SCOTUS Race-Conscious Admissions Ruling’s Impact on College and Independent School Admissions
Yesterday, as expected, SCOTUS struck down existing race-based admissions policies, deeming “many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin.” The historical and cultural impact of yesterday’s decision can neither be understated nor fully […]
Don’t Forget to Read this Summer. Your Brain Depends on It!
Read. Read. Read. It’s advice given ad infinitum to children from preschool all the way through high school. There are well documented reasons that back up this recommendation, some of which I mention below. But now that summer is upon us, it’s a great opportunity to set aside some time each day – say 15-20 […]
Tips for those contemplating a college transfer
In the world of admissions, “to everything – turn, turn, turn; there is a season – turn, turn, turn.” Right now, many colleges are in the midst of the transfer season when applications from students who are enrolled at other colleges start to be submitted prior to the most prevalent deadline of March 1st. Here […]
We Are Pleased to Offer You A Place On Our Waitlist
After weeks of waiting, March 10 finally arrives and throngs of aspiring independent school candidates learn their fate. Predictably, there is elation for the admitted, and sorrow for the denied. But for a select few there is, “We are pleased to offer you a place on our waitlist.” For the aspirants who receive an invitation […]
The Value in Attending College Fairs
College Fairs happen throughout the course of the year and can be invaluable to the college review process. Benefits include: If there are colleges that you might be interested attending a college fair, do some careful research before you attend the fair(s). When you are there, If you cannot attend because you are playing a […]
London Calling! Top Ten Reasons to Cross the Pond for College
Depending on how helplessly you have succumbed to your Netflix binge of The Crown, somewhere between The Queen’s flirtation with horse expert Porchie and Princess Margaret’s sizzling encounter with photographer Tony you may find yourself longing for a visit to jolly olde England. Americans have always been enchanted with red phone booths, kilts, The Beatles, […]
Tour D’Admission: Part II Two Small States but Large Enough to Have Colleges for Nearly Everyone
My previous blog left off as my fellow tour participants and I were bicycling from Trinity College in Hartford, CT to Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT on the first leg of the 2016 Tour D’Admission. After my inauspicious start, I did settle in and felt comfortable riding along with the other seven college counselors, all […]
The Power of the Passport
With the recent presidential election in the United States, many of our families living abroad have asked how international students will be received at American colleges and universities in the future. Will visas continued to be issued? Will it be safe to live and study in the U.S.? Will the same opportunities that have afforded […]
Toxic Stress is Crushing More Than Just Our Kids: Turning Outrage Into Compassion
In the right doses, stress builds healthy and productive skills that allow us to survive adversity and even thrive in challenging conditions. Yes, above and beyond the survival instincts of flight and fight, stress can activate our arousal system, allowing us to access our higher-order thinking capacities so that we can problem-solve efficiently and effectively, […]
Looking to be Surrounded by High-Achieving and Driven Students Like You?
Public Universities’ Small Honors Colleges Looking for a small college feel in a bigger university setting? Looking for smaller classes with professors who are invested in you and your growth as a student? Looking to have less debt when you graduate? Looking to attend a college where you know you will make many connections without […]
Developing the Right Questions to Research Schools and Colleges
Eager to find out more about a potential school or college? Prepping for a campus visit or interview? The road to inquiry begins with asking the right questions. Way back in my days of prepping to be a journalist in college, we were introduced to a basic exercise and key words to facilitate our preparation […]
Tour D’Admission: Part I Getting Started and Feeling Like a Freshman
This past summer, I experienced my first “Tour D’Admission.” Like the more famous “Tour de France,” it involves cycling but instead of 23 grueling days of professional racing covering over 2,000 miles from the Pyrenees to the Alps to the Champs-Elysees, the Tour d’Admission consists of one week of educational counselors covering a couple hundred […]
Colleges that Change Students’ Lives
If the title of this book and website does not hook you, then perhaps the “essential elements” of the colleges included will: “These schools share two essential elements: a familial sense of communal enterprise that gets students heavily involved in cooperative rather than competitive learning, and a faculty of scholars devoted to helping young people […]
Filling the Developmental Tool Kit When Your Child Hits the Wall
When your child’s capacity hits its limits: it’s time to withhold judgement & fill the developmental tool kit. “He just isn’t motivated.” “She is so obsessed with the social scene she can’t reach her academic potential.” “He used to be such a happy kid.” “She used to love learning.” These are the observations regularly shared […]
The Route to the Right Career
So in the long run, who is better off? Those who decide on a clear career path at an early age and then stick to it? Or those who take their time and follow a more roundabout route before finding the right career? Even though a straight-line path might seem easier, is the only route […]
Click Deeper Into College Websites
Don’t all the smiling students and lush campuses splashed across college websites look the same? In truth, you’ve got to click deep into a site to discover distinguishing features. Think of the website more as a way to interact with a school than to size it up the way you once would with a shiny […]
Finding Wisdom in Knowledge
W.I.N. for Athletic Recruits W.I.N. is a simple but powerful acronym that comes from the famous Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz. It stands for ‘What’s Important Now?’ As student-athletes roll into summer, the checklist for W.I.N. items is simple, but equally meaningful and important. We already know that the “secret” to recruiting is NOT […]
Thinking About Taking a Gap Year?!
You have been accepted to college, now how about taking a Gap Year?! One day last November, one of my high school seniors walked into my office and practically fell down onto the couch across from me. I had to keep myself from going over and hugging her. “Are you as exhausted as you look?” […]
Educational Planning
It’s Like Riding a Bike One of my favorite activities is bike riding. Like many other Americans, I started out as a preschooler trudging around the house on a tricycle. As a kindergartner, I advanced to rumbling down the sidewalk on a kiddy bicycle with training wheels. Then, I was riding on my own, off […]
Semester Schools
Independent, Hands-On Learning Options Calling all high school juniors! It’s time to get off the high school academic treadmill and pursue an amazing opportunity during your junior year fall or spring. Take a semester away from your high school to develop a greater sense of self and direction. Semester schools offer an authentic, dynamic, and […]
Where’s Waldo
Tips for Tackling Wacky College Essay Prompts How do you feel about Wednesday? (U Chicago) What’s broken, and how do you fix it? (Notre Dame) Our campus is powered by wind turbines. What empowers you? (Carleton) Colleges are requiring more out-of-the-box essays than ever to gauge not only candidates’ writing but their wit and creativity […]
Applicant Profiles: Who Are You?
For each of our candidates, whether applying to independent school, college, graduate or professional school, an essential element of the process is explaining who you are. Think of the 70’s hit song by, appropriately enough, the group “The Who.” The admissions representatives for each school “really wanna know” and really want you to “tell” them, […]
Finding Joy (and Yourself!) in the Application Process and in School/College
As I look forward to working with new students and families on their educational plans, I often think back to my own college application essay that focused on the process of education rather than the end product as seen in a final grade. If the process is drudgery with only the desired grade in mind, […]
Alex Clark’s Post-Graduate Year Perspective
When I was first accepted into college in 2009, I was thrilled. I had gotten into my first choice school, Elon University in North Carolina, and felt like I had accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish during my high school career. However, as the summer months came to a close and my departure for Elon […]