tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27491420310982869902011-07-30T22:24:08.605-05:00Nikki of Anycollege.com blogs about admissions, college life, news and general advice for anyone thinking about going to college!Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-16665564799943072592009-11-06T10:25:00.001-06:002009-11-06T10:26:08.378-06:00

Details coming soon...Please keep watching- www.anycollege.com !!!

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-60535729990137522802009-08-12T08:32:00.001-05:002009-08-12T08:33:43.267-05:00

If you haven't done so, you have until 5 PM CST today to check this out and post it!!http://www.anycollege.com/contest/index.cfmWin a $250 giftcard for Target to deck out your future dorm room if you're an incoming college freshman in 2009 or 2010!!

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-47408943066137686312009-07-20T09:57:00.000-05:002009-07-20T09:58:44.928-05:00

Win a $250 giftcard to decorate your dorm room! 3 easy steps below:Step 1 Must be one of the following:Follower of AnyCollege.com on Twitter (www.twitter.com/anycollege)Fan of AnyCollege.com on Facebook (www.facebook.com/anycollege)Friend of AnyCollege.com on MySpace (www.myspace.com/anycollege) Note: Increase your odds of winning by adding AnyCollege.com on more than one social network!Step 2:

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-35435017010842426122009-07-17T09:45:00.000-05:002009-07-17T09:46:14.921-05:00

We've moved the blog now to:http://www.anycollege.com/blog/

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-77472799130389563162009-07-16T09:16:00.004-05:002009-07-16T09:35:04.663-05:00

I think I heard the most amazing thing ever on the radio driving home yesterday. Talking with a panel about community organizations in a small, northern MN iron range town a local woman came up and said "If you're going to complain about apathy, start with yourself." This one hit home.I moved back to a small town a little over a year ago from living in a mid-sized city as well as two large metro

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-7778601493084679182009-07-15T16:17:00.001-05:002009-07-15T16:18:55.524-05:00

If you're interested and wanted to place a link on your site to quickly direct students to our search here is a set of links and images that can easily be copied and pasted to your page.https://www.anycollege.com/linktous.cfm

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-53363999346244158892009-07-13T13:03:00.002-05:002009-07-13T13:11:41.603-05:00

Just read a good blog post on the different connotations that "going to college" has with some people.I'd like to revisit a few, and ask you to see where you fall in the list:"Going to College" means a thing you just do after high school... a time to move out, meet people, party, and then move on with your life. (Whether or not that college pertains to it...)"Going to College" means trying to get

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-58518576641292583092009-07-07T11:09:00.002-05:002009-07-07T11:18:03.291-05:00

I came across an interesting article today about how one professor turned his class around by getting a more positive view of his students and his material.I thought it was an excellent point he made when he said he went into his material and found that it was put together on the idea of "You must learn this though it is a painful process". When he went back and tried to make the experience of

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-12488572007637558562009-06-29T13:38:00.003-05:002009-06-29T14:22:18.395-05:00

I have heard some variations of this theme in my time through higher education, and it's one that has perplexed me quite a bit.There seems to be a pointing fingers game within student success between student and professors. Students blame the profs for being bad teachers, and the profs blame the students for being lazy and unwilling to learn. So where is the line?Many of the professors that I

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-10028051856937447722009-06-24T13:58:00.004-05:002009-06-24T14:32:54.362-05:00

There are some of those quizzes that are supposedly supposed to help you determine what you're supposed to be when you grow up, or whatever else (not one of those "Which Superhero Are You" kind of ones). I just tried to take one from an affiliate site here and I got totally confused. Here's the survey if you'd like to give it a shot.The questions were laid out in an either/or kind of fashion, but

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-36759755413030898032009-06-17T11:17:00.002-05:002009-06-17T11:21:56.408-05:00

Actually, make that, "Need Some Likin' "These videos need some love, er, like... from YOU!http://www.anycollege.com/video_library/index.cfm?cid=3622798Or... there's this one:http://www.anycollege.com/video_library/index.cfm?cid=1563445#now_playingOr, be the first one to like THIS video:http://www.anycollege.com/video_library/index.cfm?cid=1594688#now_playingWhat about this video?http://

