College Guide:The Plain Dealer's guide to higher education
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College Guide 08/09
by
Plain Dealer Staff
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 4:00 PM
As high school students get ready for another school year, college planning is a big topic: How to find a college? What to ask when you visit? How do you prepare for the SAT and ACT? What about writing your college essay? How to pay for college? How to get along with your roommates? Don't worry. We have the answers. To launch you on your college search and first year of college, our 2008 College Guide offers helpful resources online and in print.
Your Guide to College Guides
Campus videos, candid interviews, student rankings and frank commentary lay it all on the line.
8 Questions a College-Bound Student Should Ask
Mastering the Admissions Tests -- or Avoiding Them Altogether
Online Only
Use our Online College Cost Calculator: Determine how much you'll need to budget to pay for schools nationwide.
Search our College Guide Database: Pick colleges based on what's important to you.
Tell Us: What Cinched Your Choice of Colleges? Read what others have to say.
To Grad School and Beyond
Today's students consider career plans in choosing a school.
Community College is the Real Thing
Consultants Paid to Help with College Quest
Free Guides to College Found on Internet, at Bookstores
Colleges Give Financial Aid, Enabling More Students to Attend
Cutting College Costs: Try These Ways to Save
Scholarship Money is Out There. Go Find It.
The All-Important Essay
Only you can choose the topic that's right for you.
Ease into Life on Campus and Away from Home
What You Can't Live Without When You Go to College
The Ups and Downs of Social Networking
Section Editor: Ellen Stein Burbach
Newspaper Design Editor: Bill Lammers
Writers: Margaret Bernstein, Rich Exner (Online Extras) , Jennifer Gonzalez, Michael Heaton, Brian Anthony Hernandez, Michelle Jarboe, Ellen Jan Kleinerman, Maggi Martin, Steven Overly, Andrea Simakis, Julie E. Washington
Photo Illustrations: Andrea Levy
Online Designer: Christine Jindra
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Your Guide to College Guides
by
Brian Anthony Hernandez
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:53 PM
Campus videos, candid interviews, student rankings and frank commentary lay it all on the line.
Forget What Matters Most to Others, What Matters to You?
• Is racial and ethnic diversity on campus important to you?
• Are study-abroad programs a top priority?
• Does it matter how much a school pays its professors?
• How often does a college help students financially, and how much does it give?
• Are you concerned abut the weight the schools you're interested in place on GPA, class rank, test scores, and recommendations for admission?
Check out The Plain Dealer's Online College Guide Database to explore these issues as well as vital statistics about schools across the nation.
Long gone are the days when high school students had to depend solely on calls to campus officials to help them choose a college.
U.S. News and World Report's creation of the first nationally distributed rankings of undergraduate institutions in 1983 swept those days under the rug. Since then, the annual report has spawned a plethora of guidebooks, some detailing colleges' academic quality and others revealing the best deals, greatest social atmospheres and top party schools.
8 Questions a College-Bound Student Should Ask
by
Michael Heaton
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:52 PM
Some things you just can't know until you're enrolled and on campus, but a bit of due diligence will help most students avoid choosing a school that isn't a good fit.
Once you've pored over the Web sites, participated in online chats and analyzed the guidebook suggestions to narrow your choices, here are a few ideas for finding out what you really need to know about the schools you're interested in:
• Spend a weekend at the school. Many colleges have programs that will match you up with a student host if you don't know anyone on campus.
Continue reading "8 Questions a College-Bound Student Should Ask" »
To Grad School and Beyond
by
Ellen Jan Kleinerman
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:51 PM
|
Today's students consider career plans in choosing a school
"The business program there is really good and will put me in a great position for graduate school," she says. More and more high school students are selecting their undergraduate schools based on their ultimate career goals -- law school, medical school or the like. Two factors that often come into play are money and the college's reputation in specific areas of study. |
Continue reading "To Grad School and Beyond" »
Community College Is the Real Thing
by Margaret Bernstein
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:50 PM
Planning Ahead Prevents Problems Down the Road
Making sure your credits transfer when you switch colleges can be a sticky process.
But today, there are tools to help, especially when moving between Ohio public institutions.
State officials have created guides to help Ohio colleges standardize their offerings and ensure that certain classes transfer with ease. Students also should work with their college counselors to ensure they're taking the courses flagged as transferable.
"If a student researches it ahead of time, they should be able to find answers. The key is working ahead," says Andrew Prusinski of Cleveland Scholarship Program.
Another great resource is www.transfer.org, which allows students to view course equivalencies at colleges in more than a dozen states. "All you do is type in your course, type the college you want to go to, and it'll show the transferability," says Cindy Kushner, Lorain County Community College spokeswoman. -- M.B.
Just ask half of all college students
If you think community colleges are second-class schools for folks who can't hack it at a real university, then you haven't been paying attention.
Today, nearly half of all undergraduate students in the United States are attending community colleges, according to the American Association of Community Colleges.
Last fall, Cuyahoga and Lakeland community colleges both notched their highest enrollment numbers ever. And at Lorain County Community College, enrollment has soared by 50 percent during the past five years.
Mastering the Admissions Tests -- or Avoiding Them Altogether
by Maggie Martin
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:49 PM
|
Who Takes the Tests? The number of SAT test-takers in Ohio has remained steady, with about 35,000 students taking the test the last five years. ACT test-takers numbered 80,000 in 2005, or about 65 percent of high school graduates. SOURCE: The Ohio Department of Education |
Which of the following statements about the SAT and ACT tests are true?
a). Some 750 colleges now give students the option of whether to submit their scores when applying for admission.
b). Many larger universities -- even prestigious ones such as Smith and Wake Forest -- no longer require test scores.
How to improve your SAT and ACT scores
by Maggi Martin
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:48 PM
Don't cram. Prepare.
Proper preparation takes weeks, even months of review.
Read. Read. Read.
Read the questions and answers critically.
Prune your choices.
If you can eliminate at least two incorrect answers, you increase the probability of guessing right.
Continue reading "How to improve your SAT and ACT scores" »
Consultants Paid to Help with College Quest
by Jennifer Gonzalez
Tuesday July 08, 2008, 3:47 PM
|
The first higher education investment some families make: signing on with a consultant to help them through the college search and application process. |
Parents looking for help -- and willing to spend money for that assistance -- can turn to a growing breed of professionals cropping up in the Midwest: the independent educational consultant.
Long a staple on the East and West coasts, these private counselors work one-on-one with students and their families to find that perfect college fit. Their work ranges from crafting college lists, critiquing essays, preparing students for interviews and researching financial aid options.
Most consultants work with families for two years, beginning the summer before junior year. In this area, costs range from $2,500 to $3,200. Consultants also work on an hourly basis, at about $120 an hour.
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