The Paly Parent Teacher Student Association will host college admissions expert Lloyd Thacker at 7 p.m. Thursday, in the Haymarket theater.
Thacker is the founder and executive director of the Education Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the college admissions process. After working for nearly 28 years in the college admissions and college counseling field, Thacker left to edit and publish College Unranked and to establish the Education Conservancy. According to its Web site, College Unranked is a book that provides “crucial advice for students, parents, counselors, and admission professionals.”
PTSA Parent Education Chair Maureen Simons says that the PTSA hopes that Thacker’s talk will help to ease the college admissions process.
“Anxiety and general craziness over the college admissions and post high school process concerns everyone,” Simons said. “Lloyd Thacker is the speaker in this field. He is widely acknowledged as a leader in this field, and has the ear of college admissions people everywhere.”
Simons noted that Thacker’s presentation is only part of the PTSA’s effort to aid students with the college process.
“I’m also working closely with Sandra Cernobori from Paly’s Career College Center and Susan Shultz from Guidance–they have been very supportive and helpful,” Simons said.
Thacker’s presentation will cover his unique approach to the college application. In an outline of the presentation, Thacker described the problems he sees in the admissions process.
“During the past 30 years, college admissions has changed dramatically at the expense of students,” Thacker said. “For too many students, selecting and seeking admission to college has become unnecessarily complex, unrealistically competitive, and irresponsibly confusing. As a result the health, well being, confidence, and success of students are being threatened.”
An outline of the Thacker’s presentation includes various areas of the application process and their effect on students.
“This presentation will engage parents and students in a discussion about how the college admission process can and should be educationally rewarding,” Thacker said. “It will equip families with tools for continuing this discussion and for making family-based decisions about how to proceed with college admissions thoughtfully and successfully. It will help restore sanity and student control to the college admission process.”
Some topics that the outline are how to tune commercial interference, debunking myths, taking control of the application process, what makes for good education, embracing “studenthood,” and guidance for students and parents.
Simons hopes that Thacker will be able to make a difference in the way the Paly community regards the application process.
“He [Thacker] is passionate about reforming a system that has become oriented towards ‘performing,’ checking every box you think admissions people care about, rather than real learning, which is following your passion and taking risks, exploring, and having fun,” Simons said. “That’s the way school should be.”
Simons advises those that are interested in hearing Thacker speak to arrive early, as she expects a large turnout.
Thacker will also speak to juniors during the rescheduled advisory on Friday, presenting a short version of Thursday’s talk with a focus on the importance of finding the right fit in a college.