Cornell Student's Future Balloons

Cornell Sun: "This summer, Brandon Axelrod ’21 took a physics class, worked an oral surgery internship at Weill Cornell and tied balloons for six shows each weekend. The Cornell junior, who goes by 'Magic Brandini' professionally, started his balloon twisting and magic performance business when he was just 12 years old. From humble beginnings of doing magic for his grandparents, Axelrod’s business has since blossomed to help cover the costs of Cornell ... With party requests filling his inbox even during the school year, Axelrod generally sets aside an hour or two each weekend to respond to messages. By March, he’s almost completely booked for every weekend of the summer. Over the nine years as owner and headline act for his own business, Axelrod hopes to apply the lessons he has learned to his future dental career."

"Because dentistry is more often a private practice, he plans to specifically use the entrepreneurial skills he’s gained from operating his own business, including accounting, carefully planning schedules and interacting with customers. He does all of the work on his own — or has ever since he got his driver’s license. Before, his mom used to drive him to gigs."

"He’s also learned a lot about communicating with people from doing magic shows. After a few young fumbles, he’s improved at reading his audiences and including them in his acts. And he’s better able to talk while thinking ahead, often needing to distract from a move with a joke ... To accompany his dental school application, Axelrod plans on crafting an enormous balloon dental chair."

College Jobs: What Works Best

Phys Org: "Research shows that about 10 to 20 hours per week is the sweet spot when it comes to working in college. Students who work 10 to 20 hours per week tend to have better outcomes, including higher grades and more educational engagement, such as interacting with faculty, than students who do not work and students who work more than 20 hours per week. Although few studies demonstrate that working causes particular outcomes, working more than 20 hours per week during the academic year has been shown to have harmful consequences."

"To accommodate work, you may need to take fewer classes per semester or switch to part-time status. Taking fewer classes or becoming a part-time student can increase the time it takes to graduate and reduce the chances of completing a degree. Working can also reduce the amount of grants you are eligible to receive depending on how much money you earn. You can use the FAFSA4caster to explore how different amounts of earnings from work influence eligibility for Pell Grants—money that does not have to be earned or repaid and is awarded to students based on financial need."

"Not all jobs are the same. One study found that students who had a Federal Work-Study job were five percentage points more likely to graduate within six years than students working non-Work-Study jobs ... Any job can build general job-related skills, but some jobs are more directly related to future employment than others. Jobs that are related to your major or intended career may help build networks and other skills that lead to better jobs after completing college."

Moving Boulder: Tell Us What We Don't Know

Denver Post: "If it eases any anguish, Clark Brigger said he and the other CU Boulder admissions officers are not looking for perfection in applicants’ essays." He comments: “We are not grading a paper. We are not English professors. We are looking for unique attributes — something that isn’t already presented to us in the other application details. We want some type of uniqueness that tells us this student would really lend themselves well to our learning environment and make it a more complete and diverse environment.”

"Mark Hatch of Colorado College echoed the sentiment, saying students are better off trying to present their authentic selves rather than being a 'stenographer' who can check off every extracurricular without having a real passion behind their pursuits. If students dig deep to consider what makes them tick — a travel bug, a strong connection to family, a charitable streak, an adversity they have overcome — that is more appealing than a robotic list of accomplishments done just to get into college, Hatch said."

"Admissions officers who The Denver Post spoke to admitted that scrolling through teens’ Twitter and Instagram feeds wasn’t a top priority ... But there have been occasions when CU admissions staffers get a tip to check out a particularly egregious social media post of an applicant, and that post could knock out an otherwise solid candidate if it goes against the university’s values."