I’ve had to blend several blogs into one and the only blog I’m posting on now is this one:

www.NewGlobals.com

I really appreciate your patience these last few months with book title changes and unexpected moves!

Come learn more about global education and innovation and find out what high school counselors and college advisers NEVER tell you about the best education options here:

www.NewGlobalStudent.com

Things are in flux.  You see, the title of my book is changing (again) which means I will no longer have this blog at this URL.  However, until I find out FOR SURE what the final title will be, I don’t want to move this blog or start a new one.

So, things are on hold while I finish the final edits and await word from the good folks at Random House/Crown.

In other news, I’m already preparing a formal proposal for my next book, which is very closely tied to this one.

Watch for more news here in the next week or so as things become finalized! Thanks for your patience.

Ha.  After making my whole “I’m back” announcement, I was hit with a round of major edits and a shortened timeline for my manuscript.  Apparently, the good folks at Random House had scheduled the launch of my book in AUGUST, which is a terrible time to try to attract the attention of parents and students in high school and college!  I guess they were thinking along the lines of “back to school” and all, but not realizing that parents aren’t likely to pick up a book about how to save tons on tuition while they are in the middle of packing up their kids for college or buying school clothes/supplies for those in high school.

So, I lobbied–hard–for May, and my new publication date is May 19th.  This is very, very good for lots of reasons, but it does mean I have to have my “final perfect manuscript” completed by mid-September, which requires a very quick editing process on my part.  Ah, well.  I’d much rather work hard now and get the book out sooner.

Anyway, I will be back to blogging in mid-September once the manuscript is put to bed and I’m settled back in Buenos Aires.

In other news, we are sending our daughter Tara to NYC today for her internship.  She’s been the last daughter to leave this month, and since all of our four daughters are now officially out of the house and not likely to live with us again, that means Tom and I are, from today, empty nesters.  I could get quite weepy if I wallowed in that thought, but it’s so exciting to see what they are doing and to hear from them regularly that being thrilled outweighs the being sad.  Fortunately.  Besides, we have work to do!  Good timing, really.

I’ll be back.  Really.  And if you have specific questions or concerns about what you’d like me to address here, please write to me at maya (at) massageyourmind (dot) com and I will do my best to steer you toward the best resources or help with suggestions.

I took a break. I had a book to write, after all, and there’s only so much writing one can do in a day.  Just last week, I turned in my manuscript–all 90,000 words of it.  So, that’s what I’ve been working on for the last six months, and during the next few weeks, I’ll be doing my fair share of editing, but I’m basically back and ready to blog.

And if you’ve followed my story, you know that I landed an agent and a book contract with Random House via email from Argentina.  I still have not had a single phone conversation with my agent or editor (trying to keep it that way–seeing if I can do this whole thing virtually) but things have gone very, very smoothly.

I have loved every minute of writing this book. I’m especially grateful to the many, many experts, students and parents who shared their stories and encouragement. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I thought I’d have those dreaded writer’s block days or times when I wondered why I was bothering at all.  As it turns out, I didn’t have any days like that at all the entire time I was in Argentina writing.  The only time I had a meltdown was when I came back to the US for a visit (my family has converged in Portland, Oregon for the summer) and walked into Powell’s bookstore. I’d had the good fortune of having only a couple of tiny little English bookstores in Buenos Aires, so I never once walked into a mammoth Barnes & Noble and wondered if anyone would ever find–let alone read or buy–my book.  That only happened once I came to the US in June, so I consider myself lucky.

But I’m glad I’ve had this chance to be back in the US for a while, because I’ve had some interesting conversations wtih parents of high school and college students.  Here are some comments I’ve heard:

“She doesn’t know what she wants, but she picked a major just to have something to put on her diploma when she graduates.”

“My son won’t be going to college.  He decided to work instead.  College costs too much and we just can’t afford those huge tuition payments.  He looked at community college but figured he could do better just getting a local job and trying to get promoted.”

