consultant - College Admission Counseling

College Catalog – A Student's Bible

Jared Hobson — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:47:42 +0000

On his recent visit to Otterbein College, Mark shared his views about what helps students finding the desired information they’re looking for about a college. A college’s catalog–or bulletin, as it is sometimes called–is the source of all knowledge about the policies, programs, and procedures of a college. If you are interested in a particular place, make sure to pick up the catalog.
Watch this video and learn how a college catalog can help you find the right majors, graduation requirements or answers to any other questions you may have:

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
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TRANSCRIPTION
Hi, I’m here today on the campus of Otterbein University which is in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio in a beautiful little town, a nice little center here right next to the campus but I want to take a minute just to talk about something about researching colleges and that is the catalog, the college catalog, also sometimes known as the bulletin. This is the bible of any college student and it should be the college of any student who is looking at and trying to decide which college to attend. When you’re serious about a particular college, make sure that you get a copy of this catalog. Now you can find it on the internet sometimes, it’s kind of hard and sometimes it’s kind of funky to navigate but this is really important. Why? Because while choosing a college is partly about sports and activities, you can see the stadium and the track behind me, it’s sometimes about parties and about fraternities and sororities, the fraternity houses are just down the road here and sometimes it’s also about residence halls and living on your own and growing up and expanding in those personal ways but, you know, really college is primarily about school. It’s primarily about learning. It’s tests, it’s papers, it’s all the things, going to class. This is the book that you need to have in order to understand the academic structure of a university and the requirements to your degree. So, you want to make sure that you understand that when you’re looking at a particular college and trying to figure out whether or not this college has the things that you’re interested in.
So, you know, take an example, if you want to know about how to double major or what a dual degree option might be, you need to know all of those things are listed in here. If you’re looking at, say, the politics department, you want to know about what kinds of courses are offered and what are the introductory courses, what are the second level courses, what’s the philosophy of education in that particular department? What is the emphasis? Looking at who the faculty are, that’s all going to be in this catalog. Again, you know, we have all kinds of information at our fingertips. When we go to the internet, we go to the websites of the various colleges, what do we see primarily? We see pretty pictures, we see virtual tours, we see student blogs, we see, you know, talking heads telling us how wonderful this particular college is but if you want to understand what’s going to, what’s in it for you, get the book that every student has on campus, get the college catalog or bulletin and make sure that you read up and understand how this college is structured, what its priorities are and what it’s going to mean for you academically speaking because that’s really what college is all about.

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A Classical Education: Back to the Future With The Liberal Arts

Jared Hobson — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:57:27 +0000

Stanley Fish wrote a piece for the Sunday New York Times, entitled“A Classical Education: Back to the Future”.
Fans of a liberal arts education (like me) will enjoy his defense of a classical education as the best sort of education for the 21st century. His argument is actually a review of three recent books about education: Leigh A. Bortins’ “The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education,” Martha C. Nussbaum’s “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities” and Diane Ravitch’s “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.”
More to add to my reading list…!
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant and Liberal Arts Junkie

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Parent Thanks Counselor for Help With College Transfer

Jared Hobson — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:24:35 +0000

I have been meaning to write to you to thank you for helping Lexie with her college transfer. Lexie is very happy at Kenyon. She loves her classes, though she’s working very hard, and she made the Mock Trial team and loves that, too. Thought you’d want to know.
I have to admit that when Lexie was a junior and senior in high school, I thought that the few parents who were hiring admissions consultants were the ultimate in helicopter parents. Working with you really changed my opinion about the value of good counseling and good advice. I realize now how flat-out difficult the process really is. Thanks again for all your help in convincing Lexie where she belongs, and then getting her there.
M.R.M
Erie, CO
Parent of Student at Kenyon College, Class of 2013

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Great Information on Careers in Engineering

Jared Hobson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:55:56 +0000

I recently came across this gold mine of information on careers in engineering. It has lots of cool stuff, including job listings, engineering news, and career advice.
Check out ENGINEERING.com | The Engineer’s Ultimate Resource Tool.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

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Student Finds Perfect College With Help of Expert College Counselor in Denver

Jared Hobson — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:24:16 +0000

It’s so fun to hear from students who have successfully found the perfect college…a place that really fits their academic and personal interests and abilities.

