The Tutor.com Blog

The Not-So-Secret College Life of Presidents

Think you are the only one who isn’t sure where life will take you after college? Don’t imagine yourself as very presidential?

Check out this list of presidents with quirky educational backgrounds.

Here’s our Top 10:

10) Ronald Reagan was student body president at Eureka College in Illinois.

9) George W. Bush is the only U.S. president with an MBA (from Harvard). John F. Kennedy attended Stanford Business School, but didn’t graduate.

8 ) Bill Clinton is the only U.S. president who was a Rhodes Scholar.

7) Thomas Jefferson was only 16 when he attended the College of William and Mary. He also founded the University of Virginia on land purchased by another U.S. president, James Monroe.

6) Woodrow Wilson is the only President with a PhD (in political science from John Hopkins University.) He also served as president of Princeton University.

5) Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman never even went to college.

4) Franklin Delano Roosevelt was blackballed by Porcellian, the most exclusive social club at Harvard. (An applicant was blackballed when a Porcellian member put a black ball in the voting box. It took only one black ball to get shut out.)

3) William Henry Harrison’s dad pulled him out of Hampden-Sydney College because he was cavorting with anti-slavery Methodists and Quakers. He also was the only U.S. president to go to medical school, but he didn’t graduate.

2) Teddy Roosevelt was considered odd and eccentric by his classmates at Harvard and kept a zoo in his room that had lobsters, snakes and a huge turtle in it.

1) Millard Fillmore never went to college, but attended a one-room schoolhouse in upstate New York and married his schoolteacher, a redhead named Abigail Powers.

Do you think it matters where a U.S. president went to college?

The holidays are about giving and sharing. In light of recent belt tightening, forget about hitting the mall to buy a sweater or a gift card. The best gift you could give yourself and others is time. Time to enjoy the company of family and friends, time to spend cooking your favorite dishes with your parents, and time to create long lasting memories with younger siblings and relatives.

If you are completing your college applications, time is something you know you don’t have. Still, by using the skills you’ve recently acquired from the rigorous college application process, you’ll be able to manage the joys of the holiday season. These four tips should help.

1. Start early to find the perfect presents.
If you are like me, you spend a lot of time browsing in stores to find the perfect gift. Minutes become hours and before you know it you’ve become a last minute shopper. Learn from the time you spent researching colleges. You started early, you thought about what factors mattered most to you in a college; you created a list of schools you’d be thrilled to attend and then you cut it down until it was manageable. Do the same for your family and friends’ presents. Do you know what their preferences are? While asking is the easiest way to find out, be an attentive listener and observer. Once you have a general idea of their tastes and needs, consider what factors matter most to them (e.g. functionality, style, comfort). Begin jotting down ideas early, you’ll save yourself time when you have a few minutes to yourself to do your holiday shopping.

2. Shop around.
Imagine doing all your holiday shopping at only one store? Like researching colleges, you need to use multiple sources to find the right gifts. You have used college guidebooks, college fairs, and ApplyWise.com to find the right college. Then, when you had your preliminary research done, you visited the colleges first hand. With that, use the internet and catalogs to create your preliminary list of gifts. Then, once you’ve done your research, you’ll actually go to the stores. This will not only save you time, but money—you won’t be distracted by last-minute sales and other stores where you might buy something that is not on your shopping list.

3. Take a break and involve others.
Like your college applications, you need to take a break to get some perspective. In fact, it is helpful to get feedback from people that know you. Like your college essays, you know that you can’t write a perfect personal statement by yourself. So, don’t think you can find perfect presents without some outside help. As you took a break and involved others in helping you with your college applications, do the same with your holiday shopping. Not only will you ease your stress levels, but you’ll also spread the joy of the season.

4. Personalize.
Remember, it’s the “thought that matters.” The Common Application is similar to the generic holiday card. Know your audience. Although you can send many Common Applications, it’s the personal statements and supplements that really matter. In the same way that you personalized each college interview and supplement, you need to take that extra minute to show that you care. Adding a personal note to a card is comparable to going that extra mile to show a particular college that you are perfect for that college. Taking an extra minute can go a long way to make a lasting impression and hopefully win you admission.

