The best scholarship advice often comes in little snippets: begin the search early, search locally, send all the correct documents, apply before the deadline, and so on. For parents and students, it’s often easier to digest these pointed tips than read an extensive hundred page book on how to win scholarships.
If this appeals to you, then Smart College Visit has got your back. Each week, their Scholarship Mom Monica Matthews shares her best tips and tricks for winning scholarships. Monica has condensed her expert advice into simple to read and understand snippets that she has been sharing for over two years. With all the mounds of scholarship advice out there, Monica makes it easy for parents and students to follow her guidelines and achieve success.
Not all study abroad programs are alike. Some are for a semester while in college. Others are during the summer months. And still others offer study abroad for a year or more. With so many program types and destinations, it can be difficult to decide which program best fits your student’s needs.
Here are five things your student should consider when choosing a study abroad program:
Is study abroad right for your student?
Study abroad offers an opportunity to travel, explore other cultures, and gain experiences that can enhance your future career. But studying abroad is not necessarily a good fit for every student. Studying abroad is a unique and adventurous opportunity but can also be challenging for a student who isn’t comfortable being far away from home and away from their support system.
Where and when would your student like to study abroad?
There are so many destinations to choose from and so many options available. Do the research. Study the countries. Ask yourself questions about the length of study and whether or not you want to be in an english-speaking country. Follow student bloggers who are studying abroad and ask questions about the countries they are living in.
What programs best fit your student’s needs?
Once you decide when and where you want to study, it’s time to decide on a program. StudyAbroad.com offers an interactive tool to help you pick the right program that best suits your interests and needs.
What types of programs are offered through your college?
Colleges typically offer study abroad programs to their students. Discuss with the program director the courses you will be taking abroad and how the study will affect your degree plan. Full year, semester and summer programs are typically available. Determine which program will compliment your degree focus and which program will provide you with not only the cultural experience but academic benefit.
How much will the program cost?
Many colleges allow students to apply their current financial aid package toward their study abroad programs. There are, however, additional costs involved: travel to the country of study and travel to other countries while abroad, daily living expenses, and of course any entertainment and souvenirs.
Studying abroad is worth exploring. Not only does it offer your student a wonderful cultural experience, it prepares them to work in a global community. This is a valued aspect of their final resume as employers are looking for attributes that set the applicant apart from others.
Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
It’s college decision time and there will be disappointed teens receiving those words from the college, “You have been placed on the wait list.” You might think it somewhat softens the blow of the rejection, but does it? What are the odds that your student will be taken off the wait list and offered admission?
My advice: skip the wait list. Why? Getting off the wait list is like playing the lottery. Here’s are three examples of wait list statistics taken from the College Board’s website:
University of Texas
Stanford University
University of Michigan
(Note: To see any college wait list statistics, click here, type the college name, and select “applying” for the specific college)
As you can see, the odds are NOT in your student’s favor. And for highly selective colleges like Notre Dame and Dartmouth, the number is zero. Students who place all their cards on the table for their wait list schools are often disappointed. They reject offers of admission from perfectly good colleges hoping against hope that they will be taken off the wait list.
Colleges who offer admission want your student. They see potential and have offered them a spot in their freshman class. And if a college backs that up with an excellent financial aid package, all the more reason to reconsider your options.
Why do colleges use the wait list?
Lynn O’Shaughnessy on The College Solution blog, explains the college’s rationale when using wait lists:
Schools use their wait lists as a way to manage their admission yield. They’d rather put more students on a wait list and pluck teens off as needed than accept more students and then see too many of these teenagers spurn their admission invitation.
Schools want to be in control of saying, “No.” And when they say no to more students, they look more selective which appeals to families looking for elite schools. And U.S. News & World Report’s also rewards schools that reject more applicants.
One major reason why highly ranked schools are placing more students on wait lists because admission administrators are stressing out that ambitious applicants are applying to a very large number of elite schools and they can’t get a handle on which teens would accept an invitation to their school.
With help from the Common Application that makes it easy to apply to many schools, some high-achieving, affluent students are treating college admission to elite schools like a high-stakes lottery. The application mania also explains why prestigious private schools are accepting more early-decision candidates whom they can lock up early.
