(Megan as a freshman at The George Washington University) Week after week I share with you my knowledge and experience in the field of test preparation and college admissions counseling, but I don’t want you to think I’m infallible. In fact, my personal college experience includes a string of mistakes and some bad college planning [...]
Some colleges talk about value as a way to justify the high cost of tuition. Here are fifteen schools where EVERY student gets a full-tuition scholarship. Some schools require work, military service, or demonstrated talent and few focus on students with financial need. The possibility of attending school for free and graduating without piles of [...]
Last week we passed the January 15 application deadline. Most high school seniors should have submitted their college applications and now is the time most families wait to hear back from all the colleges on the list. It is also the perfect time to make sure your child has at least one quality backup school [...]
Everyone says I need to research colleges and make a college list. What am I supposed to be doing? How do I research colleges? Sometimes advice like “go research colleges” is oversimplified. With over 4000 colleges and universities (2-year, 4-year, public, private, and for-profit), it can be hard to know where to begin. First, [...]
As I’m sharing notes from some of my recent college visits I keep getting the question, “What can we do if visiting every school isn’t possible for my family?” Last week I took advantage of one possibility – attending a local presentation made by an out-of-town university. Frequently colleges will offer information sessions [...]
How many colleges should I apply to? This is an issue of debate in our house. The number of schools a student applies to depends in part on the student, his or her interests, and the competitive nature of the schools to which he or she is going to apply. For the sake of practicality I [...]
My son is applying to a bunch of state schools in Texas, but Texas A&M is his top choice. He is not in the top 10%, so won’t be automatically admitted. He wants to apply to engineering, but it is so competitive at A&M. Would he be better off listing his first choice major [...]
What should I make sure to do and see on a college visit aside from the tour? A college visit is the single best way for you to evaluate a potential college and determine if it could be a good fit for you. I know a lot of families that are adding a quick college [...]
