Tag Archives: College Prep

Getting A Jump On College Success

Parents, ,
From the U. S. Department of Education on Flikr

A recent article in the New York Times is a must read for every parent preparing to send a child to college or, has a child in college now. Titled Text Your Way to College, the author, David L. Kirp, a professor at the University of California, Berkley and a senior fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, presents compelling evidence that shows how important information about college is to students preparing to go there – especially students who are the first in their family to attend college.

Dr. Kirp discusses how students getting more and better information about college before applying has a dramatic impact on the colleges they were accepted to. The students who got this information were “78 percent more likely to be accepted by a top-ranked university …”  The effect was even greater when a waiver of application fees was included. Kirp’s research clearly shows how important it is that all students get the information they need before college to make the best decisions – especially first in family college students. More research confirmed the value of texting with students after they begin college as a way of staying in contact with them and continuing the flow of information.

Parents, look for programs like these in your child’s high school. If the programs are not there, work with the schools to start them.  If the programs are in place, support them in whatever ways you can to ensure that they continue to serve as many students a possible. If they are in jeopardy, fight for them. They are critically important to college success.

 

Is An Ivy League Education Really Worth It?

First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Mentoring Students, Non-traditional Students, Success In College, The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,
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From the U. S. Department of Education on Flikr

Should you send your son or daughter to an Ivy League college or university or another high quality school that does not have the prestige or the cost of the Ivies?  This is a question parents all over the country wrestle with every year as decisions about where students will be in the fall are made.  The choice of a college or university depends on many things the most important of which is the student.  Each family should send their son or daughter to the school the fits him or her best and that fits their budget for college.  In Ivy League or Bust? , Kristin Battista-Frazee’s recent article on Huffington Post does an excellent job of setting out the factors to be evaluated when making this important decision.  I strongly recommend that you read this article before deciding on a college or university.

 

 

The Virginia Festival of the Book – A Wonderful Experience

Coaching, Events, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Media Appearances, Mentoring Students, Success In College, The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In March, Donna and I were presenting authors at the Virginia Festival of the Book.  I participated in three events.  On Wednesday March 16th, I talked with fifty students at Albemarle High School about preparing for success in college.  Several of the students told me how much they appreciated the advice and how I shared it with them and the teachers were glad to hear their messages reinforced by someone the students enjoyed listening to.

Wednesday evening, I was one of two panelists discussing the adolescent mindset and the best ways to help students prepare for and have a successful college experience leading to graduation in four years with good grades and good job prospects.  There was a standing room only audience who had sons and daughters in college or preparing to go so they were quite interested in our presentations.  They demonstrated their interest by purchasing all the books I had brought for sale!

Finally, Sunday morning I briefly discussed College In Four Years at the Links of Charlottesville brunch for Festival authors who wrote books relevant to African Americans and/or people of color.  I told the audience of 200 about the value of the book for students and parents and how it could be instrumental in helping them work together for success in college.  The message resonated with them and they also purchased every book available for sale.

In addition to these presentations, I will be sharing more information with students in Charlottesville high schools in May.

Needless to say, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in the Virginia Festival of the Book and thrilled with the reception College In Four Years got at all the events and with an opportunity to share information with more students in May.  Take a look at the pictures below from the events.

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The beginning of a great event!
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My talk with students at Albemarle High School.
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The Sawyer Authors!
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My panel discussion on the teenage mindset and higher education with Dr. Florence Jensen (The teenage Brain: Planning for Success in High School, College, and Beyond) and our moderator Ms. Elizabeth Benedict.

 

 

 

The Virginia Festival of the Book

Book Review, Events, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Media Appearances, Mentoring Students, Success In College, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

VaBookFestival2016-OrigI want to let you know that I will be participating in the Virginia Festival of the Book later this month.  Here’s a list of the events, dates, times and locations.  I hope you can join me there:

Presentation of College in Four Years at Albemarle High School at 2775 Hydraulic Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901.  The presentation will be at 10:30 AM on Wednesday March 16th.

A discussion of College In Four Years as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book at 6:00 PM on March 16th at the Northside Library at 705 Rio Road, West Charlottesville, Virginia 22901.  The discussion will be from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM.

Participation in the 13th annual Celebration Brunch 11:30 AM–2:30PM at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel on Sunday, March 20, 2016 sponsored by the Links of Charlottesville where each author will briefly discuss his/her book.

This $14.99 Gift Could Be Worth $120,000*

Success In College, , , ,

Ci4y with BowGive students in college, going to college or considering college the gift of success this holiday season.

College in Four Years is the essential guide to graduating on time with better grades and less stress for a lot less money.

 

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*The average college student takes six years to graduate. The average cost of a year of tuition is between $30,000 and $60,000. Students graduating in four years may save up to two years of tuition.

 

CARRYING ON THE TRADITION

Mentoring Students, Success In College, Uncategorized, , , , , ,

 

 

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by Rashida S. Mar b. courtesy of Flikr

In my blog post “Talking Good Talk” I shared the important role family dinners had in my life as I grew up. When I had my own family, my wife and I  instituted the same rule as my parents—six days a week, Sunday through Friday, our family ate dinner together. The tradition had the same effect on our children it did on me. We talked and laughed about everything which helped us bond as a family. We also talked good talk about what was happening the world and what it meant to each of us. My wife and I intentionally kept the conversation at a high level so our kids could learn from the discussion and the thinking behind comments  made.

