Ed Bove's College Planning Blog

College Planning Tip of the Week

Students, when drafting your college admissions essay, try to write about something that the admissions office would not know about you unless you tell them. They are going to read your application, see your transcript and your standardized test scores, but what else is truly special about you that they may never know if you don't tell them? What qualities about you, experiences you've had, things you've accomplished, are unique to you and not many others could talk about?

College Planning Tip of the Week

Apply to 6 to 8 schools, minimum!

One of the things that we have found is that it does no good to apply to so few schools that you don’t get admitted anywhere or admitted to only 1 or 2. You don’t need to apply to 30 different schools, and in fact, it can actually hurt you in the long run. But, the ideal amount is to apply to 6 to 8 schools. These are things y...ou should look for in schools that you apply to:

1) Schools that you have a fairly good shot of getting into;
2) Schools that have financial aid to give, or are affordable even if you don’t get financial aid;
3) Schools that you would be really happy to attend.

By applying to 6-8 schools, you should get accepted by several and this will give you options to choose from, not the least of which is competing financial aid awards which you can use to your benefit.