The Web has Changed While You Were Away

By Patrick O'Connor  Ph.D

Counselors aren’t the only ones coming back to school with a new outlook.  While we’ve been away at the beach, some hard-working supporters have been producing and updating online college counseling tools—some good, some not so much.

The most prominent of the good updates comes from the Federal government, which has consolidated 16 different financial aid Web sites into one clean link.  Studentaid.ed.gov now contains all information on applying for aid, including the FAFSA application and the FAFSA 4Caster to estimate aid; it also has a direct link to the incredibly useful (but not well known) College Navigator program, a college search engine that rivals that of any private company; another link offers advice on avoiding scholarship scams, and there’s an expanded section on paying back loans that includes a link to contact the government if you need to talk to someone about the loans you owe.  With fresh photographs and a Q and A approach that’s written in simple English, this is the first site to add to your tool bar—be sure to pass it along to your families.

Common Application has also been busy this summer.  While over 200,000 students have created Common App profiles in the first 15 days the 2012-13 portal has been open (note to students:  it’s still summer!), Common App has created  a series of online seminars designed to help counselors understand more about this special tool.  With more public colleges joining Common App this year, many counselors will be interacting with Common App for the first time; these introductory sessions will make you a helpful expert in no time.  The programs begin in September, and will be archived if you can’t participate during their scheduled time; you can get more information at commonapp.webex.com  .  Counselors with Facebook accounts would be wise to join the Common App page, which offers Common App updates to all subscribers on a regular basis.

While these updates are welcome news to counselors and students, other changes require college advocates to beware and be wary.  Counselors new to Common App need to be sure to tell students to go to commonapp.ORG to begin their applications, not commonapp.COM-- .COM offers students a host of college resources, but none of them lead back to the Common Application.  Just like families that go to fafsa.com to complete their free financial aid application, this is a wrong turn to take, so be sure to steer them clear of it.
Other changes that require discretion can be found on college applications, where some schools are now asking for students’ social media information.  At first blush, this may seem innocent enough, but students need to know that giving out their Facebook, Twitter, and Skype addresses gives colleges permission to view their pages, as well as many more opportunities to market students with information about their college.  Some students thrive on this information; others seem to obsess on it, and some are wondering how to turn it off once it becomes too much information to handle.

Counselors can do their students a huge favor by letting them know in advance that disclosure of social media information is largely optional; while most applications require a phone number and a mailing address, most other contact information is theirs to share or keep to themselves. Keeping cell phone numbers private also makes sure students aren’t distracted in class with texts from colleges during US History; with some advanced notice, they can take comfort in knowing they don’t have to share this information, and can focus on learning instead.

July is Latin for “Don’t Think About College”—Really!

By Patrick O'Connor  Ph.D


Summer vacation may have been designed to let students help out with the crops, but now it offers you a chance to recharge, do something different, and remember there's more to the world than the next bell, the next text, or the next test prep class.

I know the beach is calling, so I'll make this review of college updates quick.  Take a peek, make your plans, then let all things college go until August.

Common App is on Break, Too  You aren’t the only ones who need to rest, which is why the Common Application online application is closing for all of July, and all accounts created last year will be deleted.  Members of the Class of 2013 probably don’t have Common App accounts now, but if you do, it’s gone as of today, so plan a little time to start again come August.  In case your parents want to know, yes, the essay prompts for the Common App essay are the same next year—but if you want to find them in July, you’re on your own, dude—I’m serious about resting.

Summer Classes are for Learning  Many of you will spend part of July in a classroom, participating in classes or programs that offer you learning opportunities you didn’t have during the regular school year.  While many colleges applications place some value on these extra school experiences, the key to getting the most out of these activities is to focus on what you can learn. It’s one thing to list a summer class on a college application; it’s another thing to be able to write about how that experience changed your life in a college essay; it’s something more to know that experience changed the way you live your life in the way you approach college once you’re admitted.  Life is more than a list, and colleges know that—jump into the summer learning pond you’ve built for yourself and swim for the center of the experience.

Ditto for Summer Volunteering  The hours you put in at the local soup kitchen will look the same no matter what you do when you’re there, so  the last time you should think about yourself is when you make sure your apron is tied on tightly at the start of your shift.  The economy is getting better, but the waiting list of the needy extends for years; use your hours to knock months off that list, and the world will take notice, including the world of colleges.

