On July 30th, the New York Times published a piece about college orientations for parents called
Parents’ Rights (and Wrongs)

Parents walk a delicate line when their children fly away to college. No one wants to be known as a helicoptering parent, a mother or father who hovers and swoops in at the first sign of trouble. Most parents know they should cut the electronic umbilical cord (the cellphone). Yet what concerned mother can resist arguing with a professor over an unfair grade or trying to resolve a squabble among roommates?

Colleges fear that parental interference prevents students from developing into independent and resilient adults. So they hold special orientation sessions to help parents understand what role they should play in their child’s next four years. This summer, for example, the University of Vermont is offering two days of information sessions, including “Parenting From a Distance,” a pilot program that will walk them through the stages of separation anxiety and offer guidance on the transition. Then again, the university has had to hire returning students as “bouncers” to keep parents from butting in on orientation events — like course registration — meant solely for incoming students.

As an up-and-coming freshman at Northeastern University , my dad actually attended Ms. Turner’s speech about independence in college, and subsequently agreed with most of it. As far as my own independence goes, the discussion with my parents got started during the age-old teen argument about curfews during high school. I essentially said that once I am in college I will have no one to answer to but myself.

Since then I have had a few discussions with my parents. My mom and dad have the same general ideas; however, some of their more ardent worries are mutually exclusive. My mom is most concerned about me being able to take care of myself. She has never been away from her son for more than a few days, so it will be tough seeing me move 3000 miles away. My dad’s worries come more on the academic side of things. He is at least somewhat guilty of over involvement in my academics during high school. (more…)

The U.S. News and World Report Graduate School Rankings are perhaps the most referenced and highly regarded ranking of graduate schools in the country. They have just come out with their 2007 Grad School edition.

The rankings cover a variety of disciplines – Business, Medicine and Law among the most popular. Harvard takes the prize in business and medicine, but Yale University’s Law School is ranked number one in the country this year.

Rankings are definately something to look at before applying to graduate school. Some, however, will wisely warn you to take them with a grain of salt.

Everyone goes to graduate school for different reasons. For some, it results in a boost in salary and market value. For many MBA students, it is a way to reposition and explore a field or sector that might otherwise be inaccessible. Others pursue a graduate degree purely out of interest in a certain topic. How many job opportunities are out there in Japanese Art History? For me, going to graduate school is about gaining expert training in writing and reporting and deepening my knowledge of other subjects.

I’ve been freelancing for a few years now. Sometimes I get paid well; sometimes I don’t get paid at all. Sometimes my work appears in large circulation publications, but most of the time it doesn’t. I try to write well, but I know that I can do better. That’s why I’m going to Berkeley. My undergraduate degree was in computer science, where I most definitely did not improve my writing skills. Many eminent journalists never went to J-School. In fact some of the most famous ones don’t even have a college degree – Brian Williams, Peter Jennings and Carl Bernstein for instance. Most of my professors at Berkeley don’t have J-School degrees. But, as one professor told me during the open house in April, “times are changing.” You still have to work your way up the ladder in the newsroom, but a J-School degree is a good booster.

J-School, I hope, will not only help me understand the nuts and bolts of reporting, but also be an opportunity for me to deepen my understanding in other areas. I spent a year working with an incredible children’s NGO in Bangalore called Dream a Dream. Since then, development in South Asia, particularly as it relates to children and education, has become an area of great interest to me. At Berkeley, I hope to study some South Asian languages, history and culture, with the hopes that I will be better enabled to report on South Asia.

Choosing the right program was tough, I applied to several schools, but ultimately knew that, for personal reasons, I wanted to be on the West Coast. My final decision was between Stanford and Berkeley’s journalism programs. Stanford was offering a substantial scholarship, while Berkeley was offering a much smaller grant. I visited both schools, and really felt that Berkeley was the better fit. Stanford’s program is much smaller, and focuses solely on print journalism. In an age where both journalism and technology are changing rapidly, I felt that I needed exposure and experience in other mediums. Finally, I knew that Berkeley’s two year program as opposed to Stanford’s nine month one would allow me to take more language courses and courses offered by the South Asian Studies department. I’m taking a harder financial hit, but I think it’s the right choice.

The South Asian Journalist’s Association (SAJA) hosts a convention at Columbia University every year. I attended this year, and it was fabulous.

As a student, I found that it was an opportunity to interact with other young people like me in the profession. It was also a chance to meet and garner advice from mid-career professionals, who, a few years ago were in my position. And finally, it was a chance to meet some prominent South Asian journalists. I was able to meet former CNN anchor Riz Khan, PBS Wide Angle anchor Daljit Dhaliwal (and one of People’s 50 most beautiful people), and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Most exciting for me was meeting the executive editor of the Oregonian, Peter Bhatia. We went to the same high school!

During the convention, I had my résumé reviewed, worked as a student blogger, attended a myriad of enlightening workshops and panels, and met many great people. Back when I was an undergraduate, I attended the national convention of the Society of Women Engineers, which was in Denver, CO that summer. It was an amazing experience, and not just because it was free (my university was footing the bill for me and five other women).

The job fair at the convention was a great place to meet people. I was interviewed by an MNC at the convention, and offered a full-time job two days later. I was going into my senior year of college, and although I didn’t end up taking that job, it was great to have an offer in my hand before the on-campus interview process even started.

It’s always inspiring and refreshing to meet like-minded people. I hope to attend more such conventions during and post grad school.

P.S. – Did you know that Brian Williams has a blog too?