“My daughter graduated from college last spring, and has not been able to find a job this summer.  She is home, depressed and worried about her college loan payments, which she has to start paying this fall.  She thought about going to grad school, but it’s too late to apply for this fall.  I found her a job working in my office from September, but she’s not happy about it.  I don’t know what to tell her.  This is just how life is.”

“Oh, I think it is so important for kids to go abroad.  We’ve been taking our kids on vacations to Mexico and Europe for years.  It really gives them a global perspective, and I’m sure that colleges will look at that two-week house-building experience in Mexico City last summer as a big plus on their college applications.  Everybody knows that universities are looking for students who have been abroad.”

“Don’t talk to me about saving money!  It’s just not possible if you have kids in college.  All you can do is bite the bullet and pay the bills.  It makes me ill if I think about it, so I don’t.  Instead, I focus on the fact that you can never go wrong investing in a college education.”

Oh. My. God.  It just goes on and on.

The parents and students I have talked to –in person and via email–seem completely unaware of the fact that they have all kinds of options, that they don’t have to spend a lot, and that it is advantageous to do things differently.  Honestly, I am stunned.  I thought that people were catching on and if anything, I worried that the info in the book would become common knowledge by the time it gets published.  No chance of that happening, apparently.  I guess I have been immersed in a world in which people KNOW about how to do college inexpensively, how to study abroad for less than $5,000 a semester (and get full credit), how to find work abroad (or at least learn what it takes to be considered “global”) and how to skip right over high school graduation in order to leapfrog over the others and blast forward into deeper, more meaningful and relevant educational experiences.

Bottom line:  people are afraid. Very afraid.  They are worried about debt, about the economy, about what a global education means, about their kids ever finding a decent job.  Some college students are dropping out due to a lack of access to loans (and parents’ funds running out).  Others are opting to go right into grad school to sort of “ride out” the bad economy, not realizing that they’ll have an additional $50,000 in debt and there’s no guarantee that that master’s in whatever will actually translate into more income or even better job possibilities.

When we’re worried, we do what others do.  This is a recipe for disaster, and precisely why we need to wake up and start doing things DIFFERENTLY.

I with I could hand you a copy of my book right now–but I can’t.  It won’t be out until spring. Dang the election!  It pushes all books back a few months as publishers don’t want to launch a book when everyone is distracted by campaigns and results.  Until then, I’ll share with you whatever I can on this blog (I’m restricted to some degree because of my book contract) and cheer you on.

Questions?  Send them to me at maya (at) massageyourmind (dot) com and I’ll see if I can respond here.

Each week, I am getting an increasing number of emails from students, parents, educators, school administrators and of course, numerous study abroad program reps who want me to plug their programs.

I’ll be hiring someone to help me sort through these, as I really want to respond to most of them but don’t have the time as I’ve got a deadline for finishing this manuscript (July 15th!). 

In the meantime, let me summarize things:

**If you are on a study abroad program now and have realized that you are paying way too much for it, I offer you my sympathy and encourage you to consider staying LONGER as an independent study abroad student.  You’ve already paid for the plane ticket, you’ve probably already learned what you need to know to live there on your own, and you can now do it for a fraction of the what you’re paying for your program.  You might as well get a longer stay out of it and frankly, you’ll learn a whole lot more about the place when you’re exploring it on your own and with the help of new friends who are locals.  Worried about getting credit?  There will be a lot of great advice on this in my book, for for now, all I can say here is to contact a prof at your home university and say you want to do an independent study–see what the options are.  That way, you can go in your own direction, work with a mentor (preferably on both sides) and not pay for tuition.  Now you’re down to living expenses.  Check out options and see what you can find.  You’ll probably be pretty upset when you find out how cheaply you can live compared to what you’ve been paying, but hey, at least you’re figuring out how to get more out of your experience.   I wish I could help you more, or get your money back, but what’s done is done.  Move forward wisely!