Summer College Visits?  Maybe  If you’re travelling this summer, your parents may have plans to visit the college near Aunt Midge’s cottage.  Summer isn’t the best time to visit a college, but you can still get a feel for the place by taking the tour and walking around.  Go in July if you must, but plan on coming back for another visit when the campus is in high gear—and that can be after you’re admitted.

Relax, but Don’t Release  July really should be a time to see new things and think new thoughts, but some of the school rules about focus, caution, and responsibility apply.  Since going to college requires you to be in one piece once you get there, I offer this link for your consideration, with my wishes for a safe, calm summer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjc_0JBlRgE&feature=relmfu

And to Think School's Out!

By Patrick O'Connor Ph.D




The start of the off season for college counselors was sufficiently trampled last week with college news that makes you wonder what the future looks like.  The first episode started about two weeks ago, when the governing body at The University of Virginia fired their popular president after she was on the job for a scant two years. Thanks to significant outcry from the faculty, students, and alumni, President Sullivan was reinstated this past Tuesday, but there are issues of trust, communication, and leadership among UVA’s governing group to work out before school starts.


Many reasons for the poorly timed decision are unclear, but newly released e-mails suggest President Sullivan wasn’t changing UVA quickly enough, at least in the eyes of some of her bosses.  The whole episode reveals the ongoing tension between business-oriented boards who think changing the direction of a college is easier than changing a light bulb, and academic-oriented presidents who know that college change doesn’t have to be glacial, but it does have to be based on consensus.  Look for more of these tensions to surface, especially at public universities that are starved for funding—and know how that tension can make a campus an unpleasant place to learn. At least UVA’s crisis occurred when school was out.


One area of concern at UVA is their competitiveness in the distance learning market, a position that’s become more important since Harvard and Stanford have announced plans to make some of their courses available online for free.  While it’s hard to see the economic plus side of this venture for Stanford and Harvard, colleges who can’t keep up will clearly be in a predicament, since students would undoubtedly want transfer credit for these courses, keeping dollars out of the coffers of other colleges—and what school would have the temerity to deny a student transfer credit for a class taken through Harvard?


While some see this as a real money-saver for students, there are larger issues to address before brick-and-mortar colleges need to fear.  Studies indicate that drop rates for online classes are vastly higher for online classes than traditional face-to-face classes, and this only includes students who think online classes are something they’d like to try.


The new Ivyesque online presence will do nothing for students who learn best from direct contact with instructors, and the completion rates of these online classes could be even lower, since the content of the courses is designed by two of the most rigorous colleges on the planet.  Add the concerns some college professors have expressed to me about the integrity of online courses (“How do we really know who’s doing the work?”), and UVA’s concerns about going digital now may prove to be unfounded.


And just in case there are those who doubt all of this “Better, Faster, Yesterday” approach to college isn’t having an impact on students and families, there’s the story of the parents in California who are suing their daughter’s high school because their daughter—a straight A student—came in second in her class.  This high achieving daughter is heading to Stanford on a Gates Scholarship and has a NASA internship, so you would think her parents would be proud, yes?


The story says “… to Elisha’s mother, Carol, the second-place finish means that her daughter's "sleepless nights" were essentially “for nothing.””


To be sure, there are some legitimate issues when schools decide As in one class are more important than As in other classes—but Stanford on a Gates Scholarship is nothing?


To add a comma to the words of Was (Not Was), boy's, gone crazy.

Opportunity, Liberty, and College

By Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D

If you’ve already packed your beach reading for the summer, it’s time to make room for two more articles—and perhaps a thesaurus. Both address an important part of the question of college most people don’t consider, especially during the school year, so their timing is perfect, and their message is important.

“Bachelor’s degree: Has it lost its edge and value?” is the lead story in the June 18th edition of The Christian Science Monitor.  Lee Lawrence’s work covers ground that is familiar to many educators, as the article reconsiders the long-standing assumption that a Bachelor’s degree is the best road to economic prosperity.
Nicely supplemented with case studies that show there are multiple paths to sound employment that go through, around, and short of the route to a four-year college, the article gives the same advice about postsecondary plans most counselors give about using rankings to choose the right college:  One size doesn’t fit all. This is a wonderful piece all parents should read, and one all counselors should pass along to the families they serve.  I can’t think of a better way to begin a serious conversation about individualizing plans for life after high school.

While Lawrence’s article focuses on the individual trees of economic opportunity, a piece written by the editors of N+1 magazine evaluate all of America’s cultural green space, and clearly don’t like what they see.  “Death by degrees” uses some of the same themes as Lawrence’s piece about the rising number of Bachelor’s degrees and concludes that America is creating an intellectual elitism that is already skewing access to power in myriad ways.  Consider, for example, that almost two-thirds of President Obama’s first thirty-five Cabinet members came from elite colleges, or that every member of the US Supreme Court attended either Yale or Harvard—a first in US history.