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-49885911434827980702009-06-16T14:31:00.003-05:002009-06-16T15:02:39.655-05:00

I admit, I get a bit of a kick reading about the latest technology that has come out and then reading the comments on the article to see how many prophets of doom that have a PhD attached to their name like to come out and say that whatever the new gadget is will completely ruin education, etc etc etc.I heard one about the Kindle, which I admit I don't know much about but if it's true that a

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-74247763252423280352009-06-12T10:53:00.002-05:002009-06-12T12:59:57.802-05:00

Not gonna lie, when we started talking about that I got the fun little chills that come with hearing a REALLY good idea come up.What about this: Almost all teens and even their parents now are playing some kind of video game, be that on the Xbox, on their mobile phone or on the internet. (I watched one of the high school kids I work with outside of Anycollege play Bejeweled obsessively on her

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-31099895573301963022009-06-10T10:12:00.004-05:002009-06-10T10:18:51.276-05:00

New feature on the website!Like, now you can, like, totally, like, like your favorite, like, video on our, like, college video website!www.anycollege.tvDo you have a school you really like or a video you really like? Tell your friends about it and have them like it too!And I have a challenge for you: post a comment using the word "like" more than I did in once sentence!PS- check out our home page

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-18378248433860622792009-06-09T09:02:00.002-05:002009-06-09T09:51:11.177-05:00

Without a doubt, this is one of the most important, influential people in your college career. He/she will help you figure out your classes, help you figure out some direction for your overall education or other general academic matters.I've gone through a few of these over the years and have seen what good and bad ones can do for your academics- and have a few thoughts on working with

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-80316397576569648422009-06-04T08:56:00.004-05:002009-06-04T09:10:17.864-05:00

Lately I've been working on a project outside of Anycollege that is involving several high school students who are going to be seniors next year and are starting to narrow down their search for colleges. While talking to them (as many of them are considering going to college for the same undergraduate degree I have) an interesting topic has come up: the size of the department that you're going

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-80690187914946154952009-05-29T10:56:00.007-05:002009-05-29T13:46:30.196-05:00

Lots of hubbub this morning about a well respected blog for higher education marketing being taken down, due to to disagreements between the blogger and the blogger's higher-ups.Basically the back story is this: The blog is a personal blog, tastefully and humorously written, that fictionalizes the blogger's roadblocks at work. Identities of the people, places and events being referred to are not

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-82193285192477338762009-05-28T11:43:00.003-05:002009-05-28T11:53:03.245-05:00

I have had a revelation with some of the community activities that I've been doing in the past few months that I don't know if it's really been figured out yet by a lot of the organizers in the community I'm in.High Schoolers are the BEST people to get involved in your activity. Why?Here's a quick run down:1. They're passionate about it. There's not the cynicism I find with other adults about

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-41689763117210611212009-05-27T12:01:00.002-05:002009-05-27T13:04:54.582-05:00

This is a fantastic video from someone who writes the dictionary. Quite frankly, I never thought writing the dictionary would be a cool job, but shows what I didn't know!Check it out. It's kind of long so give it a bit to load, then watch, and watch the whole thing. There is a great bit about 10 minutes in. http://gelconference.com/videos/2006/erin_mckean/

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-4416924102800025332009-05-22T08:48:00.001-05:002009-05-22T08:49:20.769-05:00

New scholarship available at www.mycollegescholarship.comCheck it out and have a great long weekend!

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-50699617338583671202009-05-20T10:17:00.002-05:002009-05-20T10:20:56.644-05:00

Remember a few blogs ago when I mentioned that the photographs on a virtual tour are deceiving?Well, humorist Peter Smith also saw the irony of that in his latest piece asking colleges in Minnesota not to move up commencement to early May because May is one of the few times up here that campuses actually look like their photos!I highly recommend listening to it, it's quite funny.Here is the link:

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-86485154030077526242009-05-19T14:22:00.003-05:002009-05-19T14:34:18.444-05:00

First off, I like email.I know email isn't as cool with the younger crowd anymore, they'd rather have a Facebook message, and that's fine too but I still really like my email.You can contact several people at once, you can spell check it, and you can attach whatever you need to! But I have found that I've run into a question of etiquette that I'm not sure of anymore. If you get an announcement

