Bulletin News
03/23/2010
The 28th Annual Admissions Open House, a one-day program allowing accepted freshmen, transfer applicants and prospective students to better acquaint themselves with SUNY Cortland, is expected to attract 2,000 visitors to campus on Saturday, April 10.
“This year, more than 12,100 freshmen have applied for admission to the fall semester,” said Betsy Cheetham, assistant director of admissions at the College and coordinator of the Open House since its inception in 1983. “Additionally, we anticipate more than 2,600 transfer applications for the Fall 2010 semester. In the past, more than 70 percent of the students who attend Open House actually enroll in the fall semester and 90 percent of the transfer applicants enroll.”
“This program is the final step for many of our accepted students in determining whether SUNY Cortland will be in their future,” added Mark Yacavone, SUNY Cortland director of admissions. “It is an informative and exciting day.”
Events will take place in Park Center and Corey Union.
“Visitors are encouraged to take part in a variety of information sessions and tours,” Cheetham explained. “Several alumni volunteers will be available to eat lunch with our prospective students and their families in the on-campus dining areas and faculty will be encouraged to come meet them as well.”
New this year will be tours of the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center in the Education Building between noon and 2 p.m., Cheetham added.
“This will interest our non-traditional students as well as our early childhood education majors,” she said.
Open House begins at 9:45 a.m. in the Park Center Alumni Arena with welcoming remarks by College President Erik J. Bitterbaum, Student Government Association President Jesse Campanaro and Yacavone.
An academic fair and a variety of student organization programs and student services will be offered in Park Center’s Corey Gymnasium between 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Prospective Cortland students and their families can meet current faculty and students to discuss the College’s major and minor programs, as well as its co-curricular clubs and activities. Walking tours of campus led by current students will include academic buildings and residence halls. A shuttle bus will transport students wanting to tour the West Campus Apartments.
Information on an array of programs relating to the academic, cultural and social life of the Cortland campus will be presented between 10:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., in Park Center and Corey Union. Sessions will cover housing and residential services for both freshman and transfer students, financial advisement, career services, technology on campus, academic support services, diversity on campus and meal plans. Other sessions include campus activities and involvement, Greek life, study abroad, student disability services, childhood and early childhood education, athletic training, sport management, pre-law advisement, pre-med advisement, learning opportunities for students who haven’t declared a major and transfer credits. In addition, Kickline will perform.
Lunch will be available in the Brockway Hall, Neubig Hall and Corey Union dining facilities. Alumni volunteers and faculty will join prospective students and their families who choose to dine on campus.
At the conclusion of the day’s events, Bitterbaum will host an honors reception in the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House, 29 Tompkins St., for the freshmen and transfer applicants with the most outstanding academic credentials. Students receive personal invitations to attend this reception, where they can meet with the provost as well as the deans and faculty representing each major on campus.
Guests also are invited to attend campus athletic and cultural events. Home games, all against SUNY Brockport, will include the men’s baseball team doubleheader at noon, women’s lacrosse at 1 p.m., and a softball doubleheader at 1 p.m. There will be no admission charge for athletic events on that day.
At 8 p.m., the hit Broadway musical, “Rent,” will take place in the Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre. Recommended for mature audiences only, the powerful rock musical by Jonathan Larson portrays young Bohemian artists living in Greenwich Village in the 1990s as they deal with love, sex AIDS, drugs and death. Tickets will be sold at the door for $7 for Open House guests and all students, $14 for senior citizens and SUNY staff and $16 for the general public.
For more information, visit online at www.cortland.edu/admissions or contact Cheetham at (607) 753-4712.