Score At The Top Blog

Topics: College Application, College Planning

In our May 28^th blog post titled “On Your Way to College? 9 Important Things for New Freshmen and Their Parents,” we recommended several “must have/take with” items for the move from home life and dorm life. A recent post on grown&flown suggested – based on parents’ feedback – other things that could well come in handy, so we’re supplementing our list with what we think are grown&flown’s best ideas of things to have to make the transition an easier one.

Topics: Going to College

A recent blog post by one of our fellow members of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) opened with this advice to other IECA members:

Topics: ACT/SAT, Essay, ACT Essay, SAT Essay

The most effective way to prepare for the SAT (and the ACT, for that matter) is to start early because doing so opens up opportunities that diminish and disappear as time passes. An early start gives you time to take multiple SAT practice tests; identify areas of weakness and what, in particular, to study in order to improve; and to take multiple actual SATs (see below for why we suggest at least three) on a convenient schedule that’s unavailable to late-starters.

Topics: ACT, SAT Test, ACT/SAT

Before you leave home for your first college semester, there are some important things to take care of. And, once you’ve arrived on campus, take our advice below to complete a few more tasks. Your to-do list:

Many college-bound Florida students and their families take advantage of the state’s generous Bright Futures Scholarship program, which awards students a certain percentage of their tuition as determined by test scores, volunteer hours, high school curriculum and GPA. Currently, students scoring 1290 on the SAT or 29 on the ACT are eligible to receive 100% tuition and fees to attend one of Florida’s public institutions (UF, FSU, and the like) under the program’s Florida Academic Scholarship, assuming they meet the academic and volunteer requirements. The Florida Medallion Scholarship, a partial award consisting of 75% tuition and fees, is given to students who score 1170 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT and meet the academic and volunteer requirements. While the awards are sufficient to cover all or most of tuition and fees at a public university in Florida, they may also be applied to the tuition at private universities in Florida (University of Miami, for instance). High-achieving students are recognized for their hard work and can enjoy the benefits of a more affordable college education. However, a significant change to the program will adversely affect some students from the class of 2021 onward.

Topics: ACT/SAT, Investment, Bright Futures

What: A recommendation discloses things about student character beyond a student’s academic performance. It is not a recitation of information contained elsewhere in the application or school transcript.

Topics: College Admission, Letter of Recommendation

In the world of college admission testing, we’re moving steadily towards a future in which testing takes on a very different look. In Part 1 of this blog, we discussed the existing ACT and SAT. Our goal was to help students and their parents make informed decisions when it comes to selecting and preparing for an upcoming exam. Today, part 2, we’ll examine some current trends in testing and consider how they may shape the future. But, first, we’ll take a look at another test that is occasionally used in the admission’s process.

Topics: College Admission, Test-Prep, Subject Test

GPA of 4.5? 1500 on the SAT? Those tell college admissions officers that you’re reasonably bright, perform well in scholastic matters, and can compete for admission with other students who have comparable stats. But that’s all they say about the applicant – they’re data points, devoid, you might say, of personality. In virtually all competitive college admissions situations, those data are simply not enough.

Topics: College Admission, Extracurricular Activities

It’s back…. The SAT, that is. For the first time in seven years, more students are taking the SAT than the ACT, a surge in popularity attributed to the SAT’s alignment with the Common Core and its last makeover to appear more like the ACT. Indeed, both tests share about 80% of content spanning the four major areas tested (math, science, reading, and writing). However, some key differences remain – as do questions about the importance and relevancy of college admission testing.

Topics: ACT, SAT Test, College Admission, ACT/SAT