Education Articles from College Matching Service

Do you know what you want to do with your life? That’s a tough question but regardless of what you want to do for the rest of your life you should get a university degree now. You will make more money, according to the most recent US Census 51% more, and move ahead faster.

How do you know what college to attend? Here are a few questions to start thinking about to help select the college that is right for you:

1. Is an in-state or out of state college right for you?

2. Do you want to go to a big school or smaller sized school?

3. What financial aid is available?

4. Do you prefer a suburban setting, a school in a big city or studying in the middle of nowhere?

5. What programs are of interest to you? Liberal arts or a more focused program?

6. What school rankings should be important?

7. Is there a career services office? Can you find out the percent of people who get a job after graduation?

8. Are there available programs offered by the school for extracurricular activity?

9. Do they have on campus or off campus housing available?

10. Is there a professor that could potentially mentor you one on one to develop your career interest?

11. Bonus question for today’s world: Do you know how financially secure the school is?

Once you start thinking about the answers to these questions, you can help focus on the college that is best for you!

The author is a consultant in Miami, Florida and currently writes about accredited colleges online for College Matching Service. She is currently helping to build the largest college directory online.

Photo by: Ephemeron1

Most of the students in high school are worried about the college application process, they have the genuine concern that there application might get lost in the deluge of applications that flood the admission offices of various colleges across the country. The question in every student’s mind is how they present themselves in ways that would get them noticed by the admission officers in appositive light. Most students believe that they are much more worthy than what their high school grades and SAT scores show. But the problem is how to get that across. Well if you are one such student, then you can stop wracking your brains as there are sure-fire ways to ensure that you are noticed by the right people. In fact ensuring that your application stands out, also makes the process easy for the admission officers, who have a hard time selecting the right candidates from thousands of similar applications. If you make genuine effort to present yourself uniquely, then you are well on your way to getting that desired seat. 

You must keep in mind that the applicants who have been successful are those who have prepared applications that are compelling.  You application should be meticulously planned and cohesively written. It should work as a whole, and there should not be loop holes or flaws in your presentation that would produce any doubts in the minds of the admission officers. After you have prepared your application, get it read by people who may have some expertise in the area, and/or maybe intelligent and knowledgeable people with good analytical prowess as well as editing abilities. This would ensure that your application is airtight, as far as logical reasoning is concerned.   

Include supplemental materials which show that you are a person who thrives on challenges, takes initiative to get work done and ensure that you do a great job in whatever you are involved in. These supplemental materials maybe in the form of tough courses that you took during high school or volunteer work among others. 

The completion of the college application process is a very tedious process both for the students as well as the parents. After you are over with the selection of the college, requesting recommendation, writing essays and filling out the application forms, all you are left with is waiting to receive your transcript.

Many times you might have come across a situation when you ask your school counselor to send out your transcript and he informs you that it will go out within the next week. A counselor’s work actually demands a lot more than 24 hours to process college applications. This is so because he has other duties on top of college counseling like providing classroom assistance; administrative support and more. Here are some tips that you can apply to work with and help your counselor in quickening the process:

• The most important and prior job responsibility of a counselor is to help students apply to college. However, sending application packets along with recommendations and transcripts takes time. You can help him with this and thus quicken the process. This is how you can work with and help your counselor.

• All you want is to go to the college of your choice so take up the responsibility to work for your college counselor. You can help him with the application process. You can help him quicken the process by performing the legwork that is required to get the job done.

• You can make a chart to keep track of the requirements of different colleges and mark a calendar with your application deadlines. You can maintain a separate folder for each application so that you can keep the materials organized and accessible.

• You can make the job your counselor easy by being early. Keep your essays, recommendations and transcript request forms completed and submit it at least two weeks prior to the application deadline. The counselors and support staff fill these requests on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier you come, the earlier you can get to the college of your choice. So, work upon getting admission to the college of your choice much before hand.

Just be relaxed and help your counselor to get his job done in time and the same time getting your transcript in time too.

If you are thinking about your college admission, you must start planning right away. Never submit application to only one college. Make sure to apply to more than two or three colleges, so that if you fail to get admission into one college, you may get admission into the other. More than 75% applicants get acceptance into their first chosen college. Let us discuss a few steps that you must follow for getting accepted into a college easily.

Getting Accepted Into a College Easily

• Try to get high grades throughout your educational career. If you are willing to get acceptance into your dream college, you must get good position and grades. If you get better marks compared to others, your chance of getting accepted into a college becomes much easy. Students having high GPAs receive more financial aid from aid offices and more attention from admission departments.

