thebestucollegeadmissions

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College Admissions Chaos: Why it’s messier than you might realize & what it means for you

While much attention was paid to the pandemic-related upheaval in the college admissions process, not as much is being said about the multilayered impacts to college admissions that have made the 2023-2024 admissions cycle unprecedented.

Here are just a few pieces that have transpired in admissions this year –

Radical reworking of application review processes and diminished transparency

As we entered into this season, a landmark Supreme Court decision required a complete reworking of the admissions process including how colleges understand applicants, and how they consider identity in the context of the decision process. With applications opening August 1, colleges had just one month to implement changes to their admissions processes in response to the decision, leaving little time to communicate expectations to applicants.

The parameters of the decision encouraged most admissions offices to operate with more opacity and less transparency in their processes, making it more bewildering for students and families to understand how to proceed and what matters in admissions. With substantial concern for further litigation, colleges have trouble saying much of anything at all about how their review processes have changed as a result of the decision and how they are considering the qualitative information students share about their ‘lived experiences’ in their writing as part of the evaluation process.

Ongoing consolidation & record application numbers

Students continue to funnel record breaking numbers of applications to a smaller number of colleges, leaving many schools outside of the top 50 to 100 universities scrambling with enrollment declines and subsequent budget constriction.

The Common App has made it increasingly easy for students to apply to a higher number of colleges. With the average number of applications submitted by each student increasing, application pools grow at selective schools, while acceptance rates reach new lows. As admissions offices operate in the context of ballooning application numbers, it is inevitable that their review and decision processes are shifting to accommodate this reality.

Test optional in policy but more complicated in practice

In the 23-24 admissions cycle, the vast majority of colleges have continued their pandemic-driven test optional policies. These policies have contributed to sustaining record high application numbers at most very selective institutions over the past several years, and 2024 has been no exception. While many colleges have maintained policies permitting students to apply without SAT or ACT scores, at many of those institutions, students with strong scores that mirror the typical admitted student are accepted at higher rates than their peers who utilize the test optional policy. This trend is amplified at many colleges from ivies to public flagships in very popular and quantitative majors such as business and engineering. In this context, many students understandably choose to withhold their scores, leading to an astronomical rise in the ‘middle 50%’ of scores for admitted students at many selective colleges where admissions readers speak to struggling with how to best assess a student’s readiness on the basis of grades and curriculum alone.

And on top of it all, a catastrophic failure in financial aid

While admissions offices navigated a total overhaul of their processes, surging application numbers, and ongoing ambiguity around the role of testing in the evaluation process, the financial aid process fell apart in an unprecedented series of events. Federal legislation requiring updates to the FAFSA form used to calculate financial aid and merit scholarship offers across the country led to a rushed process to change the form, a near three month delay in rolling out the application and cascading tumult as errors, delays, revisions and recalculations have prevented colleges from receiving the critical information they need to award aid to admitted students. Even still as the typical May 1st decision and deposit deadline approaches, the future is uncertain. Families who managed to complete the FAFSA are still in the dark on what the true costs of college will be to inform their decisions. These families are in the minority, as FAFSA completion overall is down 40%. As a result, some colleges are extending their deposit deadlines to give students and families more time to receive financial aid information, while others are proceeding with unchanged deadlines. We have yet to see the long term impacts of these failures on college enrollment, especially for the most vulnerable students.

What it all means

While the circumstances are deeply challenging, we have hope for the many students and families who are working hard to find their way, stay informed and make their own best college decisions. We are rooting for you, celebrating your wins, and inviting you to acknowledge your resilience in navigating an extraordinary time in college admissions.

We will continue to strive to keep you informed with transparent information about the college process, and grounded guidance in how to navigate your journey. When you turn down the noise on prestige and turn up the volume on your own values to choose college communities where you will thrive, this process can be more enjoyable and less overwhelming.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here. We look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process. Members are invited to join us live for more on this topic:

#Admissions #College #College Admissions #College Admissions Support

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When it comes down to it…how do you choose a college?

As the final admissions decisions of the season have finally rolled in, the tables turn for students and families who’ve been anxiously awaiting this news, and it’s time to decide what’s right for you. While you may be compelled to check the rankings, we have a different approach.

Here’s how we encourage you to make your own best decision –

#1 Break up with the rankings: There are all kinds of college rankings and ‘best of’ lists out there…and while that may have led you to apply to a certain school, we encourage you to leave all those external validations behind when it comes time to make your college decision. The truth is, no ranking list can tell you if you will be happy, if you will build a great community, meet amazing mentors, or shape the life you want to. Nothing can tell you this with certainty, but decision time is the perfect time to step away from the noise of what everyone else thinks about a college and tap into your own intuition. Here’s how:

#2 Ask yourself: how will I make this place my home?

Your college is not only the place you earn your degree, but importantly the place you will call home for the first independent stage of your young adult life. Students who find community and belonging are significantly less likely to transfer. So, where will you go on campus to find your people? Look for the indicators, and actually make a list for yourself of 3-4 tangible opportunities for community building you will tap into on any campus you are considering. This might have something to do with the way campus housing and residential life are set up to intentionally cultivate connections. Or perhaps it’s a student group, club, organization, sports team, intramural, theater, dance or music group. Maybe it’s a physical space on campus that you know you’ll put down roots and build community, like a cultural center, affinity space, school newspaper office, or the gym where you’ll do a morning workout session with your fellow early birds. Knowing that there are traditions, or ways of being on campus and connecting with others who share your values and your vibe goes a long way. Concretely identifying those places and spaces will give you confidence that you can form meaningful relationships, build a network, and make a campus your home.

#3 Ask yourself: what will it look like to learn here?

Definitely spend some time revisiting the majors and departments you will be engaged in. Familiarize yourself with how your program or major is set up, what unique opportunities are offered, and how much of your learning might be experiential through simulations, labs, community engagement, internships or study abroad. But beyond your possible major, ask yourself how much academic flexibility you will have at this school, and how important that is to you. Is it important to you to have a lot of choice in what classes you take? Or, are you someone who likes structure and would rather have a core curriculum or clear cut general education requirements laid out for you? Does it matter to have time to try out different areas of study, meet with an advisor, and settle into a major, rather than declaring it before you enter? Does it matter to you to be able to change your major if the need arises? Students and parents often overlook these aspects of how a college sets up the structure and approach to learning, and these can play a big role in your overall experience. Take some time to check in with yourself, and really consider what type of learning experience will best support your goals and your growth.

#4 Have an honest family conversation about the finances.

