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The beginning of a new school year is always exciting – new teachers, new classes, even a fancy new title. But once you’ve adjusted to your new routine, it’s also a great time to get started with organizing a new club at your school or a service organization in your community. Since the focus of your club or service organization is up to you – it is a chance to help build your resume “up” instead of out. It can be tempting to join fifteen different clubs, do tons of different service projects, and play a different sport each season each year – but at the end of four years, what would anyone know about your interests or passions? The answer is very little – you need a focus!

Brainstorm some ideas that interest you, enlist some friends to help, and you’re off and running!  Here are some basic steps to start a grassroots service group – these can be modified to start a club, too.

1. Pick a group in need.

2. Think of something that group might need.

3. Call up four friends and ask them if they would want to get some community service hours.

4. Contact an organization that works with that group.

5. Ask that organization if it would mind letting people know about your new service.

6. Dedicate hours to the project each week for an organizational meeting and some blocks of time to provide the service.

7. See if you can get the local paper to cover your organization!

This may sound overwhelming at first but it can be a great way to demonstrate your passion and capabilities to colleges when it comes time for your applications.  There’s more information about this topic in our book – Get Your Summer Strategy On! It is available on Amazon.com or you can download it as an eBook from our website by clicking here and even though it has “summer” in the title, there are plenty of tips that can be enacted at any time of year.

Here’s to a new school year and to starting something new!

Here is episode five of our Weekly Ones series. This video touches on transferring to UT via the Coordinated Admissions Program or UTCAP. We hope you and enjoy it – and please let us know if there is anything you would like us to address in this series by emailing info@allinoneacademics.com.

Here is episode four of our Weekly Ones series. This video is for students (and parents) interested in applying to the College of Education at UT Austin and contains some considerations to take into account before applying. We hope you and enjoy it – and please let us know if there is anything you would like us to address in this series by emailing info@allinoneacademics.com.

Here is episode three of our Weekly Ones! This video is for students (and parents) interested in applying to the School of Nursing at UT Austin and contains some considerations to take into account before applying. We hope you and enjoy it – and please let us know if there is anything you would like us to address in this series by emailing info@allinoneacademics.com.

See more videos like this on on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/allinoneacademics.

Here is the second video in our new series of videos – we’re calling them Weekly Ones as we’ll be sharing a new video once a week and they’ll all be somewhere around one minute long. This one shares some information about applying to The University of Texas in Austin. Enjoy! And please let us know if there are any topics you’d like us to cover by emailing us at info@allinoneacademics.com.

Big news! Not only have the ApplyTexas essay topics recently changed, but the essays required by the University of Texas in Austin have changed as well. In the past, Essays A and B were required and Essay C was optional. Now, Essay C is mandatory plus either A or B. And, you can include S as an opportunity to explain special circumstances or something very important for them to know about you but that does not logically fit into your other essays. (And FYI:  if you’re going to apply to Texas A&M, you’ll still need to write A, B, and C!)

Here are all the details, as listed at http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/admission/essays:

“The essay topics have changed beginning with summer/fall 2014. If you’re applying to spring 2014, be sure to see the topics listed under “Essay Topics for Spring 2014 Applicants.””

Essay Topics for Summer/Fall 2014 and Beyond

To be complete, your application must include at least two essays. All applicants must submit Topic C and a second essay in response to A, B, D (required for some majors) or S.

If you’re interested in checking out the new ApplyTexas essay prompts, please click here. As always, we’re here to help, so let us know if you need some guidance on these new essays!

Everyone is so busy these days! We understand that not everyone has the time to read countless articles, books, blogs, Facebook posts, and tweets to stay informed about changes in college admissions. That is why we are excited to launch a new series of short videos sharing our best tips and tricks designed to give you the info that you need in a quick and easy way.

Our first video is below and offers some insight into applying for the Engineering program at UT!

We’ll be adding more videos throughout the summer and sharing them via Facebook and Twitter as well as here on our blog and we hope that you will find them informative and more interesting than your standard college admissions fare. If you have a topic or question you’d like us to address, please send us a note at info@allinoneacademics.com and we will try to turn it into a video for you and everyone else who has been wondering about the same thing.

Join us next Wednesday for a reception and book signing featuring Jessica Givens, author and college admissions expert, as she again delivers her engaging and informative “Five Secrets to College Admissions Gold” presentation.

Reception & Book Signing

Five Secrets to College Admissions Gold

Wednesday, June 5th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm

at

DeVille Fine Jewelry

5700 Woodway, Suite 250