Following these steps will not only reduce your holiday stress, but also give you time to really enjoy your family and friends. Like a successful college application process, it is one that takes time. Overall, you can handle the holiday shopping season by starting early, doing your research, involving others and making this process as personal as possible.

Article by Katherine L. Cohen, PhD, Founder and CEO of IvyWise, LLC and ApplyWise.com

One of the most daunting parts of the college application experience is the college essay. For many students this is scarier than a calculus pop quiz, but it doesn’t have to be.   The first rule of writing is to know your topic. Well, you’re in luck. The topic of a college essay is you!

College Essays Should Focus On What Makes You, You!

Admission officers want to get to know you beyond your grades, your SAT score and your list of sports and activities.  They want to know what makes you, uniquely you.  And why you’re a good fit for their institution.   According to Sara McGinty in her book  “The College Application Essay”,  while college essay topics may vary from school to school, most fall into three categories:

• Tell us about yourself
• Why do you want to attend this particular school
• A creative question such as who is your hero, what’s your favorite book or quotation etc

Before you hyperventilate, we suggest engaging in some good old-fashioned brainstorming.  This may be the most important and fun part of the college essay writing experiencing.  The goal is to come up with as many great topics as you can think of that fall into these three categories and then whittle them down to your top two choices for each category.

How to Brainstorm

Here are a few guidelines on how to conduct a personal brainstorm session that will generate amazing results.

1. Get in the Mood – Love to listen to music while you study?  Can’t do your homework without a snack?  Whatever it is, make sure you have what you need to think creatively whether that’s your entire iPod playlist blasting or a big bowl of popcorn.
2. Write it Down – It’s a lot easier to compare your ideas when they are written down in front of you.  You may want to throw them on a whiteboard; put each essay topic idea on a post-it note around your room; or, buy a huge poster board and use different colored markers for each category of ideas.  Just write those ideas down somewhere.
3. No Judgments – Brainstorming is a judgment-free zone.  Put down every idea that comes to mind.  You’ll cross some out later, but for now everything goes.
4. Pick your Fave Five – When you can’t think of a single new idea, it’s time to start narrowing down your lists.  Pick your favorite five ideas in each category.
5. Sleep on It – Once you have your favorite five written down forget about it for at least 24 hours.  Then come back and narrow the list again to your top two choices.  These choices should be topics you’re passionate about, are fairly narrow in focus and will feature many rich, descriptive details.

That’s it!  Just five steps and you’re ready to write.  We recommend writing an outline for each topic and seeing how much detail you can fill in.  Then pick the topic that feels and flows better during your outlining process – it’s your best bet for a killer essay that will wow those admission officers.

Do you have some tips to share when it comes to writing a college essay?  Send them our way.

-         Jennifer Kohn, VP Corporate Communications who enjoyed writing this piece much more than writing her college application essays.

So you want go to college? The only thing standing in your way is that dreaded SAT exam. Your best defense against this beast is to simply be prepared. This is not the sort of test you can wait until the last minute and cram for. You can’t cheat on it and you definitely can’t “wing it” either. To ensure victory on SAT game day, you’re going to need lots of practice.

Before the big day, some tips to prepare

1) Take a prep class. Places like the Princeton Review or Kaplan know what they’re doing—and that comes with a price tag. But, you’ll be given review materials, tons of sample problems and personal attention for all your questions. If you can’t afford a professional review class, there are plenty of other options.

2) Go to the bookstore. No, you’re not going to get tanked up on lattes and read celeb mags. Use this opportunity to get  a quality review book for the SAT. Find one that fits your needs, and comes with a CD-ROM with practice exercises and tests. Nothing cuts down on test anxiety like familiarity with the types of problems you’ll see.

3) Use your local library. If it’s been awhile since you’ve been to the library, you’ll be happy to remember it’s a great place to check out review books for free. If this is the route you head, plan ahead: go a few weeks before the exam since your classmates might have the same idea as the test day draws near.

