Parents hear it from the media and guidance counselors all the time: make sure your student takes rigorous courses in high school. And perhaps you’ve struggled with the obvious question: how rigorous should a high school curriculum be? What is Rigor? Allison Wignall said it simply: “…rigor is the academic or intellectual challenge of a […]
Is My Student’s High School Rigorous Enough? Read More »
Not every course your student takes is a right fit for them. Therefore, during any academic term, students may drop some courses or add others to improve their schedule. Rest assured, dropping and adding courses isn’t always a bad idea. Why Drop a Course? There are several good reasons for dropping a course. For example,
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This Spring will mark the second time that the pandemic has curtailed graduation activities in our high schools and colleges. Many institutions are adjusting by offering virtual or scaled-down versions of graduation ceremonies. If you’re thinking that a virtual or scaled-down version isn’t worth attending, think again. New Versions of Graduation Colleges and universities have
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Tackling courses in the age of COVID-19 isn’t easy. Many colleges are offering their classes this Fall semester remote only, and several others offer what’s known as hybrid classes. This means that classes are offered remotely though Zoom, Google Meet or some other platform, at same time, they meet face to face on the campus.
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It’s no secret that students and parents alike are concerned about starting college during a pandemic. And this is true whether the students are attending from home or moving to campus. Yet students can thrive during a pandemic Things to Consider I wrote earlier about how to choose a college during a pandemic, using online
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There are times, such as Spring 2020, when traditional commencement ceremonies won’t be held at thousands of colleges and universities around the world. That’s a loss and a disappointment to many. But I’d like to suggest that as family members, you find a way to give your student a graduation in 2020. The Importance of
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One of the pitfalls for first year students in college is their perceptions that college is like high school, or just like “the 13th grade.” This is particularly the case in community colleges, since those institutions are open-access, meaning anyone with a high school diploma can attend. To be sure, this means the range of
Community College is Not the 13th Grade Read More »
Years ago, I told students that our support services were available to them; they just had to take the first step. I even wrote a column for the campus paper entitled “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” reminiscent of the Glenn Miller song. In essence, I was saying that all we need to do as college staff was to
Meeting Us At Least Halfway Read More »
Back in the old days, packing for college didn’t involve renting a U-Haul to take your student to College. My parents and I packed up my Dad’s Cadillac with clothes, bedding and school items like pens, notebooks, and my typewriter, and we were done. Over the years, that expanded but I was still able to
What to Bring, and What Not to Bring to College Read More »