Many People Both Young and Old Have Chosen to Go Beyond a High School EducationSo you're considering going to college to acquire the skills and knowle

So you're considering going to college to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to ride these tough economic times?

Many people both young and old have chosen to go beyond a high school education in order to earn a Bachelor's or even Master's degree that can help them get financially ahead in their life.

However, deciding on the best college program can be difficult as there are many options.

Consider Your Educational and Career Goals

One of the things to look at when choosing a college program is your educational and career goals. Picture yourself ten years from this moment and try to envision yourself set in a career or working at a job that you absolutely love.

Is this job related to internet technology, is it counseling people, is it managing people or a business, or is it figuring out where people went wrong on their taxes? If you know what you'd like to be working on in 10 years then all you have to do is find a college that fits those future goals.

Navigating the sea of colleges, though, can be very difficult.

There are traditional colleges and universities as well as online college programs that offer you the convenience of earning your degree entirely online!

If getting accepted into a traditional state or private college is what you want to do then the first place you should look is a college department website. Often colleges will have lists of courses available so that you can match up your goals to see if you like what the college has to offer.

On the other hand, there are also online colleges and universities that offer everything from technical and hospitality programs all the way to teacher certification programs. These college programs can be found relatively quickly just by searching the web for online programs in the area you want.

After all is said and done, though, chances are that you should be able to find something that you'd like to do as far as your education is concerned. Today colleges and universities are diversifying more so anyone can have the chance to obtain an educational degree very quickly and efficiently!

If you are looking to go beyond a high school education and don't know where to start -> CLICK HERE.

Here is a FREE resource you can download, to over 1,900 college and Universities! freeeducationguide2009.info

Transitions For the College Bound Student

Are you a senior in high school about ready to make the transition to college? Are you completely excited yet also incredibly terrified of what will happen? If so, take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one experiencing the ups and downs of transitioning to college. Most likely, all your friends are right there with you!

Being in college means something different for everyone. Maybe college means new opportunity, new friends, and a new life experience. Maybe college is a way to get away from your family that you don't get along with, or maybe college is the next step in your passion for learning. Transitioning to college brings multiple meanings and multiple emotions, not only for you, but also for your friends and family that have watched you grow and become ready for the college transition.

Your parents, most likely, make different meaning of your transition than you do, and your friends may have different ideas about why they want to go to college and what they want the summer to look like before everyone goes their separate ways. Regardless of meaning you may find yourself asking questions like "Will I like my major? What happens if I don't do well in what I love to do? What if I don't know what I want to do? Am I wasting time because I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life?"

My encouragement to you is to allow yourself to ask these questions and really begin exploring your passions. The transition to college brings multiple other transitions like discovering who you are apart from your family and friends, discovering your talents that you didn't know existed, and learning how to manage your time without a teacher reminding you of your responsibilities. Some new college students learn how to manage money for the first time or do laundry all by themselves. The move to college is more than changing location, it's about learning, growing, and discovering the uniqueness of you. Below, you will find suggestions on how to make this transition easier.

1. Allow yourself to be nervous or confused. The college atmosphere is much different than your home atmosphere and it will take time to adjust and settle into a new routine.

2. Try new things during your first months at school. What you loved growing up and what you were good at during high school is not necessarily what you will want to do forever. Be adventurous and discover what else you love.

3. Do something because you want to, not because you think it would make your family proud or your friends happy, but because it will make you happy.

4. Be curious about the person you want to become. College is about developing a new identity or solidifying the identity you already have. Don't be afraid to notice the changes in yourself.

Because the transition to college and the first months at college bring increased emotion and chaos, I encourage you to speak with a counselor about your experience. If you notice that you are having difficulty making the transition during the summer or find yourself completely lost once you have arrived at college, make an appointment with a counselor in your area. The Lotus Group has many counselors who were once in your position and can help bring stability and insight to your transition. Give us a call at 595-5555 to schedule an appointment. We would love to speak with you.

While Douglas Scott continues to work on his psychology degree he finds therapy to be most beneficial. For more information on Indianapolis therapy visit LotusGroup.biz

Mind Mapping and Note Taking Strategies For Exam Revision

Definition of Mind Mapping
Mind mapping involves the use of a Mind Map to represent ideas and concepts in a visual form where the central theme or topic is located at the centre of the mind map and subtopics are arranged around a central keyword or idea.

