From the University of Texas
at Austin, KUT Radio,
this is In Black America.
No, you're not starting late.
I think high school is the
perfect time to be mindful because
a lot of parents and I'm on
the cusp of becoming one myself.
A lot of parents, You want to do
everything you can to help your
child grow and succeed.
But sometimes that does require you
to check yourself and ask, Am
I doing too much?
Because when we have 40% of
millennials who are not financially
independent and rely on mom and dad
for financial assistance, and again,
it's a tough economy where you have
33% of Gen Z, ages 18
to 24 who are neither
going to work nor going
to school.
We have to ask ourselves is what is
inhibiting them from launching on
their own? And so it's never too
late to start thinking about the
long term picture.
It's just a call to action to be
mindful of as you're getting ready
to send someone off
to school or that journey to get
them to that point is, am I going to
actually help them reach that goal?
Greg Kaplan, founder of the Kaplan
Educational Group and author
of The Journey: How to Prepare
Kids for a Competitive and Changing
World.
Kaplan, an internationally
recognized college admissions
strategist, has assisted
hundreds of high school seniors and
over 1000 underclassmen reached
their educational and career
potential.
Kaplan draws on experience as an
investment banker and lawyer to tie
one's education to their long
term goals.
In his book The Journey, Kaplan
provides valuable information for
parents and young people
and encourages families to work
together in healthy ways to prepare
their child for their next steps.
He paints a realistic picture of the
lack of preparedness among today's
youth, using stories of parents
and students who have struggled and
succeeded.
I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and
welcome to another edition of In
Black America.
On this week's program, The Journey
with Greg Kaplan In
Black America.
Where one goes to college, is not
who they will become.
And there's not one college that has
a monopoly on the path to success.
I tell everyone we work with and I
write about this in the book.
I had better job prospects
coming out of an unranked law school
at the time, which was UC Irvine,
than I did coming out of the Wharton
School business at Penn.
And so I'm not a school
snob. And I think there's so much
pressure and I think a lot of
parents think if my kid goes to
fill in the name of the blank fancy
school, that they'll be set for
life. That's not how it works.
It's about making the most of that.
There are more graduate from San
Jose State University, the
university that some of the audience
may have never even heard of before
working in Silicon Valley than
there are from the entire Ivy League
put together.
And I think we need to have these
kinds of conversations.
Let's do your best, but make this
process work for you.
Today, our young people face an
increasing medley of challenges as
they pursue higher education.
The rising cost of tuition, daunting
prospective student debt, and a
talented and competitive applicant
pool.
After a decade of preparing students
for the ever more difficult
admission process.
College counselor Greg Kaplan How
parents would stop thinking
What should I do to get my child
into a good college?
And instead ask, How can I
best prepare my child for what comes
next?
In his book The Journey, Kaplan uses
his knowledge as an investment
banker and lawyer to help parents
and students navigate the minefield
of college admission.
Kaplan goes beyond the
well-documented college admission
madness and cuts to the core
of parental anxiety.
The Living, a definitive guide that
shares what parents can do
to help their child make the most
of the opportunities they will
encounter in the future.
Recently In Black America spoke with
Greg Kaplan.
I was born in Tucson, Arizona,
raised in San Diego, California.
And I've always lived, I guess
besides college, always lived to hit
close to the border of Mexico.
And the standing that you
have a background in banking and
economics.
Sure. Yeah. I studied finance
at the University of Pennsylvania,
worked on Wall Street, burnt out
in the most spectacular fashion you
can imagine at the ripe age of 25,
waking up in a hospital, being told
to kind of get my life together by a
cardiologist in a foreign country,
and then ended up going to law
school. And that's where I started
the Kaplan Educational, where we
help students figure out how to make
the most of their journey to college
and career.
And what sparked that interest in
assisting young people in
the journey to be whatever they
want to be in life?
You know, I think it comes from
being a from a very young age.
