College admissions is competitive,

Start working on your portfolio and get it in front as many people as you can so that they can review it and give you feedback so that you can improve it. Check out the dates for the National Portfolio Days. This event gives you an opportunity to take your portfolio around to a bunch of different colleges who happen to be in once place for the day and will review your portfolio. Make sure that you use a lot of different mediums.

Is the school Accredited? Is is a proprietary institution and who owns it? What is the reputation? The other piece..Is this what you want your college experience to be? Some view higher education is not only academic, but social. My mentor and Dean of Students told me, "Geoff, you are in class only 15 hours per week. I have to fill the other 153 with a social education."

Please don't ask anything that can be found by looking the information up. This is your chance to really gain the student perspective. Ask questions that relate to you as the learner or you as the potential student. Look for verification as to why a particular school is on your list. Ask questions that provide proof that what you are looking at is the real deal. Eat in the cafeteria. Pull a student or professor aside and ask them what they think of the school and if they like where the school is headed with their vision.

Please don't ask anything that can be found by looking the information up. This is your chance to really gain the student perspective. Ask questions that relate to you as the learner or you as the potential student. Look for verification as to why a particular school is on your list. Ask questions that provide proof that what you are looking at is the real deal.

Use the internet. That is the sure fire quickest way to research an institution. Use sites like Unigo, Collegeboard, or if your school uses Naviance. Make sure that you check out each schools specific sites too.

Write more, study better. When you get to college, your study habits will change. They have to. You will be expected to write so much more in college than you did in high school. Do original research. This is kind of hard in high school as you are often asked to dissect a piece of research or literary reference. In college you will be asked to perform your own research and report your findings.

visit schools and ask them. eat in the caf and pull a student aside and ask them. Often times, college websites will have a link under their admissions page to ask students a question. See if the school that you are looking at has one?

That is ok. Don't worry about it. You are be looked at by a college based on what your high school has to offer and what you did with it. Did you take the most rigorous course load that was made available to you. A college can't knock you because of where you live and the fact that your school doesn't have AP or IB Programs.

The best time to visit a college campus is when school is in session. You want to get the pulse of the student body when you visit. It is hard to get that over Christmas Break or Summer Break.

Figure out what it is that you want in a college. Do you want to be in a city, suburb, rural? Big school, small school, medium school? How far are you willing to go away to school? What does the ideal campus look like in your head? That is where I would start. After you figure those things out, then begin looking at your potential majors. Which schools offer the major that I want? Do those schools match what I want in a University or College? Then visit those schools that match your goals and wishes. After visiting you begin to understand which colleges will be right fit for you and which ones won't.

Bring your folks. They should feel comfortable with the schools that you are looking at. Most likely, you will have a difference of opinion as to which school they really like and the one that you really like. There is a balance to be had here. You have to like it, but they have to pay for it. Just play it cool. If you like a school that your parents don't, be professional about it by listing the reasons why you think it would be a good fit for you. Don't just act like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Beiber concert. Your parents will respect your opinion if you approach them in an adult way.

There are so many rankings out there it is baffling. What's even more is that no two rankings share the same methodology. Colleges can post whatever rankings they choose to show you. But, someone please tell me the difference between the number 1 school and the 20th school other than their name and location. For that matter, someone tell me the difference between #20 and #50. Across the country there are great schools that don't get ranked. There are several factors. Maybe they didn't get enough applications, or they didn't reject enough students. Maybe of the students that were admitted, only a certain percent actually decided to attend that college. These are determining factors in several rankings. Does this really measure the worth of a school? Absolutely not. There are countless successful people in this world that did not attend a "ranked" college or university. Don't buy the hype.

Visiting is the most important thing that I think you can do before your senior year. Get to know an institution, don't go off the word of a relative, a friend, or what you heard somewhere. Institutions are changing all the time. See for yourself.

