Collegewise

Baby, It's Cold Outside

A lot of my students tell me they can’t go anywhere “too cold” for college.  I certainly get that the climate in Southern California is pretty amazing; I moved out here from Pennsylvania over eight years ago for college and haven’t moved back!  But that doesn’t mean you should automatically cross every college off your list where the temperature drops below 50 degrees.  If one of my students from the class of 2009 had decided that, he never would have gotten the opportunity to join 4,000 of his fellow Badgers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in a snowball fight that set a world record for number of participants and was featured on the Today Show.

This doesn’t mean that every student has to apply to colleges in the frigid Midwest, though believe me, I’ll try to make you if you're one of my students.  But it does mean you should keep an open mind when considering colleges.  Even putting one college on your list that’s outside of your comfort zone just might snowball into an amazing four-year experience (ba-dum-ching!).

Get to Know a College (Without the Jetlag)

Students and parents often ask us how to find out what colleges are really like (besides flying across the country and seeing the college in person).

One website we've found that really reveals a college's personality is www.unigo.com.  This site was created by Jordan Goldman, a 26-year-old Wesleyan graduate who was one of the case studies in The Gatekeepers (a required read for all Collegewise counselors).

Unigo hosts reviews, videos, and pictures - all submitted by college students themselves.  A crew of editors inspects all submissions to verify accuracy and content.  I've found that the reviews are interesting, funny, and for the most part, spot on.

That said, take the comments with a grain of salt.  Remember that reviews (whether it's of colleges or restaurants) are mostly made up of either super-happy or super-dissatisfied people - and not a lot of people in between.

Live Well, Learn Well

Forbes recently released it’s report on “America’s Top 25 Towns to Live Well.”

Not surprisingly, a lot of these towns have amazing colleges they call their own, or they’re suburbs of larger cities with outstanding four-year colleges nearby.

From the College of Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico (#24), to the University of Colorado at Boulder, whose town took the #1 spot and does repeatedly, it got me thinking: the quality of life aspect isn’t something that comes into play after someone graduates from college. It’s ever-present during a student’s four-year experience too, so why not incorporate that parameter when you're searching for the perfect list of colleges for yourself or your student?

CTCL - Colleges That Change Lives

The 2007-2008 application cycle is history.  It was an extremely competitive cycle.  More high school seniors than ever before applied to college and they submitted applications to a larger number of schools.  Our students how where they will be in the fall and we extend our best wishes to them for a successful beginning of the next chapter of their lives.  We now turn our attention to our rising seniors; those students who will be applying to college in the fall of this year.  As counselors, we are busy helping our kids compile a list of potential colleges that they will research and hopefully visit before they begin completing their applications.

Five tips to help seniors pick their colleges

May 1 is almost here, the official deadline when seniors must formally commit to the college at which they'll spend the next four years.  If you're in the enviable position of struggling with multiple college choices, here are five tips to help you make a good decision.   

1.  Stop and smell the letters.
We don't mean that you should literally sniff your acceptance letters (that would be ineffective and, well, just plain strange).  But when faced with a number of college acceptances from schools they want to attend, a lot of students forget to celebrate how lucky they are, and some go as far as to lament how stressful it is to have too many choices.  Don't be one of those people.  If you have 2 or 4 or 10 colleges from which to choose, you should celebrate what you've accomplished.  You're going to college.  You get to pick which college you want to attend.  Life is good.   So embrace your options, feel proud that you worked hard enough to earn this, and enjoy the process of deciding where you're going to spend the next four years.

Tips for Making the Most Out of College Fairs

Recently, NACAC (The National Association of College Admission Counselors) announced the spring college fair schedule. These are big productions, though not as exciting as your favorite band coming to town, and should not be missed. Click HERE for the schedule. Also, check with your high school college counseling center to see when and where others will be held in your area this spring too.

The following is advice from a former Admission Counselor who spent hours upon hours standing (that’s right standing, not sitting) behind cloth covered tables waiting anxiously to talk to kids just like you.

1. You don’t have to shake hands, but introduce yourself!    

Introduce yourself to the Admission (or alumni) representative standing behind the table of your favorite school(s). While it’s not very likely they will remember your name after just one time, if it’s one of many visits it might start to click when they see you thereafter. But just as importantly (or maybe more importantly) do it yourself. Do not have your mom or dad introduce you. Show that you have the confidence, initiative, and an interest by walking up to a representative. It will go much further than standing quietly by the side while your confident and interested mom or dad does this. You are the one seeking Admission, after all. And by the way - if you are sick or have just sneezed, don’t shake their hand.

Let the wait begin

For the majority of current high school seniors, the college application process is finished.  Those who applied in the early round, especially early decision, already know where they are going to be come September.  Students who applied early action, and were accepted, at least know that they are going to college in September. 

You, too, can be a crazy fan!

We all know that Duke has some wonderfully crazy basketball fans.  There just aren't many places where students will camp out in tents (in the cold) to get tickets.  But as hard as it is for a Duke student to get a ticket to a Blue Devil basketball game, it's even harder for a high school student to get an acceptance letter from the Duke admissions office. 

Sports fans, however, can take heart.  Check out rivals.com's rankings of the 16 schools with the best home-court advantage (based, of course, on the fevered pitch of their fans).  Sure, there are some highly selective schools on the list like Duke and Notre Dame.  But there are also a lot of great schools where you'll need to be on the top of your game to get tickets, but needn't be at the top of your class to get accepted.  Check out the pictures of fans at schools like Wisconsin, Illinois, New Mexico, and perennial Collegewise cool school Gonzaga.  As their fans would say (scream), Go 'Zags!

Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Southampton are part of the "University" centers of the State University of New York.  I was invited to attend a Counselor Visitation Day that was attended by guidance counselors from Massachusetts and Connecticut.  Stony Brook actively recruits non-New Yorkers for this very impressive institution.

For the Admissions Officers...

As Arun and I gear up for our annual trip to NACAC, I remembered a conversation I was lucky enough to have with Llloyd Thacker of the Education Conservancy at last year's conference.  The subject was college fairs, and how so many admissions officers are under enormous pressure to generate student interest in their schools.  Given that the vast majority of admissions officers we've met are smart, likeable people with a genuine interest in education and students, how could these reps use a college fair to really help kids make even better decisions about their educations and their futures (if these reps were allowed and encouraged to do so)? 

Here were some of the ideas we discussed, (though I'm sure the best ones are probably all courtesy of Lloyd). 

1.  Don't focus only on the features of your college--share the real benefits of the process of education (this one was definitely Lloyd's).