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Not Too Late To Apply – Colleges Still Have Room And Money

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Kimberly

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably applied to schools and been admitted. You may have even honored the May 1st National Response Deadline and indicated to a college or university that you intend to register for classes, move into a residence hall and attend orientation. Maybe you have a hoodie with this school’s name on it. But are you happy with your decision?

Maybe you’re concerned that the financial aid package you received is not realistic for you and your family. Maybe the school you’ve chosen was not among your “top picks” and now you’re wondering why it was on your list at all! Maybe the school’s too far away from home, or not far enough away. It doesn’t matter what the reasons are. If you wish you’d applied elsewhere, there is still time to do so, but you need to act now.

Every year after May 1st, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) sends a survey to all of its member schools, asking which of them still have space to accommodate incoming students for the fall semester. This year, as of the May 2nd deadline, there were 205 schools that responded (many schools don’t respond or respond later, so the numbers change) indicating they have room for first year students! 208 schools have room for transfer students and (drumroll please) 210 schools indicated that they have institutional financial aid available! And remember, the money from these schools is in addition to any monies you may be eligible for by filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ So to review, these colleges still have room and money. That’s huge.

To view the Space Availability Survey Results 2013 yourself, go to NACAC’s website http://www.nacacnet.org/space through June 28, 2013. But then what? If you see a school that interests you, what should you do? CALL THE SCHOOL RIGHT AWAY. Let me repeat. CALL THE SCHOOL RIGHT AWAY. Remember all of those postcards and letters and emails you were getting from schools over the past few years? No more are coming. NACAC-member schools are prohibited from attempting to recruit students who have committed to another institution. But over 200 of them are sitting around anxious, because they have space to fill and money to give. So go to the school’s website, find the number for the Office of Undergraduate Admission and call it. When someone answers, ask to speak to an admission counselor. (If you have a minute, you can usually find out who the counselor is for your geographic area or high school on the admission office’s web page.) When you have someone on the phone, mention you saw the school on the NACAC survey and ask if they are still accepting applications for fall. Ask if there is scholarship money still available and ask about housing. Once you get the answers you need, thank the counselor, get off the phone and get cracking on that application!

Something else to consider. If you committed to another school, they typically have the right to keep your enrollment and housing deposit, depending on how this outlined in their enrollment contract. There may be other stipulations also, so before you get ahead of yourself, call the school where you enrolled and speak to an admission counselor there. Don’t be surprised if they play hardball – they may fight you or they may fight for you, by offering you more money to remain enrolled.

One last note. Be honest with yourself and with your schools. If you don’t plan to attend a school, alert them as soon as possible. If you’ve made a mistake and need to find a new game plan, share that with the schools you’re now considering. If there are special circumstances, mention those too. I once received a call from a student who had enrolled at another school but who was now considering my institution because her mother had died and she needed to go to college closer to home. When I heard her story I was willing to move mountains to help her, and did. Your story doesn’t need to be as dramatic, it just needs to be yours.

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Paying For College – What is tuition discounting? Part 1

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Kimberly

As promised over on the KSA Educational Consulting Facebook page, I’ve begun a series of tips and posts about paying for college. Today’s post should interest any student planning to attend college or anyone who has a vested interest in such a student. So if this is you, read on! Tuition discounting is probably one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted aspects of college admission, so let’s start with a working definition. Hang on to your hats, this may seem complex but I’m going to break it all down.

The College Board – the education advocacy not-for-profit group that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the Advanced Placement (AP) exams and much more – distributed a great report in 2006 titled, “Tuition Discounting: Not Just a Private College Practice” that defined tuition discounting as the average institutional aid per student (which is the average amount that a school would give an individual student in grants or scholarships) DIVIDED BY the published tuition and required fees of that particular school (so the published total cost of that school, excluding room, board and books).

