Keys to College

Top 10 Things Colleges Look for In Students

2010-06-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Independent Educational Consultants Association, IECA, (of which I am a member) recently released the results of its survey aimed at identifying the key accomplishments and characteristics that colleges look for when deciding which students to admit and which to pass over. I was pleased to find the list in keeping with the advice I give my clients: Work hard (but don't fall prey to the all AP courses insanity), pursue a few activities passionately, be curious about life, form connections with teachers who can speak to your strengths and challenges in recommendations, write an honest, intriguing, kick-ass essay, and don't be afraid to let colleges know how much you'd like to be part of their community.

The list, reproduced below, should be taped to the refrigerator and inside the locker of every young person who sees college in his or her future. Follow its advice, and the right college experience will be well within your reach.

1. A rigorous high school curriculum that challenges the student and may include AP or IB classes.

2. Grades that represent strong effort and an upward trend. However, slightly lower grades in a rigorous program are preferred to all As in less challenging coursework.

3. Solid scores on standardized tests (SAT, ACT). These should be consistent with high school performance.

4. Passionate involvement in a few activities, demonstrating leadership and initiative. Depth, not breadth, of experience is most important.

5. Letters of recommendation from teachers and guidance counselor that give evidence of integrity, special skills, positive character traits, and an interest in learning.

6. A well-written essay that provides insight into the student’s unique personality, values, and goals. The application essay should be thoughtful and highly personal. It should demonstrate careful and well-constructed writing.

7. Special talents or experiences that will contribute to an interesting and well-rounded student body.

8. Demonstrated leadership in activities. Colleges want people who will arrive prepared and willing to take leadership of student activities and events.

9. Demonstrated intellectual curiosity through reading, school, leisure pursuits, and more.

10. Demonstrated enthusiasm to attend, often exhibited by campus visits and an interview, showing an interest toward attending the college.

Independent Educational Consultants Association

3251 Old Lee Highway, Suite 510

Fairfax, Virginia 22030

703-591-4850 n www.IECAonline.com n info@IECAonline.com

Colleges Report Increased Applications for 2010

2010-01-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

With many college application filing periods now closed, statistics on the numbers of applications received by some of the most popular schools are becoming available...and they show that more kids are applying to more colleges. Here's a sampling of some current figures:

University of California system-wide applications up 6%:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14191613?nclick_check=1

University of California, Santa Barbara apps up 7.7%:
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2156

University of California, Santa Cruz applications up 5.4%, transfer apps up
24.8%: http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=3480

University of California, Davis applications up 6.5% overall, transfer
applications up 25%
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2010/01/11/daily38.html

University of California, Merced applications up 21%

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/1007817.html

Harvard applications up 5%:
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/01/a-first-for-harvard/

U of Chicago Sees 42% applicant jump:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-14/chicago-sees-42-applicant-jump-in-competition-with-harvard.html

Dartmouth applications up 4%:
http://thedartmouth.com/2010/01/13/news/applications

What does this mean for all those seniors who just finished the frantic, stressful rush to complete college applications? Unfortunately, it's hard to say. With the University of California and California State system in such upheaval of late, many kids who would have applied only to UCs or CSUs just a year ago now see now reason, financial or academic, not to branch out and apply to private and out-of-state public schools, which are suddenly comparative in cost given the rise of tuition fees in California. Whether their decision to put in more private applications will result in fewer spaces in the freshman classes of some colleges remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: It's not getting any easier out there for the college kids of tomorrow.

SAT Score Choice & Common App Solutions

2009-10-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

It seems some media outlets jumped the gun in their report on the Common Application's solution to the dilemma of SAT Score Choice. Just a few weeks ago, publications indicated that the Common App's recommendation for students who are faced with creating just one application when some colleges ask for all SAT scores and others will allow applicants to pick and choose which to send was to "leave the scores section blank." In an update on their site today, the Common App now states that this isn't actually their recommendation...well, sort of.

