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If you’re pursuing a Bachelor of Art’s degree, generally you’ll be required to complete four years of a foreign language. If you’re going for a business, computer science degree, pre-med, etc., learning a foreign language may not be mandatory but it will take you far in your future career. For example, in business you’ll most likely find yourself traveling globally and you’ll want to be familiar with various cultures and languages. As a doctor you may want to spend time in other cultures to fill a shortage of quality health care. When you immerse yourself in another culture, you’ll be exposed to the language daily, learn it quickly and become accustomed to the norms and ways of the culture… a valuable experience you won’t find in the classroom.

Have you always wanted to travel? Studying abroad gives you the opportunity to travel and many programs are structured to allow for planned trips in nearby cities and countries.

Studying abroad takes you out of your safe zone (daily college life), you’ll encounter situations and people that you won’t find on you’re college campus. This will be an opportunity to get in touch with your self. How do you react to new situations, do you run, do you get envious, angry, push yourself too hard, blame others, etc. You’ll learn a great deal about yourself and how to adapt to new situations will confidence.

Studying abroad expands your mind, it opens you mind. Most of us are some what sheltered in America. Returning from your travels you’ll have a greater perspective of the world and a greater appreciation of what you have. You’ll be exposed to valuable global knowledge and cultural understanding that can translate into handling everyday situations back in the U.S. with more ease and confidence.

Your experience studying, negotiating and living in another country will give you an edge on other applicants when applying for jobs after college. You may also be able to take courses not offered at your college in the U.S., again giving you that extra edge.

Is your junior approaching, otherwise known as academic burnout? This is a perfect time to get out of your routine, put yourself in a new challenging, stimulating and motivating environment… revitalizing your mind, body and spirit!

Absorb what you can and leave the rest behind. Studying abroad will become one of your most memorable college experiences. Have fun, not too much, and think forward, relax, spend this time exploring and continuing to focus on your long-term goals.

Online classes offered by your university can be an easy way to earn credit without stepping your foot into a classroom. You may want to take an online class during the semester to lighten your actual physical class load. You’ll still have to do the work but you’ll do it at your convenience. Web based classes will be structured and assignments and exams will have deadlines, you may be expected to join a group chat during certain times, but generally you’ll be able to schedule most of the work around your life and not your professor’s hours.

Taking web classes during the winter and summer sessions are a smart way to earn extra credit and give you a competitive edge. If your college isn’t offering the class you need, every major college offers online classes so look elsewhere. You may want take an online course at your local community college or state university. Or you can look to a traditional online-based college (all of their courses are internet based). Another option is taking a course at an upper-tier college.

You can take courses at an Ivy League or top college without applying as a traditional degree seeking student. Although taking this route may cost you more it presents a great opportunity, especially if you didn’t get into your college of choice. In fact, taking online courses can sometimes be a way to transfer into that college. If you’ve already earned a certain amount of credits (check with your college of choice), your college G.P.A. is high and you’ve earned credits at that particular school; this may be the secret code and certainly non-traditional way to transition in and become a student.

If you decide to take a class at a school other then your own college, make sure the credits transfer. Always talk to your academic advisor first. Although most colleges offer comparable courses, not all college credit systems operate the same way. Some colleges, such as the University of Phoenix online run on a different credit system. Therefore, your classes may not transfer back to your school. Generally if you take online classes at a large state university, the courses and credits will be comparable but always check to verify this.

The benefit of online courses is the flexibility that is allowed. The disadvantage is the lack of structure and discipline in an online environment compared to having to face the professor so unmotivated students may be more likely to drop out. As long as you know you can be the driving force behind your momentum in college and not rely on the professors to make you show up in class and take active interest, then you can succeed in an online atmosphere.

Freshman Year: High School is now behind you, it’s time to move forward!

High school was a breeze, you aced exams, graduated at the top percentile of your class, and you were a natural. You feel in touch and aware of your academic abilities and successes. But you may want to embrace humility when entering college. According to ACT (American College Testing), one in every four university students drops out before finishing their sophomore year - and almost half of all freshmen will either leave college before obtaining a degree or they’ll finish their education at a different school.

The transition from high school to college is not a cake walk, regardless of your experiences in high school. College is a different animal. You are often away from your parents, free to make your own decisions, decisions often based on new peer pressure. You may feel isolated; you made a major move to a new location, all life changes that can lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological changes you may have not been aware of or prepared for.

