Thanks SUNY Cobleskill!

 On Friday, I went to one of the more unique college information sessions for guidance counselors that I've attended so far. It was a breakfast hosted at a Brooklyn restaurant by SUNY Cobleskill. The location and format was chosen because a SUNY Cobleskill Culinary Management graduate (and former NYCDOE student) is now the executive chef at the venue and they wanted us to be able to experience, first hand, the work of one of their students. It was a really cool way to connect the presentation to our work. (Not to mention, the food was really delicious).

SUNY Cobleskill is a technical school with 2,500 students located about 3 hours from New York City. SUNY technical schools offer both 2 and 4 year degrees on a residential campus. This has a slightly different feel than a community college (which tend to focus on serving their local county and have many commuter students). Most of the programs focus on hands-on learning (as opposed to, say, a strictly liberal arts college) and some of the degree programs are a little out of the ordinary. For example, Cobleskill offers training in things ranging from Turfgrass Management to getting a certificate to be a Paramedic. They also have traditional college majors like Business Administration and Applied Psychology.

Unique programs of note include:

• Their early assurance pre-med program - allowing students to potentially be admitted early to medical school (SUNY Upstate) after spending part of their undergraduate degree at either Cornell or Siena. For consideration in this program, students must have a 90+ GPA and a minimum of 1200+ on the SAT. 
• SUNY Cobleskill is on the forefront of the movement toward environmentally sustainable, organic, farm to table food production - all things that I think are gaining momentum right now. 
• The Animal Science program is a good fit for pre-vet students and there are on campus facilities to give students hands on access to livestock and large animals (something that is part of all Vet school programs). 
• For students interested in forensics, they offer a 2-year degree in Histotechnology - the science of tissue and forensic science analysis. 

All in all, this just goes to show the huge range of options within SUNY's 64 campuses. For students who learn best by doing, SUNY Cobleskill might just have the right mix of choices. Thank you to SUNY Cobleskill for hosting me!  For students interested in going to visit, they sponsor bus trips from New York City - look here for more information.

About That Redesigned SAT Experiment . . .

About a week ago, I was greeted in my inbox with a rather disappointing email. The College Board cancelled my SAT registration. Citing 'a new test security measure' -- which, by the way, is conveniently not listed in writing on their website and was not included in the email -- I was told that only students taking the test for its 'intended purpose' were allowed to sit for the March test.

I tried getting a hold of someone who could give me more information. I spoke to customer service representatives. I asked to speak to supervisors. I got lots of vague and unhelpful responses including but not limited to:

• The March test was not an "open" administration
• There was a security risk having people who were not looking to apply to an undergraduate institution take the test
• It wasn't about my age, they claimed not all older students had their registrations cancelled. (Considering I'm a college counselor and not a tutor or test prep employee, I find this hard to believe.)
• There will be no Q&A service for the March administration (Mind you, I hadn't paid for the Q&A service, unclear how or why this is relevant)

They told me that I could move my registration to May, but I'm not convinced they won't pull a similar last minute cancellation stunt then. I requested a refund and was then told that would involve going to my bank, which sounded confusing (has anyone reading this ever had to go in person to a bank to be issued a refund from a company?), so I'm still waiting on clarification on how that will work.  They actually never even responded to my appeal, I had to call them back Friday to even verify that my registration was definitely cancelled.

On a practical level, I'm disappointed with the SAT cancellation because I had genuinely been trying to prepare for the past two months for this test. I had been doing Khan Academy lessons diligently and while I certainly wouldn't say I'd been cramming, I had been regularly devoting at least two hours per week to prep and had sat through three practice tests online. I'm a adult who has been out of high school for over 15 years and I was re-teaching myself what a radian was. Trust me, there wasn't much residual fun for me during that process. It is annoying to have done that work for seemingly no benefit.

On a philosophical level, I'm disappointed with the SAT cancellation because I think a consumer who registers and pays money for something should be entitled to that service unless there is evidence to show they have nefarious intent. I also feel the burden of test security is on The College Board and the testing site, not on the test taker. If you felt adults taking the test were a security risk, put us in a separate room or seat us with extra empty desk around us. Or, better yet, considering this redesign was in the works for years, state a clear policy on testing rules well in advance of registration.

