You Do You

On Sunday afternoon, my wife and I went to a spin class. If you’ve not done one of these, it’s basically a lot of people on stationary bikes in a small, dim room, with music that accompanies it to aid in cadence and motivation. Ultimately, you control your own pace, but the instructor in the front calls out instructions on when to add tension, when to stand up and sprint, and when to recover, all in sync with the beat of the songs. Well, because it was Super Bowl Sunday (no comments on the outcome please… just typing this is difficult), our instructor had on a Falcons jersey. I’d never seen this particular woman before, but she did not strike me as a big football fan. What can I say? When you know you know.

As class started she made a few comments like, “Okay, let’s get some work in before the big game.” And intermittently through the first few songs, “Push harder up the hill so you can eat whatever you want tonight,” or “Dig deeper and really work now. Just like the Falcons are going to do against the Patriots.” Eesh. I could not help cringing a bit and squeezing the handlebars a little tighter while scrunching my nose and eyes on these comments. It all felt so forced, as if she felt compelled to wear the uniform and make some references since it was the Super Bowl.

Then we came to the second to last song. At this point, after riding hard for 45 minutes, you really do benefit from good music and encouraging commands from the instructor because you are pretty spent. As the beat started, I knew things were going to go downhill (no pun intended) fast. And they did. “Okay, Falcons fans. Close your eyes as you pedal. Imagine that you are there at the game. It’s first down, second down, third down. They pass and score. Julio Jones is in the end zone for a touchdown.” I cocked my head to the side to look at my wife as if to say, “Are you kidding me?” She just looked back at me, knowingly shook her head, and smiled. At that I raised both eyebrows and opened my eyes wide. She gave me a look that said “Be nice” and went back to looking straight ahead. I won’t go into  much more detail here, but suffice it to say it got worse. A LOT WORSE.

Since that was the last “working song,” the next one was a cool down where you take your hands off the handlebars, slow your cadence, and do some stretching on the bike.  Naturally, at that point, all I could think about was the college admission process.

Your Voice

I have written before that your college essay and short answer questions are your opportunity to help us hear YOUR unique voice. Throughout the rest of the application, grades, course choice, test scores, and even in your extra-curricular activities, you cannot communicate your voice—and it’s an essential differentiator. Because it is so critical to our review and to your “fit” for each school you are applying to, it’s even more important that you are genuine in your responses.  Are you pensive, deep and brooding? That’s great… love to hear it. But don’t try to summon your inner Emily Dickinson if you know for a fact she’s not in there. And the same is true for humor or rhymes or new words you may have found on Synonym.com.

Last week I was at a high school junior class program to “kick off” the college admission process with parents and students. In my speech, I made this comment verbatim, “We want to hear YOUR unique voice.” Afterward, a young woman came up and said she did not understand what I meant.  I have sat on panels and overheard some pretty confounding advice: “Push yourself academically, and do what you love, but set a good foundation because it’s all about preparation.” “Don’t forget you also need to know you’re in competition with the applicant pool, but really with yourself, and kind of with the curriculum too.” Yeah, that’s a little bemusing.

But “your voice” is just that: your voice. There is no hidden message. In other words, before you go donning the jersey, making the music selection, and wading into completely unfamiliar territory, take a hard look in the mirror.  You know you, so find your voice. You do you. You’ll thank me, and more importantly, you’ll thank yourself.

Recognize that Stretch

At the end of spin class, everyone gets off their bike and stretches. And as I stood there in moderate pain, still pondering college admission, I realized this class (and therefore this blog) was a two-for-one lesson.

See, at this point, you have three choices of how to stretch: (1) put your leg up high on the handlebar, (2) mid-range on the seat, or (3) at the lower crossbar. My wife throws her leg up on the handlebar and puts her head to her knee as if that’s normal. Me? Not so much. I typically start at the lower crossbar and work my way up to the seat.

Here’s the thing: You will find that schools are very transparent with their academic profiles. Normally, they’ll publish these on their website and in their brochures as middle 50% ranges. For example, last year at Tech, our mid-50% range was 1330-1440 SAT or a 30-34 ACT. Our new freshmen averaged between 7-13 AP/IB/college level courses and were primarily making A’s in those classes.

