Special Guests

October Financial Aid Checklist for Seniors

 

Paying for college is a concern for most families. This is the second installment in a monthly series for seniors on what you should be doing with regard to financial aid, written by college advisor Alice Kleeman. Remember, while in most families it is up to the parents to provide the bulk of the money for college costs to the extent of their ability to pay, it is the student who applies for student aid. Read, save and use these monthly reminders!

 

          *             Check with your high school about the availability of informational sessions on financial aid or      scholarships at your school or in the surrounding community.

          *             Never pay a fee to locate financial aid or scholarship information. Beware of scams. You may see offers of help in obtaining financial aid or scholarships in the mail, on the Web, and in magazines. Some of these are legitimate. Others are not. Avoid any organization or service that either guarantees a reward or charges a fee for completing the FAFSA or applying for or receiving a scholarship. Information on legitimate financial aid and scholarships is easily available at no cost at:

                      • FAFSA

                     • The U.S. Department of Education

                     • College Goal Sunday

What a Bug Can Teach You about Colleges

 

Today's column is from John Carpenter, author of  Going Geek: What Every Smart Kid (and Every Smart Parent) Should Know About College Admissions. Read on to learn what mustachioed caterpillars can teach you about finding a great college.

 

Many people know that I’ve been living in Costa Rica for the last year, and that I work at an amazing school with people from 65 different countries.  Sometimes I can’t believe how cool things are here.

The campus is home to some incredible bio-diversity.  There are more trees, flowers, and plants than I’ve ever seen.  Most days I just walk right by them and don’t really pay much attention to the huge variety of growing things around me.  But I’m beginning to learn that there’s more to a bunch of leaves than I thought.

About a month ago, our new teachers arrived on campus, and one of them is this very cool guy called Isaac.  He’s a Wesleyan grad, and he’s really smart--a geek who loves biology.  What sets him apart is that he will stop to look at any random plant on campus and instantly find very cool stuff living on it.  He caught a giant moth, for example, just to see how long its tongue was.

Monthly Financial Aid Checklist for Seniors

Paying for college is a concern for most families. This post marks the first of a monthly series for seniors on what you should be doing with regard to financial aid, written by college advisor Alice Kleeman. Remember, while in most families it is up to the parents to provide the bulk of the money for college costs to the extent of their ability to pay, it is the student who applies for student aid. Read, save and use these monthly reminders!

Do Sweat the Small Stuff! Part 2

Today, Alice Kleeman continues her excellent blog post about the "small stuff" that can trip up a college application process. Here are more of the frequently glossed-over college-related tasks that can make a difference:

  • Your name

        Seems like a simple question, right?  But maybe you are Maria Juana Ortiz on your birth certificate, and Maria J. Ortiz at school, MJ to your friends, and Maria Juana Ortiz-Santos to your extended family.  Maybe you think that doesn’t matter.  But when a college is trying to join your SAT or ACT scores to your file; when a financial-aid office is trying to figure out whether the aid application it received belongs to you or someone else; when your diploma and final transcript carry different names -- under those circumstances, the name you provide can cause serious delays in processing important paperwork.  Choose one name for the college process and use it every time. 

        Since the Free Application for Federal Student AID (FAFSA) requires you to use the name on your Social Security card, you might as well use that one across the board.

        •     Application “extras”

DO Sweat the Small Stuff!

You’ve planned your strategy:  Take challenging classes—check!  Tackle the SAT or ACT and send your scores to colleges—check!  Choose teachers who know you well to write your letters of recommendation—check!  Create a college list and pare it down to a reasonable number—check!  Write that 500-word Common App essay—check!  Create an activities list—check!

Take care of those tasks, and you’ll be at the finish line, right?

Maybe not.  Many students, after tackling the college-related tasks they perceive to be most important, begin to relax and take the “small stuff” less seriously.  But taking the “small stuff” seriously can often make a real difference.

Consider some of the following frequently glossed-over college-related tasks:

•     Written communication

        Do you have a professional e-mail address (or at least one that’s not sketchy) to use when communicating with colleges?  An off-color address can create a questionable impression. 

