Posts filed under 'College Admissions'
The letters “S-O-S” rarely stand for anything good, but today that changes thanks to Sallie Mae’s new private loan, the Smart Option Student Loan. Compared to private loans offered by other companies, the Smart Option Student Loan will let students pay off loans nearly a decade sooner than they would have under normal circumstances while saving approximately 40 percent off what they would have paid.
The key to these fast savings — or rather, the catch? Instead of hitting students with the bill upon graduation, the Smart Option Student Loan lets students start paying off the loan’s interest while they’re still in college. (Not that everyone can do that, but if you can it’s a viable option worthy of further exploration.) Though nothing goes towards the principle amount, according to Sallie Mae — and, OK, the math — doing that on a monthly basis can substantially decrease the amount you will ultimately owe upon graduation.
Consider this, if you take out a $10,000 loan at a 6% annual interest rate, you’ll owe an additional $600 in interest at the end of your freshman year. By the time you graduate, you could owe nearly $3,000 more on that first loan thanks to that 6% rate –- and that’s only considering one of four loans! (Each year of schooling is considered a separate loan when it comes to calculating interest.)
Students who can swing a monthly payment while in school can get a head start on paying that interest down. So rather than let four years of it hit you where you least suspect it, Sallie Mae’s Smart Option Student Loan lets you nip things in the bud. Sallie Mae estimates that a student with an initial loan of $7,700 could save nearly $9,000 by applying for the Smart Option Student Loan as opposed to other offers for private loans. Another A+ perk? It enables those who are able to make monthly payments to build up their credit score.
On a personal note: I had a student loan very similar to this when I was in college and it made my loan payments so much easier to handle once I had graduated. The only problem was that, by my senior year in college, both my tuition rate and interest rate had jumped enough to make the monthly payments a little more than I had anticipated. What helps though, is to put some money aside during your first two years of college and apply this chunk of change to any additional interest you may owe during your third and fourth years. Remember, during the first year of your Smart Option Student Loan, you’ll only being paying down the interest on one loan, but by your senior year, you’ll only be making payments on four.
For more info, visit Sallie Mae’s Education Investment Planner.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
March 23rd, 2009
Whether you’re a busy high school grad, a college student looking into his/her first profession, or a budding career changer, one thing you’ll wonder is how a job will fit with your life schedule. Will you have time to get home and tend to your responsibilities? How about just having the time to have fun or work on furthering your skills or education?
We’ve thought about these questions too and narrowed things down to three careers that can accommodate a busy schedule as well as the training they require:
Nursing: In addition to helping out those in need, a nursing career gives you an alternative to the average 9-to-5 office routine. While some nurses do work normal office hours, the various 24-hour hospitals and care services around the nation allow nurses to schedule work shifts that compliment and accommodate their busy home lives. Need the daylight hours for errands or school? Then work evenings or nights as a nurse. Of course, you’ll need the proper degree and licensure in order to land a nursing career. Depending upon the specific field you are pursuing this may take anywhere from two to four years.
Teaching: Though teachers for elementary schools and above often have workweeks that exceed 40 hours, they often enjoy a two-month vacation for the summer. In addition, many preschool and kindergarten teachers work part-time in light of the shorter school day schedules. In either case, the teaching profession allows you a greater amount of flexibility when it comes to scheduling your day or year. In order to get into this field you’ll need the right credentials. All teachers, except private school teachers, need a license to teach, but depending on the age group you instruct you may or may not need a bachelor’s degree in education.
Medical Billing and Coding:
If you’re interested in health care but prefer the behind-the-scenes approach, medical billing and coding may be the career for you. While medical billers work on the business side of health care, keeping records on the costs and nature of various hospital services provided to patients, medical coders specialize in coding info on patients to provide to insurers. Thanks to the nature of their work many people with medical billing and coding careers work from home, setting their own hours, or establish their own businesses. To get your own medical billing and coding career you’ll need to train with an accredited program and attain national certification in billing and/or coding.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 25th, 2009
Valentine’s isn’t until Saturday, but here’s our early gift to you: the 10th edition of the Carnival of College Admission. Once again hosted by Mark Montgomery, the carnival selects and presents the best of college- and job-related posts from across the ‘net. While we hope you check out all of the posts, and leave plenty of comments, here are a few of the must-reads we came across:
- David Petersam tells you what not to do on your college applications over at myUsearch.com.
- John at Universities and Colleges gives the rundown on how you can get As in college without breaking your back.
- Jessica Gross of Unigo, details the best and worst of college dating confessions and advice.
And of course, our very own Dawn Papandrea and Amanda Fornecker made the cut with posts about what to do after being laid off, and the supply and demand of financial aid.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 12th, 2009
It’s February, winter is dragging on, the SAT rush is over, and the only holiday to really look forward to is Valentine’s Day. But wait! Before you burrow back under the covers for another six weeks, there’s plenty you could be doing to prepare for college.
