If you tell me that I can take my child to Six Flags but there is a chance I may not get in, that will dissuade me and make me less likely to go. However, the opposite is true with college admissions. The colleges that are on the verge of closing and are lowering their [...]
In this article, we discuss the growing test-optional reasons. We talk about why the test-optional movement has so much momentum right now. We list the advantages to a school making the decision to drop the ACT and the SAT as requirements for admissions. Reason 1: Students hate completing the ACT and the SAT. You may [...]
In this article we take a look at actual waitlist data for the class of 2022, courtesy of the great website, Kickstarter. We share the data so you can see how hard it is to get off the waitlist at certain schools and we examine the reasons why it is so hard to get admitted [...]
One year ago, Anika Madden and I started planning to launch our podcast and five months ago, Anika and I launched the “Your College-Bound Kid” podcast. It has been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. People often ask, why did you do it? Well, from one perspective, it doesn’t make a lot [...]
The test-optional movement is alive and well. On October 28, 2015, the New York Times published an article entitled “Test Optional Surge.” The article said the following: For those who argue that the SAT and ACT should be dropped as criteria for college admission, this has been an affirming year. Forty-seven colleges and universities have [...]
There are two primary sources of scholarships. There are what are known as “institutional scholarships,” which are scholarships from the college or university itself. These are often quite large and, by far and away, are the major source of free money for families above the poverty line. The other source of scholarship money is what [...]
In the same way that you and I are notorious for slowing down our cars when we see a policeman parked on the side of the road, seniors are just as prone to putting their efforts on cruise control once they get their acceptance offers. In some ways this is just human nature. Seniors have [...]
There was a time when it was very easy for me to convince people of the danger of private student loans. I would tell families that private student loans almost always require co-signers and usually that was enough to scare them away. If that didn’t work, I could point out that private student loans are [...]
Anytime a college admissions office requires something in the college admission process it creates work for admission officers and support staff. As such, they are not going to do something unless the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. This is why over 1,100 four-year colleges in the US require at least one teacher recommendation in the college [...]
Last month I received a call from a college counselor in New York. Five minutes into the call, he said, “My kids are hearing at school that they should apply to 30 colleges. What do you think?” We are caught in a revolving, pernicious cycle and there is no end in sight. Here is [...]
