The College Whisperer™ | Navigating The Road To College

The brackets will soon be set in stone for college basketball's 64, with the March Madness countdown to the Sweet 16 and the Final Four, but how about the money you need to foot that tuition bill?

Now that the college acceptance letters are beginning to roll in, The College Whisperer™ is amazed by just how many college-bound students abandon the search for money to pay for college.

Sure, you've filed your FAFSA (hopefully), and registered at Fastweb and other scholarship search engines, but has your quest for college cash ended there?

Visit and revisit those college scholarship search engines. Tweak your profile. Keep an eye out for emails containing links to scholarship opportunities. And, for goodness sake, don't just look at the search sites, actually apply for the scholarships for which you qualify!

Too many students quit the search for college money once they've been accepted. Shame, because while others choose to sit back and coast into college with little in the bank to show for it, the astute (that would be you, wouldn't it?) are continuing to look for grants, scholarships, and free (or at least, inexpensive) money to help pay the ever-rising costs associated with going to college.

Okay. We know the routine. The searches get tedious. Keep searching. The good scholarships are few and far between. Keep applying. I haven't gotten any money yet. Keep digging!

Utilize all available resources -

Your Guidance Counselor. Okay, the application process may be over (though many colleges offer rolling admission, so if you haven't applied yet, there may still be time), but new scholarships flow into the Guidance Office daily. Ask your counselor about available scholarship opportunities. Seize the moment. Apply!

Your Community. Canvass community groups, local businesses, and civic-minded organizations. From Kiwanis to Lions, civic associations to PTA, there are scholarship opportunities right in your own backyard. Seek them out. Apply!

Your Computer. It doesn't get any easier. You don't even have to change out of your pajamas to search for scholarships (just make sure the webcam is off ;-). Use Google, or your fav search engine, to seek out college scholarships. Register. Complete the profiles, and do so accurately and completely. Apply!

Your College Websites. Already decided upon a college? Narrowed down your choices to a select few? Great! Now check the college websites. Scholarship opportunities, as well as Work Study, and other sources of funding, can often be found under "Financial Aid," or simply, "Paying For College." To qualify for institutional aid, sometimes all you have to do is submit your FAFSA. Other aid options, including certain scholarships and grants, require separate application, typically available on the college website. Apply!

As with any search for money (and the fundraising professionals know this quite well), if you don't ask, you won't get! Ask you Guidance Counselor. Ask a college financial aid officer. Ask your independent college counselor. If all else fails, Ask Jeeves.

Not satisfied with the financial aid award offered by the college you plan to attend? Ask for a review. [Most colleges have an appeal process.] Negotiate. You can often -- but not always -- get a better package. Again, it never hurts to ask.

The college experience presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Don't let the price tag get in the way of going to the college of your choice
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

          FREE College Planning Workshop, March 26th

 When college applications get to you, you need to get to us! 

Contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™, for all of your college planning needs. No one knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. No one! 516-345-8766. 

Find out why they say COLLEGE CONNECTION is, "The best darn college planner on Long Island!".

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GetCollege.

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Jump Start Your College Applications!

When: Wednesday, March 26, 2014,  7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Where: Ethical Humanist Society -- Auditorium
             38 Old Country Road
             Garden City, New York 11530

Why: Because getting in to college has become more competitive than ever, and the application process increasingly complex. You need to be in the know and prepared to go!

College Connection, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™, hosts a free College Planning Workshop. Open to students and parents alike, this forum will explore such topics as choosing a college that's "best" for you, the intricacies of the college application and admissions process, creating a winning college essay, and paying for that college degree.

Seth Bykofsky of College Connection, also known as The College Whisperer™, will present an engaging and informative program that is a must attend for anyone applying to college, planning for college, paying for college, or just thinking about college.

Registration is requested. Call College Connection at 
516-345-8766, or Register online.
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

When college applications get to you, you need to get to us! 

Contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™, for all of your college planning needs. No one knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. No one! 516-345-8766 

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GetCollege.