So if you have a 28 ACT, mainly B’s, and have taken two AP classes when your school offered 15, we’d be “a handlebar school” for you, and your odds of being admitted are what statisticians would expertly deem as “low.” We will absolutely still read your essays, evaluate your background outside the classroom, gain context into your home life, and determine if there are any incredibly outstanding circumstances that need to be considered. But to borrow a phrase from spin class, you should be “recognizing that stretch.”

We often talk to students who are literally ONLY applying to Ivy League or Ivy-type schools (normally at the prompting of parents). Even if you have A’s, good classes and nearly perfect test scores, this is a BAD IDEA. How do I know? We denied about 500 students like that in Early Action this year. And keep in mind that at 26%, our admit rate is three times higher than Harvard’s.

Listen, I am all for you pushing yourself. I love the confidence. Want to take a crack at throwing your leg up on the handlebars? Go for it. Just be sure you have a few schools on your list in the seat and low crossbar range too.

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The Admission Guide to… Soup Making ?

I love the fall. It’s hands down my favorite season. Football, holidays, changing leaves, crisp days, and… soup. You can’t really eat soup in the summer in the South (the human body is just not built to tolerate that much heat). Every fall, I feel like I rediscover this simple delicacy. Chowder, French Onion, chicken noodle, vegetable… anyone else getting hungry? At this time of year, I could live off it. And with young kids, soup is easy to make and a good “project.” They have fun grating cheese, counting out the carrot sticks, and finding the right measuring spoons for spices. So unless someone slices a finger or gets onion in their eye, it’s a win-win. Dinner is prepared and we did a mini math lesson in the process.

Now what does this have to do with college admission? EVERYTHING. In fact, when I meet someone on a plane or at a random social gathering and I don’t feel like talking college admission, I say I make soup for a living. And it’s true. On a college campus, everyone has their own ingredients they want in the mix. Deans from each academic unit may want more or less students in their program, depending on faculty: student ratios or the health of job prospects in their industry. This year at Tech, we’ve added a major in Music Technology. That means students who may not have been a good fit last year are very much on our radar this year. On the other hand, if a college eliminates a major, that vegetable is out of the soup.  While there was plenty of oregano in last year’s bowl, this year that container is left in the cabinet untouched.

Institutional priorities such as academic profile or net tuition revenue dictate ingredients and the recipe for that year. If last year’s out of state enrollment was too high they may try to curb that back (so not a good year to be a radish). Or, they did not get enough in Business, so the directive may be to double up (and increase the amount of pepper) this year.

This article from Money magazine sheds some light into admit rate variance by admission plan (i.e. Early vs. Regular). It has some compelling points and stats, but I don’t think it delved into the real drivers of why students “have the same chance.” It implies both in title and content that the rationale for why some students are admitted and others are not is “hidden” from view.

Here’s how the soup is made

When applications roll in and reading season begins, it’s like walking through a really great farmers market. Almost every application has sound merits. We just started file review in our office and each day there are conversations about an amazing applicant who has done X or Y, or wrote a great essay, or had an incredible life circumstance. Each of our prep cooks is reading and saying, “Oh, yes. We definitely want this celery,” AND “Throw a couple of these potatoes in,” AND “Cabbage? Yep.” Each school/state (like a stand or stall at the farmers market) has fresh, beautiful, tantalizing options that would all be great.

BUT… the trick of soup making is the size of the bowl. Last year at Princeton that was around 1300. At The University of Washington, it was about 6800.

Admit rates are partly a function of applicant pool size but also of the other vegetables. (Note: This is Soup Making 101. We’re not going to get into the melting off of “yield rates” or the post-boil adding back of waitlist. Advanced Soup Making is a spring workshop.)

Public schools in North Carolina are legislated to enroll at least 82% of their class from their state. When the vast majority of your bowl is filled, your ability to add lots of celery or onions is going to be diminished. So the state you are from, major you want to study, or the background and interests you bring to the table, dictate admission prospects. You are not necessarily competing against all the other applicants—often it’s those like you by some academic, demographic or institutional goal measure. Is this fair? No. This is soup making. You may be a completely unbruised and symmetrically perfect tomato, but that does not mean you are going to be in this year’s “Brown University Bisque.” Because guess what? They may only needed a fourth of a tomato this year. You may be grass fed, organically raised, and free range but you are not included if UCLA decides they only need 22 from outside their borders.

