Ask Joe College

A Fun Quiz For You!

2010-03-11T18:45:00Z

(written by Val, College Counselor at the Center for College Planning)

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine was online the other day and found a quiz that helps match college majors to your personality. I was a little skeptical at first, but I ended up taking it with a few of my friends and was really surprised at how accurate the results were! The results listed some majors that I have been tossing around for a while and some others that sound interesting. While you can’t completely base your college major choice off of this (or any other) quiz, it is fun to try it out and research some of the options that come up for you. It’s quick and won’t take you much time at all to complete. You get the results immediately. Go here to take the quiz.

Have fun,
Val

Qualifying for a Standardized Test Fee Waiver

2010-03-10T13:45:00Z

(written by Rising STAR, Meryssa)

Hello readers, Meryssa here. I hope everyone had a great winter vacation. Today I am writing a blog about the SAT’s and ACT’s. Both the SAT’s and ACT’s are tests that most colleges require for admission. Fortunately, you will only have to take one of these. Typically New England colleges prefer the SAT’s but most other parts of the country prefer the ACT instead of the SAT. But check with the schools you want to apply to, most will accept either one.

Here’s what you need to know about the two tests:

• The SAT is graded on a scale from 200-800 for three sections (verbal, math & writing) making a score of 2400 a perfect score. Whereas, the ACT has an extra science component and a score of 36 is considered perfect.

• There are fees for both of these tests. The SAT is $45 for students. The ACT without the writing portion is $32, with the writing portion it is $47 (I recommend taking the extra writing piece because many schools require it). (More about fees in a minute!)

• Both tests take about four hours to complete.

Before winter vacation, I went to my guidance counselor to get information about these tests. My guidance counselor gave me a practice booklet that also has the dates of the SAT and when I have to register to take the test. My guidance counselor also gave me a “Fee Waiver Form” from the state of NH that helps waive my fee for the test. The youth that qualify are students who have free or reduced lunch, are a ward of the state (foster care, kids in placement, etc.), or children that come from low income families. If you think you would qualify for getting your fee waived for the ACT or SAT I suggest you talk with your guidance counselor as all high schools have access to these forms. After I went to my guidance counselor, I went to my school’s library to see if they had anything that would help me study for my SAT, and they did. They had a ton of books for both the SAT and the ACT.

So if you are planning to take either of these tests I suggest that you first go to your guidance counselor to find out more information about test dates and registration dates. Ask about “Fee Waivers”, especially if you are a foster kid. Then, you want to head to a library to see if they have materials to help you study. (And the Center for College Planning also has lots of SAT preparation books they can lend you. Call (800)525-2577, ext. 119 to see what books they have available.

Happy Studying,
Meryssa

Biometrics…What does that mean?

2010-03-09T14:23:00Z

(written by Val, College Counselor at the Center for College Planning)

Good morning bloggers,

In my online travels I came across an interesting article on biometrics. I had never heard of the term before, but after reading the article, realized that I have been surrounded by discussions related around the topic for years.

For those of you like me who did not know the meaning of the word, basically biometrics is the “measurement of physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, for use in verifying the identity of individuals (provided by dictionary.com)”. I’ve seen this technology used firsthand in some college cafeterias (like Keene State College) to scan student’s hands as they enter to ensure that someone else did not use their meal plan card. It was pretty cool to see.

Regardless of your belief in this field, it is growing and more colleges are offering courses in biometrics. For more information about the field, the types of career positions companies will be hiring for and the level of degrees required, read the full article here.

Best,
Val

College Acceptances Feel So Good!

2010-03-04T14:58:00Z

(written by Krystal, Rising STAR)

Hey Everyone!

This past month has been super exciting for me! I’ve gotten accepted to TWO colleges!!! I can’t describe the feelings I had when I found out I got accepted. It was like nothing about this process was real until I got that letter, then it all became real. It’s an incredible feeling!!! I was accepted to two great 4-year public schools and now I had the task of choosing which one to go to.

Even when I was applying to these colleges I was finding it hard to choose between them. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to attend. I have made my choice though, and the school I chose stood out for a couple of reasons. One reason is its location, it is closer to home. It is only about an hour and 15 minutes away from my house. The other school is more than three hours away. Another factor that played a huge part in my decision is that the other school no longer has the major I want to study. So ultimately, I’m very excited with my choice and I’m ready to continue with the next part of the college process… Scholarships! I will post more about it next week.

