to college

t o c o l l e g e

College is a possibility for anyone. But it requires research. Investment.

Time. Thought.

You’ll need transcripts and GPAs, your SAT and ACT scores.

You’ll be applying to one, two, maybe more colleges, each one with multiple forms to completed and assignments like essays and videos.

You’ll be competing with other kids for the college of your choice.

Creativity and the bravery to stand out from the group will make an impact during selections.

Don’t be afraid to show who you are, and your special skills.

Move far away or stay close to home?

When you move far away, changes are extreme.

You’ll be forced to adjust in a completely new environment, and feel alone and scared sometimes.

You’ll learn a lot about life in a short amount of time, but the pressure is on and you may have to learn a few things the hard way.

If you go to a school closer to home, familiar surroundings make the change into college life easier.

But the desire to explore and grow up won’t be satisfied. It’s a matter of how much uncertainty you’re willing to face.

Move far away or stay close to home?

You’ll need to do a lot of research on individual schools and their various programs.

Many people who think they know exactly what they’re going to major in end up switching majors one or more times.

These are all totally OK

Some people go to college knowing exactly what they want to do.

Some people have no idea and go to explore their options.

One thing the

college experience is

supposed to provide is the

guarantee of a good job.

Unfortunately,

the nation’s

under-delivering on that

expectation. Many college

graduates aren’t finding

work immediately.

They’re taking

internships, waiting

tables, constantly applying

for jobs, and moving back in

with their parents. This is a hard

reality to deal with, but

the truth is that finding a job

without a Bachelors degree is

going to be increasingly

difficult.

Earning a degree in

the most cost-efficient

way is the smartest

move.

When it comes to paying for college, the school needs your money right away, so you’ll have to find a way to pay the school immediately with a loan, and pay that loan off over time.

In addition to cash, Student Loans, scholarships, and grants are ways people pay for college. Student loans are offered by banks, credit unions, and schools.

You must be approved with your own credit, or with a co-signer (usually your parent) to borrow a large amount of money, thousands of dollars.

Many people who think they

know exactly what they’re go-

ing to major in end up switching

majors one or more times. This

is perfectly fine, a part of col-

lege experience.

This money is yours to allocate… you can get a loan just to cov-er schooling costs, or you can get a larger loan to pay for your books,housing, and food while you’re in school.

These loans have interest. This means you agree to pay your bank, credit union, or school financial department a certain percentage of the entire loan.

IF you borrowed $5,000 with a 17% interest rate, you wouldn’t just pay back the $5,000.

You’d pay $5,000 PLUS 17% of $5,000. That’s $850 extra, or $5,850 total, you’d be paying back over time.






lege experience.

Scholarships and grants are better ways to pay for college, ...since they’re money given with no expectation that it will be paid back.

Scholarships are often granted by the school, with funds set aside simply to help smart, qualified students.

These funds come from dona-tions, usually from graduates who have become successful. They maintain the reputation of their school by helping the smartest applicants attend.

Grants are awarded for spe-cific achievements, such as winning an essay contest.






lege experience.

AdvisorsThe best way to find out about the college application process is by listening to people who’ve done it themselves






lege experience.

AdvisorsAnne H

Anne is from Indiana, from a single-mom family, and went from there to college in Montana.

She met the right people and landed a job out of college for a Japanese newspaper, interviewing CEOs about business affairs.

Anne traveled across Europe writing for the paper alongside an American team.

I met her as a fellow account planner in Oregon. Currently she’s in New York City. But she is moving to a new job in Brazil this year—a goal of hers that she worked hard to accomplish.






lege experience.

AdvisorsMonica P

Monica has worked for some of the best ad agencies in the country, creating ground breaking online ads and working in production to make sure they launch correctly.

Her job requires daily research on the newest technologies and working with media companies to make an idea come to life. This means lots of blog reading, Tweeting, communication between art designers and tech-minded people.

When a client needs an online ad, she brainstorms new ways to reach consumers.






lege experience.

