December, 2024

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You Really Are Allowed To Be Sad Over The Holidays

Grown & Flown

When the first holiday lights start being hung around town, or we hear the first Christmas song on the radio, or we are sitting under our favorite blanket and see the first Christmas commercial on television, we always have an emotion wash over us. Sometimes that feeling is happy, warm and familiar. Sometimes it’s annoyance that this season has become so commercialized.

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The Power of Online Reviews: A Strategy for Private Schools

Enrollment Catalyst

Every year, I conduct hundreds of focus group meetings with parents in schools. Parents emphasize the importance of online reviews when considering a school. These authentic accounts from current and former parents provide invaluable insights for prospective families. Online reviews are not just a passive part of your schools online presence; they are a strategic asset.

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6 Tips: SEO Best Practices for Optimizing Your Program Pages

Ruffaloni

Degree program pages are the heart and soul of almost any college or university website. They are the pages prospective students use most frequently to explore opportunities and compare offerings. They also tend to offer the greatest opportunities for competitive differentiation and lead generation. Why focus on degree program pages for search optimization?

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Does Applying for Financial Aid Lower Your College Acceptance Odds?

Great College Advice

Many families worry that their student won’t be accepted if they check the box on the college application indicating that they will be applying for financial aid. So, this is the question I hear over and over: “Does applying for financial aid hurt my college admissions chances?” Generally speaking, we tell all our students, regardless of their family financial position, to apply for financial aid as there is very little downside and considerable upside potential.

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UPenn Acceptance Rate: Admissions Statistics

AdmissionSight

The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has built a reputation as one of the toughest schools to get into. With its top-tier programs and global prestige, it pulls in thousands of ambitious, high-achieving students every year. For the Class of 2028, the UPenn acceptance rate dropped to a record-low 5.4%. If UPenn is on your radar, understanding the acceptance rate is key.

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50 Best Fantasy Books of All-Time

College Transitions

When you think of fantasy, you probably think of elves, dwarves, and (natch) hobbits. I’m here to tell you that there’s more to fantasy than LOTR. Here’s 50 of the best fantasy books of all time.

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Why I’m Keeping My Daughter’s Universe of Universities to Myself

Grown & Flown

The eagle has landed as my youngest child has submitted her final college application. After six months that featured me begging her to work on the common app before school started (didnt happen), proofreading her applications, pleading that she not wait until the last hour of deadline day to hit submit (guess what happened) , inquiring about which schools deadline was next as a subtle means of reminding her to keep tabs on it all, its over.

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Beyond Sticker Shock: Helping Families See the True Cost of College

Ruffaloni

When it comes to choosing a college, the sticker price can be a major turnoff. A significant 65% of prospective students and 67% of their families report ruling out institutions based solely on the advertised sticker price. Source: 2024 Prospective Family Engagement Report But what does this mean for colleges and universities, and how can they help families look beyond the sticker shock to understand the true affordability of a degree?

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2025 UGA Overall EA Admissions

UGA Undergraduate Admissions Q & A

Out-of-State Early Action decisions will be released at 4 pm EST today, so here are some details about the overall EA applicant and admitted groups. When you log into your status page, you will see a View Update link under the Status Update, and that is where you will see your decision. About 20 minutes after we release decisions, an email will go out to students who have not already checked their status letting them know a decision is available on their status page.

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Can a College Revoke Your Acceptance? Insights and Advice

AdmissionSight

You’ve just gotten into the college of your dreams. The excitement is real—you’re planning your future, envisioning campus life, and soaking in the joy of your achievement. Then, out of nowhere, you get a notification that turns your world upside down. Your acceptance has been revoked. You freeze, staring at the screen, feeling a mix of shock, worry, and fear.

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WeChat vs. WhatsApp: Which is the Best Tool For Your School Audience

HEM (Higher Education Marketing)

Reading Time: 11 minutes For school administrators and marketers, the decision to integrate new communication tools is often met with the challenge of identifying which platform can better serve their specific needs. Regarding messaging apps, WeChat and WhatsApp are two powerful contenders that have proven effective for educational marketing, but which one is right for your school audience?

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31 Christmas Gifts Under $50: College Students and Teens (2024)

Grown & Flown

We are a reader-supported site and receive compensation from purchases made through these links. See more about our Privacy and Affiliate policies here. We’ve found wonderful Christmas gifts for college students and teens under $50. Some are practical, while others are just fun. We guarantee that they will love these birthday or holiday gift ideas.

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13 Best Therapeutic Gap Year Programs – 2025

College Transitions

When I was teaching first-year students at the University of Iowa, I often talked with students who were absolutely beleaguered by their early college experiences.

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5 Reasons to Administer the Refreshed College Employee Satisfaction Survey (CESS)

Ruffaloni

The expectations of higher education faculty and staff have changed. Understanding the experiences, opinions, and satisfactions of your faculty and staff is invaluable to creating a healthy culture and work environment. But it’s not just about fostering a positive atmosphereit’s also critical for retaining your employees, improving the student experience, and reducing the risk of lost institutional knowledge.

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Dear Roadie: How Will a Tragic Accident That Caused My Daughter’s Grades to Plummet Impact Her College Applications?

road2college

Dear Roadie, While in high school, my daughter was involved in a tragic accident that nearly killed her. Her best. The post Dear Roadie: How Will a Tragic Accident That Caused My Daughter’s Grades to Plummet Impact Her College Applications? appeared first on Road2College.

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Harvard Motto: What It Means and Why It Matters

AdmissionSight

What comes to mind when you think of Harvard? Prestige, old brick buildings, maybe that iconic crimson color? One of the most important aspects of Harvard is its motto, which has stood the test of time and remains a key part of the university’s identity. It represents a powerful philosophy that underpins everything the university stands for. Today, we’re diving deep into the Harvard motto, its origins, and why it still matters so much today.