Hopefully, financial planning went into creating your college list. Whether or not you’ve been talking about finances all along, it is crucial that parents are having an honest conversation with your child at this point in the decision process about what role finances will play in the final choice. Is there a cap on how much your family can contribute towards college education? Is there a significant difference between the scholarships received at one school versus another? Is it an expectation that your child will take out student loans for a portion of their education, have a work study or another job? Calculate the net cost of attendance for each college you are considering so that you can compare costs “apples to apples,” factor in the intangible costs like airline expenses for colleges that are farther from home, and talk about how these costs fit in the bigger picture of all of the factors you are weighing in the final decision.

#5 Listen to your gut.

At the end of the day, it is critically important that a student is empowered to take ownership over their college decision. As our kids make this big transition into adulthood, they need their trusted adults to provide the parameters, but create lots of space for listening and support. We want to help them turn down the volume on all of the external voices of peers, family members, other adults, and even our own expectations so that they can choose well for themselves. TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here. We look forward to connecting with you. Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College #College Exploration

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Is This The End of Legacy Admissions?

Legacy admissions policies are making headlines right now. As another complicated, convoluted and highly competitive year in admissions winds down, attention is turning increasingly to the practice of legacy admissions.

Read on for what the latest news means for you –

Why legacy admissions policies are in the news: Following the August 2023 Supreme Court decision banning race as a factor in admissions decisions, attention turned to another preferential admissions policy: legacy admissions, the practice of considering an applicant’s parents, grandparents, and other familial connections to the college.

In March of 2024, the state of Virginia joined the state of Colorado in banning legacy preference in the admissions practices of their public universities. This same month, a bill is in discussion in Connecticut that would ban the practice at not only public but also private colleges in the state. Maryland, Massachusetts, and the U.S. House of Representatives are all discussing similar legislation.

While these changes are significant, this is far from the end of legacy practices.

Why legacy admissions policies persist:

Simply put, colleges have a vested interest in continuing the practice of legacy admissions for a variety of reasons. The stated reasons colleges often cite include legacy students being more likely to enroll and bolster a sense of pride and cohesion on campus. More recently, colleges such as Yale and Brown have cited data that legacy students tend to be higher performing than the general applicant pool. This is a somewhat unsurprising data point, given the certainty that legacy students have college educated parents, who attended these elite universities and are likely to have the financial resources and know how to provide advantages to their children in their own educational, extracurricular, and college preparatory opportunities. Less cited, but no less influential, the presence of legacy admissions policies bolsters alumni giving and often finds support among the university trustees who hold sway in university policies. At elite colleges it is not uncommon for more than 10% of the class to be legacy students. A Harvard Crimson student newspaper survey of the Harvard College Class of 2027 found that as many as 32% of respondents indicated a legacy affiliation. These policies can have a significant impact on who gets in.

Legacy is an important part of the conversation around equity and access to higher education:

Given that the practice of legacy admissions favors students coming from college-educated, high-income families, many point to the end of legacy practices as the next frontier in ensuring more equitable access to the most selective universities. However, the conversation is complex and multifaceted. As the last generation has seen the highest numbers of Black, Latino and Asian graduates of these elite institutions, not all are in favor of ending the practices. For some people of color, legacy is seen as an important pathway to pass on opportunities to children and grandchildren that were not afforded to earlier generations.

So while there is no definitive end for legacy admissions in sight, expect more conversation in the months and years ahead and know that admissions decisions are increasingly complex and often opaque in this high stakes landscape.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. Our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process, empowers you to become your own best you, and puts your best self forward in your admissions process & applications.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#Admissions #College #Legacy Admissions #Supreme Court

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Does major matter? What every HS student should know.

Does the major I apply to matter? What if I don’t know what I want to study?

Will my major choice change my chances?

Students and parents have many questions about the role of major choice in the college admissions process. While we believe there’s plenty of room for changing your mind and pursuing a range of interests in college, there’s something to be said for thinking about majors of interest early and often.

Read on for what we want every high school student and parent to know about high school majors & why this is something to think about sooner than later –

Colleges evaluate applications in context:

Context is everything in college admissions. One key piece of information admissions officers look to to gain context are the major and career interests a student articulates on their application. Admissions readers will use a student’s intended major or stated future career interest as a lens through which to evaluate the application. This means that a student’s declaration of interest directs the evaluator’s attention: it gives the reader a sense of which courses, rigor, grades and test scores to focus on as most important to understanding a student’s preparation for their field. If a student says they are interested in a STEM field, strong scores in math on the SAT or ACT, and advanced coursework such as AP Calculus will suddenly become far more important. If a student says their main interest is art history, then these factors will be less important, but social science, humanities and arts courses will come into focus.

Evidence is crucial:

Beyond academic choices and performance, a student’s declaration of interest also guides what an admissions reader is looking for in a student’s activities. A student should have evidence of engaging their areas of intellectual interest outside of their high school course work. This means seeking out volunteer, internship, research, and self-directed opportunities to be involved with the subject matter. While joining clubs at school that relate to the field is a good start, the strongest applicants have evidence of engaging their interests in further depth by taking initiative to engage opportunities in the community or in professional or academic settings outside of school.

Great applicants always have a point of view & perspective:

So does this mean every student needs a clearly defined career path and declared major to apply to college? No. There is room for students’ interests and plans to evolve. Being open-minded to the opportunities and exploration of interests that college life will offer is fantastic. However, by the summer before senior year when students begin applying and writing essays,it is essential that a student can articulate their areas of intellectual interest and curiosity. This means identifying the questions a student wishes to wrestle with, the connections they want to explore in college, the issues they want to impact, and the topics they are passionate about. Students do this in their applications by making connections to their past experiences inside and outside of the classroom, and by painting a detailed picture of the specific opportunities and experiences they will engage as members of the college community.> A student without experiences that meaningfully connect to their interests will struggle to put together cohesive applications.

So do majors impact admissions decisions?

In short, it depends. At some colleges, those areas of interest will simply provide the type of important context we discussed here. While this is not necessarily evaluative, it is important to an admissions officer understanding a student and envisioning them within life on campus. At other colleges, especially larger universities with multiple schools, major selection can be a critical piece of the evaluation process, where students are evaluated for the indicated schools, majors, or programs by specific criteria. The competitiveness of admissions can vary significantly by major or program at these institutions.

In either case, building experiences throughout high school that align to a student’s curiosity, interests, and passions is an essential part of building a strong application and, more importantly, a powerful opportunity to learn more about themselves and how they want to move forward in the world.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#Admissions #College #College Admissions #High School #Students

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A “New Flavor” of Testing Policies?

What Changes to test optional policies really mean for students

You may have heard that Yale University is the most recent of the elite colleges to announce that testing is back in admissions. What caught our attention in the announcement is that Yale’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan touted a ‘new flavor’ to their now test flexible policy…

Read on for what these changes to testing policy mean for admissions in the years to come –

What’s the latest news on testing policies in admissions?