**If you are a college professor or administrator who is writing to say that you are concerned I might be asking students to shortchange themselves in terms of their education, I’d like to simply suggest that there are students who are perfectly capable of getting a BA or even a BS in far less time than 4 or 5 years, and those who do tend to be far more directed and engaged in their education than those who simply show up to take the next round of classes every semester without questioning the process.   I’ve interviewed many students who have finished early, and they’re not doing it in order to dive into the working world necessarily (so spare me the “they need time to mature before entering the working world” argument)–they are doing it to dive into MORE LEARNING.  Some are going abroad, some are volunteering, some are working in an area that they want to explore, some are going to grad school, but these students are ON FIRE.  They are not the ones you need to worry about–focus on the students who can’t seem to make it to graduation and ask them what is preventing them from becoming more engaged in their own education.

**If you are a high school student who is feeling like there MUST be another way to get into college other than jumping through the traditional hoops (AP, SAT, high GPA, every extracurricular activity known to man, etc.) you are absolutely right.  Kudos to you for being awake and aware enough to look around and see how preposterous this path can be.  I wish I could give you a copy of my book, but it’s not done yet.  But I can tell you this:  do not consider leaving high school unless and until you have a STELLAR plan for diving into more advanced learning.  If you’re bored in high school, you might be bored in college classes, too…but that’s no excuse to opt out or choose not to do your work.  There are some GREAT ways to dive into college early.  Talk to your counselor, go online, and check out your options.  You absolutely do not need to be stifled, deadened, anguished or depressed in high school–your brain is screaming out for more, and it’s your job to find out what will satisfy that hunger.   Go forth and connect with those who understand your frustration and know some other options.  Much, much more on this in my book. 

**If you are a study abroad program coordinator who wants to tell me how fantastic your program is, that’s fine, but don’t expect me to put anything about it in my book unless it is extremely reasonable (Can you beat $5,000 per semester?  Can you come close? ) and does not involve sending groups of Americans out together.  

**If you are a parent wondering if I can help your son or daughter figure out how to do school differently, let me just say that I am focusing everything on the book right now and hope to provide a lot of assistance through the book and the new website I will be building. 

**If you are a student wondering how to connect with other “bold school” students, I plan to create a website forum that will allow you to ask questions and share your best tips and contacts for programs and study abroad destinations/colleges.  We need to get you all connected!  There is so much you can learn from each other, and it’s my intention to create something that will allow you to build your own bold school community online. 

Okay, that’s it for now.  Back to the writing.  Thank you so much for your interest–I really appreciate the many emails and messages of encouragement! 

According to this piece in The New York Times, Smith College and Wake Forest University are the latest universities to drop the SAT and ACT requirements for admission.  Of course, there are several hundred other schools that have already done so, but this bodes well for the future as more top schools see that dropping the SAT/ACT requirement actually results in greater diversity of applicants and does not result in a reduced level of academic performance among admitted students. 

Plenty of colleges are making this move and relying upon high school curriculum, classroom performance, writing ability, extracurricular activities and evidence of character and talent to help them select members of their incoming freshman class.

Newer trend:  there is an increasing number of colleges that are no longer accepting AP scores for advanced credit, so don’t think that filling your schedule with AP courses is the best option.  There are a number of better ones (wait until you read the stories in my book from students who are doing things differently and blasting ahead of their peers!)…

Old school…or bold school?  You get to choose.  Those who are playing the old game are going to be unpleasantly surprised when they discover that the rules have changed and their approach is no longer relevant–or strategic. 

Bold schoolers know better–they’re already moving forward by seeing that the head-down path to college is limiting, stressful, expensive, and terribly unimaginative.

Smart?  Good. 

Smart and Creative?  Better. 

Smart, Creative and Bold?  Stellar.

