What does “College Fit” mean?

santa clara campus

During a recent talk to high schools, Peter V. Johnson, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Columbia University stated elegantly:

columbia-main-gate
Columbia University, where I almost attended!

“We do not admit statistics to an institution. We admit people to an educational community.”

His statement defines college fit which we have been hearing more and more about these days.

Student perspective on College Fit

There are 2 sides to this “college fit” coin. Dean Johnson intimates the importance of fit from the college’s side. On the other side of this coin, the student can select colleges based on fit. While I don’t have a pithy quote like Dean Johnson, I will share three aspects of college fit from the student’s side.

Three aspects of college fit that students can consider when developing their list of colleges are

  • Academic fit
  • Social/cultural fit
  • Financial fit

Questions to ask about these components may include:

  • Academic – Does this college have my major interest?
    What are the required courses for graduation?
    How long will it take me to graduate based on the course offerings and schedule?
  • Social/cultural – Will I fit in?
    Can I get the type of support I need within this campus community?
    What will I do on the weekends?
  • Financial – What available scholarships will make this college affordable for my family?
    What financial sacrifices must I make to graduate from this college?
    Am I OK with those financial sacrifices?

Students have the best chance of graduating on time when these areas of fit are considered up-front.

In the same way, colleges have the best chance of admitting students who will contribute to the quality of their communities when they ask the right questions about students upfront. If you want to see the questions that matter to a college, check out their essay questions. Those questions say a lot about the type of people they want to join their educational community!

What Parents need to know about Advanced Placement (AP): Part 1

This posting is the first of a three part series on What parents need to know about Advanced Placement (AP). . . but didn’t know to ask!

I get a lot of questions about Advanced Placement (AP) from parents. This posting brings together my top 3 most common responses about AP. They are written as responses rather than questions because the questions are so varied. These posts capture what parents need to know, even when the question begs for more clarity. 🙂

#3 Most common response about AP

Advanced Placement is a fixed curriculum that was developed by College Board (same people behind the SAT) and delivered through high school teachers. The AP tests that students take during the first two weeks of May each year are based on the curriculum taught during the year. If there’s such a thing as “teaching to the test, then AP would be an example. Teaching to the test, in case of AP, is a measure of success. The results (scores of 1 to 5) are publicly reported each year and schools want to be recognized when students earn 3, 4 or 5 (the highest) score on these tests.

The biggest “complaint” I hear from students is that once the test ends, nothing is done in class for the remainder of the academic year. That’s not an issue if your school year ends in mid-May. However, when the school year ends in June, that’s a lot of wasted time. My hope is that students are exaggerating about what happens in classroom once the AP exams are taken.

Question to ask your teen in late May: How’s your AP class going? What are you doing in class?

Next week, we will cover part two of this three-part series on What parents need to know about Advanced Placement (AP) . . . but didn’t know to ask!

Is Bard Early College right for you?

If you’ve taken a standardized test earlier than 10th grade or perhaps been identified as “gifted and talented,” then you may have received a mailing from Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College. I learned on a recent visit that the majority of students typically found out about this special college through a direct mailing. (Before this visit, I didn’t know that direct mail was that effective!)

What is Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College?

Students apply to Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College after their 10th or 11thgrade of high school. Unlike the “early college” programs offered in some public high schools in the US, students at Bard are directly enrolled in college, not high school. One of the slogans on campus is “High school dropout, College graduate.” Students at Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College have foregone the traditional rites of high school, such as prom and the senior skip-day.

3 Types of Students that may be a fit for Bard

There are three types of students that may find this Bard experience appealing:

  1. A student who has already exhausted the curriculum at his current high school – this student may have already taken all the available AP courses or the highest levels of math and science courses in high school. If your senior year schedule is likely to be overfilled with study halls, then Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College may be a fit.
  2. A student who is unchallenged in high school – this is a dangerous place to be, for sure. We all know though that there are far too many students who claim that they’re “bored” or “unchallenged” in high school. Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College may be a fit but the next option must be met . . . .
  3. A student who is “ready” for college – Being ready for college requires maturity, independence, a healthy dose of curiosity, and more. Students who apply to Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College must have the academic and social-emotional wherewithal to excel in such a program. The admissions officers mentioned that they may communicate with a student for a year before the student applies for admissions. This kind of attention and care is important with the transformational experience of college. In other words . . . college ain’t for punks! 🙂

Bard at Simon’s Rock Early College is a separate campus from its sister, Bard College. The 400 students at the Early College campus reflect a diverse, global community of students where the innovative, independent thinkers (aka smart kids) are really cool.

What should parents do about bad online behavior that could hurt college plans?

Many parents are concerned about how to balance their kids’ online use of social media and the risks their kids may take with inappropriate postings. On one hand, parents can ban them from social media altogether, which can work . . . while their still in diapers. Another approach may be to set controls on their account, friend them on Facebook, and/or monitor their interactions. A third approach, which I have seen even from those with students in elementary and middle school, parents can take a complete hands-off approach.

In my practice, I talk with my teens about their use of social media given that an increasing number of college admissions officers are looking at this information. I certainly don’t want all of their years of hard work to be jeopardized by one inadvertent Facebook posting. This latest report from Kaplan Test Prep confirms the growth in this trend:

Stellar transcripts aside, students now have to worry about an increasing number of colleges peering at their social-networking pages online—and potentially denying their applications because of what they find there. The number of college-admissions officials using Facebook and other social-networking sites to learn more about applicants quadrupled over the past year. . . .In [Kaplan]’s 2011 survey of admissions officers from the top 500 colleges and universities, 24 percent said they have viewed publicly available pages to get a clearer picture of an applicant, while 20 percent turned to Google. Twelve percent reported that their discoveries, including photos showing underage drinking, vulgarities in blogs, and plagiarism in essays, negatively affected the chance of admission.

via Education Week: Bad Online Behavior Jeopardizes Students’ College Plans.

This 24% represents about 120 colleges and universities. That’s a fairly high number that is likely to increase given the technology that is being developed from TargetX:

 . . .with the student-recruiting firm TargetX integrating Facebook and Twitter into the technology program it designed specifically for admissions offices. . . searches are getting even easier. The Conshohocken, Pa.-based firm has made it so that with one click on a social-network icon, admissions officers can instantly link to an applicant’s profile, allowing institutions to see “the most complete and authentic picture” of their prospects. . . .

via Education Week: Bad Online Behavior Jeopardizes Students’ College Plans.

Just as school programs are talking with younger grades about online behavior, parents can do the same. School districts that offer this type of programming start as early as 5th grade (also cited in the article). When parents are reinforcing proper online behavior it facilities the discussions that should be happening at school for all college-bound students. Continual reinforcement from the elementary years may also avoid an impulse like from this high school junior:

Nick Cicchinelli, a junior at the 2,800-student Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, said that he tries for the most part to keep his Facebook comments “PG” because his parents are in his network, but that he occasionally writes things he shouldn’t.

“Sometimes I just don’t think about it,” he said.

via Education Week: Bad Online Behavior Jeopardizes Students’ College Plans.