The following post was written by Anna Carapellotti and appeared originally on the Admissionado College Admissions blog.

Those of you with your heart set on attending one of the Universities of California may have already noticed that they have replaced the personal statement this year with eight “Personal Insight” questions, from which you must choose four to answer. Each response is limited to 350 words, and their hope is that this format gives you a “clearer guidance and more flexibility in the kind of information you want to share.”

So, how should you approach these new questions? Let’s take a look at what they are and some strategies you could use to maximize your answers.

The following is a guest post written by Sarish Kasat of Admissionado, a premier college admissions consulting company focused on helping students get into their dream schools.

Congratulations! You’ve been admitted to college!

But wait, not only have you been admitted to one college, but after years of hard work and dedication throughout your high school life, you’ve been accepted into more than one college. And they’re all amazing programs. Yikes, you thought the application process was hard, now you have to decide between Northwestern, UCLA and UC Berkeley like our student Tim? Not an easy task, but a very admirable position to be in. Where do you start? Our advice is always, above all, without a doubt, go to the BEST college you get accepted to. But what if you get accepted into two equally great universities that are both in the same “tier” of excellence?

Whether you’re just beginning to think about your student’s college plans, or you’re deep in the throes of SAT/ACT prep, school research, filling out the FAFSA, etc, you already know that the college application is stressful for everyone involved.

Even more so when you turn to the black hole of the Internet for guidance. Sure, there are a lot of really knowledgeable people sharing really great information (you’re reading some of it right now!) but this is the Internet, and unfortunately for you, someone doesn’t need to be really knowledgeable to share their thoughts or advice. And that leaves you, a well-intentioned parent, on the receiving end of some really BAD information.
We’ve seen it all and once we stopped screaming at our computer screens (true story) we decided it was our duty to call out that bad advice, break down why it is so wrong, and share the truth so you can guide your students effectively.

So let’s get to it, shall we? Here are the four most egregiously bad/wrong/misguided/awful pieces of advice we’ve found on applying to college:

So, your student has gotten those hard-earned (and highly coveted) acceptance letters. (CONGRATS!) You’ve gotten the screaming/dancing/calling everyone you know out of your system, and now it’s time to start preparing for the next step: paying for college.

Everyone knows that tuition is the primary cost of college, but there are a variety of others that can add up significantly.

It’s important that these costs are understood by the entire family —from those who are able to fully finance their student’s education to those on financial aid. Actually, it’s especially important for the latter, since you can’t get grant, scholarship, or loan money to cover many of these expenses.