The College Solutions Blog

September 26, 2009

I want to share an ACT strategy that I was excited to learn about at the education conference that I attended this week in Baltimore. I was fascinated to learn that an increasing number of colleges are cherry picking applicants’ ACT test scores. To understand what this means, here’s some background: Historically, colleges used a student’s composite ACT score that’s...

September 17, 2009

I’ve been helping the college counselor at my son’s San Diego high school with an overwhelming task that he faces every fall:  getting all the seniors ready to apply for college. Herding cats is the image that comes to mind when I contemplate how difficult his responsibility is. A lot of the teenagers who have asked me for advice have...

September 16, 2009

Instead of spending much time blogging today (Thursday), I’m going to be talking about college instead.  I’m a speaker at an online event put together by College Week Live, which is an organization that sponsors virtual college fairs. During my 45-minutes presentation, I’m going to be talking about SAT and ACT  test-optional policies. Thanks to the test-optional trend, students who...

August 19, 2009

What is the average ACT score? For 2009 high-school graduates, the average ACT score was 21.1, which is identical to last year’s number. The ACT, which measures English, math, science and reading, uses a scale of 1 to 36. The average ACT score remained the same even though a record 1.48 million students — 4% more than last year —...

July 23, 2009

Close to 840 colleges and universities no longer require that you submit an ACT or SAT test score for admission. That’s great news for anybody who bombs on standardized tests, but cynical reasons help explain what’s fueling the test-optional movement. In a story that I wrote for The New York Times, I share the hidden reasons why schools are dropping...

April 16, 2009

This is prime test-taking season for the SAT and ACT. My niece and nephew both took the ACT in St. Louis earlier this month. I know a bunch of teenagers, including my son, who will be taking the SAT soon. Both tests play to different strengths which is why plenty of kids end up taking the SAT and the ACT....

February 16, 2009

More than 820 colleges and universities no longer require students to submit their SAT or ACT scores to be considered for admission.While that’s wonderful news for anybody who bombs on the SAT or ACT test, there is an ugly side to the test-optional movement that you should know about. I began wondering a few months ago about whether the published...

August 30, 2008

I thought I’d pass along today some of the statistics from the The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual almanac, which was released this week. Unfortunately, you have to be a subscriber so you can’t take a look yourself. In no particular order, here goes: Graduation rate at four-year colleges & universities: 56.4% (Women 59.2%) (Men 53%) Where high school graduates...

August 13, 2008

In July, The New York Times ran a lengthy front-page story about teenagers’ abandonment of books. Kids would rather read online than pick up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird or a Jane Austen novel. My son Ben shares that sentiment. He will sometimes stumble onto a book that he loves like The Life of Pi, but it’s got...

July 14, 2008

What happens when someone is caught cheating on the SAT or ACT test? Apparently not much, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. The testing services don’t notify colleges about cheating incidents and they also don’t inform the students’ high schools. The fraudulent SAT scores are simply canceled. The cheaters are welcome to take the tests again. The...