance to Penn represents another first for NCC. Marc intends to pursue a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in psychology, followed by graduate work in the field. His long-term career goal is to become a therapist.

These outstanding students represent NCC’s best and brightest, and the college community is proud of their extraordinary accomplishments.