boarding schools | Great College Advice

Well, folks, we made it to our Lucky 13th Edition of the Carnival of College Admission. Hard to believe we’ve been running nearly 26 weeks…almost half a year. What’s more, this Lucky 13 Edition falls near St. Patrick’s Day, when luck is sprinkled about by those jovial Irish. So we have a lot of good luck to celebrate.

First and foremost, we’re lucky to have such a great bunch of bloggers submitting their best work to the Carnival. So without further ado, let’s dig in and get lucky (so to speak!).

The College Search

The current recession has made many students re-think their college choices and even transfer to a more affordable school. Student blogger, Ally Demos from myusearch.com, presents a video blog about how the economic crunch is affecting college students. The post is entitled College Students Feel the Economic Crunch posted at myUsearch blog.

Wassan Humadi offers some excellent advice for international students as they select a college or university in the United States at Al-Jamiat Magazine.

Considering an online course? TJ Hanson advises that you check to see if the class measures up against The Five Attributes of Excellent Web-based Courses – What a Student Should Expect | The Digital Student Blog posted at The Digital Student Blog.

A family was just asking me today when is the best time to visit colleges. James Maroney advises that no matter the time of year, you need to focus on Getting the Most out of the College Visit. You can visit James’ other posts at the CollegeTreasure.com Blog.

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Awesome Open Courses and Lectures for Digital Artists posted at Online Universities.com.

Finally, Yours Truly has a post about the value of a philosophy major and a liberal arts degree in general. You can check my blog, well, here!

The Admissions Process

Writing a college admission essay anytime soon? Tom Tessin advises that you may want to look at some College Application Essays Tools posted at FCC Student Blog.

Linda Abraham, an expert in graduate admissions, presents 4 Steps to Writing About Your Potential to Contribute posted at Accepted Admissions Almanac.

Todd Johnson has some excellent words of advice and caution for students awaiting admissions decisions this month. He points out that students have rights, and that colleges that put undue pressure on students are violating accepted ethical practices in the profession. Check out Todd’s blog here.

Boarding Schools

Brian Fisher wrote a piece about Gould’s 9th graders visiting China, entitled Gould Academy’s 9th Grade Class Travels to China posted at onBoarding Schools.

Test Prep

Mark Truman summarizes why the College Board, the makers of the SAT, aren’t being completely honest about their new Score Choice program, arguing that the College Board’s SAT Score Choice Debacle Should Make You Want to Take the ACT. You can read Mark’s other posts at Omniac Attack!.

Nate gives counterarguments in his offering, Five Reasons to Take the SAT, posted at Debt-free College.

Graduate Schools

Khan presents A Higher Degree Can Open Doors to Many Opportunities. posted at Higher Education and Career Blog. Khan notes that advanced education must be weighed against the real-world experience you might gain during the same amount of time.

Dave Van de Walle notes that chiropractors sometimes get a bad rap. In his offering this week, a D.C. helps us dispel some myths – part of a new blog launched by U Sphere called Med School Sphere. The post is entitled A Chiropractor Answers Questions on “Why Get a Chiropractic Degree?”.

Adam Markus discusses basic MBA Application Interview Strategy. He makes the case that a proactive approach based not merely on reacting to questions is best. Simply preparing answers to typical interview questions is insufficient. Instead, applicants need to know what they want to say about themselves by focusing on key selling points and stories that will support those selling points. Read more of Adam’s thoughts about B-School admission at Adam Markus: Graduate Admissions Guru.

Dagny presents four sure-shot ways to handle a low GPA in your Business School application. His post, entitled Little Known Ways to Handle Low Grade Point Average (GPA) posted at TotalGadha GMAT. Also offers some success stories of the students who have already made it to Business Schools by overcoming the low GPA hurdle.

Career Planning

Genevieve M. Blaber presents College – U. Got It? Three Careers that Accommodate Busy Lives . Can you guess which three she focuses upon? Give her a read at College – U. Got It?.

Financial Aid

Eric Perron, the host of our last edition of the Carnival of College Admission, likes to talk back to the television. He offers his critique of a recent program on college admission, aptly titled Come On “CBS Early Show”, This Is The Best Advice You Have To Pay For College? posted on his blog, Dream Strategy.

Larry Ferlazzo presents Estimate The Cost Of College posted at Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day….

Wenchypoo presents The Next Collapse: Colleges posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Nate presents 4 Debt-free Ways to Pay for College posted at Debt-free Scholar.

Jim presents FAFSA State Grant Deadlines posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

College Life

Carleigh presents The art of electives posted at Cramster.com Study Blog.

Deryl L. Sweeney II offers a little advice about getting creative when the parents shut off that allowance. Appropriately enough, his post is titled, Creativity Is Key If You Want to Survive the Recession on a College Campus , and you can find it at 2East: The College Living Blog.

For College Admissions Officers

Cort Johnson and his colleagues at goSwoop focus on helping colleges improve their ability to reach out to international students. He asks, Is your International Student Marketing Remarkable? , and he helps to provide some answers at The goSwoop Blog.

Other Cool Stuff

If going back to school has been on the back burner for a while because of other commitments, it might be time to look into online learning. Dawn Papandrea presents Dust Off Your Back-To-School Dreams posted at CollegeSurfing Insider.

On To Number 14…

That wraps up this edition of the Carnival of College Admission. I’d like to thank last week’s host, Eric Perron, for doing a “dreamy” job.

The next edition will be hosted by Dave Van de Walle of Usphere, and will go live on March 25th. So get your submissions in early by posting to our handy dandy form .