What does this mean for you?

When you visit the campuses you’re interested in, ask them about students like you. “How many students were from Massachusetts in your class last year?” “Are you trying to grow in our area of the country, or in my major at your school?”  In asking specific question like this, you will more likely get specific answers. Schools are also happy to share their admit rates, but you need to ask the details behind those rates. At Tech our EA admit rate is higher than our RD rate often by 15 percentage points. Part of that is driven by the fact that Georgia students apply early, and our total undergraduate population is 60% Georgia. Historically our most talented in-state students apply in the first round.

Some schools won’t know some of these admit rates or demographics off the top of their head. Are they hiding something? Usually not. A chef (admission rep) walking around your school in the fall has his mind on telling the story of the restaurant (university), rather than all the details of the soup. That’s not cagey. It’s human. So they offer to get back to you, which is great, as you can continue the conversation and they know you are interested.

At the most elite schools nationally (>20% admit rate), you’ll often get a confounding answer that sounds a lot like a Jedi mind trick or political stump speech. But go back to the Princeton statistics. 29,000+ applicants to admit less than 2,000. Lot of super fine slicing & pinches of spices that leave amazing produce that would be the highlight of another soup sitting on the cutting board.  It’s not an evasive answer. They simply can’t answer that because they aren’t taking entire stalks of celery or broccoli.

Kitchen notes: At the end of the day, you may not end up in the recipe you have in mind right now. But the beauty of soup is that each ingredient is ultimately complimented and improved by what it’s surrounded by and interacts with over time. You will find the right place to add your flavor to others and be improved by their presence in the years ahead.

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25 Reasons YOU SHOULD NOT Apply To Georgia Tech

The admission industry takes a lot of heat for not being forthright. Some claim we only take pictures on sunny days and never show pictures of crying students. We are lambasted for not being transparent and accused of not admitting our weaknesses. Many review our brochures with an eyebrow raised and wonder, “How is it possible that every student has class outside under a tree with a caring professor who is sharing great wisdom yet manages to do so at a distance that connotes ‘caring but not creepy?” We are criticized for telling students who may not be a good academic or ethos fit that they should still apply, “Well…we like to think of our 500 student campus as large… you know. It’s all what you make of it, right?”

brochures

Who We Are… and Who We’re Not

But our goal at Georgia Tech is to break open the black box, to lift the veil, and to be as clear as possible about who we are– and who we’re not. I recently read a college essay from a student begging colleges to differentiate themselves. After all of her tours and receiving these glossy, shiny brochures she’s in fact more stressed and concerned by the choices because they all seem to blur together. And when I’m really honest, I realize we send emails like “Why apply to Georgia Tech?” detailing all of our strengths and points of pride. But sometimes you need the converse too, right? Perhaps we’d appreciate our date saying, “Yea. I may look pretty but I snore a lot and my feet stink.” Or “Yes. I am the captain of the tennis team and hold all state records, but I steal about $20/week from my little brother’s top drawer.”

So while normally I write this blog more broadly on admission, rather than specifically about Georgia Tech, today I’m here to give you the other side. Now, for the record, in some form or another I’ve shared these truths about Atlanta and Georgia Tech before, but this is my attempt to consolidate all of those kernels of insight and give you the key reasons NOT TO APPLY to Georgia Tech. Consider this is your “anti-fit” litmus test: a series of if- then statements (admittedly influenced by Jeff Foxworthy’s You might be a redneck) that will help you understand our campus and city– and whether applying is in your best interest.