Using a wait list is also a way to reject students without completely demoralizing them. It can be a helpful tool, for instance, to turn away students of alumni, who are not desirable candidates. Some students see an invitation to a wait list as something to even brag about. I’m not joking.
The wait list also allows some schools to generate more revenue by not offering financial aid to anyone rescued from their lists.
Don’t fall prey to these tactics. Encourage your student to consider the colleges who have offered admission. In the long run, it will probably be the best decision you ever make.
Nickelodeon and the Get Schooled Foundation have teamed up to find the next generation of animation storytellers by offering a young animators $25,000 scholarship. Together they are inviting animators aged 17 to 24 to submit an animated short in any format for the chance to win a $25,000 scholarship.
The goal is to encourage up-and-coming artists, says Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon’s president of content development. “With a rich history of championing artist-driven shows and shorts, Nickelodeon is on a mission to bring these ever-growing, young animators to the forefront.”
In a separate competition, aspiring animators aged 13 to 16 are invited to submit a theme-based looping animation for the chance to win prizes, such as a tablet with animation software.
Get Schooled is a national non-profit, co-founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Nick’s parent company Viacom, promoting media, technology, and popular culture as a means to motivate and inspire young people.
More information about the scholarship is available on the Get Schooled website, with full guidelines available in April. Winners will be announced in summer 2015.
Everyone knows that you must do something to win a scholarship: write an essay, complete an application, or simply enter. Scholarships won’t give you money for nothing. Some scholarship sponsors ask for more, and these are scholarships with strings attached to the award.
Many scholarships require that you work for a number of years in a certain field, such as healthcare or teaching, once you graduate. If you don’t provide evidence of such employment, the sponsor will usually recover the scholarship money. Some scholarships require you to work for the sponsor, such as the military, after graduation. If you don’t follow through on your agreement, sponsors will recover the money or treat it like a loan and add interest to the amount to be repaid.
Sole-Source Scholarships
Some scholarships aim to be your only source of funds for a particular project or for your participation in a certain major. For instance, if you received a scholarship for an independent study project—and then received another grant or scholarship for the same project—you might be required to return the first scholarship.
When You Must Go Home
You may be required to return to your hometown or state after graduation, no matter what career you pursue. Proof of your residency after graduation may be required.
Some scholarships have rigid requirements—moving beyond the typical GPA or test scores. Take this unusual scholarship for instance:
Joseph H. Deppen, a 1900 graduate of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, established a scholarship in the name of his sister, Gertrude. He asked that his money go to students from the sparsely populated borough of Mount Carmel who “are graduates of Mount Carmel Public High School, who are not habitual users of tobacco, intoxicating liquor, and narcotics, and who do not participate in strenuous athletic contests.”
You may find what looks like the perfect scholarship and then discover “the catch.” Before you sign on the dotted line, check the terms of acceptance carefully to see just what you are promising to do—and then decide if you can live with it.
Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
Summer is the perfect time for students to save up for the next semester and get some practical experience to complement their degree programs. Websites like Randstad Education can help students prepare for job interviews, find work and read articles about teaching.
According to Forbes, some of the best summer jobs for students help to pad a resume, while providing valuable work experience. With the fierce competition of today’s job market, students have to work harder than ever to stand out in a pool of highly qualified applicants.
Freelance Writing
Students that don’t need a job immediately can get started on the road to freelance writing. Getting clients and working to build a portfolio of writing over the summer is the perfect time to get involved in an industry that shows great promise and growth. Additionally, students that succeed can build a source of income that can be accessed for the rest of their lives.
Internships
An internship requires some preparation, and typically an internship is not paid. The benefits of an internship might include some light compensation and the ability to bolster a resume with relevant work experience. If a student decides to do an internship, it’s important to pick one that is relevant to the chosen career field. Often, internships turn into real, paying jobs once the student graduates from college.
Restaurant Jobs
Working in a restaurant is a good way to earn some extra money and develop valuable customer service skills. Students who work as servers, attendants, hosts and hostesses can earn some pay while getting real-world practice dealing with difficult situations. The food industry is notoriously difficult, and working as a waiter or waitress increase a student’s ability to hold information in their mind and increase memory.
