Now, that school’s back in session (or about to be back in session), and the excitement of choosing colleges for application can be wearing thin (given that everyone who discovers or knows you’re a senior is asking where you’re applying), so what’s next? Well, parents, since about July have been asking us about letters of…
Tag: High school senior
“Why Do You Want to Go To College?” Has New Meaning
“How do employers look at college names?” is a typical question parents ask us, when trying to narrow their senior’s choices for application. Two meanings emerge from this question: What’s the value of a college degree? How, if at all, is value different for different colleges? The value in college question will be answered differently…
Who’s Choosing Transfer Admissions?
The students who choose transfer admissions over starting at a 4 year college right after high school graduation is changing. While money has been a factor in choosing transfer admissions in the past, it’s been more like, “Well, Junior doesn’t know what he wants to do (i.e. declare as his major or job he wants…
Guilt? I Didn’t See that On My College Bill
Without understanding the value of a college degree, students can sense, what they often term, “guilt.” They may not confidently understand why their families, and increasingly themselves (in the form of student loans), are paying the thousands of dollars (and rising each year) that a college degree costs. Listen to the following podcast, featuring Julie…
CA College Tuition = UP; College Value = ?
California ranks among the top five states in the nation for the greatest tuition increases in their public universities. (Wall Street Journal, 8/14/2012) Not only do current UC students face a possible additional 20% increase mid-school year, if the November tax increase does not pass, the budget reductions can mean more cuts to courses…
Guest Post: Study Abroad from a Parent’s Perspective
By: Lisa Dalton, parent of a senior at the University of Oregon, and sophomore at Washington State University CMC Note: There are alternatives to “studying” abroad, including service projects that many universities arrange, as well. _______________________ If you are in the midst of college tours with your high school senior, or you have a student…
College Tuition: Is a Private University Always More Expensive than Public?
According to the Wall Street Journal and the College Board, public university tuition is rising faster than private universities around the nation. “In-state residents at four-year public schools, tuition and fees are up 25.1% from the 2008-09 academic year; over the same time period, tuition and fees at private universities rose 13.2%.” While public universities…
Advice for Parents: Thinking about Alternatives to College
The expectation of college, as the next step after high school, is a lifetime of effort. To stop and consider an alternative is complicated. Julie Nguyen, CMC’s CFO & Managing Partner, knows the complexities of choosing options other than college. She offers the following podcast of advice for parents:
Plagiarizing Doesn’t Happen Only in School
Original thought that contributes to common knowledge and greater understanding is demanded of students across the country. New software that scans students’ work and rates the percentage of the document that is potentially plagiarized are being used in high school and college classrooms. One high school junior told us that her teacher returned her history…
How Are Middle & Upper Income Families Affording College?
For families with $94,000 to $205,000 in yearly income, the percentage of debt is increasing. The Wall Street Journal reports, 25.6% of these middle-upper income families incurred student-loan debt in 2010, up from 19.5% in 2007. With the costs of college increasing and use of debt is increasing, will families begin making college decisions with…
Guest Post: Advice about the College Essay from a Graduated Senior to The Class of 2013
About the Author: In a few weeks, Hunter will be a Freshman at UC Berkeley, considering a major in Physics. He applied to 10 colleges and wrote 18 short answer and full length college application essays in Fall 2011. _________________________ Tips for writing college essays (from someone who wrote quite a few): Don’t sacrifice your…
“Parent Involvement”: Only for Bake Sales?
The recently upheld “Parent Trigger” law in California, which allows a 50% + 1 majority of parents at a state defined “failing” school and/or incoming feeder school to petition to change the school to a Charter, fire the principal and staff, close the school or restructure the school, gives parents additional tools to shape their…
Fail to Succeed?
Steve Jobs on Failure: I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter into one…
The Cross Between Science & the Creative Arts
What says that science and creative arts are opposing intellectual pursuits? Watch the following for new ideas: From Harvard Medical School
To Cheat: Not A Simple Decision
To Cheat: to deprive of something valuable by the use; to practice fraud or trickery of deceit or fraud (Merriam-Webster.com) If deprive means to withhold, what is missed in the end by both the withholder and others? What possibilities could have been realized or ideas built? In a student’s mind, what is the value that comes…