Feathering my Empty Nest

The empty nest…it does, at times, feel quite empty. The four of us are a close family, and raising our children was my number one priority. My little darlings, shown above with their mommy, are now 22 and 19, one in grad school and one in his first year of college. So now Randy and I spend most of our time together without children. Most of the time it is fine and enjoyable….sometimes, the house is so quiet. It isn’t just that Alexandra and Wes have left….their friends (who spent A LOT of time here also) are gone as well. Yes, my house, once a bastion of chaotic activity, is now quiet. (more…)

Scholarship Corp (guess which one?) tries to bully a colleague!

Tam Warner Minton, MS

As a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultant’s Association (IECA) I joined a “talklist”. The talklist allows members to ask advice, post items of interest, etc. There are many rules regarding what can and cannot be discussed; it is a very professional “talklist”, and of great benefit. The other day I was astonished to see a link to The Chronicle of Education and an article entitled, How a Scholarship Corporation Tried to Muzzle a Blogger. (more…)

Tragedy at U of Alabama

***Correction: Amy Bishop was 19 years old and an adult when she shot and killed her younger brother. She was never charged, so it would not have come up on a background check.

I doubt that a novelist could have come up with a plot with twists like the tragic shooting on the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Three faculty are dead, and the stories coming out about the “shooter” are completely shocking. Did anyone do a background check on this professor? (more…)

Heading back to Dallas from Paradise

Queen Angelfish, Cozumel, MX

Tomorrow I leave my blue ocean and warm breezes for cold and rainy Dallas.  I’m ready to see my husband and my pets, and my students as well!  I’ll miss all of my fishes, though, and I am sure they will miss me.  The best news is that my niece, Mande, is home!  She is still undergoing treatment, and the clot has not completely cleared, but she is home with her family and especially her little girl, Becca. I will check in again when I get stateside! Hasta la Vista, Cozumel! I’ll be back.

Still in Paradise! With complications.

Tam with Mande and Becca

Yes, still working remotely from Cozumel! I have a great view over my lap top…straight out to the Caribbean Sea. The news has been positive….students are receiving their admission offers and the financial aid offers are not far behind. My 2010 Seniors (except one) are finished and waiting. My juniors are researching….and so am I. But there have been some kinks in my trip.  My niece, Mande, is suffering from a blood clot.
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Working in Paradise

Rasta Bar, Punta Sur, Cozumel, MX

I am on vacation. Let me qualify that: I am on a working vacation. I’m checking emails, continuing to communicate with students, colleges and parents and colleagues. My profession seems to also be an obsession, but actually, I just love what I do. It does not feel like “work” to me. (more…)

Why do most Professors lean left?

According to the NY Times a fascinating new study is shortly to be released which looks at this question in a statistical, sociological manner, and the answer is not what you might expect. The study, which used data from the General Social Survey, posits that the profession of collegiate faculty is “typecast”. (more…)

The Uneducated American?

Yes, you read correctly.  The UNeducated American. Several articles have been written on this subject, most recently by Paul Krugman in the OpEd section of the NY Times. Paul Krugman states, “If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be EDUCATION.” As our high school drop out rate rises (especially in minority populations), what will happen to America’s economy?

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Should you post your application status on Facebook?

Rebecca Reddicliffe, a student at Northwestern University and daughter of an editor at the NY Times, writes that you should NOT post your admission decision on Facebook,  according to her blog on the NY Times CHOICE Blog. She seems to feel that it is not a “cool” thing to do, that it causes anxiety and that most people you are “friends” with on FB don’t care anyway. She has received some interesting comments! (more…)

Is there a significant Payoff to attending an “elite” college?

This question was considered, researched, and reported on by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2000. The study, co written by Alan Krueger, on leave from Princeton University to serve as the Treasury Department’s chief economist, and Stacy Berg Dale, a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, N.J., was recently touched upon again by The Wall Street Journal. The answer is “We find that students who attended more selective colleges do not earn more than other students who were accepted and rejected by comparable schools but attended less selective colleges. However, the average tuition charged by the school is significantly related to the students’ subsequent earnings. Indeed, we find a substantial internal rate of return from attending a more costly college. Lastly, the payoff to attending an elite college appears to be greater for students from more disadvantaged family backgrounds.”

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