A "Nearly Perfect Parent Response"

Posted on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 16:34

Last week, an email showed up in our mailbox from a high school college counselor with the following subject line: "a nearly perfect parent response." Just as students need to understand what their responsibilities are in navigating the road to college, it's also important for parents to have sign posts and sound bites that help define their role in the application process. Here's what putting your student in the driver's seat looks like from one counselor's perspective:

"A"* was excited to hear that you will be her College Counselor over the next year.  "We"* are excited for her as we embark on this adventure together.  I realize that” together” entails stepping back and supporting "A" as you work to advise and guide her through the college process.  I realize it’s been 40+ years since I was submitting applications & doing auditions for college---but at the risk of sounding “out-dated” I recall it being a much simpler process. 

*Names have been redacted

Charlene Aguilar, Lakeside School

Posted on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 20:45

Charlene Aguilar is Director of College Counseling at Lakeside School, an independent day school for grades 5 through 12 in Seattle, Washington.  A graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, Aguilar has worked both sides of the desk in college admissions during her career.  She began as an admissions counselor at her alma mater in Santa Barbara and served as Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission at Stanford and Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Santa Clara University.  For ten years prior to coming to Lakeside, she was Director of College Counseling and Dean of the junior class at Castilleja School, an all-girls independent school in Palo Alto, California.

A Must Read Report for Scholarship Applicants

Posted on Wed, 02/29/2012 - 20:40

A new report from Mark Kantrowitz, founder and publisher of FinAid.org and Fastweb.com,  is a must-read for scholarship applicants. Sponsored by Fastweb and the National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA), the study found that about a quarter of scholarship providers are using Google and social media websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, to screen applicants. They're looking primarily for one or more red flags, such as signs that an applicant might reflect badly on the scholarship sponsor.  The report includes recommendations for scholarship applicants -- reviewing their Facebook accounts, Googling themselves and correcting problems when possible, and using appropriate email addresses. Read the full report here. It's good advice for all applicants!

Union College Joins the Gourmet Guide

Posted on Thu, 02/23/2012 - 12:28

At Union, everybody in the admission office (many of them alums!) gets in on the restaurant review act on their "Meet the Staff" pages of the school's website. Here are their recommendations: From Matthew Malatesta, Vice President for Admissions, Financial Aid, and Enrollment, Class of 1991 Café Nola 617 Union Street Schenectady, New York A great lunch stop for New Orleans cuisine. Gershon's 1600 Union Street Schenectady, New York It's really first-rate. The best deli north of New York City. Peter Pause 535 Nott Street Schenectady, New York A great family-owned place to get breakfast or lunch just on the edge of campus. Terrific breakfast specials and wonderful soups. Perrecca's Bakery 33 North Jay Street Schenectady, New York Perrecca's makes great bread! This story explains more, including how Jack Nicholson gets it delivered (still?). They also do a good breakfast and lunch business.

College Admission in the Wall Street Journal

Posted on Tue, 02/21/2012 - 19:24

Te Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2012 Should Colleges Be Factories for the 1%? Obama wants the feds to report what a college's graduates earn. That's no way to judge an educational institution. By Robin Mamlet and Christine VanDeVelde In his recently unveiled Blueprint for College Affordability, President Obama calls for "collecting earnings and employment information for colleges and universities, so that students can have an even better sense of the life they'll be able to build once they graduate." In other words, the government wants to publish statistics on what graduates earn after leaving Harvard or Ohio State or Duke. The results are unlikely to surprise. For all the costs of collecting and collating this information—for the sake of reducing the costs of education, no less—it will show what is intuitively obvious: On average, Ivy League grads earn more. But the information will be worse than useless for college-bound students because it will send them all the wrong signals. The Obama administration decries the privilege of the top 1%, yet the president is suggesting that the likelihood of joining that 1% should be a top factor in college selection. That puts the government's imprimatur on the idea that earning potential trumps learning potential—and it runs counter to everything most educators believe in. Earnings power is not a good proxy for educational excellence.

The Neurotic Parent's Guide to College Admissions

Posted on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 01:33

We're big believers in finding some humor in the college application process whenever possible. And last week a new book landed on our desks that made us laugh out loud -- The Neurotic Parent's Guide to College Admissions by J.D. Rothman, an Emmy-winning television writer and mastermind of The Neurotic Parent blog. (Full disclosure, she was also a contributor, along with College Admission coauthor, Christine VanDeVelde, to I'm Going to College --  Not You!, edited by Kenyon Dean of Admission Jennifer Delahunty.) We've often remarked that the college application process is like childbirth -- you have to have gone through it in order to really understand it. The mother of two sons, one already ensconced at the college of his choice, and another in the midst of applying, Rothman is an acute observer of the road to the fat envelope, including the bad actors, personal foibles and patent absurdity that can sometimes characterize this process. We recommend you pick up her book if someone in your family is in the midst of this rite of passage.

If I Knew Then... Part 2

Posted on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 18:41

More advice from current college juniors and seniors, as well as recent graduates, about creating a list of schools where you will apply. Take advantage of the 20/20 hindsight of these students and recent grads about what they learned after they arrived on campus.

Lauren Buchanan, from Los Altos Hills, California, now attending Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, CA, addresses the basics and notes that the "culture" of a school includes things like the laundry facilities!

The best thing you can do in creating a list of colleges is to diversify: small or big, stretch school or safety, etc. It is important to have a wide range to choose from so that you can be absolutely certain you choose the right place.