"Learning By Doing:" Maker Movement Produces Positive Change in Chinese Educational Culture

The maker movement is a very positive development in education in China, and parallels the rise of innovation labs at United States colleges. For the past several years, schools like MIT, Stanford, and Harvard have touted themselves as hotbeds for entrepreneurially minded students. In the not so distant past, if you were a creator or an entrepreneur, you would be inclined to drop out of school. With stories about Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of their schools becoming so popular, and more and more technological innovation on the horizon, institutions of higher education have had to find a way to keep pace.

Thus, these universities have created centers for entrepreneurship, startup accelerators, innovation labs, and other great resources to foster collaboration and creative thinking among the student body. While these are not exactly like the “maker centers” that are sprouting up across China, they too are platforms where students can satisfy their intellectual curiosity in a non-classroom setting and build something tangible. Recently, these schools have sought to admit students who fit the profile of an “innovator.” Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean someone from a technical background who designs products; rather, it means someone who is committed to the development of ideas and has the wherewithal to follow through and see those ideas to fruition. Those types of candidates are particularly impressive to admissions offices, especially when their ideas are unique and impactful. And, this isn’t just a short-lived trend. This will likely always be a strong way to impress admissions officers or even job interviewers. There is no better way to demonstrate your work ethic and ability than to actually make one of your ideas happen.

“Maker” education centers in China have marketed themselves to students of all ages ranging from 3 to 18 and including such tasks as soldering a wristwatch to building a robotic car with a Bluetooth control. Students are using “maker spaces” for any creative endeavor whether it’s 3D printing, robotics, or cooking. These centers, or “maker spaces” have sprouted up all over Chin and not just in Beijing and Shanghai, but also in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Chengdu, and many other cities. In 2014, the Chinese Ministry of Education sponsored a collaboration between Intel, Tsinghua University, and the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made a well-publicized visit to Chaihuo Makerspace in Shenzhen.  He commented on his visit that “Makers have revealed the incredible entrepreneurship and creativity of the people. . . this kind of vitality and creativity will be an inexhaustible engine for China’s future economic growth.”

Still yet, Chinese parents have been reluctant to buy into the principle of “learning through doing,” or in this case, “learning through making.” Many parents are singularly focused on results, and are impatient in allowing students to build up the kind of courage and resilience that will be necessary to their future success, and of course, the achievement of results in the first place. Results are not automatic, and there are no shortcuts to them. In the context of building a student’s candidacy for college admissions, this pressure mounts even more. However, parents who want to see their kids earn admission to the top schools in the United States should be patient with the process. Those parents need to remember that Rome wasn't built in a day.

For younger students, these types of classes are great ways to stimulate their intellectual curiosity and get them on track toward immersion in technical subjects. For many students, seeing tangible progress in their work and experiencing the feeling of having completed and built something that they envisioned on their own is priceless in triggering the kind of academic engagement that will make them standout students down the road. For another group of students (generally older students), maker classes represent another avenue by which they can attempt to produce something that is more than a simple line-item on a resume. It’s an opportunity to build something unique that is an expression of a student’s own individuality and passion.

The “Maker” movement builds on a timeless theory of education that is rooted in the Socratic method of not spoonfeeding students answers but rather providing them with resources and guidance to arrive at the answers on their own. This theory has seen a resurgence in the “experiential learning” movement in the United States, which has even found its way into government programs such as Learn and Serve America. Generally, classes that find a way to connect textbook knowledge to tangible achievement and real-world application engage students more and develop much deeper levels of interest.

The “Maker movement” very much comports with InGenius’s unique candidacy building philosophy, and can fit in very well with a student’s academic mentorship/internship plans. For instance, if one of our Candidacy Building students wanted to start building a robot at one of these Maker centers, his personal former admissions officer might suggest that he do so under the guidance of one of InGenius’s Academic Mentors who is a professor at MIT.