What could this look like? At a school where tuition was $41,000 and fees were $800, if the school offered its average student $15,000 in institutional aid, that school’s tuition discount rate would be 35.8%. The College Board’s report indicates that for the 2004-2005 school year, private 4-year colleges in the United States had an average tuition discount rate of 33.5%. A report in 2009 completed by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) indicates the average nationwide for all schools was 42.4%. Last year, NACUBO reported that the average student at a private 4-year college was receiving a tuition discount of 49.1%!

Are you still with me? An important piece to understand is what the phrase “institutional aid” means. Essentially it means all grants and scholarships issued by an individual college ITSELF. If you were following along on Facebook, you’ll know that the largest sources for college funding are: federal government (44%), colleges (36%), state government (9%) and private scholarships (6%).  So the 36% that comprises the second largest source for money for college is “institutional aid”.

I’m guessing your next question is “How do I get institutional aid?” Schools typically distribute awards according to financial need, academic merit and other non-need criteria.  That third category of “non-need criteria” is the wild card, and is unique to every school. Particularly at private institutions, non-need criteria can be anything from athletic or artistic ability to geography or choice of major.

Ok, that’s enough for Part I. Stay tuned for further installments of Paying for College where we’ll discuss the difference between private and public institutions and also cover the other three sources of funding. If you have questions, comment here or on the KSA Facebook page!

 

 

 

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The Force Is Strong With This One

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Kimberly Shepherd

I read something this morning that was so powerful, I felt like I’d been physically struck. Sometimes words are like that – reaching places inside ourselves we forgot existed.

The article I read was from a site called Edutopia, created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation.  (George Lucas wrote and directed a few little films – the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies are some of them.)  Part of the vision statement for Edutopia is this:

“It’s a place of inspiration and aspiration based on the urgent belief that improving education is the key to the survival of the human race.”

If you’re in school now or have ever been in school, I bet that statement resonates with you too.  Because so much of our early lives are spent in school and so many experiences there, both in and out of the classroom, combine to build us up or tear us down.

It’s the tearing down part that really worries me.  It reminds me of something a historical preservationist once told me, “The greenest building is one that’s already built.”  It’s much more difficult and more costly in countless ways to create from scratch – buildings or people. It’s always best to build on an existing foundation.

So when students are educated and their knowledge and confidence are built, layer by layer and year by year, it’s beautiful.  When years pass where no new additions are added or worse, where only tearing down takes place, students suffer in countless ways.  And maybe they never grow into the potential they had when their educational journey began.

I hope you’re nodding your head.  I really hope it’s not because this is happening to you or has happened to you.  I hope instead it’s because you see that what I’m saying is true and because, like George Lucas and me, you believe that improving education is the key to our survival as people.

Let me circle back to the article that started this entry.  It’s titled, “Believing in Students: The Power to Make a Difference”.  I urge you to take a few minutes right now (it’s a quick read, I promise) to click on that link and read the article.

Did you ever have a teacher like the one Roxanne describes in the article?  One who believed in you, really believed?  Amazingly, I had several.  My first one was in the 3rd grade, Mr. Kelleher.  I can’t even tell you specifically what he did, other than teach me my Roman numerals.  But I knew, from the way he listened to me, that he believed in me.  My second one was in the 4th grade, Mrs. Devlin.  She gave me my first opportunity to speak in front of a large group of people and assured me of my ability to be great at doing so.  She was right. Mrs. Monninghoff in the 8th grade encouraged my writing, believing in my thoughts and my voice.

But without question, the teacher who kept the sailboat of my young life on course was one of my high school teachers, Mr. W.D. Merkel.  I could write an entire post, possibly a book, on the difference that “Merk” has made in my life.

High school is both amazing and devastating.  It’s a time when you’re realizing both who you are and who you’d like to be.  I’ve come to understand that it’s a trial for most people – not just the ones on the fringes of social circles.  All of us are navigating our own rough and unfamiliar terrain without a map.  So we seek guidance – a compass to show us the way, a constellation to orient ourselves around.  Parents can help, but we need others – people who don’t have to support us – to believe in us.  To tell us that we’re worthy, capable, special. To nudge us when we begin to drift, to cheer loudly at our victories, to clap us on the back with pride at our efforts when we’re defeated.  Merk was all this and more for me and for so many others.

