College Life

May 15, 2023
Find your college match

How to Find the Right College Match – Part II

My last blog listed the first five things to consider for finding the right college match: location, size, campus, students, and grades. Here are another five to round out the list: 6. Cost and Affordability: Admissions personnel in private colleges and universities often tell students not to count them out in favor of public colleges and universities because of cost. That's because there are ways in which they discount the cost to students, which can often mean that a private education can cost the same or less than a public one.
May 9, 2023
Finding your college match

How to Find the Right College Match – Part I

Finding the right college match may seem daunting when you first start out thinking about college, but it doesn't have to be. Here are the top 5 things to consider at the outset of your college search that will lead to finding the right college for you. The idea is to get to know what you want in a school before you even start to create a list of schools to consider. The college search process involves looking inside yourself and getting to know what's important to you.
April 21, 2023

You’ve Been Accepted. How Do You Decide Which College to Attend?

A visit to colleges that have accepted you is a good idea if you can do it. All this month, colleges host Admitted Student Days. And even if you can't make it to one of those sessions, you can still sign up for a tour and an information session at any other time that is more convenient to you. Whether you can tour - or not - here are some suggestions to help you in your decision-making.
April 17, 2023

On the Road with Betsy Woolf – Wesleyan University

Students work hard at Wesleyan but say that it is not a competitive place. Social life happens mainly on campus. The school is fully residential from freshman through senior year. An important mention is Wesleyan's open curriculum in which students direct their own education in consultation with faculty advisors.
March 6, 2023

On the Road with Betsy Woolf – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Located on California's Central Coast about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a California public university where the motto is "Learn by Doing." And that is exactly what I found on a trip to this surprisingly modern campus. The curriculum is "flipped," meaning that from day one, students are  taking classes in their areas of study. And they don't just sit in class. This is a hands-on university.
February 26, 2023

On the Road with Betsy Woolf – So You Think You Know ASU…

ASU West is a 35-minute shuttle bus ride from the Tempe campus, yet it is a world away. It's hard to find a public university with a small student population, but ASU West is one. There are just over 4000 students attending this pretty modern campus...
June 9, 2022

On the Road with Betsy Woolf – CalArts

CalArts was founded by the Disneys in 1961 as a performing and visual arts educational institution. It is a direct entry school, which means that a student applies into a particular program. CalArts houses six separate schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater. All undergraduate programs – there are around 70 -  lead to a BFA degree.
May 17, 2022

Update on the Common Application

Current Common Application membership is 979 colleges and universities, 63 of whom are international. Members hail from 19 countries outside the US. This year, 1.2 Million first year applicants submitted 7.5 million applications.
June 1, 2020

What Are Colleges Planning To Do This Fall?

Although many plans won’t be released until later this month or in July, we are getting an inkling of what some colleges and universities are planning on doing. Most schools seem to be leaning towards having students on […]
May 1, 2020
how to focus your college research

How to Focus Your College Research

Now that colleges have cancelled information sessions and tours, what students learn about colleges virtually has become more important than in the past. Each person will have his or her individual list of preferences and areas of importance, […]