international college counselors blog

New Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will Make College More Affordable

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Whether you’re in California, NYC or Miami, college advisors at International College Counselors are pleased to report that the House Education and Labor Committee passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA).

This legislation, passed last Tuesday, will make college dramatically more affordable by investing billions of dollars in additional student aid – and at no new cost to taxpayers.

The SAFRA will generate almost $100 billion in savings over the next ten years. These savings would be directly invested in students and families by

• Boosting Pell Grant scholarships by investing $40 billion to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019. Starting in 2010, the scholarship will be linked to match rising costs-of-living by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent.

• Keeping interest rates low on need-based – or subsidized – federal student loans by making the interest rates on these loans variable beginning in 2012.

• Creating a more reliable and effective financial aid system for families.

• Investing $3 billion to bolster college access and completion support programs for student.

• Strengthening the Perkins Loan program, a campus-based program that provides low-cost federal loans to students.

• Making it easier for families to apply for financial aid by simplifying the FAFSA form.

• Investing $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions to provide students with the support they need to stay in school and graduate.

• Providing loan forgiveness for members of the military who are called up to duty in the middle of the academic year.

• Enacting President Obama’s key education priorities.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) was passed by the committee with a vote of 30-17.

In addition to saving $87 billion over ten years that would be reinvested in college aid, this legislation will also direct $10 billion in savings back to the U.S. Treasury to help pay down the deficit.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill next week but will most likely vote on it after the August recess.

The advisors at International College Counselors encourage you to contact your congressional representative and tell him or her to support H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA)

If you have any other college admissions questions for one of our NYC or Miami college counselors, we’d be happy to answer them. I work with international students (9 countries and counting!) as well as those in the U.S. Please write me here or at my personal email which can be found on my International College Counselors college counseling website.

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, my college advising company is opening a new branch of International College Counselors in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

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Bright Futures drops 100 percent awards

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

At International College Counselors in Miami, college counselors Mandee Heller Adler and Barry Liebowitz say that parents and students counting on The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program for the 2009-10 academic year need to take notice of the new changes that have come as a result of The 2009 Florida Legislative Session.

The changes to Bright Futures will affect both incoming freshmen and students who started in Florida state schools after fall 2006.

Among other changes, the Program will NOT raise funds to cover the tuition hikes coming this fall.

This means that the FAS award (100%) now covers a fixed amount of $126 per semester hour no matter what Florida schools you attend. This will NOT cover the entire tuition any more. It will not cover the tuition differential nor the 15% increase for the coming year. The difference in cost will need to be covered by students.

Florida Prepaid and other forms of financial aid can be used to cover the costs.

On the website, the word “IMPORTANT” is next to this change:
Students who drop or withdraw from a class paid for by Bright Futures will now have to repay the state the same amount Bright Futures awarded the student per credit hour if the class was dropped after drop/add period. The only exceptions will be based on a verifiable illness or emergency beyond the student’s control. In the past, Florida students have had the ability to drop classes with no penalty other than receiving a W on their transcripts.

According to its web site, Bright Futures will also discontinue the allowance that covered textbooks and other college related expenses.

You don’t have to be a college advisor to know that the students who receive financial aid could potentially be hit the hardest. Depending on a student’s income and the income of his or her parents, the student might not receive enough aid to cover the new costs. If students think they are going to need aid, they should apply early to get the best financial aid package.

The state will be mailing information regarding the changes to the Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship Program to parents of Florida students this fall. To see the updated information go to the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program official website at:

http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/

If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact the Bright Futures office toll-free at 1- 888-827-2004

If you have any other college admissions questions for a college counselor, I’d be happy to answer them. I work with international students (9 countries and counting!) as well as those in the U.S. Please write me here or at my personal email which can be found on my International College Counselors college counseling website.

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, my college advising company is opening a new branch of International College Counselors in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

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Taking the SAT II – Why? And What’s a Good Score

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

An SAT II Overview

Colleges are increasingly valuing the SAT II Subject Tests. To them, these specific subject exams demonstrate your actual understanding of a subject area, meaning how well you have learned each subject and how prepared you will be for college level courses.

People who don’t consider themselves great test takers, just say Ugh.

The real bottom line: colleges like the SAT II exams because – like all standardized tests – they make the admissions job easier.

