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While the debate over the effectiveness of standardized test scores continues, one school has decided to do away with the tests as part of their application process. Vermont school Saint Michael's College announced Tuesday that its applicants will no longer need to include their SAT results as part of the school's admissions process. Students will be evaluated on other criteria instead, including their high school academic records, leadership and service work, and extracurricular activities, among other factors.

Students will still be able to choose whether or not to submit both their SAT and ACT scores to the college. Some students are just good test-takers, the college reasons, so impressive scores may add value to an application. But the decision signals a shift, at least at Saint Michael's and other schools with similar requirements, that there are other, more important factors of a student's college application outside of standardized test scores. For example, the school has always paid attention to the kinds of courses students choose to tackle in high school, according to Jacqueline Murphy, the school's director of admissions. Murphy was quoted in the Burlington Free Press as saying the decision "made official something we've always done in practice -- and that is, focus on a holistic review of the student."

The standardized testing system has been criticized for years, most prominently by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. NACAC has gone so far as to say standardized tests should be removed from admissions processes altogether, and that standardized prep services benefited only those who could afford them.

Whether you agree or not, you'll probably be faced with the prospect of taking some kind of standardized test in your college or post-graduate career. Although hundreds of schools across the country have done away with the standardized testing requirement, many more still require students submit their ACT or SAT results. If you're planning on going to law or graduate school, you'll also need to take either the LSAT or the GRE to gain admittance into those programs. It's best then to at least familiarize yourself with the formats of the tests. Best case scenario, you'll also take some time to practice taking the tests and studying up on the main themes you'll be asked to recall on the exams. If you're worried, browse through our tips for taking standardized tests. Being prepared will help you feel more confident come testing day, potentially raising your final score.

Going to college doesn't have to break the bank or saddle you with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Check out the Scholarships.com free college scholarship search where you’ll discover you qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships in just a few minutes, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

While many students marked April 1 as the day they found out whether they were accepted or rejected to their first-choice colleges, many others were given a different response - placement to the waiting list. High school seniors are then faced with a tough decision. Should you take a risk and bank on placement at a school you're wait-listed at, even if you miss notification deadlines at schools you've been admitted to? Or should you cut your losses and inform the schools you've been wait-listed at that you'll be going elsewhere?

The waiting list generally benefits the colleges. The schools' administrators are able to wait until their own first-choice students make decisions on where they intend to attend, moving to those on the waiting list typically by May 1, once students' deadlines to notify the school of their choice have passed. The schools may also use the waiting list to fill gaps in their student population, according to The New York Times, offering eventual admittance to a student with a particular musical or athletic talent that the school had hoped to enroll in their first-choice pool.

Knowing this, it may seem like a risky endeavor to bet on a school choosing you out of the hundreds of other students on waiting lists. Still, many do choose to stay, especially at the most prestigious, private schools. At Yale University, for example, about two-thirds of students remain on the waiting list. (More than 900 were wait-listed at Yale this year.) Of those offered eventual admittance to Yale, a majority do choose to enroll there.

So what should you do? It really depends. Here are a few tips: 

 
• If you know you won't be attending a school you're wait-listed at, notify them of your intentions right away. There's someone out there who does want that spot, and you may be keeping them from being placed at their top-choice school.
 
• If you know you're sincerely interested in the school you're wait-listed at, let the school know that. Notify them immediately that you intend to wait for their decision, and send admissions staff a personal letter on why you want to go to that school. If they're your top choice, tell them. If you know any alumni from the school, ask them to write a letter on your behalf. This is the stage of the game where admissions officials are looking at every piece of information coming in on an applicant.
 
• Ask for an interview. You wouldn't be wait-listed if you didn't have the academic credentials to attend their school, so the admissions office will now be looking at other factors - extracurricular activities, outside interests, and whether your personality is a good fit for their campus.
 

 While waiting lists are more common at private institutions where enrollment numbers are much lower and the unpredictability of students’ decisions about whether to enroll in those private schools is much higher, some schools have used the list as more of a strategy to deal with uncertainties in state budgets or over-enrollment. California's public university system is using waiting lists to deal with a record number of applicants this year and a state budget shortfall that has made it impossible for the school system to accept as many students as it had been admitting in year prior. This is the first time the state universities have used waiting lists, and students have until April 15 to remove their names from the lists or continue waiting until around the first week in June. Any new admittances will be determined by the outcome of the state's 2010-2011 budget negotiations.

