College Admissions Help Blog

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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Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great week! In today’s post I want to talk about a little myth in the college admissions world.

It is a common misconception that schools like Harvard, Yale and Stanford only offer admissions to student who grew up and live far away from the school’s location. Many people think that if you live in CA you have a much better chance of getting into Harvard than if you live in MA and if you hail from the east coast you have a much better chance at getting into Stanford than a West Coast resident.

This notion is a definite myth. While Ivy League and other top ranked schools do admit students from all over the country, they are more local than you may think. Take Harvard for example; a new study from the University of Denver suggests that more than one in every three American freshman at Harvard grew up within 200 miles of Cambridge. Additionally, less than half of the school’s students were from more than 500 miles away. And Stanford? 40% of Stanford’s 2008 freshman class were from the state of CA. Finally, remember the quadruplets who were all accepted to Yale this year? They are right from the state of CT!

Don’t think that you can’t get into Columbia because you live in New York. Although these schools are looking for diversity in their population, they are also looking for the students with the best SAT scores, grades and other qualifications. So if the school next door is on the top of you college search, apply! You may be just what they are looking for.

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Happy Friday everyone! I bet you thought you weren’t going to hear from me this week! Today I want to talk about a subject that affects both high school juniors and high school seniors:  AP classes.

High school has become extremely competitive and more students are taking on college level Advanced Placement (AP) classes. What is the point of these classes you ask? Well AP classes have two major benefits; they can boost your GPA and they can help you place out of classes in college.

AP classes are generally carry more weight than regular and even honors classes. If you do well in these classes it can be very good for your GPA. A better GPA can help you get into a better school Colleges also really like to see that students have challenged themselves in high school. The AP class workload will also help you prepare for the work you will face in college.

At the completion of an AP course there is an AP Exam. These tests are scored on a scale of  1-5. If you do well on a test, (usually by scoring a 4 or higher) you may be eligible to place our of a similar college course requirement. For example, many liberal arts schools have a first-year English literature requirement. However, if you take AP English and do well on the test you might be excused from taking the college class.

Now I am not a huge fan of high school student killing themselves to get ahead, but if you think you can handle an AP class it is a great idea!

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Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope most of you are enjoying some time off this week and gearing up for 2010!

This week I want to talk about reach schools. We are all in the process of making goals and resolutions for the new year and if you are in the college application process of applying to college maybe one of your goals is to get into your first choice school. However, for many high school students their first choice is a far reach. Some students wonder if they should even bother applying to these reach schools. My advice to them is apply because otherwise you will never know if you could have been accepted.

Did you hear about the Connecticut quadruplets who all got accepted to Yale recently? These four sibilings all applied for early admission to the ivy league school and were all welcomed to the class of 2014 right before Christmas. They all had outstanding grades and SAT scores, but I am sure they all had other unique characteristics and talents that helped them get in as well.

When you apply to college admissions counselors primarily look at your grades and SAT scores, but they also look at what else you have done throughout your four years of high school. Community service, excellence in sports or music, student council involvement and other activities are all taken into account. I am not saying that everyone has an equal chance of getting in to Harvard or Yale, but if you have done all the right things and worked really hard you might have a chance of getting into a school that is stretch for you.

Happy New Years everyone! I hope 2010 brings lots of college acceptance letters, scholarships and financial aid to all of you!

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Ok, so this week I am taking a break from answering questions for the high school senior set and moving down to the juniors. Many juniors wonder when they should start thinking about the college application process. My answer; it is never too early!

As a junior, if you are not already thinking about college you should be! Exactly one year from now you will be sending  applications out and starting to see acceptance letters roll in. Crazy, huh? If you have not thought about college at all here is what you should be doing:

School list: February and April vacation are great times to visit schools so you should start to put together a list of colleges that you think might interest you. Most schools ramp up their tour and information session schedules during these times.  If you want to look at colleges that are far away you should talk to your parents about possibly arranging small trips.  How To Get In’s College and University Search Engine can help you create a school list and narrow down your choices based on your interests.

Testing: If you have not taken the PSATs yet you should do so as soon as possible. This test will allow you to determine what you need to work on for the SATs next year. You will also get a feel for how the test is arranged and how you should alter your test taking techniques.

Get involved: If you realize that your resume is lacking in a certain area now is your chance to get involved! You have plenty of time to join a new club, organization or sports team. You can also take on a new community service project if that is what you think you need. The sooner you get involved the better because you definitely do not want it to look like you are only doing these things to satisfy your college application.

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If you applied to your first choice school Early Decision you should be getting some mail this week! I am sure you have already been stalking the mail man every day anticipating an acceptance letter. I remember getting my early decision acceptance right before Christmas my senior year of high school. I could not have been more excited!

When you apply early decision three things can happen: you can be accepted, you can be rejected, and you can be deferred.

