If you could determine the key issues that we should work on, in higher education and college admissions, what would they be?

I started thinking about my answer to that question.

And these are the eight items I decided to put on my “Miles to Go Before We Sleep” list.  (I’d love to hear yours.)

  • The College Fair needs to be re-done.  Just saying.  Forget the booths and the paper products.  Welcome to the world of social networking.  Use modern technology to create meaningful face-to-face conversations.  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down the blue and white drapes…)  Flash Mob Admissions, Coffeehouses, Speed Networking-style College Fairs, Foursquare check-ins, TED and 140 style workshops – move the relationships of on-the-road admissions folks and the families they interact with into the 21st century.
  • We need to better prepare for the incredible growth of autistic college students that is about to occur.  In terms of guidance, in terms of ethical admissions, in terms of services, in terms of price structure for those services, in terms of making sure that we are able to offer a meaningful college experience and not simply some ‘separate but equal’ type of college-lite nonsense.  Just like any other ‘hot topic’ (see Physical Therapy majors, Latinos and Lacrosse players), we are talking about human beings, not cash cows.
  • Somebody needs to write a ‘definitive’ guide on the LGBT College Search – best schools, best questions, issues for retention, how to find resources for counseling, networking, etc.
  • We need to stop treating the ACT and SAT as either a) the end-all, most important, almighty piece of the admission puzzle or b) a piece of worthless trash.  It is neither.  It is c) a moderately relevant piece of a much larger picture – aka this actual living, breathing person who is applying to college.
  • To blame colleges for the decline in income of their graduates makes no sense.  You can’t blame production for the sales department’s mistakes.  However, to blame colleges when their graduates can’t differentiate between to, too and two, you’re and your or loose and lose (and their and there) – that’s a different conversation.
  • We still don’t comprehend that the majority of college students in this country are NOT 18-21 years of age, living in a dorm room and taking a full-time course load.  Until we get past that, we are misplacing time, energy and money.
  • I want to see an ‘admissions trends’ article next year that doesn’t begin with quotes from Harvard or Princeton.  Just one.  It’s like telling me that burger sales in the U.S. are up or down based on how much ground beef was used at WD-50, in Manhattan.  (Great place, by the way.)
  • I want to see a ranking of the college rankings.  But only if it’s a parody.

I’m sure you have your own “Miles to Go Before We Sleep” items, and I would love to hear them.  PLEASE add your 2 cents by posting a comment or emailing me or commenting on Linkedin or Facebook or Google+ or Twitter (#MTGBWS?).  What do YOU think our ‘#MTGBWS steps need to be?

As always, I welcome your comments and questions.  Please feel free to email me at info@cc4therestofus.com, call or text me at 908-403-3819, join me on Facebook on “College Counseling for the Rest of Us” and join me on Twitter at @MichaelCCR.   And now on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/CCRMichael?feature=mhee.