College right now costs about $50,000 so it is one of the biggest investments anyone can make. The school you go to is important, but paying for it is just as important. The top universities in the country are all Private schools and they offer many scholarships as do other foundations. You need to know where to look though. Click here to search for scholarships at ScholarshipExperts.com or Find free money for college or an advanced degree. Search now! I applied to more scholarships than schools and it paid off eventually. I won several different scholarships worth anywhere from $800 to $5000 and this really adds up. Also, take advantage of random programs such as: Save up to 50% with Student Advantage . Of course the better universities offer amazing financial aid and the middle range schools offer amazing academic scholarships because they are trying to attract great students. So far I have been accepted to 4 colleges, waitlisted at 2 and denied by 1, and all these colleges make the bottom list. I am sorry to say that since I am still waiting to hear about my financial aid packages, I have not yet made any decision. And my family comes from the middle class! I am even currently at a private school, but college is more expensive than everything else, so you need to be prepared. I have some college application tips that might help:

1. make a spread sheet of all the colleges you are applying to-list their extra requirements, their due dates, their average SAT score and their size. You should also look into what kind of financial aid promises they make.

2. Become known- visit the campus if you can, email the admissions officer if you have any trouble, prepare for the interviews.

3. Decide what is most important to you- What do you care about? After my admissions letters started rolling in, I realized I didn't know how to differentiate between them. The only thing I could do was see which one was higher on the listing below, but after a point that becomes really arbitrary.

4. Start writing and get your essay brain on over the summer. There you have plenty of time for reflection and creativity. Once school starts, you will be tired and brain drained so it is good if you use your breaks for serious prioritizing.

5. Use ALL resources at your disposal. At first I blew off old timers who tried to tell me what everything was like in their day, but then I realized that you can never have too much info.

6. Learn how to relax- This was the hardest for me, but in the end, I was pleased with all my acceptations even if before I was only interested in the Ivy League. There are so many great schools out there!

1 Harvard University  Princeton University 3 Yale University 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4 Stanford University 6 California Institute of Technology 6 University of Pennsylvania  8 Columbia University 8 Duke University 8 University of Chicago  Dartmouth College 2 Northwestern University  Washington University in St. Louis Cornell University 5 Johns Hopkins University 6 Brown University 7 Rice University 18 Emory University  Carnegie Mellon University Georgetown University 3 University of Virginia