S2E38: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! Assistant Director of Admissions – Transfer Recruitment Kari Berkas at Seattle University

In this our thirty-eighth (38th) episode of Season 2, join Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich in Seattle, Washington as he interviews Kari Berkas, the Assistant Director of Admissions - Transfer Recruitment at Seattle University.

1:44 - Meet Kari! 

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Transcript

Evan Franulovich: 0:05

Welcome to Seattle Colleges, international programs and our show conversations with where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at Intl.seattlecolleges.edu, where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's Intl.seattlecolleges.edu. Hey, everybody, welcome back to Conversations with. We are here at Seattle University, we want to welcome Kari. She is joining us from Seattle University. And she's going to give us some really great information. I have a feeling. If you're thinking about transferring to Seattle, Or you were just thinking about coming here in the first place. You might have some really good information from them. Right?

Kari Berkas: 1:31

That's right.

Evan Franulovich: 1:32

Cuz you're an alumni for graduate...

Kari Berkas: 1:34

Graduate school, Yes. So I am a former Red Hawk.

Evan Franulovich: 1:38

Right? This is a... who is this?

Kari Berkas: 1:41

This is Rudy the Red Hawk. This is our mascot. If you attend Seattle U someday you may get a chance to see Rudy.

Evan Franulovich: 1:48

For sure. Well, cool. Yeah. So let's just talk about where you're located. Because I think it's really important for our domestic students that don't have a clue, or, you know, people that are thinking about starting at Seattle Colleges, then coming down to your school, where are you exactly?

Kari Berkas: 2:04

So we're right in the heart of Seattle. So we're in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, we're also very close to the central district, to the International District. And we're about a 10 minute walk from downtown as well. We're also located in what's called Pill Hill, meaning that there's a lot of hospitals, which is great for our students who are in the nursing program, because there's a lot of close by facilities opportunities for clinical experience. So we're kind of right in the heart of it, we're really close to public transportation, as well, even though a lot of things are walkable, including one of those Seattle Colleges, we're about like two or three blocks away from Seattle Central College, where public transit, the Link light rail, few stops away from North Seattle College. And you can take a bus to South Seattle College. So if you do choose to attend one of the Seattle Colleges, it's not a big geographic transition that you're making to come to Seattle U, because we're kind of in that same vicinity.

Evan Franulovich: 3:03

And if you've never been here, like if you're at North or South now or you're just thinking about coming here, I think Capitol Hill is one of the coolest parts of town. Would you agree?

Kari Berkas: 3:11

Yeah, it's pretty cool. There's so much I'm a big coffee drinker.

Evan Franulovich: 3:13

Me too, yes.

Kari Berkas: 3:14

So there is a ton of coffee shops, but also a lot of variety of food. Like as soon as you step off campus, there's so many cafes and restaurants. So students really love that we have a lot on campus as well. But it's nice to have the best of both worlds to kind of have your campus experience, but to be able to be exposed to a lot of different things as soon as you step off campus. So that's pretty cool.

Evan Franulovich: 3:37

So one of the things I noticed about Seattle U when I came to... This is only the second time I've been here, even though you're just blocks away from us is that we're kind of more of a... We're just a couple of big buildings just within the block. So it feels like your city. But when you come to Seattle, you it's a really nice campus. Yeah. I mean, you're kind of insulated a little bit. Yeah. Do you? Do you guys have dorms right on the campus?

Kari Berkas: 4:01

We do. And I'm glad you kind of talked about how Seattle U is a little bit different than the rest of the neighborhood.

Evan Franulovich: 4:06

It's true.

Kari Berkas: 4:06

I really think that as well. It's almost park like. Like there's a lot of green spaces, we have a

Evan Franulovich: 4:09

Yeah. reflecting pool, we have a fountain very, very peaceful. So again, you really do get that best of both worlds. You're kind of in a nice park like environment here and then you step off and you're in the city. But we do have a lot of on campus housing. It varies depending on like where you are at class level. So like we have three residence halls for our first time in college students. So generally students who are like 18 or 19 years old. We have a residential living requirement. So students who are freshmen or sophomores and under 21 are required to live on campus. So Seattle U is very residential. Now the students who are juniors and seniors or over 21, and this applies to many of our transfer students like coming from the Seattle Colleges. They are not required to live on campus but they can and choose to on a space available basis. So they can still apply for housing, it's not guaranteed, but they can apply for it. And by the time you're a junior, you're open up to more like housing options. So it's less, sort of one long haul of a bunch of rooms and more like suite style. Oh, that's actually the building that we are in, is one of those facilities for like juniors or seniors that they can apply to live in. And it's literally like an apartment. So so there's a lot of variety. So do you have dorms that are just for international students or the international students mixed in with all the domestic students?

