College Board announced the good news on January 19, 2021 that they will no longer run the SAT Subject Tests. These were also known as the “SAT 2” tests. Over the past few years, it seemed like there were less and less universities that were requiring these subject tests. But, with this phase out, all colleges and universities will have … Read More
Common App adds a Covid-19 question
Starting with the 2020-2021 application, the Common Application is going to add a new optional response for students to share how this Covid-19 pandemic has impacted them. This will be separate from the "additional information" section which normally works as a place for students to share about any negative circumstances that may have impacted their application. With a word count ... Read More
Colleges on the Top 100 U.S. News ranking with late January deadlines
Even though most highly competitive university deadlines have passed, there are still several colleges on the Top 100 U.S. News ranking with late January deadlines. Whether you are feeling a bit nervous about your school list, feeling extra motivated, or just discovered a new major and want to represent your new passion in an application, the colleges below might be ... Read More
Universities on the Top 100 U.S. News ranking with late January deadlines
Even though most highly competitive university deadlines have passed, there are still several universities on the Top 100 U.S. News ranking with late January deadlines. Whether you are feeling a bit nervous about your school list, feeling extra motivated, or just discovered a new major and want to represent your new passion in an application, the universities below might be ... Read More
Common Application Refresh 2019
Refresh, refresh As back to school specials return to stores, it is also another special time of the year for college applications: The Common Application refresh period! Every year around the end of July, the Common Application shuts down to upload the new prompts and instructions for every college and university. For students who have been working on some of ... Read More
In-state tuition for tribal nation students at U Illinois Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago recently announced that they will offer in-state tuition for any students who are members of the 537 tribal nations recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are tribal nations not federally recognized. For example, they might be unrecognized, petitioning to be recognized, or only recognized by the US state they are located in. Based ... Read More
Founder Jackie Sizemore awarded a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2018
A partial list of the Notable Essays came out today for the popular series Best American Essays, and to my great surprise, one of my essays made it to the list! My lyric essay, “Gaijin” was originally published in the Eastern Iowa Review, a literary journal. While the essay itself won’t be in the Best American Essays book, you can … Read More
Harvard lawsuit moves ahead
With the lawsuit involving Asian-American students’ undergraduate admissions to Harvard moving forward to trial in October, the case has the potential to create waves of changes in the admissions world. I found this article in the Boston Globe particularly helpful in thinking about the nuances of the case, as well as some brief overviews of the different parties who are involved. … Read More
Carnegie Mellon Eliminating Demonstrated Interest
Carnegie Mellon University Undergraduate Admissions recently released news that they are making some significant changes to their application process. One big change is eliminating the “demonstrated interest” aspect, which previously was used to judge how much a student seemed genuinely interested in the university through participating in CMU events on campus or in their hometowns, completing an alumni interview, and … Read More
Harvard lawsuit reveals application scoring system
While the lawsuit involving Harvard undergraduate admissions continues to unfold, news outlets are reporting some of the information that has been released so far. Harvard admissions ranks students between a 1-6 in each admissions category, including using pluses and minuses to indicate being at the upper or lower end (ranking a 4+, for example). The Harvard Crimson article cited about … Read More