Blake Boles has written a remarkable how-to handbook that is destined to change the lives of young people across North America. In College Without High School: A Teenager’s Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College, he offers a step-by-step plan to help students envision their best educational experience and make the most of the time they would have spent in high school.

We didn’t have Blake’s book when our youngest daughter was figuring out how to do high school differently. As a freshman, she spent a year as the only foreigner at her high school in Mexico, and then started taking Spanish classes at a local university in Buenos Aires alongside college students from the U.S. After a great semester of college courses, enrolling in high school seemed like a huge step backward, so she took advantage of some wonderful opportunities to work with tutors and mentors and then spent a summer in Oregon taking a full load of college courses while preparing for her GED tests. That fall, at 16, she enrolled as a freshman at an American college in Buenos Aires, and the following year, she got a nice scholarship/grant package when she transferred as a junior to a private college in upstate New York at the age of 17. She spent the summer doing an independent research project in Argentina and is excited to complete her BS this December just two weeks after she turns 19.

But that’s just her story. Her three older sisters also pursued alternative routes, and there are many, many ways to prepare for and get into college without attending high school. Blake’s book is full of tips and stories to help students plot their own best path.

I had the chance to interview Blake between his sessions leading the Not Back to School camp for teens. He shared some thoughts about the book.

You had an epiphany in college while majoring in astrophysics. Tell us about that—and where it led you.

Since early in high school, I had a passion for physics. Getting high grades in my math & science classes and watching the movie “Contact” also nudged me in that direction. So, I entered UC Berkeley under the astrophysics major and studied it diligently for two years. It was in my third year that cracks started forming in the edifice. In quantum physics I started to see that astrophysics was really just hardcore math, and I began to question my motivations for becoming a professional astronomer. Luckily, that same semester a friend from a 1-unit elective class handed me a book by famed public-school-teacher-turned-homeschool-advocate John Taylor Gatto.

Like a chainsaw, Gatto quickly cut through every assumption I held about the necessity and benefits of regular public schooling. I consumed his book in three days and immediately did a Google search for related authors, which led me to Grace Llewellyn, The Sudbury Valley School, Summerhill, and John Holt. Within two weeks I saw that my passion for astrophysics, genuine but faltering, was no match for the immense intellectual curiosity I held for alternative education. I scoured Berkeley for a design-your-own-major option, argued and pleaded, and eventually got my way. For the next two years I studied alternative education exclusively, following a plan of my design. My curriculum included volunteering at a local “free school”, reading Gatto’s gigantic Underground History of American Education, taking numerous upper division education courses, and designing and leading my own elective course for undergrads (entitled “Never Taught to Learn”). The intellectual and emotional high that I derived from self-directing my college studies was the major epiphany of my young adulthood, and it set the foundation for later writing College Without High School.

What advice can you give to students who have parents who remain unconvinced of this alternative path to a college degree?

Parents should be rightly skeptical of anyone peddling college admissions snake oil–there’s a lot out there. My ultimate response to skepticism is: Look at the evidence. Look at MIT or Stanford’s online admissions guidelines for homeschoolers. They don’t want high school diplomas. They don’t want some perfect equivalent of 4 years of high school classes. They want teens who have taken personal initiative and designed meaningful, independence-building activities for themselves. They want teens who have boldly explored the realms of business, international travel, and college-level research prior to convincing themselves that they actually need college. Traditional high school is very often a handicap in pursuing these character traits. And while not every college has explicit homeschool admissions policies like MIT and Stanford, the logic remains the same: colleges want dynamic, innovative teens who leave the cookie-cutter approach behind for greener pastures.

Skeptical parents often compare their child’s college preparatory journey to their same journey of yesteryear. It’s important to realize that high school diplomas don’t hold nearly the same cachet today as they did a few decades ago. Community colleges are much easier to get into as a teen, and dual- or early-enrollment programs abound. The biggest bureaucratic hurdles exist in public college admissions, but an easily obtained GED can soothe those ruffled feathers. These facts are the kind of evidence that parents should seek out to decide whether their fears are founded or unfounded.

What tips do you offer to students who have been in public or private schools through the 8th or 9th grade and are now considering preparing for college without high school?

