It used to be that colleges had one deadline. All applications would be read at the same time and colleges would send out their admission decisions. Now, there are several “early application” options. So should you submit early? What are the advantages and possible disadvantages?
New, Limited-Time Offer- Aid Eligibility Assessment
In the process of developing and finalizing a well-rounded college list, financial considerations can be one of the most complicated pieces. Many colleges offer need-based grants and merit scholarships. However, understanding how much your family will receive is perplexing. There are potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake but to say that colleges lack transparency is an understatement! Adding to the challenge for students is that they have to narrow their potential targets without knowing what the costs will be until much later in the process.
The Common Application essay prompts have been announced for the 2022-2023 cycle, and they haven’t changed, more on that below. In addition, since the final option is “topic of your choice”, we offer some more prompts to generate ideas.
If you’re in high school, there are certain things you can do this summer to utilize the summer months in the best possible way.
A critical component of the college search that often goes overlooked is how the role of the cost will factor into the selection process. Along with finding colleges that will offer the right academic and non-academic features (location, size, culture, etc), it’s important for families to find colleges that also meet the right financial fit.
Many of our junior students are trying to make a big decision these days: play sports in college, or not. Talking it over with your parents and Campus Bound counselor is a really important step, but there are also conversations you can be having with coaches that can help. Both your high school athletic coach, as well as coaches at the college level can offer important insights. Here are some questions you might ask them.
“Here’s your college list, now go research these schools.” This is something you might hear from your parents, school counselor or even college counselor. At Campus Bound, we provide more direction than that in general, but in this blog we outline some of the ways students can research colleges and give our opinions on them.
Could you imagine walking into a high-end car dealership with no idea if the price of the car is going to be $60,000 or $30,000 until after you have done the test drive, talked to the sales manager, and done a credit check? Well, that’s somewhat like what the college financial aid system is like except it can be multiplied by 4-5x of those amounts or more for the 4 years of college.
A question we receive often at Campus Bound is from families wondering what the best ‘strategy’ is for applying for financial aid. When you google financial aid strategies you are inundated with personal opinions about the financial aid process. Some of these articles are curated by professionals with years of experience in the field while others are written by individuals without credentials. Either way, it can be hard to know who to listen to and what information is valid.
I remember taking the SAT’s myself. I bounce my leg up and down when I’m anxious, and I remember doing that and realizing I was probably bothering those around me. I was trying to sit still for hours and take what I thought would be the most important test of my life (it wasn’t).