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Spring break always brings travel plans, but those plans are seldom more important than in a student’s junior year as they and their families hit the road touring a long list of colleges to kick off what is essentially the opening stages of the college application process. What many families do not know, however, is […]

Starting in middle school, students deal with all manner of projects and assignments that involve some kind of essay writing. These essays graduate into full-blown papers in high school, and balancing their deadlines against other schoolwork becomes a central focus of time management. It is an axiom that you shouldn’t finish an essay the night […]

When should I start my college application? The answer to this question can affect every element of your application, especially if you get started too late to adequately prepare. When is too late? When is too early? Is there even such a thing? Indeed there is, and with the guide below, you should be able […]

COVID-19 has upended countless pillars of education in the past three months, from changing class grades and canceled finals to an uncertain college testing and admissions landscape. Perhaps the least discussed shift, however, has been CollegeBoard’s pivot on AP testing for the spring of 2020. Rather than cancel its iconic advance placement topic exams, the […]

While it has come under fire recently, legacy admissions remains a strong influencing factor for college admissions to many American schools from the Ivy Leagues to public universities. Families understandably want to take advantage of any possible connection they have in an admissions landscape that is increasingly ultra-competitive. What, then, serves as a connection that […]

So much more than the traditional educational landscape has been changed these past few months as a result of COVID-19. The closure of schools and non-essential businesses means that as online schooling has taken hold, most of the students’ other activities have been shut down. Does this mean that college applications for the next few […]

Grades occupy a place in privilege in the American, and really any, school system. Parents and students obsess about GPA, and for good reason. GPA remains the most important single factor in college admissions, often either opening or closing doors to elite universities before any other criterion is taken into account. The best grade in […]

Thursday, May 24, 2020, may well go down in history as the day the SAT and ACT began their final decline. For the past two months, American colleges have added their names to a growing list of institutions that would make the SAT and ACT examinations optional for students applying in the fall of 2020 […]

What is the most important year of high school? Countless families ask this question as they hope that it hasn’t passed their students by with mediocre results. Some might say senior year. After all, that’s when students apply to college, right? In reality, colleges see at most the first half of senior year, and many […]

One of the most important decisions a student will make in the course of their college application process is exactly what program of study they wish to apply for. The choice of major is more than just an answer to the question “What do you want to do when you grow up?” It is a […]

No matter what schools they apply to or when they submit their applications, all students applying to American universities will need to write a personal statement essay: 650 words that sum up their life experiences and why a college would want to admit them. This is a tall order, and there are many different ways […]