When tests are standardized, colleges can easily use them to compare you to other high school students nationwide. Hence, the SAT II. Colleges believe (often quite rightly) the grades you get in high school don’t offer an as accurate measurement. Some high schools are more difficult than others, some teachers are harder graders than others, some students earn extra credit for cleaning out test tubes, all these possible factors leave equally talented students receiving different grades. Standardized tests are the great equalizer.

The tests include: Literature, U.S History, World History, Mathematics Levels I and II, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Modern Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Japanese and Korean.

Not all schools require them, so you should check the universities requirements before registering for any SAT II tests.

Each exam is one hour in length. But make sure you study for them more than an hour.

The scores range from 200-800 as in the SAT I.

Taking the SAT II exams

These tests aren’t easy. The best time to take one of the SAT II tests is right after you’ve finished a year long course in that subject. This way the subject matter will still be fresh in your mind. Some exceptions would be if you plan to take the test in Writing, Foreign Language, or Literature. Then you’d want to take the test after the highest level class you plan to take. Of course, there is no point in taking SAT II tests after November of your senior year, everything should be into the college admissions way before then. The only reason to take them this late would be if the colleges you’re applying to use the SAT II for placement purposes.

For the SAT II, you should prepare yourself like you would for the SAT. Get familiar with the format of the tests. Take old exams for practice if you can.

The test dates for SAT II Subject Tests are usually in October, November, December, January, May, and June. However, not every subject test is offered on each of the test dates. To check when the tests you want to take are offered, refer to the College Board website at www.collegeboard.com

International College Counselor Tip: You can take up to three Subject Tests on the same day, but I don’t recommend it. Don’t underestimate the difficulty of these exams. It’s going to be one brain-challenging hour of you life. The ETS won’t let you take the SAT I and the SAT II tests on the same day even if both are offered on the same day.

What do The SAT II Scores Mean?

They can mean different things as the average score varies widely from test to test. In any given year, It’s all about who is taking the tests. Only the top students are taking these tests now because only the most select schools are asking for the scores. This also makes it impossible to compare the tests directly across the different subjects.

The way to think about these scores is that they are part of the student’s story. So, if the student says they are fabulous at math, they should do well on the math subject test. If the student is just a “good” student with nothing really outstanding- these scores speak to that fact.

Here are all the 2008 median scores of college-bound seniors according to the College Board, the wonderful folks who bring you these tests:

English

Literature: 580

History and Social Sciences

United States History: 597

World History: 584

Mathematics

Mathematics Level 1: 599

Mathematics Level 2: 644

Sciences

Biology – Ecological: 593

Biology – Molecular: 630

Chemistry: 635

Physics: 650

Language Tests

Chinese with Listening: 763

French: 620

French with Listening: 624

German: 620

German with Listening: 601

Modern Hebrew: 646

Italian: 671

Japanese with Listening: 693

Korean with Listening: 760

Latin: 624

Spanish: 640

Spanish with Listening: 647

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, my college advising company is opening a new branch of International College Counselors in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

Tags: college advisor miami, college advisor NYC, college counselor NYC, international college counselors, mandee heller adler, SAT II
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Common Application Now Available

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Dear Students, Parents and Friends,

We at International College Counselors want to alert you to the fact that the Common Application is now available online at www.commonap.org

This means students can start to enter their information, and begin their final school essays (supplements too!)

Note to clients of International College Counselors: Please don’t forget to make note of your log in and password, and to send it to us once there is something for us to review.

Another note to our clients: The common app can be confusing, please do not hesitate to call or email if you have questions.

A Sample of Additional Application Date Information (taken from the school websites):

University of Michigan: Aug. 2009
Florida State University: Aug. 3, 2009
University of Florida: Early July 2009
University of Texas at Austin: Aug. 1, 2009

For Florida Residents:

Florida Atlantic University (Currently available through www.facts.org)
Florida International University (Currently available through www.facts.org)
Nova Southeastern University (Currently available through www.facts.org)
Florida Gulf Coast University (Currently available through www.facts.org)
University of Central Florida (Currently available through www.facts.org)
University of South Florida (Currently available through www.facts.org)
University of Tampa (Currently available through www.facts.org)

Best regards,
Mandee Heller Adler

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, International College Counselors is opening a new branch of our company in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

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Making it easier to apply for college aid

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

by Mandee Heller Adler

Thanks to the Obama administration, students and their families will find it easier to apply for financial aid. The forms for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are being streamlined to be shorter, simpler and more user friendly. For students and their families, this means, the forms will be easier to complete.