In February 2024, both Dartmouth and Yale announced changes to the test optional admissions policies they have held since the early pandemic in 2020

● Both institutions will require the submission of test scores for a complete application to be considered beginning with the college class of 2029, also known as the high school class of 2025. Dartmouth and Yale are notable for being the first Ivy League schools to return to testing requirements, and follow MIT which reinstated the testing requirement in 2022.

● While other Ivies including Princeton, Harvard, and Cornell have extended their test optional policies through the high school class of 2025 at least, Columbia has stated that their test optional policy will remain permanent.

● An announcement is expected in the coming months from Brown University where a committee is currently reviewing admissions policies regarding testing, early decision and legacy admissions.

● In the University of California and Cal State University systems, admissions became test blind in 2022 and is expected to remain so.

● Currently, more than 1900 colleges and universities maintain test optional admissions policies, but changes at high profile elite universities may be a harbinger of more changes to come.

What’s different about these policies?

The ‘new flavor’ of testing policy at Yale and, to a lesser extent, Dartmouth is where things get interesting.

● Yale is now offering what it calls a ‘test flexible’ policy. This means students must submit test scores but can choose to submit SAT, ACT, AP or IB scores.

● Notably, if a student opts to submit AP or IB scores the expectation is that the applicant will provide all scores for exams taken. This means a student cannot opt to submit APs, but pick and choose only those exams where they’ve earned their highest marks.

● At Dartmouth, US applicants will still be required to submit ACT or SAT scores, but international applicants will have the flexibility to report either 3 AP exam scores, or final or predicted results of IB or British A-Level exams. This is meant to acknowledge the difficulty in accessing ACT or SAT testing for some international applicants.

● Both institutions cite a desire to shift the testing conversation away from a narrow focus on the middle 25-75% of scores to consider exams in a local context. Among other reasons for this shift, this is meant to encourage students attending high schools with lower average scores that they will benefit from the consideration of the strength of their scores in the context of their school or local community. We can expect scores will be evaluated not just against the typical admitted applicant, but in the context of a student’s high school and community.

What does this really mean for students?

For one, we encourage students and families to recognize that while the policies are changing, the practices of admissions offices are not shifting dramatically. In truth, requiring scores is probably a more transparent approach, as scores have continued to be an important admissions factor at the most selective universities, even while test optional policies have been in place. It has continued to be the case that students with scores that look like typical admitted applicants have a stronger likelihood of admission and we don’t expect this to change; however, testing has always been only one component in a constellation of admissions considerations.

While it continues to be advantageous for most students to prepare for and take either the SAT or ACT exam a couple of times in preparation for the admissions process, this is not the only way forward. There are many excellent colleges that have had a historical commitment to evaluating students holistically without test scores – these institutions have had test optional admissions prior to 2020, and in some cases have held these policies for decades. For any student who feels testing is not the best representation of their strengths, we would encourage them to build a college list that includes these historically test optional schools.

As we go forward from here, we expect to see more colleges revisiting their pandemic test optional policies, and we anticipate seeing more schools adopt ‘flexible’ approaches. Looking honestly at the test scores of admitted applicants will continue to be one important factor, but never the only factor, in determining your own admissibility to a college of interest.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. Our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process, empowers you to become your own best you, and puts your best self forward in your admissions process & applications.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#Admissions #Students #Testing #Policies

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Why Great Applications Always Start with Curiosity

We often hear from parents and students anxious to find the right ways for a student to ‘stand out’ in the admissions process. Sometimes, parents are looking for us to advise students to join more school clubs, and take on formal titles in those clubs and sports. It’s not uncommon for these same well meaning students to believe that their resume or activities list is a matter of arithmetic, that somehow the right number of leadership roles and volunteer hours will unlock acceptances. If there is one piece of advice we can offer, it’s to put down the calculator and get curious –

Read on for our take on how curiosity is almost always at the core of a great application. The most compelling activities lists evolve over time.

Unfortunately you cannot sit down in 9th grade and map out a “perfect” activities list. In fact, there’s no such thing. What we can say is that the strongest activities lists and most compelling applications tend to begin with a student’s own curiosity and the steps they take to follow where that curiosity leads.

What do you wonder about? What do you fall in love with learning, reading, or researching online? What keeps you up at night? What are the challenges in the world broadly or in your own community that trouble you? What brings you joy? What do you love working on and getting better at? How could your interests, right now, at 14, 15, or 16 years old, be shared with others?

Asking questions, creating the space to reflect, and taking action to explore or seek out answers is usually where a great application begins. Any experience can be a jumping off point for your interests. Let’s take a student who volunteers at a local food pantry. This alone is nice, but not the sort of involvement that sparks awe in an admissions reader. But a student who takes that experience and asks questions will have ways of building on this experience that can become powerful.

Why don’t more people come here? Who are the people in my community who are experiencing food insecurity? What are the barriers to accessing the resources at the food pantry? What laws or policies help or hurt the issue of food insecurity? My town has a food pantry, I wonder what the resources look like in a lower income community nearby? How does food insecurity affect kids? What does my school district do about it? I’ve seen food get thrown away when the bagel shop closes, I wonder why that is and what it would take to get that food donated?

Whether this student is interested in sociology, economics, food science, health care, neuroscience, politics, or business, taking a next step to explore those questions further can be transformative in shaping their path. Teens who ask questions, engage with people who can help them better understand the answers, and then deepen their involvement or take initiative to respond to what they are learning and the needs they are understanding can change the world. They not only have the makings of a powerful application, but they can shape a path through high school that affirms who they are and how they can meaningfully contribute in the world.

Traditional “leadership” matters less than you think. National Honors Society, athletic captain roles, and even student government leadership are not the make or break of a great application. In fact, these tend to mean very little to admissions readers, because they appear so frequently in the application review process. These roles start to matter when a student can speak to the impact they’ve had in the role – an initiative they established, a policy change they helped shape, the ways their leadership transformed the team or school culture. Powerful leadership can also happen outside of these formal roles. It can also look like following some of those questions or passions to organize a way to meet a need you’ve learned about in your community, or to share the thing you love with others: peers, younger or older people in person or online who would benefit from what you have to give.

Questions paired with action are the most powerful tool in your toolkit.

The most important thing is not to know where you are striving to end up, but to get curious about the first step you can take, and to keep pursuing your curiosity to lead you to the next, and the one after that. Wondering how to incorporate curiosity into your teen’s summer plans?

Join TBU’s Activities, Passion Project & Summer Specialist Lauren Cohen for a live webinar–

Creating Impact in Your Admissions Process:

Making the most of activities, passions & summer experiences

Wednesday February 21st 6pm MT | 8pm ET

This event is exclusively for TBU Members –

Not yet a member? Joining is an easy, low-cost way to destress your college process: join us here Already a member? Register to attend the webinar here.