Kari Berkas: 5:39

They would be mixed in.

Evan Franulovich: 5:40

Mixed in? It's really nice.

Kari Berkas: 5:42

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 5:43

So we have what's called a high school completion plus program, and a lot of those students that start, you know, they may be 16, or 17. So if you're one of those students who you're going to come to Seattle U, expect to probably live in the dorms.

Kari Berkas: 5:54

Yeah. Because high school completion students at Seattle, you would apply to us as a first time in college student. And usually, the high school completion students by the time they're done. Usually, they're around like 18 versal. So that would fit into the requirement to need to live on campus here.

Evan Franulovich: 6:11

Very cool. All right, so they come down, they have to fill out one application to get admitted as a transfer student and a separate application for housing, or is it all done on one application?

Kari Berkas: 6:25

It is separate. So we have one application to apply to transfer to the school, okay. And then if you're admitted, and you decide to attend Seattle U, then you get a checklist of different items that you need to complete.

Evan Franulovich: 6:38

Right.

Kari Berkas: 6:39

We actually admit students, including transfers, or sorry, including international students, I want to make sure to clarify, every quarter. So every quarter is open, we're on the quarter system. So that includes fall, winter, spring and summer. Summers, a much lower intake. So mostly fall, winter and spring. But what happens and it just the timing depends on your quarter, if you decide to attend Seattle U, then eventually you'll get like a checklist of different items to complete. So it might be things like submitting your final transcript, uploading a photo to get your campus ID card, and then applying for housing is one of those.

Evan Franulovich: 7:14

Okay.

Kari Berkas: 7:15

So that includes all the information that students would need to know to get into that housing process. Most of our students are starting in fall, and the housing process typically takes place like in June or July. So students might know if they're admitted as early as March. So there's a few months that you'd be waiting before you get into the housing process. But typically, that's all resolved, like in the middle of the summer.

Evan Franulovich: 7:38

Right. Well, if you're taking people any of the quarters, which is really interesting, by the way, I mean, if you take people in any quarter, what's the deadline for application? Or is it? I mean, can they apply all year long?

Kari Berkas: 7:50

Yeah, it's sort of all of the above. Okay. So first Or? and foremost, it does depend on your major, because we do two programs, just two programs that are false start only that is nursing, and diagnostic ultrasound. Only fall.

Evan Franulovich: 8:05

That's good to know.

Kari Berkas: 8:06

And those deadlines, December 1, for nursing for the next fall, and then February 1, for diagnostic ultrasound for that fall. Now everything else is open every quarter, and the deadline is just going to depend on when you're applying. So right now, our next intake is winter quarter, which starts on January 3, and the application deadline was November 15. Our next one is spring, that deadline is going to be February 15. Again, the biggest one is fall, our priority deadline is March 1. We recommend students apply by the priority deadline, because like we just talked about, there's a checklist of things for you to do. You want to have time to do. But we actually do take transfer applications, including from international students all the way up until August 15th. But we strongly encourage students to apply earlier.

Evan Franulovich: 8:56

Don't wait, we recommend and you are just at our campus at our transfer fair. So if you... And you'll be back in the spring, you guys come to a spring transfer fair as well.

Kari Berkas: 9:08

We try to come whenever we can. We love it. It just depends on when the fairs are scheduled. There are some international focus transfer fairs every fall and winter.

Evan Franulovich: 9:18

Winter.

Kari Berkas: 9:18

Yeah, so the fall one is usually in early November. And then the winter one is the last week of January. And I believe the one at the Seattle Colleges invite students from all the Seattle Colleges, so they have it at Seattle Central, but all the students are welcome. So we get to connect with a lot of students there. It's really great.

