tutorblog

[tutorblog]

Thank You

When we started Tutorspree, close to three years ago, we had a vision for how private education should work. As we worked towards that vision, with the help of thousands of tutors and customers over the course tens of thousands of hours of lessons, we learned quite a bit. We learned what constituted good one-on-one tutoring, what a good relationship looked like, and how badly people need great tutors.

One of our tutors taught a six year old about science with a robot LEGO claw that picked up cookies. Another helped an 11th grader pass summer exams to make it into 12th grade. We sent tutors to private homes in LA, hotels in NYC, yachts halfway around the world, and coffee shops in San Francisco. Through it all, we kept learning new lessons.

Ultimately, we learned about the challenges of willing a company into existence, of building an incredible and unique team to tackle constantly shifting challenges. And finally, we learned about how to make the toughest decision of all - to shut Tutorspree down, not because it was not a business, but because we could not make it the company we wanted.

Thank you to all of our friends, mentors, advisors, investors, tutors, and customers for making this the best thing any of us have ever done. And thank you to Chung-Yi, Georges, Zach, Rebecca, Thomas, Julia, and Paul for helping us come so far.

Thank you,

Aaron, Josh, and Ryan

[tutorblog]

The Accomplishments Essay

Accomplishments essays are not about measuring your worth, but determining whether you act on your values.

From Harvard’s infamous “What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such?” to Yale’s “What achievement are you most proud of and why?” accomplishments essays come in many shapes and sizes. Some are really obvious and some are incredibly elusive. The purpose of the accomplishment essay is not simply to show off. That’s one of the mistakes candidates make when answering this topic. Conversely, people also get into trouble thinking they have nothing to say. You don’t have to climb Mount Everest with one arm to have a great topic.

At the end of the day, it’s all about the insight you show when writing about the accomplishment. What’s an accomplishment to me may not be an accomplishment to you, and that cuts to the heart of this question: What do you value?

Unlike leadership essays, which should always contain a description of who or what you led—show versus tell—such a word-count-consuming narrative can’t always fit into an accomplishment essay. In this genre of essay, storytelling is often less important than a meaty analysis of why the accomplishment is important to you, as well as what it says about how you think and what experiences you believe define you. Accomplishments essays are often short and need to cut to the chase. HBS, for example, asks for three accomplishments in only six hundred words, which is two hundred words per achievement. Good luck. In such tight real estate, a narrative “you are there” introduction has to go.

Regardless of word count, a healthy portion of the essay needs to be allocated to the “why,” not the “what” or the “how.” It goes like this: a little bit of what, even more how, and a whole lot of why. Most of the accomplishments I’ve read are written in the exact reverse—we have to fight this tendency constantly in our applicants. If your response has a lot of “what” or “how,” and only one or two sentences about why it is significant to you, you have pretty much failed.

And I don’t care how amazing the accomplishment is. It no longer matters to me that you invented the Internet if you can’t articulate its significance to two things: the world and to you. That’s the home run. Focusing on the significance, not the substance, reveals not only that you understand who you are and the work that you do, but also that you can spot and seize opportunities. And that spells l-e-a-d-e-r. It’s easy to locate greatness. Articulating what makes something great is what’s difficult. Having that talent marks leadership potential, and it’s why schools like Harvard, Michigan, MIT Sloan, and Emory consistently ask questions that require you to define, not just describe, accomplishments. To describe is to list facts about something. To define is to give those facts context and meaning.

You are probably dismissing some of the most substantial, significant, and moving accomplishments in your life. After all, when the shackles fell off Forrest Gump’s legs, all he was doing was running. Almost everybody can run, so why does everyone remember that scene? Because in that moment, Forrest Gump was redefined. And those unique little moments make up who we are and what matters to us—all any admissions committee is trying to get out of you in the first place.

This doesn’t mean you should only look for the simplest accomplishment. It means dig down deep and figure out why your accomplishments matter to you, be they large or small, whether you swam across a pool or the English Channel.

Of course, picking the right story is also crucial. The first place to look is in the land of “firsts” and “bests.” Being the first from your college to be recruited to your prestigious company. Going from the bottom to the top of your analyst class after a devastating but accurate mid-year review. Notice, I didn’t say “ranking at the top of your class”—if you’re a consistent achiever, then choosing that as your accomplishment would be showing off, not revealing a defining moment when you refused to surrender to an obstacle.

Breaking a mold or setting a standard are, objectively, real accomplishments by any measure.

Excerpted from The MBA Reality Check: make the School You Want, Want You by Evan Forster and David Thomas

[tutorblog]

Introducing Minisync: Set up your own relational backend-as-a-service

Minisync is a new object synchronization library for SQLAlchemy that lets you replace server-side controllers and views with a bit of extra config in your models. We are looking for feedback and would love to hear what you think.

To implement Minisync, you first serialize your mapper class instance to JSON (see an example). The client starts out with a JavaScript object containing a serialized database row and its related entities. After the client changes the document, you run a diff algorithm on the JavaScript object and submit the diff to the server. Here are some example diffsets.

The server figures out whether it should create, update or delete the parent document and any children included in the nested document. It also figures out whether it should associate or disassociate any child objects. Authorization is built in (and validation hooks are coming soon).

Pretty cool, right? Now you don't have to write server-side controllers or views for your CRUD apps.

Why we created Minisync

The typical web application uses some variant of the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern on the server. But these days, it's easier for clients to download large JavaScript frameworks and other static assets. Browsers dispatch multiple requests for static content concurrently, and the underlying connections achieve high throughput. Lots of throughput and lots of connections means that it makes sense to build thick clients again. So client-side MVC is back in vogue. 

However, many people are still writing server side code. Most of the time, that means writing the same models, controllers and views on the server. That's just crazy!

Wouldn't it be nice to avoid all this extra work? I'd really like to configure some models, quickly set up authorization and validation, and be done with the server side of things.

Figuring out what we really want from the server side

Let's break server-side web application code into a few fundamental components:

- Authentication: We need a session backend.

- Object-level authorization: Who is permitted to conduct which operations on what data?

- Object-relational syncing: We want the power of relational data models on the server, but on the client, we want the ease of dealing with document-style data.

Figuring out what we really want from the client side

Some people like to configure tons of models on the client side. I don't really want to do all of that. If you represent objects in a standard way, it's much easier to perform CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete) operations on client-side objects in a way that doesn't deeply couple them to some particular library or framework.

For low coupling and high cohesion, it makes a lot of sense to serialize server-side model instances to JSON strings, and represent those strings as objects on the client side. CRUD operations are as simple as editing properties or removing items/appending items to and from arrays.

Evaluating existing backend-as-a-service solutions

Firebase introduces a domain-specific language (DSL) for authorization. But what if your data is best expressed in a relational way? Document-database backends-as-a-service are good for some use cases. But you may not want to 'fake' relational data in a document-style store by caching identifiers on both sides of relationships. Or, you may want to retain control over your database.

At Tutorspree, we need the power of the PostGIS geospatial object system to perform efficient tutor matching. We want to tune these queries, and don't want to be constrained by the performance characteristics backends as a service. Also, our data is relational. So we run our own relational database.

But we found ourselves doing MVC on both the client and the server. It was a pain setting up dozens of REST endpoints and syncing up client-side operations with those endpoints. Blind adherence to semantics (HTTP verbs, REST, etc) did us little good from a productivity standpoint.

AngularJS, Ember, Backbone and other frameworks all provide some form of data binding (or models), views and controllers. We want a vibrant client-side experience, and we can best accomplish that with client-side MVC and similar design patterns.

To avoid doing MVC twice (once on the client and then again on the server), we adopted a very aggressive Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) approach on the server side and created Minisync to take our heavily customized, optimized data models and get an API, authorization and validation for free.

