The College Admissions Scoop: Deferred Dos and Don'ts

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

Note to parents: If your child has been deferred, there are steps he or she should take to remain a viable applicant.

Seniors, if you have been deferred from an early school, being proactive may help when your application is considered within the larger regular pool of applicants. Here are some important dos and don’ts.

Do:

• KEEP UP YOUR GRADES. Committees will look carefully at this when making their final decisions.
• Restate your interest in the school in a brief letter that you send in January or February. The purpose of this letter is not to re-frame your entire application or to build your resume; the Committee already has the information they believe that they need to make a final decision in April. However, this letter can be helpful to confirm that this school would be your first choice if you were admitted. The letter tells them that you remain interested despite having been deferred.
• Update the Committee on any additional accomplishments or developments in your application. It is helpful to do this, but only if you have something that will add substantively to your application. Tell them about a significant award you have received or if particular circumstance has changed.
• Ask your guidance counselor to call the school to see if there is a specific reason for the deferral, but note that for the majority of applicants it isn't any one thing. If you are not comfortable having your guidance counselor call on your behalf, then call the school yourself.

Do Not:

• HAVE A DIP IN GRADES. An admissions committee will look unfavorably on students who have let their grades fall in their senior year. This applies to all the schools you have applied to.

• Have Mom or Dad call the school - admissions representatives want to hear from students!
• Re-craft yourself by sending new letters of recommendation, new resumes, or new essays.
• Send the Committee a copy of every article you have published for the school newspaper since your deferral.
• Tell the Committee about every extracurricular activity in which you have ever participated.

While a deferral is disappointing, be sure to keep things in perspective. After the first semester at college, most students report that they are very happy and doing well at the school that they chose and that chose them. Remember, all the schools on your list are there because you know that they are places where you can be successful academically and happy socially. It is more about what you will do with the four years at college than the particular school.

In our experience, things tend to work out for the best and they will for you too!

The College Admissions Scoop: Deferred - What Does It Mean ?

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., C.E.P. and Jana Jett Loeb

Note to Parents: If your son or daughter has been deferred from an early program, s/he is probably experiencing a combination of relief and confusion, and you might be too. What does it mean, exactly, and what is the best way to proceed? Hopefully these next two posts will help your child make sense of a deferral decision as well as understand the appropriate next steps.

If you have been deferred from an early program, you are probably feeling a combination of disappointment and confusion. While you would have wished for a definitive acceptance and might find it hard to imagine waiting throughout the next coming months for another decision from the same school, you probably also feel a sense of hope that when your application is reconsidered, you may yet be admitted in April.

An important thing to know is that a deferral is not a disguised “no.” Colleges have every intention of reconsidering your application in the context of the wider applicant pool during regular decision. In fact, they have chosen to hold off on making a final decision until they can see the full context in which your application is situated in their pool. That said, it is also important to be realistic about your chances of admission at this point. While you will certainly receive another review by the committee, your chances of admission are now lower. It is fair to continue to hope for a positive response from the school, and indeed, students can be admitted after being deferred. However, it is also important not to focus primarily on your early school.

The best way to proceed after a deferral is to move forward with the rest of your applications. Be sure to compile all of your materials for the other colleges to which you are applying, and to submit your applications as soon as possible. Doing so will help you to avoid any last-minute problems. It will also help you feel more secure about your college plans while you are in somewhat of a limbo phase with your early choice school.

While a deferral is a disappointing middle ground, be sure to keep things in perspective. You should put your best foot forward, both with the school from which you received your decision and also with your other applications. Most importantly, you must continue to maintain impressive accomplishments as the year continues!

Note: Our next blog will contain information on how to be proactive with your ED school after a deferral.

Rejected - It's Their Loss, Move Forward

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

A Note to Parents: If you son or daughter has been denied from an early program, you likely share in their considerable disappointment. A denial this early can definitely sting, but it is important to put your feelings aside and encourage your child to put their effort into the schools that remain on their list and to keep this decision in perspective.

What follows are some thoughts for students who might trying to make sense of their early denial.

