Getting In: A College Coach Conversation

Graduates with student loans need to prepare: the CARES Act and loan payment accommodations are scheduled to come to an end early in the new year. We're sharing what you need to know and do next. Some students will return home from their first semester in college ready to transfer. We have advice on how to handle those conversations, including the questions to ask and the actions to take. Finally, many, many well-meaning family and friends will have questions, thoughts, and advice on your college process. We're offering tips on how to prevent others from unintentionally ruining this important time in your life.

As colleges offering Early Decision and Early Action deadlines start rolling out their decisions, students will soon have to act on those decisions. We have next steps for everyone getting acceptances, deferrals, and denials in early rounds. For those in school already, your spring tuition bill is coming. If you're not sure how you're going to pay it, we have advice covering it using tuition payment plans and loans. For those juniors about to embark on the process, we have tips on how to maximize your upcoming winter break.

Last year was a whole new world for college admissions, both for admissions officers and for the applicants and their families. One of our educators shares her experiences as an admissions officer that cycle, including how they viewed the impact on coursework and extracurricular activities, and offers tips for approaching applications this year. We're also answering your college finance and admissions questions in Office Hours.

Historically, having multiple children in college at the same time has meant more financial aid eligibility. That may change with the new FAFSA changes coming in the next few years. We'll explain what that means for you. In another in our series on stories from our team, Lauren Randle will share the role internships played in her college career. And in Office Hours, we're offering guidance on finalizing your list of colleges for regular decision.

If you've taken out any student loans, you may recently have received notice that your student loan servicer is changing. We'll explain what a student loan servicer is and why they're making changes. If you haven't yet started your college essay, we have tips to get you writing and editing this in time for regular decisions deadlines. Finally, if your student isn't interested in applying to college right now, it might be time to consider a gap year. We'll talk through how to think about that option.

Any seniors out there just getting started on the college process? We have advice on what to do now in terms of applying to college and paying for it. We're also walking you through the supplemental essays required by USC as part of their application.

Applying to Villanova? They have two required supplemental essays, one that everyone writes and then a choice from a list of five prompts. We have advice on how to approach each of them. In Office Hours, we're answering your college admissions and finance questions.

Wondering why you might want to consider a liberal arts college? Tune in this week for our thoughts on the benefits and the potential return on investment you can see from a liberal arts degree. Office Hours this week features early round results and advice for turning to regular decision.

The application for Penn State's Schreyer Honors College features 10 additional essays. We will walk you through each one. We're also exploring two calculators essential to understanding how much you will pay for college, the EFC and NPC. No idea what those acronyms stand for? Tune in! Finally, we're picking apart the supplemental essay requirements at Yale in Office Hours.

A few years ago, an essay with Costco at its center made the media circuit as an example of a powerful and successful college essay. We don't like it, and we're going to share why. The Merit Scholarship program gets a lot of attention for what is essentially a $2k award. But there are some other financial opportunities that can come with the Merit program, and we have information for you on that. Finally, the early deadlines—priority, early decision, and early action—are here, and we'll help you make sure you're ready to submit.