SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

Applying to college soon? Curious about what colleges are looking for in applicants, especially when it comes to SAT or ACT scores? Not sure how you stack up against other applicants at your dream school? 

If you feel like you have more questions than answers about what colleges look for in admissions, you're note alone. The college admissions process can be very confusing, and it's easy to feel lost and frustrated. In this article, we'll tell you what colleges look for in admissions and how to make your application the best it can be. We'll cover: 

• What colleges look for in applicants 
• Why SAT and ACT test scores are important 
• How understanding college admissions criteria can help your own college admissions process

Let's dive in! 

Acceptance rates are an important factor to consider when deciding where to apply to college. A school's acceptance rate is often considered a measurement of its quality. While this is accurate in many cases, some schools have low acceptance rates for reasons unrelated to the academic excellence of admitted students.

In this article, we'll tell you what the lowest college acceptance rate is, explain why some colleges have such low acceptance rates, and list the colleges with the lowest acceptance rates.

A lot has changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and college admissions are no exception. If you feel uncertain about what to expect from college admissions this year, you’re not alone. 

This article will help clear up the confusion! We’ve brought together the latest college admissions news in one easy place to bring you up to speed on the most important changes to college admissions 2021. In this article, we’re going to cover two main things: 

• The top four trends in college admissions 2021
• The three main things you need to be prepared for in the college admissions process as the COVID-19 pandemic slows down

Now, let’s get started!

Applying for college is a complex process with a lot of moving parts. However, the process doesn't need to be confusing! While technically your application is made up of a few required materials, it's actually shaped by what you do and accomplish throughout all four years of high school.

By learning about each step and starting early, you can navigate your applications like a pro. This comprehensive guide will go over the ABC's of how to apply to college, from each requirement to what you can be doing as early as freshman year to start planning. We'll go over: 

• Getting an early start on the application process
• Making the most out of your high school career, including choosing extracurriculars and doing well on standardized tests 
• Putting together your college list
• Gathering materials and writing your college applications 
• Actually applying for college and keeping track of application deadlines

That's a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started! 

For many high school students, taking standardized tests has been one of the key requirements of applying to colleges. However, with the rise of test-optional schools and other ways of evaluating college applicants, do you have to take the ACT? This guide will answer that question by explaining circumstances when the ACT is required, why fewer students need to take the ACT these days, and how you can decide what to do. By the end of this guide, you'll be able to know for sure whether or not you should take the ACT.

Getting waitlisted at a college certainly isn't a bad thing—your application was good enough to not get rejected!—but it's definitely an uncomfortable place to be. After all, when you're on the college waitlist, you don't know whether you'll be admitted or not, and that alone is anxiety-inducing.

Luckily, there are many things you can do to increase your odds of getting off a waitlist. In this article, we explain how the college waitlist works, what steps to take if you've been waitlisted, and how to raise your college waitlist chances so you can attend your dream school.

Anyone who’s applied to college remembers the fear of getting that dreaded rejection letter. (For the record, I got two—and they both stung. A lot.) But what if you could calculate your chances of college acceptance before you applied? 

The good news is that you can! Our college acceptance calculator uses your GPA and SAT/ACT score to estimate your likelihood of getting accepted to a particular school. But aside from GPA and test scores, what other critical factors affect your chance of admission? Read on to learn what schools look for during the admission process as well as how you can raise your chance of acceptance by submitting a strong application.

For many students and their parents, the college application process is a source of tremendous anxiety. Fear not. If you familiarize yourself with this process and devote enough time to it, I’m confident that you’ll be able to make it through unscathed and end up at a quality college.

In this article, we'll go over the college application deadlines you need to know. More importantly, we'll give you a complete college application timeline, detailing what you should be doing at each point in your high school career to ensure that you can submit exceptional college applications.

If you're interested in going to college in New York, you may want to consider a State University of New York school. Unlike The City University of New York (CUNY) colleges, the majority of SUNY schools are outside of New York City, and many of them are in rural areas.

In this article, I'll describe the SUNY system, profile the 4-year SUNY schools, and explain how to decide which SUNY to attend.

Is English your second (or third or fourth) language? If it's anything but your first, then you may have to take the TOEFL to get into university in the United States. The TOEFL is an English language test that shows you have the language skills to succeed in college.

As another admissions test, the TOEFL shares some similarities with the more ubiquitous SAT. This guide will compare the two tests, as well as give you some tips for preparing for both. If you're a non-native English speaker planning to apply to a U.S. college, then read on to learn the ins and outs of your testing requirements.

Applying to college is a confusing and stressful process, but waiting to hear back from the colleges you applied to can be just as anxiety-inducing. When do college acceptance letters arrive?

In this guide, we explain when to expect to receive your college decision notifications. We also give you a chart of estimated college acceptance dates for 2021 and offer helpful tips on what to do as you wait for your college acceptance letters.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably seriously considering getting a college degree because of how it can benefit you in the long run. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher have 3% lower unemployment rates and 40% higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma. The job market is also getting more competitive: According to the US Census Bureau the percentage of Americans over 25 years old with a bachelor’s degree or higher rose from 29.9% to 36.0%.

But because of academic, financial, familial, or other reasons, maybe you don’t feel ready to go to a four-year university just yet. In these instances, it might be a good idea to study 2 years at community college then transfer to a four-year school later. In this article, we’re going to examine all the ins and outs of transferring from community college to university, including: 

• The benefits of transferring from community college to university
• When you should transfer community college credits to university 
• How to go about transferring from community college to university
• How to decide which university would be best for your needs

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

Transferring colleges can be a very difficult decision to make, but you need to find the college that is the right fit for you even if it means transferring. Whether you're trying to transfer from a 2-year school to a 4-year school or from one 4-year university to another, this article is to help you on your journey to transfer!

Did you earn an Associate's degree or attend a community college and now want to transfer to a four-year school? Will an associate's degree transfer to any college? What about ultra-competitive colleges like the Ivy League? Transferring to a new school can come with a lot of complications, not least because many schools aren't especially clear about their transfer policies on their websites. 

In this article, we explain the process of transferring from a community college to a four-year college, which classes you're most likely to get transfer credit for, the transfer policies of Ivy League and other top-tier schools, and how you can learn the transfer policy of any four-year college in the US.

If you've applied or are currently applying to Ivy League schools, you've likely heard the phrase "Ivy Day." Ivy Day, or Ivy Admissions Day, is when all the Ivy League schools announce their admissions decisions for regular decision first-year applicants. This year, Ivy Day is April 6, 2021. This date is slightly later than usual, and we'll explain why later on in the article.

Keep reading to learn more about what to expect on Ivy Day, how to predict future Ivy Day dates, and what to do with your admissions decision(s) once Ivy Day is over.