College Essay

Today's College Admission News:

For some good advice on writing your college essay or personal statement, check out the October 25 Washington Times' story, "Giving admissions essays the old college try." Lots of good tips. http://tinyurl.com/yhnlbwr

Scholarships: The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is the nation's largest provider of college financial aid for Latino students. You or your family must be descended from specific countries that are listed on the fund's web site to be eligible. A minimum cumulative 3.00 GPA based on a 4.00 scale is required. For high school graduating students, the cumulative GPA is for grades at least 9th through 11. Complete details are at: http://www.hsf.net/. Be sure to check out the deadlines. Some are coming up soon. Good luck!

College Essay

Students hear a lot about writing an essay for their college applications. As a college advisor I recently worked with one student from the San Francisco Bay Area who wanted to apply to college but hoped there was a way to do that without writing an essay. The answer: Yes, there is. Not all colleges require an essay as part of the application. If you are a California student, check out the Cal State Universities. Or check out the University of Oregon. If you have a 3.4 GPA or higher, you will gain automatic admission. No essay required. So if essay writing is not your thing, don't let that stop you from applying to colleges. There are many opportunities available that don't require you to sweat over perfecting an essay. However, during your high school years, keep your GPA as high as possible so you can have choices when it comes time to filling out those college applications.