• Take up advanced placement (AP) courses. You must take AP courses if your high school offers them. AP courses will help you to acquire college courses even without paying any college tuition fees. They will also make your admission officers realize how serious you are about your education.

• Try to achieve high score in your SAT exam. With a high SAT and a high GPA score, you will get acceptance into a college of your choice easily, and you will also get free scholarship. You may increase your GPA and SAT score by taking a SAT prep course or by selecting a good SAT guide.

• Try to involve yourself in activities outside school time table. Participate in charities, events, functions, seminars and other extra-curricular activities – this will enhance your college application and your life. While choosing the extra-curricular activities, pick up something that you will really enjoy or have a special preference for. As a result, the time spend on such activities will become even more fulfilling.

Changing admission deadlines and electronic applications have not prevented learners from asking a simple question: How to get accepted into a good college? Planning to start a college can become the most exhilarating time in the life of a student who has just passed his/her higher secondary school. If you improve the chances of getting college acceptance, you will find abundance of opportunities that are related to your career, and which will also help you to become successful in life. Here are few tips that will help you to improve the chances for getting accepted into a good college.

Tips for Improving the Chances of Getting College Acceptance

• During your high school years, although you spent a lot of time in shopping and dating, you must also attend your classes regularly and study hard. Most colleges and institutions prefer to accept students who have proved that they are careful about their coursework and study, and have achieved high grades.

• If you get the chance of becoming a volunteer, grab it. A lot of colleges prefer to see the spirit of leadership and compassion in their students.

• Involve yourself in few activities that are outside school timetable. Being a member of sports team or some club will improve your chance of getting acceptance into a good college of your choice. Your involvement in additional activities will make the admission committee realize that you are able to manage time efficiently and handle stress competently.

• It is always advisable to apply early to a college of your choice, since all colleges have fixed quota for different categories of students. If you delay applying into a college of your choice, you may not get seat into that college anymore.

• Today, most colleges need recommendation letter to admit students. The best individual who can provide this letter of recommendation for you is your teacher. If you have to write an essay during your admission process, your teacher can also help you by reviewing it. This will improve your chance of getting acceptance into the college of your choice.

If you keep these points in mind, you will find that getting accepted into a college becomes much easier. Also, this will improve your chance of getting admitted to a college preferred by you.

College applications, at a first glance, may seem quite easy. You provide basic and essential facts about your achievements, education and background. However, one portion that puzzles many is the portion for extra curricular activities. Your extra curricular activities are important and crucial on your college application. This is the segment where an applicant can set himself apart from others by using a little strategy. You can make your extra-curricular activities notable within the small space of application form by focusing on leadership.

Make the List

First, make a listing of your extra-curricular activities, jobs and summer activities. Note down each and every events; big or small. Always remember that extra curricular activities include different experiences such as teaching kids in schools, playing triangle in band, volunteering at any organization, etc. To make your extra-curricular activities noticeable in your college application, you must list down the following:

• Dates you worked or participated in any extra curricular activities.

• Responsibilities and leadership positions held by you in any particular event.

• Number of hours you spent on a job or activity each week.

• Name of the business, program or organization

• Special projects which you oversaw or initiated.

• The description of the business, program or group.

If you face trouble in remembering everything, you can use the memories of other people. Show the listing to your advisors, friends, siblings, teachers and parents who might recollect something you did.

How to Proceed

After you have made the listing, you must prioritize since you will not get enough space to write down everything on your application form. While prioritizing, you must give more importance to those activities where you have demonstrated leadership. Your extra curricular activities play an important role during application process. Hence, while you describe your roles, never hesitate to boast a little. You must highlight the significance of your responsibilities and contributions. Admission officers prefer to admit students who are leaders as well as members. Students, who show leadership both outside and inside the classroom, are basically preferred during college admission. If you organize your extra-curricular activities properly, you will create good impression on admission officers that will help you to get admission into a college easily.

Achieving academic success is every student’s dream in order to obtain their desired career. The quest for highly competitive scholarship equally exerts an academic pressure on them. SAT scores, therefore are an important aspect that influence their academic career. In United States, SAT has become one of the defining factors for accepting students in the colleges and Universities. This particular factor has motivated several students to opt for quality SAT preparation courses. These prep courses help them to obtain higher scorers. In fact, according to an Ohio State University study, students who are taking private SAT Prep classes score around 60 points higher on their SAT tests than other students.

Benefits of SAT Prep Classes:

• The SAT Prep classes help the students to identify their weaknesses and to focus the significant areas of study. It also helps you to gain in depth knowledge of the SAT testing methods and thus reduces you exam related anxieties.