Here they come. Changes to the SAT. 

A New SAT Aims to Realign With Schoolwork

The Story Behind the SAT Overhaul

College President: SAT Is Part Hoax, Part Fraud

Once upon a time, College Board (the folks who stick a No. 2 pencil in one hand, and pick your pockets with the other) owned the field. Now, with market share down around 50%, they're looking to get back in the game.

Yes, it was all fun and games until the folks at College Board, The Once Great and Powerful, realized they weren't making quite as much money as they used to, thanks to the ACT, and to the more than 800 colleges and universities that are now "test optional."

And so, the SAT slowly morphs once again. Scholastic ACHIEVEMENT Test --> Scholastic APTITUDE Test --> Screw the ACT Test! [Okay. So they failed dismally to create a test that demonstrates either achievement or aptitude. Maybe College Board will have better luck in toppling the ACT. What is it they say about the third time being a charmer?]

All right. A few of the changes -- long overdue, mind you -- are welcome. The elimination of vocabulary words, for instance, that went out of vogue with the Dark Ages. No more deduction in your score for guessing incorrectly. [As the SAT presently scores, should you leave every question unanswered, you would get a 400. Not bad for never having lifted that No. 2 pencil!]

Other changes, such as making the essay section optional, are not as favorable, and show how little emphasis the brain trust at College Board places upon original thought and creativity, as opposed to filling in little ovals based in great part on that which students have not learned. Sure, marginalize the one section of the test that may truly demonstrate potential.

Then again, the creators of the SAT -- who, in the words of the President of Bard College, Leon Botstein, are little more than perpetrators of "fraud" and "hoax" (he is being too kind) -- really don't want students to actually think and reason.

After all, if they think, they may question. If they question, they may reach the conclusion arrived at by most thinking, reasoning people in this country -- that the SAT, and similar standardized tests across the spectrum, are little more than smokescreens devised by the likes of College Board and their minions. "Pay no attention to the money coming out of your pockets and going in to ours..."

If the SATs, as currently constituted, are "filled with unproductive anxiety," and "have become disconnected from the work of our high schools," as College Board President (and, not coincidentally, Common Core Architect) David Coleman unwittingly concedes, shouldn't the test be suspended until the new exam comes into play in 2016?

Are colleges now obliged to disregard SAT scores in their entirety when considering admission, given that College Board itself has labeled the test a failure? 

How about a refund for anyone who paid for the SAT since College Board first announced this latest revival of an alleged -- and more than highly suspect -- "measure" of academic promise?

P.T. Barnum would have loved the SAT, for the suckers who believed (or make believe) that this test is a measure of anything other than how students perform on the test. Then, too, Jerry Seinfeld could have created a TV series based on the SAT -- a test about absolutely nothing!

Oh, they'll try to show you their human, compassionate side at College Board. Partnering with Khan Academy, for instance, and offering freebies to select populations. [And guess who's going to pay for that?]

Too bad those old analogies -- the mainstay of the SAT of yesteryear -- are not making a comeback. You know. Avarice is to College Board as.... 

Don't let College Board, or, for that matter, anyone in the Collegiate Industrial Complex, fool you. It's all about the money!
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If there is a silver lining in the advent of a "new" SAT, it may just come as an ancillary cloudburst -- the doom of the multi-billion dollar test prep industry. Will this be the end of the line for the likes of Princeton Review and Kaplan (whose university by the same name does NOT require the SAT. Hmmm.)? Don't count on it. The schemers and snake oil salesmen who make the prospect of a perfect score through chicanery and magic tricks their paycheck, will find a way into your wallets. Greed, as we know, conquers all!
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

When college applications get to you, you need to get to us! 

Contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™, for all of your college planning needs. No one knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. No one! 516-345-8766. 

Find out why they say COLLEGE CONNECTION is, "The best darn college planner on Long Island!".

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GetCollege.

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When it comes to planning for college, and getting a jump start on those college applications, there are few things -- well, other than that pint of Forbidden Chocolate ice cream -- that can help ease the journey and lighten that burden than college planning workshops, community forums (often in your own school or local library), and, of course, those college fairs that help you sort out which colleges are "best" for you.

