Your college education is an extremely important and expensive investment. Before you shell out thousands of dollars for an advanced education, you need to give yourself a basic education in the financial aid process. Navigating the college financial aid process can be hard enough even for the most highly educated people. So to help, I’ve put together a quick reference guide on the 12 most common financial aid terms used. 1. FAFSA (Free … [Read more...]
How to Prepare for the ACT Test
The ACT is a national college admissions examination that consists of subject area tests in: English (grammar) Math Reading (passages and comprehension) Science (charts and graphs) The ACT Plus Writing includes the four subject area tests plus a 30-minute Writing Test. The ACT includes 215 multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete, including a short break (or just over four hours if … [Read more...]
How High School Courses Impact SAT Scores
Every year, high school juniors and seniors take the SAT. More than 1 million students annually across the nation participate and many take it more than once. Many students have been preparing for months after realizing how important high SAT scores are in college admissions and scholarship awards. Others don’t prepare or study much, many believing that it’s an ‘intelligence test’ and can’t be studied for, or that they want to just see how well … [Read more...]
Is College Worth the Investment?
Is that fancy, expensive college degree really worth the cost of several years of tuition, room and board and books? Everyone knows that the cost of education is skyrocketing, but the answer is still YES! Wondering which colleges have the best ROI? Return on investment is the "financial return" from any investment of money, or in this case, the income amount above and beyond what a high school graduate would make. The investment is the cost of … [Read more...]
How To Prepare for the College Interview
Some colleges require an in-person interview with all applicants. Other colleges allow the students to request an interview if desired, and will consider it as part of the admissions file. In both situations, college interviews provide an opportunity to learn more about the college and whether or not the student would be a good fit on the campus. If you are applying to a college that doesn't require, but does allow for, college interviews, you … [Read more...]
Texas Universities in the National College Rankings
U.S. News and World Report has ranked the top National Universities for more than 25 years. They recently released their new rankings and here are the Texas colleges that were ranked nationally in the top 200 colleges: #19 Rice University #53 University of Texas at Austin (also #7 Business school) #61 Southern Methodist University (also #43 Business school) #70 Texas A&M University (also #29 Business school) #72 Baylor … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Get In-State Tuition at an Out-of-State College
Many students are excited at the prospect of attending a state college or universities outside of his or her home state. However, the difference in cost between in-state and out-of-state colleges can be significant. For some students, the tuition differential makes the college unaffordable. For others, the extra cost makes the college seem not quite “worth it.” Fortunately, students from all 50 states have opportunities to pay in-state tuition … [Read more...]
College Acceptances for Class of 2015
Yay! All of our college admissions decisions are in and all of our clients have selected their college! Colleges that accepted a senior student who was a client of Brand College Consulting, class of 2015: Texas colleges University of Texas- Austin Texas A&M University Texas Tech University University of Houston Texas State University Baylor University Southern Methodist University Texas Christian … [Read more...]
Graduation Rates of Texas Colleges
Texas College Graduation Rates Statistics Texas Statistics Public Colleges Private Colleges For Profit Colleges % of students who graduate in 4 years 24.4% 41.5% 9.9% % of students who graduate in 6 years 49% 57.8% 18.2% Texas’ place compared to all other states 32nd 29th 38th The following charts are separated into 3 tables: Public 4 year colleges, Private 4 year colleges, and For Profit … [Read more...]
Quiz: Is Your Teen Ready for College?
Part of the “American Dream” is to send children off to college after high school. We envision them living in dorms, enjoying the true ‘college experience’, learning and growing into adults. The reality is that some children aren’t ready for that independence. Many college students return home after a semester or two of college, usually because of failing grades, lack of friends, or simply too much partying. So how do parents know if their … [Read more...]
