Improve your chances of getting into college,

The students that you will be staying with will be at a different point in their lives than you are. They are already in college. They may have a social life that is unfamiliar to you and they are accustom to college academics. Remember this when you ask questions because if your have never been on a college campus overnight or if you don't have older siblings who are currently in college their answers may seem intimidating or just sound like something you have never considered. Take it in stride. Do trust your feelings, if you rather hang out with the film club or read a good book on a Friday evening and the entire campus seems devoted to bringing down the walls then compute that into your good fit calculation.

Ask about their study habits, weekend social life, clubs they belong to, favorite activities, best part of dorm life, what to bring to college and what to leave at home.

The best way to begin a college search is by taking a tour of multiple schools that represent a wide cross section. A group tour is a great place to begin your college search. When I take students on a tour they follow a curriculum that combines the elements of fit with experiential learning. Students who visit a variety of schools will be able to work with their college counselors to build a list of schools. Families may choose to accompany their students on select campus visits after the student has determined which schools will be the best possible match.

There is a trend among college presidents not to participate in the college rankings surveys. Reed College has never participated. Reed is a top academic institution and produces many graduate school scholars. The rankings use criteria that often do not pertain to the quality of an academic institution. The most important part of college selection is identifying the elements of a good fit. If a school is not a good fit then a student will not optimize their college experience. Fit not rankings.

When I take students to visit a campus we go beyond the tour and info session. Elements of a complete campus visit include a meal in the dinning hall, sitting on a class, browsing the campus book store, reading the campus newspaper and bulletin boards and kicking back for a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and doing some people watching. Take notes.

Go on a group tour that visits a variety of schools. A group tour will provide essential campus visits for experiential learning about what makes a good fit. Group tours are a financially feasible way to visit a number of schools. After a student has determined what elements add up to a good personal academic, social and financial fit then the student will be able to craft a more informed list. Some schools that the student thought they were interested in may come off the list. Next attend college fairs to speak with admissions representatives from schools you are interested in and find out if they are planning to your high school. Ask to speak with current students or young alumni, a professor in a department that you are interested in, does the school offer a skype interview? These are ways to determine if a school that you are interested in will truly be a good fit and show a demonstrated interest. A few schools will fly in students.

Depth and not breadth counts with extra curricular activities. If you have tried a bit of this and a bit of that then it is time to buckle down and pick an activity to focus on while still participating in a variety of activities. If you are a junior then your selection of an activity should be based on your level of passion for the activity combined with the availability of the activity. You need to show a time commitment so if the activity that you are most passionate about is going to be unavailable to you then you need to select the next best choice. It is never too late to begin to show a dedication to a specific activity.

PLANNING AND HONESTY!

Students need to begin their college search and planning no later than the spring semester of their junior year of high school. The common application is available in August. The five common application question almost never change. Begin your essays and have a completed drafts if not finished products by the beginning of your senior year. Fill out the easy parts of the common application as soon as it is released. DO NOT wait until the last week prior to an application deadline to submit your application. There have been several glitches in the common application submission process and you need to protect yourself by not falling victim to a deadline glitch.

Never embellish or be dishonest on your applications. Always write your own essays and be honest about the other elements of your application.

Students who become fixated on one school as the end all be all for the rest of their lives have not been educated about fit. When I take students on a Burton College Tour, I teach them how to determine the elements of a good academic, social and financial fit for themselves. Students who learn how to identify the aspects of a good fit and how it pertains to them are able to build a list of schools that are all right for the student.

How you should begin researching colleges depends on what year in high school you are beginning your search. If you have time on your side and are a freshman or sophomore then enjoy surfing the internet to visit college websites and thumb through the college guides in your local book store or library. Look ahead to your family road trips and pick a school ti visit along the way. Learn the art of how to look at a college and venture into the elements of what will make a school a good fit for you.

If you are in the second half of high school then do what has been recommended, but turn up the heat. Attend college fairs and plan to take a college campus tour trip. Schedule a series of meetings with your school guidance counselor and attend college nights with your parents.