Here's a sampling of what's coming up on Long Island and in our own backyard.

FREE College Planning Workshop
Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The college application and admissions process and the entire collegiate industrial complex? Not so much!



Going to college is a great experience. Shouldn't getting there be at least half as much fun?
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

Before college applications, the Common App, CSS Profile, FAFSA, financial aid forms, and the whole college application and admissions process get to you, you need to get to us! 

Whether applying to college, paying for college, planning for college, or just thinking about college, contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™. No one knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. No one! 516-345-8766 

Find out why they say COLLEGE CONNECTION is, "The best darn college planner on Long Island!"

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter.

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Well, at least the essay prompts will remain the same on Common App for the 2014-15 college application season!

High school Juniors take note. Begin to think about your Common App essay, and how you will answer those three critical questions inherent in each prompt: (1) Who are you? (2) Who do you hope to become over the next four years? (3) What will you bring to campus, and to the community beyond?

And now, from the folks who brought you the Common App-ocalypse of 2013-14:

THE COMMON APPLICATION RECEIVES POSITIVE RESPONSE ON ESSAY PROMPTS

Essay Prompts Successfully Support Holistic Selection Process

 ARLINGTON, VA – FEBRUARY 11, 2014 - After a positive response from Common Application member colleges and school counselors, The Common Application will retain the current set of first-year essay prompts for 2014-15, without any edits or additions. The essay length will continue to be capped at 650 words.

In February of 2013, The Common Application Board of Directors unveiled five new essay prompts, the first major revision in several years. The prompts were the culmination of several years of discussion about the role writing plays in a holistic selection process and were designed with the assistance of 15 counselors on the association’s Outreach Advisory Committee, who worked diligently to ensure that all applicants, regardless of background or access to counseling, would have the chance to tell their unique stories.

Reaction so far among college admission officers and counselors suggests that the revisions are having the desired outcome. “I love the new prompts—and not just because they are new,” says Terry Cowdrey, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Colby College. “I think we are learning more about students.” Karen Felton, Director of Admission at The George Washington University agrees, saying "I enjoy the new prompts because they allow students to focus more on what they feel is important for colleges to know about them."   

Carmen Lopez, Executive Director of College Horizons, a non-profit dedicated to college success of Native American and Native Hawaiian students, believes this is especially true for students served by her program. “As a community-based organization that services underrepresented students, College Horizons has found the Common App's new essay prompts to be highly effective. Students are presenting themselves as multi-dimensional, writing with an authentic voice, and writing meaningfully as both students and Native students.”

In a recent survey, nearly 70% of Common Application member colleges and 90% of school counselors indicated that the prompts are effective in helping students represent themselves to colleges. The Common Application has committed to reviewing the essay prompts on an annual basis to ensure they continue to serve students and member colleges well.

The essay prompts are as follows:

•  Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.  How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? 
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.  What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content.  What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

One-upping The Most Interesting Man In The World...

The College Whisperer™ is Seth Bykofsky. [Or is it the other way around? No matter! :-)]

Born on the cusp of a new century (1 B.C.), his mother, Frances, was first runner-up to Miss Alternate Universe, while his father, Irving, served as counsel to the Czars. Orphaned at a tender age by the tragic sinking of the Titantic, Bykofsky was home-schooled until the age of 13, at which time he was summarily expelled. 

Joining the French Foreign Legion and rising to the exalted rank of Modern Major General, Bykofsky was recruited by the Sorbonne to prepare a handful of exemplary students for graduate study and careers in business, medicine, international relations, the arts, and undecided studies. While it is true that virtually all of Bykofsky's students excelled in their coursework and future endeavors, it must be noted that one student in particular, Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, fell short.

Returning to the United States by way of the Mexican border, where he pole vaulted an electrified fence along the Arizona state line for a World Record that still stands today, Bykofsky hitchhiked to California, where he landed an internship in Sushi preparation -- at a Japanese Internment Camp.

