1. There is more than one college out there where you can be happy. Don’t fixate on one school as a do- or-die option.

2. Location is very important, although it’s not the only factor you should be considering. Don’t neglect type and size as well as competitive level. And definitely visit the school before signing up

3. Interviews, if they’re available are generally a good idea. So is spending a night on campus.

4. SAT and ACT tests are not the same as IQ tests: they can – and should – be strenuously prepared for.

5. Take the most challenging classes you can do well in – a B+ in AP Calculus is more impressive than an A in Math for Poets.

6. Parents will be involved in the college selection process but they need to let their children take the lead – college selection is often the first adult decision of a young person’s life.

7. The application essay is not the place for a hard-sell summation of why you’d be an awesome addition to College X – it’s a place to introduce yourself to the admissions committee and let them hear your authentic “voice.”

8. A binding early decision application is only a good choice if you are absolutely, positively no- holds-barred certain that you know what your first choice school is. Remember, if you are accepted Early Decision you must withdraw your other applications and attend that school.

9. The FAFSA student aid form is required for all federal grants, loans, state aid and many college aid programs – it’s the most important app you’ll fill out for financial aid.

10. Don’t wait till your junior year of high school to prepare for applying to college. From freshman year on, your course choices, extracurricular activities, grades, and financial arrangements will affect your decisions and choices when it comes to college.

Jan. 28, 2009

Mark Kantrowitz, an expert on paying for college and founder of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com (a scholarship search site), replied this month to New York Times reader-submitted questions about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is the single most important financial app to fill out because the federal government provides the overwhelming majority of all financial aid. The seven-part question and answer series ran on the Times’ Education blog called The Choice: Demystifying College Admissions and Aid.

For many high school seniors and their parents, January begins the season for tackling the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. While the FAFSA remains much easier to fill out than the CSS PROFILE (used to determine eligibility for institutional financial aid), it has nonetheless been regarded by some as unnecessarily cumbersome. The federal government has begun attempting to streamline this app with the availability of its new 2010-2011 FAFSA. A major manifestation of this simplification is the new 2010-2011 FAFSA on the Web Worksheet — provided to help students and parents prepare to fill out the FAFSA — which asks far fewer questions than before. It can be downloaded here for those who want to get a head-start on the FAFSA:

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before012.htm

A good number of the financial aid questions Kantrowitz answers are very specific. Moreover, he has incorporated the latest information, including the impact of federal legislation passed as recently as December 2009. You can view all seven parts of Kantrowitz’s comprehensive and insightful answers on tips on filling out the FAFSA, CSS PROFILE, and general financial aid questions at:

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/fafsaq-and-a/

Private Scholarships are funds awarded to lower the college costs of students deemed deserving by the awarding organization. The most famous is the National Merit Scholarship, but it is far from the only one, and is not representative of what every awarding institution is looking for. There are thousands of private scholarships out there, and not all are purely merit or performance based. Some are reserved for students of a particular ethnic group or religious affiliation. Others are granted by organizations such as labor unions or veterans groups to students who best demonstrate (typically via an essay) a kinship with the organization’s principles. There are even a few humorous scholarships: the Duck brand duct-tape company awards a scholarship to students who attend prom in attire crafted solely from their product, and talk-show host David Letterman, in a nod to his own admittedly average academic record, created a scholarship for “C” students at his alma matter of Ball State.

It’s easy to find seemingly endless lists of private-scholarship possibilities, especially in the era of the internet. The potential savings add up very quickly in our minds, and the temptation to apply for every private award under the sun can be strong. But don’t get carried away. The increased visibility brought by the web means a lot more competition for the juiciest awards, and the old saw about a scholarship so obscure that the winner was the only person who applied becomes less true every year (and many private scholarships reserve the right not to award any money in a given year if no applicants cut the mustard).

Finding all those awards and writing all those application essays takes time. If you were Bill Murray’s character from the movie Groundhog Day, you would have endless time in which to craft perfect applications to so many private scholarships that college would end up free—but in real life, time is precious, and there are more pragmatic things an incipient college applicant could be doing with her or his time than chasing every private award there is. Remember, scholarships don’t help you get accepted to college, so there is still that little matter to worry about: it would be bad news for a student’s grades, extracurricular participation, or community involvement to suffer because of time spent laboring over scholarship applications. (If parents are involved in the process, hunting down scholarship leads on the web and refining them into a “best-of” list for the student makes a good task for a parent who does not work full-time.)

