Mrs. Hamrick's Counselor Corner

This is another blog post about those very official sounding letters you may get in the mail inviting your student to join “such and such” National Honor Society or be listed in a type of “Who’s Who” listing. 

The Better Business Bureau has an article called “Vanity Pitches” that talks about “Who’s Who” type programs for the general population.  For a high school-centered perspective, read Cleveland Examiner articles Part 1 and Part 2.  Part 1 touches on the National Honor Society (NHS), which we offer at Kell for our most accomplished students – and is a program that we (and colleges) more readily recommend and recognize.  Part 2 discusses the National Society of High School Scholars, a program that is often confused with the NHS.

Hopefully, these articles will shed a little more light on how colleges view these programs and whether or not it is worth the $$ for the honor.

When you are preparing your college applications, it is essential that you take note of all required documents.  This information is frequently found on the “Apply Now” page or somewhere else in the Admission section of the college website.  You must also submit these items by the posted deadline to ensure that your application is given the best consideration (or any at all!).

Colleges may require the following and it is your responsibility to ensure they’re submitted:

Application and application fee (usually paid by credit card when you submit)

Official Transcript (request these in our counseling office)

Official SAT/ACT scores (you must request through collegeboard.com or act.org)

Teacher and/or counselor recommendations (give them at least 2 weeks to complete!!)

Essays

Financial Aid application (may be optional, but is still important!)

Resume

Supplemental additions, such as athletic or performance tapes, if you are applying for a specific program

Immunizations – typically required once you’re admitted and before you can register for classes

SmartMoney.com has written a great article that addresses some ways to help ensure that you don’t miss submitting important information – which could cost you admission to your top choice college!!

Shortcuts and Other Smart Advice for Filling out Federal Student Aid Form

How to Avoid 9 FAFSA Form Mistakes

FAFSA Q and A Part 1 - be sure to click through all 4 parts for answers to some pressing questions about the FAFSA!

8 Happy — and 3 Scary — Trends in Financial Aid 2010

Scholarship Search Secrets – an eBook

This article covers a study that researched what type of student is most likely to graduate from college.  It covers some very important points, including, once again, that high grades, participation (and success) in AP’s, and living on campus all contribute to a high success rate in college.

If you are thinking of applying to a college or university using the Common Application, you may want to view a draft showing the changes for next year’s application – https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/2009-10CommonApp_highlightedUpdates.pdf

College Board has recently launched a new option for students to send scores to college.  Now, instead of automatically sending all scores from each testing administration, students can pick and choose which set of test scores to send to colleges.  ACT already does this.

For more information, visit http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/score_choice.html?CampaignID=3465.  College Board has also set up a tutorial here – http://www.collegeboard.com/html/SCTutorial/index.html

To see a list of colleges and how they evaluate scores, download this PDF.

Business Week has ranked 32 schools they deem the best business schools.  Two of our own, Georgia Tech and Emory, make the list!

“Responsiveness to the community’s needs, academic rigor, relationships with top recruiters, and dedication to excellence are among the qualities necessary for a business school to be considered one of the best. Every two years, BusinessWeek consults students, recruiters, and academic research to determine which business schools fit the bill. Here’s this year’s look at the best U.S. full-time MBA programs.”
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1112_best_business_schools/index.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5

This article explains several sources where you can find free college opportunities! 

http://www.examiner.com/x-673-Education-Examiner~y2008m11d8-More-information-on-full-scholarship-and–tuitionfree-colleges

Business Week has also written an article highlighting free colleges: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2007/pi20071113_819956.htm

If you’re thinking it’s easy to transfer to an Ivy League school, there’s some things you need to be aware of:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/strategy-t.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

I found this article while browsing a college advice blog (http://thecollegesolutionblog.com/).  I thought that it had some really good advice that you don’t always hear when trying to figure out the whole “financial aid thing”. 

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/article/what-college-aid-officers-wont-tell-you/276393/