The cost of college coupled with the bleak employment outlook for college graduates has caused many a high school student to feel the pressure of declaring a major that will be “useful” at graduation. As a career coach for college students and graduates, I am often asked the question: is the liberal arts degree passé?

Bill Gates recently argued that our country needs to reduce the money spent on liberal arts education as it doesn’t create jobs. ... more >>

Special Gap Year Programs Benefit Many Gap year and gap semester programs have always been very popular in Europe and are quickly gaining popularity in the U.S. For some students, this hiatus from the lock step march through their academic careers provides a timely opportunity to tackle new challenges, pursue passions and become more self-confident, self-sufficient and self-aware through travel, work, study and community service. These benefits of a gap program are well-recited, but there are less obvious yet equally compelling ... more >>

The Social Media Revolution

Social media tools are changing the way teachers teach, students learn, and the classroom is defined.

Study Abroad's New Focus is Job Skills

We’ve always believed in the many merits of Study Abroad and have encouraged our clients to take full advantage of these opportunities. However, employers have not felt as warmly about these opportunities, often dismissing them as “a few months backpacking through Europe.”

However, that tide is slowly turning and, thanks to people like Cheryl Matherly, the former assistant dean of students for career and international education at Rice University, who are helping students to ... more >>

Fashion in a Can: The Clothes you can Spray On

Well, I usually like to keep my blogs more pressing and pertinent topics, but on this rainy Friday afternoon this piece in Forbes about sprayable clothes better held my attention than the more timely article about “How the ACTs have caught up with the SATs”.

Just the idea of “spray and go” clothing makes me smile – no more worrying if the pants are too snug, the skirt too short, ... more >>

Tufts Students Learn to Numbers Crunch

At Tufts University, students are learning how to figure out credit card debt, decide whether it makes better sense to lease or to buy their new car, and even how to balance their checkbook. Designed for those non-math types, this seems like a course that would be valuable to anyone.

What\'s the Problem with Quiet Students?

In the days when I was teaching high school English, I put considerable effort into making sure that my students were actively participating in my classes. It was what I was encouraged to do – students had to be joining in class discussions, offering their ideas and opions, to be engaged in their learning. Over time, it occured to me that this might not be the case for every student. Certainly there are ... more >>

The Olive Garden Theory of Higher Education

If ever-increasing tuitions is putting the cost of higher education beyond the reach of the masses, perhaps paring down to the essentials as a way to make college accessible to the masses is an approach worth considering.

Go to Class or Stay in Bed

Turns out students at the University of Maryland created an on-line calculator that takes all the guesswork out of deciding whether or not to skip class. Although it started as a bit of a joke, almost 2,000 students have used this application. Let’s hope most of them went to class.