The College Whisperer™ | Navigating The Road To College

. . .Doesn’t Mean There’s Not More To Be Done!

Access Your College Web Portals -- Colleges give you web portals for a reason: So you may log on and get additional information, complete forms, check your status, find and accept (or decline) your financial aid award, and so much more. Check the web portal for every college you’ve been accepted to, and do so often!

Update FAFSA -- Submitting your initial FAFSA early is good. Submitting your “Corrected” FAFSA, after you file your tax returns, is better. Utilizing FAFSA’s Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to import your IRS data is not only beneficial in securing all of the financial aid you may be entitled to, a final, “corrected” FAFSA is required by many colleges as a condition for awarding financial aid. [If the DRT is unavailable, IRS data may be entered manually, with the “corrected” FAFSA to be submitted thereafter.]

Complete College-Specific Forms -- Many schools have their own forms for financial aid, housing preferences, meal plans, etc. Be sure to fill them out and submit accordingly. [Another reason to visit your web portals regularly.]

Review and Compare Financial Aid Awards from All Colleges -- Who is offering what? Most schools offer a combo of scholarships, grants, Work-Study, and loans. See what offers work best for your situation. And never be afraid to negotiate a financial aid award. The worst they can do is say, “no!”

You Have Until May 1 To Say “I’m Coming” -- You don’t have to wait until the last minute, but... Wait at least until you have all acceptances and financial aid awards in hand before you accept an offer of admission. The best financial aid offers, and the only viable means to negotiate, come while you still hold all the cards! [Remember: Acceptance and housing deposits are usually non-refundable. And, no, it is not wise (or ethical) to accept an offer of admission to more than one college!]

Once You Decide On A College... Congrats! Let them know you are all in. Formally accept the offer of admission (again, see that web portal). Pay the acceptance fee (web portal). Complete and submit all necessary documentation (web portal). Accept (or decline) your financial aid award (umm, web portal). Read all emails as well as any online instructions as may be received through your web portal (are you detecting a pattern here?). CELEBRATE!

If You Accept Student Loans... You MUST complete online counseling at www.studentloans.gov AND complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN).

Keep on Searching And Applying For Those Scholarships -- Until there are no tuition bills on the horizon, apply, apply, apply. There is money out there just waiting for you to get your hands on it!

Follow Us On Twitter @GetCollege -- For the latest on everything college (including scholarship opportunities), we’ve got campus covered.

And speaking of everything college... Check us out at COLLEGE CONNECTION, Long Island’s premier college planning and counseling service.

Let those who are following in your college-bound footsteps know that we will be holding a FREE College Planning Workshop on Tuesday, April 28 in Garden City, NY. Space is limited. Registration is strongly suggested.

Above all, keep in mind that you never have to go it alone. Ever! We are always here to help! Call. Email. Text. Tweet. Open your windows and shout (that won’t get our attention, but you will feel better :-).

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Build that Snowman yet?

Well, snow or no snow, this is the perfect time to begin to build your high school Resume, both on Naviance and on paper.

NAVIANCE: While many college applications have an activities section, most are extremely limited in the number of activities you may list. [ Common App limits you to 10.]

That’s why it is so important to have a “paper” (Word Doc) Resume that may either be uploaded to your college application or sent under separate cover to Admissions.

Naviance allows you to add as many activities, extracurriculars, awards and honors, etc. as you may have accumulated since the 9th Grade, and well you should.

Why? Well, having a laundry list of activities, even if only a work in progress at this time, helps you sort out the “top 10” for your applications. Building the Resume may also help jog your memory as to all the wonderful things you’ve done since the 9th Grade.

Also, teachers and Guidance often use the Naviance Resume to write those crucial letters of recommendation and Guidance Reports. It’s all in the details. Don’t sell yourself short!

More than this, colleges that utilize Common App as their application will have access to certain parts of Naviance, including your Resume. Wouldn’t it be nice if they saw more than just the tip of the high school iceberg? You bet!

