JLV College CounselingScholarship Saturday – May 31, 2014
The deadlines for the scholarships that were on this list have passed. To see scholarships that are still accepting applications, visit more recent Scholarship Saturday posts.
Stanford University: My Impressions
Stanford University
Overview
On May 25, 2014, I visited Stanford University in Stanford and Palo Alto, California. The majority of the campus is located in the census-designed place of Stanford, but the Stanford University Medical Center and Stanford Shopping Center is located in the city of Palo Alto. The university was founded in 1885 and opened in 1891. In 2014, Stanford University was the most selective university in the country. The university accepted 5.1% of the students that applied for admission. Read More
Honoring John Vasconcellos
On May 24, 2014, John Vasconcellos passed away at the age of 82. This is probably not a name you know. However, thousands of college students (past, present and in the future) in the state of California have and will benefit from his work. John Vasconcello was a retired politician from California. He represented the Silicon Valley for 30 years in the California State Assembly and eight years in the California State Senate.
During John Vasconcellos time in the California State Assembly and Senate, he was instrumental in many educational reforms. The legislation that I feel was the most important was the creation of the Cal Grant Program. The Cal Grant program has helped many students, most of which come from lower-income families, attend college. Without the help of the Cal Grant, many students would not have been able to go to college!
Representative Barbara Lee honored Vasconcello in 2005 by saying, “His commitment to education is demonstrated not only by his creation of the Cal Grant Program 25 years ago, which now serves over 60,000 students each year, but also by his advocacy of the personal and academic development of all children, as evidenced by his creation of the California Task Force to Promote Self Esteem and Personal Social Responsibility.”
Today I honor John Vaconcellos for his work. Not only did he help thousands of students, he helped me. I was one of those students that received the Cal Grant for my undergraduate education. Without the help of the Cal Grant, I may not have been able to attend and graduate college. In addition, without my own college experience, I would have never found my love for helping others achieve their educational goals. Thank you John Vaconcellos for your dedication to higher education and education in general.
Rest in peace John Vaconcellos.
Above photo credit: "John Vasconcellos" by Joi Ito using cc by 2.0 - Text added to original.
Scholarship Saturday – May 24, 2014
The deadlines for the scholarships that were on this list have passed. To see scholarships that are still accepting applications, visit more recent Scholarship Saturday posts.
Admissions Tip: Don’t Use An Inappropriate Email Address
When I attended my first college fair as an Admission Counselor, I was shocked at some of the email addresses students used on the inquiry cards. As the night went on, more inappropriate email addresses were coming. Surely the students were giving fake email addresses, right?
As I sent emails to the students I met at the college fair, I wasn’t getting error messages back like I thought I would. And then the first response came back from one of the inappropriate email addresses. He was actually interested in the university and had questions about admission. The email was well written and the student had legitimate questions.
As an Admission Counselor, that first impression of the student stayed with me. Every time the student’s name was mentioned or he called, the first thing that popped in my head was his email address. I couldn’t help it; the inappropriate email made a lasting impression on me.
A few months later, the student applied for admission using the same inappropriate email. Not only was the student an excellent writer, he had outstanding grades and impressive test scores. It was easy to admit him to the university, but that’s because I was at a university that didn’t have a 5% acceptance rate. How would his email address affect his decision at a college that did have a low acceptance rate? No one knows for sure, but in a place that can only accept a small percentage of students, everything can come into play, including email addresses.
So, before you start communicating with colleges, think about your email. Like it or not, your email address says something about you and you want to make sure your email address is making a good impression.
To be safe, stay away from using email addresses referring to:
- Alcohol and drinking
- Smoking
- Drug
- Sex
As an Admission Counselor and Admission Director, I saw numerous emails using the above themes. That’s right, not just one, but MANY!
Your safest bet when creating an email address for college (and job) correspondence is to use your name. It is professional and won’t be seen as inappropriate or funny. When using an appropriate email address, you’ll be sure to be taken serious.
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