Now, we just have server-side models plus a bit of configuration. Authorization, validation and an API come for free.

Treat Relational Data as JSON Documents

Minisync is an object synchronization library for SQLAlchemy. It will {create, read, update, delete, associate, disassociate} instances of your SQLAlchemy models by sending the server some JSON representing a changeset. Minisync will serialize the changeset, treat it as a single unit of work, flush it to the database and optionally commit it.

Check it out on GitHub.

Zach Dexter (@zachdex) is a software engineer at Tutorspree.

[tutorblog]

This Essay Got Me In To Duke

This is Sara Jo Notte's college application essay for Duke University. 

We sway to the beat of the first slow song of the night. Should I be feeling this comfortable? I scan the dance floor for smirks directed at us but see none. Returning to a more relaxed state, I replay the course of events that led me to the West Essex High School Junior Prom with an unlikely date.

Chatter surrounded me in the cafeteria on the first day of school, but I could focus only on the boy sitting alone at the table near mine. How could an upperclassman not have a single friend in this lunch period? He kept his head down and looked at his food, perhaps in an effort to avoid eye contact with a judgmental teenager. Whether having special needs or an awkward shyness, he apparently was not socially acceptable. His look of solitude seemed to intensify in direct proportion to my guilt from inaction.

As I contemplated the plight of this lonely student, I thought of Aunt Gail. My mother’s sister is afflicted with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), a congenital disorder caused by an abnormality of the fifteenth chromosome. As a child, I didn’t understand how missing genes can cause a strange combination of conditions ranging from an insatiable appetite to cognitive disabilities; but I learned at a young age that I need not feel embarrassed in front of my friends when my morbidly obese aunt asked us awkward questions with impeded speech. Aunt Gail seemed to appreciate my confidence to stand by her when others were anxious to escape.

Without further thought, I approached the boy. He seemed surprised by my question, “Would you like to sit at our table?” but readily accepted. I later learned that my new friend Mike suffers from a social disability in the autism spectrum. Although I experienced his awkwardness firsthand in attempted conversations, I welcomed him to our lunch table every day. My friends were often annoyed by his presence and reiterated that I was “overly nice.”

By the end of the school year, Mike trusted me enough to ask a question that caught me offguard: “Would you go to my prom with me?” A sophomore girl should be excited by an invitation to the Junior Prom, but the implications of attending the most anticipated and documented social event of the school year with someone “different” caused me to hesitate.

Thinking again of Aunt Gail, I realized that now was another opportunity to stand with someone whom others avoid. I accepted the invitation and saw for the first time a genuine, uninhibited smile light Mike’s face. I will never forget that moment.

The slow song finishes, and Mike’s social ineptness has disappeared. He seems at ease as he confesses that it took him until the very last day that prom bids were available to get the courage to invite me. As we laugh and dance to a faster beat surrounded by classmates, we are accepted and respected as an ordinary couple at the West Essex Junior Prom. 

Sara Notte is a student at Duke University pursuing a double major in Chemistry and Public Policy. She is currently a summer research fellow at the Institute for Genomic Science & Policy (IGSP) at Duke.

Photo: Shutterstock

[tutorblog]

How to Edit an Application Essay - Real Essay Drafts With Expert Commentary

Here's a writing coach and communications expert to walk you through three drafts of a real student's college application essay.  If you're wondering how to write a killer essay like this or this, you have to read this post. Great writing doesn't come easy! 

FIRST DRAFT

Title: My story—so far

I have always felt a little different. Things seem to have a different meaning for me than for other people. So that is why I have to work maybe harder than my classmates and then I can sometimes get a result that no one else will get. My parents are hardworking and even so my school experience is OK but still when things are harder they can’t help me as much as some of my classmates can.

I’ve been learning to deal with certain things around me so I can learn and succeed in class. I tend to be on the quiet side. I think this is called extroversion. My class all had our {test name} done and so I know mine and it’s true to the way I learn.

My goals for college aren’t clear as yet. My parents are encouraging me toward a pre-law program. But in my opinion the people who win these awards seem to work very hard for what they do. My goals have more to do, I think, with learning and the rewards of just education. I think I would perhaps do better in education and a teaching degree (in something). Part of the problem is in being interested in a lot of things without showing an outstanding record in any particular subject. My English is good, and history, but not math or science. For people like me, we need to find out what we could be good at and enjoy; because that what is going to carry me forward into the future, hopefully with college included.

For extracurricular, I prefer to watch sports, not play them. I participate in our school’s College Bowl; we have teams and compete, not always winning, but we’re in the game. What I enjoy, when I feel like myself, is in getting answers I didn’t realize I knew, or take knowledge from the game back into getting an answer right on a class test.

I also enjoy is just using my social skills to get along with a talk with many kinds of people one on one about what they do; people have an easy time talking about what they are good at. Maybe I can think about becoming a journalist or reporter. There was a conference on campus last semester and I signed up to hear some lectures and seminars on the [C Curriculum?] in California, which were pretty technical but I got the gist of a lot of the discussion and know what the issues are now so I can relate to and discuss them with confidence. I myself as a student find that I have to translate what goes on in the textbook and in class so I can shape it up and get a handle on it: in my own way.

Maybe this is what I can offer myself as a student and then to the world—a new way of looking at conventional or new material and ideas.

FIRST DRAFT COMMENTS:

Here’s a mediocre essay that needs not just polishing but some deep thinking to bring its interest to the surface.

This typical draft is hazy and imprecise; it is general rather than specific, because it fails to fill in detail or examples, or to draw conclusions, or to analyze its own statements to draw conclusions that mean something and reveal the writer’s strengths and dynamic against difficult learning experience.

But mainly it’s low-energy and low-content, and at first, it looks like there’s little hope to transform it into anything that will interest Admissions. It first needs to be more cogent and better organized. I’ve gone through it to highlight strong points first, correct lazy structure and mechanics, and ask questions the writer needs to engage. After some intensive mind-melding with the student writer to draw out answers, here’s what the second version looks like, with edits and comments in brackets:

SECOND DRAFT

Title: My story—so far [Need stronger title: “Learning, My Way”? “Learning to Learn”?] .

Things seem to have a different meaning for me than for other people; I have to work harder than my classmates—however, I can also get a result that no one else will get. I have discovered several of my classmates as brains I can pick to get a better grip on what I have to learn. [good – I find ways to get help using the brains of others!]

I’ve been learning to deal with the distractions of a large school [what are they? Noise? Chaos? Focus? So how do you cope?]. ; I use an IPod to create focus and privacy for study at Starbuck’s. I tend to be on the quiet side, as in introversion. My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is INTP. This has helped me understand how I need to process and channel my energy, part of the reason for successed I’ve had. Apple “Think Different.”

My goals for college aren’t clear yet. My parents are encouraging me toward a pre-law program. But in my opinion the people who win these awards seem to work very hard for what they do. My goals have more to do, I think, with learning and the rewards of education itself. I think I would perhaps do better at teaching—perhaps solving some problems along the way. Being interested in a lot of things is important to me in understanding how everything relates as a system—with some subjects stronger than others.

As an introvert, , I prefer to watch sports over playing them. I am a contender in our school’s College Bowl on the Los Lobos team; [how? On what team?] and while not always winning, we’re always in the game. What I enjoy, what makes me feel like my best self, is in getting answers I didn’t realize I knew, or importing an answer from the game back into a class test. [Example? Develop this point about discovery – it’s great]. I knew Bacon’s Rebellion from a Bowl question I missed, which means I really recalled it easily for US History. The teacher was surprised, and so was I!