Anyone who has seen the form in the past will tell you, it was truly complicated. Students seeking financial aid for college needed to answer about 150 questions.
Next year’s applicants should see a 20 percent reduction in questions.

Most of the extra questions will be eliminated by avoiding redundancies. For example, students who are at least 24 or older will be able to skip the 11 questions concerning parental financial information. Also, in the simplified FAFSA form, low-income students will be able to skip over the questions about assets, since they aren’t even needed to determine their aid eligibility.

The administration will seek legislation to simplify the form further.

Next year’s form goes online in January. The FAFSA form is necessary to apply for Pell grants, Stafford loans, Perkins loans, work-study programs and much state aid.

Over 16 million students and families apply for federal financial aid every year. The government estimates that 1.5 million potential college students could be eligible for Pell grants but have not applied, perhaps because of the complicated paperwork.

Said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, “President Obama has challenged the nation to once again have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. To do that, we need to make the college-going process easier and more convenient, and to send a clear message to young people as well as adults that college is within their reach. Simplifying the financial aid process is an important step toward reaching that goal.”

The full Times article can be seen at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/education/24fafsa.html?_r=1

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What to Wear to a College Interview

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

It’s summertime and many college bound high school juniors entering their senior year are going to make the most of it by going for summer on-campus interviews.

Many colleges no longer require interviews, but they can give a student the edge if the school is forced to choose between closely matched applicants.

The question then becomes, “What to Wear?”

According to some fashion experts, and this college advisor, students shouldn’t show up in jeans, shorts, tank tops, flip-flops, sandals, Crocs, or anything that ‘s too tight, too short, too sexy or too revealing. Think summer at the country club, and that doesn’t mean the pool.

The key is for a student to dress in a manner that suggests they are serious and that they are taking the meeting seriously. It’s about putting their best foot forward and showing respect, enthusiasm, and interest in a formal atmosphere. It’s also important that they feel comfortable and confident.

For men, a safe list of clothes includes khakis, tie, collared shirt, and jacket. For ladies, a nice blouse, long skirt/pants, and possibly a jacket. Showing a flash of your own style is nice as long as it doesn’t include anything provocative or profane. And, please, clothes do need to be neat, not as if the student fell out of bed and into yesterday’s clothes.

An interviewee should look, not only sound, impressive. The big picture of any student for a school is that this is going to be a representative of them.

Of course, students can always argue that if a college doesn’t like the way they are, maybe the college isn’t for them. Remind them that focusing too much on “being yourself” in an interview can take away from what is far more important to universities, and that is who they will become. After that, you need to trust their common sense. Or bribe them with a quick shopping spree.

Of course, if a prospective college student has a brilliant transcript and sterling SAT scores, those will trump even the scruffiest of looks.

Then again, here are some real no-nos that some college admissions officers swear they’ve seen. Students who:

Arrive barefoot

Obviously haven’t showered in days

Sit on the floor, rather than the chair provided

Put their feet up on either the couch/chair or coffee
table

Pick their noses (or at any part of their body)
during the interview

Swear during the interview

Answer their cell phone and text

Wear their earphones the entire time

Good luck out there! And remember no gum chewing during the college interview!

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, my college advising company is opening a new branch of International College Counselors in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

Tags: college advisor miami, college advisor NYC, college counselor miami, college counselor NYC, college interview, international college counselors, mandee heller adler
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International College Counselors Opens a New Branch Office in New York City

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MIAMI, FL – International College Counselors, the leading college advising company in South Florida, today announced an agreement to open a New York City office. International College Counselors presence in New York City is a result of the company’s growing college advising business in the United States and abroad.

“We are delighted to open our first office in New York. We look forward to empowering more students to enter the schools of their dreams,” says Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors.

International College Counselors provides college counseling on undergraduate and graduate college admissions, financial aid, tuition, essays, and applications.
The New York office will offer face-to-face support for International College Counselors’ expanding client base in the New York area.

