The College Whisperer™ | Navigating The Road To College

Patricia M. of Merrick, NY writes:

I'm the parent of a soon-to-be high school senior and want to know when we can get started on those college applications.

The College Whisperer™ responds:

That would be the editorial "we," right? LOL

The Common Application, which is the starting point for the admission process at nearly 500 colleges and universities, does not go "live" until August 1. Proprietary applications for colleges that are not members of Common App typically come online mid-summer to early September.

That said, newly-minted high school seniors and their parents (as well as counselors and advisors) can get a sneak preview of the many facets of the revised Common App, including the new Writing section, at https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4.aspx.

This should be a good starting point, particularly in getting those creative juices flowing in connection with creating a vibrant, nuanced, and highly critical personal essay.

Here are the essay prompts, with instructions, as they will appear on the 2013-14 Common Application:  

Instructions. The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice.  What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores?  Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response.  Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal.  Use the full range if you need it, but don't feel obligated to do so.  (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)

• 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.

Thinking caps on. Pencils down. We're in the exploratory stage at this point. A figurative glimpse into the future, as your child prepares to begin his or her senior year, revels in the lazy (relatively speaking) days of summer, and gears up for the great college application frenzy that follows in the fall.

By the way, with the "first look" at the Common App comes this advance notice: There's no better time to begin planning for college, and staking your claim on admission to the college of your choice, than now!

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™. Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . .
* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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


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Assuming the beaches of Cancun aren't on the agenda for the coming Spring Break, high school students are likely to have some free time on their hands.

Here's a few things high schoolers (and not just Seniors) can -- and should -- do to prepare for college:

1. Visit Colleges. Seniors should visit or revisit colleges to which they were accepted, with a view toward deciding which school(s) would be the best fit. Sit in on a class. Stay overnight in a dorm. Check out the library (you may as well know where it is, just in case someone should ask you over the course of the next four years). Sample the food in the dining hall. Look. You wouldn't buy a pair of shoes without trying them on and walking around a bit, would you?

Juniors: You, too, can -- and should -- get a feel for college life. Even if you're not ready or are unable to visit campus up close and personal, you can certainly take a virtual tour. Take a look at Youniversitytv.com, CampusTours.com and eCampusTours.com, to name but a few of the virtual college tour sites. It's almost as good as being there!

2. Search and Apply for Scholarships. Nag. Nag. Nag. It seems that's all we do. Well, have you been looking for money to pay for college, let alone applying for the billions of dollars available to help you along the way? Hmmm? Lest you have a penchant for Raman noodles and tattered tee shirts, or a money tree in full bloom outside your bedroom window, now is the time to go out and get some of that coveted college cash.

And looking for scholarships (read as, FREE money you never have to pay back), is not just for high school seniors cum entering freshman. No Ma'am. There are hundreds of scholarships open to high school juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen. Not to mention scholarships for those already in college or graduate school. Go and get 'em!

4. Review and Compare Financial Aid Awards. Hopefully, you submitted FAFSA, as well as any college-specific fin aid forms. As the Award letters begin to come in from the colleges you've been accepted to, analyze what's on the table. Scholarships vs. loans. Grants vs. Work-Study. A full ride vs. a cup of coffee and half a doughnut. See what they've offered, whether you can get (or at least ask for) more, and which school is offering you, all things considered, the best bang for the buck.

5. Discuss College Options with Your Family. Whether you have to make that decision by May 1, or college is just beginning to dawn on the horizon, your family has almost as much at stake in this process as you do. After all, they're the ones who will have to drive to Guam (figuartively, we hope) with all of your worldly possessions. Sometimes, just sometimes, those parental units have a few eye-opening thoughts and ideas. Use them as a sounding board, and be sure to give a listen!

6. Take A Look at the New Common App Essay Prompts. [Seniors, you can skip this one. Phew!] Yes, there will be changes to the Common App. Among them, the essay prompts and word limits. Get a head start, if not actually putting pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?), then at least beginning to think about what you'll say in your personal statement.

