College is a Risky Business

by | Dec 24, 2019 | Education

The idea is ingrained in our pop culture. Parents, teachers, high school guidance counselors, financial aid officers, and students all understand that if a high school graduate wants to achieve success she will have to go to college. This is the conventional wisdom. Thirty years ago it was true. Today the conventional wisdom is wrong. College is not for everyone.

Of every four students enrolling in college only one will graduate and get a good job. The other three are just wasting time and money. This amounts to billions of dollars and millions of man hours squandered every year. Our government and the universities blissfully ignore this fact. The government’s unwritten policy is, “college is for everyone regardless of cost.” They provide “free” money in the form of loans to anyone who applies without any concern about the borrower’s ability to repay. The university administrators live a posh lifestyle and have little or no concern about operating costs. They understand that they can raise tuition every year and, if the students fall short financially, there is always that government money to fill the gap.  Even better the administrators get paid whether or not their students learn, graduate, or get a job.

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What are the dirty little secrets of college admissions?

What are the dirty little secrets of college admissions?

by | Dec 24, 2019 | Education

Secret document

This is an excellent piece from Quora, written by a gent  by the name of Brett Elkins:

Here is what I have found after working with kids and talking at length with many college admissions to find the college admissions secrets.

here are some great tips and secrets to help you navigate the process:

  1. grades grades grades and then more grades. Not for every school, but you can’t camouflage or sugar coat or breath spray great grades. Colleges usually count this as the all important factor and with so many kids applying, they may not even look at your application if it’s not in their general gpa ballpark. So make sure you hit it out.  Keep Reading

My Kid’s Going to College in August. My Name’s Not Felicity.

by | Apr 9, 2019 | Education

You have a child attending college soon? Then get to know those acronyms! But wait — there’s more, so much more!  You will be editing an endless stream of essays! You will be there to console your child if he or she is rejected from a “dream” school! And you may even have to deal with the dreaded, inscrutable…waitlist!

And here’s the best part: This journey will likely cost you tens of thousands of dollars!

We’re at the end in our household — well, the end of choosing a college, anyway. It’s down to three schools. But let’s go back to the beginning and start tackling those acronyms.

Source: Dailykos
My Comments:  I am familiar with most of these sites, but it was such a compact articles with lots of information, I want to get it on my site.

How can I help my student manage stress?

by | Apr 3, 2019 | Education, Health-Wellness-Sex, Mentoring

We adults all experience it, hate it, and deal with it. Over the years we’ve learned ways of handling stress that work best for us. (It’s the reason some of us devour pounds of chocolate…)

Our college students are different, though. They’ve been shielded somewhat from the stress of what we call “real life.” Growing up, yes, they experienced the stress of trying to make good grades, succeed at extracurricular activities, and fit in with different groups of people. However, they had their parents around back then. When they took on too much, we helped them prioritize and streamline their commitments. When they were over tired, we made them go to bed. When they didn’t feel well, we kept them home from school and made them soup and Jello. We were back-up alarm clock and day planner. That was our job as parents.

Source: University Parent
My Comment:  This site has been a great source over the years.  So thankful for it.

Investigated: Anxiety-inducing fitness test purports to tell you how long you’ll live.

by | Mar 24, 2019 | Fitness, Health-Wellness-Sex

sitting outdoors

It seems a simple enough challenge: Sit down on the floor and get back up without the help of your hands or knees. Try it, though, and you might discover it’s not as easy as it sounds.

This “sitting-rising” exercise was designed to predict mortality in middle-aged and older people. The test was devised by a team led by Claudio Gil Araújo, a Brazilian physician and researcher in exercise and sports medicine, and published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention in 2012. It resurfaces periodically in media outlets or online, causing widespread alarm regarding mortality among the many people (of all ages) who can’t seem to get themselves off the ground. We decided to find out whether that worry is warranted.

Source:  WAPO

My Comments:
This is a pretty interesting test.  I am able to do it now, but I am not really sure what that really means.  And I certainly don’t have the flexibility to get up like the female in the video.