The first colleges founded in the colonies were religious-based institutions. Today over 500 colleges and universities have some sort of religious affiliation representing approximately one-third of all four-year institutions. Among 50-50 colleges, 41% of institutions have a religious affiliations. Continue reading
If you spend any time on the internet or reading books on college athletic recruiting, you’ll see lists of common mistakes made by families during the recruiting process. The interesting thing is that there isn’t a lot of variation in the mistakes mentioned, it appears that people are making the same recruiting mistakes over and over. You have to wonder since there are warnings about them everywhere.
The following is a guest post by Kevin Newton who specializes in helping students apply to college in Europe.
When it comes time to apply to colleges, casting a wide net can often be beneficial. The opportunity to move away from home allows students to grow in remarkable ways. Yet for the overwhelming majority of American college applicants, that net often reaches no further than the Atlantic and Pacific shores. This is limiting for a number of reasons. For many students, the opportunity to study for a degree in Europe is a life-changing event. Continue reading
One reason many people give for attending a prestigious or ranked college or university is the need to be among intellectual peers. Parents and students worry that students won’t be challenged enough at less-well known schools. This is often accompanied by the networking argument–it’s the class peers along with faculty that will be crucial in developing future opportunities. Continue reading
College athletes without a scholarship that play on a team that offers scholarships are generally referred to as “walk-ons.” There are two types of walk-ons players, preferred or sometimes called recruited or invited, and just plain walk-ons. If you’re going to be a walk-on, “preferred” is definitely the way to go. Continue reading
Assume you are buying a car. All other factors are equal. Do you pick the one that costs $15,000 or $30,000? Seems like a no-brainer–go with the cheaper one.
Okay, assume all other factors are equal. Do you pick the red one or the blue one? Now it depends on what colors you happen to like.
You pick the red one because you hate blue and would get depressed every time you even look at the car. Someone else picks the blue one because he thinks the red car just screams “give me a speeding ticket.” In this case, is one choice better than the other? No, it’s just a matter of personal preference. Continue reading
With all of the negative perceptions associated with college testing (ACT and SAT), why would I bother to use them to rank 50-50 schools? The most basic reason is that despite the efforts of groups like FairTest.org, the SAT/ACT are still a fact of life for most high school students. Continue reading
Does playing baseball at Princeton and getting drafted by the Detroit Tigers count as success in playing baseball? If so, then pay attention to Steve Young’s recruiting story. The path to success isn’t always straight and obvious.
I remember the first letter I received from a college that was interested in me to play baseball for their program. I was a sophomore in high school and it was from Notre Dame. Now, I had already made up my mind in 7th grade that I was going to play baseball at Stanford but getting a letter from anyone at this point felt awesome! My first thought was, “How did they find me?” Continue reading
There are two major delusions/misconceptions about paying for college that too many parents have. The first is that by not saving for college, parents claim this will make their kids eligible for more financial aid. Why bother saving if it means they won’t get any financial aid? This falls into the delusional category. I generally give people the benefit of the doubt but I can’t help but think this has more to do with preferring to spend money now rather than saving for later. Oh, FYI, financial aid doesn’t work that way. Continue reading