4) Get help online. There are a ton of resources online for preparing for the SAT. Some are even free. Here are a few places to try:

• Test Prep Review: You’ll find practice exams that you can take at your own pace and hundreds of “flashcards” to help with the stuff you need to memorize.
• Number2.com: Get a free preparation course that includes tutorials, practice sessions and vocabulary building.
• The College Board: Gives you free preparation, sample reading, writing and math tips. You’ll also find tips about the SAT and a listing of exam dates and fees.
• The Tutor.com SkillsCenter Library: Tutor.com has resources like videos, sample tests and essay prompts, all free for you to use. You can access these through your local library, our directly from our website.

Staying calm on the big day

Once you’ve practiced and prepared all you can, the biggest task before you is keeping your cool on test day. There’s nothing worse than freaking and forgetting what you’ve learned. Be confident in your preparation and just go with the flow. Remember, you’ve seen all of these questions before. They should greet you like old friends.

If deep breathing fails to calm you, repeat one of these confidence-boosting mantras to yourself:

• I will do the best I can on this exam.
• I will be mindful of the clock, but not obsessed with it.
• I will not freak out if I don’t know an answer. I will skip it, or take my best guess. “Freaking out” isn’t really going to help anyway.
• I will put my pencil down when the time is over and go do something fun. I deserve it.

There’s potentially a lot at stake here. On one hand, it’s just a single test. On the other hand, it could determine what you do with the next four years of your life. As with anything, do your best and be content with however it turns out. The SAT is important, but approaching it in a more relaxed (but prepared) way will help you perform better.

If you’re taking the SAT , you’re probably a little nervous about your score.  Don’t be.  Tutor.com’s SkillsCenter Resource Library has free test prep materials, and they’re available 24/7 if your school or local library offers our Learning Suite.

If the Learning Suite isn’t available in your area, you can also get free SAT resources from our website and work with a tutor anytime you need more help.

As you prepare for the exam, a good place to start is with a practice test.  Here’s one from the College Board.  You can print it out or take it online, and then see how you performed on each question type and subject category.  When you’ve identified the areas where you need improvement, you can practice  on those specific kinds of problems.

If the verbal section is giving you trouble, here are some useful practice exercises and tips for each question type:

• sentence completion
• identifying sentence errors
• improving sentences
• improving paragraphs
• passage-based reading

If you’re struggling with the math section, try these free videos from Salman Khan of Khan Academy.  He took eight SAT math practice tests from the Official SAT Study Guide and solved every problem, step by step.  His explanations are clear and concise, and you can always connect to one of our tutors to work on a similar problem or get more help if you don’t understand.

Finally, there’s the dreaded essay section.  You can get ready by writing responses to these essay prompts from previous SAT administrations; our essay-writing tutors would be happy to check your work and help you improve your writing before test day.

We’d wish you good luck, but with a little preparation, you won’t need it.

There are a million books out there on how to study for the SAT. But what about how not to study? We’ve compiled a list of common studying and test-taking mistakes that people make when preparing for the big day.

“I should take all my practice tests online.”
Nope! You’ll be better off taking them on an old fashioned piece of paper because that’s how you’ll be taking them on test day. It can help to rewrite or underline parts of a problem, and getting into that habit now will be good for test day.

“I have to learn every word in the dictionary.”
While it’s important to try to expand your vocabulary in the weeks and months before the test, it’s nearly impossible to learn the 10,000-plus words that may show up on the exam. Focus on learning prefixes and suffixes. If you can figure out the general meaning of part of the word, you’ll likely be able to deduce its definition.

“I’ll study for the test whenever I have spare time during the day.”
Most SATs are given at 8 am on a Saturday morning for four hours. You’ll want to make sure your brain is ready to go that early on the big day, so start incorporating a Saturday-morning study session into your schedule.

“I’ll start at the front of the test section, and make my way to the end.”
It’s fine to work your way through the test from beginning to end, but it’s important not to waste time on questions that are tricky. Each question is worth the same amount of points, and the ones you don’t do will net you no points at all. So it doesn’t do you much good if you get caught up on the third question and then don’t get to the rest. If you aren’t sure about a question, skip it and move on to the next. Then, come back to those questions at the end.

