FAQ’s

The SAT & ACT are exams required by most (but not all) universities as a part of the admissions process.

Each exam is approximately 3 hours long and includes an optional (recommended) essay section (40-50 min).

Topics tested include:
Math: Algebra I & II, Arithmetic, Geometry, Basic Trigonometry, Data Analysis, and Pre-Calculus (ACT only)
English: Grammar, Vocabulary in Context, Editing Skills
Reading: Reading Comprehension, Command of Evidence

The College Application Process has 3 major parts: GPA, SAT/ACT, and Personal (extracurriculars, honors & achievements, community service).

Since every high school has a different curriculum and difficulty level of the courses it offers, your GPA is recalculated based on your course load. Harder courses weigh more than easier ones do.

As for extracurriculars: who’s to say that 500 hours spent training for Varsity Soccer are better than 500 spent serving food at a soup kitchen? How can you judge that?

So, basically, SATs/ACTs are the only consistent part of everyone’s application. With that said, not all universities require them so it’s important to check a university’s admissions page for its list of application requirements.

It depends on the university you’re planning to apply to. Some universities – the more competitive ones (think Ivy League) – ask students to submit their entire “Score History”, meaning you’d be sending ALL your scores – the good & the bad. Other universities only ask you to send your best scores – meaning you could’ve taken the tests 10 times but you’d only be sending your best 2-3.

With that said, 3 is the norm. More than that can just prolong the process.

When multiple sets of scores are sent to a university, the university takes the highest of the individual section scores across multiple exams, and combines them to create an ultimate superscore.

For example, if an SAT student receives a Reading score of 700 and a Math score of 600 on one exam, then later receives a Reading score of 650 and the Math score of 700 on another exam, the university will take the Reading score (700) from the first exam and the Math score (700) from the second exam to create an ultimate superscore (1400) to be considered for the student’s admission.

At the moment, this is more common for the SAT than for the ACT, however, ACT superscoring is starting to gain popularity. For more information, check out The Troll, The Boy, The SAT & The ACT.

YES. Unless you with absolute certainty that all universities you will be applying to will not require the essay, I recommend testing with the essay. You don’t want to finish testing only to later learn that ONE of the ten universities you are thinking of applying to requires the essay. Students have to take the entire exam to reach the last 40-50 minute essay section, there is no separate essay option, so it’s just a good idea to have at least one good essay score on record.

The test company will wipe any record of the test being taken. Colleges will NOT see that.

Beginning of Junior Year (or after completing Algebra 2, whichever comes first). Grades are crucial this year, so it’s a huge advantage to get the testing out of the way as soon as possible.

NO!!!! Take a free exam first! Competitive universities ask students for their entire score history,
therefore, any low scores will be visible and could be a disadvantage.

~5 YEARS from the day they are taken.

Log on to your Collegeboard or ACT, you should see an option to “View Scores” or “My Scores”, once you click on that, you’ll be given the option somewhere on the page to “Sent Your Score”.

At the time of registration, both the SAT and ACT allow students to select four universities to send free score reports to.

For the SAT, the free report option can be used up to nine days after the test date. After that, all reports must be paid for. The ACT allows the free report to be used up to five days after the test date.

Note: You would be sending the free score report BEFORE you see your score.

With that said, each additional SAT report costs $12, and ACT report costs $13. Priority reports cost extra, and general non-priority processing time is approximately one week for both.

Fee waivers are available for those from low-income families. Please speak to your high school guidance counselor to obtain the waivers.

For more information about fees (rush order, ordering via phone, etc) please see the links below:

Sending SAT Scores

Sending ACT Scores

On SOME but NOT all of the regular SAT dates and since each exam is only an hour long, students can take up to three SAT Subject Tests in one sitting. Here are the upcoming SAT Subject Test Dates to help you plan accordingly.

Students can choose from 20 different subjects in the areas of math, history, English, science, and languages. Here is the full list of subjects students can test on.

It is important to note that while most subject tests are offered every SAT Subject Test date, languages are offered a limited number of times. The upcoming test dates and subjects offered can be found here.