Be very careful when submitting supplemental materials that have not been requested by the school's supplemental application or do not enhance your application. Supplemental materials may be a valuable addition to schools that have a holistic approach to reading applications. An extra letter of recommendation from a coach, youth group leader or another organization that has come to know you well may support your application. Do not submit a letter unless it can shine light on part of you which has not be demonstrated on your application. The letter needs to detail examples of leadership, character, work ethic or an unusual dedication to an activity.

If you are wondering if you should submit additional information that explains a poor grade, absence from school or other blemish on your high school record you should speak with your school counselor and ask them to help you to address your struggles in a letter directly from your counselor.

Do not submit unsolicited art portfolios or DVDs of a performance etc. unless you have won a distinguished award to accompany the supplemental materials. If you are undecided about submitting extra materials go ahead and reach out to the admissions counselor who is assigned to your geographic region and introduce your self. Ask them for their opinion. You will be showing a demonstrated interest in the school, and they will appreciate your sensitivity to the subject of supplemental materials. A feather in your cap.

You may apply to schools online. Many schools use the Common Application which you fill out online and submit electronically. Schools may also have a supplemental application question that is special to the school. You will find out about supplemental questions via the Common Application. Some schools waive the application fee for students who are submitting applications on line.

The best teachers to write your letters of recommendation are teachers who have had you within the past year. Your best match is a teacher who taught a class that you earned a good grade in. If you like the teacher but earned a poor grade then the teacher can only recommend your personal attributes and you are missing out on the opportunity to be recommended for your academic and personal attributes. The best opportunity is when you can contact a teacher from your junior year over the summer before your senior year and ask the teacher to consider writing a letter of recommendation. This will allow the teacher time to think and to write. If your school has not already provided you with a brag sheet please provide on to your teacher. If you have some schools in mind please share your thoughts. Your teacher may believe that you are a great fit at some of the schools you are considering and that will support your application. Always provide a hand written thank you note after the application process is complete.

Parents and students alike should make monthly contributions to a savings plan. Encourage grandparents and others to forego expensive gifts with a combination of a modest gift and a contribution to a college fund.

Everyone knows that tuition is expensive. Some students and families are unaware of the costs just to apply to college. If you are a student with a low family income speak with your school counselor about applying for SAT test fee waivers AND fee waivers for applications. The good news is that some schools waive the application fee if you apply online. Students who are granted application fee waivers should budget their waivers and not use them when they may submit online for free. Tip, Wellesley both guarantees to meet 100% of demonstrated need AND does not charge an application fee if a student submits their application on line.

A 529 plan is an investment account that permits the earnings to grow free of federal tax. However, you do not get a federal tax deduction for money you put in the account. The money must be used for college or graduate school expenses. If the money is not used for the child the account is created for, it can be used for higher education expenses of a sibling or even a parent. If the money is just withdrawn without being used for higher education expenses, it will be subject to taxes and penalties.

For some states, the account also grows free of state tax; however, the state may require you to use the fund sponsored by the state. Some states also give you an income tax deduction on your state tax return for investing in a 529 plan but not all states give a deduction and some states phase out the deduction for higher income people.

Anyone can contribute to a 529 account for anyone else. So grandparents and even family friends can contribute. The major 529 account brokers are TIAA-CREF, Fidelity and Vanguard, but there are others. You can open an account by: (1) calling your current financial advisor; (2) calling one of the financial firms I just mentioned; or googling your state and 529 account to determine which financial firm sponsors the 529 account in your state. You don't have to use the financial firm that sponsors your state, but state tax benefits may require it.

Families need to be very open about discussing how a student's degree is going to be paid for. In this economy there should be no shame in having transparency between parent and child about how much money has been saved to pay for their education and the willingness and ability of a parent to contribute to a child's degree. This discussion should take place no later than the summer between junior and senior year of high school. Students need to be able to determine if a school is an all around good fit before adding it to their strategic list of schools. Financial feasibility is a component of fit.

