Things I've learned at NACAC so far...

Here's a snapshot of what I've learned so far at the annual National Association for College Admissions Counseling conference.

• Generation Z (or whatever you want to call it) is the largest segment of our population. Among other things, they tend to learn in 10 minute segments (thanks to YouTube), they are more interested in designing their own majors, and are looking for schools that can teach entrepreneurship or how to start their own business.
• 86% of current college students report feeling overwhelmed at school; 59% feel lonely, while 42% say they often feel hopeless.
• 40% of college student drink excessively; 16% meet the criteria for an alcohol disorder.
• (I hope I get this right) The amount of information we take in doubles every 18 months, but the amount of information coming at us doubles every 9 months.
• 93% of employers think the key skills (often called soft skills) are more important that a student's major. Those include things like critical thinking, intercultural skills, written and oral communication, the ability to solve complex problems.

Additionally, early action may not be all that it's cracked up to be (http://bit.ly/1j5hIAj) and the majority of school counselors that I've spoken with are not fans of the new application created by the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success (http://bit.ly/1O0wX8R).  Concerns range from the tremendous amount of stress this will put on already stressed out students, how will colleges be able to keep up with the demands on their time (critiquing portfolios), and privacy issues. And the main question is "Is this really about access?"  More comments to come, I'm sure.