College Admission Help: Obama calls for college for all; could it be done?
By JUSTIN POPE and LIBBY QUAID
In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama called for every American to pursue some form of education beyond high school.
It's an ambitious goal — some might say impossible. Currently, only two of every five American adults have a two- or four-year college degree. Millions of Americans struggle even to complete high school, with one in four dropping out. And even a high school degree is no guarantee a student is ready for college.
Particularly alarming are the college rates for low-income and minority students. One recent study reported more than 90 percent of low-income teens said they planned to go to college — but only half actually enroll.
Those who do enroll are substantially less likely than others to finish their degree. If they borrowed money for college and don't graduate, they may be worse off than if they hadn't even started college.
The Associated Press asked six experts — from the worlds of policy, philanthropy, and some who work directly with struggling students — to answer the same two questions.
Is the president's goal realistic? And what would it take to attain it? Here are some responses:
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Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, an advocacy group for children, particularly poor and minority children:
Absolutely! Just as those GIs stepped up to the challenges of college, today's young people will, too. But we have work to do.
First, we must get serious about high schools. Instead of preparing some for college and others for the jailhouse, we need to help high schools prepare every student for college.
Second, we have to dramatically improve results for low-income and minority students, now more than half of our youth. Increasing their success is the only way to ensure our national success.
Finally, colleges need to accept some responsibility for improving graduation rates. That includes holding costs down, and focusing not just on getting students in the door, but out with degrees. Yes, students need to work harder. But what colleges do matters a lot.
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Richard Vedder, Ohio University professor and member of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education assembled by former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings:
Not everyone can or should go to college. Given the dubious quality of our secondary schools as well as limited cognitive skills and motivation, many students are incapable of college-level work. Fulfillment of President Obama's goal would lead to many students failing, resources being squandered and the quality of postsecondary education being diluted.
I think it is sheer fantasy to believe we will lead the world in the percent of young adults with college degrees by 2020. More generally, the president's approach is the equivalent of dropping dollars out of airplanes over student homes and college campuses. That will not change colleges' behavior to make them less arrogant and elite, and more affordable, efficient and accountable.
___
Nicole Hurd, executive director of the National College Advising Corps, which places recent college graduates in low-income schools to work as college guidance counselors:
All students are capable of continuing their education beyond high school. And while there are no easy answers, one way to open the door wider is to demonstrate to our young people that college is possible.
No one can do this better than recent college graduates. There is something powerful about a 23-year-old telling a high school student that "I went to college and if I can do it, you can, too." Or "My family was worried about the cost of college, but the aid is out there. Let's sit down and fill out your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)." Or "If you want to go to college and get a good job, you need to take hard classes and do your best."
Many of the barriers to higher education, whether financial, social, or cultural, can be overcome through this kind of mentoring and advising. In calling high-school students to college, President Obama is calling college students to service. Just imagine if 500 recent graduates served in our public high schools. Such a group could mentor 150,000 low-income and first-generation students — and could help thousands enroll in college who might not otherwise have found their way. While this kind of service isn't the only solution, it could go a long way.
College Admission Help: Obama calls for college for all; could it be done?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
College Admission Help: Obama calls for college for all; could it be done?
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College Scholarships and College Grants In High Demand - Students Clawing For College Cash
College Scholarships and College Grants In High Demand - Students Clawing For College Cash
By Claudia Lauer
The Sun News
Myrtle Beach, SC
The race for financial aid dollars is on.
The economy has dried up some scholarship money, the number of students seeking help is growing, and the clock is ticking for submitting the forms. The deadlines vary by college, but the priority deadline for many schools is March 15.
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that it has received 20 percent more Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) so far this year compared to last year.
Today, students entering college this year can get help wading through the aid form and posting applications online in a national workshop event called College Goal Sunday held in our area at Horry-Georgetown Technical College.
Scholarship seekers
At Socastee High School, guidance counselors follow a class of students through high school from freshman orientation to college applications. Robb Urbaniak is working with many of his more than 300 seniors to find college funding.
"The biggest concern is a lot of students are having that conversation with their parents about where the money is coming from. I spoke to a lot of parents asking questions about FAFSA, about how many scholarships a student can apply for," he said. "I think statewide there is a stiffer competition this year because even though the economy isn't doing well, tuition is still going to go up. I tell them it never hurts to apply and to apply for everything."