Also, students applying to certain majors or universities may have specific Subject Test requirements to fulfill, so please take a look at a university’s Admission’s Requirements or Checklist page before registering.

All SAT Subject Test-related fees can be found on Collegeboard. Note that fee-waivers are available for
those who qualify and can be received from your high school’s guidance/college counselor.

Good question. There’s a lot of information to process and quite a few factors to consider when considering the universities that would best fit. I recommend using Collegeboard’s College Search Tool. It allows you to select filters such as test scores, location, university size, academics, sports, etc, and pulls from its database of 3,806 universities to give you the ones that best fit. You are not required to choose from every filter, instead you can just choose from your 2-3 priorities.

Once you’ve gotten an initial list of universities, it’s time to start researching further. You can explore the statistics on the Collegeboard site or you can visit the university’s website to get an idea of its core values, academic structure, and student life.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

1. If you don’t know what you’d like to pursue, how is the university going to help you figure it out? What kind of program(s) does the university have? Keep in mind that NOT knowing what you want to do is common…..and you’re paying a heck of a lot of money to the university… so how’s the university going to help you?

2. If you DO know what you’d like to study, what is the program like? Dig through the university’s website to see the faculty profiles, research/participation opportunities.

3. Study abroad opportunities…both within and outside your chosen area of study. Some majors seamlessly work into study abroad opportunities while others require maneuvering (aka taking classes outside your major).

4. Career Resource Center: college is a temporary life stage…so how’s the university going to help you get to the next stage? Resume help? Mock interviews? Career fairs?

5. Academic Support: What sort of tutoring is available? You’ll have fun while there, but ultimately, you’re going there for an education, so it’d be nice to know what type of support is actually available….is it a peer-to-peer tutoring center? A writing center?

6. Mental/Disabilities Support: Even if you don’t have a serious mental health concern, maybe it’s just test anxiety….find out what the counseling center helps with. You may never walk in in your time there, but it’s just good to know.

If you have ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc, then please check out what resources are available. Remember that ADD/ADHD students can still submit the 504 plan to receive extended time on tests.

You have a couple different ways to figure out this info, here are two:

1. Naviance
2. The university’s admissions statistics page

1. Naviance

Quite a few high schools use Naviance – a college-readiness software program linked to your high school.

It is free for students and is maintained by the high school’s guidance or college counselor. Once he/she updates the students GPA & SAT/ACT information into the software, you can run a search for any university of interest and receive applications and admissions data. The feature allows you to see how many students from your high school applied at that particular university, how many were accepted, waitlisted, and denied. You’ll be able to compare your GPA and test scores to those admitted to provide you with a solid idea of where you stand.

Note: Just because your Naviance account shows that you are a perfect candidate for the university does not guarantee admission. There is more to an application than a GPA and an SAT/ACT score.

2. Admissions Statistics

Alternatively, if your high school does not offer Naviance or if you’d just like more admissions information, take a look at the university’s class profile. To find it, Google “*Name of University* Admissions Statistics” and BE SURE TO LOOK ONLY AT THE .edu LINK. There are 2,000+ universities in the country and blogs are going to have a hard time constantly updating the data….so look for the info on the university’s website.

The “Admissions Statistics” or “Freshmen Class Profile” page consists of different information for different universities (annoying, I know). The average admissions statistics info will include SAT/ACT score ranges, applications received vs. accepted for the various admissions cycles, and a demographic breakdown. If you look closely at the admissions statistics, you’ll notice that students who apply Early Decision or Early Action have a slightly higher acceptance rate than those who apply Regular Decisions.

There are a couple different application cycles and terms you need to know about.