THE TOP 25 REASONS NOT TO APPLY TO GEORGIA TECH

  1. If you come to Atlanta and don’t get (or even worse don’t enjoy) a Frosted O from The Varsity, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  2. If you think yellow or gold make you look shorter or bigger or washed out or less likely to get lots of likes on Instagram, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  3. If you can’t deal with “The 3 H’s” (heat, hills, and humidity), don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  4. If you find yourself struggling to remember your birthday, name, or address on the application…well, not sure what to tell you here.
  5. If you don’t want to be around students wearing mathematical formulas on their shirts or are annoyed by impassioned debates about theoretical chemistry, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  6. If you think Georgia Tech is really Georgia Tech University or The University of Georgia Tech, rather than The Georgia Institute of Technology, don’t apply to Georgia Tech. Try Massachusetts Tech University.
  7. If “improve the world around you” sounds like a bumper sticker, rather than your earnest desire, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  8. If when visiting colleges you treat either the person on the phone or the person at the front desk poorly, don’t even apply elsewhere. Go apologize to your mom. If she’s the one doing that, consider applying for emancipation.
  9. If you don’t like to be pushed, stretched, and challenged personally and academically by professors, roommates, sorority sisters, and lab partners, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  10. If you don’t believe in George P. Burdell, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  11. If you enjoy making route connections rather than having access to direct flights, and you prefer airports with street side parking, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  12. If you are afraid of bees (and B’s for that matter), particularly large ones that do push-ups after touchdowns, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.buzz
  13. If you want a school that has hundreds of majors and makes statements like “we are all things to all people,” don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  14. If your tolerance for traffic is two lights and a railroad crossing, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  15. If you’d rather attend a school that has “an Olympic-sized pool,” rather than The Olympic pool, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  16. If status quo, homogeneity, and easy A’s are your goal, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
    WRECK
  17. If you’d rather win a national championship than…wait… not quite willing go there.
  18. If “Ramblin’ Wreck” is how you’d describe your GPA, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  19. If the term “y ‘all” is completely unfamiliar and uncomfortable, and you can’t even see that it’s incredibly efficient, y ‘all should definitely not apply to Georgia Tech.
  20. If you are unwilling to entertain the possibility that drinking Coca-Cola fundamentally makes you a better human being, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  21. If you have severe allergies to tree pollen and are vehemently opposed to shots or meds to combat them, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  22. If whistles give you flashbacks, cold sweats or the “hee bee gee bees,” don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  23. If being part of a place that discovers water on Mars and identifies gravitational waves in the atmosphere within the same year seems uninteresting, don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  24. If you think that the word “DOG” is actually spelled “DAWG,” don’t apply to Georgia Tech.
  25. If references to Jeff Foxworthy seem irrelevant to admission or indicative of pedantic humor that fail to convey great truth, why are you still reading? And definitely don’t apply to Georgia Tech!

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Why Go to College?

This week we welcome one of our admission counselors, Laila Flores, to the blog. Take it away, Laila!

Why go to college?

Our Director, Rick Clark, likes to ask prospective students first why they want to go to college, and next, to consider where they will best study. I could not agree with more with his approach, and I wanted to share some thoughts about “the why” and, as examples, draw lines to “the how” from my own family’s college experience.

To impress a girlfriend, ahem… future family

My grandfather enrolled in college because he wanted to win my grandma´s favor.  He did not feel an immediate need to enroll as he was to inherit his father’s factory (devoted to making parts for automobiles). But to keep his girlfriend happy, he decided to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering and it proved to be a great idea! He graduated among the top in his class in 1947, mastering the skills to build his own machines (and eventually marry my grandmother).

At Georgia Tech you can find lots of opportunities to amaze your family and friends by building your own machines or enterprises. For example, if you join our Create-X, you and your team will gain the expertise to understand market demand, build a working prototype and potentially win $20,000 in seed money to start a company.

So: if you want to go to college to impress, it will work… but first and foremost, think about YOU! Which brings us to another popular reason for attending college…

To get ready for the job of your life.

When my dad was young, he dreamed of being a truck driver. As he grew older, his admiration was fixed on his brothers who were pursuing engineering degrees. As one of nine children in a loving but crowded home, he was ready to gain his independence! He loved math, and his confidence in that subject matter was enough for him to dream of becoming an engineer, an economist, or an accountant. Luckily, he was admitted to a civil engineering program, and his passion for engineering was reaffirmed when his older brother (who held a job at the Mexican ministry of public works) brought him along to the construction sites of highways and housing projects. Later, his undergraduate thesis was directed by a professor that also worked at the Ministry. By the time he graduated he had the experience and network to land a job, and he was ready to pay the bills and have a home of his own. Can you imagine having your own place and house rules?

