Education & Opportunity

For those of you who have been regular readers of my column in The Oregonian each week, here's a sneak peak at a special event I'm hosting in Portland on Nov. 9, 2008, at the Oregon Convention Center. It's called "The City of College Dreams" and I've been hard at work on it for the past two years. Here's a blurb from the forthcoming official event announcement:

"From coast to coast across America, Ben Kaplan’s City of College Dreams program is reinventing and revolutionizing financial aid night as we know it. First, students and parents participate in an interactive group learning session with Ben Kaplan, the acclaimed author and speaker who has helped tens of thousands of college-bound families save more than half a billion dollars over the past 10 years.

In my newspaper column for April 24, 2008, I discuss an embarrassing moment on the salsa dance floor and what it teaches us about how to make smarter, faster, and even intentional mistakes.

What I didn't have space to mention in the column is the importance of MAKING MISTAKES MORE FUN.

Here's why: Educational researchers have demonstrated that most people organize their learning around the social communities to which they belong. The most powerful learning environments, therefore, are those in which the social dynamics of the community supports the learning process and the shared experience of learning together enhances the opportunities for group socializing.

More simply said: Because learning is largely a social exercise, if you are able to develop friendships with those in your classes, you will likely learn much more effectively.

So if you are making mistakes regularly in the name of learning, why not make the process more enjoyable by laughing over your blunders--even celebrating them--with classmates? I know from my beginning salsa class that making mistakes together can be a fun bonding experience.

In my newspaper column for Nov. 8, I discussed scholarships for younger students--including kids age 14 and under. For all of the specific scholarship programs mentioned in the column, I wanted to pass along the program website links:

* Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards: Students in grades K-12 form two- to four-person teams, develop a 20-year vision of a current technological innovation and compete for U.S. savings bonds worth $5,000 and $10,000. Click here to visit the program website.

I've already been getting a lot of questions about my Feb. 15 newspaper column on how to ace a college admission, scholarship, or job interview. In particular, a lot of folks have been asking for sample questions that might help students better prepare. So here's a list of practice interview questions to get you started:

General Questions

How would you describe yourself?
Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
What is your favorite book, and why do you like it?
Who is someone you admire, and why?
How would you like to be remembered?
What has been your greatest accomplishment?
What was an occasion when you overcame adversity?
What is your family like?
How might you contribute to society in the future?

In my newspaper column for Feb. 8, I describe some of the great internships I've had over the years... and discuss how you, too, can find a perfect internship match.

One additional point worth mentioning is that the quality of an internship often comes down to the enthusiasm of the person who is your immediate supervisor. If the person is someone who is really interested in helping you learn -- and wants to see you make a real contribution to the organization -- the internship is likely to be fantastic. But if your supervisor isn't at all interested, the internship could be lacking even if the organization you're working for is terrific.

In my newspaper column for Feb. 1, I discussed how studying math helps students access and develop parts of their brain that would otherwise be underutilized. For all of those folks who have ever said about math, "I'm never going to use this," here's a surprise: You're probably using it all the time without even realizing it. For instance, when a high school senior is writing a history paper, he has to mentally manage a lot of facts, dates, and details.  The study of math actually helps him manage those details better.

So do you go to the gym to get your physical muscles stronger?  Math may help build and tone your mental muscles.

In my Jan. 25 newspaper column, I used the story of a kid named "Froggy" to discuss the importance of having persistence in the college scholarship game. Froggy, it turned out, was a true rejection artiste—a master of rejecting rejection. The kid practically asked out every girl he knew on a date and wouldn't rest until he had achieved ultimate success. And in this way, applying for scholarships is kind of like dating: Rejection is a part of the process and those who can shrug it off, move on, and stay focused on the ultimate goal have a big advantage.

In my column, I recommend applying for at least a dozen scholarships, but hopefully several dozen. How can you start to find such awards? You can start by utilizing a variety of free Internet search databases. These services ask for information such as your age, extracurricular activities, and career interests, and then provide you with a list of scholarships that match your profile. Visit my www.ScholarshipCoach.com website for links and more tips on how to optimize your online search.

In my newspaper column for Jan.18, I discuss an affliction that virtually every student has had from time to time... good ol' fashioned writer's block. Over the years as a student, author, and columnist, I've spent a lot of time figuring out a good system for getting "un-stuck" when you feel like your creative energy is sapped.

I hope the strategies I mentioned in the article--perform a free write, talk it over, and "zoom in"--can be of some use to you.  One philosophy underlying all of these techniques is that you can, in fact, spur creativity through improvisation. Consider for a moment a great jazz musician: The musician's greatest melodies may not come from deliberate planning, but rather from freeing the mind to create truly in the moment. The same could be said for a great off-the-cuff public speaker. Or even a freestyle rapper.

There's a big vote this week in the U.S. House of Representatives that has the potential to impact student loan interest rates. The proposal from Democrats would reduce the rate on subsidized Stafford loans--loans that are qualified for on the basis of financial need--from 6.8 to 3.4 percent.

Unsubsidized Stafford loans (non-need-based loans) and PLUS loans (loans taken out by parents) would not be reduced by the proposal despite past campaign promises to reduce those rates as well.

If passed, the rate cut for subsidized student loans would be phased in over 5 years.

In my Jan. 11 newspaper column, I discuss three key strategies for getting great recommendation letters.

Mary, a reader from Beaverton, Oregon, asks if there are any advantages to first obtaining recommendation letters for scholarship applications and then recycling them for later use on your college applications.

The answer: Absolutely!

Developing a menu of scholarship recommendation letters becomes a big advantage for students who have not yet applied to college. Unlike submission guidelines for most scholarship recommendation letters (in which recommendations are generally submitted with the rest of the application materials), many college applications specify that recommendation letters be mailed separately by the recommendation writers. This decreases your chances of being able to read them before they are sent off.