1. On Their Own– Students can find study materials and practice tests on-line at both The College Board and ETS, the people who design the SAT and ACT respectively.  There are also many study books by myriad companies that can be bought at your local bookstore.  These are all generally good sources of information and can provide the first step toward high achievement by giving students familiarity with the exams and real questions to practice.  This is the budget option that will (have to) work for some, but it puts all the onus on the student to set aside time to study, take practice exams under realistic testing conditions, accurately score those exams and design an effective strategy for improvement.

2. A Test Prep Class– There are well known national companies (such as Princeton Review and Kaplan) and often local organizations that provide these classes.  The price tag usually ranges from $500 to $1500 depending on the length of the course. These courses provide a good overview of the entire test giving students both familiarity and realistic practice.  On the down side however, classes obviously consist of a number of students, so they are designed to be general and often end up serving the lowest common denominator.  Additionally, while most instructors will be competent, you do not get to choose and quality may vary.

3. Individual Tutoring– This is the Cadillac of test preparation and education in general. Students and their family can hire a tutor for intensive individualized one-on-one coaching.  On top of gaining familiarity with the tests and having them accurately scored, a tutor will provide a customized study plan based on the student’s needs. It is true this is a more expensive option, but once a baseline has been determined, a tutor is able to help a student study in the most effective and efficient manor.  However, hiring a “master tutor” from one of the major companies, has two major drawbacks. First, you still do not know exactly who your tutor will be.  Second, it can be expensive. For the best tutors with the most experience test prep companies often charge more than 350 dollars per hour. For that amount of money I would like to choose a tutor who my student is comfortable with, trusts and enjoys.

Amidst much talk of gaming the system, it is important to remember that whether you study on your own, with one of the test prep companies, or with a private tutor, it is dedication to the task over a sustained amount of time that will make the most difference.  Again, basing college admission on standardized tests may not be good educational policy, but for now it is reality  and you know what they say about the mouse trap…….

As I mentioned, for college admission in the United States, the SAT and ACT are the most important standardized tests.  Traditionally the SAT was taken by students on the coasts, since that is what colleges there required, while the ACT was taken by most students in the middle of the country for the same reason.  Today, however, since almost all colleges except either test, many students elect to take both and use conversion charts to see which “looks better.” There are differences in the tests and therefore different strategies for success, but in my experience most students score very comparably.  The key is not which test one takes, but how he or she prepares that matters most.

Let me say it again, these are not diagnostic tests, students are expected to prepare for them, and how they prepare will go a long way toward determining the college they attend and how much they (you) pay in tuition.  In addition to earning admission, there is so much merit-based financial aid available to students who score high on these exams that not performing up to a student’s absolute best, can be equated to throwing away money.  Now I know many rich people, and while most of them are quite generous, they did not get rich by throwing away good money.  So for the rich, and the rest of us, it only makes sense to give our students the best chance to maximize their potential on these tests.

Look forward to part 2 of this post to learn the best way to prepare for these tests.

For admission to Ivy league or other selective colleges and universities like Stanford, MIT, Northwestern or Duke students must show both high achievement and intellectual passion.  So what is the difference and how do you demonstrate it?

High achievement is the more easily measurable of the two.  It is defined by earning high grades in a rigorous curriculum and high scores on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT.  There is no substitute for high achievement. To compete for admission at the most selective colleges students must be high achievers relative their peers.

Now, when students have intellectual passion, high achievement often comes with it.  The problem I see a lot in students is high achievement without a real passion for learning.  Specifically, intellectual passion is a combination of curiosity and commitment that results in learning beyond the classroom.  Many of these students are engaged in extracurricular activities and even take advantage of summer enrichment opportunities that appropriately nurture their interest, but the real key, evidence of the desire the most selective colleges are looking for, what is often missing from the applications of denied and wait-listed students, and that Thomas Jefferson so eagerly recommended, is independent study.

This means reading, and to choose to read in the digital age means you must love it. If you don’t love reading, it is easy to avoid. In fact, it is not uncommon for high achieving students to frankly admit that they do not like to read.  They will do it, sometimes copious amounts of it, to score well on a test or to earn a top grade, but the divide is usually still quite apparent.  In my experience, on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT, I see many students scoring very well, but the very top scorers have a passion that is evident.  Beyond the tests and grades however, there are two parts of a student’s application where intellectual passion shines through.  First, in the recommendations by the student’s teachers, there will be no mistaking a mere a high achiever from a truly passionate individual.  These recommendations carry much weight since they come from somebody who has spent a year or more getting to know the student and has a large frame of reference.  Second, the alumni interviewer will be able to tell in a short amount of direct contact with a student how intellectually passionate they are in comparison to the other high achievers they have interviewed.

So what can be done to help insure your student has a passion for learning?

