Choosing a college or university is one of the most important decisions young persons and their families will make. A college education is a major investment of time and resources, and you have the right to expect that this investment will be worth it. Which is why you should find out as much as possible about the college beforehand.
Visit the college and talk to the Admissions Counselor. Ask to talk to a faculty member, too, and if possible, sit in on a class or two. (At Hellenic American College, we're happy to arrange this for you).Make sure you also talk to current students as well.
Ask as many questions as possible. We suggest you start with the ones we've listed in this guide. We've also provided a brief answer to each about Hellenic American College but we welcome the chance to talk with you about these and other questions you might have.
Which institution awards the degree—and is it recognized?
Make sure you know what institution is ultimately responsible for the program you're interested in. Some colleges may work through franchise agreements with a number of institutions—which may change from year to year. Ask, too, whether graduates of the program were successful in having their degrees recognized for professional equivalency.
Hellenic American College offers exclusively the academic programs of Hellenic American University (New Hampshire, US), which is accredited by the same agency responsible for accrediting institutions such as Harvard, Boston University and MIT. Students who graduate from Hellenic American College are awarded their degrees directly from Hellenic American University.
How big are the classes?
Lectures have their place, but learning is more rewarding and effective when you take an active part in it—and that's hard to do in large classes.
Our small-sized, seminar-like classes challenge you to participate—through discussions, projects, presentations, team assignments and the like. You'll have frequent contact with your instructors, both in class and outside through the College's system of advising and mentoring.
Who will be teaching me?
Check out the institution's website. It should include short bios of the faculty so that you can see who's teaching in the program, where they studied and what research they're involved in. Also ask what system the College uses to evaluate its faculty. (This will give you a sense of how serious the institution takes the quality of instruction it provides).
All Hellenic American University full-time faculty have doctoral degrees with a record of published—and in some cases—prize-winning research. Given our emphasis on hands-on, applied learning, the faculty also include well-respected professionals and practitioners in their fields, such as highly experienced mental health clinicians, management consultants, network experts, published translators, high-profile interpreters and assessment experts who have developed international English-language tests. The performance of every faculty member is assessed through course evaluations and in-class observations. You can find more information about our professors on the University's faculty pages.
What opportunities are there for practical learning?
A college education should be more than memorizing material for a final exam. Every field—from English Language and Literature and Translation to Business Administration and IT—has its set of professional competencies that graduates need to acquire to be competitive in tomorrow's job market. It's hard to develop these skills by only studying a textbook.
Practically every class you take with us will ask you to produce something—a research paper, a project, a presentation, an analysis of a problem or such—that draws on the theory you learned in class. Business students, for example, put together a digital communications plan and test out scenarios in a financial model. IT students write code, set up actual physical networks, and design small-scale applications. Applied Linguistics students do supervised practice teaching in a real classroom, and psychology students intern in actual counseling settings.
What resources for learning will I have as a student?
In the real work world, you're expected to track down, evaluate and synthesize a great deal of information from a lot of different sources. Your college courses should have similar expectations and equip you with the skills and resources to do it. So, ask to visit the College Library (if it's not already on your campus tour).Find out about what learning resources students can access online without needing to be physically in the Library to use them. And if it's relevant to your program, ask about facilities such as labs as well.
The Library at Hellenic American College houses over 35,000 titles in English and Greek, an online collection of over 250,000 digital books, and subscriptions to major academic periodicals databases numbering 10,000,000 articles. Special facilities include engineering and science labs, computer labs, advanced networking equipment, EU-approved interpreting booths, and Internet-enabled smart classrooms.
What financial help is available to finance my studies?
Financing a college education can put a strain on family and personal resources. If that's true in your case, ask the college what help is available to finance your education.
Hellenic American College begins with a simple commitment: we guarantee financial assistance to all admitted students with demonstrated financial need. In addition, the College provides merit scholarships for outstanding students and tuition reductions for company employees and early registration. The College can also work with you to design a payment plan over several installments. We also promise that the tuition rate that applies when you're first admitted will remain the same until you graduate. You'll know in advance how much your education will cost and will be protected from any future tuition increases.
Does the college have a Career Office? What does it do?
A professionally staffed, successful Career Office should be able to help you clarify your strengths, values and goals, and develop your personal and professional competencies. Ask if the College has a Career Office. Who staffs it and what have they accomplished? How have they helped their students become more employable?
The Career Development Office at Hellenic American College will provide you with support and guidance to help you make well-informed career choices and take appropriate action—from the first months of your program. You get help in applying for internships and developing your c.v., job leads and opportunities to network with professionals in the sector. And the Office sends out a monthly list with new job posting and internship opportunities.
How many first-year students continue to the next?
Why is this important? It gives a strong indication of how satisfied students are with their studies. A strong retention rate usually means students are highly satisfied with their studies, believe what they're learning is valuable and are motivated to do well. It also probably means they're getting the academic support to do so if they need it.
On average, almost 90% of first-year undergraduate students at Hellenic American College continue with their studies the following year. More than 75% of full-time students who entered the College 4 years ago have graduated or are now finishing up their studies. One of the reasons for this high rate of success is the support students get from their instructors, faculty mentor and the staff at the Writing Center—to name a few.
What are the alumni doing?
One of the best indicators of student success for a College is the percentage of recent graduates who have found jobs or who are pursuing graduate or doctoral studies.
For the roughly 85% of graduates whose employment status we were able to verify in 2021, 77% were employed and an additional 16% were self-employed or had started their own business.