Following up on last week’s blog, we decided it would be a good idea to make students and families aware of some “lesser known” colleges that are actually really great! Inspired by Loren Pope’s book, “Colleges That Change Lives,” college counselors are often trying to expand the minds of students and families by suggesting colleges they may not have heard of. With over 3,000 colleges in the United States alone, there are many more schools out there than you can name. And since we at Campus Bound know that it’s really all about the “fit” of a school, we urge you to consider schools that may be new to you. The schools that Loren Pope writes about in his book are places where students thrive. They are schools that have high graduation rates and that their graduates rave about. They are the schools with happy students, the schools you may not know about, but should.
One of the biggest mistakes parents and students can make in the college search and application process is listening to the advice of unqualified people. The title of this blog is meant to be humorous, but in reality, it happens quite a bit. Someone who went to a particular college years ago may have strong feelings about and memories of the school that just aren’t relevant now. Or, a family member may have heard something about a college once that left a bad taste in their mouth. But that information is completely unrelated to what your experience would be like there. The point of this blog is, take what others say with a huge grain of salt.
When the news first broke earlier this week about the scandal in college admissions, we here at Campus Bound were, as I imagine was the case for many of you, appalled. Even for those of us in this industry, it is hard to believe that people would go to such great lengths to guarantee admission to a particular university. I have wanted to write about this news from so many different angles — and I hope it is obvious that Campus Bound, and in fact most counselors in our industry, would never even consider participating in such unethical practices. The people involved in this admissions scandal are not representative of the majority of college counselors, coaches, or parents.
Many eager juniors are kicking off the college process by taking an official SAT or ACT. Before you do, however, we offer some important and practical advice to consider.
This is the time of year when juniors tend to kick off the college process. During their first meeting with us, we college counselors ask them, “have you thought about where you’d like to attend college?” We ask about the size of the school they would prefer, what they’d like to study, etc. And then we ask, “Do you know where you’d like to be located for college? What part of the country/ what state(s)? And, in my experience, around 75% of students say, “Someplace warm!”