Evan Franulovich: 9:37

And we would like to see more students at that transfer fair. It's been a little quiet the last couple of times. So guys mark your calendar. It's a great opportunity to meet in person come to and if you're going to be that close, you could also come here I'm guessing you give tours of the campus.

Kari Berkas: 9:53

We do and especially for students at the Seattle Colleges very easy to get to us. So we offer tour There's twice a day, every weekday, except for Wednesday, where we only offer it in the morning. So, from Monday through Friday, 10am and 2pm. We have tours, Wednesdays, it's only 10am. And many weeks out of the year, we actually have Saturday tours as well. Those are at 10am and noon.

Evan Franulovich: 10:18

So do they have to, like sign up for a tour online? Or do they just send you an email or how does that work?

Kari Berkas: 10:22

Yeah, there's a sign up process online. The tour consists of a 30 minute info session that's led by a staff member from our office. So it could be a transfer counselor, it could be a first time in college counselor, we talk about general things like the academic programs at Seattle U, student life, scholarships, financial aid, how to apply. All the important things like that. And then the tour itself, you get to go outside, and you're walking with one of our student ambassadors, who's taking you around campus for about an hour. That is a really cool experience, because our student ambassadors have so much knowledge about what it's like to actually be a student here. You know, they can talk about what it's like to live in one of the residence halls. What it's like to use the library. And it's just really, it's a really interesting experience. So if you have the chance, I would highly recommend taking a tour.

Evan Franulovich: 11:14

Definitely. I mean, it's so close, why not. And I was looking through this International Student Guide before I started the hit the record button, and it was talking about how many nations are represented here, you have students from all over, it seems. So if they want to meet, let's say, I have a student at Seattle Colleges from Brazil, and they want to talk to a Brazilian student here, can you guys set that up?

Kari Berkas: 11:39

Not necessarily in the like early stages, like visiting campuses, prospective student process. But you know, what I would say is that international students, there is an international student orientation. So that's probably a good opportunity to get connected to students from a wide variety of backgrounds. We have an international student center here, we call it the ISC. They do a lot of like social programming throughout the year as well. So there are a lot of opportunities to connect with other international students on our campus.

Evan Franulovich: 12:14

Can you give me an example of what kind of events they might put on?

Kari Berkas: 12:18

Yeah, one of the events that I really enjoy is the International Student Dinner. Yeah, I've gone to that in the past, students from a wide variety of countries, they prepare dishes...

Evan Franulovich: 12:29

Oh, that's sounds really great.

Kari Berkas: 12:30

They share it, you know with the whole campus. And there's a lot of performances, there's a raffle. It's just a lot of fun. It's meant to be very celebratory, and time to be together.

Evan Franulovich: 12:42

Yeah, no, that's really great. Anything anytime there's food involved, pretty happy about that.

Kari Berkas: 12:47

There's plenty of food.

Evan Franulovich: 12:48

Well, let's talk about getting here. You have to transfer. So can you maybe... we are tag partners. Can you maybe explain to the audience what does that mean? What does that mean? How it benefits them and what they need to do to actually get from Seattle Colleges down here.

Kari Berkas: 13:03

Yeah. So the tag agreement basically says that if you're completing a transferable associate's degree, with a 3.0 GPA or higher, you'd have guaranteed admission. For Seattle, you what you'd have to note though, is that doesn't necessarily guarantee admission to any major, because we do have certain majors such as nursing, or diagnostic ultrasound, business analytics that have very specific requirements. But the 3.0 GPA and your associate's degree would guarantee admission to a major at SeattleU, if you're flexible, but what we would recommend is we have a team of transfer admissions counselors here who knows what all the prerequisites are, and specific requirements for the majors, we can talk to students at any stage of their journey. So if they decide to attend one of the Seattle Colleges, with the intention of later transferring to Seattle, you like as soon as their first week of classes at the Seattle Colleges, they're free to contact us set up an appointment, and we can walk them through what the requirements are for their major, if it's something that might have a few extra requirements. We're happy to talk to students at any stage of their transfer journey. So they can really be planning out those prerequisites and knowing what grades they need to get things like that, so that they have the best chance of possible getting into their desired major.

Evan Franulovich: 14:21

Awesome, so if they get all their work done. They get the application in, can they expect to be considered for scholarships? Is that something you guys offer?