• Early Decision (ED): BINDING. By applying Early Decision, you are committing to that university. In fact, ED applications have a contract that both students and parents have to provide electronic signatures for. The only way out of the contract is if there is a proven financial concern.
• Early Decision deadlines tend to be in Oct/Nov and decisions are announced prior to the Winter Holiday Break. If the university offers a 2nd Early Decision Cycle – for students who did not apply in the first round- the deadline is typically early to mid-January, and decisions are released towards the end of February or early March.
• Early Action (EA): NOT BINDING. Early Action means that you are simply applying at an earlier deadline, and I strongly recommend applying EA to every university on your list that offers the option to do so. Fewer students tend to apply at this deadline – either due to a lack of interest or procrastination – so the applicant pool is much smaller.
• It’s important to note that you still have to be a strong candidate for the university to benefit from the higher acceptance rate. Early Action deadlines tend to be around Oct/Nov, but as with all deadlines, please check with your university of choice. Early Action decisions are released prior to the Winter Holiday Break (around Mid-December).
• Rolling Admissions: Rolling admissions is a continuous admissions cycle that starts around September and ends around February/March. Basically, students can apply at any point in that timeframe and be notified of the decision in about a month. I recommend applying earlier on so that spots don’t fill up.
• Regular Admission: The general deadline for applications. Most students apply at this deadline, especially if the university does not offer Early Decision or Early Action. Deadlines can really vary, but most tend to be early to mid-January. Decisions come out late March or early April.
• Even with a regular admissions deadline, I recommend applying as early as possible. Why? Because the admissions committee will be able to give more time to each application. As more and more applications start coming in, the committee now has to sort through them a bit faster to meet its own decisions-release deadline.

YES! Not all universities require or even offer interviews, however, if they are offered, even if they are optional, interview!

Interviews give universities the opportunity to put a face and personality to an application, and it gives students the opportunity to share anything that they may not have been on the application. If you put in time prepping for it, it’s a win-win situation.

Most interviews have to be scheduled by late November or December so it’s important to look into those deadlines.

If location is an issue and you cannot go in for an interview at the university, you’ll have the option of interviewing with an alumnus in your area or conduct an interview via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom. Options vary per university.

With COVID-19, most interviews are now virtual.

This is a fairly intense topic and I’ll provide extensive prep material on the blog. With that said, a few pieces of information on the topic:

1. Students can choose from one these prompts. Every universty’s application will have the “Share an essay on any topic of your choice” option so you’re not required to choose one of these.
2. The word count limit is 650. Minimum 250. May vary slightly, but for the most part, it’s fairly uniform.
3. When writing the essay, yes, think of a good story to tell, but more importantly, think of the 3-5 personality traits you want to convey. Remember, your essay is the reader’s first introduction to you as a person, they only know your statistics & a list of extracurriculars, but they have no idea if you’re funny or quirky or if you want to rule the world.

The SAT and ACT each costs $55.00 per take.

Fee waivers are available for those who qualify, so please see your school’s guidance counselor to obtain them.

Homeschooled students should reach out to Collegeboard or ACT directly about fee waivers.

The SAT & ACT are exams required by most (but not all) universities as a part of the admissions process.

Each exam is approximately 3 hours long and includes an optional (recommended) essay section (40-50 min).

Topics tested include:
Math: Algebra I & II, Arithmetic, Geometry, Basic Trigonometry, Data Analysis, and Pre-Calculus (ACT only)
English: Grammar, Vocabulary in Context, Editing Skills
Reading: Reading Comprehension, Command of Evidence

The College Application Process has 3 major parts: GPA, SAT/ACT, and Personal (extracurriculars, honors & achievements, community service).

Since every high school has a different curriculum and difficulty level of the courses it offers, your GPA is recalculated based on your course load. Harder courses weigh more than easier ones do.

As for extracurriculars: who’s to say that 500 hours spent training for Varsity Soccer are better than 500 spent serving food at a soup kitchen? How can you judge that?

So, basically, SATs/ACTs are the only consistent part of everyone’s application. With that said, not all universities require them so it’s important to check a university’s admissions page for its list of application requirements.

It depends on the university you’re planning to apply to. Some universities – the more competitive ones (think Ivy League) – ask students to submit their entire “Score History”, meaning you’d be sending ALL your scores – the good & the bad. Other universities only ask you to send your best scores – meaning you could’ve taken the tests 10 times but you’d only be sending your best 2-3.