There is no such thing as a perfect college entrance essay, but you can make yours as great as possible by avoiding the following common situations.

Mistake 1. You relied on your computer’s spell check

This is a piece of writing where your spelling and grammar must be perfect, and many spell check programs aren’t as smart as the people who are going to read your essay. Keep in mind spell check doesn’t always point out improper grammar or use of proper names. Check each word over, even if it means reading through the essay veeeeeery slowly. Then ask two people you trust to read it over as well.

Mistake 2: You had so much to say that you went over the requested word count.

Admissions counselors read a lot of essays, so if they ask for no more than 500 words, give them no more than 500 words. This is a good place to show off your ability to read instructions and follow directions. Some schools might have more lax word count requirements, but there’s still no need to send 12 single-spaced pages. Editing down your thoughts might be tough, but cutting out the unnecessary stuff will make your essay a lot stronger.

Mistake 3: You wrote about your 10-day trip to volunteer at an orphanage in China.

Volunteer trips abroad are some of the most common subjects of college essays. This doesn’t mean you need to avoid travel and volunteer topics at all costs, but it does mean that you need to do an extra good job with them in order to stand out from the crowd. Sometimes writing about a simple incident—getting lost on a road trip or playing chess with your grandpa or trying to bake a pie—and what you learned from that experience can be more engaging than a routine story about all the good deeds you did in a faraway place.

Mistake 4: You’ve decided to use the essay as a way to show off all the reasons the school should take you.

So you’re an oboe-playing horseback-riding volunteering trilingual valedictorian? Good for you—but the essay isn’t the spot to expound upon your resume. That’s what the application is for. If one of your interests would make a good essay topic, then go with it. But listing your grades and accomplishments isn’t a good way to show off your storytelling skills and your critical reasoning.

Mistake 5: You used at least one big word in every sentence.

Feel free to show off your extensive vocabulary, but be careful—you don’t want to sound like you are trying to impress. If you use words you’ve only just learned, you run the risk of using them improperly and you might come across seeming like you have something to prove. The college wants to get a sense of who you are, not how many consonants you can fit into one word.

Tutor.com has the ACT resources you need.

Last week, we shared some free SAT prep resources.  But if you’re taking the ACT instead, don’t worry—Tutor.com has everything you’ll need to get ready before the test.  Our SkillsCenter Resource Library is built into the Tutor.com Learning Suite, and it has sample questions, study guides, and other prep materials for dozens of standardized tests.  You can also get free ACT resources at our website if the Tutor.com Learning Suite isn’t available in your area yet.

Studying for the ACT is like anything else—practice makes perfect.  That’s why you should start with a complete practice test, like this one from the official Preparing for the ACT booklet.  You’ll miss a few questions the first time, but that’s OK.  Once you know your score, you can work on the specific ACT section where you need the most help.  Here are a few more resources to help you build your skills:

• sample math questions
• sample English questions
• sample reading questions
• sample science questions
• sample essay prompt

If you come across a problem you can’t solve on your own, you can get more help from one of our math, English or science tutors—they’ll be happy to walk you through your question, step by step, so you’ll get the right answer on test day.  You can even send them the resources you’re working on, so they can see exactly where you’re stuck.

A little hard work now could make the difference between the score you want and a score you can live with, so take advantage of these free resources while there’s still time. When you get your test results, you’ll be happy you did.

Vicissitude—have you reviewed that word for SAT prep yet? Vicissitudes are unexpected changes or fluctuations, and a great way to describe life’s ups and downs. For most people, high school is full of vicissitudes. Guidance counselors are there to help you with those ups-and-downs whether academic or social.