The decision to establish an office in New York City is a result of the significant success International College Counselors has had in recent years in full-service counseling and coaching for the college admissions process.

International College Counselors college solutions are becoming increasingly in demand as parents, students and schools discover the advantages of International College Counselors tailored approach.

For further information, please contact Aimee Heller, Marketing Coordinator, at: aimee@InternationalCollegeCounselors.com

— END —

About International College Counselors

International College Counselors provides expert college counseling for undergraduate and graduate college admissions, financial aid, tuition, essays, and college applications for international and domestic students. Advice and help is tailored to address the goals, needs, and dreams of each individual student, whether Florida college or Ivy League university. International College Counselors is based in Miami-Dade, Florida and currently works with students throughout the United States and in over nine different countries.

About Mandee Heller Adler
Mandee Heller Adler is the Founder and Principal of International College Counselors, LLC. She is a graduate of Miami Beach Senior High, and the University of Pennsylvania where she graduated with Honors and two degrees- one from the Wharton School and one from the College of Arts and Sciences. Mandee Heller Adler also received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was selected as a Class Day Speaker. Additionally, Mandee Heller Adler received a fellowship from Rotary International and studied at ICADE, a premier business school located in Madrid, Spain.

Mandee Heller Adler currently serves on the Executive Board of the Penn Fund of the University of Pennsylvania, and for 13 years has worked as an alumni interviewer for the school. Additionally, she has spent six years as her Class Fund Chair for the Harvard Business School. Mandee Heller Adler has personally visited over 150 colleges and universities, and continues to do so.

Mandee Heller Adler was a Micro to Millions Awardee for Make Mine a Million $ Business™. She was one of 5 business women awardees in this competition. Female entrepreneurs nationwide competed for business development packages that include up to $5,000 in financing, coaching, and membership in a nation-wide community of women business owners providing assistance to help their businesses grow to million-dollar enterprises.

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College Admissions Officers Use Blogs and Facebook

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

In the era of Facebook.com, MySpace.com, podcasts, blogs, and instant messaging, there’s definitely been an increase in prospective college students using social networking tools to find out about and apply to colleges. Let’s take Facebook. Schools are reaching out to students with Facebook pages of their own and many applications exist that can provide users access to information about colleges. These include collected student opinions on offered courses and students reviews of professor. Notably they’re brutally honest opinions as they’re written by students who have nothing to gain or lose. Another Facebook interactive application allows prospective students to research information on more than 5000 colleges. Future college students are also reading blogs, checking out YouTube, and watching podcasts to get a better idea of the schools. As we’ve seen at International College Counselors, these students know how much money is at stake in tuition and in future earnings, and they’re being smart and savvy consumers.

At International College Counselors, our expert college counselors encourage students to use online presence and social networking tools to their advantage. Many colleges do look at student pages and blogs, especially if those students are being considered for a scholarship. The more prestigious the scholarship, the more they’ll scrutinize.

Many of us have heard the horror stories of students being denied admission or scholarships thanks to what they’ve posted. But, used smartly, a positive difference can be made with online presence. Online, a student has the opportunity to distinguish himself or herself as the type of person they are in a positive way, to showcase their achievements and accomplishments, and to reveal some of their goals and aspirations. In other words, prospective college students can turn their personal Facebook or MySpace pages or blogs into ways to sell themselves to admissions offices. Athletes can post highlight videos. Science students can show and talk about a project they are working on.

The downside is, students want to see social networking sites as a private place where they can communicate with people on a personal level. Unfortunately, these “private” pages are really public and online behavior can have consequences for young people that they might not think of on their own. Undoubtedly colleges and students disagree on the privacy issue. Most students see the checking up as an invasion of privacy. But then, no school wants to announce a winner of a significant scholarship only to have embarrassing pictures be discovered online a week later…

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, my college advising company is opening a new branch of International College Counselors in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

Tags: college admissions blogs, college admissions Facebook, college advisor miami, college advisor NYC, college advisors, college counselor NYC, college counselors, international college counselors, mandee heller adler
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State Department Makes Time to Speed Up Visas for Scholars

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

By Mandee Heller Adler

Here’s some good news for families with foreign students who are applying for visas to study in the U.S.:

The U.S. State Department is moving to significantly speed up the delay-ridden visa-application process for foreign students and scholars. Apparently, the delays were caused by an increasing numbers of visa applications, staff shortages, and governmental security concerns

Amazingly, the department’s goal is to take a process that has been known to drag on for months and reduce it to two weeks.