Your ED, REA or EA application has been denied. You are probably—and quite understandably—disappointed. For some of you, “disappointed” might even be putting it lightly. You put in a tremendous amount of work to show your best self to your top choice school and they rejected you. That hurts! But you are not alone.

It is common for students to be denied to early programs. If you have heard that schools only defer or admit students early, then you have been misinformed. It is important to know that these early denials do happen, and that they are not highly unusual. It does not mean you were a terrible applicant or “never had a chance.” It does not mean that you could, should have done things differently. It does not mean that you were not academically competitive with the other applicants. It does not mean you are a failure. It does mean that they probably had more qualified applicants than they had space for.

Schools want to be clear with their applicants, and by giving you an honest decision at this early date, they encourage you to vigorously and enthusiastically pursue the other colleges on your list.

Hopefully, all your other applications are ready. If not, get to work immediately. This will help you to feel more proactive and positive, and will help you to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.

Don’t let your disappointment get the best of you. Everyone feels the sting of rejection, but what says the most about your character is how you rebound. Get excited about the schools on your list and the many wonderful college options that remain! There are certainly “fat” envelopes in your future.

The College Admissions Scoop: An Interview with Kevin Preis, Founder, Go See Campus

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., C.E.P.

Marilyn: Why do you recommend students visit college campuses before deciding whether to apply?

Kevin: “High school students can use trips to campus to get better ideas about the culture and type of environment they prefer for their college experience. They might find they like large suburban campuses, small liberal arts colleges, or universities with religious affiliations. Plus, visiting different parts of the country can prepare students for changes in weather and climate. Whether you are a Texas gal who wants to live in the snowy north or a Wisconsin guy who wants to try a school in the desert, getting a taste beforehand can help ensure a more comfortable university stay.”

Marilyn: Do you recommend that students visit with their parents, if possible?

Kevin: “This depends on the student and his or her stage of the admissions process. Ultimately, students should be the ones researching, applying for, and deciding on colleges. Parents should encourage this independence and responsibility by providing the amount of guidance they think is necessary.

Generally to start out, visiting colleges together is a good idea. Parents can have a dialogue with their children by seeing college campuses for themselves, participating in admissions activities, and meeting college students, faculty, and staff. This can make a big difference when facing final decisions on schools. Plus, it's an opportunity to make lifelong memories!

In some cases, a student has a good handle on the college search, can manage the trip, and wants to visit alone. Participating in a university-sponsored event, like an Open House or an overnight visit program, allows this experience under the supervision of the school's admissions office. If you have questions about these programs, colleges are usually open to receiving them.”

Marilyn: How can visiting a college help a student with his/her application to that college?

Kevin: “Personal experiences with college students and professors can help students describe why they want to attend a particular university, why they are a fit for the school, and what they can contribute academically and socially if admitted.”

Marilyn: What does the Go See Campus website provide for students and parents?

Kevin: “Go See Campus is a free website that helps students and parents plan campus visits and make the most of the college search. The site’s College Trip Planner connects users to campus tours, information sessions, and other admissions activities. They can download maps and make travel arrangements all in one place. For more information, visit http://goseecampus.com, and get exclusive content and updates through Facebook and Twitter.”

This interview should not be construed as an endorsement. The intent is to provide information, and represents the views of the Kevin Preis only, and does not necessarily represent views of College Planning Services, Inc. or Marilyn G.S. Emerson

The College Admissions Scoop: Don't Procrastinate - Finish Your College Applications Now!

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

A Note to Parents: As you encourage your student in completing their applications, feeling confident that they are making the best use of their time is likely a concern. Though you probably remind them frequently to keep up to date on their work, it might help for them to hear an outside perspective. Hopefully the following post will give your student a good sense of how to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.

As you probably know, procrastination is not a great strategy for completing your college applications—or anything else, for that matter. While it makes sense that you need time to think about how to best present yourself within the application, and that sometimes you need to take a break from the work, it does not follow that waiting until the mood strikes you (inevitably, 11:30pm on December 31st) is a productive approach.

