If you have college aspirations, you can and should start planning for college during your freshman year of high school. You want to make sure you're on the right path and have a solid plan in place to help you navigate the college process and eventually reach your goals.

In this article, I'll detail what to include in your 9th grade college planning. Then, I'll explain what you don't yet need to worry about.

If you're contemplating your summer plans, you may want to consider pre-college summer programs. These programs offer high school students the opportunity to live and learn on a college campus.

In this article, I'll explain the different types of programs and let you know the benefits and drawbacks of attending them. Furthermore, I'll let you know if doing one of these programs can help you get into college.

If you’re currently applying to college or getting ready to apply to college, you’ve probably heard of the SAT and/or the ACT. You may already know that the SAT is a standardized test which high school students take before applying to college, but how important is the SAT in college applications? It’s hard to overstate the importance of the SAT. Your test score will be one of the most important parts of your college application (if not the most important part).

In this guide, I'll explain why test scores are a key part of your application and how you can determine the SAT admission requirements for the schools you're interested in.

Recently, there has been substantial coverage about whether colleges discriminate against Asian-Americans in admissions and even test prep.  What does that mean for these students?  How should such students navigate SAT / ACT prep and college admissions?  This article surveys the current state of admissions and gives some tips.

Each year, Princeton University receives over 25,000 applications for its undergraduate class. Only 7% of them get a Princeton acceptance letter.

For example, in 2015, Princeton received 27,290 applications for the Class of 2019 and accepted 1,908 students. That's a tiny 6.99% admission rate.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of applicants get a rejection letter. “I'm sorry to inform you…”

I was one of the lucky few to apply to Princeton and receive an acceptance letter in the mail. Since Princeton was one of my top choice schools, I was ecstatic that they wanted me as part of their community. I dreamed about how my future would turn out if I attended Princeton.

Here’s my complete, official Princeton acceptance letter.

Each year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology receives nearly 20,000 applications from high school hopefuls. Only 8% of them get a MIT acceptance letter.

For example, in 2014, MIT accepted 1,447 applicants from 18,356 candidates. That’s a small 7.9% admission rate.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of applicants get a rejection letter. “I'm very sorry to inform you…”

When I was in high school, I was one of the lucky few to apply to MIT and receive an acceptance letter in the mail. This validated years of hard work, especially in the sciences and research. It was inspiring to know that they wanted me to be a part of their amazing community.

Here’s my complete, official MIT acceptance letter.

Did you know that almost half of all undergrads in the U.S. go to community college? In fact, there are 1,100 community colleges nationwide, and they enroll 13 million students!

If you're looking to make that 13 million and one, read on to learn how to apply for community college: from deciding where to apply to enrolling in classes. Before getting the ball rolling, let's review what community colleges offer their students and some good reasons to apply.

If you've applied to colleges, received acceptances, and selected the college you want to attend, then congratulations! You've done considerable work and made it through the college application and selection process. With May 1, also known as College Decision Day, just around the corner, how do you notify the college you've selected that you'll be attending? How do you let the other colleges that admitted you know that you won't? Do you even have to let them know?

In this article, I'll explain how to accept an offer of admission and why it's important to notify the colleges you won't be attending of your decision.

You’ve probably felt the pressure to go on college tours, but just how important are they? Are they an essential part of the college planning process, or is it not a big deal if you opt out?

This guide will go over the most important reasons to visit a college, along with some circumstances when you might choose not to tour. We’ll also discuss how you can prepare to make the most out of your college visits.

First off, what are some reasons you should tour your prospective colleges?

You’ve been working hard in high school to get good grades and test scores, but there’s another part of the college application that many students find more confusing: the extracurricular activity section.

How many extracurricular activities do you need for college applications? How many are too many? Will you get rejected from a school if you don’t have the right amount?

Many students who have participated in activities throughout high school are shocked to look at the Common App and realize there are ten spaces to fill out. Does that mean you have to be involved in ten different activities?

In this article I will tell you:

• The important things colleges need to see in your extracurriculars
• The ideal amount of extracurricular activities
• The minimum amount of extracurriculars you can have
• What to do if you have no extracurriculars
• What to do if you have too many extracurriculars

The college application process can be a long and difficult journey for high school students. Organizing your application materials well in advance and paying attention to deadlines is critical. You should also start researching colleges earlier rather than later so that you can account for each school's specific application requirements.

In this infographic, I've broken down the actions you need to take to be prepared for college applications starting at the beginning of your junior year through to your senior spring.

Forbes is a highly respected source of college rankings and is often consulted by students to help them decide which colleges are objectively the “best” choices. However, relying too much on these rankings can be a dangerous way to go about the college search process. In this article, I’ll outline how Forbes rankings are calculated and give you a rundown of the problematic aspects of these rankings.

Since the U.S. News & World Report college rankings list debuted in 1983, college-bound students and their parents have become quite enamored with college ranking lists. While the U.S. News list may be the most well-known, there are a plethora of college ranking lists out there. All use slightly different criteria to rank colleges and all claim to be the best and most reliable. However, should you trust any of these lists? Should you use them when deciding which college to attend? Do they provide any valuable information?

In this article, I'll answer those questions. I'll let you know how much you can trust college ranking lists. Furthermore, I'll explain the pros and cons of these lists and how to use them to your benefit.

Colleges generally say that they don’t have strict ACT score requirements. However, if you get a low ACT score, your chances of gaining admission to a selective college could be slim to none. There is no specific ACT score requirement to be admitted to the school of your dreams, but your ACT score will increase or decrease your likelihood of getting in.

In this article, I will discuss ACT requirements for college and how to determine your target ACT score to help you reach your college goals.

For those of you who have started researching college admissions, you may have heard the term “reach school.” What is a reach school? Simply, a reach school is one that you shouldn't expect to be admitted to. It would be a reach to get in.

In this article, I will define and explain the concept of a reach school. Furthermore, I will discuss how to identify your reach schools and determine the number of reach schools you should apply to.