So here’s where I’m at with this first blog post of 2013.  One of my students texted this to me a few weeks ago, “You are the freaking best.” I’m hoping that text means he knows I believe in him. But it’s not enough. I need to be certain that all of my students know that I believe in them, and that I’m reaching out to touch the lives of students outside my practice.

Those of us who understand, who’ve been touched by teachers like Roxanne’s and like Merk and the others who influenced me, have a responsibility. Our responsibility is to see that students everywhere know that they are believed in. That the Force is strong in each and every one of them. Who believed in you and what can you do today to show a student that you believe in them?

 

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Don’t Look Back

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Kimberly Shepherd

Today, all over the United States, students are starting and returning to school. This has actually been happening for a few weeks already, but today is significant to me as my daughter started today.  She’s in first grade and attending a new school, her fourth in four years.  Why is this her fourth school?  One word – fit.  I preach “fit” with my students like a charismatic televangelist, which is to say with serious passion and conviction.  So it stands to reason that I’d accept no less for my own child.  But I’m here to tell you, it’s a wee bit trickier when the student is 3, 4, 5 and 6, rather than 17 or 18.  Because at 3 we had only the faintest idea of how my daughter learned best, or what types of peers would comprise her “tribe” or what her preferences were.  At 6, and after some educational testing, we have a much better sense of her needs and gifts, thank goodness.

Her new school is a 30 minute drive from our home so we set off and as we got close, I asked her if she’d like me to walk her in.  She said yes, “Because sometimes I’m shy at first.”  And I was pleased, because we all like to feel needed.  We pulled into a parking spot and a teacher approached our car and asked me to move, as I had unwittingly parked in the drop off area, which would be dangerous.  (Whoops!)  I began to turn the car to drive to the other lot and all of a sudden my daughter said, “Never mind, Mama, you can just drop me off.”  I asked if she was sure and she reiterated that she was fine.  I pulled up, and a teacher asked if she knew where her room was. She said no, so the teacher enlisted the aid of an 8th grader to walk her to class. Without a backward glance, she strode off, into a building she has seen exactly once before.  And I swallowed very hard, pulled my sunglasses down, and drove away.

What flashed through my head as I drove was the memory of when I left home for college.  I had only considered schools that were quite a distance from my hometown, so in August of my freshman year, my parents and I had a full day’s drive to my university.  I cried a bit during that drive; because there was a boy I thought I’d really miss.  (In case you’re wondering, I broke up with him over the phone less than a week later.)  But there was no question that I was excited. I’d lived my entire life in a small rural community and I was going to an urban university that recruited students from all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries.

Once on campus, there were nerves of course.  Would I love it as much as I’d loved my visits?  Would I fit in?  How would I manage sharing a room for the first time?  My parents and I unloaded their minivan and we made my bed, hung my clothes and plugged in my answering machine.  (Yes, I’m that old.)  Soon I heard music coming from down the hall.  I told my folks I’d be back in a minute and left to investigate.  The song was from my favorite artist, Billy Joel.  But it was from his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor, an album only a true fan would know.

And so it began.  Kelly was my first connection at college, the first confirmation that I’d made the right choice.  I went on to find my tribe, including the man I married 16 years later, (though that’s a story for another blog post) and many friends who joined us on campus where we said our vows.  This morning, I sent a link to photos of my daughter’s first day to one of my college roommates, who lives in England.  My life has been powerfully enriched in so many ways by my undergraduate alma mater that I have neither the words nor the space to encompass it all here.

So it will be for you.  Give yourself the time and the space and the resources to learn – about who you are, about what you want for your future and about the colleges and universities in your country and around the world that can help you become the person you’ve always dreamed you could become.  When you do that, I promise – you won’t need to look back either.