After the war, Bykofsky trekked through some of the great universities of America -- Stanford, Northwestern, Princeton, Yale, College of the Ozarks -- from which he was quickly escorted and sent on his way. Back on the east coast, Bykofsky gained notoriety as an activist, advocate and sometimes provocateur, often credited with having formed one of the nation's first labor unions -- the IMGWU -- International Mens Garment Worker's Union. It didn't catch on.

Settling on Long Island, where his dedication to education has been continuously demonstrated through payment of some of the highest school property taxes in the land, Bykofsky married his childhood sweetheart, the former Joan Silverblatt and the latter day saint, a tax accountant, with whom he raised two beautiful and, dare we say, brilliant daughters, Francyne, a School Pyschologist, and Melissa, a budding journalist.

Seth Bykofsky earned a Bachelor's Degree, Soonah Cum Lateh, from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a Juris Doctorate from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University.

In addition to advising and mentoring the college-bound, while calming the frayed nerves of moms and dads everywhere, Bykofsky speaks frequently on matters near and dear to prospective college students and their parents. Through college planning workshops, seminars, lectures and private sessions offered through College Connection (The Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™), Bykofsky has helped countless students successfully navigate the road to -- and through -- college. 

Through the blogosphere, Bykofsky a/k/a The College Whisperer™, brings his passion, aptitude, common sense and funny bone to the masses yearning to apply and be admitted to their college of choice. 

"I don't always whisper, but when I do, it's about college admissions."
            ---Seth D. Bykofsky, a/k/a The College Whisperer™
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

Before college applications, the Common App, CSS Profile, FAFSA, financial aid forms, and the whole college application and admissions process get to you, you need to get to us! 

Whether applying to college, paying for college, planning for college, or just thinking about college, contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™. Nobody knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. Nobody! 516-345-8766 

Find out why they say COLLEGE CONNECTION is, "The best darn college planner on Long Island!"

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter 

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Ever wonder how college admission decisions are really made? Think the difference between getting in and that rejection letter is skewed toward grades? Could it have been too few hours in the soup kitchen, or that college essay that echoed so little emotion, it wouldn't even have brought a tear to John Boehner's watery eyes?

And who's making those decisions, anyway? A committee (so no one individual will have to own it)? A college admissions officer, barely out of college herself? A monkey throwing darts?

Yes, a monkey throwing darts. The visual typically conjured up (please don't try this at home, or in your local tavern) in discussions involving picking winning stocks -- as in, could a monkey throwing darts at the financial pages beat the experts and talking heads in the stock market game?

Granted, it is usually a combination of factors -- grades, scores, extracurriculars, community service, essays, and the strength of the college application itself, that will make it or break it for any particular student, but in this strange and elusive game of TEGWAR (The Exciting Game Without Any Rules), in a mysterious and too often burdensome process that has become unnecessarily complicated, could there be more to getting in where you want to go, or going elsewhere?

Consider several other factors that come into play, even in this era of a holistic approach to college admissions, including (but by no means limited to) demographics, diversity, legacies, and, dare we say, that $10 million dollar donation made by dad, which, coincidentally, not only got you in, but landed your family name on the new library tower.

In short, sometimes even the most well-rounded, well-versed, and well-written student gets hoisted on the college admissions petard by virtue of elements entirely out of his or her control.

Indeed, work those grades (they do matter). Give it your best shot on those inane standardized tests (without gnawing your No. 2 pencil to a nub). Tell your story in a compelling essay that keeps it real, keeps it interesting, keeps it simple, and keeps it honest. Make absolutely certain that, in every way, your application is complete, accurate, and conveys a clear picture of who you are, who you hope to become over the next four years, and what you will bring, both to campus, and to the community beyond. [Be sure, as well, to submit your application, and all supporting material, in a timely manner -- meaning early on -- bearing in mind that in the age of electronic transmission, whatever can go wrong with Common App, will go wrong with Common App!]

