What should a major airline do when they mistakenly send their customers an email promoting flights to Columbus along with a beautiful photo of…Cincinnati? Hope nobody notices? Blame it on a technological snafu? Hide behind language like “we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused”? If you’re Alaska Airlines (or more specifically, if you work […]
Read More >“How will you contribute to the campus community?” Colleges wonder this when considering every applicant. In fact, many colleges outright ask that question as an essay prompt within the application. As you progress through high school, it’s worth considering the examples you’re setting that show your potential to contribute as a college student. What is […]
Read More >Jay Mathews is the semi-retired education reporter for the Washington Post who still shows up occasionally to pen a new story. And I always perk up when he drops his trademark sanity and perspective about the college admissions process captured so well in his book Harvard Schmarvard. Here’s his latest piece. And while the title—Dear […]
Read More >For students who are fretting (or parents who are fretting on their students’ behalves) over trying to identify their passion so they can select a career and choose an appropriate college major, consider giving Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love a read. Newport makes […]
Read More >How would you expect one of the most widely respected, admired, trusted college counselors in the country to guide his own daughter through her college application process? Patrick O’Connor shares his approach in his recent post, “The College Counselor Who Left His Own Children Alone,” the gist of which is best summed up in this […]
Read More >Students, four years ago, who were you and what did you know? It doesn’t matter whether you’re 18 or 14 today. Chances are that when you scan back four years, you’ll do some serious head-shaking. You likely felt at the time like you’d grown wise beyond your years. But the benefit of four years of […]
Read More >If you’re having trouble achieving goals that matter to you, it might not have anything to do with your work ethic. The trouble might be with the goals themselves. Here are five potential goal pitfalls and how to avoid them. 1. You haven’t identified your goals. Sometimes hard workers get so engrossed in the effort that they’re […]
Read More >Projects, papers, college applications—how do you know when it’s time to stop polishing and time to start shipping it out the door? Something worth doing is worth doing well. But sometimes the quest for perfection just becomes a stall, another day or week to hide instead of a day or week to improve whatever it […]
Read More >This recent New York Times piece, “How Parents are Robbing their Children of Adulthood,” introduces the term “snowplow parents,” those who relentlessly clear away any potential obstacles to their children’s paths to success in the hopes of preventing any failure, frustration, or missed opportunities. And it includes this punchy quote from the inimitable Julie “Dean […]
Read More >Counselors, how do you respond when a student or parent makes a statement as if it’s a fact? That college is a lot easier to get into if you apply in the liberal arts. Without a great SAT score, the best colleges won’t even look at you. That school gives preference to ______ (alumni/athletes/minorities, etc.). They’re […]
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