Your guidance counselor’s job is to help and to provide you with important resources and information to help you deal with whatever concerns you might have. If you have doubts about talking to a stranger about your problems or plans for the future, remember that your guidance counselor really does want to help. However, it’s up to you to remain responsible for your studies and goals. Below are five ways your high school guidance counselor can help you through the vicissitudes of being a high school student:

1. Listening. Guidance counselors will listen to you and offer an outsider’s advice. And, they can suggest specialists who deal with sensitive issues.
2. Networking. Guidance counselors are well connected. Take advantage of their contacts when it comes to college fairs and visits and searching for scholarships, tutoring, and part-time jobs.
3. Support. Looking for your own personal fan club? Guidance counselors are there to support you and guide you through high school, and encourage you to do your best.
4. Scheduling. When it comes to choosing classes for the upcoming semester, guidance counselors can help you create a schedule that not only fits your interests and abilities, but that looks good for colleges, too.
5. College Admissions. Knowing how to apply to college is a requirement of any guidance counselor. Let them assist you in the application and decision process—from entrance exams to deciding where to apply, and maybe even writing you a recommendation, your guidance counselor is a person you definitely need to get to know!

Article by: Renée Euchner
Article provided by Next Step Magazine

October is right around the corner, and that means it’s PSAT time. But by time the scores are distributed in December, you’ve got other things on your mind.

As a result, you might toss those large, colorful score sheets with the blue, green and gold elongated bands in the recycle bin with just a glance at the scores on the top.

Instead, hang on to that score report!

How are PSAT scores distributed?
“Schools receive two copies of each student’s score report. One copy is … given to the student [along with their original test booklet], and one is … kept with his or her school files,” explicates Glenn Milewski, executive director of the PSAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) Program at the College Board. “The PSAT/NMSQT shares neither scores nor score reports with colleges.”

Why should you save the score report?
“Students and parents need to use PSAT results as a rough guide to determine which college, if any, is likely to be ultimately out of reach,” says Sally Rubenstone, author of The Panicked Parents’ Guide to College Admissions.

“Only in a perfect world can any of us solve every problem we confront. But when students don’t take the time to unravel and understand the questions they’ve missed on the PSAT, then history is likely to repeat itself, and they’ll make the same errors again on the ‘real’ test.”

Let’s unravel the PSAT Score Report so that you can vigilantly look at the questions you missed.

Review your answers
The answers for the verbal, math and writing sections are color-coded for easy reading. The test sections and type of questions are clearly marked.

Four narrow columns of numbers and letters run the length of each colored band. The column to the left represents the question numbers on the test. The next column gives all correct answers by their multiple choice letter. The white column lists student answers. A check indicates that your answer was correct; a letter indicates an incorrect response. The far right column notes each question’s level of difficulty.

Improve your skills
At the bottom of the report, you’ll find an area called “Improve Your Skills,” with suggested improvement areas.

“[These] instructions tend to be broad and vague,” cautions Rubenstone. “Be your own teacher instead. Use the list of missed questions provided on the score report, along with the original test booklet, to figure out where you went astray.”

Percentiles and Selective Index
“The Selection Index is one of the most confusing statistics ever invented,” says Rubenstone. “Ultimately, it determines whether a student is in the running for the National Merit Scholarship competition.”

It is definitely not worth fretting over your percentile or selective index. But because the same types of questions recur on the SAT, it is worth taking the time to understand each and every problem on the PSAT.

Article by Hon. John C. Ninfo
Article provided by Next Step Magazine

As you high school juniors prepare to go off to college after next year, decide which story you want written about how you handled your finances as a young adult.

Many young people graduate from college not only with historically high student loan debt, but also with thousands of dollars of credit card debt at very high rates of interest.

Too often, graduates don’t land that big job they counted on. So the burden of their debt, which they now have to repay in addition to their ongoing living expenses, leaves them struggling in ways that come as a real shock after living a pretty nice lifestyle through credit cards in college.

I wouldn’t want that to be my story.

Then there are the students who have to file for bankruptcy. And the students who handled their credit card debt so poorly and destroyed their credit by paying late, missing payments or exceeding their credit limits, that they lost out on jobs, apartments, car loans and student loans.

Who would want to be the subject of those stories? There are other stories, though, too. Much nicer ones. Stories of college students who stick to realistic budgets in college. Who know the difference between needs and wants, live within their means and work hard to minimize their debt. Students who work the highest-paying jobs they can find through college, use cash instead of plastic and always look for ways to save money.

