Search 4 career colleges

If you have a lot of responsibilities, finding the right way to balance your time can be difficult. But no matter how busy your life is, the right education can make all the difference to your future – and the sooner you start, the sooner you can begin to achieve your personal and professional goals.

If you’re trying to figure out how to balance work, family and education, try some of the following tips:

Try distance learning

With distance learning, such as an online school, you can eliminate dealing with a commute to school. Many online schools also offer very flexible scheduling, so you can take classes at times that work around your schedule. Even if you don’t have a computer or Internet connection at home, there are often options at local libraries!

Choose a school with flexible scheduling

Many schools offer evening or weekend classes, in addition to regular daily classes. This can be a great option if you’re a student who really likes being able to see and interact in person with instructors and classmates, but who is still trying to work around a regular daytime job.

Talk with friends and family

Having a supportive network that really understands your goals is invaluable. If you’ve got kids, having friends and family who are willing to watch them while you study or attend classes can really make a difference.

It can be tough balancing work, family and your new education. But you can do it – and the rewards are worth it!

What is admissions?
If you want to get into a college, university, community college or vocational school, you have to go through the admissions process. Admissions is the process of a college or trade school looking over your application. They use the provided information to decide if you are eligible for that particular school. The criteria differ from school to school.

Here are some deciding factors for 2- and 4-year colleges or universities:
• Test scores (ACT or SAT)
• Grade point average (GPA)
• Activities and accomplishments
• Essays and recommendations

There are other factors as well. For example, if your mother or grandfather went to that school, you might have a greater chance getting in.

What are my chances?
Acceptance rates differ from school to school. If you pick a more selective school, like Harvard or Princeton, your chances of getting in are slim. In 2004, Ivy League schools accepted on average about 10% to 13% of the applicants. And, about 83% of 4-year not-for-profit colleges and universities accepted more than half of the applicants, according to USA Today.

Better your chances
Early preparation is key for getting accepted to your college of choice. You can start preparing for college as early as junior high, especially if you are looking to enter an Ivy League university. Most students start preparing for college in high school. You can start with taking the necessary entrance exams, like the SAT or ACT. Applying to more than 1 college or university helps your odds of being accepted. You can narrow down your search by campus visits and learning more about the schools’ programs. Decide where you want to go and then apply.

Filling out the application
After you have decided on the schools you want to apply to, you have to fill out the application. Depending on the school, some applications can be as a little as 2 pages. However, some applications look more like a 20-page research project.

Here are some important things to remember when filling out your application:
• Fill out the entire application
• Be neat
• Include all materials (letters of recommendation and essay, if required)
• Make copies
• Turn the application in on time
• Be yourself

It is never too late to go to college. Whether you are in high school or want to improve your life, you can start your college career by filling out an application.

Four-year colleges aren’t right for everyone! In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that one out of three college students drop out!

But if you’ve dropped out of college - or decided college wasn’t the right choice for you in the first place - a higher education is still one of the most valuable assets you can have in today’s world. Fortunately, there’s no need to lose hope - a four-year degree isn’t the only kind of education available!

Some students who drop out of four-year universities switch to local colleges, in search of two-year Associate degrees. Two-year degrees can prepare students for a number of entry-level positions, as well as provide a good base if a student decides to go back to college in search of a Bachelor’s degree. They also have the advantage of often being far cheaper, which can be a great help if monetary considerations are one of the reasons a student felt that a four-year university wasn’t right for them!

In addition to local community colleges, career colleges can also be a good choice for students looking to further their education. With career colleges, students receive a very targeted education, specific to their wants and goals. Programs are usually completed in a far faster time than a four-year university and consist of very practical education, which makes a career college great option for someone who wants to move right into the workforce.

If a four-year college isn’t the best choice for you, learn more about your alternatives! Don’t let money discourage you - financial aid is often available. Many programs are also flexible enough to work around your work schedule or family responsibilities, and the rewards for your efforts are well worth it. No matter what option you go with - education is the best way to achieve future success.

Popular search engine Google has had its share of headline moments recently. First with a successful IPO, and now with the announcement that it is taking the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford and the New York Public Library on a ride through virtual reality.

“Even before we started Google, we dreamed of making the incredible breadth of information that librarians so lovingly organize searchable online,” said Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of products.