With that said, 3 is the norm. More than that can just prolong the process.

When multiple sets of scores are sent to a university, the university takes the highest of the individual section scores across multiple exams, and combines them to create an ultimate superscore.

For example, if an SAT student receives a Reading score of 700 and a Math score of 600 on one exam, then later receives a Reading score of 650 and the Math score of 700 on another exam, the university will take the Reading score (700) from the first exam and the Math score (700) from the second exam to create an ultimate superscore (1400) to be considered for the student’s admission.

At the moment, this is more common for the SAT than for the ACT, however, ACT superscoring is starting to gain popularity. For more information, check out The Troll, The Boy, The SAT & The ACT.

YES. Unless you with absolute certainty that all universities you will be applying to will not require the essay, I recommend testing with the essay. You don’t want to finish testing only to later learn that ONE of the ten universities you are thinking of applying to requires the essay. Students have to take the entire exam to reach the last 40-50 minute essay section, there is no separate essay option, so it’s just a good idea to have at least one good essay score on record.

The test company will wipe any record of the test being taken. Colleges will NOT see that.

Beginning of Junior Year (or after completing Algebra 2, whichever comes first). Grades are crucial this year, so it’s a huge advantage to get the testing out of the way as soon as possible.

NO!!!! Take a free exam first! Competitive universities ask students for their entire score history,
therefore, any low scores will be visible and could be a disadvantage.

~5 YEARS from the day they are taken.

Log on to your Collegeboard or ACT, you should see an option to “View Scores” or “My Scores”, once you click on that, you’ll be given the option somewhere on the page to “Sent Your Score”.

At the time of registration, both the SAT and ACT allow students to select four universities to send free score reports to.

For the SAT, the free report option can be used up to nine days after the test date. After that, all reports must be paid for. The ACT allows the free report to be used up to five days after the test date.

Note: You would be sending the free score report BEFORE you see your score.

With that said, each additional SAT report costs $12, and ACT report costs $13. Priority reports cost extra, and general non-priority processing time is approximately one week for both.

Fee waivers are available for those from low-income families. Please speak to your high school guidance counselor to obtain the waivers.

For more information about fees (rush order, ordering via phone, etc) please see the links below:

Sending SAT Scores

Sending ACT Scores

On SOME but NOT all of the regular SAT dates and since each exam is only an hour long, students can take up to three SAT Subject Tests in one sitting. Here are the upcoming SAT Subject Test Dates to help you plan accordingly.

Students can choose from 20 different subjects in the areas of math, history, English, science, and languages. Here is the full list of subjects students can test on.

It is important to note that while most subject tests are offered every SAT Subject Test date, languages are offered a limited number of times. The upcoming test dates and subjects offered can be found here.

Also, students applying to certain majors or universities may have specific Subject Test requirements to fulfill, so please take a look at a university’s Admission’s Requirements or Checklist page before registering.

All SAT Subject Test-related fees can be found on Collegeboard. Note that fee-waivers are available for
those who qualify and can be received from your high school’s guidance/college counselor.

Good question. There’s a lot of information to process and quite a few factors to consider when considering the universities that would best fit. I recommend using Collegeboard’s College Search Tool. It allows you to select filters such as test scores, location, university size, academics, sports, etc, and pulls from its database of 3,806 universities to give you the ones that best fit. You are not required to choose from every filter, instead you can just choose from your 2-3 priorities.

Once you’ve gotten an initial list of universities, it’s time to start researching further. You can explore the statistics on the Collegeboard site or you can visit the university’s website to get an idea of its core values, academic structure, and student life.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

1. If you don’t know what you’d like to pursue, how is the university going to help you figure it out? What kind of program(s) does the university have? Keep in mind that NOT knowing what you want to do is common…..and you’re paying a heck of a lot of money to the university… so how’s the university going to help you?

2. If you DO know what you’d like to study, what is the program like? Dig through the university’s website to see the faculty profiles, research/participation opportunities.

3. Study abroad opportunities…both within and outside your chosen area of study. Some majors seamlessly work into study abroad opportunities while others require maneuvering (aka taking classes outside your major).