And don't forget, you should pay for your college education with as much free money as possible! Find as many scholarships and grants as you can before turning to student loans. Visit the Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today where you'll get matched with countless scholarships and grants for which you qualify, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

If you haven't heard already, today may be the day you find out whether you've been accepted to your first-choice college or university, as April 1 is the notification deadline for many of the most selective schools across the country. If the news you've gotten so far hasn't been the best, though, or if you come home to see a slimmer envelope than you'd hoped for, know that you're not alone. Many of the most famous and familiar faces out there were rejected from their top picks. (And no, this isn't an April Fool's joke.)

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal took a look at the company students with rejection letters will be keeping, and the examples they found should make any dejected high school senior feel just a little bit more hopeful. Harold Varmus, a Nobel laureate in medicine, was rejected twice from Harvard Medical School, at one time counseled to join the military instead. There's a decent-sized list of famous faces who have been rejected from Harvard. "Today Show" host Meredith Vieira and broadcaster Tom Brokaw were both rejected from the Ivy; Vieira instead met a mentor at Tufts University who got her into journalism. Warren Buffet, currently one of the richest people in the world, now describes his rejection from Harvard as a mere "temporary defeat," according to the Journal. Ted Turned received dual rejection letters from both Harvard and Princeton University, eventually attending Brown University, where he left on his own terms to join his father's billboard company - a company he has since turned into a media empire.

If you didn't get in everywhere you wanted to, don't be too discouraged. It's rare that an incoming freshmen hasn't had to deal with at least one rejection letter. Check out the New York Times' blog for their ongoing feature of students' experiences this admissions season. Those students are not only dealing with good news, but making tough decisions on whether those number-one choices were really the best fit, or only the top picks in their college searches because of their ranks and reputations.

This is also one of the most competitive years in terms of admissions rates, as more students are applying to the most selective schools than in years prior. Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania, for example, have seen percentage increases of applicants in the double digits over the previous year. Both of those schools have admission rates hovering around 14 percent, which seem like tough odds. So expand that net when you're choosing a college, because there could be a diamond in the rough out there that you haven't yet considered.

Going to college doesn't have to break the bank or saddle you with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Check out the Scholarships.com free college scholarship search where you’ll discover you qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships in just a few minutes, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

Samantha P. spent her childhood in Akwesasne, a Mohawk Nation territory on the New York-Canada border. When she moved from her Mohawk-language elementary school to an English-language middle school, she saw students from her reservation struggling with the abrupt transition and knew where her future would lead her. To help Samantha complete a degree in Education at the State University of New York at Potsdam and prepare for a career helping students from her community excel in both English and Mohawk, Scholarships.com has named Samantha the 2009 recipient of the annual $1,000 College Education Scholarship.

Scholarships.com has been awarding Area of Study College Scholarships since summer 2008 to help students like Samantha meet their college and career goals. The competition grants a $1,000 scholarship each month to a high school senior or undergraduate student planning to pursue a career in one of 13 areas of study, such as Education.

"Education is an important field in need of passionate and forward-thinking individuals," said Emily Hilleren, Director of Content for Scholarships.com. "Samantha’s dedication to her area of study and commitment to a multicultural approach to teaching made her entry stand out among the numerous applications we received. Scholarships.com is honored to play a role in funding her college education with this scholarship award."

Scholarship applicants are asked to describe what influenced their career choices. In her essay, Samantha described her goal of becoming an English teacher near the community where she grew up, so that she could “incorporate traditional Mohawk stories like ‘The Creation Story’ with classics like ‘Romeo and Juliet’” to instill in her students a passion for reading and writing. “I want my students to be chameleons and blend into the world of the Mohawk culture and the English world that surrounds them,” she wrote.

The Scholarships.com Area of Study Scholarships are open to all U.S. citizens who will be attending college in the coming fall, regardless of age, test scores or grade point average. To apply for the Scholarships.com Area of Study College Scholarships, students can conduct a free scholarship search and complete an online scholarship application.

A complete list of Area of Study scholarship winners as well as their winning essays is available on our Student Winners page.

And remember, there’s no need to rely on expensive student loan options to pay for your college education. For more information on finding free scholarship money for college, conduct a Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

Briana G. wants to create a "healthy Twinkie." While completing an Associate's degree in Baking and Pastry Arts, she became concerned about America's obesity epidemic and realized she wanted to learn to craft more forgiving sweets. To help her complete her degree in Food Science and Dietetics at Colorado State University, Scholarships.com has named Briana the 2009 recipient of the annual $1,000 College Culinary Arts Scholarship.

Scholarships.com has been awarding Area of Study College Scholarships since summer 2008 to help students like Briana meet their college and career goals. The competition grants a $1,000 scholarship each month to a high school senior or undergraduate student planning to pursue a career in one of thirteen areas of study, including Culinary Arts.

