I think I’ve pretty well covered this topic, said all I need or want to say on the subject. Since “What in the hell is wrong with you?!” has never been considered an actual argument, and it’s all I’ve got, I’ll leave it alone. It sucks that if you can’t afford to pay for college outright, you also can’t afford to play the college admissions game. The admissions game, which at one time was a process originally intended for use as an equalizer. So the farmer’s kid from Iowa had as good a chance at getting into college as the kid whose family had a wing added to the college’s library. Getting into college is supposed to be based on brains, character, and potential. Not on how much disposable income your parents have. It would be a better world if Michele Hernandez used her powers for good, not evil. It worked for Al Gore.

I CAN GET YOUR KID INTO AN IVY:

Hernandez may well be the most expensive college coach in America, charging as much as $40,000 to get a student into an elite college. As one of this fast-growing industry’s most visible practitioners, she uses methods that are publicly scorned by rivals but are nonetheless becoming part of the profession’s standard operating procedures. She is a divisive figure in an already controversial field, regularly drawing condemnation from admissions officers who say she is selling advantage to people who least need it.

If the notoriety sometimes bothers her, Hernandez is not about to let on. To her critics, she says: “I’d be an idiot to charge half of what I can. Parents can always hire a lesser person.” That might sound arrogant, but she is clearly proud of turning her one-woman operation, Hernandez College Consulting, into what amounts to a luxury brand. Her clients, mostly people of some means and great ambition, rave about the personal service: the regular phone calls to their kids (you have to go above and beyond); the academic help (read the book Poetic Meter and Poetic Form); the “brand” positioning (classics would be a great angle); the advice about which colleges to consider and where not to bother; the hours she devotes to each application.

Despite being asked to pay fees that are as much as 10 times higher than average, these well-intentioned, well-heeled parents keep calling. And calling. Since she started seven years ago, Hernandez, who is 40, says she has worked with some 150 students, 95% of whom, she claims, were accepted at their first choice of college. She hints that among them have been the progeny of chief executives, financiers, billionaires.

From the beginning, Hernandez pledged all that work would be invisible. Like her peers, she operates in stealth, mindful that if admissions officers find out a student was coached they will regard the application with suspicion. Hernandez rarely speaks with high school counselors. She never calls a college on a student’s behalf. And she is especially careful not to leave any fingerprints on the application essays, even as she edits seven, eight, sometimes 10 drafts. “But I’m not afraid of admissions officers,” she says. “If they could tell, how would I be so successful?”

Admissions officers, of course, have little respect for the work of Hernandez and other consultants. “I believe that most of the funds expended on independent counselors are simply wasted,” Jeffrey Brenzel, the dean of admissions at Yale, wrote in an e-mail. “We do not believe they have much, if any, effect on who we accept.”

Posted by Alexa Harrington

We all know exercise is good for us—it decreases stress, makes us happy, keeps us healthy, increases our energy levels, makes us pretty, etc. There are a plethora of reasons to use our bodies to their full potential.

And now we have one more: exercise stimulates brain growth. Basically, everything your body does triggers a waterfall of brain-to-body signals and chemical reactions. There are energy-burning chemical reactions, energy-conserving reactions, germ-fighting reactions, the fluid-flushing reaction (if you’re drinking lots of liquid) and the fluid-hoarding chemical reaction if you aren’t drinking enough liquid. The blood-clotting one is my favorite because it’s so dang cool. But probably only to geeks like me, so we’ll skip that part of my over-simplified explanation of human physiology.

There’s a lot of research out there concerning the effects of exercise. The positive physical effects are obvious (exercise is good for you and stuff). As are the great mental effects: stress-reduction, positive self-image, and those kick-ass runners’ highs. And now, if you needed one more reason to take a study break and go for a run, apparently exercise makes you smarter.

The articles didn’t do as well as I did above at dumbing down their science vocab so I could give it to you straight. So here’s my best no-vocab summary: exercise triggers a chemical reaction and brain signal waterfall thingy of the particular chemical group whose function it is to stimulate brain cell growth and activity. Which may not sound like earth-shattering news, but it is if you’re not youthful and had been under the assumption that your grey matter was shriveling daily and no amount of Sudoku was going to save you.