On an educational level, I'm disappointed with the SAT cancellation because I did honestly want to go through the motions of taking the test to better connect with  my students. I wanted to feel that same timing pressure. I wanted to toss and turn the night before the test and remind myself of those high school  memories that can be easy for adults to forget. I wanted to log in and see my scores with the same bubble of excitement/fear that I know my students feel. I genuinely wanted to see how much Khan Academy could move the needle on my score.

So, what was The College Board afraid of? Were they nervous that having journalists, educators, bloggers, and test prep tutors in the pool of test takers would make it easier for exam issues to be put out in the media? Did they suspect problems and want to keep only the most vulnerable people in the room to minimize collateral PR damage? I couldn't help but notice they had no problem sharing how much students 'liked' the new test after the school day administration last Wednesday. Were they fearful of outliers skewing the norming process? (If so, I'm not sure why they couldn't just pull our tests from the norming in advanced, considering they were able to identify us for cancellation). Was this always planned as a way to deliver another striking blow to the test prep industry? (David Coleman's original announcement made it clear that The College Board's partnership with Khan Academy was intended to cut off the test prep industry at the knees. Something, I should add, I might actually agree with The College Board about . . . )

One thing is clear: while the exam itself has been redesigned, other aspects of The College Board have not changed. This situation was poorly handled and can be added to the list of concerns I have about The College Board and their practices.

Inside Mount Holyoke College's Application Review

Thank you to Mount Holyoke College for hosting me this week for a conference dedicated to understanding the application review process. I've been on many guidance counselor 'tours' to help me understand the unique personality of colleges over the years, but this is the first time I've been invited to an event focused instead on a really detailed look 'behind the curtain' about how the application reading process works.

Especially because I left the world of college admission before most colleges transitioned to reading files online, this was a really cool way to go back to those days of reading files and experience how technology has changed things. While every college has their own unique priorities in reading, this helped me understand much more deeply how and why Mount Holyoke admits the students they do.

Too many young women discount women's colleges without giving them a fair shake. Some of the reasons to consider a women's college include: greatly increased diversity (including more than just racial and ethnic diversity), stronger financial aid packaging (both merit and need based), stronger STEM outcomes (including medical school and PhD program acceptance rates), and the legacy of tradition and alumna connections. A small liberal arts college isn't right for everyone, but if you are considering other top quality small schools, Mount Holyoke deserves to be in the mix. The young women I got to meet over these three days were poised, bright, articulate, confident, and engaging. If that sounds like an environment you might like, you know what to do. An added bonus, of course, is that in the event you do feel the need for a change of pace, there are four other nearby colleges where you can cross-register (three of which have male students enrolled).

I want to thank the Mount Holyoke staff for their transparency and hospitality. It was a great three days! I also had the chance to catch up with current Mount Holyoke student and ElRo Class of 2014 Elro Alum Chloe L. (pictured above)!

Turning the Tide

If you have access to the internet, have turned on a TV, or read a headline today you probably caught wind of the new Harvard Graduate School of Education Making Caring Common report entitled "Turning the Tide Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through College Admissions" that was released today. In case you missed it, this is a report, endorsed by many college and university admissions folks, that attempts to address the troubling direction that college admissions is going and suggest healthier alternatives for both students and schools.

You can read the executive summary of the report here or the full report here. 

An Op-Ed by Frank Bruni was also published yesterday in anticipation of this release. 

Included in the report are recommendations, some of which, I'm pleased to say, have already been a part of the school culture that Eleanor Roosevelt High School is trying to build. However, these goals can only be accomplished with buy-in from our students, parents, and guardians, so I hope that you will read through the report and reflect on how you can be a key player in making these recommendations a reality. 

Some examples:

• The report recommends ". . that students engage in forms of service that are authentically chosen—that emerge from a student’s particular passions and interests— that are consistent and well-structured, and that provide opportunity for reflection both individually and with peers and adults."As you are all aware, ElRo asks students to submit 20 hours of community service per year to demonstrate their connection with the community around them. We have a designated Community Service and Internship liaison (Ms. Genova-Hall) to help support students that feel they need extra guidance in accessing opportunities. I've said many times in multiple forums that our aim is for students to engage in their world. The requirement of community service aims to push students past the point of just going through the motions to complete service hours and instead help them find ways to use their passions as jumping off points for building up year after year of meaningful and authentic connections in their local, regional, national, or even international community. While things like raising money or participating in awareness campaigns are a start, a better way to demonstrate caring is for students to engage directly with those that are impacted. Raising money for breast cancer research is good, serving as a patient escort for individuals seeking breast cancer treatment is even better. Making posters about recycling is good, becoming a Central Park teen park ranger is better.
•  The report recommends "Colleges should tell students that taking the [standardized] test more than twice is very unlikely to meaningfully improve students’ scores." It has always been my recommendation that students sit for either the ACT or the SAT twice and taking the test more than that is not a useful or productive way to spend their time. Twenty years from now, you won't look back on endless sessions with a tutor as an experience that shaped your personality. Using that time to volunteer, or read classic literature, or get an internship at a museum very well could have a lasting impact on your life trajectory. 
•  The report recommends "Admissions offices should convey to students that simply taking large numbers of AP or IB courses per year is often not as valuable as sustained achievement in a limited number of areas." At ElRo, we make a conscious effort to be transparent about our policy to limit AP enrollment. 10th graders can take up to one AP course and 11th and 12th grade students are typically limited to two AP courses. This long time policy is in place to help students both manage their mental/emotional health and to help students make the connection between sincere academic interest and advanced coursework. We have been long time resistors of the "AP Arms Race" and I'm happy to see this report will encourage a continuation of those policies. 
• The report recommends "Admissions officers and guidance counselors should challenge the misconception that there are only a handful of excellent colleges and that only a handful of colleges create networks that are vital to job success." I make a concerted effort to help re-frame the idea of what makes a 'good' college. I'm constantly recommending places like the schools found in the 'Colleges That Change Lives' network and a common refrain in my meetings with students is to encourage a well balanced list of reach, target, and likely schools. The name on your college diploma that matters most is your name, not the college's. You control much of your success via your drive, tenacity, ambition, and willingness to trust in your own ability. 

The content of this report is enough to fill hours of philosophical discussion and entry after entry on a blog like this one. I present these highlights and links to encourage you to think about these things in your own family and reflect honestly about if you are part of the identified problem or (hopefully) part of the solution. 
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2015 Redesigned SAT Pre-Test

I've decided to take the redesigned SAT in March. When I tell people I'm doing this, the most frequent response is: why would you want to do that?

My reasons include:

• I took the SAT and ACT my junior year of high school over 15 years ago. Considering that a large part of my work revolves around giving advice and interpretation of these tests, it seems like having more recent exposure could be useful. 
• The exam is being redesigned starting in March of 2016 and I want to take the new test alongside the Class of 2017 to stand in solidarity with them in the face of this new exam
• The College Board has partnered with Khan Academy to give free online preparation to all students. As an adult who has been exposed to the topics on the test 15 years ago but not made use of these particular skills lately, I'm curious to see how much of a difference Khan can make. 
• Much attention is paid to the pressure and anxiety students face when taking standardized tests. I wanted to replicate these conditions for myself and see if that could help me better relate to my students. Doing drills or taking a practice test at home just isn't the same as sitting for the test under real testing conditions. 

I plan to begin my Khan Academy preparation in earnest in January. Before today, the only thing I'd done was take a few of the skills assessments (this helps Khan determine what skills you are strong in and which need improvement). Then, this morning, I sat for my first online practice test. Khan has 4 full length practice tests available online. But each one is only unlocked when you complete the one before it. I figured I should take my first test now before I do any formal prep so that I can get a baseline of where I'm starting.

Caveat: This practice test was completed on a computer. The real test will be on paper. I also skipped ahead in the CR and W sections because I had minutes left and was ready to move on. On a real test, that won't be possible.

Impressions:

• The first Reading section has 65 minutes to complete 52 questions. I completed everything with 26 minutes to spare. I opted not to go back and review and triple check my answers, mainly because I wanted this performance to be purely skills based. I was willing to miss some questions. On the real test, I suspect I won't feel this way. 

• The second section is the Writing and Language section. You have 35 minutes to complete 44 questions. The format used for these questions is not to my liking. There are two different sets of numbers jumbled up in passages -- one referring to the sentence number and one referring to the question number. Talk about confusing. I was able to get it mostly sorted out but for a 16 year old, I think this will be challenging. There just has to be an easier way to get the point across. I finished this section with 9 minutes to spare. This portion sometimes asks the test taker to be a sort of editor - making adjustments and improvements to the text. This is tough because for a person who isn't a strong reader or already struggles with grammar, it is hard to read the full passage with so many small (or sometimes not so small) errors. 

