The holidays are a great time to eat pie, play with your new video games, and enjoy the fact that school feels a million miles away. Every student going to high school today (even the lazy kid in the back of the class) is so busy during the year that I heartily recommend taking it easy when you have a break.
If you're smart, however, you won't waste all of your time for the next two weeks. Instead, you'll use some of the free time you've got over Winter Break to start thinking about next semester...and about college!
But where to start? Should you visit school websites? Start cracking on your essay? Review Algebra II?
Let's be honest. You're not going to do any of those things. Tasks like visiting school websites are boring, random, and tough to focus on when you feel that you aren't leaving for school soon. You need tasks that are active right now!
With that in mind, here are some sites that will let you get active right now and get ready for school:
So go to it, Omniac Attack readers! Take advantage of all that free time and start using some resources!
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Got any great resources I missed? Leave them for me in the comments and I'll add them to the main post!
Welcome to the Seventh edition of carnival of college admission! Huge thanks obviously to Mark Montgomery for creating this awesome collection of college admission tips.
Let's get on with the show...
Admission
Adam Epstein presents Happy Holidays from the Admissions Staff posted at Adamissions, saying, "No heavy lifting this time, just fun holiday greetings. :)" Thanks, Adam!
College Degrees presents 2009: Janet Napolitano and the H1B Visa Cap posted at The Degree People,
saying, "If confirmed, Janet Napolitano’s nomination as Director of
Homeland Security is likely to have a significant impact on the H1B
visa process and possibly even be a significant factor in increasing
the cap on these employment visas."
College Life
I bet you've seen Credit Card vendors out on college campuses, promising free pizza for your signature. Credit Card Assist helps you cut through fiction and get to the facts with What College Kids Might Not Know About Credit Cards posted at Credit Card Assist.
Raymond reminds us that not all credit cards are evil, however, with his post Why College Students Should Apply For Student Credit Cards over at Money Blue Book. He even points out the best credit cards students SHOULD get!
Elizabeth Kudner from myUsearch (www.myusearch.com) presents a post from student blogger Pauline Diaz on the best holiday gifts for college-bound high school seniors. You can find her Holiday Gifts for College-Bound Seniors posted at myUsearch blog.
Jessica Dye informs us that college students have switched magazine allegiances--a new survey shows
that collegians' favorite periodical is now Time, finally replacing
Cosmopolitan at the top of the list. She documents the whole story in College Students Ditch Trashy Mags posted at theprereq.com.
Financial Aid
Looking at Harvard as a potential dream school? David Bonvie keeps you in the know with College Affordability, the Big Financial Aid Overhaul posted at Student Loan Help. Learn what Harvard's Financial Aid Office is thinking early!
Ted Reimers covers the basics in his post Ways to get Free College Tuition featured at CampusGrotto. Scholarships, grants, and employee waivers are all covered in his Financial Aid 101-style post.
David Bonvie presents I Don’t Want To Pay For College posted at Student Loan Help. It's a great short guide to the "guerilla" style tactics students can employ while searching out money for school!
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That about wraps up this edition of the carnival. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
carnival of college admission
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.
Thanks!
This week the New York Times published a question and answer session with several deans of admissions from popular American universities. Covering topics from financial aid to standout applications, the Q+A is a worthwhile read for any student who wants to know what admission officers are thinking while reading applications.
Here are a few of the best parts for those of you who won't read the whole thing:
On the most misunderstood part of college admissions:
Jeff Brenzel of Yale University: It is not well
understood that we are not aiming to pick out the best candidate in a
particular school or from a particular area, as measured by some
predetermined criteria. Rather, we are trying to assemble the most
varied and most interesting class we can from an extremely diverse
group of close to 25,000 outstanding applicants.
Steven Syverson of Lawrence University: [T]he common perception tends to be that all colleges are
difficult to get into. The reality is that nearly 90 percent of
America’s four-year colleges admit more than half their applicants, and
with the exception of students who apply only to hyper-selective
institutions, most applicants are admitted to one or more of their top
choices.
