MSU and Hope College Visit ( Nov.12th)

About MSU :

Spartans work every day to advance the common good in uncommon ways.

Together, we tackle some of the world’s toughest problems to find solutions that make life better—from alternative energy to better food safety to breakthrough medical and environmental applications achieved through rare isotope research.

We teach. We explore and we discover. We collaborate and lead. We innovate, inspire, and empower. We achieve our potential and create circumstances that help our students and others achieve theirs.

We're good at it, and we've been at it for more than 150 years.

The nation’s pioneer land-grant university, MSU began as a bold experiment that democratized higher education and helped bring science and innovation into everyday life. The revolutionary concept became a model for the nation.

Today, MSU is one of the top research universities in the world—on one of the biggest, greenest campuses in the nation. Home to nationally ranked and recognized academic, residential college, and service-learning programs, we’re a diverse community of dedicated students and scholars, athletes and artists, scientists and leaders.

In ways both practical and profound, we work to create a stronger, more sustainable, and more hopeful future for all.

About Hope :

Hope graduates are educated to think about life’s most important issues with clarity, wisdom, and a deep understanding of the foundational commitments of the historic Christian faith. They are agents of Hope who live faithfully into their vocations.

At this distinguished four-year liberal arts college, academic excellence and vibrant Christian faith join to strengthen each other in a supportive and welcoming community. While historically affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, Hope is ecumenically diverse and values open discussion of matters of faith and respect for the opinions of others.

The students and faculty we spoke with confirm that the school walks its talk; Hope College is both academically serious and theologically earnest.

Quality of teaching
Hope students find a faculty of professionally distinguished scholars who have a genuine concern for the total development of each student.  

Hope is one of only 10 church-related colleges and universities nationwide highlighted in the book Putting Students First: How Colleges Develop Students Purposefully. Our student: faculty ratio is 13:1.

Hope is among 50 colleges recommended by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in its guide All-American Colleges: Top Schools for Conservatives, Old-Fashioned Liberals and People of Faith, which notes that “The students and faculty we spoke with confirm that the school walks its talk; Hope College is both academically serious and theologically earnest.”

Academic programs
Our 91 majors and minors in liberal arts and pre-professional fields provide unusual flexibility for students to combine their interests. Known as a powerhouse in the sciences, Hope is also the only private, liberal arts college to have national accreditation in art, dance, music and theatre.

Ranked 4th in the U.S. for research and creative activity
National leadership in collaborative faculty/student research and creative activity. Hope is consistently awarded more National Science Foundation grants for undergraduate research than any other liberal arts college in the country and was ranked fourth behind the University of Michigan, Stanford and MIT for undergraduate research and creative activity in the initial rankings by US News & World Report.

Diverse and accomplished students
During 2013-14 Hope enrolled 3,388 students from 39 states and territories and 34 different countries. We are a leading college for Fulbright Scholars, and our students can look forward to attending their first choice of graduate and professional schools.

The 2013 Fiske Guide to Colleges includes Hope as one of the country's best and most interesting colleges and universities, noting that "Hope's academic and athletic programs continue to grow and prosper."

Other guides and organizations that recognized Hope in the past year include the 39th edition of The Insider's Guide to Colleges, the America's Top Colleges guide published by Forbes Magazine and The Princeton Review, which cited Hope among the "Best in the Midwest."

Hope College is one of only 280 colleges and universities in the country and eight in Michigan to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest scholastic honorary society. Hope's chapter was chartered in 1971.

Global perspective
Hope students choose to study abroad in more than 200 programs in over 60 countries. More than 1,800 internships are available locally, through off-campus centers in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and other locations.

Community service
Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for initiatives that engage students with communities here and abroad, Hope offers many options to connect.

Athletics
A member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, Hope sponsors 20 sports for men and women.

Tips for Parents

Tips for Parents: Questions to Ask Your Child about Their Day

Get a sense of your child’s life at school by asking questions that elicit more than a one-word response. Try one of these conversation starters:

• Tell me about the best part of your day.
• What was the hardest thing you had to do today?
• Did any of your classmates do anything funny? Tell me about what you read in class.
• Who did you play with/hang out with today? What did you do? Do you think ________(insert subject here) is too hard?
• What’s the biggest difference between this year and last year?
• What rules are different at school than at home? Do you think they’re fair?
• Who did you sit with at lunch?
• Can you show me something you learned or did today?

Shared from the www.learningcommunity.us

Common Application Updates

Green Checks. Occasionally, a green check might not display even after a section is complete. Students who encounter this problem should contact the Help Center. The Support Team can fix the issue quickly.

  

Date Stamp Questions. As a rule, submission date and time stamps are recorded in Eastern Time.  In some instances, these time stamps are defaulting to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Since GMT is several hours earlier than Eastern Time, some late evening submissions may display as the following day.  Do not be alarmed if you see this. The submission time stamp will always be recorded accurately, even if the time zone reflected is incorrect.

