It's everywhere and impacts high achievers the most

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2013/12/29/CMU-responds-to-stress-culture-on-campus/stories/201312290148

This really happened

What a sad precedent to set. What a sad situation:

http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/is-affluenza-a-real-condition-131213.htm

University of Iowa

The school has so many redeeming qualities: amazing faculty, great research and labs, Big Ten athletics, down-to-earth student body, beautiful campus and architecture, and roasted cauliflower and quinoa salad! The food is surprisingly excellent. Way to go, Iowa.
Cheers,
Brady

Tell your friends about
www.findabetterU.com
collegecounseling101.blogspot.com

PLEASE READ, PARENTS

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/12/millennial_narcissism_helicopter_parents_are_college_students_bigger_problem.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

And the apocalypse breaks the horizon

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/11/minnesota_state_moorhead_could_cut_18_academic_programs_why_do_colleges.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Read

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/children-today-are-suffering-a-severe-deficit-of-play/

Success

What does it really mean?

Some of these individuals have some amazing insights that I would love for parents of teenagers (all kids, actually) to hear:

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/25/240777690/success

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Cool Places to Study and Easy to Live

I'll be at #6 in a few weeks. #7 is a definite favorite and #8, never heard a bad thing about it:

http://livability.com/top-10/top-10-college-towns-2013/boulder/co

Yet these are not places most people consider.

Thank goodness

Down with the whole MOOC movement for the time being.

Let's focus on making education more excellent in other ways and making sure that our students are enjoying their process.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/11/sebastian_thrun_and_udacity_distance_learning_is_unsuccessful_for_most_students.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

They're here!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/11/11/a_report_finds_a_record_number_of_foreign_students_at_american_colleges.html

What this article is trying to say: "keep it up, Brady!"

haha

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Are colleges searching you online?

Not all of them. But the numbers are growing.

Just be aware. Think about social media as you might think about the rest of your choices in life: could this potentially harm me or someone else? Yes, don't do (or post) it. Otherwise, go ahead.

Too often, what we post on social media seems so far removed from what we really think or who we really are or, more importantly, what we would ever do or say to someone if we were face-to-face with them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/business/they-loved-your-gpa-then-they-saw-your-tweets.html?_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Love these 8

http://8ofthebestcolleges.org/

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

I love this

http://chronicle.com/article/Welcome-Freshmen-You-Do-Not/142285/

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Young women and drinking in college

It's so important to talk about because it's nothing good is coming from the rise in numbers and abuse:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/11/03/amanda_berg_photographs_college_women_binge_drinking_in_her_series_keg_stand.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

College Values

The fact is while the price of universities are startling for many, the services and amenities they provide for those costs are quite phenomenal.

I just wish more students would take advantage of all that universities can offer, but that's a different story.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/education/lists-that-rank-colleges-value-are-on-the-rise.html?_r=1&

-b

Article for the week

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-shammas/for-a-better-society-teac_b_2356718.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

I want in on this conversation

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/bruni-colleges-identity-crisis.html?_r=0

SAT writing section sets the standard for ...

very bad writing skills.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/10/sat_essay_section_problems_with_grading_instruction_and_prompts.html

Gladwell Strikes Again

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/when-not-being-the-smartest-is-an-advantage-220211858.html

It all comes back to this idea that we're pursuing exceptionalism ...

at a cost.

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

It's well worth the watch

Obviously it's groundbreaking in a sense. But it's also groundbreaking for those who are not teenagers and never were in the age of Facebook, et al.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3017108/you-need-to-see-this-17-minute-film-set-entirely-on-a-teens-computer-screen

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Big changes are ahead

For college admissions and those who are competing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/nyregion/didnt-ace-sat-just-design-microbe-transplant-research.html?ref=education

Not so sure how confident I am that 4 of these essays can really be completed in a manner that is all B+ worthy. 2500 words is a lot for a 17 year old. 10,000 words is out of order, especially without any guarantee of payoff. This could take so much time away from the focus of the other elements of this process, including other university applications.