Mind Maps are considered one of the most effective note taking strategies and a number of different mind mapping software tools exist to facilitate the creation of mind maps.

Why create Mind Maps
Mind mapping is the most effective way of learning, generating new ideas, summarizing and organising information you want to recall. Mind maps can also facilitate creativity, problem solving, decision making and the generation of new ideas.

They are a great tool when revising for exams as they enable you to see how the different topics and concepts are associated and provide visual cues which are great for quickly reviewing a subject before an exam and recalling information that would normally be lost from your long term memory.

How to create a Mind Map for revision
Lets say you want to use Mind Mapping to revise for an exam. It is a good idea to first determine how much knowledge of the subject you already have. This will help when you want to build upon that knowledge later by developing associations and connections from the knowledge you have already gained.

Obtain a large sheet of paper and write down the subject or topic you are revising for at the centre of the sheet. Then write down the main subtopics related to that central topic by creating branches moving out from the central keyword. Add sub- branches to these subtopics containing keywords or short phrases summarizing key ideas that you can recall from memory and try to see how the different sub-topics and elements are associated.

You should avoid the temptation to write in sentences. Linear note taking uses this method and it is very ineffective for recalling important information. Try to include no more then 4 words when summarizing an idea or concept. If you can sum up an idea with one word then that is even better. Use plenty of colour and images to make key topics stand out with larger writing and images for the main topics that are nearer the centre of the Mind Map and smaller writing and images for those on the outside of the Mindmap. This will help your mind to visually organize the key topics from the sub-topics.

When you believe you have recalled as much of the topic as possible then speed read books related to your subject so that you can quickly determine the different categories that the topic is composed of. Don't forget to look at the content pages of the books to get a broad summary of the different sub-topics and elements of the subject you are studying. This will help you to focus on the most important information when reading the subject in greater detail.

Prioritise those books that provide the most valuable information you require for passing the exam and read those books in depth.

Now add more detail to your Mind Map by adding branches and keywords and phrases after reading each category or section. These keywords or phrases should encapsulate the main ideas and sub-topics.

This will aid in recalling the information you have just read, will help to maintain important knowledge in your long term memory and will greatly assist when reviewing the subject before the exam.

Don't forget to keep adding to your Mind Map after gaining knowledge that you consider important for the exam. Your Mind Map should become larger over time and more branches should be created moving even further from the central topic. Your Mind Map should become more detailed so make sure you use a large sheet of paper. Keep reviewing your Mind Map every few days to reinforce the information you have learned.

When you get closer to the exam you should be able to recall in detail the knowledge gained by glancing at your Master Mind Map which should now contain a detailed summary of an entire subject or topic.

The images will greatly assist in recalling information at a glance and the Mind Map itself will help you to see how all the elements and sub-topics are associated and ordered. The mind works best via association and images.

When the mind can get a broad perspective of a subject and can understand how the different topics are associated and ordered this is the most effective method for learning and recalling information. Also the images give more mental 'hooks' for the mind to latch onto and so aid in recall.

Good luck with your exams. However if you have taken my advice you wont need it.

Ashley is a Mind Mapping researcher who has just started a blog to educate people on the benefits of Mind Mapping and is a keen user and promoter of Mind Mapping software

How to Use Certificate of Deposits As Part of Your College Savings Strategy

The cost of college education increases at a rate that far exceeds inflation. It is also much greater than the average rate of return your savings and investments are getting, which makes it difficult to save enough money to keep up with the ever-increasing costs of higher education.

Saving for your child's higher education is a challenge faced by most families regardless of their income levels - but the money you save now will help prevent your son or daughter from graduating under a mountain of school loans they will struggle to pay for many years after leaving college. If you want to help your child graduate in something other than debt, here are some tips for developing a strong college savings strategy that includes certificate of deposits:

Start Saving for College As Early As Possible
The key to saving for college is to start when the children are young. The earlier you start saving the more time your money has to grow. Many people invest in riskier options when their children are young in an effort to increase their earnings, and figuring they have more time to recover if their risks don't pay off financially. As children get older and approach their college years, your choice of savings and investment vehicles are likely to move to less risky options in order to prevent the loss of money.