At Tech you can take advantage of our co-curricular programs like co-op and internships to develop professional connections and build experience and be ready for the job market. More than 90% of our students have a job lined up within 6 months of graduation, some have offers by the end of their junior year!

Not all people are seeking to win approval or gain a job.  Some people go to college because they care about the social good.

To make a difference by helping others

My mother wanted to pursue a career in medicine or dentistry to help others. Dentistry, she reasoned, would provide a better work/life balance. It proved true! She had an office in our house, so she could see patients in the mornings and spend the afternoons with me.

There are many opportunities for students to make a positive change through Georgia Tech! GT´s Engineers Without Borders or Key Club and those who participate in the Inventure Prize Competition build products that make can change the world! The last round of winners rolled out inventions to keep firefighters safer, provide fast medical screenings and make water potable in developing countries.

Complete a young adult rite of passage.

I arrived to college by default. No one I knew in my high school questioned that after graduation we were to attend college. I thought it was my duty to complete a college education, so it was more of a brain vs. heart decision. YOU, on the other hand, have time to snap out of the social conventions and take the decision to heart! You have time to think about your strengths and skills, research your options, and own this process!

In terms of then selecting a school, it helped me to compare information about the location, costs, infrastructure, number of full time/part time professors, and curriculum. If I were to choose college again I would also consider extracurricular activities, access to green space, opportunities for internships, as well as job placement rates. After graduation you will likely have to pay bills on your own, so I recommend to keep your eyes open for all the opportunities that can prepare you for the job market.

Once you get into college, you will see that some people are there to…

Experience a new lifestyle/see a new world outside your bubble

I did not pick a college that would “rock my world,” but I know that many people out are seeking just that! They want to live in a new part of the country, be in a city, or escape to a small town. They want to be part of a community that has lots of clubs, events, and traditions, or they want to get lost in a sea of people that will let them be.

For me the novelty came about during my study abroad program in Canada at University of Regina. For the first time I lived in a dorm and had to worry about my laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the bathroom… I also got to mingle with students from different parts of the world and my home, Mexico. Back at home, our classrooms were pretty homogenous. I went on a road trip with seven other friends to Banff, Edmonton and Calgary, and would have never dreamed of doing that journey sans “grownups” before that! Stepping out of my comfort zone was a great choice to learn and grow.

At Tech we have over 120 study abroad programs, you will definitely be able to enhance your second language skills and get ready for the global market place after trying one of them.

Why are you going to college?

Keep this question in mind as you create life plans. Attending college is a huge investment of time and money, so having a clear idea of why you want to go, and what you want to get out of it, is key to make the best out of the experience!

 

 

Steph Curry and The Road Not Taken

CURRY-PROFIf you have been watching TV lately, or listening to the radio, or interacting with other humans, you know the NBA Playoffs are heating up. We’re not going to talk about the Hawks here, so don’t fear. (As an Atlanta native and longtime resident I’ve come to peace with the fact that all of our pro franchises are good enough to make the playoffs but lack the talent to advance from the first round. Literally all of them…for decades.) These days the hottest name in the NBA is Steph Curry. Curry is a uber-talented point guard for the Golden State Warriors, and he was recently unanimously named MVP of the league, which he also won along with the NBA Championship last year. To look at him now you’d think he has always lived a charmed life– beautiful wife and daughters, worldwide star, commercials with President Obama (himself a transfer student from Occidental to Columbia), and the list goes on. But interestingly when he was graduating from high school the big time college programs around the nation were not interested. He was crushed and ultimately decided to stay close to home in North Carolina and attend Davidson College.

