Application Progress Update

December's a busy month for everyone: students, families and educational consultants. College Connectors is happy to reveal that 90% of the seniors we're working with have already submitted all or some of their college applications. We took a break today to decorate for Christmas. Over the past few years we've collected 60 college themed Christmas tree ornament.

Advice from Freshmen

We've been keeping in touch with college freshmen who worked with us during high school on their college searches. They each went through a thorough process of learning about themselves, and learning about colleges in order to find schools where they "fit"! They're willing to share with you: what surprised them about college life. Read what these three students say -

I'm adjusting well to life away from home, and my living conditions are very nice. I have an freshman housing apartment a couple miles off campus, which is nice, the only problem is living off campus, but I'm doing my best. The football team is doing great, undefeated going into the homecoming game this Saturday. My classes are going well, the biggest thing to adjust to is the tests but I've been doing fairly well for myself. So far it looks like I made the right decision coming down here, so thank you so much for your help, hope to keep in touch.

Hi!! Everything is going well. I miss home but I love the school and the people here. The surprising thing about college is the amount of homework I have to get done.

Things are going very well! The marching band is super crazy here but a ton of fun. Also, my classes are going really well, I haven't been stressed at all. But we'll see how far that goes. I would say the most surprising part about college is finding out how much time you have during the day to do whatever you want. Also, some people are just so afraid to be weird or be more of themselves even if they don't know the people around them. I will say it's nice to decide what I want to do without having to clear it with someone.

What have you found to be most surprising about college?

Independent College Counselors

Our business is helping students and their families through the maze of college admissions. We love our work.

There have been several recent web based articles about the relationships between families and independent college counselors. In this blog, I'll talk about why we believe families benefit from working with private admissions counselors and then highlight two additional pieces, one on how to find a consultant, and the other on how to evaluate the quality of a consultant. Lastly, I'll provide a link to the IECA list of suggested questions to ask a college consultant before you retain their services.

The success rate of college students in the United States shocks many people. The fact that 25% of all freshmen fail to return to the college where they enthusiastically enrolled as freshmen causes problems for students, families and for colleges. Top educational consultants eliminate the gap between what students expect at college, and what college is really like, therefore maximizing their success. Instead of just identifying colleges where a student can "get in", a good consultant finds colleges from which a student is likely to graduate.

Colleges differ from one another in many ways. Students and parents need factual information about those differences. The facts may not coincide with their assumptions. Finding colleges where students can thrive and succeed is key to student success and to a consultant's success.

A college education is a major financial investment. Few families make large financial investments without guidance from qualified, ethical professionals. Top educational consultants have experience, commitment to professional development, and membership in organizations that pride themselves on vetting top-notch, ethical professionals: IECA, HECA and AICEP.

The higher education correspondent at MPR recently provided guidance to families on how to go about locating an independent college counselor. Read what Alex Friedrich suggests.

Lynn O'Shaughnessy spoke with three prominent college consultants, members of IECA and HECA, recently and had this to say about how to select a college counselor.

Here's the list of questions IECA suggests you ask prospective consultants.

College Transition Tips for Students and Parents

This morning, College Connectors consultant, Valerie Broughton, and Tim McNiff, KARE11, discussed what parents of freshmen can do to help their teens successfully move from home to college and what freshmen can do to help themselves successfully move from high school student to college student.

Tim asks great questions, and brings a parent's eye to the issue.

You can watch and listen to the interview here.

Based on your experience, what advice do you have for Parents and for Freshmen?

Got Tests?

There's a recent article in the New York Times discussing whether students should take/retake the ACT/SAT. There's lots of information available about this issue. The college admissions consultants at College Connectors consider the testing piece of the admissions puzzle very carefully. Here's our answers to the questions:

ACT or SAT?

How many times should you retake it?

First of all, we live in the Midwest - what some people describe as the Fly-Over part of the US. Of course, that's where the ACT people live too. So, we've never thought the ACT was inferior.

We let people know off the bat that colleges will consider the results of either the ACT or SAT in their admissions decision and to reinforce what others have said, test scores aren't the most important part of the admissions decision anyway.

We advise students and parents that the goal of the either test is to get a score that accurately reflects a student's ability. We sincerely suggest to parents: "The goal is NOT for your teen to have a score you can brag about at a cocktail party".