Start a Business
Students don’t have to settle for working for someone else while in college. Taking the initiative to start a business can show great work ethic and prove the student is a self-starter. There are plenty of options for starting a business and students can offer tutoring, complete chores for neighbours or create a craft that can be sold on one of the many online websites, like Etsy.
Construction Work
For students who want high-paying, temporary work and don’t care about how it looks on a resume, construction work can be very lucrative. It’s definitely hard work, but construction work helps keep you in shape, teaches the value of hard work and pays extremely well compared to many other industries.
Your student can surely benefit from any of these summer jobs. Not only can it help them earn during summer time, but the value of hard work and experience will certainly help shape them into a more responsible and mature individuals.
It’s financial aid award season. Students and parents are anxiously awaiting the news from colleges that offered admission. How much financial aid will they offer? What type of aid will you receive? How will this aid factor in to your student’s final decision.
College acceptances for regular admission will be posted and arriving soon. Just a little later, will come the financial aid award packages. Before you and your student have to make the final college choice and before the financial aid awards arrive, consider these four activities in preparation, add these four tasks to your schedule.
It’s a joyful day for your high school senior when an offer of college admission arrives, and the joy is magnified by a financial aid award. Award letters arrive along with (or soon after) acceptance letters. I remember the first time I saw one, my daughter’s senior year. Quite honestly, it was Greek to me. How were we supposed to compare the offers? Every college was different and every award letter was different.
Is your child’s financial aid offer enough to meet their financial needs? If not, they may be a victim of “gapping” or “admit/deny”, when a school accepts a student, but does not give a student enough aid to realistically attend.
Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
What frustrates parents most about college prep? I hear the frustration in parents’ voices every day about the overwhelming amount of knowledge a parent and student need to navigate the college maze. I call it a maze because that’s exactly how it feels. All throughout the process, parents feel lost, confused, off-track and often bewildered.
Not understanding your part in the process
It’s difficult for parents to know how involved you should be in the college prep process. It’s a balancing act between helping and hurting. Where do you pitch in? Should you teen handle everything alone? When do you cross the line?
In today’s world of highly involved parents, you need some help to define your boundaries and give your student the slack he needs to become independent:
I had an unmotivated student. It’s not that he wasn’t capable of achieving academic success; it was just that he didn’t have the motivation or the desire to do his best. He never soared in high school, or in the first semester of college, but he did reach his academic potential, finally.
It was hard having a child who didn’t grasp his full potential, no matter how much I told him he was capable of straight A’s. It just didn’t matter to him. Passing with average grades was good enough for him. Those grades, however, contributed to some difficult life choices and some hard lessons along the way. In the end, there were four tips that finally motivated him academically:
If you have a college-bound teen you’re well aware of the cost of college–it’s high. In a recent story in Business Week, one graduate confessed she had given up on her student loan debt of $186,000. She is not alone. With the nation struggling under a $1 trillion student debt crisis, stories like hers are nothing uncommon. For the first time ever, the national student loan default rate exceeds the credit card delinquency rate, and so long as student loans remain one of the few types of debt that can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, chances are the situation won’t improve any time soon.
As her parent, it’s up to you to make sure she doesn’t fall prey to debt that she cannot repay after graduation. Before she ever accepts an offer of admission, you need to talk to her about financing college. Following are a few tips to help broach that uncomfortable topic with your college-bound teen:
I was speaking with a parent the other night about advice her daughter received from an independent college counselor regarding standardized tests. The counselor told the student not to bother with either the SAT or ACT; they weren’t necessary. He made this statement before receiving a list of colleges and asking if she was applying to test optional schools! The parent questioned the validity of this advice, and rightly so.
With college admissions becoming ever more competitive, it may seem logical to consider working with an independent counselor. They can offer expertise and a personalized approach to the complex, time-consuming, and often stressful college prep, search and application process. But ask any group of parents and you will hear a variety of opinions. While some parents feel that engaging an independent counselor is an essential part of helping their student be a competitive applicant to his or her top choice schools, others question whether hiring someone adds value beyond what a student can already receive from parents and the high school.