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Oh no!

I don't know what to say but I am certain that Emory has just made a terrible, terrible mistake. The right brain needs the left to be whole.

http://www.artandeducation.net/paper/emory-university-eradicates-its-visual-arts-department-portending-an-ominous-trend-in-university-education/

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Louis C.K.

No one can ever tell me that comedians (good ones, at least) are not insightful, smart people:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/09/20/louis_c_k_on_smartphones_kids_shouldn_t_have_them_and_life_is_sad_video.html

But Louis is the most and the best of all.

(p.s. Season 3 of his show, Louie, finally came out on Netflix!)

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

What a job

I can't complain about the travel I do. Visit beautiful university campuses. Listen to excited students. Talk with passionate university admission counselors. Today I find myself at the University of San Diego. The pictures don't do it justice, although they might give the perception that life as a student here is pretty amazing. A gelato bar on campus! Sign me up.
Cheers,
Brady

Tell your friends about
www.findabetterU.com
collegecounseling101.blogspot.com

The U.C. Process

And an eye into how applications are weighed and, perhaps, should be shaped?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/lifting-the-veil-on-the-holistic-process-at-the-university-of-california-berkeley.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

There's a key to education in this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/why-men-need-women.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Some professors really DO transform their students

I wish for all the students I work with to have faculty who affect them in such a way that the relationship lasts for decades beyond graduation day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/opinion/brooks-the-humanist-vocation.html?src=recg



--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Article

Thought I'd write something original for the first time in a bit. Enjoy.

Within the first five minutes of talking with any teenager, I will undoubtedly ask some question related to reading. Do they like it or not? Or, perhaps, I ask for names of a few books they've read for pleasure in the past year(s). I ask because I think the answer reveals a lot about the student to me, and also about me to the student. As an aside, I do realize that in educated families very few young people read as regularly as their parents would like. This is typically why I ask the question when the parents are not present- or make clear that the discussion is between just me and the student at the moment. So why do I ask? I ask for the reason stated within the question: do you read? It's an important one as there must be learning going on outside of the traditional classroom and reading is the easiest and most accessible way to do this. If a student tells me that they don't read a lot of books, but they do read Scientific American or National Geographic, for instance, they have offered very insightful information into who they are as an individual and also where their interests lie. At the same time, the students learn from me that I care about their minds and I'm not only interested in the outcome of what will most certainly feel like a very arduous process: the transition from high school to university. At some point I almost always tell teenagers that whether or not they can do math will not define them in their college/university pursuits, but if they don't (like to) read, write or discuss ideas, they'll find themselves fairly hard-pressed to thrive in any classroom.

The fact is most curriculums for literature are outdated and not as relatable as we'd like to think. Why all kids read about Gatsby and Holden Caulfield still, I'm not sure, since there are so many amazing contemporary writer/thinkers, Franzen, Gladwell, Brooks, Levitt, etc … and many others who have created characters much more relevant to the teenagers of today. I insist on getting to know a student well enough so I can refer books which he/she will enjoy. My solution is not to eliminate Catcher in the Rye from mandated curriculum, but rather supplement it with reading that is more relevant to teenagers of the 21^st century. So YES! I encourage reading. I basically insist on it. But this is not the only purpose of my question. The response I get tells me a lot about the level of anxiety that the particular student feels (and to be sure, every teenager has anxieties and insecurities which has to do with a growing sense of self-awareness, a defining characteristic of adolescence). More often than not the reply I get is sheepish and embarrassed. This is the beginning of my "diagnosis" (this does not necessarily carry a negative connotation) into issues ranging from lack of confidence to poor time management and all kinds of possibilities along the spectrum in-between. This is when the relationship really begins.

I love to work with teenagers because- though it may surprise most people- they have a fairly accurate understanding of their own intellectual strengths and weaknesses and are open to improving themselves, so long as judgment does not enter the conversation. This makes the relationship a very valuable and rewarding one, especially because these skills, this insight and optimism about intellectual growth, are not taught in schools.