Locating the necessary info about private scholarships is not rocket science. It is usually as simple as typing a search term (e.g., “hockey” or your ethnicity) into Google followed by the word “scholarship.” It is simply not necessary to pay a scholarship-search company to seek out the opportunities for you—such companies merely charge you a fee for research you could have easily done just as well (and probably more quickly) on your own, and don’t better your student’s chances of winning any of the awards.

So how should a student go about seeking private scholarships? Well, you should always play to your strengths, and when it comes to private scholarships, here are a few of the best situations you can be in:

• You are a member of a minority or special-interest group. And this doesn’t just mean ethnic or religious minorities. There are scholarships for students with every imaginable disability or handicap—even psychological conditions like bipolar disorder or ADHD, or purely cosmetic conditions like the skin disease psoriasis. Remember to think outside the box: if there is anything at all statistically unusual about a student, there’s a good chance a scholarship exists for it—there are even scholarships for students who are interested in polka music! And be advised that a “special” group doesn’t necessarily have to constitute a statistical minority—for example, Christians and women are both numerically majorities of the population, but there are plenty of scholarship opportunities specific to those groups.
• You are extremely good at something. Academic and/or athletic merit are the forms of excellence most commonly honored by scholarships, but not the only ones. Skill at a musical instrument, or at the visual arts, or at composing poetry, can garner financial awards as well. There are even scholarships awarded to promising young stand-up comics! But it is a poor use of a student’s time to suddenly try to get good at something just for a scholarship (since you will be competing against other applicants who are lifelong devotees). The best route is to identify what you are genuinely already interested in and skilled at, and seek out scholarships in that area.
• You are a skilled (i.e., convincing) writer. The last point already established that skill in a given art form can earn scholarship money, so why is writing singled out separately? It’s simple. Because so many scholarship competitions hinge on the composition of an essay, a good writer with a questionable relationship to the awarding organization’s goals will usually outperform a mediocre writer who is more sincere in her or his heart. Maybe you don’t really feel more passionately about endangered species or the swing-dance revival than any other applicant, but if you are a good enough writer and can empathize with the core concern of the organization, it may be a good idea to try. It may not be fair, but it is how things are. Writers with the chops to pull it off should seek out the most lucrative scholarships and tell them what they want to hear.

When it comes to private scholarships, the name of the game is focus. A student who applies willy-nilly for fifty scholarships may feel lucky when she or he drops the envelopes into the mailbox, but then not win a single one. Conversely, a student who carefully selects three well-fitting scholarship opportunities and meticulously crafts those apps stands a much better chance of seeing her or his efforts pay off.

Junior year is when preparing for college stops feeling theoretical – this is when everyone you know starts asking what colleges you’re applying to, and how you did on your SATs. It’s important to try to block out the competitiveness and pressure, and just focus on the things you need to do.

Academics: Continue to take the most challenging classes you can do well in (AP, IB or honors classes if possible). Many selective colleges prefer to see a strong “B” or “B+” in an honors class as opposed to an “A” in an easier course. Your grades from all four years count for college admission, but your grades as an upperclassman may be given more consideration – you certainly don’t want your grades to get worse as you go along. Don’t let visiting schools or taking standardized tests become more important than your school work.

High School Counselor: Your guidance counselor will write letters of recommendation when you apply to college, so make sure that he or she knows you as well as possible. Stay in close contact and meet at least twice during this important year. Remember, there are many other students assigned to your counselor – it’s your responsibility to stay on the radar. Take the initiative for making appointments and scheduling meetings.

Extracurricular Activities: Continue with your sports, club and community service activities. Staying with the same activities, especially if you achieve a leadership position, has more value to colleges than participating in many different clubs or activities. Work to achieve state, regional and national recognition in the area that is your passion, and seek a leadership role for your senior year.

Scholastic Tests: Take an SAT or ACT course, or study on your own. You may also want to consider private tutoring – it’s more expensive but it’s tailored to your needs, so you’re not wasting time and money focusing on topics other students need help with. Take these tests in the spring. If you’re applying to schools ranked as “Most Selective” or higher, register to take two or three SAT II subject tests in June.

Visiting Colleges: Attend college fairs in your area, and plan to visit several schools during your winter and spring breaks. If you want to interview at a top-choice school, consider scheduling a visit for the spring – during the winter, admissions offices are focused on applications from high school seniors.

