College Admissions Help Blog

Quick reminder, the 2012 Free Application for Federal Student Financial Aid, or  FAFSA, will be available January 1, 2012. Students who are hoping to receive federal financial aid for the Fall 2012 semester need to fill out the FAFSA to be eligible.

Filling out the FAFSA will mean you will have to coordinate with parents and guardians to get together tax information. A recent post by the StudentLoanNetwork highlights an IRS retrieval tool that can be helpful to students when filling out the FAFSA. If you will be filling out this form come January 2012, you’ll want to check out this post, and visit FAFSAonline.com to get tips and help with your financial aid applications.

Writing college admissions essays can be a lot of work! Here are the top 3 tips to remember when writing your essay:

1. PROOFREAD your college admissions essay. Show the reader that you are ready for the challenge that is college. Step back every once in a while, take a break and re-read your essay. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. Another set of eyes can be invaluable!

2. DEVELOP an interesting essay topic. Push the boundaries when it comes to showing off your best qualities. This essay is about you. Develop the story so it is packed with details that not only make the essay interesting to a reader, but a powerful statement of your personality and character.

3. CONNECT to the essay prompt and to the reader. You can proofread a well written, developed essay, but you cannot lose site of the goal of the essay. Ask yourself: Did I answer the question? Will this make sense to the admissions officer? Be open to scrapping a few of your favorite sentences so that you have an essay that meets the requirements. Help the reader, the admissions officer, answer the underlying questions: Who is this student? Does their personality, work-ethic, personal values and future goals align with this school?

To find more tips on writing your college admissions essay, visit on HowToGetIn.com. Our helpful applying to college section explains more about how best to develop your college essay topic, and covers more about the college application process, including how to ace your college interview.

Fall is a time when graduating Seniors are buzzing about getting their letters of recommendation for college ready, or their college admissions essays edited for upcoming application deadlines. What about younger students? What are they doing to prepare for college applications? (more…)

Have you heard your high school guidance counselors and parents telling you to consider whether or not a college on your list is the right “fit”? Well if they aren’t saying this to you, we’re saying it to you now! If you are getting ready to apply to college this year, check out the 3 steps to applying to college on HowToGetIn.com.

The college admissions process, while it has deadlines and some tricky decisions along the way, is straight forward. You need to do some research, pick some schools, and apply to college. The “pick some schools” part is where you will have to assess a school’s fit with your goals, values, grades and college budget.

When you are applying to college you should be considering fit at a variety of schools that will give you the best chances for success. Colleges you can get into, that you aspire to, and that are a good fit for you academically. (Read more about Reach, Target and Safety schools.) Even a school with the best reputation in the country, like Harvard University, it isn’t the right fit for the social bee perhaps, or an aspiring artist. (more…)

With September now underway, it’s back to the grind, and that includes planning for college. Once you get back into the swing of school, homework, and extracurriculars, you should take some time to continue (or start) your college plan. Preparing for college is a year round task, and here are some things you should think about as you begin a new school year.

Freshmen

September is a busy month, for Freshmen especially. You have the added stress of finding your way around new hallways packed with new faces and getting acclimated to a new school climate. However, there are still some steps you can take to start your college prep plan.

• Befriend your guidance counselor – Adjusting to a new school can be a challenge, so seek help from your guidance counselor now, that way, when it’s time to seek their advice on college, you’ll already have developed a rapport with them!
• Talk to your parents – Paying for college is tough, so the sooner you talk to your parents about how to do this the better. That way, you can put a little money aside from your summer job if you know you’ll need it in the future!

Sophomores

• Register for the PSAT or PLAN tests – Sophomore year you will want to (well, maybe not want) but should register for practice tests. Taking a practice SAT or ACT test can help students prepare better for the real tests by finding the areas where you may need to work a little harder. Tests usually take place in October or November, so make sure you register on time to avoid a late fee.
• Research some colleges – Just because it’s a few years away, you should still take some time to do a little college research. Ask family and friends why they went to the schools they did. Was it the size? Location? Cost? Getting a little background from friends and family can help you to eventually narrow your college list.

(more…)

If the answer to the first question is yes, this study says that the majority of your generation will also say yes to the second question. Who needs a sense of smell if you have a laptop and cell phone? Is this an accurate description of your generation? (more…)

Of all of the qualifying criteria a student is judged on, such as high school transcripts and extracurricular activities, standardized test scores seem to incite the most panic from college-bound students. Whether it is because it seems like such a definitive number to be judged on, or because you are not the “testing type”, it is important to know this isn’t the only factor colleges consider.  In this post we break down the relative importance of test scores in the college admissions process and offer a little more background about the tests to put you at ease! (more…)

Q: I’ve gone to a couple of college fairs, but I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do or what questions to ask. Do you have any advice?

A: If you’re like most high school students, navigating a college fair can be awkward, confusing, and frustrating. You’re bombarded with information but might not know where to turn exactly. This is why I am going to help you navigate the seemingly endless rows of college booths, in the hopes that you start your college search on the right foot.

Register

So let’s start at the beginning. In order to attend most college fairs, you will first need to register (unless it’s as a class field trip for example). The National Association for College Admission Counseling hosts national college fairs every spring and fall, and for many cities, you can register online. These fairs are free and open to the public, plus, you can get a list of colleges that will be exhibiting online before you go.
(more…)

by Marcia Y. Cantarella, PhD,
Author: I CAN Finish College: The Overcome Any Obstacle and Get Your Degree Guide

Over the course of my career as a dean and senior administrator in a variety of schools I have heard the same question—usually in a plaintive voice and you can substitute any number of courses into that question—anthropology, history, art, literature. The assumption is that these are not practical courses. Having made the decision to go to college, presumably to become job-ready and more employable, then students look for the practical. Certainly if one is pursuing an online degree then time is precious. You don’t want to waste it with frivolity like philosophy. (more...)

It’s that time of year again when students are patiently awaiting their college acceptance letters. By this point, you have hopefully completed and filed your FAFSA, so now all you have to do is wait, right? Not quite. There are still some important tasks to complete during these upcoming weeks.

Check your Student Aid Report

For those students who filed their FAFSAs way back in January, by now you should have your Student Aid Report. It is imperative that you look over this document carefully, as any errors can affect the amount of aid you are offered. Should you find an error, make sure to get it amended ASAP.
(more…)