Category Archives: admissions

admissions, college guidance, test prep, Uncategorized

Parents Complain About Costly College Advice

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I’ve been reading quite a few articles lately about parents complaining about the cost of college admissions advice, test preparation, and parent counseling. I have to wonder what are these parents expecting? Are they being promised things that the admissions professionsals can’t deliver?

So. I did my research. I found a common thread among the complaints and the promises. The so-called professionals were making promises that they could not guarantee:

  • We guarantee your child will win thousands of dollars in scholarships
  • We promise you that once you use our services, your child will be accepted at an Ivy League College
  • If your child takes our college prep course they will make a perfect score on the SAT test
  • We are the only ones who know the secrets of getting into college

As a parent, it’s your job to investigate before you spend your money. If they make promises that seem impossible to fulfill, then the odds are they can’t guarantee anything. It’s been my experience that only a handful of professionals truly know the admissions process well enough to guide you and your teen. If you choose to pay someone hefty fees to personally guide your teen, make sure they are members of reputable organizations and certified as a college admissions counselor.

According to a recent article in The New York Times:

“When you say things like, ‘We know the secrets of getting in,’ it kind of implies that it’s not the student’s ability,” said Mark H. Sklarow, executive director of the association, in Fairfax, Va. “It suggests that there’s some kind of underground code.”

….admissions officers say that no outsider can truly predict how a particular applicant might fare.

It’s always your choice on how you spend your money. Whether you choose to employ the services of an admissions counselor or you choose to gather all the information yourself and guide your teen yourself. You have to do what’s best for you and your teen. But remember, there are no guarantees. And there is no substitute for hard work, research and preparation.

admissions, college guidance, college planning, extracurricular activities, financial aid, test prep

Preparing for College: A Helping Hand

The University of Arizona has established two programs to help high school students prepare for the college experience. They are welcoming high school sophomores and seniors to a summer program that provides them with valuable information about the university and about building a foundation to help students succeed once they graduate high school and enter college.

The 2-day senior program is focused around admissions and acquainting students with the various majors available. The week-long sophomore program is focused around teaching students how to build a foundation for academic success.

According to University of Arizona academic advisors:

Minimally, families should be planning for college as early as 8th grade, when many academic decisions with long-term consequences are made. Course planning for the freshman year often begins early to mid-spring semester of the eighth grade year, and it is important that parents and school personnel help young students design a plan for college enrollment beginning then.

This program gives students a helping hand. This program was implemented after a 2007 pilot study showed that “addressing the transition barrier between high school and college was a critical point needed to help raise high school graduation levels and college enrollment”.

Hopefully other colleges will follow suit and implement these transitional programs. A student who is prepared and armed with the tools to succeed will be less likely to enter college overwhelmed and be less likely to drop out or fail.

Read the entire article here.

admissions, college costs, college guidance, college planning, extracurricular activities, financial aid, scholarships, social networks, test prep

U.S. News & World Report-Best Colleges

This is not a commercial plug for this publication. It is however, an explanation of why I believe this is a MUST read for any college-bound teen. There are three options available for your use:

  • The print edition for $9.95
  • The online edition for $14.95
  • The combo package (print and online) for $19.95

If you don’t want to fork over the cost for either of these, you can browse their website and find a wealth of information.

It is my recommendation that you invest in at least the print version of this publication. If you’re in the process of choosing a college or even widdling down some choices, this publication will give you the needed information to make the right choice.

What does it provide?

  1. It is packed with articles about how to choose a college, how to prepare, how to get in, and how to pay for the education.
  2. It provides information about the best colleges concerning tuition, aid packages, student body, room and board cost, email addresses and website information.
  3. There is also explanation on how they determine their rankings based on several key measures of quality: academic reputation, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance, and alumni giving rate.
  4. It is an invaluable tool for determining past financial aid packages and will help you gauge if applying to a top-tiered college will be affordable based on alumni giving.
  5. Schools vie for the prestige of being in this publication. If a school makes the list, you can be assured that the quality of the education you receive is worth every penny you spend.

