The College Planning Blog

Well it has finally happened. The unsustainable Texas Top 10% rule has finally been changed. With top state universities like the University of Texas now forced to automatically accept 86% of their incoming class under the Top 10% rule it was time for a change.

Having helped literally hundereds of students I think that this is a huge step forward. Why? Because it just might cause many high school students to actually research what colleges will be the best fit for them. Far too many top students apply to only one or two colleges as a result of the Top 10% rule.

Why do SO many students do so little work researching their best choices for college? Simply put because they are guranteed admission.

So the new rule will guarantee that starting with the class of 2011, the top 8% of high school graduates will automatically be admitted to the University of Texas. This change is expected to limit the number of students automatically admitted to approximately 75%. I wouldn’t call this a perfect change, but a necessary change.

What should a family do? Get busy researching what your student wants to study, what schools offer what they want, and what schools will they have a chance to get into?

A great option for sophomores and juniors is to come to one of our upcoming college planning workshops. Click here.

Do you have a senior student that needs guidance with their college applications? We’ll they have about a month to complete their applications. For the first time we are offering our “College Application Bootcamp” to the public. For more information click here: 

Here’s what your student will learn by attending this AWESOME workshop:

-5 secrets to completing each university application perfectly - in 50 minutes or less!

-The ’secret’ formula schools use to grade your college applications - revealed! And how to improve your chances of getting in - even at the last minute;

-10 steps to planning your perfect career;

-SAT & ACT myths dispelled, as well as how to improve your score by at least 100 points without studying;  Also, how to take the SAT & ACT for ‘free’.

-How to decide which school is right for you. We’ll give you our 7 step evaluation process that works every time. We’ve never had a student that used it drop out or decide to switch colleges;

-The top 9 admissions resume tips that your guidance counselor doesn’t have the time to tell you;

-Essay writing tips from Ernest Hemingway, Larry the Cable Guy, and Harvard Admissions Officers;

-How to get a killer letter of recommendation, and have the teacher thank you for asking them to write it;

Pictured from the left: Jeff Farmer, Jeremy Farmer, and Brannon Lloyd

Hey Guys,

Join us for our incredible new college planning radio show every Sunday at 5PM on 1070AM. You can also listen live on their website: www.KNTH.com.

College insiders to start new radio show, give parents priceless advice to help them save thousands.While they’ve saved thousands of families too much money to count, local college planning experts say that’s not going nearly far enough. After speaking in front of tens of thousands of parents over the last five years local college planning experts will begin broadcasting their message using 10,000 watts of power since, as Jeff Farmer says, “One man can only shout so loudly, we need to get the word out that people can save more on college.”"We have the perfect storm brewing right now, skyrocketing gas prices, a tanking stock market, and an economy in a recession. However, for millions of families the need to send a student to college is not going away. It’s shocking that so many parents won’t even be able to afford for their kids to go to school in the next few years, so many good students won’t be able to go, and many students will have to drop out, unless they know the inside information that the colleges don’t want given out,” says Jeremy Farmer. He then adds, “It’s not even a matter of affording the best school….it’s being able to have ANY money left at all these days. Brannon Lloyd was astonished when he first started talking to parents and realized how much bad information was floating around-some of it in the media, “It’s amazing how many parents are desperate for this kind of information. I really don’t know what to say, except that I’m totally blown away.”

The College Planning Power Hour will be broadcast Live on KNTH AM 1070 Sundays from 5-6pm beginning August 17th, 2008.

Yes. Yes I am.

Crazy enough to know what the heck I am talking about.

A parent asked me the above question recently and at the time i laughed, but later, as i thought about it more i realized he wasn’t trying to be difficult or unfair, he was unaware of how times have changed.

Since most of today’s parents’ applied for college 20+ years ago the world has changed dramatically when it comes to applying to college. Most of them applied to one, two or maybe three colleges and if they appled to three, their friends made fun of them.

Things are different now. We stand at what is the crest of the largest wave of new students planning to attend college in history and students need options. Six to eight schools is not that unreasonable when you break it down:

1. 2-3 ‘aspirational’ schools
2. 3-4 Schools that represent good, solid choices your child has a good chance of getting into
3. 1-2 Safety schools. In short these should be a slam dunk on getting in.

Which brings me to real reason to apply to multiple schools even if your kid is SURE they want to go to school X.

Money. Money plain and simple. I’ve seen$10-15k gaps between the best and worst school for the exact same family. I will go into why in a later post, but the short version is that some schools will offer you more and others will likely offer you less regardless of how much you make. The amount depends on the student, your financial situation and the school and their policies.

Parents, just trust me-times have changed and go with this recommendation.

College Essays 101

Admissions Experts Offer Five Tips on Writing College Application Essays

By ELLEN GAMERMAN
November 29, 2007 9:47 p.m.

1. Don’t name the college in your essay. Brown’s dean of admission, Jim Miller, says every year his office gets about a dozen essays in which the student has forgotten to swap out the name of the school for Brown. “We understand it happens, but still, it’s not putting your best foot forward when you say, ‘And that’s why Stanford has always been my first choice.”
2. Don’t rely on spell-check. Jennifer Ruddy Simpson, director of college advising at Kent Place School in Summit, N.J., used to work in the college-admissions office at Columbia University. She remembers one applicant getting a very important word wrong. “A student actually misspelled Columbia,” she says. In the essay, the school was spelled like the country: Colombia. The student didn’t get in. (more…)

From the NY Times

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Published: April 29, 2008

As the frenzied admissions season winds to a close, many students finally know where they will be attending college in the fall.

But there remains a troubling question: how much damage was done along the way?

This year’s crop of applicants faced an unusually grueling admissions process. A demographic bubble has produced the largest group of graduating seniors in history, and they now are facing rejection by colleges at record rates — more than 90 percent at Harvard and Yale, for example.

There will be more disappointment this week as the May 1 admissions deadline passes and thousands who were on waiting lists learn that there are no spots left for them. And today’s high school sophomores and juniors may face worse odds. After a 15-year climb, the number of high school graduates still hasn’t peaked — that is expected to happen within the next two years. (more…)