For this year's high school seniors, taking the SAT and ACT has proven to be even more challenging than expected. Beyond the difficulty of the tests themselves, the cancelation of multiple test dates in the spring and summer has added to students' anxiety. Some seniors took these tests for the [...]
Guest blog post by Marcia Bannon Sending your child 2,000 miles away for their freshman year of college is never easy. Will they be homesick? Will they get along with their roommate? Will they be successful in their classes? In the age of coronavirus, it can be even more anxiety-producing [...]
In preparing for the fall, colleges have been presenting a wide variety of scenarios. Since late April, the Chronicle of Higher Education has been tracking the fall plans of nearly 1,125 colleges. As of July 13, 57% of those colleges are planning to have students on campus and offer classes [...]
Although the school year has not yet started, student athletes are already back on some college campuses for pre-season training. Several colleges have asked or required these students to sign liability waivers stating that the students will not sue the college if they get coronavirus. As reported in Sports Illustrated, [...]
In September, U.S. News and World Report will publish its annual college rankings, as it has been doing since 1983. Although colleges clamor to be at the top of these lists, students and parents should be aware that the rankings have many flaws. Nearly seven years ago, I wrote a [...]
For high school juniors, COVID-19 has really thrown a wrench into their college preparation and search process. ACT and SAT test dates have been cancelled, AP exams are being given online, and the ability to visit college campuses has been suspended for an indefinite amount of time. Many juniors were [...]
One of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the amount of uncertainty surrounding it, and for high school seniors, one of the greatest areas of uncertainty is what college will look like this fall. Although many colleges have announced that they intend to re-open their campuses in [...]
Earlier this spring, in just a matter of days, high school and college students went from living their normal lives -- going to school, participating in sports and activities, hanging out with their friends -- to being stuck at home, forced to "social distance" and take classes online. To say [...]
As the coronavirus spreads, its effects are being felt on college campuses across the U.S. and around the world. The following are examples of recent actions taken by a handful of colleges. Many American colleges have cancelled study abroad programs in Italy, China, and South Korea, pulling students out of [...]
Students often wonder what they can do to maximize their chances of admission at selective and highly selective colleges. Some are at an advantage not because of something they themselves did, but rather, because of who their relatives are. I'm talking, of course, about legacy preference. At some schools, students [...]