My book is actually written for just those teens: the ones who have attempted to diligently follow school’s path but have only met disillusionment and boredom in the process. (Middle school is usually when this sets in.) A majority of the teens interviewed in my book made their unschooling decision in 9th grade.

What’s most important for a teen making the transition away from traditional school is to identify, as specifically as possible, their personal dreams and goals. Read the books that have always caught your eye in the bookstore. Take the train to visit your friend three states away. Build a computer in your garage or spend six hours a day writing music. Unschooling should be a “moving toward” something, not “moving away”. Once these values are clear, they should start pursuing them ruthlessly–and then figure out how college prep can be mixed into the brew. Following this order (interests first, college prep second) is vital for maintaining enthusiasm and self-motivation as an unschooler.
If a teen doesn’t know what truly excites them (as often happens with first-time school refugees), a short “deschooling vacation” might be in order. This is a period of time during which no structured academics are required, no schedule is followed, and parental nudging is kept to a minimum. The point is for the teen to push through the “no one is going to tell me what to do” barrier and enter “I have to motivate myself” land.

Though you encourage students to get creative about designing a personalized college-prep education, you suggest they prepare for and take standardized tests like the SAT or AP tests. Why not continue their alternative approach by finding other options for admission?

The SAT is certainly not required for all college admissions as a homeschooler., but the vast majority of traditional schools require at least one traditional academic achievement indicator (SAT, ACT, GED) and often more (SAT Subject, AP). The good news is that these tests have always existed independently of high school, and for that reason, it’s easy to prepare for them as a homeschooler. Grab a few SAT study guides, figure out exactly where your weak spots are, review hard in those areas, and take the test when you see fit. It’s a self-directed and results-oriented approach to college prep.

In view of the financial challenges facing many families, what’s your advice for those who need to reduce their college costs?

Community college is a golden bullet for financial hurdles. Many of the college-bound unschoolers with whom I work start community college around age 16, gather a significant number of transferable credits (or an Associate’s degree) by 18 or 19, and have lots of cool adventures along the way. Then they’re ready to apply (or transfer) into a 4-year school with sophomore or junior standing, saving thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

What options do you recommend for those interested in increasing their knowledge of the world and themselves?

As you argue excellently in The New Global Student, international immersion provides teens with an incredible wealth of self-knowledge. But many teens don’t want to participate in a packaged tourist program that carefully clings to the beaten path, and many parents won’t let their teens leave the beaten path alone. The solution lies somewhere in the middle–in finding a program that provides some modicum of safety and structure while providing teens with ample time to explore a new culture and learn from the common travel mistakes that they’ll inevitably make.

To find such opportunities, I recommend that teens first explore Idealist.org and search for volunteer positions specific to their age and desired location (using the “advanced search” feature). Often these programs provide a host family, English-speaking support network, and both structured and unstructured time. Another option (for those who don’t mind getting their hands dirty) is WWOOF: World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. In exchange for a small number of hours of farm work each day, students get to enjoy total immersion in the rural life of a foreign country. Both volunteering and “WWOOFing” offer the coveted combination of low cost and high immersion that a globetrotting teen seeks. There are also, of course, my own Unschool Adventures (http://www.unschooladventures.com) and Homeschool Leadership Retreats (http://www.homeschoolleadershipretreats.com) that strive to offer a similar experience.
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I highly recommend Blake’s book to any middle school or high school student seeking more excitement and engagement in their educational journey. Smart parents should buy this book for their kids and be bold enough to encourage them to forge ahead in new ways. To learn more, visit http://www.CollegeWithoutHighSchool.com

I’m not a big fan of Kaplan. I think the test prep people make a lot of money by stirring up fear about an unnecessary test (the SAT). And though I think online courses are great, I’ve heard enough sad tales about Kaplan University that I would be cautious about recommending it, despite its legions of satisfied students.

But man, I love this ad. I give props to Ogilvy & Mather for understanding what adult students need to hear, and for putting together a compelling ad that really captures both the frustrations and the possibilities of adult students intent upon learning skills for a 21st century global economy.

My suggestion: absorb the message and find your own best combination of education options to develop YOUR talents.

This week, USA Today did a piece on The Princeton Review’s 100 Best Value Colleges for 2009. They’ve got a top private college list (with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford–the usual suspects–in the top ten) and one for public institutions.