Help Center Information. We are responding promptly to new applicant and recommender tickets, and we continue to work through a backlog of older tickets. You can help us help you in two ways:

• Please do not submit new requests about an unresolved, existing issue.
• Please do not reply to messages about unresolved issues and request progress updates.

Both of these actions will slow down our ability to help you and your students.  The first introduces confusion to the process. The second resets your place in the support queue.  If you have an outstanding issue, we assure you we will respond, and we request your patience.

Recommender Accounts. Earlier today we identified the cause of a problem that is preventing some recommenders from creating accounts. We are developing a fix for this issue and expect to release it later this week. 

Internet Explorer 9. Some recommenders have reported that they can only see two colleges listed for each of their students. This issue is unique to IE9. If you encounter this situation, please try another browser.

Student List. When using the Recommendation System, counselors, teachers, and other recommenders may notice that a student name does not appear on the student list under the Students tab. 

• COUNSELORS: Make sure that the student hasinvited you and not just listed your name in the Education tab of the application.      
• TEACHERS/RECOMMENDERS: Make sure that the student has invited AND assigned you from within the application.  

No Visible Submit Button. When using the Recommendation System, counselors will be able to submit school forms only after all required questions on the form and on the Profile screen are completed and saved. The submit button will not be visible on the recommendation until the Profile screen is complete.

Unable to Login to New Account. We have received reports of cases where recommenders are able to create an account but are then not able to log in via the Recommender tab. If this is the case for you, please contact the Help Center at recsupport.commonapp.org for assistance.

Deadline Changes. Some colleges are extending their deadlines to alleviate the anxiety that students and counselors are feeling in trying to meet application deadlines. The deadline dates in the Common Application system and on the Requirements Grid are updated daily and reflect the latest information that we have received from our members.  

Application Submitted. Given the issues that some students experienced with the payment submission process, we want to help ensure that all students who think they have submitted an application have actually submitted. Please have your students confirm that their applications have been submitted by checking their Dashboard. There will be a green check mark in the "Application" column for each submitted application. 

Parchment. As we announced yesterday, Parchment integration with the Common App is complete. Students are able to select Common App as a transcript destination on parchment.com and sending institutions may send transcripts to Common App via Parchment Exchange.

Some Famous Parenting Quotes

Parents might feel like they’re traversing an ever-changing landscape of parenting issues, with modern problems like cyber-bullying and rising celebrity culture providing new challenges. But while the world evolves at a rapid rate, the best parenting advice stands the test of time. These 10 parenting quotes are as relevant today as they were when they were first spoken.

“Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.” –Carl Jung

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was best known for his theories about personalities, but raising five children may have been his proudest achievement. Jung knew you can’t simply tell your kids what to do—you must lead by example.

“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” –Anne Frank

Sadly she never lived to raise her own children, but Holocaust victim Anne Frank still knew a thing or two about parenting. Perhaps her family’s struggles taught her that no parent can guarantee a child’s success or failure. Instead she recognized the wisdom and morals parents can pass on to their offspring. While these tools will give children the best start, it’s ultimately up to them how they’re used.

“If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.” –Bette Davis

The silver screen icon was all too aware of the downsides of being a parent. No doubt this mom of three had to make some hard decisions at home. There’s nothing glamorous about those occasions when your angels are cursing you out for laying down the law. Their behaviour can sting, but don’t let that weaken your resolve. The best parents know they can’t play the good cop all the time.

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” –Frederick Douglass

African-American abolitionist and author Frederick Douglass knew of the importance of a strong foundation. Children thrive when they’re challenged, given responsibility and encouraged to assume leadership roles. Strong children will inevitably become strong adults.

“One thing I had learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants is that having a child should be fun.” –Jane Goodall

Parents face enormous pressure from the moms and dads around them, and themselves. But don’t let it get to you. Jane Goodall, a primatologist and mother of one, saw we’re not so different than our animal friends. Just like the chimps, we should appreciate the joys of the present rather than obsessing about the uncertainty of the future and the failures of the past.  

“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” –Oscar Wilde

The Irish writer didn’t have his own children, but he has a point here: Children who behave the best tend to be the happiest. Those who feel neglected, misunderstood or under pressure are the ones who typically act out. Discipline is important of course, but it should never be the overriding force in a child’s life.

More on education.com

Nurturing Your Child's Creativity

Here are some tips to inspire creative thinking:

• Shop for toys that are interactive and can be used more than one way. Instead of coloring books, provide construction paper and crayons; instead of talking figures, help your child make up silly voices for plain-jane dolls and stuffed animals; instead of buying toys that only do one thing, show how wooden blocks and household items can become just about anything with a little imagination.

