Thinking Strategically about Early Applications to College

Many students believe that when you apply early to a university, you must limit your application to a single college. When, you look more closely at the application requirements, you will find that you can apply more strategically. Highly selective schools in the United States–like Harvard, MIT, and Yale–have restrictive early action. For example, Harvard describes its Early Action program like this:

“If you apply to Harvard under our Restrictive Early Action program, you may also apply early to non-binding public or foreign colleges/universities (no Early Decision programs), but you may not apply early (in any form) to U.S. private colleges/universities.”

Note that the restriction applies only to U.S. private universities. So, where else could an ambitious student apply?

—International Universities. Schools in Canada, like the University of Toronto or McGill, would be excellent candidates. Schools in the United Kingdom, like Oxford and Cambridge, could also be great possibilities. Given the weight that international schools put on academic qualifications, these schools could be good options for students whose academic qualifications are stellar but whose extracurricular qualifications are not as comparatively strong.

—Elite State Universities in the United States. Schools like the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin would allow early applications that are non-binding.

So, instead of simply applying to one selective private school with an early application, you may want to also apply early to an international university or a couple of state universities. Doing so will likely ensure that you have more options for college admissions come December instead of having all of your eggs in one basket with a single elite private university.

Early Action? Early Decision? Early Confusion?


Early decision and early action deadlines are creeping up on students right about now at the beginning of November. While some students may have decided to apply early some time ago, many of their friends may be left in a panic as they watch the deadlines go by thinking “what does this mean?”. “Should I apply early?” Many students experience FOMO (fear of missing out) as they realize a bit belatedly that many of their peers are wrapping up applications just as others are only getting started. What is early action? What is early decision? Who are they right for? Below are the basics that students need to know in order to make informed decisions about early applications.

Early Action:

Early action is a pretty good bet for most students. Applying early action means that students apply sooner (generally early fall of senior year) and then they get their decision early. Students can apply early action at as many of their colleges as have an early action program. Early action applications come with no commitment and are a good way to get the applications out of the way sooner so that students can focus on and enjoy senior year. Early action also allows for students to have more time to make their decision once they get acceptances and it takes the burden off students’ shoulders much sooner.

Early Decision:

Early decision applications are a much bigger deal than early action. Not many schools offer early decision; those that do tend to be highly selective institutions. Many students, therefore, may not even have the option of applying early decision. The key thing to remember is that early decision applications are legally binding. Students are required to attend the school and withdraw applications from all other schools if accepted into their early decision school. This means that students who apply early decision are committing to attending before they see what financial aid the school will offer them. Students should not apply early decision unless they are sure that the school is the right fit and they are committed to paying the full price for the school. At most schools, applying early decision does increase your chances of being admitted and, similar to early action, gets the work and the decision out of the way much sooner which is attractive to most students.

In Conclusion:

If you’re in your senior year and you haven’t yet submitted any applications, it’s okay! You still have time for those regular decision applications, so don’t rush to apply early if it means submitting subpar work. Generally, schools accept regular decision applications until the beginning of January, but make sure you check with your schools to find out their specific deadlines. Try to have your applications in as soon as you can; don’t wait until the last moment. The sooner you get accepted the sooner your school can put together your financial aid package. Most schools have a limited amount of aid to give out, so you don’t want to be last in line. If you need any help with your applications or essays reach out to us and let us assist!

How to Start the College Process: Three Tours

A lot of students start junior year not entirely sure what they want in a college. By the time they reach the start of senior year, they need to know. The summer before senior year and that school year itself will be full of college applications, essays, letters of recommendation, and financial aid paper work. To make this process go more smoothly, students should try to have their list of colleges just about ready before senior year starts. This means that the summer prior to 11th grade and junior year itself are the time for figuring out what a student wants in a college and writing a list of places to apply to. While some students have had their dream school picked out for years, others approach the process with a completely blank slate. If this is you, you might be overwhelmed, wondering how to narrow down the thousands of available options.

