Colleges are announcing delays in admissions decision due to the significant surge in applications in the 2020-21 admissions cycle. Multiple factors contributed to this increase. Applications were down due to COVID environment in the 2019-20 admissions cycle, hence there may have been students that applied after a gap year. But the changes in application requirements may have had the bigger impact. Most schools have gone test optional given the difficulties of scheduling and taking standardized exams, and some have also reduced the number of supplemental essays required. Also the…

This is a common question asked by families who do not qualify for financial aid (or do not qualify for enough financial aid) but for whom paying the full cost of college is a significant burden.

As we covered in Financial Aid 101, there are two types of financial aid: need-based and merit-based.  Need-based financial aid will be determined based on a family’s ability to contribute (using family income data from FAFSA and CSS profile). Merit aid will be determined based on student’s achievement and qualifications such as GPA, test scores, and special talents. Colleges use merit…

Each May, millions of students around the world sit down to take one or more of the 38 Advanced Placement Exams. Administered by the CollegeBoard, each exam in America costs nearly $100. Notable for their rigor, a good score on these exams actually may result in saving thousands of dollars in college courses (at some schools) and boosting a student’s college application. In this blog post, we will be going over what AP courses are, what they mean for college admissions, and whether they are worth the money. We will also discuss the option of “self-studying,” for students that are not…

One of the things we hear over and over from parents, is that they wished that their school counselors would have met with students as early as freshman or sophomore year to give students some guidance on what is important in the college admissions process. In most high schools, the college counselors do not typically meet with students to discuss the college admissions process until spring of Junior year, as that is when they are finally through the most time-intensive portion of the application process for seniors.

High School should not be about getting into college, but there…

By: Sohini Surapaneni

A college admissions interview can be a nerve-racking experience for teenagers that don’t have much experience going through the interview process. They may struggle with setting up an interview, dressing for it, and answering questions in a way that showcases their personality. In this blog post, we will be reviewing the following aspects of preparing for college admission interviews:

During the 2020-2021 Admissions Cycle, the interviews…

By: Valerie Erde

Don’t we all wish we could be a fly on the wall in those college admissions committee rooms? Jeff Selingo’s insightful and detailed book, Who Gets In And Why, A Year Inside College Admissions is the next best thing to being there, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look into the opaque “holistic” college admissions process. 

In case you don’t want to read the whole book…I’ve provided my own takeaways, divided into four categories with main points and quotes for each:  Big Picture Takeways, The High School Side, The College Admissions Business, and Your…

In our last blog post, Top 5 Books on College Admissions for those just getting started…, we recommended 5 great books that will give you big-picture perspectives about colleges, the college admissions process overall, the true nature of selective college admissions, and what you can do to help students prepare for the road ahead. For those Juniors and seniors ready to build college lists focusing on academic, personal and financial fit, these following 5 books do a great job of providing data and college specific information invaluable to this process. Furthermore, these books are…

Many of us use the internet for all of our information gathering when it comes to any kind of large ticket purchases. Whether we are looking for a new car, a new vacation, or a new home, there is no shortage of information you can find on the internet. The same applies to colleges (a $80-300K investment). That being said, we also hear over and over again that the amount  of information on the internet is overwhelming and there is so much biased information out there from marketers, that it is often difficult to parse out what advice is worth heeding, and conversely what should be ignored…

Rounding out the previous two blogs on FAFSA and EFC by Edmit.me, this week, Edmit will address one of the most critical elements of a college list - creating a Financially Balanced College List. Edmit.me is a college financial planning platform with the mission to help families make great financial decisions about college. 

Key Takeaways:

Following up on the FAFSA blog post by Edmit.me, this week, we spoke with Edmit about EFC, What is it, and why does it matter? Edmit.me is a college financial planning platform with the mission to help families make great financial decisions about college. Here is a blog post from Edmit, that will address all of your questions about EFC.

What Your EFC Is - and Why It Matters

As you enter college, you know you’ll learn a lot — but you might not expect the crash-course in finances that many students receive. Unless you’re lucky enough to have your parents handle…