College Goals Articles

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Carleton College

“Do you have any questions for me?”

Learn how to craft thoughtful questions for college interviews. Avoid common mistakes and make a strong impression with these practical tips.

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The Advantages of Boarding School

Students who attend boarding school get to live, learn, and thrive with motivated peers from around the world, supported by compassionate and dedicated faculty who serve as teachers, coaches, and dorm parents. At boarding school, students…

How Heavy Is Your Backpack?

She uses the backpack analogy as a way to help her clients prioritize the things occupying their headspace.  A backpack is a useful tool, but it has a limited capacity and a tendency to collect stuff that weighs you down.  I couldn’t help…

Major Myths, Revisited

Students should be encouraged to look at its exciting range of possibilities rather than casting around for a narrow academic box to climb into. But college is also not summer camp, and a conversation about majors might be another way to…

The Role of Majors in Applying to a Liberal Arts Program

In the admission process to a selective liberal arts college, a lack of any academic focus can also help to weaken a student's application. Some colleges will require applicants to express an academic interest even if their admitted…

The Role of Parents in the College Application Process

College admissions present parents with difficult ethical, social and educational choices. We want our children to enjoy the adventure, act with integrity, feel good about the outcome, and be launched into successful and empowered…

Protecting Your Family Against Digital and Identity Theft

My 24-year-old graduate-student son recently had a terrible experience that offers many lessons to college-aged students and their parents. As a nice, smart kid who typically thinks the best of people, he naively put himself into a…

Interviewing

A successful interview is the outcome of your conscious and thoughtful choices about how you to present yourself to others. Thinking about this process will also help you to better explore and evaluate all of your personal and professional…

Why Choose College Goals?

Why choose College Goals to guide your child and you through the critically important challenge of preparing for and gaining admission to college? You will benefit from the collective knowledge, experience and wisdom gained from…

Planning Your Summer with College in Mind

Are you a high school student (or the parent of one) who is wondering how best to spend your summer? What do colleges expect high school students to do during their school holidays? While summer is a great time to relax and recharge, it’s…