7. Kick Back and Relax! You've been working hard this semester. You deserve a break. If not that virgin Pina Colada, then certainly smacking down that snooze button and sleeping past Noon at least once during the week. :-)

From The College Whisperer™ to you and yours, a sweet and joyous Passover, a happy Easter, and a warm, sun-filled, altogether delightful spring!

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . .

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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

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The news from College Board that they intend to "revamp" the SAT came as no surprise to The College Whisperer™.

After all, back in the day, SAT was the acronym for Scholastic ACHIEVEMENT Test, purporting to test what students had actually learned. It didn't.

As students, parents and college admissions committees began to figure out that Achievement was to the SAT as Water was to Oil, the less than venerable standardized test for college admission was "revamped," and, though it was still the SAT to the world, its moniker was now Scholastic APTITUDE Test -- a survey of what students are capable of learning.

Add in the Writing section. Remove the Analogies. Change scoring from 1600 to 2400. And voila! The prognosticator of prognosticators (save Punxsutawney Phil and Malverne Mel) of just how well students will do in college. Except, it doesn't!

Students with low SAT scores routinely excel in college. High scores do not always translate to academic success at the university level. As for those who achieve perfect scores? Ahh. They write "how to" books and become millionaires. College grades be damned!

The Whys and Wherefores of the next revamp of the SAT are many and varied. The keepers of the sham at College Board, stepping out from behind the curtain, Number 2 pencils still firmly appended to their ovals, say that the coming changes would help students and colleges by "focusing on a core set of knowledge and skills that are essential to college and career success; reinforcing the practice of enriching and valuing schoolwork; fostering greater opportunities for students to make successful transitions into postsecondary education; and ensuring equity and fairness."

Anybody want to buy a bridge?

We have a simpler, if not more insidious reason to revamp, which can be summed up in one word: MONEY! [Two words, for those who require pretext: MONEY and ACT.]

Sources at College Board would deny financial incentives as motivation for change, which, of course, means that money is the primary motivator. When College Board had a virtual monopoly over tests such as the SAT, change was sporadic, nominal, and, at best, of little consequence to outcome. Enter ACT, Inc., not only in the South and West but -- OMG! -- in the student-centric Northeast, and, Ka-Ching -- suddenly College Board wants change (and we're not talking nickels, dimes and quarters, folks).

Fact is, roughly 1.65 million people took the SAT last year. [About 2000 more took the ACT]. Let's see. 1.65 million multiplied by $50 for each SAT test taken. Add in $11 for each Score Report sent to a college. A pinch of "Rush" service at $31 a pop. Gee, those SAT fees sure do add up, don't they? Let's not even give a moment's thought to all those other income-generating tests and services College Board administers or has a hand in. From the GRE to the LSAT, GMAT to MCAT. And don't forget the likes of CSS-Profile, where College Board has the gall to charge you to file for financial aid. [Yeah. Some of these tests are administered by ETS, Educational Testing Service. And who is ETS' biggest client? You guessed it. College Board.]

Well, The College Whisperer™ was a Political Science major, so you do the math. Suffice it to say that you don't need to solve an SAT word problem or dredge up a logarithm table to figure out that College Board is raking it in -- and ACT is seriously cutting into its profits!

For those who still believe in the SAT as an indicator of college success (along with those who believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and that Wizard who fell from a star called Kansas), a brief yet poignant vignette should serve to dispel. In short, we bring you the tale of an undergrad at a public ivy, majoring in English, graduating Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, entitled, As If We Needed Another Reason To Despise College Board. You have proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you are more than capable of making the grade at a top university. Yet, you must take still another absolutely meaningless test. We bow, once again, to the Collegiate Industrial Complex.

Okay. Okay. We can hear the pro-SAT movement (the testing equivalent of the NRA) lobbying. "The next best thing to sliced bread!" The College Whisperer™ stands by "meaningless," but for the SAT's prowess in testing how well students will perform on this particular test. Students know it. Parents know it. College admissions officers know it (but dare not admit it in public).

Is the ACT any better than the SAT? Not really. Some students (notably the math and science oriented) have trended better on the ACT than on the SAT in recent years, but both the ACT and SAT come under fire continually -- and rightfully so.