:o) Krystal

Social Media Sites for College Students

2010-03-03T19:21:00Z

(written by Val, College Counselor for the Center for College Planning)

Hello bloggers,

In recent years, social media sites have exploded. In a time where Facebook is a term spoken by many, there are people out there that think of social media sites solely for the purpose of connecting with people from their past, or keeping in touch with those close to them. But in actuality, reputable social media sites can offer so much more.

I found an article outlining 15 different social media sites that you may find helpful as a student soon heading to college or about to enter the workforce. They are separated into categories including: sites for organization, saving or making money, socializing professionally, training, internships and jobs, and finally travel.

To view the full article outlining the social media sites recommended in this article as well as a brief description, click here.

Happy networking,

Val

How to Tell if a Job is a Good Fit

2010-03-01T17:04:00Z

Thought I’d share a question that was posed to me recently, along with my reply, in the hopes that it might support you in determining if a job is a good fit.

Dear Coach Sue,

I've been stressing a lot with this job, and I'm not sure to what extent this stress is normal. I know stress/frustration is normal with a new job, but I'm having a very difficult time with the work, and feel like I'm struggling and taking way too long to complete projects I'm being assigned. I guess I'm just used to succeeding easily, and this is a major challenge. Could you give me some insight on the major signs that a job isn't right for me?

Signed,
Stressed and Recently Employed College Grad

Dear Stressed and Recently Employed College Grad…

When it comes to assessing whether a new job is right for you, a few things come to mind. First, I’d suggest paying attention to the times you feel most stressed as well as the parts of the work that you do enjoy (assuming there’s something you enjoy about it). What are you doing when you feel stressed? What are you doing when you don’t feel so stressed and when you’re enjoying the work and/or work setting. It could be that parts of this job go against the grain of your personality or that the job has you using skill sets that you don’t particularly enjoy using. Personality Type plays a major role in work satisfaction. For example, Extraverts tend to like a lot of variety and people contact while Introverts need time for reflection and prefer to handle one project at a time. Sensors prefer concrete tasks while Intuitives prefer to play with ‘outside the box’ possibilities. These are just a few examples that relate to Type and work preferences. You can use the book, Do What You Are and the website: personalitypage.com to identify your personality type and explore this job relative to your Type. Skills are another piece of the puzzle. Think back to the other jobs you had pending prior to taking this one and the ones that excited you most. What were the job descriptions for these positions…what were you going to be ‘doing’ (work activities) in these jobs? What excited you about them? How do those jobs that were exciting differ from this one? Think about the jobs that turned you off…but you went through the application motions anyway. What turned you off about them? What work activities were involved in the jobs that turned you off?

Another thing to consider is that there’s always a learning curve with a new job and some of the stress you’re experiencing could be related to new job overload. So, another question to ponder is whether or not you think you’d enjoy the work if it came easier to you. It is true that the ‘work world’ is very different from school (so you’re still adjusting) but work environments, industries, work functions, etc. vary significantly from one employer to another. It could just be that while you were excited about having a job search potentially finalized, this position just may not be the right fit for you.

Above all, don’t take it as a personal failure if you’re not able to adjust to this job. You don’t want to force yourself to go through the motions and continue to develop knowledge and skills in areas that turn you off. It’s not always easy to do so, but try to think of this as a laboratory experiment where you’re ‘performing’ but you’re also a ‘detached observer’ curiously noticing what’s working and what’s not working for you. Use that knowledge and insight to guide you as you move forward.

Sincerely,
Coach Sue

Until next time…
Sue Posluszny
www.careeroptions4me.com

For more information about me and my qualifications, please click here.

Searching for Colleges

2010-02-25T21:32:00Z

(written by Rising STAR, Meryssa)

Hey readers it’s Meryssa!

So last week I was at the trade school that I go to during the school day and they were having a college fair. As my class was walking to the college fair I started to really think about my future. Don’t get me wrong I think about my future a lot but never in this much detail. As we entered the college fair I made it my goal to ask a bunch of detailed questions of the college representatives working for schools that offered classes for nursing because that is what I want to do as a career.

I asked questions about the price of everything from room and board to how the food tasted. The questions you ask should be what you want to know about and are interested in. The main questions I think everyone should ask are: how much does it cost for all the things you are going to need in class such as books, tools, anything of that nature, how much room and board is (NOTE: If you are not going to live on campus you do not have to ask this question), how hard is it to get into the classes you need to take to fulfill graduation requirments, as well asI if financial aid is available if you need it.