• Improvise. Instead of running to the store the next time your child wants something, think about ways to create what you need. Could a laundry basket and a football be a basketball set? Could you make kneepads from bubble wrap and duct tape? Instead of stepping in immediately to solve her problems, brainstorm together and encourage her to take a risk. It’s okay if her ideas don’t always work; independent thinkers need to learn resiliency, too.

• Encourage confidence, not conformity. So one sock’s blue and the other one’s red; so her bird has three wings. If you want to raise an original thinker, praise originality.

• Turn off the TV! (Come on, you knew that was coming.) Read stories and get them involved: “What would you do? How do you think that makes him feel?”) Ask them to tellyou a story. Close the book and make up a story or repeat a classic folk tale; without illustrations, their imagination will run wild.

• Give ‘em time to daydream. Kids who race from school to scheduled activity to play-date don’t have the time to engage their imaginations. Let them be bored once in a while; they may surprise you with what they can dream up.

Need more ideas? Use your imagination!

More information on www. education.com

Educational Fair Next Week

A bit of information on our coming University Visits next week

Colleges of the Fenway ( Boston-based)

Member Institutions

·         Emmanuel College

·         Massachusetts College of Art and Design

·         MCPHS University

·         Simmons College

·         Wentworth Institute of Technology

·         Wheelock College

Collaboration[

The six colleges, each with its own unique mission, offer specialized learning and experience on and off campus. Collectively, the COF represent more than 11,000 full-time undergraduate students, 7000 graduate students nearly 1,200 full-time faculty, and more than 3,000 course offerings. Shared initiatives among the six colleges are aimed at enhancing the quality of education, enriching student experiences and reducing costs through sharing of resources. Collaborative student opportunities include cross-registration which broadens access to courses otherwise not available on the student’s home campus, career centers, intramurals, performing arts, student life programs and activities, and study abroad opportunities.Students are able to cross register between institutions and participate in shared social events planned by the Colleges of the Fenway and various groups throughout the campus. Students may live at their school of attendance or in the campus dormitories of the other member schools.^[1]

Duquesne University (Pittsburg,PA)

Education for the Mind, Heart and Spirit

One of the nation's top Catholic universities , Duquesne University provides a well-rounded education that will challenge you academically while nourishing your spiritual and ethical development. Founded more than 130 years ago by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne University is the only Spiritan institution of higher education in the United States. This means we share in the Spiritans' values and are deeply committed to:

·         Educational excellence

·         Moral and spiritual values

·         An ecumenical atmosphere open to diversity

·         Service to the Church, the community, the nation and the world

Top-Notch Academics with a Personal Touch

At Duquesne University, you'll learn from teacher-scholars who provide an excellent classroom experience and also produce some of the most important research in their fields. In fact, the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked us No. 16 among 61 small research universities that were rated according to an index measuring faculty productivity.

You'll benefit from a 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio and an academic experience hallmarked by personal attention from an award-winning faculty. In fact, almost half of all classes have 20 or fewer students, which means you'll have plenty of opportunities for direct interaction with your professors. 

The Perfect Fit

How do you know if you'll fit in here at Duquesne? The happiest and most successful Duquesne students are those who want more than a degree. Our students want to expand their academic knowledge and skills while also learning more about themselves and making a difference in the community and the world around us. 

Johnson and Wales ( Providence, North Miami, Denver &Charlotte)

At Johnson & Wales University (JWU), a private, nonprofit NEASC-accredited institution, our unique education model is designed to inspire your professional success and lifelong intellectual growth. More than 17,000 students from nearly 100 countries are making their careers happen in our 40+ undergraduate, graduate, online, continuing education and accelerated programs in arts & sciences, business, culinary arts, hospitality, technology and education.

JWU students are ready to do what it takes to be the best in their career field, and they’re ready to start now. Are you one of them?

Making JWU Better for You
You learn by doing, applying skills in real-world settings — we’ve known this since 1914, when we first pioneered our hands-on education. 

And we stay ahead of the rest, constantly improving our university, refining our programs, anticipating industry changes and making JWU a learning laboratory for students and faculty who are passionate about their careers and industry.

Unique Educational Model 
Our educational approach is designed to help you identify your career field. You can develop a structured plan, starting your first term, to build industry knowledge, professional skills and practical work experience to excel. 

Build a toolkit that serves you for life. Our unique education model integrates academics and professional skills, including real-world projects in our hands-on labs, taught by our industry-expert faculty. 

Round out your education with related work experiences and structured internships around the globe, along with career services, community service and leadership opportunities. 

It’s why our nearly 90,000 alumni from 140 countries chose JWU, and why so many of our graduates are defining career success today. 

Choose Your JWU 
Our 4 campuses offer the same JWU education, along with their own unique energy, weather, and a city that feels right to you — close to the industries and work experience opportunities that best fit your goals.

Get started at our Providence, North Miami, Denver & Charlotte campuses.