#Admissions #Application

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How HS Course Selection Impacts College Admissions

Across the country, many high school students and their families are being asked to plan their course selections for next academic year. The classes you choose in HS become a key piece of your college application.

Here’s what we want every student & family to know–

Context is Everything

The classes on your transcript will never be assessed in a vacuum. An admissions reviewer will always be reading a student’s transcript in the ‘context’ of the high school they attend. This is to say that the admissions officer will pay close attention to what coursework and programs are offered at a student’s high school and will want to understand what portion of those rigorous and advanced offerings a student took advantage of. If there are limited advanced offerings at the school, this will be taken into consideration and will not negatively impact the applicant. This doesn’t mean the most rigorous program is right for every student, but it is important to understand that even beyond the grades a student earns, the rigor of the curriculum is a critically important factor in admissions decisions. At the most selective colleges, the general expectation is that a student will have taken rigorous offerings across the curriculum, and earned strong grades in those courses.

Think 5 x 4 As Your Baseline Plan

Most colleges do not publish detailed guidelines of their high school course requirements for admission, however they do ‘prefer’ to see some things in a transcript. In general, know that colleges want to see students take all five core academic subjects all four years of high school. This means English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies/History & World Languages. While there can be, in certain cases, exceptions to this, it’s best to discuss this closely with your family, your school counselor, and/or your college admissions advisor before dropping courses. Even if the course isn’t required for graduation, admissions officers prefer to see students taking 5 academic courses each year.

Senior Year Matters

Although an early application may mean a college will not review senior grades (though they can and often do), they will always see the courses you are enrolled in. Admissions readers will not look favorably upon a student who has just 3-4 academic courses senior year, even if the student has already completed required coursework.

Align Your Choices to Your Interests

When students indicate prospective majors and career interests on their applications, college admissions officers apply those interests as a lens to understand the student’s coursework and choices. For example, a student who indicates interest in biology or engineering will face increased attention on the rigor and grades of their math and science courses. Most selective colleges will expect and prefer to see students with these interests pursue the most rigorous math and science curriculum such as advanced work in calculus and physics, and earn strong grades in these classes.

Don’t Overload Courses at the Expense of Active Engagement Beyond School

We want students & families to be empowered with the knowledge to understand how the choices you make will be interpreted by admissions officers, and to have a realistic understanding of how high the expectations of the admissions process are. That said, each student needs the opportunity to grow and develop as a full person. Having the most rigorous courses and best grades with no involvement in your community or engagement of your interests in activities will not serve you well in the application process. You shouldn’t overload on advanced coursework at the expense of your well-being or your capacity to build a life that tells the story of your passions, interests, and involvement beyond your classes.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to understand themselves, navigate their college choices, clarify their personal best fit, and tell their most compelling stories; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor from 8th grade through transfer admissions, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College #College Admissions #Course Selection #Students

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The Power of Writing The Story You Want To Tell: The Case for Early College Advising

The most common time a student meets us at TBU is in their junior year of high school. More often than not these juniors are exhausted by school, overwhelmed, and worried about the college process, and their parents often share this sense of bewilderment. In the best cases, they’re also excited and curious about planning their future. If you’d like to help your child and family experience college planning that is more curious and excited than overwhelming, read on for our insights on planning for college with less stress– When you weigh the options of starting college advising early on in 9th or 10th grade, versus waiting to engage support later in junior or senior year, there is one fundamental question at work for a student– Will you be intentional in writing the story you want to tell, or will you seek support in telling the story you’ve already written? As college advisors, we can tell you honestly that our work can have the most impact on your child’s journey, experience, and outcomes, when we work together to support a student in exploring options, making choices, and investing their time early in high school. A student’s college options and the college applications they craft will be shaped by the classes they’ve taken, the grades they’ve earned, and the ways they’ve pursued their interests and engaged in their communities while in high school. Each of these pieces are ones we can support students and families to engage intentionally along the way when we start a partnership with a family in 9th or 10th grade. Can part of this be strategic? Absolutely. Some families are invested in understanding where students should focus their coursework or time outside of school to best position themselves to gain admission to the kinds of programs or colleges they desire. We are glad to support students and their families in making well-informed choices amidst all the noise of the college admissions process.

At its best though, starting earlier gives a student something more than good strategy. Engaging support in 9th and 10th grade invites a student to have more agency to shape the story they want to tell. Students who start thinking about who they are, what they are curious and passionate about, and how they want to contribute in the world as early as 9th and 10th grade feel more empowered to pursue their interests. They might be more confident to explore new opportunities, or consider leadership roles. They can be intentional about spending each of the three summers they have before they graduate high school. They have a clearer sense of what they want and need in a college community and how to choose schools that best align to their own values, priorities, and vision. Does this mean you shouldn’t start college advising late in junior year or even with senior year on the horizon? Of course not! When we meet students in the spring semester of junior year, we are excited to jump right in with them, and help them take the stress and guesswork out of the college process. But we will decidedly be working on a compressed timeline to identify priorities and make decisions. When students come to us near the end of junior year, or even at the start of senior year, we are always eager to support them and know we can make the process easier for them. At that point, we are most often helping students tell the best version of the story they’ve written throughout their time in high school.

It’s not too early or too late to engage the support of a TBU Advisor. We are experienced in supporting students to understand themselves, navigate their college choices, clarify their personal best fit, and tell their most compelling stories; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor from 8th grade through transfer admissions, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you. Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College #College Advising #Story Telling #Writing

