by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consulting Association

We are still in the early stages of conference registration for IECA’s Fall National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, we have already passed 600 attendees and are looking forward to a wonderful gathering. Here are six new, improved, or unique aspects to the conference that you may have missed in our registration packet:

(1) Cincinnati is surprisingly easy to fly in to and worth visiting. The Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati (CVG) airport is a hub for Delta airlines, but this new, modern airport offers 200 incoming flights a day with direct service to more than 80 cities. Cincinnati was a major stop of the Underground Railroad for slavesseeking freedom in the north. The Underground Railroad Freedom Center is my favorite place in the city. Also don’t miss the Museum Center (our conference logo) at Union Station where four museums, plus several restaurants, are housed under one roof.

(2) There will NOT be an opening keynote speech. Instead we have invited several educational leaders and innovators (all currently university presidents) to have a round-table discussion about the future of American education on Wednesday afternoon. We will get to “listen in” to their conversation and raise some questions and discussion points. This will be a unique opportunity to hear educational opinion leaders from Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

(3) We have made nine changes to the schedule impacting therapeutic schools & programs and educational consultants serving those resources. Among other things, a special ‘professional exchange’ time at the end of the School Fair on Thursday, Program Showcases on Saturday, an overlap in the schedule when all conference attendees are together, and a wonderful Master Class on Saturday featuring Dr. Paul Keck, president-CEO of the Lindner Center speaking about bipolar disorder.

(4) There are five pre-conference opportunities. We are offering two 3-1/2 hour pre-conference workshops: One on social networking for consultants and the other exploring autism spectrum disorders. In addition, our one-on-one speed meetings will feature traditional schools. All these are scheduled for Wednesday morning. In addition, IECA is offering tours of Ohio and Kentucky colleges Monday through Wednesday, and a number of schools and programs are extending offers for visits throughout the Great Lakes region.

(5) Conference Central has emerged as a major meeting, learning, exploring place during conferences. For those who have not attended a conference in over a year, wait until you experienceconference central: refreshments, cyber-lounge, bookstore, exhibit booths, member services, raffles, and give-aways, just to name a few of the attractions. We have added comfortable seating to make sure the Conference Central area is a place to relax, network, and much more.

(6) Special events from beginning to end. Wednesday’s dinner; Friday’s reception with plenty to eatand drink; Murray Banks, the amazing Thursday lunch speaker; a Friday general session featuring the Kinship Center, the nation’s leading voice on adoption issues are among all that we have scheduled. We’ll also be featuring the amazing movie “In 500 Words or Less” on Thursday night with the film’s creators in attendance, leading a discussion after the film. We’re even be including pizza and drinks for this special movie night!

We hope to see you in Cincinnati. Registration is open and hotel rooms are still available in the IECA block. Plan your travel to take full advantage of all we have going on. Join us as we “Come Together in the Heartland.”

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by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

In some ways the Summer Training Institute lasts far longer than the 4 days attendees spend in Swarthmore, PA.  First, in a practical sense, it could takes months just to read everything in their workshop binders.  Hundreds of articles, reproduced blogs, resource lists, sample contracts, intake forms, campus visit checklists and more make the binder a valuable resource for years. IECA education director Sue DePra put together an amazing textbook.

In addition, the attendees are able to start their journeys into the profession knowing they can rely on IECA for support.  Each can immediately link through this blog and the IECA facebook page.  As they seek Associate or Professional Membership they will discover the value IECA offers:  assigning mentors, joining campus tours, gaining discounts on everything from insurance to FedEx.  As a member they will discover the amazing opportunities, products and discounts offered by our partners including College Essay Organizer, Wintergreen Orchard House, Princeton Review, Kaplan, and more than 30 others.  Attending our national conferences in the fall and spring, reading Insights, and participating in LinkedIn discussions all will allow those who took part in this past week’s training to continue to learn and grow.

Yet above all there are the wonderful connections the participants made with each other.  Stretching from San Diego to Maine, and Vancouver to Miami, the STI Class of 2010 seems poised to keep these new relationships alive: visiting schools together, sharing expertise, providing business and counseling support and guidance.  Since 2003, we have seen the incredible value the summer training graduates find in remaining in touch, supporting each other, and raising up their classmates.  We at IECA look forward to their continued involvement.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

The attendees at the IECA Summer Training Institute found themselves facing a series of ethical conundrums this morning. Drawn from actual cases from IECA’s files, the participants had to look inward to ensure they practice using ethical and professional approaches.

