Students generally need to study two years of the same Language Other Than English (LOTE) in order to meet minimum college admissions eligibility standards. (The caveat is some colleges, like MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, do not require LOTE courses for admissions eligibility.) So, families should check eligibility requirements for first year admissions at a…
In college admissions, applicants often perceive exclusivity, translated as less than 5% admit rates, as a higher quality education, and (sometimes more importantly) a guarantee of lifetime prosperity, The Golden Ticket, as one is forever branded with elitism. However, in coming years, applicants may be guessing more often than not about the selectivity of a…
As of December 16, 2021, Harvard is the latest college to join the chorus of admissions officers extending test optional/test-blind/test-free admissions policies for at least the next Fall 2023 application cycle and often beyond. (Longstanding Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons announced extending test-optional admissions policies for the next four years…
The idea of Zoom fatigue isn’t Gen Z’s contribution to the long list of complaints about school. It’s real. Dr. Jeremy Bailenson and his team at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab explain why Zooming is fatiguing even though we’re sitting in a single place, typically comfortable at home, talking or listening to others. First, we’re…
For students who’ve submitted Part 1 of the Georgetown Application, they can extend submission of their supplement application through January 13, 2021, extending their time to work on their essays. Why are a noticable number of universities extending their Fall 2021 Regular Decision deadlines, more than during a usual college application season? Specifically, are college…
College administrators are proposing two scenarios for the 2020-21 school year, first, a hybrid model of modified residential on-campus living + online instruction + limited in-person instruction and secondly, continuing distance learning with no on-campus residency. With either model, students’ college experience is severely curtailed. Incoming UCLA freshmen, who are not able to acquire housing,…
This past week, three more U.S. News & World Report top #25 universities Georgetown University, Stanford University and Princeton University suspended the requirement of SAT or ACT scores for Fall 2021 first year applicants. One Stanford student, amongst others, were frustrated by the policy changes, as for many years, they believed (and were taught) that…
The $14 Billion bailout for U.S. colleges and universities as part of the recent CARES Act will not solve the widening financial deficits in higher education. Costs to maintain buildings and the physical grounds, despite the lack of students present on campus, as well as salaries to faculty and staff must still be paid. Additionally,…
Emerging from “shelter-in-place” is not as simple are reopening school and college campuses, and welcoming students back into the buildings. The on-going health risks of subsequent outbreaks of COVID-19 absent a proven treatment or vaccine, along with the convoluted governmental structure to protect public health, creates complexity for students and parents trying to plan for…
The million dollar question: How’s the distance learning going? It’s a mixed meme bag, according to college students’ own words. First, new protocols have developed for virtual learning: “When someone new joins a Zoom Chat” But, some things don’t change; no one wants to be the “try hard” no matter if in a virtual sense…
Hat Tip to ZeroHedge, April 14, 2020 If 10% of Americans will not immediately return to “life as normal” and 71% of Americans will act with caution once the “all-clear” is sounded, what will the “new normal” look like? And, particularly if parents are part of the 71% or 10%, how will we educate their students,…
Dear The College Board CEO David Coleman: After viewing your live cast on Daily Homeroom with Sal [Khan of Khan Academy], I respectfully request responses to my questions regarding the 2020 Advanced Placement (AP) exams, as well as my concerns about your replies regarding current high school students’ and their families’ worries. In stating that…
To date, thirteen of the top twenty-five US News & World Report nationally ranked universities, all adopted Pass/No Pass-style grading systems for the spring term, due to the COVID-19 health crisis: Although Pass/No Pass is the default system at UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton and Yale, students can still “opt-in” to be awarded…
In Parts 1 and 2, sentiment amongst college students and prospective college students may already be declining, which could be exacerbated even further, as we weather the current global pandemic with closed college campuses and students dispersed to their childhood homes. Additionally, the last of the Millennials are now college graduates, but experiencing a current…
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…
