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Rising High school Seniors...You're running out of time. Avoid the time crunch in the fall.
Here's what you should start to do: 1. Check deadlines: Get a calendar and start keeping track of deadlines for applications and financial aid. You'll to decide whether to apply early decision, early action or regular decision, if given those choices. When you apply early, the school might require that you submit your financial aid application far in advance, so check deadlines. 2. Get started on the essay: Writing the college essay is nerve-wracking. If you start now, you're more likely to be able to devote the time to do a great job. If you are applying to a school that uses the Common Application, you can obtain a list of the new essay questions that was released in February. While you can often use the same essay for multiple schools, be prepared to answer a college's supplemental questions. 3. Don't forget the supplemental materials: If you are an artist, musician, or actor, applying to colleges can be even more time consuming. You typically will have to send a résumé noting your artistic background and accomplishments, as well as a portfolio that can be captured on a CD or DVD. Start and finish your portfolio now. 4. Research: If you haven't begun researching schools, get started now. Start requesting admission materials from school websites. In addition, spend time on the college's admission website. You can find academic profiles of the freshmen class, notable facts about the school, information on financial aid and scholarships. There are many schools that will offer virtual tours and opportunities for online chats, so why not check it out? Also, start looking online at a school's relevant academic departments. 5. Get Help: Whether you know it or not, most collegebound students are getting help from private educational consultants. Why? Getting into college has become more and more fierce, with thousands of students applying each year. Ask an Educational Consultant for help. Lee Academia's expert consultants are affordable and are certified in College counseling with over 10 years of experience and a successful track record of getting their students into their top choice matching colleges. So get guidance and help early. Contributed by Douglas Lee, Case Western Reserve (Class of 2016)
Finding a job is easier than you may think. Across the campus, there are many departments, labs, and other outlets looking for students for work. Try to find a job that suits you and one you can work up to 10-12 hours a week. It is awfully grueling to work 20+ hours a week while also handling a full course load. Also, remember to be a good employee. Work hard in your position, and especially in internships/research jobs. These first experiences may lead to full time jobs after graduation. Later on, it’s often who you know, not what you know.
Now, with all your hard earned money from your campus job, what are you going to do with it? You should open a banking account with a debit card to store all that money so you don’t have those Benjamins just lying around! Having a debit card may help curb your temptations and impulses because you can only spend what’s in your account. Try opening a bank that is local to your college town. You may have already opened a bank account back home, but if there aren’t many branches or ATMs around your campus, that account won’t do you much good.
Great, with a well-paying campus job and a bank account to store those $9.50/hour wages, the next step is to set up a monthly budget for yourself. Set up a monthly and weekly budget and keep track of your spending. It is very easy to lose track of your spending, with weekend outings with friends, local concerts, and great restaurants tempting you to empty your wallet. You don’t necessarily have to spend money to have fun in college. Be on the lookout for campus activities / economical outings that your school provides.
Remember to keep track of deadlines and paperwork to hand in. Your financial aid may decrease substantially if you miss those important due dates. You don’t want to lose your chance at those tens of thousands of dollars that you have already been awarded just because you forgot about a deadline. Also, you may not get to register for classes in time, which only leads to disaster. You never want to be in a rush for these financial aid matters because mistakes can be made in these situations, so make sure to be prepared.
This last tip may seem the most intimidating for students who have never applied for scholarships before. There are thousands of scholarships out there and they can range from a couple hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. Don’t disregard the scholarships with smaller awards, as those will be easier to attain since they have a smaller applicant pool. Hey, getting $500 for writing an essay about a random topic, or spending a little time to fill out an application and including a resume to earn a thousand big ones sounds *For any Financial Aid Assistance, contact FAConsultant_Elisa@gmail.com. Contributed by Douglas Lee, Case Western Reserve (Class of 2016)
College visits are an essential part of the important college decision process. By visiting a college campus for an afternoon, you can attain much more information about that school than by spending endless hours researching it online on sites like College Prowler. You can never fully grasp the unique environment each college provides behind a computer screen! In addition, online student submitted reviews are often biased, unreliable, or outdated. The dynamic of a college campus is constantly changing, and these changes may not be reflected online. Sure, a top ranked school may have all the qualities you are looking for: a strong program in the academic field you are interested in, numerous research opportunities, smart and ambitious students, and even a critically acclaimed dining hall! What’s not to like? However, without visiting this school, you miss out on many facets of student life; the qualities that determine whether or not you will enjoy your next four years at the school. College fit is an underrated aspect of the college decision process. When visiting a college, we recommend that you take a quick drive around the nearby city or town, interact with actual students, talk to faculty, sit in on a class, and tour main buildings such as the dining hall, recreational facilities, and library. Current students, professors, and admissions officers may provide much more valuable and insightful information that you may not be able to find elsewhere. By visiting a college, you may learn to appreciate a school that you had not even considered to be a top choice, or, you may learn that a previous top choice was just not the right fit for you. While sites like College Prowler, Unigo, USNews, and even Reddit may provide plenty of useful information, we only recommend that you use these sights as a starting point, and not the only sources you have to base your college decision on. Additional Tips:
For more college visit consultations, contact Lee Academia. Here are some things incoming college freshmen should know about college.
