The college admissions process has a lot of moving pieces, and for student-athletes hoping to continue their sport in college, there are even more deadlines and logistics to consider. High school athletes who are interested in playing college sports should begin their research with the NCAA Eligibility Center and initiate open conversations with their high school coaches for support and guidance along the way.

To better understand the logistics of athletic recruiting from the admissions perspective, we checked in with two of our admissions experts. Kennon Dick was a Division 1 admissions liaison to the athletic department for Drexel University, where he later got to peek behind the recruiting curtain as an assistant lacrosse coach. At Tufts University, which supports a Division 3 athletic program, Becky Leichtling served as the admissions liaison to the softball, women’s soccer, and women’s lacrosse coaches, and assistant coach for women’s Ultimate Frisbee. 

Applying for financial aid when parents are divorced, unmarried, or remarried can get complicated. In this installment of the College Coach video series, We Can Explain, former financial aid officer Shannon Vasconcelos provides a basic understanding of how income and assets are considered in the FAFSA and CSS Profile.

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: Duke University
Durham, NC

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 Coalition Application is similar to the Common App in that it is one application students can fill out that is accepted at multiple schools. While some of the essay prompts overlap with the Common App in theme and approach, others are quite unique to the application. We will discuss the options and approaches to these topics. In Office Hours, we’re answering listener questions related to college finance and admissions.

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post came out with a story that outlined online consumer behavior tracking methods used by many higher education institutions to determine the likelihood that a student would enroll if accepted. This seems to be somewhat surprising to people, probably because they don’t think of colleges as businesses trying to sell something to consumers. In an age when admissions practices seem more complicated and opaque than ever before, it also feels like one more secret kept from the students and parents who are already stressed out about grades, test scores, and application essays.

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: Rider University
Lawrenceville, NJ

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.

Some years ago on a soccer sideline somewhere, or maybe in the chatty pre-show moments of a high school theatre performance, a mom or dad started the dreadful rumor that one must complete hundreds of hours of community service in order to even be considered for admission to the top colleges and universities in the country. Since that day, this misinformation has been taken as gospel by college-bound high school students and their parents. But they’re wrong.

Let’s all pause for a moment and say this together: there is nothing extra special about community service.

When college students graduate, they have a grace period of a few months before they need to start repaying their student loans. As that grace period is coming to an end, we have some thoughts on getting started on the repayment portion. In other segments, we’ll discuss who should consider a gap year, and offer suggestions for next steps if you are deferred in the early round from any of your colleges of interest.