How do wait-lists work?
What is a Wait List? If you have been notified by a college that you are on the wait list this means that the school has decided that you are eligible to attend the school but that they have already accepted too many students and there is no room for you. Don’t give up hope […]
How to make your decision after the colleges make theirs?
Visit Each Campus Perhaps you have already visited all the schools to which you applied once, just to get an idea of whether you wanted to go there or not. Well, now that you have been accepted, it’s a good idea to go back and look at each school with fresh eyes. You may have […]
Will your need for financial aid affect your chances of admission?
Need-Blind Admission Many colleges in the United States declare themselves to be “need blind” institutions. This means that they make their admissions decisions before considering the financial need of the applicants. With these schools, your need for financial aid should not affect your chances of admission at all. It is difficult to assess exactly how […]
What goes into a financial aid package?
What is a Financial Aid Package? After your application to a college has been accepted, you will be sent something called a financial aid package, or, sometimes, an award letter. This contains all of the different ways that the college and other parties are willing to help you pay the expenses involved in going to […]
How do you estimate your financial need?
How is Financial Need Calculated? Financial Need (FN) is a calculation made to determine the amount of money that a school would need to help your family find a way to afford so that you may attend that school. This amount is calculated by taking the total Cost of Attendance (COA) and subtracting from it […]
How do colleges determine your financial need?
What is Financial Need? First, financial need does not mean the amount of money that you think you will need to go to college. Instead, financial need is a calculation made by a college that has accepted you of the amount of money that they believe that a school would need to help your family […]
How to prepare an activities list that sets you apart?
What are Extracurricular Activities? What sort of things should you list in the section of your college application that covers extracurricular activities? An extracurricular activity is anything that you do that is not a high school class or a paid job. Extracurricular activities do not necessarily have to be organized through your high school. This […]
How to shine in your interview?
How the College Interview Works There are generally two types of college interviews and there are some schools that do not require them at all. The first type of interview is one in which you actually go to the school and meet with a representative from the actual Admissions Office of the college. This type […]
How to get strong letters of recommendation?
Choosing Someone to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation The letters of recommendation that you will be sending with the rest of your materials to the college of your choice is one part of your application over which you have no control. You don’t know what your recommender will write about you and once the […]
How to write an effective personal essay?
What is the Personal Essay For? Your academic record, test scores, honors, and so on are really just a list of numbers and data points giving a general idea of your abilities and interests, however numbers and lists do not give a good idea of who a person is. The personal essay is supposed to […]