The first thing to know regarding procrastination is that even if you are impressed with what you can pull off at the last moment, admission officers will sense that your application is lacking in foresight and substantive effort. Because the deadlines for applications are months after materials first become available, readers will wonder why you weren’t able to take advantage of the considerable time allotted to you in putting together your application. If you do not use that time, your ability to present yourself as genuinely and comprehensively as possible will suffer. This means that admission officers will not have as solid of a grasp on who you are and what you have to offer to their community. It also suggests that you are not a responsible student, and you can probably imagine why that would reflect poorly on your ability to make a positive impact in the university classroom.

But there are some more practical concerns regarding procrastination, as well. If you are submitting at the last minute, you’re unlikely to be the only student doing so. Submitting online at the same time as tens of thousands of other students makes you vulnerable to internet troubles, uploading problems, or system failures. Also, as you finish up your application, you are more likely to make mistakes or miss areas to correct if you are rushing to finish everything on time. Those little details are very important to admission officers, and if you forget to spell check your essay or take the tracked changes off your activity sheet, it will reflect poorly on your application as a whole.

Perhaps the most important reason to be timely with your application, however, is that it gives you the chance to relax about the process. Being timely doesn’t mean that you aren’t still working on finishing touches in late December, but it does mean that you have been responsible enough in compiling your application that you feel confident that you are submitting your finest work. You deserve to be proud of what you have submitted, and you deserve to relax when it is all done. If you make use of all the time you have and avoid procrastination, you will experience the feeling of considerable accomplishment and relaxation when you finally click “submit.”

The College Admission Scoop: Begin College Applications Now!

Parents, think of the college application process as another course your child will be taking this fall. Writing college essays and answering short answer questions is time consuming. To put their “best foot forward” they will need to devote considerable thought, time and effort to their writing. Randy Mills, a former admissions counselor concurs, “It is certainly apparent -- the amount of time and effort that goes into an application. You can tell the well thought-out ones from the ‘I just whipped this up’ applications.”

Many things occur during the fall of senior year that might prevent students from giving the application process their all. Students who begin during the summer have a distinct advantage.

Marilyn

Education Must Meet the Challenge

Two recent events made me mad! At first these happenings might not seem related, or even have anything to do with college admissions. So, please bear with me. The first was the oil leak in the Gulf. As of today, we are up to the seventh plan for stopping the oil leak. Engineers are trying to cut off the pipe and then lower a dome over it in the hopes of containing the oil.

The second, I have actually seen again and again. It is not limited to a particular high school or to a certain region of the country. I recently met with a student who excels in math and science who had no idea what he wants to do after graduating from college. That did not bother me. Rising high school seniors often do not, and probably should not, know this. I became angry, not at the student, but at our system, when upon suggesting to the student that he consider engineering as a career, it became apparent the he had never thought about engineering. Further, no one at his school, no teacher or counselor, had ever mentioned engineering. Not only did he have no idea about the different types of engineering, he really did not know what engineering is.

Are you beginning to see the link? Engineers apply the principles and theories of science and math to technical problems. By doing so, they find solutions. The tragedy in the Gulf reflects the failure of a challenging and very difficult engineering project. In a broader sense, it highlights the critical need for the "best and the brightest" to step up to the real challenges our nation faces. By encouraging excellent math and science students to think about engineering we will be doing our country a service. It is very important for high school teachers and counselors to spur excellent science and math students to think about studying engineering.

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Teens: Your Behavior Can Deny You the College Acceptance You Hope For

Re "Albertus Magnus expels six students in marijuana brownies incident on school trip,"

Notwithstanding any sympathy we might have for the six expelled students, every student planning on college should pay close attention to the Albertus situation and the fallout. And so should their parents.

Teens need to understand: Your behavior can deny you the college acceptance you hope for and can affect your eligibility for financial aid.

I am a former high school teacher and now a lawyer and an independent admissions counselor. I know kids make mistakes and expulsion is a severe penalty, but the consequences can go beyond this.

Not all colleges ask the question, but 390 colleges that use the Common Application for Undergraduate College Admission seek information on a student's disciplinary and legal history, both on and off campus. Some other colleges ask similar questions.

The 2010-11 Common Application asks two questions under the heading, "Disciplinary History":

• Have you ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any educational institution you have attended from ninth grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in your probation, suspension, removal, dismissal or expulsion from the institution?

