Things to check when applying to colleges...
Seems kind of late for me to be talking about college admissions since most of the people I know online have already attended or are in college. Nevertheless, it's now my turn, and yes I'm only just now applying. 
The general rule of thumb I've found is to simply be honest and real - don't overemphasize things that aren't really that important but don't sell yourself short either. However, I would presume most people who do come online are in search of more concrete tips and advice.
The below are some of the more useful sites I've found, but even then, when it comes down to actually writing up your application and essays, they don't really tell you much that you don't already know. The key thing is just to start. 
Common Application - Bit of a given I think. Most colleges accept this online application so you can apply to multiple schools in one go. If you really don't know where to start (like me ), it'd be here.
AdmissionsAdvice.com - Blog with up to date articles and tips on applying to today's colleges.
College Confidential - General resource for anything college-related. Most useful is perhaps the discussion board where applicants and those who've been accepted can chat.
Last but not least, it's always a smart idea to check the website for the college you are applying for. It's usually the most obvious place to start looking but many people forget that.
Finding Scholarships
After applying to colleges, you'll probably want to have scholarships as well... it would suck to get into a nice college and not be able to afford it.
The below are some nice links to start off.
Cappex - Create one profile and apply to multiple scholarships.
FastWeb - Very nice search engine (requires creating an account).
ScholarshipExperts.com - Another detailed search engine, gets a few things the others don't.
Scholarships.com - Another scholarship search engine. Can be a bit ad-cluttered.
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