1. Read to your child.  Most people do this early in their child’s life, but often stop far too early.  Once your child is able to read, reading can be done together and not just before bed.

2. Read yourself.  A child is much more likely to enjoy reading on his or her own if that child witnesses a parent reading regularly.  There is no substitute for this.

3. A combination of 1 and 2, when your student begins high school you should make an effort to read what he or she is reading. Casually discussing it proves that reading and learning is important and not something that ends when you leave school.

4. Take students to library early and often.  All that knowledge held in common for the public good and available to anyone with library card can be very exciting for students.

OK, you say, we got it, read, read, read. Read to them, with them, and on our own. But what should they read?  The simple answer is that before high school reading almost anything is great.  Follow their interests.  If they are interested in music, science, art, movies, or money they can read and learn about it.  There are, of course, specific texts that will give a student an advantage through high school and beyond by imbuing important cultural capital. For instance, familiarity with the stories of the Bible and the Greek and Roman myths are important foundational monuments.  More modern stories that are appropriate for adolescents, culturally important and fun to read include Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.

By my count the college board now offers 37 AP courses in 22 different subjects. I can almost guarantee that your school will not offer them all, nor would you have time to take them all if they did. You should however, take as many as your school does offer and/or you can possibly handle.  Actually, a great way to show initiative, dedication and a love of learning is to set up an independent study with a teacher at your school for an AP course that your school DOES NOT offer.

Beyond your core; English Language, English Literature, US History, Calculus, your preferred science and foreign language, you can stand out by taking more, (for instance biology, chemistry and physics) in your area of interest.  A student mastering (earning a 5 on the exam) more than one foreign language,( especially if it happens to be ancient or eastern), along with its literature would be very impressive and definitely get noticed.

If your school offers an IB program, I would highly recommend taking advantage of it. That means going all the way and earning the IB diploma.  Yes, this means completing, in addition to the SIX groups of core classes, a TOK (Theory of Knowledge) class, immersion  in CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) and an Extended Essay (40,000 words), but this will signal that you are serious about your education and willing to challenge yourself.  Plus, as with 5 on AP exams, a 7 on an IB exam will earn your college credit.

It is true that you can also earn college credit through Duel Enrollment programs, but I would caution against going this route.  The “college” courses in these programs are often not as rigorous as an advanced high school course and most selective colleges will not grant credit anyway.  Only if you know for certain that you will be attending your state university would I consider this option.

So, to reiterate, your grades in the most advanced core courses, along with the scores on the corresponding exams, are the most important part of your application.  They are generally considered the truest measures of a student’s intelligence, knowledge, ability to think critically and communicate.  Coincidentally, these are the qualities that employers want and that all citizens of a democracy have a duty to pursue.

Going to college is expensive. It is so expensive that many are beginning to question its worth through a cost/benefit analysis.  Of course, there needs to be a distinction made between education, which few question as a universal good, and four or more years away at a college.

Many of you may remember the scene from the film, Good Will Hunting, where the autodidact Will (played by Matt Damon) outshines his Harvard educated interlocutor in a barroom debate of sorts.  In the scene Will points out the fact that he can get the same education for the price of a library card, Free!  This echoes Philip Roth’s, and so many other’s, famous sentiment that the public library is the most civilizing force in the world.

Most of you reading this blog, however, are not trying to decide whether to go to college, but rather seeking advice on how to get in to a great one.  I would argue that whether you are college bound or not, education is a process of life long learning that can be had or enhanced for not much more than the price of the proverbial library card. For those of you who are looking for a leg up on the competition to the most selective colleges and universities, there is nothing more impressive than an individual who loves to learn, desires to learn so much that it is obvious they are not padding a resume, but pursuing a passion.

This is the platonic Eros, and the best way to show that you possess it is to investigate a subject in more depth and for a more sustained amount of time than is required for an A in a course or a 5 on an exam.

So besides checking out from the library all the books that interest you, or camping out in your local Borders or Barnes and Noble coffee shop, what can you do?

1. Take college courses

Taking actual college courses while in high school is a popular option to show your interest and ability.  The benefits of this are enormous, but unfortunately the price tag can be just as big.  A low cost, or in this case, no cost option is open source courses.  Many university’s are now putting courses on-line.

The best and most popular of these is Harvard University’s Moral Reasoning 22, more commonly known simply as JUSTICE. This is not only the most popular on-line course, but for the past two decades, the most popular course on campus. Anyone interested can watch all the course lectures and have access to all course materials here.

2. The Teaching Company’s Great Courses series

Another slightly more expensive option is The Teaching Company’s Great Courses series. These provide similar access to some of the country’s best professors teaching courses on almost every imaginable subject of interest.  All courses are on sale now though August 19.

