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A Boom Time for Education Start-Ups

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:33:00 +0000

A Boom Time for Education Start-Ups

Despite recession investors see technology companies' 'Internet moment'

Mark Abramson for The Chronicle

Jose Ferreira founded the interactive-learning company Knewton, which scored a hefty $33-million investment last year.

By Nick DeSantis

Harsh economic realities mean trouble for college leaders. But where administrators perceive an impending crisis, investors increasingly see opportunity.

In recent years, venture capitalists have poured millions into education-technology start-ups, trying to cash in on a market they see as ripe for a digital makeover. And lately, those wagers have been getting bigger.

Investments in education-technology companies nationwide tripled in the last decade, shooting up to $429-million in 2011 from $146-million in 2002, according to the National Venture Capital Association. The boom really took off in 2009, when venture capitalists pushed $150-million more into education-technology firms than they did in the previous year, even as the economy sank into recession.

"The investing community believes that the Internet is hitting education, that education is having its Internet moment," said Jose Ferreira, founder of the interactive-learning company Knewton. Last year Mr. Ferreira's company scored a $33-million investment of its own in one of the biggest deals of the year.

Enlarge Image

Mark Abramson for The Chronicle

Huge advances in computing power at colleges have created a fertile ground for companies offering technology services, like the computer-learning group Knewton (above), where staff members recently gathered for a meeting.

The scramble to make bets on a tech-infused college revolution has led to so many new companies that even Mr. Ferreira can't keep track.

Udacity, Udemy, and UniversityNow all have plans to revolutionize online learning. There's the Coursebook, a young online-learning start-up. And Coursekit, a nascent challenger to Blackboard in the market for learning-management software. And Courseload, the Indiana-based digital-textbook enterprise. And CourseRank, the class-sorting outfit acquired by the textbook vendor Chegg two years ago.

This isn't the first ed-tech boom to crowd the market with companies whose names sound alike. A similar wave hit in the late 90s, during the larger dot-com frenzy. But today's investors believe this round of growth is different. Michael Moe, co-founder of the investment-advisory firm GSV Asset Management, said the first ed-tech wave had been based mostly on euphoria that anything digital would work.

"There were just a bunch of things that were, candidly, thrown against the wall," he said of the 90s start-ups. Some companies pitched ideas that had no sustainable business model. Others, Mr. Moe added, were years ahead of their time. (Courseload, the digital-textbook start-up revived in 2009, was born in 2000, but its leaders say tools weren't available to support it until more recently.) When the dot-com bubble burst, investors fled the market.

Since then, huge advances in computing power at colleges have created a fertile ground for companies offering technology services. Rob Go, a partner at the Boston-based venture firm Nextview Ventures, said near-universal wireless Internet access, high-speed connections, and growing comfort with cloud-based software make it easier for today's start-ups to get traction on campuses.

"The promise may be very similar to what people were promising 10 years ago," Mr. Go said. "It's just that rolling it out was way more challenging."

Silicon Valley's strong feedback loop has also helped connect engineers sporting impressive track records from their work in other Internet sectors to investors with deep pockets. "The level of talent that's being attracted to the education-technology world today is insane," Mr. Moe said.

More Money in Play

Michael Staton, the founder of a start-up called Inigral, was early to the ed-tech party. He started the company, which offers a Facebook-powered application for universities, nearly five years ago.

"There was no ed-tech start-up ecosystem," he said. When he founded Inigral at 27, most of the networking events he attended were meant for other Internet companies, advertising networks, or gaming start-ups. At most, there were two ed-tech companies in the room. "It was kind of a lonely world to be saying, I'm starting a company in education," he added.

But recently, Mr. Staton said, "something in the zeitgeist" is giving education entrepreneurs access to money, advice, and talent that was once reserved for other sectors. And it's not all coming from for-profit outfits; last year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave Inigral $2-million of a $4-million investment.

Mr. Staton believes that a growing acceptance of online learning, rather than any particular new technology, has allowed start-ups to gain support for new products. Now 31, Mr. Staton said he's become known as a "grandfather" in the ed-tech scene, which has changed drastically since Inigral's early days.

"There are events where it's standing-room only specifically for education entrepreneurs," he said. One example is the Seattle nonprofit group Startup Weekend's series of 54-hour EDU gatherings, at which entrepreneurs get together to pitch and create education-technology businesses in the course of one jam-packed weekend. The events began in September 2011, and their leaders announced a one-year partnership with the education giant Pearson early this year.

The market is so crowded that it even spawned its own news outlet, called EdSurge. The weekly newsletter covers the education-technology sector and recently celebrated its first birthday. Its editors have also rolled out an early version of a database that seeks to track the market's biggest players.

Last October, Mr. Staton did his own legwork to help other start-ups get off the ground. He teamed up with Educause, the education-technology group, to organize a new exhibition area called Start-Up Alley at the association's annual conference. Eighteen emerging companies participated.

The lucrative investment climate for education-technology companies enticed the young founders of one Start-Up Alley outfit, OneSchool, to leave Pennsylvania State University and focus on their enterprise full time.