The first step to learning about financial aid is learning about the bank of mom and dad.

Generally a student who is finished financing their education may want to seek to consolidate their student loans. The advantages to consolidation are that there is only one bill to pay a month so it is simpler to keep track of payments and often a student may find a favorable rate that beats the over cumulative interest rate of multiple loans. One more plus is that a student may find a loan consolidation that lowers fees if the student pays online and also lowers an interest rate if a student makes a set number of consecutive payments on time.

Remember to research many options. Do not simply click on a computer screen pop up. This is a student's first chance at establishing stellar credit.

Students need to be realistic about their college budget from the beginning of the application and financial aid process. Please pick schools that are a good financial fit as well as academic and social fits. Once you have chosen a school it is time to budget. I recommend using an online financial tracker like mint.com which will send you high spending alerts and allow you to track your finances. Plan ahead for fun and emergencies. Be smart about purchasing your text books. Sharing books may be tough, but renting them is a wise idea. See how many are also available on line for a greater discount. Live simply and establish a lifestyle that you can sustain when you graduate and responsible for your own living expenses including your student loans.

Try the computer lab, library or Deans Office. These three suggestions also help to build resumes for internships.

Some of the unexpected costs emerge when students did not fully understand their financial aid package. For instance how does work study effect your aid package? What will be the true cost of your text books. Allied health majors have very expensive books. Will you be homesick and need a long weekend plane trip home? What if your car breaks down and you need to tow it to the nearest gas station?

Lots of campuses have Zip Car and other shares. Grouping with friends to rent a car for a few hours to shop a bit out of town can save money.

Make a schedule for SAT prep that is included in your nightly homework. Before you launch into a test prep regime, take a complete SAT to determine your areas of strength and weakness. If you can afford it a private tutor may be the best approach to fine tune your skills. Many night programs as public high schools offer a test prep course for much less than some nationally recognized test prep companies. If you are not a test taker then visit fairtest.org for a growing list of competitive schools that are going test optional.

DO: Write the essay yourself, ask for proof reading, write in a formal style, make sure that the essay tells admissions officers something about yourself, brain storm, begin your essays the summer before your junior and senior year

DON'T: Try to be funny when you are not a paid comedian, allow someone else to write you essay for you, use profanity, write about the college campus without putting yourself in the context of you on campus, wait until the last month to begin your essay, be afraid to toss out an essay that is not working and begin anew, think that no one will read your essay

Many schools have holistic processes for evaluating applications. These schools may give applications up to three reads. Here are some of the ways that schools read essays: 1. Application gets a primary read and if the application is a straight admit then the student is in OR the application is passed on for a second read and then a decision is reached OR the application could then go to a committee. 2. Each application gets two reads. 3. Applications with test scores and GPAs in a certain range get read for admission. 4. International students should expect that their essays and their SAT writing portion will be read.

Some schools do cut by the numbers. Most schools read and read and read. Admissions officers go home with up to 700 applications on a cart and spend hours drinking coffee in to the wee hours of the morning. Most schools employ a form of a rate card and the essay(s) are a component of the rate card.

Presenting a well written and grammatically correct essay is a key component to your college application. Your essay needs to be error free. When you select your proof reader politely ask them to help you with proof reading, but not re-engineering your essay.

Be sure that your writing is formal. You are not submitting a text message. Use capitalization, punctuation and paragraphs. Do not use words that you would not normally use in an essay. Admissions readers will know if you have pulled out the thesaurus to alter every other word.

A common mistake that international students make is allowing someone else to write their essay for them. This practice is viewed as a poor choice by American admissions officers and they are able to tell if the essay was written by the student. Students who submit false essays will not be admitted. Trust in your abilities to write a beautiful essay.

I recommend that students try to find an adult other than their parents to help with essay editing. Parents are blinded by love and perhaps perfection. Each student needs to be able to claim authentic ownership of their essays. Mom and Dad may be great help during the brainstorming process of generating essay topics.

