Why Do Families Need a College Admission Consultant?

One of most frequent questions we get here at A2Z College Planning is “Why do I need a College Admission Consultant?” It comes in a variety of forms, but they all address the same thing – what value does a CAC bring to your family?

To answer the question simply – College Admissions Consultants save you time, money, and frustration, and ensure that you’re doing everything you can to help your child achieve his or her college dreams!

Won’t a College Admission Consultant cost a lot of money?
College is expensive, and there’s simply no getting around it. More than 100 colleges in the United States estimate first year expenses at over $50,000. More importantly, your student’s college experience has a tremendous impact on his/her success for the rest of his/her adult life! With that kind of importance placed on college admissions, parents place a high value on ensuring their child gets into the best school and the right school.

 College Admission Consultants work hard to provide a service that is cost-effective and ensures success. A2Z College Planning offers programs as low as $29.95 per month for college planning!

My student already has a Guidance Counselor; isn’t that enough?
Guidance Counselors are some of the most devoted and wonderful people in our high school systems, but the fact is that they’re frequently overwhelmed by the sheer number of students they have to support and limited in how much time they can spend with each individual.

College Planning Consultants provide the dedicated one-on-one  support that your student needs to get ahead in the college planning process, and they provide objective guidance on how they should structure their Junior and Senior years to achieve the best success. We work with your school counselor to provide the best advice for your student.

College planning takes so much time and effort! How can I manage one more thing?
College admissions and college planning do take time and effort, but it doesn’t have to be a daunting task! Parents often start early (as early as Grade 8) to build a plan that will ensure their child’s success.

College Planning Consultants share the burden of college planning with you and your student. More importantly, we provide experience, advice, and guidance that you may not find anywhere else, so you can direct your time and energy exactly where it’s needed to help your child achieve success.

How to Avoid Student Debt

A recent article by CNBC shows that student debt is reaching unprecedented levels – almost 1 TRILLION dollars! During a recession, it can be hard for families to deal with the escalating cost of college for a student. How can you avoid your child coming out of college with a crushing student debt?

1) Start Early. Your child maybe a little one now, but college can come up faster than you think. Parents often say “Where has the time gone?” when they find themselves faced with a teenager on the way to college, so start saving early for your child’s education. Most states offer substantial tax rebate incentives for college planning funds.

2) Know the Financial Aid Process. There are millions of dollars available to support college dreams in the United States. Are you sure that your child has access to all of them? Work with a College Admission Consultant to understand the Financial Aid Process and meet all the requirements and deadlines to support your child’s college dream.

3) Apply for Scholarships and Grants.  Colleges invest heavily in attracting the best, not the most affluent, students to their institutions. Each achievement in a student’s high school career can be one more dollar towards college tuition or expenses, if you both apply for the right scholarships and grants, and support that application with stellar high school credentials.

College is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be crippling. Make sure you’re accessing the right resources and boosting your child’s college dream with the correct financial planning going into the college admissions process.

5 Things Your Child Can Do At Christmas to Boost The College Dream

‘Tis the season to think about family, friends, and all you want to accomplish in the New Year. If your child is heading to college this year or next, take this opportunity to boost his or her college dream.

1) Volunteer – Colleges are interested in having the best and most well-rounded students as graduates of their colleges. Encourage your child to volunteer with a charitable organization and help those less fortunate while packing his/her application with current and relevant volunteer experience.

2) Fundraise – The holidays are packed with friends and family members who are looking to buy gifts for others. Your child can help his/herself and  others by fundraising for college expenses through bake sales, home crafts, or personal services like Christmas tree disposal.

3) Hit the Books – The holiday break at Christmas is a time of relaxation, but it’s also an opportunity to get ahead of course work. Ensure that your student is revved up for the New Year by spending a bit of time studying new course material for the coming semester.

4) Encourage Ethical Giving – Often friends and family members are stumped by what gift to get a teenager for the holiday season. If college is a few short months away, a donation to the child’s college fund is a perfect gift that will give for the rest of the year and beyond. The gift of a one-on-one College Admission Consulting through A2Z College Planning can be made simply by contacting us at info@a2zcollegeplanning.com

5) Get Organized – High school and college planning can be a stressful time for students, and its can be difficult to juggle deadlines for both college applications and high school course work. Help your student out by providing them with the necessary tools such as school materials or a personal organizer.