You will find the Naviance Resume building tool by logging on to your Naviance account, clicking on the About Me tab, and then clicking on Resume. Use the pull-down tab to select categories (i.e., academics, work, honors, volunteer experience, etc.).

Don’t worry about what you say or how that Resume may look at this point. [You can clean it up and make it oh so pretty before anyone else sees it!] Just enter everything and the kitchen sink. Edit and revise as you go forward.

As for that “paper” Resume, we’ll be glad to email a sample high school Resume for your perusal. Feel free to adapt as your own. Just write us at info@collegeconnect.info.

Questions? Concerns? Hot cocoa? Call. Email. Text. Smoke signal. [Smoke signal rates may apply. ] As always, we are here to help! 

Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION at 516-345-8766 with your questions or concerns about the college application and admissions process, financial aid, or anything college. We’ve got your back. And your best moves forward!

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!
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While watching the Academy Awards, trying to second-guess who would win the Oscar and who would get snubbed, slighted, or sacked, it dawned on me -- the awarding of the Oscars is very much like college admissions: Arbitrary, capricious, and pretty much anybody’s guess, educated or otherwise.

Was Birdman really more worthy than The Budapest Hotel? Eddie Redmayne truly a better actor than, say, Benedict Cumberbatch? Why was Feast the “best” animated short film, and not The Bigger Picture? And tell me, why was Joan Rivers omitted from the In Memoriam (not to mention, Jon Lovitz)?

The criteria for awarding the Oscars is, of course, subjective, to a great extent. Subject to the whim and fancy of those who make such decisions. What is “best,” really? And for whom? And after all, they could choose but 1 out of 4, 5, or 8, right?

This is true, relatively speaking, when it comes to college admissions. Who gets in? Who is rejected? Who will be one of the 3000 accepted out of more than 30,000 otherwise worthy applicants?

Sure, there are the factors we all assume colleges take into consideration, give weight to, and utilize, in their theory of everything (or nothing at all), to determine admission-worthiness. Test scores. GPA. Extracurricular activities and community service. That killer essay. And let's not leave out some other variables that often go into the mix -- like ethnicity (checking the Mexican Director’s Green Card, are we?), demographics (better shot from Sheboygan, WI than from Syosset, NY), legacy, or that check your uncle wrote to have the new library wing named after him.

And then there’s that hidden (though just barely, beneath that cloak of college admissions underwear) factor that lurks just below the surface, and right above every school’s bottom line -- enrollment.

Method to the college admissions madness? Something beyond sheer randomness? A more compelling, if not more palatable reason why your son or daughter didn’t get that acceptance letter, while the kid with the lower GPA and mediocre SAT score did? Perhaps...

Who gets the edge when it comes to college admissions may actually come down to which students in the application pool are most likely to enroll. If you think colleges are not concerned about who is actually coming in the fall, think again. Enrollment management is the new college admissions, and optimization in the age of declining enrollments has become the front line in protecting the bottom line.

The colleges know who is applying where? Ha. Despite the denials, in this electronic age of Common App and College Board, colleges know more about you than Edward Snowden knows about national security (or about film documentaries). Do you really believe that colleges don’t look to see where you’ve applied? That they don’t care? Why, some even come right out and ask you on the application!

Is the college application process, or, for that matter, the process of choosing Oscar nominees and recipients, devious, insidious, and at least somewhat disingenuous? Of course it is. Inherently unfair, unjust, and inequitable? You bet.

So what? Is anything in life any different? Who gets the job? Not always the most qualified candidate. Who makes the most money? Not always the sharpest tool in the toolbox. Who has the happiest marriage? Why, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, of course!

Fact is, in college admissions, in the Academy Awards, and in life, there is always the random, the subjective, the inequities, and the uncertainties. And let’s not forget perhaps the single most important factor of all -- sheer luck!

Of course, for those who select colleges to which to apply, and, ultimately, attend, that are the right fit for them, and not necessarily the “best” for U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, or Princeton Review (or the most popular among their peers), any one of which, whether “reach,” “target,” or “safety” (as if there were such categories), would be, by any reasonable measure, a first choice.

