General

(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the ninth day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Nine ways to improve your opportunities.

9 Resources for Creating Your Own Softball or Baseball Recruiting Video

If you have a video camera, a video stand, and a basic editing program, you can create your own video that will be perfectly fine for college baseball or softball recruiting.

When the 99th Percentile isn’t Good Enough

Two 9s, just one 9, who cares? Anyway, I wrote this post in response to a student saying the a 34 ACT score as a minimum for getting into a super selective school was ridiculous. So I include some data as well as a list of “Dream” schools where such minimums exist.

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the eighth day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Eight college admissions money tips.

8 Things Parents Must Know About Paying for College

Am I repeating myself? Maybe. But that’s pretty much the point of the website. So once again, the most competitive colleges offer few, if any, academic scholarships.

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the seventh day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Seven things you should know in college admissions.

7 Things You Need to Know When Looking for Private College Scholarships

Approximately 7 percent of undergraduate students received private scholarships, with an average value of $1,982.

7 Key Signs of a Good College

Finding colleges you like and worrying about how you will pay for them later is a bad idea.

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the sixth day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Six ways to make things better.

6 Tips for Making a Better College Search List

The college search list should contain at least 20 schools, more if you have the time to research them. A good search list will include colleges that you haven’t considered or heard of before you started creating the search list.

6 Things High School Baseball Players Must Have on Their Athletic Profile

Regardless of what format you choose, your athletic profile must include the following six elements.

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the fifth day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Five things to know.

5 Financial Aid Strategies Parents of Sophomores Need to Know Before the Spring Semester

Yeah, I know it’s cutting it close for this one to be useful, but still worth a read.

5 Rules About Paying for College That Most Parents Don’t Know

If you only have a limited amount of time to look for scholarships, your best bet is look for colleges that provide the most money.

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the third day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Three wake-up calls about college financial aid and recruiting.

3 Reasons Why Your Kid’s Good Grades Won’t Pay for College

Yes, your teen may have great grades and test scores. But are they substantially better than everyone else’s that attends the colleges she’s applying to?

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the second day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

Two lists worth taking the time to review before creating your college list if you want to save money.

Harvard Scholarships: No Such Thing

This post is actually about Colleges that don’t Offer Merit Scholarships, Harvard is just the example. Skip down to the middle of the post to see a list of 84 colleges that provide little to no merit aid. And not all of them meet full need.

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(I’m taking a break from regular blogging and newsletters during the holidays. Hope you enjoy the DIY College Rankings version of the 12 Days of Christmas.)

On the first day of Christmas, DIY College Rankings wrote to me:

In case you missed it this past fall, one must read.

The EFC Chart: Understand How Much You’ll Pay for College

If I had only one post people read from my website, I would pick this one. In the past I would direct people to the EFC quick reference chart done by Troy Onink. However, it hasn’t been updated since 2017. The chart I’ve created doesn’t have the same level of income categories as Troy’s. However, it does demonstrate how much savings will affect your EFC.

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