Jessie's Blog

Years ago, during a shopping excursion at the Tannersville Outlet Center in eastern Pennsylvania, I wandered into the Cole Haan store. I browsed the offerings a few times but found I kept returning to a pair of strappy dress sandals. Summer is nearly here, I told myself. And just look at the lovely box complete with scripted Cole Haan on the outside!

I gave in and tried them on. The straps were toward the front of the shoe, and while the heel was just the right height, those straps felt a litt…

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Ithaca Col…

This article appeared int the NY Times last month. Are you curious about the advice admissions officers give their own kids? I know I am, and often ask when I meet with admissions officers and IEC colleagues. The article interviews officers from Kenyon College, Penn State University, Vanderbilt University, UCLA, UNC, Chapel Hill, Allegheny College, MIT, GA Tech and University of Richmond. Good Stuff. Diane Anci and son, Kenyon College. Source: NY Times A Link for You — Advice College Admissions…

The truth, straight up: Students that engage proactively land in better places. And, they feel better about things, too.

Visited a campus? Met an admissions officer at a college fair? Have a collection of college rep and tour guide business cards? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, there is a next step, and it isn’t to let the cards migrate under the seat of the car, fall to the bottom of the backpack, or end up under your bed in the pile of college marketing glossies.

Is your goal to…

“If you spend your life feeding people’s vanity, you get so you can’t distinguish what should be respected in them.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald “Leave your pride, ego, and narcissism somewhere else. Reactions from those parts of you will reinforce your children’s most primitive fears.” —Henry Cloud Martin Family Vacation, Spring 2009 Bryn, our sophomore in college, called in February. “I just don’t get it, Mom.” One of his closest friends had just withdrawn in the second semester of his sophomore yea…

Grace, Class of 2015, is an accomplished rider. Grace was also Park Scholar Finalist at Ithaca College, but felt Marist to be a better fit. Jessie helped both of our daughters find their unique voice and through the process they became more confident and better writers. This was undeniably valuable for my now freshman at Marist College because she continued to develop this new found skill in her freshman year writing course and used the writing center at her college, just as she had learned …