"These students have such creative ideas and reasons for choosing a particular major and, through this program, we are able to help them share these ideas and aspirations," said Kevin Ladd, Vice President for Scholarships.com. "The Area of Study College Scholarships help students pay for college and also challenge them to really think about why they want to study a given subject or go into a particular field."

Applicants are asked to compose essays describing what influenced their career choices. In her submission, Briana described reconciling her desire to make "delicious, eye-catching desserts" with her growing awareness of how poor diets contribute to obesity. Her goal now it to make healthy version of the "sweet treats that Americans love."

The Scholarships.com Area of Study Scholarships are open to all U.S. citizens who will be attending college in the fall of 2009, regardless of age, test scores or grade point average. To apply for the Scholarships.com Area of Study College Scholarships, students can visit www.scholarships.com, conduct a free college scholarship search and complete an online scholarship application.

A complete list of Area of Study scholarship winners, as well as their winning essays is available on our Student Winners page.

And remember, there’s no need to rely on expensive student loan options to pay for your college education. For more information on finding free scholarship money for college, conduct a Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

A native of a "small town in the Pacific Ocean," Deisha P. hopes to use her business major to improve the economic growth of Molokai, Hawaii, her island community that has struggled to balance development and preservation. To help achieve that goal, Deisha has been named the 2009 recipient of the annual $1,000 College Business Scholarship from Scholarships.com.

Scholarships.com has been awarding Area of Study College Scholarships since summer 2008 to help students like Deisha meet their college and career goals. The competition has now entered its second year, granting a different $1,000 scholarship each month to high school seniors and undergraduate students planning to pursue careers in the following fields: Business, Culinary Arts, Design, Computer Science, Education, Engineering, English, Health, History, Science, Technology, and Art.

These scholarships give students an opportunity to voice their opinions, and provide them with an opportunity to fund their education," said Kevin Ladd, Vice President for Scholarships.com. "The Area of Study College Scholarships make paying for college easier for students like Deisha who are willing to expend the time and effort necessary to realize their career goals while taking out as few student loans as possible."

Applicants are asked to compose essays describing what influenced their career choices. In her submission, Deisha described her goals of introducing innovative ways to bring more people to Molokai while maintaining the integrity of the island's "untouched" resources and vibrant culture.

The Scholarships.com Area of Study College Scholarships are open to all U.S. citizens who will be attending college in the fall of 2009, regardless of age, test scores or grade point average. To apply for the Scholarships.com Area of Study College Scholarships, students can visit Scholarships.com, conduct a free college scholarship search and complete an online scholarship application.

A complete list of Area of Study scholarship winners, as well as their winning essays is available on our Student Winners page.

And don't forget, you should pay for your college education with as much free money as possible! Find as many scholarships and grants as you can before turning to student loans. Visit the Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today where you'll get matched with countless scholarships and grants for which you qualify, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

Majoring in engineering can lead to a stable, lucrative, and challenging career, but it involves a lot of hard work and often more than four years of college with little free time to earn money to finance your education. Luckily, in addition to a good job, your engineering major can also land you college scholarships, such as this week's Scholarship of the Week. The Scholarships.com College Engineering Scholarship offers an annual award of $1,000 to an undergraduate student majoring in engineering. There are no GPA or test score requirements. To win, all you have to do is write a scholarship essay explaining what has influenced you to pursue a career in engineering.

Prize: $1000

Eligibility: Registered Scholarships.com users and current undergraduate students or high school seniors who will be enrolled in a two-year or four-year college or university in the coming academic year.

Deadline: September 30, 2009

Required Material: A completed online scholarship application and an essay of 250 to 350 words in response to the question, "What has influenced you to pursue a career in engineering?"

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

Going to college doesn't have to break the bank or saddle you with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Check out the Scholarships.com free college scholarship search where you’ll discover you qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships in just a few minutes, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

This weekend is San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest event of the year for fans of comic books, graphic novels, online comics, and virtually anything else related to comics or the surrounding culture. While no one in the Scholarships.com office is making the trek to Comic-Con this year, we are looking at ways to help students who love comics pay for school. If you're looking for something to do while all your favorite webcomics are on hiatus, consider applying for some of these scholarship awards.

If you're interested in reading comics, you may also be interested in writing or drawing them, and creative writing and art scholarships are both widely available. Even if you're less interested in art and more interested in science fiction (comic conventions are nerd meccas, after all), there are scholarship opportunities for you. We encourage you to take a few moments to do a free college scholarship search and check out our information page on unusual scholarships, which features some interesting awards that may work for you. To give you an idea of some of the scholarship opportunities available for comics enthusiasts, here are a few examples.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards: Aspiring artists and writers are asked to submit portfolios of three to eight pieces in this annual scholarship contest. Winners receive up to $10,000 in college scholarships.