With this guidance, we suggest students pick one test, a test date that's convenient for them, prepare for the test starting about 6/8 weeks ahead of time, and plan on taking the test once.

Preparation can take lots of forms: buy a book and go through it on your own, take a class, hire a tutor, create a study group with your friends. Whatever, just prepare. We don't think that taking the test officially one time 'just for practice' counts.

Of course, there are times when even we suggest a retake. For example, if the student was ill and couldn't concentrate and scored lower than we'd predict based on their PSAT, PLAN and/or grades, he should retake it. Or, if one of her scores was way out of range compared to the others(ACT sub scores that is), she can think about retaking it.

Most importantly, however, if the student is applying to a college that offers merit scholarships, a retake might be necessary. Consider the case of a student with a 27 ACT score. If the college awards $5000/year to a student with a 27, and $10,000/year to a student with a 28, another stab at the test, another Saturday morning, and the $$ cost of retaking the test could have a great financial payoff and is warranted. The ROI potential in this case is $20,000. Not bad for an 18 year old and a few hours of work. Remembering all the time that it's just as easy to score one point lower as it is to score one point higher.

According to our research, the classes a student takes and the grades they get in high school are more important to colleges than test scores. The pieces of the college search puzzle need to fit together. An over-sized testing piece won't help the solution.

Advice to Help Parents Help their College Freshmen

Labor Day - the day when summer vacation officially ends and the school year begins. No matter if school started 3 weeks ago, or two weeks from now, transitions surround Labor Day.

Seniors are making final decisions about where to apply to college and maybe working on essays.
Juniors are starting what some describe as 'the hardest year in high school' and maybe preparing for their upcoming PSAT test.
Sophomores are starting the year as an experienced high school student and maybe taking their first AP class.
Freshman might be described as resembling 'deer in the headlights' as they navigate a new school and maybe develop confidence as they survive.

What about those kids who excitedly walked across the stage last June tossing their mortar boards in the air, proud that they accomplished their high school requirements? Transitions abound for them too. Some are heading for work, some are taking a year off as a 'gap year' traveling or studying, and most are likely heading for a new educational experience - COLLEGE.

I was motivated to post this blog because of an interesting week we had. We help high school students and their families through the college search and application process, looking for the right match college for each student. Last week, we heard from lots of parents who had just dropped off their new college freshman child. Some parents were sad, some were happy, most were relieved, one or two were hysterical. Letting go brings on a variety of reactions. Some parental reactions are related to the child's needs, some to college life in general, and some to a specific characteristic of the college. Lots of reactions can be directly traced to parent concerns or insecurities.

Those new college freshman have lots of challenges, and maybe, some fun facing them. I was impressed by some advice for parents I read recently, advice about how to help kids make the switch from high school student to college freshman and how to make the change from living at home to living away. The advice is for how to help students, but I like the message it sends to parents. I consider this a great article that Helps Parents Help their College Freshman. That's the title I would have given it. The Washington Post newspaper gave it a different title. If you have a college freshman or know someone who does - this one's for you.

Fostering Adoption Law and College Expenses

Most people don't know about Public Law 110-84: The Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act. This act became law as an amendment to the College Cost Reduction and Access Act.

With all the talk about affordability of higher education - or lack of affordability to be more precise, I want people to know about this opportunity to help families with adopted children. It might be your family, or the family of a friend. The more people who know about this, the better.

Providing adoptive homes for children is tough enough, providing homes for teens is nearly impossible. One of several reasons cited for difficulty placing teens is that parents realize that the cost of providing a necessary college education for their children will be a challenge to the family budget. It's hard enough for families to save, even when they have 18 years lead time. Consider that families adopting a 13 year old teen only have 5 years to plan.

In order to eliminate this hurdle or impediment facing families who wanted to welcome teens needing families into their homes, the Fostering Adoption Act was introduced, debated and passed. It may not affect millions of families, but if it helps even tens or hundreds of students, it will be well worth the effort.

The nugget of gold in this bill provides opportunities for college aged students, who were adopted as teens, to apply for financial aid as independent students. This means that their families won't be expected to contribute to their college education which makes the student eligible for significant amounts of need based financial aid.