Common App clearly recognizes the confusion that SAT Score Choice has created for applicants. Score Choice is supposed to offer students the "perk" of taking the SAT as many times as they like but only letting colleges see their best scores. Trouble is, some colleges don't honor score choice and ask to see scores from every test sitting a student undertakes. And since the Common App is meant to be "common" to its member schools (some of which honor Score Choice, some of which don't), it's not possible to create different score-sending-selections for different schools.

So what should applicants do? There are three choices:

1) Leave the score reporting section of the Common App blank and order SAT scores to be sent to schools according to their individual requirements. The drawback here is that many schools use the Common App score reporting to evaluate eligibility in advance of the receipt of hard-copy test scores.

2) Create alternate applications for schools depending on their SAT reporting requests. Common App doesn't advertise this option, because, again, the Common App is philosophically intended to be "common" to member schools, but it is possible to create more than one version of an application.

3) Report all scores to all schools. This option frightens a lot of applicants, who might have taken the test several times and had widely varying scores. They wonder if seeing their lower scores as well as their higher ones will influence colleges' view of their applications. Most colleges that require all scores indicate that they only "officially" consider the highest scores, but feel they get important information about an applicant by seeing the results of all sittings.

Our recommendation: Report SAT scores either by creating alternate versions or reporting all scores to all schools. The CollegeBoard and Common App will no doubt create a solution for this dilemma in the future, but for current seniors, to send or not to send is just one more choice they'll have to make on the long road to college.

Common App Ends Score Choice Confusion

2009-10-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

Students have always been able to take the SAT as many times as they'd like in an effort to improve their scores. Until this year, the College Board sent scores from every single sitting to the colleges where students chose to apply. Then came Score Choice: Students can still take the test over and over, but now they can select which scores colleges will see. Sounds great, right?

Trouble is, some colleges aren't buying Score Choice. They still want to see the results for every attempt a student made at the SAT. Others are on board with Score Choice, and are perfectly happy with an applicant sending only his/her best scores. So when a student is filling out the Common Application and comes to the section on testing, what is she to do if some of the colleges she's applying to want all the scores, but others don't?

The answer: Nothing. Until a better solution can be reached, the Common Application has decided to allow students to skip the section where standardized testing is reported. Inside Higher Ed reported the following on October 1:

The Common Application has had to adopt a temporary policy to deal with the dispute over "score choice," the controversial rules change by the College Board that allows applicants to college to decide which of their SAT scores they want to report. The change allows students who take the test repeatedly to hide that fact, while the old policy would have required all scores to be reported. Some colleges are going along with the change, but others are insisting that all SAT scores be reported. While colleges'evaluate students based on official scores received from testing agencies, some application forms ask students to self-report, so admissions offices can have that information while awaiting the official scores. Parts of the Common Application allow applicants to send different information to different colleges, but the test score question is part of the completely shared application. The Common Application's board has adopted a policy for this year that allows applicants to skip the testing question -- without penalty -- so they can submit some scores to colleges that permit score choice and all scores to those that do not. Rob Killion, executive director of the Common Application, said that its board plans to spend time over the next year developing a long term solution.

Virtual Tours Cut College Visit Costs

2009-08-19T17:31:00.001-07:00

With more bad news about the economy and cuts to financial aid popping up every day, it's no wonder the high school class of 2010 is cutting back on college visits this summer and fall. But just because you can't afford to visit a particular college doesn't mean you can't get a peek at what the campus, classrooms, dorms, and surrounding city or town are like...and you can do it without leaving your laptop.

The past few years has seen increasing numbers of colleges offering "virtual campus tours" on their Websites. Recently, there's been a boon in companies that gather tours from hundreds of colleges all on one site, and provide potential students with the opportunity to "see" schools before they apply. The sites are free and some offer a variety of other tools and information, including application and admissions data and ways to connect with other students who are considering the same schools. On one site, you can even virtually furnish a model of your future dorm room!

So don't worry if your bank account can't bear a trip of the East Coast schools or a foray to all the UC campuses. Check out these virtual tour sites and you'll have hundreds of colleges at your fingertips.

