Springfield, Western New England

I visited Springfield College and Western New England College in May 2009 as part of the New England Association for College Admission Counseling (NEACAC) annual meeting.
Springfield, Mass is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame.


This is a sports-oriented school for sports-oriented students. Want to major in physical therapy, athletic training? Play a sport? This is the place!

Some majors are harder to get into, and require you to job shadow during high school. Example: P.T. is the most difficult to get into. It's a 6 year Doctor of P.T. program and you'll need pre calc, physics, 1250 on CR and Math SAT, 3.5 GPA plus 10 or more hours shadowing.

Athletic Training major: 3.4, 1150, with job shadow hours.

Sports Management major: 3.2, 1100 SAT.

Physician Assistant major: 100% of the passed the exam on the first try.

Merit Money: $7,000-10,000. You'll be impressed with the new award-winning athletic facilities.

Cheverus connection: Jon A will graduate in 2010.

Western New England College (now University)
RESIDENTIAL LIFE
I stayed in a WNE dorm for a few nights. It was a double, with 2 other doubles sharing 2 bathrooms and a living room. That suite opened up to a huge living room, shared by 4 other suites. 92% of freshmen live on campus, and 82% live on campus overall.

CAMPUS
The campus is spacious, well-lanscaped and maintained.  Lush gardens and tree lined pathways wind around the 4 story brick buildings. It's in a residential area. A new science/pharmacy/psych building is under construction. It reminded me of Merrimack and Stonehill's campus.

ADMISSIONS
3.1, 1060 on Math and CR are preferred, although merit money begins at 2.8 GPA and ranges from $9400-15,000. They recalculate GPA using just college prep classes.

MAJORS
Their business major is AACSB acredited, and their sports management program is accredited also. Their combined majors are popular, such as engineering/engineering management, a 5-year program. Biomedical engineering and the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program emphasizes intellectual property, and is a 3+3 program with the WNE law school.

FINANCIAL AID
60-80% of need is met, and the FAFSA is the only required form. The leadership grant requires a separate application.

STUDENT PANEL
  • Steve, an accounting major from CT who is an R.A., tennis player, and also applied to UCONN, Northeastern and BC.
  • Mallory, a junior from CT who is enrolled in the 3+3 law program. She plays softball and also applied to Merrimack, Roger Williams and Bryant.
  • Shauna, a junior social work major from NH. Half of her high school went to Keene State so she wanted something different. She also applied to Champlain and Quinnipiac.
  • Justin is a mechanical engineering major from CT who is also enrolled in the MBA program and Air Force ROTC. He looked at small engineering schools like Union, Lafayette and WPI.
  • Kelly is a senior from CT majoring in English/psych who is a peer advisor.
CHEVERUS CONNECTIONS
Ryan K '05 graduated in 2009 with a business degree and is moving across town to Springfield College for his masters degree. Austin P will graduate in 2010. Ann M and Kate M '11.