CMC 2017

A College Admissions Essay Contemplation

To effectively answer essay prompts, an integral component of applications for many US colleges as well as other countries scattered throughout the globe, requires understanding of the autobiographical writing process. According to the Oxford Dictionary, autobiography is “an account of a person’s life written by that person.” How does a teenager, or one of any…

Continue Reading

Have SAT or ACT test scores become blind?

On September 1, 2020, a California Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction, to be finalized on September 29, 2020, barring the use of SAT and ACT scores in Fall 2021 University of California (UC) admissions evaluations. Essentially, the judge implemented a “test-blind” admissions policy, meaning SAT or ACT scores cannot be considered, even if…

Continue Reading

Examining Subjectivity in the Fall 2021 College Admissions Process

The COVID-induced disruption of the educational system, has also upended the Fall 2021 college admissions process. From suspended admissions requirements, like submitting SAT and ACT scores to the implementation of Pass/No Pass style marks for Spring 2020, instead of academic letter grades, effectively reducing students’ cumulative Grade Point Averages (GPA), students and parents are questioning…

Continue Reading

The Commencement Wisdom Well

The excitement of those students on the cusp attending college is palpable. Yet, simultaneously, many are inventorying their lives, attempting to envision the next two, four, or maybe more years of college. Listening to past college graduation speeches helps incoming college students anticipate what’s ahead. Graduation speakers typically wax philosophically about their life experiences, offering…

Continue Reading

Novel COLLEGE-2020

An online, distance learning college education is not what most four-year college students and their parents paid (or borrowed) to experience. With college closures, the holistic “college experience” has been truncated, as entire university communities have been dispersed, with no late-night dorm floor existential debates, no clubs, no socializing—stripped down to simply content delivery through…

Continue Reading

Trump Waives Student Loan Interest Until Further Notice

Updated: March 14, 2020 at 9:45 pm PST On Friday, March 13, President Trump worked to provide some fiscal relief for the 44 million Americans who’ve borrowed Federal money to attend college, including the thousands of college students attending colleges where normal university operations were suspended this past week: “To help our students and their…

Continue Reading

How to Prepare for Potential School Closures Related to COVID-19

As novel COVID-19, coronavirus, continues evolving, parents and children can become more anxious about their health and well-being, as well as how their education may be affected, especially when U.S. Health Officials are suggesting possibly closing schools to stem the spread of COVID-19 in areas where the virus may become endemic.   This past week,…

Continue Reading

“I Forgot My Calculator for the ACT!”

About the author: I’m Karli Ching and I graduated with C.K. McClatchy High School’s Class of 2015.  I attend University of California, Davis as a biological sciences major pre-med student. ____________________________________________________ When I was taking the ACT for the second time during my senior year in October, I was taking it to improve my math score…

Continue Reading

Guest Post: SAT: Stressful Anxiety Time

About the Author: After being accepted to four year college, but choosing to postpone going to college in favor of pursing a career as a cyclist, David in his spare time works at Hubbubbaloo Creative.  In the following, he offers insights to the challenges in taking the SAT or ACT.   __________________________________________________ It’s a cold Saturday morning. You pull…

Continue Reading

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…

Continue Reading