What are the "right" extracurriculars? Colleges are looking for involvement in a thousand things. We are looking for a couple of things that you happen to be really involved in. Working in the soup kitchen once in your lifetime doesn't count. Working in the soup kitchen, organizing your friends to help, starting a club for soup kitchen volunteers, commitment to the soup kitchen...That's what I am talking about! If that is all that you do, good for you. You don't have to be the student council president to get admitted to college. There is no "right" extracurricular. Be who you are and explore interests that have meaning for you. Oh, if you work...that is an extracurricular in my book. That show maturity and commitment. Good for you!

Applying is not all that hard. Too much pressure has been placed on the application process. Step back for a moment and let's dissect it. You fill out our name and address. You complete a resume, which you should have been working on up to this point. You complete a personal statement less than 250 words. You complete an essay most likely under 500 words. No big deal. You write essays in high school that are 5 times the amount of a 500 word essay. I tell students to work on their essay about 10 minutes at a time. Don't stress over it. Work on it, come back to it, revise it, and move on. If you have to fiddle with it too much, then the essay is not authentic. That is the biggest hang up students have about the application process.

GPA

Test Scores

High School course Rigor

Extra-Curriculars

Essay

Letters of Recommendations

These are a few of the things. If an office brings you in for an interview, then we want to see that you can form clear and concise thoughts. We want to see a level of maturity, and we are looking for intellectual originality.

Sure. If you are scheduling a visit, or you have a question that you would like answered, a call is certainly welcomed. If you are calling just to chit chat, I don't think that will help you get admitted. If something occurred in your life i.e. you got some big award, and you want to update the admissions counselor on this new achievement, a call or email would suffice.

In admissions we often reach out to school and college counselors so that they may know our institution better. We want them to be able to recommend our school to their students. We often invite them to go on tours or host them for breakfast or coffee or training sessions on a variety of topics all to reach out to them.

It all depends on how long the admissions officer has been in the business. If the admissions staff is new, they may not know a whole lot about the high schools that they visit. High Schools do get ranked though. Admissions Counselors do see high school rank. So, if you attend a school that is ranked highly, we most likely know about it. When admissions counselors come to a high school, we not only hope to meet with students, but with school counselors as well so that we can get a feel for the school and get to know the type of academic environment you are coming from.

I can't answer this for every college, but for me, NO. I don't have time. Most colleges will say the same thing. I will not base an admissions decision on whether or not you have a lot of facebook friends, or how awesome your facebook page or photos are.

It is seen very positively. We want to see that their is potential there. We want to see an upswing in GPA and even course rigor. Showing your potential is important. We are making an investment in you, we want to make sure that our investment pays off in terms of future potential.

It really depends on where you apply. Some schools will spend just a few minutes. That is all they have time for. They will look over your transcript, check out your test scores, glance over your essay and rec letters, check out your extra-curricular activities and make a judgement. Some schools take longer at doing this, others do it really quickly. It depends on what the school values. Is it a transcript or test scores or is it something else?

It really depends on where you apply. Some schools will spend just a few minutes. That is all they have time for. They will look over your transcript, check out your test scores, glance over your essay and rec letters, check out your extra-curricular activities and make a judgement. Some schools take longer at doing this, others do it really quickly. It depends on what the school values. Is it a transcript or test scores or is it something else?

What you do with your time off matters. Are you working to save up money? Are you spending your time off at your beach house? Are you doing community service here or abroad? If you defer your admissions, but use your time wisely, you will be just fine.

We look at GPA and most important Course Rigor. You are being compared to other students in your high school. We want to see a challenging course load and great grades to go along with it. That is the most critical piece, course rigor. We of course also look at involvement. What else did you do with your time in high school compared to your counterparts?

I have had several students not get into their dream college, but it worked out. And, I might add, it made them a better person, and they loved the school they ended up going to. These are successes. I believe that the college that chose them, did so for a very particular reason, and my students loved them for it.

No explanation needed. Virtually every college now has an application that is online either through their website or the Commonapp.

Apply online. Every high school in the country has a computer. Colleges will read a paper application, but they are virtually non-existent.