Does it still make sense, then, to strive for top grades, higher scores, noble activities, and an essay that wows the admissions committee (in the 3 minutes they may take to read it)? Absolutely! Like that actor, director, screenwriter, or cinematographer, go out there and give the performance of your life. Give yourself every possible advantage. Will it earn you an Oscar or a college acceptance letter? Maybe. Maybe not. The important thing is to have given it your personal best, to have reached beyond your own expectations, and to know, in your heart of hearts, that, in the great Academy Awards of college admissions -- where, the envelope having been pryed open by those most anxious hands, you will be accepted to (and attend) a fantastic school that is truly best for you -- you are a winner!

Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION at 516-345-8766 with your questions or concerns about the college application and admissions process, financial aid, or anything college. We’ve got your back. And your best moves forward!

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!

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It is not always -- or even often -- about the story. How you tell it. What it imparts. Where you’ve come from. Where you hope to go. At least not in college admissions, where the difference between acceptance and denial (or deferment and waitlist) is frequently a random act rather than a conscious effort.

Take the case of two students I worked with this year. Both from a prestigious Long Island high school. One with stellar grades, scores, community service, extracurriculars, and an essay to knock your socks off. The other, ummmmmm, not so much.

The latter was accepted Early Action to a college that, to protect the insane, shall remain nameless. The former, deferred by the same college. The “not so much” kid accepted, Regular Decision, to a college that both he and the outstanding and more well-rounded student applied to -- on the same day, no less. The one who looked better on paper, as well as in real life, denied.

Okay. Life is unfair. We get that. But presentation, and positioning your application and credentials in the most favorable light, as important as they are in college applications and admissions, do not always overcome the sheer madness of a process (if one could call it that) that too often makes eenie, meenie, minee, moe look like a scientific breakthrough.

In a world turned upside down by the desire to move up in the rankings, secure enrollments, and fill the coffers, it is not always the best, the brightest, the most articulate, or the highest scoring student who wins the race. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing, as life, with its twist, turns, and curve balls, shall surely come at you that way.

Look. College admissions isn't a science. It barely rises to the level of an art form. Still, show them everything you’ve got. [Well, maybe not that mole on your backside. :-)] Polish and refine that college application. Bowl ‘em over with that essay. Demonstrate interest in every possible way. Conquer the nuances. Overlook the inanities. Give it your best shot.

Just never forget that the universe, and college admissions, favor chaos and randomness. And never, ever discount happenstance and luck!

Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION at 516-345-8766 with your questions or concerns about the college application and admissions process, financial aid, or anything college. We cannot guarantee admission or a full ride, but we may just be that rabbit’s foot or four-leaf clover that gets you in and helps you land that scholarship. Hey, you never know!

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!

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College scholarships. Read as, FREE money for college!

You’ve read about them. You’ve heard about them. You may even get emails, texts, and Tweets to apply for them. But what are you doing to actually get a college scholarship -- or two, or three, or four?

In all likelihood, not much, if anything at all.

“Oh, no one every wins those.” “You have to be poor to get a scholarship.” “Too much work.” “Wait. There are scholarships?”

You’ve heard the excuses. And no, it may not be easy, quick, or without frustration to search and actually apply for scholarships. No one can guarantee that you will walk away with a free ride to college. We can promise you this, however -- If you don’t apply for scholarships, you won’t get a penny for college!

All in favor of student debt raise their hands! What? No takers? We didn’t think so.

So, what do you need to do if you want to pay for college without paying off loans for the rest of your life? You search for those college scholarships, and APPLY, APPLY, APPLY!

Yes, NOW is the best time to start applying for those college scholarships (actually, it was yesterday). And going all out for that free moolah -- the dough, bitcoin, cold, hard cash -- isn’t just for high school seniors aspiring to be rising college freshmen. No sir! If you are in college, with yet another ghastly tuition bill on the horizon, you need to go for the gold. Still in high school, with Common App not even a tear in your eye? There are plenty of college scholarship opportunities for you, as well.

SCHOLARSHIPS! The money you never have to pay back! But where to begin?