But we digress. We're talking the new and improved SAT here.

To think that College Board's decision to revamp the SAT is motivated by anything other than business (read as, money), would be naiveté. 
 
Clearly, ACT is getting the better of the SAT, and not only in the eyes of students. 
 
College Board has had an "aptitude" over the years for securing a captive audience for its tests, and with it, a veritable treasure trove for its coffers. Not so anymore. 

Perhaps it would be best to put this in terms that even the die-hards at College Board could understand.

The changes to the SAT are about: 
 
a) The money 
b) Lining the pockets at College Board 
c) Fleecing the college-bound 
d) All of the above

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . . 

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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 

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As college acceptances (beyond those already in hand) begin to trickle in by snail mail and email, thoughts turn from "applying to college" to "which offer of admission do I accept?"

Decisions. Decisions. And all of them good!

Before making any decision [National College Decision Day is May 1], consider your options, giving weight to factors that are important to you and your family (including financial aid, academic programs, home or away), and give a read to an interesting and informative piece from Her Campus, appropriately entitled, 10 Things That Matter When Picking A College (& 10 Things That Don't).[Psst. While guys may want to skip over the Her Campus post, How To Shave Down There, the 10 Things That Matter article is not just for girls!]

In a decision as important as where you are going to college, be sure to visit or revisit campus. [Most colleges are in session during high school students' Spring Break. A great time to spend a night in the dorm (this can typically be arranged through the Admissions Office), sit in on a class or two, sample the food in the dining halls, and simply wander about the campus, getting a feel for things.

Need help making that decision? Discuss your options as a family. Check in with your Guidance Counselor. Or, by all means, give a call to your independent college counselor. The College Whisperer™ is always happy to stick in his two cents!

And speaking of two cents (if only college cost that little), there's the matter of paying for college. [You didn't think they’d let that tuition bill slip by, did you?]

Here are a few "must dos" concerning financial aid:

1. Correct your FAFSA. By now, you have submitted FAFSA online, a key element in securing both federal and, in many instances, institutional aid. [If not, what are you waiting for?] Once you have filed your income tax returns for 2012, it is imperative that you correct your FAFSA to reflect the actual figures on your return. Failure to do so may impact upon your financial aid award! Also, make certain that the colleges you are considering are listed on your Student Aid Report (SAR). If they don't get the report, you won't see the money!

2. Tap into TAP. If the college (public or private) you decide to attend is located in New York State, you may be entitled to money from the Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP). You may have already applied for TAP money upon completion of the FAFSA. Be sure to update your application once you know which New York college you will be attending.

3. Accept or Decline Financial Aid Award. Money from colleges to help pay your way (scholarships, grants, Work-Study, federal direct student loans and parent PLUS loans) is typically awarded through a financial aid award letter. This "letter" may arrive by snail mail, email, or require you to log on to your college portal to retrieve. In almost every instance, you must accept (or decline) the award (usually online) by a date certain. After comparing and contrasting awards from colleges you've been accepted to -- and haggling with those who may just sweeten the pot -- and once you've made your acceptance decision, remember to log on and accept (in whole or in part -- you may accept scholarships, for example, but decline loans) your award.

4. Pay the Acceptance Fee and Housing Deposit. You're in. You're going. Yippee!  Along with your push-of-the-button, colleges will want a non-refundable (what else?) deposit to secure your spot in the Freshman class and, if you plan to live on campus, to hold a space in the dorms. The deposits may, in most cases, be paid online.

5. Complete Other Required Financial Aid Forms. While you've successfully tackled FAFSA and, as needed, CSS-Profile, individual colleges may have their own forms to complete. Be sure to check with the financial aid office, and get those forms in by any deadline the school may impose. Also, if you accept student loans and/or parent PLUS loans, you will be required to take online entrance counseling and to complete what is called a Master Promissory Note (MPN) -- otherwise known as, "signing your life away" -- before any monies will be disbursed. These little niceties, too often overlooked by students and parents alike, are crucial in the process.

