Alvernia's foundation helps veteran transfer student find success

Ask Alvernia alum Corey McNear, DMD about his college experience and he’ll likely tell you it was anything but traditional.

School, admittedly, wasn’t a top priority for McNear in high school. Post-graduation, he joined the Marine Corps, serving from 2002 to 2006 and stationed at MCAS New River in Jacksonville, N.C., as a Task Force Planner for MAG-29 HQ. During his service, he was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

Following an honorable discharge, McNear’s focus turned to higher education and earning a degree, which he shares was made possible because a GI Bill paid for a significant portion of his undergraduate education.

A Wyomissing High School graduate and self-professed “computer nerd,” he first enrolled in an Information Technology (IT) program at Berks Technical Institute (BTI). Halfway through the program, McNear changed course.

A mutual friend introduced him to his soon-to-be wife, Theresa. Her father and brother, who owned a dental practice, recruited McNear to help with some computer work.

That’s when the wheels started turning in his head.

“I liked what they did,” McNear remembered.

So much so, he committed to changing career paths and started the transfer process from BTI to Alvernia University. While many dread the transfer process, McNear says Alvernia made it easy. 

“It was pretty straightforward,” he recalled. “The paperwork was easy to fill out. They made it clear which credits would transfer. They actually took some military credits, too.”

Aside from the ease of the transfer process itself, the commuter student was attracted to Alvernia for its smaller class and campus size and the potential to get help with his studies.

“I was already kind of assuming that I would need some extra help to catch up on things that I kind of didn’t work on when I was in high school,” he admitted. “There was a strong tutoring system and the teachers were really helpful.”

Upon graduating from Alvernia, McNear went on to earn his Doctorate of Dental Medicine from Midwestern University College of Medicine in Downers Grove, Ill.

He recalls feeling confident when doing so because of the foundation Alvernia laid within his studies.

“I look back on some of my classes, like pharmacology, anatomy and cell biology, and remember thinking it was pretty much the same as what I’d learned at Alvernia,” McNear says. “It was a bit more in depth, but what Alvernia taught me already made it easy.”

Today, McNear is in his 10th year practicing dentistry at Nolt Dental in Ephrata, Lancaster County, the practice for which he provided computer assistance for his father-in-law, who is retired, and alongside his brother-in-law.

He’s a father to Carter, a seventh-grader at La Salle Academy, and Madison, a freshman at Berks Catholic, who has shown interest in a possible future academic career at Alvernia. After all, she already has ties to her father’s alma mater.

“She was born on May 10 during my final exam week,” McNear recalled. “We were in the hospital and she was born one day and then the next day I had to go in and take a final.”

How would he feel about her attending Alvernia? 

“It’d be nice to have her around,” he admitted. “And Alvernia has certainly demonstrated that they care about providing a good education. They’re constantly investing in the school and they’ve come a long way even since I’ve graduated.”

Sounds like dad’s okay with the idea.