A great place to start is fastweb. Let's call that your base. Register. [Be sure to write down your Username and Password, for this and every site that has a login.] Complete the profiles. [Student and parent.] Search. Apply. Repeat.

Then, once you’ve exhausted your inventory of scholarship opportunities on that site (as well as through the emails you will receive), begin to mine the wealth hidden in some of those other noteworthy scholarship search engines -- NicheCollege, Cappex, Zinch (to mention but a few).

Still itching for more? Have a go at  scholarships.com, ScholarshipAmerica and StudentAidPlus.

High School Students: Sign up at Raise.Me, for scholarships awarded for what you do while still in high school.

All Students: Have you entered the NicheCollege (formerly College Prowler) monthly $2,000 No Essay Required Scholarship? What are you waiting for? Enter today and every month!

And don’t forget our very own REFER A STUDENT $500 SWEEPSTAKES. Simply refer a student (or parent of a student) to College Connection, and be entered to win $500 in a random drawing to be held on or about March 15. The more students you refer, the more chances you have to win.

Be sure to follow College Connection on Twitter @GetCollege for the latest info and insights into everything college. From choosing colleges that are the perfect fit, to helping you get in and finding the money to pay for it all, we’ve got your back -- and your best moves forward!

Remember, there is money -- FREE money -- for college, literally at your finger tips. Scholarships you can enter (some monthly, weekly, or even daily) -- and win. So don’t just sit there. GO AND GET ‘EM!

P.S. Still haven’t completed or renewed your FAFSA? Do it TODAY! Every college requires FAFSA. Some use it to award merit scholarships as well as need-based aid. You must renew FAFSA every year. FAFSA is FREE. Just Do It!

Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION at 516-345-8766 with your questions or concerns about the college application and admissions process, financial aid, or anything college.

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!

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You’ve seen them. In the newspapers and magazines. On Internet search engines and online tutorials. Even on your Twitter feed.

“10 Things You Must Do Before Applying To College”

“7 Myths About FAFSA”

“8 Reasons Why Your SAT Score Matters”

“The 5 Best College Dining Halls”

Yes, along with those inane college rankings (the ones that prompt colleges to extend their application deadlines, so they can have more applications to deny, thus decreasing the acceptance rate, and moving them up in the rankings), the silly lists of “10 Best” (from pizza to tattoo parlors), and sage advice that only seems to matter if there is a number appended to it, persist.

Oh, the humanity!

Truth is, for every 10 things, reasons, myths, bests, whatever, there are at least 10 more of equal or greater import -- or perhaps none at all. So why this craze to predicate a thought or impart wisdom with a numerical value?

It gets your attention. It sells magazines. It triggers that part of your brain that favors order -- a pattern that organizes anything and everything right there in front of you, in 5, 7, or 10 easy steps. Marketing, my friends. Marketing.

They lay out before us a lavish feast bedecked with a well-defined (though pseudo-reasoned) ranking of 1-100 -- be it colleges, restaurants, movies, songs, or nail salons -- and we dive right in, consuming every last morsel.

Lists of things to do, to say, to avoid, to believe -- and we do, as if the Gospel (which Books, as I recall, are also numbered).

To say that I am no fan of rankings or lists -- even those on which The College Whisperer™, College Connection, or @GetCollege appear -- is somewhat of an understatement. And no, it isn’t a subconscious result of having had one too many “honeydew lists” set before me through nearly 37 years of marriage.

So, why do such untoward appeals to the paint-by-number crowd stick in my craw? I’ll give you 10 reasons:

1. The Universe Favors Chaos. So Does College Admissions. If you manage to keep your head while all around you are losing theirs, clearly you have no idea as to what is going on! Why attempt to create order out of the chaos and randomness that is, say, the college admissions process, when, in reality, there is none?
2. The Numbers Rarely, If Ever, Tell The Whole Story. If a college has an acceptance rate of 4%, it must be impossible to get into, right? And if it’s impossible to get into, it must be a great school, true? It ain’t necessarily so. Colleges routinely inflate the number of applicants in the pool so they may engorge the number of denials. Why do you think they invite everyone and his cousin to apply, via emails, personalized letters, and glossy brochures -- even those who have less than a snowball’s chance of Hell in getting in? It’s a numbers game. Pure and simple. Sure, those application fees are nice, but deny admission to as many of the minions as possible, and you are all but guaranteed a boost in the rankings.
3. They’re Giving You A Number, And Taking Away Your Name. Test scores. GPAs. Class Rank. Apgar. What does it all mean and where does it all end? Truth be told, if you are applying to a college where your score from a 3-hour test carries more weight than your performance over 4-years, perhaps you are applying to the wrong school!
4. There Are Lies And Damned Lies. Then There Are Statistics. If they bombard you enough times with numbers and stats, by George, eventually you will begin to believe that there is truth in what they’re saying. Don’t believe everything you read, hear, or have rammed down your throat in a list. They got your attention. Now, separate fact from fiction.
5. It’s All About The Number Of Students That Enroll. Back in the day, when the college-bound applied to but a handful of schools, there was a reasonable degree of certainty that one of those three or five colleges would be where you would ultimately attend. With students applying to 10, 15, 20, or more colleges, thanks to the likes of Common App and its protégés, what are the odds that any one student will actually enroll in any given college? [I was a Poli Sci major. You do the math!] Colleges need more fresh recruits on the application line to avoid enrollment attrition.
6. There Is No Safety In Numbers. In days of old, students were told to apply to colleges that essentially fell into three groups -- Reach. Target. Safety. Those days, boys and girls, are long gone. With 2000 freshmen seats to fill and 3000 applicants, you could all but waltz into the class of 1985. After all, the folks in admissions knew that a third of those accepted wouldn’t enroll anyway. And if they did, well, simply throw another bed in the dorm room. Today, in that once safe haven for the applicant who was breathing and had but a faint pulse at time of high school graduation, there is the prospect of competing against 30,000 applicants for the same 2000 seats.
7. Weighted Grades May Not Mean Much. Talk about grade inflation! If you don’t have a 4.75 GPA on a scale of 4.00, you’re not getting in to that prestigious college. Or maybe you will. One school’s 4.50 is another school’s 3.20. Are you a 4 on your ELA test? How did the Russian judge score you? Rigor of course work. Consistency. Marked improvement over time. These are the attributes that matter. Except when they don’t!
8. The More The Merrier When It Comes To Extracurricular Activities.After all, Common App let’s you list 10. Naviance? As many as your little heart desires. What’s the reality? Well, most colleges, though by no means all, prefer to see a student who commits to but a few activities regularly, consistently, and with full engagement, rather than the student who tries to do it all, but fails to commit fully to anything.
9. Being Number 1 On The Waitlist Doesn’t Mean You’ll Get in. Ah, the Waitlist. College admissions purgatory. Where otherwise perfectly good applications go to die. The black hole of the collegiate space-time continuum. Question? Why hold out for a college that simply cannot make up its mind about you? Enroll in a college that has embraced your application, silly supplemental essays and all, and welcomes you with open arms!
10. You Are So Much More Than A Number! Don’t be fooled by numbers or frightened by figures. In college admissions, having selected colleges during the application process that are the right fit for you -- notwithstanding rankings, self-laudatory pleas from schools far and wide, and numerically-contrived lists enough to numb the mind of an Einstein -- you will be accepted to more than a few great colleges, choosing therefrom the singular college that, for all that matters, will truly be #1!

Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION at 516-345-8766 with your questions or concerns about the college application and admissions process, financial aid, or anything college. No numbered list required!

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!

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Welcome to February! The Ground Hog has seen your college application and... Okay, you tell me what the Ground Hog said. 

Meanwhile, on the financial aid front, a few tips and critical reminders:

- You MUST submit a “CORRECTED” FAFSA once you have filed your 2014 income tax returns. [The FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) is now available. It may be utilized approximately 10-days after you file your federal tax return, if filed electronically.]

