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SAT Keys to Success 6 week course ONLINE - Store - SAT and LSAT classes Live online Thursdays: 7:15 pm - 10:15 pm ET/5:15 pm - 8:15 pm MT Choose from: Jan 14, 21, 28, Feb 4, 11, and 18 OR Feb 25, Mar 4, 11, 18, 25/Apr 1*, and Apr 8 OR Apr 15, 22, 29, May 6, 13, and 20 (*duplicate content taught on these two dates to accommodate most Spring Breaks)…

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Getting Into College Tip #1:

Getting into College Tip #1: Choose your colleges early Why do you need to choose your colleges as early as possible? Need a BRAGSHEET? Want more information on getting into college? Want help with the process?Ca...

I taught SAT courses here in Denver. Why can't more high schools look like this?

Congratulations to my student Sherry for getting into Michigan!

Digital SAT tip #1: How to quickly answer Words in Context (vocabulary) questions in the English: questions 1-6 explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeCqkCLlU4o

Congratulations to Alina! One of my students who got into Duke ED!

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The Supreme Court, affirmative action, the SAT, and what it might mean for your kid

If you read editorials, you might be prone to believe that SCOTUS’s recent affirmative action decision in the UNC and Harvard cases means the end of diversity in colleges. I recall that the 1956 Brown v. BOE decision was supposed to usher in immediate diversity in public schools throughout the nation. 9 years later very little had changed. I suspect that likewise many colleges who want to maintain diversity - as is often narrowly defined - will find a way to do it.

Why and how?

Without getting into problems with the term “diversity,” let’s talk about the SAT and ACT for a minute. Opponents claim both tests perpetuate racial bias. In the early 2000s, to increase diversity, dozens of colleges went test optional, meaning students could choose not to submit SAT or ACT scores without penalty in the admissions process. A study of 100 test optional colleges found that their racial diversity increased by a paltry 1% between 2005 and 2015. Another study of test optional liberal arts colleges and universities in 2011 found no increase in diversity. Preliminary observations of the pandemic-driven test optional decision by over 1900 colleges have revealed similar findings.

What gives?

A look at top 25 Vanderbilt, a private SEC school, shows an admissions office struggling since the pandemic with thousands more applications than ever before and one less standard by which to judge at least 40% of its candidates, those who did not submit scores. Admissions officers found themselves overwhelmed and overworked, especially because so often the test-less applications required a third person to break a tie. When a well-endowed, otherwise prepared top college struggles to process the extra applications and the tougher decisions, how much greater is the struggle for lesser funded institutions?

While some test-optional advocates herald the tougher decision process as a victory for students who might not otherwise receive consideration at their dream schools, subjective criteria that reeks of implicit bias can quite easily dismantle the hopes of such students…or worse, the hopes of underprivileged students who might have gotten in with their SAT scores!

You see, the application process is tricky and confusing. Suppose an African American kid looks at the 25th percentile score of a college and says, “my SAT score isn’t that high,” and doesn’t submit it. Then the college looks at his background and his school, which has never sent them a successful student, and rejects the student. What the kid doesn’t know is that because they DO consider his background and school, they would also consider that his SAT score is 100 points higher than any kid who has ever applied from his school. In this very particular scenario, that would be enough for them to admit him, regardless of his ethnic background.

How many of those particular cases exist is impossible to tell. But given the uncertainty gripping many college admissions personnel as they try to navigate holistic selection without that familiar quantitative piece, such cases may be more common than we’d like to think. This is why colleges often advise kids to submit their scores if they feel that they represent them well even if they fall below a certain metric for that college.

But the lack of increasing diversity since “test-optional” might obscure the reality that it hasn’t dropped either. A college that wants diversity may have a hard time deciding on a candidate without a test score but now finds itself no longer bound to use a single number to disqualify that kid. In other words, despite SFFA v Harvard and SFFA v UNC, which conclude that race cannot factor into a decision, colleges now have a fuzzier area in which to make their selections, which can allow likeminded personnel to consider race as a factor even if no formal policy is in place. Would they be breaking the law? That would be hard to prove.

How this plays out over time will be unclear. But because, on the one hand, some outstanding Hispanic and Black students will apply with stellar test scores for their underperforming high schools and, on the other hand, some admissions officers are likely to favor certain minorities without test scores in the selection process, we are unlikely to see a decrease in “diversity” any time soon. Furthermore, as the nation continues to see the growth of college-bound Black and Hispanic students at a higher rate than for White students, the likelihood that diversity will increase in America’s colleges is almost a foregone conclusion.

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The quick scoop on applying Early Action!

Over the next few months, roughly a couple of million students will be deciding if applying early to college is worth it. The last few cycles have brought us more and more colleges giving students the Early Action option. As opposed to Early Decision, which bounds students to one particular school, Early Action (EA) lets students apply to multiple schools and find out more quickly which schools have accepted them without a commitment.

Ostensibly, EA sounds pretty good. The acceptance rates for EA applicants are usually higher, students can find out by December or January if a college wants them, and they can possibly end the application process earlier to focus on other priorities.

But there is some potential trickiness in the numbers. For schools who recruit students -- almost every college with varsity sports, STEM research, or a focus on fine arts -- Early Action or Early Decision is when recruited students apply. It is also when other scholarship students apply whose application is almost a formality. In other words, of course the EA (and for that matter, ED) round of apps will see a substantially higher acceptance rate than regular admissions. That's when the already "accepted" are being accepted.

UNC and other colleges have told me that chances for admission are no better in the EA round. Some schools have published data that actually suggest the opposite.

But what makes EA clearly unattractive for some is that UNC and some other schools do not give deferrals to Regular Decision - they instead accept, reject, or waitlist. And with about a 1/369 chance of an out-of-state student getting into UNC off the waitlist, anything but a "yes" is as good as a "no." So, that means that the EA school makes a decision before seeing the 1st semester Senior year grades with those more rigorous courses, the latest SAT score, and any late semester accomplishments.

And as far as freeing up your time, nothing says you can't have all your ducks in a row early on before you hit the final submit button.

Ultimately, the decision depends on the student and the college. An admissions officer at William and Mary, a school that factors your interest in the school, told me that there may still be a slight advantage to ED (they don't do Early Action) and that they do defer students. Although EA doesn't carry with it the "interest" factor that ED does, if a college tells you that your chances of acceptance are higher in the early round, then go for it if you don't think a few more weeks will add anything to your prospects.

For most students, however, Early Action will not provide the advantage that they may hope for and may even be an early ticket out of the game they might otherwise be able to get into.

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What do you mean you haven’t signed up for an SAT course?!?

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Welcome to a hopefully awesome school year. I always recommend that before the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins, parents set their kids up for success by talking with a professional about organization and study habits.

This is especially true for upperclassmen who will experience a deluge of activities and harder courses. If you see some struggles ahead or just want to preclude a repeat of past miseries, let us know so that we can help your child step off on solid footing.

Speaking of which, I need some new comfortable casual shoes with great arch support. Any suggestions?

Here's to the best school year yet!

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YEA - Harmony!! Congratulations to one of my college consulting and SAT students - TOP 10 school - woo hoo!