Your Guide to the High School Junior Year
The seven things that your student needs to do during their high school junior year to prepare for college application time
What Is Accepted Students Day and Is It Worthwhile?
The acceptance letters arriving in the mail or inbox are cause for celebration! But often, those acceptances bring some stress for students. Sometimes, students have sent in their applications six months (or more!) before receiving that acceptance. It may have been a year or more since they set foot on that campus. And in that…
The Importance of Extracurricular Activities at Application Time
There is no question about the importance of extracurricular activities when it is time to fill out college applications. But, there ARE lots of questions about how to handle extracurriculars on the college applications. Every student wants to appear accomplished and engaged. Some colleges would have students believe that most of their applicants have cured…
What You Need to Know About the ACT or SAT
College entrance exams become a big topic when students enter high school. It used to be that students planning to apply to college took one of the two tests, either the ACT or the SAT, one time, and that was that. In some regions, students took the ACT and in others, students took the SAT. …
Important Financial Aid Questions You Didn’t Know to Ask
If you have been reading about college admissions for a while, you may already know some of the financial aid basics like what an EFC is. And if you’ve been following me for a while, you likely know what an NPC is too. However, the list below also includes financial aid questions you may not…
“Should I Take SAT Subject Tests?”
Update: As of 1/19/21, the College Board has announced that they will be discontinuing SAT Subject tests “Should I take SAT subject tests?” is a common question – among students that have actually heard of the SAT subject tests. As with so many college admission topics, the answer to this question is, “It depends.” At…
8 Important Tips for College Admissions – #1 Start Early!
As a college consultant, I am frequently asked for my best advice for families undertaking the college search and admissions process. I find it nearly impossible to narrow it down to just one piece of advice. And generally, my advice is tailored to my specific audience. But, if I had to only give one piece…
What to Do and Questions to Ask on a College Visit
So, you’ve accepted that as unbelievable as it seems, it is time for your high schooler to begin visiting some colleges. You’ve navigated the college websites and gotten a couple of visits scheduled. But what do you do while you’re there? And you’ve got lots of questions – how do you know what kind of…
Academic Merit Aid – What You Need to Know
An academic scholarship. If you have a good student, you may have always assumed that this will be their free ticket to college. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. The good news is that there IS merit aid available to academically-talented students. The bad news is that the most highly selective schools in the country…
Is a Public University Honors Program a Good Option?
College honors programs have existed at some universities for seventy years. But, more have popped up in the past twenty years and now it would be hard to find a state flagship school or any large public university without its own honors college or honors program. They are not created equally and they are not…