With prom season underway, spring fever in full swing, graduation parties to plan, and senioritis firmly settled in for the duration of the school year, it is really easy to let stuff slide. To keep you on track with all things college-related, we’ve put together a college checklist for you. I know, not the most exciting thing in the world, but, with so many distractions right now, it is absolutely vital that you don’t let anything slip between the cracks. Not filing paperwork in a timely manner could result in a lost scholarship, grant, work-study program, housing, etc.
I am about to sound like your mom, but to be on the safe side, follow up with the appropriate college office within a week to ensure your paperwork was received. Also, save all email correspondence. For your follow up calls, be sure you note the date, time and the name of the person you spoke with, then create a file and save this information for your records. Colleges are very careful with your paperwork, but with so many new students to enroll at one time, some documents may get lost.
Finally, and most importantly, don’t lose focus during these last few weeks of school! College acceptance—and especially financial aid—is usually dependant on you maintaining your grades.
Your College Enrollment Checklist:
Submit signed acceptance letter by college deadline Submit signed award letter by deadline Mail housing deposit ASAP. Housing is limited; you don’t want to be without a room! Confirm housing deposit received Notify colleges where you were accepted, but not attending Notify colleges if you want to remain active on their waitlist Verify tuition deposit received by deadline Submit final high school transcript. Required by most colleges. Confirm orientation date and register for orientation
As you well know—or are about to find out—trying to figure out which colleges suit your personality and academic and extra-curricular interests is not easy. With thousands of colleges and universities to choose from and only enough time to visit a handful or two, it can be a little like searching for a ring in the sand on the beach in the pitch dark.
We really want to help you find that “ring,” so here’s our shameless plug. . .
WiseChoice can definitely make it easier. Think of us as the eHarmony® of the college search process. We don’t just give you a list of colleges with relevant stats, we also give you reviews and ratings from over 110,000 current college students to help you make a more informed choice about where to apply.
Sign up for a free Guest account and check out some of our useful features:
Personality Assessment. This can be really eye-opening. We ask questions about your social personality, achievement, motivation and study skills/learning styles. This is where your search begins to find the right colleges for you. Every college has its own culture or “vibe” and it is important to find out if it is one that fits you. It can be the difference between a miserable college experience and a rewarding one.
College Matching Profile. We developed a program that combines the results of your personality assessment with your academics, preferences, priorities and goals (academic, athletic, career, and otherwise). The result? A recommended list of colleges and universities with compatibility ratings from 0-100. Isn’t technology great?
Explore Schools. The fun part! Look up the schools you are interested in, read their profiles and reviews, save your favorites, and even compare them side-by-side.
Scholarship Finder. As we like to say, there are scholarships for everyone, not just valedictorians, 1st seat violinists, and star athletes. Our comprehensive database is bursting with information on over 2.4 million scholarships valued at over $14 billion, and best of all we tell you which ones you’re eligible for!
Quick EFC Calculator. As I mentioned here last week, trying to figure out how to pay for college can be a major stressor. Use our EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) calculator so you know what the financial aid office will expect you to contribute toward college before you start exploring.
Career Assessment. Show of hands: Who knows what they want to be when they grow up? Figuring out a major is hard; figuring out which career path to choose can be harder. The results of our career assessment detail career and work environments best suited to you, and we even provide the salary range and education requirements for each option.
What are you waiting for? Start exploring now
Tired of the academic grind? Have you been rejected, deferred, or are uncertain of where to attend college in the fall? Need to make money to pay for college? Crave job and travel experiences? Maybe you’re just not ready for college yet? If any of these questions are lingering in your head, then maybe you should consider taking a gap year.
No, a gap year has nothing to do with the classic clothing company. A gap year is simply a productive year off from school, typically in between the transition from high school to college. Amongst students, gap years are becoming increasingly more popular. They understand the need to become more independent, discover areas of interest to study, and mentally prepare for college. Then, students apply what they’ve learned during the gap year at a college that is best suited for their success. And, more and more colleges are beginning to view gap years as an alternative, but favorable, path to college – students know what they want, are better prepared, and focused on reaching their goals at school.
Sound too good to be true? Well, there’s a caveat – if you spend your gap year as if it were an extended summer vacation, then colleges aren’t going to support your gap year decision. The key to a successful gap year is in the planning. Whether you want to work, participate in community service projects or volunteer, take courses at a local community college, or travel – have a strategy. Should you choose to take a gap year, follow these tips from a USA Today article about how to prepare for your gap year (specifically between high school and college):
Secure a place in college first. Then defer enrollment for a year if allowed. This is less hectic than spending the gap year doing applications.
Have a plan. Set goals and create structure to prevent simply hanging out at home for a year.