As the Maker movement continues to catch on in China, it is important to understand that reflection and engagement are critical components of “learning by doing.” Just showing up isn’t enough. Students need to think critically about what it is they are doing, why they like or dislike it, and how that interest might push them forward in other pursuits.

The Road to 1L: What to Do After the June LSAT

If you're wondering what to do after taking the June LSAT, here's a great law school admissions roadmap for you that I wrote for the Above the Law Career Blog.

I'll give you the abridged version here:

1. Decide whether (and why) you're going to retake the LSAT in October).

2. Get started on your law school applications or the components thereof if the actual applications aren't available yet (which they won't be in most cases) - you should really get an early jump on brainstorming and writing out some early drafts of your personal statement. In order to write a successful personal statement, you will have to engage in a lot of reflection and then turn that reflection into great writing. That requires time and effort...and then more time...and more effort. Don't expect to be able to give yourself the kind of perspective you will need by working on it here and there during your fall semester.

3. Besides the LSAT and personal statement/supplementary essays, you will need to plan for the components of the application that aren't entirely within your control. These elements are letters of recommendation, transcripts, and dean's certifications.

Read more about from David Mainiero on law school admissions on the ATL blog.

Of course, if you want more personalized attention from law school admissions experts, don't hesitate to reach out.

InGenius Prep Law School Admissions Counseling - the Smart Way to Get In!

The Law School Admissions process is incredibly rigorous. Not only do you need to have standout LSAT scores and a great GPA from a good school, but you also need to make sure your application accurately and optimally reflects your life experiences up through this point in order to convince the admissions readers that you are the right candidate for their incoming 1L class. Our team of former Deans, Directors, and Assistant Directors of Admission at all the top law schools, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Columbia, are standing by ready to help you achieve your dreams, no matter what school you are shooting for. We have the most talented and qualified counselors in the world, and can't wait to help you.

Getting into a great law school is more important than ever with a dwindling job market, but we're here to help!

So, You Just Graduated...Now What?

So, Yosepha wrote generally about what to start thinking about now that you've graduated from college and how the InGenius Prep former admissions officers and graduate coaches can help you chart out and execute on any of your goals whether they involve law school, medical school, business school, or any number of careers.

If you need help with your resume, interview preparation, cover letter writing, or just general advice, the InGenius team has someone incredibly qualified and talented who can help you on a moment's notice. We have helped students get jobs in law, finance, consulting, film, talent representation, and dozens of other professions. Similarly, we've helped students get into medical school, law school, business school, Ph.D programs, and masters programs in a variety of different fields.

A Response to Racial Claims About Admissions

This article was originally posted on the InGenius Prep Brain Blog in response to Professor Tim Groseclose's claims about California public universities knowingly violating state laws prohibiting affirmative action:

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While Professor Tim Groseclose is probably onto something by stating that public universities in California and elsewhere are violating a state law that prohibits affirmative action on the basis of racial difference, what he is articulating is more obvious and much less invidious than his data and inside experience reveals. The basic idea behind the most recent and most prominent constitutional challenges to affirmative action policies (challenges to schools like the University of Michigan and University of Michigan Law School’s holistic and “plus factor” admissions processes) is that race can be considered as part of a holistic review of a potential candidate because it serves a compelling governmental interest. While the Supreme Courts’ advocates of affirmative action policies are split on what exactly that compelling interest is (diversity? cross-racial understanding? access to paths of leadership?), it’s pretty clear that holistic review that includes race is at least constitutionally acceptable.