Poor grammar or text speak is a pretty poor first impression. Putting the wrong name of the college at the top of your essay or an arrest record are pretty big red flags that go up for us. Slacking off your senior year is another red flag for admissions. If you were making excellent grades and then your grades plummet your senior year or you barely take an English class because you would rather go home and sit by the pool...Red Flag!

Hooks are things that stick out on an application i.e. athlete, legacy, music, band.

The Universal Application works much like the common app. One application for multiple universities.

keep a notebook of the colleges that you are looking at. Make sure to save all of your log ins and passwords for the countless websites that you need an account for. Save your correspondence from each school that you are interested in by creating a folder either actual or virtually in your email or on your computer desktop. Save all of your essays. Keep a check list of what you need to do. When completing a task, write the date of completing. Don't just check it off. Keep your dates and deadlines organized. Get a calendar and use it. Write important deadlines and dates on it. Make sure that you are checking your email. You may not use email that much, but I can assure you that colleges do. You may miss something that is important.

Choose the teacher that you feel knows you best. Empty superlatives won't work in letters of rec. We need specific examples. Don't just choose the popular teacher because they are easier to ask. Choose the teacher that engaged you, that challenged you, that saw you overcome obstacles. That have some meat to what they are going to write about you.

Start early. You don't want your letter to be the last letter your teacher writes. I would like to be able to tell you that it didn't matter when your teacher writes your letter, but we all get tired of writing. After you have written a hundred letters, you feel a little overwhelmed and worn down. Get your teachers early. Plant the seed in their mind before you leave for summer break at the end of your Junior Year. Give them a friendly reminder when you get back in the fall of your Senior Year.

Sure. But be respectful in how you approach your high school teachers. Give them gentle reminders. And for God's sake, don't have your parents call or email them. You need to be the grown up and do it yourself. You should approach your teacher at the end of your Junior Year. Be proactive. When you get back to school in the fall of your senior year, schedule a meeting with the teacher and talk to them about writing the letter and if you could provide them with any information that would help them. Then, thank them.

ACT and SAT no more than three times. Statistically, nothing happens after the third time that you take an exam. By the third time, you should have already studied or prepped for the exam instead of taking it on the fly.

Go through and answer the questions that you know first. Then go back and spend a little more time on the questions that you don't know. On the SAT, if you can eliminate 2 answer choices but don't know the answer, Guess. Otherwise, omit. On the ACT, if you don't know the answer or can't come up with the answer, Guess.

We remember things in stories. A good story is memorable. Our mind is created to recall things in stories. You want to be memorable to the counselors who read your app. You want to be memorable to the committee.

I think that the biggest trap that students fall into is to write about someone or something that influenced them (not a bad topic by the way), and then spend the entire essay telling the admissions office about their Great-Aunt Fanny. I am sure that Fanny was a lovely women, but the point of the essay is to tell us about you. You are the ultimate subject matter. Whatever you write, make sure that the message that is clearly conveyed is about who you are.

Usually one to two admissions officers read an essay. Some colleges do not look at essays. Some colleges will choose only to look at your GPA, Course Rigor and SAT/ACT scores. If you GPA and Test Scores are high enough, they may not feel that and essay is necessary. It really depends on the college.

It never hurts to have your writing proofread. But, whoever is doing the proofreading, should not be changing the content. They should be looking for misspellings, syntax, and grammatical errors. We know when a parent or counselor wrote the essay. Don't do that.

proofreading is ok, but editing the content should not happen. This is your essay, your chance to show the admissions counselor or committee your wares, not your parents. You should take ownership and pride in the essay. It needs to be authentically you.

It really depends on the college. It is not looked at as heavy as GPA, Course Rigor or test scores, but for some colleges it is looked at. It may be the differentiating factor between two students. Some colleges are essay optional. I would look at the student profile at a college that is essay optional. If your test scores and GPA fall on the lower half of the student profile of that institution, then I would send the essay. Give the admissions office additional reasons to admit you.

