College Admissions Help Blog

Boston City Council member Michael Flaherty is looking to pass new legislature which would provide Massachusetts students with free online access to preparatory programs. Students would be able to log into the Boston Public Library’s website to access the program if this new piece of legislature passes in December.

Online resources have been a growing national trend recently in trying to close the gap between students from affluent families and those families with fewer resources. These programs have been known to boost students SAT scores by as much as 300 points.

But many feel this is a “Johnny comes lately” piece of legislature. A growing number of colleges nationwide are dropping the test as an admissions requirement and making it optional. Grade point average and course rigor now hold more stock. Some also question how much impact this would really have when the reality is there’s only a handful of kids on the cusp of getting into a better college where the additional points could be beneficial.

Personally the more tools someone is willing to give me the happier I am. Instead of having just a hammer and nails to build a house with I’ll gladly take a buzz saw, a nail gun, and whatever other tools you want to give me to get the job done. Perhaps this piece of legislation will only help one Massachusetts student if it goes through, but that one student may be you.

The college application is the primary resource for admissions departments to determine a students worthiness for acceptance. This application is the only opportunity students have in presenting themselves in the best light possible, in hopes of gaining admission. Many will say that completing the application is a test in-of-it itself. We agree. This simple test determines how detail oriented students are and how well they follow instructions. In any give year, colleges receive thousands of applications for admission from prospective students, all competing for the same seat.

In order to help students submit an error free university application, weve asked admissions officers across the country what common mistakes do students consistently make on applications. Check out the major blunders:

1. Students do not read the directions carefully to make sure they understand what items are needed in order to complete their application. Recommendation:Before beginning the application read through it for understanding.

2. Students write the wrong social security number or use different numbers on different pieces of information. Recommendation: Carefully copy your social security number from your card.

3. Students use the wrong college address labels.

4. Students applying for regular decision but checked early action.

5. Students use the online application but fail to request information from their high school counselor.

6. Students have questionable remarks and photos of themselves on social network sites, like MySpace, FaceBook and others (a recent problem).

7. In the college essay students exceed the number of words required. Recommendation: If you need to write a 500 words essay it must be 500, not 500+. Colleges test your ability to communicate your thoughts with clarity and concision. They want to see that your writing flows and is methodical.

8. Students miss the application deadline. Recommendation: After choosing which institutions you would like to apply to, write down the application deadline dates on a calendar or in a personal planner. Cross off the names of the colleges as you submit your application.

9. Students take ACT or SAT in the spring of their senior year. Recommendation: Tests should be taken in your junior year or fall semester of your senior year to ensure that test scores will be released on time to apply for the September semester. Also, when you take the SAT or ACT early, you can retake the test if the scores are unsatisfactory.

10. Students send in application but do not send high school transcripts. Recommendation: Make a check list of documents that will accompany your application.

11. Students copy or buy essays from the internet. Recommendation: Do not plagiarize essays. Write your own essay. If you are copying essays from the internet then most likely another student will do the same. Getting caught is risky and not worth it.

12. The students parent fills out the application. Recommendation: You are the one seeking admission into college, not your parents. Therefore, you should be the one to complete the application.

13. Activity list is full of ambiguous acronyms. Recommendation: Do not use acronyms. Spell out each word. Just because you know what the acronyms mean, does not mean others will.

14. Students expect long list of activities to overshadow actual academic work. Recommendation: Instead of joining an array of clubs, extensively participate in one or two activities. Admissions officers are not looking to see how many activities you sign up for as much as your role in each extracurricular.

15. Students provide incorrect email addresses / telephone numbers.

16. Students forget to sign and date the back page of the application or have their parents sign it.

17. Students misspell their intended major: psychology and business are the most misspelled.

18. Students are careless in filling out the application and make typos, grammatical errors or have sloppy handwriting. Recommendation: Illegibility/poor penmanship can create problems, especially handwritten essays. Do not handwrite essays unless the application specifically requests you to. Otherwise, type them on a computer and attach the printed page to your application. If your handwriting is poor, consider applying online.

19. Applications folded 10 times to fit in a small envelope look bad. Soda/coffee stains, and dirty or sticky pages, torn/ripped edges all can affect your eligibility. Recommendation: Mail your application package in a legal size envelope. Also to be careful, DO NOT eat while completing your university application.

20. Students use pencil when filling out an application. Recommendation: Use a blue or black ink pen.

21. Some applications ask for County and/or Country. Recommendation: Read carefully! Do not mix these up.

22. Many students who have jobs do not mention them on applications. Recommendation: Often, these jobs impact the time students have available for activities. Include this information to paint a full picture of your out-of-school activities.

23. Students send the wrong essay. Sometimes students mix up college essays and send an essay intended for one university to another college.

24. Students do not address the essay question / topic. Recommendation: If you are not sure, ask your counselor for clarification.

25. For online applications, students slip the mouse and click on the wrong item in a drop down box. (It is amazing how many students say they’re from Afghanistan — which is usually listed right after United States on drop-downs for countries)

26. Students substitute thesaurus words for more colloquial phrases. Recommendation: Bright teens do not and should not write like their parents. Applications that stand out do not have the above problems. They “tell” rather than “show.”

27. Students list “Hanging out with friends” or “talking on the phone” as an extra curricular activity. Recommendation: For those who do this, hanging with friends and talking on the phone are not note-worthy activities. Ask your counselor if you are not sure what to include.

28. Students blame a teacher in their personal statement for bad grades. Recommendation: Colleges care more about what you did about the bad grade than why you received it in the first place. Did you ask for extra help? Repeat the course? Get a tutor?

