There is a scholarship (or many scholarships) out there for everyone.  Every student has some skill, interest, experience, or characteristic that may make them an attractive candidate for one scholarship or another.  And while we often refer to scholarships as “free money,” scholarships don’t actually come for free.  It takes work to thoughtfully consider your strengths and research the scholarships that might be most appropriate for you.  While the effort that goes into finding and winning scholarships may be akin to a part-time job, we at College Coach want to make your job a little easier.  This on-going scholarship series highlights a new scholarship each week.  Check out the below, along with the other posts in the series, and you may discover a funding resource that will make covering that college bill a little (or a lot!) easier.

The Common App is here! As of August 1, this year’s Common Application is available to all applicants. If you have not yet created your Common App account, follow steps 1-7 below. If you created a Common App account prior to August 1, steps 8-10 are for you! Either way, take a few moments to bookmark this site. You’re going to be using it a lot over the next few months.

There are a lot of early admissions deadline options: early action, early decision one and two, priority admissions, restrictive early action, etc. How do you know which, if any, is the right choice for you? We’ll help you figure that out. We’ll also help you figure out the college bill that’s coming your way, and discuss what makes a college a safety, i.e., a school where you have a better than 90% chance of being admitted.

This is part three of an ongoing series we’ve launched on the Insider blog on “Kids and Money.” As you prepare to send your child off to college, you should also be thinking about how to foster in them the skills necessary to build financial independence. In this series, we’re discussing how students can earn, spend, save, borrow, and protect their money in a way that aligns with personal and family values. Type “Kids and Money” into our Search Box to find all installments of the series.

As summer jobs come to an end and the new school year quickly approaches, now is the perfect time to be planning with your kids on how to divvy up any leftover summer job earnings.

There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. And while the media tends to focus on just a handful of schools, we at College Coach encourage students to think outside the box during their college selection process and explore a wide range of colleges. As such, we are highlighting a new college each week in our School Spotlight series. Check out the college below, along with the other posts in our series, and you may just stumble upon your dream school!

School Spotlight: University of Tennessee 
Knoxville, TN

There is a scholarship (or many scholarships) out there for everyone. Every student has some skill, interest, experience, or characteristic that may make them an attractive candidate for one scholarship or another. And while we often refer to scholarships as “free money,” scholarships don’t actually come for free. It takes work to thoughtfully consider your strengths and research the scholarships that might be most appropriate for you. While the effort that goes into finding and winning scholarships may be akin to a part-time job, we at College Coach want to make your job a little easier. This on-going scholarship series highlights a new scholarship each week. Check out the below, along with the other posts in the series, and you may discover a funding resource that will make covering that college bill a little (or a lot!) easier.

Whether you’re an American or international applicant, you may hope to spend your college years in a cosmopolitan campus setting, meeting students from around the world. Maybe this is because you’ve grown accustomed to a diverse population in your own school, or maybe it’s just the opposite—you’re ready for a big departure from your homogenous hometown. Regardless, there are plenty of colleges and universities famous for their international flavor and their variety may surprise you.

Ever wonder if what your high school doesn’t do, like offer many (or any) AP or IB courses or rank students, might actually hurt you or your student in the college admissions process? We’ll share our thoughts on how this works. We’re also answering your college finance and admissions questions in our Office Hours segment.

Two of my colleagues and I recently appeared on Good Morning America in a segment in response to the college admission scandal. The piece explored a different and more common way that students try to game the admission process: using an essay they didn’t write themselves. The segment entailed the three of us, plus one additional college counselor, reviewing personal statements and trying to spot the “fake” essay, which proved to be a more nuanced task than I think the GMA producers had expected. We at College Coach thought it might be useful to do a “behind the scenes” account of why spotting the fake was a challenge, and why you still shouldn’t use a fake essay!

There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. And while the media tends to focus on just a handful of schools, we at College Coach encourage students to think outside the box during their college selection process and explore a wide range of colleges. As such, we are highlighting a new college each week in our School Spotlight series. Check out the college below, along with the other posts in our series, and you may just stumble upon your dream school!

School Spotlight: Ripon College
Ripon, WI