The Tour Goes On

Our visit to the U.S. Naval Academy began at exactly 0800 and reinforced the concept of this being a very special place. Not only is it an outstanding engineering program (there are liberal arts majors as well) but it a place with a real sense of caring for its students. The idea of hazing and weeding out is gone. The Academy believes that it has admitted some of the best individuals in the country and it is committed to seeing those individuals succeed, not only at the Academy but in the Navy and later in life. And their record proves it -- numerous notable officers, astronauts, Rhodes Scholars, and even a President of the United States. My great-great-great grandfather -- Rear Admiral C.K. Stribling who was the first Superintendent of the USNA, would be proud. "On Stribling" refers to the main walkway through the grounds and means that a plebe is "on-campus". (For those from S.C. who may recognize the name Stribling, he was from Pendleton and left home at the age of 15 in the mid-1800s to join the Navy -- note the US Navy cycling jersey I found on sale just before I left Greenville!)

We were in Annapolis during "plebe summer", the time when the new students come to the Academy and begin their training. They were out at 9 PM marching around, and then back again the next morning in formation. It might be tough, but 85% go on to graduate in 4 years; a record surpassed by only a handful of colleges in the country.

The Academy is definitely in the modern age technologically and it has excellent facilities. All that combined with career training that is easily transferable to the civilian world makes this a great option!

posted by William "Stribling" Dingledine, Jr.

Goucher College & Johns Hopkins University

Stage 1 of the Tour de Mid-Atlantic is over and great weather and wonderful visits prevailed! A beautiful summer morning of about 60 degrees greeted us as we pedaled from Oldfields School to Goucher College -- I thought everyone was taking July 6th off since July 4th was on the weekend but you couldn't tell that by some of the early traffic! The eight of us from the following: Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, Stoneleigh-Burham in western MA, Tenafly HS in NJ, Christ School in Arden, NC, St. Luke's School in Westport, CT, and Scarsdale HS in NY, and Oldfields in MD, all set out in various bike set-ups. Several of us had the traditional panniers, one pair was on a tandem (that had traveled much of Europe!), and a couple had "trailers" towing their belongs behind. We talked and laughed most of the ride today through local neighborhoods.

Goucher was excited about its new (long-awaited) students center and library about to open this fall with a big "green" focus in its construction. Not only are their science programs strong -- great pre-med tradition and psychology is considered a "science", thus requiring significant research, but their dance (best facilities for any college this size I have ever seen -- conservatory quality!) is great along with education and creative writing. Though not a college associate with any religion, the student body has a strong spiritual component ranging from Christian to Jewish to Muslim, and alternative; the non-denominational chapel is widely used. Also, Goucher is Test-optional and really places a strong emphasis on high school preparation and writing ability (as shown on the essays -- they require 500 words as opposed to the 250 regularly requested on the Commmon App).

Our ride to JHU was led by their Vice-President for Enrollment and he took us through some of the prettiest old neighborhoods of Baltimore City -- not the usual route for visiting Hopkins -- and this certainly dispelled any notion of the neighborhoods around the University being questionable. Nevertheless, it is true that Hopkins is in the city, so usual cautions are advised that one would employ in any city. As expected, Hopkins presented itself as a powerful "research" institution. Though class sizes might average 11-12, intro classes in the major courses (biology, chemistry, organic chem, psych, etc) are 250+. Students are driven by internal desire to succeed and that lends itself to the notion that it is a very competitive school; yet there is a good amount of collaborative and collegial learning and studying that occurs. More and more housing is being made available to students -- very important this year because they accepted a few more students expecting a lower yield, only to have more of them deposit -- counterintuitive in this economic climate! They emphasized that Hopkins is not just a "science" school but is quite strong in many areas of the liberal arts -- creative writing, economics, international relations, and art history. The student body is diverse and it is sometimes hard to find a unifying theme or aspect, except for lacrosse -- this is the mecca for the sport -- but there is no doubt that these students come with strong academic and extracurricular backgrounds. The admission office pointed out that they consider all factors of a student's academic and non-academic profile when making decisions.

Time to go rest up for tomorrow's ride to Annapolis and St. John's College, one of the nation's oldest and most unique colleges. Hopefully I'll have good computer access tomorrow and can post some thoughts to digest about the "Jonnies"!

