by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA
As students head back to school, attention will quickly turn to the college application process as seniors prepare for standardized tests, gathering recommendations, preparing activities lists, and tackling their essay. Those loved and hated rankings come out any day. Not surprisingly, media attention to the college search and application process peaks this time of year as well.

Let’s acknowledge together that not every student will have access to an independent educational consultant, either due to geography, financial constraints, or lack of need. So, allow me to speak for a moments about all the others: what does every student deserve, and frankly what do school-based college counselors deserve in their own right.

National counseling organizations recommend a student:counselor ratio of about 350:1. In many parts of the country the number is two or three times this. This excess unfairly burdens students, and despite the economic stress many school systems are under, they must adequately provide this basic student support. We expect students to make good decisions, work through conflicts, and choose the right course load. But high schoolers are, let’s remember, teenagers, not 30 years old. They deserve support to be able to make good decisions. A “zero tolerance policy” is cruel when the school system has abdicated its advising role.

This advising role takes many forms, from crisis intervention to course selection. For too many school counselors, college advising is a tiny piece of the workload. A 2010 survey by NACAC found that in public schools, counselors are spending just 22% of their time on college advising, with the rest occupied by personal counseling, academic advising, course selection, teaching, and administrative tasks like lunchroom or bus duty. Imagine a student, burdened with emotional or academic concerns, or possessing great athletic or artistic talents, or a first generation student needing extra time and guidance, frustrated by the lack of dedicated effort or expertise that highly trained, dedicated college advisers could provide.

School counselors deserve time for professional development. No one can adequately advise students on 2012 admission if they have not been able to attend conferences, join associations, read the latest research, connect with colleagues, and visit campuses. Unfortunately, few schools systems, faced with the biggest deficits in history, are able to provide counselors with the tools they need (and the opportunities they crave) to continually seek professional growth.

In the end, at its most basic level, every student deserves great advising, whether in a school, or from an independent educational consultant. While many will benefit from the partnership with an independent educational consultant, IECA believes so strongly in the principle that our IECA Foundation has worked to bring great advice to under-served families for more than 15 years. Our hope would be that school counselors get the support they deserve—and we hope political and community pressure will force school districts to meet this critical need.

A Pledge to End Fraternity Hazing

Ithaca, N.Y.

IN February, a 19-year-old Cornell sophomore died in a fraternity house while participating in a hazing episode that included mock kidnapping, ritualized humiliation and coerced drinking. While the case is still in the courts, the fraternity chapter has been disbanded and those indicted in connection with the death are no longer enrolled here.

This tragedy convinced me that it was time — long past time — to remedy practices of the fraternity system that continue to foster hazing, which has persisted at Cornell, as on college campuses across the country, in violation of state law and university policy.

Yesterday, I directed student leaders of Cornell’s Greek chapters to develop a system of member recruitment and initiation that does not involve “pledging” — the performance of demeaning or dangerous acts as a condition of membership. While fraternity and sorority chapters will be invited to suggest alternatives for inducting new members, I will not approve proposals that directly or indirectly encourage hazing and other risky behavior. National fraternities and sororities should end pledging across all campuses; Cornell students can help lead the way.

Why not ban fraternities and sororities altogether, as some universities have done? Over a quarter of Cornell undergraduates (3,822 of 13,935 students) are involved in fraternities or sororities. The Greek system is part of our university’s history and culture, and we should maintain it because at its best, it can foster friendship, community service and leadership.

Hazing has been formally prohibited at Cornell since 1980 and a crime under New York State law since 1983. But it continues under the guise of pledging, often perpetuated through traditions handed down over generations. Although pledging is explained away as a period of time during which pre-initiates (“pledges”) devote themselves to learning the information necessary to become full members, in reality, it is often the vehicle for demeaning activities that cause psychological harm and physical danger.

About 2,000 alcohol-related deaths occur each year among American college students. Alcohol or drug abuse is a factor in more than a half-million injuries each year — and also in sexual and other assaults, unsafe sex, poor academic performance and many other problems.

At Cornell, high-risk drinking and drug use are two to three times more prevalent among fraternity and sorority members than elsewhere in the student population. During the last 10 years, nearly 60 percent of fraternity and sorority chapters on our campus have been found responsible for activities that are considered hazing under the Cornell code of conduct.

