Welcome to the 6th edition of the Carnival of College Admissions, and the first one hosted here at CollegeSurfing! Thanks to Mark Montgomery, the Great College Advice guru, for passing the torch. I'm under pressure to live up to the first five installments, and so I do my best to present to you: The Six Degrees of College Admissions. I apologize in advance for a blizzard of puns, plays on words, or metaphorical musings.

Nevertheless, December is a huge month in the cool world of college for at least six reasons I can think of:

1. The most competitive colleges and universities have admissions application deadlines this month
2. The SAT -- every collegebounder's rite of passage -- was this past weekend
3. Juniors are getting cracking on their research after seeing their frenzied upperclassmen scramble
4. College students are taking their semester finals and looking forward to winter break
5. The economic climate has been pretty cold as of late, too, making it primetime to get a jump on financial aid (January is Financial Aid Month!)
6. Maybe not college-related exactly, but have you noticed it's getting to be quite nippy, at least in my neck of the woods? In fact, at times, it feels like it's six degrees outside! Brrrr....

Hence why it's the perfect time to get warm and fuzzy. First, by thanking all of the wonderful participants featured below, both regulars and newcomers -- welcome! And next, by encouraging you, my dear readers, to learn from these great posts as your college admissions process, campus life, or post-graduate world of work heats up. Get clickin'...

Article by Dawn Papandrea and courtesy of CollegeSurfing Insider.