Many universities are now accepting applications and granting tentative admissions approval for the 2009 fall semester…meaning…these students haven’t even completed their senior year, BUT THEY’VE BEEN ACCEPTED TO COLLEGE! How is that possible? The answer, many schools have ‘Early College Admission Programs’ granting tentative admission approval for high school students who have completed their junior year of high school and have a 3.0 or better grade point average and/or rank in the upper quartile of their class.

The symptoms show up every year. High school seniors try to balance extracurricular activities, a social life, college admission, and perhaps a part-time job. Somewhere along the way, home work begins to seem less important. Then they get accepted to college, and after that, high school seems even less important. School work begins to slide—and so do their grades. The diagnosis? Senioritis.
Senioritis is easy to catch and hard to get rid of. It can also be dangerous to your plans for the future. Every year, colleges rescind their offers of …

As president of North Central College in Naperville, Ill., for the past 20 years and a 30-year veteran of higher education, I’m often asked by friends, neighbors and acquaintances to offer advice about picking a college—and
then getting admitted to it.
There is no perfect comparative device for higher education. Almost all the guides and comparison data don’t measure individual value-added/cost, but rather, reflect the “quality” of the admission pool as a whole as it matriculates to graduation.

Never make your final college selection without visiting at least your top two or three choices. No matter how well you think you know a college or university, you can learn a lot (good or bad) by spending a few hours on campus, including whether or not the college feels like a good “fit” for you. Having family members accompany you on college visits is a great idea because it gives you extra “eyes and ears” and people with whom you can discuss your impressions.

“Where did the time go?” “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?” These are but two of the many questions thousands of high school juniors and seniors across the country are currently asking themselves as they approach the end of their high school years and begin to think about their future. There are only a few logical answers; to do nothing, join the military, get a job, or enroll in a college or university.

A Director’s Perspective
Are you a senior feeling the stress of friends or family members asking you, “where have you applied to college?” or “have you been accepted?” or even “what college will you attend?” Does the application process seem overwhelming? Applying to college doesn’t have to be a daunting process.

I was recently asked to do a seminar for the parents of high school aged students covering the topic of “Planning For and Selecting a College”. Given that I have been involved with college admission work for 22 years, I thought this would be an easy task! However, as I began to put together my outline, I realized that there isn’t a magic formula! Each student is unique; each family is unique. The goal of a successful college search is finding the college that “fits” you.
Given the uniqueness of each …