You may feel an initial sense of freedom; a desire to explore, but taking advantage of orientations rather than navigating on your own can make a profound impact on your college survival rate. Learning your way around the campus from a pro will help you feel more at ease and prepared with a greater sense of direction (literally). You may even wind up at new classes on time and know where to go for academic guidance, research, health services, dining, and recreation in no time.

Socialize with your roommate and fellow dorm residents. Networking will be important during your freshman year and beyond. Social support is linked to a greater sense of overall life satisfaction and can translate into a positive educational experience; having peers around that are going thorough the same issues as you can provide you with the right support at the right time.

Being organized is critical! Plan your day, every day! Use whatever method you’re most comfortable with; your BlackBerry, PDA, laptop, Gmail calendar, etc. Knowing where you’re going and when you need to be there will take you far in college and beyond. According to Woody Allen, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Go to class, this is a skill you’ll want to instill early on; you’ll realize the importance of this when you land your first job.

Embrace the library, find a favorite spot to call your own and sit and do what it takes to get it done. Discipline will take you far, in silence you’ll be in the right frame of mind to focus on your work, one project at a time … and you’ll have a familiar place to do so. Forming study groups with peers from your classes can also be very helpful.

Get to know your academic advisor. He/she will become your guru of sorts. You will seek your advisor out for assistance in all areas of your college experience. Hopefully, your advisor will do what it takes to help you have smooth and positive college experiences, if you don’t click with your advisor seek out a new one.

Remember, college will be very different than high school. It may be more painful in certain areas but this doesn’t been you have to suffer, accept the changes, be determined, seek help when needed, take advantage of your newfound educational opportunities each day. Have fun and seek balance. College life is set up to guide you in the right direction. There’s an old Buddhist saying, “You’re standing in the right direction, all you have to do is walk.” This philosophy can take you far during your freshman year and beyond. Lastly remember you are now an adult, act accordingly.

There are many reasons why students decide to transfer colleges. It might be because you want to move from a community college to a 4-year school, you’ve decided on a major that isn’t offered by your university, your current school is too expensive, or even because you are not happy with the social environment. Regardless of the situation, many students experience the desire to transfer, and transferring schools is a big decision that takes a lot of work so it is important to be sure that you are making the right choice.

If you have put a lot of thought into it, started searching for transfer schools, and still believe that transferring is the best option for you then here are some things you need to know.

• Show your commitment to academics. Although you may not be happy there, it will be much easier to transfer to the school of your choice if the time you’ve spent at your current college shows your ability to succeed and do well at the college level.
• Give yourself plenty of time. You can’t just put in for a transfer one day and then leave for your new college the next day. These things take time. Give yourself at least a semester (although it often takes a full year) to fill out all the applications, get accepted and get yourself ready to move to your transfer school. In the meantime, concentrate on your academic performance.
• Thoroughly research your transfer school. Make sure that you take a close look at the school you plan to transfer to. Remember why you are transferring in the first place. Does this new school provide those things that are missing at your current college? Be certain you’ve identified what you want and that your transfer college can provide that for you.
• Find out how to pay for it. If you are getting financial aid or scholarships, find out how much or even if any of it can transfer with you. Most colleges have funds set up specifically for transfer students so look into any paperwork that you can fill out to help ease your transition financially.

Now you know the basics, and can make a better decision about whether transferring is for you.

Starting your college search, no matter what stage of life you are in, can be overwhelming. Choosing the right school is an important decision that means more than just getting a great education, it.s also a huge life changing experience that can open up many doors personally and professionally. With all of this to consider, it can be easy to lose focus of what you really want to look for in a school. A good tip to stay on track is to just stick with the basics.

Go through the basics below and think about how each one applies to you and how important it is to you.

Use the Campus Explorer tools to start your search with some basic criteria:

•   Location - Consider factors like how close do you want to be to home, or what kind of weather you prefer. Maybe you prefer the beach over the snow. These will be important factors as you make your life at school.
• Size - Consider the size of the school you want to go to, a bigger student population may mean more diversity and a bigger campus, but a smaller student population could mean smaller classes and more focused learning.
• Courses Offered - You need the basic courses in your area of study to complete your degree. Also you may be interested in some supplemental courses. Take a second to think about what are the types of things you want to learn.
• Cost - Take a look at your budget, how much can you allow into your budget for school.
• Type - There are many types of schools that go hand in hand with what courses you are looking for and your budget. So think about some of your options here, ranging from community college to universities.