"There's a reason that we got in our car, we drove 3,000 miles across the country from Happy Valley to Silicon Valley, and that's because we knew that there was a lot of opportunities in terms of talent, in terms of advisers, and also in terms of investors," said David Adewumi, 24, a OneSchool co-founder. The company, whose mobile application was inspired by a cellphone photo of a homework problem, pulls in publicly available data to connect students with real-time bus maps, faculty directories, and local eateries near their campuses. It has raised $750,000 in seed money so far. Some of it came from Learn Capital, a firm investing in education start-ups that counts Pearson among its partners.

Mr. Adewumi's group saw opportunity in the ubiquity of smartphones, since he said few official college apps put all their students' campus-specific needs in one place. OneSchool chose to market primarily to students instead of brokering deals with administrators, betting that thousands of users would adopt its applications.

Bureaucratic Hurdles

The cultural differences between education and business can present challenges to these upstarts, and to their investors.

Mr. Ferreira, Knewton's founder, said educational institutions sometimes harbor "reflexive skepticism" toward for-profit enterprises, making it hard for education start-ups to earn trust through official partnerships. So some venture capitalists choose to circumvent the college bureaucracy, investing in companies that market informal education products like tutoring services or language-learning programs directly to consumers.

And Mr. Ferreira said the typical venture capitalist's approach—investing seed money that allows a young company to cobble together a bare-bones product—usually leads to piecemeal improvements that aren't big enough to attract institutional interest.

"Education start-ups have to think big," said Mr. Ferreira. "I don't think they can try to produce something that's incremental, which is a little bit antithetical to the way venture capitalists think." He added that future investments in emerging companies that have secured early-stage backing might not appear if those firms don't make enough progress.

Mr. Staton is undaunted by the bureaucratic hurdles he faces in selling to colleges. He said his company believes that in two or three decades, students will still be attending traditional colleges. But he doesn't refrain from warning administrators that they will hobble innovation if they move too slowly along the way.

"Universities are actually shooting themselves in the foot within this market transformation by being slow in their procurement decisions," he said. "There would be a lot more investment in companies that are figuring out how to serve schools if schools simply streamlined the process of making decisions about whether or not to adopt technology." Colleges have students' best interests in mind, but "in a world full of good intentions, our biggest competition is indecision," Mr. Staton said.

Colleges are hampered more often by student-privacy concerns than they are by slow buying cycles, according to Shelton M. Waggener, associate vice chancellor for information technology at the University of California at Berkeley. In making their purchasing choices, Mr. Waggener said, universities have to navigate privacy questions that don't always occur to executives courting institutions or students lobbying their administrations to adopt their favorite tools.

"Our goal is to get out of the way wherever possible," said Mr. Waggener. Yet administrators' hands are tied by laws they don't have the power to change, such as Ferpa, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. "As an institution, you can't sign an agreement endorsing a consumer tool that violates your own policies," he added. Some of the outdated privacy regulations are due for an overhaul, Mr. Waggener said; as they're written, those laws don't allow institutions to use good products that they could otherwise adopt with very little risk. For its part, Inigral says its Facebook application complies with the privacy law.

Mr. Waggener believes investors are backing education-technology companies because they can cater to institutions and students at the same time, developing both "enterprise" versions to sell to institutions and consumer products to offer to individual students. Companies no longer have to stake their sales strategies on a single tactic because the higher-education market is "not one thing, it's not one model," he added.

Mr. Staton said his fellow entrepreneurs had also flocked to education because they know its challenges better than any other industry.

"When you ask a 19-year-old what problem in the world they want to solve, it's highly likely that the problems that they're most familiar with are problems from their own education," Mr. Staton said. By the time they graduate, he added, many of those students are "looking two opportunities in the face: a substandard job market, or creating their own company and trying to be Mark Zuckerberg."

And entrepreneurs like to solve problems that they care about, Mr. Staton said: "There are a lot of people that are passionate about this, that know it, that want to do something about it."

Is You Tube really the place to post college admission videos?

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:51:00 +0000

Are YouTube Videos College Applications 2.0?

The college essay on paper? That’s so last year. How about a college essay and a YouTube video?

Go to YouTube and search for Tufts University and you may stumble on “On a Date with Tufts University.” Or maybe “My Big Fat Greek Tufts Supplement.”

These and other videos are out there because for the class of 2014, Tufts began letting applicants create YouTube videos as an optional supplement to the two required essays. About 1,000 of the school’s 15,000 applicants submitted videos, and the number is growing.

As are the page views of the videos, some of which have hit the thousands.

“At heart, this is all about a conversation between a kid and an admissions officer,” said Lee Coffin, the dean of undergraduate admissions. “You see their floppy hair and their messy bedrooms, and you get a sense of who they are. We have a lot of information about applicants, but the videos let them share their voice.”

Like Live RESPONSE: Though we can certainly appreciate that Tufts is courageously allowing students to post videos as part of their college applications, wouldn't the student be better served by keeping them private and secure in a college only account? The purpose of supplementing a college application is to allow the student a voice in the process, not to create an online popularity contest and a video that may follow them to their 40th birthday party..."Surprise! Look what we found online!" The video interview should be considered with the same reverence that the essay or short answers on the Commonapp would be. Imagine the horror if student essays were posted online, shared with the world. At 17 or 18 the desire to please, reveal and share may override a student's best judgement to keep some things private. Let's leave the faux reality shows to Hollywood and maintain the educational integrity of the application.

