What the Democratic Primaries Tell Us About Sending Kids to College

Is there a connection? I mean, beyond the "where did the candidates go to school" or the "who's got the better plan for student loans" stuff?

Yes. The future will not be televised: it's online.

Barack Obama scored what some are calling a huge upset -- in fact, I'd put it up there with the most recent Super Bowl. (18-1 has become an iconic set of numbers.) Not supposed to be on the same field with the presumptive nominee, young, inexperienced. Overmatched.

It's what Senator Obama did online to organize, recruit, keep people engaged, and stay on message -- that's where the upset really wasn't an upset.

The Democratic Nominee's camp knows what some colleges and universities know too well: it's never over, this recruiting cycle. He got the youth mobilized online and kept them energized online. Their "CRM" was constant, personalized and, above all, relevant.

Sen. Obama's strategy was ignored by all other Dems. In fact, dare I say it was ignored by all other candidates -- save for Ron Paul, a subject for another day.

And, as of today, there are close to 1 Million Fans of Obama on Facebook.

Ignore the Internet at your own peril, o college bound student, parent, and administrator.

College Connection Portal for Parents -- Take a Look

May 15, 2008 - Exciting News from U Sphere HQ - We're going live with with our Parent Portal.

Take a look at parents.usphere.com.

What you'll find here:

How to save for college (no matter what your kid's age)...

How to plan for college (picking the right one, finding a consultant if you need one, looking at options if you want to be a doctor or play a sport)...

529 Plans (all of them) and even some local links to enrichment programs and the like (sorry if you're not around Chicagoland, we're working on the rest of the world).

Take a look!

Which Comes First: The College Application OR The College Visit?

Great question from the peanut gallery -- specifically, the parent of a high schooler in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. (Or Obamaville to some.)

Jill F. of Chicago asks: "What's your view on visiting colleges before you apply vs. after you've been accepted?"

Pluses on visiting before you apply:

1. Many schools consider that "first contact" and track your interest when you visit. So you can be on their radar screen early.
2. Some schools will throw you a bone if you visit first -- Florida Institute of Technology drops about 3000 bucks off tuition if you have visited the school. (Goofy, I know, but true.)
3. Good to winnow down your list before you apply...a Saturday spent touring a school that you thought you'd like might yield a big fat "NO" from the student -- before you have to waste time on the application.

Pluses on waiting til after you accepted:

1. The first contact thing above is becoming less of a factor -- one school (a selective private one in Indiana, name withheld) reported that 30% of their applicants' first contact with the school was the application itself.
2. Leverage. Your interest in the school is hereby confirmed if you walk into their Financial Aid office with the acceptance letter in tow.
3. If you wait til afterwards, it becomes MORE about "fit." I think that's a big plus -- instead of thinking "could I get in here?," the pressure is off and the visit becomes all about "will I fit in here?"

GREAT question (thanks Jill).

Allow us to recommend another part of the world

Australia is red-hot right now. (Well, in the education space it's red-hot. Actually, it's almost winter there, so it may not be all THAT hot. But you get the idea.)

A mini-trend is emerging, and the folks at JMC Academy in Oz tell us that upwards of 20% of their students come from outside Australia.

JMC, by the way, is on a streak of its own -- they are opening a third campus and their programs in digital media, performing arts, and things like that are catching fire...

Here's a link to their site.

Telecom Loves You

When I received my holiday gift to myself, the EP from the Australian band "Telecom," I started thinking...how did this group find me? Why did I decide to buy this thing? And are there parallels with how kids market themselves to schools? Or how colleges find kids? Read on. If you see more parallels, let me know. If not, at least you can say "I heard these guys before they were huge."

They are legit, or at least someone legit says so. The highly influential KEXP radio station featured their song "Second Feature" as a song of the day a couple weeks back. It had to sound good enough to get someone's attention. I won't ask the band how many different angles they tried to contact people in the industry to get some exposure. It just happened...maybe they made their own luck.

Question for the college-bound: are you making your own luck?

They are a marketing machine. Well, at least they appear to be a marketing machine: take a look at their web page, spin through the various offerings there, look at how it's all consistent. And good.

For instance, I ordered the EP with the special sticker and button, and it was made rather painless in that I used PayPal and it was about 10 bucks US postage-paid.

Question for the college-bound: Do you feel like you're part of something unique when colleges come after you? Or not?

They're good, yet fill a unique niche. This is a band that has a really good sound that might not be easily defined. So they could be branded as yet another band from Australia -- one niche -- or they could be the next "Dinosaur Jr." I don't get the impression that they're all things to all people, but I am left with an indelible image of them as a solid, well-branded group who fit well in my music library.

Question for the college-bound: what makes you unique? Do you know whether you might fit? How are you positioned?

Colleges With Undercoating

The saga continues.

When last we left our heroes, they were searching for the right minivan, and this reporter was seeing similarities between searching for the right college. (See full post below.)

We got a call yesterday -- liken it to the Dean of Admissions rendering a decision and asking a recruiter to give us a buzz. "We can't find the exact car, but we have something a little better. Color you want, style you want, but with leather. And a couple other things. We can make you the right price and we'll make it worth your while. Come in and see."

N.B. Before you say NO, and before we say no, too, remember that you can find some really stellar Honors College experiences in the college universe -- some of them from places you may not think would have phenomenal honors colleges.

More to come. We're touring the campus (dealer's vast lot) this morning. With kids in tow.