If you’ve been watching TV perhaps you have heard of Dakota Root, she’s the home-schooled girl who was accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Yale Columbia, Penn, Brown, Duke, Chicago, Cal-Berkeley, USC and several other elite schools in America. So how did she choose which college to attend? According to Fox News, she picked Harvard because it’s the school everyone in the entire world knows about. For the record, Harvard is so elitist that only 1% of the best high school seniors dare apply (30,000 applicants) and out of that number about 1,700 will get to attend (less than 6%).

Dakota’s story is exceptional, the average student candidate does not get accepted to 10+ of the most selective colleges in the country. But with more than 4,000 higher education institutions in the US, there are plenty of great options that will cater to your individual needs. And then, the question is – which one provides the best fit for me?

There are many things to consider when evaluating college options. Here are things to think about and thoroughly consider when making your original and final selection.
» Read more: A Tough Decision – Which College to Attend?

I have conducted hundreds of interviews over the years, and one of the things that I have discovered, is that the advice that interviewees give often transcends a particular job function and industry. So even though Christina Ioannidis is an international speaker, consultant and seasoned entrepreneur, her advice is also good for someone in a staff or management role.

Christina’s first business aqua failed and she had to start over from scratch. I’m very impressed with Christina because she spoke openly and candidly about what she went through when her first business failed. As a society, especially in the West, we are socialized not to talk about failure, but the biggest lessons and learnings come from failure as you will see in the interview. At the end of Part One of the interview (or workshop) you’ll:
» Read more: The Voice of Experience – A Conversation With Christina Ioannidis CEO of Aquitude

More things to look for when considering a college education, as well as education trends for 2010…

Men Finish Last:

According to The New York Times’ freakonomics blog, by age 25 you’ll find 141 female college grads for every 100 men with a degree. This is due to either men taking longer to graduate high school which could reflect their parents enrolling them in school later than their daughters. Men are also taking more than 4 years to finish college and/or are more likely to take one or more gap years as they see the world before going to college.

Recession Slashes Scholarships:

Can’t balance your budget? Neither can Michigan, the state is getting rid of programs like The Michigan Competitive Scholarship and the Michigan Promise Scholarship. According to Top-Colleges.com, many states, charities and colleges are cutting back on their scholarship budgets. Thus, many students are going to have to come up with their own money for college even if they qualify for a Pell grant because competition for scholarships will be tougher. However, not everything is doom and gloom, the federal government is simplifying the application process for financial aid, the new American Opportunity tax credit reduces tax burden by as much as $2,500 for any tuition paid in 2009 and 2010, the maximum size of Pell grants is increasing by $200 and the federal Stafford college loan has decreased from 5.6% to 4.5%.
» Read more: More Bizarre College Trends – 2010