Respect your social needs. The year represents a break with the crowd, so it’s important to plan strategies for making new friends and staying in touch with old ones.
Plan ahead for health insurance. Some policies won’t cover adult-age dependents if they cease to be full-time students. Check your policy several months in advance, then explore temporary insurance if necessary.
The possibilities with taking a gap year are endless. Use your time wisely and effectively so that you don’t lose sight as to the advantages a gap year has to offer. Should you choose to take a year off, plan, plan, plan, and then jump into the gap.
School’s out for summer….or is it? Summer typically marks the beginning of a welcome break from high school. Instead of using that break to hone your video game skills and get a killer tan, why not use the summertime to beef up your college application? Welcome to summer school, the productive way to spend your summer.
I imagine you just read that sentence, and thought to yourself, what is Whitney thinking? But hear me out. Regardless of whether you want to catch up, stay on track or get ahead, your summer break is a prime time to dedicate toward setting yourself apart from the rest of the college applicant pool. So get it out of your mind that summer school is for losers.
Summer school provides you the opportunity to take prep courses, or prerequisite courses that prepare you for advanced coursework. Let’s say you really want to take that Calculus class next year in high school, but you don’t have the prerequisite course. Take it during the summer! That way you’ll be able to enroll in Calculus in the fall, and you’ve taken an extra math class. Your dedication to academic excellence and enthusiasm for learning will impress any college admissions office.
Or, how about enrolling in advanced coursework or classes at a community college? Not only will you expand your knowledge and exhibit initiative, but you will expose yourself to college-level courses. This provides reassurance to a college admissions office that you’re serious about focusing on your school goals.
And, of course, summer school provides an opportunity to retake an important class (like math or English) to fix a poor grade. An improved grade could increase your GPA and give you that extra edge to get noticed by college admissions.
With summer school, you can take multiple courses or just focus all of your attention on one class. You can truly apply yourself, dive into a subject, and maybe even discover an interest you never knew you had. So now that you know the truth about summer school – that it’s not for slackers – hop right into action this summer, and reap the benefits of summer school.
Seth Godin is considered by many people to be a marketing genius. He is a best-selling author, an entertaining and in-demand speaker, and a self-described “agent of change.” Seth is also a prolific blogger; his posts are thought-provoking, insightful, funny, and always worth reading.
Last week, one of his posts was titled “The coming meltdown in higher education (as seen by a marketer).” He argued that most colleges, even the top ones, are homogeneous and therefore interchangeable; that they all game the system to appear more selective rather than just focusing on improving their schools’ curriculum; that it doesn’t matter where, or if, you go to college, and that the college experience is more important than the actual college education.
Did we mention Seth’s posts were thought-provoking?
Let’s explore the arguments he makes in each of his stated positions. In my experience, he is (mostly) speaking the truth.
1. Most colleges are organized to give an average education to average students.
Seth challenges you to sift through your child’s college brochures, scribble out the names on the cover, and then try to pick out which is which. He’s betting you cannot, and to some extent this is true. Many colleges look nearly identical on the surface, offer similar coursework, and boast that they have the best college life, the best professors, the best whatever. Simply put, schools have become mass marketers.
Bottom Line: The brochures may look the same, but once on campus you will quickly realize that each school has its own personality, its own vibe, and offers different learning environments. It is important to look beyond rankings and brochures, and find a school that is compatible to your child’s personality, social activities, academic ability and fits your family budget for the best chances of a rewarding college experience.
2. The definition of ‘best’ is under siege.
How many college brochures did your child receive in the mail? 10, 20, 45? Colleges go berserk sending out thousands upon thousands of brochures to ensure that, in return, they receive thousands of applications. Why waste all that paper, time, and money? Because they are gaming the system: the more applicants they reject, the more selective they appear to be, and the higher they rank in the annual US News & World Report ranking, and elsewhere. As Seth puts it, “Why bother making your education more useful if you can more easily make it appear to be more useful?”
Bottom Line: Choose your college based on its compatibility to your interests and goals, not on rankings and selectivity. The “best” college is one that meets your academic, social, and financial needs.
3. The correlation between a typical college degree and success is suspect.
According to Seth, where you go to college doesn’t matter as much as what you do when you get there. (Now granted, Seth has an MBA from Stanford, but we’ll let that slide.)
Case in point: A very good friend of mine is a highly successful international real estate attorney. He is worth millions, has a lovely family and tight circle of good friends, has been named Top Lawyer several times in the state where he practices law. Guess where he went to law school—Harvard? Princeton? Nope. Syracuse. But he was top of his class and, as a result, pursued by high-profile law firms when he graduated.
