As a high school counselor, you want to prepare college-bound students for the road ahead as best you can. This means helping them to recognize the opportunities available to them, enabling them to complete the coursework and testing required of them, and guiding them through the process of selecting and applying for schools.

One important, early step that students need to take in the college applications process is finding colleges and universities that will be a good match. There are many ways to do this, from conducting Internet searches to visiting college campuses. As a school counselor, you probably have plenty of pamphlets and brochures filling your office, and you might even teach students how to best conduct their college search. But one more way you can help students is to encourage them to attend a college fair.

College fairs provide excellent opportunities for students to survey many schools at once. Therefore, while they may seem intimidating—after all, students need to be assertive in speaking with college representatives and asking questions!—college fairs can be very advantageous to students who are still early in their search. And even if a student already knows precisely where he or she wants to apply, college fairs offer opportunities to make a good impression and demonstrate interest in that college.

Here are three important ways you, as a school counselor, can encourage students to attend a college fair.

First: make sure they know!

The first and arguably most important step in encouraging your students to attend a college fair is to get the word out. After all, if they don’t even know a fair is happening, they can’t possibly want to attend!

The simplest “analog” method of raising student awareness is to post fliers on bulletin boards around the school and to include the details of the fair anywhere else that information is disseminated to students. This can include social media outlets (such as Twitter or Facebook) or via school listservs that are used to inform both students and parents of school news and upcoming events.

Second: incentivize them.

Once they know about the fair, and even if they recognize the benefits of attending it, students can have trouble getting excited about something as intimidating and time-consuming as a college fair. Therefore, it falls upon you, their school counselor (and, of course, on parents, teachers, and other mentors in their lives) to incentivize them.

The most appropriate and effective incentive depends upon when the fair is held. If the fair happens during school hours, then the incentive is virtually already built in: getting out of class and/or going off campus for a field trip. However, if the fair happens outside of the school day (in the evening or on a weekend), incentivizing students gets trickier. One idea is to make registration for the fair a competition between homerooms. You could also set up a competition between students to see who can talk to the most representatives. Offer extra credit for attending a fair. Be wary of offering material incentives, however, because the fact of the matter is that attending a college fair is something that college-bound students should be doing on their own, anyway.  If you’ve helped students to understand the importance of choosing a college where they will succeed, as well as the usefulness of a college fair in their selection process, then that knowledge should be incentive enough!

Third: make attendance as easy as possible.

Once students know about the fair and are interested in attending, the final hurdle is getting them to the fair. While many students may have a car or parents who can drive them to the fair, this is certainly not the case for all students. Therefore, if the budget is available, a great solution is to offer to bus students to the fair. (Plus, if you want to go one step further, you can incentivize them to register online for their GoToCollegeFairs barcode by treating that as a “bus pass,” so when they arrive at the fair, they’re ready to go!)

Another, more time-intensive possibility is to organize your own college fair. Depending on the size and resources of your school, this could be an in-house event for only students in your district, or it could involve working with nearby high schools and school counselors to recruit colleges and to develop the event. Either way, the payoff is that the colleges will come directly to your doorstep—and no college fair is easier for a student to attend than one in his or her own back yard!

Helpful tip: Encourage your students to create a dedicated email address for the college admissions process.  They will be bombarded with emails from colleges and it’s wise to separate those so they are more manageable.  This is important for them to do even prior to the PSAT or SAT as the College Board does share the student email with colleges.  Having one place for all admissions communications really helps!

Have you successfully encouraged any of your students to attend a college fair? We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Email us at info@gotocollegefairs.com.

Before you cross out your “reach schools” and pricey universities, read these 5 ways you can have more options for college.

1. Apply for scholarships in your junior year.

There are millions upon millions of dollars of scholarship money up for grabs each year, yet many students don’t take the opportunity to apply for them. Why? Quite simply: it’s extra work. I get it, you’re busy. You have SATs, AP exams, college apps, sports games, community service and lots of homework and exams.