• Have you ever been adjudicated guilty or convicted of a misdemeanor, felony or other crime?

The application also states: "If you answered 'yes' to either or both questions , please attach a separate sheet of paper that gives the approximate date of each incident, explains the circumstances and reflects on what you learned from the experiences." The student can write an explanation to ameliorate the event, but this is not a position any applicant wants to be in.

Students could also become ineligible for financial aid if their offenses occur when they are 18 or older. Typically, this would not include high school college applicants, but a drug conviction could require a student to drop out of college for lack of financial aid. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, warns: "It is the law! You might not be able to receive federal student aid if you have been convicted of selling or possessing illegal drugs, if the drug offense for which you were convicted occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (grants, loans, and /or work study)."

High school students often complain that they want to be treated like adults. But they need to understand that being treated like adults can be very tough at times. Learn the rules and stick to them. College acceptance and financial aid could be on the line.

Joseph O'Brien Jr, Esq.

Seniors: Colleges Really Look at Second Semester Grades

According to the State of College Admission Report 2009 (National Association for College Admission Counseling, September, p.30), 21% of colleges reported that they revoked offers of admission in 2008. A drop in final grades was the most common reason for retractions, followed by disciplinary issues.

Recently the University of Massachusetts sent out letters warning admitted students whose grades were falling to shape up. Some schools take it a step further and ask students to explain their lower grades. The University of Washington and the University of Colorado went even further than that and they rescinded a number of offers.

Look at the case of Mark, whose 3.8 GPA (grade-point average) and perfect verbal and math SAT scores helped him gain entrance to University of North Carolina (UNC). He slacked off towards the end of senior year and his final GPA slid to a 3.5 after failing one class and getting C’s and D's in the others. UNC's admissions staff changed its mind and rescinded its admission offer.

Parents need to remind their high school seniors that college’s want students that interested in learning. They want students with the same level of accomplishment throughout the senior year. They certainly don’t want lazy students!

Marilyn G. S. Emerson, MSW, CEP

Seniors: It's Time to Choose Your College!

May 1^st is almost here. This is the date when many high school seniors must deposit at the college of their choice. For some students it is an easy decision. For other students the decision looms large. Often they and their parents try to over think it.

If at all possible, I encourage students to narrow their list to two or to three schools and visit or revisit. When visiting as an accepted freshman, a student may see a school through a very different lens – now knowing the school wants him. For some students the visit will make their decision clear.

For those students that remain conflicted, I encourage them to make a list of pros and cons and then honestly articulate their gut reaction to the way the list played out. If they are instinctively unhappy, it may be because they know which school they want to attend, but for one reason or another, they are finding it hard to verbalize, or do not want to verbalize, what they are thinking. Often, but not always, this occurs because students know that their parent or parents think Great College is the best school for them, but they honestly want to go to Wonderful U.

Sometimes choosing a school is simply picking one of two or three good choices. Other times, difficulty selecting between schools can reflect real important underlying concerns, financial, social, or academic. If this is the case, now would be a good time for discussion.

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

What Should I Do On My Summer Vacation?

It’s time for high school students to start thinking about what they might want to do this summer. College admissions personnel expect summers to have been spent productively. They expect students to take advantage of available opportunities. There are a wide range of good options. Examples include working, volunteering or taking courses. Many colleges offer summer programs for high school students. The University of Delaware, for example, offers a five week residential program for high school juniors, where students take two courses (for college credit) and get a taste of college life (http://summercollege.honors.udel.edu/ ). If you don’t have five weeks to spend, other colleges offer programs of shorter duration. Ithaca College offers a one week and a three week residential pre-college program (http://www.ithaca.edu/summer_college/ ). Stevens Institute of Technology lets high school juniors and seniors earn college credit through The Euclid Program, an online program of Physics, Computer Science and Math courses (www.stevens.edu/undergrad/precollege.html ).


While I do not advocate doing something because it looks good on a college application, I do advocate doing something – anything you enjoy. After all it is summer vacation!

