When it’s time to apply to college, students generally understand the importance of their grade point average (GPA) and college admissions test scores in the process. But does their class rank in high school also matter? What is Class Rank? Before talking about how colleges may or may not use high school class rank as…
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…
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…
Anyone else out there have a kid who needs help to narrow their college application list a bit? Most college admissions counselors will tell you that applying to seven schools is a good target. And many students actually struggle to even get to seven on their list. Or, they have intentions of applying to that…
Recently, Advanced Placement (AP) classes are back in the news. Eight elite high schools in the Washington DC area announced that they will no longer offer them. This has stirred up new controversy about whether the classes are worthwhile. Did those high schools drop AP classes because they are not challenging and don’t help to…
If you thought that applying to college was just a matter of your student sending in their test scores and GPA, and maybe a teacher letter of recommendation, and then sitting back and waiting for the college to give them an answer, think again. Sure, that’s the case at some schools, particularly large state universities. …
So, your student is getting serious about their college list and you’re looking at your college savings and wondering how you’re going to be able to afford this? It’s time for a word about scholarships – from automatic scholarships to athletic ones. It’s likely that one of your very next thoughts after you see the…
So, now you and your child have spent some time online searching for different colleges in a variety of ways, and they have some ideas about what schools they would like to go see, and have even visited a few. There is that one school however, that they just LOVE, but where both their GPA…
This is what many families struggle with as they are just beginning their college search with their student. Where and how to start to find a college fit? A college fit is so much more than just test scores and GPA. There are factors like location, size, finances, and maybe most importantly, how does the…
A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with a mom friend whose son is in the middle of his Junior year. Unfortunately, our public high school is a bit behind in advising students about the college search process. Because of that, many parents and students do not realize that to get the best…