Back when I went to college (while the newly formed Earth was still cooling), the female residences were not only separate buildings, but they were also located in what seemed like the adjacent county. Mapquest or GPS would have been a big help for us to have found our way there for visits or on “date night” (don’t you just love those antiquated terms?).

If you’re a parent reading this, how would you feel about having your son or daughter living in the same smallish dorm room with a member of the opposite sex? Well, to help you fine-tune your opinions, here’s the latest news about coed dorm-room housing: More »

As if you needed more complications to make your college process more complex, don’t forget to check your state’s deadline for sending in your completed FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The federal deadline for the FAFSA is midnight Central Daylight time, June 30, 2010, but state deadlines are often different and earlier.

You can check out the list of state deadlines from the Department of Education.

Here’s a sample of what you’ll find there: More »

My wife and I didn’t visit all that many colleges with our two children when they were in the midst of their college process. I managed to help them narrow their lists by a series of prequalification steps that eliminated the marginal candidates. These days (perhaps “daze” would be a better way of putting it), however, many high schoolers are applying to 10 or more colleges. I had a client once who wanted to apply to 24 (!) colleges before I set him straight.

In this difficult economy, campus visits can be an expensive proposition, especially for families where one (or both) of the parents have suffered job-related setbacks. Before you venture out into the expensive and time-consuming world of college visits, check out these two helpful resources that can help you get the biggest bang for your buck and the best return on your investment of time. More »

Have you been on any college campuses (or should that be “campi”?) lately? If so, what did you notice about the way that students dressed?

Apparently, the administration at Morehouse College, the only all-male, historically black institution of higher learning in the United States, has seen enough of low-slung, baggy pants and other unbecoming attire adorning its students.

The Atlanta-based college, which touts “a proud tradition of producing outstanding leaders,” and whose mission “remains steadfast: to produce academically superior, morally conscious leaders for the conditions and issues of today, whether ‘today’ is post-Civil War or turn of the new millennium,” has seen fit to invoke a dress code on its men.

Jeff Greer noted the details about this last fall in his USA Today education blog and he got some interesting comments: More »

More sad news today about the consequences of college drinking. A 22-year-old man was found dead at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house at Carnegie Mellon on Saturday afternoon, according to Pittsburgh police. The student attended Pitt’s Greenburg campus, according to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Pitt News article goes on to say: More »

The economic downturn (some say “crisis”) has finally come to land on public education at all levels. My post today, however, will deal with higher education, mainly state universities across the nation.

What were once “reasonable” costs for state universities are now going to rise dramatically due to states cutting support due to massive budget shortfalls. Students (and parents) are angry and protests are spreading nationwide.

Here are some excerpts from wire stories that sample some of the issues and what protesters are doing: More »

Star Trek told us that “space” was the final frontier. In my humble, conservative opinion, I think it’s actually privacy.

You may have been following the Lower Merion School District’s current crisis about alleged spying on students in their (the students’) own homes via Mac Web cams. The other story that’s getting a lot of press is something that I wrote about a couple posts ago: “Tufts [University] has encouraged their applicants to submit, as part of an optional essay question, a short (about one minute in length) video, posted on YouTube, to augment their written applications.”

Well, these new frontiers of education-related activities have sparked some concerns. Consider some of the opinions of the posters’ almost 600 comments on the College Confidential discussion forum concerning the Mac “spy cam” issue: More »

The danger of domain confusion manifests itself even in the world of financial aid. Today we’ll explore a cautionary tale by Phil Villarreal from Consumerist.com.

Keep a sharp eye on Google: More »

It wasn’t long ago that college admissions “experts” looked down their noses at college applicants who submitted videos touting their creativity, originality, and uniqueness as part of their formal applications. Now, all that has changed, due, mainly, to Tufts University.

Tufts has encouraged their applicants to submit, as part of an optional essay question, a short (about one minute in length) video, posted on YouTube, to augment their written applications.  This move has been reported in the national media and is the topic of spirited discussion on the Web and in the media. Here are some samples: More »

If you’ve been a reader of Admit This!, you’ve no doubt noticed my mentions of the College Confidential discussion forum. Without a doubt, the CC discussion forum is the #1 place on the Web to get answers to all your questions about all things college.

When you go to the College Confidential home page, you’ll find a link up top that says “College Discussion” (if you squint hard enough, you may be able to pick that out in the image above; it’s in the yellow box). Clicking on that will take you to the forum’s home page.

I thought that I would give you a preview of the featured-thread discussions that you’ll find there today. So, here we go: More »