Purchase my Parents Countdown to College Toolkit
Last week, while participating in a #CampusChat on Twitter a question was asked by a parent about college financial aid. Since none of us participating were sure of the correct answer, I wanted to provide the parent with the correct answer and get some clarification myself on the subject.
Question: If you check the box that says, “no financial aid needed” on the college application, does it improve your chances for acceptance?
I immediately sought the answer from the two admissions representatives I have connections with on Twitter: Chip Timmons (@ChipTimmons) of Wabash College and Gil Rogers (@GilRogers) of the University of New Haven.
Chip responded by saying, “If the student is on the margin it may help provided they are prepared academically (i.e demanding curriculum, strong in high school). My guess is more schools are going to take that into consideration in the coming years as it gets tougher to fill classes”.
Gil responded by saying, “Not at the University of New Haven. With that said, at some schools it may if the student is on the wait list and the school is trying to control discounting.”
If you weigh both these responses, it appears that it’s not a determining factor unless other considerations are in place. The best advice would be to check with the colleges your teen is interested in and ask them if they use it as a factor. However, I wouldn’t plan on it being the card in your pocket to assure acceptance. And honestly, if you have a college-bound teen with an impressive high school record, you should make an attempt to get some merit aid; even if you can afford the entire tuition. It just makes sense to fill out the FAFSA and take your shot at grabbing a piece of the financial aid pie.
If you’re an admissions officer or college admissions expert, please leave your comments here and share your experience with us. We value your input.
Today’s guest blog post is from Brenda Bernstein, founder and senior editor of TheEssayExpert.com. Her team of trained writers, editors and coaches offer expert essay help and advice for college-bound teens. Parents–pass this post along to your teens as they struggle with that all-important college application essay.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START THINKING ABOUT YOUR COLLEGE ESSAYS
If you are heading toward Senior year of high school, it’s time to start thinking about your college essays. If you’re about to be a Junior and you’re reading this, it’s not too early. The point is, start thinking of topics *now*! You can even do it while you’re lying on the beach.
Why now? Because the best college essays go through many lives. You will write, re-write, and re-write again, over a period of weeks or even months. Inspiration can hit at any time.
You want to have lots of time for your essays to percolate, to have those magic light bulb moments, or maybe even to wake up in the middle of the night from a dream and write a brilliantly creative essay (this really does happen!).
If you start thinking about your essays in November, you won’t have time for the process to work on you. Instead of waking up with inspiration, you will wake up panicked or worried that you’re on the wrong track. You don’t want that.
POSSIBLE ESSAY BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS
Here are some things to think about – it’s not a complete list by any means. Be creative!
Notice that many of these questions ask “and why?” It is important to think deeply about the meaning of things in your life. Determine what about your experience is unique to you. That’s what will make your story about your grandmother, trip to Israel or soccer practice different from the one sitting under it in the pile.
JUST DO IT.
Don’t sit around just thinking about these questions – start writing! Designate a journal for your college essay ideas. You will be surprised how quickly it fills up with great content. Keep filling it up, and when you go back to what you wrote several months before, you might be happily surprised by some of your thoughts.
If you’re struggling finding the right topic, don’t despair. There are professionals at The Essay Expert who will help you recognize what is special about your experiences and support you to present those experiences in words. By working with an expert, you will end up with truly great college essays — and have the best chance of getting into the college of your dreams.
Since my readers are all about gathering the BEST college information, you might like to know about some upcoming Twitter chats. College-related chats are popping up on Twitter and it’s a great place to chat with some experts and ask those questions that you’ve been dying to have answered.
Here is a list of upcoming chats:
#CollegeBound
Monday, May 24 at 4:00 p.m. EST #CollegeBound events will offer higher education administrators, college media, education experts, and others a unique hour to connect with and engage potential and incoming students. The first #CollegeBound chat, “Preparing for College,” will provide potential students of all ages with an inside look at the college research process, including how to navigate the plethora of available information, make a school decision that’s right for them, and get their school questions answered. The CollegeBound Network’s blog, “U. Got It?”, features more information on the event.
