Tag: steps to prepare for college

With college admission rates continuing to decline at the nation’s more selective schools, many students are taking advantage of Early Action programs. There’s a higher chance of acceptance to a higher education institution if the student applies early, but there are several important things to consider before applying for an Early Action plan.

First, there are two types of Early Action programs: restrictive (binding) and non-restrictive (non-binding). Restrictive Early Action allows candidates to apply to only a single Early Action institution. Non-restrictive Early Action permits candidates to apply to multiple schools on an Early Action basis. With both types of programs, the applicant is still permitted to reject offers.

Next, Early Action usually requires students to submit an application by November 1st or 15th of their senior year. If you’re a senior and are considering applying for Early Action, October is the month to complete it.

In order for SAT or ACT test results to reach the schools in time, applicants must take the exam no later than the October or November test date. Program specifics vary from school to school, so be sure to ask the admissions office what their policy is on the submission of test scores. Some schools will consider test scores received after the application deadline provided that all of the other application materials have been submitted on time.

Though the timing for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is not ideal for Early Action applicants, you can still complete the CSS/Financial Aid Profile, which will detail your family’s financial circumstances. Some schools require that profile as early as October.

Another benefit of Early Action is the opportunity for students to apply elsewhere if they are denied admission at their top-choice school, or if the amount of the financial aid award isn’t sufficient even if they are accepted. Some schools that reject applicants for Early Action will place those students in the general admission pool and consider their applications again prior to the April 1st notification date.

If you have questions about how to prepare for early action admissions this month, contact the individual institutions or to get prepared for testing, contact Sandweiss Test Prep today!

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More than 500 colleges and universities throughout the United States accept the Common Application for evaluating students for admission. Students can complete the one Common Application, and submit it to as many schools as they wish, along with their supplemental essays (specific to the school). This makes the college application process slightly more efficient.

However, the Common App essays do require a lot of thought and hard work. There are five essay options provided on the Common Application (click here to review them). Students applying to college through the end of the summer and into the fall should take extra care as they craft their Common App essays.

With the expertise they practice in college admissions counseling, Sandweiss Test Prep recommends these tricks for writing Common App essays:

  • Tell a story about yourself. All of your credentials are included in the application, itself. In your Common App essays, share an anecdote (short story) about something you experienced or did that exemplifies your character or personality.
  • Reveal something about yourself that is not otherwise evident. Your ACT score is meant to tell admissions officers how academically prepared you are for college. Your GPA shows them how hard you have worked and/or succeeded in high school courses. But your Common Application may not show admissions officers how deeply that semester studying abroad influenced your desire to pursue medicine as a career. Share that extra depth about yourself in the essays.
  • Be honest about your achievements. Do not inflate your accomplishments or make up titles for yourself to embellish your essay – be truthful. As much as plagiarism is detrimental to your high school record, lying or exaggerating the truth can hurt your college experience, and may exclude you from acceptance if caught early.
  • Choose your words carefully. Remember that college admissions officers are reading through hundreds of essays, and likely will not appreciate a wordy, long-winded essay. Remove extra words and be clear and concise in each sentence.
  • Remember to entertain. The college admissions officers reading your essay have read (or are reading) many other students’ essays in the short time they have to make a recommendation. To make your essays stand out, include an element of entertainment – serious, funny, inspiring, or quirky.

Sandweiss Test Prep offers college entrance and standardized testing preparation classes, academic tutoring, college admissions guidance and coaching, and more. Contact Sandweiss Test Prep for more information, or to schedule a consultation for your student.

Featured photo from Flickr user davedugdale. 

The College Board recently announced significant revisions to the SAT exam. In our last post, we told you about upcoming changes to the writing section. Today we will outline the changes to the Critical Reading portion of the exam. The current version of the SAT contains three scored Critical Reading sections and three scored Writing sections (an essay and two multiple choice sections). On the new SAT, both reading and writing will be combined to produce one score on what will be called the “Verbal” sections of the exam.

The new reading questions will be focused on evidence-based responses to expose students’ factual reasoning and contextual understanding. This means that as they answer questions on the reading portion of the exam, students will be asked to use evidence to support their answer choices. The goal is to measure a student’s ability to analyze the components of an author’s argument and identify the relationship between an author’s claims and the supporting information used to justify those claims.

Additionally, test-takers may need to reference and cite certain parts of a passage in order to demonstrate the ability to recognize ways in which authors support arguments.  The new reading portion of the ‘Verbal’ section is designed to allow test-takers to analyze and reference sources in a variety of disciplines, including literature, nonfiction, natural science, humanities, and social science.

The other major change to the Critical Reading component of the current SAT involves the dreaded Sentence Completion questions, which test vocabulary that students have not and will not likely ever use in their college studies, profession, or day-to-day lives. Students preparing for the current test will often memorize vocabulary for no other reason than to score higher on the SAT. Instead, on the new exam, the vocabulary-based questions will test words people actually use on a regular basis and/or words that most students will encounter in their college curriculum. 

