New to College Admissions? Start here.

April 8, 6:55 AMCollege Admissions ExaminerLauren Starkey

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Navigating the college admissions process can get complicated. There are financial aid forms to fill out, campus visits to be scheduled, deadlines to meet, and transcripts to send. Getting something incorrect or done too late could result in loss of available aid and even rejection.

Where can you turn for solid advice? It might be harder to find than you might think. A recent tour of college admissions-related Internet sites revealed a wealth of misinformation, most of it the result of inattention (sites that haven’t been thoroughly updated in years). Most of the errors are minor, such as misquoting the number of schools who accept the Common Application or who don’t require SAT or ACT scores.

But other errors can get you into trouble. Here’s a pointer from a site touted by the New York Times as having a “wealth of information”: “The three most commonly required Subject Tests (required by most highly selective colleges) are Writing, Math, and the sciences (Biology, Chemistry, etc.).” Oops! When the Writing section was introduced to the SAT over two years ago, the Writing subject test was dropped.

To help you get the most accurate, reliable information, I’ve complied the following list using one important rule: stay as close to the source as possible. When you need information about the SAT, go to the College Board. For advice on what college admissions staff are looking for in an application, go to the National Association of College Admissions Counselors and websites of specific schools. It’s also a good idea to be wary of sites that offer admission advice, including locating sources of scholarship money, for a fee. They might be flashy, with glowing testimonials on every page. But that doesn’t mean you’ll get what you pay for. And the old rule about “too good to be true” works here, too. “Hopeless to Harvard?” Someone’s cashing in on another’s anxiety.

SAT, General Process: www.collegeboard.com

ACT: www.act.org

Common Application: www.commonapp.org 

General Process: www.nacacnet.org (student resources)

Financial Aid: www.fafsa.ed.gov or www.finaid.org

Have you already encountered confusing, misleading, or just plain bad advice about college admissions? Care to warn others? Leave a comment!