Harvard receives over 40,000 applications each year. About 2,000 of those applicants are accepted and just over 1,600 enroll as freshman*. And each year at Harvard as well as at each of the 2,000 degree-granting colleges and universities in the US, this process begins with admissions counselors pouring over applicants in a dauntingly speedy manner in order to flesh out the most interesting X %. So how do they accomplish this?...
It's Your Brand... Live it!
As part of the "What Do You Want To Do & Be?" (WDYWTD&B) series, CP students have been visited by lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and, in the field, CP students have visited marine biologists, filmmakers, investment firms, medical clinics and political events. My goal is to expose students to a variety of professions hoping to raise their level of knowledge, compassion, and appreciation for varied life and career paths. I also hope to spark students' passions and to remind them they can be anything!
This month, Jim Cahill, Chief Blogger at Emerson visited CP to tell students about his personal and professional story...
Practice the 30-30-30 Rule
from Carol
As impactful members of the ATA village, parents often ask what can they do at home to help reinforce the love of learning and the pursuit of excellence that we teach at CP.
One thought that comes to mind, and in the words of Coach Newman, encourage them to "Show up and listen... and always do your best."
Another is to MODEL what you wish for them to do:
1) complete tasks joyfully;
2) study diligently...
The Process of Being Unique : The HOW & WHY of Learning
If you are going to make a difference in the world, you will soon learn that you can't follow the herd.
In order to lead, one must possess a strong sense of direction. One must have a purpose and understand the meaning behind his or her action. One must also be able to communicate this so that others may follow.
To educate means to 'lead out'. Our world's greatest political and spiritual leaders have dedicated their lives to educating and leading... as have parents, teachers, coaches and mentors.
As such, we sometimes can become more concerned with...
Food for Thought... You Are What You Eat!
As an elite level athlete, or for those who wish to become one, there are many aspects to developing success at the highest level - a good tactical game, a good technical game, a good mental game, and a healthy body to execute it all. One of the key ingredients that makes CP a special place to learn and grow, is the daily food - mental food through academics, emotional and spiritual food through character building, and physical food through activity and healthy nutrition. Awareness of how we are feeding the mind, spirit and body is part of our daily discussion.
Did you know that ATA CP has a group of talented nutritionists that support the students and the ATA vision of developing...
New Year’s Resolution : 2014
7 Jan 2014
CP students contemplated the following, then discussed in small break out sessions their personal choices for change in 2014. They worked together and helped each other flesh out ideas to build new habits or eliminate old ones. Students continue to revise and specify detailed plans to develop triggers and methods of accountability that will help the new habits stick.
| res-o-lu-tion |
The FAFSA: New Year Means New Application
January 1, 2014
Though it’s a day off from school and work, New Year’s Day is also a day to get down to business. While you’re starting in on your New Year’s resolutions, opening up a new calendar, and packing up the holiday decorations, there’s one more thing that college students and college-bound high school studentsshould do each January. The Department of Education starts accepting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (more commonly known as "FAFSA") on January 1 each year. State application deadlines fall soon after—as early as February in some cases...
I Don't Need A Tutor
from Carol
He was a bright, inquisitive, young man accustomed to making straight A's... with little effort. So when he came to CP mid-year, the new student was absolutely outraged when I suggested we find him a good tutor. "I don't need a tutor", he professed. He was under the impression and mindset that having a tutor would mean he was slow, or not as smart.
It took only a few conversations and a few sessions with his new tutor to prove to him that this was not a demeaning experience but rather an amazing gift of opportunity...
Blake Davis: Mind Over Matter
ATA CP Alumnus Blake Davis is amid his senior season as a Florida State Seminole. Now in a leadership role on the team, Blake calls upon his lengthy tennis resume, but also his experience of fighting through numerous injuries throughout his career to guide him through whatever challenge is in his, or his teams, way...
Early Thanksgiving At ATA
From ATA CP Chef and Civics Teacher Hannah Hagar -
Everyone has a favorite holiday and I think Thanksgiving might be mine. It started when I was young, always looking forward to our annual family drives from Austin to Missouri. My brother Josh and I would pack up hours of books, games and a few movies to keep us occupied on the twelve hour trek to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Once we arrived, it was a fun-filled family week of tag football in the front yard, learning poker from my grandpa, the Thanksgiving day movie of choice, and my cousin Melissa and I commandeering the entire dish of green bean casserole...
