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College admission is, in its simplest form, a numbers game. In fact, while some would call it a kind of lottery, lotteries offer almost no chance of success to those who participate in them, while quite the opposite is true of college admission. There are nearly 3,500 colleges and universities in the United States (counting two and four year institutions) so students have no shortage of options. So, students who do a little research and a bit of thinking about what kind of educational environment best suits them should not have a problem landing at a college or university in which he or she is likely to be happy and academically successful. Believe it or not, students who start their college search early, make good use of the college and financial aid information available in college guides and websites, and ultimately apply to at least four or five carefully chosen colleges can sail through the process with little or no anxiety or hassle. Despite the media's preoccupation with how tough it is to get admitted to the Harvard's, Yale's, and Princeton's of the world, a very small number of colleges deny admission to nearly as many students as they admit. Thus, if you do not have the grades, SAT scores and desire to attend a very highly selective college and you have applied to a realistic set of colleges your chances at each are high. On the other hand, if your grades and test scores put you in the top five percent and you are applying to the highly selective few, just be sure to also apply to a few of the hundreds of great schools that are not quite as selective. The extent to which a college can afford to be selective is a function of its perceived quality and/or popularity. Thus, while it is true that the colleges and universities with the highest academic profiles tend to be the most selective, many fine institutions do not enjoy the luxury of receiving applications from a significantly greater number of students than they are able to admit, and are therefore only moderately or even minimally selective. Keeping in mind what we have just discussed, you are now ready to begin your college search. Your first and most important step to identify at least a half dozen institutions which offer the academic programs and co-curricular activities of interest to you, provide a campus environment in which you will feel comfortable, and are likely to offer you admission. Begin by meeting with your school counselor to: 1. solicit his or her college recommendations. 2. discuss the courses you plan to take in future years. 4. register to take both the ACT and SAT exams. 4. learn which college representatives will be visiting your school. 5. register for the college night programs in your region. Don't forget that the web is a great source of information. Do a few searches for terms like "colleges", "college scholarships", "financial aid" and "college admissions" to identify some good online resources. After completing the above steps, you're off to a good start. Enjoy your search!
Dan Kane has counseled hundreds of students on admission to traditional colleges and universities and online degree programs. Don't reprint this article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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