In - Your Guide to College Admissions from The Princeton Review

It Pays to Be an “A” Student

According to the College Solution, “A” students get better deals than “B” students when they apply to college.

How does this happen?

• They receive “preferential financial aid packages”: most colleges give bigger aid packages, and packages with more grant aid (vs. loan aid) to applicants with higher grades.
• They get into schools with large endowments: many of the most selective schools in the U.S.—those that pick and choose among the applicants with the very best grades—can afford to meet 100 percent of the financial need of every student they enroll.

Click here to read more.

Get Documentation for Your Learning Disability

Don’t suffer in silence.

If you think you might have a learning disability, it behooves you to get tested.

Students with documented learning disabilities qualify for accommodations at school and on standardized tests. This assistance can significantly boost your odds of admission to college.

Visit GoLocalProv for more info.

More Three-Year Bachelor’s Programs

A small but growing number of colleges now offer programs that help students to earn a bachelor's degree in three years instead of four.

The newest three-year programs are at Baldwin-Wallace College, Grace College, Lesley University, and St. John’s University. For more info on each, visit the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

What are the advantages of cramming four years of college into three?

First, it saves a year’s worth of tuition. Second, it gets you to the workforce (and a real salary) a year ahead of schedule.

To learn more, check out this article from U.S. News.

Scenes from an Admissions Interview

A counselor from Montgomery Educational Consulting recently shared the questions she likes to ask when she interviews applicants for her alma mater, Dartmouth College. Click here to check them out.

A Student’s View: Close to Home

Jennifer Angelo is a high school senior and a contributor to The Princeton Review’s IN blog.

One might say there are two types of college applicants: those who only apply to in-state schools and those who want to bolt after graduation (usually to Florida, California, or someplace warm).

Up until recently, I fell squarely in the second category. I saw myself going to college far from home: a different setting to start the next chapter in my life. It was nothing against my hometown—I just wanted a change.

Your College Hopes and Worries

Are you . . .

• stressed-out by college admissions?
• unsure if you’ll get into one of your top choices?
• counting on financial aid to make the numbers add up?

We at The Princeton Review want to know what’s on your mind.

Tell us your college hopes and worries to be entered into a drawing for $1,000 scholarship. In addition to the scholarship, we’re giving 25 respondents a free copy of one of our books (choices include Paying for College Without Going Broke, ACT or SAT?, and The Portable Guidance Counselor).

Our survey has just 15 questions, so you can zip through it in less than three minutes. Take it here.

Be sure to check back in late March to see the 2012 survey results!

Community College: For All Income Brackets

According to a recent study by Sallie Mae, 22 percent of college students with family incomes over $100k attended community colleges last year. Only 16 percent of such students did so prior to 2008.

Click here to learn more on Inside Higher Ed.

Splitting Your College Bill with the ’Rents

As you consider your financial aid offers, you might be wondering how the student and parent loans you’ve been offered would affect everyone’s future finances.

A good source of guidance in this area is the College Cost Adjuster from SimpleTuition, a site that finds private loans for students.

As featured on the College Solution blog, the College Cost Adjuster estimates the monthly payments associated with specific loans. It allows you see the different payments that would result from you and your parents assuming various shares of the overall loan debt. (Remember: you can always reject individual loans within a college’s financial aid offer.)

The College Cost Adjuster also provides a suggested salary for repaying loans of specific amounts. To learn more about it, click here.

Tuition Hikes for Upperclassmen and “Expensive” Majors

Public colleges and universities have long maintained higher tuition rates for out-of-state students. Now, according to a new study, some are sending heavy bills to other types of students as well.

The study, by Cornell’s Higher Education Research Institute, found 143 public institutions that raise tuition when students become upperclassmen (i.e., juniors and seniors) or declare certain majors. The majors most frequently associated with tuition hikes are business, engineering, and nursing.

Inside Higher Ed reports that the number of schools engaging in this practice has risen dramatically since the 1980s. Click here to read more.

Undergrad Research: A Case Study

Considering a career in academia?

A gig as a research assistant (RA) can provide an early opportunity to work with a mentor and get a feel for the day-to-day life of an academic.

The UT—Austin website recently interviewed a social work major about her experiences as an RA. Click here to check it out.