Newsletters
This is the last email - February 16, 2022
I'm sending the most recent edition of Next once again. As I mentioned last time, we recently changed the email address (and platform) for this...Read More
Did I already send you this email? - February 1, 2022
Thanks for reading Next. Recently, we changed the email address this newsletter is coming from. As a result, it may now land in a different folder...Read More
3-Year Degree | Gap Year That Wasn’t | Future Campus Library - December 9, 2021
☕️ Good morning, and thanks for reading NEXT. If someone forwarded this to you, please subscribe here.🚗 Test drive a new version of...Read More
As California Goes, So Goes the Nation? - November 23, 2021
🦃It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States, so this will be a shorter than normal edition of NEXT. Enjoy the holiday.Announcements🖥 The...Read More
The Money and Prestige Issue - November 15, 2021
Earlier this month, I was in New Haven, CT to talk about college admissions with a class of undergrads at Yale. The course on education policy and...Read More
Making Sense of It All - October 27, 2021
In the summer of 1995, I was on a Pulliam Fellowship at The Arizona Republic covering personal technology for the business section. It was the...Read More
Knowing the Why of Admissions - September 28, 2021
One question I get often since Who Gets In and Why was released last year is why the three colleges where I was embedded for the book let me inside...Read More
What the Fall of 2020 Means for the Autumns Ahead - September 16, 2021
Earlier this month, with temperatures still well in the 80s in Washington, D.C., I had to decide whether I should purchase a ski pass for the winter...Read More
Student Success and Pembroke University - August 31, 2021
Last week, I binged on the new Netflix series “The Chair,” staring Sandra Oh. Universities rarely are the setting for dramas, unlike hospitals...Read More
An August of Books About College—Debt, Athletics, and Getting In - July 27, 2021
Forget about “if it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.” For the next month, it should be “if it’s Tuesday, it must be a new book on higher...Read More
The Return of ‘Animal House’ this Fall? - June 29, 2021
BREAKING NEWS: 2U, the ed-tech company that partners with universities to put their programs...Read More
Free Mozzarella Sticks or a College Degree? - June 10, 2021
The headline in yesterday’s print edition of the New York Times caught the eye of a college president who emailed me before dawn: “Employers...Read More
Learning, Streaming, and the Creator Economy - May 26, 2021
My latest television obsession is HBO’s Mare of Easttown, and rather than wait this one out and stream seven episodes at once, we’re now...Read More
While Colleges Weren’t Looking - May 13, 2021
While Colleges Weren't Looking
While colleges and universities have been focused on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic the last 15 months,...Read More
The Post-Pandemic Gen Z - April 29, 2021
Three years ago, I wrote a report on Gen Z for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Born starting around 1995, the arrival of this new generation on...Read More
Growing the Highly Rejectives - April 20, 2021
Over the last month, the most selective colleges and universities in the U.S. released their admissions decisions for a spot in their Class of 2025....Read More
When Predictions Fail - March 30, 2021
With daily signs of momentum in the effort to vaccinate adults in the U.S., we’re beginning to see the other side of this pandemic. And with that...Read More
A Year and Change - March 10, 2021
President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for National Airport in 1940.
On Saturday, the image above popped up as a “memory” on...Read More
The End of Spring Break? - February 16, 2021
Welcome to the latest issue of Next, where today we look at how the pandemic might change one of the most hallowed of college traditions: the...Read More
The Hybrid Campus | Are Smaller Colleges Better? - January 28, 2021
Welcome to the latest issue of Next, where today we're focused on the hybrid university of the future and what those student-faculty ratios...Read More
What Matters for College Students (and Colleges) in this Economy - January 19, 2021
The academic calendar is very different for college students this year, but one thing remains the same: the spring semester is when many will be...Read More
Good Riddance 2020. Now, What’s Next in 2021? - January 8, 2021
Good Riddance 2020. Now, What's Next in 2021?