Finding the right fit for school is important at any age. With college, finding the right fit can change your life.

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A Question of Ethics

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Kimberly

On this day in 1987, I stepped up on an outdoor stage at Delaware Valley Regional High School in New Jersey and presented the following speech titled “A Question of Ethics” to my graduating class. As I re-typed it today, I found myself wincing a bit at my intensity and zeal. 

Yet I can’t help but think, 25 years later, that the names have changed but the headlines remain: John Edwards, Herman Cain, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Jerry Sandusky, Goldman Sachs, Enron, etc. 

The difference between then and now is that I know that life isn’t lived in the headlines. It’s lived in our homes, in our communities and schools, on our athletic fields and performance stages.  It’s lived in our houses of worship, in our outreach organizations and now, online – in our social media outlets.  Whether we’re starting high school, graduating from high school, graduating from college, or at a completely different phase of life, we should remember that we have power and influence.  Over our own destinies as well as those whose lives we touch.  Speak up, reach out, be a person of integrity in your life and present yourself that way online.  Don’t write or post things that will make your college admission counselor or future boss question you.  

So I’ll ask again, what are you doing in your life to be an example of ethical living to others?

New York Times headline: “Presidential hopeful Gary Hart drops out of campaign in wake of scandal.”

Wall Street Journal headline: “Reagan send out mixed messages over Iran conflict, public opinion polls show his ratings plummeting.”

Washington Post headline: “Bakker’s affair opens door to a closet full of scandal at PTL.”

Why do I come before you with headlines such as these?  What significance do these scandals have for those of us stepping out into the world?  Time magazine felt that these and other such occurrences were significant enough to do their entire May 25th issue on them.  I see them as important not only to us graduates, but to the entire country, and I therefore have chosen to make them the focus of my remarks this evening.

It seems that there is virtually no area of society that has remained unscathed in the recent wave of scandal.  From the White House to churches, medical centers, military ranks, and stock brokerages – of the institutions that make up the backbone of our country, none have remained untouched in the latest dusting with the proverbial white glove.

Yet these disturbances in our ethical structure seem remote and detached from our lives.  They are distressing but seem unreal because these are not people or groups that we are personally acquainted with.  We allow ourselves to pretend that these scandals happen only to people in the public eye, but in truth we are fooling ourselves.

Allow me to take a moment to ask some rhetorical questions:

Amy, if you were stopped by a policeman for speeding next week, how would you respond to his questions?  Would you admit freely that you were traveling at 30 miles per hour above the posted limit?  Or would you more than likely deny that you were speeding and even offer to swear on a Bible if one could be obtained?

Darren, in a few years you’ll be filing income tax forms, if you do not already do so.  Will you be absolutely accurate about every source of income you receive and every expenditure you make?  Or rather, will you try to hold on to as much of your hard-earned money as possible by creating deductions which in reality you do not have?

Rob, if next year a friend came to you with a copy of one of your final exams, would you tell him that you could not possibly look at it?  Or would you pore over it every day until the actual exam, knowing that this could change your grade from a C to an A?

These are purely hypothetical situations, but they aren’t unrealistic ones.  Any of us could encounter incidents of this nature in our daily routine.  They’re present at work, at home, in school, even in our leisure activities.  We have been presented with such opportunities before and we’ll be presented with them again many times in the future.

I used these examples for a reason; to demonstrate how relaxed our attitude about ethics in daily living has become.  It has almost become acceptable to lie to officers of the law, to steal from the government, and to cheat on tests.  We no longer view these as terrible offenses, just misdemeanors.  That’s where our problem lies – not in the acts themselves – for there will always be lying, stealing and cheating, but rather in our attitude about such behavior.

The moral fiber of our country is being threatened by society’s condoning of these types of non-ethical practices.  Our carefully built structure of moral ideals and laws is weakening, and it will crumble from within if care is not taken to bolster it.