Risk Free Savings Strategy: Certificate of Deposits
Once you've saved up a sizable amount of money for your child's education, you might think about using fixed-rate certificate of deposits to give those savings a chance to grow risk-free until you need to use them to pay for college expenses.

When you open a certificate of deposit with your college savings, you will earn interest in exchange for agreeing to leave your money alone for a specific period of time. Once the money is in a CD, you don't have easy access to it. It's not completely impossible to withdraw money from a certificate of deposit before it matures, but it's certainly not recommended to take it out early because you will pay penalty fees and lose money in the process.

Depending how many years your child has before starting college, you can select a certificate of deposit with as little as three months to five years (or more) until it reaches it's maturity date. The longer the CD term, the higher interest your savings will earn. You may find using certificate of deposits as part of your college savings allows you to diversify and increase the amount of money your savings earns. While your saved money is held in a certificate of deposit waiting for it to reach it's maturity date, you can continue saving money in money market funds, high interest savings accounts, 529 plans, or Coverdell Education Funds to increase the amount of money you have when your child approaches their college years.

CD Laddering Increases Saving Potential and Access to Funds
Creating CD ladders may be a reasonable college savings strategy, as well. Once you have saved enough money through other means, you can withdraw it and open multiple certificate of deposit accounts with different maturity dates. By staggering the maturity dates of the certificate of deposit products you open, you can gain access to the money at pre-determined intervals. Plan it right, and you can have certificate of deposits maturing right before each of your college semesters begin, and gain access to money to pay for tuition and expenses right as you need it each semester.

Debra Dragon is a freelance writer for DepositAccounts.com. She writes about how to make your money work better for you through various deposit accounts, including savings accounts, interest checking accounts, IRAs, and money market funds.

Accredited Distance Learning - An Option For the Gifted Child

Whether your gifted child is enrolled in a traditional school or a homeschool, finding enrichment to meet his individual needs can be a challenge. Many traditional schools simply cannot meet the individual needs of a gifted child and parents end up scrambling to try to find enrichment opportunities. Many homeschool parents find it an overwhelming challenge to try to meet the extraordinary needs of their gifted child. One viable option for many gifted students is an accredited distance learning program.

A variety of distance learning opportunities are available for your gifted child. In evaluating these options, take some time to first define what you're looking for in a distance learning program. Most gifted children have specific areas of interest or expertise. Be sure to identify those areas of interest and look for programs with strength and depth in their course offerings.

Look for distance learning opportunities that are more than just courses that require a student to acquire a bunch of facts. Gifted learners thrive in environments that require higher level critical thinking skills and encourage exploration and experimentation. You'll want to find a distance learning course that provides your gifted learner the opportunity to interact with his teacher to a large degree. This can be through email or through the distance learning website, but it should also include real time interactions, whether through instant messaging or by phone. You'll want to see that the teachers are flexible and encourage independent thought and action. These are important when dealing with gifted learners.

Be sure that this distance learning course offers students the ability to interact with each other. Gifted students often thrive in settings where they can collaborate with other students and where they can learn from them as well. Courses that offer large degrees of interaction and encourage community building can create meaningful learning communities that are exciting for your gifted student to be a part of. This sort of atmosphere and encouragement can be so important to your gifted student. They may not have been able to find that in a traditional school environment or in a homeschool environment. This might afford them their first taste of finding a learning community where they not only fit in, but also thrive.

Be sure that student interaction is monitored by the course teacher or by the school. You'll want to know that a teacher is overseeing community message boards and virtual classroom sessions and that the rules of the school are being adhered to. Understand the policies set forth by the school for proper etiquette in using these boards and in interacting during class time. You want to ensure that this learning environment is safe for your child.

You'll need to make sure that the distance learning school you choose for your gifted learner is an accredited institution. Schools are accredited through a governing body, such as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WACS). In order to achieve accreditation status, the schools must provide information about their school and submit to a monitoring process. Taking courses from an accredited distance learning school will ensure that your child will be able to use those courses in the college admissions process.

To learn more about a quality, distance learning program for the gifted and talented, please visit Laurel Springs School. Laurel Springs School is an accredited, college prep private school offering distance learning programs and teacher services for students in grades K-12. Laurel Springs uses web-based communication tools, a standards-based curriculum, and personalized instruction to offer students the highest quality home education experience based on your child's learning style.