College Degree = Value, Right?

Financial security, or the promise of lifetime employment, is often a reason for choosing to attend college.  However, recent income and employment trends may give college-bound students pause to further contemplate their expectations of job security with a college degree. 44% of today’s college graduates are underemployed, meaning they don’t need a college degree for…

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“When You Cheat You Only Hurt Yourself”

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…

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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: 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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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