College Advising

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How To Make Your College Essay Matter

College essays southington ct college consultantNow that summer is here, I have all of my students working on their essays. We start now so that they don’t have to try to work through what is one of the more difficult writing assignments during the beginning of their senior year. In fact, if done right, they should all be done with their essays by mid-August.

Of course, it’s rarely easy to do it right and it does require some time and thought.

If you’re struggling with how to get your essay started, here’s a few things to consider:

1. Your essay is a personal statement, not an academic paper.

Don’t try to impress the reader with an over-the-top vocabulary. Savvy admission counselors who read hundreds of essays each year know what teenagers’ voices sound like. Yes, it’s okay to spruce up your language a bit, but don’t go into a PhD dissertation-worthy dialogue. It will come across as phony and that’s the last thing you want.

2. A strong essay will show how you connected to something and what you learned from it.

And sometimes these moments can be rather ordinary. One of the best essays I read last year was about scooping ice-cream and dealing with a temperamental soft-serve ice-cream machine and how it taught this student about working hard, discovering new ways to do things differently and the value of teamwork. The student was accepted early-decision to Brown and her essay was deemed to be rather heavenly.

3. Seek help.

If you’re stuck and just can’t come up with any ideas that get you excited, ask your friends or parents how they would describe you to someone. What adjectives would they use? What would they say about you? How would they characterize you and your best attributes or traits? Sometimes other people see things in us that we don’t see ourselves and it is these ideas that can open up your perspective on what to write about.

4. Don’t be afraid of talking about a failure.

Sometimes, we learn the greatest life lessons after having failed at something. Remember, it’s about how you learned from the failure, not the failure itself (see #2 again if this point does not sink in) that matters.

Ultimately, you want your essay to compliment the rest of your application and show that you are more than just a combination of grades and test scores. You want an admission counselor to learn something about you that they haven’t learned elsewhere when reviewing your transcript, test scores and activities. You want them to put down your essay and say, “I really like this kid. There’s a lot here and he or she would be an awesome addition to our college.”

So put in the time and effort to make sure that happens.

If you would like some assistance with your college search or financial aid process, contact me today for a free 60-minute consultation.

Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.

 

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Eric Jun 23, 2014 , , , , , , No Comments
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What’s The Difference Between Early Decision & Early Action?

college consultant Southington CT

As I work with students and their families on college lists, one question that always comes up is, “what’s the difference between Early Decision and Early Action?”

Typically it’s followed by some sort of statement that sounds like, “I hate to ask a dumb question like this but I really don’t know.”

It’s not a dumb question at all.

In fact, like many other questions that come up during the college search and application process, the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask.

So, let’s talk about the difference.

Early Decision, also known as ED, is binding while Early Action is not. This means that if you apply ED to a college and are admitted, you are now going to be enrolling at that college. You’ve just gotten married, in a sense.
In fact, when you apply ED to a college, and you can only apply to one school as an ED applicant, the student, parents and school counselor all sign an electronic agreement on the application stating that, if admitted, the student agrees to immediately withdraw all other pending applications. You don’t get to see who else wants to admit you and you definitely don’t get to wait around for financial aid awards so that you can compare offers.

So, the ED school says, “yes”, and the student is locked in. Their college application process is over. And, most likely, this is all happening in November or December of their senior year.

Early Action, on the other hand, is non-binding. Students can apply to as many Early Action schools as they like and, if admitted, are under no pressure to commit early. They can wait on their remaining decisions and review their financial aid awards before committing by May 1st. Like ED, students admitted through Early Action are still hearing back earlier in the process than students who apply through Regular Decision (typically January or early February) but the key difference is that their options have not been taken away.

Which brings me to the most important factor in deciding to apply ED or EA.

If a student knows, without a doubt, that the college fits them in every possible way, that it’s THE place they want to attend and that the cost is something the family can afford without regard to financial assistance, then applying ED can work out great. Some of the most selective colleges in the country are more generous with their decisions during the ED round of applications and, therefore, a student’s chances may improve. Note that I did not say, “will” improve. Students who are not strong applicants to begin with will not improve their chances just by applying ED.

But, if you are worried about cost, and you do want to have options, Early Action is very clearly the better way to go.

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free 60-minute consultation. Not sure if a college consultant is for you? Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.

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Eric Jun 12, 2014 , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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Do You Know What Net Price Is?

Do You Know What Net Price IsYesterday I was talking with the parent of one of my students and the conversation was concerning college costs. I had asked him where he and the student’s mother would like to be when it came time to paying for college. Essentially I needed to know how much they were capable of paying so that we could look at the student’s college list in a more informed way.

One thing I firmly believe is that you have to know what you can afford up front.

There’s no sense in investing your time and effort, not to mention your heart, in a college search which is absent of the implications of cost.

Having recently mentioned Marist as an option the student should consider, the dad said that their costs for tuition, room and board (roughly $44,000) was getting towards the higher end of their threshold.

So while this family’s ability to pay will create more options for them than a family who’s ability to pay is much less, the conversation reminded me that so many families haven’t been informed about net price.

