Tag: visiting colleges

College Application Download

Tuesday afternoon I was sitting in the stately, wood-paneled admissions office meeting room at an upstate New York liberal arts college waiting for the information session to begin when a Facebook message from an old friend pinged onto my smartphone. I was 27 hours and two campus tours into a three day, five state, 982-mile college tour with our son, Henry (a rising high school senior) and the message from my friend – we’ll call him John because, well, that’s his name – was an unexpected and welcome distraction while the other prospective students and families filed into the room.

As it turns out, John, who is also the parent of a high school senior immersed in the college search process, was writing to ask about the relative merits of using the Common Application versus an individual college’s application if they accept both. It’s a great question. Continue reading “College Application Download”

Road Trip: Everything You Need to Know About Campus Visits – Part 2

It’s time. You’ve been talking about getting serious about the upcoming college search for months and as you look at the commitments on your calendar – summer jobs, soccer camp, house guests coming in August, etc. – you realize that you need to plan a trip to visit colleges soon. Otherwise the whole summer will have passed you by and you’ll be left scrambling to squeeze one in after the school year has begun.

If your house is anything like mine, talking about trips is one thing and actually making them happen is another. For us this means that Marnie, my wife, starts saying things like, “When do you want to go on vacation next summer?” in oh, let’s say November, and I either grunt or say something along the lines of, “How the hell do I know?” in response. This goes on for several months until Marnie gets tired of asking, takes matters into her own hands, and organizes the whole thing. And the truth is, as irritating as it is for her, this generally works out. She gets to make the big decisions and knows how to tend to the details with greater efficiency than the rest of us – myself and our two sons – and everyone gets a nice trip in the end. So it’s all good. Continue reading “Road Trip: Everything You Need to Know About Campus Visits – Part 2”

Welcome to My College Wisdom

IMG_0027Greetings and welcome to My College Wisdom – a blog devoted to providing advice, guidance, and insights into the college experience for students, parents and families, and anyone else who might be interested. The purpose of MCW is simple: to help students identify, apply and be admitted to, and succeed in college.

Okay, so that’s fine and all, but you may be wondering just exactly what qualifies me to be doling out wisdom about college. Fair enough.

For starters, though it should probably go without saying, I did go to college. And I graduated – in four years, no less. I also went to graduate school and have a master’s degree in higher education. So to the extent that being the rightful owner of framed diplomas lends credibility to my entering the blogosphere I suppose I can check that box and move on. Continue reading “Welcome to My College Wisdom”