29. Students turn in essays with numerous misspellings and grammatical errors. Recommendation: Proofread and ask your counselor or teacher to read it over. Remember that sometimes computers do not pick up errors that are spelled correctly.

30. Students do not inform their high school counselor that they are applying to colleges x, y, and z. Students fail to mention the necessity of submitting required forms by the certain deadlines. Recommendation: Tell your counselor which colleges you are applying to for admission.

31. Students do not send SAT or ACTs, OR assume later test scores will automatically be sent to same institutions as indicated in earlier tests. Recommendation: Each time taking the SAT or ACT, request the scores be sent to your institution of choice.

32. Information on student transcripts is not updated or incorrect. Recommendation: Check your name spelling, home address, phone numbers AND course names, grades, and credits received.

33. Many colleges that use the Common Application also have supplements. Students forget to complete the supplement.

34. Students write generic essays. Recommendation: Relate your essay to yourself. Write details that are unique to you and that only you could have written.

35. Students list e-mail address that are in bad taste or vulgar. Recommendation: Be aware of the impression your e-mail address makes. Create a “professional” e-mail address for college and job applications. Offensive e-mail addresses make a bad impression.

36. Students do not ask a teacher or advisor to review their application before submission. Recommendation: After completing your application, ask your parent or your high school counselor to proofread it for you. Always have a fresh eye look at your application. Doing so will help eliminate the above mistakes.

Countless stresses are involved when embarking on the great college hunt. Not the least of which are parents worrying about how to finance their children’s education and students worrying about SAT scores and if they’ll get into their first school of choice. But what many don’t stop to consider is once you successfully jump that first hurdle and get into college a new series of challenges and stresses arise for students.

A myriad of students are away from home for the first time and are leaving their familiar circle of friends. That comfort zone they have come to depend on will disappear virtually over night. That’s why many schools are now allowing students to meet and sample campus life before the annual mad dash in the fall. They are looking to make the transition a bit softer for in coming freshman.

More than four fifths of colleges now offer early-start programs. Some students take one credit or remedial courses to learn the campus while other programs are more geared to helping students make friends, while also making them aware of common first year pitfalls.

Some schools, like the University of Chicago, go kayaking and/or white-water rafting. At Georgetown they host getting-to-know-you trips to Greece, Fiji, and Alaska. Harvard actually pays a group of incoming freshman $10 per hour to arrive a week early and clean up the campus.

Still, many are not willing to sacrifice their last summer before college to start school early. A lot of students have no problem making new friends, and a new environment doesn’t faze them in the least. But we are not all cut from that same cloth. As someone who loves to have his ducks in a row I would have benefited greatly from early orientation.

They say the early bird gets the worm, but you can keep your worm. I’ll take a jump start on my academic career.

“Education officials say students looking for lower tuition costs helped drive up enrollment at the state’s universities and colleges by 4 percent this fall,” The Boston Herald reports. “The state Department of Higher Education said on Tuesday that the number of students attending the state’s 28 undergraduate institutions rose by about 7,000 from last fall to a record high of 176,314.”

You can read the complete October 15, 2008 Boston Herald article on-line.

Is it just me or do the words “standardized test” sound like an oxymoron? I mean, there is nothing standard about that test. Well, perhaps the questions on the exam are universal but certainly not the path each student followed to get there. Each student’s background, school, and learning institute prepares them differently.

Holistic Admissions seem to be the way to go these days. Many schools are now moving away from grades and test scores and replacing them with individualized reviews for would-be students. The practice is most commonly associated with the liberal arts major.

I think that’s a fairer approach. All students want is a chance, and to be defined by one test is not something I view as fair. I say hoorah for holistic admissions!!!!!!!

According to the The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“Tuition and required fees at American universities increased at a measured rate over the past two years,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “But given the recent downturn of the nation’s economy, that trend is unlikely to continue, say officials at the American Council on Education. Stable state budgets, healthy endowment returns, and a rise in private donations helped keep tuition and fee increases within a few percentage points of the consumer price index, said Tim McDonough, assistant vice president for public affairs at the American Council on Education. However, the nation’s economic downturn over the last six months, he said, will soon change all that. Mr. McDonough expects pressure to raise tuition will increase as sources of revenue begin to dry up.”

You can read the complete October 8, 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education article on-line. A paid subscription may be required.

The Tuesday, October 7 USA Today editorial page features a “debate” on test-optional admissions. Both the editorial column and a response by FairTest praise the NACAC Commission report and examine alternatives to the ACT and SAT

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/index.html#entry-56642971

Yes, there’s a World of Warcraft Credit Card. With game time.

read more | digg story

If any of you are like me you need some plastic when it comes to school. Whether you purchase your books, your parking pass, tuition, or any other countless school expense. The reality, however, is you credit line may not be as fat as it once was.

I have spoken to many students and parents alike who are seeing a decrease in their credit line. You may want to take note the next time you receive a piece of mail from your credit card issuer. I usually throw any credit card mail away that is not a bill, but I’m going to peer a little closer than I had before.

With less available capital the banks have been forced to tighten their portfolios, and decreasing consumer credit lines is one way of doing it. Of course this hurts all of us. A lower line of credit means less consumption of goods and services which hurts the already stagnate economy.

You hear politicians talking about the transfer from Wall Street to Main Street. This is just another illustration of that as it hurts the little people.

I’m still waiting and hoping for congress to pass the bailout bill, which would add more liquidity and elasticity to the market which we all desperately need.

Hey Regis, how bout a life line?

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