A great place to start is on any college campus. An even better place to start would be on three college campuses. You can make life easy on yourself by touring three campuses close to where you live. There is no need to travel far, you’re just looking for things you like and things you don’t like. Indeed, knowing what you don’t want is just as helpful as knowing what you do want!

So which colleges should you start with? You should aim for three distinctly different options: one large, one mid-sized, one small. At least one of the three should be private and at least one public. One could be a city campus with others being in small towns or rural areas. In short, you should try to see as much diversity in options as possible.

When planning these visits make sure to sign up to take the official tour. This will give you a chance to see classrooms, dorms, and cafeterias as well as to ask questions about majors, campus culture, and graduation rates. You should take careful notes on what you like- if you don’t write it down, you’ll likely forget it!

After the three colleges tours are done sit down a write a list of “must haves” for a college. Are small class sizes a “must” or a “never”? What major or majors must be available to you? Must the campus be bustling or quiet, city or country? Once you get all of your “musts” on a list start doing research on schools in your desired geographic area. You’ll find that it’s much easier to narrow down your possibilities now that you know what you want!

If you want help with this process reach out and let us know- we’d love to work with you as you get ready for college!
Michal Strawn

The Summer Before Senior Year: To Do

By Michal Strawn

Many students don’t begin thinking about colleges until late in their junior year or early in their senior year of high school. The perception is that until the applications are open, there isn’t much you can do. Boy is that a misconception! In the months prior to the start of senior year, there are many steps that students can take to help reduce the stress of application season and help the entire process move smoothly. Consider making our to-do list your to-do list for the summer.

1. Finish that list

Filling out applications isn’t actually all the difficult, it’s just time consuming. What can be difficult is finding the colleges to apply to! Take time over the summer to find a handful of colleges at which you can see yourself being happy and that have a strong program in your chosen field. Look up their admission requirements to make sure you have a few “sure things” on your list so that you’ll have options no matter what!

2. Visit

If you didn’t get any visits in during Junior year then need to happen now. The next break you have from school will be at Thanksgiving and that’s too late. Visit at least a few colleges to get a good feel for what you like and what you dislike. Adjust your list from there.

3. Prepare for the ACT or SAT

You’ve likely already taken these tests once or twice. The summer before senior year is the final big push for any improvements that you want to see. Fall of senior year will be your last chance to take these tests and get your scores back before applications are due.

4. Write your essay(s)

College applications may not be due until the late fall or early winter, but essays tend to pile up. It can be a lot of work to complete a few main essays plus a dozen supplementals for all the colleges you wish to apply to, especially on top of school work, sports, and other school year commitments. You can get a head start by completing the common application essay (and any others you know you’ll need) over the summer.

5.Start the scholarship search

Many students assume that they should first apply for colleges and then figure out how to pay for it. Nothing could be further from the truth! Many scholarships have deadlines that are early in senior year. Make sure they’re on your radar early or you may miss out!

With these things completed you’ll have a head start on senior year and be prepared for success in your college application process!

End to SAT Subject Tests and the SAT Essay, and Digital SAT Development

The College Board made some major announcements today. First, they are immediately discontinuing SAT Subject Tests (the one hour tests in subjects like Literature, Math Level 2, and Chemistry) for students in the United States. They will continue to offer SAT Subject Tests for International Students who wish to take them in May or June of 2021. Students may still be able to submit existing scores from SAT Subject tests, but should check with individual colleges on their policies. If you are registered to take an upcoming SAT Subject Test, the College Board will cancel your registration and give you a full refund.

Second, the College Board is phasing out the SAT Essay by June of 2021. Students who need to take the SAT Essay for their state’s school day administration will still be able to take it. All the other parts of the SAT–Reading, Writing & Language, and Math–will remain the same.

Third, the SAT is developing what they call a “more flexible SAT—a streamlined, digitally delivered test.” They will provide more details about this in the spring.

What does all this mean for high school students?

