College Admissions Help Blog

I recently found a new networking site focused on serving just medical students.  If you know of someone studying medicine, let them know about:

http://www.medicalstudents.com/

What other sites are out there offering similar opportunities to other student groups???

By Kristin Ferguson on the ScholarshipPoints blog

The 2010-2011 school year is now in full swing. As most students know, every new semester comes with a lot of unexpected expenses. To help you deal with these expenses, ScholarshipPoints is giving you the chance to win up to $1,750 in free college scholarship money this fall with our Back-to-School Member Madness program. All you have to do to be eligible is join ScholarshipPoints and/or earn scholarship points between September 20th and October 31st. The Back-to-School scholarships will be drawn on November 1, 2010.

Here is what you can win with Back-to-School Member Madness:

• New members who join ScholarshipPoints will automatically be entered in a $250 scholarship drawing.
• Members who earn a minimum of 100 scholarship points with automatically be entered into a $500 scholarship drawing.
• Members who earn a minimum of 500 scholarship points will automatically be entered into a $1,000 scholarship drawing.

Back-to-School Member Madness starts now so don’t miss your chance to win free money for college!

Join ScholarshipPoints |   Login to ScholarshipPoints

5 Most Recent Scholarship Points Blog Posts:

• New Scholarships Alert
• Introducing Back-to-School Member Madness!
• September $10,000 Scholarship Winner Announced
• New Scholarships Alert
• $10,000 Scholarship Drawing is only two days away!

Ask admissions girl: I have my bachelor’s degree, and have been working for a few years, but now I am feeling a little stuck… Should I go back to school?

Everyone has heard the phrase “There is always more to learn!” In the workforce, where competition for jobs, promotions and salary increases are common, any way in which a job seeker or employee can set themselves apart from the rest is of great benefit!

Right now the degree that you have already worked so hard for is a great tool to get yourself in the door, but in many cases, higher education is essential in order to advance in the workplace. Look at how many positions in your field require a master’s degree or a special skill. Research to find out the best way to meet the job posting requirement in your field.

Continuing professional education can have great benefit. In many professions it is required that workers continue their education in order to get higher positions, but also just keep up with advancements in the field. Continuing education for nurses, for example, becomes very important. A registered nurse can obtain further specialty certificates or a higher degree to market themselves for higher pay and career advancement in a specific field. Seasoned veterans in accounting or education also take courses to remain up to date on current technologies and practices.

Courses come in many shapes and forms. Some run for the length of a college semester, while others are a single class session long, some are online, through the mail or on a campus. Continuing education courses can be taken as part of continuing education programs, which will encompass many classes, and end with the student obtaining a certification or degree. Some employers will offer tuition reimbursement for continuing education in their field, and recognize an educated individual as an asset to their professional community.

Participating in continued learning proves that you are interested in furthering yourself in your career, and are willing to work hard to meet your goals. Workers and job seekers who continually search for ways in which to advance their skills are highly respected in the workforce, and are more likely to receive promotions and salary increases.

Today, evening classes and weekend classes are popular alternatives to traditional school hours, and offer students the ability to further their education while working full time and maintaining their lifestyle. Programs available in the online setting, where students telecommute to class and submit their assignments online, make it easy to gain the skills you are looking for. This setting enables the adult learner to complete schoolwork at times when classes would not be in session, making adult continuing education more and more common.

Take a look at what type of program will help you succeed in your field by asking a supervisor or mentor, reading job listings, or talking to schools. Hope this helps. Good luck!

There has been much press recently regarding for-profit colleges, specifically some of the recruiting practices used to enroll prospective students. While the press is concerning and certainly there are problems with some for-profit recruiting, this remains an education option for many students. Those considering a for-profit education simply need to do the in-depth research and develop the right questions to successfully navigate the research process for such programs.

Community college students can successfully transfer to some of the nation’s most selective four-year institutions and perform as well as those who start as freshmen, if they are given appropriate academic and social support, a new report on a five-year project by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation finds.

(more...)

