College readiness
Good News for College Transfer Students
Where do college transfer students go after they earn their two-year associate’s degree?
It’s been a tough question to answer when you consider that colleges and universities have traditionally been focused on high school seniors. The transfer student who graduates from a community college has legitimately felt overlooked. But that reality could be changing for a [...]
Improving Your SAT or ACT Scores: Take a Sample Test
Do you want your teenager to ace the SAT test or improve on a previous SAT score? Or maybe you just want to know if you can survive bad SAT results? Or maybe you’re concerned about ACT test scores.
Here’s good news: There are successful SAT and ACT test strategies that students can use to [...]
Why High School Counselors Don’t Know Much About College
Is your teenager’s high school counselor an expert on college?
Probably not.
In fact, the odds are high that your counselor’s knowledge about college admission strategies, standardized testing and scholarships is limited. Ironically during this period of skyrocketing college costs, financial aid is often the subject that high school counselors know the least about.
Many high school counselors [...]
Should You Share Dirty Secrets With College Admission Offices?
What happens if your teenagers has made a bad mistake during his or her high school years? I’m talking about a suspension from school. A drunk driving ticket. A cheating incident.
How do you handle these kinds of mistakes on your college application?
Lee Bierer, an independent college counselor in Charlotte, NC, and a syndicated columnist, tackled [...]
Why College Graduation Rates Are a Disgrace
Graduation rates at most universities is a disgrace. Fewer than 60% of college students graduate in six years. Many of the rest never do earn a bachelor’s degree.
I’ve written about low graduation rates many times (see links below) and it’s always struck me as unfair that so many educators blame this tragedy solely on the [...]
How Many High School Students Are Ready for College?
Are high school students ready for college?
Many of them aren’t. According to ACT Inc., only 23% of recent high school graduates, who took the ACT test, were prepared for college.
When the ACT examined its latest crop of statistics, the test maker concluded that less than one in four high school graduates was academically prepared in [...]
College Admissions: Who Gets an Affirmative Action Bump?
I’ve been volunteering at my son Ben’s high school this semester so I’ve been sitting in on some presentations by visiting college admission reps.
As they are packing up, I often ask the reps about their admission requirements for minority students since there are a significant number of these kids at Ben’s school. What I’ve discovered [...]
Do Transfer Students Succeed in College?
Do transfer students do well in college?
I hear this question a lot from parents who are stressed about the high cost of a bachelor’s degree. They naturally wonder if starting at a cheaper community college and then transferring is a smart move.
The transfer student question is also relevant for teenagers who begin at four-year universities [...]
Experiencing a Gap Year Before College
Today I’ve invited Kristin White, an author and independent college counselor, to share with us some surprising facts about a growing phenomenon: the gap year. Kristin wrote a new book on the subject that’s entitled, The Complete Guide to the Gap Year: The Best Things To Do Between High School and College.
The gap year is [...]
3Nov2009 | Lynn | 0 comments | Continued
College Blog Roundup: Harvard, Baby Einstein and Most Expensive Colleges
As usual, I am sharing with you the posts that I wrote for my college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.com during the past week.
Baby Einstein Bust: Toys That Will Make Your Child Smarter.
Did parents really think that plunking their infants in front of Baby Einstein DVDs was really going to make them geniuses. Come on. Surely they [...]