• The third section was the Math section with no calculator. Oh boy. Talk about timing issues. I COMPLETELY ran out of time. Like didn't even make it to the free response questions and was guessing in the last 20 seconds just to get something entered in for the multiple choice. This is definitely going to be my weak spot and will take the most energy for practice. 

• The last section is the Math section with the calculator. It has 38 questions in 55 minutes. I did better on the timing here but still had to do a lot of guessing because I just couldn't remember how to do that math they were asking. 

In the end, I scored a 1330. I got a 600 on the Math and a 730 on the Reading and Writing. I'm pleased with the score. It is higher than I expected it to be. Considering how long it has been since I have done the majority of the math included on the test, I was not expecting to get a 600. I was a pretty strong math student in high school (due to studying, not innate understanding) and last took math in college when I took intermediate Calculus my first semester of my freshman year. I know that my biggest work will be refreshing my memory on the steps needed to complete these math problems. I also, admittedly, have never been strong with mental math and the no calculator portion is going to be an extra large hurdle.

This score is lower than the score I got in high school and higher than the score I got in 8th grade when I took the SAT for CTY. I'm not setting any specific goals in terms of the score I want to get, I'm more just curious about how Khan Academy will impact my score. How much can I teach myself using the online demos and practice questions?

The experiment will continue in 2016 . . . .

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Redesigned SAT

Yesterday I attended a professional development at the College Board that shared some additional insight into the redesigned SAT. I have a vested interest in this both because ElRo students will be taking this test in the future and because I myself will be taking this test in March.

Here are some of the things that I learned:

- All Critical Reading passages will come from real texts - nothing will be generated just for the exam. These will be real world examples of actual things a person could read outside of the SAT.

- The 'Command of Evidence' section will now featured paired questions. A paired question means that there will be one question the student answers and then the next question will refer to how they got their answer to the first question. In other words: explain why you selected the answer to question 1 for your response to question 2.

- The essay is now optional and will occur LAST (it used to be first). It will now be 50 minutes in length. The prompt is already out and online, the only thing that will vary from test to test is the source material. You will no longer be asked to defend your opinion. You will instead be asked to explain how the author of the source material makes their argument.

Here is the currently published prompt:

"As you read the passage below, consider how [the author] uses

• evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
• reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
• stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Write an essay in which you explain how [the author] builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience that [author’s claim]. In your essay, analyze how [the author] uses one or more of the features listed above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of [his/her] argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with [the author’s] claims, but rather explain how the author builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience."

-  There will be a much larger focus on Algebra on the redesigned test.

- There will be 'founding documents' included on the exam - historical documents that relate to core issues like liberty and freedom

- There will be no more points lost of wrong answers. Only points gained for correct answers. There will also only be 4 answers to choose from instead of 5.

- The redesigned PSAT from this fall is only going to be out of 760 for each section. This is because there is alignment between the exams and there is a small amount of content (about 40 points it would seem) that is on the SAT but not on the PSAT.

The redesigned SAT will be offered for the first time in March of 2016.

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Mid Year Grade Reports

When you hit a point in the college application process where you feel lost - take a few deep breaths and go back to basics. I've had multiple panicked conversations with students in the past two weeks who are trying to fill out the transcript request form and get to the last box and don't know what to do.

The last box on the transcript request form asks if you need me to send mid-year senior grades to the college. Many students appear to be confused or tripped up here but I promise there are no trick questions. The form is simply asking: do you need this college to get a copy of your senior report card? If you do, check the box. If you don't, leave it blank. If you aren't sure - look it up!

Let's break it down:

Senior grades or mid-year grades are exactly what they sound like: your senior report card. 

There are three categories of colleges--

1) Schools that require senior grades. Example: Syracuse.
Evidence of this policy:
http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/firstyearrequirements/appchecklist/

Note you see in the requirements list: "Senior Year Grade Report" - other terms you might see include: 7th semester grades, mid-year report, or senior grades.

