Although, generally cast in moral terms, academic cheating can be explained by examining practicality and circumstance, rather than attributing to simply a character weakness. Understanding when people cheat can help show the complexity of why people cheat. In 2012, 125 Harvard undergraduates were investigated for sharing answers on a take home final exam, and approximately…
Tag: High school freshmen
Test Taking Tips
As high school Juniors prepare for the SAT and ACT this spring, some test taking tips from Creative Marbles favorite, eight-year old commentator, who offers his thoughts about getting ready for exam time. As an added bonus, his advice can help with everyday classroom tests as well.
Ahead of the Curve: January 5, 2014
From Our Clients: More Common App Problems: January 1 is one of the common college application due dates for popular and highly selective colleges, like Stanford, Harvard, Rice, Brown, Notre Dame, Claremont McKenna, Northwestern – just to name a few. In the midnight hours starting on the East Coast and moving West, the Common Application website,…
Creative Marbles In The News
Creative Marbles Consultancy was in the press again today – featured in The Sacramento Bee. Cathie Anderson, who’s goddaughter is a former client, highlighted our decade long history and evolution as an educational consultancy. Take a read and enjoy the weekend! Photo Credit: freefoto.com
Ahead of the Curve: October 29, 2013
From the News: College Financial Aid Drops – Families Pinched, San Francicso Chronicle October 23, 2013 Is College Tuition Too High? Of Course (Not), Higher Education Data Stories Blog October 15, 2013 So Many Students – So Little (Counseling) Time, Sacramento Bee October 28, 2013 From Clients: On-going Common Application Technical Issues: From recommenders not…
Losing Sleep Over College Affordability Concerns? You’re Not Alone.
Families attempting to determine college affordability can be subjected to acute bouts of insomnia. The predicament of framing the pros and cons of each college choice for their children can be, at times, daunting for parents. Parents face the dilemma of defining the value of a future outcome–a college degree with all of its attendant…
Learning with a Purpose
Let the semester unfold slowly–looking to make adjustments to your learning process–as your interactions with both the teacher and your other classmates set the tone for your learning experience. This is easier said than done, especially in the later years of one’s youth, when influence creep seems to be in full swing with the attendant…
Gaming College Admissions?
Nervous anticipation arising from predicting who’s going to get into which college doesn’t only affect Seniors, community college transfer students and their parents. The sense of foreboding can extend to parents of middle school age students, who are thinking backwards to choose a high school that seems more advantageous to meriting the college acceptances they…
What is Financial Aid?
After talking with 200 parents and students yesterday evening at a local Sacramento area College Fair about financial aid, I wanted to offer additional advice, as families continue working to fund rising college expenses. Then, the general sense of nervous anticipation about the expense of college amongst last night’s group can be used to fuel…
Sigh of Relief for Parents: CA Passed an Online “Eraser” Law
The California Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown recently enacted the Online “Eraser” Law. Good news for parents concerned about social media’s impact on their children’s possible college admissions and future employment. Starting in 2015, teenagers will be able to request photos of embarrassing or otherwise youthful indiscretions be deleted by online providers. (The caveat: anyone…
College Admissions Can Seemingly Provoke More Questions Than Answers
Questions abound when parents and students are moving through the college admissions process, especially when everyone has a story to tell about who got in where and the media reports the falling admit rates at selective universities around the country, as well as annually rising college tuition and increasing average student loan amounts. A…
More College Admissions 101
Additional insights to answer the complex questions Hewlett Packard employees asked during our second College Admissions and Financial Aid Brown Bag Lunch, since we were limited in our discussion time last week. Each topic is bolded, with the details listed below: College Application Essays The autobiographical college application essays are a meaningful part of any…
Choosing Extra-curricular Activities When There’s No Magic Formula for College Admissions
Unfortunately for college applicants, there is no magic, straightforward formula for earning an acceptance in the college admissions process. Since the evaluation for college admissions is completed by human beings, about other human beings, in an environment with yearly increasing numbers of applicants who excel and exceed the requirements for admissions, subjectivity in decision making…
“Summer Reading” Is Not An Oxymoron
As summer vacation begins, so too does the back and forth negotiation to complete summer reading assignments. Even for avid readers, summer reading assignments can sap the pleasure derived from reading. Both parents and teens know all the logical, rational reasons TO complete summer reading sooner rather than later, but there’s that part of the…
Choosing Harvard: Thoughts About a “Prestigious” University
As Juniors and their families begin sizing up prospective colleges for application and weighing the value of a college’s reputation, I thought I’d share I came to be a Harvard graduate, along with thoughts about a recent New York Times article, Measuring College Prestige vs. Cost of Enrollment. Quotes from the New York Times article will…