Many colleges have changed their marketing strategies to recruit top students. Instead of sending the “large envelope” to congratulate students on their acceptances, colleges are sending giant mascots, balloons, and gifts to their most coveted applicants. At Merit, students have received handwritten letters from the dean, and Yale actually called one of my daughters three times to encourage her to accept their full-scholarship offer. Wheaton filled a bus with admissions officers/staff and drove out to a student’s high school to surprise her with the news (captured on YouTube). These stories have gone viral on social media building hype about college acceptances, which only benefits the colleges and the very few who get in.
I wonder if this type of extravagant marketing leads to self-doubt, anxiety, and depression among the tens of thousands of students who don’t get into their top colleges. When these other students see colleges rolling out the red carpet and offering gifts to a few lucky students, the vast majority of college applicants may suffer in silence as they receive rejection letters. Social media already creates an unrealistic view of how “happy and successful” everyone else’s lives are compared to themselves.
At Merit, I recommend that students keep their college lists, GPA, and SAT/ACT scores to themselves. That way, if they get rejected from their top colleges, they don’t have to share that sad and disappointing news with their friends, relatives, and social media. It’s tough enough to deal with rejection when students open those small envelopes. Having dozens of people ask if they got in or having video cameras on them as they check their inboxes, can be devastating. I hope colleges stop their public hype about accepting a few students to promote their brand. Let’s give all students the decent respect of choosing their colleges and making those final announcements privately.
Many colleges have changed their marketing strategies to recruit top students. Instead of sending the “large envelope” to congratulate students on their acceptances, colleges are sending giant mascots, balloons, and gifts to their most coveted applicants. At Merit, students have received handwritten letters from the dean, and Yale actually called one of my daughters three times to encourage her to accept their full-scholarship offer. Wheaton filled a bus with admissions officers/staff and drove out to a student’s high school to surprise her with the news (captured on YouTube). These stories have gone viral on social media building hype about college acceptances, which only benefits the colleges and the very few who get in.
I wonder if this type of extravagant marketing leads to self-doubt, anxiety, and depression among the tens of thousands of students who don’t get into their top colleges. When these other students see colleges rolling out the red carpet and offering gifts to a few lucky students, the vast majority of college applicants may suffer in silence as they receive rejection letters. Social media already creates an unrealistic view of how “happy and successful” everyone else’s lives are compared to themselves.
At Merit, I recommend that students keep their college lists, GPA, and SAT/ACT scores to themselves. That way, if they get rejected from their top colleges, they don’t have to share that sad and disappointing news with their friends, relatives, and social media. It’s tough enough to deal with rejection when students open those small envelopes. Having dozens of people ask if they got in or having video cameras on them as they check their inboxes, can be devastating. I hope colleges stop their public hype about accepting a few students to promote their brand. Let’s give all students the decent respect of choosing their colleges and making those final announcements privately.
If you’ve been accepted by “reach” colleges, but waitlisted by your “safeties,” you’re not alone. Strong students (GPA 3.9 and SAT 1400+) are being rejected by UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego. Top students are being waitlisted, when they would normally be accepted. Why?
Last year, UCs received more deposits to enroll than expected, which put them in a precarious situation. UC Irvine actually revoked about 500 acceptances because they didn’t have space to accommodate their incoming class. But amidst public criticism, they reversed their revocation and allowed most of the 500 students to attend that year. To ensure that none of the UCs faced the same situation this year, many UCs, especially the middle-range campuses, are offering waitlist positions instead of acceptances. On May 1st after they receive all official deposits, they’ll admit students off the wait list.
With the cost of private college tuition soaring ($40,000-65,000/year), many California families are opting for the less expensive public college tuition ($18,000-30,000/year). Just be prepared as you receive letters from the California public universities in the next few weeks; your “target” or “safety” colleges may offer disappointing news.
[Source]
In August, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.
Mas Hashimoto was a featured speaker, and his TEDx Talk is embedded below.
“Racism and America’s Concentration Camps”
Remember when the American government unjustly incarcerated 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were American citizens, during WWII? Mas Hashimoto compares how Japanese American incarceration during WWII and the massive discrimination of Muslims post 9-11 are both founded in hate and racism. Learn how “Make America Great Again” really translates to “Make America White Again.” Learn about what you can do to stop this form of racism and take active steps to protect everyone’s civil and human rights.
About Mas: Mas Hashimoto was a child when his family was taken from their Watsonville home in 1942. He was sent to a federal prisoner of war camp during WWII because of racism, war hysteria, and political leadership failure. Mas taught US History in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District until his retirement. He speaks to groups of students about the wartime experience of Japanese Americans during WWII to ensure that this injustice never repeats itself again. Mas also headed the Re-enactment of the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII: “Liberty Lost; Lessons in Loyalty” in 2002, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Watsonville-Santa Cruz chapter Japanese American Citizens League.
Is your high school keeping up?
Finally, colleges are recognizing that GPAs and SAT/ACT scores alone don’t give them enough information to select students who have potential for success in college.
Rhode Island has recently adopted a new diploma system that requires students to demonstrate competency in the following areas:
- Critical Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Research
- Communication
- Decision Making
- Interpreting Information
- Analytic Reasoning
- Personal or Social Responsibility
More colleges are jumping on board as they realize that these portfolios give them a more comprehensive peek at student performance that isn’t only GPAs and standardized test scores. These colleges support and participate in this new movement:
- Calif Community Colleges
- MIT
- Pomona College
- Smith College
- UC Riverside
- Univ Michigan
- UT Austin
I’ve watched Merit Academy students do projects throughout their 4 years of high school for the past 18 years. Doing these individual projects over their entire high school tenure gives students a sense of confidence and pride that they don’t get from working for grades and standardized tests. Brainstorming and developing projects requires research, analysis, public outreach, and creating budgets. As teens delve into these new and exciting steps, it helps them explore future careers. Each student becomes interesting and fully vested young people. I am thrilled that other schools are also giving students access to these opportunities instead of forcing them to take AP classes and bury themselves in memorizing facts for one test at the end of the year. America needs to provide our youth with skills to compete in the ever-changing world and we need to rethink what teens learn in high school.