My mom grew up in an abusive
household where
not only was it abusive, but women
weren't allowed to pursue any form
of education.
And so it was as a young age,
it was education was always
instilled in us is such a privilege.
It's a gift and it's something we
need to make the most of.
And with that mindset, I
remember showing up to my to my
senior year of high school guidance
counselor. And when it's time
to apply to college at a stack of
applications and my and I asked
my counselor.
Asking to help her as she could.
Help me. Excuse me.
And what she said to me was, I have
1100 other students.
I went to the largest public high
school in the state of California at
the time. And I just go
to community college and save your
parents a ton of money.
And it was
kind of a slap in the face to
everything that I had been working
so hard for my whole life.
And this responsibility, I had to
get an education.
And so I figured out how to
tell my story to earn admission to
college. And that was something I
did with law school and something
that I just gosh, I really enjoy
that process of figuring oneself
out as it relates to getting into
college. And here I am.
That's what I do all day, every day
for other people.
Obviously you had an
experience that obviously
touched you to the point that you
wanted to help other individuals.
Why an important one
that you wrote this book, but prior
to answering that question, there
are other literature that you've
done before. Talk to us about that
before you answer the first
question.
Sure. So I went
to law school without really
knowing what I wanted to do as a
lawyer.
And I,
on the first day of law school,
realized, gosh, this is in for me.
And I felt very lost.
And so I spent the three years of
law school trying to really figure
out what it is that made me happy or
what am I good at. And I arrived at
the answer of I'm really good at
getting into school.
Getting school paid for because I
have full scholarship to law school
and getting jobs that everyone else
wants that I just don't like.
So that made me ask, why don't
I write a book about how to get into
college? And my first book called
Earning Admission Real Strategies
for Getting into Highly Selective
Colleges. I self-published it and
I ended up writing about, you know,
for particularly for the
Asian-American community, concerns
about being overrepresented at
selective, selective universities,
about how do you write about your
identity and college applications.
And people started calling me asking
if I'd work with their kids.
And even though that was a business
and I said, sure.
And, you know, you know,
that was in 2016.
And over the last seven
years until I wrote the Journey,
what I noticed was that I saw
behavior patterns and challenges
that young people, even if they were
getting if they were being admitted
to the University of Texas at Austin
or Stanford or Harvard,
that there were serious challenges
that they were facing that I
thought could potentially inhibit
them from being a healthy,
happy and financially independent
adult. And so I wrote
the journey to encourage
both students and their families
to take a long term view on what
does it take to be a healthy, happy
and financially independent adult.
And making sure that the parents are
supporting their their kids in
healthy ways and that kids are
taking the initiative to grow
into the people that they want to
become.
Are we starting late,
late being that
student and parents?
The child is in high school and
they're considering a college
four years down the road.
No, you're not starting late.
I think high school is
the perfect time to be mindful
because a lot of parents
and I'm on the cusp of becoming one
myself. A lot of parents, you want
to do everything you can
to help your child grow
and succeed.
But sometimes that does require you
to check yourself and ask, Am I
doing too much?
Because when we have 40% of
millennials who are not financially
independent and rely on mom and dad
for financial assistance, and again,
it's a tough economy, or you have
33% of Gen Z ages 18
to 24 who are neither
going to work nor going
to school.
We have to ask ourselves what is
inhibiting them from launching on
their own. And so it's never too
late to start thinking about the
long term picture.
It's just a call to action to be
mindful of as you're getting ready
to send someone off
to school or that journey to get
them to that point is, am I going to
actually help them reach that goal?
Now, where do you start that
process?
I would say when you're heading
off to high school and when you're
signing up for classes for freshman
year, it's, you know, we're at the
start of a new school year.
It's maybe a month or so in at the
time of this conversation is,
am I letting my kid figure out how
to do their homework on their own?
Am I encouraging them to
develop grit?