September 5, 2010

Is it worth it to pay $200,000 for a liberal arts education, especially if it means taking out loans? One of my 20-something Kiplinger colleagues answers bluntly: "If I had realized how much debt I was getting into, I would have gone to my state school instead of an expensive private college." As important as education is in today's world, families need to find more affordable ways to pay for it. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com, has calculated that total student-loan debt exceeds revolving credit (mostly credit-card debt). Here's my guide for parents about avoiding the student-debt trap:

• Save as much as you can. It's never too late to start, especially if you live in a state that gives you an income-tax break for contributions to state-sponsored 529 plans. Plus, money withdrawn from 529 accounts and used to pay for qualified college expenses is tax-free.
• Don't let the total cost of college discourage you. If it seems intimidating, aim for a more manageable goal -- such as saving enough to pay first-year expenses or one-third of the total cost (the rest could be covered by a combination of current income, both yours and your child's, and financial aid). Remember, every dollar you save is a dollar you won't have to borrow.
• Be straight with your kids about what you can afford. Have the "college talk" with your teenagers before they start their search so that they know what fits into your budget and how much they'll have to contribute. At a minimum, kids should be expected to earn their own spending money.
• Choose schools strategically. You're looking for colleges that deliver good value -- a high-quality education at an affordable price. That might mean a state institution, or it could mean a pricey private school that offers a generous financial-aid package. To better their chances for a scholarship, students should focus on schools at which their GPA or other achievements would make them a standout.
• Think outside the box. Students can follow the example of one of our top Kiplinger editors, who started at a lower-cost community college and then transferred to a four-year school. And more colleges are offering online classes to keep costs under control. Taking Advanced Placement classes in high school can slice a year off your child's education and cut your expenses by 25 percent. Uncle Sam will help pay the bill if your child joins the military. You could also take advantage of the growing number of colleges offering accelerated, three-year degree programs.
• Or, here's a radical thought: Your child may be better off passing up college, at least for a year. Not everyone is ready for college at 18. It might literally pay if your child takes a year off to mature, earn some money and figure out what he really wants to study. Education and training are critical in today's economy, but rather than spend time and money on a degree from a four-year institution, it might be more appropriate for some kids to consider a one- or two-year certificate program from community college in a field such as health care or engineering.
• Borrow smart. If your family must borrow to pay the bills, stick with government-sponsored Stafford loans for students and PLUS loans for parents (or a home-equity line of credit, if you qualify). Current interest rates on government loans are 6.8 percent for students (lower if you're eligible for financial subsidies) and 7.9 percent for new PLUS loans(for more information on student loans, go to www.studentloannetwork.com). With that combination, you shouldn't have to resort to more-expensive private loans.
• Run the numbers. Perhaps the most important mathematical exercise your child will ever have to do -- and the most widely neglected -- is figure out how much it will cost to pay back her student loans. At FinAid.org, you can use the Student Loan Advisor calculator to determine the monthly payment amount based on a future salary. Let's say your daughter plans to major in accounting, with a projected starting salary of $47,200. If she wanted to hold the loan payments to 10 percent of her monthly income and repay the loans over 10 years, her monthly payment would be $393, assuming a student-loan interest rate of 6.8 percent, and her maximum manageable debt would be $34,200.
• Pick a marketable major. Majors that are most likely to yield an immediate job offer after college are accounting, business administration, computer science, engineering and math, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. But students can still major in liberal arts and make themselves attractive to potential employers by choosing subjects that are marketable. As an editor, I always counsel budding journalists who are majoring in something as general as "mass communications" to add a minor or a concentration in another subject -- business, health or computer skills, for instance. As the editor of a personal-finance magazine, I can attest that our most attractive job candidates are those who combine writing ability with knowledge of the subjects we cover. That applies to other fields as well. If your daughter is majoring in economics, she should take accounting. If she's studying history or government, she could learn a foreign language. An English major could take classes in technical writing. Then she'd have a better shot at landing a well-paying job to help pay back those college loans.

By Janet Bodnar Featured in “The Washington Post”

Hey college planners, don’t miss your chance to win free money for college! Last week ScholarshipPoints announced the August 2010 scholarship winners. Six different scholarships were awarded including the August $1,000 Free College Scholarship and five sponsored scholarships. Head over to the winner’s page to see the lucky winners.

There is $19,000 at stake this month! If you are not a member, join ScholarshipPoints for a chance to win – you still have time to earn scholarship points and enter them into the September 15th $10,000 Scholarship Drawing in one week, and on October 1st, ScholarshipPoints is giving away $9,000 in scholarships. This includes the September $1,000 Free College Scholarship and seven sponsored scholarships!