YouniversityTV

CampusTours

ECampusTours

What, MORE Waiting? Advice for Students in Wait List Hell

2009-04-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

No one knows better than a high school senior that college admissions is a Waiting Game. You submit your applications, and you wait. You send your test scores, and you wait. You go on campus visits, and you wait. You muddle through sometimes nerve-wracking interviews...and you wait.

Then, some five to six months after the application hullabaloo is over, your calendar starts to glow with the dates your chosen colleges have promised to deliver admissions decisions. If you're like many nail-biting teens, you sit in front of your computer on those days of reckoning, just waiting (yes, more waiting) for the clock to tick to the exact moment when you can check your application status. Are you accepted? Denied?

Wait a minute...you're wait-listed?

Selective colleges have always maintained wait lists of highly qualified candidates who they'd love to bring to their campuses, but just don't have the space to offer admission. The idea is that some students who are admitted in the first round will ultimately choose to go to other schools, thus potentially opening the door for a wait-listed candidate. Students can and do get into colleges off wait-lists every year.

What should you do if you find yourself asked (yet again) to wait? First of all, don't just sit there. If you hope to get into a college off their wait list, you need to be proactive. The following steps can help you get off that blasted list, get into the school of your dreams, and finally put an end to the wait.

1) Write a letter to your admissions officer. Make your continued, committed interest to attending their college crystal clear. Be sure they know that if you are taken off the wait list, you will pack your bags and head to their school in the fall. In this letter, also include your third quarter grades (assuming they are at least as good as the grades you submitted in your mid-year report) and information about any other significant activities, awards and accomplishments that they don't yet know about.

2) Ask your counselor to call the admissions office to inform them of your continued, committed interest in the college and offer to provide any additional information they might like to move your application off the wait list and onto the accepted list.

3) Ask someone who has not yet written you a letter of recommendation (perhaps a principal, department chair, or coach) to pen a new letter that sings your praises and inspires the admissions office to understand that their campus simply cannot continue to exist without you.

4) If you had an interview, give your interviewer a call or send him/her a brief, enthusiastic, personal note letting him/her know that you very much want to attend his/her campus or alma mater and will absolutely accept if you are made an offer of admission.

5) Cultivate your other options. Hopefully, some of your wait is already over and you were admitted to one or more colleges you would be happy to attend if you never get off the dream school's wait list. Don't put these schools and their offers of admission on the back burner. Keep exploring what they have to offer, developing a "vision" of yourself on their campuses, and doing the work necessary to make a smart choice should your wait-listed condition become terminal.

Now, take a deep breath and enjoy the remaining weeks of your final year in high school. Maybe you'll get off that wait list; maybe you won't. Either way, the future will arrive on schedule. Be sure to greet it with a smile.

Rejected: Making Plan B for Your College Education

2009-03-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Within in the next week or so, all colleges that don't use a rolling admissions process will have notified students of their application status for fall of 2009. For some, this will mean letters of acceptance, overwhelming relief, and giddy joy as they start planning the future at their dream colleges. Others, unfortunately, will receive letters of rejection, which bring with them deep disappointment, tough choices, and even panic.

Rejections hurts. Always. For high school seniors, most of whom have never had their lives and accomplishments subjected to such scrutiny, being turned down by a college (or colleges) can be downright devastating. Why wasn't I good enough? What should I have done differently? Why don't they want me?

Sadly, these are questions that often can't be answered. And for the student whose college plans have been thrown into chaos and uncertainty by the receipt of a big fat "NO", it's not even worth it to consider the whys. Focus instead of moving forward and making the most of the opportunities you've got.

Ideally, you'll have applied to a wide range of schools that fit your needs and goals and will be perfectly happy attending one of your other "best fit" or "safety" schools. But what if you didn't get into any schools you're willing to attend? Or what if you can't afford to go to the schools that did accept you?

