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Attention high school students: your guidance counselor can be a great resource in your college application process. As a large part of a guidance counselor’s job is helping seniors get into college, they can usually give you answers to every question you might have, or have the connections to find the information you need to know. When you do meet with your counselor, it is important to be prepared with questions to help the appointment run smoothly and ensure you cover all the bases to make yourself an ideal applicant.

1. What core classes do I need to take?

College admissions offices like to see a certain number of years of core classes on your high school transcript. When starting your college search, it will be very helpful to know what the admissions team may be looking for. Some colleges only consider applicants who have studied a foreign language, have four years of English classes, or have an array of AP classes on their transcript, among other requirements. Knowing what you need will influence what classes you register for in your senior year and help you pick your reach, target and safety schools.

2. Where can I look for financial aid?

Your guidance counselor will have very valuable information on the different financial aid options including FAFSA grants and other scholarships you may qualify for. Cappex is also a great resource for researching college scholarships.

3. What information do you need for my recommendation?

Many universities require one or two recommendations from teachers or guidance counselors, and if you go to a big high school, you may not know your guidance counselor on a more personal level. To make sure you get the best recommendations possible, ask your guidance counselor what would be helpful to know about you that they can’t find on your transcript, including clubs, sports teams or other organizations you may be affiliated with, community service projects you’ve completed, awards you’ve won, or your future education goals.

4. How does our school compare to others with test scores and reputation?

Depending on where your high school ranks with test scores, AP classes offered and other indicators, you may have a better or average chance of getting accepted to a certain college. Knowing more about your school’s reputation will help you get a more accurate feel of how this affects your admissions chances.

5. Are there any college fairs nearby?

Your guidance counselor will have important information on local college fairs and which ones you should attend to meet with representatives from your prospective colleges. Some high schools also host their own college fairs and invite university representatives to come from colleges that have historically been popular with your school’s students.

For those of you who won’t qualify for financial aid but are still responsible for generating the funds, or for those of you who want to decrease your loan amount by contributing what you can, here is a list of small ways to save that can help you big while you’re still in high school.

$20/Week: While you’re probably only making a few hundred dollars a month with a part time job, if you can afford to place $20.00 from every weekly paycheck into a savings account your junior and senior years of high school, that’s over $2,000 by the time you enter college. That’s equivalent to one-third of the average tuition for one year at state school.

Save Those Birthday Cards: Instead of blowing the $50 you received from grandma on your birthday on new clothes or movie tickets, start a saving account while you’re still in high school for any money you receive between now and college. Between birthdays, Christmases, family traditions, holidays, and your graduation, you could find yourself with another $1,000 to put toward college. That could pay for one year of textbooks and school supplies.

Talk to Your Bank: While having a savings account is great, you may not have the best savings account for your specific needs. Talk to your bank about the best account to save for college, as some accounts may have higher interest rates, which will provide you with a little extra money in the long run. You may also want to inquire about CDs- Certificates of Deposit. A CD allows you to deposit money at a bank as you would an account; however you will be unable to access that money for a given amount of time, whether that be six months or several years. When that time is up, you’ll receive your money back in addition to the interest accumulated on it. As a minor, you will likely have to have your parents set up the CD with the bank.

Roll Your Pennies: It may sound completely ridiculous and childish, but saving spare change in a jug over years at a time has been proven to add up quickly. According to a Banking My Way article published in 2009, a family was able to save $7,000 in change over five years. That could be a whole year’s worth of tuition! While you may not be able to hit that number, others report having saved around $400 a year with this method.

Senior Sale: Before going off to college, you may want to do some serious springcleaning. Perhaps you don’t actually want to, but your parents aren’t giving you a choice. Instead of tossing everything away, include yourself in a neighborhood yard sale, or sell your old things on sites such as Craigslist or eBay. A little extra cash can pay for honor society fees, club t-shirts, and other little college expenses you may not have foreseen.

Want to save more money for college? Make a personalized profile on Cappex today to be matched with scholarships!

For high school juniors, it’s coming down to crunch time. It may seem like you have all the time in the world to prepare for your college applications, but with all of your other responsibilities and school work, getting everything done in time for next fall’s deadlines requires that you help your future self out by starting to prepare now!

So, if you’re a high school junior with college goals, here are some important benchmarks you should make sure you hit during November:

Meet with your guidance counselor
November of your junior year is a great time to meet with your school’s guidance or college counselor to discuss your goals and make sure you’re on track for high school graduation. Your counselor will not only be able to provide you with information for preparing for college, but they can also let you know what credits you still need to graduate and how you can make sure you will accomplish that. You don’t want to find out that you didn’t earn enough credits in fine arts the day before you walk across the stage at your graduation ceremony (remember when Zach Morris had to perform in the ballet recital in order to graduate from Bayside??? That was crazy!!!).

