Your Key to Unlocking College Admissions

Written by Dave Berry

Jan. 28, 2014 | Reading Time: 22 min

This article is targeted mainly at high school freshman, sophomores, juniors, and your families. Of course, there will also be some value in what you'll read here for high school seniors, current college students, and just about anyone else who is aspiring to enter or deal with the world of higher education. That's quite a broad intended audience, but that's just how powerful my topic is. And exactly what is that topic? Well, it's the just updated and improved College Confidential discussion forum, which resides on the Internet's premier college information site: College Confidential, fondly known as “CC" to the throngs of students, parents, and others who enjoy its wealth of free information.

I've discussed the CC forum before, but today, I want to highlight a few of the new and improved aspects of this unique resource. If you have been a registered member of CC's forum community and haven't visited recently, you may be wondering how such a superior resource could have been made even more effective. The snapshot answer to that question includes the following points. The exciting new format will allow you to:

– Tag other users with the @mentioning feature
– Opt into Facebook/Twitter-integrated activity streams
– Use customizable avatars to put a face to your CC presence
– Organize discussions better with improved bookmarking
– Get advanced notifications on the news you need
– Safeguard your info with stronger password protection

That's just for starters and the enhancements haven't stopped. The team of designers and programmers who crafted this latest evolution in college knowledge aren't done yet. In the true spirit of giving CC members what they want, the forum builders have been gathering comments from members about what kinds of tweaks would be nice to have. The forum is a true evolutionary resource designed to serve as broad a base as possible. There are myriad discussion forums across the Web, but you won't find a more accessible, agreeable, or responsive forum team than the one managing CC's.

Let's take a look at the kinds of topics you can explore on the CC forum. I'll ask you forum veterans out there to be patient about this information because it will seem old hat to you. My goal is to enlighten “the uninitiated" by showing them the keys to the kingdom of college knowledge and college admissions. It can be a daunting kingdom, but the CCforum (and its associated College Confidential site) can provide fast, long-lasting relief from those nasty college process headaches. Just think of CC as one of the world's great pain relievers. Be warned, though: It can be addicting and has not been approved by the FDA. 🙂 Anyway, stand by for relief!

To whet your appetite, here's a look at the CC forum “menu." Check out the general areas of discussion. Also, pay particular attention to how many different discussion threads, post, and targeted sub-topics each forum area includes. It's truly mind-boggling. You'll also see the latest post (at the time of this writing) in each of the forum's sections. These are all live links, so don't hesitate to click something that piques your interest.

You'll also see some interesting “avatars." Those are the unique pictures uploaded by forum members that offer an insight into who they are. Pictures of pets are very popular, and you'll see a few actual images of the posters themselves. I've pondered using Brad Pitt's picture for myself, but I don't think my fellow forum buddies would believe that I'm that good looking. Yes, the CC forum is a fun community. (Where a member has chosen not to upload an avatar, the famous CC logo appears as a default.)

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Written by

Dave Berry

Dave is co-founder of College Confidential and College Karma Consulting, co-author of America’s Elite Colleges: The Smart Buyer’s Guide to the Ivy League and Other Top Schools, and has over 30 years of experience helping high schoolers gain admission to Ivy League and other ultra-selective schools. He is an expert in the areas application strategies, stats evaluation, college matching, student profile marketing, essays, personality and temperament assessments and web-based admissions counseling. Dave is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University and has won national awards for his writing on higher education issues, marketing campaigns and communications programs. He brings this expertise to the discipline of college admissions and his role as a student advocate. His College Quest newspaper page won the Newspaper Association of America’s Program Excellence Award, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publisher’s Association Newspapers in Education Award, the Thomson Newspapers President’s Award for Marketing Excellence and the Inland Press Association-University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Mass Communications Inland Innovation Award for the Best New Page. His pioneering journalism program for teenagers, PRO-TEENS, also received national media attention. In addition, Dave won the Newspaper Association of America’s Program Excellence Award for Celebrate Diversity!, a program teaching junior high school students about issues of tolerance. His College Knowledge question-and-answer columns have been published in newspapers throughout the United States. Dave loves Corvettes, classical music, computers, and miniature dachshunds. He and his wife Sharon have a daughter, son and four grandchildren.