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-37027182374082169172009-05-18T08:27:00.003-05:002009-05-18T08:30:26.123-05:00

We are pleased to announce that Paulding County High School in Georgia is our newest High School Member drawing winner!Their high school will receive $1,000 to use however the school feels is best. (Hopefully they will let us know so we can share it on here.)Congratulations!If you need more information about entering the drawing, please check here:High School Member Page

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-44713176014000005062009-05-15T08:40:00.002-05:002009-05-15T08:57:08.882-05:00

I just read an article this morning on Forbes about parents getting into the "risky business" of co-signing for a student loan with their child. Here it is: http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/14/student-loans-retirement-moneybuilder-personal-finance-loans.htmlBut here's what I don't understand. Why are they encouraging parents and students to tap a 401k retirement fund or take out a second mortgage on

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-89027152430571026332009-05-13T09:26:00.003-05:002009-05-13T09:47:27.037-05:00

Again another topic I find fascinating.There is an article on Inside Higher Ed today about people learning family announcements that are fairly important via Facebook/Twitter and other social networking sites rather than in person with a phone call, etc.There is much grumbling from an older generation about this (read the comments on the article) ... how it's tearing the social fabric of our

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-23114417444351044062009-05-12T11:47:00.004-05:002009-05-12T15:04:56.787-05:00

Don't tell me THAT doesn't sound like an exciting title for a blog!While it might not be the most exciting, I do think it's a fairly important topic to address, especially with all of the college search sites and scholarships available on the web. Most sites like this will, at some point, ask you to give at the very minimum your name and email address, sometimes a zip code. This can also include

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-16297845195497992032009-05-11T12:34:00.000-05:002009-05-11T12:35:56.929-05:00

I'm going to cop out on the blog today, because I just read a fabulous post that I think you should read instead of reading this one.http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions_of_a_community_college_dean/dear_graduatesIt's an open letter to the current graduating class, and I highly recommend taking a little time to read through it.

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-4790377428532105772009-05-08T14:44:00.002-05:002009-05-08T15:03:48.903-05:00

It's that time of year...High school seniors are starting to figure out what in the world they're going to take with them to college. Why figure it out so early? Why graduation gifts, of course!But from what I have seen happen from my own experiences and from working with freshmen I see a few major things to remember when trying to figure out what to bring for college:#1- Anything and everything,

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-19791484054968699512009-05-07T13:27:00.002-05:002009-05-07T13:28:02.034-05:00

Check it out!www.anycollege.tvAll the college videos we have, all in one place! How cool is that?!

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-48137666472769150762009-05-05T13:34:00.003-05:002009-05-05T14:48:05.246-05:00

I just read an interesting blog regarding a student unhappy that his parents want him to go to school to be an MD (well whose parents wouldn't?) but he would rather go to be an English major. The blogger asserts that if the parents are paying then they have 100% say over where the student goes and what is studied.Yikes. I happen to completely disagree. I posted a response to the blog which you

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-24397583494019359392009-04-30T14:58:00.004-05:002009-04-30T15:03:49.840-05:00

As I'm sure you've guessed from the last blog post, we're trying to get the word out about our website right now to a lot of high school counselors.Currently we're adding some new features and over the next few weeks will be doing some major updates to the website so we're trying to get as many future college students and the people that work with them to check it out as possible.What's in store,

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-90859774386453909302009-04-29T10:38:00.005-05:002009-04-29T10:50:00.225-05:00

That's the question of the day!Fix the copier? Take all the teachers and staff out for a picnic? Create a new scholarship? Bring a performing arts group to the school? Replace some desks and tables? Buy a sports team some new equipment? Have the most rockingest post-prom party EVER?Do you have a few ideas for your high school? Good!Now, high school counselors, teachers and other staff... have you

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-52251216066355058342009-04-28T13:51:00.004-05:002009-04-28T15:11:22.863-05:00

This issue is one that has puzzled me for a long time because it's one that puts both the college and the student in between the proverbial rock and hard place.How does a college balance the fine line between "come to our school and you'll have a wonderful career" and the reality of "you can get a college degree here but that doesn't entitle you to anything afterward"? Because if colleges

