Things moved quickly in the world of college admissions, with most colleges deciding to go test-optional during COVID. Many have remained test optional as we’ve emerged from the pandemic, despite the fact that testing is widely available to most students again. We understand that changes to testing policies are confusing to those of us … Read more
You know how in your industry, there are a few people who are thought leaders, and everyone listens when they offer their opinion? In college admissions, Jon Boeckenstedt (“bock-en-stet”) is one of those people. He’s the VP of Enrollment at Oregon State University. Warning: this post contains homework! The linked articles will help you … Read more
College admissions is more complicated than when we applied 30 years ago, and unfortunately, California’s state university systems have not grown to meet our changing and burgeoning population. There’s not enough room in the UC and CSU systems’ freshman class for all of California’s graduating seniors each year – let alone the tens of … Read more
I originally published this article in the fall of 2018, and I’ve updated it in the spring of 2020. “It’s very dangerous,” UCLA Admissions Director Gary Clark said to me recently, “to try to reverse-engineer a particular college admissions decision.” You know how you’ve heard that your hairdresser’s best friend’s mailman’s son got into Yale, … Read more
As your high school senior (eek! we’re a senior now!) moves through college applications, you may find yourself with a question that hadn’t occurred to you before: Which test scores should I send to colleges? The answer (frustrating, we know – this is the answer to most every question parents ask us!) is “it depends.” … Read more