Great success in LA!

My week of recruiting in the Los Angeles area was a huge success, so much so that I needed more materials after visiting only three high schools! I visited several public as well as private schools that included some that we've visited in previous years and others that we've never visited before. I'm happy to report that I had enthusiastic and engaged students throughout my visits and met with several students at all but one high school on my itinerary.

Some highlights from my visits include a visit to Milken Community High School where I had a record turn out of 22 students attend, the most I've ever seen in LA! The students at Milken had so many great questions, I ended up spending an hour and a half at my visit!

I also visited Beverly Hills High School ( pictured above) and in previous years saw maybe 5 students total, but saw 15 this year! One of the college counselors has single-handedly recruited a great group of students to consider Maryland as she is familiar with the area having gone to American and had friends who went to Maryland.

In chatting with Counselors, it was interesting to learn first-hand how much the state budget is effecting the education system. One school I visited had to let their full-time College Counselor go and are now operating with only a part-time staff member to fill this important role. Others have noted how drastically the UC's are cutting their overall enrollment, making it even more of a challenge for California residents to take advantage of the state system. Others have found students looking to other public state schools because the overall cost to attend a UC or Cal State school is close to the equivalent of out-of-state tuition at schools like Maryland.

Many of the schools I visited typically plan an "East Coast Tour" for their students over Spring Break and almost all have Maryland on their radar as a school for their students to visit! I met several Counselors who had just returned from the Baltimore NACAC and several who visited during our Afternoon in the Park events and shared many compliments on our efforts to showcase all that Maryland has to offer their students.

All in all a great trip to the West Coast!