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-76275082554719441902009-04-27T10:54:00.002-05:002009-04-27T13:30:18.223-05:00

I am fascinated by this idea, but to be honest with you I don't know that much about them.How many students attend? Do parents get involved? Or could this be coordinated through a school where the entire junior and/or senior class can participate? If you were at a high school would you be open to an event such as this?Or would this be something that primarily took place in the evening or on a

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-91636327420242495092009-04-24T14:50:00.003-05:002009-04-24T15:23:46.497-05:00

It's almost that time of year again... finals are looming up for many students, both college and high school.For high school seniors I have seen an interesting phenomenon in that sometimes these last finals can get blown off if the student is already accepted at the college of his/her choice. Yikes! I know "senioritis" may have kicked in full time at this point but it will be worth it in the long

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-39973766963245078822009-04-23T09:14:00.003-05:002009-04-23T09:41:24.730-05:00

Forgive me, I have to air this out because it is driving me crazy. I have two major pet peeves with grammar: unnecessary capitalization and homonyms. Take note for scholarship essays!There is no Reason to capitalize random Nouns that are not proper nouns while writing a Sentence. (See?) Please refer to the capitalization rules at: http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.aspThen there are

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-17186480718754053152009-04-22T13:13:00.002-05:002009-04-22T13:40:06.209-05:00

I just read an excellent advice column written to a student who had switched majors and was now not happy in the second one either:http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/04/22/what-if-my-dream-major-turns-into-a-nightmare/I agree with the author in that it's good to know that sometimes it happens in your junior/senior year of college where you're burned out on the subject and overwhelmed. I would also

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-33697974542078265932009-04-17T09:33:00.006-05:002009-04-17T15:27:03.981-05:00

This concept has been around for a while now so I did some looking into it yesterday and it really surprised me how many schools do this. The college I am attending for my master's program had this, and frankly at the time it appealed to me because of how expensive it was to apply to grad school. For students wanting to apply to multiple colleges the multiple applications can really start ringing

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-26098798225716121802009-04-16T08:41:00.006-05:002009-04-17T09:44:08.386-05:00

Please, please please go read this blog about access to technology in classrooms, and take the time to read the comments.Fascinating.What a tough question. If one classroom has the opportunity to get additional technology should the school turn it down because all of the classrooms can't get it?There is another part of this question though that has not come up for debate from what I could see in

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-62235810746422419042009-04-15T11:37:00.003-05:002009-04-15T13:46:02.706-05:00

I need some help here. I keep coming across colleges who are using the same admissions slogan. And there have been quite a few of them."Start Here. Go Anywhere!"And I keep seeing it!! So do me a favor, will you please? Add as a comment here any school that you know who uses this slogan that you've seen. I think we're going to find a few.Then... food for thought. Do you think they know other (many

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-53937164969144079122009-04-14T09:21:00.002-05:002009-04-14T09:35:08.781-05:00

I was presented with an interesting idea last week that after pondering I believe warrants a blog post. (Note: this was supposed to be yesterday's blog.)The idea is this: To go green on your campus visit just do the virtual visit rather than going to the campus in person. This decreases your carbon footprint by not driving/flying to the college, eating out while you're there, etc. and if you just

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-8552792756623486422009-04-13T09:31:00.003-05:002009-04-13T09:48:10.021-05:00

Honestly, I had a different topic all picked out for today's blog, but I couldn't just let this experience go from the person who just walked in.A little background: our offices are quite quiet as we do most of our work on the web and work with most colleges via phone or email. This means very very few people come in to visit who do not have an appointment of some kind here (bringing us marketing

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-19241719314021178762009-04-10T09:46:00.003-05:002009-04-10T09:53:12.380-05:00

I couldn't let this go without sharing it:The Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design has one of the coolest campus visit ideas I've ever seen. If you live more than 150 miles from the college and schedule a visit, you will get a $300 credit on your first tuition bill.What a brilliant idea- especially with the economy in the tank right now! And with the reimbursement coming on the tuition bill

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-78731515983301922182009-04-10T08:44:00.003-05:002009-04-10T08:51:01.669-05:00

