Your essay should answer the following questions:

• What disadvantages or hardships have you faced in your life?
• How have those disadvantages or hardships affected you? 
• How have those disadvantages or hardships motivated you to pursue higher education? (Why do you think you would be a good fit for TD?)

The personal statement is one of the most significant portions of your application.  This one and a half page personal statement will be used to evaluate your eligibility as a TD candidate.  The admissions officer will thoroughly review your personal statement and learn something about you that cannot be learned from looking at your grades and SAT scores. 

The key thing to remember for any personal statement is that you can’t just tell your story, you have to explain why it is important and how it has affected you.  That’s a sign of a mature thinker and writer – you need to show the TD admissions officer that you can look back on your life experiences and use them to push yourself in a positive direction.  Remember, this is an essay for TD, so you have to make that connection between your story and your reasons for applying to TD and going to college. 

- Make sure you stay focused and that there’s a purpose for everything you write.  Ask yourself: Why is this important?  What is the point? 

- Make sure you use details to support what you’re saying.  Don’t just say, “My grades improved a lot,” say, “My grades went from a D average to a B+ average.”

• Your Social Security Number.
• Your driver’s license (if you have one).
• Your 2009 W-2 Forms and other records of money earned.  You should get a W-2 form from your employer every year. 
• Your 2009 Federal Income Tax Return (an IRS 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ form, a foreign tax return, or tax return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshalll Islands, the Federal States of Micronesia, or Palau).
• Your 2009 untaxed income records (veterans noneducation benefit records, child support received, worker’s compensation)
• Your current bank statements
• Your current business and investment mortgage information, business and farm records, stock, bond, and other investment records
• Your alien registration or permanent resident card, aka green card (if you are not a U.S. citizen)

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before003.htm

In RIUDL, you get to learn about policy debate and compete in tournaments against other Rhode Island teams.  Debate is a formal way of presenting an interactive argument – one team takes a certain side and the other team takes an opposite stance.  To win, you must persuade the judge that you have the better argument.  

Debate can help you with public speaking, critical thinking and logical reasoning – all skills that will be invaluable in college.  Check out RIUDL today!

-President Barack Obama, July 14, 2009.

President Obama gave a speech on July 14, 2009, in Warren, Michigan, to introduce the American Graduation Initiative.  Among other things, it included a pledge of 12 billion dollars in federal funding for American community colleges.  Here’s more of what he had to say about the importance of community colleges:

“…In the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience.  We will not fill those jobs — or even keep those jobs here in America — without the training offered by community colleges….This is training to become a medical technician, or a health IT worker, or a lab specialist, or a nurse.  In fact, 59 percent of all new nurses come from community colleges.  This is training to install solar panels and build those wind turbines we were talking about and develop a smarter electricity grid.  And this is the kind of education that more and more Americans are using to improve their skills and broaden their horizons.  Many young people are saving money by spending two years at community college before heading to a four-year college….Community colleges are an undervalued asset in our country.  Not only is that not right, it’s not smart.” 

Taken from Remarks by the President on the American Graduation Initiative at Macomb Community College of Warren, MI.   July 14, 2009.  <http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-American-Graduation-Initiative-in-Warren-MI/>

Go to www.collegeboard.com.  Use the College Matchmaker to search for schools that fit your criteria. 

• Prepare for and take the SAT or ACT test
• Ask teachers and your guidance counselor for recommendations
• Talk to people with college experience (your guidance counselor, a College Guide if you have one, older friends).
• After January 1, you can start to fill out a FAFSA application, which will qualify you for financial aid from the government.  

How do I even start thinking about college?

1. Go to www.collegeboard.com and search for schools that fit your criteria.
2. Start preparing for the SATs

Start looking at programs at schools – e.g. PEP, TD, Access if you want to stay local.  Talk to older friends about college or go to the guidance counselor’s office.  Seek the College Guide at your high school if you have one.

Schedule college visits and tours.

Start writing your personal essay and filling out applications (especially the common app)

After January 1, start filling out the FAFSA.

Recursos en Espanol (other)

College Info Overview

What are your interests?  What do you want to study?  Where do you want to be?  Do you want to be at a small school or a large one?

College Search

These are all questions you should consider when looking at schools.  Collegeboard.com has a great college search that asks you a bunch of questions and finds schools that fit what you want.  If you’re not sure what answer to choose, select “No Preference.” At the end of the page, click “Submit and Continue” until the end of the questionnaire. Once you’re done, it’ll give you a list of schools that match what you want.

We’ve also written up reviews of some schools in New England that have good programs to help you adjust to college.  Check them out under In-State Schools and Out-of-State Schools.

Here are links to CCRI, RIC, and URI applications online.  You can also always access these links on the sidebar of the website, under “Important Links.”

Quick Application Links

CCRI application: http://www.ccri.edu/OES/admissions/ApplyOnline.shtml

RIC application: https://www.applyweb.com/apply/ric/menu.html

URI application: http://www.commonapp.org

There’s also a link to the Common Application.  The Common Application is a college application that over 300 schools accept – basically, if I’m applying to 3 schools that accept the Common App, then I fill out one application and send it to all 3 schools.  Some schools accept the Common App but require you to fill out a separate supplement, or part of an application that’s unique to that school.  All of that information is on the Common App website.  CCRI and RIC do not take the Common App, but URI and over 300 other schools do, including Bryant (RI), Northeastern (MA) and 10 other schools right in Boston.  If you go to “Member Universities” on the Common App home page (right next to “About Us”) you can search for schools that accept the Common App.

There are the big 3: CCRI, RIC, and URI.  RIC is very small, right here in Providence, while URI is much bigger and in South Kingstown.  Click on the individual pages for CCRI, RIC, and URI for more specific info.
Bryant is also a popular school.

We have compiled a list of transition programs; (which help incoming freshmen adjust to college, some of which include more financial aid), schools in Boston, and some tuition-free schools (that’s right, they’re free – but you have to work hard). 

In-State Schools

Out-of-State Schools

Transition programs:
Here’s a list of good transition programs in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.  We’ve also put together a table of contact information for all of these programs.

Boston schools:

Tuition-free schools:

Here are 10 Tuition-Free Schools: some are in the Kentucky/Missouri area on farms that students must work on (but you graduate with a degree and no debt).  A few are very prestigious and are very competitive (Cooper Union, Deep Springs).  One is in New York City (CUNY Teacher’s Academy); one is a music school (Curtis Institute); two are engineering schools.  The military academies are also listed.  Check them out.