- Shorewood High
- Recommended Resources
College and Career Center
Page Navigation
- College & Career Main
- Apprenticeships
- Area & Virtual Events
- Blog
- Camps, Internships, and Opportunities
- Careers & Programs in WA State
- College Applications
- College Athletics
- College Fit
- College: International
- Community Service Events
- Financial Aid & Paying for College
- Gap Year
- High School & Beyond Plan
- Jobs
- Military
- Naviance
- Recommended Resources
- Scholarships
- School Profile
- Special Events
- Testing
- Transition After High School
- Video Library
- Volunteers: Information for Nonprofits
- What to Do When
- Options Other Than College
College Admissions
-
Who Gets in and Why book by Jeffrey Selingo
Excellent recent book on how college admissions work. Selingo spent time in three college admissions programs--including UW Seattle--so you can get a glimpse of their processes and the basis for decisions.
-
The Truth About College Admission Podcast
Podcast produced by the authors of the book the Truth About College Admission. Biweekly episodes starting fall of 2022.
-
College Guidance Network video & resource library
CGN Library with video recordings and other resources
CGN On-Demand Recordings on all sorts of college admissions topics
CGN You Tube Channel with video interviews with college admissions officials. In the video titles, SWAG stands for Some Wisdom and Gear.
-
Georgia Tech Admission Blog
Georgia Tech Director of Admission Rick Clark and his team produce high-quality, reliable content on many aspects of college. Sign up for email list to get notices about new posts. It's not really about Georgia Tech!
-
College Essay Guy (not only about essays!) multimedia resources
Ethan Sawyer provides many free resources pertaining to college applications. Our only caveat is that his essay program can be overly complex. Follow College Essay Guy blog, podcast, social media, YouTube channel.
-
College Admission Brief Podcast by Georgia Tech
-
Less High School Stress
The website is an excellent, well-researched series of linked articles on college admissions. This is essential information, especially for families of high achievers.
-
The College Solution
Site, blog, and courses by Lynn O'Shaughnessy, a former financial journalist. Reliable information for families looking ahead to the costs of college. Some free events & materials.
-
DIY College Rankings
Do It Yourself College Rankings site, email newsletter, social media led by Michelle Kretzschmar. Reliable free content and produces some spreadsheets and resources that aggregate data to make forecasting your cost a bit easier.
-
Sara Harberson/ America's College Counselor
Site, Facebook Live, social media, and more. Reliable information on many aspects of college admissions.
-
Colleges That Change Lives book, website, events
Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope is a still-relevant classic. Pope examines 30+ small colleges in depth. Even if you don't think that small colleges are for you, the book prompts thinking about what colleges should and could do for a student.
There is now a group of colleges that hold events together and collaborate in various ways. Their college fairs are excellent.
-
Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be book by Frank Bruni
Though this book (2015) is not recent, the message stands. Reading it may shift your thinking about the college experience and help you deal with the frenzy of college admissions. The NY Times Review of the book offers a summary.
-
Brennan Barnard columns in Forbes Magazine
Writes about a healthy approach to college admissions. Frequent collaborator in national events and publications. Sign up for email updates on Forbes Education columns.
-
"Why Did I Say Yes to Being Here?" Malcolm Gladwell video
Gladwell examines our preoccupation with elite institutions and refutes it with data about persistence in majors and graduate outcomes at elite and non-elite colleges. The informal subtitle is "Why you shouldn't go to Harvard."
College Financial Aid
-
Paying for College in Four Steps
Reliable information on all aspects of the financial aspect of college. For finding college Financial Fit, start with Step 2. It will be tempting to skim through, but take your time. The five college types can be quite helpful.
-
DIY College Rankings spreadsheets & tools
Do It Yourself College Rankings site, email newsletter, social media led by Michelle Kretzschmar. Reliable free content with some spreadsheets (for a reasonable fee) that aggregate data to make forecasting your cost a bit easier.
-
The Price You Pay for College book
This excellent book by Ron Lieber describes how college pricing works and offers strategies to help ensure a good financial fit.
-
Road 2 College website / Paying for College 101 Facebook group
The site and Facebook page concentrate primarily on the financial aspect of college, but also on admissions matters. Their new College Insights tool (there is a fee) helps you compare colleges and possibly find merit aid.
Frequent FB live events, tools, and generally reliable advice. If you sign up for the email list, you can sign up for webinars and receive links to recordings of events.
-
Federal Student Aid website, social media
The official FAFSA site for all matters pertaining to Federal Student Aid. Follow @FAFSA on Twitter for excellent financial aid reminders. As well as the FSA ID and the FAFSA financial aid application, Federal Student Aid offers reliable guidance on student loans.
Newsletters
-
Georgia Tech Admissions Blog
Sign up to receive notifications of new posts. Broadly applicable college admissions advice for parents & students.
-
NEXT Newsletter
Sign up to receive advice and insight into college admissions from the author of Who Gets In and Why.
Articles
-
Excellent Twitter Thread on College Rankings
Expert Akil Bello links to research, evidence, and more in this thread.
-
Top 3 Reasons NOT to Trust Rankings
Rick Clark explains why the rankings shouldn't guide your decision making.
-
My college stopped relying heavily on the SAT. Enrollment of students of color climbed.
College Admissions Officer Shawn Abbott, Washington Post, January 2022. "For people in my line of work, the pandemic has come with one silver lining: the near decimation of the SAT and ACT."
Opinion _ My college stopped relying heavily on the SAT. The Washington Post.1.2022.pdf 84.1 KB (Last Modified on January 27, 2022) -
Did Harvard Just Signal the End of the Testing Era It Started
College Admissions Testing Authority Akil Bello, Forbes, January 2022.
"Whether because of self-interest, research, the quest for greater diversity, or to remove barriers for low-income students, elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and graduate schools are recognizing that the belief that tests could level the playing field has not been realized."
Did Harvard Just Signal The End Of The Testing Era It Started.1.2022.pdf 437.08 KB (Last Modified on January 27, 2022)