Prepare for testing
During your junior year, you should take time to study for the tests that apply to the school you want to go to. That may be the ACT, SAT, SAT II’s, etc. Whatever the appropriate tests are, give yourself enough time to study and then take the test over again if you did not earn the score you want.

The next registration for the SAT is today(!!!) for the December 3rd test. The next registration for the ACT isn’t until January 13th for the February test. See? It’s important to plan ahead.

Think about future recommendations
It’s still a bit early, but you should get the gears moving about which teachers/coaches/community members/employers you can ask for recommendations in the near future. You’re going to want to ask them as early as the end of your junior year. Also…it’s better to get thinking early on this because you might just realize you don’t have a good person in mind for a recommendation. If that’s the case, start forming a relationship with you teachers. Be active during class; stay after to further discuss what happened in class, etc.

Are you prepared? Or, do you have advice for juniors at this stage in the game? Leave a comment below!

Juniors and seniors have a lot on their plates: intense homework and assignments, extra-curricular responsibilities, and of course, your college dreams.

Recently, two major universities took action to deal with what they perceived were the problems with Greek life on their college campuses. The University of South Carolina put a freeze on fraternity rush. The decision came after a student drank so much at a fraternity recruitment party that he became unresponsive and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

At Princeton University, officials recently banned students from participating in freshman rush beginning in fall 2012. The decision was made because of the school’s beliefs that social and residential life should revolve around the residential colleges, eating clubs, and shared experiences of the undergraduates living and dining on campus. Other officials at the school find that fraternities and sororities contribue to a sense of social exclusivity and privilege among students.

Are there more negatives to Greek life than positives?  Here some pros and cons:

Pros to Greek life

• friendship–it’s an easy way to meet some of your best friends for life
• academics–often times a big purpose of the fraternity/sorority community is to encourage and develop high scholastic achievement among its members
• social life–planned mixers, parties, etc.
• community service opportunities
• networking–the Kappa Fig Newton could connect you with your dream job

Cons to Greek life

• dues — Greek life gets expensive!
• stigma–unfortunately, people tend to stereotype people in the Greek system
• drama–living with a small community of boys/girls can become a bit much, and a little misunderstanding could lead to a big fall out
• hazing–it’s technically not allowed, but depending where you go, it still happens

Do you agree with these university officials on their stances against Greek life? Share your opinion by leaving a comment below!

Look, I basically sold my soul to my parents for three months to earn enough allowance to buy Jurassic Park on laser disk, so I understand what it’s like to want the next best thing with all your heart.

I especially understand when the next best thing is college, which means freedom, no parents, new friends, no more social cliques, and getting to be a grown up.

So let me play devil’s advocate with you because it’s likely you’re going to ignore your parents’ pleas to you to “not grow up too fast.” But hey, don’t grow up too fast. Sure high school can seem lame because everyone’s telling you what to do and you’re just like, so over it.  But, let me try to convince you why you shouldn’t let yourself get too over it too quickly.

5 reasons to relish high school while you can:

1. Your friends
Chances are, you’ve made some of your best friends in high school, or even just that one in a million person who also prefers mustard over ketchup 100% of the time. Our high school years are essential in forming who we become largely because of the friendships you make. So even if you’re not popular, or you feel too popular, whatever your angst-y angle on the situation is, your high school friends are special because they’re going with you on this weird roller-coaster of adolescence that nobody else will ever quite understand. So don’t be too rushed to say goodbye to them.

2. The guidance
You’re probably sick and tired of people telling you what to do, but if you can just spin it a little and think of what every teacher, parent, or counselor is saying as suggestions that you can take or leave at the door, it might be little easier to swallow. The thing you need to grasp is that you’re not an adult, as mature as you may be. And being in high school is a unique opportunity to be around adults who have had experience in life who can guide you. Your high school is a community that is literally built to help you succeed. Get the most out of its resources and your relationships before your pop a wheelie out of there.

3. The extra-curricular activities
High school, of all places, is the place to learn how to be involved in something, to grow with a team of people, and to eventually take on leadership positions. Whether it’s sports, DECA, debate, theater, choir, student council, volunteer, or anything else, your high school activities give you the opportunity to be passionate about something and to also expand yourself as well-rounded person.

