I’ve seen a lot of press recently about the revivial of the SAT, in both big national papers and smaller, narrower market publications. There is a lot to hash out in the discussion of the value of these tests, but let’s get one thing out of the way: Statistics don’t prove much in this debate, and […]
Last week I had written about the David Leonhardt article in the NY Times (if you haven’t seen it by now, don’t bother, as the statistics it cites have been widely dismissed by people who know the reality), in which I suggested that it was yet another College Board plant, where they pre-deliver a nice […]
Blog posts have half-lives of about 72 hours, and my most recent one is no exception. It got some good traction on Twitter, although I believe many people are as tired of debating the SAT as I am; it was picked up and posted in the Chronicle of Higher Education morning update (and to my surprise […]
It’s a popular meme, and it’s a good one for today. I had said I was just going to point people who ask me about the latest SAT or ACT news to this blog post. It’s long and cumbersome, but it did sort of summarize all the points I talked about too often. Use the SAT if […]
This is the third electronic–and perhaps the 33rd mental–draft of this I’ve attempted. You see, December 5th, 2023, marks my 40th anniversary in this profession in one way or another. I’ve been trying to figure out what to say, and how to say it to mark the occasion. knowing full that that nothing is required […]
TLDR: You can share a link to help underserved students apply to college. Much Longer Version: A while ago, Marilyn O’Toole contacted me on behalf of IECA. She and organizational leadership were concerned—as almost all of my admissions, financial aid, enrollment management, and high school and independent counselors are—about underserved students getting support during the college […]
I have always thought it would be appropriate, when a person is dying, to have the funeral in advance of the actual event that normally kicks off a funeral. That way, the guest of honor would have a chance to hear all the nice things people traditionally say about the deceased, or even to rebut […]
For the longest time, I used to tell people that discount rate didn’t matter. I always had a sense of it, but one day during a trustees finance committee meeting in the mid-90s, one trustee was complaining about discount and said the increase was unsustainable. At the time, tuition was something like $20,000, and our […]
Perhaps there is nothing so misunderstood as the College Board Student Search Service™ (SSS). Each year, when students sign up for any of the suite of services College Board offers, they’re given the chance to participate in SSS, because they’re told they’ll get information from colleges about opportunities and scholarships and other things students are […]
Some early decision admission decisions are rolling in, from the sound of things. And the annual understandable confusion from parents, counselors, and students rolls in right behind them. Few of them, of course, are questioning or complaining about acceptances; it’s the denials (also called “rejections”) that cause the stress and strain. (Disclaimer: You know which […]
