College Decisions and Information
Finding the Right School
- Education Quest: Headquartered in Lincoln, EducationQuest Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to improve access to higher education in Nebraska. Services include free college planning services, outreach services, need-based scholarship programs, and college access grants.
- College reality check: This site helps parents and students calculate the likelihood that a particular institution will graduate students within four years, the net cost of attending a given school, and whether the degree program is likely to pay off financially.
- College Board’s site enables comparisons of tuition, size, selectivity level, and typical ACT/SAT scores used.
- American Student Assistance provides information about student loans, calculating payments, and more.
- Colleges That Change Lives: This collection of 40 small, residential, student-focused liberal arts colleges have holistic admissions (meaning the college considers a range of admission factors beyond GPA and test scores). The site offers advice ranging from student stress to various points along the admissions process.
- Some colleges are changing how they finance education. Check to see how colleges you are interested in can help you deal with the cost of college.
- Ten essential tips to help your gifted teen plan for college.
Considering the Admissions Essay
- A Washington Post reporter offers insight into writing the college admissions essay.
- Tufts University provides an admissions officer’s perspective on what sells, particularly with the essay prompts that have very short word limits. See the blog for additional insight.
- The University of Pennsylvania also describes what works, this time geared more for those who like an analytical approach. This site also offers a blog on the topic.
- The Undergraduate Admissions Dean at Yale also provides insight on the application essay.
- The University of Virginia offers a blog on the admissions essay.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Pictures of Themselves: The 2020 College Essays on Money
AP Credits at Colleges
Applying for Schools
- MIT Admissions Workshop: Who Gets in? Behind the Scenes at MIT Admissions: An admissions counselor speaks on the topic of getting in to elite schools and how that process has changed in recent years.
- Yes, colleges can rescind admissions offers: Students spend years getting ready to apply for colleges. But all that work can be undone after they are accepted if they do not continue on a solid course.
- The Lottery of Getting Into Harvard: Dr. Mark Rank discusses the admission process to Harvard and how students can be subject to luck while applying.
Internships
Getting accepted to your first choice college can be a challenge. Susan Adams discusses the importance of thinking in advance about how to make yourself stand out. One possibility for increasing your chances with the admissions committee is to spend a summer doing an internship in your potential career. Search some possibilities at this site:
Taking the ACT or SAT
- Affordable Colleges Online answers many questions about the ACT and offers suggestions for preparing for the ACT test.
