Great College Advice

I spent a beautiful fall day at recently at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, located in Lakewood, Colorado.  The occasion was National Portfolio Day.  Budding young artists attend one of about 50 portfolio events around the country in order to receive some critical feedback on their portfolios before they are submitted to [...]

During my recent visit to the University of Wyoming, I met a woman from Suzhou, China, chattering away in Mandarin with a friend.  I had learned that there were significant numbers of international students on the campus.  In fact, my tour guide that day was from Zimbabwe.

But I wanted to learn a bit more about [...]

During my recent visit to the University of Wyoming, I came across two women chattering away in Mandarin Chinese.  While one was Chinese, the other was from Saipan, a small island in the South Pacific that is within the US Commonwealth (like Puerto Rico or Guam). Her name is Jennifer “J.J.” Jang, and she’s a [...]

Often when I visit a college campus, I sit down with students to discuss their experiences. Such discussions initially unnerve the students (”Who are you, and what do you want?”).  But when they realize that I’m genuinely interested in learning about their college, they usually open up and share the good with the bad.

The young [...]

I recently visited the University of Wyoming. Situated in Laramie, the university is the only four-year college in the entire state. As such, the entire population is focused on providing Wyoming students with the best in higher education.

I met with Brooke Spicer, an Admissions Representative, and asked her what would make for a [...]

Sixty percent of college students in America are women; men go to college in fewer numbers.  Some campuses are content to reflect this gender gap, but many are not.  Most strive for a balance of men and women on their campuses.

The result:  boys are favored in the admissions process, sometimes with a 10-20% better admit [...]

The New York Times published an article today that provides a comprehensive look at the colleges that have been moving swiftly to lower their tuition rates for lower income and middle class families. Primarily, the colleges that are making these price reductions are the more wealthy, upper-tier institutions. But the article points out, [...]

Colleges cite their student-to-faculty ratios and average class size as indicators of the intimacy and quality of the educational experience they offer to students. Rankings systems, such as those employed by US News & World Report and Newsweek, include these statistics among their variables. I’ve been writing about these statistics and what they [...]

Student-to-faculty ratios are generally considered to be an indicator of the quality of the educational experience at a college. The lower the ratio, the more personal and intimate the experience ought to be. And yet some colleges have very low ratios and enormous class sizes. Plus, these statistics are easily manipulated by [...]

Last week, I spent a couple of days on the campus of Macalester College, in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s part of my job to research college campuses, to wander around, talk to professors, start up conversations with students, and take the requisite campus tour.
The purpose is to help match students to colleges. I’m [...]