Source Article: BostInno, January 2012

10 Tips to Ace a Video Interview by Miriam Salpeter

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:44:00 +0000

(December 7, 2011)

It’s becoming more and more common for companies to conduct virtual interviews with candidates. Often, these interviews are done via some type of video technology. A video interview typically involves the candidate answering a series of pre-determined interview questions using a webcam to record their interview.
[See The 50 Best Careers of 2011.]

"There are generally two types of video interviews a candidate may encounter,” says Christopher Young, CEO of Async Interview, a video interviewing technology that allows companies to interview candidates anywhere there is an Internet connection and webcam. “One-way interviews, such as the type of interviews that Async provides, pre-screen candidates by having them respond to pre-set questions without a recruiter on the other end. Another approach is a two-way interview, conducted using Skype-like technology. Candidates and recruiters interact as part of a two-way, live interactive interview process. These are typically used later in the interview process.”

As part of their “Get America Back to Work Campaign,” Young offers the following tips to help you ace a video interview:

1. Practice questions. As with anything, practice makes perfect. If your video interviewing tool allows, take advantage of the company’s practice questions. This will not only help you get ready for the interview but will also allow you to get comfortable with the technology. Use the practice questions to work out kinks, such as your background and your wardrobe.

2. Look at the camera, not the screen. This isn’t the time to be checking yourself out on the screen. Eye contact is critical in an in-person interview, and it adds a nice touch on a video interview as well. Pretend your webcam is the person interviewing you. Keep looking at the webcam as you would be looking at your interviewer.

3. Dress appropriately. Be careful if you are considering dressing “business on top and casual on the bottom.” Dress professionally from head to toe. Don’t make the mistake of dressing waist up. If you shift in your seat, you don’t want your pajamas or sweatpants showing! Dress in light colors against a darker background or dark colors against a light background. Plan ahead so you look your best.
4. Take care to set up the recording environment. You want your interview to highlight your skills and qualifications. Make sure your recording space is lighted appropriately and doesn’t cast unwanted shadows on your face. Move a lamp or light source nearby and use the practice interviews to adjust your lighting and make sure you can see yourself. As for the background, keep it conservative or plain. The interviewer wants to see you, not your room, so set yourself up so that the video will show you from the shoulder up.

5. Think about timing. Time is of the essence. Be mindful of how long you take to respond to questions, whether in a two-way interview or a one-way interview. Many video interview tools have time limits for each question so be precise, but answer questions with sufficient detail. There is no do-over in an interview.

6. Watch your language. Avoid jargon. When sharing your experiences, describe acronyms and other jargon so your employer can follow along.

7. Calm your nerves. Your peers are nervous too, so don’t worry. Focus on speaking slowly, and show off those pearly whites. Those who can showcase their true personality while maintaining a level of professionalism are typically selected for another interview.

8. Don’t let mistakes throw you off. Employers know you are human. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. If you started off responding to a recruiter’s question and would like to correct yourself, do so and re-state your answer. They will appreciate your honesty and willingness to admit your error.

9. Consider your strengths and weaknesses. Just because it’s a high-tech interview doesn’t mean you won’t encounter traditional questions. A common question is, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” Don’t get caught up in the technology. Prepare for a variety of interview questions.

10. Do your research. Many clients leave room in the interview for you to ask questions that they can address in the next interview. Don’t get caught scrambling to think of what you might ask the employer. Prepare a couple of questions about something you can’t research on your own.

Video interviews provide the opportunity to showcase your skills and talents from the comfort of your home. Smile, be confident, and prepare to ace your interview using technology that makes the hiring process more comfortable and cost effective for you and your prospective employer.

Miriam Salpeter is a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer and owner of Keppie Careers. She is author of Social Networking for Career Success. Miriam teaches job seekers and entrepreneurs how to incorporate social media tools along with traditional strategies to empower their success. Connect with her via Twitter @Keppie_Careers.

LGBT Financial Aid Issues & Elmhurst College, a first in college admissions

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:46:00 +0000

If you're the child of a same-sex couple and you apply for federal financial aid, you probably won't get what you deserve. You'll likely get too much.
Students who are children of same-sex couples can't include both parents on their financial aid applications. If the student is part of a same-sex couple, she can't include her spouse or her spouse's income.
The article also highlights the "report also discusses the unique challenges that transgender and gay students encounter when applying for aid.
To read the full article click: Same-Sex Couples and Financial Aid

In what experts believe to be a first, Elmhurst College has released a new undergraduate application that includes an optional question about sexual orientation and gender identity status.
To read the full article click: They Ask. You Needn't Tell.

Both issues point towards the issues pertaining to full recognition of all those who are applying to college. Thumbs up Elmhurst!

"Do Them No Favors, Tell Them No Lies"

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Another interesting article:

http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Them-No-Favors-Tell-Them/128583/?sid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en

Employers Recruiting Off-Campus

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 23:51:00 +0000

Check out this article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576476552817595120.html

International Recruitment and Education Online Resources: "The Must Know List" for International Admissions Professionals

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 07:32:00 +0000

Resources

Mycollegei associates use a number of different online resources to keep themselves up-to-date and informed, but Jessica Guiver superb knowledge and new blog The International Student Recruiter helped us by creating this list for her site. International recruitment, like twitter, is evolving constantly so stayed tuned and ahead of the curve by utilizing these important online resources.

