There’s no better time to be a prospective college student than now. Recently, several web sites have launched to help middle and high school students and their parents through the college application process.Three such sites are ePrep.com, careersandeducation.com and knowhow2go.com.
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Florence Kizza
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Through blogs and podcasts, ePrep.com discusses college planning and standardized test preparation. Karl Schellscheidt launched the site in 2006 as an extension of his private tutoring practice. The strength of ePrep.com is its panel of experts, which includes writing, financial aid, planning and admissions gurus who draw from their experiences working in higher education to add content to the site.
"With expert advice and commentary, ePrep.com has raised the standard for offering visitors the resources they need," says Schellscheidt, who has also created a page at myspace.com/eprep.
Careersandeducation.com offers information about 1,000 degree programs and enables users to request catalogues from 100 universities. The site also includes student tips on campus fashion, Greek life and other topics. Created by enrollment management solutions provider Innovation Ads, the site launched in late 2006.
“It can be frustrating to conduct research on the internet and only find information on certain online, for-profit universities,” says Innovation Ads president Iain Grae. “Careersandeducation.com is an avenue to disseminate information on as many higher education institutions as possible.”
Meanwhile, the Advertising Council, Lumina Foundation for Education and the American Council on Education launched
knowhow2go.org. The site spells out four steps to become a prospective college student. 1. Be a pain, 2. Push yourself, 3. Find the right fit, 4. Put your hands on some cash.
It was launched in early 2007 as a national public service advertising (PSA) campaign for low-income and first-generation students and their parents. The campaign also involves TV and radio PSAs as well as outdoor and print advertising.
"Many young people believe that higher education is inaccessible to them. Others assume that if they do well in school, admission to college will just magically happen," says David Ward, ACE president. "The campaign explains that it takes more than good grades and big dreams to get into college."