The cost of a college education is one of the second largest financial investment next to purchasing a home. Currently, many private tuitions range between $180,000 and $250,000, and state governments have been decreasing their funding. Your financial decisions will benefit from our professional guidance.

As many students choose a college without adequate investigation and research regarding what the college has to offer them, research shows that one out of three college students leave or transfer to another college and five out of ten students require five or more years to earn a degree. Our objective assessment of the student’s needs at Lee Academia help us to use current research beyond website information to find the right “student-college fit”.

Many colleges have become more selective and Lee Academia's College Consultants understand what is needed for top students to gain admissions. However, finding the right college for the average or learning differences students is just as important. Many less competitive colleges have higher drop out rates and lower graduation rates, therefore it is essential we carefully place average students in appropriate educational settings.

High school counselors – both in public and private institutions – are so overwhelmed with student caseloads, federally mandated paperwork for special needs students, dealing with disciplinary situations, and scheduling courses. There is little time left for quality personal contact between counselor and the student applying to college. Guidance counselors will write a letter of recommendation, assemble a transcript, and include a student profile in the college packet – nothing more.

For more information and to contact us for a consultation: click here.

For most people, the third Thursday of March is just another day. But for medical students, it’s Match Day, the day that determines not only where they will work after medical school, but what kind of doctors they will become.

Matching medical students to residency programs is a complicated system. Here, medical students rely on a computer algorithm to tell them where their first job will be. The result determines not only the type of training they receive, but their medical specialty, where they will live and even the fate of their relationships.

Every doctor remembers his or her Match Day. Good luck to the medical students on this Match Day! If you’re a doctor, please share the story of your Match Day experience.

As students are consulted by their Lee Academia Consultant and waiting to receive their College Athlete Game Report, here are the next 4 steps to prepare:

1. Develop your Initial Email correspondence.
2. Develop your Student Athlete profile.
3. Develop your Personal Video.
4. Organize your upcoming schedule to be included in your correspondence.

After receiving and understanding the College Athlete Game Report, here are next 4 steps to take:

1. Send out your finished email to your initial contact.
2. Be sure to respond to every correspondence you receive from the coaches.
3. Expand your contact list, as needed. Your College Athlete Game Report will only have 30-50 schools.
4. Master the college interview process... Be prepared to talk to college Face to Face.

Need Help developing your email, student athlete profile, and/or your video? Call Lee Academia @ 347-948-8863 for more details on these services. Get your College Athlete Game Report today!

By 2018, 63% of all job openings will require a post-secondary education.

In other words, almost 2 in every 3 jobs will be COMPLETELY CLOSED to you if you don’t have a college degree.

And considering that those with a college education make an average of 64% more than those who don’t...This fact should really freak you out.

If you haven’t started earning college degree, or if you took classes but never finished, the time to take action is NOW.

Lee Academia experts can guide you through choosing degree programs available, and help you qualify for government grants or scholarships.

Contributed by Joyce Mei, Hunter College HS (Class of 2015)  

    We’ve heard countless times that the early bird catches the worm, but what happened to slow and steady wins the race? So in terms of applying for college, is it better to rush to submit our applications early? Despite the common belief among teens and their parents, there is no need to submit an application in mid-August when the deadline is in early November or December. It is better to have a more thorough and complete application that handing in an early, rushed application.

    In addition, college admissions officers have admitted that they do not look at applications until they are “complete” with transcripts and recommendation letters from high school. Therefore, an application submitted in August will not be looked at for weeks until all the necessary paperwork is handed in as well.

    Submitting in applications early also gives more time for students to worry about if they will be accepted into the college of their choice. Students now also have to stress out about if they filled out the applications correctly, if they wrote their personal statements to express who they are in the best way, and if they change their minds about anything in the upcoming months.

    Once we hit “submit,” there is no going back. Therefore, take your time and make sure your applications are done right. For more information, contact Lee Academia experts.

As you prepare to start the new term, you will need new college semester success tips whether you are coming back or are new to college. Getting ready to start the semester, you are filled with optimism and you are maybe a bit nervous. If you are starting out you feel that you were well prepared and made the right choice and are ready.

You want to start with a clean slate. New notebooks for each class or new folders in your computer—ideally both. You will need to save the syllabus for each course. Review the syllabus carefully and use it to do the following things:

• Order or access books and reading material needed for assignments so you have all you need when you need it.
  
• They will ask questions that assume you have done the reading, and if class participation is required, then you will be in trouble if you are called on and don’t have a clue about what is being discussed.  The midterm or final exam will likely include references to the lecture or seminar discussion and to the readings.
  

Fill your calendar or planner. Time management is one of the toughest things that students face and it is a key life skill. You use the planner for planning. Planning is not simply recording when you have a dinner date or a paper due.  It involves looking ahead and also back. 

You look ahead to see, for example, when your paper is due, then look back to see where you have blocks of time to work on the paper.  You not only impress your teacher, but keep yourself from procrastinating.  Other assignments, such as reading a novel for your literature class, may be done in small time chunks.  

Find out when and where you can find your professor. You want to get to know them so they can be helpful to you. Use office hours. The students who do the best also have the best relationships with their professors. Faculty enjoy the interaction with interested students and helping those who may be struggling to get better. Getting ready to start the semester begin by making a friend of your professor.

Find out how the grades are structured. Sometimes there may be quizzes, papers, exams, projects or class participation.

See where you are going to have to apply the most effort to get the grades you want. If you know you will need help plan to schedule time at the tutoring or writing centers. Sometimes they are first come first serve and so making an appointment while you are getting ready to start the semester is smart.

Doing all these things at the beginning of the semester will assure a good outcome at the end.

Stephenie Lee is the founder of Lee Academia Educational Consulting, consultant and the author of "Writing a Compelling College Application Essay: Workbook" and other College series workbooks. She is also an expert on test taking strategies, study skills and college admissions strategies. Find out more about Stephenie at website.

Some grad-school hopefuls with stellar test scores and straight As might be disappointed to discover they aren't a shoo-in. Sure, schools want to see top-notch grades, but many also want to see a few years of work experience in the field and some meaningful volunteer work. You can have all the wonderful grades in the world, but if you don't make a commitment in a bigger way to being a leader, and do something in the community, you're not somebody great schools need to have in their class.

Having two to three years of professional experience will add to the richness of the discussion and having some work experience also "demonstrates a commitment to that field." In some cases, a summer internship or a recent community service project may be enough to help you stand out.

People considering a master's degree should take a year or two off to get work experience after they earn their bachelor's, especially if they don't have any professional experience. It can help you sort out what direction you'd like to go" with your degree. And maintaining professional connections while in school can also help increase a student's chances of landing a job once the program is over.

For more tips on what grad schools won't tell you, ask our experts here.