When choosing a school to attend, sometimes it is best to first decide what you want to do with your degree once you get it. What kind of career do you envision for yourself? From there, it will be a little bit easier to find the school the fits your needs. If you don.t know where to start when choosing a career either, we have a few questions and exercises you can go through to help you take a calm and collected look at your future and take help you decide where to start and how to match your career with the lifestyle you envision and which schools will help you get there.

A good exercise to begin is to clear your mind and ask yourself a series of questions. Here are some questions you can start with to start thinking about career paths for you.

• What kind of lifestyle do you want (Ie. Family, travel, relaxed, fast-paced?) Can your current career path lead you to that lifestyle?
• What are the things that you like and don.t like to do? Does your career involve more of what you like or more of what you don.t like?
• Find out what you are passionate about. Does your career involve things that make you passionate?
• What are your strengths? Does your career capitalize on your strengths or expose your weaknesses?
• Determine how you would define success. Is it security, wealth, power, comfort? Find out what is important to you and see if your career can provide that.
• Where are you at right now with your career? Before you can plan out your future, you need to have a clear idea of where you have to start.

It is a very common misconception that the only way to get into college is to have really high grades and test scores. Extracurricular activities and leadership abilities are becoming increasingly important in the college application process. It’s great if you can show them A’s in your classes or a perfect score on the SAT, but what colleges are focusing on is what makes you a unique student that they want at their school.

Being an active student at school is a great way to get approval from colleges. There are many, many extracurriculars available at every high school: academic teams, art, cheerleading, choir, dance, debate, journalism, sports, theater, yearbook, and more! Colleges want to see long-term membership to show your commitment, leadership positions to show your active participation and passion, and awards to show your achievement.

Colleges want students who will be active in their campus and community. Being involved in service organizations, at and outside of school; charities; churches; and city youth councils will show them you’re willingness to do just that. Colleges want to see long-term membership to show your commitment, leadership positions to show your passion, and time spent with the organization to show your active participation.

If you’re too busy working to be involved in a lot of organizations, that’s okay! Jobs can be just as good as an extracurriculars or volunteer work. Colleges want to see leadership positions to show your advancement and motivation and long-term employment to show your responsibility and commitment.

In your college applications, there will usually be a chart to list all of this information about these activities. You’ll also notice that essay questions are never about your grades. Extracurricular and community activities are almost always something that colleges want you to write about because they say so much about who you are and your interests. Something else important to remember about your application is that you need to submit recommendations. Adults and employers in these activities are fantastic people to have write recommendations because they can give a more personal description of you as a person. So being involved in activities can help you in more than just one section of your application.

The Internet has brought a tremendous amount of convenience to our lives in so many areas. Why shouldn’t studying and obtaining a degree benefit from the wonders of modern technology as well?

Many people have been tempted by ads offering to let them study for and earn a college degree from the comfort of their own home, in their own good time. Others are unable to physically attend university due to time or financial restraints, but could benefit greatly from obtaining a college degree.

There are many legitimate online college degree courses out there for both types of people. There are also a lot of scams.

Like most things on the Internet, offering to let people study for and earn a college degree online has spawned a huge number of very professional frauds. The problem is they look very convincing and official, and usually offer terms that are almost too good to be true, but are still just believable.

Some even offer to print what appear to be a legitimate degrees simply for paying - no studying required! Obviously, such a degree is worthless, both in that you didn’t really learn anything and in that potential employers will slam the door in your face if you present such a document.

All that is to say, as with anything purchased or applied for online, do some initial research if you are looking to get into an online college degree program. Most of the scams have already been tagged and listed by several watchdog websites, so weeding them out is fairly easy if you take the time to do so.

As for legitimate opportunities, there are many. A growing number of major universities are offering both undergraduate and post-graduate degree programs online. Of course, if you are wanting to go into medicine or some other field that requires hands-on learning and experience, your required degree is not going to be offered online. But for those degrees that fit with online learning, colleges and universities are actually becoming increasingly eager to sign up “distance learners,” as evidenced by expanding advertising efforts.

If the term “distance learning” seems archaic, it is. Advancements in online streaming video, audio and other instantaneous communications methods make the virtual learning environment almost as interactive as a physical learning environment.