And…Since this is such an invaluable tool for college-bound teens and their parents, here’s what I’m going to do:

To qualify for a giveaway of the U.S. News and World Report 2009 Best Colleges, simply sign up for my College Tips Email and post this on Twitter:

@suzanneshaffer is giving away a FREE U.S. News and World Report-Best Colleges 2009 http://tinyurl.com/kk6zg4

I will be choosing a random winner on June 15th. Spread the word to all your friends who have teens heading off to college !

admissions, college costs, financial aid

Choices. Choices. Choices.

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The college acceptance letters arrive. You would think it would be easy after that. Your teen has gotten into their 1st choice school and it’s simple; you fire off the acceptance letter to that school and the deposit and it’s a done deal.

But wait. What if some of the other schools offer financial aid packages that are just too good to be true? Like for instance: a full ride, numerous academic scholarships and grants, along with other incentives like reduced housing for the freshman year. Since the college market is highly competitive, it’s possible that you could be faced with an even more difficult dilemma: attend your 1st choice school OR attend a school offering a better financial aid package.

That’s exactly what happened to us. Through a series of events out of our control, the high school neglected to send my daughter’s mid-year transcript to Boston University.  Because we neglected to follow up, we did not know that was the case. When her financial aid package arrived from BU, it was completely defunct of ANY aid, except a small Stafford Loan. All the other colleges offered her multiple academic scholarships based on her mid-term transcript. One phone call ascertained the reason behind it and since the tuition was incredibly high, it knocked out her 1st choice school immediately.

Here are some lessons we learned:

Always follow up on important submissions to colleges–it’s your responsibility to verify they received ALL documentation prior to the financial aid decision

When your acceptances and financial aid packages arrive, compare them carefully. It’s highly possible that an aid package from an expensive private university will outshine the aid package from a state funded public university

Remember that there are many factors to take into consideration when making the final choice: aid package, course offerings, size, location, and don’t exclude your “gut” feeling.

Be sure when you apply that every school in your application pool is one you would like to attend. If you are offered a free ride to a school that was bottom on your list, but you put it there for a reason, you want to be able to seriously consider choosing it.

And…my personal final thought:

Everything happens for a reason. Although my daughter was not able to attend Boston University, another Boston college was in her pool of schools and it turned out was a much better fit for her in the long run.

If you do your homework in advance, the choices, although they might be difficult, will end up being the right ones in the long run and your teen will enjoy a wonderfully exciting and academically challenging college experience.

admissions, college costs, college guidance, college planning, extracurricular activities, scholarships, social networks, Uncategorized

"Has the mail come yet?"

We’ve all asked that question throughout the course of our lives. But for a senior in April, it’s a daily stress point. Because it’s the month that college acceptance letters arrive. It’s the month that all their hard work (and yours) finally pays off. When they rush home from school and open that envelope and see this word, “Congratulations…” (they rarely read past that word) it’s one of those life moments that brings all their high school struggles into perspective.

The New York Times has devoted a series, “The Envelope Please”, to stories of seniors who received that envelope. There are numerous accounts of acceptances and even rejections; because rejection is a part of the process many times and something we all have to learn to deal with. If you’re a parent of a soon-to-be senior, you should read the articles. It might help you with that all-important time down the road.

I remember very clearly that month in my daughter’s life. She had a list of 7 schools that she had applied for admittance. Her #1 choice was Boston University. She had worked so hard with admission interviews, phone calls, and making sure her application was complete. When the letter arrived she was afraid to open the envelope. But when she did, she jumped up and down, screaming with joy and excitement.bu-acceptance-letter

As it turned out, she was accepted to all 7 of the schools that she applied to.  The four years of hard work paid off and the wait was over. Now the decision followed: which school would she be attending? This decision was a difficult one. And one that many parents and teens struggle with. Why? Because for most families, college choice is weighted by the amount of the college’s financial aid package. As it was for our family.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking about that decision and the lessons we learned along the way. If you’re a parent of a college-bound teen, you won’t want to miss that post.