The first option many student jump to is the appeals process. Your rejection letter should include information on how to appeal the decision to deny your admission. While this route is tempting, it is rarely fruitful; in 2008, for example, the University of California at Santa Cruz received over 1,000 appeal letters from hopeful students. They accepted around 25 of these after taking a second look. Unless you have significant additional information to add to your application or there was an error in your high school transcript or application that is meaningful enough to make an admissions officer think twice about your rejection, composing appeals is rarely worth the effort. If you simply can't rest without feeling you've done everything possible to be accepted to your dream school, by all means go forward with the appeal; often, however, the energy an appeal takes is better channeled elsewhere.

One good choice for the student who is unhappy with his/her options is to enroll in community college. Many community colleges (such as those in the UC and CSU systems) "feed" into the four-year college system. For example, if UC Santa Barbara is your dream school but you didn't quite make it in, consider attending Santa Barbara Community College (a beautiful campus, right on the beach), doing very well there, and transferring to UCSB for your junior and senior years. Community colleges are inexpensive, have highly qualified instructors in small class settings, and most have guaranteed admission arrangements with four-year schools in the state system for those who successfully complete transfer requirements. Some offer on-campus housing, and you'll be able to use the same financial aid you would have applied to the school that rejected you to pay your bills (and much lower bills they will be). In these times of economic hardship and increasingly tough admissions requirements, community college is often the best option for many students and their families.

Another possibility to consider is taking a "gap year" or a "year on" (as opposed to a "year off"). The past few years have seen a huge increase in the number of programs available to young people who want to gain life experience, travel, and perform community service prior to entering college. While you pay the cost of most gap year programs, some, like AmeriCorps and CityYear, actually provide living stipends and a college scholarship at the conclusion of the program. While you're off on your gap year adventure, you can re-apply to colleges during the fall or spring application season. Colleges often look favorably upon applicants who have undertaken productive gap years, as students return from these experiences more mature, focused and prepared to be successful in higher education. Learn more about gap years.

As you develop a strategy for "Plan B," keep in mind that college costs: Both in dollars and in time. Think long and hard about whether it's really worth it to attend a four-year school where you will be less than happy. Ponder whether it might not be better to invest in other options (community college, gap years, work experience) that will ultimately lead to the college of your dreams.

You can take many different roads and still wind up at the same place.

Paying for College: FAFSA Fundamentals

2009-01-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

You've survived your college applications. You've filled in countless online forms, written and re-written enough essays and supplement essays to satisfy the Reflective Essay Gods for a lifetime, and managed to get your teacher recommendations in on time without being arrested for stalking or harassment. You're done! Now all you need to do is sit back and wait for those acceptance letters. Right?

Wrong! You've set your college dreams in motion, but now you need to figure out how to pay for them once they start to come true. Step 1: The FAFSA.

Unless you are independently wealthy and have no need for financial assistance of any kind to complete studies at the college of your choice, you and your family should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Following are some key FAFSA facts that will help you navigate the application process and get the most financial aid you are entitled to.

* Important! You may be eligible to receive financial aid regardless of whether you're planning to attend a 4-year college, 2-year college, or vocational school. If you are attending an accredited school of any kind, complete the FAFSA to learn your eligibility!

1) The FAFSA is a document outlining your family's financial status. It is used by the federal and state governments to determine how much and what types of financial aid you qualify for.

2) The FAFSA may be completed online. Visit http://www.fafsa.ed.gov, where you will find not on the FAFSA document, but loads of information on how to complete it accurately as well as answers to FAQs.

3) Be sure to go to the official FAFSA site and not one of the many .com sites that pop up in Internet searches. These sites are for-profit and may charge fees to help you complete the FAFSA. The FAFSA is free and is lengthy but not difficult to complete.

4) If you do need help completing the FAFSA, this is also free. Call 1-800-4-FED-AID with your questions. Also check out College Goal Sunday, free nationwide events that provide expert advice on filling out the FAFSA.

5) The FAFSA becomes available on January 1 each year. Start completing the application as soon as possible. The deadline for submission varies from state to state. Find your state's deadline here. It's crucial not to wait until the last minute to complete your FAFSA; in order to apply, you must first get a personal PIN number, which can take time to receive. FAFSA suggests you apply for the PIN early in January of senior year.

