Latest news with #LelandStanford
Forbes
3 days ago
- General
- Forbes
How To Prepare Your High School Student For The Competitive College Application Season
Stanford, California, USA - March 17, 2019: Aerial view of Stanford University in Stanford ... More California. Stanford is a private university founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford. The college admissions landscape has grown increasingly competitive and complex over the last five years, and students must start earlier than ever before to build an applicant profile that will stand out to admissions officers at their dream schools. The moment a student begins their freshman year of high school, their choices—from summer activities to course selection to extracurricular involvements—contribute to the application narrative top colleges will see when they apply. As such, parents play a critical role in helping their students develop a tactical and thoughtful approach to their high school careers in order to reach their collegiate goals. Whether your student is anticipating their first year of high school or putting the finishing touches on their college list before the start of senior year, the question is not whether you should be talking about college, but how to talk to them about the particular stage of the process they find themselves in. The latter is a common cause of confusion and frustration for students and parents navigating the high school years—parents who are unsure of what their student should be accomplishing or who struggle to motivate their student quickly find themselves overwhelmed and disconnected from their child. Avoiding the stress and tension that can arise from college applications requires that parents start conversations early, understand what their child should reasonably accomplish in each stage of their high school career, and take a supportive and open-minded approach when talking to their child about their future goals. Summer, with its lighter schedule and fewer distractions, is the perfect time to initiate a dialogue with your student about college admissions. Here are three tips to keep in mind as you kick off the conversation: One of the most effective ways for parents to guide their students while encouraging autonomy and introspection is by asking questions. In the early years of high school, these questions should be aimed at helping your student consider what they are truly passionate about and where their skills lie. Some of the most productive conversations begin not with questions like 'What do you want to major in?' but with 'What subject do you want to keep learning more about, even outside of class?' or 'What are you most proud of trying this past year?' Asking such questions will help students to narrow their involvements, critically select the advanced courses they enroll in, and progress toward the subject-specific expertise that top colleges are looking for. Even after these initial stages, parents can approach the college application process itself with curiosity rather than checklists. For instance, when considering competitive summer programs, internship opportunities, or potential fields of study, consider asking questions such as: 'What would it look like for you to challenge yourself? What is something you want to learn more about? What do you envision your life looking like after college? Is there anything new you're interested in trying this year?' Similarly, you might help your student evaluate their balanced college list by asking: 'What draws you to that school? Do you think you're better suited for a rural campus or would you fare better in a city?' Introspection, authentic passion, and a clear point of view are some of the most essential qualities that Ivy League and other top schools are looking for. If a parent dictates what their child 'should' be doing in the process, their fingerprints will be evident to admissions officers on their child's college application. Encouraging autonomy through thoughtful and open-ended questions will instead support students in the process of articulating their own identity on their applications and beyond. The college application process is highly stressful for both parents and students—and even the most supportive and encouraging guidance can begin to feel like pressure if it becomes a constant topic of conversation. For this reason, just as important as starting the conversation about college prep is knowing when to stop. Particularly when discussing college prep during the summer, it is critical to make space for fun, relaxation, and the non-academic parts of life that are essential to fostering a healthy and positive relationship with your child. One of the best ways to mitigate the pressure of the college application process is to designate specific times to check in with your student, ask questions, set goals, and discuss their progress. You might choose a 30-minute window on a certain day or days of the week (depending on where your student is in the process) as a planned time to discuss all college-related things, and do your best to avoid the topic outside of that agreed-upon window. Ultimately, it is important to remember that college planning is just one small part of a student's growth and development during these critical years; parents can model balance and perspective by being intentional about how and when they talk about it. Finally, while parents are the cornerstone of a student's support network, getting into a top college requires an enormous amount of time, strategy, and skill-building, and you simply cannot do it all. Instead of trying to be your student's tutor, mentor, essay editor, and college counselor, you should view yourself as the architect of their support apparatus. Your role is to help your student determine what they need and find the best resources to meet those needs. This may include academic tutors for tricky subjects and standardized tests, writing coaches, school college counselors, or a private college consultant. Encourage them to build strong relationships with teachers who might later write recommendations and connect with alumni or professionals in fields they're curious about. Like every other aspect of the college admissions process, a support network should encourage students' autonomy—in other words, parents should not secure a flashy internship, fancy summer job, or high-profile recommender on behalf of their student, but teach their teen to identify their needs and goals and advocate for themselves in the process. Connecting your student with a diverse network of experts can keep them motivated throughout the often exhausting process, ensure they receive the most up-to-date information about what colleges are looking for today, and allow your relationship to thrive without the full burden of college preparation falling on your shoulders. This summer, make the most of the time you spend with your teen by encouraging conversation about their future goals in a supportive and low-pressure environment. The more you lay the groundwork for open and positive communication, the more prepared your student will be for the demands of the competitive admissions process.
