WTIU’s college admissions ‘how-to’ program debuts March 3

By Ann Wesley

Krahnke

‘There isn’t a single parent or kid who doesn’t wonder if grades really matter or how much the SAT matters. It’s sort of like there is something you really need to know to get into Oz. You can’t just go there and get in; there’s something you need to know before you go, and this is it.’

—Steve Krahnke

The result is Ten Steps to College with the Greenes, a television special which outlines a practical approach to the college admissions process developed by Howard and Matthew Greene.

WTIU will debut Ten Steps Monday (March 3) at 8 p.m. and repeat Tuesday (March 4) at 1 p.m., Saturday, March 8, at 6 p.m. and Wednesday, March 12, at 10 p.m.

The father-and-son team have counseled tens of thousands of families, first with an emphasis on selective colleges, and more recently on great colleges outside the Ivy League. Their popular book series, The Greene’s Guides to Educational Planning, has been a trusted source of college admissions advice for almost 20 years. The television program distills the whole process into ten easily understood steps explained to and with real families who participated in the WTIU project.

As the Greene’s outline the keys to planning for college admission, they advise, “Prepare for the best colleges, and be ready for the rest.”

The 10 Steps to College, as outlined by the Greenes

1. Plan your finances
2. Determine your strengths
3. Get good grades in tough courses
4. Make tests work for you
5. Excel outside classes
6. Find the right school for you
7. Read, write, visit
8. Find yourself in their pie chart
9. Present yourself successfully
10. Choose, apply, enroll

Steve Krahnke, a telecommunications lecturer and director of national production for WTIU, produced the one-hour program. Production began nearly a year ago, and the idea for the program was Krahnke’s. He had two objectives: to provide a valuable resource for families with children preparing for college, and to provide a vehicle for telecommunications students to work on a meaningful, national production.

“I wanted a situation where my students could say they worked on high-quality television. I like that students can say they did this type of project in college. I don’t expect less from them than from other people, and neither does PBS,” Krahnke said.

In producing the program, hundreds of IU telecommunications students were able to participate. Additionally, dozens of families from throughout south-central Indiana participated in the studio audience with the Greenes and in question-and-answer sessions which are used in the production.

Krahnke had worked on Suze Orman’s financial advice programs and found himself thinking about stages in people’s lives during which they need good advice. He considered the benchmarks: the purchase of a home, planning for college, weddings and retirement. With two daughters, ages 8 and 11, of his own, it was the college planning that most interested him. But he found it difficult to find much material on the subject.

And then he found college guides written by the Greenes. After investigating, Krahnke thought the Greenes were the most credible and respected advisers on the subject and that their style would match the quality that would be demanded by PBS.

In the course of the production, Krahnke’s team visited 30 different campuses to interview admissions directors. They also taped sessions at the WTIU studio, with the Greenes speaking to audiences of local families.

After its debut next week, it will be distributed to PBS stations around the country this summer and fall.

“Even though people need this information, I realized it was almost impossible to find,” Krahnke said. “We always felt it lined up with the PBS mission. It’s information people really need and will benefit by knowing.

“The college admissions process is a point of concern for anyone with children approaching the junior high school years.”

Krahnke said the Greenes, who are based in Connecticut, were interested in the project because it was based in a university setting, and it would be released nationally.

In addition to the television program, WTIU is also producing, with PBS Video, a VHS and DVD of the program.

The VHS includes the program and the question- and-answer session taped at WTIU. The DVD adds to the VHS material with exclusive interviews with admissions officers from a variety colleges and universities across the nation. Officers range from Harvard and Howard, to Stanford and IU. The interviews offer valuable first-hand information to any family beginning or in the middle of the process.

To access the toolkit, go to:

http://www.tenstepstocollege.org/toolkit/index.html