I also enjoy is just using my quieter social skills to talk one on one about what people do; they easily discuss what they are good at [extrovert skill, adaptive behavior]. I can consider this skill for becoming a journalist or reporter. At an education conference on campus last semester I signed up for some lectures and seminars on the Common Core in California, which were fairly technical. But I got the gist of the discussion to know what the issues around common standards and critical thinking are now so I can relate to and discuss them with some confidence [such as---?]. I myself as a student find that I have to translate what goes on in the textbook and in class so I can shape it up and get a handle on it: in my own way. There must be ways to customize learning, as I’ve had to do, so that it uses your natural abilities and fits your style; it’s that discovery about yourself that makes everything possible. [Relate CCore to this point; there have to be ways of learning within standard texts and testing, like the CBowl example.]

Maybe this is what I can offer myself as a student and then to the world—a new way of looking at the ways and means of how facts and ideas work on the brain to create new knowledge. conventional or new material and ideas.

SECOND DRAFT COMMENTS

OK – The version above is pretty chewed up as it fills with questions and corrections. But see how it all lays out in the tuned-up final draft version.

And remember: it’s obvious when an essay is far above your thinking capacity – you don’t want to create too wide a gap. You will need to discuss your essay in a personal interview; the voice of your essay should therefore not be too far away from your physical voice and expression.

The point is to develop a thoughtful statement of who you are and what’s important to you; the focus in this case is not on achievements and awards (they aren’t there) but on thinking about learning itself—and that’s a strong point with educators. They will feel professional kinship. The candidate also shows good self-knowledge and problem-solving. The essay links action, feelings, knowledge, and envisioning college work.

Typically, you’ll go through several drafts between the first and final versions, working out what you want to say and the best phrasing with each edition. Few students realize just how much drafting goes into even the shortest piece of writing; the editing doesn’t show, but the results do. See below.

FINAL DRAFT

Title: “Learning, My Way”

Things seem to have a different meaning for me than for other people; I have to work harder than my classmates—however, I can also get a result that no one else will get. I have discovered several of my classmates’ brains I can pick to get a better grip on what I have to learn.

I’ve been learning to deal with the distractions of a large school. I use an IPod to create focus and privacy for study at Starbucks. I tend to be on the quiet side, as in introversion. My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is INTP. This has helped me understand how I need to process and channel my energy, part of the reason to “Think different.”

My goals for college aren’t clear yet. My parents are encouraging me toward a pre-law program. But in my opinion the people who win these awards seem to work very hard for what they do. My goals have more to do, I think, with learning and the rewards of education itself. I think I would perhaps do better at teaching—and solving some problems along the way. Being interested in a lot of things is important to me in understanding how everything relates as a system—with some subjects stronger than others.

As an introvert, I prefer to watch sports over playing them. But I am a contender in our school’s College Bowl Los Lobos team; and while not always winning, we’re always in the game. What I enjoy, what makes me feel like my best self, is in getting answers I didn’t realize I knew, or importing an answer from the game back into a class test. I knew Bacon’s Rebellion from a Bowl question I missed, which means I really recalled it easily for US History. The teacher was surprised, and so was I!

I also enjoy just using my quieter social skills to talk and listen one on one about what people do, because they so easily discuss what they are good at. I can consider this a skill for becoming a journalist or reporter. At an education conference on campus last semester I signed up for some lectures and seminars on the Common Core in California, which were fairly technical. But I got the gist of the discussion to know what the issues around common standards and critical thinking are so I can now relate to and discuss them with some confidence. As a student myself I find that I have to translate what goes on in the textbook and in class to shape it up and get a handle on it: in my own way.

There must be ways to customize learning, as I’ve had to do, to use your natural abilities and fit your style; it’s that discovery about yourself that makes everything else possible. Maybe this is what I can offer myself as a student and then to the world—a new way of looking at the ways and means of how facts and ideas work on the brain to create new knowledge.

  Margaret J. King, Ph.D., is an editor, writing teacher, and dissertation coach in Philadelphia.  She directs a think tank that studies how people perceive, make decisions, and negotiate value through culture.  A key factor in that negotiation is language, especially written communications. You can find more about her and her work at: http://www.culturalanalysis.com/.

[tutorblog]

What It's Like to Be a Foreign Student

My foot hit the tarmac and I was finally home. Up until that moment, I had been in a whirlwind of packing, garage-sales, goodbyes and anticipation. I really had no idea what was going on. I was so excited to see more of the world than Jacksonville, Florida had to offer, that I never once paused to develop expectations. I didn’t think about what it would be like to live in a different country, a different continent even, for a minimum of two years and I certainly didn’t consider the fact that I would be a foreigner to everyone. But one breath of that fresh, clean Dutch air and I knew that none of that mattered. I was in Amsterdam, and I was loving it.

I was only eleven at the time, so I was unencumbered by the multitudes of motivations and concerns that surround a person when they make the decision to go abroad. I recognise that some go for the hope of a new life, new friends, new connections, a new sense of being. I know that some people don’t want to go, but are uprooting their lives for a job, school, or the awareness of potential benefits. My family and I moved for my father’s job, but by the way I jumped at the thought, it could easily have been mistaken for my own choice.

In reality, I knew nothing about Amsterdam. There had been no possibility of learning anything of Dutch in Jacksonville, and I had only visited once before, and even then, it was only for just long enough to pick out a school. Then, suddenly, I was surrounded by people —toddlers, expectant mothers, women in dresses and skirts, men in suits — all whirring by on bicycles without helmets. There was public transportation, and a million more cultures than I had ever yet encountered. It wasn’t important that I didn’t know anything about the city; I was there right then, and that was all I needed to know.

It was a little different in the educational setting, though. Attending an international school, it wasn’t at all typically “Dutch.” I quickly found that it was easier than anything to allow myself to migrate towards other expatriates, foreigners and those similarly out of their comfort zone. Within my school, so many “foreign” cultures congregated that it was difficult to say who actually was foreign: the American, Japanese, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Indian, Korean, English, Colombian, Russian, Polish, South African and Dutch students alike all came together under one commonality - we lived in and loved Amsterdam. Together we explored the city, learned the language, learned from each other and developed bonds that continue far beyond our educational careers.

It was incredible, but that small community couldn’t be all that Amsterdam was about for me. Sometimes the community you make for yourself can distract you from the community around you, the culture that you came to experience. It would have been all too easy for me to stay with the small school group, and miss out on so much more that the Netherlands has to offer. Even though we were experiencing the city, we were experiencing it as a group, and not interacting with it on our own. I knew I couldn’t do that, but I also learned quickly that no one would hold my hand and show me the ropes of the city. In fact, many of the people I knew were comfortable in their niche. I had to make sure, for myself, that I took the language I learned and used it, to go out and involve myself in the country and its customs. I hopped on that “oma fiets” (Grandma bike) and rode wherever the bike paths took me, which in Amsterdam, is everywhere.

I was lucky: Amsterdam is filled with incredibly open and accepting people, and it is hard to feel like an outsider. Sure, if they catch you in sweats and sneakers, they’ll address you in English, because they’ll know you’re a foreigner. Eventually, though, I wasn’t one anymore. I feel more at home in the Netherlands now than I ever did in Jacksonville. I went native, and the benefits follow me still today.

The education I received and experiences I had in Amsterdam helped me not only get into New York University, but stand out in a crowd. There, I am the “foreign” student; it’s very rare that you find a girl from Florida who speaks Dutch. I appear interesting to my peers and my experience abroad allows me to stand out in a pile of resumes, and the homes I have created for myself allow me to be open to any circumstance, culture, and possibility. If I had developed expectations before I moved, they would have been exceeded far beyond the imaginable.