Am I encouraging them to develop
leadership skills and by encouraging
them to develop and discover their
passions rather than
just asking like, how do I get my
kid into Rice or Northwestern
University?
What kinds of conversations are we
having with ourselves and our kids?
And so it's never too late.
Even if have a child who's a senior
in high school, this is still an
appropriate conversation to have.
It's never too late to have.
Obviously, at a young age, these
young people don't know really what
they want to do.
But should they have some kind of
idea what they want to get out of
life?
We're in an era of immense
change, and
that's okay. And I think there's so
much pressure on young people to
say, I don't have it all figured
out. And that gives them so much
anxiety and that is fair.
But I think a better way to reframe
it is what kinds of skills
or perspective can I be gaining
right now that will allow me
when I do figure out what I want out
of life? That I'll be able to do it.
And it's never too late to start
or early to start discovering it,
because when I have a young person
in my office, this is I'm thinking
about becoming a doctor.
It's okay. Why don't we start
volunteering at a hospital and see
if you like that?
Because if you don't like it, that's
okay.
And if you do like it, let's find
other ways for you to develop that.
So it's okay not to know
what we want to do when we grow up.
But what's not okay is not to make
any efforts to try to figure out
what we like and just importantly,
what we don't like.
I assume that the anxiety level
is is high, considering
certain students want to go to
certain institutions and that may
not be what happens.
How do you how do you navigate
through what you want
to do and what you're able to do as
far as attending the college of your
choice?
Great question.
I'm so glad you asked that.
Where one goes to college is not
who they will become.
And there is not one college that
has a monopoly on the path to
success. I tell every school we work
with and I write about this in the
book. I had better job prospects
coming out of an unranked law school
at the time, which was UC Irvine,
than I did coming out of the Warren
School of Business at Penn.
And so I'm not a school
snob. And I think there's so much
pressure and I think a lot of
parents think if my kid goes
to fill in the name of the blank
fancy school, that they'll be set
for life. That's not how it works.
It's about making the most of that.
There are more graduates from
San Jose State University, the
university that some of the audience
may have never even heard of before
working in Silicon Valley than
there are from the entire Ivy League
put together. And I think we need to
have these kinds of conversations.
Let's do your best to make this
process work for you, because once
you adopt that mindset, it does take
off so much of the pressure and it
lessens the anxiety because if
the anxiety is, I'm not going to be
successful unless I go to that
school, that's not true.
Obviously, the cost of a
college degree is is
more expensive than it has been
in years past.
Is that a consideration
in this process?
It should be.
It absolutely should be, because
student loans and the
trillions of dollars that Americans
hold in it are inhibiting
them from chasing their dreams.
It's very hard to go start
a business or to go pursue
higher education or to potentially
consider buying a home as
expensive as that is today in 2024.
When you have significant
student loans. So I think part of
this discussion for college and
where we're applying to should also
be what makes financial sense.
For me, as a 17
year old today and for my parents
and also for the type of life I want
to be living when I'm 25, 35,
45, and being honest with
ourselves about the return on
investment. So we do need to be
mindful about the cost.
And when we think about a college
education, it's an investment of
time of also financial resources.
One way to maximize that investment
is to decrease the cost.
Now, you articulated that when
you went to a guidance counselor
while you're in high school.
Obviously that individual
didn't have time to to to
talk to you about your
future choices.
High schools able to
to to give students
some good advice as far
as leading them towards the
knowledgeable conclusion of
what they want to do with their life
and colleges they want to attain.
There are some amazing guidance
counselors out there, and they're
amazing public, private, parochial
schools.
I think today what schools
are feeling so much stress
with the mental health crisis that's
plaguing young Americans today
and in the shortfalls
that became very pronounced
during the pandemic with Curriculum
Foundation. So I think a lot of
counselors every day are
doing triage with students to make
sure that they're healthy and that
they're going to graduate high
school. And as a result, that the
journey to college sometimes takes a
back seat.
