Ms. Clowes applied to graduate school after taking a year to really consider what she wanted. "What I didn't know is there is so much more to it that you should be doing during your college years that I was clueless about things like building your network, or knowing what my brand was, or taking advantage of all the resources available to me in college," remembers Ms. Clowes, "I hoping to help students to figure what else they should be doing to be successful and not have some of the doubt and 10 years of searching afterward which is why I wrote the book."

Most colleges use The Common App which allows students to apply to multiple colleges at once. This usually includes:

• Personal information.
• Main personal statement of about 650 words.
  • Sawyer suggests to think of this statement prompt as, "Describe the world you come from and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations."
• Activities list.
• Most colleges will request different supplemental essays.
• This means several different essay requirements per school.

Some of these essays might be exactly the same prompt and can double, but if the topics are different then the essays will be different.

It is important to be realistic. If you are in the academic range of the college you are looking at, be sure to talk to real students. Be careful to select colleges that your test scores fall into the accepted range of. "The grades are also very important," explains Dr. Jager-Hyman, "Test scores are really easy- that information is front and center.

Here's some of the features of the website www.Admitsee.com

• Provides a "big brother or sister" at dream school.
• See application files of accepted students.
  • You can compare your own test scores, for example, to accepted students at different colleges.
• Browsing is free.
• College students get paid for posting their profile and sharing.
• Great way to see what a student body really looks like.
• Can sign up to have a college student mentor.
  • College students can review essays, give advice, and help guide prospective students. Essays are EXTREMELY important!

"Over the past ten years the (college) process has become that much more complicated," explains Fayal, "But the offerings and resources haven't improved." This provides a way for high school students to connect to college students at their dream school.

"The higher the score, the more money you get," says Burk.

The PSAT (Preliminary SAT) is just as important as the SAT, but it is used for scholarships in the junior year. The SAT is offered 7 times a year, but the PSAT is only offered once a year in October. There are only a few small differences between the two tests.