Thursday, March 28College Admissions News

College Planning

Why Academic Administrators Should Learn Business-speak
College Planning

Why Academic Administrators Should Learn Business-speak

Which college majors are, on average, the smartest? Philosophy majors, followed by physics and astronomy, economics and math majors, score the most standard deviations above the mean on the GRE. Which college majors make the most money midcareer (who have not earned a graduate or professional degree)? Economics, engineering and math majors rank highest, followed, yes, by philosophy majors. Which college majors experience the fastest salary growth? Philosophy majors, naturally, trailed by math, econ, poli sci and, believe it or not, art history majors. As Matthew Yglesias, the widely read economics and policy blogger and journalist with a Harvard B.A. in philosophy, has observed, a philosophy degree signals intelligence, which is why leading tech firms like Google often hire philosophy majo...
The Best 13 Math Competitions for High School Students
College Planning

The Best 13 Math Competitions for High School Students

Math competitions are a fantastic extracurricular activity for high school students. Math competitions help students improve their math skills, earn scholarships, and stand out as college applicants.  If you are interested in getting into high school math competitions but aren’t sure where to begin, this article is for you. We’ll give you all the details on 13 math competitions for high school students, including the eligibility requirements and cash prize opportunities for each competition.  We’ll also briefly explain how to decide which math competition is right for you and how math competitions can help you shine as a college applicant. So let’s get started!     How to Use This List We know that different students have unique reasons for wanting to participate in high school math...
Read This Before You Send SAT Scores to Colleges
College Planning

Read This Before You Send SAT Scores to Colleges

No matter how stellar your transcript, no matter how mastered your extracurricular activities, no matter how lyrical your essay—no application is complete without your SAT scores. So how do you make sure your SAT scores are sent properly, at the right time, and with only the scores you are most proud of? Read on for our best advice on the decisions you'll be faced with and what to do in case something goes wrong. (more…)
Read This Before Sending ACT Scores to Colleges
College Planning

Read This Before Sending ACT Scores to Colleges

No college application is complete without test scores. But sending scores to colleges doesn't have to be a confusing and frustrating process! Read this article to understand all the options for sending out your ACT scores, to get help with the many decisions you will have to make, and to know what to do if you run into problems. I'll describe the basic process of how to send ACT scores, how to take full advantage of the ACT's individual score reporting, when to send scores, and how to make sure your scores don't get lost. At the same time, I'll go through the pros and cons of every option and suggest a recommended course of action.   How to Send Your ACT Scores: 2 Methods You can send your ACT scores either when you take the test or any time after you get your scores.   Method 1: Us...
What’s the Total Cost of the SAT?
College Planning

What’s the Total Cost of the SAT?

Just like many parts of the college application process, taking the SAT (and even using your SAT scores) comes with an assortment of fees. Here, I'll break down every possible SAT registration cost and score fee. We'll go over strategies for saving as much money as possible on the SAT.   Registration Costs for the SAT (Updated for 2022-2023) Registration charges are unfortunately mandatory if you are planning on taking the SAT. Registration-related fees, or add-ons that can bump up your costs, aren't required of test-takers. These extra services could be useful in special circumstances, even though you'll end up shelling out a few extra bucks. It costs $60 to register for the SAT. (As a reminder, the SAT with Essay stopped being offered during normal testing as of June 2021.) And here's ...
Can You Apply Early Action to Multiple Schools?
College Planning

Can You Apply Early Action to Multiple Schools?

Applying early action to colleges can have a lot of benefits: you'll get your applications out of the way faster, you'll get your decisions faster, and you may have a slightly better chance of getting admitted.  But can you apply early action to multiple schools? The answer gets a bit complicated! However, in this guide, we'll explain everything you need to know about early action and walk you through how to take advantage of early action and its benefits.   What Is Early Action? Early action is an admission plan offered by some colleges. As the name indicates, when you apply early action, you apply by an earlier deadline (often November 1) and receive an admissions decision earlier (often mid-December).  If you apply regular decision, the deadline is typically in early January, and you ...
Why Are College Applications So Stressful? 5 Helpful Strategies
College Planning

Why Are College Applications So Stressful? 5 Helpful Strategies

A totally normal (but totally frustrating!) part of getting ready for college is college application stress. Statistics show that 76% of students feel high levels of stress about the college application process…so if you’re feeling overwhelmed by college applications, you aren’t alone! The good news is that there are steps you can take to prepare for the college application process, including having some stress management tactics at the ready. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know for effective college application stress management, including:  Answering the question, “Why are college applications so stressful?” Explaining four reasons why college applications are so stressful Providing a college application schedule to help manage stress Listing five tips for managing...
How To Save Money For College Tuition
College Planning