To alleviate the situation, the department has brought in additional staff members, including both permanent and temporary workers, to deal with the backlog of visa requests and handle applications. The department has also revamped procedures to accelerate reviews.

What made them get their move on? Academic groups and scientific organizations like the National Academy of Sciences and the Association of American Universities were loudly complaining that researchers from abroad who are seeking to obtain or renew visas have frequently encountered months-long delays. As a result, some scholars who left the United States had been stranded, the groups say, while other researchers and students were discouraged from traveling to the United States for work or for academic meetings, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Visas weren’t always so hard to obtain. The tougher visa rules were established after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Those rules were meant to weed out students or scholars who could be threats to national security but what also happened was that the tougher regulations caused visa delays that forced academics to alter their travel plans, deterring many from coming to the United States.

A total of 56,000 students or scholars world-wide were screened last year.

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

By the way, my college advising company is opening a new branch of International College Counselors in NYC so now you can visit our college advisor NYC as well.

Tags: college advisor miami, college advisor NYC, college advisors, college counselor miami, college counselor NYC, international college counselors, mandee heller adler, want to study in America
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U.S. News College Rankings and Their Meaning

Monday, June 8th, 2009

U.S . News & World report first published their America’s Best Colleges issue in 1983. Since then, parents and students have been using this issue as a way to sort out schools in an organized way.

Of course, as soon as the issue comes out, colleges see them too. And the forces there begin strategizing how they might raise their college up in the ranks in the next issue.

U.S. News bases its rankings on multiple statistical measuring sticks, each weighted differently, and spread across seven major categories. These include: academic reputation, student selectivity, student retention, faculty resources, financial resources, alumni giving and graduation rates.

Clemson University’s fast rise in rankings from “38’ to “22” gives s a clearer picture of how rankings can be manipulated for more harm than good in terms of influencing public perception and student choice.

As the New York Times reports, Clemson centered on reducing class sizes — many of them to below 20, a U.S. News benchmark. Clemson, according to the article, has also “more or less” stopped admitting “full-time, first-time undergraduates who are not in the top third of their high school classes” and is “constantly reassessing its SAT average through the admissions cycle.”

The university has also reported to U.S. News that it has ratcheted up the faculty salaries by about $20,000, which it has achieved by actually increasing spending (paid for largely through increased tuition), continues the article.

Clemson also runs “multiple definitions to figure out where [they] can move things around to make them look best” in the rankings. The university has also encouraged as many alumni as possible to send in at least $5 to help bring up their giving rate.

In a separate article, the rankings of U.S. News have been criticized for making up numbers in the absence of real data. In this case, Sarah Lawrence’s president, wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post that because her college no longer collects or examines SAT scores, U.S. News officials have said that the magazine will just assume that the average SAT would have been one standard deviation (about 200 points) below the average of Sarah’s Lawrence’s peers. In the rankings this translates to a college losing points in the category of “selectivity” because the report assumes that not using SAT score means a college is admitting less capable students. Of course, this shouldn’t be presumed true.

In this college counselor’s opinion, U.S News rankings are nothing more than beauty pageant as valuable as Miss America. The only way to truly rank colleges is in what the value is to you. Prospective students and families need to assess what really counts which is how well a college meets a student’s learning style and academic interests, how available the faculty are outside the classroom, whether students can get the courses they need to graduate, and what graduate schools and employers welcome its graduates.

If you have any other college admissions questions for a college counselor, I’d be happy to answer them. Please write me here or at my personal email which can be found on my International College Counselors college counseling website.

Mandee Heller Adler, Founder and Principal of International College Counselors

www.internationalcollegecounselors.com

The original article sourced by the times and by me can be seen at

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/03/rankings

The other article referenced can be found at

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/12/usnews

In this interesting article, mathematicians have taken on the U.S. News & World Report for a whole different take on the rankings:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/37207/title/Math_Trek__Rating_the_rankings

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