Applying to College: Keep a file of every major test and paper where you received a high grade or positive comments. Later on, when you’re asking teachers for recommendations, you can use these grades and comments to remind them of your work in their classes. In the spring you should make a preliminary list of colleges that interest you. Fill out a college application as a practice exercise.
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Junior year has a not entirely undeserved bad reputation – heavy course work, intense college application pressures and learning to drive generally converge at roughly the same time during this challenging year. It won’t be easy, but try to build time into your schedule for relaxation, exercise and friends. And try to keep your sense of humor and perspective: luckily you won’t be a high school junior forever!

It’s easy to understand the appeal of early decision or early action college applications: many high school students love the idea of knowing where they’ll be going to college early in their senior year. An early acceptance often means a welcome end to college anxiety and a more enjoyable last year of high school. But students who apply early can get accepted, rejected or deferred, a limbo-like third option that basically keeps you wondering about your status until the spring. Deferred students find out if they’ve been accepted at the same time as students who applied for regular decision.

Being deferred can be a frustrating outcome: you’ve demonstrated a significant interest in a school, hustled to make the earlier deadline, and still have nothing concrete to show for it. But the thing to remember if you get this news is that you haven’t been rejected, which probably means your application is in the ballpark of what the school is looking for.

If you do get deferred from your first choice school, here’s what you should be doing right now:

• Understand that excellent first semester grades will do more than anything else to enhance your chances of acceptance. This is not the time to sulk or embrace defeat – step up your studying efforts and do extra-credit work if possible.
• Tell your guidance counselor you’ve been deferred, since he or she won’t be informed by the college until well after you are.
• Read the deferral letter from the college thoroughly. The letter will often give you suggestions about how to improve your chances. Follow the school’s instructions very carefully – if they say not to submit additional recommendations, don’t do it!
You may also find this information on the school’s website.
• If the college encourages you to submit additional information, you should write a letter reaffirming your strong interest in the school. This is also your chance to update the admissions committee on anything that might be relevant to your application. But don’t waste the committee’s time by telling them what they already know – notify them only if you’ve received any awards or honors, attained a leadership position in a club or extracurricular activity, or increased your SAT or ACT scores.
• Additional letters of recommendation are usually not necessary or helpful. Again, these letters should only be sent if they provide new information that other writers have not presented.

• If you are feeling some anger toward the college, put it aside. Make sure your correspondence with the school is polite and respectful. Writing “I can’t believe I didn’t get accepted” will be perceived as whiny and arrogant. And don’t try to convince the college they made a mistake by deferring you – just explain as best you can why the school is a great fit for you.

• All the contact you have with the college should be between you and the admissions committee – do not let your parents call or write to the school!

Remember that there is still time to apply elsewhere and there are other colleges out there that will be a good fit for you. Meet with your guidance counselor and review your options. And try to stay positive – a deferral may not be the best news, but it’s also not the worst!

The last few years have been tough on almost everyone from a financial standpoint but, believe it or not, this is actually a good time to be entering college. The combination of the economic downturn and the change in Congress is spelling good news on some fronts for soon-to-be college students and their parents. Organizations that were once among the largest private lenders, such as Chase, Wachovia, and CLC, have gotten out of the student-loan game, but government grant and loan opportunities have been expanding to pick up the slack. And government loans offer significantly better terms than the private lenders did even in good times.

For example, the maximum amount potentially awarded by a Pell Grant—the most famous and widespread form of government need-based grant—has recently increased to $5,350, with an added option for receiving an additional $2,675 in the summer. And those maximums are slated to keep climbing through 2012.

Additionally, the interest rate on a Stafford Loan, the most common type of unsubsidized government loan, has recently dropped to 5.6%, and will continue to drop—to 4.5% in June, and then to a very low 3.4% at the same time in 2011 (before jumping back to the former rate of 6.8% in 2012). And while this next bit of information doesn’t help new college students, older friends and siblings who borrowed prior to July 2006 would do well to reconsolidate now, if they haven’t done so already, as a locked-in rate of just 2.5% is currently available (along with a rate of 3.38% for parents in the process of repaying PLUS loans). And while exploring post-graduation career options, students should bear in mind that borrowers entering nonprofit or civil-service (government) careers will have the remainder of their debt written off by the feds after ten years. And there are more jobs that count as “government” ones than you might realize (teaching in a public school, for example)!

