nutsANDbolts

How can I help my child define a path to success?

The path to success for your student leads to the college that will provide them with the best academic and personal experience, all at a cost that makes financial sense. Jessie and her team at CompassU work with you and your student to find their best match.

What are some of the ways you can help my family navigate this process?

• Identification of Personality Traits and Potential Career Paths
• High School Course Selection
• Standardized Testing…

College aid formulas expect parents to contribute up to 47% of their after-tax income to pay for college each year. —Troy Onink SOURCE: Forbes

Last week an email came across the IECA Talklist regarding a high-achieving student who was graduating from a private high school but who couldn’t afford to attend any of the schools to which he had been accepted. He had had a significant financial aid package at his secondary school.

While we talklist folks don't know the specifics of this case, we kn…

Last week the Boston Globe reported on this need-to-know trend adopted by many flagship universities.

Photo Credit: Boston Globe, May 29, 2016

Read the full article

The truth, straight up: Students that engage proactively land in better places. And, they feel better about things, too.

Visited a campus? Met an admissions officer at a college fair? Have a collection of college rep and tour guide business cards? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, there is a next step, and it isn’t to let the cards migrate under the seat of the car, fall to the bottom of the backpack, or end up under your bed in the pile of college marketing glossies.

Is your goal to…

The Spring testing season is upon us. Each student's testing schedule is unique. Some have chosen to only prep for the SAT or ACT. That said, if your student is planning on applying to highly selective schools, your student's AP and SAT Subject Test scores matter more than you may suspect. Schools with admissions rates 30{475f6e8ad7be3161114314a988b7e8f491719bdeedead1da50322e1eadee8259} or less fall into these categories. The more competitive the admissions rate, the more these additional test s…

The landscape of standardized testing shifts more often than the faults running beneath California.

Like it or not, standardized tests play a significant role in an applicant’s file. In 2015 the ACT underwent “quiet” changes and in a few short weeks the new SAT will go live, in a “loud” way. Sometimes less information is more, so here are three considerations for each of the tests.  

Knowing your students strengths will go a long way when deciding which standardized test is right.

Illustration by Roger Chouinard, NYTimes

THE NEW SAT AND YOUR STUDENT

After careful deliberation and lots of texts, Anna chose Pitt over Lehigh, Lafayette, Fairfield & Muhlenberg.

A few thoughts on combined programs:

Baccalaureate/MD & Baccalaureate/DDS

A doctor. A dentist. These are not uncommon answers to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

One of our students this year, in fact, got to choose between two acceptances. She first earned admission to the Muhlenberg College/University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine 3-4 BioDental Program.…

How will your student bring their application alive?

 

 

Has your student started thinking about college application essays? Have you? If your student is currently a junior, the time to engage in the process is now. You heard right — late spring and through the summer make for the best essays.

It's the one part of the app where the applicant completely controls the voice, that makes it a really valuable document for us. When you’re applying to an institution with thousands of students who have th…

My second, Natalie Martin, @Lehigh University, 1 of 18 college visits.

Recently I was on the phone with a parent who stated, with a mixture of disbelief and incredulousness, “It all comes down to a feeling my kid gets in 15 minutes. This decision (choosing a college) will impact his entire life and costs a quarter of a million dollars, and it is made on a feeling.”

I responded, “Yes, and that feeling is often disproportionately influenced by your tour guide and the level of caffeine in your te…