It's pretty cool to see when a collegiate sports team does well how the community rallies behind them, especially in the case of a smaller school.Quick disclaimer: I live in Minnesota, which I believe means I'm pre-disposed to be a huge hockey fan.The Bemidji State University Beaver's run to the Frozen Four in the NCAA Men's Hockey tournament was incredible and super fun to watch. Once they upset

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-72484369786448320522009-04-08T13:49:00.002-05:002009-04-08T13:56:34.251-05:00

Similar to another blog post about the three year plan versus the four year plan for a bachelor's degree, I was presented with the idea of taking summer classes to help reduce costs.I wonder if that is true?There is the obvious payment of tuition fees, but I have heard (don't know if it's true) that some schools do reduced tuition to attend summer classes? Anyone else heard this?The other thing I

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-37946507725656118742009-04-06T14:40:00.003-05:002009-04-06T14:43:22.409-05:00

Here's an article that's going to be in the member newsletter for member colleges in April. I've blogged about this in the past but here's the "official" article going to colleges:The Changing Admissions FunnelThere is no doubt that the ever increasing usage of the internet by high school students is changing the way that admissions personnel are able to predict the enrollment numbers for each

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-35651904990392633442009-04-01T10:54:00.002-05:002009-04-01T11:30:50.522-05:00

Finally back in the office! Even the dog was sick of me being at home, yesterday she went back into the basement and put herself into her kennel to sleep of her own accord rather than her bed in the living room. (She normally never goes there without prompting unless she has done something bad.)Anyway- I just read a summary of the new Noel Levitz Class of 2009 E Expectations that they do each

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-46795880351402080932009-03-26T09:41:00.002-05:002009-03-26T09:48:54.657-05:00

Sorry I've been quiet on the blog this week... (two weeks in a row! Eek! Was in Europe last week, visited Queen's University in Belfast and Oslo University in, well, Oslo. :))As you may have figured out from previous blogs we're located in Moorhead, MN and less than a block from the rapidly rising Red River of the North. A few of our staff have homes directly in the flood path (who wouldn't want

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-39336956815404502252009-03-23T14:19:00.002-05:002009-03-23T14:26:08.249-05:00

I'm sitting in my office right now watching the Red River of the North get higher and higher and higher... it's currently predicted to be about 20 feet below it's flood crest which is supposed to come on Friday at 41'.And it's raining.What good can come of this? I was thinking about that on my (rather sleepy, jet lagged) drive to work this morning. It's forcing the community out and together.

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-78737000406387380982009-03-13T11:16:00.004-05:002009-03-13T11:29:11.413-05:00

Not gonna lie, some colleges really have cool admissions websites.It's almost making me want to go to a few of them because they really do their job well in that the college looks unique, appealing and, well... cool! There is enough information to intrigue me but not overwhelm and who isn't a sucker for pretty pictures!On top of that there are a few that lay out the information most pertinent to

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-71745815890815611572009-03-12T15:28:00.001-05:002009-03-12T15:30:17.566-05:00

Sorry the blog has been quiet this week- 12" of snow and 50mph winds kept me at home Tuesday and part of yesterday due to highways getting closed!More good stuff coming!!

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-7228595863093162322009-03-09T11:37:00.004-05:002009-03-09T14:21:07.702-05:00

Not too often that you see that as a blog title, right?Last week they did something really cool- yet very simple- for people using the web to try and navigate some of the higher education websites that they have. The web address for the Department of Education has always been http://www.ed.gov/- which makes sense to many of us who work in higher education, but not always to the every day person

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-66552902377854061112009-03-06T09:17:00.003-06:002009-03-06T09:37:39.561-06:00

No really.Guys- what's happening? We ran our demographics for the site last week and this is what we found on scholarship applications: 73% to 27% female to male?But that's been shown in many new studies that the big push for girls to get a higher education and into math and science courses has paid off- to the point that many universities are reporting less than 40% of their 4 year degrees are

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-3261886123513390402009-03-05T09:36:00.004-06:002009-03-05T10:19:18.888-06:00

First- thank you all so much for reading! I couldn't believe how many hits this blog has had lately! So a HUGE thank you, I hope you're finding it interesting. If you read it frequently will you follow it if you can? It lets me know who I'm writing to! Again, THANK YOU!OK- I tossed this blog idea around for quite some time before I decided on actually writing it. I wasn't sure if there was too