The problem with these lists is that they are largely based on student and administrator comments, and obviously, these folks might offer rave reviews of their particular schools. However, it’s not likely to be a very objective list in terms of Real-World value. Just because Harvard students think they’re getting a great education and they’re happy with their financial aid package doesn’t mean the education they are getting is more VALUABLE once it’s time to get a job. In fact, most employers will tell you they don’t spend much time considering the value of one school over another–all they care about is that their prospective employees have a reasonably relevant degree—plus some experience, good skills, flexibility, a good work ethic and plenty of enthusiasm.

Lists that promote the Ivies and near-Ivies just feed into the fear that parents and students have about the future: “In an uncertain economy, I guess it’s best to go with the brand name because I don’t trust that I/my student will have the skills to be successful without it.”

Sad.

That, in a nutshell, is why families are willing to go through the stress and financial hardship required to send their kid to a “top” school. It’s all about fear. After all, if you had faith in your kid to do well, you wouldn’t need to rely on that old-school, old-boys’ idea of getting ahead through college connections.

So, if a fancy college degree can’t promise value in terms of guaranteed success (and it can’t), it might be better to gauge the value of a college education in more balanced terms: the academic quality, the costs, the aid granted, and a number of other factors. In other words, if a student is rarin’ to go, very motivated and confident in their ability to do well in the world–without relying on a brand-name diploma–where might he or she choose to go to college?

If you’re not so scared that you fall for the better-go-for-the-brand-name bit, there’s another list you need to check out. It’s from Kiplinger’s. The Kiplinger Letter, launched in 1923, remains the longest continually published newsletter in the United States. In 1947, Kiplinger’s created the nation’s first personal finance magazine, and they’ve been serving up valuable info on that topic ever since.

They’ve got their own list of public institutions that offer the biggest bang for the buck. Check out their list of Best Values in Public Colleges 2008-2009

Learn about the methodology behind the list here.

I’m not a reformer. It’s not that things don’t need to change—it’s that they need to change in such massive ways that “reform” doesn’t even begin to touch it.

I’m not a policy wonk or researcher either, but I do admire those who focus on the stats and the details of what is working (and what isn’t) and who write about what might be done to improve schools based on the evidence. I appreciate that we need to know some facts in order to make informed decisions.

But while I recognize that we must figure out what to do about NCLB, teacher pay and other issues, I can’t help but notice that we remain locked into a limited range of ideas about what’s possible. The discussions are tired, the outcomes predictable, and nothing is likely to change—or at least, not anywhere close to the degree required.

So, I guess I’m coming at this from a more practical and intuitive position. For years, I’ve been teaching people how to pay attention, and I follow my own advice about cultivating awareness and watching what’s going on in the world around me.

Simply paying attention is what led my husband and me to sell everything a few years ago (at the top of the market), yank our kids out of their suburban US high school and give them a truly global education. (And trust me, we are not the slightest bit rabid about politics, economics or education—we just saw that there were some changes coming and we wanted to give our kids and ourselves an advantage.) We’d recognized the need to make sure they were fluent in another language, so by the time we’d left the US, we had sent each of our oldest three daughters on a year-long exchange abroad during their junior year of high school.

But my ideas are also based on my experience as a mother of four kids who have attended a total of ten public schools in the US, not to mention numerous colleges—both state and private, American and international. I’ve lived in several states and countries and witnessed other approaches to education, and while writing my book, I interviewed a lot of experts about their ideas for implementing change. And as the CEO of Education Design Partners and founder of the Education Design Institute, I’m committed to helping people think about education in new and innovative ways and I recognize our need to focus on a micro one-student-at-a-time model rather than propose sweeping changes that have no chance of being implemented anytime soon.

Still, sweeping changes are fun to think about.  Now, I know that for each suggestion I offer, there are probably ten reasons why it can’t be done. We all have knee-jerk reactions to new ideas, so I invite you to pay attention to your own response and see if you might be missing a little nugget of hope buried in each suggestion. None of these ideas are mentioned in my book, by the way, and I wouldn’t even say they are my most key ideas. But they happen to be the ones I’m thinking about this week as we look ahead to a new year and a new administration.

If you’re really hungry for change, here are a few things to chew on….

