IECA's Blog

Core Values for Independent Educational Consultants

Mark Sklarow — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:27:47 +0000

By Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA What Are Our Core Values? We are, at our very heart, a diverse and independent group. We have members who spend their days sitting on the floor with toddlers evaluating their readiness for school. Others work to guide those with learning differences through their business school applications. There are those who ... Read more »

2012 Irv Katz Award Recipients Honored at IECA Conference

IECA — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:59:03 +0000

Two IECA members were recipients of the IECA Foundation’s annual Irv Katz Memorial Award for community service, presented at IECA’s annual conference in Boston in May. The honorees are Nancy Masland (AZ) and Evan Forster (NY). The Irv Katz Memorial Award was established in 2006 by the family of the much loved independent educational consultant ... Read more »

The IECs Integral Role

Jane Hoffman — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:40:04 +0000

by Jane C. Hoffman, M.B.A., IECA Member (New York) I wish that more was written about independent educational consultants’ integral role as educators. In the current, complex and often competitive terrain of college admissions in 2012, we teach. The arguments about us often seem to range from “we are all about fit” to “they are ... Read more »

How the Application Essay Differs from School Essays & More

Mark Sklarow — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:21:42 +0000

by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA Listening to IECA’s monthly webinar yesterday, on guiding students through the essay process, I was struck once again by the tremendous knowledge our membership possesses, and by their willingness to share. I was also struck by the near poetry mixed into the prose that Joan Bress (Massachusetts) and Charlotte Klaar ... Read more »

Tips for Advising B.F.A. Seeking Students

Sue Luse — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:42:27 +0000

by Sue Luse, M.A., IECA Member (Minnesota) In the 20-plus years I’ve counseled students about colleges, I’ve encountered a number who are exhilarated by the call of “lights, camera, action,” or feel beckoned to Broadway. These students are typically stars in their high school or community productions and dream of future careers in acting, musical ... Read more »

Reflections on Racial and Cultural Diversity

Nancy Black — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 01:17:45 +0000

by Nancy Black, M.S.W., IECA Member (Rhode Island) I have always found solace in Mark Twain’s famous quotation: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness,” and in my own mind I generalized the quotation to infer that global education should also accomplish those goals. As I began to question what international education was ... Read more »

Student Debt, Unemployment, and the Value to Being a Member of IECA

Emily Snyder — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:51:25 +0000

by Emily Snyder, M.A., IECA Member (Virginia) My comments are only indirectly related to this article from Sunday’s New York Times; but reading it gave me pause. As an independent educational consultant with a well established practice, how I guide the undergraduate clients I work with has changed based on market forces. In 2002 when ... Read more »

Recap of the Small Boarding Schools Association Conference

Nancy Cadwallader — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:52:48 +0000

by Nancy Cadwallader, M.F.A., IECA (LA) “Small Schools that Rock” was the theme of the Small Boarding School Association’s 25th Anniversary Conference. Over 190 people gathered from March 13 – 16 to attend this conference that was hosted by Grand River Academy in Austinburg, Ohio. Of the registrants, there were 40 independent educational consultants (the ... Read more »

Social Media Today: Be Smart. Be Safe.

Jeannie Borin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:58:08 +0000

by Jeannie Borin, M.Ed., IECA Member (California) Social media Web sites have become a global information network that undoubtedly has many benefits. However, with this increased exposure, it is vital to make sure our students are wise and remain safe as they post information online. At College Connections, we help students and families navigate through ... Read more »

What are the Differences Between an IEP vs. a 504 Accommodation Plan?

Eileen Antalek — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:58:43 +0000

by Eileen Antalek, Ed.D., IECA Member (Massachusetts) This sounds a bit like a championship bout: Which will work better, a 504 Accommodation Plan or an IEP? One would expect there to be advocates on both sides of the table explaining to parents, ‘no, you really want me, not this!’ However, independent educational consultants (IECs) need ... Read more »