Another great way to find out about colleges is to go on the college’s website. There is also an amazingly helpful website called www.campusexplorer.com On this website you can type in where you want to go to school and what you want to study or you can also just type in a name of a college you are looking at and it gives you a list of schools that meet those requirements. Then you can click on the name of the college and it gives you information including a list of expenses, size of the school, facts about the campus, and pictures!

There are even websites that grade colleges. www.collegegrader.com is a great one. Keep in mind that the information on there is completely subjective and many schools only have a very small percentage of their students providing reviews. It is interesting to look at, but I would not recommend basing your college decision on the content. There is also other information on scholarships and loans on there as well.

Finally, another search site that I recommend is www.bridges.com On here you can search for schools based on location, major, size, cost and more. Call the Center for College Planning at 888.7.GRADUATE x.119 and ask for the username and password to begin searching for FREE today!

Hope this blog helps make college browsing a little bit fun and easy for you.

Happy surfing,
Meryssa

What does "full-need" mean?

2010-02-24T21:14:00Z

(written by Val, College Outreach Specialist at the Center for College Planning)

With high school juniors beginning to research college choices and seniors starting to receive their financial aid award letters, we here at the Center for College Planning have been receiving many questions about colleges that may offer full-need to their students. For those of you who may not be familiar with this term, full-need basically means that the college is agreeing to meet the difference between what they think the family can afford for one year of college and what the actual cost of the college is. While there is no one way that all colleges review or meet need, I did find an article that explains full-need a little more and lists colleges that claim to meet it. Keep in mind, that while colleges would love to meet each of their student’s financial need, meaning the student might not have to take any loans/come up with their own funds to help pay, many are not able to do so. Some colleges may be able to offer you more financial assistance than other ones. Colleges give prospective students their best offers of aid up front, and based on those numbers, students and families should discuss which the best option for them is based on the numbers as well as the academics.

What is important to understand as you look at colleges or review your award letters is that every college may view financial need very differently. It's true every student needs to file their FAFSA form every year. That form provides the student with his or her EFC or Expected Family Contribution for the upcoming academic year. Full-need schools usually require additional financial information by completing the CSS Profile application administered by CollegeBoard or another supplemental financial aid form that the college provides. In order to be eligible for the maximum amount of aid, students need to complete all financial forms required by the college. This additional information can change the EFC when determining institutional aid– meaning money that the school can provide out of their own resources, not federal aid– money that the government may be able to offer to help pay for college. Oftentimes the student’s institutional EFC is higher than the federal EFC.

To view the full article, click here.

If you have any questions about a specific college’s full-need policy, please contact their Financial Aid Office. And as always, if you have any questions about your award letters, ways to meet the cost of college, or any other questions that you may have, please do not hesitate to contact us at 888.7.GRADUATE ext. 119.

Until next time,
Val

Need Help With the FAFSA?

2010-02-19T13:26:00Z

(written by rising STAR, Krystal)

This week I’m talking about the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Aid). Wow, what a long process!

First, you need to be aware of your financial aid filing deadlines so that you don't miss anything. Different colleges have different deadlines and they are usually different from their admission deadlines. So keep a list of each school you are applying to and BOTH their admission deadline and their financial aid deadline. This is really important!

Next, remember, most everyone is scared of filling out the FAFSA the first time and that’s okay! If it’s your first time filling out FAFSA it can seem very confusing. My advice would be to seek help. I was fortunate to have had help. The staff from NHHEAF came to my high school to help students and their families fill out the form. All I needed to do is bring my social security number, and any tax information (like W-2’s from work). If you have not completed your taxes at the time of your appointment you'll need to bring your previous year’s taxes.

Having the help made it so much easier and less stressful! It was a wonderful opportunity. I would tell everyone to use this FREE resource. I know they specifically came to the schools in North Country since it is hard for us to get to Concord, but they offer this same FREE service everyday in their Concord office. For more information about how NHHEAF can help you with your FAFSA, visit their website at www.NHHEAF.org.

Until next time,

Krystal

Narrowing Down my College Choices

2010-02-18T13:41:00Z

Since the last time I wrote, I have narrowed my decision down to two schools. One is a private school, which offered me a presidential scholarship, the other is a public school that I am just waiting to hear back from with an offer of financial aid. Both schools, even including the scholarship, would cost about the same (not including financial aid packages). However I still need to wait and see what I am offered before making my final decision.