Why would bright young people subject themselves to dangerous humiliation? Multiple factors are at play: the need of emerging adults to separate from family, forge their own identities and be accepted in a group; obedience to authority (in this case, older students); the ineffectiveness of laws and other constraints on group behavior; and organizational traditions that perpetuate hazardous activities.

Alcohol makes it easier for members to subject recruits to physical and mental abuse without feeling remorse and to excuse bad behavior on the grounds of intoxication. It provides a social lubricant, but it impairs the judgment of those being hazed and lowers their ability to resist.

Even more distressing, although 55 percent of college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing, the vast majority of them do not identify the events as hazing. Of those who do, 95 percent do not report the events to campus officials.

Doctors, nurses and other student-health professionals have tried to address high-risk drinking and hazing through individual counseling, a medical amnesty process that reduces barriers to calling for help in alcohol emergencies, and educational programs. But the problem has persisted.

There are signs of progress. Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth, has helped organize a multi-campus approach to identifying the most effective strategies against high-risk drinking. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has established a college presidents’ advisory group to develop and share approaches to this problem.

There is a pressing need for better ways to bring students together in socially productive, enjoyable and memorable ways. At Cornell, acceptable alternatives to the pledge process must be completely free of personal degradation, disrespect or harassment in any form. One example is Sigma Phi Epsilon’s “Balanced Man Program,” which replaces the traditional pledging period with a continuing emphasis on community service and personal development.

We need to face the facts about the role of fraternities and sororities in hazing and high-risk drinking. Pledging — and the humiliation and bullying that go with it — can no longer be the price of entry.

David J. Skorton, a cardiologist, is the president of Cornell University.

New York Times, Op Ed Page

August 24, 2011

I was renewing my Professional Membership and came to the question on the form which asks how many schools I have visited since last year, and I decided to go into my excel sheet for the “Colleges Visited” List so that I was being accurate. When I came up with 38 schools, I sat back and thought to myself “Wow, did I really visit that many schools this year?’ I did because that is what good IEC’s do –it is the hallmark of what we offer our students and families, the guidance that is built on having spent time personally at the schools that we recommend to the students that we work with. I then thought back to the fly-in to Stetson in late February which was wonderful because the school has been rejuvenated by Rebecca Eckstein, formerly of Hollins College for 17 years, and Beth Paul, coming from the College of New Jersey where she also was for 17 years as she engineered the transformation from Trenton State! Now having seen Stetson first-hand, it is a school I am happy to put on my students’ lists, and I can talk intelligently to other IECs about the school as well. And yes, I was fortunate to be on the first LD South Carolina Schools Tour with a great group of colleagues to see Wofford, Furman, the University of South Carolina, Limestone College, the College of Charleston. Clemson, and the Citadel. – another terrific group of schools. And we met with the Learning Disability Providers on all those campuses – another layer of knowledge to share with our students. I can’t forget spending two days on the fantastic campus of Penn State University, home of the Nittany Lions, at the “Spend-A-Summer-Day” Counselor Tour, experiencing many of their different colleges….a special way to gather information to help students find the right program. These Counselor Tours actually parallel programs that potential students can attend in the summer so it is especially helpful. What a warm and wonderful place University Park is despite the fact that it is a little city! Something I never would have known had I not experienced it first-hand. The trip out to San Francisco with a colleague in late January was the best and we set up tours at 8 schools ranging from Stanford and Berkeley to Santa Clara, the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of San Francisco. It was fantastic…learning about schools from coast to coast!!!!!!! So you see, visiting campuses is something that IECs do a lot of, and love doing, and it is actually required of us, no matter how many years we have been “in the business.” It is also something that we know is essential to doing the best job we can for our students and families. I am looking forward to my upcoming “California Dreamin” Tour from July 24^th-29^th, organized by WACAC, the Western Association of College Admissions Counseling, as we will be touring 15 schools in the Los Angeles area. I will report on those schools when I return from that incredible tour at the end of the summer!

Bucknell University, my alma mater, and the alma mater of my son, Brian, has just announced a new initiative on campus drinking that is quite interesting and I wanted to share it with you. Here is the full story:

Bucknell joins collaborative to address high-risk drinking

Posted: June 22, 2011

By Julia Ferrante

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell University has joined Dartmouth College and 29 other colleges and universities across the country in an effort to address high-risk drinking on American campuses.

The Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking, the first initiative of its kind, will allow the member institutions to identify and evaluate common issues related to excessive alcohol consumption and share ideas and propose solutions to problems on and around campuses.

“All campuses face a great challenge in the proclivity for high-risk drinking among college students today and the risks it poses to students’ academic goals and personal lives,” Bucknell President John Bravman said. “We’re proud to join this collaborative partnership of 30 prominent institutions from across the country to learn and share ideas that will help our students have the best possible college experience.”

Nearly 40 percent of college students in the United States engage in binge drinking, a number that has remained steady for decades, said Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim, a leader in the collaborative. Close to 2,000 college students in the United States die each year from alcohol-related injuries, including motor vehicle accidents; and an estimated 600,000 college students are injured while under the influence, according to research from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In addition, research consistently has shown that binge drinking is linked to sexual abuse and unsafe sex as well as academic problems.

During the next 18 months, representatives from the member institutions, which include private, selective universities such as Cornell, Duke, Princeton and Stanford, as well as the state universities of New Hampshire, Vermont and Wyoming, will examine policies, programs and institutional goals and propose solutions.

“It is imperative that Bucknell be proactive about these issues,” said Susan Lantz, Bucknell’s dean of students and one of several University representatives participating in the collaborative. “We’re concerned about the negative consequences of drinking, such as missing classes, doing poorly on exams, health issues and making inappropriate decisions because judgment was impaired. What’s great about the collaborative is that we are learning from each other’s experiences in facing up to this reality.”

Teams of students, faculty and administrators from each school will meet face-to-face every six months during the initiative to share outcomes and assess which programs work, where they work and why. The group plans to publish its findings at the conclusion of the process. The Bucknell cohort includes Lantz, Assistant Professor of Psychology Chipper Dean, Staff Psychologist Hannah Roberts, Associate Athletics Director Maisha Palmer, and rising seniors Michael Higgins and Kate Domingues.

The Learning Collaborative methodology was developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass., and is aimed at spreading and adapting knowledge to different settings to address a given problem or health concern, according to Dartmouth officials. The model has been used successfully in medicine and public health. Using this system, participants are able to implement changes quickly and determine which methods are most effective in their institutions.

The Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking is the inaugural effort of the National College Health Improvement Project (NCHIP), a joint undertaking between Dartmouth College and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI). NCHIP aims to bring population health improvement methods to bear on problems affecting student health and plans to organize future collaboratives on other

The end of March has rolled around and another kind of “madness” has come to an end – admissions decisions. This is the conclusion of months of waiting – after years of preparation and a long time completing tedious and often daunting applications. Now all is known, almost all, except for those on countless waitlists (and that is another story). Here are some simple rules of the road for the accepted students and their parents.

#1 Empower the student to make the decision

This is a decision that needs to be made by the student, not the parents. Parents should empower their children to make their own decision. This may be the first time the student has made a decision of this magnitude on their own. Some may relish it – others may be intimated. Parents need to be supportive and discuss issues their college bound children may be grappling with. Provide encouragement and be available to answer questions.

# 2 Be real about the finances

If financial aid is an issue, that could be the real decision maker. You can certainly get a quality education at many institutions across the county and I am sure you chose good ones for your list, so a solid monetary offer is most certainly preferable to graduating with a load of debt just to have that name sticker on the back of your car.

#3 Take the campus for a test ride

Have you visited all the schools that have made you offers? These days, students are often accepted without having visited, so it will be key to go to the Accepted Student Open House at each school you are seriously considering and pay close attention to a number of things. Check out the student body. Are they people you want to live with for the next four years? Do they offer enough diversity for you? Hang out in the Student Union or find where people gather and spend time there, ask them what they did last weekend or what they do for fun? Sit in on classes that you are interested in. Talk to professors? Are they accessible? See where the students live? Check out the downtown and surrounding areas. Look at transportation to and from the college, especially if it is far away from where you live; how do students get there?

#4 Know what you’re looking for

Noodle around the school’s website and make sure they have the majors that you are interested in. How awful would that be if you got there and found out that something you might be really interested in wasn’t offered …that has happened to students. Look for internship opportunities, and their career placement office on campus. See what kind of academic support resources are offered to all students. Find out where their students study abroad and see how many students actually take advantage of these programs. Scour the website for all the things that make this college or university unique and therefore maybe just the right place for YOU!

