College planning is often a large part of a family’s financial plan. This week we take some time to talk to an expert about the admissions and college selection process.
I recently spoke with Jennifer MacLure about her company, My Pathway to College, on our YouTube live. Her company advises students on all matters related to college entrance, from selecting a college to completing the admissions process successfully.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
Sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, standardized testing is optional for 80% of college institutions. This change has greatly impacted college admissions in both process and timing.
Tackling the cost of college—there are many institutions out there that, perhaps less well known, may be great and more cost-effective options for your student. Make sure you research not just the well-known colleges, but others that may offer more financial aid and scholarships.
The benefit of considering early admissions and its increased use among students and institutions. Many are benefiting from making the decision of where to attend sooner than in previous decades.
Great resources for where to research scholarships, costs, and get much needed assistance with the entire process:
Resource for scholarships: Scholarships | JLV College Counseling
Resource regarding need and merit-based schools as well as Early Decision and Early Action acceptance rates: ConsultingResources — BigJ Educational Consulting
Resource to estimate the cost of college here: Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture
Work with Jennifer MacLure: College Consulting Services | My Pathway To College
My 2 cents on the whole college thing. If you don’t know what you want to study right out of high school that’s perfectly fine! Take a gap year if you can, it’ll be way more valuable than stumbling around your freshman year not knowing really if you’re getting any value out of college. And maybe a more *controversial* piece of advice: unless you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, college is absolutely NOT necessary in order to be successful. Don’t listen to everything your high school counselor says.
I completely agree with you on these points, particularly the college need in general. I think the need for college is overplayed. One good thing about the outrageous costs is it does make a lot more people reevaluate if they truly need to attend. With the availability of online education, costs of college, and lack of applications to many college degrees, I think the entire college system will look different in the next decade. The current model does not seem sustainable.