Senator Clinton, Visiting My Old High School on Friday, Wasn't Totally Right...

Monumental day on Friday, March 28, as Senator Hillary Clinton was in Mishawaka, Indiana -- the town yours truly grew up in -- to speak about a whole bunch of things.

College access came up and here's a link to what she had to say:

www.wndu.com (you'll have to visit the TV screen thing on the right-hand side).

Most of what she said about college centered around the generalities that are easy to spout during an election year:

College is too expensive (thus tuition should come down).

Student loan companies charge too much (thus interest rates should come down).

Grant dollars should be increased.

Ah yes, if it were only that simple.

How bout this novel idea: equipping students (and parents) with the right tools so they can be successful in high school, so that college choices are more plentiful, scholarship dollars are flowing, and loans aren't necessary. (Mishawaka students are pretty bright.)

She also failed to mention that No Child Left Behind is a joke and should be repealed by Executive Order on Day One.

But it was nice to see she made the trip to visit the home of the Cavemen.

Panic! (At the Disco) (On the streets of London) (if you didn't get in)...

Now that we have your attention with an elongated headline that refers to an '00s band and an '80s band, here's the real message:

If you didn't get in, DON'T PANIC.

In fact, with every door that closes, another one opens. (And you're a couple months away from the first day of the rest of your life.)

Thin envelopes are a fact of life. The world is not made of instant acceptance, of plethoras of options, of a smorgasbord of "you are so awesome."

Sure, U Sphere, easy for you to say...you didn't just get dinged at your first choice, or your first 5 choices.

Beyond telling you to make sure you fill out a U Sphere profile, you also need to, well, relax. For every kid who went to Harvard, there are dozens (no, wait, millions) of others who didn't and their lives went on and they did just fine. (And, no disrespect to Harvard, but I've met some real duds in my life who could really only point to their Harvard diploma as their raison d'etre.)

Also remember that there are countless other schools who would turn cartwheels to have a student just like you on campus.

Good luck. Hang in there.

A Couple Generations Removed...Kent State Makes Noise

Before I was born -- so close to four decades ago -- there were riots at Kent State University. These made major news and were a social watershed moment.

Now, well, Ohio being another nice location for higher education, Kent State keeps making noise -- for much different reasons.

An already-growing reputation for learning has been added to by continuing to be a "great value" in education. Evidence:

The University Award Program.

Kent State "seeks to serve students who bring a richness of diversity to our student body.: They identify this diversity by targeting students from states that neighbor Ohio, states that neighbor states that neighbor Ohio, and California.

They'll knock down the price by $3700 a year if you maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.25 and enroll as a first-time Freshman.

Cool, huh?

Mea Culpa

Hi gang...if you get an email, or two, or three from U Sphere, many many apologies. We're launching stuff on our Parent Channel and that's part of the reason. Plus, we hate spam as much as the next guy, so we understand how painful it can be.

We won't take it personally if you don't...again, apologies from HQ.

Up and Comers?

We're keeping tabs on schools that, for one reason or another, are coming up more often in student dialogue these days.

Here's an excerpt from U Sphere's "Parent Channel" newsletter:


Schools jockey for position this time every year: who admitted more Merit Scholars, who has the best yield rate, those fun things.

There's another battle in the background, and it's a battle for mindshare as the "up-and-coming" schools in the USA. here are three that are making a little noise (as they're coming up amongst U Sphere students).

University of the Pacific. Stockton, California isn't too too far from the Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, inland wine country - things that matter to parents. To kids? Well, the stuff like a great student body and a not-too-big feel.

College of William & Mary. How is it possible that one of the oldest schools in the USA is "up-and-coming?" Academics are strong here, and the price is really right (it's a public college and consistently voted a "Best Value" in higher education).

Cal Poly. They market aggressively and are shaking the stigma that had been associated with California schools that aren't in the UC System. SLO is a great college town, too.

It's sortof a diversion - get rid of junk mail - is this an idea for college admissions, too?

U Sphere has bumped into an interesting group that will get you off of mailing lists AND stop the postal junk mail AND plant trees for you, too. Sounds interesting. Here's their ad:




Not sure if this works on those pesky "viewbooks" but there's still time...

Neighbors to the North, and to the South

Thinking Internationally on a Friday...

The demographics tell us that America is getting more diverse as the days go on. (Witness the race between Obama and Clinton, where it's on paragraph 12 or 13 that the writer will mention either would be the first this or the first that...)

So we give you a school that AMERICAN students are starting to look at more often: from Mexico, El Tec, "Tecnologico de Monterrey." Great part of the country, very cosmopolitan and business-focused. Darn good school. See here.

Then there's Canada -- and one of the newest schools up North, called Quest University Canada. Block scheduling there -- one class at a time for a couple weeks, then it's off to the next one. Learn more here.

United States Academies...

Fun on a Tuesday...

1 - go into the U Sphere College Finder tool (link here) and, under "Institution Name" just type "United States".

2 - click on the bottom where it says "Search Colleges."

3 - you'll see six options -- 5 are ones that, while tough to get into, are free to attend.

The sixth is a school we like here at HQ -- United States Sports Academy.