1) Make kindergarten, first and second grades completely devoted to arts education.

This doesn’t mean finger-painting all day—it means following an established and effective curriculum for arts education that incorporates all aspects of art in the teaching of traditional subjects. From five to seven years of age, kids are sponges just waiting to soak up ideas, and this is a perfect time to immerse them in a stimulating creative environment that encourages innovation and celebrates the natural artist within each of us. That may sound woo-woo, but it’s not—arts education is a perfect foundation for higher level thinking, and rather than parcel it out an hour here and an hour there throughout elementary school, we need to give kids a chance to dive in when they are ripe to reap the benefits. Test (and present a portfolio) at the end of the second grade.

Note: the details matter. Have them wear artist smocks over their regular clothes. Creating the mindset of being an artist and approaching all subjects through the lens of art and creativity will provide a powerful mechanism for problem solving later in life.

2) Make third, fourth and fifth grades completely devoted to technology.

Again, this doesn’t mean they are typing on a computer keyboard all day and mastering programming. It means that all subjects taught—math, language arts, science, social studies—incorporate technology, including laptops, iPods, cell phones, digital cameras and more. Get them so comfortable with integrating tech tools into their studies that they see absolutely no barriers to the ways in which they can absorb, create and distribute their work. Teach them how to mix sedentary time with activity—these are the years to build good habits about health and exercise so they don’t end up glued to a screen and neglecting their bodies. Test (and present a portfolio of multi-media work) at the end of the fifth grade.

NOTE: Have them wear uniforms that are essentially nice sweats. This helps them remember the need for movement and allows them to see themselves as individuals who can be active despite spending a lot of time using tech tools.

3) Where feasible, offer two-way language immersion programs in elementary schools.

We’ve got an increasing number of students who don’t speak English as a native language, and we’re packing them into ESL classes. Meanwhile, we recognize the need for more kids to learn a foreign language. Why are we separating the two? There are excellent models for two-way immersion—classrooms that include both a regular teacher and an ESL teacher and a mix of kids. When done right, two-way immersion gives ALL kids a chance to improve their language skills and results in both fluency and a deeper respect for different cultures and languages. Obviously, this would work best in districts/classrooms in which one foreign language is dominant—Spanish, for example. Why are we not giving our kids a chance to teach each other? The early years of elementary are the perfect time to start.

4) Make sixth, seventh and eighth grades completely devoted to science and math.

Other subjects will be incorporated, but the main focus should be on developing competency and fluidity in manipulating the most basic elements of math, biology, chemistry and physics. Since the kids have already learned how to ask questions from an artistic perspective and are very familiar with incorporating technology tools in their learning process, they’re primed to leap into math and science and really develop a solid grasp of these subjects and how they enhance understanding in other areas. Test (and present research) at the end of the eighth grade.

NOTE: Make them wear white lab coats. (Yes, teachers, too.) This is done in numerous countries and it sets the tone and creates the mindset that science is studied, research is conducted, numbers are understood–and that every student has the ability to view the world through the lens of logic and data. Oh, and since these lab coats must be closed (buttoned or zipped) and go to the knees, those bare midriff/inappropriate t-shirt/designer logo issues disappear completely just when they’re starting to cause problems. Whew!

5) Make ninth and tenth grades completely devoted to literature/writing and social sciences.

Students at this age should focus on the fundamentals of reading, critical thinking, and developing an understanding of the social, political and economic forces at work in the world. This should be a hard-core period of high expectations (not necessarily rigorous testing!) for each student and an emphasis on maximizing each student’s ability to write clearly and express ideas. Their previous focus on science will serve them well as they will be familiar with presenting a hypothesis, testing a theory and sharing conclusions. Test (and present an in-depth report) at the end of the tenth grade.

NOTE: Make them wear school uniforms—typical preppy stuff. This is their time to see how they do in a very academic setting emphasizing liberal arts. Whether they are college-bound or not, it’s very important that they see themselves as students who can understand the world and speak and write about it coherently.

6) Make 11^th grade completely devoted to teaching students how to learn outside the classroom.