If you are accepted, congratulations! You deserve it! You have worked really hard for four years and not you can celebrate all of your hard work. You can go through the rest of your senior year without having to worry about any more college applications.

If you are rejected, keep your head held high and carry on! It really is not the end of the world even though it might seem like it right now. Make sure you send out the rest of your applications immediately, and remember that there is another school for you out there.

If you are deferred, all hope is not lost! There is still a very good chance that you will get in. Right now it is important for you to send out the rest of your applications and  finish out your senior year on a strong foot. Your first choice school will want to see that you have maintained your good grades and followed through with all of your commitments.

Whatever the outcome ends up being trust that your college search has served you well and remember that you will eventually end up at the right college or university.

Hi all! Sorry I am a few days late with my post this week, but to make up for it I have a very important topic to talk about. With it being harder than ever to pay for college many students are wondering if they should attend a community college for two years to save money and then transfer. This is  a very personal decision however, there are some definite pros and cons.

Pros of going to a community college for two years:

• You will save a significant amount of money. Community colleges cost a lot less than private colleges and even state schools. You will also save money by living at home rather than on a campus or in an apartment near campus.
• Most of the courses for your major are completed during junior and senior years so you will be able to take them at the college that you transfer to.
• Many community colleges have a plan in place that helps  ensure that you take the best classes for a smooth transition.
• You will have more time to complete your college search and decide on a degree program.

Cons of going to a community college for two years:

• You will miss out on a lot of the experiences that come with the first couple years of living on a campus.
• Since you might not know which school you will end up at you will not necessarily be able to complete all of the freshman and sophomore prerequisites that you will need to graduate after you transfer.
• You will have less interaction with your fellow students. It is typically harder to get to know people at community colleges.

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Happy December! It certainly is the most wonderful time of the year; unless of course you are a high school senior applying to college. Now it is officially crunch time.

Applications: Ideally all of your applications should be done as of the first of the month. If you applications are not done you probably still have time, but you might want to get everything done soon so you can enjoy the holidays.

Financial Aid: You should also start to think about the FAFSA this month. Although you cannot submit the FAFSA until after January 1^st, there are things you can do now to prepare for the filing process. Check out FAFSA4cater.com. This will help you determine if you will be eligible for any federal financial aid and what you estimated family contribution might be. You can also apply for a FAFSA pin number. This pin number will be your password to access all of your federal financial aid information in the future.

SATS: Take the SATs if you are registered for them this month. It will probably be your last opportunity so make it count!

If you are a junior in high school your college search activities should also ramp up this month. If you took the PSATs this fall you should review the results with your parents and guidance counselors and decide what you should do to prepare for the SATs. It is also a great time to talk to friends who are home from college on winter break to find out about their experiences so far!

Happy Wednesday! Hang in there everyone; Thanksgiving break start one week from today and you all deserve it!  This week in the Ask Admissions Girl column we are talking about recommendation letters. Love them or hate them they are a necessary part of applying to college.

A lot of high school seniors wonder who should write their college recommendation letters. Some students seem to have a ton of people they could ask while others only have one or two people they would feel comfortable asking. Either way, there are a few guidelines you should follow when asking for recommendations.

Choose people who you know will have good things to say about you: This one kind of goes without saying, but it is still very important to mention. Simply stated, if you did not hit it off with a particular teacher or coach they might not have anything fabulous to say about you. Instead, choose

Teachers are usually your best bet: Many students have coaches, club advisors and summer job bosses who would be more than willing to write letters of recommendation for them. However, most colleges like to see letters from people who know your academic experience. You are going to college for an education and, although it is important to show that you are a well-rounded person, your academics are most important.

If possible, ask someone who attended you first choice college: Unfortunately, sometimes it is not what you know, but who you know! Alumni connections are key. If you know that one of your high school teachers went to Boston College and Boston College is your first choice school, then they should definitely write one of your letters. You can ask the teacher to mention their time at the college in the letter or simply sign their name with their class year so that the school knows the recommendation is coming from an alumnus.

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Most people know that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA, is the number one form you need to fill out to receive any kind of federal financial aid. However, there is another important financial aid form that every prospective college student should know about. The College Scholarship Service Profile, or the CSS Profile, is an application put out by the College Board. Over 600 colleges and universities use the information collected by the profile to determine student eligibility for nonfederal student aid. This application is much more detailed than the FAFSA and it gives financial aid officers  a closer look at the details of a student’s family finances.

This form is most useful for colleges with early decision and early action programs. These schools use the CSS Profile to make preliminary financial aid decisions for students because they cannot file a FAFSA until after January 1. Unfortunately, unlike the FAFSA there is a fee associated with filing the CSS Profile. The application fee is $9 and a $16 fee is charged for every school the information is sent to.

Make sure you find out if the school you are applying to require or accept this application!