As the real witching hour for many--midnight on Monday, November 1st--approaches, all of my students have submitted their applications due at that time. Most submitted them closer to my October 15th submissions deadline. Still, there’s been a bit of seasonally-appropriate fright, mostly a refrain about one topic this past week: “My teacher hasn’t submitted his/her letters yet! Should I not submit my application?” The answer, of course, is “yes!” It behooves you to get that ap

What a treat to visit Monmouth University on Friday! I posted some photos on Instagram #destressthecollegeprocess and will be posting more on the Less College Stress Consulting and LCS Parents Group Facebook pages. The mostly-modern campus features one of the Woolworth family’s summer cottages as a building housing admissions, classes, and receptions, ringed by beautiful gardens. The library is housed in the smaller yet also stately summer cottage of the Guggenheims. If you’v

Colleges know that students are “more than their numbers,” whether those are high or low. One great takeaway from the Character Collaborative Conference is this: There is more than one way to think about “character.” IT DOES NOT EMPHASIZE WHAT MANY CONSIDER “GRIT.” Even Angela Duckworth, who popularized the term “grit” in her essay and TED talk in 2013, recognizes that grit has been taken out of context. It is not about stoicism, success at all costs in the form of grades and

Every day, I ask students who write these words in their essays to think about what these words mean to colleges. Every year, more students choose to write them. I doubt that many students appreciate the nuances of the many jobs on Wall Street, or that jobs in finance exist in other places. They interpret it to mean--my goal in life is to make a lot of money--and that is the message they send. The most cynical of us might think that colleges want to admit students who think t

Here are a few ideas for podcasts that go beyond celebrity and gossip: Stuff You Should Know: Learn about everything from numerology, free speech, the Magna Carta, and how embalming works. Josh and Chuck also cover teen favorites like true crime. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/ Freakanomics: A favorite of science afficianados, focusing on the science/technology/economics crossover. Host Stephen Dubner sometimes features Angela Duckworth (UPe