College is likely the most money you’ll ever spend in your life aside from purchasing a house. Do yourself a favor and get some of the cost down by winning money. Being busy hurts more when you’re at work and know that half your paycheck is going to your student loans.

Find a way, not an excuse. Plus, scholarships may require an essay, which makes students less likely to apply for them. If you plan ahead, you can write a scholarship essay that fits in with your Common App (or other college essay), so you can write one and use it for two separate applications.

2. Apply early.

Some Colleges allow you to apply early to get a decision early. If you have your heart set on a school (make sure you visit it first), then consider applying early decision or early action. Early decision means you plan to attend a school if your application is accepted; early action means you will find out the school’s decision earlier.

Knowing early allows you to make more informed choices. If you get accepted to a school that you plan to attend and know early enough, you can save time and money.

3. Introduce yourself to admission officers.

If an admission officer visits your school, strike up a conversation with him or her. Ask questions, and tell him about your goals and interest in his school. Be mindful during presentations: remain quiet and present and be sure to keep your phone away. Make a solid first impression.

Also, if you are wait-listed at a school, sending a thoughtful e-mail about your interest in the school and what you believe you can offer can go a long way.

4. Write a stellar admission essay.

By your senior year, you can only do so much to raise your GPA and SAT scores. Spend ample amount of time developing an admission essay that tells admission officers about you, the person, rather than you, the student. Check out my other articles for help.

5. Get outstanding letters of recommendation.

There are only two parts of your application where admission officers can’t graph you and compare you with other applicants: your admission essay and your letters of recommendation.

Letters of recommendation should come from core subject teachers (math, English, science or social studies). Having a supervisor, coach or grandparent write a letter can certainly speak on your character, however, your letters should be able to highlight your academic ability to succeed in college.

An adult’s perspective on you as a student is a powerful addition to your application, so choose wisely and act early. If you know whom you’d like to write you a letter, aim to ask over the summer or in the beginning of the school year while she has time to craft one. If you can, sit down with the person who will recommend you, and tell her what your goals and aspirations are.

Happy Writing!

This article was written by Jaclyn Corley, the founder of The College Essay Captain, a private tutoring company that develops online courses and runs workshops for the writing components of college admissions. Jaclyn Corley founded her company to be a resource for students, and she has made it her mission to empower thousands of students to tell their stories.

The College Essay Course is available at thecollegeessaycourse.com

Senioritis is the coined term that is loosely defined as the self-sabotaging disease that inflicts thousands of high school seniors across the country each year. Its symptoms often include a lackadaisical approach to school, the feeling of being overwhelmed with assignments and college applications, and a intense desire for the year to end that can tame even the students with a track record for being overzealous.

As an 11th and 12th grade teacher and a college essay advisor for 4 years, I started to notice the patterns of the students who held themselves together–the ones who maintain their grades, their positive attitudes, and their work ethics from their junior to their senior year. I separated these patterns from the students who, despite being on top of their game for the previous 3 consecutive years, lost their momentum.

A lot of adults will say that your junior year of high school will be your most challenging and the most important. They base this on the idea that you may be tackling a number of Advance Placement (AP) courses or a more challenging curriculum. This is also the year that you take the SAT or ACT, and if you’re involved in extra-curricular activities, you may choose to take on leadership roles. For some of you, you may also have an after-school or weekend job.

Whew.

But, your senior year presents its own challenges. Some of you may still have all of the aforementioned work plus you’re adding college and scholarship applications into the mix. Since it’s your last year of high school, you may also have the desire to be more social, which often conflicts with your busy schedule.

It may be tempting to throw in the towel, and to cut down on your efforts, but your decisions in your senior year can directly influence the rest of your life. Not applying to a school you might excel at may be a temptation if you don’t feel like studying for the SATs again or don’t have enough time to tackle the supplemental essays on their application.

Therefore, I’d like to share some of my observations and advice with you to keep your motivation and momentum, and to help you go after your dreams in the least stressful way possible. This article is especially for students who are planning to apply to college.

1) Figure out what you’re looking for and make a game plan

Who are you? This is a deep question, and you should spend some time answering it.