I won’t say that going abroad, studying abroad, or even visiting abroad is for everyone, but it might be for you. The experiences you gain, the friendships you make, and the homes you learn to make for yourself are worth feeling like an outsider for however short a period of time. You may find, as I did, a home greater than you could have imagined any home to be. The experience is what you make it, and for me, that experience was addictive.

I still remember the endorphin rush that washed over me when I first got to Amsterdam. That adrenaline never wears out when I’m there. I won’t let that feeling stop; I won’t let myself stop exploring the world. Next, I’m off to study abroad in Berlin, after that “abroad” in New York again, and still after that, who knows what the world has in store for me - but hopefully I can bring my bike.  

Amber Brown is an incoming junior at NYU whose family lives in Amsterdam and who is studying abroad in Berlin next semester. 

[tutorblog]

How Much Is A Harvard Degree Really Worth?

The list of assumed benefits from attending the country’s top universities is endless. You'll receive a top education, an internationally recognized degree, a chance to rub shoulders with future presidents and CEOs, an infinite number of open doors.

But how do these schools really measure up when you look at the numbers? The reality may surprise you. Sure, Harvard and Princeton graduates are known to do well for themselves, but your local public institution might actually earn you a higher starting salary. Here, we take a look at the nation’s top-ranked universities, their starting salaries, and how they measure up to the top-earning graduates. 

#1 [Tie] Harvard University: starting salary $50,700

Harvard University is famous for its world-renowned education and a business school which produces some of the nation's most powerful men and women. The rest of the university may not fare so well, though. The average starting salary of the university is a mere $50,700 — $7,000 less than a year’s cost of attendance. In fact, in the list of the country’s top 30 universities with the highest starting salaries, this top school does not even rank. However, the salaries compiled did differ greatly throughout the fields of study. For example, students working in consulting earn between $70,000 and $90,000 in their first year, and a full 21 percent of students working in finance will earn above $110,000 in their first year.

#1 [Tie] Princeton University: starting salary $58,300

Tied with Harvard University in rank for the country’s top university, Princeton University outdoes its competitor, if only slightly, in graduate earnings, with its average starting salary at $58,300. Like Harvard, Princeton also does not rank in terms of the nation’s highest earning graduates, but at least its graduates would be able to afford the cost of their own attendance, with a couple of thousand dollars to spare.

#3 Yale University: starting salary $48,900

This top university actually produces the lowest earning graduates of our list. With an average starting salary of $48,900, Yale graduates would still need just under $10,000 more to be able to afford the university’s cost of attendance. However, similarly to those from Harvard, Yale graduates may fare better in the fields of consulting, finance, business management and the like, where the average starting salary ranges between $78,669 for a non-profit organisation and $126,667, with the highest salaries extending to as great as $215,000.

#4 [Tie] Columbia University: starting salary $54,700

A degree from Columbia University might open some doors for you, but with an average starting salary of $54,700, the doors to a nice apartment in New York City will remain closed. Even though graduates may outearn those from Harvard initially, with tuition and fees as high as $64,144, Columbia graduates would still need just under $10,000 to pay off their schooling, and with the high cost of living in New York City, might likely end up needing to relocate.

#4 [Tie] University of Chicago: starting salary $59,319

This Windy City university might not be the first to come to mind when you think of top colleges, but it will earn you a higher starting salary than those who rank above it. With $59,319, University of Chicago graduates might start off $9,000 better than their peers at Harvard, but with tuition and fees exceeding Harvard’s at $63,860, the cost may outweigh the benefits.

#6 [Tie] Massachusetts Institute of Technology: starting salary $68,400

With an average starting salary of $68,400, MIT is the first of our top schools to even rank on the list of the country’s top universities with the highest starting salaries. In fact, MIT graduates are earning the third highest starting salaries of the country. On top of that, with tuition and fees being the lowest of the universities on this list, students would be able to afford their own tuition with $26,350 to spare.

#6 [Tie] Stanford University: starting salary $58,200

Though Stanford might be equal to MIT in terms of the nation’s top universities, it is by no means equal when it comes to starting salaries. In fact, ranking twenty-second on the list of universities with the highest starting salaries, and with an average starting salary of $58,200, Stanford’s graduates are exceeded by those from MIT by a full $10,200. With the tuition and fees at $60,749, Stanford grads come close to being able to afford their own tuition, but perhaps if you can brave the cold, MIT might be more cost-benefit savvy.

#8 [Tie] Duke University: starting salary $53,800

Head down south and you might be able to earn a bit more than a Harvard graduate, but you still won’t be able to afford your own tuition. Duke graduates earn an average $53,800 upon graduation, and with costs at $58,865, they will at least come closer to being able to afford their own tuition than their friends over at Harvard.

#8 [Tie] University of Pennsylvania: starting salary $56,100

Ranked thirtieth on the list of the country’s top universities with the highest starting salaries, University of Pennsylvania graduates earn an average of $56,100 upon graduation, so while it may be tied with Duke for the eighth top university in the country, it not only outdoes their graduates by $2,300 but also outdoes Harvard, Yale and Columbia. However, with tuition and fees at $61,800, graduates would still not be able to afford their own degrees.

So there you have it! Has evaluating the costs of the country’s top universities against their average starting salaries got you feeling nervous? Be sure to check out the colleges which produce the highest earning graduates below!  And if you're a recent graduate who's looking to boost her income, sign up as a tutor with Tutorspree. 

COLLEGES WITH HIGHEST STARTING SALARIES

#1 US Military Academy (Civilian Jobs): $76,000

#2 US Naval Academy (Civilian Jobs): $72,200

#3 MIT: $68,400

#4 California Institute of Technology: $67,400

#5 Harvey Mudd College: $66,800

#6 US Air Force Academy (Civilian Jobs): $65,400

#7 Colorado School of Mines: $64,200

#8 Loma Linda College: $63,400

#9 Thomas Jefferson University: $63,200

#10 Rose-Hullman Institute of Technology: $62,300

Data compiled from Advisor One, a resource for financial advisors.

[tutorblog]

This Essay Got Me Into NYU

This is Nihar Suthar's college application essay for NYU, written in 2011.

It was a rather gloomy Tuesday morning with the steady pitter-patter of rain and a cover of dreary clouds. I woke up feeling nervous, not because of the murky weather, but because I had recently taken what everyone had told me was the biggest test of my life. To me, the SAT seemed like a couple of random letters pulled from the alphabet…a test only lucky people scored well on.

I remember my heart racing as I logged onto my computer to check the score that would apparently determine my future. A 2090 glared back at me. I rushed to tell my parents the good news, but I was not met with the reaction I had expected.

My father nonchalantly replied, “You’ve consistently performed below the level of your brother and sister.” He was not proud although I thought the score was decent for a first-time take.

That simple sentence hit me hard. In every step I took, I was always compared to my siblings and expected to follow their trail. However, they were honestly just the typical competitive applicants: straight-A students who joined only those clubs they thought would give them an edge. How could I break that pattern and carve my own path to success?

I found the answer in my passions. My passion has always been creating new ideas and seeing them through. I think starting from scratch is the hardest thing to do; therefore, kicking off my multimedia company, Suthar Technologies, was probably one of my most difficult challenges. I established myself by creating multimedia presentations  for my local temple. These videos were so impressive that not only did other temples throughout the Northeast approach me for them, but the CEO of Integrity Consulting Group (a top-ten IT consulting firm in the US) also asked me for a promotional video.

However, I did not stop with Suthar Tech. Using my passion for networking and building ideas, I continued to set myself apart. I was able to expand my website, Hype Up Your Day, and also take my duty as the head of children’s activities at my temple to a whole new level.

