2018 College Application Season: Not That Far Away!
by Dr Aimee Weinstein
In late January, the Common Application announced its essay prompts for the 2017-2018 school year, and while some have remained the same, some have changed. This year we find a 7th prompt that simply asks students to write the essay of their choice. While some students do best responding to specific prompts, we at Inspiring Test Prep believe that the students who write the best essays write them on topics about which they are passionate, and that passion might not correspond to a pre-scripted prompt. Are you worried about writing the perfect essay to go with your application? Stop worrying; we are here to help.
Do You Know Your Odds of Gaining Admission into College?
By: Sybil E. Gohari, PhD
Founder, The Admissions Company
Until recently, applying to college was an opaque process, ruled by those who claimed to understand the secrets of guidance counseling, and to be the guardians of the grail that is gaining acceptance into an elite college.
Success and Non-Academic Skills
By Sybil Gohari, PhD
Founder, The Admissions Company
Have you ever really considered key factors in determining success? Granted, skill in your specialized area of expertise is essential to success, as well as experience, education, and perspective. There are many, non-academic skills that also are key components to success.
This NPRed article overviews such skills, which are growing in recognition to the point that field experts are now in search of clearly articulated terminology to describe these essential skills. So while we must develop “life and career skills” as well as the “4Cs of critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity,” studies show that it takes more to stand out and become a great success.
The ability to get along with others, for example, is of paramount importance to one’s future prospects at a job according to this Wall Street Journal piece. Apparently, something as simple as emailing your coworkers about the World Series could save your career in times of layoffs at the firm. The fact that being well-liked is an important component of success is not a surprise to us at The Admissions Company.
Our college admissions planning services include hours of coaching our clients on their choices in life. Be it participating in high school extracurricular activities like lacrosse or a charitable group at college, at The Admissions Company, we believe in making socially intelligent choices and remaining emotionally vigilant throughout the process.
Thirty years ago, the average high school student would apply to 2 to 4 colleges, and be judged among a relatively small pool of applicants. In today’s hyper-competitive environment where the top ranked colleges receive tens of thousands of applications and command the highest entry credentials, high school students are applying to 10, 15 and as many as 80 schools! The college admissions process has become a pressure cooker for many high school students and at The Admissions Company, we help the process by providing them with guidance every step of the way.
Most importantly, we believe that developing emotional and social intelligence at an early age is an essential ingredient of success throughout college. This is why our proprietary methodology is linked directly to each of our client’s personality in order to be able to devise a plan to help them develop the skills they need to not only cope with the stress of college applications but to thrive in the process and become the high performance candidates that elite schools are seeking.
So, hone your academic skills– so that you can advance in your area of interest. It’s also well worth your while to further develop many additional qualities that will be tested throughout your college career and beyond, and which can help you succeed in spite of challenge and adversity.
To find out more about College Admissions Company and Sybil Gohari, come to her free presentation on Thursday, March 30 at 7:30pm. The topic is the Admissions Company’s free online app – The Odds Calculator. This presentation is hosted by Inspiring Test Preparation at its office at 1307 Dolley Madison Blvd. suite 4B, McLean, VA 22101.
Click here to register.
Summer Test Dates Planned for the SAT and ACT
New SAT and ACT Test Dates
College Board is adding a late August test date to its calendar of tests this year — 2017, but removing the late January test next year. That will mean seven possible SAT dates: March, May, June, August, October, November, December. CLICK HERE FOR THE SAT CALENDAR.
ACT has announced that it will add a summer test date for July 14 (tentative) 2018. Currently there are no plans to eliminate a test date, so there will now be seven ACT dates available: February, April, June, July, September, October, December. CLICK HERE FOR THE ACT CALENDAR.
Not sure whether to prepare for the SAT or ACT?
Come take a 3-hour diagnostic ACT at Inspiring free of charge. Pick a date that works for you and schedule a free consultation later in the week to discuss the test results and Inspiring’s programs for score improvement. Don’t see a test date — email Kate at kvs@katedalby.com to request a time. Seats available most Saturdays and Sundays at 11:00.