An easy way to pick a college is go off what other people say about particular schools. “That’s the best community college,” or “that school has a great reputation,” or “I went there, and I loved it!” The problem with this is that, while knowing a school’s reputation is great, that really doesn’t tell you much about how you’ll fit in there.

Are you someone who will drown in the sea of students in massive lecture halls? Or, are you okay with having small classes where you might need to participate more? Do you plan to live on campus, or are you going to commute? If the former is true, how far are you willing to live away from home? If the latter is true, how far will you be willing to travel? Do you want to live in the city, the suburbs, or a rural area? Are there clubs and sports that interest you at the school? Are there majors or programs that peak your interest? How many schools are you going to apply to? What’s the price range of the schools you can afford? Will you work while in school?

This may seem like question overload, but it’s important to make a game plan. Figure out what you’re looking for and why. The more you plan in the beginning, the less complicated the application process will be. You’ll be able to safely say, “this school is one I should apply to while this other one doesn’t meet my criterion.”

2) Research schools early in your junior year

The earlier you begin to research colleges, the better. And, I don’t use the term research lightly. Choosing a college is a big decision, and a lot of thought needs to go into it.

Collect brochures from colleges and go to their website to look through their course offerings. See if professors from the school have videos on YouTube. Watch them. Look through the internship opportunities and affiliations the school may have. Gather data on class size, graduation rates, tuition, clubs, and housing. The more you learn about the school, the more educated decisions you’ll be able to make.

3) Create a binder for your potential options

The best thing I ever did before I interviewed for a teaching job was to create a binder that included all my lesson plans, legal documents, and letters of recommendation. I felt confident walking into the interview because if the interviewer asked me a question, I had evidence with me to back up my answer.

Use the same strategy for your college applications–especially if you’re someone who is particularly disorganized. As soon as you start collecting information on potential schools, organize a binder. You can organize it based off reach/safety schools, commuter/away schools, programs that interest you, application deadlines, or any other way that makes sense to you. Include brochures, print outs from the websites, and notes from your discussions with your parents and school counselor.

You should also keep a calendar at the front of your binder to keep track of application deadlines and which type of essays you’ll need for your application.

4) Look for scholarships in your junior year

There are MILLIONS of dollars up for grabs in scholarship money. MILLIONS. And, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to obtain them.

There are plenty of scholarships that you’ll qualify for…simply spend some time looking for them.

Here’s bonus tip #1: look for scholarships that require essays. Why? Well, did you just groan when I implied that you should write an essay? Exactly.

Fewer students apply to scholarships that require essays because they don’t want to write essays. What does this mean? This means that there is less competition.

Bonus tip #2: if you plan this ahead of time, you can usually find a way to write a scholarship essay that doubles as an application essay. I did this and won a $1000 scholarship from Burger King. I didn’t have to write an additional essay–I simply planned ahead.

Student loans are an incredible way to pay for college, but trust me on this: you really don’t want to send a huge chunk of your hard-earned paycheck every month to Sallie Mae. Plus, that $70,000 you borrow turns into a $100,000 payback quite quickly with high interest levels.

Bonus tip#3: add the scholarship info into the binder!

5) Write your admission essays/scholarship essays over the summer

If you’ve kept up with the advice above, you’ll have a basic knowledge of the schools you plan on applying to and the types of essays they require.

College applications get piled onto your workload in your senior year. And if you go into your senior year thinking you’ll have time to relax, you’ll be surprised by how much work you actually have to get done.

Therefore, at the bare minimum, begin your admission essays over the summer. Learn how to write them: either take a course, hire an advisor, or do a self-study. One of the easiest ways to ruin your college applications is to take the college essay too lightly. It’s likely you’ve never learned how to write for a college admission audience or how to write a personal narrative. The more competitive the school, the more important it will be to have a stellar admission essay.

6) Get a job, internship, or volunteer position over the summer

The more experience you have to put on your activity list, the more appealing you’ll be to admission officers. Plus, a little extra cash is always a plus.

