For graduating Seniors across the world, May 1 is the deadline decision day to enroll in a U.S. college for Fall 2013. Today is the culmination of the college admissions process, of which the year long college application process from Fall 2012 to now was the latest step for Seniors and their families. Although, the college…
Tag: College selection
By the Numbers: University of California Fall 2013 Admissions
Note: a negative number in the last column represents less overall applicants admitted as Freshmen to the UC campus. Most all of us can recall a story of the 4.0+GPA earning, 2000+SAT scoring, class president for 4 years, started and is running a charity in Ghana, India and Brazil, plus helps little old ladies across…
What Does College Tuition Really Buy?
Harper’s Magazine reported in November 2012: 81% of Americans who viewed college as a good financial investment in 2008 dropped to 57% in August 2012. Now, there’s much room for interpretation of “good”–however, is the change in the average value of a college degree indicating a shift away from college, and if so, what experience…
Reviewing The Week In Education: March 31-April 6
Highlights in Educational and College Admissions Happenings for March 31-April 6: In College Admissions: The last of the college admissions acceptances and denials were returned to anxiously awaiting Seniors and their parents. Creative Marbles Consultancy’s Commentary: For students denied admissions, speculation about why s/he was denied has ranged from “only the Asian kids in my…
Life in College: A Glimpse of Smaller Class Sizes in Action
Many universities publicize the small class sizes as a benefit for student’s learning. Wanting to understand more about what small class sizes looked in practice , I talked with a Creative Marbles Consultancy client and a current freshman at the University of San Diego (USD), Jarett. He graciously agreed to let me summarize his experience…
Are Families “Shopping Around” For the Best College Deal?
The growing gap between the rate of inflation and increasing tuition, since 1985, may cause families to more carefully consider the worth of a college education, and “shop around” for the “right” campus.
College (Un)Affordability: Real, Perceived or A Little of Both?
We’ve been hearing questions from increasing numbers of families about paying for college, as we also posted earlier. Many of the families asking questions are professionals, college educated, with two incomes and making the same dollar figure of salary as past years, but find these same dollars aren’t stretching as far as in the past.…
Not Every College Awards Advanced Placement Credits
One benefit of Advanced Placement (AP) classes and exams has been the ability to earn college credits, while still in high school, for an exam score of 3-5 on a 5 point scale. However, before assuming EVERY college will provide the college credits and the college credits for the SUBJECT in which the test was…
The Pins & Needles Way of Living Successfully
A life lived without failure is not success, it’s mediocrity. – Liz Lenz After reading a Facebook post with this quote, I started thinking about my fears of failure and how much effort I’ve spent trying to avoid failure like the plague, in some cases, not trying some new endeavor to spare myself even perceived…
Dialogue: A Key to Affording Rising College Costs
Parents fret over the costs of college; so do students. However, each party’s reactions to concerns over the multi-thousands of dollars per year costs of college can differ. The degree of challenge in working together to pay for a college experience can depend on the family’s communication patterns, which may determine the ability to…
Transfer Admissions Guarantee At California State Universities (CSU)
California Community Colleges (CCC) and the California State University (CSU) systems recently started a transfer guarantee program for selected majors, where students can earn both an Associates Degree from a Community College and their Bachelor’s from a four year CSU, called the Associate’s Degree for Transfer. Basically, if students complete a set of required general…
The Admissions Waiting Will Be Over Soon: University of California Response Dates
From January and Mid-March can be re-named, “The Waiting Season” for Seniors and their parents. While Early Admissions applicants may know admissions decisions by now (end of February), which can lead to rampant speculation amongst regular decision applicants, the admissions decision waiting will soon be over for University of California (UC) applicants. Then, comes a…
What the what?!? Pick A College Based on Surfing?
There’s a myriad of ways to select colleges for application. Major choice and future careers usually pop into both students’ and their parents’ minds as the first criteria for choosing a college. However, many get stumped, because at seventeen a student may not have identified a specific academic concentration, nor an intended career. And, parents…
“How Do I Select Colleges for Application If I Don’t Know My Major?”
One of the first questions that arise when high school juniors start thinking about selecting colleges for application is, “What’s my academic major?” However, choosing a major can seem risky, like locking oneself into an academic concentration with no chance to change, as well as declaring career for the rest of one’s life–all at age…
The Skinny on Increasing College Tuition
Wondering why college seems more costly than in the past? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition has increased 559% since 1985. Over the same time, disposable income has increased only incrementally, which can create the perception of greater costs for each family.