Pacific Northwest Expedition (or How I Traded My Credit Card Miles for Campus Visits)

Pacific Northwest Expedition (or How I Traded My Credit Card Miles for Campus Visits)

Here’s a condensed version of episode 21 on the Tom Talks College podcast with some slick visuals referenced on said podcast.

Itinerary

We just wrapped up another state-mandated ACT this morning, so parents of juniors in the great state of Wisconsin…be good to your kids. We’ve been working them pretty hard, and they need a little mental downtime and maybe a three-hour nap. I’m enjoying a slower day today, then I’m back at Edgewood tomorrow for two ACT classes with two great groups of students before hopping on an early flight out of Dane County Municipal Airport and arriving before noon at Seattle Tacoma International. Assuming they don’t lose my rental car agreement, I’m headed north to Bellingham to visit Western Washington University, home to two former OnCampus students and then back to enjoy all that Seattle has to offer. 

Friday = Fun day 

I’ll be on the University of Washington campus no later than 7:30 Friday morning and be there until mid-morning, when I head south to Portland. On my way I’ll make quick stops at Seattle University, the University of Puget Sound and Evergreen State College. Friday afternoon includes stops at Reed College, Lewis and Clark College and then Portland State, all in the greater Portland metro area. 

Saturday is for Beavers and Ducks. 

Surely strong coffee and doughnuts are available in Portland, and I’ll enjoy them on my way to Corvallis, where I’ll poke around Oregon State, then make the quick jaunt over to Eugene where I’ll say it like they say it, hopefully. YOU-gene. YOU-gene. Gotta practice. I dislike those acid green and yellow costumes our future Big Ten rivals wear, but I’m tempted to buy something garish and wear it home, just for shock value — and because the whole idea of any travel, collegiate or otherwise, is to do what they do, eat what they eat and talk like they talk. Otherwise, I could go to a Chili’s at West Towne Mall. No fun in that. At 4:30 this morning when Buddy the 16-year-old rat terrier texted me that he needed to be let out I did some revamping of the travel plans and decided to spend half an hour on the way back to Portland walking around Willamette University, one of the esteemed Colleges That Change Lives. Evergreen State College and Puget Sound are also on that list list, and you’ll hear me talk more about what Colleges That Change Lives means in my social media posts and next week when I compile my notes for the next podcast and blog. 

Why do I visit campuses, and why do I visit so many in such a short time? 

I willingly spend company money (a.k.a my money) to travel around the United States so that I can speak with greater authority when I’m hired by a family to build a college list for their student, and so that my conversations and advice to anyone – a test prep client, someone who comes in for a free consult and decides to go elsewhere, or even a friend – are more accurate, more informed and more helpful. My goal is to experience and know this campus as a place, in ways I can’t through just a website or a virtual tour. The one math formula I didn’t make your kids memorize is this: 

Being There = Knowing

Most of these colleges have been on my wish list for quite some time, and it’s time to fill the gap on the map.

I visit campuses because college is what I do and who I am, and I just can’t get enough of this. But I am not trying to relive my glory days. I am dedicated to the idea that college is a critical choice, and one that is not the right choice for every high school student. I’m convinced we all can do a better job of making an informed choice so that we have better experiences and get more from that experience.   

But why so many in such a short time?

Eleven campus visits in just over two days is a lot. (I did 31 in 11 days back in 2022, but who’s counting?) I’m cheap (thrifty?), and it’d be great to devote an entire day to each college, or just do two in one day – but I don’t know when I’ll get back to Seattle, so I’m going to maximize my time by doing pre- and post-trip research. I know a decent amount about all these schools, some more than others, but I don’t know what it looks like when you pause in the middle of the campus in Corvallis and look around. I don’t know (yet) where I could walk as a freshman to find a cool, alternative coffee shop or a great burrito. I have a burning desire to know those things, the way I know those things about State Street, or the many campuses where I’ve already visited. 