Maintaining a steady job shows that you have a work ethic. An internship shows that you are willing to learn from others. A volunteer position shows that you will be helpful on campus. Spend your summer making money, learning a skill, or helping others. You’ll not only benefit from experience gained, you also might make connections to people who may help you with future opportunities.

7) Get to know your school counselor

I’ve worked with and befriended many college counselors, and they really want you to end up in a school that is a great fit for you. However, it’s hard to guide a student when you don’t really know much about him outside of his GPA and standardized test scores.

Do yourself a favor, and begin a conversation with your school counselor. Send him or her an email that tells them a bit about your future goals and your current interests, and ask a question. Make an appointment to meet your counselor in your junior year when he or she isn’t overwhelmed with helping seniors.

The more your counselor knows you, the more he or she can help you make good decisions for your future. In addition, many colleges require a letter of recommendation from a school counselor. The more she knows about you, the better your letter will be.

8) Attend college nights and college fairs

Your school set these up for a reason. The more you learn about the college application process, the better off you are.

College fairs typically have admission officers who come to tell you a little more about their schools and who can answer any questions you may have about the process and how they judge candidates. Introduce yourself to the admission officers from the schools you are applying to, briefly tell them about your interest in their school, and ask a question that they haven’t already answered.

It may also benefit you to frequent college fairs or panels if several are offered at your school. Proximity is power, and if you have several positive interactions with the admission officer from your dream school, you may have a higher chance of being remembered when they get to your application.

9) Talk about finances with your parents

Unless your family is particularly well-off and has made the decision to pay for your college tuition in full, it’s likely that you’ll need to plan for how you’ll pay for college.

Attend financial aid night with your parents to learn about government grants and student loans. Ask questions and keep detailed notes in your binders.

An open line of communication with your parents is often the best way to tackle finances. If you’re going away to school, it’s likely that you’ll have to live on campus as per school policy for at least your freshman year. Consider how much it will cost to live off campus and to skip the school’s meal plan in the subsequent years to save yourself some money.

Think ahead: is it likely you’ll go to graduate school? Who will pay your loans if you don’t secure a job right away? How much will your loans cost each month when you graduate? Where will you live after college? Are there ways to make money during college to help pay your tuition?

The earlier you have these conversations, the better.

10) Keep an organized calendar of deadlines

Although I mentioned this above under the binder heading, I think it’s important enough to deserve its own category.

Do not rely on anyone except yourself to stay on top of your applications. No one is going to sit over your shoulders in college to direct you or to keep you organized, so start to transition to independence now.

Make a detailed calendar of school application deadlines, college nights, financial aid nights, and college counselor appointments. Schedule in time to revise your essays, write your activity list, and to fill out your online applications.

This is also really good practice for college. In college, each of your professors will provide you with a syllabus of assignments, topics, and test dates, and it will be your job to organize your time accordingly.

11) Visit schools when you can

If you have the opportunity to visit a college campus, do so. Brochures can only give you so much information, and they are tailored to get students to apply. That means that a lot of (if not most of) the pictures are staged to appeal to potential applicants.

When I visited college campuses, I knocked off one of the schools from my list because I didn’t find the students to be particularly welcoming. The campus was cold, literally and figuratively.

When I visited Binghamton University in New York, my top choice, I felt at home. I envisioned myself there, and it helped me to feel more confident about my choice to go there.

Lastly, take a tour and then do your own tour. The tour guides will feature the best parts about the campus, and they will be able to give you insights since they are students themselves. However, they are also trained to show the positive aspects of the school–just like the brochures. If you have time, take a walk through the campus, drive or walk around off-campus to see what surrounds the college, take a look at off-campus housing options, and eat at one of the dining halls (Bonus tip: if the campus uses a meal plan, chances are, you’ll pay more if you’re paying with cash or credit. Offer to pay a student in cash in exchange for him placing your meal on his meal plan. Many students will gladly accept this!)

12) Seek advice from trusted sources

Parents, friends, and family members will love to give you advice on your college applications, but tread carefully. Well-meaning advice can also be misleading advice.