In the last few months, I’ve received some interesting emails from those who work for study abroad programs.  In most cases, these individuals are responsible for marketing packaged study abroad plans to college students in the United States.  They’ve read my blog, they know I’m writing a book (The World Is Your Campus) about ways to get a great global education, and they are writing to me hoping that I will choose to recommend their particular program in my book. 

Fat chance.

Don’t get me wrong–most of these folks are very committed to getting more students to go abroad, and I commend them for that.  They are working very hard to encourage more college students to consider spending a semester or a year in another country through their program.  That’s fine.  And most of these programs do a decent job.

But see, there’s a reason that only 5% of US college students study abroad–it’s the cost.  And these programs lead students and parents to believe that the only way to go abroad is to cough up several thousand dollars for a packaged plan.  Not wanting to skip this opportunity to gain a global perspective, they scrape up the money (or take out loans) in order to sign up for the program.

I don’t have a problem with these programs per se or those who choose to pay and go.  If they’re all happy with the experience, that’s great.

But my book is focusing on helping those who are opting out because they can’t afford it.  You see, it’s possible to spend $5,000 to get the VERY SAME STUDY ABROAD EXPERIENCE for which the groupers (packaged plan students)  are paying $20,000 or more.  Right now, in cities around the world, these indies (independent study abroad students) are having fantastic experiences that don’t cost a fortune–and they’re getting full credit back at their US universities. 

So, if you want to write and tell me about the great study abroad package your organization offers to students, well, that’s fine.  I’m always happy to hear other perspectives and learn about different options.  But don’t expect me to promote it in my book.  I’m showing students how to get a BETTER experience for LESS money–and be SAFER in the process.

Tip:  the biggest safety risk for US students abroad is going out together with a group of other American students. 

Yesterday, while doing errands in my neighborhood, I saw a group of American college students sitting together at a cafe.  There were about eight of them, and they had that just-landed look.   They had to be students at the local university, here as part of a program (lots of those here). 

I was a few tables away, but couldn’t help noticing what was going on around the students.  What they didn’t see were the two guys across the street eyeing them, the four friends sitting at the table next to them talking about the purses the girls were carrying, or the two businessmen next to me discussing the two iPhones two of the guys were playing with. 

You see, there’s nothing more conspicuous than a group of American students abroad, and if there are those looking for an easy target, well, the groups are the best bet–they’re distracted, they’re speaking English loudly, they are carrying way more than they need, and they aren’t being careful about their cameras or watches or whatever.  (Even if someone has bothered to tell them how to behave here, they have a false sense of security because they are always surrounded by other Americans.)  I’m not saying that any of my Argentine neighbors had any ill intentions–just that the students were oblivious to the fact that others around them were definitely noticing them and talking about them. 

And that’s usually not a good thing.   At all. 

I’ve interviewed nearly 200 students who have studied abroad, and groupers have a FAR higher rate of experiencing crime (theft) than the indies.

Anyway.  More on this in the book, but suffice it say that those who are paying top dollar for the packages because they think it’s safer need to wake up and see that being a conspicuous American student abroad–in a group of others–is far more dangerous than connecting with locals and learning how to blend in as an indie.  

So, yeah.  Not really recommending the group plans for a number of reasons, but I’m happy to hear your comments.

Yesterday, my husband and I walked to the local theater here in our Buenos Aires neighborhood to see the new Indiana Jones movie (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).  It was a fun movie, very Spielberg, pretty much what we expected.

My favorite parts, though, were a couple of one-liners tossed out by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.  Don’t worry–I won’t ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it. 

The first one occurs when he is talking to another character who has dropped out of school, reads all the time and loves fixing motorcycles.  A question arises regarding whether it might be a mistake to do this for the rest of his life.  Indiana Jones replies:  “Not if you love it–and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”   This gets re-examined later in the movie, but that’s all you’re getting out of me on this one.  