Get them OUT. Send them abroad (much more in my book about why this is the very best time to do this) on an exchange. Get them working or volunteering. Connect them with mentors in the community. Give them unpaid internships. Make them take several writing classes online (in which they are analyzing what they are experiencing and learning) and come to the high school two days a week (if they’re in the area) for class discussions and group work. The goal here is to challenge them in ways that ensure they will develop confidence in their ability to learn wherever they are and the responsibility to balance freedom with high expectations. This is outstanding training for the global workplace.

7) Make them take community college classes during what would be their senior year of high school.

High school is too long. Students are being kept in a juvenile setting that stunts their growth and limits their thinking. At 17, they need to be learning in a more adult environment (that is, a mix of students their age plus adults) and they should be focusing on an area that interests them based on their experiences the previous year. By 18, they should have at least a year’s worth of college credits (two if they’ve been motivated to take additional classes on their own) and can transfer to a four-year university as a sophomore or junior or continue a little longer to earn an associate’s degree or study in their area of interest.

One of the biggest reasons we have such a low college graduation rate is that it takes too long. Universities encourage the four-or-five-year plan when it would be better for most students to finish in three years. Students who are encouraged to dive into higher ed at a younger age (from 16) can see the end in sight and are more likely to complete a degree than those who spend their junior and senior years of high school prepping for college and still have four more years to go. This leads to the next idea….

Eliminate the long summer vacation at all levels.

Seriously, it’s time to get rid of this archaic idea of taking ten or twelve weeks off in the summer. It breaks up learning, eliminates gains, and results in an extended education period that is clearly defeating students from elementary school through college. If we no longer have summer breaks and shift to a set of three or four two-week vacations per year, and if we focus on presenting clear learning blocks (arts, technology, science, language arts/social sciences, experiential learning/mentoring), we can get kids immersed, keep them engaged and allow them to finish up by the age of 16. After that, they move into higher level learning in their areas of interest and get a head start on courses that allow them to develop the skills they need.

9) Eliminate high school sports and activities.

Hoo-boy, I can hear the crowd already! But we’ve got to get rid of this outdated model and stop viewing high school as a Disney musical or teen movie. Get them learning like crazy in ninth and tenth grades and excited to blast out into the world! Which leads to….

10) Turn high schools into community centers.

We’ll have the space if the juniors and seniors are spending more time on experiential learning, internships, online courses and college-level classes. Use the fields for mixed-age intramural-type sports and other activities. Use the classrooms for adult education (community college partnerships could work beautifully here) in academic and vocational courses as well as recreational non-credit classes.

With more boomers and retirees shifting to second (or third or fourth) careers in social entrepreneurship, these new community centers could become laboratories for creative collaboration as well as providing students with great opportunities for internships in a range of organizations. Bring them all together in the school and give kids an opportunity to find mentors at an age when they need to forge relationships with adults who can inspire them. Keeping sixteen-year-olds surrounded by sixteen-year-olds in a juvenile setting is a recipe for arrested development, and it’s being played out in the form of 25-year-olds who just can’t quite get it together. They need opportunities to spend time with adults and get a sense of their possibilities early on, and our efforts to shove them into the college-prep system is resulting in boredom and burn out just when they should be on fire about their future!

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Okay, so that’s my list—for today, anyway. I offer it humbly and hope it stirs up some new ideas along with the criticism.

I know it would require a radical transformation—but isn’t that what we need? More blah-blah or tiny tweaks of existing (and ineffective) programs won’t help our students prepare for their most fulfilling opportunities in the global economy. Parents of kids in high school simply cannot afford to wait for fixes—they need to take charge and make sure their kids get the education they need using the best tools available. (Psst—parents can sign up for my free e-mail series here to help them make sure they’re not standing in the way of their student’s best path to success and happiness.)

I’ve got something for those bored and burned-out students, too. Send them on over to this page to sign up for my free Top Ten Tips for Bored & Burned-Out Students.

Since “Skip the SAT” is part of my subtitle, it’s not surprising that I should be delighted to hear that the UC schools are considering dropping the SAT Subject Tests as a requirement for college admission. 

You see, they found out that requiring two SAT Subject Tests (in addition to the SAT) actually “undermined the depth and diversity of the UC student body without contributing significantly to its academic quality. “ 

Yeah, see, it turns out that high school grades are a stronger predictor of undergraduate academic performance than any test.

Exactly.