Urbaniak puts out a monthly newsletter with scholarship and funding opportunities, directing students to stop by and fill out applications. His office has been aflutter with activity this month with students sitting at desks and on the floor to fill out applications or grab paperwork between classes.
There has been an upturn in students looking for scholarships and grant money, and while he said a core group of students check in regularly, students who typically might not have sought aid in the past are coming in as well.
"I am getting some of those students who are maybe an athlete and would feel like they were getting some money from their college for athletics or for academics, but there's still that little bit left and those kids are coming in and saying we need to cover that little bit that's left," Urbaniak said.
Increased competition
At Conway High School, Jerrlyn Gaghum is in charge of seniors and financial aid. She said she's seen an increase in interest in financial aid and also in fee waivers for SAT and ACT college entrance exams because more students have fallen on hard times. She said the school doesn't get a large amount of local, small scholarship offerings from businesses and civic organizations, but students are applying for everything she's received.
Urbaniak said he's seen similar trends with his students. He also said a few companies have opted not to offer scholarships this year because of financial woes, which adds to the competition for the dollars that are available.
Horry Telephone Cooperative pairs with other local companies to offer three annual scholarships, two for $1,000 and one for $2,500. HTC spokeswoman Nicole Hyman said the company received a record number of applications last year for the two $1,000 scholarships. The deadline for this year is March 1, so Hyman didn't have a final application count.
At Coastal Carolina University and at Horry-Georgetown Technical College, financial aid staff have been steadily fielding streams of questions about eligibility for state and institutional funds.
"We have gotten a lot of calls from people asking to come in and make appointments with us, and we've gotten a lot of calls from people asking about scholarships and what they're eligible for," said Wendy Watts, senior assistant director of financial aid client service at CCU. "They're good questions, and it's good to start early because there are deadlines we have to meet."
Last resorts
At HGTC, about one third of students rely on partial funding from Lottery Tuition Assistance money, which in the past has been a set pot of money divided among technical college students who qualify and apply.
The amount in the pot doesn't change, but the number of recipients changes based on how many students apply and qualify. That means payouts will shrink, leaving more students seeking private sources of financial aid.
"We encourage students to look at loans as a last resort, and to definitely not use loans for living expenses. We help them work out a budget to prevent that," said Harold Hawley, vice president of business affairs at HGTC.
The U.S. Department of Education has guaranteed that aid will be available in the form of Stafford loans, Perkins loans and Pell grants, and the amount students are eligible to receive has been increased thanks in part to the federal stimulus package. The biggest hurdle to receiving those funds is filling out the 11-page FAFSA.
"It asks for a lot of information and a lot of people are intimidated by it. This is a way to take away some of the negativity around it," said Watts.
Watts and counselors from HGTC will be at today's College Goal Sunday workshop to help parents and students.
"I've been recommending the event to several of my students and to parents," Urbaniak said. "Filling out the FAFSA is really the best place to start."
College Scholarships and College Grants In High Demand - Students Clawing For College Cash
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Labels: admission, application, college, counselor, degree, essay, grant, guide, scholarship
Monday, March 9, 2009
College Scholarships available, but you have to know how to look for them
College Scholarships available, but you have to know how to look for them
by Megan Gordon
The Arizona Republic
This is the time of the year when many high school seniors scramble to meet the deadline for scholarship applications.
There are literally thousands of scholarships students can apply for, but finding the ones you qualify for can be challenging.
"This becomes like a part-time job," said Paul Halpine, lead counselor at Estrella Foothills High School in Goodyear.
"You need to do it extremely well. Every scholarship you fill out is the potential to make money for college," he said.
Many scholarships and colleges require students to first fill out the federal student aid application (FAFSA) form, available at fafsa.ed.gov. The deadline is 11 p.m. Sunday for Arizona. Some states have later deadlines. Some private scholarships do not require the FAFSA form.
Halpine offers these tips for seniors applying for college scholarships:
1. Start early. Applying for scholarships can be tedious and time-consuming. Set aside a few nights or weekends to investigate what scholarships are out there.
"We have a college and career prep course for all freshman and junior students," Halpine said. "Just making that transition getting them to think about four years down the road helps our students."