4. The fleetingness
Blink and it’s over. You’re in your mid-40s wishing you could just be back in those high school halls, high-fiving your pals as you pass them in J-Hall, stopping to chat with your crush of that moment, and leaving for biology with the delightful and exciting sense of butterflies in your stomach. High school, in retrospect, is super fun. You’re just with a bunch of your peers all day learning about things you never knew before. But yeah, then it’s gone.

5. The preparation
I know I’ve been a bit sentimental about this whole relish your high school years thing, and it’s not like I wish I was back in high school or anything–I mean, I totally do–there’s a badminton rival I’d really like to meet face-to-face with again–but here’s a non-sentimental point. High school prepares you for college. If you’re all “I’m just so over this!” and you decide to graduate high school early, for the wrong reasons, you won’t be as prepared for college as you could’ve been.

So yes, it’s okay to delete your MySpace account, but just enjoy the days you have left in high school.

Are you “over” high school? Or do you think students take high school for granted? Leave a comment below.

As of August 28 in Missouri, the answer “is no.” The Missouri Senate Bill 54 will make it illegal for teachers and students to “friend” or accept friend requests on the network.

But what about college admissions? More and more often admissions people are looking up your online footprint, and the most powerful and frequent gems they find are photos. You’d be surprised how a photo on Facebook or MySpace or Flickr or that new network the kid genius across the street is programming can find its way through the annals of the Internet, and somehow wind up re-purposed and posted to a blog called something you don’t want associated with your name.

We know Facebook is a big part of your life, and people will post pictures of you, and you’ll post pictures of you, so just try to stick to Cappex’s Facebook etiquette Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook for college-bound students:

Don’t:

Indicate any illegal activity
So your friend who goes by BBQ because, in his own words, he ‘”loves BBQ,” had a hook up with some fake ID peeps on the other side of town and got you one. To celebrate, you had an actual BBQ and BBQ bought the beers, and Jenny, who has no filter, took a million bazillion photos of your 17 year old self drinking and posted it immediately to Facebook with the caption “Look at how much fun we can have now!!!”

This is wrong on so many levels. First off, be safe and smart. Second, if those photos wind up under the critical eye of an admissions officer, good luck. There are easy ways to stay out of situations like these: A. Update your Facebook privacy settings B. Don’t take BBQ’s advice. Seriously, we don’t want to bore you with advice that your parents and teachers have probably told you a million times over, but make smart choices. Avoid stupid things and you won’t get stupid pictures online.

Expose too much skin
Perhaps P90x has been doing glorious things for your abs, but capturing your newly toned muscles and posting it to Facebook might not make the kind of impression you want.  When you think of college admissions do the words “scantily clothed” come to mind? No. No they don’t. Think of it this way: Academia is about expanding the mind, not showing an inappropriate amount of flesh. Dress to impress. Or, at least keep your clothes on.

Parade your PDA
Love is a beautiful thing. From the inside. From the outside, it’s kinda annoying to watch. Keep your kisses off the Internet for the sake of humans as well as for your chances of getting into your dream school. It’s not simply that your public display of affection is annoying to watch, it’s also that a lot of PDA photos can show admissions people your lack of judgment on what you choose to display about yourself not just fleetingly in public, but permanently online.

Be overly negative
Nobody likes a sourpuss. Having pictures with negative comments about other people or ideas just shines more brightly on your intolerance. College life is about expanding your worldview, so too much negativity in your photos might dissuade admissions counselors from rooting for you.

Do’s:

Post accomplishments
Humbly displaying the pictures that your mom took of you accepting the award for Student of the Year is a great thing for an admissions person to stumble upon. It could really bring to life that little line in your application where you wrote “Student of the Year”.

Share your travels
Your backpacking trip through Europe demonstrates how you’re an explorer and student of the world. The fact that you’ve traveled illustrates to admissions officers that you are open to new experiences and ideas.

Display your passions
Just like travel photos, photos of your paintings, dancing, acting, athletics or musical ability adds to your application by showing you as a well-rounded, passionate student. Any activity takes time and practice–both of which are great qualities in a student.

Show your service
A picture of the before and after of that house you helped construct for a family in need or you canning for a good cause illustrates that you are willing to give your time to others in need.

So those are the Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook etiquette for college-bound students. But just keep in mind, you don’t need photos of yourself doing good things, winning awards, or walking across the Great Wall of China to get into college. This is just advice for those who are stuck on having pictures online that people, such as admissions counselors, could come across.  If you want to be 100% sure that a college is making a choice about you based on your application and your application alone, clean up your online footprint.

What’s your experience with Facebook and applying to colleges? Share your feedback and thoughts by leaving a comment below.