Despite thinking that the hardest part of the application process would be the actual application, for many families the waiting game can feel just as unnerving. Sitting on your hands during the months of January through March can feel like an eternity. Here are some things you can and should be doing while you await decisions from admissions offices.

Test prep can be an expensive undertaking, yet we recommend that every student do some prep before they take the ACT or SAT. We’ll be discussing free test prep resources—what’s out there and which options are best. For juniors, we have advice on the top five things you should be doing now to get started on the college search and application process, and the top five things you and your families should know as you prepare to pay for college.

Paying for college can be a monumental task, and often requires a team effort to pull it off, including significant contributions from the both the student and their parents. Lucky families may also receive help from outside their immediate household, most commonly from grandparents. But did you know that ill-timed tuition payments from grandma or grandpa could cost you substantial amounts of financial aid? Tune in to the latest installment of our video series, We Can Explain, to learn how grandparents can best help pay for college without costing the student financial aid. Click here to watch “College Finance Tips & How Grandparents Can Help.”

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: Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA

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.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Peeka.
Peeka who?
Peeka Boo!

Okay maybe this is not the funniest joke that you have ever heard, but I have your attention. Take a break from the seriousness of life and all of those earnest scholarship applications, and try to make the scholarship committee LOL. Share a funny or embarrassing story from your life, and the joke is no longer on you!

Scholarship: Make Me Laugh Scholarship

Students often wonder if their involvements outside of the classroom are impressive enough to help them get into a highly selective college. Is the boy who spends his weekends at yo-yo competitions more striking to the admissions committee than the girl who sits by a tree and writes poetry on Sunday afternoons? It’s all about the ways in which these students choose to present themselves. So, let’s think about the question this way: What do the Ivies and other highly selective colleges want to learn from a student’s extracurricular activities? What kind of people do these colleges seek?

If you can believe it, we’ve been bringing college finance and admissions information to you every single week since we launched our college admissions podcast, Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, on February 5, 2015. Join us for a celebration as we share stories from our time working in admissions and financial aid, along with some cautionary tales and highlights from a few of our favorite students and parents.

Have you ever wondered how someone becomes the radio announcer who covers the play-by-play for your favorite hockey team? Do you love to write, but don’t see yourself becoming a novelist? It’s hard to know where your career path will lead when you’re in high school, and you may not know all the options that are waiting for you, especially if you are still developing your interests. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) provided by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics is a great resource to discover various careers and learn more about the entry-level education required to enter these fields. In addition, the OOH compiles data on projected job growth. Per the OOH, the average growth rate for all occupations is 5%. Highlighted below are three very different careers that are forecasted to have much faster than average growth rates.

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: Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, CT

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.

This scholarship advertises that students can receive a “private school education at a state school price.” Students who qualify for this new scholarship at Oglethorpe University in Georgia pay tuition and fees at the rate of their own in-state public university. Added bonus: top Early Action applicants are invited to participate in the university’s annual on-campus “Scholarship Weekend” scholarship competition for full-tuition scholarships.

Scholarship: Oglethorpe Flagship 50 Scholarship