Kari Berkas: 14:32

Yeah, and we love talking about that with international students. That's a super common question we get at those fairs you were talking about, of course, every student who applies to Seattle University, and this absolutely includes international students, they're automatically considered for a merit scholarship through the admissions process. So nothing additional to fill out just the admissions application that you're already completing. We are going to review them for scholarship through that, and then what happens is if they're admitted in They receive a scholarship. They would be notified at the time of admission. So it's in the admissions letter. And you can kind of start doing that mental math of what your cost of attendance would be. But we have a few other scholarships that international students are eligible for. So in the community colleges, there's something called Phi Theta Kappa, PTK is a transfer honor

Evan Franulovich: 15:18

Okay. society. If you're a part of that, all you need to do is answer yes. On the question of the application that asks, if

Kari Berkas: 15:24

By April 30. It's a cohort program, more 10 students you're a PTK member, there's a PTK Scholarship for $1,500 a year renewable up to three years. But a really good scholarship that we want to highlight that international students are definitely eligible for is the Alfea Scholars Program, that's $15,000 for two years, so $30,000 total, and that's on top of anything else you might be getting. So if you're getting like admissions, Merit Scholarship, and a PTK Scholarship, you could still get the selfie scholarship and add all that up, it really helps with the cost of attendance. Now, the office Scholars Program, it does require an additional application. And that's due on April 30. And it's only if you're applying for Fall quarter. So that's something to keep in mind. If you're thinking, I might want to transfer to SeattleU early, maybe in the spring, but you want to apply for Alfea scholars, you do have to apply for Fall quarter. received the award. And it's a leadership training program focused on civility training. So students have specialized advisors and they do activities together. It's really cool program. And they get all that in addition to receiving funding.

Evan Franulovich: 16:38

Are those 10 slots just for international students, or is a mix of domestic and...

Kari Berkas: 16:42

It's for community college transfer students, It is reserved for community college transfer students. And that includes international students, they do have to have a 3.5 GPA. So some good motivation to really work on your grades at the Seattle Colleges. So you can be eligible for that scholarship. It's a great one.

Evan Franulovich: 17:00

That is really great. If I could go back just a second, because I gotta tell you, I've never even heard of this Phi Theta Kappa. Can you tell us more about that? Because you're the first person I've talked to about that? Is it something that? I mean, I don't know that we have that at our school? I've never heard about it. So maybe can they join? If they're at Seattle Colleges? Can they sign up for this? Is there an application, I don't know what's a group to join, or...

Kari Berkas: 17:28

Since it is something that takes place in the community colleges, I'm not the expert and tell you to sign up for it. But we have seen lots of students come through who are members.

Evan Franulovich: 17:39

Interesting.

Kari Berkas: 17:39

So I'd recommend the best person to ask is probably the community college advisor.

Evan Franulovich: 17:44

Okay.

Kari Berkas: 17:44

And they know how to... how to get in. But I will say we also have a transfer Honor Society here at Seattle U called Tau Sigma. And that's also cool, because for students who are part of it, some scholarship opportunities may open up through that, not from SeattleU, but if you're part of the Honor Society, you can apply for scholarships through the society. So in order to join that honor society, you need a 3.5 GPA after your first term of coursework at SeattleU. So 3.5 is kind of the magic number. So that's...

Evan Franulovich: 18:16

And that's not an easy number to hit. I mean, those are good grades, right? So I've got my own research to do I love these podcasts because I learned something every day. So I've never even heard of these. So I'm gonna go check it out and see what we got going on. That's really great. So we've talked about the money they can get, but what is going out the door. So one of the first questions everybody always asked me when they come and talk to me about coming to Seattle Colleges. Hey, what's tuition cost? Can you kind of lay out what they might expect to deal with when they come?

Kari Berkas: 18:47

Yeah, so tuition for the current academic year, we're in 2023 through 2024. Right now, the tuition is around$53,000. I think the exact amount, it's not in front of me, but I think it's 53,235. We could probably verify that again, the brochure there.

Evan Franulovich: 19:04

Sure.

Kari Berkas: 19:05

But then you have to add on some extra cost of attendance. So like books, transportation, incidental expenses. Now, for students who are living on campus, it's closer to around $73,000. And for students who are living off campus, perhaps with relatives or on their own, it's closer to$64,000.