2. Make sure that the scholarship pertains to you. Identify scholarship standards that you meet.
3. Read the fine print. Look carefully at scholarship directions and make sure to complete the application fully.
4. Practice essay writing. Many guidance offices have sample essays.
"If you can't write a well-written coherent essay, you won't be as successful," Halpine said.
5. Be original. Creatively approach every topic and make it personal.
6. Proof and edit essays. Ask counselors and English teachers for writing tips.
7. Don't plagiarize.
"There are programs out there to check if a student plagiarizes something. It has happened in the past," Halpine said. "It's a short cut. If you're doing that sort of thing, you're probably not ready."
8. Apply for many scholarships. The more you fill out, the better chance you'll have.
9. Be professional and thorough. You have to impress and sell yourself to organizations, giving them reasons to award you money.
"They want the go-getters and overachievers," Halpine said. "As a result, the implication is those students are going to do better in college."
10. There is no substitute to preparation and hard work.
College Scholarships available, but you have to know how to look for them
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College Admission Aspirations Collide With Financial Realities
College Admission Aspirations Collide With Financial Realities
By Ike Wilson
News-Post Staff
Frederick, MD
High school students in recent decades assumed they would go to college. It was the route of their parents and often their grandparents. But, like much that has changed in today's troubled economy, students and their parents are finding college is not a given.
This is the time of year when seniors are rushing to the mailbox and finding college acceptance letters, but for many the elation is short-lived when they start thinking about how they would pay for it.
Kenan Cola, a Gov. Thomas Johnson High School senior, was accepted into Temple University in Philadelphia but is struggling to line up the money. With tuition and housing costing around $30,000 a year, Cola said he will need significant financial assistance.
"I'm still looking around for scholarships, but all I can do now is to apply for grants to see if I qualify," Cola said.
Parys Martin, another TJ senior, was accepted at The Art Institute of Washington in Arlington, Va., but said she has had to withdraw her application for financial reasons. Enrolling for the sake of enrolling is becoming less of an option for students who are undecided about a career, like Martin.
"My mom didn't want to put up that kind of money with my mind not made up about what I really wanted to study," Martin said. "They had a culinary program I wanted to pursue, but I wasn't sure I wanted to be a chef."
Affordability
Because of the economic difficulties American families are facing, increasing numbers appear to be at risk of not pursuing a college degree, according to a study released last month by the Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The two organizations have been tracking attitudes toward higher education since 1993.
College prices rose 6.4 percent last fall, and a separate National Center report recently flunked 49 of the 50 states on college affordability. The report found low-income families have been hit particularly hard, with the local college now costing the average family in the bottom quintile of income 55 percent of their earnings -- up from 39 percent in 1999-2000.
The study also reported that more people today believe college is financially out of reach for many qualified students.
"Public perceptions are not always accurate, but in this case, they are right on the mark, and these findings hold true for both four-year institutions and lower-cost community colleges," according to the study.
In 2006, Maryland received an F for college affordability from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Today, four Maryland colleges received the extraordinary distinction among the top 50 "Best Value" public colleges in America by the Princeton Review, Gov. Martin O'Malley said in his February newsletter.
O'Malley said the state will use more than $720 million from President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan for education.
"These funds have been available to improve public education and make college education more affordable, and that's exactly what we intend to do," O'Malley said.
By 2010, the University System of Maryland will have gone from having the sixth-highest tuition in the nation in 2004 to the 18th-highest, O'Malley said.
Thomas Powell, president of Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg is more optimistic, saying private institutions like his offer substantial scholarships to students to offset tuition and fees.
The university's communications director, Linda Sherman, said that "while the cost of tuition for the (fiscal) 2010 budget will be $28,420, for the most part that is not the amount the majority of students pay. After the average student financial aid package is considered, the actual average net tuition cost is a little more than $15,000 per student."
Sherman said the Mount has been named among the top "most faithful and affordable Catholic universities in the country by the Cardinal Newman Society, publishers of the Newman Guide, which has been helpful in the school's recruiting efforts for its Division 1 athletic programs."
Last year, the Mount offered more than $17 million in assistance to students. The school expects to offer $17.5 million next year.
Powell said: "Students and their parents should always apply for financial assistance and scholarships. Very few pay the full price of tuition and fees."