Filling the gap in the map

In 2020 I added a wish list to my spreadsheet of colleges that were high on my list. I’m delighted to see that I’ve made it to so many of these places, sometimes tacking on a few on my drive back from visiting our son, Joe, in Cincinnati — and that big purple swatch came during a Christmas visit to the in-laws in Tucson, which is really just five or six hours from San Diego. You see how this works.

What do you get out of this?

In addition to some Facebook Live posts and a foray or two onto Instagram, I’ll pull together some time-tested, Tom-tested tips for better campus visits from these and my almost 190 previous campus visits and share them with you next week. I’m incredibly excited to be on the road again, and in the same way I love to talk about college football and good BBQ in the South, I just really love sharing what I know about colleges with people like you who want to learn more. It’s 8:32 p.m. on Wednesday. I should probably pack a toothbrush. 

Estimating College Costs with Net Price Calculators

Estimating College Costs with Net Price Calculators

This is part 3 of a 3-part series on College + Money, and you can learn more about this topic as well as parts 1 and 2 referenced below on the Tom Talks College podcast

How much will we really pay? 

In the first part of this series, “College Costs Simplified: The 15/35/45 Rule” (episode 16) highlighted the three basic parts of college costs and an easy to remember 15/35/45 rule to give you a ballpark of the most important part: tuition and fees. Part 2 “Merit Aid: Your Teen’s Best Part-Time Job” (episode 17) went beyond sticker price to find merit aid and show you that many colleges offer generous discounts for good grades and test scores. Net Price Calculators are one more tool to understand college costs in a more personalized way. 

What is a Net Price Calculator (NPC)? Where do I find it? 

Net Price Calculator = financial tool found on college websites that’s designed to provide an estimate of your costs using inputs such as EFC or income and assets, family size, number of children in college, and academic data like GPA and test scores 

Many NPC’s ask for household income or allow you to plug in your Expected Family Contribution. Here’s a definition straight from Studentaid.gov

Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is an index number used to determine your eligibility for federal student financial aid. This number results from the information you provide in your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form. Your EFC is calculated according to a formula established by law and considers your family’s taxed and untaxed income, assets, and benefits. Schools use the EFC to determine your federal aid eligibility and financial aid award. Your EFC is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college, nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by your school to calculate how much financial aid you are eligible to receive.

That last part is highlighted because some families assume that their EFC is what they’ll pay, but it’s not. It’s just one part of the financial aid process. If you’d like to calculate an estimate of your EFC, use the Federal Student Aid Estimator

How do colleges use my EFC?

Here’s a very simplified version of the financial aid formula. 

Cost of Attendance (COA) – EFC = need

Cost of Attendance is a sample budget for a first-time full-time student, and let’s use UW-Madison’s COA for in-state residents as a reference. 

  • Tuition and fees $11,216
  • Room and board $13,500 (remember that these top two parts are “direct costs”)
  • Miscellaneous $4200 (“indirect costs” such as books, travel, etc.) 
  • Total $28,916

So if you had an EFC of $28,916 or more, UW-Madison’s financial aid office would determine that your “need” was zero. They’re not saying you have all that in the bank or in a 529; they’re just telling you what your need is according to their formula

If your EFC was $20,000, your need would be $8916, but that doesn’t mean you’d get an $8916 discount, scholarship or grant. You’d probably qualify for federal student loans and that would make up the bulk of your financial aid package. 

This is where EFC can be misleading. It’s just one number that goes into the process, and colleges are under no legal obligation to “meet need”. 

Now let’s turn our attention back to NPC’s and see some examples that range from very helpful to almost worthless. 

We love you, Athens, but your NPC stinks 

Colleges often use a third-party plugin for their NPC, which is why you’ll see so many that look similar. I chose the University of Georgia as an example because it’s a personal favorite even though they do not post a “merit matrix” and offer limited scholarships to out-of-state students. As soon as I saw the site, I knew the NPC would ask for very little and deliver even less. Take two minutes to work through the University of Georgia’s net price calculator, and you’ll notice they didn’t ask for any information that would lead to academic merit aid, and they asked for a range of household income instead of your EFC. This really didn’t help us get any closer to a personalized estimate other than “we probably won’t get much if anything” – and they’re using numbers from 2020-21 to boot! C’mon, Bulldogs. You can do better. 