4. Career Resource Center: college is a temporary life stage…so how’s the university going to help you get to the next stage? Resume help? Mock interviews? Career fairs?

5. Academic Support: What sort of tutoring is available? You’ll have fun while there, but ultimately, you’re going there for an education, so it’d be nice to know what type of support is actually available….is it a peer-to-peer tutoring center? A writing center?

6. Mental/Disabilities Support: Even if you don’t have a serious mental health concern, maybe it’s just test anxiety….find out what the counseling center helps with. You may never walk in in your time there, but it’s just good to know.

If you have ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc, then please check out what resources are available. Remember that ADD/ADHD students can still submit the 504 plan to receive extended time on tests.

You have a couple different ways to figure out this info, here are two:

1. Naviance
2. The university’s admissions statistics page

1. Naviance

Quite a few high schools use Naviance – a college-readiness software program linked to your high school.

It is free for students and is maintained by the high school’s guidance or college counselor. Once he/she updates the students GPA & SAT/ACT information into the software, you can run a search for any university of interest and receive applications and admissions data. The feature allows you to see how many students from your high school applied at that particular university, how many were accepted, waitlisted, and denied. You’ll be able to compare your GPA and test scores to those admitted to provide you with a solid idea of where you stand.

Note: Just because your Naviance account shows that you are a perfect candidate for the university does not guarantee admission. There is more to an application than a GPA and an SAT/ACT score.

2. Admissions Statistics

Alternatively, if your high school does not offer Naviance or if you’d just like more admissions information, take a look at the university’s class profile. To find it, Google “*Name of University* Admissions Statistics” and BE SURE TO LOOK ONLY AT THE .edu LINK. There are 2,000+ universities in the country and blogs are going to have a hard time constantly updating the data….so look for the info on the university’s website.

The “Admissions Statistics” or “Freshmen Class Profile” page consists of different information for different universities (annoying, I know). The average admissions statistics info will include SAT/ACT score ranges, applications received vs. accepted for the various admissions cycles, and a demographic breakdown. If you look closely at the admissions statistics, you’ll notice that students who apply Early Decision or Early Action have a slightly higher acceptance rate than those who apply Regular Decisions.

There are a couple different application cycles and terms you need to know about.

• Early Decision (ED): BINDING. By applying Early Decision, you are committing to that university. In fact, ED applications have a contract that both students and parents have to provide electronic signatures for. The only way out of the contract is if there is a proven financial concern.
• Early Decision deadlines tend to be in Oct/Nov and decisions are announced prior to the Winter Holiday Break. If the university offers a 2nd Early Decision Cycle – for students who did not apply in the first round- the deadline is typically early to mid-January, and decisions are released towards the end of February or early March.
• Early Action (EA): NOT BINDING. Early Action means that you are simply applying at an earlier deadline, and I strongly recommend applying EA to every university on your list that offers the option to do so. Fewer students tend to apply at this deadline – either due to a lack of interest or procrastination – so the applicant pool is much smaller.
• It’s important to note that you still have to be a strong candidate for the university to benefit from the higher acceptance rate. Early Action deadlines tend to be around Oct/Nov, but as with all deadlines, please check with your university of choice. Early Action decisions are released prior to the Winter Holiday Break (around Mid-December).
• Rolling Admissions: Rolling admissions is a continuous admissions cycle that starts around September and ends around February/March. Basically, students can apply at any point in that timeframe and be notified of the decision in about a month. I recommend applying earlier on so that spots don’t fill up.
• Regular Admission: The general deadline for applications. Most students apply at this deadline, especially if the university does not offer Early Decision or Early Action. Deadlines can really vary, but most tend to be early to mid-January. Decisions come out late March or early April.
• Even with a regular admissions deadline, I recommend applying as early as possible. Why? Because the admissions committee will be able to give more time to each application. As more and more applications start coming in, the committee now has to sort through them a bit faster to meet its own decisions-release deadline.

YES! Not all universities require or even offer interviews, however, if they are offered, even if they are optional, interview!