When read together, the two stories paint a future of higher education that ought to give us all pause.  Lawrence’s article tries to point out that there are many paths to individual economic success, and not all include a college education.  That can be seen as good news for everyone who wants to make a living and put a roof over their heads, but the N+1 article reminds us that this rush for credentials of any kind is pushing up the value of a rare few credentials, such as degrees from prestigious colleges and the need for advanced degrees—and that can further concentrate the social, economic, and political power of our nation into the hands of a very few.
The American theme of children wanting a better life than their parents is leading more students to seek training after high school.  That focused energy may lead our country to more opportunities and better solutions, but it could also lead to a raising of the leadership bar that could make access to parts of that better life even more remote.  That may be too much to consider while we watch the kids play Marco Polo, but it’s worth a thought as we look at a sky full of fireworks, and wonder if our current construct of opportunity may muffle the ideals they represent.

Two Important Ideas for College-Bound Students

By Patrick O'Connor Ph.D


As a college instructor, I hear it every single semester


"How could you give me a C?  I worked really hard in this class!”


And in those fourteen words lie two very important lessons.


First, as a teacher, I don’t give anyone a grade.  The only thing I give is a syllabus, which explains the rules everyone has to play by during the class, including me.  After that, the class is kind of on auto pilot; you turn in assignments and earn points based on how well those assignments demonstrate the ideas discussed in class.  Later, I add up the points and assign a letter grade based on what the syllabus says your points are worth.  That is the grade you get, because that is the grade you’ve earned.


Nowhere in the syllabus does it state, suggest, or even remotely imply I give you points; it also doesn’t say anything about earning points for whining, sighing, or telling me you’re an A student. You don’t decide if you’re an A student; the syllabus does.  If you’ve done the studying, reading, discussing, and writing of rough drafts that helps you learn, you will earn a good grade.  Coming to my office to discuss your progress might help as well; coming to my office hours to tell a good joke won’t help at all.


Our partnership as teacher and student is meant to enhance your learning, but it cannot replace your learning—I could easily respect and like you as a person, while your demonstrated knowledge of the material earns you a C.  Grades aren’t about being friends, sharing the same interests, or filing other students’ papers for extra credit—they are about what you know. If you demonstrate the knowledge, you earn the grade …which leads to the second lesson.  


Some of my students have hired baby sitters and rearranged work hours—not so they could take my class, but so they could study for it.  Free of other obligations, they highlight text, do online research, submit rough drafts of papers, form study groups, come to class an hour early…and earn a C.


In the very same class, some students come to class without a notebook, spend a remarkable amount of class time looking out the window, and turn in papers 30 seconds before they’re due—papers that could be printed in scholarly journals.  These are A students.


Since the C students worked harder, you may think this isn’t fair—but think about your auto mechanic.  Would you rather go to the mechanic who opens the hood and gets you back on the road in five minutes, or the mechanic who does an hour of analysis before telling you they know what’s wrong, but they don’t know how to fix it?


Now that you’ve answered that question, tell me—which one is working harder?


Different people learn different things in different ways, and good teachers help every student understand their different mix for success.  Your eight hours of studying may instill a stronger work ethic than another student’s twenty minutes of studying, but long hours alone won’t fix the car if you can’t pinpoint the problem—and the purpose of taking an auto repair class is to learn to fix the car.


If you take the time you need to study and see the big picture, you’ve achieved the goal.  If you’ve put in a lot of time and can’t see a thing, it’s time to do something more than hope your teacher will confuse diligence with achievement—it’s time to hit the books until they don’t hit back.

It's June, and College Admissions is Still Rocking

By Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

Who would have thought late May would be a time of college admissions madness?

Stories from two coasts raised the ire, eyebrows, and I-can't-believe-its of counselors, parents and students everywhere, as news about college costs and college tests sent members of the high school Class of 2013 running into the summer sun, hoping to find shelter from the brighter heat of what promises to be another interesting year in college admissions.

The first news came when College Board announced a 2012 summer testing date<http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/06/01/college-board-criticized-over-rich-kids-sat> for the SAT. For the first time in a long while, students would have ample time to focus on the test without the distractions of regular school -- provided, of course, they enrolled in the three week summer program at Amherst College, the one and only place where the summer test will be offered.