This is the building block of how I work with teenagers and why it's so important for young people to have mentors. I don't claim that every 16, 17 and 18 year old I come across will always have something to learn from me. In fact, too many of my former students seem to be studying and working in fields that are as foreign to me as snow to Miami, but that's not the point. The point is that they are excited to tell me about their academic and professional journeys and explain what I don't understand. They have not only become interested readers (in most, but not all cases) but they appreciate the opportunity to be a teacher and mentor, themselves. If our goal is to create a world that is better connected than the one we currently have (not FB connections but real, human connections) then mentoring and a level of intellectual honesty and openness must be a priority.

Too good, please read:

http://www.dailygood.org/story/439/miserable-and-magical-a-graduation-speech-for-paradoxical-times-nipun-mehta/

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Standardizing stupid

http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1672&fulltext=1

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Another ranking ...

another inaccurate definition of "university" and how it's supposed to be applied to every student at every level.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2013/0510/The-world-s-top-universities-in-2012/10.-California-Institute-of-Technology-Caltech?cmpid=editorpicks&google_editors_picks=true

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Et tu, Brute?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/business/how-cooper-unions-endowment-failed-in-its-mission.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

I've heard of crazier things ...

Okay, I haven't heard of crazier things.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/colleges-soak-poor-u-s-students-while-funneling-aid-to-rich.html?cmpid=yhoo

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Emory ...

is so Beautiful!
Cheers,
Brady

Tell your friends about
www.findabetterU.com
collegecounseling101.blogspot.com

Reality Check

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/05/02/college-graduates-expectations-are-out-of-line-with-reality-says-study/?google_editors_picks=true

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

More MOOCs

I think that for schools like SJSU this could make sense. But to imagine ALL universities moving toward a blended course curriculum, in every program, makes me shutter.
Philosophy? Language? History? Music!? Dance? There is value to discussion and human interaction. Why do we choose to move away from the model that has made our higher ed system the strongest and most admired?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/education/colleges-adapt-online-courses-to-ease-burden.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Amazing insights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU1xS07N-FA&feature=player_embedded

I want to code.

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

more for the MOOC

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/grading-the-mooc-university.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

More on the future of higher ed.

Note: what is China doing as we move toward a more vocational education program?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/bruni-questioning-the-missionof-college.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Cost vs Value

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/your-money/measuring-college-prestige-vs-price.html?partner=yahoofinance&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

I want to know this kid

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yingying-shang/an-open-letter-to-suzy-lee-weiss_b_3041458.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

The melt

wooing the nearly unwooable has begun:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/got-now-please-come-232500824.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Things are changing in higher education

and it's not just in the undergraduate realm:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-jobs-crisis-at-our-best-law-schools-is-much-much-worse-than-you-think/274795/?google_editors_picks=true

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

This is what's happening

And the question becomes, how can universities help students with this task?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/opinion/sunday/friedman-need-a-job-invent-it.html?_r=2&

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

This makes more sense

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/opinion/Brooks-The-Practical-University.html?ref=davidbrooks

Thank you for always making sense, Mr. Brooks!

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

What?!

Something is amiss:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/science/new-test-for-computers-grading-essays-at-college-level.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Writing Advice

http://news.yahoo.com/7-grammar-rules-really-pay-attention-085000337.html

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Reading ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/02/it-pays-to-invest-in-early-education-says-a-nobel-economist-who-boosts-kids-iq.html


--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

School System

It doesn't matter the "who" anymore. The fact is that kids are being failed and that's bad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/09/a-warning-to-college-profs-from-a-high-school-teacher/

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Job after college? It helps.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/19/pf/college/hire-graduates/?google_editors_picks=true

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113

Diversity Graph

It's eerily like an ACT test question:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/how-americas-top-colleges-reflect-and-massively-distort-the-countrys-racial-evolution/267415/?google_editors_picks=true

--
Brady Norvall, M.A.
FindabetterU.com
Education Counseling
954.254.7113