Most universities offer a multitude of extracurricular Activities. Some colleges offer more than 300 clubs. If they don’t have one you like, you can start one.

Students are always asking how colleges look at extracurricular activities.

“Is it better to be involved in lots of extracurricular activities or concentrate on one or two?”

My professional opinion is that it is much better to concentrate on several key activities that you are truly passion about. Again, we’re going back to the big three – the three things colleges are most interested in – outside of your academics: passion, persistence, and leadership.

Participate in a few key activities over a number of years; assume leadership positions in them. Don’t merely be a participant in the organizations.

I know many students who joined every high school club they possibly could. They had a long list of activities, and they still were not accepted to their top-choice colleges. It is very difficult to add value to such a long laundry list of clubs and organizations.

Can you really be passionate about 50 extracurricular activities?

When you know how colleges look at extracurricular activities, you can structure your high school activities so that they form a consistent picture of who you say you are and what’s important to you.

When you are truly passionate about an area of interest, you develop as much proficiency and expertise in the area as possible. This frequently means that you might exhaust the offerings at your high school. In these cases, you must reach beyond what you school has to offer and pursue your interests in depth.

So if you love foreign languages, take as much as you can at your local high school, and perhaps study abroad during the summer or the academic year. Go to foreign language camps. Tutor students who need remediation in your chosen language. Assume a leadership role in the foreign language club at school.

Better yet, start a foreign language club if your school doesn’t have one. If you are interested in medicine, you should have some activities that relate to that goal – perhaps research and/or hospital related EC.

If you are an elite athlete, compete on the varsity teams that your school offers. Perhaps you can become a team captain. Maybe you might further develop your skills by joining an outside team or neighborhood club. This passion, persistence, and leadership shows that you are truly committed to excellence and willing to do what you need to do to develop your skills to the fullest.

If you want the guidance of a college admissions consultant to help you develop the perfect college application strategy, then schedule an appointment for one of my free consultations.

You can also sign up for my College Admissions 411 Home Study Course. It will help you get accepted to your dream college.

Do you have a better chance of getting admitted if you apply early decision?

If you are an excellent student – probably yes.  There are many reasons for this

1. applicant pool is smaller
2. space availability is not a consideration – as is the case with regular decision
3. admissions officers know you will come if admitted
4. colleges generally will reach one of three decisions.  They will admit you, defer your application to the regular admissions cycle, or deny your application.

Reasons to apply early

1. You love the college;  it’s your top choice, and no other college will do.
2. You promise to attend if admitted.
3. You get the process finished early in the game.
4. The college knows it’s your first choice so they may reward you for that.

Caution

Early decision is a legally binding contract.  You cannot apply elsewhere Early decision, and you must withdraw all other applications if accepted.

You may change your mind – many do.

You won’t be able to compare fin aid offers.   Some people want to get the best possible deal. For others a good deal is good enough. Let’s put it another way:  How do you feel when you buy an outfit which is a good bargain at $100 and you find out later you could have purchased the item for $20? If that doesn’t bother you, okay, maybe early decision is for you. But if you would be upset and stew about it for weeks, maybe you should reconsider applying to college early.  Great variance in fin aid offers (I’ve seen spreads as large as $127,000 over 4 years.)

If you think your 1st or 2nd quarter grades might be outstanding and you can qualify for a more selective university, you might want to apply regular decision.

Can you get academic credit for previous coursework?

Generally, yes, but this will vary from college to college. Most colleges award AP credits, but they don’t help you reduce your time at a college or university – unless you receive college credit for at least 4 or more AP course.

You may be able to get an additional semester of advanced standing. You can utilize that time to study abroad or volunteer for some service learning programs.

You can also use the advanced placement credits to place into higher level courses. However, you will probably want o be careful in doing that because most AP course do not have the intellectual rigor of a college level course.

Now, if you are a pre-med student, let’s say you have taken APs in a number of subjects. You scored 5’s in chemistry and physics. The college you decide to enroll in awards you academic credit for introductory courses in chemistry and physics.

Now, to fulfill your pre-med requirements you have to take – among other things – 2 courses in chemistry with lab and 2 courses in physics with lab.

You will have to decide if you want to take courses in advanced physics (probably with physics majors) or if you want to take introductory physics and forego using your AP credits.

The introductory physics option will probably enable you to earn a higher GPA. So you need to employ some strategy when deciding which AP credits to accept and utilize.

You would probably only take the advanced physics courses if you plan to major in physics. So there are a lot of things to consider when deciding which AP credits to utilize.

You can also get academic credits if you have an IB or Fr. Bac diploma. Check with the colleges to which you apply to confirm.

Of course, you should take Advanced Placement, Honors, or Accelerated classes if you can do well in them.

Challenge yourself.

You will not get admitted to an Ivy League-caliber institution, if you have not challenged yourself academically. Straight A’s are no substitute for academic curiosity. You need a degree of confidence and boldness to succeed in these Tier 1 institutions. No wimps need apply.

Accepted students at these institutions are very bright, inventive, mentally curious, and they are used to tackling complex problems. You won’t fit in with them if you stick to a safe and secure academic pathway.