Just recently I went to the public school (my top choice) and participated in their women’s lacrosse clinic (I plan to play lacrosse if I decide to go there). I was able to meet many of the players on the team as well as the coaches. Visiting the school again solidified my interest in it and gave me a real feel of what it would be like to go there.

This week I also attended a Presidential Scholars dinner at the private school I was accepted to. I was able to listen to information about the programs the school offers, as well as meet many current and prospective students. Let’s just say the school did a great job with the event, making every part of the night feel personal. From name cards to certificates, to them sharing some "fun facts" about next year’s class, they did a great job. One thing that I was really interested in was their 3 year honors program. If accepted, I could get my Bachelors degree in 3 years and then, get my masters in the 4th year. I’m not sure if it is something I will definitely pursue, but it is a great option to consider.

Both schools have great programs to offer, and I know the school that I would love to go to, however, it is going to come down to what each have to offer for me for financial aid. It will be a tough decision, but I am confident that I will make the one that is best for me after factoring in finances, academics and my desire to play college athletics.

The counselors at the Center for College Planning have been very helpful, answering my questions and providing the resources that I need to feel educated and prepared to make my decision. If you would like some guidance, please call them at 888.7.GRADUATE ext. 119 to schedule an appointment with one of their counselors today!

Best,

Lauryn

College "Coffee Talk" - February

2010-02-17T16:36:00Z

In this February podcast, the CCP counselors discuss the differences between the FAFSA and CSS Profile, where NH kids are going to college and why, and tips for controlling student debt. Enjoy!

A Great Guide to Using the Internet as a Tool in the Job Search

2010-02-16T21:03:00Z

Have you ever heard of ‘The Riley Guide’? The Riley Guide was developed by Margaret (Riley) Dikel. Back when I worked in higher education, Margaret came to speak to myself and my other college career center colleagues in New Hampshire. At that time Margaret was working in higher education as a librarian at a college in Rhode Island. Her resource, The Riley Guide, was still ‘young’ back then. Actually, she started it in 1993 as a two page handout. It went on-line in 1994 and has grown over the years and is considered a leading resource for using the Internet as a tool in the job search.

The Riley Guide is a directory of employment and career information sources and services on the Internet. It is primarily intended to provide instruction for job seekers on how to use the Internet to their best advantage, but recruiters and other career service industry professional also find information in the Guide that is useful. The Riley Guide introduces you to the online job search, listing many online sites and services that are useful for your job search. While The Riley Guide does not post jobs or resumes, it does point you to the places that do.

If you’ve never checked out 'The Riley Guide,' I urge you to do so. Margaret does an outstanding job of keeping the information up to date and pertinent. There are many gems to be found there. http://www.rileyguide.com

Until next time…

Sue Posluszny
www.careeroptions4me.com

For more information about me and my qualifications, please click here.

Building Writing Skills

2010-02-12T15:52:00Z

(written by rising STAR, Meryssa)

Hey Readers! Its Meryssa again!

These past few weeks have been crazy! At my school we just finished finals and next thing I know I have all this new stuff to do. It got me thinking about all the work that we are going to be expected to do in college. I started thinking what kind of study habits and writing skills I can be building now to help when I get to college.

Well in the next few weeks, those of you who are juniors like me are probably gearing up to write your “junior research paper”. Thankfully, I think I am a little less stressed then some of the other students in my school and that is because I have gotten to choose my own topic. So here are some tips that can help us write our “Junior Research Paper” AND help us prepare for writing college papers. First, don’t pick a limiting subject. For example if you are doing a report on cars, don’t just pick one make of car, instead pick a bunch of cars that are made by the same company. This will give you more material to write a ten page paper. Next, use more than one type of source when doing your research so you can get different types of information. For example, use a few different web sites, Google is a lifesaver when it comes to looking up web sites for your topic (NOTE: Don’t use Wikipedia because most teachers will not allow this as a valuable source because anyone can put anything on that web site). After searching for web sites, look for books, magazines or journals on your topic which librarians will gladly help you find. My teacher even suggested using songs as a source if we could find one that was about our topic. Basically, use multiple resources and get creative with them - just make sure you get them approved by your teacher because not all teachers are going to let you use the same sources. Lastly, DON’T PROCRASTINATE! Set aside a little bit of time each day to do something related to your paper. Whether you are at the library, online looking for information, or interviewing people as a source, just do a little something on your project every day – it makes the project that much more manageable.

