Posts by Andrew Belasco:
Does the selectivity of your college matter? What research tells us.
Posted on: 01 May 2015
We begin with an analogy. Three racehorses: Cream of the Crop, Above Average, and Run of the Mill are selected by three trainers of varying quality to prepare for the Kentucky Derby. Trainer A is world-renowned, highly sought-after and thus has his pick of the litter. Without hesitation, he scoops up Cream of the Crop […]
Four skills every college student should pursue
Posted on: 04 Feb 2015
A simplistic view of higher education is that people emerge from four years of college with a specific skill related to their primary area of study: Education majors learn how to teach, accounting majors learn how to crunch numbers, allied health majors learn skills particular to the healthcare profession, and so on down line. Yet, […]
The life-altering impact of student loan debt
Posted on: 19 Jan 2015
Particular adjectives frequently accompany sound bites and headlines on the topic of student loan debt—“crippling,” “burdensome,” and “overwhelming,” just to name a few. Student loan debt is a “crisis,” people are drowning in it, and it is seen as a threat to the economy at large. It is hard not to come away with an […]
Higher education is a buyer’s market
Posted on: 14 Nov 2014
Inside Higher Ed, one of higher education’s leading news outlets, recently conducted a nationwide survey of college admission directors. The newly-released results are shocking, and reveal a profession entirely different than that portrayed in popular media. Instead of sifting through an excess of qualified applicants, most admissions officers will spend this fall trying unsuccessfully to […]
Making college affordable
Posted on: 06 Oct 2014
In Back to the Future II, Marty McFly travels from 1985 to 2015 and is shocked to learn that a bottle of Pepsi costs $50. With Pepsi bottles sitting firmly in the $1.50 range as we approach 2015 in real life, this estimate of inflation may have been as fantastical as the hoverboard or the […]
College recommendation letters: What you need to know
Posted on: 09 Sep 2014
With the first week of the school calendar in the rear-view mirror, teachers and students alike are still adjusting to the return of their alarm clock’s discordant daily greeting, hurried breakfasts, and long, regimented days. Soliciting college recommendation letters might be the furthest thing from anyone’s mind which is exactly why it is an ideal […]
Low test scores? These colleges don’t care.
Posted on: 30 Jul 2014
In the past few years, and increasing number of selective colleges and universities have adopted test-optional policies, no longer requiring students to submit their standardized test scores. Institutions eliminating or de-emphasizing standardized tests often cite a lack of confidence in the SAT’s and ACT’s ability to predict college success and/or a desire to improve […]
Colleges for the “B” student
Posted on: 17 Jun 2014
Listening to the mainstream media, one might conclude that getting into college has never been a more competitive or harrowing venture. With the exception of a scattering of hyper-selective prestigious schools across the country, this notion could not be further from reality. In truth, today’s college marketplace greatly favors you, the buyer, more than ever […]