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Don"t Panic There Are Wonderful Options for The Average Student

“My child is just average.” Have you ever said these words? They are often whispered by parents who feel that they are not living up to the expectations placed on them by their friends, relatives, community and maybe even society. Not too long ago it was okay to be average; it was not seen as a flaw. Today so much emphasis is placed on the rigor of a high school student’s curriculum, standardized test scores and extra-curricular activities parents and students are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress. Don’t panic there are wonderful options for your child.

If you say that your child is “average,” you probably mean that Jillian has average grades and/or standardized test scores. You know that your child’s grades approximate the arithmetic mean at your child’s high school and her GPA causes you to feel that she has moderate potential to learn and perform? But, is your assessment of her ability accurate? “Average” may mean something different depending upon where you are located and the high school your child attends. What is perceived as average at one high school may indeed be below average or above average at another high school. Grades only measure how your child in fact performed in high school. They may not necessarily measure how she will perform in college.

When you use the word “average” do you understand why your child performed they way he did in high school? Grades may be an imperfect measurement of your child’s ability. Only after you have fully assessed your child both as learner and as a person will you be ready to move on to finding colleges that fit your child academically and socially – if you and your child still think that college is the appropriate next step. For some students, a typical liberal arts education many not be the best use of their time and your money. Here are some things to think about:
Age - Each student is different and each student matures at his or her own rate. Maturity may be influenced by many factors including: heredity, sex and age. Your son may physically look like a man, but he may not have reached the same level of social or emotional growth. Your daughter’s reasoning skills and decision making skills may be better than they were in middle school, but she may not behave as responsibly as you may like. For some high school students, school work and learning take a backseat to physical, social and emotional maturation. Some students who begin slowly, due lack of maturation may perform better in their junior or senior year.
Intellectual Curiosity – Some students do not, or have not been taught, to enjoy hypothesizing or to draw inferences from what they read and hear. They do not think critically, nor do they enjoy problem solving. For them school work is a chore to be endured. Their talent and gratification may lie in other areas such as working with their hands or making beautiful music.
Learning Style – Some students learn differently than others. Some students may have a hard time doing one or two things, while other students may easily do many things concurrently. It may take one student twice as long as another to read a passage in a book, add a column of numbers or understand the chemistry experiment. It is important to understand how your son or daughter learns in order to find the right environment for continued learning, for those students who want to continue with traditional learning.
Expectations – Unfortunately students are often characterized as bright, average or slow learners in elementary school. This learning designation too often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When you use the word average, do you mean the way your child performed on standardized test scores? Most studies find that the correlation between these scores and the student’s performance in the first year of college are not overwhelming; there is no consensus from the many who have debated the predictive validity of these tests. A study performed by the University of California, found that the scores on the SAT II subject tests are indeed better indicators of how freshmen will perform in college than traditional SAT I scores. Also, standardized test scores unfortunately discriminate against economically disadvantaged students as well as students who are simply poor test takers.

Using the word “average” is an unreasonable simplification and does not serve the best interest of the student. Students whose grades and test scores cluster around the fiftieth percentile are vastly different in other ways. Your “average” child is not ordinary, typical or common. I strongly doubt that your child has no special qualities or that there are no areas in which Jimmy will shine. Juliet has her own strengths and talents and needs to be able to find the right environment for her to continue to develop her personality and strengths.

If your child is a B/B- student (it that is typical for your school system), if his standardized test scores hover around 1000, if he only made the junior varsity soccer team, if he is not particularly tall or short, if he has an occasional zit and if he thinks you’re a nag there is absolutely nothing wrong with him. In fact, there is a distinct possibility that he or she may ultimately be happier and more successful than the student with a higher GPA and test scores.

Not everyone is destined to be a stellar student in the classroom. Some students excel in other areas. This does not mean that college is the wrong option. Different people flourish in different environments. For the student who has not been academically stimulated in high school there are many, many colleges and universities where professors enjoy the challenge of motivating students with interesting course content, dialogue and hands-on experiences. Their goal is to make these students into lifelong learners and contributors to society. For the students who have real music, art or theatrical talent there are colleges and universities that will nurture these talents and help them prepare for a career in their chosen field. For students who have no idea what they want to study, courses such as The Science of Harry Potter (offered at Frostburg State University in Maryland), Maple Syrup – The Real Thing (offered at Alfred University in New York), Muppet Magic: Jim Henson’s Art (offered at the University of California – Santa Cruz) and the Art of Walking (offered at Center College in Kentucky) might spark their interest.