• These classes explain the students the various subjects that are incorporated in their SAT exams. They also take mock examination that includes SAT style questions.

• You can also strengthen your knowledge of both math and vocabulary with the SAT Prep classes. Moreover, they broaden your understanding of specific topics as well as point out your setbacks.

• Most of the students face an anxiety about the SAT exams. The private Prep schools help them to transform this threatening experience into an achievable and winnable experience with the help of their experts and councilors.

Thereby, enrolling to a private SAT Prep class is very beneficial for a high school student in order to channel their ambitions for success. In fact, with the increasing pressure for getting admitted to the best colleges and Universities, investing in this particular tool for academic success has become a mandatory factor.

SAT examination is essential for most of the colleges and Universities in United States. After taking the SAT, you also need to obtain particular scores in order to achieve a college acceptance. There are several factors that you need to do for obtaining your SAT scores. These include:

• Create an online College Broad account and sign up for the SAT. Once you are through it, you will find a link on their site that says ‘View and Send Scores’. Simply sign in and you can check your entire SAT score history. You will also find the data’s of the school where you have send your scores.

• You can even change the score recipients very conveniently at the My SAT page. Upon registering, you will be given four free score reports and you can change these score recipients anytime within a week after taking the test.

• Apart from receiving the My SAT Online Score Report for free, you will also receive a printed score report through mail. However, the online score report gives you more information about your performance on each section. This helps you to get a brief idea about the type of questions you attempted and their level of difficulty as well as the number of questions you omitted, or answered correctly or incorrectly.

• The online SAT score report also compares your score with the others in your school, state and nation and also provides a printable copy of your actual essay response. Thereby, you can easily work on improving your scores while retaking the exam. Based on your scores, it will also help you to search for colleges and careers.

• You also have the option to send your scores to some more colleges, if you pay an additional fee. Moreover, you can send your SAT scores for various scholarship programs.

SAT is longest and the most comprehensive test that a high school student will ever take. Its scores have a huge impact on your college options. Most of the colleges in United States take SAT score into consideration and do not accept students scoring below a certain level. Following certain guidelines while preparing for SAT will help you to reduce the burden. These are:

• Opt for practice SAT exams: Practicing SAT exams will help you to be familiar with its methods and procedures as well as to review your mistakes. Practice tests can be found at book stores and online. Improve your test scores by several points, every time you take a practice test.

• Improve your vocabulary: The majority of the verbal section of the SAT is based on vocabulary. It frequently presents odd words that sound like other simple words with a different meaning.

• Refresh the high school math: Most of the math on SAT is set from the earlier level of high school course materials. Thereby, practice the old algebra and geometry books to score high in this particular section.

• Read magazines, newspapers and books regularly: Develop your reading habit in order to broaden, challenge and improve yourself. Be well informed about the latest developments.

• Stop guessing: If you have no idea of the answer of any multiple choice question on the SAT, do not try to guess and get it right. It will be better to skip such an answer as getting wrong answers will have a more negative impact to your score.

• Practice writing: Your writing skill gets better only with practicing. You can try writing some SAT style essays everyday to be able to write them quickly.

Some helpful tips:

• Get a lot of sleep the night before the test.
• Have a good breakfast on day of your exam.
• Get to the test location well before the scheduled time.
• Retake your test if you are not happy with your SAT scores.

Writing SAT essays need practice and a special treatment. Think your essay in three parts such as, the opening, the body and the conclusion. The conclusion needs to be strong enough to leave an impact on the readers mind. The opening or the introduction of a standard SAT essay consists of one paragraph of about four to five sentences. State your view on the topic clearly in the opening paragraph, along with the points that will support your view. It is better to use maximum three points and try to avoid clichés. Include information and data that supports your points in the body and explain each point in separate paragraphs. While concluding bring you message together. Since it is the most important part of your essay, give your best effort to your conclusion. The following are some standard guidelines that will help you to write a strong SAT essay.

• Outlining your essay: This is one of the most important factors. Your reader is also going to mark you on the basis of the structure of your essay. The typical outline includes stating your position, followed by the first, second and third points. Explain each point as briefly as possible. Give a strong closing that will force your reader to accept your point of view.

• Decide your position: The first thing you need to do while beginning your SAT essay, is deciding your position. Never change your mind in between. Take your time to decide your pros and cons and stick to the one in which you strongly believe. This will help you to stay focused on the task.

Some essential points to check up:

• Be straightforward and to the point.
• Explain clearly and give simple examples.
• Do not generalize any of your points.
• Avoid using unnecessary words.
• Try a variety in structuring your sentences.
• Maintain a constant tone throughout your essay.