You Have Control Over Your Courses You do not have to confine yourself to the standard program. As you select your courses, be sure that each one is on the right level for you. Once you have picked your program, you should attend each of the classes and decide whether the professor is someone from whom you can really learn. By using the drop/add process, you may be able to get a much better teacher. Every class counts, so devote yourself to them. You Are Expected to Do a Lot of the Work on Your Own You need to be your own boss. Figure out when things need to be done and do them, week by week. No one will contact you when you have missed the test or have not handed in the paper. You will also need to get yourself to study — even when there is no graded work that week. You Don’t Have to Pick a Major in Your First Year Many colleges now encourage students to declare a major at orientation. This actually forces students to get started on some directed course of study, and it helps colleges manage course offerings. In some cases it may be a good idea to declare your major right away, especially if yours is a four-year program like pre-med, or music, however, it is better to wait until you’ve taken a few courses — especially upper-division or advanced courses in a given field — before you commit to a major. And keep in mind that even if you do declare a major at the outset, it is very easy to change your major if you find you don’t like the courses or you aren’t doing well in them. It is much better to get out of something you don’t like than to go through 10 or 12 required courses. What are the English language proficiency requirements to study in the United States?
Being able to communicate in English is a basic requirement for successful study in the United States. If English is not your native language, U.S. colleges and universities will ask you to take an English language proficiency test before admission. Almost all institutions require either the TOEFL or IELTS. Check the websites of the institutions where you plan to apply for detailed information. Lee Academia advisers can help. You may be granted conditional acceptance with the understanding that you will attend English language classes at the institution before beginning your degree program. Check with the institution. This year, the Class of 2017 Stats are:
COLUMBIA Columbia accepted 2,311 from 33,531 applications. The acceptance rate of 6.89 percent was slightly lower than the previous year’s 7.4 percent acceptance rate, when 2,363 students were admitted. In this admissions cycle, Columbia received 3,126 early decision applications and accepted 600 students for an admission rate of 19.19 percent. CORNELL Cornell received an all-time high of 40,006 applications for freshman admission to the Class of 2017, a notable increase from the previous year’s 37,812 applications. The overall admit rate reported by Cornell is 15.15 percent, slightly down from last year’s admit rate of 16.19 percent. Cornell admitted 6,062 applicants, including 4,825 regular decision applicants and 1,237 early decision applicants. Cornell admitted approximately 30 percent of early decision applicants, but only 13 percent of applicants for regular admission. Personal statements and admissions essays can be overwhelming, but Stephenie Lee has helped her students brainstorm compelling topics, compose and organize a memorable essay without stress for years. Her approach leaves the student in charge of the essay, so that student gets to the heart of the story and produces an essay that's attention-grabbing and authentic. All the years of guidance, experience and strategies are now compiled into a new easy-to-follow workbook for students to use on their own. Stop procrastinating and write that college essay now!
Inside you'll find:
Buy Now! 15% Off As most students have heard back from colleges, this is a great time of excitement and anxiety. But it's important to keep three points in mind as you read your decisions.