Happy holidays to all our readers!

Quiet Bragging: How to Get the Best Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation are an important part of your college application process, and the first glimpse at your character that college admissions teams will have. Put your best foot forward by making the most of your letters of recommendation.

1)      Pick your references carefully. Often colleges will request recommendations from specific people, such as your teacher on a certain subject, or your school counsellor. Be sure to know exactly what the college is looking for, and deliver that. Choose current teachers who can speak positively of your performance, rather than going back to teachers from freshman year, as colleges want a snapshot of your current academic work.

2)      Give your references time. It’s easy to underestimate how much time it can write a letter of recommendation, but keep in mind that teachers and counsellors often are juggling multiple requests, as well as their own coursework! Give your references at least 1 month to complete their letters, and preferably longer than that to ensure that you get the most carefully thought-out and compelling recommendations. It helps if you put your request for a letter of recommendation in writing, including deadlines, and to follow up with your reference a couple of times during the process to keep them on track.

3)      Give your references information and motivation. A short conversation with each of your references about what colleges and programs you’re considering will give them perspective for your letter. Remind them of times that you did a particularly good job on a project or essay, and even give them copies of your work if it jogs their memories. You want to give them all the information they need to write the best letter of recommendation. This is a good time to do a bit of quiet bragging and remind your references why they should be proud to recommend such an excellent college prospect.

4)      Thank your references. Be sure to follow up with each person who writes you a letter of recommendation to thank them for their work.

Students are often surprised at just how positive their letters of recommendation, so if possible, ask for copies to keep. They’ll serve as motivation throughout your college careers!

Race to the Deadline

With the deadlines for college applications coming up shortly, students often find that this time of year is a whirlwind of applications, essay writing, and test taking, in and amongst holiday prep and family time.

Here are some simple tips to avoid missing those important college application deadlines:

1) Start a calendar. It’s very easy to have a deadline sneak up on you, so be prepared! Having a simple calendar up on your wall, with all the important deadlines circled in red will ensure that you aren’t scrambling at the last minute to get your application out the door.

2) Prep early. College admission essays typically take at least 4 hours to research and write, and it’s important that you have a trusted advisor proofread and edit your essay at least once. Start your essay and other application material early, to avoid a late-night writing session that will result in work that’s less than your best.

3) Stay on your test results. SATs are stressful enough without worrying that your results might not arrive in time. Keep track of when you can expect results, and when results will be sent to your selected colleges.

4) Line up your materials. Financial aid applications are a separate process from your general admissions application and requires financial information about your family. Make sure that your parents are informed about the information that’s required and the deadlines for Financial Aid applications. Similarly, letters of recommendation may take time to write, so be sure to request them early to give your reference person time to write a glowing account of your abilities.

5) Stay on track. It can be easy to ignore your currently high school course work in order to manage your college applications, but final year grades are an important factor in your admissions process. Keep up with your current work and keep your eye on the prize!

It may be a sprint to the finish to hit your college admissions deadlines, but with a bit of forethought and consistent attention to detail, you can ensure that you never have to worry about missing out on your college dream!

How Students Can Use Goals to Set Priorities

It’s common for students to have many different, and sometimes conflicting, goals. Goals may include:

- Being made sports team leader (i.e. quarterback)
- Getting admitted to a great college
- Making money through a part-time job
- Being voted homecoming king/queen
- Mastering a musical instrument
- Being the best yearbook editor in the history of the school
- Winning a scholarship for college
- Being chosen as valedictorian
- Spending a much time as possible with friends
- Volunteering with a local charity

Start by writing down a list of at least 5 goals. Some will seem very important, and some will be less important. The important thing to realize is:

Your Goal List defines what you spend your time on.

Working from your Goal List, set priorities. Go through the list and pick the most important goal on the list. What is the one thing that you most need to accomplish? Note that the wording is what you “need” to accomplish, not what you “want” to accomplish. Everyone wants to master the piano like Mozart, or be a quarterback like Brett Favre. The focus should be on the one thing that will further your future, and in doing so, allow you the opportunity to achieve some of your other goals.

Chances are your top priority is going to be getting into a great college. That doesn’t mean that your other goals aren’t important – they’re very important! They may support your primary goal, or they may afford other rewards like personal satisfaction and personal development. But now you know what your top priority is, and you can firmly fix that in your mind. When you’re confronted with a tough choice between two activities, you can simply ask yourself:

“Which activity will help me achieve my top priority?”