6) Really want to get a head start on the process? With FAFSA4Caster you can begin filling in your FAFSA as early as middle school! This will give you an early estimate of your eligibility for federal financial aid as well as increase your knowledge about the financial aid process. When you're ready to submit the FAFSA in January of your senior year, just update your financial information and hit send! Completing the FAFSA4Caster can significantly reduce the stress and paperwork that will come around in senior year.

7) After you submit your FAFSA, you'll receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) indicating how much your family will expected to contribute toward the cost of your education and the amount of grants and loans for which you will be eligible. Remember, you are not obligated to accept any loans based on what is presented in your SAR. The student loans process is a separate procedure entirely. You may take out all, part or none of the loans for which you qualify.

What's next? It's time to move on to the next step in the financial aid process: Applying for loans and scholarships.

More Bad News for CSU Applicants

2008-12-26T16:45:00.000-08:00

Every year, students from California and across the U.S. apply to CSU campuses all over the Golden State. But thanks to the ongoing financial crisis, this year's high school seniors may find it tough or even impossible to gain admission to CSU campuses that are outside their local area.

A message from the Director of Student Outreach and Recruitment Services at CSU Northridge landed in my inbox yesterday, bearing the bad news that Northridge is being forced to revise its admissions criteria and will now give priority admission to "those students who attend high school in a closely-defined geographical area, the local guarantee admission area or Tier I school districts, and meet the CSU eligibility index...Students graduating from a California high school located in an area outside CSUN's local admissions area--Tier II school districts--will be reviewed and rank-ordered using the CSU Eligibility Index which is based upon high school GPA and SAT/ACT scores." Unfortunately, there is a possibility that CSUN may be unable to admit all students from Tier II who are eligible; the university is advising students to consider applying to other CSU campuses.

This development is just one more example of how the current budget crisis may impact student options for college admissions in the coming years. While the best plan is always to apply broadly to a range of "best fit" schools, students may now have a smaller pool from which to create their lists of "likely", "target", and "reach" colleges and universities. For those who plan to attend a CSU campus, their acceptance letters may end up keeping them much closer to home than they'd planned.

More information and a list of CSU campuses still accepting applications from freshman can be found at CSU Mentor.

Is College Worth It?

2008-10-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

The move to eliminate vocational education from high school programs and instead make sure all students were 'prepped' for college changed the landscape of American education forever. Twenty years later, some are asking whether this shift did our kids and society a disservice, and ended up pushing many young people who would have been better off in the work force into wasting time (and money) in our nation's colleges.

A recent article in BusinessWeek chimes in on the debate.

More insights from the Chronicle of Higher Education: America's Most Over-rated Product: The Bachelor's Degree

Facing College Sticker-Shock

2008-09-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

When planning for college, students and parents face two questions that can cause anxiety-attacks: Where will I get in? and How will we pay for it? The cost of higher education remains a key factor for most families in choosing an institution. Increasingly, there are also a greater number of options available to offset what can be a large financial burden.

Check out this current article on Newsweek for insight into how "merit aid" can help bring the cost of college under control.

Let the Rankings Begin!

2008-08-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Look out, U.S. News and World Report: There's a new competitor in the college rankings game. Forbes has joined the (supposed) effort to help students make informed choices about which college to attend with a ranking methodology that focuses on the satisfaction and success of graduates. While definitely throwing new factors for school comparison into the mix, the nagging questions about the purpose and efficacy of college ranking remain: Do rankings really help students make choices about the colleges that best fit their needs and goals? Or do rankings simply create a selection environment where students pick schools based primarily on the prestige they are granted by a subjective methodology?

While many college admissions counselors, educators and organizations like College That Change Lives advocate ignoring the "rankings game" when exploring possible colleges, students, parents and even alumni continue to be lured by the lists. Does more list makers mean more quality information students can use to make the best choices about where to apply? Or is this just another marketing strategy that encourages students to choose a college based not on which is a sound educational fit, but on which the media tells them are the best?

