Concentration isn’t easy in today’s day and age; one must really, pointedly make time and space to focus for anyone, let alone teenagers. Just in communicating with others, teens’ attentions are pulled in multiple directions each day. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 63% of all teens report texting daily, with 60…
Tag: Private colleges
College Admissions Can Test Even Your Last Nerve
Colleges that don’t have early admissions deadlines sometimes review applications in batches and send out acceptances AND denials in groups, starting in the fall and winter, even though the admissions office website says that admissions decisions will be sent in March or April. There may be no particular rhyme or reason why some applications…
The Classroom Transition from Anonymity to Known
The dictionary defines teaching as, “showing or explaining”, and explain in its simplest terms is “to make clear, make plain.” Making plain takes time and a dialogue to be sure each person within the exchange is in agreement, so with a class of 35 students and one teacher, one can come up with creative ways…
No Free Lunch: A Student Loan Borrower’s Tale
My student loans were just paid-off this year–13 years after I first assumed them**. I originally borrowed $18,500 to pay for graduate school, plus a $740 loan origination fee. I ended up repaying about $29,500, which includes interest and principal–approximately $10,260 was paid in interest alone. I’m not particularly attentive to my expenses or money…
Northwestern University’s 2012 Common Application Supplement Essay Defined
Northwestern University includes one essay question as part of their Common Application Supplement. The question is designed to gain insight to the student’s interests and their potential match with Northwestern, which reads: What are the unique qualities of Northwestern – and of the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying – that make you…
The (*$%^&@!) YOWCH of College Admissions
To the Senior and possibly their parents, who’ve been anxiously awaiting December 15th early admissions notification deadlines, checking their email every 30 seconds from midnight, a college admissions denial email can sound like: “We received a record number of blah, blah, blah–oh, my goodness, JUST TELL ME IF I’M IN OR NOT ALREADY–and while you’re,…
The Six Figure Cost of College: In Dollars & Sense
The words, “financial aid,” can send chills down any parent’s spine, as they wonder, “How in the (insert expletive) are they going to pay for college, without going bankrupt?” Many American families approach college, like other purchases in their lives–dream big and figure out how to pay later. Parents often believe, “If my kid…
College in the Twenty-First Century
A short poem about the millennial college experience. College seems like a given Through tournaments and mom’s taxi service driving here and there Research papers that almost were not Finished only in the minutes before the school day began Yet, endured for the promise of one day Over yonder, a good job and a move away The…
“College Admissions Speculation”: Let the Comparisons Begin
Every Senior and his/her parents want to know, “Which college is going to accept me and which college is going to deny me?”—for although, the Senior and their parents, say out loud that college is about getting a good job, moving away from home etc, a college acceptance or denial also can feel—internally—like a validation…
Transfer Admissions from a California Community College: Bargain or Cost?
Several changes to California Community College policies in the current 2012-13 school year may affect the typical transfer student who chooses community college, by extending the total number of semesters before transfer to a 4 year university. The typical transfer student is usually qualified for 4 year college admissions, yet “doesn’t know what s/he wants…
University of San Diego Supplement Essay Defined
The key to writing a competitive college essay is understanding the prompt. (Sounds simple, but in the heat of writing college essays, while still keeping up with 15 hours a week of extracurricular activities, plus going to school and completing everyday homework, clearly defining the prompt may be overlooked.) Not to worry, we’ve done half the…
College Application Deadlines Making You Want to Scream?
Surviving the college application can test the patience and self-interests and emotional stamina and gumption and understanding and willingness of parents, as much as the Senior. Sometimes, of everyone in the family all at once. As a result, parents may find themselves thinking up choice names for Senior teachers over the past month and into December, as…
The Climb to the Summit is Always the Most Beautiful, Yet Dangerous
The University of California deadline comes to pass at Midnight (U.S) West Coast time, November 30. Plus, a number of highly selective private and flagship public colleges—notable names include the University of Southern California (USC)—have a deadline for Midnight Dec 1. Students and their families scurrying to complete applications within this backdrop are confronted with…
Things NOT to Say to (Or Do And Expect From) A High School Senior During the Holiday Break
Many seniors are in the midst of applying to college. What that may mean to an outsider is an opportunity to enter into a conversation, small talk or a polite (i.e. socially acceptable) inquiry; however, “So where are you applying to college?” may unwittingly trigger a frustrated response or terse answer. (Seniors often tell us that they…
“Test Optional” Doesn’t Mean “Less Than”
Some colleges across the United States do not require SAT or ACT scores to be submitted as part of their applications; in college admissions speak, this is known as a “Test Optional” policy. The thinking behind the option goes: an applicant is more than a test score gained from one 3 hour and 45 minute…