2) Schools that don't allow senior grades. Example: Penn State.
Evidence of this policy:
http://admissions.psu.edu/info/future/firstyear/apply/  

Note you do not see anything about senior grades in the requirements list. In fact, they also don't consider teacher letters of recommendation "Penn State does not require letters of recommendation, nor are they used in a student’s evaluation (unless required for a specific program)."

3) Schools that will look at them if you send them, but don't require them. Example: Fordham. Evidence of this policy: http://www.fordham.edu/info/20541/how_to_apply

Note, you don't see any mention of rules mandating submission of senior grades. But, you also don't see any mention that they are not allowed.

You are in charge of 10 applications (or less). I am in charge of approximately 1,400 applications. I sadly do not have every school's policy memorized and since most schools fall under the third category I have no way to know if you do or don't want your grades sent. You have to tell me, that is why the box is there :)

If you are applying to a school where grades are optional, and you feel not so confident in your senior grades, DON'T CHECK THE BOX. If something drastic changes and you change your mind later, you can always tell me via email (please list every school name, please don't just send an email saying 'send all my schools my senior grades.')

So when will grades be sent? Early round schools (EA/ED/Priority/REA/SCEA) will have senior grades sent after the first marking period. Regular Decision schools will have grades sent in January after the second marking period (the middle of the year, hence mid-year). All deferred students from Early will automatically have their report card sent in January since the college is saying they need additional information before their can make a final decision. (Though, I should add, this will only happen if the student accurately records being deferred in Naviance. If you don't record it, I won't know you are being considered in Regular.)

Reminder: Your mid-year grades will come in the form of your report card. So teacher comments and attendance records will also be included. (Psssssst: this is the part where you are inoculated against senioritis). 

Like most of the the college process - when things seem overwhelming just slow down. Read the instructions. Be mindful. It will speed up my document processing if your forms are accurate, which helps you in the long run because it means your application becomes complete faster.

One more week until November 1!

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NACAC San Diego Day 3

The last three sessions of the conference happened today.

I started my morning at a session about letters of recommendation at highly selective colleges. The presenters gave insight as to what information is most useful and general guidelines for writing effective letters. The theme was mainly to emphasize that the role of a letter of recommendation is to place the student in context and help the reader understand how the student operates in comparison to their peers. This doesn’t only mean repeating how their grades stack up compared to the rest of the class. It means giving background on things that might not already be included on the application. For example, one of the panelists shared that she was having an issue with a student who was late for a meeting with her. When she went to go find him, she discovered that he was in the cafeteria tutoring a peer in AP Calculus. This anecdote gives context beyond the fact that he is a strong math student, but that he is also someone willing to sacrifice his own timeliness to help a peer understand complex coursework. There was also an emphasis on keeping letters to one page (something, with over 100 letters to write per year, I already do). There was also some discussion of helping put the the student in context compared to the rest of the state/nation. This might mean pointing out that a student is in the top quartile band of test takers for males in the state, etc.

Perhaps the most buzzed about session of the conference this year though was the session I went to next: The Coalition For Access, Affordability, and Success. For those that haven’t seen the press release from earlier this week, there is a group of about 80 colleges (all of whom graduate at least 70% of their students in six years and who are either private and meet full demonstrated financial need or are public and have affordable in-state tuition for residents of their state) who are rolling out a new approach to the college search and application process called the Coalition Application. In full disclosure, I also feel obligated to share that I have been asked to join the Coalition Counselor Community (CCC), a group of 46 high school counselors and CBO representatives from around the nation to serve as an advisory board to the Coalition, so I have a bit of a unique perspective. For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to present the comments that were brought up in the session with limited personal comments of my own. I do this partially because I’m in a fortunate position to have a way to directly comment to the Coalition Board via the CCC and partially because this has been a highly volatile topic of discussion in the counseling community over the past week and I don’t think a blog post is the most productive forum to use as a soapbox.

Some background: two years ago, the Common Application 4 went live and there were admittedly some major bumps in the road. Students were frustrated, school counselors were putting out fires left and right, and colleges felt betrayed by the roll out of an application that clearly hadn’t been well tested and wasn’t technologically sound. Reading schedules were impacted, hours of overtime was put in, and many colleges felt they needed to take action. Discussions turned from the theoretical to the concrete when the Coalition was founded in June of 2015 and this group has now made public their plan to roll out a brand new way to reach students: using technology and reflection to serve as an alternative to the Common Application for these 80+ partner schools. 

