SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

College admissions can be confusing, with a lot of contradictory information thrown around. It's hard to separate fact from fiction, which is frustrating since the stakes are high and you may not realize you made mistakes until it's far too late.

In this exclusive article, we decided to consult university admissions officers and counselors around the country to break through the noise.

We asked them a simple question: "What's the #1 fact you wish college applicants knew about admissions?" The results might surprise you. 

While you might think college preparation only happens during the summer before college, this isn’t necessarily true. In fact, you can start preparing for college as early as 9th grade! But what exactly does the process of college preparation entail?

Here, we explain how to prepare for college at every grade level in high school. Specifically, we take a look at what you can do on the academic, financial, and extracurricular fronts, providing you with advice and tips, as well as a helpful preparing-for-college checklist.

Does Georgetown superscore the ACT? Let’s cut to the chase: Georgetown University does not superscore the ACT, despite what you might read from online chat forums. But don’t despair! Even if you had your hopes set on a Georgetown superscore, you can still get into the school of your dreams.

As it turns out, there’s a lot to know about Georgetown’s admissions process. Once you understand what it takes to get into Georgetown, you can maximize your chances of receiving an acceptance letter!

In this crash course of all things Georgetown ACT, we’ll talk about:

• What is superscoring?
• Georgetown superscore policy & overall admissions requirements
• General ACT standards
• Plus, some tips on improving your overall ACT score!

Let’s jump in! 

Applying to colleges is a rough enough process on its own. If you're interested in a lot of different subjects that don't necessarily mesh nicely together into one major, then figuring out what you should go to school for can seem like an impassable obstacle on the road to figuring out where to apply to.

In this article, I'll take you through the same steps I (someone with multiple different interests) took back when I was looking at colleges to figure out what I should go to college for.

I'll also go through how, as a well-rounded student, you can narrow down what kinds of schools you should apply to.

Whereas fall means college application season, spring means admission notifications time. All high school seniors want to get a college acceptance letter to their top-choice school. But what exactly does an admittance letter look like? And what does it say?

In this article, we go over what information a typical college acceptance letter includes and show you real college acceptance letter samples so you can get an idea of what they look like. We also give you our top four tips for what to do after you get an admittance letter.

If you love our strategy guides, we have great news: PrepScholar is launching a college admissions podcast! It's hosted by PrepScholar co-founder and Harvard grad Allen Cheng and writer Melissa Brinks.

Download our podcast now at iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Libsyn (or wherever you get your podcasts).

So you’ve just landed a college interview for the school of your dreams. That’s amazing! Once you finish celebrating, it’s time to start preparing for the big event.

But the process of preparing can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’ve put together our top five tools for preparing for your college interview. Keep reading to learn more about our expert recommendations for the tools you must have to knock your college interview out of the park!

Not all help with the college application process is created equal. Some are a little too hands-on, which can mean your application doesn’t sound like you. Others may not offer the kind of help you need. When you’re looking for assistance, you need services that help boost your own skills, not ones that do the work for you.

It’s perfectly okay to get college application help. This guide will walk you through some options for assistance, including what you should seek help for, what you shouldn’t, and some of the best places to find reliable assistance with your college application.

If you’ve found yourself waitlisted or deferred from your dream school, you might be worried and frustrated. What does being on the waitlist mean? Do you still have a chance of getting in? What can you do to improve your chances?

While there’s not one singular way of ensuring your eventual admission to your dream school, a letter of continued interest can show your continued dedication to the admissions committee. In this article, we’ll talk about what a continued interest letter is and give a letter of continued interest sample so you know how to write your own if you need to.

College applications are all about showing off to the admissions committee, and what better way to do so than to lead with your most impressive academic awards. What are the best academic honors and awards to put on a college application?

In this guide, we give you 70+ academic honors examples to give you an idea of what types of achievements colleges like to see most on applications. In addition, we explain what counts as an academic honor or award, go over different impressive academic honors and awards examples you can get, and give you useful tips for effectively talking about awards on your application.

Have you started researching how to apply to college? You may know that most college-bound students take the SAT and ACT. But just how important are they, and when can you get away without taking them?

Let's look at when SAT and ACT scores are important for college admissions, and when they're not.

Being a transfer student has benefits, but it can be even harder to navigate than applying as a freshman straight out of high school. Transfer student requirements can be tricky to figure out, as many college application guides are written with freshmen in mind.

Despite the difficulty, being a transfer student is worth it. Whether you want to transfer because you're ready to move from community college to a four-year university or because your school isn't the right fit, this guide will help you learn what colleges look for in transfer students and how to make your application more appealing to colleges.

When you’re applying to college, each part of your application counts. You want to maximize every opportunity to make yourself stand out from the thousands of other applicants vying for a spot at the school of your dreams.

One of the many places you can distinguish yourself is in the Common App Honors section. In this article, we’ll talk about what the Honors Common App section is and how to maximize it to show your best work.

The admissions committee that decides whether or not you get into your dream school can often seem shrouded in mystery. Who, exactly, are these people? A group of soulless office workers who delight in stamping “Rejected” across applications? A team of well-trained robots who data-mine your application and input it into an algorithm?

While it may seem like the admissions committee process is secretive, that’s actually not the case. Admissions committees are made up of real, live humans whose sole job is to put together the best incoming class possible for their college or university.

Let’s learn a little more about college admissions committees.

As if college applications aren't stressful enough, an interview with the admissions department can ramp anxiety up to eleven. Though an interview is a great way to make a lasting impression, it also introduces some new things to worry about in addition to your application, such as what you're supposed to wear.

Like all parts of the college application process, you want to make a good impression, but also be yourself. Not everyone is a fashion maven, and there are additional barriers for students experiencing academic hardship.

If you have questions about what to wear to a college interview, you're in luck—we've got answers. From how to style yourself to how to afford business casual on a budget, this guide will help you look sharp and feel confident during your college interview.