Evan Franulovich: 19:26

Nice. Well, the scholarships definitely help.

Kari Berkas: 19:28

They help, yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 19:28

For sure. That's great. So if a student's considering SeattleU, they might also be considering some of the other close by. So what is it that makes Seattle University so special? Like, why would they choose you guys say over U DUB for example?

Kari Berkas: 19:44

Yeah, so we are more of a mid size University. So one of the things I hear our students talk about the most is the small class sizes. So our average class size is 18. Now what that means is your professors know who you are.

Evan Franulovich: 19:57

Yes. Which I think is great.

Kari Berkas: 19:59

It's a good thing. because they can always check up on you like if you miss a class, they they'll reach out and ask how you're doing and how they can support and there's a really, you know, strong relationship there. But you also get to know your classmates really well. That's true by having smaller classes that really lends itself to group work presentations, class projects, and that kind of thing. And through doing all of that you're really developing, you know, what employers call soft skills. Yes, you know, you're doing a lot of public speaking, you're doing a lot of critical thinking, collaboration, you're learning how to work as part of a team. And our small class size really, like lends itself for students to be able to develop all those skills. So students love that they love the support they get, they love the easy access to their professors, and they love being able to develop that skill set in the classroom. All of our classes are also taught by professors and not teaching assistants. So that's something students look for. So the small class size and the mid size environment is definitely a draw the location, of course, that we talked about, and not only for just like the fun aspects of being right in the heart of the city, and having a great beautiful campus itself, but also for students who are interested in exploring, like internships or off campus opportunities. And because of our location, in Seattle, in general, but also close to downtown, you know, we're close to a lot of big tech companies, a lot of businesses, museums, too, you know, we're not just limited to tech and business here in Seattle, they have outdoor recreation, they have the arts, they have nonprofits, SeattleU is really focused on volunteer opportunities in the immediate surrounding neighborhood as well. So, so our location really gives students a lot of opportunities to get involved. But we're also a very mission driven institution. That's something that we talked about on our info session, if you ever decide to visit us, and our mission has three parts, so we're dedicated to care for the whole person. So we talk about that as holistic education here. Professional formation, and also empowering leaders for adjust in humane world. And you really see all of those three things play out throughout campus. You know, we really care about students as whole people here at SeattleU. So we don't want it to only be about going to classes. And that's it. We want students to be getting involved and really thinking about, you know, what does it mean to be a whole person? Um, how do I want to contribute to the world, and a lot of our classes really help students think about that, too. And I love that professional formation as part of our mission, because a lot of students really are wanting to develop skills to go on to the next thing, whatever that may be a job, graduate school, service, any number of things. And because our classes are really set up to help students focus on that, and we have some excellent career centers here on campus, students have a lot of opportunities to be like thinking ahead to what comes next and preparing for that.

Evan Franulovich: 22:54

So yeah, let's talk about work for just a second after they get their associate's degree at Seattle Colleges, they can do a year of OPT. But then after they get their bachelor's degree, they can also do more OPT. Do you guys assist with that at all? Do you guys have internship opportunities for them? You have partnerships with local businesses, like say, Amazon or Microsoft or something like that. I don't know what you guys have, as far as partnerships, or? Yeah...

Kari Berkas: 23:22

Yeah. So we have two career centers here on campus. One of them is our career Engagement Center that works with all students of any major. And then we have one called the Albers placement center that works specifically with business students, both of those career centers, they have staff that focus on like the one on one student advising, coaching with writing resumes, how to find internships, but we also have people who are dedicated to building relationships with employers and planning events, like where employers come to campus. So we have three career fairs. Every year, the one in the fall is focused on business and engineering. And then the ones in winter and spring are open to absolutely everything, the whole variety. So we bring employers to campus for that, for example, but there might be like an info session here or there where a local like recruiter from a company comes or doing like mock resume reviews or mock interviews with students so so there's a lot of people who work on our campus who are focused on those partnerships. And we also have a job search database specific for Seattle US students that outside employers will post opportunities on and those are a good thing to look through because if if an employer is posting it here, that means they're actually taking the step to put a posting with us because they want to hire Seattle US students. So you know, chances are like if you apply to the job, you know, that's they want to see Seattle, you applicants so that's a that's a really good thing. So that's a good way to know kind of what employers are. Good opportunity to apply for. So So yeah, there's a lot happening on campus for Career engagement. And you mentioned Oh, PT, I think there are opportunities for CPT as well, which is curricular practical training. So to be able to do internships as well, so So that's part