The Waiting Game

One of the most difficult positions for students to be in is to find themselves admitted to the waiting list at their 1st choice college. Suddenly, the college admissions process becomes even more complex, as the student must weigh waiting for a spot to open vs. accepting an admission to a less desirable school.

Some of the things that students can do to make the most of their chances on the waiting list include:

1. Being informed as to what the “waiting list” means. Even if your child eventually gets accepted from the waiting list of the school, he/she may miss out on scholarship, housing, or internship opportunities that are available to first round students. If you were depending on Financial Aid to pay for a portion of tuition, this may be a deciding factor
2. Demonstrate enthusiasm. It can be hard to go back to the college that has placed you on a wait list and still demonstrate enthusiasm, but this may help rank you higher on the list. Send a letter of appeal to the Admission Board, not to argue the placement on the list, but simply to state that you’re still very eager to enroll. You may also wish to include referrals from your guidance counsellor or a mentor in high school who can vouch that you would be an excellent admission prospect.
3. Do a second interview. If you had a previous admission interview and you genuinely feel that you blew it (you were sick, you were late, you were stressed about something that day, etc), request a second admission interview with your ideal college and wow them. Your goal is to make them think “We made a mistake overlooking this student the first time!”
4. Make backup plans. The only thing worse than not starting September in your 1st choice college is not starting college at all! Re-assess your 2nd or 3rd choice colleges and seriously consider if you’d be willing to settle for them. Inquire as to their policies for transfer to other colleges – perhaps you can start your college career there, and transfer to your 1st choice college in the 2nd year.

Playing the waiting game can be stressful, but it’s not the death blow to a strong college dream. Make the most of the waiting list with these simple steps.

5 Tips to Get the Most from Your Campus Visit

One of the more exciting and fun parts of your college admissions process is visiting the campus. Colleges understand that this is an important step to your decision as to what college you should attend, and do their best to make their college appealing to both students and parents alike.

While enjoyable, a campus visit is also critical to extracting the most information and value from your campus hosts, so that you can make an informed choice, and put your best foot forward with the Admissions department.

Here are some simply tips to follow to make the most of your campus visit

1) Know the college: Instead of asking the simple questions that campus guides hear all the time (How many students does the college have? What year was it founded?), get the basics out of the way by reading college brochures and studying the applicant information on the college’s website

2) Feel like you’re already there. A lot of colleges offer virtual tours that you can review from the comfort of your home. Check them out, as well as a campus map, ahead of time so you don’t waste precious time wandering around.

3) Research your areas of interest. If your focus is a particular department, review the department online, and know the principle players (the Dean, professors, and faculty). If you are lucky enough to run into them on campus during your tour, you may have the opportunity to introduce yourself and get a foot in the door!

4) Ask intelligent questions. College Admission departments really like engaged, enthusiastic students. Stand out by asking questions such as “What was the most recent paper published by the head of the faculty?” or “What kind of internships and research possibilities are available to first year students in this field?”

5) Don’t forget the living necessities! As a student, you will be living the next 4 years of your life on this campus. Get to know the area around the campus well, including how far a jog it is to the local Laundromat, grocery store, and even the local mall. If your college is secluded from a metropolis, you’ll want to know in advance that you need to budget for bus or cab rides to get your necessary chores done each week.

Campus tours are fun, but they’re also a great source of important decision-making information. Make the most of your visit!

How to Avoid Financial Aid Scams

College is expensive, and becomes more so each year as the population of aspiring, high-achieving students graduating from high school grows. Its not surprising that a number of families rely on private, state or federal financial aid in order to achieve their college dreams.

In association with this, unfortunately, is a rise in financial aid scammers – individuals who prey on students and families overwhelmed by the costs and complexity of Financial Aid, and who frequently promise great results only to disappear with the wind.

Here are some tips to avoid Financial Aid scams:

1) If it sounds too good to be true.... A lot of financial aid scammers will guarantee results, regardless of the family’s financial situation or the student’s scholarship acumen. The simple fact is that most Financial Aid is awarded on based on those two factors, and guaranteeing funds blindly usually means that the provider is scamming you.

2) Being asked for banking information. Although college Financial Aid teams need to know your financial situation, they don’t need your specific banking details (account numbers, credit card numbers, etc) to qualify you. Being asked for this critical and confidential information is a red flag.