On innovative applications that students have used:
Mr. Poch of Pomona: What works best is what best and
most fully and consistently represents the applicant. Tricks that don’t
fit the person end up looking like gimmicks, without real substance.
The student who years ago sent in a life-size doll who was her “best
friend,” equipped with a recorded endorsement of the applicant, left
the admissions staff feeling like it was in a Twilight Zone episode.
Creepy.
Jeff Brenzel of Yale University: We’re much less
interested in innovative applications than we are in innovative
students, who have shown over time the spark of real intellectual
curiosity and a real enthusiasm for engaging with peers, schools and
communities.
On applicants "shooting themselves in the foot" on their application:
Mr. Syverson of Lawrence: It is reasonably common for
students to try to impress us with how much they love our particular
college, by incorporating a mention of our college into their essay.
(For example: “For the past four years, every time I was ready to give
up on math, the thought of gaining admission to Lawrence University
inspired me to redouble my efforts.”) But it is also a not-infrequent
experience for them to forget to replace all the mentions of some other
college in their essay.
Mr. Syverson of Lawrence: But the most frequent form of self-inflicted damage is careless
preparation of the application. In the days of handwritten
applications, it might have been poor handwriting. Currently it is
simply that they waited until the deadline to finish their essay and
complete the remainder of their application, so they are hurried and
don’t proofread carefully. A poorly presented application can, in fact,
have a negative affect on the admission decision.
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Got any questions for the Deans? Leave them here and we will forward them on to the NYT staff!
Finals week really isn't fair. You've got tests in every class, not enough time to study, and the holiday season just around the corner. But like it or not, the end of the semester is coming and you better be prepared. Here are a few tips that will help make Finals a bit less terrible!
Pay Attention To Your Teacher
If you want to earn a decent grade in any class, it's wise to listen to what your teacher has to say. But around finals, make a special effort to focus on the material they advise you to focus on. Your teacher has actually seen the final they are going to give out and will probably give you hints as to what will be tested. No matter how evil they appear to be, all teachers want you to do well on the test and have the best possible shot at a good grade. Nobody likes to give out F's at the end of the year and they don't want other teachers to get the impression that they can't teach. Listen up when they give last minute tips because they are telling you exactly what to study!
Use the Review Packet
Most teachers will hand out a review packet in the last few days before the final. This is worth its weight in gold! While your teacher may drop a few hints, the study packet also tells you exactly what to study. If you see it in the review guide, focus on it! Learn the stuff that the teacher has deemed important enough to include and go over it enough times to be able to answer questions without notes or help. Testing is stressful and difficult; in order to be ready for the challenge, you should know everything on the review guide cold.
No, Seriously. Go Use the Review Packet.
I'm serious. Go find the review packets your teachers handed out. Don't leave them at the bottom of your backpack, squashed like a bug by your enormous math book. If you can't solve a problem on the study guide, you probably won't be able to solve a problem on the test when the pressure is on. Students who perform poorly on tests usually overestimate their ability to do well in the days prior to the exam. Use the review packet as an honest assessment of how you are doing and carefully examine every question you get wrong!
Stay Healthy the Week of the Test
Don't use finals as an excuse to eat poorly, miss sleep, and stop exercising. Acing a test is as much physical as it is mental. If you don't feel well, you aren't going to be able to concentrate for the long periods of testing you need to suffer through. I know it's hard to fit the time in, but seek out decent food, a reasonable bedtime, and an hour at the gym. You'll thank me when you are fully awake during the last test of the day and your friends are fast asleep!
Use All the Time on the Test
Please, please, please...use all the time allotted to you to complete the test. Don't work hard for the entire semester and quit at the last minute when you get tired and bored. It absolutely kills me to watch students turn in a test that's half done with 10 minutes still left on the clock! Imagine you were playing professional basketball: Would you quit playing your hardest before the buzzer rang? Nope. And you shouldn't give up on your test either!
