If you’re like many of us today you are looking to make yourself more marketable. To even maintain where you are often we need to go above and beyond.

One of the best ways to do this is go to college education is very often the key we need; perhaps your boss is strongly encouraging you to make sure you finish your degree, or to get one started if you want to be considered for a promotion.

Or perhaps you’ve been raising your precious little ones and now that they are getting ready to go to school you want to go to college and do something for you. No matter what your reason, let’s say you need to get a degree. Now what? This can either be a very scary time or one of excitement that you look forward to.

 

Well now that you’ve found this blog (be sure to to subscribe so you don’t miss a single post) so let’s focus on the excitement part.

 This blog will have information on so many topics to help you so that you can focus on the fun and exciting part of getting into college.

 

Well welcome, this is the best place to start.

Let’s look at a series of questions so that we can understand what options you are looking at.

Grab a pen, and let’s find the best option for you. Or just print this off and write your answers to these questions.

• What does the college need to have to meet your needs?
• Does your boss have a list of requirements that the school needs to have?
• Is scheduling a concern? Or will you be able to meet varied class schedules?
• Do you need the college to offer child care?
• Is cost a concern?
• Is Accreditation important?
• Do you want a small college?
• Are you looking for a college that has smaller classrooms? Is the professor student ratio important to you?

These are great questions to start; once you have the answers to these questions, look at the colleges that are an option to you. Then narrow them down to one or two by looking at which one of these are the best match to your requirements.

Call the two colleges next and find out who you’ll be working with, typically you’ll have an Admissions Advisor assigned to work with you; generally they’ll want to get you to come in for a look at the campus etc. That’s great but let’s wait, there are a few more things you’ll want to do before meeting with them.

Give yourself the upper hand. By putting a few additional things in place before you visit the campus you’ll have a much easier time working through the process. Plus when you’re being considered for Admissions you’ll generally be considered to be a stronger candidate if you have these in place.

1. First when you have them on the phone, if you don’t have answers to your questions like the ones above then ask them now.
2. Next find out the cost if you don’t know.

Pay close attention here: This next part may sound trivial, but it is critical, have him or her define what they mean. Say the university tells you that a class is   $450.00 per credit hour.

That’s good to know but ask how many credits are in a class.

• Say it’s three then you’re looking at $1350.00 per each class. This means that they are on a semester hour basis for the college. If they say 5 or so the cost is about $2250.00, big difference. This means that they are on a quarter hour system. This may seem a little confusing, but bear with me.
• The next question is: how many credits are needed to graduate with the degree? This will give you the ability to calculate the total cost while having the individual cost also. (If the school sends out a catalog this should all be listed.)

Some places will just tell you the total cost, although not typically, they want you to look at the smaller picture first, so that you are not scared away by the total cost. We just need to make sure we are looking at the best option for you. That is why it’s so vital to find out this information ahead of time.

Now, if a university is the best fit for you then this could be what you’re looking at cost wise. If not then there are more options that’ll fit you better. We’ll look at those in another post.

             3. Ask if they are set up to accept FAFSA, (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Ever wondered what that means? Now you know.

This is a good clue to the legitimacy of a school. If they cannot accept Financial Aid then just be aware that you are working with a college that may not be accredited. Which means some employers may or may not decide to accept you.

Side Note: There’s a reason that most employers want you to have attended a college that is accredited, this way they know that the school has curriculum that is sufficient for you to be considered for the job you want. Some employers have been burned by employees coming in with a degree from a college, but then they find out the hard way what they expected the college to have taught the employee was very different than what’s truly needed for a job. This is one of the reasons an employer would want a college to be accredited.

If they accept FAFSA request their school code, generally this is a five or six digit code. This code is vital for directing your funds to the school you are considering.

If they don’t know it you can typically find this online, it’s public information.

Next find out the Admissions Requirements.

These can be some or all of the following:

• GPA from prior college or high school
• Scores on your SAT or ACT, yes believe it or not years later this can still be taken into consideration, as can your performance in high school.
• Aptitude test, a variation of the ACT or SAT test
• Recommendations, i.e. employer, family, and or educational
• Prior Transcripts if it applies
• Essay stating why you are interested in being considered for admission

Now you know what things you need to have in order to be considered for admissions to the school.

When you do meet with the Admissions Advisor they may has you questions as well, so I’d make sure that you know why you want a degree from this school and let them know what you can offer as a student.

Choosing a college is a big decision so going in knowing the answers to your questions puts you in a much better position to succeed rather than just coming into a school and perhaps being surprised. This way you can come in ready for success.

Like this pass it on, keep up on everything by following me on Twitter or subscribe and get all the tips and secrets to understanding how to learn best an adult.

Share