Anna Ivey gives you ruthlessly practical admissions advice
Are you struggling with math? There is hope for you, and "hope" is the key word here.
I came across a great post on the Education Week blog that summarizes the findings of a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a big international organization that tracks things like math performance country by country.
Were you under the impression that the College Board and the ACT are primarily in the business of making and administering those standardized tests that drive you batty?
Actually, their real bread and butter is mining students' personal information and selling it for a lot of money.
Mindy Kaling, after being asked, a gazillion times, where she gets her confidence (from Why Not Me?):
"People talk about confidence without ever bringing up hard work.
If you're a high school student (or the parent of a high school student), you probably thought that the ACT is just in the business of creating and administering the ACT test, right?
Actually, they do quite a bit more, and one of their "side" businesses can affect your college applications without you even knowing it. Please read the following advice carefully:
In order to increase its profitability and market share, the ACT has been developing other "predictor" tools to sell to colleges.
As you may already know, there were problems with the June 6, 2015, SAT Reasoning test because of misprints in the instructions on some of the test booklets. It took a little time for the dust to settle and for the College Board to decide how it was going to respond. As of now, the College Board has decided to do the following:
There's an excellent article on the stage of law school education in the Washington Post: "Why Law Schools Are Losing Relevance—and How They're Trying to Win It Back."
Bottom line: "Going to law school used to feel like a no-brainer for college graduates seeking financial security. But that calculus has changed...."
If you are a planner by nature and like to avoid last minute rushes, there’s some foundational prep work your 11th grader can be working on now before crunch time hits in the fall of 12th grade. One of the foundational exercises we go through with rising seniors is to have them create an old-fashioned resume.
That might sound strange at first.
If your child is testing low on the SSAT, PSAT, PLAN, or Achievement Tests in grades 7-10, that’s a sign to start thinking about adding a test prep protocol, or reevaluating one you might already have in place. That’s also a sign to do a full battery of learning disability testing to figure out the underlying cognitive issue.
The goal isn’t necessarily to get accommodations for standardized tests, because not every kid with learning problems has those kinds of learning disabilities.
How do the top schools evaluate multiple LSAT scores? I know a few of the t14 schools claim they average the scores and a few others claim they take a holistic approach. However, I have also read that since the ABA changed their reporting policy, law schools have every incentive to evaluate the highest score.
Also, what if there is a huge disparity in the scores.
What a glorious week all you February LSAT takers are waking up to. Exhausted, curled up, wrung out? Take heart, you could be these people over in Boston:
Twitter: @OnlyInBOS
Here's some of the best news, though. For many years I've been banging the drum to apply EARLY, EARLY, EARLY in the admissions cycle. Recently, though, it's been more of a finger tapping.
Many people who submitted their applications last fall are already getting acceptances, so that hasn't changed, and that's a nice bonus for them.
Some nice feedback from an applicant who worked with our colleague Janeille and is happily headed to Georgetown Law School:
I had worked with an admissions consultant from a different company and thought my application was ready to go.
Some nice feedback on working with our consultant Greg, from an applicant headed to a T14 law school:
Greg, I am absolutely delighted to let you know that I have been accepted at _________ [T14 law school]!! It is honestly a dream come true for me. _______ was a reach school for me, as I fell right along the median for GPA, but slightly below for the LSAT.
I'm pre-ordering this book, VERY excited to read it:
Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania The title alone is a great reminder not to conflate your whole identity with where you do or don't get into college (or grad school for that matter). My immediate reaction is this, and it's something I've been mulling over for some time now:
One of the real downsides to the current "holistic" approach to elite university admissions in the United States is that the schools give the impression that they're evaluating you (judging you) *as a human being*.
I'm an international student applying for law school. I took TOEFL and got 103, which is a decent score for most law school. The problem is that I only got 20 on writing section. Will that hurt my chance? Or would admission just care about the total score? Thank you for answering.
Each school sets its own TOEFL requirements, so you'll need to confirm those requirements at each school that you're interested in.
Happy Veterans Day! As some of you already know, I also help run a non-profit called Service to School, which provides free application help to veterans. Our goal is to help veterans get into the very best colleges and graduate schools as they transition into civilian life and navigate the sometimes strange world of higher ed.
Today, one of my S2S colleagues and I have an op-ed in the New York Times on the subject of veterans' education, the G.
I have taken LSAT three times. One of them is a cancel. I would really like to be able to take the test for a fourth time and can't wait for the 2 years limit to be over for the fourth take. I think I can improve. How can I get LSAC to grant me a fourth take? Thanks in advance.
I have expended the 3 takes in the last 1 year and didn't reach my target.
A great testimonial from one of Janeille's clients:
Janeille is phenomenal! I went into the law school application process worried that I wouldn’t receive an offer of admission from a top-twenty law school. Although I graduated summa cum laude from college, I struggled on the LSAT. Janeille never stopped having faith in my abilities and helped me prepare a strong application.
So much of the law school application process involves soul searching.
