The Importance of CMS for Schools

By: Payton DiNardo

CMS for Schools: College Edition

The college system today is getting harder to navigate by the minute. A good college counseling webpage consists of a variety of resources to help high schoolers maneuver through this stressful time in their lives. There is so much pressure put on getting into college and the expectation of what is good enough and what does not quite make the cut. People solely focus on what school you go to and what you are studying instead of how well you do at achieving your goals.

RESOURCES

The first thing that I look for in a good college counseling page are links and resources. It must provide easy access to basic college information to help find which schools suit you and can support your interests and goals. This can include promoting local events that involve colleges, such as a college fair, or even just different schools for different interests. For instance, if I want to study film, USC would be a better fit than UCLA. It is all about finding the correct schools that can cater to your needs.

OPTIONS

The next important step to building a successful college page is information about both local and distant schools. At my high school, our college counselor is amazing with information regarding in-state schools, but the second you consider something different, you are on your own. So, having this information on a webpage would be beneficial in the event your college counselor cannot help you. Local state universities and community colleges are great for people who do not want to go far from home, have prior obligations preventing them from going away to school, or have too tight of a budget to attend an ivy league, private, or out-of-state school. Further, going to an out-of-state school immediately raises the cost of tuition. Providing tuition and living expenses information would be extremely beneficial as well. Having a college counselor who provides information on schools outside of your local state makes it easy and exciting for people like me who want to travel to the other side of the country. This is not to say it cannot be done, but a college counseling page that provides information on schools not only across the country but around the globe would be very helpful. It would be great to know what would be required of students who want to attend schools abroad or participate in study abroad programs.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Following this, the webpage must provide access to scholarship information. As most people are aware, college can be very expensive, so scholarships are a necessity for most people. Having easy access to scholarship applications is essential for many to attend the college they wish to attend. A lot of students believe that they cannot attend certain schools because they do not have the money. This is a common misconception among teenage youth. There are millions of scholarships each year that help people who may not have the funds attend the school of their dreams, but students do not even know they are available; students do not know where to look. It can be overwhelming and daunting. Because of this, I believe that having this type of information is an essential aspect of a CMS for schools, especially a college counseling page. This page should act as your one stop shop for anything and everything college related.

INTERNSHIPS

The last major aspect that I believe should be incorporated into a college counseling page are internships. I would not be here today if I did not have a caring teacher who told me about this amazing opportunity. Not only do internships give students the ability to gain knowledge about the workforce and what field they want to go into, but they can greatly affect your chances of getting into your school of choice. Having opportunities at your fingertips and taking advantage of them is very important. To me, these are what can make your college experience less painful and more enjoyable. You must have a good support system and easy access to these amazing resources available.

My name is Payton DiNardo. I am seventeen years old and a high school senior year in Granada Hills, CA.  I am an active member in Leadership, Choir, and Yearbook. Last semester, I learned about an amazing internship opportunity from a teacher at my school. I took a chance and applied, and I was fortunate to be selected where I joined the team at Edlio as an intern. I have already grown so much working here and know that as time continues to go by I will learn more skills to help me obtain my future goals. After high school, I plan on attending NYU and working on music production. I have always been interested in music, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.