College of the Day: University of Arizona

University of Arizona 

Quick Facts:

Location: Tucson, AZ
Established: 1885

Students Enrolled: 34,506
Applicants: 26,329
Male/Female Ratio: 47/53

University of Arizona, located in Tucson, is situated in a large mountain range in the Sonoran Desert.  The campus features many palm trees and cacti, but also contains a large central, grassy courtyard called "the mall" where many students congregate to hang out between classes.  The weather is fairly consistent through out the year; students are able to spend most days outside in the sun. 

Frequently called U of A by students, the college is generally viewed as being better academically than it's sports rival, Arizona State University (ASU).  U of A offers 160 different degree programs through it's 20 colleges.  The school is mostly known for it's strong science programs, including it's highly advanced Astronomy department. The business and public administration schools also are very popular with U of A students. 

The university has encountered an increasing number of out-of-state applicants in the past few years. This is due to recent tuition discounts to out-of-staters.  Even with tougher admission standards, U of A has seen an increase in applicants . 

Student Life:

University of Arizona has a long standing reputation as being a "party school", but many students agree that education comes first.  U of A's campus is technically alcohol-free, but that hasn't prevented the school's Greek life from getting around the rules.  Almost 21% of students at the university are a member of a sorority or fraternity.  

Most of student's social life takes place off campus; there are many local clubs and bars.  Off campus student housing is also where most students choose to live.  Only 21% of undergraduates live in the on campus dorms.  Tucson provides a great deal of affordable housing for students.  

U of A is well-known for it's athletic programs; their basketball programs is one of the leading in the nation.  Many students are very passionate about their university teams, so there is a communal spirit through out the campus.  

Applying:

If you are interested in applying to the University of Arizona, you should have a Critical Reading SAT Score of 483-600 and a Math SAT Score of 500-630.  ACT Scores for all sections should be 21-27.  U of A typically has at least 26,000 applicants each year with 77% of applicants being accepted.

Interested in applying to University of Arizona, but need to boost your testing scores? Click here to access our various 1-on-1 tutoring and college admissions consulting packages.

 Source: Fiske, Edward B. "Georgetown University." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p: 266-69. Print.

College of the Day: University of Florida

University of Florida

Quick Facts:

Location: Gainesville, FL
Established: 1853

Students Enrolled: 42,608
Applicants: 27,419
Male/Female Ratio: 44/55

The University of Florida, known as UF, is set on 2,000 acres of densely forested terrain in north-central Florida.  The large campus is home to over 40,000 students.  UF has previously been known for being a "party school", but in recent years, tougher enforcement has decreased the amount of alcohol on campus. 

UF is known for it's nationally ranked sports teams, but it also boasts strong academic programs; the top academic programs being engineering, tax law, and pharmacy.  Popular majors for the university include psychology, biology, mechanical engineering, political science, and finance.  UF offers more degree programs than any other colleges except Ohio State and the University of Minnesota. 

Student Life:

Only 24 percent of UF's students live on campus.  Because of a lack of student housing, typically only freshmen live on campus.  For older students, there is a lottery for the remaining co-ed dorm suites. Nineteen percent of students participate in Greek life.  The fraternities and sororities all have privately owned houses off of campus.  Fraternity Row is a popular spot for students to hang out on the weekends.

The city of Gainesville is a college town that caters to the students of UF.  The city has plenty of stores, restaurants, bars, concert halls, and sports arenas. The university also owns a nearby lake that students can access.  Students also enjoy the famous Florida beaches that are only about an hour and half away. 

Applying:

If you are interested in applying to University of Florida, you should have a Critical Reading SAT Score of 580-670 and a Math SAT Score of 590-690.  ACT Scores for all sections should be 26-31.  UF typically has at least 27,000 applicants each year with only 44% of applicants being accepted.

Interested in applying to University of Florida, but need to boost your testing scores? Click here to access our various 1-on-1 tutoring and college admissions consulting packages.

 Source:Fiske, Edward B. "Georgetown University." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p: 266-69. Print.

College of the Day: Loyola Marymount University

Loyola Marymount University

Quick Facts:

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Established: 1911

Students Enrolled: 8,316
Applicants: 11,913
Male/Female Ratio: 42/58
Affiliation: Roman Catholic

Loyola Marymount University, founded in 1911, is situated on a beautiful bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the coastal town Marina Del Rey.  Because of it's Los Angeles location, LMU has strong programs in film and television.  Students in film and television have access to a production office, a television stage, a film soundstage, and a professional green screen on campus.  These students also have a plethora of opportunities for internships within Los Angeles entertainment industry, such as with Disney, MTV, and Warner Brothers.