Ohio Wesleyan, you are my new best friend

After the frustration of Georgia’s NPC, I turned to one I remember as excellent: Ohio Wesleyan. After a few easy questions about my student, I entered a GPA and was immediately shown a potential merit scholarship of $28,000 per year. That’s a discount of 53%, and I’m now well below the 45 for private colleges and universities in the 15/35/45 rule. 

After what I can only describe as a smiling page of their NPC that says, “Pretty cool, huh?” you’re invited to enter financial data to check for possible need-based aid. 

Every NPC requires you to check a box agreeing that this is just an estimate, and even the best can never be more than an estimate – but can you see how valuable a quality NPC can be in your family’s search for accessible and affordable best-fit colleges? 

MyinTuition is the (potential) game changer

It’s incredibly hard to talk about college costs, NPC’s, admissions data or almost anything college-related without veering into too many rabbit trails of exceptions and case-by-case situations. So I’ll just say a quick, “Hey, can I share one more thing before you go?” that will put smiles on some of your faces and cause others to throw up in their mouths. 

Roughly 75 of the most selective schools use an NPC called MyinTuition, sometimes in addition to a more standard version. One of the more popular “Ivy Plus” colleges is Vanderbilt, where the COA is just north of $84,000. Gulp. MyinTuition prides itself on ease-of-use and minimal questions, so let’s pretend we have one more boy in the house who is a junior and really loves him some Nashville. I’m plugging in our numbers now and will time myself and record my response as accurately as possible. (I’ve done this for others on the list but not the Commodores.) 

It took just under two minutes, and I shook my head with a pleased “hmmm” when I saw these numbers.

The Kleese’s are kicking in $26,800, unnamed son #3 will work at the library or set up chemistry labs as his dear mother did to earn $2300 – and Vanderbilt picks up the tab for rest. MyinTuition always gives you a best estimate as well as a low and high, and when I click on those I just see our green part moving with the blue part adjusting as well. 

This is great, right? Our EFC this year was around $40,000, so if you jump back to UW-Madison, we’re likely only qualifying for student loans but no scholarships or grants. And Vanderbilt is less than the $28,916 full price tag at Madison. 

Now all we need is to adopt a super smart kid who can get into Vanderbilt, and then I’m the dad in the dad-polo enjoying an SEC game. 

Your results may vary

Some of you are in different financial situations than we are, and I’ve sent MyinTuition out to enough parents and had enough “are you crazy?” responses to know that the green piece of their puzzle is sometimes overwhelming. But that’s still a good thing – because knowing or even expecting to pay whatever your costs may be is so much better than telling your student to “not worry about price and if you get it we’ll figure it out”. Will you? Should you even say that unless you have some basic information like this? 

What now? Run some numbers!

Schedule one hour this weekend in a quiet room to calculate your EFC, and then use that number in NPC’s at colleges that interest you or your student. Seriously – one hour will teach you so much you didn’t know, and even if you don’t like what the NPC’s show you…at least you’ll know. 

Call me at (608) 553-3445 and say, “Hey, I read the blog and listened to the podcast and did that one hour thing you suggested, and I just wanted to talk a little more about this.” I’d love to take that call and help you understand not just what I said and showed you, but listen to what you’re seeing and thinking, and then answer as many questions as I can on a phone call. 

You can come in for a free consult with or without your student. And while we’re looking at all the options, you can also add a college expert to your team and invest an extra 1.3% of the four-year cost of your student’s college education in a proven process to make sure you’re writing the tuition checks to the right college. 

Here’s how I got the 1.3% number, because it’s not percentage-based. 

UW-Madison COA of $28,916 x four years = $115,664 

Our standard college search package is $1500. $1500/$115,664 = .0129685987, or 1.3% 

Up next

Here’s an email from a parent: “Excellent merit aid podcast…I think you should do a podcast directed to the students about how to not stress out about this entire process. Maybe one for type A moms.” 