Interviews give universities the opportunity to put a face and personality to an application, and it gives students the opportunity to share anything that they may not have been on the application. If you put in time prepping for it, it’s a win-win situation.

Most interviews have to be scheduled by late November or December so it’s important to look into those deadlines.

If location is an issue and you cannot go in for an interview at the university, you’ll have the option of interviewing with an alumnus in your area or conduct an interview via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom. Options vary per university.

With COVID-19, most interviews are now virtual.

This is a fairly intense topic and I’ll provide extensive prep material on the blog. With that said, a few pieces of information on the topic:

1. Students can choose from one these prompts. Every universty’s application will have the “Share an essay on any topic of your choice” option so you’re not required to choose one of these.
2. The word count limit is 650. Minimum 250. May vary slightly, but for the most part, it’s fairly uniform.
3. When writing the essay, yes, think of a good story to tell, but more importantly, think of the 3-5 personality traits you want to convey. Remember, your essay is the reader’s first introduction to you as a person, they only know your statistics & a list of extracurriculars, but they have no idea if you’re funny or quirky or if you want to rule the world.

The SAT and ACT each costs $55.00 per take.

Fee waivers are available for those who qualify, so please see your school’s guidance counselor to obtain them.

Homeschooled students should reach out to Collegeboard or ACT directly about fee waivers.

The SAT & ACT are exams required by most (but not all) universities as a part of the admissions process.

Each exam is approximately 3 hours long and includes an optional (recommended) essay section (40-50 min).

Topics tested include:
Math: Algebra I & II, Arithmetic, Geometry, Basic Trigonometry, Data Analysis, and Pre-Calculus (ACT only)
English: Grammar, Vocabulary in Context, Editing Skills
Reading: Reading Comprehension, Command of Evidence

The College Application Process has 3 major parts: GPA, SAT/ACT, and Personal (extracurriculars, honors & achievements, community service).

Since every high school has a different curriculum and difficulty level of the courses it offers, your GPA is recalculated based on your course load. Harder courses weigh more than easier ones do.

As for extracurriculars: who’s to say that 500 hours spent training for Varsity Soccer are better than 500 spent serving food at a soup kitchen? How can you judge that?

So, basically, SATs/ACTs are the only consistent part of everyone’s application. With that said, not all universities require them so it’s important to check a university’s admissions page for its list of application requirements.

It depends on the university you’re planning to apply to. Some universities – the more competitive ones (think Ivy League) – ask students to submit their entire “Score History”, meaning you’d be sending ALL your scores – the good & the bad. Other universities only ask you to send your best scores – meaning you could’ve taken the tests 10 times but you’d only be sending your best 2-3.

With that said, 3 is the norm. More than that can just prolong the process.

When multiple sets of scores are sent to a university, the university takes the highest of the individual section scores across multiple exams, and combines them to create an ultimate superscore.

For example, if an SAT student receives a Reading score of 700 and a Math score of 600 on one exam, then later receives a Reading score of 650 and the Math score of 700 on another exam, the university will take the Reading score (700) from the first exam and the Math score (700) from the second exam to create an ultimate superscore (1400) to be considered for the student’s admission.

At the moment, this is more common for the SAT than for the ACT, however, ACT superscoring is starting to gain popularity. For more information, check out The Troll, The Boy, The SAT & The ACT.

YES. Unless you with absolute certainty that all universities you will be applying to will not require the essay, I recommend testing with the essay. You don’t want to finish testing only to later learn that ONE of the ten universities you are thinking of applying to requires the essay. Students have to take the entire exam to reach the last 40-50 minute essay section, there is no separate essay option, so it’s just a good idea to have at least one good essay score on record.

The test company will wipe any record of the test being taken. Colleges will NOT see that.

Beginning of Junior Year (or after completing Algebra 2, whichever comes first). Grades are crucial this year, so it’s a huge advantage to get the testing out of the way as soon as possible.

NO!!!! Take a free exam first! Competitive universities ask students for their entire score history,
therefore, any low scores will be visible and could be a disadvantage.

