Where to Find the Best Scholarships

2 kittens trying to find the best scholarships on the computer

kittens trying to find the best scholarshipsSometime during their senior year in high school, students will start receiving notices from the counseling office on tips on how to find scholarships and news about the various available college scholarships. These scholarships will probably range in the $250 to $1,000 range with a few hitting $5,000. They’ll be encouraged to start using the different scholarship search websites so that they won’t have to take out student loans. By January, they’ll hear that if only they would get organized and be persistent in their scholarship search, they can take advantage of all the college scholarships out there that haven’t been taken because no one applied.

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3 Things You Need to Know Before You Submit Your Early Decision Application

Student considering applying early deicsion

Student thinking about early decisionThe first of the Early Decision college admissions deadlines are approaching and students are nervously revising their college application essays. However, before they submit their applications, they need to remember that there are reasons why people criticize Early Decision as primarily benefiting rich kids. As students make one final review of their application, they should make sure they know the following three things about Early Decision.

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5 Ways to Get Smart About Filling Out College Applications

Pen and college application representing how to complete a college application

University Application Form representing how fill out a college applicationFilling out college applications is just one step of the college search process. But students and families quickly find out that this one step isn’t as simple as you might think. And there is a lot advice out there on how you should complete the college application process. Before you swamp yourself in page after page of internet search results, use the following websites to orient yourself and figure out what information you really need to complete the college applications.

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College Athletic Recruiting Strategy: Going Where the Teams Are

Map representing college baseball programs by state

map with pins showing college baseball teams by stateIf you are a high school athlete and already have five coaches from D1 schools showing up when you play and you’re only a junior-congratulations! You need not read any further. For those of you who aren’t nationally ranked athletes but still want to play at the college level-read on.

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5 Ways for Getting Smart About Financial Aid

Sign post representing questions about financial aid

sign with questions about financial aidThe internet is a wonderful thing, you can find the answer to just about any question including “what is financial aid?” The problem is that are usually so many answers that it’s overwhelming and it’s almost as bad as not knowing the answer at all. So here are five ways for learning about financial aid without wading through page after page of search.

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DIY College Rankings: Where to Start

woman using laptop to start using DIY College RankingsAs I went through the college search process with my son, I was constantly amazed at the way numbers are and are not used in the process. Everyone talks about student’s GPA, class rank, test scores, and college acceptance rates but no one seemed to know anything about their Expected Financial Contribution (EFC), four-year college graduation rates, or percentage of students receiving non-federal student loans.

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Strength and Conditioning Programs for Incoming College Athletes

athlete working out representing strength and conditioning programs for college athletes

incoming freshman starting college stength and conditioning programsIf you read any books on college athletic recruiting, you’ll come across a section that discusses the biggest surprises to new college athletes coming from high school. I can’t think of a single one that doesn’t mention the dramatically harder college strength and conditioning programs. In fact, I’m willing to bet it would come in first by a wide margin over any other freshman surprises.

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50-50 Highlights: Colleges with Cross Registration

Instructor explaining cross registration to college students

Instructor explaining cross registration to college studentsCollege consortiums offers students the opportunity to take classes at participating colleges through a cross registration system. Students don’t have to go through the admissions and enrollment process at the other college. Through various options, they are allowed to register for a course at an institution on the consortium lists while only paying tuition at their home school. These programs can dramatically expand the courses available to students as well as networking opportunities.

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Largest College Endowments by State

fingers pointing to money representing largest college endowments

fingers counting gold coins represent largest college endowments by stateEveryone wants to know if colleges are going to open next fall. Or rather if they are going to open for in-person classes since by now the colleges have demonstrated their ability to conduct virtual classes. Of course, if they are mandated to remain shut-down, it’s not a question they have to answer. But otherwise, there are a lot of reasons why colleges will be welcoming students on campus for classes coming this fall and they pretty much all come down to money.

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