My oldest daughter, who had a very good public school education, got a scholarship to a university in upstate New York. After a few weeks on campus she called and said “Daddy, I’m going to school with trust fund babies.”  When I asked her what that meant, she said these kids were from successful,  affluent New York families who provided them with everything they needed. From the day they were born their families set aside trust fund all they would need for the best private schools. “They had and still have advantages I don’t have,” she also told me, “but I have  no trouble keeping up with these students academically or socially because of what I learned around our dinner table.” I’m sure some other things contributed to confidence but I believe what she was telling me was that she knew what she had to say was valuable and valued and she could hold her own in any environment – with or without a trust fund.

From her experience and mine, I know that what happens to outside of school is as important, perhaps  more important than what happens in school. School is where you get your knowledge but home is where you learn your values. Let me know if you had similar experiences growing up or as a parent.

Achievement Gap Economics

First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Success In College, The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education, , , , ,

566200801_89ede04e1f_zA recent article in the New York Times focused on achievement gaps caused by socio economic differences instead of racial differences between students in America. These achievement gaps begin to show up early – cognitive differences start to appear in children from the top and bottom socio economic sectors in America before kindergarten and only increase as they progress through school. Furthermore, the achievement gap between high and low income students has increased. Since 1970, the achievement gap on standardized test of reading has increased by almost 40% between the 10th and 90th percentile household income .

What this means is that there is  limited upward mobility in America – more limited than in most first world countries. A child born to parents with income in the lowest bracket is ten times more likely to end up in that same lower bracket than they are to rise to  the highest bracket as an adult (43 percent versus 4 percent). And, a child born to parents in the highest income bracket is five times more likely to stay there than end up there than the lowest (40 percent versus 8 percent). These results run counter to the historic vision of the United States as a land of equal opportunity.

The good news is that a college degree can make a big difference. Without a college degree a child born into a family in the lowest income bracket has a 45 percent chance of staying there forever and only a 5 percent chance of moving up into the top bracket. Children born into the lowest income bracket who do earn a college degree have only a 16 percent chance of staying there and a 19 percent chance of moving up into the top bracket.

Upward mobility means more than just money. Parents in higher socioeconomic brackets invest not only more money in their children, but more time as well. On average, mothers with a college degree spend 4.5 more hours each week engaging with their children than mothers with only a high school diploma or less. This means that, among other things, by age three, children of parents who are professionals have vocabularies that are 50 percent larger than those of children from working-class families, and 100 percent larger than those of children whose families receive welfare, disparities that some researchers ascribe to differences in how much parents engage and speak with their children. By the time they are three, children born to parents who are professionals have heard about 30 million more words than children born to parents who receive welfare. Additional language skills put child at a distinct advantage when they start school and will probably follow them throughout their educational career.

All of this information makes getting a college degree even more important for all students – especially disadvantaged students. It’s the best investment they can make with a higher return than any other way to invest the cost of a college education. It doesn’t just mean more money, it can mean changing the path taken in life. If you’re in high school now, do the best you can and do everything you can to get a college degree. If you are in college, stay there until you’re finished. Getting that degree can be a life changing experience for you and for all the stakeholders in your life.

Talking Good Talk

Coaching, Higher Education, Mentoring Students, , , , , ,
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©: Rashida S. Mar b. on Flicker

In my last post, Strong Shoulders, I talked about the importance of having family and mentors who shape a young person’s life from birth. I was blessed to have people like this in my life. The first one I want to tell you about is a friend of the my family we called, The Bishop. He was not a man of the cloth as the name suggests and I’m not sure how he got this nickname but that’s what my father, who was his lifelong friend, called him. The Bishop was known for his sage advice and one day, he  told me,

“Granville, be grateful in your life if you can have three friends – your mother, your father and one other person.”

I am grateful that for more than fifty years, I  had, my mother and father in my life, guiding, supporting and encouraging me. They are the ones who helped me learn how to think and how to express myself. As long as we lived at home, they  my sister and me to be home for dinner six days a week – Sunday through Friday. Saturday you were on your own and that helped me  learn to cook to eat on the weekend!  However, each night we had a family dinner, we would finish the meal and then do what I call, “talk some good talk”. There were no restrictions on what we could talk about or  who could talk. All comments were taken seriously and responded to critically. Not that what was said was criticized but that meant that if you didn’t have something substantive to say, you  listened and learned until,  then you talked. I learned so much about people and the world at that dinner table. As I approached adulthood, the discussions became more important to me than the meals. I always learned something.

My wife and I had the same rules in our house – home for dinner six days a week for good food and good talk. Our friends and our daughters’ friends were always welcome to join us for dinner and conversation – around our table, everyone was family. My daughters who are now 25 and 32, one with children of her own, still say how much they enjoyed being able to talk with us about anything and, to some extent, reconnect at the end of each day.

My mother use to say that you can’t make the world safe for your kids you have to make your kids safe for the world. I think talking good talk at dinner is a great way to do that. Even though I can’t be with them at dinner, I take every opportunity to talk some good talk with my students in my roles as teach and mentor. I believe this can be just as important to student success as doing well in the classroom.

Great Visit to The Maggie Linton Show on SiriusXM Radio

Media Appearances, , , ,

GMS and Maggie Linton 8-21-15I enjoyed a great discussion today with host Maggie Linton on preparing for success in college and the benefits of graduating in four years. If you missed the show or would like to hear it again, you can listen to my interview on the Friday, August 21st edition of The Maggie Linton Show by clicking on the link below. Let me know what you think.