myCollegeBLOG » Charles

College Admissions: an Afternoon with the Experts

Charles — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:44:03 +0000

Do you want to have a head start in college applications? Does the admissions process seem daunting? Do you want to learn more about college life? Come join us at College Admissions: an Afternoon with the Experts to have your questions answered by students and professionals!

College Admissions: an Afternoon with the Experts will provide students and parents with unique insight and invaluable information on getting accepted. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear directly from admissions officers, alumni interviewers, college counselors, financial aid representatives, and current college students from top universities.

By attending the event, you will be able to…

* Listen to expert opinions on what it means to be a well-rounded student
* Listen to admissions officers talk about the application and financial aid process
* Interact with student representatives from top schools including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Columbia, and more
* Learn about college majors and college life from university students

College Admissions: an Afternoon with the Experts will take place from 2:00pm – 5:00pm on Saturday, August 8, 2009 at Brooklyn Technical High School at 29 Fort Greene Place in Brooklyn, NY.

The event is FREE and open to everyone. All attendees will receive a free gift bag and Newsweek Magazine while supplies last.

For more information and event registration, please visit www.myCollegeSTAT.com/event
Join the Facebook event group http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=121290891969

myCollegeSTAT on Sector B: The Business of Brooklyn

Charles — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:02:50 +0000

To buy, or not to buy

Charles — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:39:50 +0000

In the words of the immortal bard, “To be, or not to be: that is the question…” OK, well perhaps the question we are dealing with is not as life and death as that penned by the sage himself, but it is still vital nonetheless, and it is one that I will attempt to shed light on here.

Most of us have been in a situation where, after spending a ton of money (often borrowed money) on textbooks we have come to class and learned that either these textbooks were optional, that no one else had simply bothered to buy the books or had got them from a library. Unfortunately it is impossible to prevent every occurrence of this situation, and no matter how hard you try to avoid being played for a chump, any diligent student will at one point find themselves having overpaid for textbooks or paid for “useless” ones. But there are a few steps you can take to prevent such occurences, and I will cover these here.

First of all I want to say that there are many classes where buying the textbook is unavoidable, this rings particularly true for all math, science, engineering, law, medicine, computer science and other technical courses. These courses will typically have a single textbook (a very expensive one at that) but one that you’ll have to either purchase, or share with a friend. For such courses professors often give out assignments taken directly from the book, and it is helpful to have the book on hand to answer such problems. Additionally, for such classes you are expected to read the entire book, and avoidance is difficult if you expect good grades.

An important trick to note is that most university libraries keep the majority of required textbooks on reserve, this means that as long as you are willing to do all of your studying at the library, and no one has beaten you to the textbook, you can have as much access to the required textbook as you wish (but you cannot take it out of the library) Additionally, each department often keeps a collection of textbooks that are either currently being used as required reading, or that have at some point in the past been used as required reading, so I would advice you to consult a secretary at your department to see if they have a book, and if you can borrow it.

Now, as promised, here are a few ways to avoid buying textbooks altogether. If you are taking an English or Literature course, there will be a number of assigned books, these books are typically not too expensive, but they are a good place to save a few bucks, as they are normally available at the library. Many professors (for a number of different courses) like to assign novels as required reading, these you can get for free at a few places:

1. The library (local, college or otherwise).

2. The Web. If you search for, “book name + full text version” you will discover that many classics are available for free online in full. You can then either read the book on your computer, or print it in a computer lab, avoiding having to buy the book altogether. This applies not only to the majority of classic texts, but also to many introductory level liberal arts textbooks. Be sure to check the legality of the version you find online, though. Reading illegally scanned or otherwise digitized books is bad not only for you but for everyone. The more people pirate books, the less books will be published and the pricier they will get. So check your sources!

This was a guest blog post by We Compare Books. You can read more of their blog posts here.

myCollegeSTAT Supports Microfinancing with New Application Review Service

Charles — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:03:17 +0000

myCollegeSTAT is offering a trial service as part of the Gumball Challenge, a week long competition challenging students to raise as much money as they can for social entrepreneurship with only $27 and 27 gumballs. From November 3rd to November 8th, we are offering to review your college applications and essays for a small fee. The cost is $15 per essay or application you want reviewed. All proceeds from the service go towards financing entrepreneurs in developing nations through Gumball Capital and kiva.org. A team of 10 Stanford students will review your essays/applications and give you feedback and suggestions. These are students who were in your same position and know what you are going through. If you are interested in the service, want to help people pull themselves out of poverty, and want some help on your college application, click on the links below and email me at cnaut@mycollegestat.com or cnaut@stanford.edu with the materials you want reviewed and what colleges they are for. You do not need to be a myCollegeSTAT user to use this service so send this to your friends if you think they will be interested. You will need a credit card to order this service and remember to do this before the end of Novermber 8th.

Click Here to Order Essay Reviews
Click Here to Order Application Reviews

If you want to learn more about the competition you can check out:
http://www.kiva.org
http://www.gumballchallenge.org
http://www.gumballcapital.org

Thank you,
Charles Naut