The official e-newsletter of The Equestrian College Advisor.

From the blog:

I’ve done blog entries with variations on the theme of preparation for campus tours before, readers, but with spring upon us and a plethora of campus visit opportunities available between now and when colleges and universities release their students for summer break, it’s worth re-visiting the subject. A recent article written by one of my colleagues that recently appeared in the newsletter I receive as a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) also brought the travel side of college tours into new perspective for me.

Here’s the thing about educational consultants, readers – we visit a lot of college campuses each year. (And by “a lot,” I mean that it’s a slow year for me if I only get to 15 campuses.) As such, we spend a great deal of time in and out of airports, hotels, and various means of mass transit as we transition from home to campus to campus and back home again. We pack and repack our bags, utilize any phone apps that can make things easier and reduce the amount of stuff we have to carry, and are essentially road warriors. Read More

SENIORS!

As you prepare for the next step, make sure you memorize

the one habit that will make or break the success of your college career!

College bonds are lifelong. College equestrian team bonds?

Even more so.

Your Resume and You

One of the most intimidating parts of the college application process is often the moment a student realizes the need for an activities resume to highlight everything that defines his or her life outside the classroom. The clubs, sports, volunteer work, awards accumulated – all of it goes into a document that college admission officers and even some scholarship committees use to determine the candidate’s worthiness. (No pressure.)What makes a good resume standout and what pitfalls should you avoid?DO

• Lead with the most meaningful items. If you play a sport that takes up the majority of your extracurricular hours, list it first. Not only does this show how important it is to you, but if the rest of your activities list is a bit short as a result of your commitment to your athletic career, readers will understand why this is so.

• Explain all acronyms. Even though every college admission counselor alive knows that “NHS” stands for the National Honor Society, spell it out – and especially spell out any obscure or regional acronyms to make your resume as clear and consistent as possible.

• Divide into categories. Clarity is the name of the game so be sure to separate sports and clubs from awards and volunteer activities. The goal of a resume is to show your depth and well-roundedness, so categorizing your activities helps demonstrate this.

DON’T

• Pad it. If you volunteered for two hours during school on a tenth grade can drive, don’t include it just to beef up your volunteer section. Not only can college admission counselors see through the ruse, but it doesn’t add anything substantial to the picture you’re painting of yourself.

• Forget anything either! High school seems to go by in the blink of an eye, but at the same time, it’s also a long period of your life. When you start to list everything you’ve done in four years, there will be a lot of significant things that have happened to you, so make sure the biggest ones aren’t overlooked!

• List anything earlier than ninth grade. Colleges and scholarship committees are only worried about your high school activities and accomplishments – which means that victory in the eighth grade science fair doesn’t make the list.

Your activities resume is as much a snapshot of who you are coming out of high school as your transcript, so take the time to make it a true portrait. Show off – the colleges want to know who they’re inviting to campus and it might just be you!

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