SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

Pell Grants are awarded by the federal US government to help students pay for college or vocational school. Figuring out whether you're eligible can be confusing, but this post will guide you through all the eligibility requirements you should know about if you want to apply for a federal Pell Grant.

If you need a basic intro to what the Pell Grant is, check out our overview guide.

Students are automatically considered for the Pell Grant when they submit their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. For 2023, the deadline for submitting a FAFSA (and thus being considered for a Pell Grant) is June 30th. You can learn more about Pell Grant submission here. In this post, we'll cover the following:

• How to figure out whether you're eligible for federal student aid
• What the Pell Grant income limits are
• How to figure out whether you're eligible for the Pell Grant specifically
• Pell Grant award maximums
• What you can do to increase your chances of getting the Pell Grant

Determining all the different requirements for transferring colleges can be a huge hassle. One of the most common questions students have is whether they need to submit SAT scores to apply as transfer students.

There's no single answer to this question, but this guide will explain some common policies about SAT scores for transfer applicants. It'll also go over how to determine whether you need to submit SAT scores and how much attention schools pay to these scores when they also have your grades from another college.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of online AP courses. So how are you supposed to find the best one for you?

To help you sort through your options, I'll quickly go over what makes a good online AP course. Then I'll discuss the best-reviewed online AP courses, some popular online AP class providers, and wrap up with some classes that you should avoid.

If you're applying to Boston University this year, you're in luck: most applicants only need to submit one supplemental BU essay.

In this article, we'll cover what the Boston University essay prompts are, how to answer them, and provide key tips for writing the best application essays possible.

When it comes to college applications, you have a few options for how you can apply. Two of these are the Common Application (or Common App) and the Coalition Application (or Coalition App).

In this extensive guide to the Coalition vs Common App, we’ll go over the major features of the two application systems and take a look at their biggest pros and cons. We’ll then review the colleges that don’t accept either application system, and offer you tips on whether you should choose the Coalition or Common App.

Johns Hopkins University is considered one of the top-10 national schools in the United States. As the country's first research university, Johns Hopkins is interested in fostering lifelong learning and research. Although their medical school is perhaps their most famous department, Johns Hopkins has many prestigious programs—and their reputation means that admittance is extremely competitive, with just a 8% acceptance rate.

If you want to join the band of Blue Jays, you'll need to be a stellar student—and you'll need to write a killer Johns Hopkins essay. This guide will walk you through the Johns Hopkins supplement, including best practices for answering the prompt, how to plan your essay, and analyzing essays that got other applicants in.

Princeton is one of the most prestigious and selective universities in the world, admitting less than eight percent of students every year. In order to be one of them, you need to make sure that your application stands out from the other tens of thousands of applicants the admissions committee must review.

In this article, we'll break down exactly how to get into Princeton, starting with how difficult it is to get in. Then, we'll move into talking about the test scores, essays, and supplemental materials you'll need to really make your application stand out.

Aiming for the world-renowned Harvard University? As part of the application to this prestigious Ivy League school, you'll be required to submit responses to five short answer questions. 

This is actually a big change! In years past, Harvard offered an optional supplemental essay opportunity that applicants could write to add extra flair to their application. This year, Harvard has opted to require responses to five short answer prompts and completely omitted the optional, supplemental Harvard essay prompt. 

But what should you write about for your Harvard essay short answers? What are the different Harvard essay prompts to choose from, and how should you answer them so you can give yourself your best shot at getting in?

In this guide, we give you advice for each Harvard essay prompt as well as tips on how to decide what to write. But before we look at the prompts, let's go over what Harvard actually requires in terms of essays.

Ah, October. The changing of the leaves, the onset of autumn allergies...and the knowledge for high school seniors that, slowly but surely, college application deadlines are drawing ever nearer.

If you're applying to schools in the U.S., you've probably heard of the Common App before, but you may not know about the Coalition Application.

The Coalition Application works pretty much the same way as the Common App—it's an online application that you only have to fill out once (aside from supplements for certain schools). This centralized application system is a big time saver if you're applying to multiple Coalition Application schools.

To help you figure out if you can use the Coalition Application for the schools on your college wishlist, we've listed all the current Coalition Application schools in this article, broken down by state.

The NCAA, the major governing body for intercollegiate sports, separates its member institutions by divisions. Division I colleges are generally the biggest. They have the largest athletic department budgets and their sports teams generate the most revenue. All of the schools that participate in bowl games and March Madness are Division I schools. However, there are some regional colleges and smaller private schools you may not be familiar with that are also classified as Division I. In this article, I’ll give you a basic understanding of Division I and a complete list of current Division I schools by state.

Known for its highly ranked engineering program and huge array of academic programs, Purdue University is an excellent public university to consider for college. To apply here, though, you will need more than just good grades—you will need to write unforgettable essays as part of the Purdue supplement.

In this guide, we go over the current Purdue essay prompts and offer helpful tips on how to write each Purdue supplemental essay you're required to submit. 

If you're applying to Tulane University, you can choose to answer the Why Tulane optional statement as part of your application. The Why Tulane supplement essay asks you to explain why you want to attend Tulane.

In this article, we'll talk about what the Why Tulane application is, whether you should answer it, and how to write a successful essay that'll help increase your chances of admission.

The NCAA—the major governing body for intercollegiate sports—separates its member institutions by divisions. Division III colleges are generally the smallest and have the fewest resources for their athletic teams; however, Division III is the biggest division in terms of number of schools and student-athletes. Many Division III schools take pride in their sports teams, and athletes comprise a significant percentage of the student population.

In this article, I’ll give you a basic understanding of Division III as well as a complete list of current Division III schools, organized by state.

The NCAA, the major governing body for intercollegiate sports, separates its member institutions by divisions. Division II colleges are generally smaller and have fewer athletic department resources than Division I schools, but they're larger and more well funded than Division III institutions.

While Division II schools may not have the money or get the publicity of Division I institutions, many Division II colleges have passionate fan bases that show enthusiastic support for their sports teams, especially for those teams that regularly compete for championships.

In this article, I'll give you a basic understanding of Division II and a complete list of current Division II schools by state.

Are you hoping to be one of the less than 4% of students admitted to Stanford this year? If so, you'll need to write some amazing essays as part of your application.

In this article, we'll outline the different types of essays you need to write for your Stanford University application and teach you how to write an essay that will help you stand out from the thousands of other applicants. We'll also go over the five short answer questions that are part of the Stanford supplement.

So let's get started!