Either option will give you an introduction to college level work in a subject you are curious about and provide a great foundation for further reading and research.  Discussing the effect these experiences had on your life in an application essay or interview will signal that you are intellectually ambitious and the kind of person that will be valuable to campus life and beyond.

How you like them apples?

Photo credit: amagill

Based on a nationwide survey of 1,264 students achieving an 1150 or higher on the SATI (on a 1600 point scale) and/or ACT composite of 25 or higher, those identified in the study were in the 70th percentile and higher. It was the finding that more than a quarter of the students hired an educational consultant that may be most surprising.

For many years the myth has persisted that consultants are hired only by a tiny fraction of the population—at times reported to be under 5%—suggesting an elitist bent. The new survey provides evidence that this is not the case, that educational consultants are very much being employed in the mainstream and work with approximately 160,000 college applicants each year.

The study further notes that most of the students in the survey who employed educational consultants indicated that consultants are not influential when making the final enrollment decision. A consultant should NOT be influential in the final decision-making phase; rather the consultant’s value comes earlier, when creating a list that explores a student’s needs, desires, interests, preferences, along with the consultant’s extensive first-hand knowledge of colleges.

Once that list is created, a great consultant seeks to empower students to conduct their own research, explore the possibilities, visit campuses, and ultimately make their own decision. The consultant does create that initial list, but then acts as a coach and advisor, not the decision-maker.

The survey, conducted by the Independent Educational Consultants Association found that an average of 65% of their clients chose a private college, as compared to the national average of just over 20%. This is even more surprising when one considers that these results reflect the most recent year when economic pressures led many more students to take a second look at their own state university.

Even when students enroll in larger state universities, the survey showed those working with consultants were more likely to matriculate out-of-state. In total, 80% of clients went out of their home state to attend colleges, a figure nearly four times the national average.

Educational Consultants can be extremely valuable in demonstrating to families that merit and need-based aid can bring the cost of a private college down to where it’s comparable in cost to public colleges. This knowledge helps increase the number of choices and potential matches for every student in profound ways.

Based on the survey, IECA members will work with more than 40,000 college-bound high school students in the coming year, of which 26,000 will enroll in private colleges and nearly 32,000 will attend school out-of-state.  Good consultants always try to open up the range of possibilities in order to find the right fit and the best match for each individual student.

Photo credit: acidcookie

As has been true for more than five years, a student’s academic performance in high school tops the list. Most important is a rigorous academic curriculum that challenges the student. While grades are important, educational consultants believe that demonstrating a willingness to challenge oneself is more important. Additionally, IECA members felt that grades need to show an upward trend—mediocre grades in the freshman year can be overcome by demonstrating that better grades came with maturity. According to IECA members, colleges want to know what type of student will be arriving on campus—not who the student was four years go.

What we learn most in viewing these results is that students should shy away from efforts to change themselves into what they think colleges seek and learn to promote the best thing about themselves: whether that’s a willingness to challenge themselves in a difficult course, demonstrating passion for a particular subject, committing themselves to community service, or demonstrating leadership. Students should seek to make their application reflect the best of who they already are.

“Solid SAT or ACT scores,” reflecting a consistency with academic achievement was #3 on the list. IECA members felt that terrific standardized tests are rarely enough to secure admission at a more competitive school, but poor scores can be difficult to overcome.

The importance of the essay moved up since the last survey, perhaps reflecting the essay’s role as more colleges move to ‘test optional’ status. The essay was also seen as more important to private liberal arts colleges, as compared to large state universities. Debuting on this year’s list at #8 is “demonstrated leadership in activities.” Much has been discussed in recent years about colleges seeking students who will contribute in a meaningful way to campus life. The appearance of this on the IECA list underscores this growing desire. “Demonstrated intellectual curiosity” (#9) remains an important item, particularly with those schools with more competitive admissions. Rounding out the top ten is “demonstrated enthusiasm to attend,” an item that first appeared on the IECA list just a few years ago. This would reflect the college admission office concern over their yield: wanting to offer admission only to those who seem serious about enrolling. Just missing the top ten list: “financial resources” (despite the economy) and “out of school experiences.” This latter item fell off the top ten list, although “special talents and abilities” (#7) remained.

There has been considerable buzz in the admission community in recent months about the trend toward creative applications with videos or other unique components, but this placed far down, well out of IECA’s top ten list. Also relegated to a status of far less importance by IECA member educational consultants were several items thought by the general public to be important to decision-making: the personal interview, being a legacy (family member of an alumnus), and demonstrations of responsibility as being far less important in the current admission climate.

The full list offers great advice for families looking to understand the nature of college admission.

Benjamin’s blog will demystify the process of applying to selective colleges and universities and at the same time offer advice on how to best prepare, not only for that competition, but to be an educated and intellectually engaged citizen.  Here’s the first hint: they are actually one and the same.