A new policy known as Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is more welcome news. Borrowers who find themselves struggling with their payment plan will be able to cut a deal enabling them to pay 15% of their discretionary income (i.e., income in excess of 1.5 times the poverty level for their family size) per month instead of a flat minimum. What happens if you’re making less than 1.5 times the poverty level? You pay nothing, for as long as that remains the case. And no matter how much (or how little) you pay, the government forgives the remainder after 25 years. Of course, the longer you take to repay a loan, the more interest builds up, so a good educated guess about your future will save you money: if you think you’ll end up paying off your student loans in less than 25 years, do it fast; if not, do it slow. This now applies to any federal student loan, from any lender, no matter when you took it out!

It’s clear that the current environment has made the increased affordability of higher education a greater priority. New policies, or more changes to the current ones, are certainly possible, so keep your eyes and ears open—but the bottom line is that, now more than ever, pursuing loans from private lenders is definitely a last resort.

The popular conception that the SAT rewards natural ability while the ACT rewards preparation is accurate to some extent, but this certainly doesn’t mean that it’s useless to attempt to study for the SAT. The preparation will not rely as heavily on the memorization of “tricks” as does ACT preparation, but the principle that a less capable student who is familiar with the test will do better than a more capable student who is seeing it for the first time still holds true. If nothing else, a good deal of precious time is saved by memorizing the directions for each part of the test in advance!

The most important difference, of course, is the SAT’s infamous scoring system, in which a wrong answer (- ¼ pt.) hurts a student more than a blank (± 0 pts.) one does. While it’s important to be aware of this, it’s also important not to let it drive you crazy. Too many good students get bogged down in furious odds-calculation about how many to leave blank, or scare themselves into leaving questions blank that they would have gotten right if they’d trusted their instincts. Suffice to say, if you can eliminate two of the choices, it is in your interest to guess.

The SAT has changed since the days when your parents, or even some of your older siblings, took it. It is now out of 2400 points, not 1600; there is an essay portion; the Verbal section has been split up into Writing and Critical Reading sections; and the verbal analogies, once the most famous element of the test, have been eliminated altogether.

But some things never change: vocabulary skills are still a major concern. Accordingly, many students attempt to prepare by memorizing long lists of “big” words. While this may be helpful for students who have exceptionally good memories and a lot of free time, most will find it more beneficial to memorize Greek and Latin word roots, and to work on getting better at figuring out what a word probably means. Luckily, the vocabulary questions are fill-in-the-blank within sentences, rather than just flatly asking you what a word means. This fact, combined with certain methods of dividing the choices (e.g., does the blank call for a word that means a good thing or a bad thing?), means that word-root knowledge will almost always help a student eliminate enough choices to render it statistically advantageous to guess. Remember, don’t be afraid to guess a word you don’t know if you have eliminated the other choices!

Be aware that the grammar portions of the SAT Writing section tend to emphasize “harder” rules than does the English section of the ACT: expect a lot of questions involving misplaced modifiers, parallel phrasing, subjective vs. objective case, and preposition choice.

On the Critical Reading section’s short and long passages, quickly read all you are given, but remember to review for the “main idea” by rereading the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Often, a couple of wrong answers can be eliminated simply because they contradict the main idea. Beyond that, be careful of choices that are too detailed or too absolute (for example, ones that contain the words “always” or “never”). Remember that it only takes one word to make an answer wrong!

Is the SAT more difficult than the ACT? Perhaps. But just like any test, it is primarily a test in how to take a test. Learn what to expect, and although you will still be challenged, at least you won’t be surprised.

As the involved and loving parent of a high school junior or senior, you have spent almost two decades devoting yourself to making the best possible life for your child. You have made all the choices when it comes to preschools and educational toys, sports equipment and nutritional dinners. You have set curfews and limits on everything from driving to dating.

Now, as you and your child embark on the college application process, comes the hardest parental challenge of all: stepping aside.

When I say “stepping aside” I don’t mean stepping out of the picture entirely; parents are still a very important and necessary part of the college selection and admissions process. Your input, guidance and support will be crucial to your child during this exciting and stressful time.

Most students today will need and ask for their parents’ advice when finalizing the list of colleges they plan on applying to. Despite the obvious appeal of an adult-free road trip, most kids want their parents to come with them when visiting colleges and universities. And whether they’ll admit it or not, the vast majority of high school seniors depend on their parents for emotional support – maybe even a shoulder to cry on – when the whole enterprise threatens to overwhelm them.