Remember, every scholarship point you earn is another entry into a scholarship drawing. Login now to see the new opportunities added every day.

For those who may not have noticed, or are new to the game of college admissions (which probably accounts for 99.9% of those reading this and other college admission blogs), the Common App has changed for the next class of applicants.

Some of the changes are obvious -- such as the reformatting of choices available in reporting SAT and/or ACT scores -- while others are more nuanced, making them all the more likely to lead to mistakes by the applicant, with often unintended, and, sometimes undesirable results.

It is all the more important, then, and incumbent upon the applicant, to read ALL instructions, thereafter, to carefully and thoroughly follow them.

Jeremy Spencer, Director of Admissions at Alfred University (writing for About.com:College Admissions) notes six of the most common mistakes made in the college application process. Read, The Six Most Common Blunders of College Applicants. Many of these errors of commission or omission translate directly from mistakes made on the Common App. These include, but surely are not limited to, missing deadlines, applying Early Decision instead of Early Action, and using the wrong college name in the essay.

Clearly, there is more to completing the Common App than simply filling in the blanks. Even those blanks require you, the applicant, to be concise, clear, and, most assuredly, accurate.

And let's not forget about those pesky short answers, where much more than "check the box that applies" is required.

Allen Grove, of About.com Guide, notes 5 Short Answer Mistakes that could, all things considered, sink what would otherwise be a meritorious application.

And then, there are the supplemental applications, addenda required by many colleges, both public and private.

Surely, you will want to put your best foot forward, presenting yourself and your credentials in the best possible light, most favorable (in the eyes of a college admissions officer) to acceptance at the college of your choice.

The Common App is, in most instances, the centerpiece of your admissions table, and you will want to set it with the knives, forks, and teaspoons properly laid out and pointing in the right direction.

A bit of old-fashioned advice from The College Whisperer as you embark on the road toward college admissions -- engaging the Common App early in your travels, and meeting it head on: Take advantage of all available resources, from your high school guidance counselor to the expert advice of an independent college planning counselor (and, yes, on occasion, even the wisdom of your parents). Along that road there is many a bump and often a detour or two. You drive, most certainly, but always seek the assist of essential navigation to gain the much-needed competitive edge.

Happy September!

September means it is officially back-to-school time.  New clothes, books, pens, teachers and classes. Here are some back-to-school facts for the 2010-2011 school year:

Students

• 76 million – The number of U.S. residents enrolled in schools, from nursery schools to colleges.
• 56 million – The number of students projected to be enrolled in the nation’s elementary and high schools grades K-12 this fall. That number exceeds the total in 1969 (51.6 million) when the last of the “baby boom” children expanded school enrollments.
• 1.1 million – Number of students who are home-schooled, or 2 percent of all school-age students ages 5 to 17.
• 9.1 million  - The projected number of students enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities this fall. This is up from 12.4 million a quarter-century ago.

Technology

• 100 – Percentage of public schools online with Internet access. In 1995, the proportion was 50 percent.

Tuition

• $14,915 – Average tuition, room and board (for in-state students) at the nation’s four-year public colleges and universities for an entire academic year, more than double the amount from 1990.
• $40,640 – Average tuition, room and board at the nation’s four-year private colleges and universities for an entire academic year, more than double what students were paying for college in 1990.

Earnings

• $83,144 – Average annual earnings of workers age 18 and older with an advanced degree. This compares with $58,613 a year for those with bachelor’s degrees, $31,283 for those with a high school diploma only and $21,023 for those without a high school diploma.
• $75,621 – Average starting salary offer to bachelor’s degree candidates in petroleum engineering, among the highest of any field of study. At the other end of the spectrum were those majoring in the social science; they were offered an average of $39,476.

As the school year begins, remember that a new year is a clean slate and the perfect time to focus on goals you can achieve this year, and beyond. Education is a crucial investment for the future, and with the population growing and tuition costs rising, it is important to know that there are many resources and people willing to help.

What are your thoughts about the resources available to today’s students?  What tips do you have to stay ahead of the curve?

[Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau's Facts for Feautures: Back to School 2010-2011]