College Admissions Help Blog

Hi everyone! TGIF, right? Hopefully things have calmed down for you all now that your college applications are in. It should be smooth sailing from here; or for now at least. Once your acceptance letters start to roll on you will have more big decisions to make. The question is when do you have to tell a school whether or not you will be attending in the fall?

The deadline for letting a college know you are attending is May 1st. Since you could receive acceptance letters any time from now until mid-April you have plenty of time to make your final decision. Before you make a decision you should wait to hear from all of the colleges that you applied to. There are a few things to consider as you get letters in the mail. First, you should compare all of your federal financial aid packages. Some schools may offer you more money than others which could be a big selling point. Some other things to consider are what your living situation will be at each school, what kinds of activities each school offers that interest you, and even what your semester schedule will be like.

Even though you are the one who will be attending school, make sure your parents are comfortable with your decision. You should talk to them about the distance between home and school and if they are willing to help you out with travel to and from campus. You should also make sure that they are comfortable with the financial aid package offered by your chosen school. Chances are they will be taking on some of the financial responsibility of your education.

Whatever you decide remember that this is the school you will be attending for the next four years. Good luck!

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The deadline for filing the fafsa is approaching for many schools. File early and start applying for student loans, scholarships and grants now - those monies run out so apply early. Student loans will always be available so use them as a last resort.

What is the FAFSA?? It is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (apply online at fafsa.ed.gov). colleges use it to determine eligibility for all kinds of financial aid. It has been revamped this year so is easier to file.

Hey seniors! I just wanted to take a minute to make sure that FAFSA deadline are approaching quickly! Many deadlines could be as soon as February 28th which is this coming weekend. If you have not filled your 2010-2011 FAFSA yet there are a few steps you should take to make sure you do not miss out on any federal financial aid.

1. Find out how much time you have: Look up the FAFSA deadlines for all of the schools you are applying to. If they are not until mid-March then you have a few more weeks to pull your information together.
2. Get your parents on board: To get this thing done on time you are probably going to need the help of your parents. The FAFSA requires a lot of parental information so it will be helpful to have them go through the process with you. Make sure they know when your deadlines are so that they are able to allocate their time appropriately.
3. Visit FAFSAOnline.com for help: The 2010-2011 FAFSA Form Guide can help you through every step of the FAFSA.

Good luck and remember not to stress out! There are a lot of pieces that go into applying for college, but before you know it you will be sleeping in your new dorm room, eating cafeteria food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and making a lot of new friends!

Happy Thursday everyone. I hope all you seniors have started to see acceptance letter roll in! Doesn’t it feel so real now? Since you guys are pretty much all set for now, today I am going to talk to the juniors. In fact, lately a lot of juniors have been asking me when they should start visiting colleges. Well, I am glad they asked because there is not better time then now.

During the spring colleges really cater to high school visitors especially during February and April vacation. I would definitely suggest that you take advantage of these precious days off to look at colleges. You can even make a family vacation or road trip out of it!

When you visit schools during February and April vacation colleges are in session so you get to see students going to class, studying in the library and even living on campus. You also might get the opportunity to eat in the dining hall and try the food. You get a much better feeling of what the college culture is like then you would visiting during the summer or on a weekend.

A few tips to visiting colleges:

1: Call ahead and find out if they have any tours or information sessions scheduled.

2: Make sure you leave yourself enough time to get from school to school. After all, it is still your vacation and there is no need to stress out about getting from one place to another on time.

3:Do not visit too many schools in one day or week. After a while they all mesh together and you tend to forget which ones you loved and which ones you didn’t like.

Good luck with your college search and don’t forget to me (Admissions Girl) if you have any questions!

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It’s mid-February and the time crunch is officially on. You’re exploring all the options, have visited at least a few college campuses, and have a pretty good idea of where you want to apply.

So, now that you’ve checked out all the school websites and have a mental list of places you’d like to go, how many should you apply to? First, let’s talk dollars; if the average college application fee is around $35-40, it can quickly become expensive to submit yourself to more than a few schools. Therefore, it becomes very important to narrow down the list to somewhere around this formula:

• 1-2 reach schools
• 2-5 desirable schools
• 1-2 safety schools

You can adjust the above to what you can afford to pay in application fees of course, but if you can swing the extra cost, more is definitely better. Also, state schools tend to have lower application costs than their private counterparts (as low as $10 for UMass Boston in Massachusetts). However, if you’re dead set on going to a school, don’t let the application fee get in your way – ask a family member to let you borrow the money if necessary and apply. If you get in, it will be well worth it.

One other option for paying for these is a student credit card. Many colleges allow you to pay for admissions fees with a card now and it just makes the process much easier than having to deal with paper checks. If you have not already thought of starting one, I would recommend it and just intentionally set a low credit limit ($200-300) to make sure you are only using it for necessities and not overspending. If you have not read any of the blogs over at StudentPlatinum.com, I would recommend that as well; there are a wealth of tips for saving money and managing your finances as a student.

Hello all! Happy Thursday! This week we are once again going to talk about deferment.Deferment can be heartbreaking if it is with your number one school, but with deferment comes a glimmer of hope for acceptance.