#CampusChat
#CampusChat is an online higher-ed conversation that takes place on Twitter hosted by Z. Kelly Queijo, founder of SmartCollegeVisit. Topics center around college visits, college admissions, and aspects related to life as a college student. This week’s upcoming chat Wednesday, May 26 at 9PM ET features @EricYaverbaum, author of Life’s Little College Admissions Insights.
#CollegeChat
Bestselling author and higher-education journalist Lynn O’Shaughnessy will share tips from her new book “Shrinking the Cost of College: 152 Ways to Cut the Price of a Bachelor’s Degree” during the first edition of #CollegeChat on Twitter on June 1, 2010 at 6 pm Pacific. During the live Twitter chat, Lynn will discuss how to become a smart consumer in cutting the cost of college and will describe how the college financial aid process works and where to find the money.
I’m looking forward to seeing you at these chats and to participating in the lively discussions. Mark your calendars!
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
For more information about how to use these tools or how to keep up with or follow a chat, read Z. Kelly Queijo, founder of SmartCollegeVisit’s blog post on Handshake 2.0: 3 Easy Ways to Keep in Step with a Twitter Chat
I’ve had several parents ask me recently about activities I recommend over the summer during high school. Summers are a great time to take advantage of the days and make a future impression on your high school resume.
Here is my list of the Top 10 summer activities:
What are your favorite summer activities with your college-bound teens? Do you have any other suggestions?
In today’s economy, many students are opting to take the community college route after graduation. This choice means getting the basic courses out of the way at community college and transferring after two years to a four year institution. Since community college hours are less expensive, the decision can often save families thousands of dollars in tuition.
But, once the decision to transfer is made, it’s often difficult to find the right college and it’s been hard for the colleges to find and recruit those students. Many colleges are now seeing the value of these transfer students and are going after them, much as they do with high school students. As more and more students decide to take this college route, more colleges will recognize this pool of students and begin recruiting them.
A new site, CollegeFish.org (now doing beta testing) is available free for all community college students. It collects information provided by users, including “co-curricular interests, size of institution desired to attend, housing needs, financial need, GPA, anticipated course load, ability to relocate geographically, etc.” This information is then used in an algorithm designed to “rank [five] colleges which provide the best fit for the student.”
If your teen is considering the community college route, bookmark this site and take advantage of the matching services it offers to students. The transfer process can be a bit daunting and complicated, but this will offer a tool for students to help simplify the process.
It’s no surprise. Twitter is a GREAT social media site to find out the latest college news and information. Set yourself up a “college info” list on Twitter and add these to that list. As you follow them, notice who they are communicating with and who they follow–add some more to that list. Soon you will have a comprehensive Twitter list that will keep you abreast of the latest college news.
Heads up, traditionalists! A radical new idea promotes kissing the four-year academic program buh-bye and saying hello to a three-year system.
As accustomed as we are to its infrastructure, it would take some serious shaking up to rattle the U.S. education system. Yet Robert Zemsky, chairman of the Learning Alliance for Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Making Reform Work: The Case for Transforming American Higher Education, is advocating for major changes on university campuses — most notably a three-year college program.
Zemsky argues that given today’s economic, political and technological climate, it’s time for Americans to minimize cost, unnecessary resources and wasted time repeating coursework. His proposed plan would cause a drastic uplifting of the current system, impacting high schools as well. But it is Zemsky’s hope that reform ultimately would spawn a more streamlined institution. While the government might not be ready to back such lofty plans, the real question is: Are you?
How will students benefit from such reform? According to Professor Zemsky, shifting to a more sequenced, regimented three-year program will save students time and money — cutting tuition costs by a whopping 25 percent. This is less moolah out of your pocket, not to mention additional interest that builds up as you work to pay off hefty loans. At the very foundation, students would pay for 90 credits over the typical 120.
In a contemporary society where minimizing time and financial expenditures ranks high on to-do lists, it seems almost given that a new system should be put into place. Right? Not necessarily. For one, the program basically assumes all undergrads will go on for a post-grad or masters degree. “If you want college to help vocationally, you have to go beyond the undergrad,” says Zemsky. Under the new system, college would be a breeding ground whereby students learn the basics of a particular trade. It is then in graduate school that learning would become truly vocational.