Do you have a teen that just received their acceptance letter this year? What was your experience like? Was it a positive one?

admissions, extracurricular activities

Summertime is Volunteer Time

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I can’t tell you the number of times my kids said, “Mom, I’m bored.” Most of the time, it was during the summer. After the first few days of summer excitement wears off, the boredom begins to set in. And this is the perfect time to encourage your teen to volunteer.

There are several reasons why volunteering is beneficial to your teens:

  1. It’s the right thing to do. It teaches them to give of themselves.
  2. It can help them determine their interests (volunteering at a children’s hospital, at an art or science museum, at a library,teen-volunteers at a sports camp, at Habitat for Humanity–all of which might spur their interest in future careers)
  3. Colleges like to see well-rounded applicants. Volunteering will show them that you a)made valuable use of your time b)that you are a person who is concerned with others.
  4. It teaches them that work can be fulfilling and gives them a head start on having a positive work ethic.
  5. They won’t sit around the house all summer complaining about being bored.

Volunteering is one of those “life lessons” that teaches your teen moral responsibility. The plus is that while they are learning the life lesson, they are improving their chances of college acceptance. For me, it’s a win-win proposition.

If you have any volunteer suggestions or work for a charity or a business that utilizes volunteers, we would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment here for my readers!

admissions, college planning, scholarships, social networks, Uncategorized

Ready. Set. Go.

The 2008-2009 school year is coming to an end. Seniors will be graduating and moving on to college, technical school or trade school. Juniors will officially be seniors with a busy year ahead of them before walking across that stage next May or June. Senior year is NOT the time to coast, relax and develop senioritis. It’s the time to get all your ducks in a row and start a timeline for college planning. Here’s some suggestions from experience that might help.

Summer

  1. Start refining your college list by viewing college tours online and deciding which schools you would like to pursue further by visiting and requesting an admissions interview.
  2. Do some online practice tests of the SAT and/or ACT to determine your weaknesses. Spend time over the summer studying and improving your vocabulary, math skills and essay skills.
  3. Start writing your application essays and refining them so they will be ready for submission.

Continue reading Ready. Set. Go. →

admissions, college costs, college guidance, college planning, social networks, Uncategorized

An Ivy League School Steps Up

harvard_u_shieldHarvard University has adopted a new financial aid policy. It’s geared toward reaching out to families who are considered middle-low income ($180,00-$60,000). And if you’re in the low end (below $60,000)–hold on to your socks–your child can attend at no cost! That’s right; an Ivy league education FREE OF CHARGE.

According to President Drew Faust:

Our new financial aid policy has dramatically reduced the amount families with incomes below $180,000 are expected to pay, and parents of families with incomes below $60,000 are not expected to contribute at all to college costs. We no longer consider home equity as a resource in our determination of a family contribution, and students are not expected to take out loans, which have been replaced by need-based Harvard scholarship. This new program has reduced the cost to middle income families by one-third to one-half, making the price of a Harvard education for students on financial aid comparable to the cost of in-state tuition and fees at the nation’s leading public universities.

What’s the catch? Your child has to be accepted. But if you have an honor student who has the grades and can meet their admission criteria, my advice to you is to GO FOR IT! With the cost of education rising every year, Harvard has taken the lead by offering this amazing opportunity and making their school affordable to the middle class. They are even claiming that the graduating class of 2008 is graduating with ONLY an $8300 debt. Considering the cost of a Harvard education, that’s a remarkable claim.

What have you got to lose? A $200,000 private university education completely PAID IN FULL. I don’t know about you but I wish it had been available when my kids were applying for financial aid and scholarships. It would have eased the burden and provided a much-needed financial savings.

You can read all about the offer by clicking this link:

Harvard College Financial Aid Office