College Admissions Intelligence (Blog)
Recent Articles:
Bruins and Tigers and Bears
5 Fatal Flaws in Most College Application Essays
What is a Good Score on the SAT Subject Test?
Collegica Toolkits
We created these "toolkits" for our clients, but all students and parents are free to use them (no commercial use is allowed without written permission). They are geared toward providing a brief guide for how to approach the college admissions process during your junior and senior years of high school.
The Junior Toolkit
The Senior Toolkit
Other Materials
These supplemental pages and downloadable materials were created by College Specific, LLC, either for use by our counselors or our clients. We offer them to the public (for personal use only) in the hope that they will help students and their families navigate the college admissions process. We will add more materials to this list as they become available.
Some of these are companion materials for either our Senior Toolkit or our Junior Toolkit. Even if you haven't used one of our free toolkits yet, you will find these materials useful; but please, take some time to go through the appropriate toolkit. It should take less than an hour, and you'll be much more prepared to tackle the college admissions process once you're armed with the knowledge available in these toolkits!
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Application Checklist Spreadsheet
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The ACS is something we use with our own clients during application season. It helps us keep track of all the important bits of information that go into each application. You can view a sample here, then use the button below to download a blank one to your desktop. This is a PDF, so you'll need a free PDF reader to save any changes (if you use your browser, changes will be lost).
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Standardized Test Comparison Chart
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Should you take the SAT or the ACT? What's the difference? What about SAT Subject Tests? Check out this chart for a quick overview of your standardized testing options. Also: be sure to check out the Standardized Tests section in Collegica's free Junior Toolkit.
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College List-Building Chart
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There are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States, and many more throughout the world. How can you possibly narrow it down to a small handful of "perfect fit" schools?
First, before you start worrying about what certain schools want from prospective students, you should think about what you want from your college experience. Our College List-Building Chart will help you get started. Also: check out the College List Building section of our free Junior Toolkit for more help with creating a college list is right for you.
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Rec Letters Tip Sheet
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You're almost certainly going to need to include recommendation letters as part of your college application process. Who should you ask for rec letters? When should you ask them? What else should you know about rec letters?
This page will provide a brief overview of the process. We also touch on rec letters in the video portion of Section 2 of our free Senior Toolkit (the part about rec letters starts at the 1:39 mark).
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Common College Interview Questions
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College interviews can feel intimidating, but that doesn't have to be the case. In fact, most students leave their interview feeling that it was a positive experience. One way to lessen the anxiety and make sure your college interview goes well is to be prepared.
After you've gone through the College Interviews section of our free Senior Toolkit, you might want to consider doing a mock interview, either with a College Specific counselor or with a friend or parent. It will help prepare you for the interview, and will also make you feel less anxious about it. This page will provide you with questions for a mock interview, but it will also give you insight into why college interviewers ask the questions they ask, and how you can best prepare to answer them.
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