But an area of particular concern is the ever-increasing cost of textbooks, some with prices as high as $150 each.
"This is an issue that will require leadership to keep books at a reasonable cost," Powell said.
Hood College spokesman Dave Diehl said tuition is $13,100 per semester. That doesn't include room and board and other fees. Hood's Board of Trustees will discuss tuition and any changes later this month, Diehl said.
"We've been consistently ranked as one of the most affordable colleges in the country, and these rankings are by objective criteria," Diehl said. "We're able to reduce the family's out-of-pocket costs at a level that's often right there with public universities."
Do your homework
Despite the financial hurdles, a college education is attainable, provided planning and effort begin early.
Making good grades, taking hard courses in high school, being involved in school and community activities and beginning a savings plan early are steps that will put a college education within reach, education experts said.
Colleges are looking for students who not only do well in school but also have been involved in extracurricular activities, giving back to the community, or sports, said Michael Concepcion, assistant principal at Tuscarora High School.
Concepcion was one of several presenters at a recent college preparation seminar at First Missionary Baptist Church in Frederick .
"A well-rounded student not only does well in school but will benefit the school as well," he said.
Concepcion was not a scholarship recipient, and he admitted he waited too long before starting to prepare for college. But Concepcion said financial aid options are many for students who have good grades, get their paperwork done on time and stay active in the community.
The Community Foundation of Frederick County is among the many local organizations that provide scholarships for local students. In addition, high school counseling departments post scholarship announcements regularly, said Sharon Boettinger, Frederick County Public Schools supervisor of counseling and student support.
Work study and internship experiences are invaluable for students, and those opportunities often translate into permanent employment after graduation.
"It is important for students to be able to balance studies, employment and other activities such as athletics," Boettinger said. "Those who may be working long hours during the academic year may not be able to devote the time necessary outside of class for studying, writing papers and completing projects."
College Admission Aspirations Collide With Financial Realities
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College Students Scramble as Bank Loans become Harder to Land for College Admission Help
College Students Scramble as Bank Loans become Harder to Land for College Admission Help
By Cassie Foss
The Grand Rapids Press
As her name might suggest, Hope Start isn't giving up when it comes to finding a way to pay for college.
A sophomore at Calvin College, the 19-year-old from Hudsonville has become a pro at rustling up school money wherever she can find it.
Like many students, she has her hands in a number of lending pots, collecting loans, grants and scholarships to offset expenses that will exceed $32,000 next fall.
However, this year's recession forced Start to abandon hopes of a traditional bank loan like the one she had during her freshman year.
"I didn't even try because I assumed it was going to be really hard to get one," she said.
She is paying only the interest on last year's $2,000 loan because that's all she can afford. Her father, Doug Start, said he cannot help this year with expenses because his concrete business is so slow.
"Some people have to leave school because of the money," said Start, who is majoring in Spanish. "But I would never want to leave for that reason."
As today's deadline passed to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid in Michigan, students and families can expect a tougher time in landing loans because of the credit crisis.
"It's definitely been difficult for students to get private student loans," said Mark Kantrowitz, creator of the student financial aid Web site finaid.com and author of "FastWeb College Gold," a guide to paying for college.
Last May, one of Michigan's largest banks, Comerica, suspended its student loan originations because the bank was unable to sell those loans on the secondary market, a bank official said.
The state also pulled back its lending. About 8,500 students lost access to low-interest loans when the state closed down the MI Loan program because the credit market was so tight.
At the same time, however, loan demand is rising from students hard pressed by the poor economy.
Applications for federal aid at Grand Valley State University -- usually the first stop in the funding process -- are up 20 percent over the same time last year, said Ed Kerestly, GVSU director of financial aid.
Kerestly said it's too soon to know whether the rise is due to more students filing or students just filing earlier.
"The biggest unknown continues to be families who look beyond federal loans to private lenders because that's tied up in the market," Kerestly said.
Phyllis Hooyman, director of financial aid at Hope College, also reports a slight rise in aid applications this year.
Dave Steffee, director of financial aid at Aquinas College, said the school received about 1,000 federal-aid applications by mid-February, which is on track with last year.
Kantrowitz estimates almost 30 percent of students getting private loans in 2007 are no longer eligible.