This short video was created by one of my former students who is now at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. His family hired me as their college counselor to help this young man figure out what he wanted. After several months of getting to know one another, of exploring various options, and pulling together essays and applications, he was able not only to get into a great college, but win some scholarship money, too boot!

If I can help you or someone in your family find the best college for them, please send me a shout.

Educational Consultant in Denver

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Campus Cuisine–It’s Not Your Standard Cafeteria Fare Anymore

Jared Hobson — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:12:57 +0000

One of the most important stops on a campus visit is the dining hall. While I try to remind my clients that education the primary “service” they are purchasing when they look at a college or university, it is true that they are also choosing a home for the next four years.

So residence halls are important. Will you be comfortable?

And dining halls are also key. Will you find a pleasing, nutritious, and varied diet?

In the past decade or two, dining halls have undergone an overhaul. In part, this is because the consumer–kids–have developed more discriminating palate.

Gone is the usual rotation of Salisbury steak (a.k.a. “mystery meat”), macaroni and cheese, and breaded chicken cutlets with a slab of cheese (we used to call these horrifying things “elephant scabs”).

Now it’s Vietnamese pho (noodle soup), mini-samosas, goat cheese salad and chicken mole.

Check out what these colleges are doing (courtesy of an article in the Associated Press) to offer more flexible dining options:

Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., offers recyclable takeout containers called “GustieWare” in the dining halls.
This fall, Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., will offer students on its meal plan a chance to pick up groceries in the cafeteria as an alternative to a cooked meal.
At Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., food waste from the dining hall is used as compost for an organic garden where students grow lettuce, peppers, corn, kale, squash, carrots and other vegetables.

So as you visit campuses, make sure to ask about various dining options, and take the time to have at least one meal in the primary dining hall. You should even ask students (I nab ’em while they are standing in line) what they think of the meals on campus, and what the other options are) how they feel about the food. Before you rush to judgment, keep in mind that any institutional food will become overly familiar to the student who eats in a dining hall day after day, semester after semester.

And also keep in mind that all these dining options do cost money. One of the biggest cost jumps in college costs in recent years has been increases in the cost of “room and board,” with board being that Vietnamese pho, goat cheese, and premium organic groceries.

Great College Advice

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Bennington College: Creative, Self-Directed, Intellectually Serious Alternative

Jared Hobson — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:14:19 +0000

I recently spent a gorgeous spring afternoon on the campus of Bennington College in southern Vermont. The campus is a lovely mixture of colonial architecture and internationalist modern styles, and 650 students are proud to be known as a relatively off-beat, alternative, and artistic bunch. Like Marlboro, Bennington does not offer traditional majors, but requires students to develop their own plan of study that is closely supervised by the faculty.

This video offers a brief summary of my visit to Bennington.

Educational Consultant

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Study in the USA from Guangzhou, China

Jared Hobson — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:26:54 +0000

During a recent trip to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, I met with hundreds of students and their parents to explain the American higher education system. I participated in college fairs, presented at education expos, and gave lectures.

As this short video explains, there is a dearth of good information about how to study in the USA, and many misconceptions about what it means to study in the United States.

Have a look!

Click here to read more about how I explain how to study in the USA in Chinese.

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Liberal Arts Colleges–The Educational Advantages

Jared Hobson — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:43:52 +0000

During my recent visit to Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, I asked the director of admission, Mathew Cox, his views on the advantages of a liberal arts education.

Here is his response.

Mark Montgomery
College Consultant

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Millsaps College–Distinctive Features and Admissions Priorities

Jared Hobson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:34:04 +0000

I recently visited Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, to find out for myself why this small, liberal arts college is included in Loren Pope’s book, 40 Colleges That Change Lives. I was able to spend some time talking to the director of admission, Mr. Mathew Cox.

This short video highlights three distinctive features of Millsaps. It’s a wonderful place.

College Consultant

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