Bottom line: It is up to your child to make the most of his or her college education—no matter where or whether the college is private or public. Simply attending an Ivy or college that is ranked highly will not guarantee success without effort.
4. Accreditation isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.
Finally, Seth argues that college is not the only way to gain a valuable education.
Yes, there are cheaper ways to earn an education: such as a gap year or a research internship. Many people take a year or more off after high school to pursue a non-traditional education (think the Peace Corps). Many then decide to attend college and get a traditional education, while some do not. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
Bottom Line: Explore other education options that may fit your child’s interest. And, if college is the path for your child, it is important that your child chooses a college that is right for him or her—one that is compatible with his/her learning style, social activities, and personality.
Have you been in ballet shoes since before you could tie your sneakers? Played the violin before you could recite your ABC’s? If so, perhaps you are thinking of attending a performing arts college. Wondering how you would go about that? Lucky for you, I have personal insight into the process. My sister was a member of the Conservatory at Shenandoah University and graduated with a degree in Dance.
One of the first decisions she had to make was whether she wanted to pursue a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree in Dance. Many performance dancers opt for a B.F.A., as the training and education is very specific to the major. My sister decided she wanted a broader degree and chose a B.A. Like any other student, she had to first consider if she could get into a college based on her grades and test scores, and then she had to evaluate the dance program based on her interests and her skills.
When visiting performing arts college, she met with the dance department and shadowed an entry-level dance class. This was an important evaluation tool to gauge if she would be interested in the program and if the class would challenge her level of dance. Think of it as the department auditioning for you, so you can judge if the program would be a good fit. If your art is more of a solo process, see if you can observe a student’s private lesson. You should also check out the practice space.
After being accepted into a performing arts college, schedule an audition to qualify for your program of interest. My sister attended a group audition similar to an audition scene from the television show, “So You Think You Can Dance.” Each participant was issued a number and the group was taught specific choreography. After performing, participants were separated based on level of ability. As my sister confirmed, this was a high pressure, competitive situation.
A private audition she attended at another performing arts school was more relaxed. For that audition, she prepared a short solo piece, which she had practiced and tweaked extensively at her dance studio. Immediately prior to performing her solo for the department Chair, she willingly participated in a freshman dance class. It was a great way to ease into the audition and it boosted her confidence. After her solo performance and a brief interview, the Chair informed her that she would be accepted into the Dance program. Other schools might not tell you on the spot, however.
The important thing about a performing arts program is that just like the college itself, you have to make sure the program is right for you. Take the time to meet with the department Chair, research the performance requirements and opportunities provided to existing students, check out the practice space, and most importantly, check out some of the classes/lessons. If you can visualize yourself at the school and in the ensemble, chances are you’ve found the program for you. Find out all of the audition details and schedule yours. Approach it prepared and confident, and soon you may be on your way to a career in the arts. Bravo!
The idea of attending college can be both exciting and daunting. After all, the college application process alone is tedious and time consuming. And it can feel much more overwhelming for a student who has a learning difference. Recently, I chatted with my cousin who’s been there, done that, and got through it on his own with hard work and planning.
As a child, my cousin was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and factors affecting his short-term memory. In a nutshell, he had a hard time concentrating on his schoolwork. Based on his diagnosis, his high school enrolled him in a support program designed to assist students with mild learning differences and prepare them for college. He was also provided other accommodations in high school, such as recording lectures and extra help after class.
When it came time to apply to college, he did his research and narrowed his list to just a couple of colleges, and even asked a teacher to review and critique his college essay. It was important to my cousin to attend a university that was large enough to offer the support he needed, but small enough so the class size would not be overwhelming. He knew he would also need regular, one-on-one access to his professors. In addition to considering the size of the student body, he made a point to research the support services offered at each university to ensure his needs could be met. (Here’s a great list of questions to ask the support services department.)
Once at his university, he visited the Learning Center to get a tutor and request note-taking services. My cousin was also given extra time on his exams. Occasionally, this meant that he would have to take the exam proctored separately at the Learning Center, but he found that he excelled in the classroom with the rest of the students and simply notified the professor that he was allotted extra time for exams.
Another tip he shared is one that applies to all students – be practical about when you do your best work and schedule that time in advance. If you know you have a paper due on a Friday, and you are most alert and able to concentrate in the mornings, set aside a couple of hours for research and writing each morning. That way you’re neither waiting until the last minute, nor stressed out by spending an entire day working on a paper.
So much of academic success in college involves learning time management and proactively asking for help. Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll discuss how to be successful attending college when you have a learning difference.
Have you ever played the board game, Risk®? I never won, nor fully understood the game. But, I did recognize that a well-thought out strategy was important to winning. Much like Risk, strategy is an important component of the college search and application process. A college contact strategy is a vital plan to ensure that a college knows who you are beyond your college application and knows that you are serious about attending their institution.
