This is Alex. Everyone say “Hi Alex!”.  All her life, Alex wanted to be an astronaut because she thought it sounded cute - "Alex the Astronaut" and anyway, her hometown, Little Creek, South Dakota, was a little boring.  She finally made it to graduation (never thought she’d make it that far..) and here she is now, deciding on her career path for the future.  Somehow, the astronaut idea had lost its appeal, so she’s actually debating between a combustion engineer (rocket scientist) or entrepreneur to launch her career.

So her search began to Choose the Right College. Alex wondered- “Does it matter which college you choose?”  Then she read Lynn Mattoon's article What Are You Really Going to College For? posted at myUsearch blog which suggests it is more about what you do than where you go.  She realized before you choose, you need to first figure out why are you going to college.  So Alex’s combustion engineer goal kind of exploded. Or imploded. 

But where should Alex actually go? While looking to find a review of a particular college, she found some tips to use in Tom Tessin’s  Student Reviews of Colleges - Finding Them posted at FCC Student Blog.  She also read up on Great College Advice's article by Katherine Price, the Top 5 Reasons to Go to College Out-of-State,
where Katherine noted that you may have an easier time being admitted to great universities outside your home state.  And tuition may not be any more expensive than attending college down the road. 

Speaking of tuition, Alex realized she had better enter the long road of applying for Scholarships.  She started with admissions expert Julie Manhan best tips to secure a scholarship for those high tuition bills in How to Begin Your Scholarship Search posted at myUsearch blog.  After securing as many scholarships as she could, Alex realized that the funds, together with her little piggy bank, just wouldn’t cut it to cover tuition. 

She needed to find out about Financial Aid options. Knowing that college can be a very financially challenging time, but also a time of great discovery, she read up on Jim Wang’s 40 Money Tips for College Students posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. So now she was a bit more economically savvy, but Alex wasn’t sure she was maximizing her student loan eligibility.  After reading Sophie's seven frequently asked questions and the answers needed to ensure she was not missing any money she may have been eligible for at 7 FAFSA Myths-Don't Lose this Money posted at Sophie's Blog, she felt more relieved, and secured enough funds to pursue her dreams. Almost...

She still had to work on Getting Admitted.
She began working on her application to Dream Business School, conveniently located in Big Creek, North Dakota. She was almost done and thought her application was exactly what the adcom wants to read.  Suddenly, she felt ill. She realized she was suffering from Generic Itis. After a quick search online, she found out the symptoms and prevented it from ruining her application with Linda Abraham's Application Essay Tip: Generic-Itis Prevention posted on the Accepted Admissions Almanac. She also checked out Sophie’s Crucial tips about College Accreditation, learn how it will affect your wallet posted at Sophie's Blog while deciding which courses to take.

Finally, Alex crossed the application bridge and made it to College Life! Amazingly, she received more mail regarding credit card options than from her Dream College (she got in- by the way), so she read MBB’s College Students and Use Of Credit Cards posted at Money Blue Book Blog and made sure to get the best card for her. And yeah, not give away her SSN.

Comfortably ensconced in college life, Alex decided to explore some Other Cool Stuff on the Horizon.

She met students who went directly to graduate business school and insisted they get a lot out of their studies without working first. But many business-school officials didn't agree. She found out the real deal with Khan's Full-time Job After Graduation or Start Work on an M.B.A posted at Higher Education and Career Blog. Alex really wanted to keep everyone updated, but didn’t realize just how difficult is it to blog and attend school as an undergraduate. It seemed that most student blogs were not current, or they have long spaces of inactivity as these students attend to life as they know it. She checked out the ones who stayed on top in Frederick Yarmy's Top 50 Blogs By Undergrad Students posted at Undergraduate Degree and began her own blog called In Alex’s Outer Space. 

Then she posted this carnival detailing her exciting journey to this point in her life. 3….2…1….Time to take off on your own college journey! Good Luck!

On behalf of Accepted.com, Alex thanks Mark Montgomery of Great College Advice for organizing this carnival. For future carnivals, please submit your articles here.

*Photos Courtesy of Accepted.com 2009 Beautiful B-School Photo Contest. 2010 Contest Starting Soon.