On one hand, the Common Application has seven essay prompts to choose from, which is great news: No matter what your story, you're sure to find a good fit! On the other hand, having seven prompts means you can write seven different kinds of essays, each with its own potential pitfalls and clichés to steer around.

In this article, I'll outline two totally different approaches to figuring out which Common App essay prompt is right for you and help you brainstorm possible ideas for each. I'll also talk about what makes great college essays great and give examples of what you want to avoid when crafting your essay.

If you’ve been thinking about college applications, you might also be thinking about applying early. You’ve likely heard that early action applications are an option and that there are benefits to applying early. And if you’ve done some checking, you’ll notice that some schools offer early action, some offer early decision, and some offer both.

While early action means you apply early and hear the college’s decision early, some confusion exists around early decision. So let’s clear that up now.

In addition to standardized test scores and transcripts, a personal statement or essay is a required part of many college applications. The personal statement can be one of the most stressful parts of the application process because it's the most open ended.

In this guide, I'll answer the question, "What is a personal statement?" I'll talk through common college essay topics and what makes for an effective personal statement.

If you're applying to one or more of the UC schools, you want to make sure you get the application right. This step-by-step guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the UC application, from the time you decide to apply to a UC school to when you submit the final piece of the application.

Keep reading to learn when the most important UC application deadline is, which documents you need to submit to complete your application, if you need a separate application for each UC school, and how you can make sure every part of your application sets you apart from the crowd.

This fall, the ACT surprised us all by rolling out a digital exam option for December 2023. With just a few months till exam time, how do you decide if the digital ACT option is right for you?

NOTE: This article is about the December 2023 Digital ACT pilot. Check out our guide to the new digital ACT changes for more info on the 2024-2025 version.

In this article, we’ll tell you everything we know about the December digital ACT right now, including: 

• Why the ACT is offering a last-minute digital exam option
• The timeline of dates and deadlines to the December ACT digital test
• What to expect from the digital ACT and how this change will affect you
• How the digital ACT compares to the digital SAT

Let’s get started!

Choosing whether to take the SAT or ACT for college admissions has always been tough. But now that the SAT is switching over to a digital format, there’s even more to consider! 

In this article, we’ll give you the info you need to choose the best college entrance exam option for you. We’ll: 

• Explain how the transition to the digital SAT, or DSAT, impacts your decision-making
• Provide a complete comparison between the DSAT and the ACT (nifty chart included!)
• List the reasons you might prefer the ACT over the DSAT, or visa versa 
• Give you a quick, five question quiz to help you decide whether the DSAT or ACT is right for you

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

Note: The ACT Education Corporation is running a small pilot in December 2023 to test out a digital version of their test, so some of this is subject to change and will be updated as we know more. The ACT is currently set to be offered in both paper and online versions but otherwise stay the same.

Your SAT scores are an important part of your application, especially as the applicant pool gets bigger and more competitive every year. So how can you make sure colleges will consider your very best scores?

This article will discuss the colleges that superscore the SAT. After giving you a list of every college that superscores the SAT, I'll talk about how you can use this information strategically as you prepare to apply to college. To start, let's briefly review what "superscoring" means.

The personal statement might just be the hardest part of your college application. Mostly this is because it has the least guidance and is the most open-ended. One way to understand what colleges are looking for when they ask you to write an essay is to check out the essays of students who already got in—college essays that actually worked. After all, they must be among the most successful of this weird literary genre.

In this article, I'll go through general guidelines for what makes great college essays great. I've also compiled an enormous list of 100+ actual sample college essays from 11 different schools. Finally, I'll break down two of these published college essay examples and explain why and how they work. With links to 187 full essays and essay excerpts, this article is a great resource for learning how to craft your own personal college admissions essay!

Whether you're currently studying to take the ACT or took it in 2016-2020, you might be curious about how your ACT percentile compares to students who took the ACT in past years.

In this article, we'll go over what percentiles are, how percentiles work on the ACT, and why ACT percentiles matter. We also lay out ACT percentile charts for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 so you can see how your score compares to historical ACT scores.

Have you taken the SAT recently? Are you wondering whether your score is bad? Or maybe you just want to know the score to beat before you take the SAT for the first time?

In this article, we'll explain what a bad SAT score is, both in terms of the national averages and the colleges you might be interested in.

The SAT suite of exams is officially switching from a paper-and-pencil format to a new, digital format in 2024. That means big changes are in store for educators and students. 

In this article, we’ll answer your questions about the digital SAT so you’ll know what to expect from the new format. We’ll cover:

• A complete timeline for when the new digital SAT and PSAT will be implemented in schools
• How the digital SAT and PSAT will be different in terms of content and format
• How the digital exams will be scored, and how it’ll be different from the paper versions
• Materials students will need to take the digital SAT and PSAT

Let’s get started!

Thinking about a career in medicine? I highly recommend trying out some medical experiences in high school before committing to a pre-med track. Many of my high school friends who hoped to go into medicine ended up changing their major during college when the pre-med courses got too difficult.

Doing a medical internship, summer program, or community service project in high school can help you decide if medicine is the right track for you before you waste time and money going pre-med in college. This guide will explain what experiences are open to you as a high school student, what those experiences involve, and how you will benefit from them.

Are you wondering about the kind of SAT scores you need to get into nursing schools? Applying for undergraduate nursing programs is simpler than you might think, but it's important to make sure you understand exactly what's expected of you.

This article will explain everything you need to know about applying to nursing school, including the different types of nursing programs that are available, the current average SAT/ACT scores for nursing school students, and what you need to do to make your application stand out. We'll also go through some examples of great nursing schools so you can see their SAT requirements.

Read on to find out the SAT nursing scores you need and to get tips for a successful nursing school application!

You might be interested in going to a small college, but just how small is "small," exactly? In general, schools that are considered "small" have fewer than 5,000 students in total. However, quite a few schools are actually less than 1/10 that size!

In this article I'll describe the characteristics of small colleges and then provide a list of the smallest colleges in the nation by category. That way you can decide if going to a small school really is the right decision for you.

The SAT score release dates are always tense for students. Did you get the score you were aiming for? Do you have to take the SAT again? Checking scores immediately when they come out gives you the most time to plan ahead.

In this article, find out when you'll receive your SAT score report depending on your test date, and learn the fastest way to check your SAT score.