6. Keep on Searching and Applying for Scholarships. Yes. Tedious. Yes. Time consuming. Yes. You stopped looking, let alone applying, when those acceptance letters began to roll in. Well, you may be in college, but you'll still need money in the bank to pay for tuition, room & board over the next four or more years. Nuf said!

You're well on your way to one of the most exciting and rewarding times of your life. You'll soon be off to college. Indeed, there may be bumps, potholes and detours along the way, but always keep in mind, half the fun is getting there. Enjoy the journey!

Need help correcting FAFSA, submitting school-required forms, completing the required entrance counseling and/or Master Promissory Note? Scholarship search stalled, non-existent, or not yielding any appreciable result?

COLLEGE CONNECTION can lend an assist! Give us a call (516-345-8766) to schedule a session --in person, online or over the phone -- to make the necessary corrections to FAFSA or TAP, to prepare and submit any college-specific forms, to cross the "t"s and dot the "i"s on the MPN, and/or to rev up that search for money with a scholarship tune up. As always, we are always here to help.

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . .

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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

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In a world where there is an App for virtually (pun intended) everything, it's no stretch to find Apps slowly creeping into the already cramped and convoluted world of college applications and admissions.

Yes, there are Apps to match students to colleges. Apps for scholarships. Even Apps to help you on the SAT (Number 2 pencil App not included).

And now, from the folks who brought you Naviance, The Musical comes Naviance, The App. Hold on to your iPhones, iPads and iWhatHaveYous, ladies and gents. The iGods have pre-empted your afternoon game of Angry Birds to download the Naviance App.

Add this weapon, high school students, to your already burgeoning arsenal as you wage war against the evils of an increasingly complex and unimaginably competitive college admissions process. Engage your classmates in the battle to one-up them as you fight to gain entry to that top notch college. Leave no stone unturned, and no link unclicked, as you trek the muddied battlefields on your way through the ivy-covered gates.

As if you didn't already have too much to do, recreating your entire high school life on Naviance, the Common App, and your high school resume. You will now be connected, 24/7, through cyber entities that would boggle the Borg ("resistance is futile").

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Our daily lives are technology-driven, with information quite literally at our fingertips. To be sure, Apps have their place in the crazed and frenzied cornfield maze that has become the college application process.

The College Whisperer™ gave the Naviance App a quick test drive. [He had to disconnect to take a call from a student looking for a FAFSA App.] It does, as the folks at Naviance claim, have its merits. Students can:

• Research over 4,200 colleges and save them to their “interested” college list
• Update and add tasks (and connect them to specific colleges)
• Communicate with counselors
• Email or call a college directly from the app
• Map the location of colleges and plan visits

Indeed. But can they order a "100% all-natural Angus beef, vegetarian fed, humanely raised" burger from Shake Shack? Probably.

Still, as with all Apps, it has its limitations, and functionality issues (wait for Naviance App 2.0). And don't think, for a nanosecond, that this, or any App, can replace the sundry tasks you will encounter (and come to dislike immensely) as you plod your way to college. The Naviance App is a supplement, much like a vitamin. It doesn't replace that balanced meal as much as it simply adds something else to your already overflowing plate.

While The College Whisperer™ loves unfettered access to everything college, he has to wonder -- when is it too much? Do we really need to be connected everywhere and all the time? Is there no respite for the application weary student or the technologically challenged parent? Is there no escaping the insanity?

Well, at least students will now have an excuse when teachers catch them on their iPhones during AP Chemistry. "Hey. I was on Naviance!"

Makes one wonder, though. Can a Common App App be far behind???

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . .

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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

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No, that was not a mistake. We meant to say 20th Century, though we are now a decade and then some into the 21st.

For all of the complaints about Common App's cumbersome and convoluted three step process for submitting the Supplements, then paying, and then -- oooooops! Nearly forgot -- submitting the common portion of the application [Read, So You THINK You Submitted The Common App...], the folks at Common App have apparently caught on.

Indeed, in an email announcement to counselors and member colleges -- entitled CA4: First Look -- several initiatives, to be unveiled in the 2013-14 version of Common App slated to go live on August 1, were highlighted.