While banks do not disclose much information about the number of loans they make, Kantrowitz said the higher rate of co-signers is evidence lending standards are higher.
In 2007, 50 percent of popular lender Sallie Mae's student loans had co-signers. In 2008, that number grew to two-thirds, he said.
"A number of students are having trouble finding someone to consolidate their loans as well," he said.
Another large bank in the Grand Rapids market, National City, now part of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., has halted its participation in federal consolidation loans, an official said.
The bank does offer students with loans of more than $30,000 extended repayment terms.
But the Pittsburgh-based bank said it still is lending to students. In fact, PNC increased lending to students and their families by more than 20 percent compared with a year ago.
Patricia Scott, director of the Michigan Bureau of Student Financial Services, said getting a handle on how many private lenders suspended student lending is easy to see.
The state once published a list of private lenders running more than 20 pages. That list is under five pages now, she said.
"With all of the credit market upheaval, all of the market has been impacted, including student loans," Scott said.
Most federal student loans still are available, although Michigan a year ago cut its MI Loan program, an alternative loan source for students attending Michigan colleges and universities.
The program helped students bridge the gap between college costs and traditional federal financial aid resources.
"There are ongoing efforts to monitor the credit markets, with the intent of bringing the program back," Scott said.
College Students Scramble as Bank Loans become Harder to Land for College Admission Help
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College Admission Forum: Rethinking College Prep Costs in Tough Times
College Admission Forum: Rethinking College Prep Costs in Tough Times
By ALINA TUGEND
New York Times
WATCHING our sons’ college funds dwindle to almost nothing, I am grateful that my older son is on his way to high school, not a university, this fall. Otherwise, we would not only be facing a staggering tuition bill, but we would also have to pay for what has become the obligatory precollege marathon.
Perhaps nothing, except the anxiety before the birth of a first baby, can match the concern parents feel about prepping for college. There is the same desire to control the process and fear that making a mistake can ruin a child’s future.
So I can understand the inclination to buy every product and service possible to cover all bases.
But if anything good comes from these stressful economic times, it may be that parents will be forced to rethink the idea that more is always better. Countless test preparation courses and dozens of visits to college campuses are not only expensive but can unnecessarily add to the frenzy already surrounding the process.
Providing good guidance is one thing, “but I think the amount of money people think they need to spend is out of control,” said Bob Sweeney, a counselor at our local school, Mamaroneck High School, in suburban New York.
Take my friend Edie, whose son is a college sophomore. She estimates she spent more than $10,000 before he even started college.
There was about $2,800 for a private college counselor, $150-an-hour SAT prep once a week in math and English (that’s $300 weekly) over about five months and visits to about 10 campuses.
“This is a rich man’s business,” she said.
My friends and I smugly tell one another that all we needed to be prepared for the SAT in the late 1970s were two sharpened No. 2 pencils. And campus tours? The first time I visited the University of California, Berkeley — one of two universities I applied to — was when I moved there.
But that was about three decades ago. I know that we will offer our older son more than a few pencils and a pat on the head, but I also know that we don’t have to indulge in every option in the quest to get him safely ensconced on a college campus somewhere.
I tried to figure out what we might spend. First are the essentials: college application fees (averaging $60 per institution) and fees for the SAT ($45) and ACT ( $31). Financial aid is available to cover these fees, if necessary. The best way to get more information is to ask your child’s school counselor or visit collegeboard.com for the SATs or act.org for the ACT.
So if our child applies to 10 universities — which seems unlikely but is apparently average in my part of the world — and takes the admissions tests a few times, we’re already up to nearly $1,000.
And that is not counting add-ons.
Parents and counselors I spoke with agreed that students should take at least one course to prepare for the SAT, if only to give them a sense of what the test is about and to alleviate anxiety.
National companies like Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, the Princeton Review, Sylvan Learning and TutorVista.com, offer a variety of offline and online tutoring options at a wide range of prices.
For free help, check out Number2.com and the SAT and ACT Web sites.
Mr. Sweeney, who has been a school counselor for 21 years, said that parents should think rationally about why they are paying for test preparation courses.
“I’m not against prep tests — they can help give kids a certain confidence,” he said. “But I don’t see the need for students who are already scoring high. It’s like repolishing the apple. If your kid is getting close to 700, why spend thousands to get a few points higher?” The top grade for each section of the SAT is 800.