Eyes On A Different Kind of Prize
In a world where winning is do or die, there’s no room for the life of the mind. ~Liam Leddy (ATACP '12)
When I arrived at UChicago last fall, my first 11 days on campus were spent exclusively with athletes. This was, of course, because I got here in mid-September, and athletes were the only students here. Campus was pretty empty, the weather was beautiful, and my only legitimate concern was practice. On the Friday before O-Week, I left with my team to compete in our regional ITA tennis tournament in Indianapolis. I was at the tournament until Sunday afternoon, and I didn’t get back to campus until that evening. When I walked back into Max East, which I had moved into some five days earlier...
ATA CP Students Launch Mentoring Program
ATA College Prep Spends A Day At Cisco
As part of our What Do You Want To Do series, and by invitation of ATA parent, Andy Raczka, CP students embarked on an informative Friday field trip.
Andy Raczka provided an educational and entertaining snapshot into the life of Cisco, a multi-national, multi-billion dollar company that designs, manufactures and sells computer equipment. Students began the day gathering in the conference room to sit in on an actual conference call with Cisco clients from around the globe...
Why Do We Study Math?
How many times do we hear this statement from students who are bored or frustrated because they spend time idly sitting in math class calculating the next set of problems using the given formulas. While calculation is fun for some, it is not for many. A more exciting practice would be to develop the understanding that mathematics is the language that describes and explains the patterns and beauty found in, around, and among us throughout the natural world. It is math that explains the phenomenon in our universe!
Bucket List
Recently, we were discussing the definition of 'bucket list'... one student said, "it's the things you want to do before you die." True. But It is also the list of things I want to accomplish while I am living. For me, being a few years older, there is a subtle, but ominous, difference.
I spent a few days in Washington DC at the Advanc-Ed National Summit. It is the organization that accredits ATA CP. During that time, I crossed off a few bucket list items. In awe, I visited every national monument in DC; I stood before our great documents in the National Archives; I sat in wonder as I contemplated great thinkers and the Great Architects that founded this country, and built beautiful structures as tributes..
CP Alum Update from Notre Dame
from Josh Hagar, ATA CP 2012, ND 2016
Hello from South Bend, Indiana! Life here at Notre Dame has been amazing. I am so happy to be on fall break to have the time to relax, recuperate a bit, and give you all an update on how these last couple months have been. I learned very quickly that life at ND is very busy, and free time as an athlete is rare, or non-existent all together. My schedule consists of classes from 8:30 or 9 (depending on the day) to noon, practice and fitness in the afternoon from about 3 to 7, and studying until I cannot stay awake any longer. One thing you learn quickly here as a student is that going to class and completing homework is simply not enough. Students are expected to spend time outside the classroom during the week learning on their own about concepts of the subjects...
The Religion of Tennis
from Carol
The commitment to elite tennis is a challenging one. It takes a great deal of time, money, faith, and sacrifice along the way. You may be at the beginning of this process or somewhere in the middle, or perhaps you are coming to the end of youth sports and embarking on the college process.
This journey is not only a commitment from your child, but from you and perhaps even from your entire family. It changes the dynamic of how you spend your weekends and holidays. It restructures how you will spend your money and your vacations...
Have Your Cake & Eat It Too? : College & Beyond
from Carol
Choosing the right college is like baking a cake. There are many ingredients that go into the mix to create the desired chemistry and tasty outcome. Colleges can offer: academic challenges, rich cultural experiences, spaces to develop new aspects of personality, a network of mentors, career opportunities, a place to continue developing as an athlete. The amount that each of these flavorful ingredients weigh in on a final decision varies in as many ways as there are people.
In a recent talk I was giving to a group of parents who were embarking on the college process with their first-born, I asked, "How many of you, today, would make the same college choice you did when you were 18? Only 1 person raised his hand...
Four Agreements
from Carol
Each time the holidays approach, I am reminded of family gatherings when I was a young child. The beautiful moments of food, frolicking and football were always scattered among a few arguments about God or politics or the best make and model of a favorite car. Things haven’t changed much, and although these conversations are mostly unimportant and inconsequential, they evoke some pretty powerful words and emotions.
CP is a small school and I often {jokingly} say that it is like Thanksgiving... every day. Meaning, that due to the intimacy level, the students often speak and act toward one another like siblings or close family members. On a daily basis, there are students helping students, playing a chess game or two...