Tour de Mid-Atlantic

Well, after over 17 years and more than 50,000 miles of serious cycling, I am fnally doing my first Tour! Not the Tour de France which does begin today (and I will be following closely), but I will be embarking on my first multi-day bicycle tour, visiting colleges in Maryland and Delaware. I will be joining about a dozen colleagues and friends from across the country on what has become an annual event and though I have wanted to go for the past several years, this year will be my first. In addition, the idea of getting oneself cross country by bicycle has always had an attraction to me --the independence and sustainablity aspects are especially appealing.

In the past, time and money were the obstacles, but this year’s event allowed me to drive and not have to pay the exorbitant fees for taking a bicycle on the plane (almost as much as a roundtrip fare!). I was all set! Or so I thought until I went to purchase some panniers (French for bags that hang off the sides of bicycles to carry your belongings -- or big sticks of French bread if you truly are French!).

My first "pothole" on the road to preparing was that I have the wrong kind of bicycle for touring. After so many years of riding bicycles, I found that ALL of my bikes were racing bikes – none of them had the little eyelets necessary to attach the rack needed to hold the panniers. Thanks to Scott and Nathaniel McCrary at TTR Bikes (Tandem, Touring, and Recumbent Bikes – www.ttrbikes.com) here in Greenville, I found a neat, sleek rack designed just for racing frames! They had some spacious panniers and that was all I needed to get packed and be ready to ride.

I am leaving today to meet one of my fellow riders in Charlotte and then we are driving to Baltimore (via my brother's house in VA) in order to be ready to leave on Monday to visit Johns Hopkins University and Goucher College. Then we head to Annapolis to see St. John’s College and the U.S. Naval Academy. Following a crossing of the Chesapeake Bay, we visit Washington College on the Eastern Shore of MD and then head to the University of Delaware with a stop at St. Andrews School (film location of “Dead Poets Society”) before returning to Baltimore. Accommodations will be in college dorms and most meals will also be at the colleges along the way; in total, we will cover over 200 miles. A bit more than I average in a normal week of riding, but certainly manageable. (For those who are skeptical, one really does get comfortable on a thin, bicycle seat!)

I hope to post updates on the College Directions blog but it will depend on internet availability along the way; I am not yet sure if I can manage my laptop in the panniers or what access will be open to us on the college campuses. I will also be sending messages to Twitter (wsdingle) from my cellphone -- so follow along!

Happy Fourth to all! More to come!

Making the Most of Summer: College Visits & Essays

When final exams are done, high school students and their families are all set to enjoy the summer vacation, whether it be the beach, mountains, travel, or even a summer job or learning experience. For college-bound juniors, there are two other important activities to keep in mind: visits to colleges and beginning the college essay. Time spent doing these two activities will save much pressure and anxiety come fall of the senior year.

In the spring, college seemed a year away, and many juniors were too busy with sports, end of the year school activities, and/or AP or final exams to find time to make good visits to colleges (see Test Drive a College). Some people feel that visiting a college in the summer is not very valuable because school is not in session. Though the school year may be the best time to visit, there is certainly much to be gained from getting on campus during the summer. A well-planned trip can help a student focus his or her thinking about college opportunities and choices; and because application deadlines are occurring much sooner in the fall, it is important that students have the perspective of a good visit before finalizing their list. There may be too little time to accomplish visits in the fall so the summer is a very good time to make the effort to get on college campuses. (Note: summer is also a great time for sophomores to visit colleges and get a broad sense of options without the pressure of having to make decisions right away.)

Secondly, it is a great advantage for students to begin the process of drafting and writing their college essay(s) during the summer. Most colleges will have their essay questions posted online or on the Common Application Student should view the topics, brainstorm ideas, and begin drafting what they want to say. Whether these drafts become the final essay or not, they will help the student to focus his or her thoughts so that when the time comes to submit the essay, the topic and the writing will be sound. Waiting until school begins in the fall means that the essay becomes part of the normal school workload and puts undue pressure and anxiety on a student that can adversely affect either schoolwork or the quality of the essay, or both. as early as July.

