#CollegeBound Recap 2/6/12: The Experts Tweet: How Social Media Can Help Your College Search
Add comment February 8th, 2012
Posts filed under '#CollegeBound'
#CollegeBound 2/6/12: Using Social Media to Help With Your College Search
“What movie should I see this weekend?” “What brand is best for _____?” “Where should I go for ____?”
When it comes to many of our day-to-day decisions, most of us look to our social media communities to help. It’s no wonder it’s the same for college admissions. So when it comes to navigating the social networks both in “listening” to what potential schools are Facebooking/Tweeting/YouTubing/Pinteresting/etc. and in what others are saying about them, how do you best weigh it all?
Join @CollegeBoundNet for #CollegeBound chat on Twitter.com on Monday, 2/6/12 to discuss how schools use social media to help boost college admissions and keep potential students informed as well as ways students can use such conversation and the ability to directly interact with schools to their advantage.
The 411 about #CollegeBound:
WHAT: #CollegeBound chat
WHEN: The first and third Monday of each month at 4 p.m. ET
WHERE: On Twitter.com (we prefer TweetGrid.com for chats — here’s a customized TweetGrid for you to use! Also, read more about 10 Free Twitter Chat Tools To Facilitate Monitoring Conversations on Twitter
WHY: Because at CollegeBound.net and CollegeSurfing.com, we’re dedicated to making college accessible to everyone. Our goal is to bring potential students of all ages with the resources and connections they need to make their college and career school dreams come true. (And also — true confession — we heart Twitter. LOL!)
HOW: We’ve motivated by YOUR questions. If you’ve got a college topic that you’d like to learn more about, tweet us @CollegeBoundNet and let us know what’s on your mind.
MORE: Read more about our chat at our #CollegeBound Chat launch press release from May 2010.
Add comment February 5th, 2012
#CollegeBound recap 1/23/12: Preparing for Tomorrow…Today!
View the complete transcript here.
Add comment January 25th, 2012
#CollegeBound chat 1/23/12: Preparing for Tomorrow … Today!
The special guest panelist for the 1/23/12 installment of #CollegeBound chat is Mark Babbitt, CEO and founder of YouTern.com (@YouTern) where emerging talent connects with high-quality internships and mentorship at entrepreneur-driven start-ups, dynamic businesses, and non-profits. Through YouTern, and their blog “The Savvy Intern,” college students, recent graduates and young professionals gain the experience and advice necessary to become employable – and successfully bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world.
Mark is the ideal expert for @CollegeBoundNet‘s #CollegeBound discussion about what’s next and how to Prepare for Tomorrow… Today!
The stats are pretty scary. According to YouTern.com, 45 percent of young adults under 25 remain unemployed, underemployed — or have abandoned their job search. And in 2010, 80 percent of graduates do not expect to have a job soon after graduation — up dramatically from just 49% the year before.
Now more than ever, it’s imperative that students do everything they can to prepare for their future careers today. That includes actually stepping foot into those positions even before they graduate college. In fact, says Mark Babbitt, CEO and Founder at YouTern.com, nine out of 10 direct-from-college jobs will go to students with experiential education on their resumes.
Today’s #CollegeBound chat will focus on the steps you can take to get the best internship opportunities, as well as how to maximize whatever situation you find yourself in, be it working in your current position, volunteering on the side, or in transition.
Join us online at 4 p.m. ET — register now!
Add comment January 23rd, 2012
Tweet Your Way to a Scholarship
Thursday is Bill of Rights Day and it’s a day for you to possibly get bills – dollar bills, that is – for college. Singers Ke$ha and Blake Shelton are among the celebrities involved in a Dec. 15 tweet-athon, in celebration of the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights and its First Amendment. Let’s hear it for free speech!
The “Free to Tweet” effort encourages students ages 14 to 22 to share on Twitter how they enjoy their right to free expression. The best student Tweets – using #freetotweet – will win one of 22 scholarships, for $5,000. That’s a total of $110,000 in scholarships, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Other singers – Brad Paisley, Frankie Ballard, Darius Rucker, Joe Nichols, John Oates, Wynonna Judd, Sarah Jarosz, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Elenowen, Jana Kramer, Joanna Smith, and The Civil Wars – will be joining in with their tweets.
To be part of the scholarship contest, your tweet can stand alone or be linked to original content on a website or another type of social media. A panel of educators and First Amendment experts will review the entries and choose the scholarship winners.
So celebrate Bill of Rights Day – created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 – by expressing yourself via social media and trying to win cash for school. We’ll be watching your tweets from @CollegeBoundNet!
