Test-Optional Policies: What Juniors Need to Know
With the spread of “test-optional” policies nationwide, the term itself has become broadly used and widely misinterpreted. In this post,...
The Vine
A blog where Ivy Experience disentangles college admissions.How to Contact Admissions
Whether it is a pandemic or not, whether you can visit or not, you will eventually want to reach out...
How to Show Demonstrated Interest
You know the difference between the SAT and the ACT. You know when to ask for teacher recommendation letters. You...
Finding the Right Scholarships for You
When thinking about how to pay for college, many families immediately turn to student loans. But there are thousands of...
Paying for College: Maximizing Merit Aid
Your student has worked hard all through high school, and now it’s time to apply to college. Hopefully, their grades...
What is superscoring?
As you research a college and its application process, you may find a passage that defines the school’s score choice...
What to Do Before the SAT or ACT
We get it: the ACT and SAT can be terrifying tests. Students spend days, weeks, and months preparing for them....
The College List: Aiming for Appropriate Target Schools
As students build their college lists, they may have a balance of likely, target, and reach schools. Likely schools are...
The College List: An Honest Conversation About Reach Schools
We see the headlines every year: Student gets into _____ of the eight Ivy League schools to which they applied....
All About Applying Undecided
I have no idea. That is not an uncommon answer when we ask students what they want to study in...
What Is the Experimental Section?
You made your way through four hours of standardized testing, whether the SAT or ACT. Maybe you are reviewing your...
College Search, Applications, and Essays Outline: Grades 9-12
Ideally, students complete the bulk of their college applications during the summer after 11th grade. But when it comes to...
Standardized Testing Outline: Grades 9-12
Below is a concise guide to testing for each year of high school, along with some basic advice for each...
The Five Things in Your Control
There are seemingly innumerable factors that go into every decision, whether it is an acceptance, deferral, waitlist, or rejection. Many...
How to Research Colleges Beyond Virtual Tours
Look Within Our advice is to look within when beginning your college search. Remember that you are not just looking...
The College List: Why Your Student Should Prioritize Choosing Likely Schools
While most families focus on reaches and targets and top choices, the college list conversation surrounding likely schools is extremely...
How Does Online Tutoring Work?
Though we have worked in person with families in the Philadelphia and San Diego areas, many of our families only...
An Updated Guide to Virtual College Tours
Where to start Without the option to visit colleges in-person, virtual tours and online content can provide a bridge and...
Test-Optional Policies: What Do They Mean?
Before COVID-19, there were already more than 1,000 colleges and universities that were test-optional. But with so many institutions changing...
Recommendations & Application FAQs
With continuing uncertainty about when (and if) schools will resume this spring, we recognize that juniors and families will have questions...
My College Visits Got Canceled – Now What?
In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, many colleges have made the decision to shut down their campuses for the remainder...
Popular Schools With Why College Essays
American University Why are you interested in American University? 150 words Bard College Why Bard? 250 words Barnard College What...
Why Diagnostic Testing Makes All the Difference: A Story
Let us you tell you a story… The following is a personal reflection by Ivy Experience co-founder Eric Karlan. Growing...
Ivy’s Recommendation Letter Primer
We often say that there are very few things under your control in the admissions process: your grades, your activities,...
ACT Online Testing, Section Retesting, and Superscore Reporting
ACT announced three new policy changes today. Below is a summary of the changes, effective starting September 2020. ACT Online...
The Ivy Experience College Application Essay Prompt Database 2019-2020
While most students will have to write a personal statement for the Common App or Coalition, many universities change their...
Information for Athletic Recruits
Guest post by Matthew Gnall The Athletic Advantage Forced to transparency by the SFFA lawsuit, Harvard revealed in a report...
Statement on SAT ‘Adversity Score’
In light of the breaking news, Ivy Experience wanted to share with its families a concise review of the SAT...
List of Our Students’ College Acceptances 2019
Allgeheny American Amherst Arizona State University Auburn Babson Bard Barnard Baylor Belmont Bloomsburg Boston College Boston University Bowdoin Brandeis Brown...
Test Anxiety Conversation
Listen to Ivy Experience Director Jim Wismer and Academic Coach Gail Slogoff discuss test anxiety, including causes, symptoms, and strategies...
State of Admissions 2019
‘The Most Competitive Admissions Cycle Ever’ – Again If you have read any articles on admissions statistics this month, you...
SAT/ACT Accommodations
We have always preached that knowing how to navigate the college preparation process is essential to saving families time, energy,...
Maximizing College Visits – the “Why College” Essay
We all know campus visits are an important part of applying to college – they can give students and families...
7 Common Mistakes on the Common App
If you are applying to college, you will almost certainly be using the Common Application. Here is our list of...
The ACT is Shifting to Computer-Based Testing
The ACT has had plans to shift to a computer-based testing format for years. For the 2018-2019 school year, all...
What Does the UC System Value in an Applicant?
The University of California system recently published a list of 14 factors they weigh in evaluating every student’s application. While...
Pitt and Penn State Join the Common App!
Another year, another group of schools joining the Common Application. Notable for many of our students are the additions of...
State of Admissions 2018
This is our first (of what we intend to be annual) State of Admissions – an email that recaps our...
How to approach the Common App essays (2018-2019)
The Common App recently released the prompts for the 2018-2019 personal statement. After making some tweaks for the past few...
What is the Coalition Application?
In this Q-&-A-style guest post by Philadelphia area college guru Cigus Vanni (edited by Ivy Experience), Cigus explains what rising...
How ACT Scores are Calculated
People are often confused by the ACT’s scoring system. Out of 36? How the heck does that work? Sometimes the scoring...
Ivy Experience Founders Analyze the Recent ACT
Ivy Experience’s founders, Eric Karlan and Karan Shah, tackled the most recently released ACT to offer insight on its contents relative...
Why work with Ivy Experience on essays?
With college essays and applications looming on the horizon, you may feel overwhelmed by what is ahead. What are colleges...
Top Ten Common App FAQ’s
The Common App is intended to save you time, energy, and stress in the college application process. It is meant...
How to register for the ACT
If you’re reading this post, hopefully you have a test prep plan in place and have decided on a date...
Changes to ACT Writing scoring; New August SAT date!
The ACT has changed the Writing test back to a 2-12 scoring scale. Meanwhile the SAT will start August test dates in 2017!