Newman Notes On College Success
Articles and practical advice on college readiness, critical thinking, and ensuring your student thrives academically and personally.
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My College Student Is on Academic Probation: What Should I Do?
Your college student is on academic probation or has even been suspended. How did this happen? What will help your student get back on track?
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My College Student’s Academic Adviser Isn’t Helpful. What Should I Do?
Here’s what you need to know about academic advising in college, and it’s not pretty.
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Is My Student Ready for College?
One thing almost everyone can agree on: the transition from high school to college is huge!
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What Happens in a College Success Coaching Session?
Discover the key elements of a successful college success coaching session and how it can help your student thrive.
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Does AI Make College Unnecessary?
The recent explosion of AI throughout our lives, and especially in our education systems, has raised new concerns for parents and educators. As AI does more of our thinking for us, what exactly do we need higher education for?
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When a College Leave of Absence Is the Right Call (Not a Failure)
When it makes sense to take a leave of absence is just one example of the sort of issue College Success Coaching addresses. Coaches can help students through difficult periods, providing the support they need to persist and succeed.
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How Do I Distinguish Good College Advice from Bad?
Most high school students receive plenty of college advice, but how much of it is really useful?
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Why Rankings Mislead More Than They Inform
The idea that you should attend the most prestigious school you’re admitted to is so widely accepted that most families never stop to question it. This logic has a serious flaw: prestige measures an institution’s reputation, not your individual outcomes.
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What Should We Look for in a College?
Most families evaluate colleges through a familiar lens: acceptance rates, rankings, campus aesthetics, and sticker price. These metrics reflect visibility, not necessarily value.
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What Should I Major In?
Louis discusses the top questions to think about when deciding what to major in.
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My student did well in high school. Why are they struggling in college?
The transition from high school to college is more than a change in location or course difficulty
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My Student Is Smart. Why are they struggling in college?
A longitudinal study published in Learning and Individual Differences found that self-regulation, help-seeking behavior, and metacognitive awareness collectively explained more variation in GPA outcomes than standardized test scores alone.
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Critical Thinking and the True Return on a College Education
The standard way to evaluate college ROI focuses almost entirely on earnings, specifically the wage difference between those with and without a degree. This metric has some value, but it captures only a small fraction of what a well-executed college education delivers.
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Rethinking college success: prestige, purpose, and the skills that actually matter
The evidence here challenges several deeply held assumptions about higher education, most notably that institutional prestige and declared major are the primary drivers of college outcomes. They aren’t.
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Is My Kid Ready for College? A Readiness Checklist for Parents
Most conversations about “college readiness” focus on test scores and GPAs. But the students who struggle most in their first year often aren’t the ones who got a B in AP Chemistry: they’re the ones who never learned how to manage their own time, ask for help, or recover from a setback without a parent stepping in.