The official e-newsletter of The Equestrian College Advisor.

From the blog:

The folks at The Chronicle of the Horse recently sent around a survey to discern their readers’ favorite horse products and brands in advance of publishing their readers’ choice issue later this summer. Participants were invited to pick their favorite brands and products and even share why they did so – basically a popularity contest for a lot of equine supplies, from tack to apparel to shampoos and clippers.

Having initial conversations with high school sophomores and juniors about potential colleges is a lot like that survey, I find – which is to say that, in the early going, it’s basically a popularity contest when I have students start naming schools. Read More

What do you do when your dream school is too expensive?

Sometimes you enroll in a different school.

Frustration…we all feel it when things don’t go the way that we think they should, when we feel that our requests are not being met, when we fail to master a task. Frustration in any form is irritating and generally a bother, but what we do in the face of frustration is what defines our character. Read More

We all ride horses probably for very similar reasons, chief among them being that we love them. Is loving horses enough to make this crazy hobby into a full-blown career?

Frankly? No. It’s not enough.

The Summer Reading ListSummer vacation: no school, fun with friends, maybe a trip or two, and perhaps a part-time job. What could be better?Before you fill too many hours of your day on vacation, be sure to carve out a little time to add some summer reading to the list. No, we’re not talking about reading all of War and Peace and the complete works of William Shakespeare, nor is it a matter of reading a lot of lengthy and dry titles just to sound smarter for your college applications. It is important that you do a little reading, however, for three main reasons:

1. It keeps your brain engaged – which will make going back to school easier in the fall! (No joke – “summer slide,” which is a loss of academic ability/knowledge over the course of summer break – is an actual documented phenomenon. Don’t fall victim to it!)

2. It’s a good habit to get into. After all, your college coursework will be far more reading-intensive than your high school curriculum is, so if you get into the routine of reading now, you’ll make the transition with far less struggle.

3. It really does look good on your college applications. In fact, many colleges and universities ask reading-related questions in the essay portion of their applications or will ask these questions during in-person or phone interviews. Again, you don’t have to read classic pieces of literature if you don’t want to – it’s doubtful that you’ll be quizzed on the works of Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters – but you should pick pieces that genuinely interest you and be prepared to explain why you made the selections.

Not everyone likes to read, of course, and not everyone has an easy time with the process. But reading is a vital part of being a successful college student and the education one obtains from books is different from that of all other sources (magazines, online media, etc.). So if you’re not a big reader, start with just one book this summer – one book with a premise that interests you – and see where it can take you. It might just lead to a second book – or a third or fourth!

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