College Planning: Articles and Advice

A Parent / Student Primer - The Stress of the College Quest: If your household contains a college-bound senior, you may feel the ground shifting beneath you. Relations between high-school seniors and their parents can be tricky: here are some tips for surviving as you work together to plan the path to college...

Get Accepted - Letters of Recommendation: Tips for lining up letters of recommendation. Most schools ask for one to three letters. Examine the forms carefully to see what each school requires, then make a plan...

Get Accepted - Planning for College, Timeline for Getting Ready to Go to College: Planning for college is a two-year process. And unless a rich uncle is going to write a big check for you, your college planning will involve acquiring and submitting financial aid forms, scholarship applications, and grant applications...

Get Accepted - Writing Your College Admission Essay: Mine Your Identity! When colleges ask you to "Tell us about yourself," it may sound simple, but it is not...

Grad School - Go for the Goals in Your Statement of Purpose: The statement of purpose is one of the best ways that you can demonstrate your intellectual development, ability to write and think clearly, and knowledge of your field. Graduate admissions committees want to know that you understand what you're getting into ...

Law School Admission Essay - Personal Statement: Law school applications are steadily on the rise, and your personal statement is the best place to make yourself stand out from the wannabe attorney crowd. What should you include in your essay to convince the admissions committee to stand up and take notice?

Law School Application - Supplementary Materials: If your law school application offers optional opportunities for submitting supplementary materials, you are wise to take advantage and give the admissions committee members more information about their most desirable applicant: you!

MBA - Applying to Executive MBA Programs: ... for although she is an ideal applicant, she also is a typical applicant, and thus must distinguish herself through her application essays. Most likely you face the same situation. Understanding two key issues will give you a clear framework from which to proceed with your application...

MBA Admissions - Applying With Low Numbers: First, are your numbers really so bad? "Low numbers" for the purposes of this article, and for most applicants, are GMATs and GPAs at the lower end of or below the mid-80% range for a given school. It may be difficult to find average GPAs, but if you have a 2.6, you know it's low for almost any MBA program...

MBA Applications - Challenges for Chinese Applicants: Hundreds of Chinese apply for coveted spots in the top U.S. business programs each year. What are those programs looking for in their applications?

MBA Applications - If Your First MBA Application Doesn't Succeed...Re-apply!: ... The good news is that the vast majority of business schools probably still view reapplicants neutrally at worst and downright positively at best. A strong, well-considered, and effectively executed re-application strategy can still win you that second chance. By following these three steps you can beat the growing competition for re-application spots...

MBA Applications - Tips for Indian Applicants: India's growing economy has created many exciting opportunities for people with the business education that will enable them to lead and manage growth there. However, to access the top business education, Indian students must first gain admission to one of the elite MBA programs...

MBA Applications - Tips for Younger Applicants: ... Should you apply now? You are a perfect candidate for a top program, except that you only have 1.5 years of work experience, and most MBA programs prefer three or four. The answer is yes, if you target the right schools and vividly demonstrate the following five factors...

MBA Applications: Tips for Applicants with a Financial Background: ... you certainly are a qualified applicant. But are you a competitive applicant? That depends: on how well you distinguish yourself from the many other investment banking analysts and associates who flock to top MBA programs...

MBA Essay Strategies for the Career Changer: The MBA applicant pursuing career change carries a burden spared other applicants: the need to show that you understand the new industry and/or function in practical terms. After all, someone may be genuinely fascinated by equities research but ultimately not fit in with that industry's culture. Thus, you must go beyond expressing sincere interest and making a logical case for your career goals...

MBA Programs - Advice for IT Applicants: Are you applying to business school from a traditional information technology (IT) background? If so, you likely already know that you face special challenges. First, you represent one of the largest categories of applicant "types," so the competition to distinguish yourself from the pack will be fierce...

Med School - Advice and Tips for Older Applicants: "You're going back to medical school? What would you do that for? Are you crazy?" Hopefully most people won't react so strongly when you share your news, but the question is probably still on their minds. And similar reservations may just pop into the heads of admissions committee members ...

Med School - Personal Statements for Non-Science Majors: Will your undergraduate degree in English or Economics put you at a disadvantage when the time comes to apply for medical school? Not at all! Assuming you did well in your science prerequisites, your non-science major can be one of your greatest strength ...

Med School and Beyond - Residency Personal Statements: To get into medical school, you explained why you wanted to be a physician. Now that you're an M.D., you need to secure that critical residency interview so you can show what you've got. To that end, your personal statement should give the residency committee a taste of what you're all about, and make them want more...

Med School Personal Statements - Applicants with Research Backgrounds: You've always been great at science and figured your research: whether in college, grad school, or professionally: would help you get into medical school. Now you find it a double-edged sword. On one hand, you probably aced the MCAT science sections. On the other, you may be viewed (rightly or not) as one-dimensional, overly concerned with details, and prone to losing sight of the forest...

Scholarship Search Services - Find scholarships online; advice and links: Okay, so you are ready to tackle the daunting task of finding scholarships to pay for college. And you want to use the Internet to expedite your search process. But there are so many scholarship services out there: which ones should you use?

Scholarships and Awards: How to win scholarships ... Applying for scholarships can be time consuming and takes dedication and motivation. But the thousands of dollars you could receive makes the effort worthwhile. Here are some hints to help you apply for and win scholarships ...

We've been collecting articles about planning for college. We hope you find them useful in your college planning!