The session opened with a transparent disclosure that the Coalition is a work in progress. They have lofty goals and they know it. They want to level the playing field in admissions, giving low income students the chance to better understand how to be matched with high quality colleges that will reduce their debt burden. They feel that technology, and this Coalition site, can help to do that by giving students a virtual locker. This locker will be a place to store academic achievements, upload video, write reflective essays, and keep track of their high school involvement both inside and outside of the classroom. Students will have the ability to share their locker contents with the influential adults in their lives, and even its been proposed with the colleges themselves, to get feedback in the years leading up to the fall of senior year. These locker items can then be utilized in the 12^th grade to include in their Coalition Application. The locker will be rolled out in January of 2016 and the application is proposed to go live in the summer of 2016. This is a pretty major power play from some of the most selective colleges in the country. They are taking a bold stance in saying that the college application process should welcome innovation and that the market share of the Common App was turning into a monopoly.  They believe there is room for more than one option for students. Coalition schools want more autonomy in their application design than the Common App was giving and they feel that the transactional nature of applying to college during one semester of senior year is missing a chance for innovation and creativity.  The aim is make the application to college more reflective—a chance for, in their words, self-discovery.

Before opening up for questions, the presenters commented on the three themes of repeated concerns they have already heard this week.

1)   Concern: This will feed the frenzy. Response: They hear us. They reiterated that colleges will not have access to the student locker contents and will not be viewing anything in advance. If a student puts a paper there in the 9^th grade, it won’t be shared with anyone unless the student chooses to share it. The locker can be used by any student, even students not planning to file a Coalition Application.

2)   Concern: Feedback was that the word "portfolio" was bad - it sounds evaluative. Response: They are calling it a locker now. It is not evaluative. Aim is to help student see their own progress and connect their work in high school with their path to college.

3)   Concern: This will create additional work for students and counselors. Response: For some students/counselors this will be less work because colleges that used to have their own separate non-Common App application will now all be able to be submitted on one platform. (Example Given: a student can apply to Maryland, Clemson, Emory, and Smith on one site. The current system would require three sites).

The following topics were brought up during the discussion. Again, I’m listing them here without my own comments. I’ll leave it to you as the reader to ponder:

• If the goal of Coalition is to help not overburden the school counselor, but this is rolled out without segmented communication to the different stakeholders, the questions will be directed to the school counselor who now has to serve as the liaison to explain what this is, what it means, and how to use it.

• Instead having essays on the Coalition Application, call them reflections

• Won’t this longer process favor wealthier students who have the ability to get better and higher quality feedback? Is there going to be a surge in demand for independent college consultants?

• Will students be so busy preparing for their college application that they miss out on high school? Are we pushing kids toward goals they aren’t developmentally ready for? Are educational psychologists and mental health professionals being consulted to keep cognitive development in mind?

• Is having that feature of getting feedback on the locker contents letting everyone play college counselor, even if they may not be qualified to do so? Perhaps an answer to this could be that there would be transparency to show who exactly has given feedback and what their relation is to the student.

• From a college admission perspective, who is going to be evaluating the Coalition Applications? How will this change the reading/committee process?

• If this was born from the ill-conceived and rushed roll out of Common App 4, is this roll out also being rushed? Is there a risk that the speedy timeline will result in the same kind of difficulty for everyone involved? People feel they need hard deadlines with lots of advance notice.

• If the mission is access, why are some colleges excluded?

• If the aim of this initiative is college access, why isn’t this application only for low income students? (Many of these comments/questions got applause from the audience – think of it like Congress clapping at the State of the Union-- but this comment/question got, by far, the longest and loudest sustained response from the room)

• How will student privacy issues be addressed? How can the feedback feature maintain confidentiality and privacy?

• Colleges, even with the best of intentions, might think they know what it is like on the high school side of the desk, but they have no idea. Is involving school counselors this late in the game, three months before the locker goes live, a problem?

Frankly, we ran out of time. I’m certain these issues are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the thoughts that counselors and colleges had in the room. I’m eager to continue the dialogue via the CCC and will sit back and watch, like everyone, how the Coalition’s first year goes.

My final session of NACAC 2015 was about the redesigned CSS Profile. Frankly, the best thing I took from this session was a helpful analogy to help families understand the purpose of the Profile. If a GPA gives you an overview and a full transcript gives the details, a FAFSA gives you an overview and the CSS Profile gives the more nuanced details. 