Hype Up Your Day, a site which sends out daily motivational, humorous, and thought-provoking quotes grew to 600 international fans within a mere month as I contacted and inspired people to join. In fact, the site is still growing today as I share quotes and spread the word.

Through similar networking initiatives, I also encouraged more and more children to attend the weekly Indian cultural classes I run by personally calling my students frequently just to catch up or wish them “Happy Birthday.” In just two years, I increased weekly attendance over four-fold, gaining regional recognition for these children’s activities.

It is through all this that I realized following my passions let my true talents shine. I did not need to walk the footsteps of my siblings to succeed and make my parents proud. I just had to have the courage to be myself.

Nihar Suthar is an NYU student who loves entrepreneurship. He is the founder of Hype Up Your Day and recently authored Win No Matter What, a motivational book. Most sales profits from his book are going to the Acumen Fund.

Photo: Hype Up Your Day

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Do You Need An Admissions Consultant? Here's How to Decide

  Is it worth it to hire an admissions consultant? How much do they cost? What do they really do for you? Do they have secret magic powers?  Fear not — we got the 411 to help you decide!

Whether you’re applying to private school, college, or graduate school, the process is challenging. Filling out the application itself is just the tip of the iceberg. Then there's personal statements, recommendations, standardized tests, interviews, and supplements. Throw in the fact that admissions rates are decreasing at top schools in the nation due to an increasing amount of prospective applicants and you can find yourself stressed, confused, and not sure where to begin.

That’s where the admissions consultants come in. An admissions consultant (aka private counselor or admissions coach) can help you:

figure out which schools may be your best fit

assess which schools are reaches and which are safeties

critique your resume and extracurricular advisement

decide who to ask for recommendations

brainstorm ideas for application essays

edit and proofread your essays

practice for admissions interviews

Essentially, these individuals can help you every step of the way through the entire application process. With demand for Admissions Consultants increasing over the past few years, these advisors can set you back anywhere between $1,500 to $40,000. 

So like many parents and students, you might ask, “Why hire an independent admissions consultant when there's already a college counselor at my school?” This is a very valid question, and the answer depends on the school’s environment, the specific student, and the admissions consultant.

Often, college counselors at large public schools will be dealing with many students, and may not be able to give each student adequate time and attention. A 2010 survey found that 60% of students said the advice they got from their college counselors was "poor" or "fair" at best. Sometimes, there isn't even a dedicated college counselor — the school’s guidance counselor will just moonlight as a college counselor. Since the primary function of his job is to assess student welfare, the college admissions process may not be an area of expertise.

On the other hand, if you attend a small private school with a low student-counselor ratio, the college counselors there have been dedicated to helping students through the admissions process for years, you're looking at colleges nearby that your parents or older siblings attended, and you're an organized, disciplined kid who's comfortable writing essays? Then the additional benefit from hiring an admissions consultant may be slim. 

Here are the types of students who would benefit the most from a private admissions consultant:

Students at large public high schools who are not getting sufficient attention from their assigned college counselor.

First-generation college students or foreign students whose families are unfamiliar with the U.S. admissions process

Students who need help with researching schools, managing deadlines throughout the process, or crafting essays

Students considering schools outside their geographic area

Students with an unusual profile, such as being home-schooled or having taken a year off

If you do decide to hire an independent admissions consultant, there are definitely certain things to consider, such as:

How long has the consultant been in business?

Does the consultant have any certifications?

Are there any testimonials?

Like any long standing business, if the consultant has been in business a long time, it means he or she is probably doing something right. The consultant may also know a lot about how the application process has changed over time and how these changes may or may not help your application. A new counselor may not be aware of all the necessary components of a complete application and might not be familiar with all possible institutions a student may fit well with. 

“It’s not worth my time or money to have someone who doesn’t know the process tell me things I already know!” Rachel Seatley, a business student, stated. “I took a long time to decide who I wanted to advise me and my counselor had been working for five years and she had her certification in multiple areas. I trusted her and she pulled through for me.”

It's definitely a great sign if the consultant has past experience working in an admissions office. There are other markers that a consultant has the necessary knowledge and skills to be effective in their position: a degree in counseling or education, a College Counseling Certification, a Certified Educational Planner course, or being a member of the IECA.

Before hiring a consultant, it is also important to check if the consultant has any past clients that may be contacted to give a recommendation. Hearing the experiences of past customers will let you know how well the counselor works with applicants and if the counselor is the type of individual that you yourself want to work with.

Katie Cheung said, “I went through two or three consultants before I found one for my daughter. One of them was so brusque with me I knew in the first ten minutes that this was not going to work.”

No matter what, before hiring a consultant, you have to interview them. You need to see how they are as a person first hand. How their manner is, what their priorities are. This way, you can also get an understanding of the angle they take in the admissions process and see if that fits with your needs.

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Education Excerpt: Better TV Means Better Kids

Every Friday, Tutorspree brings you an exclusive digest of must-read education news from around the web.

Better TV Means Better Kids (Education News)

Sometimes, "turn it off" isn't as good as "turn the channel."  Find out why.

Why Schools Aren't Businesses: The Blueberry Story (Washington Post)

Larry Cuban’s 2004 book “The Blackboard and the Bottom Line: Why Schools Can’t be Businesses,” is nearly a decade old but still highly relevant to the education reform debate.  Here's why.

How I Transformed The iPad Workflow In My School (Edudemic)

With all of the iPads flooding into schools these days, many other classroom systems have come under scrutiny.  Here's why.

The Fault-Tolerant School (dy/dan)

Uri Treisman gave a near-perfect talk on race, poverty, and equity at NCTM 2013 (which I trust you've now seen at least once) but he left one crucial thread dangling.

How To Choose A Role Model That Will Really Motivate You (Annie Murphy Paul)

If a role model relationship is to help you think and act more intelligently, you’ll have to choose the right person to emulate—and as is so often the case, science has some surprising and counter-intuitive insights to contribute here.

ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades (WSJ)

It's no longer shocking to hear of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder—and others simply facing a big test—taking ADHD medicine to boost their performance in school. But new studies point to a problem: There's little evidence that the drugs actually improve academic outcomes.

5 Learning Techniques Techniques Psychologists Say Kids Aren't Getting (Psychology Today)

Not all learning techniques are created equal — some are proven to be significantly more effective than others. Which ones are your kids using?

California Judge Rules Yoga In Public Schools Not Religious (NPR)

Some parents in the San Diego area were suing the Encinitas Union School District to stop yoga classes because they believed the ancient Indian practice had religious overtones. Well, today a decision in that case has been established.

Can Google Glass Solve The Student Engagement Problem? (Ed Tech Magazine)

Andrew Vanden Heuvel has figured out how to use Google Glass to deliver education, and his ideas could change the way students learn.

NEA Policy Statement On Digital Learning (NEA)

The importance of technological knowledge to students explained by the National Education Association.

Stunned By Accreditor, City College of San Francisco Suddenly Faces Hard Choices (Chronicle of Higher Education)

The City College of San Francisco has been told that its accreditation will be withdrawn in July 2014.  Here's what it means for its 85,000 students and 2,600 faculty members.

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11 Incredibly Successful People Who Went to State School

Everyone knows that students attending the top ten schools in the nation will receive a first-class education with the best professors in their fields. But plenty of successful people attended schools that weren't exactly Ivy-studded. If you're at a state school, take heart — you're in excellent company!

1. OPRAH WINFREY

Who doesn’t know Oprah Winfrey? A famous talk show host and now owner of her own television network, there are few who don’t know her name. But she had modest beginnings. From Mississippi, Oprah grew up with a single mother, in an impoverished home where she was abused. She moved to Milwaukee and developed an interested in public speaking and drama during high school. After graduation, Oprah attended Tennessee State University, where she studied communications. Post graduation, she worked a few local media jobs, and eventually she signed a syndication deal for The Oprah Winfrey Show.

