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: Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH

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.

Guest post by Joanna Graham, Fortuna Admissions

Most students look forward to taking a standardized exam about as much as getting a root canal, so I get that my love of them is uncommon (standardized tests, not dental work). I was 11 years old when I took my first standardized test, and since then I’ve sat for just about every exam under the sun – the ACT, SAT, GRE – even the LSAT and MCAT. So I speak from experience when I say that the GMAT, which is the beefy exam favored by business schools worldwide, is special. (Disclaimer: I spent nine years working at GMAC, the entity that administers and develops the GMAT exam.) Coupled with your academic credentials, your GMAT is also an integral component of your MBA application.

Dear Debt’s Melanie Lockert paid off $81 thousand in student debt in just a few years. She’ll join us to talk about how she got to $81 thousand in the first place, what she would do differently if she could do it all again, and what led to the creation of her Dear Debt blog (now also a book). We’re also discussing how to choose your Common App prompt and what Common App supplemental essays are all about.

Many students decide to pursue an MBA on a part-time basis. It can be more affordable, particularly when considering the alternative opportunity cost of giving up your income for two years to attend business school full time. Still, paying for an MBA is rarely easy, even when maintaining a full-time income. Many students are in the market for financial aid and aren’t sure how to begin.  If this sounds like you, check out the latest contribution by College Coach finance expert and former Babson College financial aid officer, Michelle Clifton, to the Fortuna Admissions blog.

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 Lynchburg
Lynchburg, VA

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.

Don’t expect to get much work done on your Common Application on the last four days of July. Between July 28 and 31, the Common App website will be unavailable to students as it undergoes its annual makeover. The big reveal is slated for August 1 – although commonapp.org will likely be up and running in the wee hours of July 31. In previous years, Common App updates have included new essay prompts, the addition of a Courses & Grades section, and clarifying language around applicants’ sex and gender. While no major revelations are expected in the revamped 2019-20 Common App, we do anticipate the following six changes.

Taking a mindful approach to the college application process can help students have a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling high school experience. Rachel Simmons, author of Enough As She Is, which focuses on helping girls move beyond impossible standards of success, joins the show this week to help us take just this approach. In another in our Kindness Matters series, we’ll look at ways in which kindness can have financial benefits to students in the form of merit awards.

Guest Post by Sabrina Manville, Co-Founder of Edmit

College is an investment –and it might be one of the biggest you ever make. Despite those big numbers, the data show it’s probably worth it—but you’ll need to make many decisions along the way that will impact how much the investment pays back.