With this legislation, everyone wins:
- students find homes and educational opportunities
- families share their homes and hearts
- colleges provide opportunities for achievement oriented students
- society benefits from a better educated populace

Recently I had a chance to share this information with a colleague. Read the full article for a first hand example of the impact of this law.

College Visit - Montana State University

The fourth and last stop of the Montana College tour is Montana State University located in the wonderful town of Bozeman.

Most impressive academically at MSU was the Academic Advising Center. Freshmen, undecided about their majors, are designated as ‘exploring students’ and assigned advisors in the center. These great advisers help students enroll in freshman classes that not only will fulfill requirements in most majors, but also, provide options for career exploration. I was so impressed with this program, I’d encourage all students enrolling at MSU to consider declaring themselves ‘undecided’.

A unique program at MSU, Champ Change, is designed to encourage students to get involved in on campus activities. The lure of the mountains is so strong that many students succumb to leaving campus for their non-academic activities. That’s ok, but on-campus involvement is more highly correlated with student success. So, the Champ Change program awards points for students attending lectures, concerts, sporting events and participating in intramural games or residence hall activities. Earn enough points and you can earn a $1000 scholarship.

We met the impressive Career Center Director who has a research based, developmental program, which if students took advantage of, would be very beneficial. The students on the panel we met with weren’t familiar with the Career Center.

I knew Montana State had a well-known and well-respected Engineering program. I was less familiar with the Photography and Film school. We met with a faculty member from the Film program who told us about the ‘Montana Mafia’ currently influencing the film industry in Los Angeles! Students can enroll in the fill program as freshmen, about 200 do. However, there’s room for only 48 students in the junior level courses. Very selective.

The tour ended at MSU. The week provided me with knowledge of Montana Colleges and lots of new friends.

College Visit - Montana Tech

Third stop on the Montana College Tour was Montana Tech in Butte, MT. Butte is an old mining town with a claim to fame of being one mile high and one mile deep. Digger, the Tech mascot, attests to the mining history of the community and the college.

The most impressive feature of Montana Tech is the fact that they admit students from a variety of ability levels and those students are successful in their engineering fields. It appears that Montana Tech could be considered as a college that ‘changes lives’. The school provides opportunities and support for students interested in engineering who might not have opportunities elsewhere.

The admissions presentation focused on five themes, all of which were evidenced during our visit.

Tech is Quality Focused. They offer 21 degrees which includes study options in nine engineering fields. With only 2700 students, each student has plenty of opportunity to interact with faculty in classes and labs.

The second theme is Driven Students. The average ACT score of freshmen is 23, and yet 72% of them graduate. Students are active in their high schools and even more active on campus. The Admissions Office assigns an activity score to each applicant. The average high school activity score for enrolled freshmen is 5.2. The activity score is calculated for each student at graduation and the average is 6.7.

In addition to focusing on quality and driving themselves to succeed, Montana Tech students like real life experiences. They describe themselves as wanting to “do” science rather than “study” science. Students have either internships or jobs with engineering or other technical companies and also spend time on community projects helping the town of Butte. They compete in engineering competitions like mining, environmental engineering, human powered machines, bridge building, concrete canoe races and software engineering contests. Montana Tech bests teams from much larger, more selective colleges in these competitions.

The fourth feature of Montana Tech is the personal nature of the experience. The TLC(Tech Learning Center) supports all students with tutoring and other academic support easing the transition to college. Admissions representatives who establish relationships with students during their college search process follow Tech students through graduation, maintaining that relationship. All professors have agreed to measure student performance after 20 days into the semester so that students know if they’re in trouble and the faculty help students get the assistance they need. They joked that Tech students don’t need ‘helicopter parents’ because they have ‘helicopter advisers.’ Lastly, Tech is proud of their affordability. They offer scholarships to most of their students, from a $2800 scholarship for students with ACT scores between 20 and 24, to a $6000 scholarship to top students with ACT scores above 29.

Advice from the student panelists to incoming students is to retake the last math class you took in high school your first semester in college. For example, if a student took Calculus 1 as a senior in high schools and did well, their advice was to enroll in Calculus 1 in college. Getting a strong foundation in math increases the likelihood of success in all classes.

In summary, Montana Tech is a challenging institution for hand's on, success-oriented students.

