Category Archives: College Process

A great post at the Creating Passionate Users blog titled “Does college matter?” She basically asks the same question I’ve been asking for a few months now: given the state of undergraduate education (she cites the new book Declining by Degrees: Higher Ed at Risk) and the fact beer is the overriding memory of college by most, why is it considered the default that after high school students charge off to a four year college? By the way, at a private college like the ones my brothers go to the tuition is $40k/year (everything included). Think about how one could spend $160k over four years to become a life long learner.

The conventional wisdom says that the specifics of what you learn are much less important than the fact that you’re learning the fundamentals, and you’re learning to learn–things you’ll need to maintain your skills and knowledge in a quickly changing world.

The problem is, you virtually never hear a student say that. It’s always the parents or someone speaking on behalf of the educational system. When was the last time you honestly heard (and believed) an actual current college student claim that the true benefit of their formal college education is in learning to be a lifelong learner? That’s just bull***.

Others claim that the benefit of a college degree is really more about socialization and independence. I’ve heard reasonably smart adults say, with all sincerity, that spending $80,000 [it’s more like $160k] so little Suzy could learn to live on her own was worth it. I think there are a thousand different, and often better, ways to achieve that. Suzy could join the peace corp, for example, or go on one of those “learning vacations” where you do an archeological dig. Hell, just a three-month long trip through Europe with a couple friends and a rail pass (or, as a friend of mine did, a bike trip across Turkey) is certainly going to do more for socialization and independence than a traditional college environment, and at a tiny fraction of the cost.

I have more thoughts on this issue but I am struggling to decide whether to post them publicly on my blog. Perhaps sometime in the near future I will share my idea for feedback.

I have never been in such a pressure cooked environment in my life. Two more SATs, APs, final exams, and final papers all converge over the next 6 months. Seniors are getting rejected from colleges and, amazingly, you only hear about the couple dozen kids who are going Ivy League. Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle did a front page story on the results from the SAT I and tens of thousands of others took last month. My college counselor was quoted extensively in addition to a mini-profile of a guy in my class who got a perfect score of 2400 – 1 of 100 in the country. What are lunch time discussions? People printing out US News rankings; people saying they just want to become a lawyer and make money; people blurting out “Geeze, if so-and-so had perfect SATs and 4.0 GPA and got waitlisted from Harvard, what are they looking for?” My classmate Elena Butler summed up her gripes in this eloquent post:

It’s dehumanizing. At times, I feel like I’m just another case study. My scores, my grades, even my extracurriculars/interests (that supposedly make me unique) just make me more like everyone else. In other words, all my curiosity, passions, and energy now seem two-dimensional.

I can’t be the kid who is an athlete and a musician, has straight A’s, a 2400, and a life (though I can be his best friend). Instead, I’ve realized that I want nothing more in my life than to effect change, either through an idea, invention, or discovery. But right now, I feel boring. I think this is because the college process has fostered in me the desire to fit an impossible ideal.

I only hope this desire does not recur in my life–after all, it’s nonconformity, not conformity, that wins out in the end.

I’m exhausted. Over the past five days I visited eight colleges, spent time in four time zones, and logged upwards of 500 miles in a rental car. This post summarizes my visits to NYU, Sarah Lawrence, Cornell, University of Rochester, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Carlton, and Macalaster. Photos from the trip are here – if you click through each one there is a descriptive title.

After losing four hours to daylight savings and time zone change on Sunday, Monday morning was rise and shine for New York University. Overall, the best part about NYU is its intense urban feel which I like. NYU has tens of thousands of undergrads and various special colleges and you have to apply to ONE of them. In particular, the Stern School of Business and the Gallatin School of Individualized Study (create your own major by picking classes from any of the colleges) appeal to me.

Next was Sarah Lawrence College. Sarah Lawrence is very unique in that they are all about individualized attention. Super small classes, one on one conferences with professors, and the like. Unfortunately, its artsy, alternative culture didn’t jibe with me, and it’s off my list.

The next morning (after a long drive) it was a tour and meetings at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. It was splendidly beautiful (an anomaly given the time of the year). Impressive tour and impressive campus reps. They also have a cool entrepreneurship program. Cornell seems like an amazing place – I want to explore it more in the coming months.