The career center on campus is the first place to begin. It is important to learn how to use the career center. Establish a relationship with the counselors there and they will help guide you through an internship search, resume writing and interview coaching. You should also visit with your academic advisor and head of the department that you are majoring in. They may have inside information or direct contacts. You can merge both resources which will be valuable practice in the art of bringing together a networking platform. These skills will be practice for your post graduation job search.

Each school has its own interview process. Some schools do not interview, some interviews are purely informational, alumni or student interviews. Don't be fooled if you are interviewed by a student, at some schools the student interviews are evaluative and students even play a roll in the admission committee. Each school will detail the interview policies on line. Please remember to dress respectably. No bra straps showing, dirty T-shirts, flip flops or ripped clothing. Be clean and prompt. Thank your interviewer for their time. Ask questions.

Think back to a time when you were watching someone sitting on a chair who was angry, board, tired or not paying attention. What did their body language look like that let you guess how the person was feeling. Yes, body language matters. Take a few moments at home to sit in different chairs and practice looking neutral and then interested. Make sure that you are not bent over into a human C or crossing your arms in front of you. If you feel the need to cross then cross your legs. Please make eye contact. If your eyes drift from your interviewer or if you need to take a break ask the interviewer a question.

While you are waiting to land your dream job you can build your arts resume and develop professional skills in an area that you are skilled in. You will have to be committed to planning your weeks around 12+ hour days. Here is a list of suggestions: 1. Take a look at your living expenses including student loans so you have a realistic idea as to how much income you need to support yourself. 2. Find a paying or volunteer job in a related field that will keep you close to the connections that may land you the big break. Can you work as an arts columnist for the local paper? 3. Volunteer to network, usher at the theater and teach art/ performing art classes to young people in your community. The idea is to stay close to the arts that you love and to keep yourself exposed in the community. 3. If you are young enough, see if you can stay on your parent's health plan. 4. Be open minded about your future career, you went to college to major in what you love to do. You also went to college to become an educated person. You are not failing your dream if you land a job in a different industry.

Most admissions officers will tell you that they do not spend time trolling social media to see if you have been up to no good. So does it matter what is on Facebook and if you have been tagged in a photo that you wish had never entered cyberspace? A resounding YES. You are creating a profile of yourself that will never be erased. Your future employers will have you vetted on line. No joke. Where your Facebook matters today is if you are in the running for a scholarship or an honor award. You stand a very good chance of being vetted. There have been scandals where ill meaning peers have alerted admissions offices to disastrous Facebook postings. To sum it up, if you wouldn't want an admissions officer or your grandmother to see something about you on Facebook then it shouldn't be there in the first place. Clean up your profile and make sure that you do have a respectable email address.

The best way to determine what factors will be important considerations is to begin by visiting a variety of college campuses. Students who visit a broad range of schools are able to tease out aspects of campuses that appeal to them. This is the process of learning the elements of a good fit school. Students should feel good on campus. A campus should be able to stretch the student to enable growth while providing comfort. The three elements of fit are academic, social and financial. A good fit will encompass all three components.

Freshman retention rates are the percentage of students who return for their Sophomore years. A low retention rate raises a flag. Why are students not returning? You may already know the answer. Some reasons for lower retention rates are that many students transfer to a more competitive school, they are at tenting a school with lower tuition and transfer out later when they can afford a higher tuition. These are acceptable reasons. Do your research; are Freshmen not supported by faculty, taught college academic study skills, given poor residential life support? Does the financial aid office "bait and switch" aid packages? Be polite and blunt and ask the admissions office why a school may or may not have a low retention rate. On the positive side of things, schools with high retention rates must be doing something right!