So what do you do if you get deferred? In some cases there are ways to improve your chances of acceptance, but tactfully. Here are a few tips:

1: Do not be annoying: Although it is ok to write a letter to advocate for yourself, do not go overboard. One well-written letter that highlights your accomplishments and goals is enough. Do not offer to go out of your way to meet with an admissions counselor. Do not show up in the admissions office unannounced. Do not be dramatic.

2: There is no need to proclaim your undying love for the school: Chances are that if you applied to a school early decision they already know it is your first choice. There is no reason to email the president of the college to tell him how much you want to be accepted. There is also no reason to call the admission office ten times to tell them that not being accepted is the end of your world. Doing these things does not reflect positively on your character and might even get you crossed off of the list.

3: Keep your feelings to yourself: There is no need to take revenge on the school. If you were deferred there is probably a reason why. Maybe your SAT scores did not meed their standards or maybe your high school grades were not as good as the other applicants. Either way do not tell everyone you know how angry or upset you are and do not discourage peers who are also interested in that institution. Also, speaking negatively of the school on Facebook or Twitter can further jeopardize your chances of being accepted.

4: It is ok to have someone advocate for you: It is ok to have you high school guidance counselor write a letter on your behalf. This is especially recommended if you have done something notable since the time you applied. It is also ok to have a notable alum write a letter on your behalf. Sometimes it is not what you know, but who you know.

I hope this short list helps. In the end it is still a waiting game and if it is meant to be it will be!

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Being a recent graduate of Suffolk University in Boston, I have found that there is a very clear difference in lifestyle between city schools and more rural or suburban ones. If you are considering which is better for you, I hope these insights will help you make a better informed decision about locale.

Pros

1. There are a lot more opportunities for work

If you want to work through college, be it for pocket money, rent, or to finance your education, a city houses a much higher population density of businesses to choose from. In general, city jobs tend to pay more on average than their rural or suburban counterparts, but the cost of living is usually higher too overall. Some students find that offsetting this extra financial burden with a small private student loan makes life easier while in school.

2. There’s more to do at night

For a typical college student, night life is pretty important. Be it restaurants to go out to eat, movie theaters etc., having something to do with your friends after class is out can make or break an evening. Cities usually have more variety of all of these things; that being said, the big campus schools in the countryside or suburbs usually spend a lot of time and money running all sorts of events and sponsoring clubs to provide entertainment and fun experiences for their students.

3. City universities tend to attract more professors that practice

If you are looking into a degree program in business, law, or something similar, the difference between a relevant education and one merely rooted in academia is truly whether or not the professors are active in their fields. For instance, at Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Business, the majority of the professors all had at least an MBA degree and still worked (at least part time) in their respective fields. The insights of working professionals add unlimited value to what probably already is a great education.

Cons

1. There are lots of distractions

If you didn’t grow up in or close to a city, inevitably, you will be initially overwhelmed with the tall buildings, swarms of people, and noise. In some cases, there may be TOO much to do, and you might be tempted to put off that important paper or studying in favor of doing something that sounds more interesting. When you first move to an unfamiliar city, there really is a balancing act involved for the first few months until you get comfortable – but in my experience, it tends to all even out pretty fast.

2. It’s expensive

There’s no doubt about it. Between rent (if you live off campus), food costs, books, etc. a city college can quickly become a pricey affair. However, thankfully there are many tools available to help students pay for college life like Federal Stafford loans, alternative student loans, and scholarships, to name a few. There are even websites where you don’t need to write an essay for a scholarship like ScholarshipPoints, which face it… we all hate to do. If you decide to attend school in a city, making a budget for yourself is critical, and helps to make sure you don’t go overboard and put yourself in more debt than you need to be. You can find a good resource for determining your cost of attendance here.

When all is said and done, there are a variety of reasons to say yay or nay to college in the city. However, in my experience, going to school in Boston was probably the best decision I have made to date. The people I have met, opportunities I have captured, and experiences I took in all came together to make a fantastic four years.

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Hi everyone! I bet you are surprised to see me a little bit early this week! However, I have a question that I want to answer urgently…

This one actually makes me a little bit sad. Has anyone ever hear of Senioritis? I have and I can tell you it is not pretty. This is the time of year when many high school seniors receive their college acceptance letters. I often hear student ask, “since I have already been accepted to college do I have to do well during my last semester of high school? Or can I just coast?”

Let me make this very clear; you cannot just coast. It is extremely important to keep your grades up during your final semester of college. First of all, many college acceptances are conditional upon successful completion of your high school career. Your final grades are sent to your chosen school and if they feel like they are not sufficient they can rescind your acceptance.

Secondly, if you want to be considered for any merit-based scholarships you need to maintain your grades until the end. Scholarships are a great way to pay for college because they do not have to be repaid. The best way to get scholarships is to do well in school.

Finally, your grades still count towards your overall high school GPA. If you are even thinking about vying for a top spot in your graduating class your final grades could make all the difference in the world. Additionally, college is not going to be easier than high school so it is important to maintain good study habits and keep your brain sharp.

Ok, now that I really sound like your mother, get back to the books! You are in the home stretch of your high school career now so do not let senioritis set in. I would hate for anyone to lose an acceptance or a scholarship because of a few high school grades. Trust me, when it is over it will all be worth it!

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