Is there a skills shortage amongst US workers? Job openings are at a 15 year high, but unemployment, underemployment, those who choose not to work are also higher than expected.

The Purpose of Harvard (and many other elite universities) is not to educate people Most families assume prestige equals quality of undergraduate education; they’re sadly mistaken

Who is teaching your child in college and why it matters You might be surprised that many, if not most, professors at research universities are transient, adjunct, and inexperienced professors

What should a new college grad’s linkedin profile look like? How to catch employers’ attention

Are high aspiration/high stakes parenting pressures harming children?  Is pressure harming child mental health?

One of the recurring themes of the post-recession media and cultural dialogue around college education is cost. Concern over college sticker prices, earnings and employment of recent college graduates, and what actually happens on college campuses and in college classrooms has led some to speculate that college education is simply a credential to be earned in order to gain legitimacy in the job and graduate school marketplace.

Some commentators will even tell you that college is a cost that should be minimized as much as possible and that all college degrees are basically equal in value, with a spread based on college major (i.e. Graduates with Engineering degrees earn more on average than Women’s Studies majors, but a UT-Austin degree vs a TCU degree vs a University of Houston degree are of near equal value in the marketplace). Some will go further and say that college is a waste of money.  They are all wrong.

Why might you be misjudging your child’s prospective college choices?

Financial and economic evaluation of college degrees and institutions absolutely has some value. A family should be thinking about what they can afford and how their child’s college education will lead to prosperous and satisfying careers. What is of dubious worth is the devaluation of college education and the classification of college degrees and institutions on purely statistical and financial variables. Here’s why:

1. Most data about college students is unverified, self-reported, and not scientifically validated Much of what you read about colleges and their graduates is simply the results of surveys and cannot be assumed to be true, especially when reported by the college itself.
2. The college cost and college debt crisis is a complete media fabrication  2/3rds of college students graduate with $10,000 debt or less.  43% do not borrow at all. Only 15% borrow more than $20,000 to pay for their college degree. Furthermore, the average discount at American private colleges was 46% in 2014. The average sticker price at private colleges and universities in the US is $42,419, according to the College Board. So taking average price and average discount as a ballpark number ($42,419 – 46% discount), one arrives at an average net price of $22,906.26 .   That’s less than the in-state resident cost of UT-Austin for middle class families (Texas resident total costs $25,862 – 27,254 , from UT’s website), which gives no aid to middle and upper middle class families.  To sum up, there is no cost or debt crisis for undergrads and families.
3. College is not a commodity- a college education is not a widget like a TV or mobile phone So much of the college education one receives is a result of the efforts and energies one puts into studies, activities, and social life. One does not simply walk on campus and receive a college education like one would receive a TV after purchasing from the local Walmart (HT- wapo.st/1SlPayp).  Instead, a college education is the variable sum of the experiences, in and out of class learning, and interaction with peers, faculty, and advisers.  Some colleges offer more value than others in terms of professor, adviser, and alumni guidance, challenging and interesting coursework, and the availability of easily accessible extra-curricular, study abroad, and internship activities.  Yet, in the end, a student can choose to take advantage of the resources and opportunities available or do the bare minimum and spend 4 years isolated in the dorm while playing video games for hours on end.

If you are thinking of the college value equation exclusively in terms of media coverage and reported salaries, sticker prices, and cost minimization, then you are wrong-headed.  College education is not a widget.

 
Anxious Students Stress College Mental Health Centers 1 in 6 college students treated for anxiety within past year

Does extra love and support make up for helicopter parenting? A new study

What does the future of college look like? One vision

Class of 2015 College Grads are finding a hot job market (requires WSJ subscription)

Researchers use an app to predict GPA based on college student habits and movement. Some interesting findings

Year after year, parents and students come to our offices for assistance with high school and college admission planning.  While the questions vary as to the nature of the student’s needs, most often the theme of the question is what does it take to gain acceptance to a top college choice.

Parents and students want to know how college admission staffs evaluate an applicant:

• What emphasis is placed on curriculum like AP, IB, and Honors courses?
• Do admission personnel look at weighted or un-weighted GPA? How do they see class rank? What if our school does not rank?
• How many and which activities should my son or daughter participate in?
• When should the student take SAT/ACT? SAT Subject Tests?
• How should a student use the summer?
• How many service hours are sufficient?

While the answers to these questions and those like them are always customized to the particulars of the student’s profile and aspirations, we have created a framework to give a rough sketch of an ideal 4 year high school plan.  We do not suggest that following this blueprint exactly is the right solution for every student, but rather offer the document as an outline of what it takes to be admitted to a top 150 university.  Your child, family, and advisers should use the blueprint as a point of discussion and reflection in order to plan appropriately for a fruitful high school experience and a competitive application at top choice colleges. Of course, if you have questions or need assistance, you can contact us any time for help at 713-784-6610.  Click here to download our blueprint for high school and college admission success.

In-Demand Skills for a Job Market in Flux

In a recent opinion article in The New York Times, “Skills in Flux,” David Brooks lays out an essential problem for the workers of the next generation. Brooks identifies the important skills that will likely define the work of employees in the next decade or two. One of the most stand-out skills in today and tomorrow’s economy is social courage. To follow up, develop relationships, and draw out others’ ideas and feelings is invaluable in a networked world. Those with social courage not only develop contacts, they build friendships that have lasting and meaningful value as a support network and as a cloud of potential customers, colleagues, and referral partners.

Beyond social courage, opposability is another of Brooks’ top skills for the 21^st century. Opposability is to hold two conflicting ideas in mind, yet still function purposefully and efficiently on the work at hand. Employers find this skill incredibly valuable during a time of rapid, widespread change because workers who can prepare for a number of opposed options and act quickly as the ground changes are very rare. Workers who can quickly adjust from plan A to plan B as customer and cultural preferences change, even if A and B are opposed, are truly golden in today’s career marketplace.

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College Freshman Don’t Know What it Takes to Succeed

In a decade of teaching at two of America’s elite undergraduate universities, Dr. Shumsky found that a majority of students at University of Virginia and Northwestern University were deficient in their ability to quickly and efficiently master important ideas and concepts for their classes. Dr. Shumsky and his fellow professors observed that students most frequently under-performed in academics because they relied on memorization and had poorly developed skills in executive functioning basics like managing their time, organizing their materials, planning for essays and exams, and investigating the myriad of opportunities for enrichment available on campus. Most of the students at these elite institutions were accustomed to relying on their native gifts and getting by with as little effort as possible. Such students, who were A students in high school, got a rude awakening in their first year of college and frequently ended up with poor grades and injured self-esteem.

Good college students must be ruthlessly efficient in their studies and in their time-management. To appropriately keep pace with fast-moving and demanding coursework, one needs to plan effectively, know how to reduce a universe of details into digestible bits, and to separate the crucial from the secondary in importance. The same is true in extra-curricular and social domains. Good students get internships, participate in engaging activities, and have fulfilling social lives. To pose the problem in plain English, good students are excellent in the skill of prioritization, both of academic ideas and personal aspirations. Unfortunately, very few will learn these skills in high school.

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