The second occurs in the college library, when one of his archaeology students asks Indiana Jones a question about something he is reading for his class.  Jones calls out, “If you want to be an archaeologist, you’ve got to get out of the library!” 

You don’t have to be a genius to see that doing what you love AND getting out into the world are the keys to being engaged in life. 

My book focuses pretty heavily on the getting-out-into-the-world part of things, and it’s based on the premise that you’re more likely to discover what you love if you are exposed to more possibilities.  I include plenty of stories from students whose lives were completely changed by the experience of living abroad. 

Thanks for the reminders, Indiana.  We can’t hear this advice often enough.

There’s a lot of talk about the value of a global education, and numerous US college administrators are thumping their chests about their emphasis on internationalization. 

Chest thumping. Lip service.  But not a lot of actual global education goin’ on.

In fact, even though it seems like every college is tooting its own horn about their focus on preparing students for the global economy, the reality is quite different. 

According to this article in Inside Higher Education, a study released this week by the Center for International Initiatives at the American Council on Education, there is plenty of evidence that a large number of institutions are dropping the global ball.

For one thing, in 27 percent of institutions, none of the students graduating in 2005 had studied abroad.  Zero.  Nada.  Zip.   This is hard to comprehend.  NOBODY?  Even colleges with a clear technical, musical, or religious focus should be encouraging their students to study abroad.  So, if a quarter of colleges aren’t sending ANYONE, well, that would certainly help explain why only about 5% of all US college students are studying abroad.

Oh, and there’s this (from the article)

“The percentage of colleges that require a course with an international or global focus as part of the general education curriculum fell from 41 percent in 2001 to 37 percent in 2006. Less than one in five had a foreign-language requirement for all undergraduates. “  [My bold.]

So you’re thinking, well, maybe they have the best of intentions but they’re just not getting around to promoting global education and international awareness.  Maybe it’s in their mission statement and all, but they haven’t had a chance to make their curriculum more global in its scope.  Right?

Nope.

“Less than 40 percent of institutions made specific reference to international or global education in their mission statements.”

So, despite what you might be reading or hearing about the emphasis on global education in US colleges,  the sad truth is that US universities are woefully unprepared to offer their students what they need to become educated and engaged global citizens.

And if the colleges aren’t prepared, how can they possibly help our college students graduate with any kind of relevant global experience? 

Well, that’s the whole point of my book, you see.  The truth is that we simply cannot rely on universities to help our kids go global.  According to these numbers, it appears that colleges can’t even help THEMSELVES go global. 

What to do?  Take matters into your own hands.  Students have got to take responsibility for their own global education. 

The good news is that there are some very affordable and advantageous ways to get an outrageously relevant global education. 

Good thing.

More on that in my book, The World Is Your Campus:  Skip the SAT, Save Thousands On Tuition, and Get An Outrageously Relevant Global Education,  to be published in spring of 2009 by Random House.

Questions?  Write to me at maya (at) massageyourmind (dot) com.

The numbers keep rising:  more students are turning to online courses (distance learning programs) to earn a college degree. 

This article in the Boston Globe offers reasons why more adults are finding online courses to be the perfect learning solution for those facing long commutes, inflexible work schedules and the demands of parenting.  Of course, younger students with fewer time issues are quick to sign up for online courses as well, and many of them are finding the format far more enriching than a classroom experience.

In addition to the logistical advantages, online learning offers benefits to those who appreciate a chance to review class lectures or prepare their discussion comments.  Missed that lecture point?  Read it again.  Not sure what to say but want to add to the class discussion?  Spend some time thinking or researching your point, then type up your comments in the online class forum. 

Though it’s still possible for the talkative (or typing fiends) to dominate the discussion, the beauty is that you don’t have to listen to one or two classmates go at it during YOUR class time.  As an online student, you can skim through the comments from the guy who always goes off on a tangent and focus on the ones that are more relevant. 

More learning, less frustration with lecture hogs. 

Beautiful.