Now, even with the advancements in technology and the legitimacy of these online degree programs, a lot of employers still view degrees obtained through online learning with skepticism. This is natural. All social changes brought about by new technology take a while for a society as a whole to get used to.

The good news is that a growing number of employers, including large corporations, are realizing that just because a job candidate received a degree through a university’s website instead of physically sitting in class and living on campus does not mean that his or her education level is diminished. And those employers are rapidly influencing more employers to view online college degrees in the same way.

So, if push comes to shove over your dream job, just do some quick online research, find a major corporation that has accepted job candidates with online degrees from the same university as you, and point that out in your interview.

Obtaining a higher education can be prohibitively expensive, unfortunately preventing many deserving students from attending college and advancing themselves in that way.

Student loans can help cover the cost of learning, but for many the cost of loan repayments after college is as prohibitive as the cost of tuition during college.

There are many different types of scholarships offered by a wide range of benefactors to help remedy this situation.

Institutional scholarships are offered by the specific college or university the student plans to attend. These will have to be applied for at your school of choice, and can be either based on merit, such as an athletics scholarship, or based on financial need.

There are a number of different state and federal scholarship programs based largely on sociological criteria, like race, religion or nationality. Other government-backed scholarships are those offered by the armed forces, which of course require time served in the military.

The largest pool of potential scholarships are private scholarships offered by foundations that want to educate more students in a certain field, businesses looking to groom their next generation of leaders or organizations seeking to aid disadvantaged youth in general. These types of scholarships will often have strings attached, like guaranteeing you will complete your studies in a particular field or making a post-graduation commitment to a certain company.

Other private scholarships include those provided to the children of employees of some companies or the members of major labor unions, as well as scholarships offered by some churches or church denominations, though those are often reserved for students planning to study theology.

Government-backed and private scholarships can also be based either on merit or on financial need, but it should be noted that even when they are based on financial need, the scholastic merits of the applicants will be a major deciding factor in who receives the scholarship. So don’t plan on getting a scholarship based solely on your financial situation. You also need the grades.

As with most of the topics related to getting into, attending and paying for college, finding scholarship programs is most easily done using the Internet. And as with all those other topics, when looking for a scholarship program online you must beware of scams. Initial research and checking with some watchdog sites will prevent a lot of potential frustration.

Some truly helpful websites like College Scholarships.org will help you search for available scholarships you may be eligible for, and assist in preparing the documents and/or essays needed to apply.

Choosing the right college begins with creating a list for yourself of what you want in your “right” college. This list is different for everyone because we all have different criteria that we find important to have in our lives. However, here are several questions to ask yourself to start your list:

1. Where do you want your college to be? Is there a state or part of the country that you prefer? Consider the climate, the people, the lifestyle, the environment, etc.
2. What size college would you prefer? Small or large campus? Many or few people? This affects class size and social activities.
3. Do you want to be located in a city, suburb, or rural area?
4. Do you want a college that specializes in your major?
5. Is there a particular degree program that you want to follow that may not be available at every college?
6. Do you want to be involved in sports? If so, do you want to play on the school team or maybe inter-mural? If for the school, you may want a school with a good reputation in that sport.
7. Do you want to be involved in activities like theater, journalism, dance, etc.? If so, make sure your schools offer them.
8. Do you prefer to go to a school with a particular religious affiliation? Do you specifically prefer not to?
9. What kind of housing do you want? Do you prefer single-sex or coed dorms? Do you mind being required to live on campus for the first year or more?
10. Do you want a campus that is particularly active in social activities or shows a lot of school spirit?

Once you’ve created an idea of the “right” college in your mind, a good place to go next is College Board (For Students). You can create a free account so you can save your findings or just browse without an account. Then choose “Find a College,” a web page which provides more information about finding college and a search engine for personalized results. Click the “our search engine” link in the middle of the page. From there, you can either search for schools by name, the College QuickFinder, or by criteria, the College MatchMaker Once you have your results, look through the profiles of the different colleges. If you like what you see there, go check out their official website for more information.

Although most of the college search can be done by you personally, you high school guidance counselor is great resource. I highly encourage you to develop your relationship with them by visiting them. Asking questions and discussing your search with them helps them better understand how they can help you. They can give you advice on your search, recommend colleges, and discuss your options. It also comes in handy to have a counselor who really knows you when your prospective college asks for their recommendation letter.