As 2023 begins, there are several major changes that will impact the college admissions landscape this year and beyond. Below are descriptions of four of them, along with one wildcard. Pell Grant Increase For students and families relying on need-based financial aid, the Pell Grant increase is welcome news. The [...]
Guest blog post by Scott Moser, Moser Educational Services The considerable growth in the number of colleges offering test-optional admissions has led many students and parents to question whether the ACT/SAT are necessary or relevant. Unfortunately, the answer is not simple, and whether a student should take these tests and [...]
With the majority of colleges continuing to be test-optional this year, many students are wondering whether or not to submit their scores. When advising students on this, I look at specific colleges' data. Colleges typically publish the middle 50% of scores for either admitted or enrolled students, meaning that 50% [...]
On March 8, Inside Higher Ed reported that through February 15, only 44% of students who applied to college with the Common Application had submitted ACT or SAT scores. In contrast, 77% of Common App users submitted test scores last year. As discussed in a previous blog post, the pandemic [...]
Recently, several high school juniors and their parents have asked me whether they should prepare for and take the ACT and/or SAT. As described in another blog post, due to COVID-19, multiple test dates were canceled during the spring and summer, leading more colleges than ever before to become test-optional. [...]
For this year's high school seniors, taking the SAT and ACT has proven to be even more challenging than expected. Beyond the difficulty of the tests themselves, the cancelation of multiple test dates in the spring and summer has added to students' anxiety. Some seniors took these tests for the [...]
Since the New Year, several articles have been published that have reflected on the accuracy of predictions for the year 2020, while others have speculated on what will happen in the coming year and decade, in areas ranging from politics to fashion to technology. College and college admissions are another [...]
In a recent blog post on the role of standardized test scores in the college admissions process, I mentioned that a group of organizations had threatened to sue the University of California system due to its requirement that applicants submit ACT/SAT scores. Earlier this month, those groups did, in fact, [...]
For many students, one of the most significant stressors in the college admissions process is preparing for and taking the ACT and/or SAT. Across the country, parents pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for test prep classes and private tutors, and students spend hours upon hours studying for these [...]
In late August, Colorado College (CC) announced two policy changes that are likely to make the private liberal arts college accessible to more students, especially those who live in Colorado. First, CC has joined the growing ranks of test-optional colleges, meaning students no longer have to submit ACT or SAT scores [...]