#5 Sleep on it

Stay overnight on the campus either on an overnight arranged by admissions or if they don’t do that, find someone from your school or town that attends the school and see if you can stay with them. This will give you valuable information.

#6 Just the facts please

This is very important. Be careful about listening to other students or girlfriends/boyfriends…they are not YOU and they are not going to this school, YOU are! Beware of comments on College Confidential, Facebook, Twitter and Wiki – these are opinions and not FACT, and are often wrong. YOU need to be evaluating the school for yourself – no one is going there except YOU.

#7 Follow your gut

When you have done all your homework and made your decision, live with it for a couple of days and see how it feels, and if it still feels right, then go with it.

#8 Don’t give up

One more caveat, once you attend, give it some time, everyone doesn’t immediately adjust to a school as soon as they get there. Don’t give up on school right away. Most new situations take a little time to get used to. Once you do, you will find they are the best four years of your life.

Attended a great workshop yesterday on the ACT conducted by Lupe Lomeli sponsored by NJACAC and hosted at Caldwell College. In her welcoming comments, Caldwell College President Nancy Blattner shared some very interesting news that I wanted to pass along to you. Caldwell just opened the new Center for Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis. This 6,000-square foot center, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, will serve families with children on the autism spectrum both in our immediate geographic area and throughout the state. Caldwell College has become a leader in training autism professionals since beginning the first master’s in ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) in 2005 and the first and only doctoral program in the fall of 2009. This was news to me and very important information. So definitely keep an eye on Caldwell College, right in our very own backyard!

The Truth About College Acceptances

Most of the best-known and most widely-read newspapers, magazines and wire services speak of “gloom and doom” every spring as college decisions arrive on-line and in the mailbox. Unfortunately, what most people don’t realize is that a handful of schools are causing the frenzy, making students feel as if they will never be accepted into a good school. The truth couldn’t be farther away. Many surveys conducted by both NACAC (National Association of College Admissions Counselors), the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) tell a much different story, one the media doesn’t choose to cover, because the stories of “gloom and doom” sell more newspapers and magazines.

True, the class of 2009 is graduating a record 3.33 million high school students, up from 3.30 million in the class of 2008. This is the highest since the early 1970’s. 63% of high school students go on to college. And even though “colleges have expanded capacity at a rate of about 5% each year, the increase in applications has been outstripping capacity growth by an average of 11 percentage points per year,” says David Hawkins, public policy director for NACAC, “in part because of the ease of applying on-line.”

One must remember that the landscape of college admissions has changed. Columbia University received 8,713 applications in 1995 (24%were accepted) and in 2006, they had 17,152 applications, an increase of 97% in 11 years (10% were accepted). Stanford admitted just 9.5% of applicants to this year’s freshman class, down from 10.3% last year, while Harvard admitted 7.1% of the 27,462 for this year, down from 9% of the 22,955 applicants the year before. Applicants must recognize that these colleges represent a handful of the most elite schools and one does not have to attend them to be successful in life

You may be surprised at findings from some of the research institutes about college admissions. For instance, the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) conducted its Freshman Survey between March – October 2007 with 700 two-and-four colleges and universities administering the survey to 400,000 students. The most interesting data says that 81% of students were accepted by their first choice school and 67.3% were actually attending their first choice school with 22% getting into their second choice college. According to the State of College Admissions report in 2006 by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), “The average admit rate for 4-year colleges is 70%, and that number has not changed much in 20 years.”

“Second choice does not always mean second best,” according to Ed Sevilla, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. A graduate of Yale and a Wharton M.B.A., Sevilla maintains that the number of available seats in top-tiered colleges is relatively fixed. “The size of the incoming Yale freshman class is virtually the same as it was when I graduated 25 years ago.” But today’s students have so many good colleges to choose from, 2,629 to be exact. It is quite likely that students at a great number of these schools will be taught by a professor who holds a Ph.D. from an Ivy League or similar top research institution.

Instead of just considering the popular rear-windshield decal, look closely at the mission of the school and whether they are “preparing critical thinkers to engage productively with the wider world.” This can be accomplished at a number of schools, as long as the school is a good “fit” for the student.

Press Release

WHAT COLLEGES REALLY LOOK FOR – (June 28, 2010) — A new survey by the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) says loud and clear that when it comes to college admissions more than ever, you need to be yourself and lever your strengths. This survey, conducted with hundreds of college admissions consultants, highlights the top ten strengths and experiences colleges look for in high school students.