One case explored the need to meet obligations to schools and programs sponsoring campus tours and events.  Another examined the appropriateness of consultants hosting events for client families and admission representatives.  With IECA maintaining the strictest standards (which forbid actions that heighten student and parent anxiety), one case examined a consultant who uses fear, anxiety and pressure at community gatherings to get parents to ‘sign up.’  Further, she promises to use her “secrets” to assure success.  Consultants saw the ethical violation and pledged to only work for good matches and assure families that “great colleges exist for every student.”

The attendees also explored the interactions among consultants.  They read a case dealing with the obligations a consultant has to professional colleagues, and interactions via the IECA TalkList.  This created spirited conversation as members balance the need to share evidence of their research and effort with the need to protect clients’ privacy.

Ethics was presented throughout the weeklong training as the topic was worked in to every instructional session.  This morning, as the STI examined the growth of ‘new media’ and social networking, the ethics of using such technologies and linking with student clients was examined.

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by Jane Klemmer, IECA Associate Member (New York)

I’m still riding an incredible high, no pun intended. Two days ago I returned from a week in southern California, where I cycled and toured colleges with 16 other college counselors and consultants. To say that this was one of my most memorable college tours sounds almost trite, especially coming from an educational consultant who has been in practice barely three years. Nevertheless, I am certain that the special memories from this unusual college tour will stay with me for many years to come.

Bill Dingledine (SC) and Jane Klemmer (NY)

In one week, five actual days of cycling, we covered roughly 180 miles and visited 13 colleges, pedaling from school to school and carrying our own gear. Starting at the University of Redlands and working our way west to Los Angeles, we spent most of our nights in dorms and came to know well the challenges of non-fitted sheets on plastic covered mattresses. This is about as “roughing it” as it gets in the world of college counseling, but we chalked it up to just another part of the experience. The weather was also far colder than I had anticipated (something I should probably keep to myself, given what colleagues experienced last week on the east coast). I ended up buying a LaVerne sweatshirt, which I will wear proudly, and a windbreaker at one of the cycle shops along the way so that I could brave the brisk and cloudy mornings that we were told was very unusual. This was “June Gloom” arriving in California a month late, a refrain repeated at every stop along our way.

Unforeseen cool weather and a few unexpected mishaps only added to the special nature of our adventure. There are, of course, the obvious reasons why this trip was such a positive and unforgettable experience for all of us involved: the special camaraderie among us, informative college visits with some over-the-top hospitality, and excellent cycling. However, two of the benefits of a trip such as this are probably even more meaningful and perhaps less obvious.

My IECA colleague, Bill Dingledine (who has continued on to cycle and tour colleges for another week), and I were the only independent consultants in this group, yet never once did I feel I needed to explain what I did, nor feel like we were somehow different from the rest of the group. I truly believe that experiences like these help break down what are sometimes barriers between independent consultants and school counselors. I feel confident that many of my cycling colleagues now have a better understanding of what we do and see the real value that we add to the college search and application process. We are another contributing member of the team.

But let me share with you what I truly believe to be the best benefit of all: attaining a goal that I set for myself, having worked and trained diligently to achieve it!  We as independent consultants challenge students to establish goals and strive to reach them. Why should we, regardless of our age and experience, be any different? Having goals and dreams is what keeps us fresh, too. The best way to instill motivation in students is to lead by example. Showing them the benefits of putting in the effort and going the extra mile, figuratively and sometimes, literally, can be as important in the long run as the suggestions we offer for an essay.

We spent our last night on the gorgeous campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, which sits high on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The next morning we cycled back down the Pacific Coast Highway, with the ocean a constant to our right. A few of our colleagues decided to test the frigid waters at Venice Beach before we did a quick cycle through Loyola Marymount University, and shared our last lunch together at the In and Out Burger, a ubiquitous California chain that became a true ‘destination” for us after some in our group talked it up for a week. No one was disappointed, and we agreed that it was a fitting farewell luncheon before we returned rental bikes and said our good-byes.

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by Jane Klemmer, IECA Associate Member (New York)

Independent educational consultants understand the importance of visiting colleges in order to expand or update our knowledge of the many higher education options available. These visits to campuses familiarize us with the unique qualities of each school and enable us to effectively help students find the right fit for college. We visit colleges on our own and on IECA tours, but also take advantage of campus visits organized by college consortiums that are arranged specifically for counselors and educational consultants. Anywhere from a few days to a week’s time, we zigzag across states by bus, with the hope of getting a firsthand look that will better enable us to understand the essence of a college and therefore, know whether a school would be appropriate for a student.