Professional organizations:

NAFSA http://www.nafsa.org/

EAIA http://www.eaie.org/

BUILA http://www.buila.org/

AIEA http://www.aieaworld.org/

Forum on Education Abroad http://www.forumea.org/

News:

The Chronicle of Higher Education http://www.chronicle.com/

The International Unit newsletter: International Focus http://www.international.ac.uk/

Inside Higher Ed http://www.insidehighered.com/

University World News http://www.universityworldnews.com/

AngloHigher http://www.anglohigher.com/home

Blogs:

International Higher Education Consulting Blog http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/

GlobalHigherEd http://www.globalhighered.wordpress.com/

Online Hiatus http://onlinehiatus.blogspot.com/

Opptunity http://www.opptunity.com/

The International Student Recruiter http://www.theinternationalstudentrecruiter.com/

Research and market research:

IDP Education Australia, Database of International Education Research www.idp.com/research/main

British Council, Education UK www.britishcouncil.org/eumd

The International Unit http://www.international.ac.uk/

i-graduate http://www.i-graduate.org/

Marketing and recruitment:

University fairs http://www.universityfairs.com/

FPP Edu-Media http://www.fppmedia.com/
BMI Recruitment Fairs and Agent Workshops https://www.bmimedia.net/bmi/

Go Abroad http://www.goabroad.com/

Cappex http://www.cappex.com/

Education Abroad Fair Calendar http://www.educationabroadfairs.com/

Education Fair Finder http://www.educationfairfinder.com/

Language Travel Magazine http://www.hothousemedia.com/ltm/index.htm

Hotcourses http://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/

No Excuses: Politics

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:37:00 +0000

I don’t like to speak out on politics too often but come on! This debt crisis stalemate has carried on far too long. Let’s discuss the big picture while these incompetent, stubborn idealists including Obama, and Boehner and the Tea Party are trying to figure out how to get through August 2.

The first solution and I have felt this way for a long time, is that if someone wants to be a politician from president to a local congressman they are automatically out of the running. Generally speaking and when I say generally I mean almost ALWAYS they are running for personal exposure, for fame and glory, for being a noted leader in the community not by example but with a shinny smile and timely promises.

My suggestion is that we forget about this two party system and elect people on their merits. It is unbelievable to me how all republicans support if not believe in the entire right wing platform and how democrats back the entire left wing platform. I for one don’t think there are too many people who agree with 100% of either platform. The problem is that they are playing to their constituency, their financial support system. They are worried about getting re-elected not about the issues or solving problems.

When I was a kid my dad said “Don’t worry about how much money you are going to make or how popular you are do something you love the money will follow. Do the right thing, be honest, make the right decisions and follow your beliefs” That’s the problem with today’s politicians they are following the beliefs of the people that support them because their fame, notoriety and lifetime pension depend on it. I’m not sure they are even aware of what they stand for.

The solution is we need to have our most brilliant minds nominate people that they believe can fit our country’s bill and solve our problems. Who can make the best decisions for our economy, for our education and health systems. For research, for energy, for putting not just our country but our global society back on track. We need to appoint a panel who has exhibited little partiality and bias and exhibited a high level of level headedness to come up with names of people that they feel will be the best decision makers without the fear of backlash from the NRA or the oil companies or any lobbyists groups who have so much at stake that it clouds the decision making for a better society. You ask, what about the appointed panel as our leaders?…..The panel I have in mind is much too smart to want to hold an elected public office!

Bill Barnett
CEO

Commentary from the edge: On Becoming an EdTech Conservative by the extraordinary blogger Joshua Kim

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 04:57:00 +0000

July 27, 2011 8:45 pm EDT

My favorite educators are the risk takers. The academic tech colleagues whom I most admire are the innovators. But with each passing day, I find myself (in big and little ways) becoming an edtech conservative.

Perhaps this a natural course that most of us follow in our careers. We get a little more responsibility, and suddenly disruptive change doesn't look so appealing. We have more to lose, and are more accountable if things go badly.

Still, I'm concerned enough about my own creeping edtech conservatism that I'm hoping to open a dialogue about this syndrome.

4 Trade-Offs:

Stability vs. Innovation: Our edtech systems are now campus mission critical. The LMS (learning management system), SIS (student information system), lecture capture, course media, synchronous meeting tools - they are all utilized 365 and 24/7. As more of higher ed is mediated by digital platforms, if the edtech systems fail the business of higher ed stops. If innovation and stability represent some sort of trade-off or continuum, then I'm pushing for stability. Innovation cannot come at the expense of stability. If this means staying a cycle or two behind major releases and upgrades, and forgoing new and wonderful features, then so be it.

Support vs. Choice: I can come up with many good reasons why we need to accommodate all the different varieties of technology that our community wants to bring to campus. From operating systems to mobile platforms, we live in a consumer choice driven culture and will be providing a restricted educational experience if we limit technology choices. But I'm not convinced that limiting technology choice provides a worse educational experience. In higher ed, our goal should be for the technology to be transparent, or at least friction free. Supporting every device and every browser and every computer or mobile OS makes this near impossible. Educators may be critical of corporate uniformity, but we should at least own up to the productivity hit we take in trying to accommodate and support every technology. My mind is now at least open to standardizing.

