Q. How do I apply for financial aid?
A. You can apply for financial aid beginning January 1st of your child's senior year. At that time, fill out a FAFSA form online at www.fafsa.ed.gov . FAFSA is the form that ALL colleges will require to receive any type of need-based aid. Need-based aid is determined strictly by the family's annual income while merit-based aid is determined by the student's grades and SAT scores. To receive an estimate of how much aid your child will receive, you can go onto www.fafsa4caster.com and complete the survey
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More colleges are using Wait Lists than in previous years, due to the increased number of applications as well as growing unpredictability about students’ decisions of which college to attend. The usage of Wait Lists varies from year to year, based on their strategy of how many students to accept, as well as the percentage of admitted students who choose to attend. The wait list has become a way for colleges to offset the uncertainty of predicting yield.
For instance, Cornell University placed almost 10,000 students on a Wait List from 2009-2011, and didn’t accept one student in 2012. It is important for applicants on a wait list to be realistic about their chances. Although being placed on a wait list is more hopeful than being denied from a school, only 28% of wait listed students on average in 2010 were admitted, and the most selective colleges only admit 11% of students off the wait list on average.Of the 996 students who Yale wait-listed last year, only 103 of them were accepted. This year, Yale’s wait list holds 1,001 hopeful applicants and Princeton’s holds 1,472. Most colleges have not yet released statistics from 2012, though Harvard reports admitting 46 students from its wait list. Cornell University offers three strong options for undergraduate business education: the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management (AEM) with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the Industrial Labor Relations School (ILR), and the School of Hotel Administration.
AEM was recently ranked as the third best undergraduate business school in the US from Businessweek. There are a variety of practical and applied specializations ranging from entrepreneurship to finance to strategy that students can choose from, preparing them for a wide range of careers in business. AEM is uniquely situated within CALS, so students often combine their business degree with courses the life sciences and applied social sciences. ILR explores the domestic and international workplace from a multidisciplinary perspective, with required courses in management, economics, psychology, history, law and government. ILR is the only undergraduate school in the US devoted to this field. One-fifth go on to law school post-graduation. The School of Hotel Administration grants students a Bachelors of Science degree. The curriculum balances theory and practice, with a requirement of 800 hours in a hospitality-related practicum prior to graduation. The majority of graduates enter the hospitality industry, and one-quarter go into real estate/consulting and banking/financial services. NYC Major Bloomberg selected Cornell and its partner Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) to develop a leading age NYCTech Campus on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan. The school will offer masters and doctoral degrees in technical fields such as computer science, information science and computer engineering, and will house the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute. This unique partnership between NYC, Cornell and Technion is poised to make powerful advances in entrepreneurship and applied science education. As families look toward the next school year, it’s a great time to review what your child is participating in outside of class.
Often, when students get to 11th grade and they come to Lee Academia for college planning, they suddenly realize that their resume is blank for college as far as participation in activities is concerned. And colleges are suspicious when an applicant suddenly adds clubs in junior year. Other students see that they have been too narrowly focused on sports. So, here are 3 of the 10 extra-curricular activities that colleges love to see on student resumes: 1. Student Government Colleges like students who are engaged in formulating and executing policies and procedures at their school. Elected offices and those that have responsibility are also highly regarded. Colleges feel that these students are likely to be responsible citizens on campus and give back in the form of college government participation. 2. Academic Teams: Math, Robotics, Decathlon, etc. Nothing shows a passion for academics better than a rigorous math meet or a robotics competition. Colleges want students who are willing to put time in outside of class to compete locally, regionally and nationally in their field of choice. It shows a genuine academic interest that transcends the classroom. 3. The Arts: Music, Theatre, Visual Arts Colleges value creativity, whether you play the oboe in the state youth orchestra, have the lead in plays, or paint your heart out in studio art classes. The arts help brain development and they lend vibrancy to campuses. Balance is the key. Students should have a range of 4-6 different types of activities that they are consistently involved with throughout high school—not just sports. To learn about more extracurricular that colleges notice, contact Lee Academia for a consultation and start planning your next summer and school year. It's not the End of the World...
However, the regular admissions deadline of January 1, 2013 (or January 15) is fast approaching! Now is the time to finalize your essays, double check your Common Application and SUBMIT! Are rankings of colleges useful? It all depends on the criteria.