~5 YEARS from the day they are taken.

Log on to your Collegeboard or ACT, you should see an option to “View Scores” or “My Scores”, once you click on that, you’ll be given the option somewhere on the page to “Sent Your Score”.

At the time of registration, both the SAT and ACT allow students to select four universities to send free score reports to.

For the SAT, the free report option can be used up to nine days after the test date. After that, all reports must be paid for. The ACT allows the free report to be used up to five days after the test date.

Note: You would be sending the free score report BEFORE you see your score.

With that said, each additional SAT report costs $12, and ACT report costs $13. Priority reports cost extra, and general non-priority processing time is approximately one week for both.

Fee waivers are available for those from low-income families. Please speak to your high school guidance counselor to obtain the waivers.

For more information about fees (rush order, ordering via phone, etc) please see the links below:

Sending SAT Scores

Sending ACT Scores

On SOME but NOT all of the regular SAT dates and since each exam is only an hour long, students can take up to three SAT Subject Tests in one sitting. Here are the upcoming SAT Subject Test Dates to help you plan accordingly.

Students can choose from 20 different subjects in the areas of math, history, English, science, and languages. Here is the full list of subjects students can test on.

It is important to note that while most subject tests are offered every SAT Subject Test date, languages are offered a limited number of times. The upcoming test dates and subjects offered can be found here.

Also, students applying to certain majors or universities may have specific Subject Test requirements to fulfill, so please take a look at a university’s Admission’s Requirements or Checklist page before registering.

All SAT Subject Test-related fees can be found on Collegeboard. Note that fee-waivers are available for
those who qualify and can be received from your high school’s guidance/college counselor.

Good question. There’s a lot of information to process and quite a few factors to consider when considering the universities that would best fit. I recommend using Collegeboard’s College Search Tool. It allows you to select filters such as test scores, location, university size, academics, sports, etc, and pulls from its database of 3,806 universities to give you the ones that best fit. You are not required to choose from every filter, instead you can just choose from your 2-3 priorities.

Once you’ve gotten an initial list of universities, it’s time to start researching further. You can explore the statistics on the Collegeboard site or you can visit the university’s website to get an idea of its core values, academic structure, and student life.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

1. If you don’t know what you’d like to pursue, how is the university going to help you figure it out? What kind of program(s) does the university have? Keep in mind that NOT knowing what you want to do is common…..and you’re paying a heck of a lot of money to the university… so how’s the university going to help you?

2. If you DO know what you’d like to study, what is the program like? Dig through the university’s website to see the faculty profiles, research/participation opportunities.

3. Study abroad opportunities…both within and outside your chosen area of study. Some majors seamlessly work into study abroad opportunities while others require maneuvering (aka taking classes outside your major).

4. Career Resource Center: college is a temporary life stage…so how’s the university going to help you get to the next stage? Resume help? Mock interviews? Career fairs?

5. Academic Support: What sort of tutoring is available? You’ll have fun while there, but ultimately, you’re going there for an education, so it’d be nice to know what type of support is actually available….is it a peer-to-peer tutoring center? A writing center?

6. Mental/Disabilities Support: Even if you don’t have a serious mental health concern, maybe it’s just test anxiety….find out what the counseling center helps with. You may never walk in in your time there, but it’s just good to know.

If you have ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc, then please check out what resources are available. Remember that ADD/ADHD students can still submit the 504 plan to receive extended time on tests.

You have a couple different ways to figure out this info, here are two:

1. Naviance
2. The university’s admissions statistics page

1. Naviance

Quite a few high schools use Naviance – a college-readiness software program linked to your high school.

It is free for students and is maintained by the high school’s guidance or college counselor. Once he/she updates the students GPA & SAT/ACT information into the software, you can run a search for any university of interest and receive applications and admissions data. The feature allows you to see how many students from your high school applied at that particular university, how many were accepted, waitlisted, and denied. You’ll be able to compare your GPA and test scores to those admitted to provide you with a solid idea of where you stand.