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

Our Hopes for Admissions in 2024

For seniors and their families, December can be a season of highs and lows. At this time of year, students are powering through finals, celebrating acceptances, regrouping from disappointments, finishing off applications, and feeling the anticipation of months of waiting for final decisions in the application process. As we look ahead to 2024 here are our hopes for the admissions process and what families can do in the face of uncertainties – Transparency: There is an unfortunately growing trend of opacity about college admissions data as more colleges, especially elite ones, move to withhold reporting of their admissions data. Our hope is that colleges will transparently share their data – number of applicants, acceptance rates for each round of admissions, including early decision and early action, and data on the test scores, grades, and other characteristics of admitted applicants. It’s only fair for students to have the data to realistically assess their chances of admission. Candor: We hope that in 2024 colleges will be candid with students and families about their expectations for students, their policies about testing and the role that test scores play in actual admissions decisions, their intentions for early action and early decision pools, and their notification dates. Every bit of information supports students in making their own best decisions. Recalibration: While college admissions offices often say there are no specific standards for admission, and all applicants are evaluated holistically, we also know that application numbers are increasing consistently year over year. Admissions readers tasked with processing all these applications are often spending less than 10 minutes, and sometimes even less than five minutes, per application. Unless admissions offices can commit to devoting significantly more time to processing a student’s experiences, perspectives, and contributions, then it remains unfair to ask students to pour so much into supplemental essays, case studies, video entries and more. More often than not, decisions made in this context are driven by the quick glimpse of a test score or the rigor of an academic program, rather than the true nuances of who a student is and what they bring to the table. What are students & families to do? Although so many pieces of the admissions process stand to improve, students and families are not powerless to shape a sane and even meaningful admissions process. First and foremost, we encourage students and parents to let go of the hype that surrounds hyper-competitive admissions. Instead, hone in on what matters most to you in the quality of experiences and community on a campus. Find colleges that align to these values –your values – at every admissibility level, and trust that you will shape a rich life, full of growth and opportunities whether or not you attend a college with a tiny acceptance rate and a huge sticker price. Consider some of the colleges that might not make the tippy top of the acceptance rate arms race, but do align with the kind of experiences you seek to have in your college life and education. Many of these schools, even those with acceptance rates above 50%, are wonderful places to learn and grow and launch your future. Many of these schools are seeking interesting, hard working, curious and caring students, and many of them have scholarships to offer to entice those same students to enroll. TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. Our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process, empowers you to become your own best you, and puts your best self forward in your admissions process & applications. If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you. Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College Admission #College Admission Support

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

Three Essential Questions for Your College Search

Many students and parents find the process of building a college list daunting. With over 2800 four-year colleges in the US, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. We meet with students every day who are asking – how do I choose the right schools for me?

If you’re asking yourself where to begin or how to know if a college is right for you, read on for the 3 questions every student should be asking to bring clarity to the college search–

#1 What does learning look like here? Believe it or not, this is not something most students and families consider automatically. Although knowing that your major is offered is a good starting point, there’s a lot more to what your academic life will look like on campus. The academic experience is not the same college to college. Taking a look at the approach to learning at a college, and developing clarity in where your preferences, strengths, and learning styles guide you can be extremely helpful to shaping your list. Some of the things you might consider: where does the curriculum fall on the spectrum from open curriculum (most flexibility) to core curriculum (most structure)? Which is the best approach for you? Does the college prioritize experiential learning through internships, co-op, project-based learning or community engagement? Do you have to apply into a specific school within the university and declare a major, or will you have more flexibility to choose or change your major over time? How many classes does a typical student take each semester? Does the college use a semester, trimester, or alternate schedule and how does this shape life, workload, opportunities and school breaks? While a university may have wonderful facilities and conduct cutting edge research, what does access to research opportunities look like for first and second year undergraduates? Within your departments or majors of interest, take a look at how the major is set up and what opportunities are available. As you start to compare three or four schools, differences will stand out and you’ll have more clarity about what approaches get you excited.

#2 Where will I find my people on campus? The college experience is not just an academic one, it’s a social one too. And while academics are key, we want students and families to think carefully about finding a college campus where they can be themselves, build a community, and thrive. There is no academic program that is good enough to compensate for a student feeling isolated or disconnected in their campus community. Because you are going to make this place your home for four years, we encourage students to look closely at the community on campus. Beyond legitimately assessing the ‘vibe’ of the campus and its alignment with your own goals, I am frequently asking students – where will you find your people on campus? This means digging into the student organizations, activities, clubs, traditions, dorm life and hang outs, and coming up with some real evidence for where people who share your interests and values gather and spend time together on campus. It’s helpful to understand what ‘most’ people enjoy doing with their free time on the campus you are considering, but it’s more important to get clear with yourself about how you like to spend your time, what you and your friends enjoy doing together, and what brings meaning, connection and joy to your life. No student should go through college without at least a handful of friends with whom to navigate the journey. We’ve seen students wind up disappointed when they fail to really examine this part of college life in building their lists.

It’s worth digging into the campus offerings to confidently find a few activities and places you know you can get involved to begin building your community.

#3 What is one thing that will define your experience? It’s easy to develop a long list of preferences for the colleges you’ll apply to. Sometimes it’s more effective to hone that down to the most essential element. Name the one thing that will really be crucial in ensuring your happiness, thriving, and ability to create the experience you want to have. Sometimes this has to do with academics: an internship or other applied learning opportunity or a study abroad experience is really important to a student. Sometimes it’s the ability to study more than one thing, or have flexibility in finding their best academic fit. Other times, it has to do with passions and hobbies: an ultimate frisbee team, a running club, a dance company, or a music program that is available to students who don’t play D-I sports or aren’t pursuing a BFA. Maybe it’s a dining hall that can accommodate your food allergies or amazing mental health supports on campus. Your ‘one thing’ is something that is truly personal to your own vision for your life and learning in college. Using this as a lens when you are considering colleges and comparing them to one another can be really helpful in clarifying good fit from great fit, across all the different levels of admissibility.

Ask yourself these questions: what will it look like to learn here, where will I find my people, and does this place offer the one thing that will define my experience? Taken together, these questions can transform your college research. This approach is not solely about gathering data, but about trying on a college to find your own uniquely best fit. When we say ‘the best college for the best you” this is exactly what we have in mind. TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit. Our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process, empowers you to become your own best you, and puts your best self forward in your admissions process & applications.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College #College Admission #College Admission Support #College Search

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

High Schoolers, College & the Holiday Table

As you prepare to join family gatherings this holiday season, here’s what we encourage you to remember about high school students–

Over the next couple of months, you will more than likely have the opportunity to connect with family members or friends who are in high school. A perfectly natural topic of conversation, one may think, is to ask that student where they’ve applied to college, what their dream school is, and if they’ve been accepted…

From the perspective of your friendly College Advisors, our professional advice is….

Don’t.

If you are a parent of a high school student, you know all too well that college admissions have become exponentially more competitive in recent years. Students have lived much of their high school experience in a global pandemic, with classes, testing, activities, and social lives tossed upside down.

Now, more than ever, our kids need the loving encouragement & support of their family and friends. They don’t need adults’ college admissions stories, they don’t need adults’ questions, however benign, and they don’t need to hear all over again, how ‘crazy’ it all is. Instead, they need breathing room, grace, and a low-stakes holiday conversation.

Here’s 3 conversation starters to try instead:

What’s your favorite family holiday_____: memory, food, tradition?

Tell me about the highlight of your Fall so far!

So, what’s the best (or most surprising) thing you’ve read this year? OR What’s your favorite book from childhood?

What you’ll notice is that all of these topics are neutral, and create an entry point for a young person to share their opinion, perspective, or experience. If a student wishes to share something about school or the college process, they will. If not, you’ve opened up space for them to engage in a conversation anyone at the table can be a part of.