Kiplinger, the well-respected financial advising company, analyzed over 600 institutions to determine THE BEST VALUES, using combined measurements of quality of education and affordability. The tops in each category, according to Kipling, are: Liberal Arts: Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams, Washington & Lee, Davidson, Bowdoin, Claremont McKenna, Amherst, Hamilton, Vassar, Carleton, Haverford, Wellesley, Wesleyan Private Universities: Princeton, Yale, CalTec, Rice, Duke University, Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Stanford, Wash U, Richmond, Emory Public Universities: North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, William and Mary, SUNY Binghamton, Georgia, Washington, Maryland, SUNY Geneseo, North Carolina State, UCSD For more information about the criteria and college lists, click this link: http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/ Many Early Decision or Early Action student applicants are finding that they've been neither accepted nor rejected, but deferred. A deferred application is considered again along with the applications submitted during the regular cycle. This complex alternative is so tenuous and uncertain that it is impossible to predict the outcome.
If you find yourself in this limbo, here are some guidelines for how to proceed. 1. Don't Panic. Remain calm. Most likely, if you've been deferred your credentials are in the ballpark for getting accepted. If they weren't, you'd be rejected. So that's the good news. However, your application wasn't so far above average that the college wanted to give up a spot in the entering class until they could compare you to the full applicant pool. The percentages vary from college to college, but some students do get accepted after being deferred. 2. Find Out Why You Were Deferred Unless the college asks you not to do so, give the admissions office a call and try to find out why you were deferred. Be polite and positive when making this call. Try to convey your enthusiasm for the college, and see if there were particular weaknesses in your application that you might be able to address. Practice with our consultants before you make this call to the college's admissions office. 3. School Guidance Counselor Your high school counselor can find out some information from the college admissions for you. Contact Lee Academia to find out kind of information they can obtain for you and how you can approach your counselor for the information. 4. Be positive and Be Polite As you try to get out of deferral limbo, you're likely to correspond with the admissions office several times. Try to keep your frustration, disappointment and anger in check. Be polite. Be positive. Admissions officers are remarkably busy this time of year, and their time is limited. Thank them for any time they give you. 5. Send a New Letter of Recommendation Is there someone who knows you well who can really promote you effectively? If so, an additional letter of recommendation might be a good idea (but make sure the college allows extra letters). Ideally, this letter should talk about the specific personal qualities that make you an ideal match for the particular college that has deferred you. Lee Academia can help you decide who to ask for this new letter of recommendation. 6. Send Supplemental Materials Many applications, including the Common Application, provide the opportunity for sending in supplemental materials. Try not to overwhelm the admissions office, but you should feel free to send in writing or other materials that will show the full breadth of what you can contribute to the campus community. 7. Update Your Information Chances are the college will ask for your midyear grades. If you were deferred because of a marginal GPA, the college will want to see that your grades are on an upward trend. Also, think about other information that might be worth sending:
8. Have a Back-Up College or two While many deferred students do get accepted during regular admissions, many do not. You should do all you can to get into your top choice school, but you should also be realistic. Make sure you have applied to a range of reach, match and safety colleges so that you will have other options should you get a rejection letter from your first choice. 9. Letters If you have been deferred but have new information to present to the college, you'll want to write a letter presenting the updates. Contact Lee Academia. They can help you formulate letters to "pursue the waitlist". Remember, the advice above is general and that every college and university has its own policies when it comes to sending in additional documents. Check with your college and work with Lee Academia on this process to make your college years, wherever you attend, meaningful and successful. So what happens once your application arrives on campus? It is sorted and forwarded to the appropriate office. In general, applications are reviewed by a combination of:
• Directors of Admissions (they usually get the final say) • Associate Directors • Administrative Assistants These administrators are continually versed in the admissions policies of their respective schools. Depending on the admissions staff’s workload—as well the school’s level of selectiveness—your application could be reviewed by one person or an entire committee. Most commonly, applications are seen first at the lowest level and then flagged up for review by subsequent overseeing faculty members. Therefore, it is important to know if your grades and entrance test score lies within the minimum requirement range, and what your interests and potential major(s) are. A checklist of required contents usually accompanies each admissions file. Each school admissions team knows what they are looking for in each acceptance class. At colleges where the admissions process is more open, students may still be considered even if portions of their application packet are missing or if they came close but didn’t quite meet established requirements. Schools that carry stricter selection guidelines are generally not inclined to make such exceptions. When it comes to college admissions, there are three pieces to the puzzle: your academic record, your personal record, and your standardized test scores.
