Improve your chances of getting into college,

This is a question I come across frequently especially when dealing with international student's who are unable to travel to visit specific schools that they have interest in. Although the benefits of attending prospective college's are significant, there are other factor's which can help in making the right choice. Contact the college to ask whether there are alumni's that are located close to you that you may be able to meet with. The experiences of alumni are often going to be quite one sided, however it gives a good incite nevertheless.

I would recommend writing a list of components that you feel are important to your overall college experience e.g. does the school offer excellent library resources? is there a decent health and fitness facility that I have access to? are there good oppertunities for both dorm living and off campus accomodation close to classes? If it's in or close to a major city, are there any links to companies if studying something applicable thus possible internship opportunities? These are the type of question's which you would probably be asking or experiencing on a campus visit, therefore need to be answered and satisfied before application. This information needs to be organised before application's have been written so that you don't waste any of your important time and money.

Familiarity staying at an in-state school will have it's benefits however if your a student from rural Georgia and you stay in-state to attend a school in downtown Atlanta then you may feel less familiar than moving across the country to study in Oregon. The pace of life and alternation's in your daily routine's are more significant to your familiarity than anything else. Sometime's staying in-state will help if you plan on staying in-state after school as companies may have better familiarity with your education if it is local. Also if you decide to transfer, the process may be a little more efficient if your in-state especially with transferring credit's although this is not always the case. The obvious convenience of being a little closer to family and friends may also help or not depending on the student and how close they wish to be to they're home environment.

This aside there are many benefits of going to school out of state such as tackling added responsibility, building a bigger base of friends (if you choose to), independence, better chance of joining clubs/sports teams etc...

The career you decide to go into after college will probably require you to have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to liaise with different types of people from different backgrounds. By going out of your comfort zone for school you a lot better inclined to take on such beneficial personality traits.

The good news is whether you go to a college 5 minutes from your house or 5 hours away by plane, YOU have the ability to make the decisions at college and i would very much recommend going out of your way to meet different types of people and take advantage of clubs/sports or any out of class activities which will enable you to build many attractable personality traits which every employer will find attractive.

Simple answer is, of course! there is absolutely no rush in making the transition from high school to college. However, it is what you do with that time that really matters. Some prospective students may need to work for a year to save for college while others may look to travel abroad which can be an extremely rewarding experience and can often help to enter college life with more focus and certainty in what your next step should be.

I will say that one of the most important things one can do on a gap year is gain some added work experience. Whether it is volunteering or getting the opportunity for paid work, this can be an excellent bonus to your resume and will put you one step ahead of others when it comes to job searching once you have finished your degree.

In general, a lot earlier than the average student. Many college athletes will have been recruited although maybe not signed up from as young as 13 years old (especially for basketball, baseball and football).

If you are a student athlete that is in a position where you have not been heavily recruited by college coaches for whatever reason, the best way to get seen is to start making yourself known. How do you do that? there are many opportunities ....

Start looking for high school showcase opportunities in which you can perform in front of college coaches and show what your made of. If you are contacting coaches from universities which are not local, start building connections with college assistant coaches e.g. e-mail them (this has to be clear, concise and well presented) try to put together some valuable footage of you performing your sport in a competitive setting (not in your backyard or with a mate). With video footage its about quality not quantity so edit to put your best moments on one dvd.

Assistant coaches are generally better to contact as the head coach of many sports programs are consistently bombarded with prospective athletes like yourself, and often assistance coaches have a heavy hand in the recruiting process.

I have many other key tips for prospective student athletes, however you will have to contact me directly for such information.

Know that intercollegiate sports play a prestige role in university life with many opportunities to participate in a diverse range of sport's within the college framework. The glamorisation of big time NCCA D 1 Footballer athletes that are seen to live a very relaxed and lavish college lifestyle is far from the truth for 99% of college sport athletes. Regardless of what sport you play and where you play it, from the offset you are expected to commit a serious amount of commitment to any program with little leverage considered in terms of academic deadlines. The point I am trying to stress is that for certain student's it's better off to take advantage of the many other extra-curricular activities including intramural sports to keep grades high with time for social activities if desired. For other student's, the commitment of long nights studying, hard training session's and sacrificing the attendance of social gathering's are exercised to fully incorporate the high demands of intercollegiate sports. The size of the school, the specific sport, the sporting institute e.g. NCAA D1,D2,D3 or NAIA, program expectations etc.... These vital components and a lot more, all correlate towards how much time will be needed to incorporate an intercollegiate sporting career.

If your considering entering into intercollegiate sport my best advice is to be ready to take on an overloaded schedule, prioritise all your time perfectly, buy a diary which you check several times a day and add every event in your life such as academic deadlines, games, practice, group project meetings, dentists appointments......INCLUDE EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE!! if you think you can handle a full schedule, the rewards for intercollegiate sport participation are endless, literally.

This very much depends upon your own circumstances and how your sport fits in with your overall academic expectancies. Remember, you are playing your sport to compliment with an academic program and not the other way round. Depending upon your academic record coming out of high school and the level in which you have competed at in your sport, an important step is to start contacting coaches as suitable universities.

If you are looking to be recruited at a local college then obviously contacting the head coach or assistant coaches at the specified school is the best way to get the ball rolling. This will be the same for all student's although if you are looking to be recruited anywhere across the U.S. then start to check out NCAA, NJCAA, NAIA at the member schools for your specified sport. From here, you can start short listing which specific programs to contact. E-mailing a coach is the first step, however make sure you make a template if you are contacting several coaches but personalise that template to the specific individual that you are contacting.

It is also important to put together an athletic CV with all your sporting achievements as well as academic results thus far. Work experience, and any volunteering may also help as a coach is looking for many different aspects in terms of whether your personality and character will fit with the program, therefore this type of thing will not hurt your chances of being recruited.

I think that e-mail is the best initial way to contact a coach and see what his response is from there. Depending on how far you are located from the college, he/she may ask for video footage, therefore make sure you edit relevant footage which highlights specifically you ability within a short clip so that the coach can get an idea of the standard of your play.

Obviously visiting a specified program is the best way as many universities will offer a general "try out" where you can really express your performance and thus better your chances of being accepted onto the program and with scholarship if thats what your looking for.

Lastly, sports agencies like Athletes USA (largest global scholarship agency) have links to thousands of coaches thus give you the best ability to promote your sporting abilities however they do charge a fee but these vary depending upon the certain packages on offer to promote your abilities.

Obviously due to the criteria of the question we are assuming that you simply want to major in the art's and not go to art's school. No two schools are the same, the program of two school's offering a major in the art's can vary in many different ways therefore it's essential to visit the particular school's that you may be interested in and and catch a lesson or performance to get a better idea as to what that specific art's program is offering.

Narrow down your search based upon all the other requirements you are looking for and be in constant contact with those particular school's to really get a good understanding at how that specific art's major is run. The same question's need to be asked again and again at the different schools so that you will be able to balance the like's and dislikes for each program. Another important point point is to make sure that the program is accredited otherwise this may come back to haunt you if deciding to carry on in art's for a more specialised graduate program.

Remember, if you took art's in high school do not expect a program which is generally performing assessment's and group based with a broad base of teaching otherwise you will probably be in for a surprise! Most program's will require a lot more individual performance therefore organisation and responsibility are very important. Expect a lot more theory and written work which may or may not be to your expectations.