Given the University of California (UC) test-free admissions policy, potential UC applicants will need to rethink how they prepare for admissions as well as frame their qualifications when applying, as subjectivity in admissions evaluations will likely increase: Thus, amidst the changing admissions evaluations, students with their parents’ support, will benefit from reframing their admissions preparation…
Hello Students: As you’re calculating how long you can wait to turn in assignments yet still “make the grade” before the end of the school year, also consider that many teachers are also (very) eagerly anticipating summer vacation (possibly even more than you). Thus, teachers, who have navigated an extraordinarily complex school year and are…
As college enrollments continue sliding, current college students, both those at four year colleges and those aspiring to transfer from a community college, as well as high school students seeking admissions in Fall 2022 and beyond will likely benefit. Spring 2021 total undergraduate enrollment decreased by 5.9% at two and four year colleges in the…
Students we advised, throughout the United States, were admitted to the following colleges for Fall 2021: On the West Coast PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES Arizona State University Chapman University Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Gonzaga University Cal Poly, Pomona Hawaii Pacific University California State University, Fullerton Lewis & Clark College California…
And, as Bart Simpson exemplifies once again, a test without context can create conflicting results far removed from reality. Answering standardized multiple choice questions, at a single moment in the time-space continuum, subject to emotional reactions and human temperament, then interpreted in a formulaic analysis, identifying aptitude without ever seeking the view of the kid…
According to famed investor and one of the world’s wealthiest men, Warren Buffet, “Price is what you pay and value is what you get.” And, given that the total price for college continues to rise at a rate greater than consumer price inflation, and families have already invested considerable capital as well as effort to…
Calm and concentration are essential to learning. Yet, in the high stakes, fast-paced, memorize and regurgitate modern American academic meritocratic classroom, where secondary school students switch from learning Calculus to Shakespeare in five minutes or less after deftly navigating the social complexity in crowded (even in COVID-affected days) hallways from one class to the next,…
The National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) published their annual “College Openings Update”, a database of four year US universities which are still accepting applications for the upcoming school year. Thus, for students interested in attending a four year college in the fall, there’s still admissions opportunities for Fall 2021. Keep in mind that…
Recently, I spoke with families at the Sacramento Buddhist Church about the current state of education, particularly changes to the college admissions process as a result of the near holistic COVID-induced disruption. I’ve highlighted several issues in the following post, as well as included the full recording. Questions about widespread test-optional admissions dominated our conversation,…
Many students, each year apply and believe they should be admitted to an elite college—defined statistically by yield, selection rate, and its inverse, rejection rate. So when reality dawns in the spring and applicants realize instead they are part of the 95% of those who will not be admitted to an elite college, they are…
The law of supply and demand dictates that when prices rise, demand shrinks. Yet, demand for college education post-WWII seems to be inelastic (meaning that demand does not seem to react to increases in price), has only increased, despite the four-digit increase in tuition and costs that has been leveraged to the tune of $1.7…
Every Spring, students and parents confront the subjectivity of the college admissions process, where “No’s”, “Yes’s” or “Maybe’s”, are all equally unexplainable, given the complexity inherent to the admissions evaluation process. Thousands upon thousands of applicants are evaluated in under five months, read multiple times by at least two different individuals, who are all susceptible…
Throughout the Ivy League, possibly emboldened by test-optional admissions policies being one less barrier to entry, Fall 2021 applicants increased by double digits, adding subjectivity to the admission evaluation process and dropping admit rates year over year, some to record lows at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania. Ivy League admit rates for the Classes…
Although its difficult in the age of COVID to visit campuses, in no way should that diminish one’s effort to gain as much information as possible to make an effective decision when choosing a college from those which you’ve been admitted to diminish the risk of malinvestment. Admitted students should use every virtual resource available…
Now accepted to a variety of colleges, the complex work of building consensus toward a final choice begins. Families should seek to select the college with the most opportunities where a student to discover or gain confidence in an inherent aptitude. Thus, I strongly encourage families not to rush the college decision, so as to…