The first two parts take years or even a lifetime to build, the third part represents just a few hours of a Saturday morning. And did you know that since March 2009, College Board's new policy allowed students to pick which scores a college sees, giving you even more control over how your scores are perceived? Some say that preparation doesn't really make a major difference and recommends students take the SAT only once or twice. But many people still believe there are strategies you can use to outsmart the SAT, particularly with the new score reporting policy. Here are the four tips these people cite most often: Make a calendar and start early The PSAT can be taken as early as freshman year. Students can start taking the SAT as early as sophomore year. Map out a plan by looking at the College Board's test dates, and then check your academic calendar and extracurricular schedule. Don't take the SAT the same week as your midterms. Next, plot out a week-by-week schedule where you review a lesson on a specific topic each week and do targeted practice in Math, Reading and Writing. Practice, practice, practice Use real SAT questions to practice your weaker topics. Stage a dress rehearsal and keep taking the SAT Lee Academia suggests taking a monthly practice test in realistic, timed conditions on a Saturday morning. Don't take the practice test in a quiet room at home—go to somewhere where there is ambient noise so that you'll practice with distractions. This way, when you go to the real test center, it will seem more familiar. Students raise their scores by an average of only 40 points on the second test. But if you have a very large sample—say, 10 tests —there is a good likelihood that one of those tests will be an outlier—that a particular test will fall on the high end of the test range. The test is an approximation, affected by many factors: whether the students happen to get more questions on topics they handle better, whether they guess better, whether they are more seasoned test takers, whether they got enough sleep and food, and the general testing conditions. Apply only to schools that let you select which SAT scores you report Under the new policy, some colleges may still require applicants to submit all test-taking attempts. If you take the SAT 15 times (which you shouldn't do), apply just to schools that let you hide your scores. If students band together in applying only to schools that let them hide their scores, that will put pressure on schools to give in to the score-choice policy. Private schools are notoriously rigorous, particularly in middle and high schools. High school students in private schools take a number of difficult classes, including some advanced classes, while participating in extracurricular activities and sports outside of class. While a manageable level of stress helps many students perform at their best and can be motivating, too much stress is counterproductive.
Here are some strategies for defeating stress in school: Tip #1: Take Advantage of Your School's Resources Many schools are employing their own stress-reducing programs, including classes in relaxation techniques and yoga. Take advantage of these classes if you can. Ask your teachers for help. Some schools also offer classes on study skills. These classes can teach you to study more effectively and efficiently, reducing the time you need to spend on your schoolwork and eventually reducing your stress level. Tip #2: Learn to Study Effectively Using classes taught at your school, you can learn to study more efficiently. If your work is taking too long or you aren't getting the results you want, be sure to ask your teachers what they recommend. They may have strategies to help you speed up your work, and they may also be able to direct you to additional resources. Tip #3: Speed Up Your Homework Learning how to make your homework go more quickly reduces stress. For example, if you notice that most of your homework time is spent surfing the web or on Facebook, you may need to disconnect yourself from the Internet while you are working.Try to find a peaceful homework spot where you won't be disturbed, and set a timer so that you are aware of time passing. Estimate how long tasks will take you. Don't waste time. Tip #4: Work with a Tutor If you've tried to work with your teacher but still don't understand the material, consider working with a tutor who is familiar with your school and its demands. Some schools also provide peer or other tutors who can help you. When working with a tutor, be sure to do all the work yourself. Ask your tutor to show you strategies to make your work more efficient and to help you prepare for tests with less stress. |
Stephenie Lee
Stephenie, having been a tutor/instructor/mentor since 1996, discovered her passion and founded Lee Academia Educational Consulting, LLC. after she left the dental and medical field. She loves teaching/mentoring and counseling her students. Her passion lies in educating others and helping them pursue their educational path. Today, certified in College Counseling and with more than 10 years of experience, Stephenie and her team continues to blog about current updated educational news and events. Archives
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