The college essay shouldn't be a regurgitation of what's on your application. New information needs to be introduced to reinforce your candidacy. The essay is your opportunity to show the admissions committee that you are a great catch. It is the qualitative piece to the application. It is the reasoning behind the quantitative measures of a GPA and SAT scores.

Be yourself. Enjoy the conversation. That is basically what the interview is. The college wants to get to know you better. It's like being on a date or meeting someone for the first time. You want to be able to share your story with them. And you should ask them about their story as well. People love to talk about themselves. Make the interview into a conversation. By the end of the time together, the interviewer and interviewee should seem like old friends. But you have to stay relaxed. I am not talking about kicking your feet up on the desk relaxed. Dress nice, but comfortably. Don't be something you are not. Come prepared with questions to ask the interviewer. Oh yeah, stay relaxed and you will do just fine.

Yes. There are several colleges where a student ambassador or even alumni will conduct the interview. Sometimes this is done because of travel purposes.

I guess it depends on how good you are. Which colleges you are looking at and which coaches are looking at you. Admissions and athletic offices are in communication as to which students are being recruited. So being recruited is the hook in admissions, bot just playing a sport.

There are varying levels of sports. At which level do you want to compete? Division I, II, III, NAIA? They all have different requirements. Make sure that you know what they are. Register with the NCAA Clearinghouse as well as the NAIA. Make sure that the classes you take in high school and the grades you earn will qualify you to play sports at the collegiate level. Make sure that you are talking to your high school coach or athletic director if you are interested in playing sports in college. Leverage their knowledge and their connections. Finally, practice hard!

It really depends on the level of talent that we are talking about. It also depends on which type of college a student wants to attend and how serious they are about their sport. Are we talking Div I, II, III, NAIA? There are recruiting services out there. One way to get noticed, depending on your sport is to attend summer camps at colleges that you are interested in. Also, make sure that you register with the NCAA Clearninghouse and with the NAIA. Your high school coach should also be making a push for you and working with you and your family to reach out to his or her contacts so that you get noticed by the school that is right for you.

What is your ultimate end goal? Are we talking fine arts? Are we talking dance, music, theater? Whatever the subject matter is, find someone that you look up to in that field and talk to them and get the scoop. There are a lot of schools that specialize in the Arts. There are a lot of schools that don't but may do one facet very, very well. So determine too what type of college and what type of location you want to be in. Make sure that you pay close attention to dates and deadlines. Some colleges will require that you audition or send in a portfolio. You have to stay on top of things, audition and portfolio requirements often have different deadlines than that of the admissions office.

Conservatory dance departments tend to focus on just dance and you may get some academics in a few other areas. A college dance department will focus not only on dance but other academic areas as well. Typically a college dance department will have classes available for non-majors as well. Conservatory dance departments tend to be smaller and more selective. For dancers in the industry, there can be benefits to both. A well rounded education may be what you desire. It depends on you.

There are a lot of schools with dance programs out there. This is so hard to nail down. Julliard of course has a fantastic ballet program. It really depends on where you want to be as a dancer. Do you want to be a triple threat dancer? Oklahoma City University is a great place to start looking. University of Oklahoma is a real and up-and-coming dance department. Arizona University and Point Park both have outstanding programs. Pace in New York has started a new Commercial Dance Program. Dance Magazine annually produces a college issue. I suggest that you pick up a copy.

Not True!!! This used to be the old paradigm for artists or dancers or theater majors. I am finding that a lot of artists are double majoring and combining their skills in real and unique ways. Sometimes you have to carve your own path and create your own job. You can tutor, teach lessons to younger students, or create classes for the community. There are a lot of opportunities in the industry as well, but sometimes we think that since we have a college degree that we don't have to start at the bottom. Sometimes you have to be the pleb that is delivering coffee. Get your foot in the door anyway that you can. Then prove your merit once you are there.