Whether you’re a high school soph, senior, or newly minted college freshman, the Carnival of College Admissions has the higher ed info that will set you on the right path to college and career.
This edition of the carnival, hosted by Peter Baron on Admissions Quest’s boarding school blog, includes articles on everything from iPhone apps for overwhelmed students to the best schools for B-students. Make sure you check out all that the Carnival of College Admissions has to offer, and don’t forget to check out our posts that made the cut: “Preparing For Your Job Interview” and “So What is Personal Branding Anyway?”
*Image courtesy of the Associated Press.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 2nd, 2009
The historic inauguration of our 44th president, Barack Obama, took place yesterday. As President Obama readies himself for the next four years and begins his first official day on the job, he needs to be sure he has the right staff to back him up. Looking back at the previous Presidential Cabinets, you might see some sort of pattern as to where they went to college. Are you an aspiring Presidential Cabinet member? Check out which schools might be of interest for the next four years of YOUR life and beyond. Here, you’ll find five as outlined by Dr. Katherine Cohen, CEO and founder of IvyWise:
1. University of California, Berkeley
Cal’s alumni have presided over several cabinet positions (most recently, a Ph.D. graduate Steven Chu for the department of energy) as Cal’s graduate programs in the Sciences, Law and Business consistently produce leaders whose experience is meaningful in D.C.
2. Yale and Georgetown (Tie)
Yale’s Law School still produces high-quality politicians and advisors, and, while Georgetown’s number is actually lower than Yale’s (Rumsfeld didn’t actually graduate G’town Law School), their top-notch Foreign Services, Business and Law Programs are specifically tailored for the future politico
3. Indiana University
The big surprise of the group, Indiana boasts four alumni in cabinet positions since 2001. A closer look at their highly ranked Business (Number 15 overall; Number two for Entrepreneurship) and Management Program reveals that IU’s innovative curriculum based on applicable, “real-world” knowledge builds connections that lead to political leadership.
4. University of Denver
This should not be a surprise for those in the know in the Business and Political World. While Condoleezza Rice is still its most famous alum, Denver has three other cabinet members and a world-class International Studies program, ranked ahead of giants such as University of Chicago, Yale, Stanford, University of California-Berkeley, and MIT.
5. Harvard
Harvard has more alumni in cabinet positions than Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT COMBINED. Whether it was the Law School, Business School, or Harvard college, the Harvard reputation still carries much clout in the beltway.
-Amanda Fornecker
January 21st, 2009
There are a variety of different boarding schools out there. From junior boarding schools to college preparatory boarding schools to boarding schools for troubled teens, students and parents will find many different options within the boarding school field of interest. From time to time, CollegeBound spotlights one of these boarding schools to shed light on the variety of possibilities that exist. This week’s boarding school spotlight is on Fay School, which is located in Southborough, Mass.
There’s a lot that Fay has to offer its students, including a rigorous curriculum, course flexibility, a wealth of extracurriculars, and more. Jamie Ramsdell, director of admissions at Fay School, suggests students go see the boarding schools they are considering because each one is very different from the next. You can begin your research on the web, but you must go out there, visit, and ask questions.
So begin your research today by checking out Boarding School Spotlight: Fay School and good luck in your search!
-Amanda Fornecker
January 14th, 2009
Last Friday, The Daily Beast gave us the bad news we didn’t want: college admissions officers aren’t always fair and their affections can be fair-weather. With never-before-seen candor, former and current admissions officers gave the 4-1-1 on what students do to warrant a rejection (boring essays: understandable) as well as the fickle biases that keep them from letting a student in (food poisoning: unbelievable).
Below are excerpts from The Daily Beast’s extensive expose.
“One year I had a student with a near-perfect SAT score and straight A’s. I’d originally put him in the submitted pool but then we had to reduce the list. I reread his essays and frankly, they were just a little more boring than the other kids. So I cut him. Boring was the only justification that I needed and he was out.”
While, it’s not right to reject a student solely based upon his essay — how were his grades compared to other applicants’? — the importance of the essay can’t be understated. The essay is your time to shine and stand apart from the other thousands of applications with identical grades and coursework. Make it great, make it memorable, and make it you.
“One night, I got food poisoning at a restaurant in Buffalo. The next day, I rejected all the Buffalo applications. I couldn’t stomach reading them.”
What on Earth? We have a hard time believing this one — who can come into work the day after food poisoning? — but if it is true, it’s a travesty. A hopeful college applicant shouldn’t have to pay for an admissions officer’s bad menu choice with his/her college dreams.
“Some middle-tier schools will reject top applicants, too […] But the admissions officer’s attitude is, ‘Oh, he just applied here as a safety. He’ll never come.’ They don’t want to lower the yield they have to report for the college rankings.”
