Author: Editor

With nearly 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, the choices can be overwhelming, to say the least. There’s so much to think about when deciding where you will spend the next four years of your life, and it’s sometimes difficult to narrow down the choices. In choosing your best fit college, it’s best to consider as many variables as possible. If you’ve thought through various possibilities and reflected on what you’re looking for in a school, you'll know you’ve chosen the best fit when it’s time to sign your letter of acceptance. The best fit school is one that suits your personality, matches the goals you have for yourself, will help you reach those goals, and will meet your other needs and wants when it comes to social atmosphere, extracurricular opportunities, and acad...

In the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark college affirmative action decision, our head of admissions, Eren Harris, sat down to chat with two of the members of our Admissions Advisory Panel: Dr. K.E. Carver, a metaphysics researcher and former admissions officer at Harvard, and Brandon Mack, an experienced college counselor and former admissions officer at Rice University. Their wide-ranging conversation covers how this decision changes admissions, what diversity really means to colleges, and what students need to do going forward.    Despite this landmark Supreme Court decision, colleges aren’t going to suddenly give up on recruiting and admitting a diverse class of students, right? What are some of the ways they are going to try to meet these goals? The part of the ruling about e...

If you have your sights set on Los Angeles for college, the University of Southern California and the University of California Los Angeles are two great options to choose from. But when it comes to USC vs UCLA…what are the differences and which is better? We’re going to break down both of these schools and what they have to offer, including campus sizes, the majors they offer, and how much tuition costs. Information is power, and once you have all the fact, you can make the best decision for you.   Ready? Let’s get started.  Royse Hall, University of California, Los Angeles (Satyricony/Wikimedia Commons)   What Is UCLA? The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university part of the University of California system, founded in 1919. It’s a large university wi...

You might have heard that getting into college is more competitive than ever. Students are applying to college in ever greater numbers, and many apply to multiple colleges, making the pool of applications even deeper. As a result, you are likely looking for anything that will help you edge out the competition. Your counselors or friends might have suggested applying early action or early decision to increase your chances of being accepted. But does applying early raise the odds of being accepted to the college of your choice? While not all schools offer these options, about 450 colleges across the U.S. offer one or both early admission option, according to College Board. Many popular and competitive colleges fall into this category, offering one or the other, or both. Read on for an expl...

Looking for info on 2022-2023 ACT test dates? Knowing the correct ACT test dates is crucial for a solid test-taking plan. Though you might be tempted to go ahead and register for the next possible test date, what you should really be doing is finding a date that works well for you and your schedule. In this guide, we offer an overview of upcoming ACT test dates, registration deadlines, and score release dates. We also give you tips on how to choose an ACT test date and go over which test dates work best for juniors, seniors, and more.   ACT Test Dates and Deadlines for 2023-2024 ACT test dates are generally on Saturdays, but you might be able to take the ACT on a different date if you have a religious exemption or are taking a special administration of the test. Here, we give you the upc...

If you want to get accepted to any college in the U.S., you need to know its admissions requirements. That includes whether you’ll have to submit SAT or ACT scores! Many colleges have adopted test optional admissions policies over the past several years…but what about top schools? Is Harvard test optional? Are Ivy League schools test optional? We know all the changes can be confusing, but we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll walk you through Harvard’s current testing policies and the testing policies at top 25 universities. We’ll also explain whether test scores still matter at test optional schools and how to make decisions about standardized testing.  There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dive in.    What Are Harvard’s Testing Policies? Is Harvard Test Optional?  Test optional admissi...

Two cases before the Supreme Court have the potential to restrict long-standing recruitment and admissions practices at colleges and universities. The cases, brought by a special interest group called Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), allege that race-conscious admissions practices are unfair and violate the Constitution. As liberal arts college presidents, we strongly disagree. Holistic review of applicants is critical to recruiting a well-rounded class, and that includes consideration of the richness of students’ many attributes and interests–including their lived experiences and backgrounds. While each of our colleges has a unique mission, we all work tirelessly to create the most well-rounded student body possible in a competitive admissions market. This means not only striving for...