JRA Educational Consulting Blog

In response to Covid-19 and the ensuing standardized test cancellations throughout the spring, summer, and even into the fall, a greater number of colleges are going “test-optional” for the class of 2021. Some schools have indicated that this policy may extend into next year’s admissions cycle…or beyond. The most up-to-date list of test optional colleges can be found here. A brief perusal shows that schools that have made this decision include elite colleges – all eight Ivies – and other academic powerhouses, such as Georgetown and the entire University of California system. For students unable to take the SAT or ACT this application cycle, the test-optional policy offers some consolation. But, what does this mean for your application? Let’s take a look….

Topics: College Admission, ACT/SAT, Test Optional

Read More

Coronavirus-related disruptions of high school education have extended to disruptions of SAT/ACT testing. Colleges are being propelled toward making SAT and ACT test score submission optional. But beware! Just because a school “goes test-optional” doesn’t mean that a student can summarily dismiss submitting SAT or ACT scores. We’ll explain why. And it’s important to know, so here’s some background.

Topics: ACT/SAT, College Application, Test Optional

Read More

Some colleges have decided to waive their admission requirement to submit SAT/ACT test scores. For most of these colleges, the new policies will go into effect for the 2020–21 admission cycle and be re-evaluated after the close of admission cycle to determine whether to extend the policies or not. Here’s a list of the more selective colleges that have recently transitioned to test-optional:

Topics: ACT/SAT, Test Optional

Read More

The Coronavirus has affected almost everything – including college admissions (see here for an expansive view). The recent changes have been dizzying.

In the last two weeks, many colleges, some of them highly selective, have made the SAT/ACT test-optional for applicants – typically as a short-term trial (see below) – with Covid-19 being the proximate cause. For those colleges, waiving their test score requirement will go into effect for the 2020–21 admission cycle and will be evaluated in 2021 (or 2023 for a few) after the close of that cycle in order to determine whether to make the policy ongoing. Here’s our most recent listing of those schools and what they’ve reported about the duration of the change (in years):

Topics: College Admission, ACT/SAT, Educational Consulting, Test Optional

Read More

Summer vacation came in the spring this year, brought to us by the Coronavirus and its attendant bumper crop of lemons. And when you’re given lemons….

Topics: AP Exams, Study Tips, ACT/SAT, Virtual, Coronavirus

Read More

We closed Part 1 of this blog post by saying that Part 2 would be up-coming soon and would cover one of the most important ways to reduce college costs even more – by improving scores on standardized tests. So, here’s Part 2.

Topics: ACT, Test Scores, College Admission, ACT/SAT, College Planning, Financial Aid

Read More

First, relax, because there’s very little chance that you’ll pay full sticker price for your child’s college education; and if the costs are still too high, there are actions you can take to reduce them.

Topics: Ivy League, ACT/SAT, Test-Prep, Educational Consulting, Financial Aid

Read More

We’re seeing the back-to-school ads already, and we are barely into July! Summer is well underway, so it’s time for you college-bound students to seal the deal and set your sights on next steps. Here are ten that we recommend:

Topics: Test Scores, College Admission, ACT/SAT, Test-Prep, College Planning

Read More

With each new round in musical chairs, one chair disappears, leaving one too few for the remaining contestants, one of whom will be eliminated. The “admissions game” at highly selective colleges shares some characteristics with musical chairs: At the beginning of each new round – in this case, each new application season – two chairs might be added, but so are 20 new contestants. That means a lot more somebodies will end up with no place to sit in the lecture halls, no place to sleep in the residence halls – no chance for admission.

Topics: College Admission, Common Application, Ivy League, ACT/SAT

Read More

 

All three applications are scheduled to be available online by early August, but the essay questions for UF and FSU may not be the same as last year’s.

Topics: ACT, ACT/SAT, Test-Prep, SAT

Read More