Integration vs. Features: I think we'd be better off with campus learning platforms that are better integrated and less feature rich. A simpler LMS, e-mail system, media system, library system that hangs together seamlessly and offers an integrated user experience. We can have integration or lots of features, we probably can't have both. This desire for integration argues, I think, for vertically integrated edtech providers. If my push for integration is shared by campus technology decision makers, then I think it makes sense for larger edtech / publishing players to to be thinking acquisition, and smaller ones to be thinking merger.

Establishment vs. Entrepreneurship: This last emerging conservative tendency has me the most worried. I find that I take increasing comfort from big companies, vendors with a long track record and who make money, while I'm increasingly nervous about doing business with edtech startups. This emerging bias can be overcome if I get to know the startup founders and employees, and can understand the business model and long-term plans. If the leadership is not accessible and product roadmap is oblique, then chances are we will not be signing any contracts. This bias favors the large companies, which are often the least innovative and the least disruptive.

Pulse: New Rules vs. Old Rules, Fancy vs. Simplistic...Joshua lays out epic battles in higher ed technology. The new superstars are just entering college, what will they create, given their creativity and know-how? Are the walls just to high to mount, time and change just happen, viligiance is key.

On Becoming an EdTech Conservative

Avoiding Showdown on International Recruitment Agents from Iniside Higher ED

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 04:36:00 +0000

Avoiding Showdown on International Recruitment Agents

July 29, 2011

The National Association for College Admission Counseling -- whose board just months ago took a strong stand against the use of commission-based agents to recruit international students -- is delaying for at least two years any move to exclude colleges that disagree with such a stance. Further, NACAC will appoint a new commission to study the issue, raising the possibility that the association may not ever explicitly bar the use of agents.

These actions by NACAC's board were announced Thursday, along with a statement that the board was affirming its position that colleges should not use agents paid in part on commission to recruit students. Despite that latter statement, supporters of the use of agents viewed the actions as a victory, and predicted that the practice would continue to spread.

Pulse: Tough call for all involved, controversy ahead...proceed with caution.

Top Colleges and Universities Choose MYCOLLEGEi

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:03:00 +0000

Click the link below to read a new article about MYCOLLEGEi.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Top-Colleges-and-Universities-bw-2954880229.html?x=0&.v=1

No Excuses: I Miss My Buddy

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:08:00 +0000

My buddy, my pal of 11 years died two weeks ago…she was more than the family dog she was our company mascot, my constant companion. If you aren’t a dog person you won’t get it but if you are there are few pains as great as putting your pooch to sleep. It was the hardest thing I’ve done since putting my other dogs to sleep 12 years ago. It’s even hard to write this blog.

I’m not sure what it is about a dog that makes the bond so strong. They don’t complain they form indelible habits that will never be forgotten. I miss her scratching her bowl when she was hungry, licking my leg when I got out of the shower…and speaking of showers her barrage of kisses when I lied down on my bed. She told me when it was time to wake up, time to eat, time for a walk, even when the mail was here. She was always there for me through thick and thin. I am sure she had bad days too, why not don’t dogs have bad days? But you would never know even when her body was riddled with cancer; there was always a kiss, a look to let me know for as long as she could she would be there for me. It’s been two weeks and the pain has not subsided I can’t imagine going through this again but as our family says over and over what would these past 11 years have been without her.

There is something special about animals our pets in particular they adapt to us they seem to know what we need when we need it; they fill a special void that sometimes a human can’t fill. To my Roxy Dog thank you for making the past decade more complete, thank you for taking care of me during the ups and downs thank you for knowing when I needed a lick, when needed a walk or just a snuggle. To all of you who have lost pets….I feel your pain but what would life be like without them.

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: Colleges Need to be Run More Like Real Life!

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Sat, 14 May 2011 18:33:00 +0000

I have been hiring (and firing) people for well over 30 years now and I am still amazed at the lack of focus colleges and universities put on the preparing students for the real world. I am not talking about learning and passing a calculus class or ancient Roman history but in the art of communication. The ability to share and articulate ideas with others.

Let me give you an example, when a quarterback gets drafted into the NFL they don’t just look at his arm strength or foot speed or ability to read defenses they look at his ability to lead, to get along with others, for no matter how far he can throw a ball or how fast his 40 yard dash time is, if he can’t get the people around him to support him he ultimately won’t be successful. So you can equate his arm strength to his technical skills or his speed to his math skills but if he can’t communicate and motivate all those other skills go out the window.

When I am hiring an intern I honestly don’t care what their SAT score was, I can’t tell you how many “smart” kids I have hired that just didn’t translate into the real world. As Colleges and Universities and as parents and mentors we need to emphasize real world applications. Last week I interviewed someone a year or two out of school and I asked her where she grew up and where she went to school, she took that opportunity to ask me about where I went to school and where I grew up. I loved it; it showed maturity, poise and an interest in me. It is so important for graduates to learn how to communicate like adults and it is so important for educational institutions and parents to communicate that to their kids!

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: The Woo Factor

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:21:00 +0000

It’s that time of year when all the acceptances or not are sent out. Students however are now making choices based on more than just which has the highest academic rating in U.S. News and World Report. Today all sorts of considerations are being taken into account not the least of which is cost.

Schools that don’t think they have to make an effort to attract kids even the top schools are sadly mistaken. When you understand that most kids that go to these top tier schools also go to graduate school you are looking at almost a half a million dollars when all is said and done. I believe a good education is worth every penny but I want to know the institution I am attending is seeing life through my eyes, they have current technology, they see the environment ten years from now not just today and most of all they are interested in me getting a job when I graduate. The schools that offer more than just an education will be the schools that will thrive and prosper good times and bad.

