Guest Post: Follow Your Instinct to Choose a College

A second blog post from Stephanie about how the “feel” of the campus helped her choose a Mills College in Oakland, CA.    I graduated last year (2013) with a BS in Biopsychology and minor in Ethnic Studies. I was originally interested in medicine, but discovered that I enjoyed laboratory work after doing research under scholarship for a…

Continue Reading

Stamina, Attitude and Tranquility: Essential SAT & ACT Skills

At approximately 4 hours of testing time, the SAT and ACT measure the endurance of a student, as much as their knowledge and ability to reason.  Test taking skills can help students access their knowledge during the long testing period, and pace themselves appropriately.  Padma, CMC’s resident 8 year old Renaissance Man, shares the following test…

Continue Reading

How Major is a College Major?

Choosing a college major is not the fork-in-the-road life moment, where the only consequences are becoming the next Steve Jobs or complete destitution.  Many will equate “deciding a major” with “deciding a career.”  However, major choice doesn’t always match exactly with careers.   Ask any college graduate if their career directly correlates with their academic major. …

Continue Reading

Guest Post: “The School Part of School”

About the author: Rohan graduated with a full International Baccalaureate Diploma in 2012.  He moved from Northern California to the Midwest for college at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  He’s currently majoring in Biomedical Engineering and plans to attend medical school.   The academic requirements for both engineering and pre-medicine can be demanding.  Rohan’s previous…

Continue Reading

Colleges Without Makeup, The Supplement

Social media can give information about the culture of a college campus – beyond the smiling, shorts-clad undergraduates playing Frisbee on the ubiquitous green quad.  Of course, any effective search starts with what a student wants in their own college experience, making some self-reflection a priority. About the University of Chicago – from @UofC_Overheard: Theory…

Continue Reading

The Value vs. The Cost of the University of California

Recently, Janet Napolitano, current UC President, explained her view of the 190% tuition increase over the last decade, and how the UC system is trying to address cost issues for family: Until about seven or eight years ago, the state paid [more] and the university [through tuition] less. Now the percentages have almost totally flipped, so…

Continue Reading

Tough Love

As regular readers recall, the news about stagnant American household median income is not a new story, more of an evolving story about how more American middle class families are adjusting to life with less income.  Lifestyle adjustments are just one possible shift in American households.  More often, I’m hearing parents ask questions about how…

Continue Reading

College Admissions Is Not a Race

When choosing colleges for application, the first criteria considered is often, “Where can I get in?” Students are really asking, “How do I measure up?”, creating a competitive mindset.  Then, in comparing the strength of their application to those of other possible applicants, students can generate unfounded or stereotypical conclusions, building nervous energy and aggravating…

Continue Reading