1. Applications have been at an all-time high at many colleges, so this means that getting admitted to these colleges is more difficult than ever before. With many factors entering into the admissions process, keep in mind that students who apply to these colleges usually qualify for admissions, thus an increase in the number of applications that make admission that much harder. 2. There is a common reason why colleges deny admission to students. The number one reason selective colleges deny admission to students is simple--they run out of room. If they had more dorm rooms, and more professors, and more classrooms, they would love to take more students--but they cannot do justice to the students they do admit by taking too many, since no one gets a quality education that way--and that’s not fair to anyone. 3. With more applications, and limited space, colleges must create a learning community that is exciting, diverse, and rich with opportunities. To do this, colleges that want a combination of art and sciences, a mixture of data (grades and test scores) and insight (from personal statements, letters of recommendations, etc.) in deciding who gets admitted. Also, these selective colleges will tell you that just about everyone who decides to apply to a selective college qualifies for admission--they would be a great student, benefit the college tremendously, and contribute to the college in many ways. Since you applied to a selective college, those compliments would apply to you. College admissions is about many things, but it is never a judgment about you as a person, or about everything you have accomplished. Most colleges go to great pains to point this out when they send their denial letters; believe me when I tell you that they aren’t just being nice, but that they truly respect and honor everything you have done as a student and as a person, and they are grateful you applied to their college. That might not mean much the minute you open the letter, it will over time--whether the college says yes, no, or maybe, your value and worth as a person is cast in stone. Now, About the Decisions When you heard from a college this week, you’ll get one of four kinds of decisions. Each decision has its own possibilities, so let’s go over them: Admission An offer of admission is the news you’ve been hoping for--and more. In addition to congratulating you, the offer of admissions includes information on housing, orientation, and financial aid. Be sure to read all of it; this information will be of great value to you if you need to decide among several offers of admission. Conditional Admission Colleges may offer you a seat in the freshman class with a requirement--that you participate in a tutoring or student support. As is the case with other admission offers, offers of conditional admission may also include information on housing, financial aid, etc. Be sure to read all of this information. In addition, there may be a contract included that you’re required to sign, indicating you agree to adhere to the conditions of admission; suffice it to say, you’ll need to return that signed contract to the college by the indicated deadline. Make sure when you are in a program during your first semester, that your first semester grades are at a certain level, or that you come to campus sometime over the summer to participate in a college readiness program. These offers of admission are becoming more common, and they are not an “either/or” proposition--in other words, if you want to go to that college, you must satisfy the requirements outlined in the offer of admission. Waitlisted A letter indicating you’ve been waitlisted usually comes all by itself. The letter indicates that the college is still considering your application, but must hear from the admitted students first before they may--again, that’s may--offer you admission. Again, while it’s a little early to tell, there is a sense that the number of waitlisted letters is expected to be large this year--and that’s when things get tricky. Contacting the college doesn’t really move you up on the list that much--unless the college makes up its waitlist order only after they’ve heard from everyone, including the students on the waitlist. Given the many different ways colleges approach waiting lists, I would suggest you do the following: * Re-read the letter from the college to see if it gives you any information about the wait-list-- how the order is determined, when it is determined, and what you need to do to stay on it. * If this information isn't in the letter (and often it isn't), call the college and ask them directly-- tell them you've been waitlisted, and ask them how and when the list is put together. They may give you some suggestions on what to do; if they do, write these suggestions down, since they are basically telling you how to improve your chances of moving up on the list. * Next, it's decision time. Given the college options you have, do you still feel it's worth pursuing this college as a possible option-- remember, it may only be a possibility. As you think about this, it's *very* important to ask two questions-- 1. If a slot doesn't open up at this college, what college will I select? 2. If a slot does open up at this college, what college will I select? If the answer to these questions is the same, there's no point in pursuing the waitlist; you can either call the college and ask your name be removed from the waitlist, or you can wait and see what happens after May 1st. * If your decision about which college to attend depends in part on financial aid, remember that the amount of aid available to students who are admitted off of the waitlist is usually limited. It can vary greatly from year to year, and from college to college, that’s another factor to keep in mind. * If you decide you want to pursue a slot at the college that's waitlisted you, this is no time to be shy. Contact the college to let them know your continued interest. "I want you to know I am still very interested in attending College X this fall" sends a clear statement of where you stand and if College X is your first choice, you can say that as well (but remember only one first choice.) Some students will collect progress reports to show how they're doing in their high school classes, and others will send in extra letters of recommendation. All of that may help, but it's not a bad idea to ask first before sending too much material in-- remember, you want to show interest, but you don't want to drive them crazy. The idea here is that you want to show continued interest in the school that is strong, but not too persistent. A couple of contacts between April 1st and May 1st isn't going too far, and one every