Schools need to be as pro active as the students they are recruiting. They need to relate to students on a level the students can relate to. It’s not the same old song we are a top Ivy League school you need us more than we need you…not anymore. The schools that are the most approachable, most technologically savvy the most forward thinking will be the schools that this generation wants to attend. We have progressed more in the last ten years than the entire previous century, is it asking too much for our education system the very system put in place to teach us do the same?

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: Wake Up!

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:57:00 +0000

We are closing in on the end of March and in my way of thinking if you are a student and don’t have your summer job or internship lined up yet you are behind the eight ball. It is up to you to get your resume out there, take advantage of any and all relationships you or your family has to get the professional ball rolling. I’m thinking about this now because I am about to speak at USC about careers and I’m thinking that I sure hope most of these kids have jobs lined up now and won’t be asking what should I do if I don’t have a job.

As much as I like to give the responsibility to my kids for making their own way, and they have it is amazing to me how many of their peers are so unprepared. Now we aren’t talking about 15 or 16 years olds we are talking about juniors and even seniors in college 20, 21 even 22 years of age. So many of my kid’s friends have asked them how we go about getting a job, who we should call what should we say.

Part of this falls on the parents; this should be a process that starts before the teen years. Baby sitting, box boy at a market, washing cars in the neighborhood, whatever just get out and work. But part of this falls on our education system. I have yet to hear of a class that teaches life to these students. How to interview, how to write a follow up letter, how to network, how to look someone in the eye and have a firm handshake. You know small things like a first and lasting impression.

Don’t get me wrong you need to know the basics and the basics are becoming more and more involved and advanced but if you don’t have common sense or street smarts as my wife likes to call it all the books in the world won’t get you to the top. Because someone else out there is going to be just as smart as you the difference is they will be able to market themselves better than you.

Don’t just think about the classes you are taking but how you are going to apply them. Your Friday and Saturday nights are just as important as your weekdays. You never know who you are going to meet and where it could lead. Your friends father that you meet at your tailgate party could be you first boss, your friends mom may be a recruiter for a fortune 500 company…in other words there is no real downtime every minute of every day can be an accomplishment, can lead to a new path and learning is not confined to the classroom.

Bill Barnett
CEO

Buying Down on Their First Choice of College

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 01:02:00 +0000

As higher education feels the continued stress from the economic squeeze, the value of an institution will be measured by not only a college’s reputation, but also by its ability to provide service and value. When it comes to admission, it is no surprise that students are more likely to attend a college that has provided a meaningful process, giving them a voice and made an effort at making a connection with them.

Institutional accountability will be the watchword. Colleges that are succeeding are colleges that are focused on helping students make the right decision when choosing a college and then helping them to make it through their four years with solid employable skills when they graduate.

Scott Carlson’s article in The Chronicle of Higher Education certainly points to the fact that “personal attention never goes out of style.” No matter how many digital tools we have, we need to find ways to use them wisely with the human in mind.

How Students Are Buying Down on their First Choice College by Scott Carlson

- Caryl Kristensen

No Excuses: Changed Forever

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Some people are saying the recession of the past two years is coming to slow end. Some people like the nearly 10 percent out of work probably take issue with that prognostication. We go back and forth on who is to blame, the past republican administration who started the downward spiral with their “me first” attitude or the current democratic “free spending party”. But this article is not about where our economy is or who is to blame but rather what have we learned.

I know I have changed forever. When I graduated some years ago it was about how much, how fast, how big. Who got the first Mercedes or BMW? Who bought the first big house or who made that great investment in AOL or Yahoo? Today we may still be looking for that next great investment opportunity but the tone is completely different. We have a different perspective on life and what is really important.

My father was a product of the great depression and his values like so many of his generation were forever shaped by that period in our history. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with dreaming big, reaching for seemingly unattainable heights, breaking through new frontiers. After all, where would we be without big ideas like Google, Facebook, and Apple and for that matter the automobile and airplanes? But I think his generation had it right, he was in the navy and they had a saying “take all you want but eat all you take”. It was a generation of no waste; everything you bought was for a reason and had a purpose. My generation until this recent recession never had to fight those battles, we were a generation of plenty and that may have been what got us into this mess. We were the generation of greed …and I’m not proud of that. I am not proud of the legacy we leave our children.

Today I think about what’s important, what we really have to have. I think about my kids and their future and I think about people who have less than I do. I still dream big and encourage my employees and friends and kids to do the same but I also encourage them to be diligent, to be thoughtful and to be generous. Life is full of cycles, and although my dad died a few years ago he would be happy to know I am still learning from him every day of my life. I hope I can leave my children with the same values he left me…it just took me a bit longer to get there.

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: Parents, It's Your Fault Too!

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:12:00 +0000

There has been an uproar in Los Angeles lately about the parent group at Jordan High school “taking back their school” Jordan High School located in the turbulent inner city has consistently had some of the lowest graduation rates in the district. If you project that out a few years the picture is even bleaker for their job prospects. Now, taking back a school is no small feat they have to align themselves with one of a few private contractors like Green Dot Public Schools or Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and even if this happens it’s not an overnight solution. Not to mention the uproar from the teachers union. But for the sake of this article let’s put the kids first and forgets about “union pride”.

