Cappex College Blog

Over the last year, we’ve posted lots of helpful advice, tips and hints to help you get into the right college on Cappex. We recently brought you key activities to help you manage your college search with Cappex.com/tips. Now, we’re bringing you a library of college admissions articles providing you in-depth information.

At Cappex.com/resources we’ve created a collection of advice, lists and college insights. These articles cover every aspect of your college search. We explain admissions policies, help you plan your college visits and even give you inside advice on how to pay for college. You will find college lists that make it easy to find the most affordable private and public colleges in the country or look for colleges in your region.

All the articles give you the straight truth about college admissions. It’s the information you deserve in a way that’s easy to read. Check out the info we have up now, and then keep visiting. We’ll be adding new articles regularly.

Today is kind of a big deal.

Cappex is one year old! OK, technically Cappex turned the big 1 yesterday. But today is Friday, it’s Leap Day and we’re celebrating. Feel free to help yourself to the virtual cake above. It’s virtually delicious.

At Cappex, our goal is to bring colleges to students. We know there is a better way to find the right college. To all the students who learned there are colleges looking for them on Cappex, we say thank you!

In fact, the first 10 students to drop by the comments section with birthday wishes will get an official Cappex cap. It’s our birthday present to you. That, and the promise that we will keep working to bring colleges right to your doorstep.

Since Cappex opened its virtual doors we’ve helped thousands of students connect with colleges from across the country. For the first time ever, students knew which colleges were interested in them before applying. Now, we are launching a new section of our site that will help students with every stage of the college admissions process.

We call it the Tips and Tools Page, and you can find it at Cappex.com/tips. It’s a simple name for great resources that will help you make sense of the sometimes complicated, sometimes frustrating college search.

Whether you are just beginning to think about college or are visiting schools and making final decisions, Cappex Tips and Tools can help you. We’ve got quick tips, explainers, checklists, videos and a host of other activities. We’ll be highlighting some of the features on the blog in the near future. Take it for a test drive and let us know what you think.

We’ve passed out lots of deadline reminders this year, but perhaps none is as fun as this one. Time is running out on 2007. If you need to make some resolutions, you better move quickly.

This year was huge for Cappex. Thousands of students from across the country connected with colleges on Cappex. Many students were introduced to schools they otherwise might not have known about. Cappex has also given away thousands of dollars in scholarships. And for students still trying to decide where to apply, the Cappex “What Are My Chances?” Calculator told thousands of students their chances of being admitted to almost any college in the country.

That’s a lot in one year, and we’re just getting started. To all the high school seniors with applications out, good luck. Stay in touch. To juniors and sophomores, the dawning of a new year means it’s time to step up and take charge of your college search. Let Cappex help. Let the colleges come to you.

Have a great holiday season and new year, and don’t forget:

• The first Cappex college scholarship deadline comes quickly in 2008. Applications for English, education and political science scholarships is Jan. 31.
• Keep us posted on your college apps. Tell us which colleges you found on Cappex that earned your application.

Applications are flying through the mail this time of year. Deadlines loom, and with a little time off from school many seniors are getting their applications out.

So we want to know: Where are you applying? Are you applying to colleges you found on Cappex? How many colleges are you applying to?

Tell us your Cappex college application story! Has anyone had any deadline nightmares? Computer glitches before you could save your files? Late-night stamp runs?

Tell us which colleges you found on Cappex that you are applying to in the comments section below or send us an email at students@cappex.com.

If you’re a regular reader here then you probably already know about all of the Cappex scholarships and some of our bright winners. But at times we like to put on a shirt and tie and get formal. So here it is: The official Cappex college scholarship winners press release, for official folks and news-hounds alike.

Let this also serve as a last-minute reminder: The last day to apply for our business, biology and communications scholarships is Nov. 30.

Full press release after the jump.

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During a recent forum, Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton floated the idea of giving every child born in the United States a $5,000 bond to help pay for college. She said:

“I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school, they will be able to access it to go to college.”

She didn’t mention how she might pay for this, but this is an idea that could drastically change college admissions. What do you think? How does a $5,000 bond sound to start your freshman year?

Before you write your name on an application have you ever wondered “Really, what are my chances that this will work? What are my chances of actually getting in?”

Cappex now has the answer. A beta version of a great new college fit tool hits the Cappex site today, and we need your feedback. We call it:

The “What Are My Chances?” Calculator™.

Here’s how it works:

1. Put in your college admissions info into the Cappex profile
2. Enter the name of any school into the “What Are My Chances?” Calculator.
3. Instantly find out your chances of getting in.
4. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Chances Calculator gives you two scores. You get your chances, from very low to very high. And you get a reliability rating, also from very low to very high. So if you don’t enter a GPA, don’t expect to get very reliable information. If your info is correct, then the Calculator is very accurate. (We’ve got stuff like algorithms at work here). The results look like this:

If you like the results you see simply click yes to send your contact information to the school.

The beta version is up now. You need to be a registered Cappex student to try the Calculator. If you are a Cappex student, check it out on your home tab. If not, you can sign up for a free Cappex account.

Enter as many schools as you like, play around, test it out, and speak to your guidance counselor about the results. Let us know what you think — good, bad or ugly — in the comments below.

Crain’s Chicago Business has a look at the big money some people are paying for private guidance counselors. Advocates claim these counselors not only help students get into college, but serve as life coaches. They should do plenty, because they charge several thousands of dollars for their services ($550 per hour in some cases).

The piece also quotes a Cappex user Caroline Hudson, a senior at a high school just outside Chicago. Her words are reassuring to the majority of students that won’t be getting a private counselor. From the piece:

“‘It’s sometimes scary knowing that I’m on the same level as students who are hiring personal advisers to help their essays,’ she says. She settled for help from her attorney father, an older sister who had gone through the process, and Cappex.com, a free college matchmaking service of sorts based in Highland Park.

“The result? She’s been accepted to Duke, Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern and the University of Illinois.”

There’s no shortage of surveys out there for you to take. All the time companies are out there soliciting your input. Every time you buy a gallon of milk, it seems, there’s an invitation on your receipt to take a survey of one sort or another.

Cappex isn’t any different - after all, satisfied customers are the lifeblood of any business. But we here at Cappex are ultimately just interested in one question: On a scale of 0-10, how likely would it be that you would recommend Cappex to a friend or colleague?

The way we see it, the best measure of how satisfied you are with Cappex is how likely you’ll share the good stuff we’re doing here with a friend. Think about it: How many times have you bought something or had an experience - good or bad - and couldn’t wait to tell someone else? So if you love us, give us a 10. If you’d never speak word of us even to your worst enemy, give us a 0. Then, we’ll know we have lots of work to do to make you a satisfied customer.

So how do you tell us? We made it very easy. Just log in to your account and look for the “Tell Us What You Think” box. And if you haven’t yet signed up to see what we have to offer, now’s a great time to start your college search.