Sandweiss Test Prep recently released a video explaining this and some of the other changes to the SAT. The first students to be affected by the new SAT are going to be juniors in the fall of 2015 who will take the exam in the spring of 2016.

 

Sandweiss Test Prep specializes in exam preparation classes and tutoring, college admissions counseling, and academic tutoring for students of all ages. Visit the Sandweiss Test Prep website for more information about our services.

Featured photo credit Flickr user beggs.

This past March, the College Board announced plans to release a new SAT in the spring of 2016.  Details about the impending changes are being released in stages; however one of the most notable changes since the initial announcement has been to the writing portion of the exam.

While writing and reading are currently separate components of the SAT, they will be combined in a ‘verbal’ section on the new exam. At present, the essay portion of the writing section counts for 30% of the overall writing score. On the revised SAT, the essay score will be reported separately, using a 2-12 scale.

The essay on the new SAT will be labeled as “optional,” meaning that students are not required to complete the essay portion of the exam. This is similar to the current version of the ACT exam, with the essay also considered optional. However, this is a bit misleading, since nearly all of the more selective colleges in the country require ACT test takers to submit an essay score. We expect that many colleges will regard the “optional” essay on the SAT in a similar fashion.

On the current version of the SAT, students are asked to offer an argument in response to a statement. The standard instructions are to “discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree” with the prompt. Essay graders have been instructed not to take into account whether the evidence students provide to support their arguments is factually accurate. It has also been demonstrated that longer essays are correlated with higher scores. Accordingly, many students have adopted a “kitchen sink” approach to the essay, tossing in as many details as they can think of, regardless of the appropriateness of this evidence.

The new SAT essay is intended to end this practice and to focus more on a student’s reasoning and analytical skills. Students will be provided with an argument that they will need to analyze with respect to the quality of the reasoning displayed. For example, students will be asked to identify an argument’s underlying assumptions or to discuss what kind of evidence might strengthen or weaken the logic of the argument.

Student responses on the new essay portion of the exam will be evaluated for both clarity of communication and demonstration of critical thinking skills. In recognition of the increased complexity of the new essay task, students will be given 50 minutes to complete this portion of the SAT, which is double the amount of time allotted on the current exam.

For more information about changes to the SAT, Sandweiss Test Prep released a video explaining the most notable differences.

 

Sandweiss Test Prep specializes in exam preparation classes and tutoring, college admissions counseling, and academic tutoring for students of all ages. Visit the Sandweiss Test Prep website for more information about our services.

Featured photo from Pixabay.com.

This past spring, the College Board announced major changes to the SAT. The changes will be implemented in the spring of 2016, so those who will be entering their junior year of high school in the fall of 2015 will be the first to have the opportunity to take the new SAT.

Test prep businesses and academic organizations of all types have been buzzing about the changes and what they mean for students and colleges. The exam’s math section is one area where the new SAT will be a little bit different.

As before, the math section will measure a student’s familiarity with concepts typically covered in high school math courses up through sophomore or junior year (depending on when a student takes Algebra 2). Two significant changes are that the new SAT will place more emphasis on algebra (and correspondingly less emphasis on geometry), and students will only be able to use a calculator on one of the math sections.

Students should now focus on studying algebra with extra attention, knowing that it will be more heavily featured on the exam. The no-calculator portion of the math section will be worth one-third of the math score for the exam. The purpose of this change is to test a student’s ability to recognize how certain math problems can be solved more efficiently by utilizing a logic-based approach, rather than relying primarily on a calculator to perform routine computation.

The College Board has decided based on research that problem solving and data analysis  are the most important aspects of mathematics  to prepare students for higher education and for the workplace of the future, so we can expect the new SAT to place more emphasis on quantitative reasoning skills and less emphasis on memorization and rote learning.

If you are interested in more of the changes coming for the SAT, check out this video from Sandweiss Test Prep.

Sandweiss Test Prep specializes in test preparation, academic tutoring, and admissions consulting. Visit the Sandweiss Test Prep website for more information about our services.

Featured photo from Wikipedia Commons. 

Spring SAT/ACT scores are in and members of the class of 2015 should now turn their attention to college applications.

To guide students through the options and tasks they need to complete for college admissions, Sandweiss Test Prep offers in-depth support and admissions counseling at reasonable hourly rates.

Sandweiss Test Prep’s admissions counseling services include student guidance and support for their college selection process as well as help with college applications and essays. According to owner Steve Sandweiss, “I have been helping students with their applications for several years, [and] I can be useful in three principal areas: 1) narrowing the college list; 2) designing a “marketing” strategy for each application; and 3) drafting and polishing the common app and supplemental essays.”

In admissions counseling sessions, students will receive help narrowing their search for the right colleges and learn how to create a good list of schools (including safety schools and ‘reach’ schools). Once the school list has been assembled, students will receive assistance in drafting their essays for both the Common App (used by several hundred colleges and universities) and for the supplementary essays required by individual schools.