You got it.

Merit Aid: Your Teen’s Best Part-Time Job

Merit Aid: Your Teen’s Best Part-Time Job

This is part 2 of a 3-part series on College + Money, and you can learn more about this topic and also hear last week’s “College Costs Simplified” on the Tom Talks College podcast

Merit aid may be the best thing you’ve never heard of when it comes to college admissions, and what follows is a quick introduction to what could be your teen’s best part-time job…and to the gift that keeps giving. Before we dig into the details, let me state this up front and as clearly as I can.

Merit aid is the best tool you have to reduce the cost of college. 

Read that again, and if it helps, imagine me as Curly from “City Slickers” holding up one finger to you, the Billy Crystal character, but not dodging your question about what the one thing is – because it’s merit aid. Plain and simple. 

What exactly is merit aid? 

Merit aid is a general term for scholarships you earn that come directly from colleges. You’ll sometimes see these listed as freshman scholarships, and they are awarded for talents such as athletics, fine arts, or academic achievement. Just as important is what they are NOT. Merit scholarships are NOT:

  • Loans;
  • Need-based financial aid;
  • Distributed by the federal government. 

The bulk of merit aid is “automatic”, in that it’s awarded by hitting key benchmarks in cumulative GPA and ACT/SAT scores. (By comparison, “competitive” scholarships are those to which you apply after acceptance and are usually awarded to only a handful of students. If you see a long list of scholarships with the donors’ names attached, those are competitive.) 

For academic merit aid, admissions offices pull GPA and ACT/SAT numbers, if applicable, straight from your student’s application, and many colleges openly display what I call a “merit matrix” – a simple chart with rows and columns for grades, test scores and money. The first example I saw was on Miami University’s website, and I almost fell off my chair. 

The gift that keeps giving

Unlike scholarships that are handed out at high school awards nights, merit aid is awarded all four years assuming the student maintains satisfactory grades. 

You, the hard-working, bright high school student, spend three years building up that nice GPA and knocking out some impressive standardized test scores – and you’ll be handsomely rewarded throughout four years of college. 

Where and how to find it

In general, you’ll find merit aid in two types of colleges:

  1. Public universities in states hoping to attract bright young minds and boost not only the academic stats of an incoming class, but their ranking in US News and World Report
  2. Private colleges and universities that aren’t members of the Ivy League or among the most highly selective. 

The first category is a little easier to find and often comes with a merit matrix. The second category is less evident and less likely to be upfront about automatic merit aid, but it’s still a prime source of merit aid. 

There is no central database or comprehensive list of colleges that award merit aid, so your best bet is to Google [name of college] and then a combination of these terms: merit aid, merit scholarships, freshman scholarships

I often plug out-of-state into my search, because I’m usually searching for options beyond a student’s home state. Be sure to compare in-state vs. out-of-state merit when you find it, because those numbers can vary greatly. 

Example of a merit matrix 

Here’s a great example of a merit matrix at the University of Alabama

Notice there are two levers: cumulative GPA and ACT/SAT. Alabama uses two GPA ranges (3.50+, 3.00-3.49) which is fairly common. Sometimes you’ll see one level stacked on top of the next, i.e. 3.50 + 26 ACT, 3.75 + 28 ACT, 4.00 + 30 ACT. And in full transparency from a business which was built on test prep, some colleges shifted to a GPA-only approach in 2020 so you really do need to look at each college individually. 

Why are they doing this? Is there a catch? 

Way before NIL, colleges aggressively recruited 5-star athletes to boost on-field success – and some have taken a similar approach to academics. A seminal article on the merit aid movement was published in the New York Times on November 3rd, 2016: How the University of Alabama Became a National Player

Rule of thumb for merit aid

The harder it is to get into a college, the less likely you are to get merit aid. Their gift to you is the fat envelope. The Ivy League doesn’t award merit because they don’t have to, and neither do the hyper-popular-and-competitive public flagships like UNC-Chapel Hill. In fairness, they do offer some but I’ll let you read this and then decide what your chances are. 