If you're afraid of where this is going, don't worry -- it's already there. The cost of the program was $4,500.

In response to concerns that College Board is engaging in elitist practices, a statement defended the action, saying security measures have to be closely monitored before "millions" of students had the chance to take the test...

...but that logic didn't hold long.  The story broke last week, but by Monday, there were calls for College Board to pull the plug on the project.  They did just that on Tuesday, stating the project wasn't in keeping with College Board's commitment to access and equity.

It's often wise to begin change slowly, but piloting this long-requested test date at a few public high schools and one or two Upward Bound<http://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/index.html> summer programs would have gone a long way to make this effort seem less privileged and more representative of those who take the test any other season. It's great College Board remembered that in June; it would have been better if had occurred to them in April.

The second news came from the chancellor of the storied University of California <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/us/california-cuts-threaten-the-status-of-universities.html> system, who admitted the educational quality of the UC system is not quite what it used to be. Citing skyrocketing costs and higher enrollments, UC and its students have had to do more with less, including the laying off of graduate assistants, a reduction in the number of classes offered, and class sizes that swell above 500.

This isn't news to many college counselors, who have had students come back from UC campuses complaining they will need well more than four years just to get the classes they need for a degree -- and at $54,000 a year, the five-year plan isn't exactly pocket change to most families.

If passed this fall, a new tax would raise significant revenue for the UC system. Then again, with a presidential election on the horizon, voter response to a tax hike is likely to be even more vociferous than usual, even if the increase is in the best interest of their colleges, their students, and their property values.

Things have come a long way from the days when the SAT was just something students did one Saturday morning, and UC colleges were tuition free to all California residents. Let's hope this first move doesn't make summer testing the New Coke of college admissions, and the second move doesn't foretell the end of a college system that was once the envy of the world. Both are good ideas that have hit a rough patch; smoothing them out is something students deserve.

College Counseling Trends to Watch for Fall

By Patrick O'Connor Ph.D

The next order of business for most high school counselors is graduation, but signals sent from Kalamazoo to Washington DC suggest the college counseling scene greeting us this fall will be remarkably different from the one this year brought.  Counselors will want to pack their computers along with their beach reading to track these hot topics in college advising this summer:

Affirmative Action takes an unexpected turn  Many counselors are already focused on the University of Texas case the Supreme Court will hear this fall.  Like many cases before it, this case focuses on the use of race in the undergraduate admissions policies of a public university. Court watchers feel the circumstances in this case may lead a more conservative Court to rule differently on this case than they did in the Bollinger case, limiting the use of race in admissions.

That speculation received a jolt this week when four Asian American groups urged the Supreme Court to ban the use of race in college admissions decisions.  This is the first time this many underrepresented groups voiced their opposition to raced-based affirmative action, and their argument is pretty straight forward—they feel Asians are losing out on opportunities when race is a factor.

The case may not be impact the 2012-13 school year, but an early ruling could throw the entire system into chaos; if the Court rules against the use of race by, say, December 2012, some early applications may have been evaluated using race, while later ones could be exempt. This case clearly has implications for future classes, but it may mean something to school counselors in 7 months as well—stay tuned.

An increase in pay to play  This year’s increase in the number of college applications could very well lead to more colleges using ability to pay as a factor in admissions.  Record numbers of students also means a record number needing financial aid; since random selection could tilt admissions decisions over the amount of aid a college can offer, more colleges are likely to create a more even fiscal playing field by considering ability to pay for at least part of their class.

Colleges that are “need conscious” are supposed to let students know this, but they don’t exactly take out billboards and send out texts announcing these changes.  Counselors will want to instruct students to ask college representatives about the role of ability to pay in admissions decisions; this is the best way to get the most current information.

March Mayhem Becomes May Madness  The increase in applicants is due in part to more people applying to college, but it’s also due to individual students applying to more colleges.  That means more students with multiple admits are telling more colleges “no” on May 1^st, leaving some colleges to rely on waitlists, and others to rely on—well, nothing!

Not every college puts students on a waitlist, and many that do keep their list short, since they don’t want to raise the hopes of too many students.  A number of great, small liberal arts colleges found their waitlists tapped out this spring, so they had to re-open admission in early May.  That’s right—if a student was looking for a college this May, they had some great options never before seen around Mother’s Day.

The numbers will increase next year, so look for an increase in the number and quality of May options next year.  This isn’t a good sign, but it’s likely to be a trend that can benefit students at least for next year—and serving students is what we do.