And I'm not blaming schools
whatsoever. I think they're doing
everything we can and they're being
asked to do too much.
And there are so many attacks on
school administrators over
curriculum in the culture wars, over
book bands and things like that.
And so I think it's
I don't I don't know if schools have
the bandwidth.
And so it really does become
important for families to take the
lead on this because
we can't assume that the school
counselors, while they may have your
kids best interests at heart, just
may not have the ability to have
these types of conversations just by
the nature of what schools
are facing today.
Yeah, I understand.
It was just joining us.
I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and you're
listening to In Black America from
KUT Radio.
And we're speaking with Greg Kaplan,
founder of Capital Education
Group and author of The Journey: How
to Prepare Kids for a Competitive
and Changing World.
Mr. Kaplan, when you look back
at your experience and looking
at today's students,
when should individuals start
taking those tests?
The ACT and the SAT.
I'm glad you bring that up because
there's a lot of confusion today
about the ACTU, the ACTU.
And the first is, should my child
even take it to begin with?
Some schools.
Particularly the most selective
school United States think the Ivies
and the schools in the South, like
the University of Georgia or Georgia
Tech. These schools have
re-introduced testing
requirements as part of their
admissions process to even be
admitted. But what I always tell
folks is that the
city or city are one of the primary
factors for merit scholarships at
universities that offer it, because
colleges are ranked in large part
on their incoming class average for
test scores.
And so if you are concerned about
the cost of college, which everyone
should be given, how expensive is
today? One of the best ways to
minimize the cost of it is by
getting a test score that is above
the average of that school.
And so we encourage every student
that we work with at a minimum, to
take a diagnostic S.A.T.
or AZT when they are
taking Algebra two or integrated
math three.
If they're on a Common Core
curriculum, that could be in 10th
grade, that could be in 11th grade.
So it depends on the math foundation
of the of the student or the
applicant. And if
they want to go to a very selective
school, they should plan on studying
for it, because 75% of students
who apply to selective universities
submit a test scores.
And again, it is one of the primary
factors for merit scholarships.
And so on the subject of cost.
A student who gets a 1400
on the S.A.T. or 32 on the A.C.T.
can go to the University of Alabama
with a, I believe, $30,000
merit scholarship per year
automatically. The same is true with
the University of Arizona.
So the tuition is now even for
out-of-state applicants, less than
$3,000 per year.
And so I always tell students
there's very little we can do unless
I become a famous tik-tok influencer
where they could spend 100 hours
studying for test and maybe pay for
100,000 plus or more college.
So I think it's a really good use of
time.
As you say that.
What are the courses that
students should consider taking
if they're going to go to college?
You remember when I was in high
school to college prep courses,
but there are other courses nowadays
that students would need
to take in order to increase the
chances of actually attending
college.
That is different for every single
school here in California.
There are an aide through G.
We use letters Acer G,
A's, history, B is English, so
on and so on. And so it depends
on your goals.
But what I would say is
the California state standards
for college admission work
for every single state in the United
States because they're the most
stringent, because the University of
California system is receive
the most applicants.
So the standards in terms of the
specific courses.
So that's four years of English.
That's three years of math.
That's two years of a lab science,
two years of a world language.
Those are really great standards.
Three years of a history,
one year of an hour.
And that's what we tell all students
to do.
The elephant in the room is race.
Now that most colleges and
universities can't use race as part
of their mission criteria,
how is that changing the landscape
of what you do in overall
institutions of higher learning?
I'm glad you asked that question.
The U.S.
Department of Education.
So we're having this conversation
and we're recording this in
September of 2024.
And the Department of Education,
the role of race in college
admissions. Affirmative action was
deemed constitutionally
impermissible by
the current U.S.
Supreme Court, overturning
over 25 years of jurisprudence
where it was deemed permissible
because of the value that
diversity plays in higher education.