But, unlike earlier decisions in your child’s life, this ends up being one that he or she is ultimately responsible for. Selecting a college is an adult choice – maybe the very first of your child’s life. As such, you need to help in a way that respects your son or daughter’s emerging independence.

The best advice I’ve ever heard on how to handle this delicate balance came from a college admissions counselor who advised parents to think of the college search as a road trip. “You belong in the car,” she said kindly. “But make sure you’re letting your kid drive, while you sit in the back seat.”

Having a job while you’re in high school may seem liberating – it feels good, of course, to have money you’ve earned and can spend any way you like. But when the time comes to complete the all-important FAFSA application for financial aid, that job could play a major role in reducing your need-based aid. If you need to work to meet present expenses, then, of course, that’s what you should do. And College Admissions Officers do appreciate students who work during their high school years.

You may want to consider gaining work experience through an unpaid internship, which can give you valuable experience and a sense of responsibility, along with an impressive item to put on your resume – without interfering with financial aid.

You should also know that it’s not always necessary to file tax returns and report cash earned for small jobs such as babysitting or mowing your neighbor’s lawn. If your family has a tax advisor, he or she can help you determine which portion of your income, if any, is legally required to be reported.

Another impediment to financial aid is high parental income and assets. Eligibility for aid is based on the income tax return from the year prior to application (for example, a FAFSA application for 2010 will require tax and income information from 2009). This means that strategic planning with an accountant or financial advisor should be undertaken by the fall of your junior year in high school at the latest.

Any income, dividends, etc. that can be legitimately transferred before the end of the year preceding college may make a noticeable difference in financial aid awards. Generally, the less income parents earn, the less they will be expected to pay. So having parents take on a fourth job during their child’s junior year in high school may not ease the burden of paying for college – especially if it lowers the financial aid award.

As if there weren’t enough variables in the college admissions proccess, students today have to pick their own timetable for applying to schools.

If you opt for regular admission, the deadline for an application is usually from December 15 to March 1 of your senior year of high school. You can apply to as many schools as you want, and most colleges will notify you of their decisions by April 1 (although financial aid decisions come a little later). You will generally have until May 1 to decide which school you want to attend.

But many students are now choosing to fast-track this process with one of two early admissions plans – either Early Decision or Early Action.

With an Early Decision plan, you apply to your top choice school on or before November 1, and receive your answer sometime around December 15. You can be accepted, rejected, or put into the pool of regular applicants for decision in the spring. Early Decision is a binding commitment – if you’re accepted to the school you have to enroll there and withdraw your applications from all other schools. The clear advantage of ED is that you may be spared months of senior year anxiety by knowing that you’re accepted early. Some people also believe that applying early gives you an admissions advantage, since a higher percentage of students are generally admitted from the pool of ED applicants. But this perceived advantage may be meaningless – schools tend to raise the bar on ED admissions standards because they get a stronger pool of applicants.

Either way, the binding nature of early decision is not something to take lightly; ED is not a great idea unless you have a passion to get into that one dream school and are ready to commit to it. Another drawback of ED is that financial aid packages tend to be weaker, and since you must attend if accepted, you have no leverage to negotiate a better deal and can’t comparison shop financial aid offers from other schools.

Some schools now offer ED II, which typically has application deadlines from December 1, to January 15 – notification usually comes about six weeks later.

A better option for many students is Early Action. This plan is offered by some very selective schools – it has similar application deadlines to ED, but is not binding. You can still apply to other schools through regular admissions and usually have until spring to make your decision. EA gives you the benefit of early notification without the iron-clad commitment of Early Decision. A variation of EA is Early Action Single Choice, which requires that you do not apply to any other school as an Early Action candidate, although you can still apply to other schools for regular admission.

Still another admission plan is rolling admissions, the plan of choice for most public and many private colleges. This is basically a first-come first-served option – you apply anytime during your senior year and a decision is made 4-6 weeks later. It is non-binding, you don’t have to wait months for an answer, and (if necessary) this gives you the chance to raise your first semester grades or re-take the SAT or ACT. The catch here is that the later you apply, the greater your chance of being rejected, because there are fewer slots to compete for. For these schools, it’s best to appy early – by February 1 – especially if you want a good financial aid package.

It’s a good idea to keep these plans in mind as you finalize your college choices. Make sure you’re clear on which schools offer which admission options, and make sure you’ve got the deadlines straight!