Day 3 of four-day tour by HISD EMERGE students highlighted three of the northeast’s strongest liberal arts schools — Brandeis, Clark, and Boston College. The two private colleges and one private university consistently rank high on various higher education listings, including U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges.

The #EMERGEtour is taking more than 95 students from 15 HISD high schools to nine top-tier university campuses this week.

Here are the students’ impressions of tour Day 3, in their own words:

“For me, the most memorable experience of the college tours we took today was when we visited Boston College. As a secular-minded, non-Catholic, I expected something totally different from a Jesuit University. I honestly thought it was going to be an exclusive community of really religious people. As I arrived at BC, I was blown away. It was truly impressive, beautiful, and the architecture was surreal. I was also amazed at how open minded and inclusive everyone was. I now understand that a religious college can be open and tolerant. Being a religious affiliated university doesn’t mean a lack of intellectual diversity.” —Christian Galo, rising junior

“During our tour today of Clark University, I was able to have an amazing one-on-one conversation with our student guide, who is a pre-law student who wants to go into corporate law. I really connected with him because that is the same career path I am interested in pursuing. I was very impressed with all of his information about Clark and learned that one of his professors was a former assistant to a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. How amazing is that! Because of meeting him, I now have a better understanding of the type of education a liberal arts college can provide. I think it might be a good fit for me.” —Samuel Tekie, rising junior

“Today I learned that liberal arts colleges have so much more to offer than I thought. Visiting Clark, Brandeis, and Boston College helped me to understand that liberal arts schools combine strong academics with a sense of community. My favorite part of the day was the tour of Brandeis, where I met an admissions counselor who was from Texas. She talked about how she likes to get to personally know all of her applicants so she can “fight” for them to be accepted. As she said that, I felt like a door had been opened just for me and I could see myself taking advantage of all that Brandies has to offer. After the info session, I went up to her to introduce myself and told her to remember my name when it came time to review applications.” —Sophia Reyes, rising junior

The EMERGE program encourages and prepares talented HISD students from underserved communities to successfully attend and graduate from Ivy League and other top-tier colleges.

Want to follow the #EMERGEtour trip? Keep returning to this news blog, or follow their travels on Twitter at twitter.com/HoustonISD or by following #EMERGEtour. Read Day 1 and Day 2 of #EMERGEtour student experiences.

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