  1. The SAT and ACT will become more important. Students who previously could show their subject knowledge with multiple-choice SAT Subject Tests will no longer have that option. With fewer tests that colleges will consider, each test will become relatively more influential.
  2. AP and IB test results will become more important. One major reason that the College Board gave for eliminating the SAT Subject Tests was that students already have the opportunity to show subject knowledge with AP exams. Top AP test scores–like a 4 or 5–will be a critical component of college applications. If students are in the International Baccalaureate program, scores from those exams can also show college readiness.
  3. There will likely be a digitally adaptive SAT in the future. My best guess as to what the SAT has in store for the digital SAT is a test much like the current GRE. The GRE is adaptive–if you are performing well, you get more difficult questions, and if you are performing poorly, you get easier questions. By having an adaptive format, the digital GRE takes about half the time a paper version of the test would take. I believe that in the coming years, the SAT will be offered both as a longer paper test, and as a shorter digitally adaptive test. A digital version of the test would require much less time for a school-administered version, making it a popular option.

Stay tuned to our blog for the latest updates on SAT test changes.

Distance Learning and Homeschooling Tips

By Michal Strawn

As many students and parents contemplate another semester at home, the question has arisen in most houses as to how to ensure that students have their best optimal outcome despite the big changes that have occurred. I myself was fully homeschooled for eight years and so have a good idea of what some of the difficulties may be when students are expected to learn at home, and I’ve been teaching students online for a few years now, so I understand some of the stresses that teachers face as well. As a student or a parent, here are some ideas for making the most of the online classroom.

Note: most of these tips are best for middle and high school students

  1. Find the right space in your home

By now we’ve all read about a half dozen articles about tele-commuting. The first piece of advice most of them give is for the person working from home to find a space in the home that is just for work. The adult tele-commuter wants a space away from the rest of life where they can mentally be at the office. The same is true for students. I can’t tell you how many students I have who log in from their bedroom floor, or their kitchen counter. They try to learn with their pets crawling on them and their siblings and parents yelling in the background. For success they need a space in the home where when they sit down their mind clicks into school mode. This shouldn’t be a place that is completely private: students often need other people around to keep them on task. It shouldn’t be too comfortable (the couch) or too public (the kitchen counter). Students should look for a semi-private corner or nook where they can have a table or desk with a school-type chair, the possibility of a parent wandering by on a regular basis to check in, a good internet connection, and minimal outside distractions. With multiple siblings logging in, many families have done things like turning each corner of a dining room or rec room into a student space. Look for creative solutions to get each student their own school-only desk space.

2. Find the Right Equipment

Students need to ask their teachers what they will need. A computer and internet are crucial, but expensive. If students have a hard time finding those things, inquire at the school about support. Can you check out a chrome book for the semester? Are there companies offering deals on home Wi-Fi? After these crucial pieces fall into place, I would say the next most important thing is comfortable headphones, especially if the student will be expected to log into live classes on a regular basis (double especially if there are multiple students in the home that will be doing this). Students need to be able to focus on what their teachers are saying. This is very difficult if there is a lot else going on around like siblings trying to learn, mom and dad trying to work, and everyone just trying to live. Good noise cancelling headphones help students get in the school zone and deliver their lessons with high quality audio.

Other pieces of equipment that might be very helpful include a printer/scanner (so students can rest their eyes by doing thing on paper instead of a screen), a webcam to allow them to chat face-to-face with instructors (trust me, teaching is so much easier when you can see your students), and an extension cord so they aren’t tied to outlets when charging.

3. Set time limits

In school almost every activity has a time limit. Classes end, students have to pack up and move on. Having a set amount of time for things forces students to stay focused and gives them a more structured feeling. If they don’t finish the work in their assigned class time, they should make themselves do it for homework when everything else is done. It sounds strange, but it can really help students stay motivated and not end up working all day and getting nothing done.

4. Have a schedule!

Ok, this one should have been number one or two, but it’s been said so often that I feel like it’s obvious by now and it just piggybacks on setting time limits. People who are working or learning from home need to set a schedule and stick to it. Many teachers are not teaching live this fall. That means students don’t have any structure to their days at all! Make. A. Schedule. Set a wake-up time, a math time, a biology time, a lunch time and so on. Structure breeds success. Without structure, students will spend all day doing what could be done in a few hours.