3) Being offered the “inside track”. Similar to the first point, if a financial aid advisor says that they have exclusive access to the Financial Aid department of a college, or they have information that only they can give you, you should be cautious. Financial Aid information is generally very publically and prominently made available by institutions. Although advisors and consultants may have good relationships with Financial Aid departments, that doesn’t imply that they have exclusive access to any financial opportunities.

4) Check third party credentials. If the advisor or consultant does not offer any credible associations with certifying organizations, be warned. The best Financial Aid consultants are active members of associations that have strict guidelines for their members, including the Higher Education Consultants Association and the Independent Educational Consultants Association

The Financial Aid process for college admissions can be daunting, but it should always be transparent and, if laborious, at least risk-free for applicants. Having an experienced guide for the Financial Aid process can make the process easier and less stressful. Be sure to work with a consultant who has a proven track record and promises only what is ethical and reasonable to deliver –  experience, guidance, and hands-on advice to achieve your college dreams!

Financial Aid - Answers To Your Questions

Please join us for our “From High School To College Made Simple” Teleseminar Series on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST for “Financial Aid-Answers To Your Questions.”

With over 100 colleges in the United States now reporting annual costs of over $50,000 for the first year, it’s a very important topic to a lot of students and their families! You may be asking yourself if you can afford to send your child to a top college, or wondering if your savings will hold out past the first or second year.

This Teleseminar will focus on helping students and families understand the Financial Aid process. The topics covered are:

• How to qualify for financial aid, and how to define the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• Which forms are required by colleges to determine the EFC?
• Different types of financial aid and how you can avoid leaving free money on the table.
• The 3 biggest mistakes families make and how to avoid them.

All you need is a phone! Call in and listen to the call OR listen to the recordings at your convenience.
You can join monthly calls at anytime for just $29.95 a month.
To join, click here http://www.a2zcollegeplanning.com/basic-college-planning.html

As always, your  questions are welcome on this topic.  At the conclusion of the teleconference, we will answer pre-submitted questions.  Please send your questions to: info@a2zcollegeplanning.com.

The Senior Year Calendar

Already looking forward to going to your dream school... or sending your child away to their dream school?  By now, you've probably already sent in early applications to a chosen few schools. It's early in the 2010-2011 school year but if the prospective college student is in senior year, it's already time to start planning what you're going to do in the new year:

January: If you have any applications to complete, get them done!

February: It's time to fill out your FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid.  If you are applying for any sort of student aid, get this done.  The student will need information from their parents, which customarily arrives this month.

Stay organized! The college application process is complex, with many parts. You need to make sure that colleges you've applied to have received all the relevant information.  If you aren't keeping a list or a spreadsheet of what needs to be sent and when, start now.

March: Acceptance letters start arriving from some schools.  If you're in, congratulations!

April: By now you may have to make a decision on what school to accept.  If so, use the time you have; this isn't a decision to be taken lightly.  Let every school that accepted you know what your decision is, even the ones you won't be going to.

May: By now you should be making financial arrangements with the school – a tuition deposit, residence, and the like.  Don't forget to look into transportation arrangements and moving.  The beginning of the school year is the biggest moving day of the year and you don't want to get stuck without transportation, or stuck with really expensive arrangements.

Oh, and concentrate on your grades!

June: College may still be a few months away, but now is the time to make moving arrangements if you're moving – getting a phone, finalizing living arrangements, and yes, even packing.  Some colleges will already be offering early registration into courses, so start that now!

College will be a long and fulfilling journey – it's worth getting ready for right away!

The "Ready To Go To School" Checklist

When preparing for school, teens and their parents are rightfully worried about getting the right grades, finding sufficient funding, and of course getting into the perfect school.

But while your child will be as ready as they'll ever be for studying, are they ready for the other things that come with going away to college?  Now, in their junior or senior year, is the time to make sure they know how to:

1. Have a nutritious bite.  Does your child cook for themselves or the family, or given their druthers will they eat Big Macs every night?  Nutrition tends to nosedive at college – and with bad eating comes illness, lethargy, and a less rewarding experience.  Make sure your teen knows how to eat well.

2. Pack light.  It may be a long way away, but now is the time to start deciding what's going away to school and what isn't. Dorm rooms are cozy, to say the least, and your child won't be able to take all their possessions with them.  Where are you planning to put the stuff they don't bring, and are they prepared to know what they should bring?