Whatever are the most important factors for you. Make a list of what you want a college to have. Make a list of what you think would be an extra if a college offered. Then, look at your list of schools and check those things off. How well does the school match up with your wants and needs? Very simple.

Does it pass your grandmother test? Would your family be ashamed of seeing your photos on facebook? How about your language? If your family will still claim you, then you are good to go.

You should view the visit as if you were the student. What does a typical day look like? Eat in the cafeteria. shadow a student or sit in on a class. Put yourself in the shoes of a college student for that day. Can you picture yourself at that college?

It is all about Fit. First it's the academic fit. Then it is the social fit. Hopefully you have been accepted to a college that "fits" into these categories. The final piece of the puzzle is Financial Fit. It has to make sense in terms of dollars and cents. But you won't know this final piece until Late March or early April. Once you have the Student Aid Report from each college, then you can compare offers and make good decisions.

What do you want to do? When in your life will you get the chance to experience something new? When will you have the opportunity to live someplace different? Maybe you feel comfortable close to home, that's fine. Then stay close to home. Maybe you want to explore something totally different. If you are on the east coast, maybe you want to go South or southwest. If you are int he south, maybe you want to explore Philadelphia, New York, Boston, or D.C. If you are on the West Coast, Why would you ever leave that beautiful weather? :) There are some great schools out there that are not close to where you live. Explore them. As an aside, sometimes schools where the cost of living is less, their tuition,room, and board is less too. The difference in cost savings can buy a lot of plane tickets.

Everything that we are doing in higher ed is to try and get in front of the technology. We use Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.... Everything we do, every email or picture we post, we keep social media in mind as to how we are going to recruit students.

Yes! Lying on your application, be expelled from school, a legal matter, and failing grades your senior year are some reasons that your admissions offer may be revoked. How to avoid this: Stay the course. Stay strong academically. Keep your nose clean. Graduate! You will be just fine.

Be supportive throughout the process. This is an extremely difficult time for your student. There is a lot of pressure not only academically in school, but also from their peers. Everything they hear during their Senior Year is about college. "Where are you applying? Have you started your application yet? Where have you visited? Oh, did your hear that Mary got into such and such school?" Everything that they hear is college. As a parent, you don't want to be another nagging voice. Be supportive, but don't do the application for them. Let your student know that you are there to help them if they need it. Make sure that they know that you are willing to take them to a visit. Set ground rules that college "stuff" is not to be talked about in the car or at the dinner table.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. They should be in the background. It is certainly ok for them to ask questions, but this is about the student. The student shouldn't be relying on the parents to ask all of the questions.

Write a formal letter explaining your fit academically and socially to the university admissions team. Visit campus again. Attend an open house. Let the college know that you are still interested in matriculating at their institution. Take the SAT or ACT over again and report your scores to them. Send the school an updated transcript with current high school grades. If you have any other success that occur after you have been wait-listed, let the school know. Try to compile the data. Don't send a piece of information every time that you get it. There is a fine line of persuasive and pushy.

Make sure that you are paying attention to deadlines. Deadlines are deadlines for a reason. Also, do your homework with the college to determine what credits will transfer. You want to get the most bang for the bucks you have already spent. Make sure that you get the credits you earned.

A lot depends on which type of schools you are applying to. You should look at the school profile compared to your academic profile. Do your expectations match reality? People will tell you to apply to a couple of reach schools, a couple of target schools, and a couple of safety schools. Truth be told, you should want to go to all of the schools that you apply to. You also need to be strategic about it. If you choose a school to apply to that you are on the bottom half of their academic profile, that means you probably won't get as much scholarship money as compared to a school where you were at the upper portion of their academic profile. Don't just apply somewhere without knowing where you fit in terms of the schools academic profile. In simple terms, 3 to 8 schools should do the trick depending on if you are looking in the right places.

No. It doesn't matter if you are an international student or a domestic student. Early Decision often increases your chances of admissions, but you need to make sure that you are comfortable in in applying Early Decision as it is a binding agreement. You need to make sure that you are able to afford the school financially as well.