The Best U College Admissions Consulting

  Say farewell to your #2 pencils.  The PSAT & SAT will become 100% digital this school year. Whether this information is brand new to you, or something you’ve been anxiously anticipating since the announcement in early 2022, students & parents have many questions about what this means and how to prepare.  Read on for a quick recap of what to expect, and learn our three test prep strategies to navigate the changes ahead–  What is changing?  While the exam will still be scored on a 1600 scale,  a few key things are changing: The length of the exam : The exam will be reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours. The use of calculators:  Calculators will now be permitted on all math questions. The length of reading passages:  The new exam will use shorter passages with 1-2 questions. The exam will become adaptive:  The digital SAT will be a responsive test, with subsequent question difficulty being determined by earlier responses.  The administr...

  When the time comes to finalize a list of colleges where a student will apply, it can be tempting to pile on the options, and difficult to know which colleges to add and which to let go. If there is one key to making sure your list is the best for you, it comes down to an old adage: honesty is the best policy.  Read on for how to leverage honesty to shape your own best list – Be honest about your fit & what matters most to you.  The most important thing about your college list is that you have prioritized the factors that will enable  you  to thrive academically and socially. It’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, or what other people think. Just recently a student shared that she knows so many people who say a particular public institution on the other side of the country is ‘the best,’ that she couldn’t believe it didn’t feel like a good fit when she visited. She was still contemplating applying, even though she didn’t especially like...

  August 1st represents the official start of the new application season for rising high school seniors. Whether you are applying to college now, or making sense of what lies ahead, the admissions landscape continues to shift.  Here’s what you need to know–  1. Now is the time to complete college applications.  While students and parents often imagine college essays being crafted in the cozy days of autumn, the admissions season gets underway while summer is still in full swing. August 1st marks the official opening of the admissions cycle for the upcoming year. The Common Application, University of California (UC) Application, and Coalition Application among many others are now live for students to prepare and submit.  This means rising seniors will benefit from actively completing application work now. If students have yet to get started, this is the time to craft that personal essay, fill in the information on the applications, and prepare supplemental essays...

  Increasingly, we hear from US students curious about applying to colleges in other countries. While study abroad opportunities for a semester or year of international experience are widely available through US colleges, applying directly to enroll in a degree program at an international school is an option that requires a different admission process entirely. The admissions process and degree programs in international universities can vary widely from US admissions, so for those considering the process, there are key pieces to understanding your options.  Read on for what to know if you are thinking about exploring the international admissions process as an American applicant –  1. All degrees are not the same –  Country by country, the undergraduate experience can be quite different from the American model. In Canada and the UK, students will typically find that degrees will be more focused in a specific discipline, with coursework dedicated to that area of study ...