Congratulations! Your hard work has paid off and now you have a choice in schools. There are three components of fit for you and your family to review, academic, social and financial fit. If you were awarded a financial aid package then please begin with financial fit first. If one school is going to cost $20,000 a year less then you should look very hard at finding elements of fit that will add up to both savings and happiness. Warning, make sure that the financial aid package is a 4 year guarantee provided that your GPA and EFC stay where they belong. This will require a conversation with the financial aid office. Please remember to be polite and ask for their help in reviewing your package.

Now it is time to look at Academic and social fit. The best way to determine these fits is by revisiting campus and requesting an overnight in the dorms. Make sure to attend some classes in an academic area of interest. Try to attend more than one class and request a meeting with a professor who is also an academic advisor.

Congratulations on your acceptance letter! Vetting a school once you have been admitted requires honesty with yourself. There are many outside factors that influence a student's choice to apply to a college. Now you are in the game for real and you need to get real about what elements of a good fit the school has for you. Filter out the extra noise of prestige, an hour closer to home, your best friend or worse foe has also been accepted.

Plan to schedule an overnight in the dorm and attend classes in a subject that interests you. Make sure that you have some solo time to explore campus on your own. Visit the book store and student cafe. Take a deep breath and introduce yourself to someone sitting in the cafe and ask them some general questions about classes and weekends. Do this more than once. Students love to talk about their schools. If you are not feeling like the person on the street interview then call admissions and ask for them to set you up with someone for a chat. Still undecided? Do the tour and info session again. What originally attracted you to the school? Again, be honest and filter out the noise to make sure that your reasons for attending are genuine.

Just a few years ago schools were still learning about social media. In the past, very often the first point of contact a school had with a student was by mailing pretty brochures. Now schools subscribe to social media and today's lunch menu can be found on line.

How many hours a day or week do you study? What is your favorite class? What other colleges did you apply to? What day does the weekend begin? (Some schools start their partying on Thursday, some schools are quite and others are not. If the answer is that every day is like a weekend then you have a pretty good feel for the campus social environment.) What are some of the school traditions? Is there a dorm that everyone tries to get into? What is greek life like? Do the students and administration get along? Do a lot of students go home on the weekends?

Consider sending your child on a group tour of college campuses. When your child returns she will be educated about the elements of a good fit school. Once your child has identified qualities in schools that are a good fit you and your child can focus on a few more school visits.

Parents can best help with the application process by providing a bit of structure and paper organization at home. The college application process may be the first time a student has been put to the task of administering paper work. A well meaning parent who would like to help may provide assistance to students with submitting standardized test scores and ensuring that a credit card is available to submit the Common Application. Remember to steer clear of the essays, they need to be written by the student.

Once your student turns 18 then you have no right to your child's academic records. Be clear at home about your expectations from the registrars office. If you are paying for your child's education then you have every right to see their grades. Insist that your children sign the waiver and have a copy of their grades sent to you.

Hopefully your list of schools were all good fits and you have some options. My advice is to do an overnight at some of the schools that you have been accepted to. Do write to the admissions representative of the school that you have been wait listed at and let them know that if admitted off the wait list that you plan to attend. Keep it short and sweet. Keep the wait list school apprised of significant developments in your academic profile such as bringing an AP class grade up from a B to an A.

This time around make sure that you are considering all of the elements of a good fit. Each school that you apply to will need to be a good academic, social and financial fit. The biggest challenge that students face when transferring is having their hard earned credits transfer. Be certain that your credits will transfer and cross check your plan with the Dean and registrar. If you are currently receiving institutional aid you will leave that behind. Contact the financial aid office of the school that you are transferring to to review your current aid package and get a solid estimate to learn how the packages will compare.

There is no magic number of schools that a student should consider applying to. The first step in choosing your list of schools is to determine what elements a school needs to have to make it a good academic, social and financial fit for you. Once you determine these elements of fit it is time to build a list of schools. I like to counsel students on to have a range of schools that match a student's chances of admission by categorizing schools into three categories; most likely, likely and least likely. A balanced list is the way to best determine how many schools a student will apply to. A balanced list is reasonable when the list contains no more than 13 schools. If a school list is top heavy with a number of least likely schools I will counsel a student to choose more wisely. The student is either picking schools with very low acceptance rates or has not spent enough time identifying aspects of fit.