2. JOHN MACKEY

You may not know who John Mackey is, but you've probably shopped at his business — it's a little chain of markets called Whole Foods. From Houston, Texas, Mackey ended up at the University of Texas at Austin studying philosophy and religion. After graduation, he opened a couple grocery stores and health food restaurants and eventually merged all of these businesses into the organization we know today as the Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods Market is now a huge supermarket competitor present all over the US, Canada, and the UK.

3. JON HAMM

Watch AMC’s Mad Men? Then you know Jon Hamm, the actor who plays Don Draper. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and played sports all the way through his time at the University of Texas and also after he transferred to the University of Missouri while studying English. Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, Hamm pursued acting and auditioned for roles but received only a few. However, his breakthrough did not come until 2007 when he landed the starring role on Mad Men. Now, he is a Golden Globe and an eight-time Emmy award-winning actor. Not bad, huh?

4. JAMES CLARK

James H. Clark is a prominent businessman and founder of several tech companies, which include Silicon Graphics Inc, Netscape Communications Corporation, myCFO, and Healtheon. But before he was a business mogul, James was a high school dropout who spent four years in the navy, filling his requirements at Tulane University so he could attend a four-year institution. He graduated from the University of New Orleans in physics and went on to get his PhD in computer science from the University of Utah. After an assistant professorship at UCSC, he became an associate professor at Stanford, and with his coworkers, founded Silicon Graphics. Following that venture, he eventually founded the rest of his companies.

5. JOHN THIEL

John Thiel found himself at Grand Valley State University and then transferred to Florida State University before he ended up on Wall Street. He studied accounting and took a job as an auditor and then an insurance agent. But he really got his start at Merrill Lynch as a financial planner and eventually became the director of the San Francisco branch of the private banking sector of the firm. From there, his career skyrocketed.

6. SUZE ORMAN

A native of Chicago, Suze Orman got her BA in social work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After attempting to start a restaurant, she also trained at Merrill Lynch as an account executive, but after a few years, ended up at Prudential. After working at Prudential, she resigned and founded the Suze Orman Financial Group, authored three books, and is now an on camera personality on The Suze Orman Show.

7. BRAD PITT

You know him from Ocean’s Eleven, Moneyball, and Fight Club. However, Brad Pitt wasn’t always the successful actor and producer he is now. William Pitt was born in the state of Oklahoma but grew up in Missouri. After majoring in journalism and advertising at the University of Missouri, he headed to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. A few years of couch surfing and waiting tables, he had only landed a few roles. But in 1991, he made his debut in Thelma & Louise, and he’s been on the screen ever since.

8. BARBARA BOXER

California State Senator Barbara Boxer grew up in California but attended Brooklyn College in New York, receving her Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics. Shortly after graduation, she began working as a stock broker, only to move back to California three years later journalist and as an aide for Congressman John Burton. In 1982, she was elected to the US House of Representatives, and in 1992, she won a seat in the US Senate for California and currently still serves in the Senate.

9. STEVEN SPIELBERG

Steven Spielberg is a living legend in the Entertainment industry, having created countless of memorable movies like ET, Schindler’s List, Jaws, Jurassic Park, the Indiana Jones films, and Saving Private Ryan. Today, he is worth around 3.2 billion. But where was he before his successful film career? He was born in Cincinnati, but grew up between Arizona and California. He applied to his dream school, the USC film school twice, and was rejected both times. Instead, he went to CSU Long Beach, where he majored in film production and electronic arts. After interning at Universal Studios, he began his directing career and took off.

10. COLIN POWELL

Colin Powell grew up in Harlem, New York, attended high school in the Bronx and later majored in geology at the City College of New York. After serving in the military and receiving his MBA from George Washington University, he entered the political sphere and eventually worked his way up the ladder to the position of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then the Secretary of State under the Bush administration.

11. RONALD REAGAN

I bet you didn’t think that a US President was going to be on this list. Well, Ronald Reagan certainly qualifies. The actor, military man, and president wasn’t always in the spotlight. Growing up in Illinois, Ronald was an advocate against racial discrimination throughout his younger years. He attended Eureka College, majoring in economics and sociology. Shortly after, he was then hired to be the broadcaster for local football games, and his acting career skyrocketed from there, bringing him the fame and public recognition that would help me when he later decided to run for President.

[tutorblog]

This Essay Got Me In To The University of California

This is Avi Bagla's application essay for the University of California, written in 2011.

Alarm rings.

4:30 am. Got it. I jump out of bed for what is probably one of the biggest days of my life just yet. The big show was in seven hours. I get ready, 5:15 I’m out the door.

I was nervous. This was the All-State show, the biggest theater show for high school students in the state, and I was the FOH Engineer. Why was I chosen out of 200 people; why Avi Bagla? Whitney High didn’t even have an auditorium, much less a state-of-the-art soundboard. But two days before, they had decided that I was the man for the job.

5:30, barge in the door. No time to think, just do. I sprint up the stairs to the Front of House platform with my stage manager. After a quick overview of the show, I sit down. I stare. I was going to be using an $80,000 board, a board that the technical directors on Broadway would drool on. I put on my headset in awe.

“Avi, listen up. This is our only dress rehearsal, let’s do this right.” Right, focus. Turn on the board; see the sound rush through on the screens. Get the performers “miked up”. Set up my cues, get my microphones checked, and signal that the sound is all ready to go. Same routine, no matter the board. I got this. The others saw my method – it was mine, and I knew they understood it from their slight confusion.

Show starts. One performance goes by. Two. Three. Four. Soon enough, we’re flying through rehearsal. The other show does their rehearsal and we go relax. I get a bunch of slaps on the back – but it’s the comment from the adult sound designer, the one who had the final word on choosing me, that strikes me.

“I knew I chose the right guy for this show.”

What was that supposed to mean exactly? I knew I wasn’t the most experienced, or the most knowledgeable, but I got the job over people who worked on these boards for every single one of the shows they put on. He chose me. And he thought it was the best choice.

As I was turning this idea over in my head, I heard the director yell. It was show time. Get into position, turn on the board, correct cues, signal.

11:30, curtains up. And the show begins.

Avi Bagla loves the places where technology's meets art, making him a lover of film and computer science. He is currently studying Symbolic Systems at Stanford University.

Photo: Shutterstock 

[tutorblog]

The SAT Myth

For parents and students entering the college search and admissions process, there’s a great deal of noise from other families about the realities of the world they’re entering.

One of the biggest myths is that standardized test scores (the SAT, ACT, and the SAT Subject Tests) have become much less important. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Many families mistakenly conclude that because more colleges have become “test optional,” meaning they don’t require students to submit test scores, that admissions officers are placing less emphasis on such tests. This is an incorrect assumption for the following reasons:

1. Even those students who actively seek out such “test optional” options will still have at least one or two schools where the SAT or ACT is required. So they still must take the tests at least once or twice. Not doing so could jeopardize their admission to a school that otherwise could be an excellent fit.

2. Most colleges who are test optional are not test optional for scholarships. So while they afford you the choice of not submitting your test scores for admission, they will not consider you for a scholarship unless you do submit them. Unsuspecting parents may not realize that this will be prohibitive from a cost perspective. A typical private college offers scholarships ranging from $5,000 per year to $30,000 per year, so not taking the SAT or ACT can significantly increase what a particular family pays for college.

3. The SAT and ACT have actually become much more important in today’s college admissions world mainly because there are more kids applying to college than ever before.