Talk to admission officers, school counselors, or college-planning/essay advisors for the insider’s scoop. Learn from those who’ve done this before and keep notes of their advice.

You can also reach out to current students at the universities you wish to apply to, students who aren’t invested in getting you to go there (i.e. tour guides). Ask them what they like about the campus, the classes, and dorm life. Ask them what they don’t like, or if they would have made a different decision knowing what they know now. Their answers may surprise you, and they also may help you.

13) Be mindful of your stress levels and find appropriate ways to address them

College applications are stressful–if you let them be. The more you organize your time and stick to a predictable schedule, the less likely you are to feel that dreaded overwhelming feeling.

Be mindful of your stress levels during your junior and senior year. Take breaks when you need to–go for a walk, listen to an inspiring Ted Talk on motivation, visualize yourself finishing your applications, meditate, journal, work on a fun project. Learn how you relax and how you alleviate stress.

14) Make time for your friends and for fun–be present

On that same note, make sure you have some fun in your senior year. Hang out with your friends in non-school related activities. Find a balance between your school and social life. If you organize your time well, you’ll be ahead of the game, and you’ll find you have more weekends to socialize because you got things done early.

You may not realize it now, but your senior year will go by quickly and before you know it, you’ll be graduating college wondering where the time went. Spend time appreciating the present moment, and spend time appreciating your friendships. Many relationships dwindle when friends go on to different colleges, so cherish the memories you’re making now.

15) Apply early when possible and let go when you send you applications in

Do you have a school in mind that you definitely want to attend? Consider applying early.

Early action or early decision will help you know where you stand at your dream schools sooner rather than later. They also give you the incentive to get your applications done early, which leaves you more time for other activities.

Lastly, let go, once you click the send button. Do your best with your applications and trust that you’ll end up exactly where you’re meant to be.

Also, don’t take “maybe” as a final answer. If you’re wait-listed at a school you’d really like to attend, meet with a school counselor to craft a letter to the admission officer expressing that you’re still very interested. This helps to separate you from the other wait-listed candidates. Should you get rejected from your dream school, you can also look into transferring. Spend a year at a different school, and find out what grades you need to transfer. It might give you more motivation to do exceptionally well, and if you choose to attend a community college, you may also be able to transfer a lot of credits and save yourself money!

Happy Writing!

This article was written by Jaclyn Corley, the founder of The College Essay Captain, a private tutoring company that develops online courses and runs workshops for the writing components of college admissions. Jaclyn Corley founded her company to be a resource for students, and she has made it her mission to empower thousands of students to tell their stories.

The College Essay Course is available at thecollegeessaycourse.com

So you attended a college fair. Great! You learned about some schools, hopefully discovered a new one or crossed a “possible” one off your list, and made some fantastic connections with college reps. However, now you’re home, brain abuzz with “dining hall” this and “extracurricular” that. You’re swimming in pamphlets and wondering how to move forward.

Wonder no more! Here are several useful, tangible “next steps” to take after you leave a college fair.

First, identify which of the colleges were your favorites. Set their materials aside, and get rid of the rest. No sense in hanging onto pamphlets you’ll never look at again!

Then, organize the material from the colleges you are considering. An easy way to do this is in a binder, with one tab per college. If you don’t want to hole-punch the pamphlets themselves, add two-pocket folders and slip the materials in there.

Review the information you’ve collected. What questions do you still have about each school? Write these down and add them to your binder.

Continue to research your colleges of interest. Look for answers to your questions online, and if you didn’t already sign up for their mailing list at the fair, be sure to do that either online or by mail.

After conducting your own research, contact the college representative you spoke to at the fair. If you didn’t already, be sure to thank them for their time at the fair. Then, ask any outstanding questions you still have. (But make absolutely sure the answer is not available on the school website!)

If you like, ask to be connected with a current student or alumnus. Explain that you’d like to chat with them in order to get a better sense of what sorts of students attend the school, and what your experience might e like if you choose to attend.

Finally, start planning your campus visits!

A college degree can be the stepping-stone to wider, more satisfying career choices and higher earning potential. At least, that’s the parental party line these days, backed by data from the US Census Bureau. The message is that going to college is mandatory in American culture. Everyone is suppose to go to college, right?