- If you will be attending a college physically located in New York (whether public or private), you must make sure your TAP application lists that college. [If you haven’t filed your TAP application as part of the FAFSA submission process, you may do so at NYS HESC.]

- If you submitted the CSS Profile, you may receive an email asking you to complete iDocs online. This is a verification process and is required for those colleges that use the Profile to determine financial aid awards. [Do NOT complete iDocs unless and until asked to do so.]

- Be aware that some colleges have their own, proprietary financial aid forms, in addition to the CSS Profile and/or FAFSA, that must be completed in order to be considered for finanacial aid, whether need-based or merit. Check the college websites or with the individual college’s financial aid office for particulars.

- YES, you can (and often should) negotiate your financial aid award!

- All financial aid awards must be either accepted or declined, typically via the college’s web portal.

- Are you searching and applying for scholarships? They are out there, just waiting for you. Find them in your community, at the workplace, in the Guidance office, on college financial aid pages, and through scholarship search engines such as fastweb.com. Keep digging!

-Taking a Federal Direct Student Loan (Stafford) or a Parent PLUS Loan? Entering Freshmen and those who are taking federal loans for the first time MUST complete the online counseling and the Master Promissory Note (MPN) at www.studentloans.gov before any money will be disbursed. [This is done after you accept your financial aid award.]

- Still haven’t submitted FAFSA or started the scholarship search? What in the name of student debt are you waiting for?

Sufficiently confused and perplexed? Not sure of your next move? Don’t leave a penny in financial aid on the table or any stone unturned.

Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION at 516-345-8766 with your questions about FAFSA, CSS Profile, scholarships, financial aid, or any part of the college application and admissions process?

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!

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The following posts should be of interest as college admissions decisions begin to roll in:

The Truth About Admissions

For Anyone Who Has Ever Received A College Rejection Letter

Beware Monkeys Throwing Darts!

Remember, very often, it’s not you... It’s them!

Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!

College Connection on Twitter  Follow Us

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Call us at COLLEGE CONNECTION for all of your college planning needs! 516-345-8766.

As you head down that long and winding road toward college (try to stay behind the salt spreader :-), take advantage of College Connection’s College Cafe.

Information is updated regularly, so check back frequently at College Cafe!

To Do List:

Nag. Nag. Nag. Yup, it’s what we do! LOL

Here are a few things high school juniors should be working on as we move toward the Spring --

1. Naviance -- Begin building/updating your Resume (Under About Me);

2. Take the SAT and the ACT. Repeat the test on which you score higher, relatively;

3. Earn college scholarships for your achievements in high school;

4. Set up a dedicated email address, just for college stuff (i.e., Gmail);

5. Take a test drive on Common App. Set up an account. Have a look around. Add colleges and view supplements. [Don’t worry. Your account will be deleted in June. This is just for fun!]

6. Begin to explore college options. Check out colleges by interests, majors, geographic region, and more at collegedata.com. Register and complete the profile. It’s FREE!]

7. Visit colleges - virtually. It’s almost like being there, except you can’t taste the fare in the dining halls or jump on the dorm room mattresses. Check out campustours.com, ecampustours.com, and youniversitytv.com.

8. Plan a vigorous courseload for next year and keep those grades up. ‘Nuf said...

9. Double up on Forbidden Chocolate ice cream. Believe me, it helps!

10. Relax. You’re going to get in to a college that’s the “best” fit for YOU!

Remember our motto when it comes to college: Plan. Prepare. PREVAIL!
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Questions about anything and everything college? Email COLLEGE CONNECTION at info@CollegeConnect.info, or give us a call at 516-345-8766.

Find Us on the web at College Connection
Check out The College Whisperer™ blog
College Connection on Twitter  Follow Us
The College Whisperer™ on Facebook  Like Us On Facebook

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Plan. Prepare. Prevail! 
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Questions about anything and everything college? Email COLLEGE CONNECTION at info@CollegeConnect.info, or give us a call at 516-345-8766.

Find Us on the web at College Connection
Check out The College Whisperer™ blog
College Connection on Twitter  Follow Us
The College Whisperer™ on Facebook  Like Us On Facebook