No college is interested in a student who displays lack of intellectual curiosity or timidity.

Follow your passions, but don’t overreach.

Who should YOU ask to write your letters of recommendation?

Letters of recommendation are a very crucial part of the entire college application process.

Letters of recommendation are intensely personal components of your college application, and as such, they should be written by adults who have an in-depth knowledge of you as a person.

Your high school transcript and your standardized test scores are all pretty objective instruments. But you should seek out recommenders who can help you tell your story.

Your letters of recommendation should, if possible, come from people who have known you for more than one year. Yet, these recommenders must also have recent, current knowledge of who you are and what you are doing.

So, if all of your letters of recommendation come from teachers you had in ninth grade, then you might have a problem.

Generally, I advise you to prepare a portfolio and give it to each person you plan to ask to write a letter of recommendation for you.

I also suggest that you meet face to face with your recommenders to ask them to write the letter of recommendation.

If you have not chatted with your recommender for a while, sit down with her and update her on what you’ve been doing with your life before you ask her to write a letter of recommendation. No email or telephone requests unless a face-to-face request is impossible.

If your recommender cannot write a strongly positive letter of recommendation, you should be able to determine that from her reaction to your request.

In an ideal world, a person who cannot write a favorable letter of recommendation for you would decline your request. That doesn’t always happen in real life. So, you have to be wise enough to only ask the people who know you and like you well enough to write a great letter of recommendation for you.

In my College Admissions 411 Home Study Course, I go into much greater detail and give you more actionable steps you can take right now – to help you get absolutely the best letters of recommendation possible.

You can also join my mailing list or complete a form for a free, no obligation consultation about the college admissions process.

Is there a Secret About How to Apply for Financial Aid?

Is there a magic formula for maximizing
the amount of financial aid you qualify for?
A lot of parents are concerned about the cost of college.

Can colleges work harder at making college affordable for the average American?
If both parents work and earn a pretty good income, can you still apply for and qualify for financial aid?

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Alana A., medical school student:

“College Admissions 411!  Your Guide to Getting Accepted” is an outstanding product. Mrs. Arnold’s advice helped me enormously when I was applying to college.  I’ve examined lots of “how-to-get-into-college guides”, and Mrs. Arnold’s book is among the best I have seen.  It can save you lots of time, energy, and money.

Following her advice, I applied only to colleges, which met 100% of my demonstrated financial need. There is a listing of such colleges in the book.  I was awarded scholarships and financial aid, which covered my entire cost of attendance. I decided to attend Princeton University, and I’m glad I did. Princeton has a no-loan policy, so I knew I could graduate without taking on any debt.  Now I am attending medical school!

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The answer to both questions is a resounding, “Yes!”

If you or your parents are not able to write out a check to cover the full cost of attendance (that means all tuition, fees, room, board, insurance, etc), then you should apply for financial aid. Apply for all of the scholarships for which you are eligible.

There is a lot of need-based aid, but there is also a great deal of merit aid out there that is not dependent upon your family income. Always apply for aid if you need help paying for your college expenses. You never know if you will get financial aid, or how much you might qualify for if you are eligible. Fill out all of the required financial aid forms.

Definitely start with the FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid. (Explain FAFSA) Then complete the application forms for institutional funds from private colleges and universities.  That usually means completing the CSS Profile and the forms required by each individual college you apply to. Don’t assume you won’t get financial aid.

College is so expensive now that many folks can qualify – even two income families – especially in today’s economy.  In fact, most of the selective colleges and universities are ramping up their financial aid budgets to help students and their families afford to go to college during this economic downturn. They are also reducing the sizes of the annual tuition increases.

There are so many components to the aid picture. Number of children in college, # dependents, extenuating circumstance, equity in your home, other assets, savings, institutional aid, financial aid generosity [apply to colleges that award 100% financial need]. Apply to colleges that have a “no loan policy”.
Many of the highly selective colleges and universities have “no loan” policies.  Princeton University was the first university to establish such a policy, and most of the Ivy league institutions and Ivy-caliber institutions have followed their lead.  Of course, these institutions are extremely difficult to get accepted into, but excellent grades and SAT scores and the right college-admissions strategy spearheaded by the right college admissions consultant can get you there.

So work hard in school. Even if you don’t ultimately attend an Ivy, many colleges and universities are offering tons of merit-based aid in an attempt to lure brilliant students to them They are covering the entire cost of attendance for the outstanding students. So, that’s another option for you.

Now that you know how to apply for financial aid, let’s look at some of the types of financial aid that are available to you. Just go for it.

If you want to defer college for a year, you must provide your reasons.  Tell your college what you plan to do during your year off.

Deferments are generally granted for military service, Peace Corps, Volunteer or Service programs.

Report back to the college on your experiences.
Generally, colleges will approve non-academic pursuits. If you want to attend a different college or university during your year off – unless it is to study abroad, you may have to reapply as a transfer student – and that is no fun!

If you need a break from school, keep your activities during your gap year strictly  non-academic!