When trying to find the optimum learning and social environment for your child regardless of academic strata you need to ask the questions that will help you find the right fit.

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

WSJ/Unigo Webcast - Paying for College

The WSJ On Campus/Unigo invites you to join them on Tuesday, April 6th at 7 p.m. EDT for an exclusive, live and interactive webcast covering everything you need to know about paying for college. Topics may include:

How can you take advantage of new government student aid programs?
What's the best way to win college scholarships?
What are student loan forgiveness programs?
How can you get the best interest rates and benefits?
How do the FAFSA and CSS work?
What are 529 plans, Stafford loans, Pell Grants, and PLUS loans?

The panel of experts:

Martha Holler, Vice President, Sallie Mae
Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher, Fastweb.com
James Boyle, President, College Parents of America
Randy Deike, Vice President of Enrollment Management, New York University
Jennifer Garratt Lawton, Director of Financial Aid, Wesleyan University
Melissa Kunes, Senior Director, Office of Student Aid, Pennsylvania State University

Denied Admission: It's Their Loss!

Colleges and universities have made their decisions. By this evening, most high school seniors will have heard whether their applications were accepted or denied. Some high school seniors will have big smiles; others will experience rejection, maybe for the first time. For those denied, rejection hurts! There is little that parents, friends, guidance counselors and educational consultants can say that will take away the initial sting.

On March 29, Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University posted the following: "If you receive some rejections, you will tend to dwell on them. It's only natural -- what we can't have suddenly seems far more valuable of interesting than what we can have. You will be tempted to revisit every step of your high school career and your application process, pondering what you might have done differently. But there is one and only one good answer to any rejection letter you receive, dream school or not 'Your loss, baby.' Then move on."

Dean Brenzel's advice is sound. Don't let someone, or a committee of someones, color the way you think about yourself. You can, and you should, hold your head high because you put yourself on the line by applying to schools that are at best unpredictable.

College should be less about where you go and, ultimately is more about what you do with the four years you spend there. Do well, and the world can be yours!

Marilyn G. S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Question: How important is it to attend a college that my friends and family have heard of?

Answer: To many parents and students, the name of the school, is more important than the actual quality of the education and the social experience of the college. For some, the focus on "brand" is sufficiently great that parents may direct their child towards schools that are unrealistic, or even inappropriate, or may exclude from consideration schools that offer equal , or perhaps better, experiences than the "name brands" that are at the top of their lists. For many, all they can think about is "getting in." But, the reality is the acceptance letter is really just the beginning, and it is the actual college experience that will lead to either success or failure.

Some parents firmly believe that merely attending a brand name institution will guarantee professional success and a high paying career. The simple fact is that it doesn't. More important than the name of the school is what actually happens there. A successful undergraduate experience fosters intellectual growth and exploration. Colleges and universities do not interview for jobs, the graduate does. Good grades and, in many cases, good performance on graduate admissions tests are what really count when it comes to getting hired or getting into graduate school. Without these, having attended a brand name offers little. The wise student will place the greatest emphasis on choosing a school that matches their academic and social needs.

There are over three thousand colleges and universities in the United States; students should choose those that offer the best academic and social fit. Parents need to be open-minded.

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

What Families Need to Know About Financial Aid Award Letters

Question: How and when can I expect to hear if my child has been awarded financial aid?

Answer: Financial aid award letters, as they are called, are typically sent out between mid-March and mid-April each year. Families have until May 1st to evaluate their offered aid packages and commit to a school by sending in a deposit. Don't assume that the school with the lowest tuition or the one offering the most grant money is the most affordable. The real measure of an aid package is how much you end up paying in the end.

Question: How do I determine which college is the most financially viable for my child?