More students are heading to college directly after high school (about 70% compared to only 60% twenty years ago). There are also students from many more countries outside the U.S. who are now submitting applications. The rise in international student applications has been significant. Some 723,000 students applied from outside the U.S. to American colleges in 2010, an all time high.

In addition, more domestic kids are applying to more colleges than did students two decades ago. The average student now applies to 9 colleges. Twenty years ago, that number was only 3. So there are a glut of applications and roughly the same number of colleges, which has caused admissions officers to read applications in a different way.

For instance, if you were a college admissions officer at say, Boston University, which receives more than 44,000 applications, how would you read apps? You would most likely first look at a student’s high school GPA, and then his SAT or ACT scores. If those numbers were in the general ballpark for admission, then you would continue reading the rest of the application.

If, on the other hand, these scores were moderately close to your middle 50% ranges, then the application would go in the “maybe” pool. If they were a little further away from your ranges, you would not even read the rest of the application. In this way, SAT/ACT scores are critically important because they are part of a “triage” process of reading applications.

This type of reading is not only typical at large colleges, but at many selective medium and small sized schools as well. This is why parents and students should take these tests very seriously, engage a strong test prep program or SAT tutor, and have a yearlong strategy for when to take the exams and which scores to report to which colleges.

Dean Skarlis is the President of The College Advisor of New York, an independent college counseling company. 

Photo: Shutterstock

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The Best Private Colleges For Your Wallet

Yesterday, we gave you tips on how to finance your college education. But if you're still worried about being able to pay for a good college, several universities have taken notice of your largest concern, and are making steps towards making higher education affordable. 

Here's a list of ten private colleges that claim to meet "100% of students' financial need", and they're just ten of 64 U.S. colleges that make this claim!

Sadly, this doesn't (necessarily) mean you'll be able to attend for free. What it does mean is that they'll cover the entire gap between the cost of the college and what your family can actually afford. These colleges evaluate each student’s expected family contribution either through the FAFSA system or through their own means of evaluation. They then offer grants, scholarships, loans, or a mixture of the three to ensure that any accepted student can attend the university of their dreams.

Without further ado, the best colleges for your wallet:

1. Princeton

Princeton University has been a trailblazer in terms of ensuring for their graduates a life unhindered of monetary concerns and continued college debt. In 2001, they became the first institute of higher education to meet students’ full financial need without student loans, replacing those loans with grants. If Princeton is the school for you, money won’t be an issue!

2. University of Virginia

UVa recently developed a program called AccessUVa which assists any of their students in applying for and receiving financial aid. Their department of financial services ensures that students who might otherwise be unable attend university obtain the education they deserve.

3. Swarthmore College

Like Princeton, Swarthmore offers financial assistance without student loans. In the past year, over half of their student body attended the college almost exclusively based on their scholarship awards, and 70 percent of the student body shared approximately 38 million dollars in aid.

4. Yale University

Yale is, among many Ivy institutions, a need-blind university, meaning they accept their students based solely on their merit, and thereafter strive to make sure that those accepted can attend the university without unnecessary hardship.

5. Pomona College

Pomona is also a need-blind institution, as well as one of the few to offer financial aid without student loans. In the past year, Pomona students shared 34.3 million dollars in financial assistance, 30.7 million in the form of need-based institutional grants.

6. Claremont McKenna College

While CMC emphasises that financial assistance is determined by their funds, they also highlight their commitment to meeting 100 percent of their students’ financial need. They strive to ensure that cost is not a deciding factor for their students.

7. Columbia University

Columbia financial aid officers have invested themselves in developing individual plans for each student and their family, in order to assist them in affording university. They strive to certify that Columbia costs never become a barrier to their students.

8. Thomas Aquinas College

Individual contributions and endowments allow the office of financial aid at Thomas Aquinas College to gift their students with the funds they need to attend their university. Though they expect families to make a maximum effort towards affording university, they assess each student’s need individually to assist them as much as possible.

9. Vassar College

Over 60 percent of students at Vassar are attending based upon need-based financial aid. The amounts awarded to those students range between 1,500 dollars and over 60,000 dollars, accentuating that, whatever your need, Vassar is willing to meet it.

10. Washington University in St. Louis

Similar to a few of the colleges mentioned above, Washington University offers aid without student loans, but unlike many others, also offers financial aid awards ranging up to the full cost of attendance. If you really need to attend a good college for free, this may be the place for you.

In addition to these universities, there are 54 more who claim to similarly meet students’ full financial need (full list here) so you need not worry! Don’t let the daunting costs of college choose your future for you: explore your options, and worry about your classwork instead. 

[tutorblog]

This Essay Got Me Into Stanford Medical School

This is James Pan's application essay for Stanford Medical School, written in 2012. 

Instead of action figures, I played with stethoscopes. Instead of reading the latest Harry Potter novel, I checked out an 800 page medical microbiology tome from the library. I remember renewing it for a solid six months and pandering my parents with esoteric medical lingo: "Hey mom, cook the beef thoroughly! I don't think a T. saginata infection would be very fun." Flirting with medicine was fun but it's finally time to tie the knot.

Medicine was appealing because it allowed me to explore my intellectual curiosity, fulfill my need to help others and empower others to want to do the same. In high school, I was fortunate enough to work at two leading medical centres near my home. My first experience was in a developmental biology lab at Cornell studying the effects of Pbx/Hox genes in mouse development. My next stop was at Columbia University studying the genetics of bacteriophages. I learned how to design experiments, and to gather, question and publish my data. This taught me the inquisitive skills I would later need to succeed as a physician and was a giant stepping-stone to the next phase of my education.

In college, I spent three summers at the National Institutes of Health and joined a research lab at the University of Pittsburgh. I helped and mentored 200+ students by teaching organic chemistry and cell biology. I was fortunate enough to shadow a physician and discovered my interest in surgery. Not only did I sharpen my skills as a scientist and delve deeper into the world of medicine, I also became passionate about graphic design and helping people communicate their great ideas. Part of this came from my observation that brilliant researchers and physicians often struggle to convey their ideas to the general public, their students, patients, and even their colleagues. I have learned to use my skills as a designer to turn science from what many people perceive to be inaccessible to something exciting and vibrant.

For me, design was fascinating as it brought together the fields of social science, psychology, and even neuroscience to help people tell powerful stories.

Medicine too, is about telling stories. Each patient is different and each history gives an introspective lens into the human condition. This helps medicine transcend science as it allows us to explore our inherent humanity. I synergized knowledge, storytelling, and humanitarianism when I curated TEDxCMU, an independently organized "meeting of the minds" modeled after the annual TED conference in California. TEDxCMU is a gathering of people who are passionate about the power of ideas and who believe that it is possible to change the world through the sharing of knowledge. I invited eight individuals with world changing ideas to give a talk at CMU.

One of those individuals was Dr. William Gahl, who had a profound influence on my perception of medicine. He is a world expert on rare diseases and sees patients that lack a diagnosis after years of medical attention. Dr. Gahl noted that getting a diagnosis for these patients is tough, but red tape and bureaucracy get in the way of treatment even when we have figured it out.

Why is that? Developing treatments for rare diseases is not economical for drug companies. "There's nothing we can do about that. But there is something we can do!", Dr. Gahl offers. We can use existing drugs off--label, however, even in life or death situations, the FDA adheres to their strict policies and prevents their use. I was mesmerized by how I enabled the powerful interaction between Dr. Gahl and the audience, and after he explained how several of his patients died to these policies, both parties choked up. "These patients want to be protected, but not protected to death."