Evan Franulovich: 25:11

of it, too. Yeah, you're getting credit for that you're going towards your degree, which kind of wanted to focus if it's good with you. I have a lot of students, I just came back from Africa, and they a lot of people are interested in nursing, and you'd mentioned nursing. So I don't know what you can tell us about it. It's a tricky pathway, at least at Seattle Colleges. So I'm guessing what? Well, let me just ask, What would you like to see a student be doing at Seattle Colleges? If they want to come here and continue on with nursing? What would that look like?

Kari Berkas: 25:45

Yeah, so I'd recommend that students start early and work really closely with both their advisor at the Seattle Colleges, but also reaching out to us, as you mentioned, nursing. It's a very specific, it is very specific. I'm guessing this is true for many colleges, not just Seattle, you but but at Seattle, you for some additional context, our nursing program for transfer students, it's a cohort program, which means students need to come in with 90 credits in junior standing. And they need to have essentially their general education requirements done, because by the time they start here, it's a two year cohort program, you're in lockstep with the other students. So you need to have prerequisites general education done, you need to be a junior, so that you're just focusing on the nursing classes and clinicals, right. So when you kind of take that end goal, like do, you need to have all those things done by the time you want to transfer, you work backwards, that means you have a lot of work to do when you're at the CLO colleges. So you need to complete prerequisites, you need to be doing 90 credits, and you need to be fulfilling general education. The nursing program is also you know, quite competitive, just because we have limited spots that we can offer due to clinical placement capacities, which is not set by Seattle University. So students, you know, are recommended GPA for transferring, as the minimum is a 3.0, both cumulative and prerequisite. But typically, students who are admitted to the nursing program need to have a 3.5 or higher. So really, it's important. With all that considered, they should be talking to their advisor at the Seattle Colleges early on, so they know exactly what prerequisites to take. And they should be talking to us here at Seattle U, to understand what all of our specific requirements are. Because we also have things like timeframe requirements, we have things like, like this amount of prerequisites needs to be done by fall, if you want to start the next fall. So we can consider your application very specific. So it was pretty we want students to email us so we can email them back with all that very detailed information. We do a lot of information sessions all year for nursing. So students can definitely sign up and we go through just step by step, all of that specific stuff. Students can join at any point. So again, going back to that example, it could be their first week in the program. But if they know they want to do nursing, they're still welcome to come to an info session.

Evan Franulovich: 28:11

Let's say they are doing online education from overseas, and they're, you know, they're going to wait and then come to the United States after their first couple of years. Maybe. Can they do those info sessions virtually? Do you guys offer those?

Kari Berkas: 28:24

They're all virtual? Yeah. For anyone who wants to attend.

Evan Franulovich: 28:28

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, yeah. So in-person is well?

Kari Berkas: 28:32

Not for nursing specifically. They're all virtual there. Yeah. But again, like we do, there are just general SeattleU in-person info sessions with the tours. So anybody who's just wanting to get a sense of what does it feel like to be here and get some general information that way is welcome to come.

Evan Franulovich: 28:49

And the... You said diagnostic ultrasound, similar kind of thing.

Kari Berkas: 28:53

Kind of similar. Yeah, there's fewer prerequisites. And the prerequisites are slightly different. But it's the similar idea. You need to come in as a junior, you're doing a cohort program.

Evan Franulovich: 29:04

Right.

Kari Berkas: 29:04

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 29:05

And they graduate with a bachelor's degree in diagnostic ultrasound?

Kari Berkas: 29:08

Yeah, so it'd be a Bachelor of Science in diagnostic ultrasound, we have three tracks. And so actually, students apply to their preferred track. And then they would like state their preference. And we try to take that into consideration as much as we can, but each track might have different availability. So we have cardiac, we have general and we have vascular.

Evan Franulovich: 29:28

Oh, there you go. I had no idea.

