In August 2017, the experts on Creative Marbles editing team will offer Summer College Essay Intensives for a select group of seniors. Not only will participants begin the complex drafting of their life stories, they’ll develop a college essay writing strategy with educational experts, who have twenty years of experience helping students be competitive in the admissions process.…
Tag: College decisions
The Bittersweetness of Choosing a College
“We live in a house around the corner from my parents. He’s gone to all the same schools I went to, and his grandfather went to. We’ve lived this suburban, settled lifestyle. And, now, we’re telling him we want him to dream and live a life in the arts, if that’s what he wants.…
Congrats to the Class of 2017!
Creative Marbles Consultancy’s consultants are proud to assist the Class of 2017 seniors in starting the next chapter of their lives and continue maturing into the new generation of global leaders. Congratulations on their many college acceptances! West Coast Colleges & Universities California Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) California State University, Chico California State University, Humboldt California State…
“The Road Less Traveled”
Life begins with a finite period of temporal existence baked into the cake. Somewhere between the innocence of our youth and the reality that balancing needs with wants is a tricky business, lies a narrowly defined period where any choice made can have a disproportionate (positive or negative effect)—exacerbated at times by the hand of…
Tuition Surging at California Public Universities for 2017-18
University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) students will pay more tuition for the 2017-18 school year. For the first time in six years, both the UC and CSU boards have approved tuition and fee increases. At the same time, Governor Jerry Brown proposes to phase out the state-sponsored Middle Class Scholarship program for students…
“Free” Speech?
Debate, questioning, argument are central to education. From Aristotle to John Dewey, educational theorists and teachers have long touted the benefits resulting from the meaningful dialogue, including a spectrum of viewpoints. Yet, given today’s increasingly polarized society, educators, like Dr. John Etchemendy former provost of Stanford University, are making public declarations warning, beseeching students, faculty and…
University of California Admissions Decisions Timetable 2017
In the post-college application response period, high school seniors are eagerly (sometimes anxiously) anticipating admissions decisions from colleges. The University of California campuses will be returning Freshman admissions decisions along the following schedule: Limited Release Mid-February & Late March UC Irvine UC Berkeley Early March UC Merced UC Riverside Mid-March UC Davis UC San…
Guest Post: A First Year Reflection
About the author: Born and raised in Northern California, now studying at New York University, Daniel is majoring in Business with a concentration in Accounting and Information Systems with a Minor in Computer Science and Mathematics. After gaining three job opportunities and extensively volunteering in Brooklyn over the past year, here is Daniel’s reflection of his…
“I Have Student Debt?”
[Sung to the tune of Heigh Ho from Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs] “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go…” Even though I remember singing this refrain in jest, Millennials, the current generation between age 18 – 35 , may not be so light-hearted. According to Bloomberg News in April 2016: A…
And, You Thought College Tuition Was Expensive…
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that in multiple states, childcare expenses are greater than college tuition…
Mind the Gap
Malia Obama recently became a famous representative of a Millennial trend, The Gap Year. Defined as a “year-off” between high school and starting college, most “Gap Year-ians” aren’t just loafing around, playing video games and drinking Bobo teas all day. For a generation raised on scheduled play-dates, year-round athletics, and regimented community service activities, the…
The Middle Class Squeeze
In the last several years, our middle class clients are being confronted by flattening incomes and college costs that have risen over 1000%. More and more families are finding themselves not only planning to pay for college when their children are quite young, but asking for more financial assistance when their children are ready to…
The University of California Unveiled Brand New Application Essay Prompts
In Fall 2016, both freshman and transfer applicants to the University of California (UC) will choose from brand new writing prompts when composing the required personal application statements. After ten years, the UC has retired their previous two essay prompts. With annually record-breaking numbers of applicants—which increases the selectivity in admissions—admissions officers are seeking a fuller understanding…
Denied and Qualified
When the #1,256 ranked student at your high school gets into a highly selective university and you don’t:
Texts from a College Admissions Victor
About Karli: She’s a freshman at the University of California Davis, currently studying Biology and Chemistry. Karli is a former Creative Marbles Consultancy client; we advised her as a high school senior through the college admissions process, knowing the pressures she experienced in completing her college applications. In response to a recent New York…