–Lori Johnston
Add comment December 14th, 2011
College-Bound Kids Say the Darndest Things on Twitter
We’re back with one of our favorite recurring blog topics! Take a look at some of the interesting, thought-provoking, or just plain silly things that college-bound students are tweeting about these days:
–The CollegeBound Network
Add comment November 30th, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving from The CollegeBound Network!
We’re off Thursday and Friday to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with our families, but we wanted to take a moment and say how thankful we are for all of YOU! Yes, college-bound students, we appreciate each and every one of you. You make our jobs fun and rewarding, and we love that we get to join you on your journey to college.
We hope that you enjoy this little respite from homework and the often-chaotic college admissions process. See you on Monday, when we host another installment of #collegebound chat. Happy Thanksgiving!
Add comment November 23rd, 2011
Putting the Fun into College Admissions with #CollegeBound Chat
Yesterday, The CollegeBound Network had one of the most entertaining hours in the history of our #collegebound Twitter chat (cohosted by the great people at Parliament Tutors, by the way). The topic was the SAT vs. ACT debate, and we had more than a few laughs.
How can test prep be so entertaining, you ask? Well, when you get a great conversation going and add some slap-happy people to the mix (it is a short holiday week, after all!), mirth and mayhem ensue!
Our good Twitter friend @akilbello started the trend of funny analogies. You won’t find these on the SAT or ACT, but they are a reminder that you need to keep your sense of humor as you study for entrance exams. Enjoy!
More laughs from @akilbello:
SAT is to ACT as McDonalds is to Burger King
ACT Science is to Science as Chicken McNuggets are to Chicken
SAT is to college admissions as gold fronts are to dating
From @MEFATweets
Tests are to grades as hamburger is to Angus Deluxe Bacon & Cheese
We got in on the act with this one:
Bad test taker is to SAT as Nicki Minaj is to walking in high heels. (AMAs reference)
… and we added a few more today.
Skipping breakfast is to taking SAT as empty gas tank is to road trip.
Oxygen is to survival as #2 pencils are to answer grid.
Taking the ACT is to taking the SAT as annoying is to annoying.
Yes, these tests are a necessary evil of the admissions process. It helps to laugh about it, though, so add your own fun analogy below. Better yet, join us next Monday at 4pm ET as we tackle a new college-bound topic!
–Barbara Bellesi
1 comment November 22nd, 2011
Serenity or Stress? It’s Your Call
Is this what your Monday looks like?
Ours does, too.
If you’re a college-bound student, chances are that most days feel like Mondays to you. But since today is Monday, we think you should give yourself a break and join us at 4PM ET today on Twitter for our weekly #collegebound chat. Yes, we’re there most Mondays at 4, but today’s even more special, because we’ll be talking about the things that STRESS OUT OUT. More importantly, we’ll also be discussing ways to combat the stress that doesn’t involve harming stuffed animals or joining a fight club. See you then!
–The CollegeBound Network
Add comment November 7th, 2011
College Track: Another Steve Jobs Connection to College
So many people admire Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away last week, for his innovation and impact on our culture and even education. And though he didn’t finish college himself, he had a connection – through his wife – to helping students make it to college.
Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, is a co-founder of College Track. College Track is an after-school program that since 1997 has helped more than 1,100 high school students in California, Colorado, and Louisiana get into college. The first group of minority students it worked with headed off to college in 2001, and hundreds have followed since then.
Will.i.am speaks at a College Track event.
The organization even drew Justin Bieber, who performed at a College Track benefit concert in June 2011 (that event and other fundraisers helped College Track raise $2 million). Will.i.am also spoke in May 2011 to graduates assisted by College Track. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the Jobs family provided “significant” financial donations to found and run College Track. Jobs’ wife remains chairwoman of the board.
College Track assists mostly low-income students who would be the first in their family to go to college. The organization starts working with students before their 9th grade year in these cities – California’s East Palo Alto, Oakland, and San Francisco, as well as New Orleans, and Aurora, Colorado. It provides all types of resources – academic, social, and financial (student earn up to $1,400 for each year they participate to go toward college) – to help students find a way to go to college. Here’s how it has succeeded:
• 100 percent of its seniors graduate high school
• 90 percent go to a four-year college
• 85 percent are the first person in their family to earn a college degree
• 70 percent graduate from college within six years
Many college students helped by College Track (see these videos with students’ stories) are serving as interns and volunteers, sharing their knowledge with current high school students.
Of course, many people are wondering which philanthropies or organizations will receive some of the billions of dollars that was part of Steve Jobs’ fortune. We’ll see if College Track is a beneficiary. In the meantime, if you know of someone in any of those cities in middle school who want to commit themselves to graduating and going to college but need a little assistance, they can apply online.
A student who graduated from high school in 2007 posted a comment on College Track’s website: “To succeed, you need to find something to hold onto to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. That place for me is College Track.”
–Lori Johnston
1 comment October 12th, 2011