Note: Just because your Naviance account shows that you are a perfect candidate for the university does not guarantee admission. There is more to an application than a GPA and an SAT/ACT score.

2. Admissions Statistics

Alternatively, if your high school does not offer Naviance or if you’d just like more admissions information, take a look at the university’s class profile. To find it, Google “*Name of University* Admissions Statistics” and BE SURE TO LOOK ONLY AT THE .edu LINK. There are 2,000+ universities in the country and blogs are going to have a hard time constantly updating the data….so look for the info on the university’s website.

The “Admissions Statistics” or “Freshmen Class Profile” page consists of different information for different universities (annoying, I know). The average admissions statistics info will include SAT/ACT score ranges, applications received vs. accepted for the various admissions cycles, and a demographic breakdown. If you look closely at the admissions statistics, you’ll notice that students who apply Early Decision or Early Action have a slightly higher acceptance rate than those who apply Regular Decisions.

There are a couple different application cycles and terms you need to know about.

• Early Decision (ED): BINDING. By applying Early Decision, you are committing to that university. In fact, ED applications have a contract that both students and parents have to provide electronic signatures for. The only way out of the contract is if there is a proven financial concern.
• Early Decision deadlines tend to be in Oct/Nov and decisions are announced prior to the Winter Holiday Break. If the university offers a 2nd Early Decision Cycle – for students who did not apply in the first round- the deadline is typically early to mid-January, and decisions are released towards the end of February or early March.
• Early Action (EA): NOT BINDING. Early Action means that you are simply applying at an earlier deadline, and I strongly recommend applying EA to every university on your list that offers the option to do so. Fewer students tend to apply at this deadline – either due to a lack of interest or procrastination – so the applicant pool is much smaller.
• It’s important to note that you still have to be a strong candidate for the university to benefit from the higher acceptance rate. Early Action deadlines tend to be around Oct/Nov, but as with all deadlines, please check with your university of choice. Early Action decisions are released prior to the Winter Holiday Break (around Mid-December).
• Rolling Admissions: Rolling admissions is a continuous admissions cycle that starts around September and ends around February/March. Basically, students can apply at any point in that timeframe and be notified of the decision in about a month. I recommend applying earlier on so that spots don’t fill up.
• Regular Admission: The general deadline for applications. Most students apply at this deadline, especially if the university does not offer Early Decision or Early Action. Deadlines can really vary, but most tend to be early to mid-January. Decisions come out late March or early April.
• Even with a regular admissions deadline, I recommend applying as early as possible. Why? Because the admissions committee will be able to give more time to each application. As more and more applications start coming in, the committee now has to sort through them a bit faster to meet its own decisions-release deadline.

YES! Not all universities require or even offer interviews, however, if they are offered, even if they are optional, interview!

Interviews give universities the opportunity to put a face and personality to an application, and it gives students the opportunity to share anything that they may not have been on the application. If you put in time prepping for it, it’s a win-win situation.

Most interviews have to be scheduled by late November or December so it’s important to look into those deadlines.

If location is an issue and you cannot go in for an interview at the university, you’ll have the option of interviewing with an alumnus in your area or conduct an interview via Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom. Options vary per university.

With COVID-19, most interviews are now virtual.

This is a fairly intense topic and I’ll provide extensive prep material on the blog. With that said, a few pieces of information on the topic:

1. Students can choose from one these prompts. Every universty’s application will have the “Share an essay on any topic of your choice” option so you’re not required to choose one of these.
2. The word count limit is 650. Minimum 250. May vary slightly, but for the most part, it’s fairly uniform.
3. When writing the essay, yes, think of a good story to tell, but more importantly, think of the 3-5 personality traits you want to convey. Remember, your essay is the reader’s first introduction to you as a person, they only know your statistics & a list of extracurriculars, but they have no idea if you’re funny or quirky or if you want to rule the world.

The SAT and ACT each costs $55.00 per take.

Fee waivers are available for those who qualify, so please see your school’s guidance counselor to obtain them.

Homeschooled students should reach out to Collegeboard or ACT directly about fee waivers.