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-67010670674966085772009-03-03T10:55:00.003-06:002009-03-03T11:08:08.296-06:00

This morning on my drive to work I heard an interesting feature on the radio about how this year will be the peak year for graduating high school students in the state of Minnesota with 64,000 students expected to graduate. In just three years that number is expected to fall off to 58,000.However, colleges are still expecting just as many applications and enrollments out of that group due to a

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-66142524818457094602009-02-26T14:12:00.003-06:002009-02-26T14:41:41.816-06:00

I just read a fantastic blog post about First Generation college students.This is one of my near-and-dear subjects with college students. I absolutely loved working with First Generation students- one of the easiest ways to get me to tear up would be watching them graduate and the proud/astonished looks on their parents faces as they crossed the stage with their diploma. Usually because these

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-34125133213304533392009-02-24T10:37:00.004-06:002009-02-24T11:15:50.565-06:00

There is some outrage going on right now in the academic community about a Florida professor who is making a little less than 100k/year and who has a contract which limits her teaching load to one class and is fighting the University about raising her teaching load due to budget cuts. Read the story here: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/24/babbDid you read the comments?There seems to

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-53916747291361516542009-02-23T13:46:00.003-06:002009-02-23T13:57:27.955-06:00

As you are going off to college this is something that you and your parents should be aware of.FERPA is a law that is put in place to protect student information. However, when the student reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level these rights transfer completely to the student. Students must sign a waiver to allow anyone other than themselves access to their

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-31888102732586363952009-02-19T15:11:00.006-06:002009-02-19T16:01:49.765-06:00

Today has been a pensive day.I read something that made me think quite a bit about how the web is *really* changing how students look at colleges. Back in the day (ha...) you emailed or (gasp!) picked up the phone and called the college or filled out a direct mail piece and returned it to the college in order to request more information.About a week later you would receive some lovely glossy

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-2863209949588530022009-02-18T13:02:00.005-06:002009-02-18T13:24:37.067-06:00

Keep things from classes. Especially the syllabus and any major papers you write for the class.Why?Let me back up and talk about what prompted this. Standing in line waiting to get my sandwich at lunch today I was behind two local college students. There are about three major colleges and a community college in the town we're located in so I'm not sure which schools this guy was talking about. He

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-32580845206564953042009-02-17T11:02:00.006-06:002009-02-17T16:42:44.899-06:00

With the economy down this educational idea is starting to catch some interest again. Basically the premise is this: In a four year degree you complete either 12 quarters or 8 semesters worth of classroom time. This becomes four years when you do either two semesters or three quarters in a year, taking the summers off. However, if you complete another quarter or semester during the summer session

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-49776297912306570372009-02-16T11:47:00.005-06:002009-02-16T12:08:00.427-06:00

I keep reading and reading and reading about students prepping to get into the perfect college, and who are throwing themselves into as many activities as possible to beef up the resume. I may have mentioned it before, but besides blogging I also coach a high school athletic team (you can probably guess the sport) which allows me to see some of this first hand.First off let me say that I adore

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-12577712703126254782009-02-10T15:58:00.003-06:002009-02-10T16:23:31.863-06:00

You've heard it a million times before... "Put your name on your paper!"Well, I would like to add one to that... put your name in your email!This was prompted actually not by student email, but emails from admissions counselors who were getting error messages while trying to update their college profiles on our website. Granted it was a very small minority who didn't include any contact info in

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-33477280189679010962009-02-09T15:28:00.001-06:002009-02-09T15:29:30.640-06:00

I always thought I could find about anything online... but this one is still eluding me!I can't find a up to date measure of what percentage of American teens are online and how much time per week they spend online on average!Anyone know?!