And when the questions do come:

If you are the parent, friend, or relative of a high school student in the midst of the college process, feel free to support them by deflecting college questions:

“Wow, ______ sure has been working hard this Fall! We are so proud of them; can’t wait to share the plans for next year in the Spring! We’ll let you know after May 1….

Have you tried these yams?”

Now that’s a gift a high school student will be grateful to receive.

Families from the USA and All Over The World — Sign up for a FREE 20-minute phone call or online video meeting now so we can learn about your family’s college admissions needs and how we can provide support.

#College Admissions #College #High Schoolers #Holiday Table

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

Applying for Financial Aid or Scholarships?

Just as you might be breathing a sigh of relief that the first round of applications are submitted, it’s time to think about scholarships & accessing financial aid. Federal Student Aid, the US Department of Education Office that manages the FAFSA, is in the process of fully overhauling the application process. Whether you have a college student, a HS student in the thick of applications, or are looking to what’s ahead down the road a year or two from now, there’s much to know about what to expect when the new application opens in December of 2023. Read on for what you need to know about making the most of opportunities for scholarships and financial aid with the FAFSA changes coming next month– Who should complete a FAFSA? The FAFSA is not just for students and families considering accessing need based financial aid to help with the costs of college. A FAFSA must also be completed if a student is considering taking out student loans, and in some cases, is a required submission for students who wish to be considered for merit aid (aka scholarship opportunities) at their college. In addition, FAFSA forms must be submitted each year, so a student who is already in college will need to resubmit each year of college. To know the requirements at the colleges you are applying to, carefully review the information on the financial aid website for each college where you will submit an application. The new FAFSA form will not be open to fill out until December, and a specific date has not yet been announced. In the meantime, here are a few highlights of the key changes you should know: Every Student & Parent Needs an FSA ID. In order to complete a FAFSA, every student and ‘contributor,’ FSA’s new term for any parent or adult providing financial support, will need to create or obtain access to their already existing FSA ID. Both student and parent (contributor) need their own FSA ID to complete the form. We recommend doing this right away to reduce stress and hassle when the application opens in December. Every Student & Contributor must provide consent to access tax information. The new FAFSA Form will pull tax information directly from the IRS using an updated Direct Data Exchange (DDX) process. Even if the student, parent, or contributor did not file taxes, this permission is required for the student to qualify for financial aid. Student Aid Index is the new Expected Family Contribution On the old FAFSA form, a family received an EFC dollar amount that was intended to be a reflection of a family’s financial ability to contribute towards the student’s college education. Because of the confusion that this term produced in the past, this will now be called a student’s SAI, or Student Aid Index. As before, it does not reflect the actual financial aid or cost of college, but rather is an input used by FSA in calculating qualification for federal aid, and by colleges in calculating a financial aid package. This dollar amount is now being calculated using a different formula, intended to extend Pell Grant Eligibility to a wider range of students. The New SAI calculation could change your family’s eligibility For students who will be receiving help from other sources, such as grandparents, that support is no longer included in the new SAI calculation. However, one of the most significant changes that will impact many families is that the number of children in college will also be excluded from the calculation. In the past, a family’s expected contribution was per family, spread across the number of dependents attending college in the same year. Going forward, there will not be consideration given to multiple siblings attending college in the same year. If all of this feels overwhelming, you are not alone!

Join TBU’s College Affordability Expert Jenna Greenwood for a live webinar The New FAFSA: What You Need to Know Tuesday November 14th 6pm MT | 8pm ET This event is exclusively for TBU Members – Not yet a member? Joining is an easy, low-cost way to destress your college process: join us here Already a member? Register to attend the webinar here.

#Financial Aid #Scholarships for Students #Students

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

The College Rankings Have Changed: Does it Matter?

U.S. News and World Report made splashy headlines last week with the release of their 2024 college rankings list. Some colleges are celebrating their ascension, while other big name institutions are decrying the results after plummeting down the list.

The real question though is does it even matter?

Read on for a quick summary of what’s changed in the rankings and our perspective on whether students and families should care at all –

What’s Changed –

U.S. News and World Report produces the most consumed rankings of colleges and universities in the country. They’ve also faced growing criticism for their ranking methodology which historically emphasized factors that are often a proxy for the wealth and privilege of the institutions and the students they enroll, rather than measures of quality or outcomes. As a number of prominent law and medical schools have dropped participation in the rankings all together, the company changed this year’s methodology in an effort to remain relevant.

Changes include:

Dropping the evaluation of alumni giving, class size, admitted students’ high school class standing, and terminal degrees held by faculty.

In their own words, US News has increased “emphasis on how often schools’ students from all socioeconomic backgrounds earned degrees.” These are intended to be better measures of the social mobility of the students the universities enroll and graduate. You can read their full description of the new methodology here.

The factors that have been elevated in importance each make up 5% or less of the overall ranking score: publications and citations, full-time faculty, student-faculty ratio, borrower debt, first generation grad rate and performance, and pell-graduation rates. The weight of overall graduation rates depends on whether a college has ‘usable SAT/ACT data.’

Notably, the new methodology prioritizes data that is publicly available, insulating U.S. News from the potential impact of colleges opting out of providing data as institutions such as RISD, Bard, and Reed have already done.

What remains the same:

The highly criticized “peer assessment” or reputation score that is provided by college administrators’ survey responses about their perceptions of other institutions remains 20% of the overall ranking criteria. Macolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast did a deep dive on this and other aspects of the rankings methodology in 2021. Give it a listen here.

What’s the impact?

As a result of these shifts, some public universities such as Fresno State, San Diego State University, CUNY’s City College, and Rutgers University climbed the ranking list. Meanwhile, some private colleges that had become expert at positioning themselves to earn high marks saw precipitous drops. These included Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Tulane, which fell from No. 44 to No. 73.

Should you care?

At the end of the day, we place little to no importance on rankings as a tool for building a college list or informing a student and family about whether a college is a good fit. U.S. News & World Report, just like the several other businesses that publish ranking lists, have their own interests and financial gains to protect in preserving the perceived importance and relevance of the rankings they publish. These are among the many reasons we are skeptical of building college lists that factor the ‘ranking’ of the college as a factor.

Where should you look instead?

The most important measure of a college’s worth is your own values. Students and families have myriad different priorities in determining the criteria that matter to their own decision making in determining college fit. When the rankings were initiated in the early 1980s to revive a publication that was struggling to compete with Time and Newsweek, families had difficulty accessing much data to compare colleges. Today? Almost an endless supply of data is available at our fingertips on our computers and phones. In seconds you can find any given college’s graduation rate, student teacher ratio, job placement rate, and access information on the academic and community resources available to you.