5. Breaks

Speaking of lunch time, students should make sure their schedule includes the breaks that they’re used to. They can and should give themselves a five minute “passing period” every hour and at least half an hour for lunch. During these times they need to get up and actually do something. They shouldn’t spend the five minutes scrolling through Instagram while sitting at the school desk- the school desk is only for school. Instead, they should get up, stretch, grab some water, run out to the mailbox, and use the bathroom. In short–move!

6. Communicate!

Since students are at home and not seeing their teachers every day, the teachers won’t know as quickly if something is wrong. They won’t necessarily notice that the student is quieter than normal, or working slower than they normally would, or missing questions. Students need to be their own advocates this year; don’t wait for teachers to ask–tell! Students should get comfortable reaching out to teachers at least once each week to check in, ask questions, and make sure they aren’t missing anything.

Hopefully these tips will make distance learning a bit more manageable. If we can ever help, just let us know!

-Michal

Help with at-home education this year…

As more and more schools announce that they’ll be shifting students online for at least the first few weeks of the fall semester, parents are once again trying to find a way to balance their work schedules with their student’s at-home schooling. Many schools have switched their methods of distance learning from what they were doing in the spring to a more intensive program now that it seems apparent that distance learning may be necessary for quite some time. In addition, many parents who were working from home in the spring have now returned to their offices leaving older students to work on their own for large portions of the day.

For many students, this will prove a sizeable challenge. Middle and high school students often are not known for being able to self-pace, get ahead of a schedule, stay motivated, and reach out for help when it is needed. With distance learning many teachers may be less available to individual students for questions or concerns; students may fall behind in subjects they don’t enjoy or may slip through the cracks entirely until the end of the semester reveals that weren’t able to keep up.


What students ideally need is someone who can work with them fairly regularly to explain new content, check in on assignment progress, and communicate to parents where improvements need to be made. To that end, some parents and groups of parents across the country are hiring educators to come into their homes and monitor their students’ progress. However, many feel that bringing an outside person into their homes is unsafe and that hiring a full time educator is excessive when the school will be providing the content and lessons.


The solution, then, is check-up education, completed online, with a tutor or educator who can, from a distance, help students stay on track. BWS is offering online tutoring this fall to help with this need. We have tutors who can meet with students daily, weekly, or anything in between, to assist with content and pacing for students in middle and high school. Having these one-on-one meetings with someone besides a parent motivates students to stay on task; it establishes a regular schedule for them; it creates accountability in a system where there might otherwise be none; it ensures that students have their questions answered even when teachers are busy and parents are at work. Most importantly, it happens remotely to keep students safe.


If you’re interested in us setting up a program that would work for your student and his or her needs, please reach out to us at tutor@bwseducationconsulting.com.

Six Things To Do During the Coronavirus Shutdown

Students across the country are out of school for the next few weeks–the shutdown could last all the way until the summer.  While many students may be tempted to increase their video gaming and snapchatting, this downtime presents a golden opportunity to make independent progress on long-term academic and extracurricular goals.   Here are six ways to make that happen:

1.  Prepare for the modified AP Exams.  The College Board will offer at-home AP tests that are 45 minutes long and consist of only free response questions.  You will be able to take the tests in a way convenient for you: on a phone, tablet, computer, or even by hand.  Colleges will accept the results from the exam just as they have in years past.  Get ready for the AP exams by doing self-study and practicing for free response questions.  The College Board will provide updates here:  https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/coronavirus-updates .

2.  Build your online portfolio.  You can submit additional materials with your college application to showcase your unique talents.  Among the types of materials you can submit: recordings of music, videos of debate and theatrical performances, short stories you have written, art pieces, and samples of films you have made.  Take advantage of this down time to work on independent projects that you have not had time to focus on with the hustle and bustle of high school.