So what is net price? It’s the cost a family will pay for one year of college after grant and scholarship aid has been awarded. This cost varies from person to person and you can learn more about why this is by reading a post I wrote about net price last year:

How Much Is That College In The Window?

Essentially, the more competitive a student is when their grades and test scores are compared against the average grades and test scores for students who the college typically admits, the more likely it is that the student will receive a significant amount of aid which will then lower their net price.

With this idea in mind, a competitive student who applies to Marist and is awarded their Presidential Scholarship of $12,000 lowers their net price to roughly $32,000 thus making an expensive school more affordable.

One way you can start looking at a rough estimate of your net cost at a school is to use their net price calculator. Colleges are required to include one on their website, though some are easier to find than others. These calculators will ask you to enter some personal information and will then compute an estimated net price.

Not all calculators are created equal so be sure to pay close attention to the details of what the college estimates you will receive when you get your net price results.

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation. If you want to hear more about any of the schools on my travels, I’d be happy to talk to you about any of them as well.

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Eric May 05, 2014 , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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Narrowing Down Your College List

Ohio UniversityA couple weeks ago I was touring several colleges in Ohio with a group of high school counselors and college consultants like myself. We traveled from Cleveland to Columbus visiting John Carroll, Kent State, Ohio State, Otterbein, Ohio University, Marietta and Baldwin Wallace. I also took a quick side trip to Case Western Reserve before flying home.

Ohio has some amazing schools and while most students here in New England focus on the East Coast, there are some incredible values just several hours away in the Buckeye State. Seeing them up close and personal allows me to advise and challenge my students with a more informed and personal opinion.

While I was on the trip, I was talking with some of the other counselors about college lists and how students conduct their research (or don’t) to narrow down their list to the schools which fit them well. In my opinion, a college should fit you three ways: academically, socially and financially.  While there is no one perfect fit, striving to find this balance in your colleges helps ensure a student’s experience will be one that helps them develop as both a student and person without having to graduate with excessive student loan debt. There’s a lot of reasons why only half of students graduate in four years if they graduate at all. There’s just as many reasons why the average student graduates with nearly $30,000 in student loan debt.

One of the common denominators for both is lack of research.

Each counselor I talked to agreed that the process is tedious, but so necessary and that students need to do a better job with it. And when you consider the amount of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears that will go into applications, essays, supplements, interviews, auditions, portfolios, showcases, SAT, ACT and AP tests not to mention just doing well in your classes, why wouldn’t you make sure that the schools you apply to are good fits for you?

Why wouldn’t you make sure that each school is one that gets you excited? Where your major is strong and where the support you may need along the way is available? Where faculty help students gain experience in their field so that when they graduate, they have value to offer a business, organization or facility who’s looking to hire? Where the cost is something you and your parents can handle without having to lose sleep at night?

If you’re not doing these things, then you’re doing something wrong. The Common App will launch on August 1st and, with it, the frenzy of the college application season will be underway.

Wouldn’t you like to hit senior year and your college applications feeling confident about your options?

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation. If you want to hear more about any of the schools on my travels, I’d be happy to talk to you about them as well.

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Eric Apr 28, 2014 , , , , , , , No Comments
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College Is About What You Put Into It

It's About What You Put Into CollegeRecently, I did a consultation with a family who had three boys. The oldest is a high school freshman and the youngest is in 7th grade. We had a great conversation about the college process, between talking about how to make the most of their four years in high school to helping them see how well they were doing already at such young ages.

Towards the end of the conversation, the boys’ mother said something that really struck me. As she looked at the two older ones with eyes that only a mom can produce, she said she wanted to make sure they did well because at some point they may have to support a family of their own and that these days, trying to do so wasn’t easy.

With two young boys of my own, I completely understood where she was coming from.

I let the statement sink in for a minute and then tried to reassure them all that they were already doing very well. Their grades were strong and their work ethic was obvious. The boys were asking great questions and seemed very interested in where their futures were going to take them and not once did it feel that the parents were pressuring them in any way. It was so refreshing to see this and I wish I saw it more often.

I told her there was a lot to like about what I was seeing and I encouraged the boys to keep exploring, to keep asking questions and to just spend time doing things they enjoyed. If they worked hard and spent time doing tapping into their VIPS, good things would happen down the road.

And that’s what all of this is about. It’s about making good informed decisions so that you can live a happy and successful life and taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. Individually, we all have to decide what makes us happy and how we define success. What is important to one person isn’t necessarily important to another just like how going to one college isn’t necessarily any better than going to another one. Opportunity can and will present itself in many forms and, you know what? There is opportunity everywhere, not just at an Ivy League school. So, no matter where you go to college, remember that it’s about investing yourself in the experience and making the most of this time to launch yourself into your life.

It’s so much more about what you put into college than what the college puts into you and I fully believe these three boys will find success and happiness because they already get this concept.

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation. If you’re in the local area, check out my FREE college planning workshops coming up this spring in Cheshire and Southbury. 

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Eric Mar 31, 2014 , , , , , , , No Comments