Those stories would be my choice. Here’s how to make it yours, too.

Ignore credit offers. When you get to college, you will be aggressively solicited by salespeople, e-mail and fliers to sign up for credit cards. You’ll be offered attractive free gifts, sometimes even iPods. You’ll be amazed at the credit limits you’ll be offered. But don’t get a credit card until at least senior year of college.

They want you to have those cards not because they think you will be financially responsible but because they hope you’ll use them irresponsibly and end up paying them a lot of interest and hidden fees.

Set up a budget. If you don’t have a budget, you won’t know if you’re spending your money on needs or wants. Keep track of your charges, and you will be amazed at how quickly small amounts can add up. If once a week you have a Starbucks iced latte ($4), a pizza delivered to your dorm or apartment that you split with two friends ($4) and half-priced appetizers at Applebee’s with some friends ($12), that’s $20 a week or $1,040 a year. Over your four years in college, that’s $4,160 that you could owe on your credit card when you graduate.

A good way to avoid this debt is to follow a simple rule: If you can eat or drink it, pay cash for it. If somebody asked you how you built up so much credit card debt, you wouldn’t even remember those trips to Starbucks and Applebee’s, because they seem like such ordinary things to do. Add a few concerts and spring breaks to that, and you’re in trouble.

Visit the CARE Program Web site, careprogram.us, to download the handouts on creating a realistic college budget and financial tips for students.

Plan for emergencies. Save at least $500 in an emergency savings account for when you go off to college.

Don’t give in to peer pressure. You will meet other people in college who have more money than you or who are willing to go into debt to have more stuff. Don’t let their choices affect your decisions.

Hon. John C. Ninfo is a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge. Visit his site at careprogram.us.

College tips for Parents from Dr. Kat Cohen, founder of ApplyWise:

1. Start the academic year with a bang!
If you don’t know what courses they’re taking this year, you should. If you get excited about learning they will too. Find out what is on their reading lists for English and history. Engage your child in conversations about the material he is studying at the dinner table.

2. Prepare for standardized tests.
Make sure you review your child’s testing schedule with him and with the high school college counselor at the beginning of the year. Remind your child to sign up for the appropriate tests (SAT Reasoning test, SAT Subject tests, ACT, even AP exams) well in advance.

3. Leave subtle (or not so subtle) reminders.
You can leave subtle (or not so subtle) hints reminding your child to study. Leave an SAT, ACT, or AP practice test book next to their bed, or on the front seat of the car, or in the bathroom!

4. Foster a good relationship with the high school college counselor.
Encourage your child to start early in the year making appointments with the counselors at the guidance office. As the parent you should be sure to introduce yourself to the guidance counselor, too. Let her get to know you and your child. Remember, it’s the guidance counselor who is likely to write a recommendation for your child. If the counselor is willing you can foster an email relationship, too.

5. Nurture their relationships with their teachers.
Most likely, two teachers from your child’s junior year will be writing letters of recommendation for college. Ask your child how these relationships are going. Encourage your child to meet with his teachers outside of the classroom. Encourage your child to participate in the classroom and to go above and beyond the assignments. By discussing topics your child is learning in school at home, you can get deeper into the topic and hopefully make your child feel more confident to participate in class.

6. Begin your college visits.
Once you meet with your child’s high school counselor, you can get an idea of where he will apply. Map out the school year and calendar. Find holidays and long weekends, any vacation during the school year, to plan some visits. And though you may accompany your child to her prospective colleges, you should remain at arm’s length. Ultimately it’s his visit and his decision.

7. Buy some college guidebooks.
If you leave the books lying around the house, your children will come. Read up on some likely colleges and share your findings with your child. Let him read up too and discuss his thoughts. BE OPEN to his ideas and opinions.

8. Remind your child to keep up his academic work.
Senior year counts! Many students forget that. Get excited about learning with your child! Foster lively discussions about the coursework at the dinner table. Engage your child.