UNC is proud to offer Academic Scholarships to a small number of outstanding students each year. All students who are admitted to UNC are automatically considered for these scholarships; no additional application materials are necessary.

Unfortunately you’ll quickly run into colleges which don’t offer merit aid, or are much less transparent, using language to the effect of “we provide scholarships for deserving students in recognition of their achievements.” “ (On a future podcast and blog I’ll coach you on how to use Net Price Calculators as a possible work-around.) 

Great values beyond flagships 

Medium-sized private universities that accept over half of applicants are a great source of merit aid. Marquette, for example, almost always knocks off a quick $16,000-$20,000 in the acceptance letter. Regional comprehensive universities similar to UW-La Crosse or Winona State also offer tremendous value. The snowboarder or mountain bike enthusiast who ventures to Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction packing a 3.75 and a 29 ACT will be rewarded with $6000/year, and that’s coming off an already low out-of-state tuition and fees cost of $15,000 after CMU shows you some love with their tuition discount programs.  

Seriously…if your kid digs the Colorado thing, especially that corner over by Utah, New Mexico and Arizona…why wouldn’t you take a hard look at Colorado Mesa? 

Your teen’s best part-time job

I wrote that phrase – your teen’s best part-time job – not to suggest that 16-year-olds shouldn’t bag groceries or mow lawns or be a nanny. I just want to be painfully clear that efforts and achievements in the classroom can have tremendous potential ROI, and should be taken as seriously as the time spent working, playing sports or practicing the oboe. 

It’s not my goal to put pressure on your kid to be a 4.0 student. I just want them to understand that grades and test scores don’t just happen, and sometimes a small amount of effort or just attention to detail makes a big difference. The billboard I’d put up has a simple message that all students can achieve. 

Turn in all your homework. On time. All the time. 

I’ll skip the $8000 German take-home vocabulary quiz story mentioned on the podcast. 

Merit aid is real and it’s within your reach 

For the vast majority of students, a merit scholarship based on academics is far more likely than an athletic, music or theater scholarship, and probably reduces your costs of higher education significantly more. So know what matters to colleges in terms of admissions but also in terms of merit aid, and let your student know early on. We did this with both our sons when they were in middle school, and both earned merit scholarships for out-of-state public universities that saved them and us tens of thousands of dollars. 

Having a conversation beyond the numbers 

If you’re struggling with any part of this – or if you just want to talk to someone who thinks about this everyday – email me anytime or schedule a free consult and let’s talk not just about the numbers, but about your family and your students, and what you hope to achieve.

College Costs Simplified: The 15/35/45 Rule

College Costs Simplified: The 15/35/45 Rule

Comparing costs at different colleges is often more complex than it needs to be, partly due to a lack of consistency from one college website to another. If you’re not careful, you run the risk of making decisions based on faulty information. 

In this blog and in episode 16 of Tom Talks College, I’m going to break down costs for any college into three basic parts that are universal and can easily be compared. You’ll also learn a rule of thumb for typical costs at different types of colleges – including out-of-state and private – and you’ll learn how to use simplified numbers to make easy but more accurate comparisons between colleges. 

This is the first in a series of three lessons on college + money. Next week you’ll learn about merit aid – the gift that keeps giving, and your teen’s most profitable part-time job – and the following week you’ll learn how to calculate your Expected Family Contribution, and how to use that EFC number to better estimate your costs at different colleges. 

Know the 3 basic parts and be sure to “bundle” T & F 

Too many times I’ve heard people compare one college’s tuition to another college’s Cost of Attendance, a comprehensive budget that includes much more than just tuition. That’s like comparing the principal you’ll pay on a new house to the PITI (principal interest taxes insurance) on another. It’s bad math and it prevents you from making wise decisions.

So the first step is to understand the three basic parts of the cost of college. Think about the three parts as learning (tuition & fees), living (room & board) and lattes (indirect costs – more on that later). Tuition and fees is where we’ll spend the most time – because that’s where you’ll spend the most money – and because it varies way more from college to college than the other two. And always look for the combination of the two, because some colleges post tuition and are less forthright about fees. (There’s a trend in higher education to shift more expenses to fees in an effort to keep tuition flat.)