Some parents choose to guide their student through the process and some choose to hire a professional. Neither is right nor wrong. The decision should be based on each family’s individual needs and resources.
Need some help trying to decide? Here’s an article I wrote for University Parent:
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. The best of times—getting an offer of admission. The worst of times—getting a letter of rejection. Or is it really? Is there any way to spin the disappointment? Parents have dealt with their kids facing rejection throughout their lives, but there is no greater disappointment that losing what you feel is your dream—getting in to your dream college.
I’ve found some very wise words from some very wise experts over the last several weeks. When the emotions subside and your college-bound teen is ready to talk, show them these words. It could open their eyes to the truth about college rejection letters:
Anytime I find a scholarship with few applicants which improves the odds of winning, I like to pass it along. If your student is interested in the hospitality industry, they could score $2,500 for college with these Professional Reps Scholarships.
Professional Reps, a small business in the foodservice industry, is handing out three scholarships for the 2015 academic school year. The three scholarships available are:
The Amana Leadership Scholarship ($2,500)
The Hungry To Lead Scholarship ($2,500)
Leadership Recognition Award ($500)
Professional Reps would love to award this money to foodservice/hospitality program students. This is a huge opportunity for students as only a few apply – great chances!
Who can apply: Those eligible to apply are high school seniors, or college students’ registered/pre-registered to attend an accredited school in the United States. Applicant must be pursuing a degree in a foodservice/hospitality program, or directly related. The scholarship is merit based on high school records, ACT and/or SAT scores, college transcripts if applicable, and extracurricular activities. Minimum requirements as follows: High School or College cumulative GPA of 2.5, SAT of 1300, or ACT of 18. Applicants will also be judged on their ability to demonstrate leadership capabilities.
Deadline: June 1, 2015
Where to apply: Online at http://www.hungrytolead.com or you can mail your application to the addressed provided at the website.
In the spring of my daughter’s junior year we began our college visits. Since we live in Texas, we began with Texas colleges. My daughter was and is a very opinionated person. She knew what she wanted and she was very precise in her particulars.
Here are four different college visit experiences we had with her. They prepared her for her final choice which wasn’t in Texas and wasn’t her dream school. You just never know where the journey will take you.
Baylor University
This wasn’t an actual visit, but it does demonstrate how emotional college visits can be. She refused to visit Baylor because Waco was the location of the Branch Davidian compound. Even though she had several friends who were considering that college and the setting and course offerings were perfect for her, she crossed it off the list before we ever set foot on campus.
North Texas State University
This was the only public university she visited and we had barely stepped out of the car before she said, “I don’t like it here. It’s ugly.” We did take the campus tour, which further cemented her distaste for the campus. It was one of the only colleges on her list that had a strong program of study that interested her, but there was no convincing her to consider it after the visit.
SMU
When we drove up to this private university, it was love at first sight. The campus is gorgeous and the buildings were immaculately maintained. After taking the tour, she decided to spend a night on campus. Meeting other students, seeing the sorority houses and spending time in a few of the classes cemented her love for this school. It would be the jewel to compare other colleges to; and she found one just like it in Boston.
Newberry College
This was a small college in the suburbs of Boston. She applied to this college because 1) it was in Boston, and 2) it had a strong program of study that she was interested in. We visited this college after she was accepted and offered a full-ride scholarship. She never got out of the car. Her words, “I’m just not feeling it.” You can imagine my frustration but I knew that if she wasn’t happy she wouldn’t excel there, especially this far away from home. So I counted to 10, we drove off, and went to the next college—the college she ultimately chose–Bentley College (a campus like SMU in Boston).
As you can see, it’s not an exact science. You can plan and prepare all you want, do your research before visiting, and make a list of likes and dislikes prior to pulling up to campus. But it’s that first impression that will have a lasting impact on their college decisions. There’s nothing logical about a teenager. Prepare for a wild ride.
Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
Nickelodeon and the Get Schooled Foundation have teamed up to find the next generation of animation storytellers by offering a young animators $25,000 scholarship. Together they are inviting animators aged 17 to 24 to submit an animated short in any format for the chance to win a $25,000 scholarship.