Then there are the campus visits, which can cost thousands of dollars if the colleges are across the country.
Tons of information is available online, including virtual tours, from the universities themselves and independent Web sites, like unigo.com, where students write reviews.
But parents, students and counselors agree that, if at all possible, it is important to visit a few colleges to get a sense of the culture that you can only get by being there.
There is another reason to visit: It shows interest, and colleges like to see that. It means you’re probably not frivolously applying with no real intention of attending if accepted.
But lots of people do not have the time or money to visit a wide range of schools. In that case, try to attach a campus visit to a vacation, experts say. Or visit after being accepted to decide where to go.
Now what about private college counselors? A lot of parents I know use them, even though they acknowledge that they could probably get the same information themselves or through school counselors.
But they like the security.
“The reality is, this is our first child, and it’s a comfort,” my friend Nancy said. “We’re trying not to get too stressed, but we want to do the best that we can for her.”
Alex Weiner, the owner and head counselor of Collegewise, a college counseling company that has branches on the East and West Coasts, said his counselors offer hourly assistance or a $2,995 package to do everything, including helping to narrow a list of colleges, staging mock interviews and helping to select clothes for interviews.
“We brainstorm ideas for the essays and spend time talking about what to write about — what makes their eyes light up, not what they think the college wants to know,” he said. Then Collegewise counselors edit (not write, he specified) the essays.
Parents who use private counselors also like the idea that someone else plays the role of police officer, urging their child to rework essays and submit applications on time.
College Admission Forum: Rethinking College Prep Costs in Tough Times
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College Admission Help Tools
College Admission Help Tools
There are other great ways to scope out college possibilities without leaving home. Most of them are easy, all of them are helpful, and one popular one should be avoided—read on.
A great way to find out more about a college is to let the college come to you. Many colleges send admission representatives to your high school in the fall to tell you about their college. A list of these colleges is posted in the counseling center or the main office; every Thursday, write down the colleges that will be coming next week, look them up in your college guide (more on that soon), then get a pass from counseling to visit with the rep. In some high schools, reps are only allowed to come before or after school, or during lunch, and some will only let reps talk to students during lunch in the lunchroom (whoa—talk about leaving an impression!) If your school has these rules, give up the free time and go anyway—not many students will do this, which is (everybody sing along now) exactly why you should.
The same goes for hotel visits. Sometimes reps have such tight schedules they can only hold visits for lots of students at a hotel ballroom, in the evening or on weekends. The same rules apply here—do your homework, and go if it sounds good, bringing along your compadres and family for fun, along with dinner before or ice cream after. Whether it’s in a hotel or the school’s lunchroom, take along your college fair questions, fill out a card (even if you’ve talked to this rep or visited the campus before), introduce yourself to the rep (nothing like face time), ask a great question, and write down what you think once you’re home.
If at any point you’re not sure you’re heading in the right direction, a college search might be helpful. Collegeboard.com lets you sort out colleges a million ways, from majors to location to activities to you name it. Princetonreview.com has the Counselor-O-Matic, which asks you questions to point you in the right direction. These sites and others can give you some general direction and lots of schools to consider.
Another great source is college guides—books or magazines that describe colleges and what they have to offer. Guides give you a solid look at all parts of a college; a good guide will tell you about classes, the campus, social life, and atmosphere, and a great guide will include interviews with students, who will give you the straight scoop. There are a lot of these around—try your counseling office or local public library…
…but while you’re there, avoid books or magazines with college rankings. College rankings are designed to tell you what the “best” colleges are, based on the opinion of someone who doesn’t even know what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, parents love this stuff, especially if the rankings include the opinions of university presidents. Now, university presidents are nice people, but asking them to rank the 300 best colleges in the country is like asking your high school principal to rank the 300 best high schools in the country—after about 20 or so, they’re relying more on what they’ve heard than what they know, and either way, they don’t know you. You don’t need to read a magazine to find out Southwestern Michigan State is a great college; you need to find out if SMS is a great college for you. Guides will help you with that, and rankings won’t—so save your time and money, and skip them.
College Admission Help Tools
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Labels: admission, application, college, counselor, degree, essay, grant, guide, scholarship