AdvisorsRance R

Rance is a copywriter for ad agencies. He teams up with an art director, and they create TV, print, online, or any other kind of innovative ads for clients.

Copywriting isn’t about writing a lot of text. It’s about coming up with creative ideas and ways to talk about them, paying attention to details and making sure your creative ideas make sense for the brand you’re working on.

His job as a copywriter allows him to move all over America, freelancing as a copywriter and creative.






lege experience.

AdvisorsAlyssa E

Alyssa gave the best advice! I saw her experience many life problems, scary because she had no one to lean on financially when things went wrong. Her family in Mon-tana is just as not-rich as ours. But everytime something came up, she figured out a way to deal with it.

Today, she’s back in college and is learning to make jewelry while supporting herself working part-time at a brewery.

Because Alyssa manages her money well and is dedicated to saving, she was able to buy a house before hitting 30. You can have the things you need in life without a crazy-high paying job.

(You just can’t live in New York City or San Francisco...)






lege experience.

looking for colleges

What were the most helpful resources as you researched schools to attend?

I did not have a normal finding a college experience. Living with a dad who was absorbed in his own life I never had anyone even talk to me about col-lege. I went to the University of Montana because my best friend was going there, it was an hour away, and my friend brought me home an application which she helped me fill out. I never had anyone talk to me about options. –Alyssa

Get more info on financial aid, and what scholarships are available. I nar-rowed my search because I didn’t think I could pay for much!

Friends, then the schools themselves once I contacted them, but again this was a loooong time ago -Anne

I wish I would have known what schools have clubs/social events that I could join-this would have eventually helped me meet people. Also, say I wanted to be a dentist, which school would have provided me internships or leads to help my chances. I also would have wanted to know which ones have pro-grams to study abroad. –Monica

It was about one hundred years ago when I was researching schools but I guess I mostly used pamphlets from the schools I was interested in to decide if I wanted to visit them. I would guess the internet speeds that process up these days. -Kenya






lege experience.


What are the two things you wish you had known before starting your college search? So, unfortunately most people that I know that have gone to college are racked with debt and pretty much regret going. Unless you want to do some-thing like Dr., Lawyer, Counselor, etc... 4 year degrees turn out to be worth-less. Yet, you need them to get into even higher education so going to college is probably better for you than sitting around getting wasted.

I think that if you want to go to college (but aren’t interested in a profession you actually need a degree for) I would choose something to study that inter-ests you and give you more depth as a person. Often through taking classes for pure enjoyment people get ideas of what they may want to do.

Use college as a way to get out! My biggest regret since I am strapped with 30,000 $ in loans is that I didn’t know I could go anywhere. If i had had people around me telling me the world was my oyster I most likely would have used college as a way to get to a city I wanted to live in. New York and San Fran are my unrequited loves. Now I have a degree, a mortgage, 30,000$ debt from loans and am stuck working at a brewery in Portland. (I’m not un-happy with my life, but there are a lot of things I would have done differently.) -Alyssa






lege experience.


What are the two things you wish you had known before starting your college search?

The school websites are the best. Barnes and Noble has a good source of printed material that rank the schools depending on major. –Rance

I wish I had known that I didn’t have to apply to/look at schools that I had no interest in. A lot of the place I look were “good schools” with totally boring classes that had nothing to do with my interests. The advice I would give about this is make sure you know what you want and find a school that offers it, they are out there. Also don’t let location and climateplay too big of a role in your decision making, you will only be there for a few years. Also if you decide you would like to be somewhere else later you can always transfer. -Kenya






lege experience.


What advice would you give in hindsight?