Let’s focus on tuition & fees and look at national averages for four-year colleges and universities for 2022-23. This data is from the College Board’s Trends in College Pricing report, and I’m rounding these off as a first step towards simplification. 

  • In-state public universities = $11,000
  • Out-of-state public universities = $28,000
  • Private colleges and universities = $39,000

The 15/35/45 rule 

What’s more valuable than averages, however, are the numbers you’ll likely see in each of these categories for the schools that most interest you. Let’s call these typical costs, and here’s an example of why it will be more helpful to use a higher number than the averages. 

The out-of-state public university average of $28,000 includes Colorado State-Pueblo, Colorado Mesa and Adams State, all fine schools and all located in the great state of Colorado. Their tuition and fees are included in the averages, and all fall well below $28,000, which is great. What’s no so great, however, is that if you don’t live in Colorado, you’re much more likely to be interested in CU-Boulder where the tuition & fees are $40,396 to $43,960 depending on your major, or Colorado State which is $32,734. So the typical cost we’re going to use for out-of-state public universities is based on “flagship” schools, i.e. the one or two biggest and most familiar names in each state. 

The same is true for private colleges and universities. A quick analysis of six popular Midwestern private universities (St. Thomas, Marquette, Drake, Butler, Xavier and Creighton) reveals average tuition and fees of $47,860. 

I’d rather overestimate costs of anything and be pleasantly surprised when something comes in lower, so here’s how we’ll adjust averages to more useful typical costs.

Notice that we’ve knocked off three zeros to arrive at the 15/35/45 rule

Apples to apples

Let’s look back at CU-Boulder and CSU now that we have the 15/35/45 rule and see how each compares. Buffaloes in Boulder will pay 40 to 44, which is 5-9 above, and CSU Rams will pay 33, which is a modest but welcome 2 less. Obviously that’s just one data point and now we need to look at room & board, indirect costs, and financial aid to get a more complete picture. But do you see how knowing the 15/35/45 rule quickly puts everything into context? 

We’ve only talked about tuition & fees because that’s the biggest chunk of the three basic parts, and it’s the most variable, but your student needs a place to sleep and eat, too. The national average for room and board is $13,000 and that’s what I’ve used as an easy number for several years, but I’m afraid it’s time to adjust that to $15,000. Room & board costs are rising more quickly than tuition & fees, and you’re less likely to spit out coffee if you plan for 15 and the real number comes in lower. 

A quick word about lattes and indirect costs…

Paying For College Madison WiAll colleges create an estimated annual budget for a first-time full-time student living on campus and taking a full load of classes. It’s called “Cost of Attendance” and must include the things you pay directly to the college (tuition and fees, room and board) and also the common expenses such as books and supplies, travel and miscellaneous expenses (sometimes referred to as personal expenses). Here are national averages:

  • Books & supplies = $1200
  • Travel = $1200
  • Miscellaneous = $2220

That’s $4600 total but colleges really vary on their estimates, plus something like travel could be widely different based on location. Use a simple 5 for typical costs. 

To be honest, I don’t even pay attention to indirect costs. I only focus on the two parts that make up direct costs. Is that poor financial planning? No, because I’m pretty sure that what you spent on club volleyball, prom, and feeding a teen adds up to more than $5000 per year. So think of it as a wash. 

Let’s pause for a second to remind ourselves that all of these numbers are subject to change based on financial aid, so we’ve only been looking at sticker prices up until this point. Next week I break down what merit aid is and why an understanding of it is critical to opening up options outside your state and beyond public universities. Merit scholarships open doors you didn’t know existed. 

Now let’s put all three parts together to see typical Cost of Attendance figures for all three types.

These are big numbers. Scary numbers, perhaps. That’s why you need to tune in next week because the middle and the right columns have something you need: merit aid.