The state law in question here, like the Michigan amendment that was recently challenged, is the opposite situation. In these cases, the Supreme Court has held that it is constitutional for a state to express the policy prerogative that affirmative action should be prohibited in its public universities. I’m not familiar with Groseclose’s political preference on affirmative action and I’m not taking a stance on the issue myself in this article, but the data that Groseclose posts on his website and that is available elsewhere is pretty compelling that there is an empirically proven trend in these “holistic reviews” that tend to discriminate against or in favor of particular groups. For instance, Asian-Americans seem to be capped at a certain level at many schools at a certain “quota.” And, as Groseclose claims, black students are “illegally” (to use his words) given a boost in the admissions process. Several of former admissions officers at InGenius Prep have denied that this sort of “lying” (as Groseclose calls it) goes on, but acknowledge that the data reveals a discernible, yet not so surprising trend. Moreover, although I don’t have personal experience in an admissions office, in any kind of holistic review I’ve ever engaged in, there have been certain factors that I have privileged to the prejudice of others, so this isn’t necessarily “lying” in my mind.

Of course, this type of quota has been ruled unconstitutional since the Supreme Court’s decision in Bakke, but it seems to still happen in practice. This is the kind of tongue-in-cheek “not affirmative action,” but really affirmative action that Groseclose is trying to reveal. For most people familiar with the law on this issue, the fact that holistic review can often skew heavily in the direction of certain factors like race is a foregone conclusion; it’s like saying politics is heavily influenced by campaign funds and political contributions. Then again, some of the world’s most prominent scholars–such as Harvard Law School’s Larry Lessig–tackle this seemingly obvious subject, so maybe it’s not quite as obvious as I’m assuming.

The moral of the story for applicants here is to understand that holistic review is generally the norm, at least on a de facto basis, regardless of what state you are in or what state the school you are applying to is in. The admissions experts at InGenius Prep know how to make you stand out in such a holistic review, no matter your creed, color, interests, preferences, or background.

What Makes a Great Admissions Counselor

College and professional school application counseling can be a huge difference-maker for millions of students. Though many are skeptical of the help that admissions counselors can provide to an applicant, there is demonstrable value added by those who are some of the best in the business.

One of the most effective models for admissions counseling is having a counseling team that gives you access to a graduate coach, who has successfully navigated the process himself/herself at the highest level, and a former admissions officer, who has made admit/deny decisions about candidates like you in the very recent past. inGenius Prep, a relatively new player in the admissions counseling business, utilizes this unique business model that very few others do and boasts an unrivaled team. The strategic perspective and insider knowledge about the admissions process that the former admissions officers provide is undoubtedly valuable.

Moreover, the student coaches (at inGenius Prep, these are all students from top schools) have significant counseling experience and are some of the best writers and editors in the world. With the student coach doing more of the day-to-day revision, commentary, and feedback and the former admissions officer overseeing the overall strategy, the system tends to work extremely well. Another benefit is that if students do not want or need such comprehensive application counseling, they can get more affordable services that are performed solely by the student coaches. These services underprice any similar service in the market and applicants to work with some of the most successful and qualified professional school students in the world.

According to David Mainiero, the head of the BA & JD Divisions at inGenius Prep, “student coaches are carefully vetted and submit academic writing samples, application writing samples, resumes, grades, and perform mock-counseling sessions with inGenius Prep’s leadership team before they are be hired. They then read hundreds of pages of our curriculum materials and go through hours upon hours of extensive training.”

Another important quality that inGenius Prep seeks, according to Mainiero, is that a graduate coach (or former admissions officer) genuinely enjoys helping students unlock their potential. For instance, one of inGenius Prep’s former admissions officers, Jana, said “I love helping applicants express their authentic personality through the application process.” It is this type of attitude that is a key indicator of a great counselor. Carolina, the Former Director of Recruitment at Yale Law School said, “I love making the admissions process more open and accessible by helping students with their applications . . .”

InGenius’s generous financial aid program for qualified students and its non-profit division (partnerships with Teach For America and the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance) will all help thousands of students achieve their goals.

The New SAT: Paradigm Shift or More of the Same? (My post on the Harvard Crimson Admissions Blog)

Follow this link to find my article on how the College Board's changes to the SAT that are due to take effect in the spring of 2016 are not so earth-shattering. They don't accomplish the goals that the College Board is claiming to try to address, and are merely an attempt to regain ground picked up by the SAT's main competitor - the ACT. This is marketing and nothing more.