This summer a group of counselors and educational consultants from across the U.S. will come together in southern California and tour colleges by less conventional means: on bikes. Why not take a bus, car, or train, you might ask. These 19 hardy souls, including two IECA members, Bill Dingledine (South Carolina) and myself, are looking to combine the professional objective of expanding our college knowledge, with a host of other goals that include satisfying a love for cycling and physical exercise, camaraderie, personal fulfillment, and last, but not least, for fun. I would be disingenuous if I declared that I held a long-term passion for cycling. In fact, prior to officially committing to the tour a couple of months ago, I had not been on a bike in years. But embracing the challenge to train and the desire to see colleges in a novel way was all the motivation I needed.

On July 4 the group will gather at the University of the Redlands, about 65 miles east of Los Angeles, where we begin our journey. The first order of business will be to rent bikes, for those of us who will not be transporting our own, followed by the installation of racks and panniers to store our clothing and gear for the week. Yes, much to my chagrin, there is no SAG vehicle bringing up the rear (an Internet search taught me that the acronym stands for Support and Gear), which would carry our stuff and come to the aid of riders in need of assistance. I will learn the true meaning of “packing light” knowing that for one week’s time I will serve as my own packhorse.

Our travels take us to 14 schools including University of the Redlands, the five undergraduate colleges that comprise the Claremont Colleges consortium (Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps, and Harvey Mudd), University of LaVerne, Azusa Pacific University, the University of Southern California, Cal Tech, UCLA, Occidental College, Pepperdine University and Loyola Marymount. We will cycle 30 to 50 miles a day, stopping at each campus long enough to tour the schools, meet with admissions, and get a sense for the academic and social communities. Our last stop each day will likely be our place of rest for the night, and since our accommodations will mostly be in dorms, we will truly get a firsthand college experience.

I am stepping up my training as I count down the weeks to the “College Tour de California.” I am looking forward to the trip with great anticipation, but I am also excited about the prospect of meeting with students when I return. I know there is a good chance I will discover just the college that will make me want to say to a student or two, “I’ve got a great school in mind for you!”

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

The key role of the educational consultant is to find the best possible match between a student’s educational, social, community needs and desires, and what colleges offer. The role of the college consultant is not, as the media would have us believe, to sit back, let a student decide where they want to go and then “help them get in.” A student’s learning style, the campus’ political environment, academic vs. social component, weekend activities, LD support services, physical environment, and so much more go into this important decision.

Many consultants indicate that one of the great satisfactions in their life is introducing students to a potential college that the family has never heard of, but which proves to be an exceptional choice—just the right match for the interests and educational needs. A great consultant needs to have as much information about colleges as possible. It is this accumulation of knowledge that allows the match to be suggested so that a student can then plan a visit and evaluate on their own. Consultants can gain this information from a variety of sources. To be sure, exploring Web sites, view books, and literature is important. However these are written by a university’s hired public relations firm, and so while critical information will be shared, it is skewed to present the best possible image of a school. It’s one thing for a small college to claim 75 clubs, but the real question is: are these clubs active? Welcoming? Supported by the student body overall? Consultants should also make use of published data, like that produced by Wintergreen Orchard House. But we all know that numbers—minimum GPAs, test scores, size of freshman class, etc.—tell only part of the story. Numbers do not capture the feel of a school. Other published sources such as guides from Princeton Review and Fiske are also critical components, but of course these are the evaluations of someone else, and someone whose opinion may or may not match your own.

Most consultants also get feedback from past clients, which is a way to ensure that their impressions of a school are in fact accurate. Others look at student Web sites and other ways to get a less filtered view of what current students are thinking and saying about their school.

What really distinguishes consultants, particularly IECA members, from school-based counselors, is that they do visit campuses. How better to describe a potential school to a student than to be able to share a view, in order to discuss it as a potential match. Consultants sit in the dining hall, observe interaction, read bulletin boards to see what events are coming, notice the influence of the Greek system, and discern what the political climate is. A consultant wanders over to ‘Main Street’ to see the student/town interaction, observe the maintenance of the physical plant, and see if students USE the gym, the library, the student support center, etc.