It's a decision students and families have to make for themselves.

The Future of Financial Aid

2008-07-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Most American families ask two questions when anticipating college for their teens: 1) Which is the best school for us?, and 2) How will we pay for it? With the cost of college tuition increasing every year, financial aid is an absolute necessity for the vast majority of students. While scholarships, grants and college savings plans can offset the cost of attendance, student loans are usually needed to cover the bulk of the cost.

The credit crisis that is currently shaking up the housing market is spilling over into the realm of student aid. Some experts see this as a positive development, providing the federal government, lenders and institutions of higher education an opportunity to seriously evaluate and make changes to a system that most acknowledge is broken. But like any systemic shift, any alterations to the current student loan program will be slow in coming. Should the changes begin with the FAFSA system? Lenders? An insistence that colleges begin to look at ways to cap costs? And in the meantime, what impact will this uncertainty have on students preparing for college in the next few years?

Inside Higher Ed offers perspectives on these issues in its article "Rethinking Student Aid--Really?" While there are currently no easy solution for the challenges of the financial aid system, it pays for those heading to college to be well informed and get the best advice possible to make sure that the road through college doesn't lead straight to the poorhouse. Tune in to the Financial Aid Podcast for up-to-date info and advice.

New SAT Score-Reporting Policy: Better or Worse?

2008-07-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Last month, the College Board announced changes to their SAT score-reporting policy, giving students who take the SAT multiple times the flexibility to choose which scores colleges will receive during the admissions process (see the complete announcement below). Current policy allows colleges to see the scores from all SAT attempts a student makes; as of spring 2009 (sorry, rising seniors!), students will be able to sit for the exams as many times as they like and "hide" all but their best scores from admissions officers.

While College Board states that changes are intended to benefit students by enabling them to select the scores that they believe best represent their abilities, the education community has voiced concerns about the new policy, including the possibility that it provides an unfair advantage to kids who can afford to take the test as many times as they like, and the fact that kids taking and re-taking the SAT means more money in the pockets of the already incredible lucrative College Board. Learn more about the arguments for and against the SAT policy changes in Lucia Graves' article in U.S. News and World Report.

New SAT Score-Reporting Policy

The College Board has approved an important change to the current SAT score-reporting policy. This new policy will give students the freedom to send the scores by sitting (test date) that they feel best represent their ability to colleges and universities, at no additional cost. Designed to reduce student stress and improve the test-day experience, this new score-reporting feature will launch in early February 2009, and will therefore be available to students participating in the March 2009 test administration.

Any student who has taken an SAT prior to the policy launch or who registers for the SAT after launch will be able to take advantage of this new policy. The students who have taken tests prior to the launch can use the score-reporting feature retroactively. Additionally, this new score-reporting feature will be optional to students. If a student chooses not to select their scores, all of their scores will be sent.

This new score-reporting feature also gives colleges the ability to choose which scores are required for admission. Colleges and universities will communicate any changes to their admissions policies or application requirements to students.

Fast facts

Students will be able to select which scores they send to colleges by sitting (test date) for the SAT and by test for SAT Subject Tests™.
Scores from an entire SAT test will be sent—scores of individual sections from different sittings cannot be selected independently for sending.
Students can send any or all scores to a college on a single report—it will not cost more to send one, multiple or all test scores.
Students will be instructed to follow the different score-reporting requirements of each college to which they apply.
The new score-reporting feature will be optional—if students do not use it, all scores will be sent automatically.
The score-reporting feature can be used on any score report that students send:
- The four score reports available through online or phone registration (applying to already scored tests) and additional score reports
The new score-reporting feature functionality will be available to all students via the Web or by calling Customer Service toll free (within the United States)
Students who complete a test prior to the launch of the new score-reporting feature will be able to take advantage of this option when sending past or future scores.

FAQs

Q: Will this new score-reporting feature be available to students who have already registered for test dates that occur after launch?

