Collegewise

"Double Your Pleasure, Double Your..." Math Score?

That's right. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have found a link between gum chewing and higher math scores on standardized tests.

Don't believe me? You can read about it here!

And I was just excited to get a mini microwave.

More and more, I'm hearing about what I like to call "designer dorm rooms."  Loyola College in Maryland has walk-in closets.  Pepperdine has on-site barbecue grills, beach vollyball courts and an ocean view.  ASU even has eco-friendly toilets.  And at UC-Merced, you can be notified online when your laundry is done. 

To those of us that used lowly coin-operated washing machines, these new developments seem a bit superfluous.  After all, part of the joy of dorm life was just how vastly different it was from living at home.  When I first moved into my dorm room freshman year, I remember thinking it looked like a prison cell crossed with an IKEA showroom.  My new roommates and I immdiately bonded over how we'd spruce the place up.  Spending countless hours covering every inch of the wall with magazine pages, we transformed the room into our own little palace.

Last week, I met with a senior to help her decide where to attend college.  It was so fun to see her excitement - about her major, the campus, and meeting her future roommate.  She said that she wouldn't know who the lucky roommate was until August, but that she was counting down the days.  It's nice to know that the important things haven't changed.

My dad once told me about sneaking out of his dorm room after curfew.  I remember laughing hysterically (both at the vision of him sneaking across the quad at midnight, and at the fact that there was a curfew).  I then stumbled upon this TIME photo essay, which shows how dorms have transformed over the last hundred years.  It's interesting to see which things have evolved (curfew, for example) and which things have stayed the same (looks like our idea of decorating the wall with magazine pages wasn't exactly a unique one).

Lights, Camera, Passion!

We spend a lot of time talking to our students about their passions, and while some kids aren’t quite sure what their passion may be, I’ve never met a future film student who had any doubt.  These kids live for the cinema – watching movies, writing scripts, creating set designs, taking film studies courses – if it has anything to do with film, they’re all over it.  Well, you OC film nuts are in luck, because this Thursday marks the beginning of the Newport Beach Film Festival, an annual one-week event that showcases a variety of films to the public and gives them the opportunity to meet directors and screenwriters through Q & A sessions.  What may be of special interest to high school students interested in studying film in college, however, are the Collegiate Showcases.  Student work from film programs all over Southern California will be on display over the weekend.  Yes, the big names like USC and UCLA will be there, but so will Chapman, LMU, UCI, and Cal State Fullerton.  So if you live in Orange County but are dreaming of Hollywood, grab your director's chair and get to one of the six venues hosting the films throughout Newport Beach.

And for those future cinematographers out there who can’t make it to Newport Beach for the weekend, keep your eyes open for similar opportunities in your area.  Anything you can do to show your passion for film counts, and taking the initiative to seek out those opportunities is a big part of passion.  That’s a wrap!

A Virtual Tour of Collegewise - Northwest

Why hello there!  I'm blogging from my brand new office in Bellevue, Washington.  While I've already forced everyone within a 100 mile radius to come check it out, I thought the rest of you might like to see some photos.   And with that, here's my new home away from home! 

Come right in...

 

 

There's my desk.  A whole lotta action happens right there, folks.

Katie University

Did I mention I have a window?  Oh - and check out the Duke nightlight I got on eBay (lower right).

Thanks for visiting!! Oh how I love the self-timer function.

Open for business in the Pacific Northwest

It's official--Collegewise is now open for business in Bellevue, Washington.  For the uninitiated, Bellevue is across Lake Washington from Seattle and is known as a Seattle "boonburb" (a large, rapidly growing city that remains essentially suburban in character even as it reaches populations more typical of urban core cities).

If you're a Bellevueite (or if you live near the Bellevue area) and you'd like some help finding and applying to the right colleges, we'd love to hear from you. 

Free Collegewise seminars in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest

Secrets of College Admissions
A free seminar for students and parents

Find out how selective colleges and universities really evaluate students.
Learn Collegewise strategies students can use to improve their chances of admission.
All attendees will receive a free copy of "Collegewise Admissions Secrets," a collection of ten articles by our college counselors on topics like, "Secrets of Ivy League Admits," "The Most Overused Essay Topics and How to Avoid Them" and "How B and C students Can Show Their Potential to Colleges."

If you live in Southern California or the Pacific Northwest (Bellevue, WA), we'd love to see you at one of our seminars.  Dates, times and locations are listed below.

Take heart... admissions officers feel your pain, too!

April is a tough month for high school seniors. You have great offers of admissions from some amazing colleges, but it's hard to understand the schools who decided that you weren't right for their incoming freshman class.

We spend lots of time celebrating the schools our students get into, but we spend just as much time talking to our seniors about their denials. Admissions officers are human--people who discover amazing seventeen-year-olds in their applications, and who agonize about students that they fought hard for, but who just won't be admitted.

This article, by Angel Perez, Pitzer College's Director of Admissions, looks to remind students that they are "what keeps admissions officers in this business -- knowing that young people are doing amazing things and creating transformative experiences that will affect our world tomorrow."

This is just a reminder that the admissions process is about so much more than your GPA, and whether or not your test scores were 10 or 100 points higher than the kid next to you. And you're not going to believe this, but it's true--whether you're admitted or denied from your first choice colleges doesn't determine what kind of kid you are. And it won't even matter in a few months. In September, you'll find yourself happier than you expected. Wherever you end up.

Assisting the Assisteens of Anaheim

Last night, I had the opportunity to join the Assisteens of Anaheim at their monthly meeting and talk a little bit about college admissions. It was a great group of kids, and they all had a lot of excellent questions about what it takes to get into college these days.

We love speaking to groups, and to anyone who will listen (friends and family aren't even safe) about college admissions. It's something we're obviously very passionate about, which is fitting because colleges are looking for their applicants to be passionate about learning and the activities that they're involved with.