It takes more than the teachers or administration to change a student’s habits or a school’s academic reputation. Parents need to take as much or more responsibility as the school; after all, after graduation the student is still the parent’s responsibility not the schools. Parents can’t just say ok let’s give our school over to a private group and hope everything will be ok…it doesn’t work that way, it’s not that easy. Everything a student learns starts at home and begins with the values they are taught.

If reading a book is only something you have to do to pass a class you have already lost. If knowing how to add, subtract, multiply and divide is only something you need to know to get through your 5th period you have already lost. If self respect and respecting your family members is not part of your everyday life, again you have already lost.

An education doesn’t begin when you start elementary school or even nursery school, it begins when you are born, it begins when examples mean more than words…it begins with the parents values. I am not sure that privatizing Jordan high school will or won’t work but I can tell you that there is no replacing a family with a support system that believes that a good education leads to a better life and more opportunity for future generations.

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: Speeches

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:02:00 +0000

Ok I may be a day late and a dollar short on this one but did you hear Obama’s speech on Wednesday night in Tucson. It may have been the best speech he has given since he’s been in office….actually it may have been the best speech since Clinton’s Oklahoma City bombing speech. I was inspired, I was moved, and I was motivated. I was proud that my daughter that attends the University of Arizona was there.

Then after the speech is over and by the way I am a very moderate person in my political views so I have no problem calling like it is for either side, I hear the republicans getting on the Democratic Party for turning this into a pep rally. Are they kidding, the families of the people shot needed to hear what Obama said, the people of Arizona needed to hear what Obama said in fact the whole country needed to hear what our President said. On top of that he elegantly made the case not to turn this into a political free for all. Not to turn this into a debate about gun laws or free speech.

This shameful reaction reminded me of the debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman for the Governor’s race in California. When Matt Lauer asked both candidates a week before the election if they would cut all negative ads Meg Whitman declined, it clearly was the defining moment in the race. It was the time to lay down your arms and become person not a politician. Much like that costly moment the republicans blew a golden opportunity to praise the President for his compassion, his sincere empathy and to help unite our country for a community that needed a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes there are more important issues than political aspirations and agendas, sometimes we need to take a breath, escape the rhetoric and remember we are one people.

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: A Terrible Call

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:49:00 +0000

Welcome to 2011 I think most of us are looking forward to a better year, especially the referee from the Pinstripe bowl that took place this past week in New York between Kansas State and Syracuse.

Let me start out by saying I am a football junkie I love all football especially college and the bowl season. I love watching the ups and downs of the match up’s, who the BCS feels should and shouldn’t be in a BCS bowl ….I love that Connecticut played Oklahoma even though Boise St should have been there, I love that no one thought TCU would have a chance against Big Ten power Wisconsin let alone beat them. I love that Nebraska didn’t even want to be in their bowl against a Washington Huskies team they beat by 20 earlier in the season and it showed they lost 19-7, but my biggest take away from this bowl season had nothing to do with teams or matchups or great plays or even the farce that is the BCS it had to do with an officials judgment and doing the right thing.

As I alluded to in my opening, Kansas State was playing Syracuse in a great and game close. It came down to the last minute with K-State down by eight that is a touchdown and a two point conversion. With under a minute left Kansas State scored a touchdown and in the players exuberance he saluted his fans, he didn’t spike the ball, he didn’t dance around he didn’t show up any players on the other team nevertheless he was flagged for a 15 yard penalty which effectively gave them no chance for the two point conversion to tie the game.

One of the announcers so shocked at the call said if this would have happened to one of the armed forces Navy, Army or the Air Force it would have been a proud moment. Instead this official decided it was his day to be in charge and change the outcome of a game that was the pinnacle of a season for both of these teams. There is something said in football which I think resonates in life when it comes to penalties and that is, judge by ‘the spirit of the rule”.

Laws and rules are there as guidelines to help us make better decisions. Did this athlete do anything that was abusive or unethical, of course not. Part of what makes a good leader is their ability to make good decisions and evaluate the situation. In this case the official was obviously not a good leader.

About two years ago I got a ticket for getting into a left hand turning lane a few feet before the lane designated. I did it to get out of the flow of traffic and not cause an accident. I went to court and won. The judge understood my intent and thought the police officer over reacted. Now, this player or team will not have the benefit of a judge overturning this ruling but I assure you ten years from now the official will feel far worse than the player…at least I hope so.

Life is about making the best decisions it is about understanding your situation and reacting to it. There will always be crossroads, there will always be rules that say RIGHT and WRONG, but are they? Our ability to make the best decisions will define who we are. The best leaders are the ones who think for themselves, this year let’s make a pledge to think for ourselves not to run down a road because your best friend does or because it’s what the rulebook says but because you feel it’s right. Sometimes rules are just a wall to hide behind, if you don’t feel a rule is right stand up for your point of view, the odds are in a short period of time there will be many people standing behind your wall.

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: At The Speed Of Light

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:00:00 +0000

I got a call from my daughter that goes to Indiana University last week, she was a freshman about an hour ago and right after Christmas break she is off for her semester abroad for her last semester in her junior year. They had their annual sorority senior- junior dinner last week because when the junior’s get back most of the seniors will be gone so it’s a bit of a farewell get together. Although they had their fair share of fun it was a night of tears and nostalgia looking back on the last two and a half years…probably the most exciting and certainly the most maturing of their lives.