How To Save Money For College Tuition

“And as with any investment, but especially with college savings plans, it’s always best to begin putting aside money as soon as you can.” This tagline from U.S. News says it all. It doesn’t matter what you put your money into to save for college — starting as early as possible is universally the best decision you can make. But, when exactly should your financial plan begin for funding college? Ideally, it’s best to start when you’re thinking about having children. However, it’s most likely that more than a few years have passed since that time in your family’s life. So, let’s turn our thoughts from when to where. Here are my top 11 suggestions for the best places to save money for college tuition. How To Save Money For College Tuition – The Top 11 Places 1. Section 529 College Savings Pl...
4 Steps to Make Your Provisional Admission Permanent
College Planning

4 Steps to Make Your Provisional Admission Permanent

Did you get a provisional offer of admission from your dream college? What does provisional admission mean, and what do you need to do next? And have you been accepted or not? Provisional admission can be confusing for students and parents to navigate, but we're here to explain the process as well as the steps you need to take to get that official admissions letter.   What Is Provisional Admission? If you receive a provisional offer of admission, what does that actually mean? A provisional admission means that you'll be admitted to the school provided you complete a certain set of requirements (these will be spelled out for you when you receive the provisional admission). The requirements are often one or more classes you need to complete (often earning a certain letter grade in them) or...
The Importance of Education in the Indian American Community
College Planning

The Importance of Education in the Indian American Community

June 15, 2022 We applaud a rising Stanford freshman for shining a light on the importance of education in the Indian American community (photo credit: King of Hearts). Are you the child of immigrants from India? Do your parents’ friends go up to you at Costco and ask where you’ll be applying to college? Do you regularly Google the US News & World Report college rankings? If so, know that you’re not alone. Like many other young Indian Americans, your parents value education as they believe an elite American university will be your ticket to the American Dream. And your parents are not wrong. As we’ve shown time and again on the pages of this college admissions blog, attending an Ivy League or other high...
How to Win a McDonald’s Scholarship
College Planning

How to Win a McDonald’s Scholarship

McDonald's charities offer many different scholarships for college-bound seniors all over the country, all with different awards and eligibility requirements. Because there's so much variability among awards, applying for a McDonald's scholarship can seem daunting. Ultimately, though, it's worth it to apply—since 1985, Ronald McDonald House Charities have given out over $65 million in scholarships. Wouldn't it be great to get a small piece of that? I'll walk you through the different types of scholarship awards that McDonald's offers, in addition to offering tips and strategies to optimize your chances of winning your own award. (more…)
What You Need to Qualify
College Planning

What You Need to Qualify

If you're a student athlete who wants to play in NCAA Division I or Division II sports in college, then this article is for you! We'll review NCAA's eligibility criteria for your GPA and ACT score, which NCAA compares using a sliding scale. More importantly, we'll give you the tips and strategies you need to achieve the NCAA ACT scores required for passing the clearinghouse. First, let's quickly review how your grade point average, or GPA, is determined. (more…)
The Best Scholarships for Juniors in High School
College Planning

The Best Scholarships for Juniors in High School

  Many students think that they should begin looking at college scholarships once they actually start applying to college—so some time early in their senior year. Although it's true that many big-name scholarships require applicants to be high school seniors, there are some great awards out there for younger students as well. So why not get a head start on applying for scholarship awards? You could win money for college, sure, but you'll also get experience with the scholarship application process before submitting even more applications during your senior year. We've compiled a list of scholarships for high school juniors. This list will be a great place to start, but you might also want to search for more targeted awards (e.g., by geographic area). You can browse the scholarships below...
Should You Go to College? 4 Pros and 3 Cons
College Planning

Should You Go to College? 4 Pros and 3 Cons

The decision to attend college is a big one. Getting a college degree takes time: at least four years for most people. Getting a college degree also costs money: tens of thousands of dollars for most people. You might be asking yourself, "Is it worth it? Should I go to college?" In this article, I'll explain the benefits of going to college and detail some of the potential drawbacks. Furthermore, I'll give you all the information you need to decide whether or not you should pursue a college degree.   4 Major Benefits of Going to College Going to college can make you richer, happier, and healthier—sounds good to me! Here, we take a look at the four biggest benefits of attending college.   #1: There Are Many Financial and Career Benefits Let's start by considering the financial advanta...
Best ACT Prep Books 2022
College Planning

Best ACT Prep Books 2022

There are numerous "Best ACT Books" lists out there. But we think most of them aren't very good or thorough, so I've tried to write a much better guide here. In this article, you'll learn which books are absolutely critical for your ACT prep, which focus on improving individual sections, and which you'll need if you're aiming for a top score. Most importantly, you'll learn how to use these top-notch ACT prep books for effective studying. This guide is pretty detailed, so here are some quick links you can use to jump around to different topics. That said, I recommend reading the whole article if you can!   What's Better About This Guide to the Best ACT Books? Because your ACT score is important for getting into college and you'll probably spend a good amount of time studying, it's impor...