May 26, 2018
Welcome to our final issue of News and Views for 2017-2018. We wish to extend our thanks to the whole Catalina community for the support we have received in our work this year. We are gratified by your responses to our revamped college counseling program, and we look ahead eagerly to further enhancements.
Juniors
We encourage you to work on drafting and revising your college application essays and supplementals over the summer, as your schedule permits. Though your senior-year advisor will be the primary person responsible for providing you with guidance on these writing samples in the fall semester, you are welcome to contact Ms. Van Wagenen if you need feedback in the meantime.
Davidson College Fly-In Program
Davidson College is inviting applications for their fall fly-in program. Access Davidson (formerly the Multicultural Visit Program) will be held October 14-16, 2018. Visiting students will arrive Sunday evening for a two-night visit and will return home on Tuesday evening. In addition to staying overnight in a residence hall, students will attend class and interact with current Davidson students, faculty, and staff.
To apply for the program, students must complete the following steps:
- Submit a completed Access Davidson application
- Upload a complete transcript including their senior schedule
- Upload a copy of standardized test scores (SAT or ACT)
- Upload a copy of the high school profile (if available)
Priority will be given to students who have not yet had the opportunity to visit campus. Davidson College will cover the direct expenses associated with a visit to campus for each student, including airfare to and from the student's home airport and Charlotte, ground transportation to and from campus, meals during the visit, and overnight accommodations.
Thinking Ahead: Career Services
We believe wholeheartedly in the value of learning for learning's sake. Indeed, as Socrates has reminded us for a couple of millenia now, "The unexamined life is not worth living." That said, we also recognize that it is imperative for most students to build marketable skills during their undergraduate years. Consequently, they should not neglect to evaluate the quality of each college's office of career services as they build the lists of schools they will apply to. As The Chronicle of Higher Education's Scott Carlson recently observed: "The drifting that can happen after college is, for some, a rite of passage: They graduate with a major that doesn't have a clear career trajectory, and they end up doing whatever they can to pay their rent and their student-loan bills. But a new report from the Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Burning Glass Technologies notes that 'those who start out behind tend to stay behind,' and the phenomenon can last for a decade, causing workers to forgo an average of $10,000 a year in pay. For some majors — biology, law enforcement, natural resources, and psychology, to name a few — a menial first job can lead to persistent underemployment years later. Psych majors, for example, have a 54-percent chance of being underemployed in their first job, and a 38-percent chance of being underemployed five years later. Women, in particular, are much more likely to be underemployed than are men. Strada and Burning Glass recommend that colleges 'demystify career services' and provide students with a better 'career game plan,' including information about potential jobs and salaries.' "
Talking to Kids about Grades
As you await your child's second-semester grades, you may struggle with the question of how to react to them in a constructive way. Here to help you is this two-minute video from lecturer and author Denis Pope, Ph.D. Her principal suggestions are these: (1) Focus on effort and learning over performance and grades, and (2) let your child know that your love for her is not predicated on the content of her report card (this second, key message is not always obvious to kids, however obvious we may intend to make it).
For more wisdom on this subject, check out this additional gem from the Challenge Success organization's Mary Hofstedt. The key passage is the following anecdote: "Another friend's son (I'll call him Alex) attends an elite high school in Silicon Valley. My friend was concerned about Alex's academic motivation (he is a B student), and wondered why, if he could get a B, couldn't he work just a little harder and get the A-? Alex explained to his mom that he was learning what he wanted to learn, liked school, and by being okay with a B, had time for friends, sports, and sleep. My friend left the conversation frustrated. Then she thought about it. She realized Alex was a healthy, balanced kid. That was the point."
Getting Our Kids Back
We remain big fans of former Stanford dean Julie Lythcott-Haim, whose best-selling book, How to Raise an Adult, we have recommended to you to in past issues of News and Views. Given the pervasive anxiety among teens, the pressure around college admissions, and the ongoing struggle parents experience in trying to navigate a landscape so different from the one they knew growing up, we want to make one more plug for Lythcott-Haim's message, which is encapsulated in a talk she recently delivered for Laguna Beach Unified School District in Southern California. As Collegewise's Kevin McMullin puts it, "[Lythcott-Haim] and her husband have wrestled with the same questions and scenarios so many parents are experiencing as they try to balance pushing and guiding with supporting and cheerleading. I think her personal stories of her own experiences with her son will resonate with you. And I suspect you'll be as moved as I was when she shares the tale of her sophomore, who struggled to keep up with his rigorous schedule, the culmination of which she put so endearingly: 'Sawyer dropped Spanish. And we got Sawyer back.' " You can view the whole talk here.
Spotlight On: Quest University Canada
You are probably well aware that, from the standpoint of both cost and quality, Canada has a number of higher education options worth considering. Mr. White was impressed by all the schools he visited on his recent trip to British Columbia, including UBC Vancouver, UBC Okanagan, University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University. These schools deserve a look from any reasonably strong student who likes large and midsize public schools and would consider studying outside the United States. The rising star in Canada, however, is that nation's first-ever private liberal arts college, Quest University Canada. Celebrating ten years in operation, Quest has taken a great deal of inspiration from Colorado College, whose block schedule it has adopted but whose surroundings it may well outdo. Quest's sublime setting in Squamish, BC is, in itself, an education for the senses and the soul. As Mr. White puts it, "In a place like that, who needs art on the walls when you've got windows?" Of course, it is the learning that happens within those walls that is most important, but Quest seems slated to achieve excellence there, as well. Students who are attracted to an innovative curriculum and like classes that are uniformly small and seminar-style will find Quest's program very appealing. Not to be outdone by the public options in Canada, Quest also has extremely competitive pricing, especially relative to private colleges in the U.S. Exchange rates will fluctuate somewhat, but at present, a year at Quest, inclusive of all costs, runs about $40-42,000 US, with transportation being the main variable. Moreover, as the school expands from its current size of 800 students to its projected size of 1600, they actually intend to lower that cost. Meanwhile, they are offering generous financial aid packages. The novelty of the institution may give you pause in thinking about name recognition, for instance, but based on what we have seen, Quest is a school that is already doing great work, is on a very sound academic and financial footing, and can be expected to go places in the years to come.
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