Among them, changes to the Application; changes to the Supplements (which will now be submitted after the common application -- as logic and common sense would dictate -- rather than before); changes to the Writing sections (including new essay prompts, as previously discussed on this blog); changes to school forms; and, most notably for purposes of this post, changes to payments.

At long last, Common App has gotten around to incorporating the submission of the common application and payment into one consolidated step. [It only took $8 million dollars and how many missed deadlines?]

As per the gurus of the new Common App:

Some students are confused by the need for three different submission processes, one each for application, supplement, and payment. With this more unified submission process, students will submit everything required of them -- except the member Writing Supplements -- simultaneously.

Glory be to the great and powerful (if certainly not wonderful) purveyor of online college application forms!

Perhaps, some day (if not in this lifetime, then maybe in the next), students will be able to submit everything, including the Writing Supplements -- in one, simple step. Some day. But certainly not in time for the 2013-14 college application season.

Oh well. The wheels of progress may turn slowly. Still, in the evolution of the Common App as a modern and useful tool to ease the burdens of the college application process, at least they're beginning to turn.

Next up -- The Naviance Summer Institute. Now who would want to miss that? :-)

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . .

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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 

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G.R. of Old Westbury, NY writes:
My son, a high school junior, is in the process of finalizing his program for the senior year. His Guidance Counselor has suggested he take five (5) Advanced Placement (AP) courses, including Economics, Chemistry and Physics. He is also being offered a college level course, for which he will receive credit from a local college. I'm cool with the college level course, but five AP courses? Seems a bit much to me. What do you think?

The College Whisperer ™replies:
What? Only five AP courses? In some of the most renowned school districts, they're "suggesting" six or more!

Just two years ago, a reader of this blog asked about the benefits of AP courses, and whether they were worth the extra time and effort. SEE, Planet of the APs. 

The response from The College Whisperer™ -- more like a great, big shout -- was an emphatic YES! Demonstrate your ability to do college level work. Possibly earn college credit. Stand out, academically, from other college applicants.

While, in this advisor's opinion, AP courses remain a great way for exemplary students to shine, excel, and perhaps garner some actual college credits, such heretofore expressed enthusiasm must be tempered now for several reasons.

First, and turning to your query, indeed, five (5) AP courses is a very heavy load. Six (6) or more, in a single year, no less, is nothing short of absurd! True, Guidance Counselors, particularly in the highly regarded school districts, have been pushing the APs for several years now. "Pushing," as in pushing crack cocaine to quivering addicts who hope to score a high that will somehow float them to Nirvana. In many instances, I fear, the suggestion to take on more and more AP courses is fueled by the districts' desire to build their stats ("look how many of our students are taking five or more AP courses") rather than to promote the best interests of individual students.

While some students may well be able to handle the pressure -- not to mention the workload -- of a plate full of AP courses, most will find this undertaking burdensome, if not overwhelming. And five AP courses in the midst of the senior year of high school, with the added load (and did I mention, angst) of college applications, essays, ACTs, SATs, and scholarship searches? Stop me when I've hit a raw nerve.

Back in the day, if you took one (two at most) AP course, it was a big deal. Today, the more the merrier? Not so. A couple of AP courses in subjects your child enjoys and does well in? Absolutely. Five or more AP courses in the senior year? I think not!

That's not to say that high-achieving students shouldn't be undertaking college level work in high school. To the contrary. In fact, most high schools offer college level courses, taught at the high school -- for college credit, no less -- through local colleges and universities. [Here on Long Island, among the colleges that offer credit-bearing high school programs are Adelphi, Molloy, and LIU Post.]

And speaking of college credits (which can free you up to take more electives or even a minor or second major, or perhaps accelerate your graduation, lessening the hit on your wallet), the credits on most high school programs offered in conjunction with local colleges will likely transfer to most colleges. Pass the course and, voila, you've got instant college credit! [Typically, while credits transfer, the grades do not.]

Not necessarily the case with AP credits. Most colleges require a certain score on the AP exam (usually 4 or 5) for college credit to be awarded. And even then... Dartmouth, no slouch of a college, recently announced that they will no longer award AP credit for students entering in the fall of 2014. Period. When an Ivy school pans the AP -- or at least giving credit toward graduation -- can other colleges be far behind?

