With so many unknowns, as the coronavirus rapidly spreads around the globe, admissions officers from around the US are sharing with Creative Marbles Consultancy they aren’t sure how to predict the enrollment for the incoming classes. Admissions officers are advising that waitlists may become even more vital to round out their incoming class, as they…
Author: Jill Yoshikawa, Ed M, Partner of Creative Marbles Consultancy
Jill Yoshikawa, EdM, Harvard ’99, a seasoned, 25 year educator and consultant, is meticulous in helping clients navigate all aspects of the educational experience, no matter the level of complexity. She combines educational theory with experience to advise families, schools and educators. A UCSD and Harvard graduate, as well as a former high school teacher, Jill works tirelessly to help her clients succeed.
An Open Letter to the University of California
Dear UC President Janet Napolitano, the UC Board of Regents, Chancellor Gary May, Chancellor Carol Christ, Chancellor Howard Gillman, Chancellor Nathan Bostrom, Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla, Chancellor Harry T. Yang, Chancellor Cynthia K. Larive: In reviewing the University of California’s changes to admissions policies for Fall 2021 admissions, affecting current high…
Extended Enrollment Deadlines For Incoming First Year College Students
May 1 is traditionally the national college enrollment deadline for newly admitted first year students. However, given the widespread closures of college campuses and economic uncertainty possibly affecting students’ confidence to enroll in college, many college admissions officers have extended their enrollment deadline to June 1. The following is a list compiled by ACCEPT: Admissions…
Student Loan Payment Pause
On Friday, March 27, 2020, Congress and President Trump passed the CARES Act [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act], and millions of student loan borrowers gained a temporary reprieve from making payments until September 30, 2020. Additionally, as President Trump promised two weeks ago, student loan interest is also waived until September 30, 2020.…
College Online = Digital Instruction + Childhood Redux
In a recent interview with Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle, I shared what one one second year college student now attempting to continue his studies in Northern California not in Boston, called a “bizarre” situation. Tens of thousands of other college students who also returned home from their college campuses are now experiencing:…
The State of A College Education: How Golden Is The Golden Ticket? Part 3
In Parts 1 and 2, sentiment amongst college students and prospective college students may already be declining, which could be exacerbated even further, as we weather the current global pandemic with closed college campuses and students dispersed to their childhood homes. Additionally, the last of the Millennials are now college graduates, but experiencing a current…
The Contagion of Senioritis
Typically, high school seniors experience some form of senioritis. They’re exhausted after applying to college, anxious about where they’ll be admitted, grieving when they’re not admitted to a top choice school, dreaming about life after high school, AND lacking motivation to continue managing everyday high school coursework. Yet, Class of 2020 seniors, living through a…
An Open Letter to The College Board About Advanced Placement (AP) Tests
March 26, 2020 Dear The College Board, David Coleman, CEO College Board & Trevor Packer, Senior VP of Advanced Placement & Instruction: While not diminishing the dilemma of how to continue the AP program and administer AP exams in the midst of the current global pandemic, students’ frustrations about reducing the exams to 45 minutes from…
Grief
Sanika, a freshmen student at UC San Diego, reflects on her truncated first year of college. ——————————————————————————– I just finished doing panic grocery shopping with my dad in the midst of a pandemic in Sacramento. A week ago, on Monday, I never thought I would even say this sentence. In fact a week ago, I was…
Mrs. Obama Shares Parenting Advice
Our parents are our first teachers and often are our primary teachers. As such, the responsibilities of parents are great to be “guides on the side”, not “the sage on the stage”. Then, our children blossom into the extraordinary beings they are. In an essay for People magazine, Michelle Obama shared the following lesson she…
Novel COLLEGE-2020
An online, distance learning college education is not what most four-year college students and their parents paid (or borrowed) to experience. With college closures, the holistic “college experience” has been truncated, as entire university communities have been dispersed, with no late-night dorm floor existential debates, no clubs, no socializing—stripped down to simply content delivery through…
Expectation Canceled
On Monday, March 16, The College Board canceled the March 28 Makeup Test, the test all the March 14 canceled test takers were counting on, as well as the May 2 SAT test date. Additionally, the April 4th ACT was canceled. With the cancelations, tens of thousands of students’ test taking strategies for college admissions…
Lessons to Learn from The Stanford Experience, Part 2
Students are transforming how they imagine their college experiences and reimagining their relationship with their university. Suddenly, with shifts to online learning and for many students, the eviction from on-campus residences, like those at Stanford, the loss of access to libraries, tutoring centers, guest lectures, panel discussions, late-night dorm conversations about the meaning of the…
Trump Waives Student Loan Interest Until Further Notice
Updated: March 14, 2020 at 9:45 pm PST On Friday, March 13, President Trump worked to provide some fiscal relief for the 44 million Americans who’ve borrowed Federal money to attend college, including the thousands of college students attending colleges where normal university operations were suspended this past week: “To help our students and their…
Lessons to Learn From The Stanford Experience
As U.S. Health Officials, like Surgeon General VADM Jerome Adams on Sunday’s Face The Nation, advocate for mitigation strategies, slowing the COVID-19 infection rate rather than containment of COVID-19, and more university administrators, like those at Stanford University, are heeding their recommendations. We, at Creative Marbles, know that educators, administrators, parents and students are reorienting…