Will all this ensure college admissions Nirvana? No more than one can guarantee that you'll be the next Power Ball winner, or that, come move-in day on campus, the sun will shine, you'll have the perfect dorm mate, and your earliest class will always be after 11 AM.

Still, you will sleep well at night (even if your dorm mattress is thinner than a micron, and short-sheeted, at that), knowing that you gave it your best efforts on all fronts.

And never discount the fortuitous nature of sheer luck, that universal game-changer called chance, when courting or counting your college admissions blessings. Cross every "t" and dot every "i". Master the sport of the college application. Strategize those admissions plans with the best of 'em. Then, cross your fingers, hold your breath, and rub that rabbit's foot.

After all, it is not always you. Sometimes, it really is the monkey throwing darts!

 
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

Before college applications, the Common App, CSS Profile, FAFSA, financial aid forms, and the whole college application and admissions process get to you, you need to get to us! 

Whether applying to college, paying for college, planning for college, or just thinking about college, contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™. Nobody knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. Nobody!    

Call us today at 516-345-8766, or complete the online Student profile, for a FREE telephone consultation. 

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GetCollege

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“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” 
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Turn college dreams into college reality, with the help of College Connection and The College Whisperer™. 

“You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.” 
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Read (and follow) The College Whisperer™ on Patch!

“So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

Before college applications, the Common App, CSS Profile, FAFSA, financial aid forms, and the whole college application and admissions process get to you, you need to get to us! 

Whether applying to college, paying for college, planning for college, or just thinking about college, contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™. Nobody knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. Nobody! 516-345-8766 

Find out why they say COLLEGE CONNECTION is, "The best darn college planner on Long Island!"

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GetCollege

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While many a college application deadline has long ago passed, there are literally hundreds of colleges out there still accepting applications for the fall of 2014.
Here are but a few of the ways you can find colleges that have late application deadlines and/or offer "rolling" admissions:

1. Common Application member institutions still open to new applicants may be found by going to the Common App website, scrolling down Member Colleges & Universities, and clicking College Search. Indicate that you’re looking for Fall 2014, and complete the deadline box according to your interest. If you’re looking for colleges with a deadline on or after January 21, 2014, you’ll be rewarded with hundreds of institutions still accepting applications.
2. For the Universal College Application, you’ll need to create an account indicating that you are applying as a “first year” student for the fall of 2014. Click on My Colleges and a list of the institutions still accepting applications will appear.
3. Using the College Board’s Big Future college search engine , select your preferences for size, location, majors, etc. At any point, click on “See Results.” Once results appear, go to the dropdown box labeled “Alphabetical," click on “Application Deadline,” and specify “Ascending.” Click on “Sort” and a complete list of colleges reflecting your preferences will appear according deadline.Schools with “no deadline” are listed at the end.
4. For slightly different information, check out Peterson’s Colleges with Late & Rolling Application Deadlines.Simply scroll down for a chronological list of application deadlines. Note: Colleges with Rolling Admissions will accept applications until all spaces in the incoming class are filled.

So while the bell has yet to toll, and the college admissions clock continues to tick, for high school seniors who have yet to apply to college, the time is now! 

P.S. A reminder that the college scholarship season does not end with your acceptance to college. You still have to pay that tuition bill! Continue to search and apply for scholarships. Today. Tomorrow. Throughout your college career!
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Plan. Prepare. Prevail!  

Before college applications, the Common App, CSS Profile, FAFSA, financial aid forms, and the whole college application and admissions process get to you, you need to get to us! 

Whether applying to college, paying for college, planning for college, or just thinking about college, contact us at COLLEGE CONNECTION, home of The College Whisperer™ and Official Sponsor of College Admission Success™. Nobody knows college admissions like COLLEGE CONNECTION. Nobody! 516-345-8766 

Find out why they say COLLEGE CONNECTION is, "The best darn college planner on Long Island!"

For up-to-the-minute news, apps, info and insights on college applications, admissions, scholarships and just about everything college, follow The College Whisperer™ on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/GetCollege

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