The Valuable Role of a Private College Counselor

High school guidance counselors are the first resource of college bound students who need advice on so many topics: how to prepare for the PSAT and SAT, how to identify best-fit colleges, how to assess the likelihood of being accepted by a particular college, how to write an effective essay, and how to file successful college applications. 

While high school counselors typically address all these issues with college bound students, they are often stretched very thin. The average student-to-counselor ratio in New Jersey is 348 to 1, according to the latest statistics of the American School Counselor Association. To make matters worse, public high school counselors, with a multitude of other responsibilities, reportedly spend only 23% of their time on college admission counseling with the average student receiving 38 minutes of personal college counseling over four years.

Most Popular Undergraduate Degree of America’s Richest Graduates is Business

Collegebound students with a goal of someday finding their name on the Forbes 400 List of the Richest Americans will want to consider the latest statistics. There are twelve schools that collectively claim as alumni more than a quarter of this year’s Forbes 400 Richest Americans.  Harvard tops the list with 15 graduates on the list. (That doesn’t include two of its most famous dropouts: Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.)  The University of Pennsylvania follows closely behind with 14 graduates on the list.  Yale and Stanford tie for third place, each with 12 alumni on the prestigious roster, followed by the University of Southern California (USC), Cornell, Princeton, Columbia and University of Michigan (tied for eighth place), and University of California – Berkeley, Dartmouth and Duke (all tied for tenth place).

Best College Towns Often Provide Lasting Home

Students searching for their ideal college may do well to look even farther on their horizon. Many popular college towns not only provide a great environment for students’ college days, but also offer an ideal location for their post-graduation life.

Research by Point2Homes.com identified the “Top 10 Most Dynamic College Towns” based on four categories: Human Capital, Housing, Economic Activity, and Earning Power & Equity. Once all the data was compiled, the “Top 10 Most Dynamic College Towns” were named with Princeton, NJ making the list in 10th place. Just missing out on the top rankings was Hoboken, NJ, home of Stevens Institute of Technology, which garnered 11th place.

October is an Important Month in College Process

October is crunch time for college-bound students who want to reap the benefits of meeting early application deadlines.

There’s a gamut of popular colleges that offer November 1st as an Early Action deadline. If students submit their applications by this date, colleges will get back to them early – frequently by the winter holidays.  A great way to relieve the stress of the college application process is to get accepted to colleges early and enjoy the rest of senior year, while maintaining grades, of course.

Universities popular with New Jersey students that offer Early Action include Northeastern, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, University of Rhode Island, Fairfield, Fordham, Hofstra, Pace, Penn State (all campuses), Temple, Villanova, Drexel, Ohio State, Case Western, University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Monmouth, Seton Hall, and Rutgers.