To us, the rankings are little more than noise. We are much more interested in determining the qualities that will enable you to build the experience you want to have, and identifying the colleges that will prioritize those opportunities and approaches.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: no ranking list can tell you if you will be happy, thriving, or successful on a campus; only you can do that.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#Advisors #College #College Admission #College Ranking #Ranking

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

The College Rankings Have Changed: Does it Matter?

U.S. News and World Report made splashy headlines last week with the release of their 2024 college rankings list. Some colleges are celebrating their ascension, while other big name institutions are decrying the results after plummeting down the list.

The real question though is does it even matter?

Read on for a quick summary of what’s changed in the rankings and our perspective on whether students and families should care at all –

What’s Changed –

U.S. News and World Report produces the most consumed rankings of colleges and universities in the country. They’ve also faced growing criticism for their ranking methodology which historically emphasized factors that are often a proxy for the wealth and privilege of the institutions and the students they enroll, rather than measures of quality or outcomes. As a number of prominent law and medical schools have dropped participation in the rankings all together, the company changed this year’s methodology in an effort to remain relevant.

Changes include:

Dropping the evaluation of alumni giving, class size, admitted students’ high school class standing, and terminal degrees held by faculty.

In their own words, US News has increased “emphasis on how often schools’ students from all socioeconomic backgrounds earned degrees.” These are intended to be better measures of the social mobility of the students the universities enroll and graduate. You can read their full description of the new methodology here.

The factors that have been elevated in importance each make up 5% or less of the overall ranking score: publications and citations, full-time faculty, student-faculty ratio, borrower debt, first generation grad rate and performance, and pell-graduation rates. The weight of overall graduation rates depends on whether a college has ‘usable SAT/ACT data.’

Notably, the new methodology prioritizes data that is publicly available, insulating U.S. News from the potential impact of colleges opting out of providing data as institutions such as RISD, Bard, and Reed have already done.

What remains the same:

The highly criticized “peer assessment” or reputation score that is provided by college administrators’ survey responses about their perceptions of other institutions remains 20% of the overall ranking criteria. Macolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast did a deep dive on this and other aspects of the rankings methodology in 2021. Give it a listen here.

What’s the impact?

As a result of these shifts, some public universities such as Fresno State, San Diego State University, CUNY’s City College, and Rutgers University climbed the ranking list. Meanwhile, some private colleges that had become expert at positioning themselves to earn high marks saw precipitous drops. These included Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Tulane, which fell from No. 44 to No. 73.

Should you care?

At the end of the day, we place little to no importance on rankings as a tool for building a college list or informing a student and family about whether a college is a good fit. U.S. News & World Report, just like the several other businesses that publish ranking lists, have their own interests and financial gains to protect in preserving the perceived importance and relevance of the rankings they publish. These are among the many reasons we are skeptical of building college lists that factor the ‘ranking’ of the college as a factor.

Where should you look instead?

The most important measure of a college’s worth is your own values. Students and families have myriad different priorities in determining the criteria that matter to their own decision making in determining college fit. When the rankings were initiated in the early 1980s to revive a publication that was struggling to compete with Time and Newsweek, families had difficulty accessing much data to compare colleges. Today? Almost an endless supply of data is available at our fingertips on our computers and phones. In seconds you can find any given college’s graduation rate, student teacher ratio, job placement rate, and access information on the academic and community resources available to you.

To us, the rankings are little more than noise. We are much more interested in determining the qualities that will enable you to build the experience you want to have, and identifying the colleges that will prioritize those opportunities and approaches.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: no ranking list can tell you if you will be happy, thriving, or successful on a campus; only you can do that.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College #College List #College Ranking #College Ranking List #Rankings

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

When to start planning for college

The overwhelm is real.

For parents and students alike, the sense that college is both far on the distant horizon, and coming at you too close for comfort is all too real. In our experience, overwhelm dissipates when we have a plan, and have some comfort navigating the topic, whether that’s finances, college fit, activities, or academics.

Read on for our insights on when to start the planning process, and what it really means to plan for college at every stage without drama or stress–

When is it too soon to plan for college?

I am the parent of an elementary school child and a newly minted early middle schooler. This is far too soon to be making a college list, to be thinking about standardized testing or ‘resume building.’ That said, I talk to my girls about college. Let me tell you what I mean –

As college advisors, one of the most heartrending parts of our work is meeting students in junior and even senior year of high school who feel that they don’t know who they are, what they want, or where their interests lie. In short they are wildly overwhelmed with trying to examine these questions, choose colleges, select majors, and tell their story in a compressed timeline of months rather than years. I never want that for my kids or yours, so there are ways that we can disregard ‘strategy’ and support our kids in knowing themselves well, gaining exposure to the world of college, and feeling excited to pursue their interests and seek the experiences that empower them to thrive in middle school, high school, and beyond.

Just this week, when my seven year old brought up her worries about the climate, we talked about what small actions she can take in her life right now. I shared with her some of the accomplishments of teens who acted on their convictions. Will she study environmental science? Who knows! The point of this is not to shape her into a series of items on a resume, but to empower her, even now, with the developing confidence that her interests are valuable, and that they are connected to the ways she can have agency and impact in the broader world. A kid who grows up with that ideal just might feel empowered to take initiative and step into leadership in her high school years.

When my ten year old asks me questions about college, I answer them honestly. Even in 5th grade she is starting to understand the idea of a liberal arts college as a place where you study lots of different things, and she knows that some colleges have campuses, while others are integrated into the city. Does she need to memorize these facts or make a decision right now about the right fit for her? Absolutely not! But it will be way less daunting to have a vocabulary and some familiarity with the options when it’s time to check out colleges for herself.

This approach applies at every age and stage. As kids move into later middle school and especially early high school, our goal should not be checklists, but demystifying colleges and inviting curiosity about majors and careers. The more time is offered for exploration, the more confident high school juniors and seniors feel in making their choices.

The biggest gap we see in students’ readiness to develop strong college applications is that they have not clarified, explored, and engaged their interests in depth prior to starting the application process. Kids don’t have to have all of their career plans figured out in high school, but they have to have a sense of their strengths, interests, and contributions and where their curiosity is leading them as they look ahead to college. Plans can change, but knowing who they are, what they are curious about, and what they have to contribute is essential in moving to and through the college process journey with more joy than stress.

How late is too late?

It’s never too late. If your student is a senior right now, the timeline will be expedited, but the approach can still be intentional. Center the conversation on the essentials: what are three things you can identify together will be essential for your child to thrive in college? Name those things together and make those the center of the search. Right there, that’s the start of an intentional college list. What are three core values and a few examples of how they have embodied those values during their time in high school? That alone is the foundation for a strong personal essay.