You are probably wondering why I’m bothering with these weighty issues on what is supposed to be a night of celebration.  We are here because we have worked hard for four years, and we deserve to feel both proud and relieved.  I could have come up to this podium, looked out over your heads, and said, “Hey guys, we’re outta here!”  Instead I chose to tackle a problem which I feel is not only just as important as major political and social issues, but something which we have the power to control.

As the next generation to assume power we have a responsibility.  A responsibility to continue the values which were instilled in us by our parents and educators.  If we care at all about the state of our nation, we much care about our role in this United States.  Today, as older brothers and sisters, and tomorrow as parents, we must be an example not only in word but in deed, of the kind of ethical living that we want in our world.

Our younger brothers and sisters and someday our children will look to us for guidance because there are virtually no role models for them among public figures.  Scandal is gripping our nation by its throat and squeezing from it all of the breath of morality.  Do we want our children to grow up believing that all religion is a sham; that the people who guard our financial markets are corrupt; and that the leader of our nation, the individual who is supposed to represent all of the values of our country, the President of this United States is a liar?  If they are aware of these things and believe them to be examples of the conduct of society, who will they become?  And what will they teach their children about ethics?  Maybe the question should be – will they teach their children about ethics?

We are officially moving out into the world.  We will attend college, begin jobs, and start families.  As members of society, as people, we must remember where our duty lies.  If we are an example of ethical living to others, perhaps others will find the courage to lead ethical lives as well.  Then and only then can the question of ethics in modern society be answered.

 

 

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These Are The Days

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Kimberly Shepherd

I read something this morning, posted by journalist Connie Schultz on Facebook, that stopped me in my tracks.  If you know me, you know I read a ridiculous number of articles online, about every topic imaginable, so when something speaks so powerfully to the work I do and to you, the students and people I’m lucky enough to work with, I need to take a few minutes to process that information.  And then I want to share it.

This was that kind of article.  I’m sure it’s all over the internet, but if you haven’t seen it, I want you to click on the link right now and go read it.  Then, if you’d be so kind, come on back and hear me out.

The article is titled The Opposite of Loneliness, written by Marina Keegan ’12 of Yale University, for a special edition of the Yale Daily News which was distributed at Yale’s 2012 commencement ceremony last week.  It’s written in the way that I try to help my students write – from the heart, with passion.  Her voice comes through my computer screen and grabs me, and hours later I still can’t figure out how to get her to let go.

The piece is especially poignant because Ms. Keegan died in a car accident on Saturday, May 26th, just two days after graduation.  The loss of a young person so committed, so talented, so clear on who she was and who she hoped to become, is beyond tragic.  My heart goes out to all who knew and loved her.  And I mourn the loss of someone I didn’t know who was already making a difference in the world.

But her piece is not powerful because she’s gone. It’s powerful because she wrote it that way. She wrote to her classmates of course; to other students still enrolled at Yale; to graduates of schools around the world; but she also wrote to me and to you.

I often talk about the opportunity to “find your tribe” in college – (my students are groaning right now because it’s definitely a favorite phrase of mine) the chance to research and select the environment in which you will learn, grow, socialize and live for the four years following high school.  It’s one of the most incredible aspects of selecting a college and in my humble opinion, also one of the most overlooked aspects.  Ms. Keegan says about this:

We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place.

It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid and you stay at the table. When it’s four a.m. and no one goes to bed. That night with the guitar. That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went, we saw, we laughed, we felt. The hats.

This is precisely what I’m talking about when I go on and on about the tribe business.  If you choose wisely, I promise you will feel like Ms. Keegan when you graduate. Promise.

The other piece of her article that grabbed me was her focus on the fact that the best days haven’t passed, they are carried along inside of each of us in memory and we build on them in the days and years to come.  She writes so beautifully:

When we came to Yale, there was this sense of possibility. This immense and indefinable potential energy – and it’s easy to feel like that’s slipped away. We never had to choose and suddenly we’ve had to. Some of us have focused ourselves. Some of us know exactly what we want and are on the path to get it; already going to med school, working at the perfect NGO, doing research. To you I say both congratulations and you suck.