[Source]
If you’re feeling helpless and hopeless these days, you’re not alone. When our own government systematically removes our healthcare, environmental protection, and now safety in our schools, it’s time to fight back. But, I’m not talking about marching or signing petitions. Yup, I’ve been to dozens of marches and signed hundreds of petitions, but we’re still losing civil rights and protections that we had before this administration took office.
What would MacGyver do?
Cripple the real problem – President Trump!
How do you do that?
Boycott all of the companies that carry Trump products or advertise on The Sean Hannity Show or Breitbart. Hit him where it hurts – his pocketbook and bank accounts. Now that’s something you can do.
Better yet, email these companies to tell them that you are boycotting them until they stop carrying Trump products or advertising on hateful shows. Click here to get the email addresses and/or phone numbers to let these companies know why they need to dump Trump! I emailed all of the retailers that I frequent and I plan to boycott them until they stop carrying Trump products.
[Source]
In August, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.
Pascal Costa was a featured speaker, and her TEDx Talk is embedded below.
“How to stop overpopulation before we reach 10 billion people on Earth”
Overpopulation is a huge problem. We have too many people, and because of our immense growth experienced in the last century, we are experiencing new problems. Because of overpopulation, we have recklessly produced dirty energy and destroyed fertile land to meet the needs of our ever-expanding population. Forests have been decimated in order to make room for farmland and to produce lumber. We have exploited natural resources such as soil, water minerals, oil, and coal because we have grown dependent on them. As a result of our growing numbers and exploitation of natural resources, we have caused the extinction of 130 mammal species, and have endangered 250 species. Today, about 1000 species are now threatened. Through overpopulation, we have increased pollution, consumption, and the deterioration of land. There’s a simple way to reduce the world’s population and I’ll share my idea with you.
About Pascal: Pascal Costa founded Preventing OverPopulation, a non-profit organization that educates child-bearing people about how their decisions to have children directly affect the world. She has presented her project at the Earth Day Santa Cruz festival and she was interviewed on Earth Watch Radio. Pascal recently graduated from high school and plans to continue to advocate for population control in college.
In August, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.
Logan Cononver was a featured speaker, and his TEDx Talk is embedded below.
WHEN natural disasters start to happen is the real question behind climate change, not IF they will happen. People have already started to see the consequences of rising CO2 levels, with the 2-degree temperature rise and global CO2 levels passing 404 parts per million (ppm). Let’s discuss an easy and practical solution that we can all embrace.
About Logan Conover: Logan Conover founded When, Not If…, a non-profit organization that educates people about their carbon emissions, the positive feedback loop, and easy solutions to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. He stumbled across climate change when he learned that many congressmen/women were denying its existence. This frustrated Logan because he couldn’t understand why people wouldn’t believe 99% of the scientists who state with proof that climate change is real. Logan realized that he needed to do something fast and he needed to make it easy, so he created When, Not If… to share facts with people and get the world to take action against climate change.
In an era of fake news, it comes as no surprise to me that a thousand or a million likes on social media platforms are actually fake. Celebrities and politicians buy fake followers to boost their popularity and to move political agendas. Yup! Companies like Devumi offer Twitter followers, views of YouTube, plays on SoundCloud, and endorsements on Linkedin – often for as little as a few cents per follower. It doesn’t just stop here in the US, this is happening in China, Ecuador, and all over the world. According to Rami Essaid, founder of Distil Networks, a cybersecurity company that specializes in eradicating bot networks, “Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people.” What you see on social media may not be what you think it is.
What’s wrong with insecure people buying followers – kind of like buying friends? It makes the rest of the population feel insignificant by comparison. So many young people suffer in silence as they see how popular others are. Aspiring artists and musicians feel depressed when their follower stats are low.
I hope cybersecurity companies can reveal true numbers and shame abusers of the system so we can establish some sort of semblance of real facts and real news.
We take an annual ski trip in January to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. The timing was always perfect because we knew there’d be snow on January 7th. Except for last year’s blizzards that brought us powder and so much snow it actually closed all Tahoe ski areas for several days, our weather patterns have changed.
This year, we skied on 100% man-made snow. It seemed odd to ski down tightly-packed and carefully-groomed runs carved out from the green shrubbery and dirt that surrounded each run. To plan future ski trips, do we need to go to ski areas much further north – like say, Alaska? As of Feb 1st, we’re at 27% of normal for California… Hmm.
Climate change is happening and we need to stop using fossil fuels now!
[Source]
The Iranian oil tanker, Sanchi, sank on January 14th, after colliding with a Chinese cargo ship in the East China Sea. Over 135,000 tons of condensate, a ultralight crude oil, has been pouring out and burning for over a week. This may be the worst oil spill in 35 years, and it comes at a time when the Trump Administration is trying to open up drilling for oil on the east and west coasts of the United States.
IS ANYONE LISTENING?
Why are we drilling for oil when there is a finite amount of crude oil left in the world and it wreaks havoc with air quality, pollution, and climate change?
Better question: Why did Trump slap a 30% tariff on solar panels produced outside the US?
Answer: Trump is supporting the oligarchy by protecting the oil and coal industries’ bottom line — PROFIT.
[Source]