And it was hard to see the data
that just came out in the last 30
days that showed enrollment
of historically underrepresented
backgrounds, particularly
African-Americans and Hispanic
Americans, has fallen precipitously
at top, you know, at the most
selective university.
And so what I
tell folks, and this is also
true by a ballot box
initiative in 1996,
in California, when voters
went to the polls to vote against
using affirmative action in
undergraduate education.
So we are seeing declines
in enrollments.
The groups that I think
stand to benefit the most from
having policies designed to
make sure that that these
universities reflect the broader
makeup of our country.
And I think you're going to see
those declines continue,
which is going to undermine
the integrity of these universities.
I think with what's been going on
with all these campus protests over,
you know, the response to the
terrorist attack in Israel is
that colleges are very
scared to come out and make any
political statements whatsoever.
Right now, the University of
Pennsylvania at Harvard both banned
any form of a response to any
political circumstances
that don't affect the universities
because of the protests that have
happened. So I think colleges are
being very cautious.
There are certain special interest
groups that are committed to
abolishing any form of considering
race in life.
They're the ones that brought the
lawsuit to end affirmative action
there. They're under constant threat
of being sued by these groups.
We're now going to be targeting law
firms, investment banks.
And. And I think we need to be.
What what this says is like,
you know, there are I have
my opinions and
others may disagree, but
what I think this makes is so
important is if we are committed
to making sure that everyone
has a fair shake.
Getting into these universities is
that, again, it's going to come down
to families to make sure that
they're more prepared.
Because I don't think we can assume
that colleges are going to be able
to go to the lengths that they've
done in the past to ensure that
everyone has access to schools.
So we may have to work a little
harder. And I don't.
I think that, you
know, some.
And again, the audience,
like you and I may say that that's
and that's that's unfortunate.
And others on the other side of this
issue might say, well that's you
know, this is what we believe in is
fair.
I think it just again, it puts the
responsibility on us and we're going
to just have to work a little harder
to make sure that as a society
we can still maintain this.
And so I think rather
than be discouraged by these
changes, I think which forces us to
double down and work a little harder
and and I and I hope folks
rise to the moment, even if it
doesn't feel fair.
And the stand, I guess,
is an individual choice.
Would you suggest individual
student, high school students maybe
take a half year off or a year off
prior to going to college
or should have just to be a
continual.
You know, in Europe, gap years
are quite common.
And I and the
the folks I went to college with
particularly year off I think had
such a stronger sense of self going
into college and got so much more
out. I'll be honest, I didn't know
myself at 18 and so going
to college was awesome as it was.
I think a six months or a year
probably would have allowed me.
Empowered me to get so much more out
of it. So I think for for folks who
are willing to take a gap year, it's
a fantastic opportunity to grow and
make the most of college.
You can apply to college, get in
and request a gap year.
As long as you are not proposing you
do something illegal.
I go join a cartel or, you know,
whatever it is. Acquiring something.
Where is that?
You can they're going to grant it
because typically schools want
to see students grow before they
show up. So or you could take a year
off, figure out life and then apply.
So we are very pro
gap year as an organization because
I think it allows young people to
gain a lot more life experience to
get the most out of college.
Is an addendum to to that that
question.
Individuals who have not
been away from their parents for any
length of time, how
well do they do once they
go off to college?
Or is is that even a consideration?
I think this goes back to that
earlier point about that I was
raising about knowing when to hold
back as a parent is that
in this era of.
You know, it's not helicopter
parenting anymore.
It's snowplow parenting where it's
you remove every single obstacle
from a child's path can
be function in the real world.
Dropout rates are increasing in
colleges because young people aren't
equipped to deal with the
challenges. I think it's getting
kids ready when they're at the tail
end of high school to go off and be
somewhat semi-independent adults in
university. That's really, really
important to make sure that they are
equipped.
Mr. Kaplan, well, one comes to
you for advice.
One of the some of the first things
that you try to ascertain from them,
and it says.