Also NHHEAF is hosting Destination College, a college convention just for high school juniors. It is going to be lots of fun at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Besides sessions on topics related to college, there is a College Fair with admissions representatives from NH’s colleges and universities. So this is a great way for you to find out what colleges are out there that offer what you want to major in. Register today at www.destinationcollege.org.

Hope to see you there,

Meryssa

The ‘New’ Resume

2010-02-11T18:40:00Z

written by Sue, career counselor

I heard someone referring to the ‘new’ resume recently and I was wondering what they meant. I came to find out that they were referring to the new resume as anything an employer can discover about you on the Internet. I did some research and found one study that said 77% of employers are googling job applicants. Yet another one indicated that 86% of recruiters are googling candidates. And, as reasoning would follow, there are plenty of stories out there about candidates being ruled out based on what was learned through googling and other on-line candidate probing. I also read the following quite interesting story through a blog from Harvard Law School (located at the following link if you want to read the entire blog entry) http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2006/11/15/finnish-employers-cannot-google-applicants/

…an unsuccessful job applicant who previously attended a conference on mental health as a patient’s representative. During a job interview, the man discovered that in addition to his resume and the education exam certificates he had provided, his potential new employer had documents resulting from an Internet search that referred to aspects of his personal life, including his participation in the mental health conference. However, the information at the employer’s disposal did not clarify the applicant’s status at the conference, leading the employer to surmise that the potential employee could have had a mental health disorder

The key focus of this blog is that Finland bans employers from googling applicants while the U.S. doesn’t. Now isn’t that interesting! I don’t expect you’ll be moving to Finland anytime soon so the advice here is to ‘google yourself’ before you go job hunting and see what you find (you can use other search engines as well). There’s always a chance you might be able to edit your ‘new’ resume before an employer sees it.

Until next time…
Sue Posluszny
www.careeroptions4me.com

For more information about me and my qualifications, please click here.

Acceptance Letters and Scholarships

2010-02-10T20:15:00Z

Hey guys, so how are the acceptance letters coming? I got another letter from one of my schools. I am happy to say I got in – and the school offered me a nice scholarship! So now I am just waiting on one more school’s acceptance; this is getting very exciting.

However, I’m still waiting to hear back from my top school, which I would love to attend, about a financial aid package. They are the only school I have not heard back from about any scholarships, which is kind of a bummer considering that is the school I am really looking to go to. It’s going to be a hard decision to make.

But just as you think everything is starting to wind down, it’s time to really focus on searching (and applying) for scholarships. One that you may want to look into is the Take It to The Bank Scholarship . Each month through September, a $1000 scholarship winner will be drawn – and to be eligible, all you have to do is complete an entry form! How easy is that? I am now in scholarship search mode - checking my school’s guidance office, as well as online at websites like www.nh93.com, www.nhcf.org, and www.fastweb.com. Remember scholarships are free to apply for, so don’t apply for any scholarships which will require YOU to pay.

The work isn’t done for many of us. Keep up the hard work till May 1st when we all make the final decisions!

Lauryn

What’s the Deal with Award Letters?

2010-02-09T18:04:00Z

(written by Val, CCP College Outreach Specialist)

Some of you seniors may have started receiving award letters from colleges. If you have not, do not fret, many usually arrive in March or even April. If you have received one or more it is time to start analyzing the type of aid offered. Schools try to offer both gift aid (the free stuff in the form of grants and scholarships) and self-help aid (the stuff you can do to help yourself such as work-study and Federal Stafford loans).

As you look through your award letters, pick apart the free stuff from the stuff you have to pay back. Get to the bottom line of what each college will cost you for one year, and then multiply it by however many years you will be in school. Remember, college is a multi-year investment.

You may not have received as healthy a financial aid package as you would have liked from your dream school. It is important to begin having conversations now with your family about what is affordable and what kind of lifestyle you want to have in one year, five years and ten plus years. That knowledge may help you determine a feasible amount of loan debt for you and possibly your family to manage. You may also want to look closely at the aid packages offered by the second or third school on your list – while the school may not be your “dream” school, the aid they are offering you may be what allows you, and your family, to comfortably dream about your future.