Good luck on test day!
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Got a tip I missed? Leave it in the comments for everyone else to enjoy!
It's inevitable. Every term, I have students who come to me a few days before the ACT and sheepishly confess that they are not registered to take the test.
Their reasons are many: They forgot. They were sure they registered, but now found out they didn't. They were convinced that registering for a tutorial meant that we would sign them up for the ACT. Mom thought Dad had done it; Dad thought Mom had done it.
Regardless, the sad fact remains that they've prepped for a test, but aren't enrolled for the test date.
Luckily, ACT has planned for this occurance and lets students attend the test on a "standby" basis. So if you've forgotten to register and your test is bearing down on you, here's what you should do:
- Go to your high school counselor and get a paper ACT registration.
- Go to ACT's list of test centers and find a testing site near your house.
- Fill out your paper registration and place a check for the test fee + $40 Standby fee inside the registration. Seal the envelope and make sure that your return address is on it.
- Make sure you have a photo ID with you and your sealed packet.
- Go to the testing center you've selected well before 8:00 AM. I would suggest going as early as 7:00 AM to make sure you get a seat.
- Wait in line until they call for standbys. Hopefully, you are at the front of the line and they take you first.
I've told literally dozens of students these same instructions and have never had a student turned away by the test proctors. But make sure to get to the testing location early to be sure! And next time register online!
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Did you forget to register for the ACT? Drop us a note in the comments section and let us know what you did!
If you are a student living in the Southwest, there is a good chance that your information has ended up in the hands of the good folks at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. This year you've probably even received an offer to fill out their "Personal Advantage Application" instead of the traditional NAU application that you can find on their website.
The regular NAU application isn't hard. In fact, it's one of the many applications that puts a strong focus on GPA requirements. The personal statement they require is minimal (less than 500 words) and while they do ask you about your extracurricular activities, they don't give you a lot of space to wax philosophically about what your team sport taught you about working with others.
Nevertheless, the Personal Advantage Application has arrived in many of my students inboxes promising:
- No Essay
- No Application Fee
- Two Week Turnaround
All you have to do is go to www.northernarizonau.org and fill out your personalized form in about 15 minutes and you will hear back in two weeks from NAU! In fact, they'll even bug you about it incessantly until it's done!
The problem?
The whole thing looks like a scam!
Go click on the link above. It doesn't take you to NAU's official website. It goes to a third party site that contains NAU's logo and color scheme, but no verification that it's actually set up by NAU! It resembles a classic phishing site, designed by a hacker to capture your private data.
When one of my students showed me the site, I immediately contacted NAU's admissions office and asked them about the site. At first, nobody knew what I was talking about (a bad sign!), but eventually they transfered me over to an admissions counselor. It went something like this:
Me: Hi! I'm Mark Truman, Executive Director of Omniac Education and I wanted to talk with you about your Personal Advantage Application.
Counselor: Oh! Great! We are really excited about that. Are you applying?
Me: No. I'm an independent college consultant and I'm helping one of my students fill out the application. I'm glad to hear that you know what I'm talking about because I was honestly a bit worried that the whole thing was a scam.
Counselor: ...why would it be a scam?
Me: Well, there's nothing on the site that is official from NAU.
Counselor: I think our logo is on there. Isn't it?
Me: Yeah, well I can download your logo off your website and use it for whatever I want. It's not really a signal of trustworthiness on the internet.
Counselor: Oh, that's a good point. Honestly, we have a third party vendor handle that site so I'm not sure what goes into it. But I'll bring it up with the other counselors at our meeting tommorrow.
Me: Great! Thanks for verifying it for me!
So in short, not a scam. Just a badly monitered third party vendor who still hasn't fixed the site. Feel free to fill out your Personal Advantage Application when it hits your inbox. It's perfectly safe.
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Found any other sites that look like scams...but aren't? Post them here and maybe we can verify them too!