Of course, College Board will probably work hard to convince UC to keep the requirement as is.  After all,  they stand to lose a lot of money if students are no longer taking (and paying for) those required subject tests.  (220,000 students are enrolled in various UC locations this year.)

Read more about this on the FairTest.org site here.

Things have been heating up in the test-prep industry as more and more frenzied parents pay providers to help their kids boost their SAT or ACT scores. 

Yesterday it was announced that the College Board, the not-for-profit (but very profitable) organization responsible for administering the SAT (among other tests) is suing a Texas test-prep company for using “stolen” PSAT questions.

Karen Dillard, owner of the Dallas-area test-prep company, claims that the College Board is bullying her in an effort to put her out of business.  Dillard’s company charges over $2,000 for her test-prep package. 

There’s no question that the College Board has a sweet deal:  providing tests and test-prep materials to thousands of anxious college-bound students in an era of increasing competition and soaring college expenses.  They have every right to protect their product.  And though the College Board isn’t directly responsible for the burgeoning college prep industry, it’s certainly played a pivotal role in fanning the flames that have led to the test-prep wildfire that is raging throughout the country.

It will be interesting to watch this case over the next few months. 

I haven’t disappeared.  I’ve just been focusing on writing my book (The World Is Your Campus, to be published by Random House in spring of 2009) about creative ways to get an outrageously relevant global education that doesn’t cost a fortune. 

I’ve had some great interviews the last couple of weeks and I’m putting together all kinds of information.  I’m focusing on the book instead of the blog for the next few weeks, so in the meantime, you might head over to these excellent blog posts from my favorite bloggers: 

Matthew K. Tabor  does a great job of analyzing the Association of Secondary School Principals’ surprising response to Bob Compton’s education documentary, Two Million Minutes.  Bob followed up by appearing on Good Morning America along with Neil Ahrendt, one of the two American high school students featured in the film that follows six seniors from three countries (US, China, India) as they prepare for college. 

Wow.  Thanks for the excellent post, Matthew.  I couldn’t have said it better myself.   It alarms me that a group of individuals (or at least the one who represents them) whose responsibility it is to prepare our youth for the future can be so out of touch with the reality of education in the rest of the world.  All the more reason for parents to step up and learn about the best options for their kids. 

I do love Richard Florida’s blog about the creative class–and I especially appreciate the way he blends economics, politics, music, architecture and just about everything else.  I am really looking forward to reading his new book, Who’s Your City? (coming soon).   He has some fun watching the Obama phenomena.  And here’s a post I liked about the Rise of the Suburban Slum.  Interesting….. 

Now that Stanford University is expanding financial aid to the middle class, you might think that the rich/poor divide on campus could close a bit.  According to this article in the New York Times, the wealth gap on American campuses is growing wider.  Huh. 

This week, I’ve been focusing on my chapters about the AP program, the SAT, and some stunningly advantageous options that most students never consider…..

 Stick around.

One of the blogs I enjoy reading these days (among many) is Student 2.0.  Recently, I read a post by a senior in high school named Stacy called “Average Just Doesn’t Cut It Anymore” in which she gives us a look at her own long list of accomplishments and lets us know that she’s practically a slacker compared to her (more) overachieving peers.

Poor Stacy.  See, THIS is why I am writing my book, The World Is Your Campus, to be published by Random House in spring of 2009.  

The traditional blinders-on approach to getting into college is mindless and meaningless, not to mention stressful. 

When everyone else has a pile of AP courses, a nearly perfect GPA and a mile-long list of extracurriculars, how are you going to get noticed by the college admissions folks? 

Well, yeah.  That’s the problem.  And that’s precisely what I’m addressing in my book.

 You see, there’s a NEW way to get ahead and get noticed, and it starts with a whole new mindset.  Instead of playing the “ooh, pick me!” game, you’ve got to become a free agent and put yourself in a position to be the one doing the choosing.  Really.

Oh, you’re going to have to lighten up.  You’ll have to let go of that notion you have regarding the superiority of name-brand universities.  You might have to start thinking of yourself as someone with something to offer instead of someone with a grade point average and  a test score.  You see, if YOU don’t start thinking of yourself as a fabulous package deal, you’re not going to see the enormous possibilities out there for you. 