Just like every year, I leave NACAC feeling energized and renewed. Working as a college counselor alone in school with 560 college bound students is a lonely job. I'm fortunate to have a network of New York City colleagues that proactively meet together every few months, but being lucky enough to be supported by the PTA and my administration to attend a national conference of this scale every year is something I value deeply. I recognize the privilege I have and take this time to reflect on the thousands of other counselors that work in the trenches and don't have the chance to participate in this yearly gathering. Until next year-- in Columbus, Ohio!

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NACAC San Diego Day 2

Day two of the conference started with a breakfast hosted by Irish universities. We heard from three college reps who gave reasons as to why an Irish education might be a good fit for international students (aka, kids from US high schools looking to attend college in Ireland). Among their points: Ireland is safe, English speaking, and well respected on the international stage. Unlike the UK system, Irish schools last four years, just like American schools. While the admission criteria is a little different (here, similar to the UK, essays need to be about the course of study and why the student is qualified to pursue the field), the process seems significantly easier than navigating the UCAS system. In fact, one is even on the Common App. The cost is also attractive, particularly because US students are eligible for merit scholarships. While a student would be giving up Federal and State aid to go to college in Ireland, they may still save in the long run net cost in comparison to US Private colleges.

Next, I attended the Keynote address by Sal Khan of the Khan Academy. In anticipation of the speech, I read his book this summer, so I was already familiar with some of his anecdotes and his educational philosophy. I have to admit, he is one impressive man. Unlike a lot of other 'rising star' experts in education, I actually believe he has an authentic passion for his mission. I found him to be endearing and genuine and the additional features he demonstrated from his site were impressive. I myself will be trying the Khan Academy Redesigned SAT prep this winter. Part of why I was a little suspect of him before was that I couldn't help but pre-judge someone that would get in cahoots with the College Board. But I have to say, it seems like this really is just a case of the College Board getting lucky in finding the right man for the job. Their quest to knock the test prep industry down a peg by offering high quality free test preparation and his quest to provide full opportunity to anyone willing to learn really does seem to be a smart partnership for both sides. One of my favorite clips that he showed was this-- a great reminder that if you go back far enough we were once all on a level playing field. Everything you do now, you had to learn. He said that our goal as educators is to help young people find a growth mindset - believing in themselves that working through failures is just part of the process of learning. It was an enjoyable talk, particularly nice because it really had a direct connection to our work (something that all Keynote speakers don't always have). I'm particularly excited to also check out the Khan Academy College Counseling resources - found here.

My first educational session of the day was on understanding student Search. What that means, for those of you not in the industry, is that it was about understanding how colleges utilize the services from the ACT and College Board for purchasing the names of students in order to use that data to guide their enrollment management. I often try at NACAC to attend sessions that aren't necessarily for high school counselors because I think it is useful to be able to understand the intricacies of the other side of the desk. One of the more interesting points that I learned here is that of the search criteria offered, only about 16% of colleges buy names using race/ethnicity as a criteria for selection. I think this speaks to the often over-exaggerated impact of race and ethnicity on college admission. The fear that racial diversity trumps all is not shown in the data. Colleges remain most interested in high test scores, GPA, and perhaps most interesting: Geography (where the student lives). (These criteria each had between 75-98% of colleges using them to buy names).

Next, I attended the session about how students transition from small high schools to large colleges. Many of my college meetings consist of conversations with students about the size of the undergraduate student body and the interest in going to a huge school after attending a small high school. Unsurprisingly, the message of the session was that it all boils down to fit. Some students are able to thrive with anonymity and turning larger schools smaller by finding their niche. Others aren't cut out for life at a huge university and will do better in a small college environment.

The rest of the day was spent at the exhibition hall and counselor college fair. This overwhelming and exhausting endeavor consists of all of us walking around a college fair (just like students) - trying to catch the eye of college reps to have quick conversations. I tend to err on the side of making quick connections via a huge smile, wave, and badge scan so I can be on mailing lists to get the real details throughout the year via email. By the end of the day on Friday, full on exhaustion has set in, but my smile is always wide as ever after getting to see so many colleagues from both sides of the desk.

