The official e-newsletter of The Equestrian College Advisor.

From the blog:

The folks at The Chronicle of the Horse recently sent around a survey to discern their readers’ favorite horse products and brands in advance of publishing their readers’ choice issue later this summer. Participants were invited to pick their favorite brands and products and even share why they did so – basically a popularity contest for a lot of equine supplies, from tack to apparel to shampoos and clippers.

Having initial conversations with high school sophomores and juniors about potential colleges is a lot like that survey, I find – which is to say that, in the early going, it’s basically a popularity contest when I have students start naming schools.Read More

College costs can be difficult to estimate. Even for college applicants with the foresight to research things like debt balances at graduation and average alumni salaries, outcomes can be difficult to predict.

Here's how one site did it.

"Recently I watched my niece walk across the stage to receive her high school diploma. I am proud of what an impressive young lady she has grown into. But I’m especially thrilled to know that she will graduate from a good college in four years with no student debt.

Like many high school seniors, she received several college admission letters in the spring and eventually narrowed them to two choices. One was from her dream school—an elite private college that costs about $70,000 a year, including room, board, and tuition. The school offered her a $20,000 merit-based scholarship per year, but she still needed to come up with $50,000 every year for the next four years to attend." Read More

Your School Guidance Counselor and YouYou’ve probably read jokes about school guidance counselors or gotten a laugh out of a comic strip that features their less than stellar advice, but even if you’re fortunate to work with an educational consultant throughout your college search, you can’t overlook the importance of your school counselor in the process. That’s right, even as student-counselor ratios continue to rise nationwide, these hardworking individuals still play an important role in helping you become a college freshman.  Namely, your guidance counselor: Helps plan your schedule of college preparatory courses.  Colleges require specific, approved high school coursework for freshman and your school counselor is responsible for helping you choose the appropriate ones for you. Helps you register for standardized tests.  Your counseling office maintains a schedule for all local offerings of the SAT and ACT and can help you select the right date, sign you up, and work with you to get the testing fee waived if your family can’t afford to pay. Submits recommendation forms to colleges.  Most college applications require a recommendation from a school counselor, either by letter or in response to questions on a form.  Your application cannot be considered complete without this information. Release your official transcript to colleges.  An official transcript must feature the raised seal of your high school on it and this version can only be submitted by the guidance office at your high school.  Thus, your counselor is the one in charge of releasing it.In order to learn how best to work with your own school counselor, schedule a meeting with him or her early in your junior year (if not before).  Ask for course recommendations for your senior year and come up with a testing schedule.  In the spring of junior year, meet again to outline the steps you must take in the fall to submit your applications completely and in a timely fashion.  Taking the time to create this type of proactive relationship with your counselor can help ease the stress of the college application process and reassure you that you’re on track to achieving your college goals. 

Share