This is how the professional scientists explain it:

Out of the variety of neurotrophic factors released during exercise, however, scientists found that one in particular stood out: brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. This protein seems to act as a ringleader, both prompting brain benefits on its own and triggering a cascade of other neural health–promoting chemicals to spring into action.
“I think of BDNF as brain fertilizer. It’s thrilling to see what it does to cells in culture,” says Carl Cotman, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine. Sprinkling a dilute solution of BDNF onto neurons in a lab dish makes the cells “grow like crazy,” he adds. The cells sprout branches prolifically and extend them rapidly.

–Science News

The process starts in the muscles. Every time a bicep or quad contracts and releases, it sends out chemicals, including a protein called IGF-1 that travels through the bloodstream, across the blood-brain barrier and into the brain itself. There, IGF-1 takes on the role of foreman in the body’s neurotransmitter factory. It issues orders to ramp up production of several chemicals, including one called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Ratey, author of the upcoming book “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” calls this molecule “Miracle-Gro for the brain.” It fuels almost all the activities that lead to higher thought.

–Newsweek

So now you can keep the pathways zipping with weird newspaper games, and you can trigger new cell growth with exercise. And the increased blood flow to the brain during physical activity can’t hurt, either. If you’re super coordinated (not me—I almost killed myself when I dropped my iPod on the treadmill and “stopped” to pick it up) you could combine both brain-boosting tips and run on the treadmill while doing a crossword. Good luck.

Further reading with complicated science jargon included:

Exercise ‘Sharpens Ageing Brain’
Exercise Fuels the Brain’s Stress Buffers
Train Your Brain With Exercise
Boost Your Brain Power With Exercise
Exercise Brain Benefits Confirmed For Humans
Benefits of Exercise Include Protection From Brain Diseases, Aging

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Hillary Wants to End the War on Science

Here’s some good news for science majors with an eye toward unhindered research: Hillary Clinton just announced that if she’s elected, she’ll help promote scientific discovery in order to end the war on science. The current regime has been a little tough to take at times. The only really enjoyable parts have been watching the head honcho flat-out deny provable facts like global warming.

To be fair (sometimes I like to practice being a good person) that Bush guy did do one good thing way back in 2002: he nominated John E. Jones III for U.S. District Court Judge. Judge Jones was the one who presided over the 2005 case, Kitzmiller et al v. Dover Area School District. It may have been an accidental good-karma move on Bush’s part, but I’ll give him half of a point credit for it nonetheless because Jones surprised everyone, Republican creationists and Democrat Darwinians alike, when he ruled against teaching intelligent design in public schools.

Further Reading:

Scientists Form Group to Support Science-Friendly Candidates

A Web of Faith, Law and Science in Evolution Suit

NY Times Book Review: ‘An Inconvenient Truth’

Bush to Skip U.N. Talks on Fighting Global Warming

Bush Official ‘Softened’ Global Warming Data

Posted by Alexa Harrington

While everyone’s pencils are still sharp and the school supplies still shiny and new and before the assignments and reading start piling up to unmanageable quantities, here’s some good advice on how to kick academic booty.

Keep in mind that advice tends to be a twisted-up combination of the stuff people did right, smooshed in with the 20/20 hindsight-corrected form of what they screwed up the first time through. Which means it’s well-researched and sensible, but unlikely that you’ll be able to keep up the perfection the advice-givers wish they’d executed their college careers with.

My favorite quote regarding advice and the dispensing of it is from Mary Schmich’s column in the Chicago Tribune–now known as Everyone’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen):

Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

It’s good to keep that in mind. However, sometimes using the advice people give to take note of someone else’s blunders and then editing your actions accordingly can save you a lot of time and heartbreak.

College is a lot of work. You can expect it to get overwhelming if you don’t figure out a way to keep your head above water. Being in possession of some practical scheduling guidelines from people who’ve previously buried themselves and have learned from their mistakes can come in handy when you’re freaking out mid term. It may even be possible to glean some priceless nuggets and avoid academic probation altogether.

General:
How To Be A Student
How To Do Really Well In College: A Guide For Freshmen
Tips For Freshman Academic Success
Top Grades In Lecture Classes
How To Excel As A Student

Homework:
How To Defeat Writer’s Block
How To Plan A Homework Schedule

Note-taking:
Taking Notes That Work
How To Take Effective Class Notes

Posted by Alexa Harrington
college advice