Just wanted to post a follow-up to the fall term and to say good job to all of my students. Special congratulations to Ben, who earned a 3.75 GPA and to Max who earned a 4.0 GPA for that term. Also wanted to say great job to Brendan, Tommy, Zach, and Nick for a strong semester and special kudos to Anna Maria for her success as a college freshman.
Some of the colleges I worked with this term included Farleigh-Dickinson (Florham campus), Kenyon, Columbia Chicago, the Universities of Alabama and Colorado, Holyoke, and others. I wanted to extend special thanks to Cuong Chau at Columbia Chicago and Darshan Shah at Fairleigh-Dickinson for their continued professionalism and assistance during this past term. I look forward to working with both of you again for the spring term.
Just a few notes on student issues that others might encounter:
-Parents must keep an eye on tuition due dates since they can impact a student’s schedule. In one instance, a student registered for classes early to get the times, days, and classes he wanted only to have his entire schedule dropped because of a late tuition payment. He later added classes, but could not get the ones he originally signed up for, and this can be especially problematic for juniors and seniors who need specific classes to graduate.
-For students, just a clarification on class times. For most traditional colleges, classes are either Monday-Wednesday-Friday for about 50 minutes or Tuesday-Thursday for about 75 minutes. Some colleges offer classes that are one day per week for three hours. Students tend to not like this later type of class format since they’re so long and having them only once per week can make it easy to underestimate the level of independent work needed. Most students I’ve worked with like the MWF or TR class format, which I did too. Meeting more often seems to make it easier to stay on top of the work.
-For students who want to transfer colleges, bear in mind that there is a separate transfer process (and usually application). Most colleges consider a student who has taken any courses at a post-high school institution a transfer student. The transfer application process will have it’s own guidelines and due dates so please consider those if you’re interested in transferring. Not disclosing all transcripts from prior institutions is considered by most colleges to be academic dishonesty, and will likely lead to expulsion upon discovery. If a student does have bad grades, it’s usually better to find a college that is willing to work with them rather than conceal past bad grades.
Best wishes to all of my students, parents, and colleagues for the spring term. I look forward to working with all of you again.
Jeff
Jeffrey Ludovici, M.A., is a national level Higher Education Consultant based in Pittsburgh, PA. He’s worked with students and parents across the U.S. about college issues since 2001, and is a member of CSRDE that focuses on best practices in helping students. He is also a member of NACADA, the national college advising association in the U.S. Please see the program page for services Jeff offers.