3. Do laundry.  Nobody's going to do your child's laundry for them while they're away, so they might as well learn now unless they want to smell really awful.  And it might lighten your load in the meantime!

4. Keep money tight.  Your child will be responsible for a lot of budgeting they didn't have to worry about, and will likely be accosted by credit card companies plying their easy-to-spend borrowed money from the moment they arrive at school.  Make sure your child has a budget and knows the ramifications of borrowed money.

5. Lock your stuff at night.  It's an unfortunate fact, but colleges are a haven for thieves, and most students have sad stories of stolen stuff.  Ensure your child knows to, and has the tools to, secure their room, their laptop, their phone, and other possessions.

6. Do things on-site.  Take nothing for granted.  If your child will be using a car at school, do they know how to change a tire, check the pressure in the tires, and when to have the oil changed?  If they are relying on a computer do they know where support can be had on campus?  Is their cell phone plan and provider suitable for the location they're moving to?    

7. Study right.  A good college is vastly harder than high school. If your child's getting through high school with ease, they need to learn study skills (which can be found elsewhere in this blog.)

Help your child make a great start in college by helping them with these simple tips before next fall!

Choosing a College: Big City or Small Town?

Choosing a perfect school is about more than programs and classrooms; it's also about the kind of environment the school resides in.  Deciding on a school is not just about what lies on campus; it's equally about what lies outside of campus.

Schools like Columbia, Georgetown or UCLA that sit in and around huge cities offer the prospective student an amazing number of opportunities – but don't dismiss the small town university like Dartmouth or Cornell.  When deciding on your ideal school, consider the strengths of big and small:

1. There's more to do in big cities and more to be distracted by.  A place like Boston or Chicago offers the student more chances for entertainment, experience and employment than could possibly be sampled in four years.  On the other hand, such things can distract you from your studies.
2. The financial implications are different.  Generally speaking, the bigger the city, the higher the costs, and rent in a downtown metropolis can be stratospheric.  On the other hand, if you want to fly home for a holidays, it's a lot easier to find cheap flights out of New York City than it is out of Ann Arbor.  Your plans for residence and travel could have a lot to do with which is more affordable.
3. Do you want to be a big fish or swim in a big pond?  In a metropolitan campus there are an endless number of things to do, resources to draw from, and people to meet – but you're also a small part of it.  If you want the opportunity to really get to know your fellow students and the faculty, a small town school might offer more chances to get yourself known on campus.
4. What do you like to do?  If you're the outdoorsy type it's a lot easier to get into nature from a place like Penn State – literally a bike ride away from several protected forests – than it is at Temple, which, in the middle of Philadelphia, is a bike ride away from a lot more of Philadelphia.
5. What are you going to do after your undergraduate degree?  For some careers, getting close to the action as soon as possible can pay dividends later, whether it's big finance in New York, public service in Washington, or high tech in San Jose.  However, some fields are more geographically diverse, and if you're planning on graduate school you might well want to switch schools after your undergraduate degree anyway.

Whether you end up in the Big Apple or Appleton, make no mistake that the city a school is located in shapes the school and the experience you'll have there.

School is a Full-Time Job

When you ask parents what their memories are of high school, they are often quick to remember high school dances, awards they won for outstanding achievements, or simply the fun of being a ‘care-free’ teenager in a whirl of extra curricular activities.

Rarely do parents remember the sinking feeling of walking into class on a test day, or the late night frenzy that came before a big assignment that had been postponed too long.

It’s important for both parents and high school students who are bound for college to recognize that school is a full time job.

Imagine that you’ve just been hired for the following job – you’ll spend long periods of time sitting in a stationary position, absorbing information, and then demonstrating knowledge by performing a series of writing exercises and projects. You’ll be critiqued and judged continuously by a whole team of bosses, and have little-to-no say in due dates and project timelines for your work. You’ll be randomly assigned extra work to take home, and often expected to work with partners that can’t or won’t carry their weight.

Most people would look at this description and think “What a terrible job!”

Parents and students both need to shift their thinking from “school is just a fact of life” to “school is a full-time job.” That job is learning, and the work is demonstrating knowledge. Students are paid for their work with grades. The better the work, the better the grades.

If you or your high school student is struggling with viewing work as a full time job, download our FREE article on Time Management for College Bound Students, available here.