Scholarships are a Little Tricky

After a students starts applying to college, many also start searching for scholarships as well. It makes perfect sense to try to find ways to cut your out-of-pocket cost regardless of the school you decide to attend. This USA Today article provides excellent information about explaining particulars with financial aid packages and scholarships.

For students who successfully secure scholarships that are not related to the institution you need to understand how accepting the scholarship could affect your financial aid package. Colleges regard outside scholarship as additional 'resources' or money, so they often will not apply your outside scholarship to meet any additional need you may have. Rather than add your outside scholarship with the institutional money they are offering, they will take away institutional dollars. In other words if the school had offered you $5 in aid, and your scholarship is worth $5 the school will likely let you spend your $5 and take their money back, so in the end you are still paying the same price.

This is not to discourage you from finding outside scholarships, you just need to be very strategic on which funds you accept, as well as prepared to still have to come out of pocket even when it seems that everything should be paid for.

Visit Before You Decide

Its the time of year that seniors everywhere are making the final decision on where they want to attend. Although the brochures are nice to look at, and the phone calls from students help to answer some of your questions, the best way for students to students to make their final decision is to go visit their top choices. For some this can be an expensive or time consuming venture, however this is a major decision that requires complete attention. Other experts agree with the necessity to visit a school before you decide in the article recent Olympian Newspaper article.

Gearing Up For Next Year

College Strategies has changed its pricing structure for the 2007-08 academic season. Because we are now offering our services primarily through an online format it is allowing us greater flexibility to work with students so we are able to drastically reduce our fees. For students who are gearing up for next school year, please take a look at how we can help you successfully maneuver through the college admission process. College Strategies Educational Consulting

Decision Day- May 1st

Many of you may still be debating which school you were accepted to is right for you. You either fall in one of two categories: 1. You haven't paid your deposit to any school yet since you haven't decided; or 2. You have put down multi-deposits and you still haven't decided. Just remember that May 1st is the unofficial deadline for many (not all colleges) as to when you can get 100% of your deposit back.

College Rankings...Forget Them

Recently an article appeared in USA Today about how some colleges and universities are planning not to participate in college ranking surveys. The topic of college surveys has always fascinated so much my original doctoral dissertation was going to attempt to rank Sport Administration/Management programs. As I started to do the background research, I became convinced that many of the popular rankings that are sold to the American public use very questionable methodology. And after working in college admissions, I could see first hand how schools try to increase their appearance of being selective by playing with the numbers when it comes to admitting, deferring and denying students. All-in-all I learned not to put much stock in the popular rankings.

As a private admission counselor, I try to counsel students and his or her parents on how to not get caught up in the rankings game. Its hard, because everyone wants the opportunity to brag about where they are going to school and all it's wonderful attributes, but the reality is almost all schools have 'brag-worthy' qualities. So regardless of where you choose, you will likely find something unique to talk about when it comes to your school and/or experience.

Choose to attend a school because you truly want to go there. Yes, the name of an institution sometimes can open doors for you, but if you are not talented, successful, or with a good work ethic, it won't matter what school you went to because no one is going to want to work with you anyway. I believe you should spend your college years learning to become the person you want to be in the professional world, instead of trying to plan on how you can name drop your school to make things happen.

Don't Lie, You May Get Caught!

As college admissions becomes more competitive, more students are tempted to stretch the truth on their admission applications to appear as more attractive applicants. However, I know from first hand that more schools are taking measures to validate the information included on their applicants applications. The article The Admissions Police talks about this growing problem and the measures that some schools are going to perform background checks on their applicants.

The moral to the story, tell the truth on your college application, do not even try to stretch the truth. Your entire future could take a very different path as a result of your decision to include false information on an application, and you get caught. Remember there are ways to creatively write essays, and include information that will get the attention of admission reviewers that doesn't incorporate false information. If you need help, contact a professional admission consultant who can help you with this.

Parents & Students at Odds

For many students, where they want to go and where their parents want he or she to go are two very different stories. Recently, The Princeton Review published their survey results of the Top 10 Dream Colleges of Students Applicants & of Parents.

One of the reasons families include a private admissions consultant in their admission process is that they can have an objective third party contribute to the discussion about what school really would be best for the student. In addition, a private consultant can help both side consider aspects about their choices they may not have previously considered.