Each school will have their own guidelines for international students who wish to apply for early decision. Some schools do not permit students to apply for early decision. Other schools only permit students who do not wish to apply for financial aid to apply for early decision. When a student is applying for early decision they need to be sure that the school they are selecting is a good fit for them. All early decision acceptances are binding. Students need to be aware of this admissions policy. The best way for a student and school to know if they are a good match is by visiting the campus. When students visit campus they show a demonstrated interest in the school and are able to attest to their knowledge that that school is both their top choice and a good fit.

Students who are international students and who studied English as a second language will be required to sit for the TOEFL for admissions to an American college or university.

Students may sit for the TOFEL as many times as they wish to increase their score. A score is considered valid for two years from the test date. I recommend that students compare their TOEFL scores to that of the admissions requirements of schools that they are considering as good fit schools. If a student has a TOEFL score that is a good match with the schools that they are applying to then they should stop taking the exam.

International students who attend a high school in the US and who are required to take the TOFEL to apply to an American college or university may apply for a fee waiver. The eligibility of a TOFEL fee waiver is determined by economic need and not by merit.

Admissions officers would like to learn about you as a person. Craft an essay that does not brag. Tell a story about yourself that is personal and descriptive. What do you like to do on a Saturday or how did you learn a great lesson in life when you helped your young neighbor learn how to tie her show? Do not write about your list of accomplishments, you have already made a list on another part of your application. The most important aspect of your personal essay is that it needs to be written by you. If you have someone help you too much with your essay then the admissions officers will know that you did not write the essay. They are experts at spotting essays that are untrue.

Not every school will grant interviews. Students should read the college's interview policy and make a choice about interviewing based on the college's policy. If your English language skills are excellent and the school will interview students on campus, off campus with alumni or via skype then I recommend seeking an interview.

You may apply for financial aid as an international student. International students may qualify for institutional aid but not federal aid. Many schools have a different subset of rules for international students who are applying for aid and this includes if a student may apply for early decision or regular decision.

In the USA standardized testing is only a portion of the admissions process. Some schools do not even require standardized testing and are called "test optional" schools. Many of these schools do require some admissions testing for international students and that may range from the SAT to the TOFEL.

When I work with international students I like to begin by showing students and their families an American college application. I show them the many different sections on a college application that students will need fill in to show a complete picture. I show them that there is a small space to list test scores. Test scores are an important part of an admissions application, but they are a part and not the whole part of a complete application.

When Burton College Tours takes international students to visit schools I teach students about the elements of a good fit. "Fit" means is the school the best school for that student. The above question asked me to address the differences between the US and Chinese exams. There are differences in the testing approach, the length of each exam and the level of reasoning that the testing measures are different. I chose to address how each exam plays a role in the admissions process. In the US, at most schools the test scores are a part and not the sum total of the admissions process.

At most universities, students have freedom during their first and second years of school to declare a major. The best way for a student to choose their major is by trying a variety of courses in subject areas that interest them. Meeting with your academic advisor is an important component as they will mentor you through your major and course selection process. Set up meeting with different academic department heads in areas that you may major in and work with them to see what your course of study would look like in a specific major. You may even visit the career center to learn about the career opportunities for the majors that you are considering. Your academic advisor and the department heads will help you to determine a likely course of graduate school study.

Students who would like to increase their chances of getting institutional financial aid need to present a wonderful application and show a demonstrated interest in the school that they wish to receive aid from. The best way to have a dynamic application is by following the advice of an American college counselor or by reading college counseling books published for American high school students.

The best way to show a demonstrated interest in a school is by visiting campus. Colleges have a record of students who visit campus verses just sending in an application. When students visit campus they should schedule an appointment with the admissions counselor who is in charge of international recruitment and will be the person reading their applications. Skype is an excellent way to schedule and off campus meeting. Skype is cost effective.

