Beyond the Tassel

If you’re going to make a dent in this world, you’re going to need to take a big, authentic swing at it. This week, we discuss the importance of positioning yourself as your own authentic brand with respect to your college applications. The aspects of your story you may find uninteresting or ordinary may often be the most differentiating aspects of how admission officers may see you. Your most extraordinary self is often hiding in ...

Where will the money to pay for college come from? Some parents were able to sock away enough money from the time their children were very young to be able to draw on that account now, and fully fund college, but many families just didn’t manage to do that. In fact, about half fall into that second category. So when it comes time to talk about the college option, there’s usually plenty of anxiety and even more than a little panic t...

If you’re going to make a dent in this world, you’re going to need to take a big, authentic swing at it. This week, we discuss the importance of positioning yourself as your own authentic brand with respect to your college applications. The aspects of your story you may find uninteresting or ordinary may often be the most differentiating aspects of how admission officers may see you. Your most extraordinary self is often hiding in ...

This week we go into full myth-buster-mode and explore some of the things you might have thought you understood about college as well as some of the things that probably never occurred to you. In short, we debunk some myths about what college is, what it isn’t, who goes, and who doesn’t.  Bonus: We break down the economics of what a 4-year degree can mean over your lifetime as compared to a high school diploma. And, newsflash, it i...

The differences between the actual degree earned at a public institution versus a private one are fairly inconsequential. But between the two formats, there are plenty of variances to consider: Cost, selectivity, culture, social vibe, and more. We explore the primary differences in this episode between public schools and their private counterparts. Both have their strengths, and, in the end, the choice is yours and should always be...

In 1624, an Englishman by the name of John Donne wrote the words, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” What he meant was we are all connected, one-to-another. Not only connected, but dependent in ways we may not even entirely understand. And, while that sentiment may fly in the face of the the ascendant rugged American individualism so popular in some quarters today, th...

The college essay is an essential piece to your college application. The common app calls it your personal statement. And, in many ways, this essay is as personal as it gets. But more people than you’d imagine consider a request to write something meaningful as a stressor on-par with skydiving or giving ones self stitches. And, I get that. Writing something meaningful can be really hard. Most admissions people tell us that the coll...

Heading off to college after high school is — let’s face it — a huge adventure in and of itself. But when a student leaves their family and the home they’ve lived in for 17 or 18 years to attend college in a completely different city, state, or even country, it is a genuine life-event. 

This week we explore the idea of attending college more than a short drive from home. There are enormous benefits in terms of confidence a...

Ramping-up for the college application process is part preparation, part inspiration, and part anxiety navigation. This week, we discuss the steps of a solid application, the keys to making the most of each of them, and the importance of keeping your eyes on your own work, of being somewhat circumspect or even private about your progress toward admissions to your dream school. You’ll find supplemental content at our website, journe...

In the world of things that matter to your academic outcomes, I cannot overemphasize the importance of understanding institutional programmatic strength. That’s just gotta be job one, if you’re primarily concerned with the strictly academic outcome. But here’s the thing, college is about more than strict academic outcomes. Sure, it matters. It matters a lot. But there are other things that also matter. How those other things compet...

We’ve come through infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Each and every one of us is made up of uniquely individual characteristics and experiences, which give shape to who we are, and hopefully each of us will plot a path forward that best aligns with our interests, aptitudes, and capabilities. The post-secondary transition is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ program. There are those who will serve our Nation by...

Roommating is hard. And sometimes — more frequently than you might imagine — roommate situations erupt into really tough, super distracting outcomes. I spoke with a few current college students and several recent grads for this episode, and let me tell ya, this is one of those things your guidance counselor probably isn’t talking much about very much. We examine a few ideas, here, about the best way forward as both a roommate and a...

When most students think of where they’ll go to college, many immediately consider the three schools with which they’re most familiar: their state flagship school, their regional university, and their community college. I’m going to talk about those first two today. We covered Community College pretty thoroughly a few months back, so we’ll leave that option out of today’s discussion. For many students, these schools are outstanding...

The post-secondary path often takes a circuitous route through a series of dark tunnels, switchbacks, dead-ends, trial balloons, and unknowns but at the end of the day, those who remain true to the journey, approach it with an open mind, and retain a willingness to put their back into it, stand a very good chance of finding excellent fit. And if there’s anything I love, it’s good post-secondary fit! But when we’re wrapping-up the J...

Educators tell me all the time that it takes a village to successfully build a robust, energized school community with positive outcomes. And that’s not something that happens automatically. The state can’t do it. The school board can’t do it. The best faculty in the world can’t do it. And it cannot be administered into submission. It takes everyone. Parents, students, teachers, civic leaders, community volunteers, the business com...

We live in an extraordinarily interconnected society. But that’s really not new. Truth is, we always have. And those of us who grew up in small towns understand that reality, perhaps, better than most. Seems like having the inside scoop on the goings-on of my hometown, population 3,372, was almost an olympic sport when I was growing up. There was a crowd-sourced web of information gathering woven into the fabric of daily life. And,...

Today, I want to explore these three important attributes of successful people. What they are, how we can acquire them, and how we can leverage them to accomplish remarkable things in our lives beyond the high school tassel. Not coincidentally, these are also the three things most often sought by college admissions departments, and so we’ll talk about what that looks like, as well. Those things? Passion, intellectual curiosity, and...

First of all, can we all just accept that learning new things, along with the practical insights and strategic advantages they bring, is really one of THE most remarkable things about being human?  I mean, sure, you could argue that all our fellow phyla in the animal kingdom do their share of learning and adapting, too, but best we know, none of them have quite the intellectual leveraging capabilities of humankind. Because of the w...

This week, I’d like to do something a little different than usual. I’d like you to meet two students with rural roots but very different personal stories. Jackeline Garcia is a senior at Effingham High School in Effingham, Illinois, a county with a population of just 34,000. She is the first generation daughter of Mexican immigrants and she has an acceptance letter from The University of Notre Dame. We’ll hear from her and learn mo...