Number one on the list continues to be a rigorous high school curriculum that challenges students and may include AP or IB classes. Summit-based college consultant and IECA Professional member, Carolyn Mulligan, comments, “the old realtor’s adage of ‘location, location, location’ in college admissions becomes ‘school district, school district, school district.’ Regional college admissions representatives make it their business to know the specific profiles of the high schools in their area.”

Grades and course difficulty are second in IECA’s top ten list. Admissions offices focus on the students’ progression through various core requirements. They may accept lower GPA’s in a rigorous program versus straight A’s in a less strenuous curriculum. An added comment this time is the importance of an upward trend in grades from freshman year. According to IECA members, colleges want to know what type of student will be arriving on campus, not who the student was four years ago.

“Solid SAT or ACT scores,” reflecting a consistency with academic achievement was #3 on the list. IECA members felt that terrific standardized tests alone are rarely enough to secure admission at a more competitive school, but poor scores can be difficult to overcome.

The importance of the essay moved up since the last survey, perhaps reflecting the essay’s role as more colleges move to “test optional” status. The essay was also seen as more important to private liberal arts colleges, as compared to large state universities.

Debuting on this year’s list as #8 is “demonstrated leadership in activities.” Much has been discussed in recent years about colleges seeking students who will contribute in a meaningful way to campus life. The appearance of this on the IECA list underscores this growing desire. “Demonstrated intellectual curiosity” (#9) remains an important item, particularly with those schools with more competitive admissions.

Rounding out the top ten is “demonstrated enthusiasm to attend,” an item that first appeared on the IECA list a few years ago. This reflects the college admission’s office concern over their yield: wanting to offer admission only to those who seem serious about enrolling. Just missing the top ten list: “financial resources” (despite the economy) and “out of school experiences.” This latter item fell off the top ten list, although “special talents and abilities” (#7) remained.

There has been considerable buzz in the admission community in recent months about the trend toward creative applications with videos or other unique components, but this placed far down, well out of IECA’s top ten list. Also relegated to a status of far less importance by IECA member educational consultants were several items thought by the general public to be important to decision-making: the personal interview, or being a legacy (family member of an alumnus).

The complete Top 10 List can be found at www.IECAonline.com/college.html and is attached to this press release.

Carolyn Mulligan through her Summit-based Insiders Network to College assists students and parents in their search for the best college match. The comprehensive services include forming the targeted college list, resume-writing, interviewing skills, navigating the application process and critical tracking of requirements and deadlines.

IECA was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit, professional association of established educational consultants. IECA member educational consultants are professionals who assist students and families with educational decision-making. Their specialized training, campus visitations, and professional experience equip them to help students choose schools, colleges, or programs that meet their individual needs and goals. Membership in the association requires consultants to meet IECA’s professional standards and subscribe to its Principles of Good Practice. Members continually update their knowledge and maintain skills through IECA-sponsored meetings, workshops, training programs, and information exchanges with colleges, schools, programs and other consultants.

Based on a 2010 Survey of IECA member consultants
Top Ten Strengths and Experiences Colleges look for in High School Students

1. A rigorous high school curriculum that challenges the student and may include AP or IB classes.

2. Grades that represent strong effort and an upward trend. However, slightly lower grades in a rigorous program are preferred to all As in less challenging coursework.

3. Solid scores on standardized tests (SAT, ACT). These should be consistent with high school performance.

4. Passionate involvement in a few activities, demonstrating leadership and initiative. Depth, not breadth, of experience is most important.

5. Letters of recommendation from teachers and guidance counselor that give evidence of integrity, special skills, positive character traits, and an interest in learning.

6. A well-written essay that provides insight into the student’s unique personality, values, and goals. The application essay should be thoughtful and highly personal. It should demonstrate careful and well-constructed writing.

7. Special talents or experiences that will contribute to an interesting and well-rounded student body.

8. Demonstrated leadership in activities. Colleges want people who will arrive prepared and willing to take leadership of student activities and events.

9. Demonstrated intellectual curiosity through reading, school, leisure pursuits, and more.

10. Demonstrated enthusiasm to attend, often exhibited by campus visits and an interview, showing an interest toward attending the college.

Independent Educational Consultants Association
3251 Old Lee Highway, Suite 510
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
703-591-4850 · www.IECAonline.com · info@IECAonline.com
© 2010 IECA