Curry’s experience got me thinking about Robert Frost’s  poem “The Road Not Taken,” and the fact that our national consciousness is still largely focused on the traditional freshman entry process. Often news media and families do not look at the transfer route “as just as fair/ And having perhaps the better claim,” even though 1/3 of students graduating from a four year college began elsewhere, or that 1/2 of all undergraduates nationally are enrolled at a community college. At Georgia Tech, we annually enroll 850 transfer students (approx. 1/4 of our new undergraduate students). Thankfully, the press and perceived value of transfer options are improving, due to increasing political discussion surrounding college cost, value, and access, and Mrs. Obama’s Reach Higher initiative.

National Student Clearinghouse data shows that in 13 states over 50% of four-year university graduates began at a two-year school. Much of this is because public universities have established articulation agreements with colleges in their state or region geared toward enrolling transfer students. Florida is certainly a state with a strong history in this arena. The University of California system, which boasts five of the top 10 public universities also has a deep commitment to the transfers. In fact, UC-Berkeley brought in well over 2000 transfer students last year. As Tech has become more selective on the freshman side, we see more students going to another college or university for a year or two and then re-applying to earn a Tech degree. This year 1/3 of admitted transfer students applied as freshman. Five years ago that number was 1/5.   In an effort to provide students with a variety of avenues to all academic programs, we have developed a transfer pathways, including Dual Degree Engineering Program and our Arts and Sciences Pathway Program, which complement our regular transfer admission process. 

A Turning Tide?

On the private side, and particularly among elite institutions, transferring is less prevalent. Princeton recently announced they will begin enrolling transfer students for the first time since 1990 (a year when Wilson Phillips topped the charts) and Stanford and MIT enrolled a combined 30 via this route last year. While not all schools are as invested in this space, frankly that’s the beauty of a diverse system– and the importance of understanding particular institutional missions and philosophies on education. However, I do speculate that in the decade ahead, due to the increasing access to and promotion of college courses in high school; the proliferation of accredited, non-profit, credit-bearing online options; and the desire of colleges to augment geographic, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity, we’ll see more private school players in this space.

An Affordable Pathway

Type of College Average Published Yearly Tuition and Fees
Public Two-Year College (in-district students) $3,347
Public Four-Year College (in-state students) $9,139
Public Four-Year College (out-of-state students) $22,958
Private Four-Year College $31,231

This table is from BigFuture (an excellent resource for students researching colleges and looking into financial aid).

It is important to note that these figures are based on published tuition costs vs. ultimate net price. Financial aid and family need largely impact ultimate cost, but it’s clear that pursuing schools locally for the first year or two of college is often a viable financial route. We often hear from transfer students that will select a college close to home following high school, so that they can work, attend class, and live at home to save money and avoid debt. Increasingly, we are seeing  students who are offered freshman admission making these decisions in order to reduce debt upon graduation.

An Alternative Avenue

Each year we read recommendation letters and review student transcripts that describe “late bloomers” or students who did not get excited about academics until late in high school. It is also common to learn of students who had tough life circumstances: parent divorces, multiple school moves in high school, and serious health issues that diminished academic success inside and outside the classroom. If you are graduating high school and this has been your experience, I sincerely hope that you’ve been admitted to a college that you’re excited about attending. If you’re an underclassmen and this is your current experience, you should always be sure to include “special circumstances” into your applications, so that schools utilizing holistic admission processes can get a full picture of your background. Either way this is the beauty of the transfer option. It is a clean slate when you start college, because typically universities do not look back at test scores, course selection, or grades from high school when they are enrolling their transfer classes.

road less traveled

A Final Word

Whether transferring is an affordability strategy; a necessary path to your ultimate goal due to circumstances; or you wake up in a cold dorm room next November wondering “Why did I pick this place? I gotta get out of here!” think of Frost’s roads–“both that morning equally lay.” Unlike the poet who bemoans a permanent separation, the roads of transfer and freshman students converge and ultimately cross the same stage– same school name and credentials on your resume and diploma. Steph Curry held on to his  dream of playing in the NBA. He harnessed the initial setback to be his motivation at Davidson. It fueled him. It drove him to push harder and to prove himself. And ultimately, like many students who transfer colleges, it is that road “that has made all the difference.”

Key Resources: NACAC’s Transfer Knowledge Hub, College Affordability Guide, National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students, Kid President on Robert Frost (notably Frost did not graduate from college but holds 40 honorary degrees).