It’s not too early or too late to engage the support of a TBU Advisor. We are experienced in supporting students to understand themselves, navigate their college choices and clarify their personal best fit; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor from 8th grade through transfer admissions, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#College #Start Planning #Planning for College

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

Preparing for the new digital SAT

Say farewell to your #2 pencils.

The PSAT & SAT will become 100% digital this school year. Whether this information is brand new to you, or something you’ve been anxiously anticipating since the announcement in early 2022, students & parents have many questions about what this means and how to prepare.

Read on for a quick recap of what to expect, and learn our three test prep strategies to navigate the changes ahead–

What is changing?

While the exam will still be scored on a 1600 scale, a few key things are changing:

The length of the exam: The exam will be reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours.

The use of calculators: Calculators will now be permitted on all math questions.

The length of reading passages: The new exam will use shorter passages with 1-2 questions.

The exam will become adaptive: The digital SAT will be a responsive test, with subsequent question difficulty being determined by earlier responses.

The administration: The biggest change is that this fall, the PSAT for the class of 2025, 2026, & 2027 and all SAT exams offered from March, 2024 onward will be administered as digital exams to be taken on computers, tablets, or Chromebooks. Mac & PC are both fine, but phones will not be permitted.

Take your preparation digital.

For 9th and 10th grade students, taking the PSAT will be a helpful component of your preparation, as it will expose you to the exact type of responsive digital exam structure and length that you will take when you register for the ‘real deal’ SAT.

For all 9th-11th grade students who are interested in preparing for the new digital exam, you are best served by practicing in this format. The College Board has partnered with Bluebook to administer the digital SAT. You can download this app and learn more about how it works and the integrated tools for PSAT and SAT testing here on the College Board site. Once you’ve downloaded Bluebook, you will have access to test previews and full length practice exams.

Explore alternatives; colleges value the ACT & SAT equally.

For 11th grade students, looking to complete testing amidst these shifts, one option you may want to consider is to prepare for and take the ACT exam prior to March of 2024. Although the ACT has also announced initial pilots for digital testing, these pilots are small to start, and will not involve any changes to the exam format or length, so preparation will remain unchanged. Because of the similarities between the ACT and SAT, preparing for the ACT and testing in the late fall or early winter, will not only give a student ACT scores to consider submitting, but will contribute to better preparation for taking the SAT in the spring. And it’s really true: college admissions offices have no preference between SAT or ACT exams, they treat both equally in the review process.

Consider waiting, just a bit.

Another option for 11th graders to consider is waiting to take the exam in March when it goes digital. This gives you plenty of preparation time, and will enable you to focus on preparing for just one exam type. Unless a student has a special circumstance, there is no urgency to securing test scores in the fall of junior year. Planning for an SAT in March or April and then again in June or August can be a good approach that gets testing completed before the start of senior year and ensures a student has scores available for early October and November deadlines.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit; our passion is helping you make a plan that takes the overwhelm out of the process and empowers you to become your own best you.

If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

Looking for more insights like these? Join us on our Membership Platform for exclusive content, live webinars, and the resources and tools to unstick your college process.

#Digital SAT #Digital Testing #Exam

[thebestucollegeadmissions]

Building a Good College List

When the time comes to finalize a list of colleges where a student will apply, it can be tempting to pile on the options, and difficult to know which colleges to add and which to let go. If there is one key to making sure your list is the best for you, it comes down to an old adage: honesty is the best policy.

Read on for how to leverage honesty to shape your own best list –

Be honest about your fit & what matters most to you.

The most important thing about your college list is that you have prioritized the factors that will enable you to thrive academically and socially. It’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, or what other people think. Just recently a student shared that she knows so many people who say a particular public institution on the other side of the country is ‘the best,’ that she couldn’t believe it didn’t feel like a good fit when she visited. She was still contemplating applying, even though she didn’t especially like it! This is not an uncommon phenomenon. When it comes time to finalize that college list, the colleges included should all resonate with the key experiences, opportunities, resources, and communities that matter to you, your goals, and your future. Getting honest about what these elements are and whether a college matches up with your personal needs, is a good way to focus your list. It doesn’t mean there won’t be compromises, but it does mean you should let go of options that are based purely on college name, reputation, or someone else’s opinion. Check in with your parents or an adult who knows you well and is invested in your best interest to hone in on those few key elements. Does the college honestly have what you need to build a happy, successful, and engaging life there? When the answer is yes, it is likely this is a good choice college for you.

Be honest about finances.

A good fit college is one that you honestly have reason to believe will be within your financial means. Parents need to be honest with their child about what that looks like for your family well before lists are finalized and applications are submitted, and students need to be honest about what it will take and whether it’s worth it for you to make those sacrifices or investments. Utilize a college’s net price calculator to get a sense of your likely costs, and call the financial aid office if you have questions. Do not rule out completing the FAFSA, even if you expect you will not qualify for need-based aid, as it may be required to access merit scholarships and other financial aid. Hoping and dreaming that it might work is not a strategy. A good college list is honest about college affordability and builds in multiple colleges that will create realistically affordable options.

Be honest about your admissibility.

If there is one truth in the shifting landscape of college admissions, it is that popular colleges and universities have grown exponentially more competitive year over year in the past few cycles. Students, and their parents, need to be honest about admissibility. This means looking up the most recently available acceptance rates in regular, early decision and/or early action, and admitted student profiles, including test scores, even at test optional colleges. If a college has less than a 15-20% acceptance rate, it is never a given, even for highly qualified students. If a student’s personal profile is far off of a college’s admitted student profile, be honest with yourself about whether it is worth the time, effort, and money to you to prepare and submit that application. If you are being honest with yourself, every student, no matter how high their GPA or test scores, should have a range of colleges that are truly likely and possible fits, including those with acceptance rates at and above 50%. This will help to ensure that a student is in the position of having choices come spring of senior year.

Be honest about the options you need.

Sometimes college lists run the risk of being aspirational, rather than practical. A good college list is honest about what you truly need, what works for your life, family, and priorities, and what you will seriously consider come decision time. Sometimes students are so caught up in the options that are out there, that they neglect to really look inside and ask themselves what they want and need. Will you truly travel across the country by plane to get to and from college and spend breaks with your family? You might like the idea of a big school, but will you personally be academically successful in lecture halls of 300 students? You might love a school’s spirit and sports teams, but have you examined where you will find and build your community on campus? You might be desperate to get out of state, but have you factored in colleges that will give you financial options too? Being honest about the options you want and need is essential to building a college list that will spare you from many extra applications, and empower you to choose well for yourself come decision time.

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit, and TBU Essay & Application specialists are experts at supporting students to craft their most compelling, authentic work. If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, now is the time. Get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you.

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