To further expand their support for high school seniors this year and in future years, Laurie Gordon, co-owner of Sandweiss Test Prep, is pursuing a certification in college admissions counseling from UCLA. This coursework will provide her with the skills and resources necessary to aid students in finding the “right fit” college.

Although we are in the midst of summer and students may be putting off their application process, it is a good idea to commence this process as soon as possible.

Once school starts in the fall, seniors will be busy with classes, extracurricular activities, and possibly preparing for one more round of standardized testing, so those students who can get a jump on the applications process this summer will be much happier and less stressed than their procrastinating peers.

 

Sandweiss Test Prep offers extensive college admissions counseling services to students in the greater Seattle area. Contact us to learn more about admissions counseling, or to book your student’s session!

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Graduation season has passed, and it’s time to think about college applications! Recent college admissions trends offer important information to students applying in the next few months…

The Importance of a High School Record.

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, your child’s high school record is the number-one most important factor in college admissions. Good grades, rigorous course loads, and challenging courses have a stronger influence on admissions decisions than class rank or even standardized test scores. Essentially, colleges want to see that you’ve taken the most challenging classes that your school has to offer, and that you received strong grades in these classes.

College Applications Increase.

Students are sending out more college applications than they used to, and so colleges and universities around the U.S. are getting more and more applications every year. In 2011, 29 percent of the pool of college applicants sent seven or more applications (up from 9 percent in 1990), and the average number of applications per student has increased since then. This increase in the average number of applications per student has resulted in a negative cycle: more applications lead to lower admission rates, which leads to more applications as students try to hedge their bets, and so on.

Acceptance Rates are Dropping.

The lowest recorded admission rate (5.07%, according to research from Ivy Wise) happened this year. The average overall admission rate is probably closer to 50% or more, and several Ivy League colleges are accepting a higher rate of applications for the class of 2018 than they did for last year’s class; however the difference is not great. Many Ivy League schools received a higher number of early decision applications. Since most schools accept a significantly higher percentage of early applicants over regular submission applicants, early decision is to your student’s advantage. Also, now that colleges are receiving so many (and not accepting) applications, it’s critical that students find a way to break through the noise.

Demonstrated Interest is Key.

Most selective schools are becoming even more selective in their admissions decisions. Colleges and universities nationwide are placing stronger emphasis on students’ demonstrated interest in attending their school. They track student visits and interviews, check to see if the student has contacted faculty or alumni, and analyze their supplemental essays to gauge how well the student knows the school (and therefore, the likelihood of enrolling). College admissions officers want to see that your student has done his or her homework on the school. They will almost always look at your child’s social media profiles, too, so remind your student to be careful!

Contact us to learn about test preparation, tutoring, and admissions counseling services to help your student through the college application process.

Featured photo from here, labeled for reuse.

Last month, we recommended summer internships as an excellent option for your student to make the most of his or her summer (Here’s some more reporting on the topic, if you are interested). Today, we would like to articulate some of the best ways for students to find a valuable and fitting high school summer internship, and to gain the most education and experience possible.

Find a Valuable Internship

Research is key to finding internships that will meet student interests and provide adequate learning and hands-on opportunities. Start by asking your student to consider his or her goals with an internship, with some of the following questions:

  • Do you have a specific career or profession in mind, which you’d like to learn?
  • Are there certain skills or lifestyles that you are curious about?
  • What do you like to do for fun, and that can be accomplished in a modern-day job?
  • Are you looking more for education and learning from your internship, or hands-on experience with a job or industry?

After you and your child have a general idea about what you hope to get from your internship, begin researching the possibilities using tools like InternshipPrograms.com, CollegeStartupFoundation.com, InternMatch.com or Idealist. Meet together with your child’s high school counselor to gain additional insight, and consider people in your network whose careers may align with your student’s interests. Click here for some other ways to approach finding an internship.

Gain Maximum Benefit

A good college internship should provide your son or daughter with valuable work experience and training, a real-life perspective on how the workplace functions, and hopefully a boost in the college admissions process. During the course of an internship, ask your son or daughter to make the following items a priority:

  • Take advantage of opportunities to explore various jobs within the business in order to get the most from your experience. If you can, try to ‘shadow’ as many different positions within the company as possible, to learn the full scope of everyone’s job.
  • Consider this a chance to learn everything there is to know about a job that might be turn into a career someday. Remind your child not to sit on the sidelines; if the internship supervisor and other management is open to it, encourage your child to offer his or her own creative solutions and ideas on how to make the job better – respectfully, of course!
  • Ask lots of questions. No matter what type of internship or business your child works for this summer, asking lots of questions and taking note of the answers is going to be vital to the experience and education the internship provides.

If your student works hard this summer in a high school internship, he or she will certainly learn a lot – not just about a particular  business or industry, but also about the adult world and how things work within the workplace.

Featured photo from AICHE.org, labeled for reuse.