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Get College Bound with Dr. Chris

COLLEGE BOUND STUDENTS BOOKMARK THIS PAGE: College-Path.com provides timely tips and up to the minute advice about the College Admissions and College Application Process.

Explain the Value of Cooperative Education Programs or “Co-Ops”

One def­i­n­i­tion of a coop­er­a­tive edu­ca­tion pro­gram is a struc­tured expe­ri­ence which com­bines prac­ti­cal work and the classroom-based edu­ca­tion.  Such pro­grams pro­vide aca­d­e­mic credit for job expe­ri­ence to help a stu­dent from school-to-work and encour­age ser­vice learning.

  • Pro­vide an oppor­tu­nity to learn from some expe­ri­enced and sup­port­ive col­leagues in the workplace
  • Gain prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence while earn­ing a degree and get­ting a head start in career
  • Stu­dent mature, are more expe­ri­enced, and already respected for accom­plish­ments in co-op work assignments
  • Gain hands-on work expe­ri­ences in spe­cial­ized fields like engi­neer­ing and busi­ness, etc. Read more rea­sons to look at Co-Op opportunities.

What Are the Benefits of Summer Reading?

Sum­mer is a great time to catch up on read­ing about some of your favorite top­ics.  It’s time to let your imag­i­na­tion take you on a jour­ney. Read­ing for plea­sure can help turn you into a life-long learner. For some, read­ing also can be a lot of fun!  It can be a time to get cozy in an envi­ron­ment that is con­ducive to your read­ing.  So grab your favorite snack, choose your spot, sit back, and enjoy the story.

What are the ben­e­fits? Reading:

Were You Denied At One of Your Colleges? Think About the Transfer Option

If you’ve been denied by your top choice col­lege, the key may be to con­sider trans­fer­ring in at a later date.  If you spend a year at another col­lege and do well, that shows col­lege admis­sion offi­cers that you’re moti­vated and ready for college-level work at their institution.

So the ques­tion remains, are you think­ing about trans­fer­ring from one col­lege to another in the future? Answer­ing the fol­low­ing ques­tions will help you decide your next move:

• Take enough time to adjust to the aca­d­e­mics and social life at your present col­lege. Do you know why you are mak­ing the change – home­sick­ness, mon­e­tary needs, fam­ily issues?
• Do you under­stand the trans­fer process to the col­lege you would like to attend?
• Have you got­ten advice from your present school? They may be able to address credit trans­fer issues that will be impor­tant in the admis­sion to the next school. See more about trans­fer planning.

What is Double Depositing? Is it an Ethical

The clock is tick­ing down and the April 1st has arrived. High school seniors across the coun­try are check­ing their email and mail­boxes for the admis­sions deci­sions from the col­lege they applied to. Many stu­dents may receive more than one accep­tance. The stress and the cost of col­lege is a major deci­sion, so for stu­dents who can­not make up their mind where to go, they may con­sider dou­ble depositing.

What is the def­i­n­i­tion of dou­ble deposit­ing? Dou­ble deposit­ing means putting down a deposit, and thus accept­ing admis­sion, at more than one college.

I often hear, “This deci­sion is not easy!” Or “I love all my schools for dif­fer­ent rea­sons.” Stu­dent re-visit their col­leges and look to teach­ers and friends (and even par­ents) for guid­ance. So what do they do? Send­ing a non-refundable enroll­ment deposit check can cost as lit­tle as $100, while at oth­ers it can be as much as $500 or $1,000 can be costly, but the stu­dent just can’t decide. Read more about the Dou­ble Deposit­ing and eth­i­cal issues sur­round­ing it.

What Is A Gap Year?

Accord­ing to the Uni­ver­sity of Delaware, the def­i­n­i­tion of “Gap Year” is a “tem­po­rary posi­tion (1 – 3 years) between col­lege, grad­u­ate school or a full time job.” Many stu­dents are inter­ested in “tak­ing a year off” before buck­ling down to a “seri­ous” job or grad­u­ate school. These tem­po­rary “in-the-meantime” jobs can pro­vide expe­ri­ence, direc­tion, emo­tional and cog­ni­tive growth, and sat­isfy curios­ity about the real world.

Ask your­self these five questions:

  1. Do you enjoy traveling?
  2. Do you like learn­ing new languages?
  3. Are you a hands-on learner?
  4. Do you like mak­ing new friends?
  5. Are you open to new ideas and chal­lenges? For more ques­tions to con­sider click here.

Internships for High School Students

Intern­ships are a great way to get expe­ri­ence in a cer­tain field of study.  So why intern in high school?

Work expe­ri­ence in a field of study you want to pur­sue in col­lege can give you a jump up in the col­lege appli­ca­tion process.  It is a way to stand out in a crowd. An intern­ship will also allow you to under­stand more details about your major of inter­est and help you to under­stand how orga­ni­za­tions operate.

So, how do you find an intern­ship? First iden­tify your pas­sion. Some com­pa­nies offer for­mal intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties to high school stu­dents in par­tic­u­lar. Some pay, some are unpaid, and some you’ll pay for. Research com­pa­nies in the indus­try that inter­ests you.  Start by ask­ing around at local busi­ness asso­ci­a­tions. Use CareerOneStop’s Employer Loca­tor to help you iden­tify com­pa­nies in your local area. Next, talk to the Human Resource rep­re­sen­ta­tive or man­ager to see if posi­tions are avail­able.  Check out local orga­ni­za­tions like the news­pa­pers, muse­ums, and hos­pi­tals.  You may use your con­tacts on Face­book or Twit­ter to find open­ings in your spe­cific area of inter­est. Try web­sites like Internships.com, Indeed.com. , or  Jobs.change.org. For more on how to apply, click here.

It’s Time to Think About Summer – What Is There To Do?

Every sum­mer, high school stu­dents search for sum­mer jobs or activ­i­ties to fill their sum­mer vaca­tion. It is a time when stu­dents can also demon­strate to col­leges that they have an inter­est in devel­op­ment out­side the classroom.

Younger stu­dents may enjoy head­ing off to camps includ­ing theme-based camps. Campers are encour­aged to learn about top­ics such as art, music, lead­er­ship, or spe­cial top­ics such the envi­ron­ment. They will engage in the learn­ing expe­ri­ence through songs, skits, day trips, games, and other camp-wide activities.

High school stu­dents may be look­ing for a more ful­fill­ing sum­mer expe­ri­ence. Some may choose to attend a pre-college pro­gram that allows them to test the waters in an area of inter­est such as writ­ing, tech­nol­ogy, the arts, film, sports, sci­ence, travel, busi­ness, debate, and com­mu­nity ser­vice or activism. Vol­un­teer­ing at char­i­ta­ble orga­ni­za­tions is a great way to match tal­ents and inter­ests.  Oth­ers may choose a study abroad pro­gram that immerses the par­tic­i­pant in three-dimensional learn­ing expe­ri­ence. Engag­ing in an intern­ship can offer stu­dents the oppor­tu­nity to gain more knowl­edge about pos­si­ble col­lege majors. Read more about what to do dur­ing sum­mer break.