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Two college counselors address both philosophical approaches and technological aids in support of a successful college search process.
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PACAC Main Line Workshops, April, 2010
Cigus Vanni & Shelley Krause, co-presenters
Counseling Tips & Tricks 2.0
BEING USEFUL’S NOT ENOUGH—BE MEANINGFULSorry, Thomas—it’s not good enough to be useful as a college advisor. There’s too much information to sift and too many contexts to ignore. An effective high school counselor must be meaningful.
SNOWFLAKESColleges and universities are unique; while they may share many similarities, each is singular and each has its own way of crafting a class.
MARKETINGAll colleges endeavor to attract applicants, but there is no school that is perfect for everyone. Just as importantly, however, there is no school that is perfect for anyone because there is no perfect school. It is more appropriate and beneficial to seek out sets of schools rather than focusing on just one.
POLYPOOLS (what??)There is no college or university in the country that has but one applicant pool. Schools evaluate various special interests and offer admission to a significant number of students before the regular applicant pool is considered.
QUILTSCollege admissions is not a blanket, using the same stitch over and over again until finished. College admissions is a quilt, a series of patches which when completed makes a pattern. The patches on the periphery may seem “lighter” and when placed away from the product could look out of place—but when taken in context of the entire quilt, it is clear that each patch “fits”
JEFF GORDONConsider what is more important—the driver or the vehicle? Would you rather have Jeff Gordon driving a twenty-year-old car or an inexperienced driver in a race car? A skilled driver will make the best use of whatever resources s/he receives.
FITA person who wears a size 40 portly suit would look foolish in a Brooks Brothers size 46 suit, regardless of the fact that the garment would be eminently durable, impeccably tailored and complimentary of skin color. Resist being a slave to fashion in college admissions.
An ocean of information
FILTERINGis key
Contextmakes a
BIGDIFFERENCE
CONNECTINGis critical
What's on your mind?
Blog: a record of a learning journey
Wiki: a shared space where people can collaborate
Once Upon A Time…
College NavigatorCurrently available info:
Programs offered
Degrees awarded
Retention rates
Graduation rates
Price of attendance
3 yrs of average net price
Aid availability
Campus safety
Accreditation
Whose judgmentdo we trust?
NACAC’s Knowledge Center
NACAC’s listserv
check out the College Lists wiki
read/subscribe to some helpful blogs (or start one!)
We are drowning in information but starved for wisdom.
The genius is in the conversation…
Time’s up already?!
Let’s continue the conversation.These slides will be available on Slideshare
Learn Out Loud
Shelley [email protected]
@butwait on Twitterhttp://relaxnoreally.blogspot.com
Add Meaning
Cigus [email protected]
COLLEGE RESOURCES ON THE WEB• The College Board: http://www.collegeboard.com One of the most extensive and comprehensive college
search sites on the web • The Princeton Review: http://www.princetonreview.com/college-education.aspx A more cheeky look at
college search and selection; uses student ratings of various aspects of college life to inform. Also has an extensive section on SAT and ACT preparation
• Peterson’s: http://www.petersons.com Info not only on colleges and universities but also on summer
programs (most extensive on the web for summer programs) • Voluntary System of Accountability Program: (VSAP) http://www.voluntarysystem.org/index.cfm
Established by a network of public four year colleges to provide meaningful and relevant data on public colleges and universities in the US
• University and College Accountability Network: (UCAN) http://www.ucan-network.org/ Established on a
voluntary basis by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities to provide meaningful and relevant data on private schools in the US
• National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ Federal government site for
information on colleges and universities—reports all data that colleges and universities are required to provide to the US government to receive federal aid; probably the most comprehensive site on the web
• Education Trust College Results Online: http://www.collegeresults.org/ The most extensive site on the
web by which to compare and contrast graduation rates for colleges and universities • National Association for College Admission Counseling: (NACAC)
http://www.nacacnet.org/Pages/default.aspx Information not only concerning college search and selection but also regarding admissions policies, financial aid and college counseling resources. Some parts of site restricted to NACAC members
More RESOURCES ON THE WEB• College Lists Wiki: http://collegelists.pbworks.com Compilation of unusual and/or hard-to-find lists,
authored by college counselors
• National Survey of Student Engagement: http://nsse.iub.edu/html/students_parents.cfm Housed at
Indiana University Bloomington, NSSE (pronounced “Nessie”) provides results from extensive surveys distributed to undergraduate students at schools in Canada and the US. Colleges and universities may choose not to share data so one may be disappointed that certain schools are not listed here
• Inside College: http://www.insidecollege.com/reno/home.do On-line site related to The College Finder by Steven Antonoff , a useful and humorous look at the college landscape
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html This is the US Department of Education site for FERPA (“The Buckley Amendment”) and the most comprehensive resource on this topic
• Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data Assessment: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/ If you didn’t get enough from the NCES site on the previous page and you want to create tables/compare data on your own, this is your Nirvana
• Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada: http://www.aucc.ca/ The most comprehensive site for current information about schools in Canada
• University and College Application Service of the United Kingdom: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/ The most comprehensive site for current information about schools in the United Kingdom and the source for the Common Application used by all 153 institutions of higher education in the UK (nope—no kids in school in the UK)
Image Credits
Slide 8: http://www.flickr.com/photos/untitlism/2485638194 (fishermen)
Slide 9: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fras/2620018845/ (red collander)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29093956@N00/1947517257 (old fashioned phone)
Slide 10: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21257461@N05/2550349404 (question notebook)
Slide 11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/73645804@N00/1384952210 (soccer teamwork)
Slide 13: graphic generated by http://www.wordle.net/ with text from the College Lists wiki
Slide 15: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9ahob/2630086607/ (back-lit figures stretching)