For most of us, however, we’re somewhat lost in this sea of liberal arts. Not quite sure what road we’re on and whether we should have taken it. If only I had majored in biology…if only I’d gotten involved in journalism as a freshman…if only I’d thought to apply for this or for that…

What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over. Get a post-bac or try writing for the first time. The notion that it’s too late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious. We’re graduating college. We’re so young. We can’t, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all we have.

It’s not lost on me that Ms. Keegan did not have the opportunity to change her mind or start over.  It’s what makes this piece settle into your gut and not leave.  So I ask you to take her words with you, to share them with those you meet, to thoughtfully consider the power you have to begin, or to begin again.

The title of this post is from a song that was popular many years ago, titled These Are Days, by a pop group called 10,000 Maniacs. The song is about the power of this day, this time in your life. I feel renewed listening to its message, ready to move forward with passion.  I hope you feel likewise.  Until next time, let Ms. Keegan’s words and these lyrics plant the seeds of transformation in you.

These are the days
These are days you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it,
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you
Are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you

 

Marina Keegan

 

 

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The debut of Work Happens!

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Kimberly Shepherd

I’ve been talking for months now about my interview series, Work Happens. It’s a project that I’m very excited to be able to undertake and thrilled to be able to share with you.

What is Work Happens? It’s a series of video or audio interviews with individuals who are working in a wide array of professions, who answer a set of questions the gets to the heart of the work they do, how they came to do it, what they love about their work and who should/should not undertake such work.

I’ll share one of these videos here in the newsletter every two weeks and they’ll remain available to view on my YouTube channel, College Admission Help.

The first interview is longer than I anticipated because my subject was incredibly sharp, funny and happy to talk about her work. So… you’ll get the pleasure of 15 minutes this week and another 15 next week! My interview subject is Ms. Saira Rahman, a derivatives trader with B&F Capital Markets in Cleveland, Ohio. Do you know what a derivatives trader does? No worries, I didn’t either. Watch this and find out!

Thank you, Saira, for taking the time to educate us about your work. You rock!

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Want to be rich?

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Kimberly Shepherd

More than ever before I’m hearing from my students that they don’t want to consider certain fields of study and ultimately, certain career paths because they want “financial stability.” I hear frequent intentions to pursue fields like medicine because “I can earn a lot of money.”  I know the American economy is in part to blame for this focus, but it still gives me pause.

I recently had the opportunity to view hundreds of photographs taken throughout one man’s lifetime. In the photos were evidence of milestones like graduations, military service, marriage, children and grandchildren. He had obviously achieved many career goals, owned a beautiful family home, took vacations, had a strong faith, multiple hobbies, enjoyed world travel and much more. Lifelong friendships, proud family ties, a giving heart, community involvement. Clasped hands, relaxed shoulders, wide grins. It was telegraphed from each and every photo – this was a life well lived.

But there was no driver, no yacht, no second home in the Caribbean.

There were however, people who were willing to come from far and wide to gather in his honor. People who had been inspired, encouraged, supported, mentored and loved. People for whom no amount of money could be offered in replacement for what they’d been given. People who knew they were rich just knowing him.

So as you set out on your path to your life’s work, or as you seek a new path, think carefully about whether you want to make a lot of money or whether you want to be rich.

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One of these things is not like the others

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Kimberly

Apparently I’m the only person with internet access who hadn’t seen this amazing video.

“If you build it, they will come.”
Caine's Arcade
Caine’s Arcade

Though the line above is from a 1989 movie called Field Of Dreams about baseball/hearing voices, it also describes what happens in this short independent film titled Caine’s Arcade that you must watch if you happen to be the other person with internet access who hasn’t seen it. This short movie chronicles the story of Caine, a 9 year old boy in East Los Angeles who creates an arcade made entirely from cardboard inside his dad’s used auto parts store. Independent filmmaker Nirvan Mullick stops by one day to get a door handle and meets Caine, becoming his first customer. And magic is made. Creating without an audience has power. What are you creating?