        Are you prepared to write to college-admission offices in “real English,” not with texting shortcuts or slang?  u better b! 

Writing the Essay: Pushing the Right Brick for Diagon Alley

Today, we welcome guest blogger Irena Smith, a writer, teacher, and independent college consultant, on how to find the story you will tell in your college essay. Spoiler alert: it might be as simple as knowing the right brick to push to enter Diagon Alley or having a reputation for eating like a defensive lineman. 

There is an old saw, beloved of debate teachers and public speaking coaches, that goes something like this: at any given funeral, given the choice between lying in the coffin or delivering the eulogy, most people would rather be in the coffin. The point is not a subtle one: not many people love public speaking.

Hiring an Independent College Counselor

Independent counselors— also sometimes called “consultants”—work outside of the high school and are not employed by a school or school district, providing private fee-based services directly to students and their families. Hiring an independent counselor may benefit some students, the particulars of which we discuss extensively in Chapter 4, College Counselors and Advisors, in our book.

The issue of whether to hire an independent counselor is complex and parents should consider carefully the costs and benefits to their family and the student’s future.  For those families who have thought through the matter carefully and decide to hire an independent counselor, consultant Todd Johnson joins us today as a guest blogger to discuss how families can begin that process:

Not everyone needs an independent or private college admission counselor. But if you are considering hiring one, how do you find the best consultant for your needs?

Diversity: Healthcare leader Myrtle Potter's "Aha Moment"

Today we are joined by Myrtle Potter, one of America's foremost healthcare leaders and former president of Genentech, for a third installment in our series on the subject of diversity, featuring the personal “aha” moments of deans of admission, educators, and public figures.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s agreement to hear a case challenging the University of Texas’ admission policy, we wanted to examine the role diversity plays in college admission.  Why do colleges value diversity? Is it a worthwhile goal? What are its implications – pro and con? It is a subject that is complex, sometimes divisive, and often not well understood by students and parents.

Myrtle Potter, with her considerable experience in the world of corporate strategy, product development, and consulting, continues the discussion here:

My “aha” diversity moment may have begun in college but the lesson I was to learn didn't fully develop until years later.

I grew up in a small town in southern New Mexico.  My friends and I still refer to our wonderful upbringing as a “bubble existence."  We attended an incredibly diverse high school -- all races, religious backgrounds, sexual orientations and levels of income.  Yet, there was no divide that separated us.  The lines between lunch tables, friendships and opportunities were a colorful blur of acceptance.

Diversity: Best-selling Author Lalita Tademy's "Aha Moment"

Award-winning author Lalita Tademy joins us today for the second installment in our series featuring deans of admission, educators, and public figures and their personal “aha” moments on the subject of diversity.

As that subject receives renewed attention in the wake of the Supreme Court’s agreement to hear a case challenging the University of Texas’ admission policy, we wanted to examine the role diversity plays in college admission.  Why do colleges value diversity? Is it a worthwhile goal? What are its implications – pro and con? It is a subject that is complex, sometimes divisive, and often not well understood by students and parents.

Lalita Tademy continues the discussion today with a remarkable personal story:

In late 1956, my family bought a plot of land in a suburban all-white town in northern California. Our potential neighbors were not pleased with the prospect of African-Americans living so close, and pooled their funds to buy the land back, adding in a profit for us, if we agreed not to move in.

Handling Rejection: A Necessary Part of the College Application Process

Today we welcome a guest blogger -- Tamar Chansky, Ph.D. -- who has some excellent advice for both students and parents about how to handle the rejection that can be a part of the college application process at this time of year. Take advantage of her common sense and helpful sound bites as the news -- good and bad -- arrives in the coming days:

When it comes to applying to college, we’d all (students and parents alike) love to fast-forward to the glorious ending.  That “start spreading the news” moment, when we buy the t-shirts and bumper stickers of our child’s newfound alma mater, tell our friends, our enemies, our neighbors, and any stranger in the supermarket line who, willing or not, is going to hear all about it. But that is getting ahead of the story. Handling the good parts, kids and parents need no help with. It’s natural. You celebrate, you revel, you do massive recycling of all the other college catalogs and paraphernalia. Your decision is made; you are done.

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