"College Admission"
College Counselor and Anxious Mom All Rolled into One
It’s confession time.
Not only am I a college counselor, but I am also the mother of a senior. And this week our daughter wrote to her college counselor and complained about her mother.
Yes, I confess … in my worst moments, I have said and done some of the very same things that I have blithely [...]
Respecting Labor, Better Citizens, and Challenging Assumptions About Intelligence: What Boarding Schools Can Do
“Liberal arts” and “well-rounded” are the default terms of most boarding boarding schools- the bases for their educational structures and curricula. After all, parents are paying to position the kids for college preparation and admittance. But boarding schools prove quite limited and narrow shaped by the biases of academia and college admission. How about adding [...]
Read MoreFour Year Degree Completion: Myth and Endangered Species
We published “A Post Graduate Year; what’s that?” a few years back that’s read and cited on a regular basis. Several recent studies, articles, and their statistics continue lending support and credence to the possibilities of a PG year for some students.
These three articles and their statistical citations paint a picture of just how rare [...]
Chinese Boarding School to Open in Massachusetts
Cernet, the China Education and Research Network purchased the former Verizon campus in Marlborough, MA and will open the first Chinese boarding school in the United States. Cernet likes the location based on Boston’s role as a higher education hub.
The 25 acres campus “includes 223 hotel rooms, an auditorium, conference rooms, a laundry room, a [...]
Fluidity is the Order of American Higher Education: Moving Beyond the High School Graduation-Four Year Undergraduate Model
A few years back I wrote piece about spending a post graduate year in boarding school before moving on to college- “A Post Graduate Year; what’s that?” The reasons for pursuing a PG year proved consistent among the students and families choosing an extra year of high school- graduating young, improving maturity, more academic preparation, [...]
Read MoreNo Answers But Good Admission Thinking
Although geared for college admission, one recent New York Times article and a new blog on their site provide some good thinking and advice- parts of which are applicable to private school admission.
The article first- “Paying in Full as the Ticket Into Colleges,” lays plain for all to see that, with tight financial aid offerings [...]
A Couple of Quick Items to Start the Day
If you haven’t checked out the Carnival of College Admission (AQ hosted an edition a couple of weeks ago), I encourage you to visit Eric Perron’s blog at Dreamstrategy where he’s hosting the 11th edition of the Carnival: Carnival of College Admission – A College Information Dream… A Dream Strategy that is!
Eric featured Leo [...]
College Admission Carnival: AdmissionsQuest Style!
Thanks to Mark Montgomery of Great College Advice for allowing us to host this edition of the Carnival of College Admission.
Welcome, all. This edition of the carnival seems to have expanded a bit. We’ve got some perspectives on on-line courses, life-long learning, and, quite timely, spending and money management during college.
Like most endeavors, having [...]
A Quick Read on College Admission Craziness
It’s not boarding school admission, but it’s an interesting read about the different ways and roads to want what’s best for you kids.
Lisa Belkin contributes a nice synthesis of a parent’s takes on the college admission craziness. In her post to the New York Times Motherlode column she brings together three perspectives that circle around:
“Who [...]
Colleges Begin Offering Online Interviews
The Washington Post ran a piece highlighting the rise of online interviews in the admission process.
The online interview isn’t well-established and still faces some technology hurtles. Not all families have the technology readily available and admission office staffs need some convincing and prodding to learn new ways of communicating with applicants.
The web interview certainly [...]
The Value of Living Within One’s Means: Experience Provides Advantages for Tuition Driven Schools in Tight Times
An odd thing during these times of declining endowment income- several New England colleges are doing OK. In a Boston Globe piece several smaller tuition driven schools report that the relationship with their students and school growth haven’t yet changed much. They’re used to offering good value and opportunities- funded predominately with tuition dollars. Smaller [...]
Read MoreWhy Not Just Be Clear About How Each College Factors Standardized Test Scores in Admission
The College Board has raised hackles again with a policy change. Called Score Choice, this program gives students the option to control which test scores get sent to schools. (This really isn’t a new policy; it’s a return to an earlier policy circa 1993-2002 when students could choose to send schools their best scores over [...]
Read MoreConsidering the Largest Endowments
Donald Frey (Wake Forest University, Economics Professor) and Lynn Munson (formerly, National Endowment for the Humanities) wrote an op-ed piece in today’s Boston Globe challenging the conventional wisdom of eternal saving and endowment growth. They make the case that colleges and universities would make better more effective use of endowment monies by committing to spending [...]
Read MoreScarsdale Opts Out of AP Curriculum
Late week we wrote a piece about the growing number of colleges that no longer use the SAT as part of their admission evaluation. I had no idea that the number of non-SAT colleges and universities had grown to 800 or so. We noted that the choice to remove standardized testing from the college admission [...]
Read MoreThe SAT Conundrum
The Boston Globe ran short exposition article looking at the current state of the ‘drop the SAT’ movement. All of the standard anti-SAT arguments appear- inaccurate predictor of college success, tilted in favor the wealthy (cultural exposure and test prep), use the SAT but assign less value to it in the admission process, no SAT [...]
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