Google made the announcement late last year that it was working with these prestigious libraries to digitally scan books from their collections so users worldwide can search them in Google. Copyrighted material will have only an excerpt online, while all others will be on the Web cover to cover. Although the project has a long journey before it is complete (one USA Today article projected a five- to ten-year time frame), the announcement alone has raised questions about the future role of libraries.

“The idea that the world’s knowledge, as held through books and libraries, is opening up to all via a Web browser cannot be understated,” said John Battelle, professor at the University of California - Berkeley.

Google’s virtual library does more than make millions of books available online. It introduces Web users to millions of books they didn’t know existed, especially books that are no longer in print. But because of the copyright laws, users will still have to visit libraries to actually read any books they find.

According to Rob Enderle, an independent analyst with The Enderle Group, “search engines will be where more readers will find out about books, instead of at the bookstore.” Others see the Google library as a way to rejuvenate traditional library use.

Dean of Libraries at the University of Kentucky, Carol Pitts Diedrichs, hopes that Google’s new program to put thousands of texts online will drive readers back to where they once started: the library. “People don’t sit at a computer and read a book much,” Diedrichs said. “What we hope it [Google library] will do is drive users to us to use our collections.”

Not everyone sees an online library as a boost for traditional library use. For those who rely on time in the library, such as students, the prospect of a virtual library means greater ease with studying and accessing needed materials.

“If it was possible to access things online without leaving my room, that would be a huge help,” said senior Stanford student, Will Oremus. “For research papers, there are lots of books you can only get at the library. It would be really cool to get them on your computer.” Making it to the library has proven difficult for him, as he is usually not free to hit the library until well after it closes.

The $150 million project will change the face of information on the Internet no matter what role it plays in the future of promoting libraries or making them obsolete. An online library brings credibility to the massive amounts of information found on the Internet. Not many can successfully argue against more reliable search results.

Susan Wojcicki, Google’s director of product management, believes indexing library books is a plus for everyone, and an advantage for Google. “If we offer a better search engine, that will lead to more users,” Wojcicki said.

That is exactly what Google hopes will happen as it forges ahead in the quest to digitize the most popular and the most obscure books for the world to share.

You have some schools in mind. You have the will. You have good grades. You even have that sweatshirt that has “COLLEGE” on it. But in the money department, there’s much to be done. It has become obvious that you’re going to need financial help.
Is there any chance you could get a free ride to college? It’s not easy, says Barry W. Simmons, director of the office of scholarships and financial aid at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“Unless you can score a 1600 on the SAT or can run faster and jump higher than anyone else, there aren’t many ‘full rides’ out there,” he says. “It’s a matter of supply and demand.”

Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and co-author of The Prentice Hall Guide to Scholarships and Fellowships for Math and Science Students, agrees by saying that true full rides to college are very rare, and because of this, the people who are “in it to win it” are fierce competitors for the rewards.

How do you start?
Your best bet is to make a potent financial combination from a variety of aid, including scholarships, grants and financial awards. You’re going to have to search for quite a while and work your charm, but it can pay off. “If a student has been thorough in their research and used scholarship search tools, they will find many opportunities,” Simmons says. Another tip he has is that “too much is never enough.” Check to see if you can “bank” any excess awards for future years, Simmons says. Many come in lump sums that can be tucked away into savings accounts to make the long haul much easier during your education experience.

But Ben Kaplan, who is an author of scholarship application tip books, believes that students with initiative, resolve and creativity can cut their college costs tremendously. He knows what he’s talking about. Kaplan won $90,000 in scholarships from a large collection of programs after applying for more than 30 different awards. “Colleges are giving more and more aid to ’special’ students, including merit scholarships and preferential packages of need-based aid,” he says.

Where is a scholarship an average joe can earn?
In case it wasn’t stated clearly enough before, there are lots of places for you to look. Great scholarships are easier to find these days, thanks to the Web. The flip side of this is that there are more of your competitors using these tools as well. So get started!

Community service based scholarships:
http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/service.phtml
Scholarships for average students:
http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/average.phtml
Unusual scholarships:
http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/unusual.phtml
Full tuition scholarships (So you’re an average joe. You can dream big!):
http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/academicscholarships.phtml