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-44445067166843445482009-02-05T13:30:00.004-06:002009-02-05T15:03:38.125-06:00

My favorite blog today had a post that made me re-think the advice that I've been giving students for several years now: Pick a school and stay there. Make sure it's the right one because you don't want to transfer if you don't have to.The reasoning behind this is fairly simple: You don't know what will and won't transfer until you start working with the school you are transferring to. You may

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-22518942392498686552009-02-04T10:04:00.001-06:002009-02-04T10:17:32.495-06:00

Well, the first time I tried to post this I managed to only post the blog title. Anyway, technological mishaps aside...I read a little bit about your "web footprints" today. This article had some good points that nothing ever really "goes away" on the web. Between Google and Twitter and the dozens and dozens of sites that have a cache of everything that has ever been posted on them you've got to

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-19122356819932311912009-02-03T11:42:00.003-06:002009-02-03T11:50:46.421-06:00

I know it's February now. However, that still doesn't stop me from being excited that it got into the double digit range above zero for two days in a row!Did you go outside? I skied all weekend and it was great! (Minus a few face plants because some of the tracks were icy...)That reminded me of some of the websites I've been exploring lately for college sports recruiting. Most of them charge a

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-89560160828468661712009-01-29T15:48:00.003-06:002009-01-30T10:52:37.824-06:00

Have you updated your Twitter yet?What was your last blog about?What is your status on Facebook?These might seem like odd questions to be asking a high school counselor, but more and more schools are looking into the possible integration of some of these social networks into their schools to help improve the educational experience of their students.There are varied responses to this. While some

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-47171095748926133602009-01-27T09:12:00.003-06:002009-01-27T09:32:46.448-06:00

We've finally caved and joined Twitter.After hearing and hearing and hearing about it we finally decided that we should join the bandwagon, create and account and start "tweeting" (hey, all the cool kids are doing it!). What surprised me the most though was the creative ways that teachers and professors in both k-12 and higher ed are using the various services.Some classes are using it to

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-67502709285471291012009-01-26T08:28:00.004-06:002009-01-26T09:27:02.267-06:00

This article I think is fabulous. As the recipient of the mail@anycollege.com email address and a former college counselor whose email was given out to every single student upon starting classes (I'd average over 100 emails per day coming in) this is a pet subject of mine. However, I believe that if you need something/want something/need to get your point across you cannot risk a poorly written

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-71946259850104026172009-01-23T12:03:00.002-06:002009-01-23T12:27:34.863-06:00

Hearing a radio piece this morning about the debacle going on right now in Minnesota's Senate race made me recall a conversation in November on Election Day with my father.I had mentioned something about how great I thought it was that so many younger people were getting involved in politics and were so passionate about the election this year. He said "Yeah, that's great, but... (pause... pause..

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-52525144928235659802009-01-20T09:29:00.002-06:002009-01-20T10:03:00.542-06:00

Is there anything else I could possibly write about today?I've been listening to inauguration coverage since 6:50 this morning and I never thought something political could be this exciting. The simple fact of so many millions of people being excited for today has infected me with their enthusiasm for the day. Even though I've voted in a few other elections now I never bothered to watch the

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-81923229760098312532009-01-19T12:26:00.006-06:002009-01-19T14:31:26.865-06:00

We are in an economic mess that is sending anyone in the financial sector into a tizzy, hurting about everyone in the country and our legislative body is considering this in the middle of it??? Are you kidding me? On one hand we're trying to figure out how to save our country from a nasty downward economic spiral, and on the other we can't decide how our college football teams should decide who's

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-50263758865023600602009-01-16T08:30:00.004-06:002009-01-16T10:27:11.219-06:00

Anycollege.com has a scholarship.If you go to the Anycollege.com website you will see a large link on the upper right corner that says "Win a Scholarship". That is what you click to find the application. It's on the front page... not hidden at all. If there are questions you can email mail@anycollege.com and I will be able to respond to any questions about the scholarship.That being said, I do

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-77762974499182184092009-01-14T11:22:00.002-06:002009-01-14T11:49:47.730-06:00

Continuing on last week's blog about students writing silly things, let's move on to the college staff.I came across this blog today (see? there's that blog addiction again) and almost fell out of my chair laughing. Turns out the prof writing an email to a student had a little typo (or Freudian slip... depends on your point of view) that said: You don’t need to apologize for emailing me two hours

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-58603456139368414522009-01-13T16:45:00.004-06:002009-01-13T17:02:14.372-06:00

Today I have been listening intermittently to Hillary Clinton's Senate Hearing to become Secretary of State. For some reason, hearing a very well educated and well spoken woman applying for one of the top jobs in the country reminded me of a few run-ins I've had in the past.For a little background, I'm about 3 months away from obtaining my Master's degree in Education, (which then obviously I

