Last week I had the great pleasure of speaking about this unspeakable with one of my favorite conversationalists and school leaders, Steve Solnick. Steve always has something interesting to say and I knew he would have much to share on this topic. Steve currently serves as Head of School at The Calhoun School, one of New York City’s oldest progressive schools. But before he made his way to the landscape of NYC independent schools, he served as president of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C., the only national liberal arts college that fully integrates work and service into its educational program. This experience gives him a unique understanding of the wonky world of college admissions and the even weirder world of college rankings. You may not know much about Warren Wilson College but he shares with listeners the value of the intentionally small and very hands on liberal arts college - that doesn’t have name brand recognition but does offer an extraordinary expereince.
As a first-generation college student, Steve has been associated with his fair share of name-brand colleges and universities. Steve graduated from MIT as a Physics major, and then received a B.A. in Politics and Economics from Worcester College, Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. He also was an Associate Professor of Political Science at Columbia University before his international career as a Ford Foundation Representative took him to Moscow and New Delhi. He has been a trustee at Barnard College since 2014.
An added bit of gratitude to the two deeply experienced and thoughtful college counselors who took time out of their busiest season of the year to share with me their thoughts about college admissions in the time of COVID and the trends they are seeing now that might shape the future of the industry. Thank you to both Matthew Lane at The Branson School in Ross, CA and Lenore Carroll from The Paideia School in Atlanta, GA, who help me so much in shaping my thoughts about this topic.
Finally, my friend Denise Clark Pope reached out last week after reading our Unspeakable article to remind me of the excellent work that she and her team at Challenge Success have done to help students and families be less bound to that name brand list. The team’s white paper “A Fit over Rankings” is one you all can share broadly with students and families. It breaks down exactly what the rankings measure and shows the research behind the fact that engagement over selectivity is what delivers the most satisfying college experience to students.
Hope to see you on Friday!