day really is--so use good judgment. * Finally, keep in mind that most colleges will not review their waitlist until after May 1st, which is the day you are expected to notify one--and only one--college that you’ll be going there in the fall. If April 30 comes around, and you’re still waiting to hear from a waitlisted school, you’ll want to put in the required May 1st deposit and notification at the college you’ll go to if the waitlist doesn’t work out somewhere else. If the college of your dreams pulls you off the waitlist later on, you’ll need to cancel your admission at the other college in writing--and there’s a good chance you won’t get your deposit back. Not Offered Admission News that a college cannot offer you admission also comes in a thin envelope. As I said before, colleges mean it when they say they wish they could offer you admission, and they value your work as a student; it’s just that colleges simply run out of room. Can students appeal? --Read your letter closely. These letters often explain both the procedures you need to follow to file an appeal, and the things colleges look for in reviewing an appeal. If your letter gives you no indication, call the office of admission and ask what their appeal policy is--and remember that some colleges will not take appeals except in very rare circumstances. --See if you can find out why you were denied admission in the first place. A conversation with an admissions officer may give the college enough additional information about you to form the basis of an appeal. If the college needs more information, you can ask for specific information on what the college would like to see when you write your appeal--or, in some cases, you can find out if an appeal would not be the best use of your time. --Generally speaking, colleges will look at an appeal closely if you can provide additional information above and beyond what you included in your original application that shows you are a strong and/or unique student. Seventh semester grades, progress reports from your current classes, additional letters of recommendation, a supporting paragraph or two from your counselor--these kinds of things can make a difference. -- Remember that a successful appeal depends on a variety of factors--your strength as a student, your continued interest in the college, the number of spaces the college has available, etc. In some cases, continued interest and strong grades may be enough to get you in on appeal--but in some cases, it won’t. An appeal isn’t a sure thing, and the extra energy it requires to put an appeal together--not just yours, but the energy of your counselor, your teachers, and the college--can be high at this busy time of year. Before you start an appeal, be sure to think about your chances of success, and your real interest in the college, and let your answers guide you accordingly. Lastly, three or four years of living and learning in high school should give you some strong clues about who you are and what you want from a school. Apply those core values –and some common sense-- to the college choice and decision, and you’ll find a perfect match, no matter what the numbers say. Seniors, check out the following comments from colleges in reaction to performance deterioration in senior year. Do NOT let this happen to you! · Stony Brook: Your final high school grades have been received. We note with regret that your performance in some academic subjects has declined from the level that led us to offer you admission. While it is not clear to us what has caused your academic slide, we can say with reasonable certainty that matriculation at Stony Brook will be much more difficult if your senior year level of effort is continued after you enroll. The purpose of this letter is to alert you to our awareness of your final grades and to urge you to reflect upon the attitude and work habits during your final year in high school that produced such disappointing results. Meanwhile, in the time remaining before the first day of classes, we urge you to develop an improved outlook and re-dedicate yourself to achieving a level of performance commensurate with your ability. · An Ivy League School:
I was concerned to learn of the reasons for and details surrounding the significant decline in your senior year grades at XXX High School. Your very disappointing academic performance and your explanation of the factors that contributed to it raise serious questions for me about your ability at this time to be successful in an academic environment. After reviewing all of the information you shared with me, I am faced with a very difficult decision. I underscored my expectations for the successful completion of your academic year in your offer letter of early admission in December. The last sentence of the fifth paragraph of my letter states, “While we have every reason to believe you will complete this school year successfully, please remember that this offer of admission is contingent upon your continued strong academic performance”. Furthermore, as stated in our freshman application materials, “The university reserves the right to withdraw your offer of admission if you show a significant drop in academic performance” prior to matriculation. While I would like to avoid taking this step in your case, I remain concerned about your readiness to face the demands of the freshman academic experience this fall. I am, therefore, writing to inform you that, although I will not be withdrawing your offer of admission altogether, I have decided to defer your offer of admission to ______________________ University for one year. I encourage you to use the coming year to reset your priorities so that you will be ready to immerse yourself in a rigorous academic environment in the fall of 2011. As you map out your plans for the year ahead, please be in touch with the Assistant Director of Admission, ___________________, who oversees our deferral process, to gain approval of your plans. In addition, Mr. __________________ will send you some paperwork to fill out which will assure your place in our class that will enter in the fall of 2011. Mr. _____________________ can be reached at __________________. (Student’s name), this letter is a difficult one to write, and must surely be a difficult one to receive. You are so talented and have so much to offer. I am hopeful that we will be able to welcome you to __________________ University in September of next year with the same confidence and enthusiasm I did in my original offer to you last December. Yours truly, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid |
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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