NextStep Academics

Today, we begin a brand new arc, Arc 6: Majors and Career Exploration.

This arc is about helping students move from "I have no idea what I want to do" to a workable direction. And we're starting with the question that creates more anxiety than almost any other in the college process. What should I major in?

My goal today is to lower the stakes of that question without pretending it doesn't matter. Because it does matter. It just doesn't matter in the way most families think.

Today, we close out the arc on financial aid and affordability with the piece families are often most anxious about: student loans.

Today we're looking at a separate pool of money entirely — scholarships a student finds and applies for on their own — and how to spend limited time wisely across a landscape that's, well… enormous.

Today, we learn how to read financial aid award letters, line by line, so a bigger number on the page doesn't quietly turn into a worse deal in reality.

Today, we look at what colleges actually do with the information from the FAFSA and CSS Profile, and the different pools of money it can unlock.

Today we start a new conversation, and honestly, the one families avoid thinking about the longest: financial aid and affordability. We're starting where most families start, whether they mean to or not: the FAFSA and the CSS Profile.

Optional to complete is not the same thing as optional in impact. Today, we're covering the last stop in this arc on the application itself — the interview- and why skipping an available one rarely helps.

Today we're covering the one part students don't control directly at all: letters of recommendation.

Today we're tackling the essays that come after the personal statement, the ones each school asks for on top of that shared core.

Let's start with the trap almost every student falls into first: the "Why Us" trap.

Today we're covering the activities list and why this small, easy-to-rush section deserves far more attention than it usually gets.