The University of Rochester in Rochester, NY was next and this made a positive impression on me. Beautiful campus, laid back, smart kids, and wide latitude in academic choices. Unfortunately the timing didn’t work out for a tour it’s a place that interests me. Plus only 5 minutes from an airport!

After flying to Chicago that night, the next morning the University of Chicago was the focus of attention. It was one of the most academic places I’ve been to. Everyone is brilliant and incredibly focused on their studies. Do the kids have life balance and a social life? That’s a question for me – but other than that, a strong school for sure.

Northwestern University (in Evanston, IL) has a different feel. It too is an amazingly rigorous academic school but the kids seem more mainstream. This tour was the most crowded, a testament to its popularity. Northwestern has the famous journalism college which is highly selective. Nice school.

After a 7 hour drive, I was in Minnesota for the first time in my life to check out Carlton College. Carlton is a nationally-renowned liberal arts college with a secluded, beautiful campus. It’s definitely the type of place where you could settle in and study for four years without distractions.

After Carlton I had lunch with my friend Steve Clift a public speaker, researcher, and online strategist focused on e-democracy and e-government.

Macalaster College is right in the heart of St. Paul, MN and had a little more alternative feel. Another great academic school with a Jamba Juice and Wells Fargo right across the street! Seth Levine from Mobius VC had prepped me on what a Macalaster education is all about and it fit that billing. I left with a positive impression of a collegial, smart community.

This trip was largely prospective – that is, one to evaluate schools that I could likely get in to and those that would be a stretch, big schools and small schools, rural and urban, etc. All schools except Sarah Lawrence stay on my list. There still are Boston area, Pacific Northwest, and LA schools to check out.

My main takeaway from this trip is that all these schools have amazing campuses, thick course catalogs, and a bright student population. It’s all about the personal fit.

In a not-too-enlightening review in the NYTBook Review today, there is a provocative question at the end:

In ”Harvard Rules,” Bradley describes the case of Joe Green, an undergraduate disillusioned by his experience as a student representative on the committee evaluating the Core Curriculum. ”Green kept thinking about a question one of his professors had put to him: ‘If you could either go here and get no diploma, or not go here and get the diploma, what would you do?‘ ” Bradley writes. ”It bothered Green that he couldn’t easily answer the question.” It should bother the president of Harvard, too. The answer, in the end, is the difference between a great university and a brand name.

I met with our college counseling advisor the other week to talk about my planning. I will be posting updates as I go through it but I will say that for once I will NOT be completely transparent on these issues. Why? Because I wouldn’t want anything I say on this blog to hurt my chances at getting into a particular school if by chance an admissions officer from the school read the blog.

In any case, the guidance I’ve received is that while my GPA is quite low (below a 3) my other activities and “intellectual vitality” will be very helpful. Since I have few preferences when it comes to school size or geography, the map was wide open. I did check out a report that analyzed colleges’ different entrepreneurial programs as well as undergraduate business programs. Would I really want to take only business classes in college? Probably not, but I think that angle will be helpful from an admissions perspective.

I always chuckle to myself when someone tells me “Ben, you can get in anywhere.” They just don’t realize how competitive the process is. There are more wonderkids than ever – and they have been coached for this moment for years! Also, I go to a really challenging high school, one of the most academically rigorous in the Bay Area. As I was applying to high schools I was told “if you want to go to a good college, go to school X. If you want to get a good education, go to school Y.” I went to Y. I’m happy I did it, but I know if I were at school X I could have a 4.0 GPA and look at any college in the country.

Btwn April 3rd and 8th I will be visiting Macalaster and Carlton colleges in Minnesota; NYU, Cornell, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Rochester in New York; and Northwestern and University of Chicago in Illinois. Later, I plan to visit some colleges in Boston and in Southern California. Along this trip I would love to meet with entrepreneur, business, or government types. Additionally, if you know of anyone at any of these colleges who would be good people for me to talk to, please email me.

I’ll close this post with what my college counselor said he would start off his letter to an admissions officer at a college: “Dear Admissions Officer, I know it’s a cliché, but in this case it’s true: Ben Casnocha has not let his schooling get in the way of his education.” You better believe it, baby!