Two of the most valuable experiences you can seek, appreciate, and relate on a college application are learning and growth. Learning and growth take place in lots of forms, and not all of them present as successes or achievements. Teaching yourself to play the drums and then starting a band qualifies, but so does flubbing […]
Read More >Even spare change adds up

Financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz has earned laudable trust in the education space for his willingness to share great advice for free. And with the posting of his latest piece, “Top 10 tips to growing your 529 plan funds faster,” I decided to put one piece of that advice to the hypothetical test. 8. Save […]
Read More >The best application-completion strategy
In what’s now become a September tradition, here’s my past post sharing Patrick O’Connor’s sane, easy-to-follow system to help seniors do the most important college application-related task—just make progress. No wasted time meticulously over-scheduling your every to-do (which rarely works), or worse, procrastinating until the last minute. Just make progress, a little bit at a […]
Read More >When not to find a better way
Finding a better way to do something worth doing is almost always valuable provided that everyone affected agrees that it’s better. Your better way to organize inventory at your part-time job isn’t actually better if your boss and coworkers don’t agree. The better day and time to host your club meetings isn’t better if it […]
Read More >Fit in or stand out?
Too many kids go through high school following the college-prep crowds. Other people sign up for clubs, so they sign up for the same clubs. Other people do more test prep, so they do more test prep. Other people seek leadership positions, or run for class office, or tally up their totals of community service […]
Read More >Learn from what’s worked
One of the benefits of working with talented people you respect is engaging in reasonable debates over complex questions. That happened this week with a group of our managers discussing a potential opportunity for us at Collegewise. There were plenty of smart, plausible arguments on both sides, one of which was that when we tried something not […]
Read More >High school all over again
I’ve noticed that what sometimes may appear to be parents putting pressure on their kids—to achieve, to excel, to get admitted to famous colleges, etc.—is actually secondhand pressure. It’s pressure parents are feeling themselves that drifts downward to their kids. All the messaging kids hear directly and indirectly about how important it is to get […]
Read More >There’s a FAFSA app for that
Students applying for financial aid this fall will have the option of using the newly released “FAFSA App,” available on both Apple (iOs) and Android devices. The full version will be available on October 1, 2018 to coincide with the release of the 2019-2020 FAFSA form. That’s mostly good news, but I’d also suggest using the app with appropriate […]
Read More >Praise both strengths and effort
I always read the regular emails I signed up to receive from The Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley’s initiative driving scientific research into social and emotional well-being. While I’m always willing to hear the college admissions-related advice from someone who’s demonstrated real expertise around a topic, it’s nice to come across recommendations also backed […]
Read More >If it were all just a lottery
Students, here’s a three-step process to add a little more joy to—and remove some stress from—your college admissions process. 1. Consider this question: If college admissions were nothing more than a lottery—no application or evaluation at all, just buy a ticket (limit one per applicant) to enter the lottery at any college that interests you, […]
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