Of course there are added benefits to such tours: consultants become acquainted with college admission representatives, developing a stronger professional relationship that is further aided by the hundreds of college that participate in IECA conferences and programs yearly. Moreover, while some consultants visit campuses individually, more visit together with colleagues or take part in the many organized tours that IECA plans throughout the year. This provides opportunities to interact with peers, discuss changes in the admission scene, new developments on campus, and so much more.

No one source of information is sufficient to gain a complete view of a college, but it is the visit—a personal visit by a trained professional—that when combined with statistics, published reports, Web sites and more, is likely to provide the best, most complete picture of a college or university. Such a picture informs the consultant whether or not a school should be placed on the list of possibilities, allowing a student to conduct their own research. It is this difference that makes consultants invaluable for families and makes IECA members the most respected in the field.

This article originally appeared in the April / May issue of IECA’s Insights newsletter. To subscribe to Insights for free, send your name and address to info@IECAonline.com.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Our spring conference registration opened less than a week ago, and registration is already approaching 250. Early bird discounts end THIS FRIDAY (February 26), so if you are planning to attend our gathering in Toronto (May 12-15), get your registration completed right away. Full details on the conference are posted on the IECA Web site (http://www.iecaonline.com/conferences.html) and additional information, including details on all breakout sessions, will be added to the site in the next few days.

I have gotten a few questions and welcome this opportunity to clarify:

“I really don’t work with Canadian schools or universities (or ‘We don’t really get any students from Canada’). So maybe there won’t be as much for me at this conference.” Hold on!  Just because we are meeting in Canada for the first time doesn’t mean our focus is shifting. Of the first 225 registrants, just 15 are Canadian consultants, schools, or universities. The other 210 are from the U.S. What we expect is full participation by our IECA members from across the U.S. with a bit of an uptick in non-U.S. participation, reflecting how much easier it is for consultants in Asia, South America, and Europe to travel to Canada. We expect all of the schools, colleges, and programs that typically attend IECA conferences to be joining us in Toronto, but with the added bonus of greater participation by Canadian institutions. Remember, school, program, and college representatives from Nova Scotia to Vancouver helped us plan the conference!

“There’s so much going on before and after the conference, I’m still trying to figure out what to do, so I can’t register yet.” Wait a minute! We don’t want you to lose out on the early bird discount. Register for the conference now and get your discount. You can always sign back on using our Web-based registration system and modify your registration. That way you won’t miss the discount. We know there’s a lot going on: pre-conference activities include IECA tours of Ontario universities; special tours of Ontario boarding school and gap year programs; the popular Speed Meetings—actually two of them: one for traditional boarding schools and the other for therapeutic programs; and a pre-conference workshop on LD issues as well as one on Web-based marketing. Whew!! Post-conference activities include TWO different college tours: one of universities in upstate New York and the other in Nova Scotia. There’s a school tour in Nova Scotia as well.

“I just got a conference/tour price list via e-mail and it looks like the prices really went up.” NO! That was an e-mail from some other association! Don’t be confused. The cost of our three-day college tours (pre- or post-conference) is still just $95—not the $200 the other group charges. Our conference fee for members, including meals and special events and even including a pre-conference workshop, is unchanged at $395 ($370 early bird)—not the $595 the other group just e-mailed for their conference and pre-conference registration. IECA works hard to keep our costs as low as possible (with thanks to our conference sponsors). As proof: our membership dues have not changed in 30 years! Finally, even non-members can save a bundle. Our conference and pre-conference workshop full registration for non-member consultants is $530—not the $745 others are charging, according to that e-mail. Of course, cost is just part of the story. We are confident that everyone will get a great deal out of participating in the IECA conference: amazing speakers, great educational sessions, and lots of opportunities for networking.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA, from the National Conference in NC

Here we are on the eve of the 2009 Fall Conference. Even before we officially open the gathering at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, we will have completed visits to more than 15 campuses by over 140 consultants, 130 attendees will have taken part in pre-conference seminars on financial aid, LD assessments, and customer service. About 60 participants will have joined in the first-ever IECA speed meetings and several groups, including Strategic Planning, Executive Board and the AICEP Board will have met.

Sound like a lot, considering the conference will not have been officially opened? Well, there’s more: 35 vendors will have been engaging arrivals in “Conference Central”;  Our IECA team will be providing information on a number of new member services and offering one-to-one assistance with social media;  AdmissionsQuest, in coordination with IECA, will have already begun its webcasting, blogging, tweeting, and more. All this after the staff prepared for months, and created what became more than 100 cases (!) of materials to be used in the days to come.