LMU not only has strong entertainment programs, but also has strong comunications, psychology, political science, and English programs.   The university also encourages students to take part in international programs with the most emphasized being Germany and Moscow. LMU offers 41 different exchange semester options for students in locations that include Greece, Honduras, and China. 

Student Life:

According to students, the intro classes at LMU are fairly laid back, but the upper level classes are more rigorous.  LMU enjoys small class sizes, with fifty-one percent of classes having 19 students or less; this allows teachers to take a personal interest in each student.  Around three-fourths of the students that attend LMU are from California, but there are also students that come from all 50 states and 86 different foreign countries.

Fifty-two percent of LMU students live on campus.  Social life takes place on both on and off campus.  There are many planned events and activities on campus, along with a large Greek life.  Students can also easily access all the social life, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment of Los Angeles.  The beach is also only about one mile from campus.  Alcohol is readily available on and around campus, but students say there is not a pressure to drink. 

Applying:

LMU typically has around 12,000 applicants each year, with an acceptance rate of 50%.  To be accepted into LMU, you should have an SAT Critical Reading Score that ranges from 550-640 and a Math Score that ranges from 560-660.  ACT scores for all sections should range from 24-29. 

Interested in applying to Loyola Marymount University but need to boost your testing scores? Click here to access our various 1-on-1 tutoring and college admissions consulting packages.

 Source:Fiske, Edward B. "Georgetown University." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p: 266-69. Print.

College of the Day: Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Quick Facts:

Location: Washington, DC
Established: 1789
Students Enrolled: 13,831
Applicants: 20,115
Male/Female Ratio: 44/56
Affiliation: Roman Catholic (Jesuit)

Georgetown University is the oldest and most selective private Roman Catholic University in the United States.  Because of the university's central location within Washington, DC, the school is an ideal place for students who have political aspirations.

This elite institution draws students from around the world.  The student population of Georgetown experience strong intercultural and international cultures during their time enrolled.  There is a great focus on international programs. Many Georgetown students study abroad; the Office of International Programs offers more than 120 different programs in 39 countries.

Student Life:

According to students at Georgetown, social life is a major part of the campus.  All dorms are co-ed and host activities and events.  Two separate dining halls are located on campus.  If you are looking forward to Greek life in college, Georgetown is not the college for you; fraternities and sororities are not allowed at Georgetown.

Georgetown has a very strict enforcement of the 21-year-old drinking age on campus, which leads to a decentralized social life on campus.  All on campus parties must be registered and no alcohol is allowed in undergrad dorms.

Washington, DC offers many cultural experiences for students of Georgetown. Due to a lack of on campus parking, most students do not have cars, but the metro system easily provides transportation. Students are able to take the metro to a plethora of shopping, museums, monuments, and social life.


Applying:

Georgetown hopefuls apply to one of four undergraduate programs: Georgetown College for liberal arts, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, McDonough School of Business, and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.  Students applying to Georgetown must declare their intended majors on their applications; high school records are then judged according to the major declared.  This creates intense competition within the college for the limited number of spaces. Of the 20, 000+ applicants, only 17% are typically accepted.


To be accepted into Georgetown, you should have a SAT Critical Reading Score that ranges from 650-750 and a Math Score that ranges from 660-750.  ACT scores should be from a 29-33 for all sections.  Subject tests are not required, but recommended.

Interested in applying to Georgetown but need to boost your testing scores? Click here to access our various 1-on-1 tutoring and college admissions consulting packages.



Source: Fiske, Edward B."Georgetown University." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 266-69. Print.

How Many AP Courses Do You Need to Take to Get Into an Ivy League School?

 How Many AP Courses Do the Elite Ivy Schools Require?

If you or your high school student is aiming for one of America's elite Ivy Colleges, you may be wondering how many Advanced Placement courses they should be taking.  The answer is as many as possible.  According to Parke Muth, a previous dean of admissions at University of Virginia and current college consultant, colleges rank students based on many factors with one of them being the number of AP courses the student has taken. 

Your high school and the colleges that you are applying to will effect how many AP Courses you will want to take to be accepted.  Colleges rank and compare all the students from the same high school during the admissions process.  Because of this, it is important to find out what the other students in your school are doing.  You will want to be taking as many or more AP classes than the competitors in your own school.