I also just finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy. SPOILER ALERT! I’m a bit unhinged over here. I really miss Katniss. Please tell me I wasn’t the only one who cried when Finnick died. Why??!! My 6 year old daughter plays a game right now where she asks me after every movie or story “Mommy, who are you?” I love this because from my earliest memories, I always projected myself into stories so I’m thrilled she does the same. I loved Katniss and saw myself in her, many times. But I was also Peeta, loving without expectation of reciprocity and Katniss’s mother, who is unbelievably capable with the pain of others, but struggled when faced with her own terrible grief. Who are you in the Hunger Games? Who would you like to be? It’s all about choices.

Today I’m writing about a 9 year old inventor and a 16 year old post-apocalyptic warrior. What do these two people have in common? On the surface, not much. But you know that we all have far more in common than is readily apparent, right?

What does this have to do with college? Everything. Because if you’re from the Midwestern United States, you’re likely to think about higher education in terms of your state and those around yours. If you’re from the Northeast, you probably think New England is the place to study. And West Coasters? You guessed it, they like California for college. Why? Because we tend to stick with what’s familiar. We’re comfortable with what we know and with what the people we know, know. (That’s a lot of knowing!)

This can work to your advantage during college search. Why? There’s a song from the children’s show Sesame Street that goes, “One of these things is not like the others…” It helps kids learn the concepts of same and different. In the world of college admission, the student that’s different is the student that’s desirable, the one that the school wants to recruit. And “different” has a very broad definition in this situation. Basically any student that a school doesn’t have many of, meets the criteria. So engineering schools are often interested in more liberal arts majors, or in engineering applicants that aren’t applying to their 2 most popular programs. Schools in Florida are thrilled to see applicants from Ohio, and vice versa. Even applying to a school where no one in your high school ever applies is an act of defining yourself as “different”. What does being “not like the others” get you? Hard to believe, but it can actually get you a better shot at admission and/or more scholarship monies. Happens every day.

So when your friendly independent educational consultant makes a list for you of schools to consider and on it are schools located in states you hadn’t thought of, don’t shut down – there’s a method to our madness. Sometimes being a liberal arts applicant with mad writing skills from rural New Jersey gets you a very nice academic scholarship from a highly ranked engineering university in Cleveland, Ohio. (Obviously a completely hypothetical example.)

ATTENTION: Next Sunday I’ll be debuting my new video series about the work that people do and how they got to do it. I’m a little delirious with excitement about this project and the potential it has to help so many of you who just can’t pin down what you want to do when you grow up. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Uncle Phillip!) So stay tuned and thanks for being part of the transformation.

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Cheating and WINNING

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Kimberly Shepherd

Cheating is wrong, right?  The phrase I’ve always heard is that “cheaters cheat themselves”.  I think the idea is that in cheating you don’t allow yourself the opportunity to see what you can do on your own or how a situation might unfold; you deny yourself the chance to learn.  (Yes, I’m approaching this from a philosophical perspective rather than a moral perspective.)

What is cheating?  There are definitions which most of us reading this will agree on readily: using an outside source for information (whether it be a crib sheet or the internet or a friend) when you are supposed to rely on your own knowledge base; using information from another source as your own; being unfaithful to a partner; influencing someone with false information; etc.

Years ago I taught English as a second language at an international school where I learned the definition of cheating differs across cultural lines.  In one class I had a group of students from the same country and their cultural belief was that sharing answers during a test situation was not cheating as long as every student was included.  This belief stemmed from the importance their culture places on the group, rather than our American emphasis on the individual.  Fascinating, right?  (Yes, I did explain to them that because they were taking tests in the United States, I expected them to abide by our definitions of cheating.)