Combine a powerful story with a powerful audience and something magical happens. After I graduated from CMU, I started work as a research fellow in Dr. Gahl's lab at NIH. Two weeks in, Dr. Gahl announced to a roomful of physicians, scientists, and students that the FDA reversed one of its decision on off--label drug use for rare disease patients. Patients who would have died under the old policy can now receive their life--saving medications. Through TED, I facilitated effective medical communication which can save lives. The audience at TEDxCMU was so moved by Dr. Gahl's talk that they turned those ideas into action, called their congressional representatives and brought the issue before the FDA. "James, you saved a life today", Dr. Gahl told me.

You may or may not agree with Dr. Gahl's stance with the FDA, but that's not the point. I did not want to polarize, but rather to start a conversation and celebrate that all knowledge is interconnected. This made me realize that medicine is at a critical juncture between time-tested practices and new technology.

Patient care is no longer limited to the clinic or operating room. The fiduciary duty of physicians transcends the treatment of just physical ailments — we have to capture and project the voice of the patient. Medicine sums up my love of spreading and applying knowledge, the rewarding experience of helping others, and my ambition to touch lives around the world. I'm ready to use my training as a scientist and my passion for design to bring a unique perspective to the world of medicine.

James Pan is a medical student at Stanford University; in his spare time, he leads a double life as a graphic designer, amateur photographer, and fitness freak.

Photo: Shutterstock

[tutorblog]

How To Go To College For Free

With university tuitions continually on the rise, one question has come to the forefront of every upcoming college students’ mind: how will I pay for college?

In the past ten years alone, college tuition costs have risen an average of 3.8 percent, with individual institution costs having risen as much as 614.3 percent. It seems impossible, but the trend does not seem to be reaching an end. As such, affordability has quickly become a criteria of utmost importance when it comes down to the final choice of university, and is even the singular deciding factor for some families.

As horror stories of families selling their homes to pay for a child's tuition and student loan debt continuing well into the 30's and 40's circulate the internet almost daily, college costs tend to bring up a lot of stress for students and their families. Higher education, and a good one at that, does not need to break the bank, however. As tuitions costs increase, so too do the possibilities for financial assistance. From loans, federal aid, and scholarships, here is the rundown of your options, and the most affordable colleges for you.

Your Financial Aid Options

1. Grants

Often awarded based on financial need, grants are a student's best friend. With federal Pell grants, TEACH grants, grants for military service and Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity grants, as well as state, institution and organisation-awarded grants, the possibility of “free money” for students in need is great.

To apply for the lot of them, a student need only fill out the FAFSA, and will be gifted based on the amount of which the US Department of Education deems them in need. However, though the government has made steps towards increasing the amount of grants available to students, they are not endless, and not every student in need will get enough money from these options. For that, there are scholarships.

2. Scholarships

Scholarships are more frequently given to students based on their merit, often involving application essays, community service, athletic ability and the like. Like grants, scholarships can come from a plethora of sources: universities, charities, companies, even Tutorspree! The possibilities for scholarships really are endless, and finding them is as easy as a quick Google search. While awards vary widely in both criterion and amount awarded, if scholarships are made a priority, they can really add up towards paying for a good percentage of your college tuition. The only trick here is to avoid scholarship scams.

3. Loans

Student loans are the least appealing of financial aid options for many students. Sadly, however, they often make up the largest source of tuition. “Universities do what they can to help you cover the cost of your tuition,” says Hope Cole, a student at New York University. “But, in reality, most of it ends up covered by loans.”

The problem with these loans is that they can easily overwhelm a student, as, unlike grants and scholarships, they do need to be paid back, and with interest. Though that interest does not begin to be added onto the debt until after a student’s graduation, it is, in reality, unlikely that the student will be able to pay it back in full at that time. This leads to many students still paying off their debts by the time they need to consider paying for their own children’s education. Universities see the problem with this, and are, as such, making a move towards offering less student loans, and more work-study opportunities.

4. Work-Study

Work-study opportunities are offered to a vast majority of university students, but are not always as easy to cash in on once classes begin. For work-study, a certain amount of money is allotted to a student for working for university-affiliated organisations. The problem with this financial aid option is that they offer work-study opportunities to more students than there are jobs available.

The trick to getting those opportunities before other students is to get an early start on applying for those jobs, to have a clean and cohesive resume and cover letter, and to apply to as many opportunities as you are qualified for.

What do you think of skyrocketing college costs? Let us know in the comments!

Photo: Shutterstock

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On July 15th, Meet Harvard and Columbia's Former Dean of Admissions

Dee Blackman has served as the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Columbia University and the Dean of Graduate Admissions at Harvard University. During this time, she read over 15,000 student applications each year and was ultimately responsible for admissions decisions. 

On July 15th, Ms. Blackman will present a completely free, one-hour live webinar called "How To Get Into Your Dream College". She will share her insider tips on academics, picking the right school, acing the SATs, and crafting a winning application essay. This live online session is perfect for parents of students in grades 8-12.

REGISTER NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Here's an essay from Dee Blackman with some tough-love, honest advice for college applicants. You know she's an Ivy Dean when she says things like "mere excellence alone isn't enough", but surprisingly, she's also not advising anyone to pile on the AP's or club president titles. If you're thinking about applying to top colleges, this essay is a must-read. 

If you are worried that it is too late to begin building a strong college application package… you may be right. Junior or senior year is not a time to begin planning and preparing for college if your goal is seeing your child attend a highly selective program. If your goal is one of the Ivies or one of the other top colleges, then the earlier you put a strategy in play, the better.

The great challenge of becoming an attractive candidate for admission is not academic performance. Yes, outstanding academic performance is important to admittance, but virtually every qualified applicant has an exceptional GPA, rates near the top of his or her class, or has superior SAT or ACT scores. At this level of competitiveness, objective metrics do little to distinguish individual applicants.

It is also a given that the vast majority of applicants will have been the editor of the student newspaper, or conducted scientific research, or starred on the lacrosse team, or some other conventional exemplar of excellence.

Those things aren’t enough to distinguish your son or daughter.

Mere excellence alone isn’t enough. The great schools are looking for something more; they are looking for interesting, compelling candidates. Think of it this way: if you were in a room filled with people, who would you want to talk to? That person is the one selective colleges want.

Yes, your child needs a broad academic base. Yes, your child needs to do well. But more importantly, your child needs to be interesting, and to begin that process of becoming interesting early (9th or 10th grade).

What are your child’s talents? What are they curious about? Quirky, or “off the beaten track” interests are wonderful if they are pursued with passion. Extra-curricular activities, both during the summer and the academic year, should paint a picture of your child that is consistent with these interests. If your child finds medieval chamber music fascinating, then having her work for Habitat for Humanity doesn’t clarify her as a candidate; it muddles the picture.

To be a compelling candidate, your child need not have the most AP classes, or the highest GPA, or even be the president of his class. What he needs is to be interesting; to have passions and activities that help paint a complete, considered picture of who he is as a person.

How does one become interesting? I would suggest that the best way to become interesting is to learn, from an early age, to be interested; to explore and acquire a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience. To sample a variety of areas over the school years and during the summers and, over time, to narrow those areas down to what he or she truly enjoys.

I don’t mean to imply that there is nothing that can be done to enhance the likelihood of admission for a junior or senior; it is just trickier. For the junior or senior, I would suggest that you enlist the assistance of a professional admissions counselor. One who is able to look at a list of activities and involvements and not only put the pieces together creatively, but with the skill and insider insight to know how to tie them together in a unique way that to help your child stand out in a very accomplished applicant pool.

Whatever you do for your 9th through 12th grader, realize their greatest chance for admission comes not from following the advice of friends, neighbors or relatives about what worked for someone else, but from exploring and presenting what truly makes them special.

Want more advice from Dee Blackman? Register now to reserve your spot for her free webinar on July 15th!