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Archive for October, 2009

Online College Tours Beat Car Trips Any Day

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Option A:

A long car trip with your parents and your younger brother, Phil. Your Mom likes to sing along to the radio, and Phil likes to pelt you with M&M’s. By the time you get to the college campus, you’ll be rainbow colored. Whoever said M&M’s don’t melt in your hand clearly have never visited colleges with Phil. After the campus tour, you get back in the car and move onto the next college. It’s going to be a long ride.

Option B:

Surf the web from the comfort of your chair. This time, YOU will be eating the M&M’s while you visit colleges, online. Chat with admissions counselors, meet real students, and get virtual tours of dozens of schools. When you’re Mom comes upstairs to tell you to do the dishes, you can say: “Hold on, I’m visiting Harvard.” Best. Excuse. Ever.

As the example above clearly illustrates, there are obvious benefits to online college tours. Not only do they give you the freedom to see what college is really like sans parents, but they are also totally free. No more wasting money on Motel 6, thank-you-very-much. For those students who are worried about how they are going to pay for college, let alone simply visit, online college tours can open the door to school’s out of state they never would have been able to consider.

Online college tours are the latest trend in college search, and there are a number of great websites to choose from. So go to a few, see what each one has to offer, and remember: don’t leave your seat.

CollegeWeekLive: A free online event held a few times a year. Better than a school college fair, it combines expert advice with chances to talk to real college students and admissions representatives. The next session is November 4-7th, and you can register here.

theU: With over one-hundred thousand user created videos and reviews, you’ll get an insider’s viewpoint of college life at thousands of colleges across the country. It’s like staying overnight at your best friend’s sister’s college dorm.

eCampusTours: Free video tours of campuses from a more “official perspective”. Kind of like the campus tour you’d go on with your parents, only without the obvious annoyances. It’s free, but you do need to register.

POSTED BY Bloggin' with Robin IN Articles
10.27.09
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Early Decision Myth: Apply Early, Get In

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

There’s a growing trend for students to apply early decision or early action to their top choice schools. Fuelled by statistics promising double the regular decision acceptance rates, students pushing for the top elite schools are applying early in hopes of getting in.But is double the acceptance rate too good to be true?

Yes. Although some schools, like Amherst College, do boast such impressive statistics, many others, like Johns Hopkins University make a concerted effort to admit a similar proportion of students early as they do regular.

You also have to think of not only the acceptance rates, but the overall quality of the pool of applicants applying. Students who apply early decision or early action tend to be more motivated, have higher grades, and in general, are more likely to meet the school’s admissions criteria to begin with. This is because a student will have to do a lot more college planning and work on their college search to apply early. They also can’t count on any senior-year bird courses to boost their grades, as colleges won’t get to see their senior year transcript. So, the differences in college acceptance rates for early vs. regular applications can partly be explained by the differences in the quality of the application pool.
So don’t put all of your eggs in one basket yet. If you think you’d benefit from a little comparison shopping, or need an extra month on your college applications, nix applying early.

POSTED BY Bloggin' with Robin IN Admissions Process, Applications
10.20.09
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10 Ways to F’Up Your College Applications

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

At this time of year, high school seniors are still hopeful little bunnies, preparing their college applications for the hard winter to come. But by December 1st, you’ll be so overwhelmed with essays, financial aid, and exams that you’ll be lucky if you can even remember to dot your “i”s. Beware: admissions officers are notoriously picky about procedure, and one little mistake could seriously ruin your chances at your top-choice.
To help you avoid a snafu, here are the 10 ways to f’up on your college applications:

  1. Forget your own name. The mother of all F’ups, if you don’t put the right name on the application, they can’t admit you!
  2. Attach a “Benjamin”. Repeat after me: I will not bribe the admissions office. I will not bribe…
  3. Misspell Wrds. You’ll read real good one day. But seriously, spell everything correctly, and use complete sentences. Otherwise, you look like a moron.
  4. Mail it in late. Double check the deadline, and don’t forget to check to see if that date is when it needs to be RECIEVED by, or just postmarked. If it needs to be received by a certain date, make sure to mail it at least a week in advance.
  5. Improper postage. The good old United States Postal service is fraught with potential application snafus. One wrong stamp, and your app good be stamped REJECTED.
  6. Forget to send in your transcripts. Make sure to notify your guidance counselor of the schools you will be applying to, and go through the proper procedure for getting your high school to send your transcripts directly to the colleges.
  7. Ask the wrong teacher for a recommendation. It goes without saying: ask teachers that you know like you for a rec. That bio teacher you thought found your snores secretly charming? Not a good candidate.
  8. Print illegibly. If they can’t read it, they can’t really evaluate it. If you can, type your applications. The easier you make it on the admissions department, the better your chances.
  9. Dot your “i”s with smiley faces. You dweeb.
  10. Send in the wrong application. I’m sure Harvard REALLY wants to read all about how Yale is your dream school.

Any other way’s you’ve heard of? Leave ‘em in the comments, not your apps!

POSTED BY Bloggin' with Robin IN Admissions Process, Applications, Articles, Top 10
10.14.09
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