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-8337834827197435322009-01-12T11:39:00.003-06:002009-01-12T12:20:08.454-06:00

"College XYZ Is the #1 Ranked College In America!"How often do we see this? Colleges often use these badges of recognition to advertise for prospective students, and students looking for colleges ask frequently about rankings.The only trouble is: whose rankings?There seems to be this perception that XYZ College is the #1 College in the Country or the #1 College in the country for Business Majors

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-51722652182006598812009-01-09T11:13:00.003-06:002009-01-09T13:55:09.981-06:00

Continuing with my blog addiction I came across a blog today that reminded me of why I love working with college students and college bound students. Plus it's Friday and I thought a little humor might be nice.I'm going to go slightly out of order on this blog and tell you the moral first, which is this:ATTN COLLEGE STUDENTS AND COLLEGE BOUND STUDENTS: Stop taking yourself quite so seriously. At

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-71100679972769069192009-01-08T16:27:00.003-06:002009-01-08T16:30:47.876-06:00

I wrote a little article for our member colleges... just thought I'd share it with you and get some feedback...All through 2008 we kept hearing threat of our national economy starting to go into the “R” word (recession) only to find out in December that we had been in one all along. For many of us who work in and with higher education this was not a big surprise, as the past year saw huge slashes

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-85347866567913922612009-01-07T08:52:00.002-06:002009-01-07T09:10:28.460-06:00

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break and is back feeling a little more relaxed after some lighter weeks.We are getting to the time of year where colleges are beginning to make decisions, send out decision letters and help students moving along with the dreaded Financial Aid since it's the beginning of tax season.Financial Aid... why do these words inspire absolute terror in

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-85022267323364046912008-12-23T14:39:00.002-06:002008-12-23T14:54:28.391-06:00

I'm not sure if I'm embarrassed by this or simply shocked. I never thought I would be one of "those people", but here I am, following avidly the blogs of people I don't know.Typically they revolve around subjects near and dear to my heart such as marketing for higher ed (I'm always looking for new ways to reach out to high school students) and community college education. (I'm an education junkie

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-30081306278845134522008-12-19T14:14:00.002-06:002008-12-19T14:31:09.245-06:00

Sometimes in the normal course of a work day a topic will appear in the general chit-chat that is taking place in the office. Today the conversations were focused around college roommates that we had or that our friends had who colored our college career.Most of these stories weren't life changing events, but I thought about how much more interesting of people each one of us became because of the

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-20226719451404821122008-12-18T14:52:00.012-06:002008-12-18T15:35:15.759-06:00

People amaze me.I often like to think that I've got a pretty good handle on people and what they think about things that relate to me. However, I'm learning that every time I think that I should survey them for their actual thoughts and bring myself down a peg or two.These are two surveys we recently placed into our newsletters that we send out, one to high school students around the country and

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-52212301974429264492008-12-17T12:43:00.006-06:002008-12-18T09:22:44.054-06:00

We recently sent out a survey to about 4,800 high school counselors asking them about our website and their web usage when helping kids find colleges.What truly, truly surprised me was the amount of responses I received (huge thank you to all of the counselors who took the two minutes to fill it out!) and how many of those responses said that they do not use the web to help students find a

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-61496968868089000452008-12-12T11:41:00.002-06:002008-12-12T11:56:50.162-06:00

There is a blizzard coming tomorrow and I am very excited. There is just something about the first major snowfall of the year.This also reminds me of three vastly different experiences I had at three colleges in three different parts of the country that were directly related to weather.First, I started my college career in Northern MN (where I again reside, though in a different city). I never

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2749142031098286990.post-32392175010887923212008-12-11T13:44:00.004-06:002008-12-11T14:02:08.602-06:00

Welcome!This is a new venture for Anycollege.com; we hope to use this as a way to get a little more info out there in the webisphere (how's that for a technical sounding word?? :)) for kids getting ready to start looking for colleges or actually go to college. That being said, if you want to ask anything to us please feel free!I would like to share a recent story of something I experienced while

Nikki at Anycollegehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858884813163133341noreply@blogger.com0