So how would high schools be affected by this change? High school seniors are infamously plagued by “senioritis” and finding ways to sidestep mundane assignments. Zemsky proposes doing away with wasteful course schedules during senior year and instead modeling it after the current freshman year of college. He suggests pre-college seniors take some of the basic humanities and sciences normally taken by college freshmen.
Zemsky tells us in a phone interview, “High schools would need to make assessments at a ninth-grade level as to whether a student is making progress to be ‘college-ready.’ Remediation would take place at this time rather than at the first year of college. The 10th and 11th grade levels would look the same, and the 12th grade would become equivalent to the first year of college. There would be an alignment so that senior year of high school sets students up for freshman year of college.”
What is the downside of a three-year college program? Some students feel it’s unreasonable to be expected to choose a major and commit at age 18. And indeed, the pressure is really on if the typical college career were condensed. “I don’t know what I plan on majoring in,” says U Penn freshman Brett Levine. “In a three-year program, undecided people have less time to explore new subject areas.
“Even with people who know what they want to study, a three-year program would surely be more demanding if requirements for majors or graduate schools admissions stay the same. A lot of pre-meds and engineering students have difficulty satisfying graduation requirements as is. For undecided students like myself, the variety of course options is incredible. It allows me to explore new subject areas unavailable in high school.”
Says Zemsky: “Students are given endless choices, but it’s expensive. It confuses lots of people, and it takes longer to graduate because they get lost. Redesign the curriculum so it is not a smorgasbord of options.” Say goodbye to elective courses too, because in this system, there’s no room for classes that do not directly relate to your plan of study.
How would such lofty goals be implemented? Zemsky doesn’t kid himself into thinking this would be a minor undertaking: “To really kick off reform, it would take an invitation from the president. I can’t imagine this happening without presidential leadership.” And, yes, he’s referring to the president of the United States.
In a recent Newsweek article, Zemsky argues his position by stating, “Everything around us — technology, medicine, politics — has changed … and [higher education] will too have to rethink what we are about.”
Still, Levine questions the practicality of Zemsky’s proposal. “A three-year program would essentially make college an even more stressful period. It would probably restrict options for traveling abroad, which many students value. It has many potential benefits for some students. People who know they want to major in economics, political science, Spanish or other relatively less intense majors may only need three years. However, others need four to prepare for graduate school or their desired career.”
And furthermore, Levine adds, “Socially, it obviously restricts the amount of time commonly dubbed ‘the best years of your life.’”
What do you think? Do you think our kids are growing up too fast? Do you think a 3-year degree is a wise educational choice?
With technology progressing faster than we can keep up with it, Tufts University is inviting prospective students to post one-minute videos on YouTube telling the university a little something about themselves. According to an article in The New York Times: The Choice, one of the dean of admissions at Tufts came up with the idea:
Lee Coffin, the dean of undergraduate admissions, said the idea came to him last spring, when watching a YouTube video someone had sent him. “I thought, ‘If this kid applied to Tufts, I’d admit him in a minute, without anything else,’” Mr. Coffin said.
Some of the YouTube video submissions have garnered quite a following; opening an interesting debate about privacy online.
One new company, has come up with a solution to having the whole world view your admissions video: MyCollegei. They have partnered with colleges to allow your college-bound teen to post their video FREE of charge and create a video that will give colleges an insight into who they are and find that “perfect-fit” student for their college community, while maintaining the student’s privacy.
Here’s a GREAT video presentation of the service, describing what they offer and how they have created a user-friendly site for students who want to get that extra edge in the admissions process. (Just click the graphic!)
Admissions officers are always looking for that “perfect-fit” student and videos are an excellent way to see beyond the traditional application and essay. And after all, teens today have grown up using technology. As colleges strive to keep up with the times, this is just another way that prospective students can communicate their creativity and passion.
High school guidance counselors are forever urging their students to go out and visit prospective colleges. View books, short online videos, and guide books are all helpful, but actually walking the campus, listening to students while checking out the surrounding neighborhood is the best way to develop a feel for each school.
That’s why we began our video series. We’re college counselors from New Jersey, and we videotaped those student guided campus tours and put them on DVDs available at www.collegiatechoice.com. They average one hour per college.