College Visit - Carroll College

Carroll College is a Diocesan Catholic College, in the capital of Montana, Helena. As a diocesan college they are independent of any religious order. The college is an important part of the Helena community.

The College requires all freshmen to enroll in their Alpha Seminar, a course devoted to maintain and build the culture on campus. The goals of this program are to connect students to the campus, connect students to each other and to introduce students to the skills required to be successful in college. They include understanding and acting on the values of a Catholic College, respecting each individual and the community, as important skills.

Most impressive was that the college community seemed to embrace the values they espoused. All of the students, Catholic, non-Christian and even students who described themselves as non-religious, participate in community building activities whether that be attending mass or devoting time to improving the campus, city or world communities.

Each residence hall area has three advisors. First is the traditional residence hall advisor responsible for community building and rule enforcement. Next is a Kirchen Advisor, who is responsible for helping students with their spiritual development. Lastly, there is a Technology Advisor in each hall available to help with computer issues on the spot.

They are very proud of their championship Forensic and Football teams!

Also, Ralph Esposito, an art faculty member, is constructing a fascinating brick sculpture outside the library.

College Visit - University of Montana

1^st stop on the Montana College Tour itinerary: University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Patrick Grueller is the admissions representative for the state of Minnesota.

The campus is within easy walking and easier biking distance to the downtown. We watched folks enjoying the sunshine and Big Sky as they tubed down the River. The mascot is the mighty Grizzly Bear.

I was most impressed with the campus attention to student success. Academic Deans presented highlights of their programs to us. Unprompted, they acknowledged low retention and graduation rates and presented not only programs they’ve established to improve student success, but also set and published an easily measurable quantitative goal. This brave action, rare on the part of academic administrators, implies that they’re serious about improving and willing to let the public, parents, and students hold them accountable for achieving this goal. The Early Alert system will identify, within the first few weeks of each semester, which students are having academic difficulties. Those students will be contacted by an adviser and offered the assistance they’ll need to turn around their low grades. I know that other schools try to do this. The difficulty in accomplishing a successful Early Alert system is that many faculty don’t provide feedback to students until mid-semester when it’s very difficult to successfully intervene. The University of Montana officials assured us that the faculty will provide feedback after the first few weeks of the semester, in plenty of time to be helpful.

Most surprising to me was the high quality of the Journalism program as measured by student achievement. Montana offers wonderful educational and internship opportunities to journalism majors and those well prepared students have won numerous awards for their proficiency and professionalism. I consider this program a hidden gem.

At the PEAS farm (Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society) we learned about sustainability programs the Education program at the University, the City of Missoula, and the local Food Bank, jointly sponsor. The definition of sustainability they use is simple to understand and remember and powerful when implemented. Of course, it includes recycling and careful attention to energy use, but in it’s broadest sense, they believe we’ll sustain our world when all of our decisions take into account that: We’re bonded to each other and we’re bonded to the earth.

We met with a panel of students who offered this advice to all incoming freshmen:

Believe it when they tell you that in college you have to study!

The campus has a strong commitment to providing opportunities to Native American students, probably the strongest program I’ve seen on any campus. The level of understanding of the needs of Native students and the respect for the many local tribes provides for a high quality program.

Next Stop - Carroll College.

Faculty Ask: Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admissions

There's a new book coming out next month: Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids - and What We Can Do About It. It receives high praise from its early reviewers. (Not surprising, since early reviewers usually are friends of the authors.) Anyhow, I read a commentary by the authors Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Based on my reading of the commentary, I suspect the book will be controversial: praised by critics of higher education and damned by those devoted to defending American higher education as it stands. I haven't read the book yet (I didn't get an early copy since I'm not pals of the authors and it's not available yet for purchase.) The commentary offers 9 proposals, recommendations for change that the authors believe could begin to "set things right". This blog will include reactions to the first 5 of these.

On the face of it, their ideas make sense. Probably all colleges and universities could benefit from discussions on the pros and cons of each suggestion, and by finding pieces of proposals they'd implement. It would be a huge accomplishment if Hacker and Dreifus accomplish serious discussions and debate on campuses. I bet college and university administrators, weary of attending Planning Retreats, would relish the opportunity to honestly debate Hacker and Dreifus' ideas. They'd need to be challenged to think creatively and free of fear of retaliation if they disagreed with someone higher up the food chain.