Many high schools and colleges have weighted GPAs, which mean if you are taking more challenging courses and have all A's, your GPA will be higher than another student with all A's that isn't taking challenging courses.  College admissions offices look at GPA rankings within your school, so you will want to take many AP courses to boost your GPA higher than the competing students from your school.  It's also very important to do very well in these courses through hard work and tutoring in order to have the top GPA in your school.

Getting into an Ivy League school is not an easy task, but if you challenge yourself to take a heavy AP load and work hard to get top grades, you will be well-rewarded. 

For more information, check out Parke Muth's blog and The College Solution.

This Is Why Teachers Quit

Having great teachers in the classroom, or in the home for 1-on-1 in-home private tutoring is of the utmost importance for education, and some of the teacher statistics shown in this infographic contribute to the reasons why we don't retain good teachers for long enough in the classroom.

There are many obvious reasons teachers quit the profession quickly: low pay, strict content standards (what you're allowed to teach), and high stress. However, there are ways for school administrators, or owners of tutoring companies, to increase the retention rate of good teachers.

Why is it so important to keep good teachers teaching? One simple fact. The more better, qualified teachers you have working, the less bad, under-qualified, rookie teachers you have to hire.

How to Hire & Retain Good Teachers

I own a company called Tried & True Tutoring (if you didn't already know), and I have many strategies to retain our good teachers.

1. Constant support and collaboration -

tutors don't want to feel like they are "on an island" when working with the student. They want support from parents and administrators. As an administrator, it is your responsibility to create a collaborative environment where administrators (educational professionals), teachers (implement educational tools) and parents (personal interest in student's success), and student all work together toward a common goal. The team environment will make sure that everyone is accountable for their actions, and everyone knows what their specific job is. When you know your specific responsibility, you can do it better. The problem is, we rely to heavily on teachers, and we do not provide them enough support.

Don't leave your teachers "on an island", because just like a cornerback in football covering Randy Moss in his prime, he will get burned, injured, and be out of the business in 3 years.

2. Only hire the best of the best. Thoroughly vet, test, and rigorously interview each qualified applicant. There are many people applying for teaching positions - 95% of them are under-qualified. Develop programs that test content mastery for the teacher, and also rigorously test their teaching style. If you are bored during the "mock teaching", or you do not understand the concepts, neither will your students.

3. Rigorous Training & Professional Development - As an administrator, you are very confident that you can teach any student, any subject, any time. I know with my professional experience and expertise, teaching Japanese to a monkey on a bus in Africa is really no problem. I may not be able to teach the chimp to be fluent, but I will get him to maximize his understanding of the content based on his cognitive levels. We need to have the same confidence in our teachers that we have in ourselves. The only way to have the confidence in our teachers, is to know that we have professionally vetted them, and then trained them to a level where they are indeed a PROFESSIONAL.

A professional doesn't quit a job after 3 years. Amateurs do that. If we spent more time training our teachers in the public education system, we would have much greater retention of great teachers, and much better results from our students.

Take a page from Tried & True Tutoring's training program and know why we retain tutors and students for longer than any competitor. I know this has now come off as "preachy", but I believe it stems from frustration when I hear administrators saying "what can we do to make our education better". There are an infinite amount of changes that need to be made according to modern technology, but I will save that for a different article.

The most important thing is hire good teachers - and the only way to do that is to know who you are hiring inside and out, and then train them to be a true, bonafide professional. No amateurs wanted when it comes to the education of our children.

Cheaters Never Propser - Student Jailed for Changing Failing Grades

Cheaters Never Prosper - Student Jailed After Changing Grades

Story

A former Brigham Young University-Idaho Campus student has just been sentenced to 180 days in jail with 5 years of probation for changing his failing grades to passing.  The student, Jacob Mahonri Espinal, plead guilty to grand theft and computer fraud.

Espinal was a student employee with access to the campus's computer system.  He used his access to change his academic probation status to straight A's.  Espinal was caught once the school noticed his dramatic grades increase, but not before he was awarded $7,000 in scholarships and accepted into medical school. 

Criminal Charges

This goes to show students that cheating is not the way to go; you could end up in jail! Study and hard-work are the only way to succeed in school, and nothing good comes easy.

Moral of the Story

Judge Greg Moeller says Espinal stole not only grades but also somebody's spot in the university. The student plead guilty in March to grand theft and computer fraud.

Source