Of course, advanced, college level courses should not be taken for credit alone, right? It is their intrinsic academic value that matters most. Preparation of the student for the rigors of college. The quest for knowledge. The sheer joy of learning (and paying the folks at College Board, who administer the AP exams, for the privilege).

Bottom line: High achieving students should seek out advanced placement and college level courses offered by their high schools. At the same time, they should avoid the temptation -- or the "suggestion" -- that they load up on such courses, this in the hope that maxing out on the APs will magically vault them into the college of their choice. 

Scores are important. Grades are important. Then again, so is having a life during your senior year of high school -- not to mention maintaining your sanity during the college application and admissions process.

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . . 

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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


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Every year around this time we touch upon the critical need for students to search and apply for scholarships (read as, FREE money), both from institutional sources (once they know which college they will attend), AND, from outside sources, where billions of dollars in scholarship money lies in wait for the eager applicant.

So this post is well worth repeating, as is the advice contained herein well worth heeding. Keep up that search for scholarship money. Apply. Apply. Apply!

Remember, the deadline for accepting offers of admissions is May 1 (less than two months away). The tuition bill doth arriveth not long thereafter.

Read on...

The brackets will soon be set in stone for college basketball's 64, 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!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.
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Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com [Upon request, we will even email you a list of college scholarship search engines. FREE!]

The road to college begins at College Connection. Call us for a FREE telephone consultation. 516-345-8766.


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It all seemed innocent enough. The former Pontiff, waving to the admiring throngs, whisked away in a waiting helicopter (shades of Richard Nixon's departure from the White House? Hmmm.) [Why his Holiness Emeritus would need a helicopter to take him to his newly-built apartment just a block away from the Vatican befuddles us, but we digress.]

The sun rose over the Vatican this morning, Cardinals lounging by the pool in their red velvet Speedos, and then, from the Arch Bishop of St. Louis, Cardinal Lou Brock, came a pained gasp.

"OMG!," cried Brock. "We've been exposed!"

Not that priests and prelates haven't been exposing themselves for years, mind you, but as the Arch (St. Louis, remember?) Bishop dropped the late edition of Rome's leading newspaper, IL Conceiveda, the headline screamed off of page one:

Cardinals Caught Cheating On Common App
Monks Vow Silence As Latest Scandal Looms

Yes, now it can be told. Long before Pope Benedict had blessed a crate of Number 2 pencils, used by the Cardinals, as ovals on the SAT answer sheet mystically filled themselves in to form a caricature of the Madonna (no, not that Madonna), there had been a break-in at the headquarters of Common App. 

Somehow, the plans for Common App 4.0, quoted as being worth in the neighborhood of $8 million, had disappeared. Foul play was suspected (at first, fingers pointed to College Board, though they denied any involvement). And then, copies of the new Common App began to appear in Catholic churches around the world.

"Yes, we have the new essay prompts," Cardinal Mahony was said to have uttered to his Altar boys. "Something new to cover up!"

Essay prompts, indeed.

Yet, the personal statements to be penned by those applying to the College of Cardinals seemed somehow different than those recently released to the masses.

-You are God. Rewrite the Holy Scriptures in no less than 250 and no more than 650 words.

-What Would Jesus Do? Take the SAT or the ACT.

-If The Corinthians had Twitter, would they have written letters?

-If you could walk on water, where would you go?

Then there was the entrance exam. Turns out the Cardinals had written the answers inside their skull caps.

"It wasn't us," exclaimed a German Cardinal, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It was the Jews!"

"We were looking to save a few bucks," he rambled, "so we bought these yarmulkes from some Hasid in Brooklyn. We didn't know the answers to the test were written inside. We thought it said, 'From The Bar Mitzvah of Samuel Levine.' Who knew?"

Holy Sepulchre, Batman!

So now, the entire College of Cardinals is suspect, as they prepare to elect the next Pope (also known as Pope Du' Jour). [Spoiler Alert! The name of the next Pope has already been chosen: John Paul George Ringo, also known as the singing Pontiff.]