And how about more—all still in pre-conference mode! Some 140 IECA members will have attended an early arrivals dinner at Johnson & Wales University. There, all aspects of the program, from menu design, to food prep, to serving, to demonstration were created by culinary students. Other events, hosted by our Outreach Committee, invited very early arrivals to gather together for meals.

If that sounds exhausting consider that once we open the conference, more than 115 speakers and presenters will take part, including some international leaders in education theory. There will be 275 colleges and schools represented in our Thursday fair and another 215 programs for adolescents in our Friday Swap. New affinity groups representing tech-savvy members and international consultants will join our ever-expanding pool of meetings, gatherings and events.

Well over 1,100 attendees will take part in the conference and we hope each leaves with a personal sense that it was of great value to them. Putting on such a conference takes enormous effort, starting with our North and South Carolina members who served on the local host committee, our Board and Committee leaders who jumped in to help plan and execute, the consultants and schools who decided to take a chance on the Speeds Meetings or showcases, and the hundreds who signed up to be part of our first end-of-conference Master Class.

Yet much of the effort falls on the IECA staff. Most national organizations would have a staff of 4 – 8 working exclusively on such a conference. For us, it’s everyone in every department joining in to make it work. IECA has the best staff of any small association in the country. They work together to accomplish far more than organizations three or four times the size. Those in NC this week will see what they’ve accomplished. Be sure to thank them!

Have a great conference!

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by Janice Berger, Manager of Member Services, IECA

Excitement is brewing as everyone looks forward to the pre-conference college, school, and program tours. The response to registration has been exceptional—we were thrilled to have been able to set up a second set of college tours.

We thank each institution that has graciously opened their campuses to IECA consultants in the pursuit of direct knowledge not only at pre-conference time, but also for providing tours throughout the year! These tours provide IECA members with invaluable insight into the school or college, which they can then share with their clients.

On another note, I have been getting quite a few calls from those who attended the IECA Summer Training Institute (STI)—they tell me how energized they have been from the week at Swarthmore and are asking lots of questions about membership.

One thing that struck me is how some of the STI participants mentioned that they have already been in touch with IECA members and how gracious and generous our members have been in offering their time to someone making the transition to private practice. Some of this mentoring comes so naturally to our members that they may not even realize how much of a difference they make. We’re here to tell you, you bet it does! Offering your time to someone can set those newer to the field off to a solid start, create confidence and a feeling of connectedness to IECA colleagues and IECA as an association. We know that our members are collegial, but it is always nice for you to hear how much you are appreciated. You as a mentor play a large part in perpetuating ethics in the field and a lot more. Wait, this is probably a great moment to plug the IECA Mentoring Program, don’t forget to ask me about it…

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Among the many benefits an educational consultant brings to a student in their school or college search is direct knowledge from having visited scores of campuses, conducting evaluative visits. Such visits give Independent Educational Consultant Association members an eye-witness, ear-to-the-ground, personal way of understanding what makes a campus tick: its social and academic balance, the relationship between faculty and students, emotional support or sense of competition among classmates, the campus-wide support for the arts, the political climate, religious tolerance, acceptance of and offerings to students with learning disabilities, relationship with the local community, among hundreds of other factors.

Only by walking through a campus, reading the student paper, scanning the bulletin boards, talking with students, observing the dining hall, can you begin to get a real feel for a school that no guidebook, Web site or blog (even this one) can accurately describe. That’s why many IECA members can count 200 or more campus visits among their background work to better serve clients and families. Of course, every consultant supplements these tours with student surveys, books, conversations with IECA colleagues and much more. But nothing replaces the value of walking in the path of a student.

This is the primary reason we commit so many resources to making our campus tours a central part of what we offer our members. Members often tell us of the great value in touring campuses with other educational consultants: sharing insights, raising questions, etc.

As we look ahead to our fall conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, we know that our Special Needs and Schools committees will soon be announcing special campus tours. The college tours are now set and include campus visits and presentations at:

Monday November 9:
High Point University, Elon University and Wake Forest University;

Tuesday November 10:
Davidson College, UNC-Charlotte and Queens University of Charlotte;

Wednesday November 11:
Wingate University and the IECA conference kicks off at 1:00 p.m.

Registration for these tours begins in August, along with the IECA Conference registration.Details on the school and special needs tours will be announced soon.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

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