On more careful examination, the proposals seem to contradict each other on too many occasions. The authors are no doubt bright and experienced and eager to cause improvement higher education. They describe their experiences with colleges and students while researching their book. Their experiences are somewhat at odds with those of us who work day to day with students and families. The lack of internal consistency in their proposals troubles me.

Proposal #1 - Engage all students.

Who could disagree with that bold statement? They want better teaching. Certainly, it would be wonderful if all college professors(Let's apply this to kindergarten to high school teachers too while we're at it.) were conscientious, caring, and attentive to every corner of their classroom.

But then, they state unequivocally that all Americans can do college work. Debatable, but even if we stipulated to this statement, how does this mesh with the next proposal....

Proposal #2 - Make students use their minds.

Well, yes, of course. Within the rationale for this proposal, Hacker and Dreifus lament that 64% of undergraduate students are enrolled in vocational majors instead of the likes of "philosophy, literature, or the physical sciences". Does it follow then that all Americans are capable of earning undergraduate degrees in philosophy? Really?

Then they claim that "undergraduate years are an interlude...., a time to liberate the imagination... without worrying about a possible payoff". Really? Maybe in some idyllic, imaginary place, but not in the world that I know. Even students, whose parents can pay for their education as a philosophy major at a liberal arts college where teachers engage their students, have worries and peer and societal pressures and normal young adult developmental challenges to work through. Those whose families struggle to help with their costs have to juggle work, study, and a future of loan payments - hardly a worry free 4 years.

Proposal #3 - Replace tenure with multiyear contracts.

The authors were careful to avoid wording this recommendation as - eliminate tenure. They knew that would be a non-starter. The troubling part of their argument here for me is that they imply that our nation's faculty, the best and the brightest folks we have, those who likely did experience their undergraduate years as an interlude and many of whom did study non-vocational topics like philosophy, literature and physical science, can't be internally motivated to continue to do good work throughout their careers.

They claim that these best and brightest need to be motivated to do their best in the classroom by fear of losing their jobs. They claim that tenure eliminates reasons for faculty to improve their teaching. Are we to believe that tenure causes laziness or lazy, bright people chose the life of the mind as a faculty member? The value of tenure has been and will continue to be debated. Their argument seems weak in that it seems to contradict what they say about the value of achieving what's seen as "impractical studies" for all.

Proposal #4 - Allow fewer sabbaticals.

In most colleges and universities, tenured faculty members are eligible for a 'year off' every seven years for the purposes of pursuing their studies or research activities without the interference of teaching responsibilities. This can be a big expense to universities.

In reality, lots of faculty members can't afford to take sabbaticals. Usually, the time away from teaching responsibilities comes at less than full pay, while their mortgage payments remain the same. Then there are the costs of actually pursuing the sabbatical goals. Some faculty secure research stipends to help defray the costs.

The other side of this debate - sabbaticals should be encouraged for faculty to refresh their teaching curriculum and teaching skills. See proposals #2 and #4.

Proposal #5 - End exploitation of adjuncts.

Adjunct faculty are analogous to part time employees at a retail firm who do the same work as the regular, full time employees, but who get less pay and few to no benefits. Just as retail stores can hire part-timers because the job market provides few other options for the part-time employee, the university can hire adjuncts because there are more PhD educated people in some disciplines than there are jobs. Market forces are in effect in both situations.

What seems strange, maybe even ironic, about this situation is that many of the PhD educated people followed the advice Hacker and Dreifus offered in Proposals #1 and #2: provide opportunities for "impractical studies", the wisest of choices to chose "philosophy, literature or physical sciences". Lots of folks did that, and now they're adjuncts. Colleges pay adjuncts less than regular faculty. Most of Hacker and Dreifus' proposals indicate ways colleges should lower costs. This proposal would increase costs.

These responses to the proposals may appear critical. In reality, the work they've done bringing these topics to light provides value and hopefully, an impetus for reflection. What's needed as follow-up is a commitment to civil discourse on these topics inside the halls of colleges and universities. If that doesn't happen, then I suspect that the discussion will take place in the halls of government and in the halls of individual family homes where leaders and parents will still wonder about the cost of college.