If you’d like to hear a few more examples of how actual costs compare to typical costs, and how you can quickly go from not knowing the costs of a college to wrapping your head around it and being able to see if it’s a possible financial fit, listen to the second half of episode 16 of Tom Talks College. In addition to this college + money series, you’ll find practical guidance on everything from campus visits to finding the right college to standardized testing to suggested timelines for your student. 

Having a conversation beyond the numbers 

If you’re struggling with any part of this – or if you just want to talk to someone who thinks about this everyday – email me anytime or schedule a free consult and let’s talk not just about the numbers, but about your family and your students, and what you hope to achieve.

Why the ACT still matters: Facts and FAQ’s

Why the ACT still matters: Facts and FAQ’s

I don’t want to waste your time, so let me state some facts, answer a few common questions, and let you – the parent – make the right decision for your family. 

 

  • About 97% of four-year colleges in the United States have a test optional admissions policy. 
  • “Test optional” means you choose whether or not to submit an ACT or SAT score. 
  • If you choose not to submit it, it won’t hurt your chances – but submitting a strong score can help.
  • Here are the three main reasons why students prep for the ACT: 
    1. Higher scores mean better chances of admission;
    2. A strong score gives you an edge at highly selective colleges and in competitive “direct admit” programs such as business and engineering; 
    3. Points pay you back. Many colleges continue to award merit scholarships based on GPA and ACT/SAT. 

Q: How do I know if I should or should not submit my score? 

  • Don’t automatically share your scores by listing colleges when you register for the ACT. Colleges only see what you send them, and that can and should be done only after you’re certain you are done testing. Summer before senior year is early enough. 
  • Check the undergraduate admissions page or call to verify each college’s policy, and to see whether any of your colleges allow “super scores”, i.e. a combination of your highest section scores from any test dates. Most do not. 
  • Submit scores in the top half of the middle 50% ACT range. EX: If the middle 50% range is 28 to 32, submit a 30 or higher because the range represents the 25th to 75th percentiles of admitted students. In this case, a 28 means you’re below 75% of accepted students. That does not help your application. 

Q: My student has never been a good test taker. Is it even possible to raise the score? 

Yes, but like everything else she/he/they have ever done, it will take practice and energy. Most students we meet don’t think of themselves as good test takers, but nearly 100% improve their score and the average gain is 4 points. (BTW, that young man hitting the books is Jackson. He went up 8 points and his sister boosted her score by 5.) You can get better at anything if you practice, put forth your best effort and have solid direction. 

Q: What’s the best way to prep? 

The best approach is the one that meets your student’s goals, your budget, and gets buy-in from your student. That might mean a book and some self-study, an online course, or working one-on-one with a coach. You know your student best. 

Q: If my student is taking the state-mandated ACT exam on March 8th, when is the best time to begin preparing? 

You can’t cram for the ACT. A disciplined, self-starter can see good results starting 30 days prior and dedicating 3-5 hours per week. Our students start in late December or early January and meet with their coach for six to ten one-on-one coaching sessions over a 60 day period, completing an additional 3-4 hours of targeted assignments between sessions.

We’re offering a free full-length practice ACT on Tuesday, December 28th from 2:00-5:30 p.m. Scores will be emailed within 24 hours or you can schedule a free consult to sit down and review the test and discuss options. Schedule a Free Practice Exam now and use the same link for a Free Consult. 

Read more about how we help students reach their highest scores. 

 

 

 

 

 

4 keys to a more productive, less stressful college search process

4 keys to a more productive, less stressful college search process

The college search process can be fun and exciting. It can teach you a lot about yourself and what’s important to you. But for many high-school students, the college search process feels scary and intimidating.

I love helping high-school students discover great college options. I love helping a student to discover a school they never knew existed that turns out to be a potentially great fit for them.

College Search Process Get StartedIn more than ten years as a college planner, I’ve helped thousands of high-school students and families find their best-fit college options and earn merit aid that makes college more affordable.

Here are 4 keys to making your college search process more productive, less stressful and more fun.

