What Do You Need to Know Before Choosing the SAT or ACT?
SAT or ACT can be the gateway to amazing educational opportunities and sizable scholarships, so the question is rarely, “Should I take the test?” Instead, start your journey by determining which test is best for you. In this detailed conversation with college counselor and podcaster Mark Stucker, Chariot Learning president Mike Bergin (that’s me) answers the most pressing questions regarding choosing and preparing for the right college admissions exam: ● How the SAT and ACT differ in structure and content ● Why the right test depends on the individual student ● How practice scores can help determine the better fit ● What families should know about the ACT Science section ● Why ACT Writing is generally unnecessary ● When should students begin their test preparation ● How often should students take full-length practice tests ● Why reviewing practice tests is just as important as taking them ● What realistic SAT…
Testing & Scholarship Timelines Webinar
Success on the road to college depends as much on what you do during summers as during the school year. If you’re looking to make this summer count, find out everything you need to know about when and how to prep for the important admissions exams and submit successful scholarship applications. “I wish we had started sooner.” That’s what every parent tells Dave “The Scholarship Coach” Peterson. Dave is the father of college graduate who, over his undergraduate studies, won over $80,000 in scholarships. His success with scholarships prompted Dave to write the book DEBT-FREE COLLEGE: Proven Strategies for Winning Scholarships and Other Tools to Help You Avoid Student Loan Debt and share his expertise with other families. Dave and I have shared strategies for smart college admissions many times previously, most recently in a discussion of Scholarships & Majors: How Clarity Can Unlock More College Aid.
Key Conversations in College Planning
High school spans a period of time during which teenagers make a myriad of decisions that, to one extent or another, influence what comes next for them. Minor questions about what classes to take, activities to commit to, or who to sit with during lunch can be tough enough but pale in comparison to grander queries about what comes after high school. The answer for many students is to choose higher education, but that opens up many more monumental questions. Grappling with existential questions about what to do with one’s life shouldn’t be a solitary process. Teens should absolutely confer with both the people that care about them most and the experts who can provide the most information. School counselors, private counselors, teachers, and tutors might be the knowledge experts in academic affairs, but parents and guardians are often key stakeholders in college decisions. Students and parents alike struggle with…
Branding Yourself for College Admissions
Anyone with experience in either admissions or business can recognize the college application as a marketing campaign. Unfortunately, marketing isn’t exactly a core subject in high school. So what should students know about building a winning brand for college admissions? Marketing professional Stacey Ross Cohen recommends that students to use social media strategically to highlight their interests and aspirations, such as creating online portfolios, blogs, podcasts, or YouTube channels. Students need a “success toolkit” tailored to their unique strengths and talents and should be consistent across platforms and touchpoints like email signatures. Networking, interviewing, goal-setting, and empathy are all critical skills. Stacy advises teens to practice with mock interviews and information conversations. Setting intentional goals and strategies will help students stay on track. College admissions officers also value traits like entrepreneurship and empathy, so be sure to participate in activities that illustrate your strengths in these areas where applicable. Ultimately,…
2024-25 College Application Trends
The Common App may not be the only platform through which students apply to college, but the 1,100 colleges and universities that accept its applications represent a major constituency of schools. Consequently, the findings in the Common App Deadline update, 2024–2025: First-year application trends through January 1 illuminate trends that likely pertain to the larger high school graduating class of 2025. The broad insights tell us a lot about how competitive college admissions is at this moment: Applicant and application counts are up 5% and 7% respectively. First generation, underrepresent minority, and low-income applicants are up. Rate of domestic applicant growth exceeds growth in international applicants for the first time since 2019. Roughly half of applicants have reported test scores by January 1. Some of the greatest growth is seen in applications to public university systems, urban schools, and schools in the Southwest. Somehow, New York remains the state with…
How Selective is Highly Selective?
College admissions has become its own field of study over the years, forcing applicants to immerse themselves in an ocean of data or engage experts whose life work is to learn to sail those stormy seas. From this idiosyncratic corner of academia springs all kinds of new terms, the most euphemistic of which is highly selective. Highly selective basically describes the colleges and universities that accept the smallest percentage of applicants. These institutions, mostly but not entirely private, can be found all across the United States. The 50 hardest colleges to get into include all the Ivies, plenty of public flagships, and even military service academies. What connects all of these schools is the existence of two competing trends: 1. More and more applications every year 2. A limited number of seats for new students Thus, at many of the most highly selective schools, you see acceptance rates below 5%.…