L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests: Amateur illustrators and writers participating in the quarterly L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest can receive awards of up to $5,000 for creating an original illustration or short story with a science fiction theme.

Starfleet Academy Scholarships: Any active member of Starfleet, the official Star Trek fan club, is eligible for a Starfleet Scholarship. Members can be attending community colleges, four-year colleges, most technical schools, junior colleges and universities or graduate school.

And remember, there’s no need to rely on expensive student loan options to pay for your college education. For more information on finding free scholarship money for college, conduct a Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

As we mentioned yesterday, the 2008-2009 school year is winding down, and people are preparing to flip over to a new academic calendar and a new college application cycle.  However, that doesn't mean that students still seeking admission or financial aid for 2009-2010 are completely out of luck.  There are still colleges and scholarships accepting applications right now.  In fact, there are some substantial scholarship awards that you can still win this summer, and to prove it, we're listing a few of them below.  To learn more about these awards and others with upcoming deadlines, you can do a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com.

HANDS Essay Contest

Hands Along the Nile is accepting applications until July 4 for its $5,000 scholarship essay contest. To apply, students are asked to compose an essay of no more than 2,500 words in response to the question, "How is community development in the Middle East important to the U.S.? Why is it particularly crucial to focus on Egypt?" This scholarship is open to high school seniors and full-time undergraduate and graduate students at colleges in the United States.

Blade Your Ride Scholarship Program

Through June 30, current undergraduate and graduate students who are passionate about the environment are invited to create a video webcast for a chance to win up to $9,000 towards their college education.  Videos should focus on the global climate crisis and creativity is encouraged.  Applicants must maintain a 3.0 GPA and must be attending college in the United States, but citizenship is not required.

SPENDonLIFE Credit Challenged Scholarship

High school and college students who have been declined for student loans due to the credit crunch have until June 15 to apply for a scholarship of up to $5,000 to help cover their college costs.  To apply, students are asked to write a 500-word essay describing the impact of the economic downturn on their lives. This contest is open to U.S. residents between the ages of 17 and 25.

The Calm-a-Sutra of Tea $15,000 Scholarship Competition

The Tea Council of the USA is looking for videos about the health benefits of tea, and you have until August 2 to create one.  Applicants ages 16 and older who are legal residents of the United States or Puerto Rico are invited to upload a video about tea to YouTube, then share the link with the Tea Council.  One winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship.

Scholarships.com College Scholarships

Scholarships.com is also accepting applications for three of our scholarship awards.  For a chance to win $1,000, you can apply for the Resolve to Evolve Essay contest, the College Culinary Arts Scholarship, or the College Design Scholarship.  Other Scholarships.com college scholarships are available throughout the year, as well.

And remember, there’s no need to rely on expensive student loan options to pay for your college education. For more information on finding free scholarship money for college, conduct a Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today, then apply and win! It’s that easy!

Painting, sculpture, music, photography, theater and film all come to mind when the word "art" is mentioned, a fact reflected in the criteria for many art scholarships.  In today’s world, students who major in commercial arts, graphic design and photojournalism are all considered artists in their respective fields. To recognize and support artists working in diverse media, Scholarships.com has created this week's Scholarship of the Week.

Students who apply for the Scholarships.com College Art Scholarship will have the chance to earn $1,000 towards their college education—and it couldn’t be easier. Just respond to the following question in a 250 to 350 word essay (entries that fall outside of this word range will be disqualified): "What has influenced your decision to pursue a career in art?"

Prize: $1,000

Eligibility: Applicants must be U.S citizens and registered users of Scholarships.com.  To apply, users must be undergraduate students or high school students planning to major in one of the following areas of study at an accredited two-year or four-year college or university in the fall of 2009:

• Art
• Art History
• Commercial Arts
• Cosmetology
• Dance
• Design
• Fashion
• Film Studies
• Fine Arts
• Graphic Design
• Interior Design
• Music
• New Media
• Photographic Studies
• Theatre
• TV News
• Photojournalism
• Voice
• Web Design

Deadline: April 30, 2009

Required Material: A completed Scholarships.com profile and a 250 to 350-word scholarship essay written in response to the question, “What has influenced your decision to pursue a career in art?”

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

And don't forget, you should pay for your college education with as much free money as possible! Find as many scholarships and grants as you can before turning to student loans. Visit the Scholarships.com free college scholarship search today where you'll get matched with countless scholarships and grants for which you qualify, then apply and win! It’s that easy!