Each year colleges in the US receive a huge increase over last years international applicant pool. The competition for international students is heating up. Colleges have appointed readers of international applications and these readers are skilled in determining if the student has genuinely written the application or if an agency has been paid to complete the application.

Admissions officers have become wise to inauthentic applications. They know how to read past a false essay and transcripts that have been altered. I once counseled an international student who was doing a fabulous job working hard on writing her essays. Her essays were not written in perfect English, but the content coupled with wonderful grades (which were honest grades) were going to produce an application that would earn her admission to a top school.

A few days before her applications were due she contacted me and told me that she had re-written her essays. I read the essays and was immediately alarmed. It was obvious that her father has paid someone to write essays for her. The essays looked nothing like the essay a 16 year old girl would write and they did not reflect the rest of her application. I had to tell her father that if she submitted the new essays that she would be denied admission at every school. The father was only trying to help his daughter, but his actions were going to hurt her.

The young woman made the right choice and submitted her own writing. She was admitted to excellent schools and is a proud member of her freshman class. If she had used the essay that her father paid for she would have never been accepted to college.

International applications are read more carefully than domestic applications. I predict that with the advent of skype that students will be required to have an interview at the schools that they are applying to. Their spoken English skills will need to match their written applications.

Many colleges have supplemental applications for home schoolers. My advice is to make sure that you are able to back up your education with an outside source. Have you published a research project? I recommend finding a person in your community who may have worked with you on a project or a tutor with an academic background to provide a letter of recommendation for you. Don't be shy to submit a piece of graded academic work to shine light on your academic abilities. Your schooling has taken you on a different path than most high school applicants. Pull out your strengths and weave them into your application.

Students who are receiving support services in high school may have an IEP. Students who will require a continuation of services when they attend college will need to switch to a 504 Plan which will be covered by the American With Disabilities Act. That is the technical jargon. In short if you are receiving services now you will need to provide educational testing that has been administered within the past three years that documents your disability in order to have a continuation of services. The level of services change and students may receive accommodations, but not the skills support that they may have been receiving in high school. Some colleges have academic support programs which are formal for students with LD and other schools provide services like a writing lab which is available to all students.

It is my opinion that a student's application should display a student's strengths. If a student presents a well rounded application without disclosing then I feel that self-disclosure has no place on an application. Disabilities that show up on an academic transcript in the form of a poor grade may be best addressed in a counselor recommendation provided that the student has worked hard and the counselor has positive comments to add.

A student may contact a DSS office anytime. The sooner the better. Did you know that the DSS office may not contact the admissions office and discuss you? Your rights to privacy are protected so stand up and ask questions!

Students who wish to request extended time on the SAT or keyboarding accommodations must do two things ASAP. 1. Log onto the College Board website and read about the steps that a student needs to take to meet the requirements of a documented disability. 2. Contact your school guidance counselor and confirm with them that you wish to see accommodations on standardized testing. Students need to be aware that a history of accommodations and educational testing are both required. I caution students not to worry, if they require accommodations then they will be able to work this out.

Begin your search like all other students by determining what elements will make a good academic, social and financial fit for you. Become aware of what a disability support office is on a college campus. Schedule an appointment with a DSS office at a school near you and learn about how you will take your LD to college and succeed.

I always advise students on Burton College Tours to look into how each campus operates their dorms an if campus housing is guaranteed for all four years? What are the residential options on campus? Are there special dorms with themes like honors dorms, single sex, or international dorms? How about a vegetarian dorm complete with a kitchen? Residential life is a big part determining social fit when looking at campuses.

Many colleges have a sort of match.com program that allows students to be best matched with one and other. I strongly recommend writing a room mate contract at the start of each academic year. You never know when your room mate is going to meet the love of their life and see no problems with their love practically moving in. Like wise if you have a passion for repetitive music when studying in your room you may want to be honest about your habits and give your room mate a chance to tell you where their level of tolerance is for your taste in music.