Answer: First determine what the major costs are to attend each school. It is imperative that all directly and indirectly billed expenses (travel, books, meals, etc.) are included whether or not they are reflected in the financial aid award letter. Then group the major aid components together and compare them. Aid comes in three forms, loans which have to be repaid with or without interest, gift aid which consists of grants and merit aid which do not have to be repaid and work-study where a student is paid to work part time either on or off campus. In the latter case, the award letter doesn't typically indicate what the work will be. Comparing components is sometimes easier said than done. There is no standard form of financial aid letter. Schools can have cryptic acronyms to identify components without indicating which are grants and which are loans.

Once you know what your costs are and how much, and in what form of aid your child will be receiving, you can determine what your out-of-pocket costs will be. The difference between the cost of attendance and the amount of grant money and work study that your child is offered is ultimately what the family will owe. Offered loans may defer some the cost initially, but will have to be repaid with or without interest, depending upon the type of loan it is. Interest on some loans have to be repaid during the course of undergraduate studies. Others defer repayment until after graduation. Typically loans carry interest charges and fees which should be included in your calculations.

Question: Is help available to compare financial aid awards?

Answer: There are websites, some of which are more reliable than others, to assist families in comparing award packages. They also require a certain level of understanding the financial aid process. The college's financial aid office is always a resource to be called upon to clarify and explain inconsistencies or ambiguities. Also, be aware that aid packages aren't necessarily automatically renewable from year to year. Educate yourself early about the process so you will be in a position to evaluate financial aid letters in a timely fashion.

Carolyn Cohen, Esq. Educational Consultant at College Planning Services, Inc.

Choose Your High School Coursework with Care

Question: My son and daughter are a rising junior and senior. They'll be meeting with their guidance counselor soon to pick courses for next year. What should they be thinking about?

Answer: by Joseph J. O'Brien Jr (Educational Consultant)

First, it is always advisable to have a tentative four year plan when choosing your freshman year courses. That puts the student on a path that enables him to anticipate future courses while also allowing for changes to satisfy new interests. Having such a plan also makes it easier to decide on the next year's course selection.

But whether or not your sophomore son has a plan in place, he should be thinking about whether any colleges he's considering have particular course and test requirements. For example, some colleges or majors within a college might require two lab sciences or recommend a particular SAT subject test.

If there are no special requirements to meet, your son should be thinking about the courses that logically follow from the courses he's already taken, the courses he will enjoy and the courses that put him in a position to compete for a place in all of the colleges he will eventually apply to. Of courses, the courses needed to make a strong college applicant aren't always the most enjoyable courses, and that's where hard choices must be made.

Recently, when asked a similar question to yours, the President of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, Bill McClintick, said that most experienced admission officers would say, "We want to see if they have taken the most rigorous courses available to them at their particular school and how they have performed in those classes."

This adage will also serve your daughter well. Senior year is no time to take it easy. College will notice any drop off in the level of courses selected for senior year, and they won't like it. This is a time for her to continue to take as demanding course load as she can reasonably expect to succeed in. In fact, this should be every student's guiding principle in selecting next year's courses.

College Admissions: Post it With Care - If it is in Their Face it is Hard to Ignore

What students advice would you give students about using the Internet for college admissions?

In light of the recent spate of articles and blogs about Tufts University welcoming student videos as part of a student's college application, I want to share with my readers the advice I give the students I work with about using the Internet:

• Students should set up a separate e-mail account for the college admission process, so important information is not lost among regular e-mail. The e-mail address should be some form of the student's name; it should not be funny, cute or off-color. Students should make a folder for each college they are applying to and put all e-mails in the appropriate folder.

• Posting too much personal information, off-color comments or anything else you would not want college admission officers to see on blogs or away messages may come back to haunt you.

• Blogs and other Internet postings can be fun and interesting, but remember that what someone posts may be viewed by anyone and everyone. "If you can't say anything nice about a person, don't say anything at all" is an old, but very good rule that is quite applicable to the Internet - on web pages, blogs, e-mail, videos and IM.

