A meditating frog

Keep Calm and Learn On

Calm and concentration are essential to learning. Yet, in the high stakes, fast-paced, memorize and regurgitate modern American academic meritocratic classroom, where secondary school students switch from learning Calculus to Shakespeare in five minutes or less after deftly navigating the social complexity in crowded (even in COVID-affected days) hallways from one class to the next,…

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Can I Change My 650 Word Common Application Essay After Submitting It?

Updated: November 2020 from the original posted in July 2018 The short answer is yes…with an *.  [See Below] But, like any life-impacting decision, the short answer doesn’t account for the complexities of choosing a college.  And, the last three words are what’s most important to keep in mind:  YOU, the applicant, are the one…

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Creative Marbles on the Future Trends Forum

To discuss the successes and implications of Bowdoin College’s iPad initiative to deliver education and maintain community ties, Bryan Alexander of the Future Trends Forum hosted Michael Cato, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Bowdoin College and Creative Marbles’ Jill Yoshikawa EdM. Michael discussed Bowdoin’s ambitious program, distributing an iPad, Apple Magic Keyboard…

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Learning to be self-directed

With school closures and the substitution of distance learning, every student is learning to be self-directed, rather than teacher-guided or parent-approved. Although parents worry their children are falling behind, maybe they’re actually catching up, trying to reconnect with their authentic selves, discover more about their interests and aptitudes, which unfortunately, students can lose, in the…

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Lessons to Learn from The Stanford Experience, Part 2

Students are transforming how they imagine their college experiences and reimagining their relationship with their university. Suddenly, with shifts to online learning and for many students, the eviction from on-campus residences, like those at Stanford, the loss of access to libraries, tutoring centers, guest lectures, panel discussions, late-night dorm conversations about the meaning of the…

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College Application or Marriage Proposal?

Applying to college isn’t simple.  Metaphorically, choosing a college can be like an arranged marriage—parents are involved in the choosing process, lifelong expectations are being weighted and future prosperity is being forecasted. “Dowries” are paid in the form of tuition, room and board, books etc.   Students seek a college that’s the “right fit“, dating…

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Let Your Light Shine.CMC

Knowledge Doesn’t Belong to Just Any One Person

Below is an excerpt from the May 2017, National Geographic Magazine, where Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, discusses the need for frank discussion and collaboration amongst everyone, not just scientists and academics, in order to advance human knowledge. Doesn’t publishing your raw data invite premature criticism?  Yes, there’s is public criticism, but that’s peculiar to any science…

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Caution.CreativeMarblesConsultancy2013

Early Admissions: “The New Normal”

In what’s increasingly becoming an “Arms Race” of admissions, more and more students are applying early admissions.  The higher admit rates during early admissions in comparison with the regular decision period seemingly indicates greater chances for admissions.  For the current Class of 2021, 14.5% of Early Action applicants to Harvard were admitted, while during Regular…

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