- lesscollegestress
- Oct 11, 2021
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 this way because they might become big donors. However, both the Harvard Character Counts initiative and the Character Collective, a group to which 74 colleges belong, would emphatically disagree. The problems we need to address in the world need collaborators from the worlds of business, the sciences, and diplomacy. Schools want students who think beyond their own portfolios, think creatively, and work on solutions, starting in college.
I talk to my business students about understanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Both large and small companies practice CSR in hiring/labor policies, what they choose to invest in, and planned charitable giving that does not come from profits. It’s well-defined by former PepsiCo chairperson Indra Nooyi, who says, “It’s not about giving away money we’ve made (that the shareholders should be getting). It’s how we make money a different way.” While Pepsi has yet to solve its carbon footprint issue, they encouraged stores to market Pepsi Zero Sugar more effectively.
When students “don’t know what to write about,” I show them the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which present opportunities to work on the world's most pressing problems--all of which require big business efforts. Invariably, students see one of the goals as a priority and it piques their interest. That’s good for their essays. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
It’s all about opening minds beyond money. I don’t begrudge my students the desire to make it, but rather to help them understand that colleges like to see them think more deeply about how they do. Many of my students will likely become quite wealthy; ironically, many of them do not need an undergraduate business degree to make it happen. Demonstrating character remains the priority of the college application, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I’ll be attending the Character Collective Conference 10/12-13 and pass on any wisdom that can help my students.
- lesscollegestress
- Oct 3, 2021
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 (UPenn psychology professor/writer of Grit as a guest.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519
How I Built This: succesful entrepreneurs like Peloton’s John Foley share their failure (s) to success stories.
Radiolab: Mind-opening stories that inspire, often science-based.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab
TED-podcasts: Browse through 45 often-inspiring podcasts on positivity, design, mental health, business, science, climate, whatever makes us human. Everything you can imagine, mostly short, some long.
https://www.ted.com/search?page=1&q=podcasts
It Was Said/Hope Through History: Historian John Meacham presents short, inspiring, snapshots of history, featuring excerpts of speeches from the likes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK, Muhammad Ali, and Tim Tebow.
The Argument: NYTimes podcast features experts respectfully debating two, or sometimes three, sides of major issues, moderated by libertarian columnist Jane Costin.
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!: Test your news and entertainment knowledge quiz show.
Two of my personal favorites, not recommending for all unless they pique your interest:
Uncomfortable with your information being manipulated by social media companies?
See Tristan Harris’s film The Social Dilemma and listen to his podcast Your Undivided Attention
The Ezra Klein Show:
The liberal, advocate of “doing the reading” author of Why We’re Polarized offers polite discussions of big issues, often challenging himself while staying true to his ideas.
Feel free to share your suggestions with me.
- lesscollegestress
- Sep 5, 2021
Every year, I feel excited about my students going off to college. Some of them have already built a college friend group during senior year of high school, and others have the natural confidence to create one as soon as they hit campus. Personally, my three kids had three different freshman year experiences. During the move-in, my oldest made new friends to have dinner with that night; she politely recommended a place where we could eat before she even unpacked. At the time, I didn’t realize how unusual that was.
The truth is that freshman year, socially speaking, is not easy for most students. An advisor at my youngest daughter’s college spoke to us about helping students manage expectations (sound familiar?) at Parent’s Weekend. She advised them to stay positive, make “life raft friends,” and understand that these friends, and their roommates, might not become their closest friends for life. Good advice, little comfort. The vulnerability that comes with seeking acceptance is painful.
Settling into freshman year keeps getting harder as students watch their Photoshopped friends partying like celebrities. It’s tough to connect when everyone is lost in their phones.
I wish that I didn’t feel moved to post this video every year, but it's worth watching. Made by a Cornell freshman for a school project, it somehow captures not only the discomfort, but also the optimism, of the freshman college experience. The video remains hopeful, and so do I, because the college experience really does get better!