After the year that just ended, I think the predictions market is dead for now. I certainly won’t...Read More
Finding Life in College - December 18, 2020
In today’s newsletter:When it comes to college, what really matters.The latest data on college enrollment and early admissions.And how colleges...Read More
The High Cost of Cultivating Potential in Our Kids - December 8, 2020
?Students aren’t the only ones going into debt to pay for college. So, too, are parents.Some $101 billion in loans to parents are outstanding...Read More
The Future of Testing - November 23, 2020
In the U.S., it’s Thanksgiving week. While I’m sure 2020 is a year most of us will want to forget, I’m thankful to all of you for your support...Read More
When the Numbers are Wrong - November 5, 2020
It’s two days after Election Day 2020, and with no clear winner yet in the presidential race, like many of you I’ve been playing with different...Read More
What’s the Post-Pandemic Future of Higher Ed? - October 30, 2020
With the high school graduating Class of 2021 in the throes of the college application process—Early Decision and Early Action deadlines are next...Read More
What’s Going on with College Enrollment - October 17, 2020
What's Going on with College Enrollment
Over the last few weeks, as I’ve zoomed into virtual events with high-school students, parents,...Read More
Two Years and a Week - September 26, 2020
This past week, admissions officers, high school counselors, and independent college counselors gathered for the annual meeting of the National...Read More
Here’s What to Know about Applying to College This Year - September 19, 2020
Here's What to Know about Applying to College This Year
Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions has been out for five days. The New...Read More
One Week from Today - September 8, 2020
I'm glad that you've come to this newsletter for the content about what's next for higher ed. So, I hope you'll excuse this one message today...Read More
How Colleges are Like the Airlines - September 6, 2020
When you hear the term "yield management," you probably think of airlines or hotels. Both sectors constantly look at their numbers to figure out...Read More
A Most Unusual Admissions Season Begins - August 26, 2020
? There’s no official start to the college application season, but if you’re going to pick a day, you might as well choose August 1. That’s...Read More
One Month from Today - August 15, 2020
Yesterday afternoon, three boxes containing copies of my new book arrived from Simon & Schuster. To hold a book in my hands was the tangible...Read More
New Rules, Same Playing Field - August 4, 2020
Welcome to August. Over the weekend, I was in the Container Store in Washington, D.C. Normally at this time of year, a quarter of the store would be...Read More
RIP, the Father of All that College Mail - July 17, 2020
? On LinkedIn Live:Today at 2 p.m. ET, I’ll be talking about what the world of work will look like on the other side of the pandemic.My guests:...Read More
Plan, Replan, Repeat - June 30, 2020
? Tomorrow is July 1—the unofficial date by when many campuses plan to announce their reopening strategies for the fall semester.Think about...Read More
Tuition Pricing for the Fall - June 12, 2020
? Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered my forthcoming book with the goodies offered in the last newsletter. That deal is still valid, and since...Read More
Slow Walking to the Fall | A Book Offer - May 29, 2020
In a little more than 100 days, Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, will be released. It's now available for pre-order...Read More
If You Reopen It, Will They Come? - May 1, 2020
Colleges want to open their campuses for in-person instruction this fall. That's because the alternatives, whatever they might be—everything from...Read More
Autumn, Fall, Heartache - April 21, 2020
No matter whether you call it autumn or fall, the portion of the year that starts in a few months is causing major heartache for colleges.What...Read More
The 3 Questions Campuses Are Now Asking - April 5, 2020
Good afternoon. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and staying strong.?A month ago today—March 5—I was in South Florida speaking to...Read More
Coronavirus—What’s Next for Admissions and Higher Ed - March 28, 2020
Yes, it’s Saturday. And, yes, you typically get my newsletter on Tuesday. I don’t know about you, but every day now seems the same. As...Read More
A New (Temporary?) Normal for Higher Ed - March 17, 2020
“The task at hand...is enormous, complex, and unprecedented in American higher education.”That might sound like a line from a news article about...Read More
For Student Success, Mind the Gap - March 5, 2020
In this week's newsletter: The pressure is on colleges and universities to retain and graduate students. Student success has moved from the...Read More
What Is Merit and How Should We Measure It? - February 18, 2020
College admissions has long been described as a mix of art and science, as a balance between marketing and mission. Right now, given the financial...Read More
It’s Affordability, Stupid - February 4, 2020
It's Affordability, Stupid
The coming decline in the number of high-school graduates might be grabbing all the headlines, but there’s a related...Read More
What Do We Mean by Higher Education? - January 21, 2020
The Love Boat. Walmart. The electric company. They have nothing in common except they were the thread that tied together a week’s worth of...Read More
3 Things to Watch for in 2020 and Beyond - January 7, 2020
Welcome to 2020. It's a year that has long been used as a marker of "the future." It has fueled reports on what’s in store for higher ed (and...Read More