During the first two years of Collegewise, I tried to track all our income and expenses on a spreadsheet. I was an English and history major in college so you can guess how well that went. Here’s how I solved the problem, and what I’d recommend for any new private counselor in handling your accounting. […]
Read More >When college essay prompts are like Tweets
The Chicago Tribune ran a story last week about how many college applications now include short, quirky essay prompts that must be answered in 25 words or less, like: My favorite thing about last Tuesday?—University of Maryland Imagine you have to wear a costume for a year of your life. What would you pick and […]
Read More >If you haven’t finished (or started) your applications
If you’re a senior starting your holiday break today with unfinished (or yet-to-be-started) college applications, let’s confront the brutal facts. Your college applications are important, and you don’t have a lot of time left to do them. But you still have plenty of time to do them well if you’re smart about it. Here’s how. […]
Read More >Seeking approval vs. taking initiative
Some students want collegiate approval of all the choices they’re making in high school. They only want to do something if it’s guaranteed to help them get into their dream schools. Those students sound like this: “Would it look good if I got a job this summer?” “Which would be better—playing the clarinet or running […]
Read More >Do a FAFSA practice test
Senior families, if you want to apply for need based financial aid, you’ll need to fill out the FAFSA (free application for federal student aid), and you’ll need to submit it sometime between January and March (check the deadlines for your chosen colleges). Unfortunately, you can’t begin filling out the form until it goes live […]
Read More >How your group can come up with better ideas
Let’s say you’re having a club meeting to come up with ideas to raise money next year. Here’s how to make that meeting a lot more productive, courtesy of the business/marketing class I took last week. Don’t have the meeting where you normally meet to do work. Go someplace else like a restaurant. Assign one […]
Read More >No financial airbrushing
At the end of a family vacation, we’ve usually got a lot of photos to sort through. Which ones do you keep? If you’re like me, you keep the best ones—the photos where you look impressively young, thin and perfectly tanned. Anything that didn’t capture you in the best light gets deleted. It’s hard not […]
Read More >Plenty of important roles
I spent last week with 60 people in an invite-only business and marketing class. The group included a product manager at Google, a former speechwriter for a congressman, a programmer who writes software for major banks, the owner of one of the largest commercial construction companies in Texas, two published authors, the founder of a […]
Read More >The Collegewise Financial Aid and Scholarships seminar
I’m doing my last seminar of 2011 for our Collegewise senior families today—“Financial Aid and Scholarships.” I’ll be talking about how they can manage the process, what they can do now to prepare to apply for aid in January, and answering common questions like, “Can applying for aid hurt my student’s chances of admission?” I […]
Read More >For parents attending college information sessions
When college admissions officers do information sessions on their campuses or at high schools, a lot of parents ask questions on behalf of their kids. The fact that a lot of parents approach the reps after the sessions and pepper them with more questions, leaving the kids standing sheepishly in the background, is something of […]
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