Category: Admissions

Every year, public school students in California are tested through the Standardized Testing and Reporting program, commonly known as STAR testing.  Parents receive their child’s results, which slot that child into one of 5 categories: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic, and Far Below Basic.  Most parents perceive a child’s scores falling in the Advanced range […]

Junior year is almost over, and it’s come time again to pick classes for next year. Your student looks over all the choices before them for the last time in their high school career. “Remember,” you say, “you’ll need to be working on your college applications this fall!” “I know, I know,” they absentmindedly reply […]

Beyond the revealing the scope and audacity, this year in college admissions reinforced something we at Cardinal Education always knew to be true: the opacity of the admissions process. As colleges become increasingly selective and students must compete even harder to gain admission to the nation’s top universities, admissions boards continue to use a byzantine […]

Editor’s Note: This article is the second in our four-part series Demographic Factors in College Admissions It is no secret that legacies, or applicants who already have familial ties to a college, are afforded a significant advantage in college admissions.  In fact, according to a study conducted by Harvard professor, Michael Hurwitz, legacies generally experience […]

College tuition at most schools increases at a rate of 4-5% every year.  These days, this steady increase in cost has resulted in an enormous financial burden for middle and lower income families.  To provide equal educational opportunities for these families, colleges constantly strive to augment their financial aid budget and dole out thousands of […]

Editor’s Note: This article is the first in our four-part series Demographic Factors in College Admissions. In short, yes.  In fact, exceptional athletic talent and achievement can be the difference between a rejection and acceptance to high-caliber universities across the nation.  However, few student-athletes are aware of the numerous qualifications they must meet in order […]

Claremont McKenna College announced in January that an admissions official had released inaccurate SAT score statistics in an effort to boost the school’s standing in the U.S. News & World Report Rankings. A college trying to game the rankings with false data is nothing new. In recent years, misleading information has been submitted by the […]

It’s February, and schoolwork, clubs, and winter sports probably dominate your freshman, sophomore, or junior’s daily thoughts and routine.  Consequently, summer break may seem like a long way off. The fact is, however, summer activity opportunities are currently becoming available, and the rosters for these activities are already filling up.  In other words, now is […]