Kari Berkas: 29:31

But what I will say is, I know it sounds kind of daunting to be talking about all these specific requirements. But what's really cool about coming in from the Seattle Colleges is we have so many transfer students from the Seattle Colleges, that we know what the equivalent courses are. There's no mystery and being able to say this is the exact microbiology course you need to take. We know what it is we can easily tell you we have it all mapped out. So there's really no mystery for students in terms of figuring out what courses they have to take. So that's a really good thing about transferring from the Seattle Colleges.

Evan Franulovich: 30:00

Nice. So, I have a lot of students that asked about sports programs. We don't have them at Seattle Colleges, we have some clubs, sports or whatever. If they want to come down. I'm like, You guys have sports programs here so they can definitely be spectators.

Kari Berkas: 30:16

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 30:17

Is there... are there walk on tryouts? Like, if I had a kid who was from Brazil and really wanted to play soccer, are there those kinds of things opportunities? Or is it mostly you have to be here as a freshman in order to do that kind of stuff?

Kari Berkas: 30:29

On transfer students can look into athletics, but we always encourage that those students are talking with the coach directly to see what process they should find.

Evan Franulovich: 30:38

What sports do you guys offer? Just for fun?

Kari Berkas: 30:41

For fun? Um, definitely volleyball. I know that because a lot of folks in our office are very interested in. So that's a lot of fun. Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 30:49

Do you play?

Kari Berkas: 30:50

I do not play unfortunately. I think that would be fun if I could, but I can't do it all. But yeah, we have I'm not sure off the top my head all of them. But we do have both intramural and club. From what I understand. The club is a little bit more clubs, sports are a little bit more formal, because it might involve like some regional travel, competing against other like, colleges with with a similar sports team. And intramural is more. You want to have some fun with your friends.

Evan Franulovich: 31:19

Okay.

Kari Berkas: 31:19

So we got it all for for any sort of level of recreation or sport students want there's usually something you can find.

Evan Franulovich: 31:26

And I don't know, are you Division Two division or division one? Your division one?

Kari Berkas: 31:30

Yeah

Evan Franulovich: 31:31

I didn't know that.

Kari Berkas: 31:32

Yeah.

Evan Franulovich: 31:33

I'm not from Seattle. Originally. I'm from Oregon. But I'm a transplant. But wow, really interesting. Well, we're already at 30 minutes, I wanted to give you an opportunity to offer last pieces of advice. I know when I'm out on the road, and I'm talking to students, I always get the same kind of questions over and over. Is there one question in particular, you hear all the time that you want to make sure you give the answer to here? Or is there some other advice you want to offer? People that are thinking about transferring here?

Kari Berkas: 32:02

I would say the question we get the most is about scholarships. And we've covered that. But but the advice I would want to give and I've kind of said this throughout, but I really encourage students to start early in terms of their transfer planning, you have excellent resources, with your community college advisors, they know the courses so well. And then you also have resources here. So I really encourage transfer students to be doing, or kind of that dual system of talking to both your community college advisor and transfer admissions counselors here, because some majors do have prerequisites. So if you want to apply to those majors, and if you want to be you know pretty well along in your degree, by the time that you're admitted, you know, those courses are offered at the Seattle Colleges. And with some early planning, you can make sure that you're taking those to be, you know, on track with a degree program here. So I definitely encourage students to start early, ask a lot of questions, check out the resources we have about what courses to take, visit campus, those are all things that really set students up well to transfer.

Evan Franulovich: 33:05

And again, they are literally if you if you don't know this already, they're just down the street. So there's really no excuse for not coming down and checking it out. I mean, even if you're like 90% sure you want to go somewhere else. Give it a chance, come down, walk around the campus. Come talk to Kerry or one of the other staff members here and they'll set you... They'll set you up with some information. I think it's worth your time.

Kari Berkas: 33:30

Definitely.

Evan Franulovich: 33:31

Well, that's really great. It's so great to meet you. Thanks for all your time. All the information. Yeah, it's good to be here. I'm gonna go walk around, and take some photos.

Kari Berkas: 33:40

Enjoy the enjoy the beautiful campus. That's right. Well, thanks so much. Have a great day. Happy Holidays everybody."Conversations with" is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle College's International Programs department, and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, or YouTube at Seattle Colleges. I n t l that's SeattleCollegesIntl i n t and be sure to check out all of the shows here on conversations. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.