3.  Get ready for the June SAT and June ACT.   There is a national SAT test date on June 6th and a national ACT test date on June 13th.  There will be additional test dates throughout the summer and fall.  This is an excellent time to do test preparation work like practice tests, content review, and online tutoring.

4.  Earn college credit through independent study and examination.  Is there a college course you have always wanted to take, but have never had the time?  Humanities, world history, religion, astronomy, or statistics?  You can study independently and earn college credit on websites like https://study.com/  .

5.  Read some good books!  Students often complain that they never have time to read for fun; now you have plenty of time to work through that reading list.  Online books are freely available on library websites like https://www.columbuslibrary.org/ .  If you are wondering what types of books might be helpful to read in order to improve your reading comprehension for standardized tests, here is suggested list:

https://bwseducationconsulting.com/docs/ACT_SAT_Recommended_Reading_List.pdf .

6.  Get started on your college application essays.  Over 900 colleges accept the Common Application, and they have already announced what the common application essay prompts will be:  https://www.commonapp.org/apply/essay-prompts .  The fall of the senior year is extremely busy with college applications, school, and extracurriculars.  If you can get a head start on your college essays now, that will take a major task off of your plate.

We at BWS stand at the ready to help you with your independent work.  We have tutors available to meet you online to help with the SAT and ACT, college essay preparation, and AP exam review.  Please register to work with us at:

https://bwseducationconsulting.mypaysimple.com/s/bws-education-consulting-tutoring-registration .

 

 

 

Updates to the ACT

On October 8th, 2019, the ACT put out a press release announcing some big changes that they’re planning to implement in 2020. These three impactful changes have to do with how the test is proctored and how scores are reported. These changes may greatly alter the test taking and college application process for students who choose to focus on the ACT.

The first major change that the ACT is making is likely geared toward make the test more competitive with the SAT. The number of students who took the SAT last year hit an all time high, and the ACT is probably looking to gain back some of that market share. Historically, many colleges have allowed super scoring on the SAT while significantly fewer have allowed super scoring on the ACT. The ACT is trying to bridge that  gap for students.

Super scoring is the process by which colleges only look at the best scores for each section over multiple test dates. For example, if your best English score was on a test in June but your best math score was on a test in July, super scoring policies allow you to build a new score with your best from each. The press release makes it sounds like the ACT will now be doing this in house. Whereas previously you would have to pay to send all your tests in to the colleges who would then build your super score (and see your lower scores), it seems that the ACT will now do that for you. As long as they don’t charge a fee for this service this will likely save students a fair amount of money in score reporting fees. In addition, more colleges will likely accept super scoring for the ACT. Keep in mind that the rising tide lifts all boats. ACT scores for all students may increase with this new policy. While we aren’t sure on the details of the policy yet, it should be a time, stress, and money saver.

The second big change is probably the one that students will like the most. The ACT has announced that they will allow students to retake individual portions of the test. While details aren’t out yet on how this would work, this is a big change from the previous policy that forced students to retake the entire test even if they only wanted to improve one section score. Policy details will impact this greatly. They may only allow students to retake one portion, or have other restrictions. However, this is still a huge boon for several reasons: it will hopefully allow students to focus only on where they think needs improvement, it will give students who get worn out taking a three to four hour test the opportunity to break the test up into manageable portions, and it will allow students to take tests without less testing anxiety since their entire score won’t be dependent on one day’s work.

The final change seems to indicate that the ACT is moving to online testing. Whereas previously, the ACT only allowed students to take the test online if they were testing on a in-school test, they will soon have the online option on the national test dates as well. While online testing has its pros and cons as we discussed in our blog here, for some students (especially those who test with certain accommodations or who are on time crunch to get scores back) this will be an enormous help.

Altogether, these are positive changes. Test prep providers like BWS will be able to better tailor content to students who are focusing on just one part of the test, students will be able to get their scores back sooner through online testing, and students will have more control over the tests they take and the scores they send out. While some people feel that standardized tests are outdated and antiquated, the ACT is proving them wrong by continually listening to the needs of the students and adjusting their policies accordingly. Read the full press release on the ACT blog.