• Students, and others, should reread their blog or video script a second, and even a third time to make sure they feel comfortable sharing everything they posted with the world. Admission counselors, and, later, potential employers may examine these posts. Information that is posted on the Internet becomes public information about the person posting. Be aware that even postings that have been removed may be viewable at later dates by savvy Internet users. If you are not sure, do not post it.

• Sometimes when students contact admission counselors through the college's blog and/or message boards, the information may become part of the formal correspondence and it may be factored into the admission decision.

Thomas D. Reason, Associate Director of Admissions at the University of Wisconsin - Madison said, "neither my staff nor I have the time to Google or Facebook every application. By the same token, if something ends up in 'My Face' it would be hard to ignore."

Marilyn Emerson, MSW, CEP

College Bound: Tougher Course or Higher Grade?

Question: Should I take a higher level course where I might get a B or take an easier course where I know I will get an A?

Answer: I am often asked this question by college bound students and parents of high school students. My first response is to take the more difficult course and get an A. Then I go on to say, that while it is easier to say, it is often more difficult to do. The question really is which is more important getting a perfect grade or challenging oneself with a higher level course. Assuming that the student has good grades and is realistically capable of doing the work my answer usually is to take the more rigorous course.

The Center for Public Education recently conducted a study that supports this view. They found that perfect grades are trumped by higher level courses. "Taking more rigorous courses, especially in math and science, gives an applicant a better chance of getting into a competitive college than does raising his or her GPA."

Are College Campuses Safe?

Question: After reading accounts of crimes on college campuses I worry about my daughter's safety. How safe are college campuses?

Response: On October 29th the United States Department of Education published new federal regulations dealing with campus, fire safety, emergencies, missing students and hate crimes. These new rules, which came into effect at the beginning of this month, implement laws enacted in 2008, including amendments to the Jeanne Clery Act. Prior to the Act, name for a Lehigh University coed who, in 1986, was raped and murdered by a stranger, a student who abused drugs and alcohol, relatively little attention was paid to campus safety; simple security breaches like residence hall doors propped open were common. The Act now requires colleges and universities to release Annual Security Reports that include campus crime statistics, plus summaries of campus security procedures. The www.securityoncampus.org website provides a summary of the Jeanne Clery Act and other information about campus safety, including tips for college students.

Currently the latest cause of Constance Clery, mother of Jeanne Clery, is pushing the United States Congress to establish a National Center for Campus Public Safety. The United States House of Representatives has authorized the national center. The Senate Judiciary Committee now needs to act.

In spite of all the effort that goes into protecting men and women on college campuses, no college campus is 100% safe. The rules and regulations help, but it is up to parents to talk to their children about how to stay safe, it is up to the colleges to continually look at safety issues and it is up to students to think about their actions and possible consequences.

To read the federal regulations go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/E9-25373.htm

Happy New Year!

For the new year I will be changing the focus of this college admissions blog. Instead of writing a college admission tip of the week, each week an educational consultant from College Planning Services, Inc. will answer a college admission related question . So please, keep sending us your college admission questions.

Question: Can I ask your opinion on whether you think Spencer "shot high enough" with college applications? I sometimes wonder if we went to see enough schools. The guidance counselor at his high school made it sound like Boston College would be a stretch. Should we just be thrilled that it's over? Would he have gotten into some Ivy League schools? Spencer seems confident he wouldn't. I'd love your professional opinion on this. It probably sounds ridiculous, but I guess I'm hoping you tell me to be and he wouldn't have a chance at an Ivy League school.

Answer: Spencer was accepted at a wonderful college, one I am assuming since he applied early action, that he really wants to attend. Admission to college is only the beginning. Spencer, like other students, needs to be in an environment where he will be academically successful and socially happy.

In all likelihood, since both Spencer and his guidance counselor thought his list was a good one, you are probably doing Spencer a disservice by second guessing their judgement. Students, counselors and educational consultants usually have a good sense of colleges that would be a good fit , both academically and socially, whereas parents often don't. Students, counselors and educational consultants usually have accurate knowledge, which is a good basis of comparison, and parents often don't. Students usually know where they stand in their class. In my experience, if I was asked to rank those who accurately predict where students will be accepted, I would rank students, guidance counselors and educational consultants high and parents low.