I told my kids starting when they got to high school that tomorrow morning when they wake up they will be graduating college so make everything out every day, every hour that you can. Well it’s almost time to wake up for them and for us as parents. These last twenty years have gone by in a blink and that is what we try to impart to our kids. Make the most of every day, every class, every party, every time you meet a new person. I will tell you as a parent the older they get the more the messaging seems to rub off. The end of college is within reach now and their next endeavor whether it’s grad school or a job is just around the corner but they now know that life races by like the speed of light.

Tomorrow we will be talking about their first job and so the story goes. As a student appreciate the day…no, the moment. Soon you will be telling your kids how much you got out of school and that some of those people are your best friends today. My kids are close with many of my college buddies I have been fortunate to have stayed close with many of my USC friends, but you know what’s funny, they always comment, “ Dad you seem like you are still in college”. I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.

Bill Barnett
CEO

No Excuses: A Vision to Change

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000

I just read a great book by Brian Wm. Niles President and founder of TargetX called Overthrowing Dead Culture. We have worked with TargetX in the past so I knew of them and the great work they have done to help colleges and students find each other.

This book is more about an attitude than dollars and dimes. It’s more about being creative and forward thinking than going by the book and what “has” been done. It’s about teaching college administrators to be open to change and new ideas and using today’s technology to help paddle downstream and not up.

The book encourages schools to be honest about themselves warts and all, what they are looking for in prospective students but most all if they are the right fit for the student and vice versa. No school is right for everyone but if a school has a niche, a strength, don’t be afraid to yell it out, it might alienate a portion of your prospective recruits but so what they probably aren’t your students anyway. Use it as an opportunity to get the right students excited about what makes you tick…and distinct.

Colleges, like students are all different all cut from different cloths, the more a school and student can find out about each other the more successful the match will be, not just in terms of enrollment but persistence (will the student stay enrolled). Schools need to reach out in more creative ways then the printed brochures that are 5 years old they need to meet the students on their field in their surroundings with technology that they have grown up with. Schools today want students that have learned to evolve with our times and technology shouldn’t our schools be held to the same standard?

Bill Barnett
CEO

November Newsletter II

noreply@blogger.com (LikeLive News and Notes) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:31:00 +0000

No Excuses: Play Up Not Down

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000

When I was a kid 8 or 9 years old all I wanted to do is play tennis. I loved all sports but tennis seemed to be my best chance to really excel athletically. I was and guess I still am very competitive so I didn’t just want to beat kids my own age I wanted to beat kids in the next age bracket. When I was in the ten and unders I wanted to beat the 12’s and 14’s. I always wanted to play up and see what I could do against bigger, stronger competition. One thing I never wanted to do is play someone not as good or skilled and “play down” to the competition.

Playing up has always been my thing although I was not always an A student I picked certain areas that I excelled in, public speaking, writing and later creative ideas for Radio and TV shows. As our business for MYCOLLEGEi continues to grow I am seeing a disturbing trend where some people are “playing down” to the competition. As our company is involved in education we see what graduating seniors are producing in terms grades, essays, speaking skills. It occurs to me we are playing down to the competition; instead of pushing the students that are not as strong we are more accepting of low or average achievement. We have become a society of accepting good… not great. One of my favorite books is “Good to Great” written by Jim Collins. The most important message I took from this book is that it is almost a curse to be good because those companies and people that are good stand pat and don’t try to become great. Or as I say “Play Up” .

To all of our schools, students and parents to be the best you must compete against the best. The best students, writers, mathematicians, scientists, challenge yourselves and don’t take short cuts along the way. There is nothing wrong with exhibiting compassion and patience towards others just make sure you don’t need to be on the receiving end.

Bill Barnett
CEO

New Excuses: Being a Dad

noreply@blogger.com (MYCOLLEGEi) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:00:00 +0000

This past week or so there has been a lot of hub bub about Cam Newton the sensational young quarterback for the University of Auburn. The fact that his dad asked payment from another university of $180,000 to play for them, a bit reminiscent of the Reggie Bush saga a few years ago. Then the argument surfaced are schools much different than the agents they are trying to get rid of and vilify who pay the student athletes under the table to eventually sign with them. There are those kids who take the bait and those kids who don’t; there are those who live for the short term and those who plan for the long term. Take it from me the schools, the agents the managers, the lawyers they don’t care about the athletes long term because tomorrow there will be another Reggie Bush or Cam Newton.

There are only two people that “should” have your best interest in mind and they are your parents. But when we start reading that the dad’s are the culprits because they can realize some short term gain…well, Houston we have a problem! And it not just Houston it’s every city in America and not just the economically challenged areas, although incidents in those areas are much higher than the norm.

This should be a lesson to the dad’s in America that the single most important job you have is raising your child. Not your job, not smoking or drinking or leaving your spouse because you found something better…for the short term. If you make a commitment to become a dad then be a dad, be the best dad you can be because that will be your legacy. There is a better that 50 percent chance your kid and especially a son will grow up to be just like you. So the next time you look in the mirror ask yourself am I setting the best example I can, do I respect myself, my wife, my morals and decisions. Will I be happy if my son says one day “dad I want to be just like you”!

Bill Barnett
CEO