The first question I ask every young
person is not where do they want to
go to college? It's what do you see
yourself doing in ten years?
What do you see yourself up to?
What do you think would make you
happy? And the reason why it's like
it's okay not to know what you want
to do, but if we are not thinking
about developing skills and the
perspective we need to make
this journey work for them when they
graduate at 22, they may be lost.
And to me that is a bigger challenge
than are they going to college.
So that's what I'm always trying to
ascertain.
And then also it's making sure that
they're engaging in experiences that
I think will allow them to grow to
do well in the college admissions
process and in life.
So we tell all young people that
in the three.
The three tenets of the journey
are grit, leadership, passion.
We are encouraging every young
person to get a part time job
so they can develop career and learn
how to deal with the real world.
We're encouraging every young person
to get involved in their community
through service because that's the
way they can become leaders.
And then we're encouraging every
young person to explore their
interests so they can start figuring
out what they want to do in life.
And then their education starts to
come in to focus.
Besides the academic pursuit
that obviously these
young people are going through
in high school, are there any
of the activities that will put
them in good stead with them
when they go off to college?
As far as good activities.
Above and beyond, like the three
major food groups, great leadership,
passion, I would
say colleges love
to see when young people take
community college classes in
the summers as a way to enhance
their transcript and show that
they're going deeper into their
academic interest.
That's a great way for a young
person that may want to be an
engineer or go into broadcast
journalism taking a communication
class. So do I like this?
Do I not like this? Are colleges
love that?
I mean, I think colleges really do
like to see when it comes to being
involved in your community, to be a
leader, you don't need to be student
council president or team captain of
a sport.
You do need to be growing
in your own way.
And so there's no set requirement
of activities or types of
activities.
The ones that make sense for who
you're trying to become.
And that's why it's so important to
be thoughtful about what it
is that I'm seeking to do as part of
this process.
A couple more questions Mr. Kaplan,
is there any one or a couple of
things that give you pause when
these young people and parents come
to you?
I think the obsession over name
brand universities always gives me
pause because this mentality
that if I go to X school,
I have to go to X school to to do Y
thing in life. That's not true.
And I think that's what creates so
much anxiety.
I think what we're seeing a
lot of now, and that's all I've been
doing with this week, is you have
students who the
D get a tough math class or tough
English class, and they just want to
drop out. They're just like, I can't
be in something that's super
challenging because it's
it's it's it's too stressful.
It's one thing to say I need to go
down to a lower
level class if I'm not prepared
for an upper level one.
But to sit there and say like, I
don't want to face any type of
adversity, I'm worried.
Are we losing the ability to
persevere?
Because, again, I respect
the stress that comes with that we
need to address with mental
health. But I don't think there's a
license to say let's just remove
every challenge in life.
Speaking of stress, obviously
there were some problems with, I
guess, the financial assistance
or aid program that the government
rolled. How is this basically
stressing out parents to get
that information in and also
get a resolution of
their requests?
Absolutely. Great question.
Last year, the Department
of Education rolled out a new
platform for applying for financial
aid, and that's called FAFSA.
And Fafsa, as a
result of it being so
delayed, a lot of folks didn't know
if they were going to qualify for a
for need based financial aid at the
universities that they were applying
to. And so colleges did work
longer to make sure and give
extensions for students to work
with the universities to determine
if they would be eligible for
financial aid.
I hope those kinks have been worked
out this year.
The new the system,
the worked on it this year it's
being relaunched in the fall and
we're just going to have to wait and
see.
Greg Kaplan, founder of the Kaplan
Educational Group and author
up The Journey: How to Prepare
Kids for a Competitive and Changing
World.
And if you have questions, comments
or suggestions as to the future In
Black America programs, email
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those of this station or of
the University of Texas at Austin.
Until we have the opportunity again
for technical producer David
Alvarez, I'm John L.
Hanson Jr.
Thank you for joining us today.
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