A: Yes. Students who have already registered for the March 2009 administration or later 2009 dates can revisit their registration information and take advantage of the new score-reporting feature after launch.

Q: Is the new score-reporting feature available for both SAT and SAT Subject Tests score reports?

A: Yes. Students will be able to select which scores they send to colleges by sitting (test date) for the SAT and by test for SAT Subject Tests.

Q: Does the new score-reporting feature affect other aspects of SAT registration and score-report timing, policies or processes?

A: No. The new score-reporting feature allows students to select which scores are sent to institutions. It does not affect score-report timing or other policies and procedures that are not directly related to sending score reports.

Jump Start Your College Search This Summer

2008-07-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Whether you're a soon-to-be freshman or a rising senior, make the most of those long summer afternoons by launching your college search. Looking for colleges that meet your needs and goals can be much less stressful when it isn't something you juggle along with homework, extracurriculars and social life during the school year. These tips from Colleges That Change Lives can help you get started:

Start With a Map
Start by making a list of the colleges within four hours of home—the distance most students travel when choosing a college. There are many websites that allow you to search by geography, so pick your state and those nearby and hit "find"! Try the US Dept of Ed College Navigator.

CSI: College Search Investigator
Start asking the people you know and respect if they went to college and where they attended. Ask relatives, friends, teachers, neighbors, church members, co-workers and others in your life. You may be surprised to learn about colleges you have never heard of that will be great for you to investigate. This is also a way to learn more about colleges from an insider's point of view. Just make sure to get more than one opinion before you add or delete any from your list!

Anime To Ultimate Frisbee—Choice By Interest
It is not unreasonable to narrow the field by looking for colleges that have your non-academic interests, whether that is leadership, sports, or hobbies. Use search engines and college websites to investigate whether you can keep doing the activities you enjoy and find others who share your passion. Alternately, some students choose to eliminate colleges with activities they dislike, so searching for colleges without sports, fraternities and sororities, or other specific activities is another way to make your list. College Matchmaker from College Board may help you search this way.

Need professional advice and guidance to find the schools that are best for you? Visit my Website to learn more about how I can guide you on your path to the college of your dreams.

To learn more about College That Change Lives and its mission, visit their Website .

Make the Most of a "Gap Year"

2008-06-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, taking a "gap year" between high school graduation and college was considered a euphemism for slacking off and postponing a young person's entry into the "real world". But recently, with increasing numbers of prestigious colleges and universities coming out in favor of gap years for some students (and even, as in the case of Princeton, creating "bridge" programs to help students gain valuable life experience before entering higher education), the option of pursing a productive year of experience between high school and college is not just acceptable, it's attractive.

Of course, the purpose of a gap year isn't to catch up on soap operas or perfect your gaming skills. A gap year is an opportunity to learn, grow and enrich your life. If planned and executed properly, it can even make you a more desirable and ultimately successful student. So how do you make the most of a gap year?

Get into college first. Most colleges will allow you to defer entrance for one year after acceptance. While it's certainly possible to complete applications, etc. while you're pursuing your gap year, it can be challenging to do the paperwork, especially if you plan to be in another country. Plus, who wants to fill up a gap year with completing applications?
Do your research. There are numerous reputable programs in which you can participate during your gap year. Find one that meets your interests, then check it out thoroughly. If necessary, hire a consultant to help you plan a rewarding year.
Create a plan and stick to it. Without a plan, it's easy to get derailed. Build a time line and set goals for yourself.
Take care of the details. Most of your friends are probably heading off to college, creating a social void in your life. Be sure to provide yourself with opportunities to socialize and network. And don't overlook the mundane considerations such as health insurance; without coverage through your parents or college, you may need to buy private insurance.
Pause and reflect. As you progress through your gap year, take time regularly to consider if the year is meeting your goals and expectations; if not, create a strategy to get back on track.
Live it up! If you've planned effectively, this will be a year you'll remember and reaps the benefits of for the rest of your life. Carpe diem!