Writing | Education | School

I graduated from Skyline High School in Sammamish Washington a few months ago. This fall I’ll be attending Northeastern University in Boston Massachusetts. I love everything about the city (except the Red Sox) and extremely excited to start campus life. I am certainly no expert on college admissions but I can definitely empathize with any high school senior that is lost or confused in their search to find the right school. The following is some information that helped me during the applications process and I hope at least some of the information can be useful to students going through the same process as I did.

The Common Application
For those who dread filling out thousands (ok, dozens) of college applications, relax, applications are all essentially the same. When I filled out my first application in November of 2005 it was a long, awkward and tedious project. However, once I began applying to more schools it became a much easier undertaking. I ended up applying to 9 schools in the end.

Most schools accept the common application, which can be filled out and submitted to as many schools as your willing to pay for. But make sure you pay attention to the details! A friend used the common app and in his essay he described his immense desire to attend the University of Washington. He sent the same application to about 6 different schools.

Telling a Story
I used the same essay for all of my apps and found that a good college essay does not tell the admissions office how wonderful you are; it shows them. Tell a story about yourself: your triumphs and failures and how you learned from them. Simply listing off that you are an honor student, a great athlete, or an accomplished musician does not tell who you are. Tell a story about someone who influenced you to work hard and do well. Write your essay about how being an athlete taught you to strive for excellence.

Even if a school does not accept the common app, very few school-exclusive applications are much different from the common app. Application questions are usually very straightforward - grades, extra-curricular activities and SAT scores are all standard information. With a few exceptions, all schools ask for the same information.

On your College Search, use some of these helpful tools to find a college that fits you:

• Search for an Art School
• Search for an Education School
• Search for a Business School
• Search for an Online College

Education | college application

On July 18th The New YorkTimes published a piece profiled the thoughts of Dr. Ben Barres, who has degrees from M.I.T., Dartmouth and Harvard. He holds both a medical degree and a doctorate in neurobiology. Currently, he is a neurobiology professor at Stanford University. The name of the game is – how many elite institutions can we cram into two sentences?

In a truly unique twist, until 10 years ago, Ben was Barbara. I think an eminent scientist / doctor who is male but was born female might have a word or two to say about gender issues in the field of science, don’t you?

In his Times interview, Dr. Barres said this:

“It is very much harder for women to be successful, to get jobs, to get grants, especially big grants. And then…they don’t get the resources they need to be successful. Right now, what’s fundamentally missing…is that women need better child care support. This is such an obvious no-brainer. If you just do this…you could explode the number of women scientists.”

Shocking but true quote from Dr. Barres:

“An M.I.T. professor accused me of cheating on this test. I was the only one in the class who solved a particular problem, and he said my boyfriend must have solved it for me. One, I did not have a boyfriend. And two, I solved it myself, goddamn it!”

In 30 years as a scientist and a doctor, first as woman, then as a man, Barres believes that things have improved for women in science, but at a disappointingly slow pace.

Politics | News | Education

Can you blame students for sweating a little when they’re taking this thing?

The College Board (SAT test administrators) hired a consulting company to look into the matter, but didn’t release the report until a New York state senator threatened to subpoena executives from the non-profit group.

An article on Salon says that “The problems were blamed on excessive moisture on answer sheets,” and also “the report contains a number of technical recommendations for improving the scoring of so-called ‘marginal marks’. It also recommends that answer sheets continue to be double-scanned until new safeguards are in place.”

While these are interesting conclusions, I didn’t think they were severe enough to be kept a secret from the public. But it makes you wonder if there is anything they left out.

Admit it; we were all secretly hoping that this would spell the demise of the SATs. However, it just looks like they’re going to keep chugging along. Rats.

You can go download the report here.

School |
Education

Harvard University’s Summers Steps Down

Last year, Harvard University President Lawrence Summers theorized that the lack of women in science and engineering was due to “…issues of intrinsic aptitude…reinforced by…lesser factors involving socialization and…discrimination.”

His insinuation that women lack the “intrinsic aptitude” to excel in math and science became the source of much controversy. It also spurned a furor of articles and stories that attempted to analyze and address the issue.

As a result of the controversy, and other problems Summers had with Harvard faculty, he chose to resign. The Spring 2006 semester marked the end of Summers’ career as Harvard President.

University of Washington’s Denton Passes Away

Ironically, one of his most outspoken and high-profile critics on the topic, Dr. Denise Denton, passed away last week. Denton was the Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz and former Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. She was also in the audience the day that Summers made his controversial statement about women.

After Summers’ speech, Denton stood up and listed several examples that countered Summers’ statement. She contended that to the contrary, women have been progressing in all academic fields, particularly in the sciences. She spoke to KBCS.fm reporter Tim Herriman about the matter.

“I said in the spirit of speaking truth to power we’ve got two…briefing books full of materials for this [very] conference….I indicated that some of what he had hypothesized had been refuted by materials in the briefing book…in the College of Engineering the faculty is 16% women. About 20% of the bachelors’ degrees in engineering go to women right now.”

She went on to say,

“Have I seen discrimination at UW? Sure. I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve ever been. Any place you would work in the United States you would see discrimination. It’s just the way the world works right now.”

Shortly after doing the interview with KBCS, Denton was forced resign from her post at the University of Washington over the controversy.

Sadly, Denton’s death last week appears to have been a suicide. Denton had many “firsts” to her name, including becoming the first woman to become dean of engineering at a major research university.

Summers is now moving on from Harvard, and Denton has moved on from the land of mortals, but the debate on gender differences, and in what capacity they exist and matter, continues.

—–
References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6856839/site/newsweek/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4470316

http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/26/denton

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4470316

Education | News