For those who would like to have a look at past editions, visit our Carnival Homepage and Archives.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

Technorati Tags: college consultant, college admission, financial aid, college selection, college life, graduate school, boarding school, test prep Del.icio.us Tags: college consultant, college admission, financial aid, college selection, college life, graduate school, boarding school, test prep

boarding schools College admission College Life College selection Financial aid graduate school

We’ve come to the Fabulous Fourth Edition of the Carnival of College Admission. And what better way to celebrate than to bring the original Fab Four to help us sing their classic songs? So join in the Sing-A-Long as we present the Beatles’ Greatest College Admission Hits.

COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

Got To Get You Into My Life: Andy Burns, the director of admission of Fort Lewis College, shares his post, A Holistic Review Process, which appears on his blog, Transitioning to College.

The Long and Winding Road: Admissions consultant Todd Johnson presents How Long Does it Take to Graduate from College? posted at College Admissions Counseling. The answer: longer than most parents bargained for!

I’ve Just Seen a Face: Tom Williams presents Facebook Fiasco – how to turn negative into positive posted at InnoGage. Tom provides an Interesting case study about handling a Facebook disaster. Many colleges are afraid of Facebook. Tom is trying to help dispel that fear and he sees it as an amazing admissions tool.

Do You Want To Know a Secret?: Gregg Cohen of Campus Bound blogs for the Upromise community, and he shares his thoughts on College Rankings – Can you trust them? posted in Upromise community blog. His answer? Not much. Better to start with a look inside yourself, and a think about what is best for you.

I Should Have Known Better: Kate Scozzaro, a student blogger for the unbiased online college matching site, myUsearch , discusses all of the things she wishes she would have considered when choosing a college in her post Things I Forgot to Ask When Choosing a College .

With A Little Help From My Friends: Gina LaGuardia presents How Seriously Should You Consider Student Reviews of Colleges? posted at College – U. Got It? The answer? Student reviews can be fun and titillating, but you need to be very careful in judging whether to trust them.

I’ll Be On My Way: Khan presents Benefits of Choosing a Career and Technical School posted at Higher Education Blog.

Here, There, and Everywhere: Larry Ferlazzo presents The Best Sites For Encouraging ELL’s To Attend College | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… posted at Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…. This is a very thoughtful post with good recommendations.

Ticket to Ride: College Degrees presents Foreign Credentials Evaluations: What Diplomas Make the Grade? posted at The Degree People. This is a helpful post for student from other countries who hope to study in the United States.

BOARDING SCHOOLS

Tell Me What You See: Peter Baron presents Perception vs the Reality of the Boarding School Experience posted at onBoarding Schools. It’s an interesting little article by a mother who examines some of the reasons families choose to send their students to boarding school–or, choose not to. As in so many other aspects of life, we often rush to judgment without gathering solid information ourselves.

FINANCIAL AID

Can’t Buy Me Love: O. Daille Nation-Ashley presents Financial Aid for International Students posted at CEOmum – Parenting is a Full Time Job. This is a wonderful resource that carefully explains the ways in which applications for financial aid are different for students who are neither citizens nor permanent residents of the United States.

Baby You’re a Rich Man: The Editors of Financial-Aid-Resource-Center.com presents College Savings Plan posted at Financial Aid Blog. Still uncertain as to what a 529 is? Get some clarity!

SCHOLARSHIPS

You Never Give Me Your Money: Chris presents $2000 College Scholarship for Student Bloggers posted at Dorm Room Biz. All you student bloggers should take note–could be an easy road to 2 Gs.

COLLEGE LIFE

I’m Happy Just to Dance with You: Ali Hale, the Alpha Student, reminds us that even though it might not feel like it, your teens and twenties are the time of your life when you’ll have the most freedom and energy! Get as much out of your university years as you can, by seizing opportunities while you’re still young. Read her post Being young – make the most of it.

Glass Onion: Shae shares a post about why meat eaters should consider eating vegetarian while in college. Read all Shae’s collegiate culinary advice at The Collegiate Gourmet. She explores both the philosophy and the practicalities of becoming a vegetarian…or even a “partial vegetarian.”

Tomorrow Never Knows: Dawn Papandrea presents Before They Were Stars, They Were Students posted at CollegeSurfing Insider. There’s much to be said about fame and fortune, but it’s not very often that we talk about the hard work required to get to that point. For many success stories in various industries, that hard work begins in the college classroom.

Student blogger Jennifer Himottu at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) brags about (complains about?) how her college not only sets students up student for financial success after college, but also provides students with a seemingly endless supply of T-shirts. Check out her blog at from the WPI website.

You Can’t Do That: MBB presents College Students and The Lure Of Campus Student Credit Cards posted at Money Blue Book. Credit cards can be helpful, but they can also become an albatross. This is a great post to help you think about using credit responsibly.

It’s All Too Much: Alvaro Fernandez presents Memory Problems? Perhaps you are Multi-tasking posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution.

OTHER COOL STUFF

Eleanor Rigby: Cranky presents Crazy Eyes, one of a series of posts about the nutty professors at Cranky’s college. Read the rest of Cranky’s posts at The Cranky Professor. If I had Crazy Eyes for a prof, I’d likely be weirded out.

Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey: Cranky also offers us Professor Playboy. The things you don’t know about your professors! , another profile of one of her oddball colleagues at The Cranky Professor. Your professor may seem conventional enough in his tweed jacket. But underneath that nerdy exterior is a hunk of burning love, baby!

There’s A Place: Dave Van de Walle presents uSphere jumps on the Presidential Bandwagon with (selected) Alma Maters of the Presidents posted at U Sphere Blog.

Well, that wraps up the Fab Four edition of the Carnival of College Admission. Please join us for the next edition, which will appear on November 26th, just in time for Turkey Day. If you’d like to contribute to the next edition, use our handy-dandy submission form . Or you may want to check out our archives.