Institutional aid is not guaranteed. Students wishing to be considered for this form of aid must position themselves correctly to be recruited by private colleges.

Grades count more at some, community service at others. Some admissions committees look closely at recommendations, others don't. Athletic or musical talent can sometimes boost your chances. The criteria cover a wide range of variables that often interact in complex ways. But the mysterious admissions process really comes down to nothing more than matching the strengths of the various applicants against the attributes a particular college is looking for.

To help you evaluate how your strengths stack up, you can build models based on statistical profiles of recent freshman classes at the schools, data on their applicant pools, and analysis of other primary sources of information. And of course realism is important. You do not want to place all your bets on colleges where you have little chance of getting in. At the same time, you don't want to be frightened away from colleges where your chances may be much higher than you think.

It is important for parents to ask for information from each private college about the various merit grants, scholarships and other incentives available, as they differ from college to college.

This is a great way for elementary students to become aware and appreciate the place that they grow up in a little more through participation in these activities.

We had no idea how many students were going to show up.