Alma Said:

Any advice for a high senior who has dreams of going to a top college?

We Answered:

1. Definitely, you can easily get into Boston College and Georgia Tech as a transfer, many do it.

2. Financially there are little resources available in terms of financial aid to those who transfer. In terms of friends, they will still have the clubs available for you to join but you won't get to know your peers for a very long time but still you will have some good friends. Obama transferred to Columbia and he made a lot of good friends there I believe. Transferring is a good idea, some students do it because they hate their current college environment while others do it because they want to expand their opportunities.

3. They accept transfers from anywhere, they want students who have made the best of their opportunities. Also the schools want a student who has good test scores (retake the SAT in June if you have to so you can get that 2300) and has made an impact on his school (started his own club or something of that extent).

As for your situation, make the best of the opportunities given to you and you will get to a top school for your masters.

Frances Said:

How are college students paying for college and renting a flat?

We Answered:

I'm from the US so I can tell you how they do it here, especially considering that we have the highest college tuition in the world (none of the higher education is subsidized and the costs will skyrocket even when the economy doesn't follow suit).

1. Mom and Dad. Whether it's in the form of a "college fund" (money set aside for their child when s/he was born and some is added to it regularly...like a savings account but only for college) or the parents are rich enough to afford it, many students just have mom and dad pay for their schooling. Sometimes, they even pay for their flat.

2. Student loans. This has to be the way most pay for school. Student loans are low or no interest loans given to students, usually through the college. Many are required to pay the loans after they graduate, so even then they aren't required to pay during college. This creates a huge amount of debt and really is a bad, but effective, way to go.

3. Tuition Assistance. The poorer you are, the more you qualify for Tuition Assistance. This is a federal loan given to students who are poor. There is no interest but they are required to pay it back. Student loans can only be given if you have good credit, and poorer students usually don't so they don't qualify. Other stipulations, like maintaining a certain grade point average, are also required.

4. Grants and Scholarships. This is if you excel in your field of study. Grants and scholarships are applied for, and if you're the most qualified applicant, you get the money. It's free money. Sometimes it's enough to pay for a whole semester, sometimes it won't even cover one class, but free money is free money.

5. Work programs. If you're a good employee, some companies will pay for your schooling in exchange that you continue working for them for a period of time after getting your degree. In my opinion, this is the best deal: you make money working, they pay for school, and you're guaranteed a position after you graduate.

6. The military. Folks like me, who served in the US military and left with an Honorable Discharge, can use the GI Bill. This used to just be $1100 a month for 36 months, but in August of 2009 they updated it (it was the same since the 1940's even though cost of living and school tuition rose considerably) to pay for your tuition outright and give out a housing allowance each month and a book stipend to help cover costs. There are caps on the money: the book stipend is $1000 per year and the tuition is only up to the most expensive state school in the state...that means if I wanted to go to Harvard, a private university, the government would give Harvard money each semester up to the most expensive state-run college/university in Massachusettes, then I would have to pay the difference out of pocket. If I go to a state school (and I do), they just pay my tuition. The military has other programs while you're still in the service, but I assume your peers aren't in the military.

7. Pay-As-You-Go. Students that choose this option work and save enough money for 1-2 semesters of school, then they can afford the tuition outright and continue to work to cover living expenses. After the semester(s) is/are up, they go back to work full-time and save up money again. This method takes the longest but you graduate debt free. Considering that US tuition is so high that many students graduate with up to (or over) $100,000 in debt, it's nice to graduate debt-free!

I hope this gives you a bigger idea of options!

Jamie Said:

What happens to all the average college students who want degrees and professional jobs?

We Answered:

You don't have to be top of the class in order to be successful. If anything success in school, at least to me, is nothing more than a faux-type of success. It's one thing to achieve that in a controlled setting such as a classroom, it's another to actually do it in the real world.

I imagine that if you were to go into any regular office type building, the ones filled with like 100+ suites or so, the majority of those owners are probably people who graduated with just average type grades. Success is always measured is more ways than just grades.

For example when I was in college just a few years ago, I knew people in my business classes who were always making 99's and so on on their tests, and it made them seem like they were very good in business. But I know that if I were to put these same people in an actual conference room, one filled with actual clients waiting to hear their pitch about xyz product, they'd fail so badly because they were just so horrible in communicable and interpersonal skills. I myself was an average kind of student, but because of my own nature I've enjoyed more success in my banking career than other students who had honors degrees in business and even an MBA.

In any case the important thing is to first graduate and then make sure that you make your own success out there in the real world. Good luck.

Ted Said:

How can I convince my friend that life is not all about top education, top job?

We Answered:

Sounds like a recipe for suicide. Driven by parental control he can only achieve a hollow victory. His only hope is to confront his parents regarding their controlling personalities and lack of unconditional love. When they inevitably reject him, he needs to leave and never see them again, for his own mental health sake. Then he needs to mourn their loss for a while and finally forgive them, but not contact them again. And finally forgive himself for not being perfect, because no one is or can be expected to be. Then when he feels OK and thinks he likes himself again, he can begin to find and pursue his own passions in life, driven by passion he will succeed.

Mathew Said:

what kind of jobs are suitable for college students?

We Answered:

I had a job at a coffee shop when I was in college. It was open until 11, so I would work when I got finished with classes.
You might consider some sort of work study at your college. It's not that much for pay, but it could be something. Also, if you have patience, you might see if any schools or daycares or the local YMCA, even, have an after school program. I did that in high school.