What do you think of when you hear the word “posse”? I think of movies about the wild west. “Round up a posse and we’ll bring that varmint to justice!” Posses have a generally negative connotation. Check out these formal definitions:

If you are a high school student, let me ask you a question. Does your school have an honor code? If so, I’d like to know how well it works. Please drop our readers some information about that in the Comments section below.

If your school doesn’t have an honor code and you’re headed to college, perhaps it might help you to know what to expect when you go to a college that expects its students to follow one. Here’s some helpful information about the primary purpose of Codes: Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve already seen here the list of most expensive colleges for 2008-2009. Now, from Campus Grotto.com, we have the list for 2009-2010.

There have been a few changes in the rankings: Read the rest of this entry »

Read any good books lately? Read any good college guidebooks lately?

I love college guidebooks. Since I’m a pack rat, my office bookshelf still contains old college guidebooks from the ’80s. In fact, I have one from the ’60s: How to Be Accepted by the College of Your Choice (Completely Revised 1961-1962 Edition), by Benjamin Fine; Paperback – 419 pages, (March 1960), Popular Library.

Care to be amazed? Have a look at Ivy League and other college costs from 1960: Read the rest of this entry »

“It costs how much per year?!”

Hey, kids. Ever heard that from your parents concerning your college picks? The cost of going to college has reached astronomical heights and promises to keep on going. Right about now, high school seniors across the land are making their college lists and parents, like Santa, are checking them twice. Why?

Well, this article from Campus Grotto gives us a healthy hint: Read the rest of this entry »

Several years ago, there was a network news story about Japanese high school students preparing for their graduation exams. Their performance on these exams determined what level of university they would get into. Pressure to perform was intense because graduates of the most prestigious university virtually were guaranteed a prosperous life’s work and other perks.

Sound familiar? There was one crucial difference, though. Read the rest of this entry »

Every year this time, we have to suffer through the seemingly endless arguing and backbiting about the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings. I am firmly in the “Who cares?” camp, being of the mind that it’s possible to get a useful education at almost any college, even though I freely admit that some colleges are much better than others.

However, the point of this post is not to argue about who’s the best. It’s about The Worst Colleges in America. Read the rest of this entry »

Unfortunately, the college rankings mania continues unabated. Every year around this time, feverish high schoolers, parents, and even some college students acquire bragging rights (or not), once the rankings begin to come out.

Of course, the big rankings are those from U.S. News . But there are others, such as Forbes, for example.

Well, Forbes has reported and there’s bad news for the Ivy League. Check these headlines: Read the rest of this entry »

One of the hottest areas for discussion on the College Confidential forum is rankings.  As you may already know, I am not a fan of rankings. In my opinion, there are just far too many fine colleges that get routinely overlooked every year simply because they haven’t played the rankings game or, for whatever reason, end up in the murky backwaters of the big rankings’ listings, most prominently the U.S. News America’s Best Colleges annual publication.

Not that my opinion matters one iota about this, but people often ask me why colleges sweat the rankings so much every year and why they play their games. There’s an easy answer: money. Think I’m being too cynical? Well, maybe I can quantify my contention. Take a look at this: Read the rest of this entry »

All over America college administrators, especially college “bean counters,” are looking for ways to cut costs. All of a sudden, sports teams have become an inviting, slow-moving target. Maybe a good slogan for this budgetary campaign might be: Take a shortcut through sports cuts.

Tom Coyne, writing in an Associated Press news story, notes some specifics: Read the rest of this entry »