Taking some time to visit colleges and begin work on essays will make life a great deal easier come the fall, and most likely more successful as well since good planning and work often lead to positive outcomes.

An Empowering Commencement Address

Below you will find a link to a comment by a college administrator who heard a moving commencement address (additional link). As he states, the address speaks for itself -- but I find that it speaks to me, and probably most educators, in that it is both a) the usual message of encouragement to new grads, but more importantly b) that it is also one of hope for the future.

This address made me aware that those of us involved in education are truly optimists -- we must be in order to be able to continue encouraging students to strive to become better. Above seeing this as any sort of "duty", I find myself immensely rewarded by enabling students to feel "empowered" as to their abilities and to the many opportunities to explore and develop themselves.

What a privilege I have to be at the threshold of such potential and see it blossom! I hope this address instills confidence in our individual and collective potential and energizes all of us to focus our efforts in a positive way for our futures and that of the national and world community.

Congratulations to all graduates and best wishes to all!

A last word on commencements / Getting to Green - Inside Higher Ed

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The Best College Choice

As high school seniors graduate this week and being the transition to their college of choice, and juniors begin to look forward to doing their college research, there is a family from Illinois that helps provide an example of how students can make their college education work in their favor. The Sereno siblings – all six – attended the same college, Northern Illinois University (not necessarily on the US News or Forbes list of “best” colleges) and all earned PhDs and have become recognized experts and scholars in their fields. (http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2009/apr/serenos.shtml)

As Paul Sereno (now a world-famous paleontologist) stated, “It underscores the fact that you are what you make of yourself and your talents, and you can almost begin at any time.” In other words, as some often say, it is not where one starts, but where one ends up that matters.

All of this helps give focus to students to consider themselves as individual learners and to visualize what type of learning environment will suit them best so that they will learn and enrich their intellect and lives most effectively. Thus, the “name” of the college or university one attends is not critical to success, but it is the learning – both in the classroom and experientially -- that one gains that matters. Consider this: all text and reference materials are available to anyone, and good teaching is not limited to “name” colleges -- in fact, professors at many highly regarded colleges are hired more for research than for teaching.

Perhaps there is a more “selected” group of students at some colleges, but there is no doubt that there are students who are equally as capable at almost any college in the country, and what one learns should not be dependant on who is in the adjacent seat but on one’s own desire and willingness to learn. Students must be aware that they are the ones who are responsible for their learning and achievement and should look at colleges as the place where they can make the most of their own motivation.

Selfish Colleges

At the recent Wake Forest conference on "Rethinking Admissions", the Director of Admission from Duke, Christoph Guttentag, made a statement that colleges, especially selective ones, are "selfish" in making their admission decisions and that the process is not really meritocratic. http://rethinkingadmissions.blogs.wfu.edu/2009/04/15/its-about-us-not-you/ He noted that colleges are not transparent that these decisions are really made with the mission, needs, and the self-interest of the institution in mind, not in "rewarding" students for their achievement.

This statement might be confusing for students who are striving to reach the highest level in grades, test scores, and extracurricular attainment in order to be rewarded with admission to a highly selective college. If taken at face value, the comment might add anxiety to an already high pressured process. In reality though, it can be liberating for students by allowing them to focus more on becoming true to themselves (remember the virtue of "unto thyself be true"?) rather than focusing on extreme course loads, extensive and expensive test prep strategies, and overloaded extracurricular schedules that erode "studenthood" -- the intellectual and personal vitality and interest that should be the basis for positive student growth. Numerous books and studies have been written about the fact that most of the "name" institutions in this country have strong institutional biases when making admission decisions and that those biases lean towards higher socio-economic groups, athletes, and other "name" individuals who will attract money, attention, etc. to the institution.

What is even more valuable about accepting this perspective is that individuals who are being true to themselves are happier, better adjusted, and more successful in the long run, including in the college search and application process.

Students should strive to grow and develop themselves to the fullest extent rather -- "being" rather than "doing" just to gain acceptance to a specific college or colleges. This change in perspective can help students have a more valuable and rewarding high school experience. It should not diminish the pursuit of excellence and growth, but the change in focus should provide a healtheir motivation for students.

In addition, as students select colleges, the focus should be on which ones will support progress towards becoming who they are and reaching their potential.