Cliff Kramon Collegiate Choice collchoice@optonline.net www.collegiatechoice.com
You could waste four years studying a foundering field. Or, find out right here what careers (and majors) are still worth pursuing during times of economic stress.
Like the national census or a good Bruce Willis movie, a recession hits the United States about every 10 years or so. It doesn’t take a math major to see it’s been nearly that long since the burst of the dot-com bubble, and now, the collapse of mortgage-backed security has brought Wall Street — and the rest of the economy — to its knees again. As for college students? Well, we’re just crossing our fingers that four years is enough time for the job market to rebound.
Luckily, the U.S. financial system seems to be on the upswing. “By the end of the year, things should be looking better,” says Laurence Shatkin, author of The 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs. But Shatkin warns that a recovery would not necessarily signal a return in jobs. “They are the last thing to recover in a recession; businesses are going to wait until the last minute to stop using temporary hires. It will easily be over a year until this country starts seeing an increase in job openings.” Here, we relay the crème de la crème of careers so you can declare a major now that will set you up for success later.
Health care
Even in dire straits, people need certain services. Shatkin cites the health care industry, which pays well and continues a growth pattern as the field most adept at staying afloat during a financial downturn. Careers in the medical realm — physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, health service managers — round out No. 6 through No. 10 on Shatkin’s list of 150 recession-proof jobs. Major in: biomedical sciences, biology, chemistry. Plan on being pre-med.
Information technology
High tech is an industry with heavy growth — recession or no recession. With the Internet getting bigger by the millisecond, the stakes for finding a job in the technological world are up. The market does, however, face competition from outsourcing, since labor abroad is cheaper. Major in: computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, electrical engineering. No lit majors here.
Government
Shatkin is quick to point out that careers in government don’t have to be defined by bureaucratic paper pushing and yards of red tape. “Careers like school administrators and law enforcement officers fall under the government’s sphere,” he says. Government positions have had better protection against layoffs, which means more job security. Major in: public policy, history, politics. Law school is another path to take if you’re looking to snag a spot working for the Feds.
Green jobs
An important, budding movement is the green sector — especially green energy. Organizations are looking for enthusiastic college grads to jump on board. Plus, the current presidential administration wants to transform energy needs into a self-sustaining machine anchored by clean and renewable power. Major in: environmental science, civil engineering, environmental engineering. Although, there are opportunities for activists, advertisers and writers to get involved too, since the field is relatively new and malleable.
Education
The good news is that there’s still a very high demand for teachers. The bad news is that schools get funding from local taxes, so when this revenue dries up, so does money toward teachers’ salaries. Making big bucks is almost out of the question. Major in: various topics in education, from math to P.E.
Journalism
While Shatkin says several journalists still maintain great jobs in various trades, from padding the blogosphere to entertainment reporting, the field faces an uphill battle against two formidable opponents: bankruptcy and the Internet. Shatkin, himself a writer, claims the trick is to find a good niche: “I write about careers now, and I love what I do.”
Entertainment
“The field has always been fiercely competitive,” Shatkin says. He points out that many who can’t make it in other jobs resort to packing up and moving to Hollywood, betting on a slight chance of making it big. Now that the masses have less money to spend on entertainment, the industry has lost some of its sheen.
Finance
Careers in finance have been hit harder than most. “It was oversold for a very long time, and now it’s hurting,” says Shatkin. He describes the nature of finance as extremely cutthroat. Many financial companies value experience, which puts recent college graduates at an immediate disadvantage. And since many former employees in the financial realm were laid off and are now looking for work, the competition is stiff.
In the eight months since Shatkin’s book was published, the situation has gotten worse. “When I wrote the book, there was only the likelihood of a recession,” he says. “You never know you’re in a recession until you’re knee-deep. Nowadays, it’s harder to find a job, investments have lost value and layoffs are increasing. People’s retirements are at stake.”
Shatkin’s advice to freshmen? Get a well-rounded education. “We need people in liberal arts who understand science and math, and engineers and scientists who can write,” he says. By pursuing different subjects, students discover skills or talents they never knew they had. “You become more versatile and learn about yourself. Don’t limit it to schoolwork. Pursue out-of-class activities on campus as well.”