I know.  You’re so busy looking over your shoulder at others who seem to be “gaining” on you in the race to get in and get money.  You’re so stressed out about all the things you need to juggle in order to look good on those college application forms. 

Well, that’s ONE way to do it.  But there is another way. 

Stacy–and other seniors in high school–aren’t going to be able to use the information in my book to help them happily avoid the wacko way to get into college.  I’m sorry about that.  I promise to have some really great info for you on studying abroad in college, though–but damn, it would have been better (and saved you THOUSANDS) to know that you can do that part FIRST and then slide into college sideways.  Ah, well.

It’s never too late to do things differently–at least, not until you’re in that great big campus in the sky.  My advice:  get creative, not crazed.  You don’t have to be like everyone else.  In fact, your best bet is to be decidedly DIFFERENT. 

I’ve been interviewing students whose stories I will feature in my book.  Wait until you hear about the fascinating ways they’ve put together their own education by bending or breaking the rules that guide most students’ college prep process! 

Drop-outs who are now high school teachers. 

Students who entered college without even graduating from high school. 

Those who skipped high school completely and graduated from college at 19. 

Those who managed to fit a year or two of travel/study abroad/volunteering into their high school years and still got into top colleges without taking the SAT or submitting a high school transcript! 

I’m not talking about homeschooling here.  In fact, in all of the above cases, the students attended their local public high schools until getting savvy about their options and pursuing other paths.

It’s possible.  It’s working.  And it’s WAY less stressful.  Not only that, but these students get some serious ATTENTION–and scholarships–precisely becauase they have been bold enough to try different ways to get an education.

Give those admissions folks a break from those stacks of nearly-identical applications and be the one that jumps out from the rest and makes them go, “WOW!  We need THIS student!” 

More on how to do this in the weeks and months ahead.  Keep reading!

Ah, it’s that time of year. Yes, it’s time for the US News & World Report annual ranking of colleges.  This year, they’ve added high schools to their special ad-packed issue. 

An interesting article in The New York Times describes the US News venture in branding itself as the ranking mag.  Great idea, huh?  After all, every year is a new year for rankings.  There is money to be made–lots of it–in cranking up the Anxiety Index for parents and students considering college.   Sure, it may be helpful to provide information about colleges but make no mistake–there is money to be made.  And many colleges are refusing to play the game, choosing to opt out of the magazine’s rankings. 

I know.  This probably sounds like I am being very cynical, but actually, I’m just very aware of how the media is tied into the quest for a top college education.  To a large degree, the way we prepare our kids for college is directly related to what we read in the papers and magazines about how difficult it is to get in. 

The Anxiety Index must be cranked up in order to perpetuate the frenzy.  It used to be that students applied to only three top schools after careful consideration.  Now, many students are applying to over ten schools.  This ends up skewing that all-important selectivity ratio (number of accepted students over the number of those who applied) and makes parents and students even more likely to apply to a larger number of schools in order to increase their chances of getting into a good one. 

Media groups are developing interesting alliances.  Take a look here at the website for The Washington Post Company.  They own The Washington Post newspaper, of course. They also own Newsweek magazine.  Oh, and look at this:  they own Kaplan, the makers of those SAT and other test-prep courses.  So, if you pick up a copy of the Post or Newsweek and read about how competitive it is to get into top schools, you’re likely to head on over to Kaplan to sign up your kid for an SAT prep course to boost his scores and increase the likelihood that he’ll get in.   

I understand about business.  Really, I do.  Anxiety sells magazines.  And newspapers.  And SAT prep courses.  In fact, anxiety–in one form or another–sells a whole lot of things.  I get that.

But I think it’s important for parents to understand how these things are tied together.  Sure, read the US News & World Report rankings if you’re curious, but then make sure you understand that the stats don’t tell the whole story and the rankings are a sales vehicle. 

Don’t let the rankings crank up your personal Anxiety Index.  There are loads of good schools and many ways to get an outstanding education.  And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. 

There will be a lot more about this in my book, The World Is Your Campus.

Here we are! 

I’ve moved around a bit but now that the book title is firmed up (relatively), this is where the blog will stay.

Watch for an exciting announcement soon about the publisher of

The World Is Your Campus:  How to Skip the SAT, Save Thousands On Tuition, and Get An Outrageously Relevant Education.