A Little About Myself

by Stacy Wells Shea

Hi there. My name is Stacy Wells Shea, though people in the office refer to me as swells (my reader name).

I’m originally from New Hartford, NY, and studied political science at Syracuse University as a scholarship athlete in swimming. I’ve been working for the University of Rochester for about 10 years, 7 of which have been in the Office of Admissions. The other 3 were as a swim coach. Well, I spent one year in the middle at Rutgers University as a swim coach, but when I realized that they didn’t have Wegmans, I quickly came back. I also completed a master’s degree and a doctorate from the Warner School of Education at UR.

Now that I’m done with all of my degrees, you will usually find me messing up my kitchen, much to the dismay of my husband. I love to cook (not bake—I’ve had some serious issues confusing salt for sugar). I even have become obsessed with growing my own vegetables (yes, we can grow things in Rochester). If you need any good canning recipes, let me know.

When I’m not obsessing over what’s for dinner, I’m an associate director here in the office. My main role involves running our Combined-Admission Programs (GEAR, GRADE, REBS, and REMS), but my true love is in talking to students. That’s why I’m writing this blog, Scenes from a College Interview: because students, well they say the darnedest things! Not to mention that the idea of a college interview was even confusing to me at first, considering the first interview I gave in this office was actually the first college interview I’d ever been a part of. And I have to say, they can be pretty fun.

I hope that you’ll join me on this journey of conversations I’ve had during my time interviewing. I promise that I’ll even try to make fun—and don’t worry, I’m sure that there will be some posts about cooking. . . .