Mistakes to Avoid On College Applications

Your college application is extremely important, because it will be your future college’s first ever impression of you. Many first time college students tend to make the same mistakes on college applications. Here is a list of them so that you are aware of them and, more importantly, so that you can avoid making them yourself.

  • Failure to follow directions. As obvious as following the directions provided may seem, an impressive amount of college students mess this one up. Perhaps they have done an application for a different college and think knowing how to do one means knowing how to do them all. perhaps they’re in a big hurry, and skimmed over the instructions. Whatever your excuse is, it’s not a good excuse. Read the instructions and try to follow them to the letter to make the best first impression possible.
  • Misspellings and bad grammar. It’s not uncommon for first-time college students to misspell things when handwriting, because they don’t have the convenience of a spell checker right there to cover for their inability to spell a particular word. Always proofread your college applications; type up the handwritten parts if necessary just to spell check them. Your level of education now is an important factor in deciding whether to accept you into a college!
  • Illegible handwriting. it goes without saying that the colelge can’t consider you if they can’t read your application.
  • Turning the application in late. This is perhaps the worst blunder you can make on a college application, short of misspelling the name of the college itself. Neither are acceptable if you want to be admitted — check and double check your application!
Enhanced by Zemanta

Doing Your College Advising Online

Online education and Financial Aid

Image via Wikipedia

College students have an academic advisor — often a professor at the college — to consult about their academic schedule and plans. What this means for you as a student is that you can schedule which classes you will take ahead of time, and predict how long it will take you to complete your degree requirements and graduate.

Whether you are in college for an Associate of Applied Science degree or your Bachelor’s, communication with your advisor is vital for an efficient schedule. If you don’t contact your advisor much, you should — they are a resource that you should take advantage of, and often very helpful in helping you to plan which classes will suit your current schedule.

One of the concerns that people have when enrolling in college online is that they will not have access to an advisor. This simply isn’t true — advisors are available at online colleges, and in fact you can do your advising online even if you attend classes on campus! Online advising typically takes place via email; some more tech-savvy colleges may do advising via video chat programs such as Skype, if your own computer and internet are sufficient to allow it.

When communicating via email, bear in mind that text can come across as cold or unfriendly, especially when using formal language, even if the sender doesn’t intend to come across that way. Tone is hard to convey with text, so remember that your advisor is there to help you, and is not scolding you or trying to come across as caustic. Some people aren’t as good at “text tone” as others.

Enhanced by Zemanta