But what if you aren’t ready? What of you need to take a breath between your senior year of high school and your freshman year of college? What if you just need time to figure things out?

That’s where the Gap Year comes into play.

But First, Defer Enrollment

While a gap year can do a lot of good things for you, it can also be an easy way to fall off track if your eventual goal is to earn a college degree. You can avoid the “what now?” situation many gappers find themselves in by applying to college just as you normally would if you had no intention of “gapping.” Then, once you’ve received your acceptance letter, confirm that you will attend, and then send a letter to the college’s director of admissions and outline what you plan to do on your gap year. Your letter will be evaluated by the admissions committee and ultimately granted or denied. This general process varies by school, so be sure to get specific details ahead of time. (And also details about financial aid! Because even if you’re offered financial assistance with your initial acceptance, you aren’t necessarily guaranteed that same package when you return a year later.)

Now, in order to write that letter to the director of admissions, you need to determine what you will do (and why) during your gap here. Here are some ideas:

Adulting 101

Get a job, get an apartment, pay bills, feed yourself. Sounds simple, but you will be surprised what you can learn from taking twelve months to act as a non-student grown-up. You will learn to recognize the value of a paycheck, negotiate the murky waters of landlord/tenant relations, and feel the power of shopping with a grocery list in hand. Plus, learning how to live within a budget and how credit scores work will help you not only in your post-college life but also during those college years. You’ll be the one suggesting that maybe you and your roommates don’t need to order a third pizza that week, and perhaps that three-day weekend in Tampa isn’t the smartest financial choice.

In fact, a Gap Year is a great time to educate yourself on financial information and skills you will need for years to come. A quick Google search will cough up a plethora of websites such as Mint.com that offer advice on budgeting, wealth building, and ways to improve your credit scores. Adulting 101 for your 365 can put you ahead of your peers financially, and make that potentially crushing amount of school debt feel manageable when it’s time to graduate.

Be a Do-Gooder

While America graduates more than 60% of high school students directly into college, the Gap Year has become more common—common enough that an industry has sprung up around it to help Gappers figure out what to do with their 365 days sans lectures, homework, or quad life. Gap year fairs and organizations such as GO Overseas link students with travel and volunteer programs across the world, making what to do with the next year of your life a click away. But beware: although many of these programs are both exciting and enriching, they can also cost thousands of dollars. Therefore, you may not only wind up volunteering your time for free, but you’ll also be paying the program to participate.

Fortunately, you can also work for free for free. If altruism is your Gap Year goal, the American Red Cross, United Way, and Volunteer Match can hook you up for volunteer opportunities in your community. And if your are politically minded, several organizations would gladly sign you on to help spread their messages.

A year of volunteering can bolster your resume and give you real world experience for a variety of skills. Whether you are volunteering at a retirement home, working with special needs adults, or volunteering for a cause, you will gain all sorts of valuable experiences, from event planning to community organizing.

Learn a Skill . . . or Five

A year away from writing term papers and pulling all-nighters for exams offers a nice chunk of time to hone a skill or throw yourself into a hobby. You could opt to indulge completely in fun stuff like racking up experience points in League of Legends or learning all of the dance routines in Beyoncé videos by heart. In the long run, however, you’re probably better off developing a skill or hobby that will upgrade your life.

In self-teaching, online learning is your friend—your free friend. Khan Academy offers courses in everything from algebra to art history, giving you a chance to “try out” a major before you declare one. Coursera.org, OpenCulture.com, and AcademicEarth.org also offer free courses from top-tier universities, so why not learn Python or the nuances of digital photography? Learn a new language, start a blog, or build a robot. A hobby might turn into a passion, and that passion can ultimately direct your college career—and the rest of your life.

No matter what your reasons are for taking a break from the rigors of school, be sure to use your time wisely and set realistic goals. And make sure you have a roadmap for where you’re headed when that Gap Year is over, because the last thing you want is for Gap Year to turn into Gap Decade.