If you’re a rising junior or senior, you’re probably starting to think about building and finalizing your college list. At this point, you may be wondering, “what do I do at a college fair?” or even asking yourself, “how do I network at a virtual college fair?” — and while this is unprecedented territory for all of us, luck for you, the experts know what to do.

Want to understand how to optimize your high school course selection and get on track for your intended major in college? Wondering whether taking that extra AP class will even be worth it for you? Maybe you’re just unsure of how fall 2020 will impact your AP classes and tests, or what to do to prepare. It’s a common area of confusion for many students, and for good reason. Why take an academically rigorous, college-level course, if you aren’t sure how it will help you?

COVID has brought grading schemes under the microscope, once again. You may well know that schools evaluate academic performance in two ways:

1) in the classroom through letter grades, and 2) through Grade Point Average, or GPA.

You’re likely familiar the grading from A-F, but colleges are interested in overall performance—with a quick glance of your unweighted GPA which will fall between 0.0 and 4.0. Colleges could also be interested in a weighted GPA which applies more proportional weight to more difficult classes.

However, more and more classes are also offering P and NP. Wondering what that means? Read on for a breakdown of how this plays out today.

Your college essays speak for you within your application. They tell your story and your dreams. They remain your best opportunity to really pull together your resume, transcripts, and letters of rec in order to create a complete picture of who you are as a student. And it’s your first and last chance to make an impression on the admissions officer who has never met you before but will eventually decide whether to accept or reject your application.

This pressure is no joke. But rather than paralyze you, it should serve to emphasize the importance of the final draft you submit! With stakes like these, you should absolutely edit your drafts to ensure you catch the little details. 

We know—the editing process proves difficult for lots of people. That’s why we’re here to explain the ten most common editing pitfalls so that as you’re combing over your essays one final time before you send them off, you’ll know what to avoid.

The University of Washington application evaluates student candidates holistically, emphasizing more than grades and scores. That means that the essays you submit are absolutely critical! Your writing needs to effectively tell your story to reviewers and convince them that you should be at their school.

Let’s take a look at the prompts you’re working with to make sure your essays hit the right note.

Picture this: college app deadlines are looming and you’re hard at work on your applications. You’ve compiled and narrowed down a college list, made a strategy for presenting your extracurriculars, and started brainstorming and drafting your essays. Good for you! On top of all this work, you notice that a few of your applications allow for that perplexing, dark horse component: the optional essay. 

For most students, college is expensive. 

Each year, the costs of attending rise, and show no signs of slowing. Between tuition, textbooks, lab materials, and room and board—the path to a diploma exacts a large price. Yet degrees remain highly in demand. Families are asking: how can we afford it? 

The California Institute of Technology—better known by the nickname CalTech—is widely regarded as one of the top ten universities in the United States. In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently named CalTech for the coveted spot #5 on its 2020 list. Want to know how to crack the CalTech essay supplements and present your best self to the admissions committee? In this post, we’ll go through each of their school-specific prompts for you and discuss how to best ace each answer.

The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education recently published their joint 2020 list of Top US Colleges. Curious who made the cut? Want to know what all this data means? The WSJ puts their article behind a subscription paywall for now, but if you want to read the full list you can find the same rankings published on the Times website. We'll explain what to do with it.

Wondering how to approach the essay supplements for MIT? You’re not alone. It’s no surprise that the school is extremely selective, with the admission rate hovering around eight percent each year. If MIT is your dream school, you face serious odds. Read on to learn a little more about the school itself and get tips on how to think critically about your essay strategy so you can give yourself the best chance possible of standing out.

Ever wished for a way to “hack” your brain into accomplishing your goals? We all have different aspirations, whether it’s getting into your dream school or achieving a certain score on the SAT. But sometimes these big-picture objectives can feel impossible. When your dreams seem to be unattainable, they may only cause more stress and frustration instead of inspiring progress. Well, you’re in luck, because there’s psychology to help with that! 

It’s officially August, and that means high school starts again in a matter of weeks. Before you let an overwhelming feeling of dread wash over you, just take a deep breath. With a little planning and foresight, your high school years can be both rewarding and fun...I promise. It’s time to figure out your perfect four-year plan!