Forbes
13-05-2025
- Forbes
How AI Is Reshaping The Elite College Admissions Landscape
Stanford, California, USA - March 17, 2019: Aerial view of Stanford University in Stanford ... More California. Stanford is a private university founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford. The college admissions landscape has changed dramatically over the last five years, due in large part to significant political, economic, and legislative shifts. But technological advances have also had a dynamic impact on the college admissions process, and the explosion of artificial intelligence promises to have far-reaching implications for admissions officers' evaluations of application materials. While many students and parents have embraced these tools to assist with everything from building a college list to writing essays, it is critical for families to consider the potential impact of AI on their college applications—and the application process as a whole. What AI Could Mean for Admissions Decisions AI writing is everywhere—from the blogs and social media content we consume to the search results that appear on Google. Further, AI writing—from its overall paragraph structure to its syntax and sentence structure—is highly formulaic. Admissions officers who read hundreds of essays a day can easily differentiate between writing produced by AI and a student's own voice; this means that they are well aware that a significant portion of students are using AI in some capacity in their applications. The ubiquity of AI will likely lead admissions officers to lean even further into an already holistic admissions process. The overwhelming reliance on AI tools may lead admissions committees to deprioritize the personal statement and supplemental essays as true representations of a student's authentic voice. Like with other elements of the application—such as standardized test scores and extracurriculars—whose importance has fluctuated amidst debates about their ability to equitably demonstrate a student's college preparedness, written materials may carry less weight moving forward. This doesn't mean that admissions officers will be permissive of AI use in any formal or explicit way, but that they will recognize its widespread implementation and examine the whole of a student's application rather than any single element of it. But AI is also impacting college admissions decision-making in other ways. According to a January report from The Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used AI tools to score students' writing on the basis of 'the quality of word choice, sentence structure, sentence variability, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, length, and more in an applicant's essay.' According to the admissions office, the AI screening serves as a first layer of review before admissions officers read essays individually. UNC is hardly the sole institution implementing this method—a 2023 survey cited by Inside Higher Education found that 50% of colleges surveyed were using AI in their review process, a number which has likely increased in the intervening years. While colleges have been notoriously vague about the particular ways in which these tools are trained to evaluate student writing, it is important for students to be aware of their use and devote significant time and effort to editing and polishing their materials before submission. How AI Should Impact Students' Admissions Strategy Students should take these technological shifts into account as they develop their college admissions strategy. Artificial intelligence is a useful tool and it can certainly be helpful as students build their applicant profiles, but the key to using AI both ethically and effectively is understanding what it is best used for. While it may be an asset as students scale their passion project, identify MOOCs and podcasts to learn more about their area of interest, or cull data about colleges on their list, it is not a storytelling tool and should not be used for writing personal or supplemental essays. Ultimately, anything that requires innovative reasoning or critical thinking should be completed without the use of AI tools. Beyond the fact that using AI tools to write is generally frowned upon and considered to be unethical, AI writing has become so ubiquitous that using AI or modeling one's work off of it is a surefire way to make your materials blend into a sea of other cookie-cutter essays. This is true even for students who do not regurgitate a full ChatGPT essay. For instance, a lot of students turn to AI for proofreading by inputting their entire essay and asking it to fix grammar and syntax errors, assuming that it functions like Grammarly. However, students and parents don't realize that ChatGPT and other AI platforms will change their language in a way that is highly formulaic and therefore very detectable. Conversely, while admissions offices are more adept at spotting unoriginal writing, they are equally as skilled at detecting authentic critical thinking and originality. Because of the surplus of algorithmic, formulaic AI language, students who learn to write elegantly, experiment with form and language, and subvert expectations in their prose will stand out in the competitive admissions landscape. Students should take a similar critical approach to using AI tools to craft other aspects of their applicant profiles. While it may be tempting to ask ChatGPT for advice on pursuing activities related to their intended major, students should keep in mind that the lists of activities AI generates are often highly standardized and lacking in the interdisciplinarity, creativity, and originality that admissions officers will look for in a student's Activities List. While such a list can be a good starting point, it should not be the only step a student takes to develop their long-term admissions strategy. How Students Can Use AI Ethically—And Effectively This is not to say that AI tools cannot be an asset for students seeking to gain admission to top schools. The most effective uses of AI in STEM subjects include rapidly culling, synthesizing, organizing, and collecting data. This is an asset for students even outside of STEM fields. If a student has organized a large-scale volunteer event, they might use AI to create a searchable Excel sheet of vendors and participants. Students can turn to AI to scrape data from Common Data Sets and school websites to research admissions requirements and average scores for schools on their list; some might conduct long-term independent research projects, mobilizing AI tools to represent their data in more effective ways. Likewise, students studying history, sociology, or philosophy would benefit from using AI to identify sources, wade through vast amounts of archival materials, or transpose data from one format to another. Researchers in both fields should see this as a building block for their research, keeping in mind that any AI summary will not offer critical thinking, sophisticated analysis, or complex evaluative skills, but it may provide the foundation for researchers to bring these qualities to their research without expending massive amounts of time sorting through data or research materials. While artificial intelligence has become an unavoidable and often helpful tool in many sectors, admissions officers at elite institutions still want to hear what you think in your own voice—not what a language model has generated on your behalf. Students who want to stand out in the admissions process need to start developing an original approach to the college admissions process that reflects their unique perspective early in their high school career.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Train Day returning to Wildlife Prairie Park on Saturday
HANNA CITY, Ill. (WMBD) — Wildlife Prairie Park's 'Train Day' is on track for another year. On Saturday, May 10, the park is commemorating the creation of America's first transcontinental railroad. The celebration coincides with the day in 1869, when the ceremonial golden spike was driven in by Leland Stanford at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was this that connected the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads. The park's celebration will include a day of fun activities, tours, and interactive train rides. Guests can go on handcart rides, get a behind-the-scenes look during the Train Maintenance Pit Tour, check out model railroad and train displays, and even get a chance to blow the train whistle or ring the bell. Riders can also go 'loco' for the featured food vendor, Nate Dawgs Chili Dawgs. The vendor will start serving food at 10 a.m. The first train will also depart at 10 a.m. from the Main Depot. The last train will depart at 3:15 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