Why am I writing about cheating today?  A few days ago (better late than never, right?) the news story broke about a 19yo college student who was paid by 6 students of his former Long Island high school to take the SAT for them.  Both the college student and the students who paid him have been arrested.  The college student faces “charges of scheming to defraud, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. The other six students are facing misdemeanor charges and have not been identified because of their ages” according to an ABC news blog.  There was also a follow up story that condemned the students further because they were “only” going to “party schools”.  Wow – that’s an interesting message.  Would it have been acceptable or “worth it” if the students had attended Ivy League schools?

The point of my post is not shake my fist in moral indignation (though that could be a fun rant!) but instead to seriously analyze the idea of cheating on a college entrance exam.  A purpose of the SAT and ACT is to provide colleges and universities with one piece of data on applicants that is the same.  Did you know that some high schools (and I’m only talking about American schools here – if we go international it really gets interesting!) report grades on a 100 point scale; others use traditional “A,B,C” letter grades; others use nontraditional letters like “O,S,U”; others use a 4.0 scale; some use a 5.0 or 6.0 scale; some list grades on the transcript but don’t calculate a cumulative GPA; and my personal favorite – some don’t report any grades at all.  You can imagine the challenges that colleges face trying to compare these students in a meaningful way.  I sometimes spent hours translating grade point averages as an admission counselor.  Schools want to be as fair as possible but what’s the difference between a 90 GPA at one school and a B+ at another or a “S” at another?  Sometimes very little, other times a great deal.

So the SAT and ACT are used to compare students against each other, against students at their own high schools and against students all over the world.  Are the tests fair?  There is a significant amount of research and data to suggest that they are not.  On average, Caucasian students score 200 points higher than African American students on the SAT and more than 100 points higher than all Latino groups.  Girls score lower than boys on the Reasoning portion of the SAT, despite having higher average grades in both high school and college.  This data is reported and analyzed by The National Center for Fair and Open Testing.  Also, many students are poor test takers.  The reasons for being a poor test taker range from anxiety to learning disabilities to how we acquire and share knowledge.  And the reverse can also be true – students with average grades can score very well on standardized tests.  The reason behind this phenomenon (speaking as one who lived it) is more straightforward – typically we are underachievers – intelligent but not working to our potential.  Sound like anyone you know?

Colleges use the SAT and ACT as only one part of the admission decision.  And a number of schools have now become “test optional” – according to The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, there are nearly 850 schools that don’t use the ACT or SAT to admit the majority of their applicants.  So if you have a strong academic record or an artistic/athletic gift that you feel is not well reflected in your testing ability, you can apply to one or more of these schools.  On the other hand, you can plan ahead in your junior year, go online to the ACT or the SAT and do some practice tests, brush up on your weak areas, and put your best effort into taking the exam(s).   You might surprise yourself.  And even if you don’t, you’ll be admitted to schools where the students who enroll will have similar GPA and test scores to you. Not such a terrible scenario, is it?

But what isn’t going to work, what will only lead to very bad things, is cheating on your ACT or SAT.  Leaving the moral and legal issues out of it for a minute, what if you cheat successfully?  Meaning you get the score you want and no one finds out.  (By the way, the owners of the SAT and ACT don’t notify legal authorities in cases of cheating unless they believe a law was broken.  Most college prep test cheating is done via students sharing answers.)  Then you get admitted to the college of your dreams – where you really don’t meet the admission standards, but they don’t know that.  And you show up on campus and everything is great for a while.  Until you realize that you’re in over your head academically.  You’re overwhelmed by your coursework and feel like your classmates know more than you do about every subject. And you begin to feel bad about yourself.  And your dream college begins to feel a little less dreamy.  Maybe you drop out, maybe you fail out, maybe you transfer.  Hopefully you recover and continue at a school that’s right for you. But lots of students don’t – and the hit to your head and your heart and your wallet is rough. Remember Charlie Sheen?  Did anyone watch him talk about “winning” and consider him to be a winner?  Don’t put yourself in that same category – take your own tests, write your own essays, let colleges know the real and admit the real you. Because that, my friends, really is winning.

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