Robert Booker, newspaper publisher:

I have known Angela Arnold for more than twelve years. She is a very generous person, and when she told me she was writing a book to help black students get into their dream colleges, I knew I had to read it. You see, I’ve used Mrs. Arnold’s educational consulting and tutoring services in the past, and I know she typically under-promises and over-delivers.

Sure enough, College Admissions 411!  Your Guide to Getting Accepted, really delivers. I was particularly impressed with the very precisely detailed four-year college roadmaps that she created. These roadmaps tell students, step by step and year by year, everything they need to do to be accepted at highly selective colleges and universities.   In my opinion, this section alone is worth the cost of the book.  If you follow Angela Arnold’s advice, I don’t see how you could go wrong.  I enthusiastically recommend this book.

My advice, if you want to defer college for a year or two is – do something special, life-changing:

• Work or volunteer abroad.
• Help teach English in an Asia country.
• Do something you could never do in college: work an unusual job, visit improbable places.

• Lots of organizations specialize in gap year programs – just do a web search.
• A Gap year can help you crystallize your career plans.
• Gap years are the ordinary course of events in Europe, UK, and Australia.
• Gap year students return to their studies highly focused. They generally have high completion rates. We always focus on getting accepted, but we also need to graduate from college.

Few things are worse for students and their families than starting college, getting a bunch of student loans, dropping out, and then owing all of that money. 60% of students to start at a 4-yr state college or university don’t graduate within 5 years.  30% of students who enroll in college don’t come back for their sophomore year.

So don’t go to college unless you are truly ready. You are better off not even starting. In that case, perhaps the best thing for you to do is to defer a year. That saves everyone’s time and money. A gap year might be what you need to decide if you really do want to go to college.

There are alternatives to the 4-year college. We have trade and vocational schools.  We have community colleges.  I have an entire section on alternatives to the 4-year college in my ebook, College Admissions 411: Your  Guide to Getting Accepted.

If You Want to Be Accepted to Your Top-Choice College, You Must Adhere to Several College Deadlines

What are the Most Important Deadlines?

The most important deadlines that you must adhere to are listed below.

• Standardized test deadlines: SAT I, ACT, SAT II

• College Application Deadline –

• everything must be in that date [including your letters of recommendation.  Nothing is read until everything is complete]:

• All Financial Aid Deadlines:

Money disappears as time goes on. If you require financial aid, you must get your application in on time.

• FAFSA deadline [varies according to the college]

• CSS Profile deadline [varies according to the college]

• Institutional Aid Deadlines [vary according to the college

Now, let’s find out what other college application steps can help you get admitted to your top-choice college.

Homeschooling is one of the greatest gifts parents can give their children.

In fact, homeschooling is absolutely one of the best academic advantages parents can give their children.

Homeschooled families enjoy maximum flexibility, superior academic achievement, and the educational freedom to study whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want. Now that’s exciting and empowering.

I homeschooled my children starting in the mid-1970’s when virtually no one knew a thing about the subject.

It was a tremendous benefit to our family. Of course, improved academic achievement is not the only reason to homeschool, but it is a very compelling reason. Most homeschoolers test years ahead of their non-homeschooled cohort.

As a former teacher, I know how much time is eaten up in the traditional school environment. A great deal of time is spent in preparation for teaching. Getting in line, walking to class, waiting for the class to settle down, handling discipline problems, talking with parents and others who drop in unexpectedly all take time away from the instructional process. A homeschooler doesn’t have to deal with that.
As families are seeking every possible method of getting their children admitted to their top choice colleges, I think they should carefully consider the benefits of homeschooling.

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Yvette O., newspaper reporter:

When I sought out Mrs. Arnold, my goal was to have my son achieve the highest possible score on the SAT. At the time, I knew that strong scores translated into scholarship money and acceptance to the schools of our choice.  Mrs. Arnold came highly recommended by others who had used her. She did not disappoint.

For starters, she had my son take an SAT Prep Test, which she scored. This established a benchmark, gave us a sense of where he was, allowed us to identify weaknesses and set realistic goals for gains we hoped to see in the scores. My bottom line was increasing the scores and this was my barometer for measuring success. The first time around, my son scored almost exactly where the test administered by Mrs. Arnold showed he would. The second time around, after coaching by Mrs. Arnold, his scores jumped about 100 points in each area.

As a result, we received scholarship offers. More importantly, Mrs. Arnold’s efforts have had a visible impact on my son’s success at Morehouse College, where he is majoring in finance and has been nominated for and accepted into the National Honor Society.

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Now let’s look at how you might handle some issues you will deal with as a homeschooled applicant.:

• Letters of Recommendation from people outside of family who know you well, and like you

• Clergy, employers, teacher in outside course [art, music, foreign language]

• Write great essay

• Great standardized test scores – usually not a problem

• On-campus interview to detail your academic program and history

• College tour
• Sit with admissions officers

• Colleges love home-schooled

For more information on homeschooling and the college admissions process, I invite you to purchase my ebook, College Admissions 411!: Your Guide to Getting Accepted. It has much more detail about homeschooling as it relates to academic achievement and college acceptance.  I even have a section on how to homeschool on a shoestring budget and tips on how to pay for college.

Now, let’s find out what other “Getting Started” Steps we should consider during our college admissions research phase.