Rejecting applicants who are “too good” in order to fix a school’s rankings and out of fear that they’ll pass on admissions is anything but fair. Unfortunately, there’s no way you can possibly predict how good of a student you should be so you’ll need to use your essay to convey how much you want to get into a school. Just don’t preface it with an ego-filled declaration like, “I could have gone to Harvard but decided to attend your school because…”
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 12th, 2009
The recession hasn’t just taken its toll on jobs and sales, it’s also hitting education — standardized testing, to be precise. The College Board, ruler of all things AP and SAT, just announced that it would cease to offer Advanced Placement exams in Italian, computer science AB, French literature, and Latin literature. The decision, according to the College Board, was made in light of inadequate funding for the exams and a lack of interest on the part of high school students. While the AP exams in English and history regularly score hundreds of thousands of test takers, the exams being dropped only had in the range of 2,000 to 5,000 test takers each.
Interestingly enough, the recently added Chinese and Japanese AP exams will continue despite equally low interest amongst high school students. Reports say that this is because these new exams are administered by computer while tests like the Italian AP exam are taken the old-fashioned, pen-and-paper way. Our question: why can’t the College Board just bring the four defunct AP exams into the digital age and cut costs at the same time? It’s unfair that students eager to get a start on earning their college credits (and cutting down their tuition costs) will no longer be able to thanks to a money-minded business decision.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 9th, 2009
It’s that time of year again when school rankings hit the presses! Today The Princeton Review, in coordination with USA Today, revealed their 100 “Best Value Colleges for 2009.” Based upon a variety of factors — including tuition, financial aid, the academic quality of students, and student satisfaction — they came up with a list of the colleges and universities that will give you the most bang for your buck.
Of course, we don’t want to bore you with the same-old listing you can find elsewhere, so instead we’re spotlighting the top three schools in the private and public categories and giving you the need-to-knows.
Private Colleges
3. Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey)
Tuition: $34,290
Enrollment: 4,918
In the news: As of 2006, Princeton University has stopped accepting Early Decision college applications.
What others say: In 2008, Forbes magazine gave Princeton University the top position on its list of “America’s Best Colleges.”
2. Harvard College (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Tuition: $36,173 – $47,215
Enrollment: 6,648
In the news: In order to reduce overcrowding, Harvard College has decided not to admit any transfer students for the next two academic years.
What others say: This year, U.S. News and World Report declared Harvard University the best college in the country.
1. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania)
Tuition: $34,564
Enrollment: 1,491
In the news: As of the end of 2007, all student loans have been eliminated from student financial aid packages with scholarships taking their place, instead.
What others say: Recently ranked the third top liberal arts college in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Public Colleges
3. College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
Tuition: $18,276 (in-state) and $37, 356 (out-of-state)
Enrollment: 5,792
In the news: Three College of William & Mary alumni, are slated to be members of President-Elect Obama’s cabinet.
What others say: U.S. News and World Report ranked the College of William and Mary 32nd amongst all universities nationwide.
2. New College of Florida (Sarasota, Florida)
Tuition: $4,127 (in-state) and $23,766 (out-of-state)
Enrollment: 785
In the news: The New College of Florida’s rise to the top of the rankings is a big deal, considering it only just became its own institution in 2004.
What others say: In 2007, U.S. News and World Report had the New College of Florida tied for the top position on its list of the best public liberal arts colleges in the nation.
1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia)
Tuition: $20,173 (in-state) and $40,473 (out-of-state)
Enrollment: 13,726
In the news: In 2008, for the first time, the University of Virginia did not accept any Early Action or Early Decision applications.
What others say: The University of Virginia has the noteworthy distinction of being one of the eight schools to make up the original Public Ivys.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 8th, 2009
In a New York Times article published this Sunday, John Schwartz seemed taken aback to discover that college students aren’t always hopeless academics passing classes by the seat of their pants. He writes:
“I find myself on plenty of college campuses these days, and many of the students I meet are indistinguishable from the dull-eyed slackers I went to college with […] But then there are those who have this…THING, this go-getting excitement to start something, make something.”
Of course, if you’ve been a long time reader of The CollegeBound Network and our former publication CollegeBound Teen magazine, you already know that teens and college students are always on the move with new ideas and approaches to the world. What can we say? They have entrepreneurial spirit, and it emerges in surprising ways. Unfortunately, Schwartz is under the impression that the best place to find such students is in college entrepreneurship programs. His examples? A student who wants to import hangover-fighting pills from Thailand and one who wants to start a college bus tour service in Boston.
Our examples?
A teen who started her own greeting card line to market to other teens.
College students who created their own dorm-delivery food services.
And college students with businesses that deliver to everyone in town and ones that sell customized T-shirts.
Unlike the stories Schwartz put forward, the above students come from all walks of life and majors. They didn’t enter an entrepreneurship program in search of creating a money-making product, they happened onto a market need and had the brains and drive to come up with an answer. That’s a true entrepreneur.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 6th, 2009
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