If you have not started already, search and apply for scholarships – www.nh93.com, www.fastweb.com, and www.nhcf.org are all great scholarship sites to become very familiar with. Also make sure to visit your high school guidance office to see what scholarship opportunities they may know about. Keep applying! Many students are able to realize their college dreams through private scholarships.

If you have any questions about award letters or financing, please call us to schedule a Funding Options appointment. Call us today at 888.7.GRADUATE ext. 119!

Best of luck,
Val

What are Your Industry Preferences?

2010-02-03T21:14:00Z

In my experience (that is, 25 years worth of career counseling), I have found that many folks don’t give much consideration to their industry preferences. Not sure what exactly I mean by an ‘industry’? Well, I’m referring here to the clustering of services or goods into categories. A few examples include the textile, education, and information technology industries.

I dreamed up the Industry Preference Exercise back when I worked as the Career Center Director at Rivier College. I used it then, and still do, as one piece of the career assessment process. When combined with interest, personality and other assessments, we tend to see themes that come up over and over again. These themes are powerful in that they help folks to see that there are consistent patterns in their interests. These patterns can guide them as they explore their new career possibilities and as they search for work.

My colleagues at Rivier took this activity one step further by providing links to websites that let you explore industries of interest online. I consider this to be an excellent resource to support you in identifying and exploring industries of interest…although I am admittedly biased! So, if you’re in career transition and wanting to determine one or more industries of interest, or if you just want to know more about trends in an industry of interest, this is the resource for you. www.rivier.edu/departments/cardev/IndustryPreferenceExercise.htm

Until next time…
Sue Posluszny
www.careeroptions4me.com

For more information about me and my qualifications, please click here.

Choosing What Classes to Take in High School Next Year

2010-02-03T20:04:00Z

(written by Rising STAR, Krystal)

Hi Readers!

During my high school career I have taken many classes that have helped prepare me for my future career in social work. During my junior year of high school, I took both sociology and psychology for college credit. Both of these classes gave me a great understanding of society, human personalities, and social ethics. These classes helped confirm both my interest and my passion for social work.

I have also taken a child development class which has given me great insight into understanding children in terms of how they develop from infancy into teens and later into adults. I am confident that all of these classes will help build me a great foundation for what I will study in college. I am also sure I will use all the skills I am learning as I begin working in my career.

So when it’s time to start choosing your classes for next year, think about what you may want to study in college or do as a career. See if any classes your school offers will give you an opportunity to begin to get exposed to your field of interest or career interest. And of course, even if you can’t take a class in your field of interest, you can always be looking for a cool job shadow, internship, or community service opportunities!

Best of luck,
Krystal

So You Think You Can Write?!

2010-02-01T19:24:00Z

(written by Val, College Outreach Specialist)

Bloggers:

Are you currently a senior in high school?
Do you enjoying writing and public speaking?
Do you have a lot to say about the college admissions process and would love the opportunity to voice your advice and thoughts to an auditorium full of eager listeners?
Does inspiring current high school juniors and their families appeal to you?
Do you want to win a $1000. scholarship to help pay for college?

Then we have a scholarship speech contest that would be perfect for you!

Every year, the Center for College Planning organizes Destination College, a college planning day geared towards high school Juniors and their families. The speech winner helps start the morning activities with their original speech. The event will take place on March 27, 2010 (with a back-up snow date of March 28) at Southern New Hampshire University, located in Manchester, New Hampshire. The winner must be able to deliver their speech at that time.

The deadline for all entries is this Friday, February 5, 2010.

For more information about the speech contest rules, where to submit your speech and a link showcasing last year’s Destination College speech contest winner, please visit http://www.nhheaf.org/index.asp?page=stu_dc

Happy Writing,
Val

Exclusive Applicant?! Are You Really?

2010-01-29T21:49:00Z

(written by Rich, college outreach counselor)

In an effort to increase the number of applicants, some schools are resorting to "credit card" type marketing. In this interesting New York Times article, colleges discuss the tactic of mailing out "exclusive" applications.

You'll find it very interesting how admissions offices market to a student telling them they are part of a select group in order to entice the student to apply. After a little digging the reporters discover that these "exclusive" applications are sent to tens of thousands of students.

I'll let the story tell you the rest.

If you ever have questions about the validity of a school that sends you a pre-filled application, give the Center for College Planning a call at 1-888-7-GRADUATE x119.

Rich