Hold on to your Birettas, everyone!

In the wake of the latest scandal to besiege the Catholic church, an independent board of Rabbis has asked Sally Field to reprise her role as The Flying Nun, to hover over the Vatican, and report back on the Cardinals' every move. No word from Ms. Field, as Vatican officials continue to deny any involvement in the reported scandal, let alone any link to the departure of Pope Benedict, along with the Pope's beloved Shetland pony, 12 cases of caviar, and several religious figurines.

This has been a special report from the Vatican. Follow us on Twitter, hashtag #PopeFiction, for the continuing story as it develops. We now return you to your regularly scheduled election of the next Pope, already in progress...

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™.

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . .

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Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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

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The year was 1961. Then President and former General of the Army, Dwight D. Eisenhower, addressing a nation about to embark upon a journey toward a new frontier, warned Americans to beware the military industrial complex, an interlocking directorate, fueled by blind ambition and unfettered arrogance.

"We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method," said Eisenhower, referring, of course, to Communism. Our response, he postulated, must be balanced. "...each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future."

"...we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions," Eisenhower said. "We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations... we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
 
Prophetic, indeed.

Today, while we continue to debate both dangers and costs of the well-established military industrial complex -- as well as the dangers and costs of curtailing same through sequestration -- a new "hostile ideology" has given rise to a different, yet no less dangerous threat to our liberties and our very future as a free nation. The collegiate industrial complex. Global in scope. Ruthless in purpose. Insidious in method.

Not only has the reach of our colleges and universities extended far beyond the campus -- into real estate development and global expansion -- but it has created, through its tangled entrails, a cottage -- no, McMansion -- industry, into which billions of dollars spew annually, a burden borne chiefly on the backs, and out of the pockets, of those who can least afford it.

Ever wonder why colleges charge upwards of $50,000 in tuition? Well, it costs a pretty penny to buy up all of the real estate in lower Manhattan and to maintain campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai. And when they pay college presidents and athletic directors more than the president of the United States, is it any wonder that tuition is out of control?

Add to the mix the burgeoning reach into the wallets of students and parents alike by entities so intertwined with the collegiate industrial complex -- from College Board to Common App, Kaplan to Princeton Review -- and is it really so hard to fathom that student debt now tops $1 trillion?

A recent piece in the Village Voice, Planet NYU: How The School's Global Ambitions Triggered a Revolt From Within, provides an eye-opening overview of just a few of the factors that contribute to the exorbitant costs of higher education, and to the growing dismay of many, inside the arena and out, of what can only be characterized as unbridled ambition and unmitigated gall. 

Citing the work of Davarian Baldwin, a historian and social theorist at Trinity College whose forthcoming book is entitled UniverCities: How Higher Education is Transforming the Urban Landscape, the article reads, "NYU and Columbia are the second- and third-largest land-owners in the city. In Los Angeles, USC is growing. In Philadelphia, UPenn. In Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. Harvard has huge expansion plans in Allston, having bought the land under a pseudonym. The University of Chicago has the third-largest police force in Illinois." 

And to think, all of these universities are so-called "not-for-profits." Imagine if they were in this business to make money?

Billions of dollars spent and projected to buy up prime real estate. Less than one thin dime, comparatively, to fund the very basics of students' education.

Eisenhower called it correctly. And he could well have been talking about the mindset of university administrators in the 2000s as he was the corporate and military hawks of the 1960s, when he admonished, "We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society."

Plan. Prepare. Prevail!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of The College Whisperer™. 

Who knows what peril lurks in the college application and admissions process? The College Whisperer™ knows. . . 

* * *
Comments? Questions for The College Whisperer™?
Write us at info@TheCollegeWhisperer.com

The College Whisperer™ is the Trademark of COLLEGE CONNECTION, Official Sponsor of College Admission Success. The road to college begins at COLLEGE CONNECTION! Whether you are applying to college, planning for college, paying for college or simply thinking about college, COLLEGE CONNECTION can help! Call TODAY for a FREE telephone consultation. 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 

 

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