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NACAC San Diego Day 1

Today was the first official day of the conference. I had the chance to attend an event hosted by SMU, go to two educational sessions, and go to the NYSACAC membership meeting.

SMU, a medium sized university in Dallas, Texas, did an innovative thing by hosting a lecture with one of their faculty in the morning before the conference started. This was an awesome idea, both because it reminded me of why I loved college so much (I was a 'never skip a class' kind of person) and because it let us see one of their best assets in action. Admission stats can be viewed online, but hearing directly from a professor talking about the subject they are an expert in is at the core of the college experience. We heard from Jeffrey Engel, a History professor about the importance and usefulness of the liberal arts - in this case a specific analysis of how the events of 1989 were viewed differently by America, Western Europe, Russia, and China. These viewpoints then have an impact on foreign policy now and illustrate how the lessons learned in the past can be used to gain a deeper understanding of current conflicts. He spoke on how the study of history - a liberal arts subject - is essential to make economic and business decisions. I especially liked his commentary on how while majoring in business might get you your first job, majoring in the liberal arts is what will get you your first promotion. This is due to the ability to read critically, write well, link interdisciplinary ideas, and see things from a broader context. SMU has about 6,500 undergraduate students and 5,200 graduate students on a campus that looks like something more out of the southeast -- thing white columns, brick, sprawling quads, etc. There are five undergraduate schools: Humanities & Sciences, Business, Engineering, Arts, and Education & Human Development. Dallas offers one of the best placed in the country for job opportunities and the campus is the home to the Bush Presidential Library (the only campus to be able to say they have a Presidential Library on campus). I couldn't help but notice that SMU consistently brands itself as SMU. I'm not sure if it is intentional to avoid boxing themselves in as Southern and Methodist or if it is just habit to use the letters instead of the full name. I am curious though to know how a New York City student would fit in. It was encouraging to hear that on pretty much every metric, if Rice is the number one private college in Texas, SMU is right behind them at number two. Considering about 50% of students are admitted, like USD earlier this week, this is a nice target option for many ElRo students. Reliable academics without insane competition for admission.

The first session I attended was the one on the Common Application. I like trying to attend this one every year so that I can be in the know when students ask me questions. I think most counselors would agree that one of the most exciting changes for this year's site is the ability for students to preview the application, page by page, without going through the motions as if they are going to be pressing submit. This reduces stress and allows students to see how the page will look to the reader. It was also nice to hear about some new initiatives for providing help via both phone and online chat - though it wasn't clear if this was only for counselors or if was also for students. It was also revealed that later this year there will be a Common App App for iPhone that will allow students to track their deadlines and organize their 'to do' list. While it isn't an app that will allow for editing of the application (this makes sense) it will help students as a companion to the web based application site. The final piece of useful information that I gleaned from this session was a new turnkey site for counselors to get ready-made lessons to help support students in filling out the Common App. This site, called Common App Ready, is something we could maybe use in Advisory to help further give instruction to students about how to be more comfortable with the site.

The second session I attended was called 'Behind the Curtain of Financial Aid.' While I'm not sure it was a full peek behind the curtain (this, by design, is kind of hard to do in a panel setting because the inner-workings of aid are different at every single school), it did help me connect a few things that I think are helpful in navigating the financial aid website. The first thing that I hadn't fully connected before was the idea that two schools, both that say they meet 100% of demonstrated need, can offer the same family significantly different packages. This has to do with the fact that while the Federal EFC from the FAFSA is constant at both schools, the Institutional Methodology formula for institutional aid is different at every school. So even if both schools require the CSS profile, they may or may not weight certain factors in their algorithm and that can skew things for the student. So, it behooves the student to research ahead of time how every question on the CSS is, or isn't, used by the college if they are trying to create a list that will yield maximum aid. It was promising to hear about a website that the presenter found helpful in looking through the data surrounding aid and packaging - in fact, the session crashed the site with so many people logging on to check it out. The site is called Common Campus, but I was disappointed to see (once the site was up and running again) that it is a subscription service.

The day of sessions ended with the annual NYSACAC meeting - a gathering of NY professionals from both sides of the desk. It is always great to see so many familiar faces. This year, the NYSACAC conference is being held in Staten Island at Wagner College, which means I may have a chance to be able to participate. I can't wait!

Tomorrow is another long day - starting off with the Keynote address from Sal Khan of Khan Academy!

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