Most college admissions offices have software that tracks your contact with them. So, each time you place your college contact strategy into action, you should remember to inform the admissions department whom you spoke with, when and where—and be ready to explain why the meeting was so important to you—in order for your meeting to be tracked by the college. But remember, you can’t get tracked unless you have a strategy in place:
Your College Contact Strategy Strategy
Find local events. Meet with your high school counselor and find out about local college fairs. College fairs allow you to converse with college admissions representatives, sign up for more information about a school, ask questions, and acquire valuable contact information from college representatives. Alumni functions are another excellent way to interact with colleges and give yourself an edge. When you meet representatives from these schools, make sure to request their business cards so you’ll remember whom you met.
Sign up for a campus visit. Contact your prospective college and arrange a campus visit and interview. Meeting with college admissions in person allows them to place a face with your name and get to know you beyond what they see on your application.
Contact student representatives. Many college websites host a “get to know us” section on their admissions pages; don’t be afraid to use this feature to contact student representatives. These representatives are pools of information willing to answer any questions.
Strategic tips to stand out
Be well mannered and prepared. It goes without saying to be polite to whomever you encounter. Being well mannered also includes being timely. Allow plenty of time to contact a college. Contact them within business hours. This generally applies to emails as well. Well mannered extends to proofreading your emails and having a mental checklist of what to say on the phone. And always send a thank-you note to any college representative you’ve spoken with.
Be proactive and purposeful. While simply contacting a school to show your interest is not a bad approach, there is room for you to push the envelope. Are you contacting a school that corresponds with a strong academic interest or extracurricular activity? If so, then let the college know. There is no harm in alerting a college that your interests align with theirs. This will help colleges recognize you above other applicants.
Don’t underestimate the power of reaching out to colleges you are interested in. Demonstrating your interest may be the difference between selecting you over another applicant, or acceptance over waitlist.
I applied to a fair number of colleges; nine, I think. I was fortunate enough to get into all of them which was gratifying, but left me with some tough decisions.
First, I weeded-out the colleges I knew I didn’t really want to attend; I had considered them “safety” schools from the get-go. Then there was the school that my boyfriend was going to, but my parents put the kibosh on that one. A couple of my other choices offered me small academic scholarships, which put them in the forefront.
Ultimately I got into my original first-choice school. But, since I had submitted my application for that school, another college rose to the top of my list. I had to decide if I would go to my original choice or to the other school. I opted for the other.
It was a tough decision to make, one that I really had to focus and think about. I used the fail-proof method of making a list of pros and cons about each school. What it came down to was that my original, first choice was in a more rural setting, about two hours from my home, and everyone on campus seemed so similar to everyone I had grown up with (after all, one benefit of college is meeting new and different people). The other school (that I ultimately chose) was in an urban setting, a little farther away, and had greater diversity. I ended up choosing that school because I wanted to be challenged in college. I wanted to live farther from home and experience life in another city and with students of different backgrounds. But honestly, I’m sure I would have fared well at either school.
That’s the thing, if you have done your research on the schools you are applying to, then you can feel confident that your top choices are your top choices for a reason. So, if you get into more than one of them, congratulations! Don’t stress about the decision. Whichever school you choose will end up being the right school for you.
“Congratulations, you won!” Ever seen that on an envelope in your mail or in the subject line of an email? Usually they are just advertisements promising something too good to be true, but would you believe some colleges use this same advertising technique?
As soon as you take the SAT or even the PSAT*, colleges will start sending you information. You’ll receive emails, brochures, even applications. Some of the information might be generic, but some of it might be personalized just for you. It’s easy to read a letter with your name on it inviting you to visit the school or some other personalized offer and think that the school is holding a spot for you. But don’t be fooled!
Most schools want as many applicants as possible and they use various forms of marketing to gain those applicants. The more applications a school receives the more selective they may appear. Let’s say the college knows it’s going to accept 1,000 students and receives 1,200 applications. That gives the school an acceptance rate of over 80%, which basically screams “apply here, you WILL get in!” No university wants to send that message, so they strive to increase their number of applicants to decrease the admissions ratio and up their appearance of selectivity.
Be wise when looking at any information from a college. Information packets, invitations to visit, applications with your name on them, even promises from faculty members are not guarantees of admission. That goes for letters of interest from coaches, athletic scouts, and activity directors, too.
Remember, the only guarantee of college admission is an official letter of admittance from the Office of Admissions.
*By the way, if you want to cut down on the unsolicited college information overload, the next time you register for the PSAT, SAT, or ACT, make sure to correctly mark the box that opts you out of the mailings!
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