Moving to a new city is hard and having college as a purpose (not to men-tion a place to live and loans to live on) is a great way to get yourself started somewhere new. -Alyssa

My final bit of advice is that although the loan money won’t seem real until you are paying it back and (every month watching 80$ of my payment go to my loan and 160$ go to interest is quite a reality check)- APPLY FOR SCHOL-ARSHIPS.Oh my god, if I hadn’t been so lazy back then I would be soooooooo better off now,

I wish I would have gone to NYC, eurpoe-I was so young and narrow-minded, I wanted to go to UF so I applied to uf and got it. My dad made me apply to other Florida colleges but I didn’t want to go anywhere else. Had I spoken to someone, say me at age 27..i wish they would have told me GO FAR FAR AWAY-go live your life..its the only time you can! So please let your sister know..if she always was fond of africa, go study abroad. Do it now. Now is the time. I was also not in a financial situation that allowed me to do so, which shyed me away but its worth it! -Monica






lege experience.

Visiting colleges

How many schools did you visit before making a decision? How many schools did you WISH you had visited?

I did a visit to both art center, USC, and Otis College. Visit within budget. One day wont give you an idea of the school anyway. –Rance

Visited 2, nailed it on the second visit, so I had my mind made up. -Anne

Friends, visits to campuses, and websites were what helped me. But this was 1999, now there are way more social sites that give true insight as well as facebook. You can see the kids that go there via fan pages. -Monica

I think I visited around six schools before I made a decision. There were only two that stood out to me and I am glad that I did visit them both. The rest were pretty much a waste of time and I only wen to appease my parents. So, I guess I wished that I had only visited those two. -Kenya






lege experience.

Visiting colleges

What was campus visitation like?

The campus visitation was VERY informative. The visits to the schools that I was really interested in both stand out in my memory. The first one was the oppo-site of what I had hoped/expected and I couldn’t picture myself there at all after seeing it. The second was an amazing eye opener, it was totally exciting to see all of the facilities and to be able to ask questions in person. I highly recommend going on a tour of a school you are interested in applying to and asking as many questions as you can think of. If you can ask a student that’s even better. -Kenya






lege experience.

picking colleges

What is your recommendation on art or journalism schools?

Top journalism schools i believe are University of Florida, Berkley and Universi-ty of Maryland. Missouri is good too and North Carolina. Start there. -Rance

Art Journalism school- university of Montana! its my alma matter. Otherwise, I have no idea. NYU! Just find professors that inspire you and stalk them. –Anne

Look around, and keep looking. Make a list of top 5 and see where their graduates end up working. Do they go to CNN or do they end up in local papers. -Monica

Go somewhere cheaper to get yr gen eds out the way for 2 years and then whereever yr heart desirez- John






lege experience.

picking colleges

What advice would you give a 17 year old looking for schools?

Actually, my very last bit of advice is to ask for help. Ask the world to help you! The worst that can happen is someone will say no. If you are interested in the art world or journalism apply for internships while your cost of living is still low. they can lead you abroad, to other cities or just help you build up a resume for your future self to acquire an awesome job. Most places want more than a 4 year degree from their applicants and if you have internships on your resume it will really make you shine... plus internships are free real life educa-tion that you don’t have to pay for! and the world recognizes the time you put in just as much as degrees! -Alyssa

My advice would be to start early! Knowing what you want to be or generally what you want to be helps out a ton. It narrows down the search from a super wide one to a search that only deals with schools who are good at what you want to major in. -Rance






lege experience.

picking colleges

What advice would you give a 17 year old looking for schools?

Plan a really good campus visit. Do all the dorky stuff- take the tours, stay a night in the dorm, eat the cafeteria food, go to a club meeting, talk to fresh-man students, sit in a class in your prospective major. -Anne

She should double major. Yes its more work, but if you end up doing some-thing you thought you wanted to do at 17, she can get into journalism, hate it and then that’s it. I really suggest double major as a fall back. -Monica

I have a BFA from SAIC and I really enjoyed the fact that I never had to choose a major and could take the courses that were interesting to me and not be nailed down to one department. I realize that this may not work for every-one, but it made sense to me because I had no idea at 17 what I wanted to do with my life. -Kenya

to college

Business