The College Board is making it easier to get extra time (but who will really benefit)

The College Board has announced that beginning January 1, 2017, students who receive accommodations  in school will automatically receive equivalent accommodations for all College Board exams (PSAT, SAT, SAT II, AP).   According to the  Washington Post:   Early this year, as more states began to adopt the SAT or the ACT as a required test for high school students to take, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division began to look into complaints that the testing organizations were too stingy with accommodations to eligible students,  Education Week reported. In a new statement, David Coleman, president and chief executive  of the College Board, said: â€Å"Educators, students, and families have asked us to simplify our process, and we’ve listened. The school staff knows their students best, and we want to cut down on the time and paperwork needed to submit a testing accommodations request.† While this will obviously  eliminate a major headache for many families, it probably isnt overly cynical to assume that the College Board is making this move  out of self-interest as well.   Which of course brings us to the ACT.   Now, the ACT is notoriously stingy about accommodations. I have had multiple students who were turned down after the initial request. Some appealed successfully; others did not. Even the successful appeals sometimes took months, and the extra time was only granted after a student had taken the ACT multiple times.   In contrast, most of my students who required extra time were able to obtain it for the SAT  easily, the first time the request was made.   So while acquiring accommodations  will undoubtedly become easier, it is questionable just how much of a broad-scale difference the change will make. It could very well make a huge difference, but Id be hesitant to assume as much. Given that the College Board is  determined to wrest every inch of market share possible back from the ACT, it seems reasonable to assume that this announcement is in part a ploy to induce students who are on the fence between the SAT and the ACT, and who require accommodations, to opt for the former.   So the question, now, is whether the ACT will come on board and relax restrictions on extra time as well.    In addition,  the effect of the change on student  equity is questionable as well. In my (anecdotal, non-statistically backed-up experience), the students who receive accommodations in school tend to be those with the savviest, most persistent parents. Not coincidentally, those parents tend to be well-off and well-educated. Some of their children  have genuine learning disabilities and I in no way intend to minimize the struggles of anyone in that category. For them, the College Boards new policy will undoubtedly be  a boon.   That said,  there is another category of students who do not truly have learning disabilities, but who have  been enabled (by technology, by ineffective pedagogy, by an incoherent curriculum, by parents, by tutors, and even by therapists) to the point where their ability to complete work on their own, under standard conditions, is severely compromised. In some cases, mild to moderate difficulties that nevertheless fall within the range of normal are  overblown  and pathologized by well-meaning adults, with the result that the line between a learning disability and the  belief in a learning disability becomes blurred. Its not that the student doesnt genuinely struggle. Its that the student, given a different set of pedagogical approaches and adult attitudes, would not struggle in the same way, or even at all.   I have witnessed this phenomenon many times,  and it  disturbs me more than I can say.  Not only will the  College Boards new policy  do nothing to deter it, but it will most likely encourage it further.   Conversely, the  children of less-educated parents, or those who lack knowledge of how the system  functions  as well as how to work it effectively (and the time work it), are less likely to receive accommodations in the first place. As a result, they are no more likely to receive accommodations under the new system than they are under the old.

Columbia Business School Student Interview

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring  interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at  top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Kendall Miller, a student at Columbia Business School. Accepted: First, can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Can you tell us three fun facts about yourself? Kendall: I originally hail from the Midwest, growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and attending Indiana University where I graduated with honors in Finance. Afterwards, I spent four years working in Chicago as a management consultant before finally making it to New York! Three fun facts about me: I have traveled to 30 countries in under 30 years, my favorite films are The Godfather and When Harry Met Sally, and for New Year’s Eve this year I went to a house party in Valparaiso, Chile, where I knew no one. Accepted: Where are you in business school? What year? Kendall: Currently I am a second year at Columbia Business School. Accepted: What is your favorite thing about Columbia so far? If you could change one thing about the program, what would it be? Kendall: While I have lots of favorite things about Columbia, I can narrow it down to two. First, the core classes last only a semester and you have the option to test out of core subjects. Coming from a degree in Finance and a consulting background, I was itching to get to interesting electives instead of repeating content I already knew. Second, being in New York for graduate school is amazing. The number and seniority of guest lecturers in class is largely due to the fact they just have to taxi up to campus from their office, and I’m able to be constantly networking in the city. At least once a week I am at an event off-campus, meeting people outside of the MBA community. If I were to change one thing, it would be to have more group work space in the school. However, I do know this is a priority for the new property being developed. Accepted: Where did you intern last summer? What role did Columbia play in helping you secure that position? Kendall: Last summer I was lucky enough to live in Milan, Italy, working for a luxury eCommerce company called Yoox. I attribute this internship entirely to Columbia, as the CEO and co-General Manager both went to Columbia for their MBAs, and they used the resume book at school to reach out to potential candidates. My consulting background was also a huge help, as the group I was working in (Office of the CEO) consisted almost entirely of ex-consultants. More recently I have been interning part time in the city for Moda Operandi, another luxury eCommerce company. Many people at Columbia who are interested in careers in retail, startups, venture capital and private equity do internships during the school year, particularly if they are a career switcher. Again, this is only possible because we are in the city. Columbia also offers â€Å"block week† classes, which are accelerated classes taken at the beginning of the semester, allowing students to free up time during the school year for work. Accepted: And do you have a job lined up yet for when you graduate? Again, how did Columbia help you during that process? Kendall: After school I will be returning to Deloitte Consulting, which sponsored my school tuition. However, last year during the internship search I used the career office often, for resume and cover letter reviews, interview prep, and guidance when deciding between offers. The alumni network is also very valuable, and industry-specific alumni career coaches provided some of the best feedback and advice I have received to-date. And I can’t forget the Executives in Residence! These individuals may or may not be alumni, but they are all veteran executives with expertise in a specific industry and hold weekly office hours to discuss career questions with students. I met with two in my first year when I was exploring options. Accepted: Can you share some advice to incoming first year students, to help make their adjustment to b-school easier? Kendall: If you are coming from a non-traditional background, I would suggest brushing up on Excel skills and getting a primer in either accounting or corporate finance. Yes, these are both core classes, but it’s better not to be caught flat footed. Getting back into the swing of weekly (or daily) homework assignments was hard for me, and it does require careful planning because there are so many things vying for your attention, and you constantly feel like it’s the â€Å"last and only opportunity† for everything. Accepted: Looking back, what was the most challenging aspect of the MBA admissions process? How did you approach that challenge and overcome it? Kendall: Most challenging for me was nailing down exactly what I wanted to do after school, and being able to create a coherent and well-developed narrative that tied in the MBA. It sounded clichà ©d, when others said I needed to have an exact job in mind. Wasn’t I going to school to figure that out? Once I was able to do that, writing my essays became so much easier, and I was able to seek out the schools that best fit my goals. Many people do change their story, their minds, once they get to school – but two years is only so long, and you don’t want to spend all of it trying to figure out what you want to do post-graduation. At some point, you need to lock that down so that networking, training, and interviewing can be focused and successful. For one-on-one guidance on your b-school applications, please see our MBA Application Packages.     You can read more about Kendall’s journey by checking out her website, http://www.kendallmiller.co/about/. Thank you Kendall for sharing your story with us – we wish you loads of luck! Related Resources: †¢ MBA In Sight: Focus on Finance †¢Ã‚  Columbia Business School 2015 MBA Questions, Deadlines, Tips †¢ B-School Student Interviews