Use your college search process to expand college options and delay making college decisions.

The biggest college search process mistake I see students and families make is waiting too long to start their college search and then rushing to make college decisions. That’s a bad combination, but it happens all the time.

Delay decisions for as long as you can. Most students don’t need to finalize their college choice until late in the spring of their senior year. However, start exploring college options now. When you start your college search process as a freshman, sophomore or early junior year, you build your college knowledge base over time. Students often freeze up and have trouble gaining momentum on their college search process. They think, “I have no idea which college is right for me, and I don’t even know what I want to major in.”

Well, of course not! You haven’t done your homework yet. Take the pressure off. This isn’t about making decisions. It’s about expanding options. Focus less on finding the perfect college and more on finding colleges to which you want to apply. This makes it easier to get started on your college search process and build momentum.

College Search Process OnlineStart your college search process online in just five minutes.

You can start your college search now from wherever you are. Visiting one college website for five minutes is a powerful way to build momentum. Clicking on that first college website takes a dose of courage. Remember, you’re not going to break anything or commit to anything or make a final decision.

Visiting one college website, any college website, is the best place to start because it’s easy and you can do it right now from wherever you are. Type in the name of a college — any college — and spend five minutes looking around. Five minutes is an eternity on the Internet. If you don’t know which college to choose, type in “B-e-m-i-d-j-i-S-t-a-t-e” and check out my alma mater. I’ll give five bucks to the first person who emails or texts me and tells me something about BSU.

By the way, this was the first step to finding college options pre-Covid, and it’s still the first step.

College Search Process Stress FreeMake sure your college search process includes schools that weren’t already on your short list.

Another common misstep I see in the college search process is that students think they need to come up with a list of schools first and then go research them. This is backwards. It often leads to overlooking college options that could be a great fit for you, simply because you aren’t already familiar with them.

Here’s something I love to hear from the students we work with: “I had no idea that College XYZ even existed, but I’m so glad I found it, because it would be a great college fit for me.”

There are literally thousands of college options in the US alone, which I realize may be daunting. Don’t worry. I’m not asking you to look into ALL of them or even MOST of them. The point is, with so many options and since college is an investment of six figures and ffour years of your life, why wouldn’t you expand your college search process beyond what’s already familiar to you? Imagine the fun you can have imagining different possibilities while making your final college decision more complete and well-informed!

There are many ways to find great college options you’ve never heard of. Here are a few:

  • Talk to people you know, like older friends, cousins, your parents, aunts, uncles, or their friends. Ask them where they went to school and why, what they liked about it and what they studied. You might find a gold nugget or two that are worth exploring.
  • Use Google to search things like, “best colleges for nursing” or “colleges near mountains” or “best colleges for business majors”
  • Visit free college resource websites, like College Data and start poking around
  • Engage the help of a college planning expert. We specialize in helping students unearth great college options. Schedule a free consult to learn more about our college search process.

College Search Process College Planning ExpertsVisit colleges early and often during your college search process.

The campus visit is the most powerful tool in your college search, even as the availability of onsite campus visits has decreased. This is where we need to push harder to not let Covid derail our plans.

One of the biggest hurdles families face right now is the relative lack of in-person campus visits. “I really need to see the campus to know if it’s right.” No, you don’t, at least not initially. You can get 83% of what you think you need from the myriad virtual visit options campuses now offer:

  • Virtual tours in real-time where you can ask questions.
  • Info sessions hosted by current students in your potential major.
  • Live chat features staffed by salaried admissions officers, not bots.
  • Phone calls and email exchanges with admissions reps, faculty and students.

Virtual college visits are incredibly helpful. Learn how to do them well in this video tutorial which only takes 20 minutes to watch. When you want to learn more and become a campus visit pro like me, download my Campus Visit How-To-Handbook.

Engage the help of a professional college planner.

I hope these four keys to your college search process help you get started and gain momentum, but you don’t have to go it alone. Every year, we help hundreds of high-school students and families navigate an easy, low-stress path to the college options that are best for them. To learn more, schedule a free consult online today.