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How to Enhance Local SEO for K-12 School Websites

HEM (Higher Education Marketing)

Reading Time: 8 minutes Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for improving your schools online visibility, ensuring that when local families search for educational options, your school is among the first they see. SEO helps your website rank higher in search engine results, making prospective parents more likely to find you before other schools in your area.

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Dear Kids, I Promise Not to Be a Pain About How We Celebrate Holidays

Grown & Flown

Dear Kids, Okay, for starters and the record: this promise is a re-gift. This is an example of doing unto others what was done unto you. Specifically, your wonderful grandparents, did this to your dad and me. Im trying to repay them forward, not take some jab and get back at them. Theyve made the holidays easy for our family; the best way I know to thank them is to commit to following their lead.

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Early Decision 2 (ED2) College Admissions Advice 

Great College Advice

So, you have been deferred, wait-listed, or rejected in the Early Decision 1 (ED1) round. Yes, it is disappointing but pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and reassess your situation. You are still in a great position to end up attending a college where you will have a fantastic experience. One of your first questions should be whether to apply to another college in the Early Decision 2 (ED2) round.

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5 Graduate Education Trends to Watch in 2025

Ruffaloni

The outlook for graduate education in 2025 is strong. I always look forward to fall because so many of the trend reports that I rely on to get a sense of whats next are released. Whether it is the new IPEDS data, the latest from National Student Clearinghouse, the IIE Open Doors report on international students, or others, I spend time thinking through what the most important data mean for institutions.

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Should You Take the Digital or Paper ACT?

PrepScholar

For decades, students who wanted to take the ACT had to sharpen their #2 pencils, open up a paper test, and bubble in their responses. However, that's started to change! In December 2023, the ACT launched a pilot test of a new digital ACT. Then, in early 2024, access to the digital ACT expanded so that more students in the US can choose between the online and paper versions of the ACT.

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Top 7 Benefits of Attending a Local Community College

AdmissionSight

Are you a high school student unsure about which colleges to apply to, or maybe an adult thinking about going back to school? If so, have you considered the benefits of attending a local community college? There are plenty of reasons why community college might be the perfect fit for you. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center estimates that enrollment in public two-year colleges in fall 2023 grew by 4.4% from fall 2022.

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From Panic to Polished: Your Guide to Last-Minute College Essays

Top Tier Admissions

We get it: the clock is ticking, the pressure is mounting, and your college essay still feels like a blank canvas. Dont let the stress get the better of you! Even with a looming deadline, theres still time to craft a meaningful essay that captures your unique voice and story. This year, were focusing on a proactive, calm approach to tackling those last-minute essaysbecause even in crunch time, you can shine.

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How to Add Magic to the Holidays: 7 Traditions for Families With Teens

Grown & Flown

Theres nothing like the magic of the holidays with little ones. Sadly, once our kids stop believing in Santa and start sleeping in on Christmas morning, it can feel like all the magic is gone. This time of year, parents of big kids sometimes feel a little wistful and long for the days when joy and wonder filled our homes for weeks. Even though we can never totally recapture those precious days, with a little creativity, there are a few holiday traditions your family can adopt to bring a sense of

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What to Do If Your College Application is Deferred

Great College Advice

As the first wave of Early Action (EA) and Early Decision (ED) results arrive in the first few weeks of December, many students may be deferred from the school of their dreams. By being deferred, the college is telling you that it has been unable to make a final decision on your application. You may be within its profile of admitted students but not near the top.

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Online Learners: Generational Influences on Expectations and Satisfaction

Ruffaloni

Read the report. Earlier this year, I was interested to read RNLs Generations of Online Learners report, which was produced by cross-tabbing our national survey of (largely) prospective online students by the three primary student generations. There has been greater awareness in recent years of the influence of generational differences in higher education, and this made me interested to explore the perceptions of students by age within our National Online Learners dataset.

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Should You Take AP Stats or AP Pre-Calc?

PrepScholar

Are you wondering, "Should I take AP Stats or AP Pre-calc?" Choosing between AP Statistics and AP Pre-Calculus can be difficult for high school students trying to decide on an AP math course. The decision you make could impact your college applications, college courses, and even your career path. So how can you make the best decision for you? You'll need to understand what each course covers and the factors to consider when choosing a class.

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Dear Roadie: Should You Fill Out The FAFSA If Your Parents Are Undocumented?

road2college

Dear Roadie, My U.S.-born niece is ready to fill out the FAFSA, but my brother and sister-in-law are undocumented immigrants. The post Dear Roadie: Should You Fill Out The FAFSA If Your Parents Are Undocumented? appeared first on Road2College.

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Colgate University: Supplemental Essays 2024-2025

Top Tier Admissions

Colgate University, located in Hamilton, New York, was recently ranked the top liberal arts college in the Northeast by the Wall Street Journal. It was also ranked #25 among all colleges nationwide by the WSJ. Founded in 1819, Colgate had a 14% acceptance rate for the Class of 2028. TTA Top Tip: Several schools, including Colgate University, “invite” students to submit “optional” essays through their portals even though the application has been declared complete and submitted through the Common

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Former College President On Choosing a Major: Avoid This Big Mistake

Grown & Flown

December brings talk of college football playoffs and the start of basketball season. The Thanksgiving holiday might have included a visit home from your college student, and that can be a terrific family time. With or without a visit, there will be lots to talk about, including decisions about second semester (quarter) classes. Some students, especially sophomores, are beginning to zero-in on a major.

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AI and College Admissions: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Princeton College Consulting

One of the most pressing topics in college admissions today is students use of artificial intelligence (AI) when writing their application essays and the potential consequences that come with it. As a parent, you may wonder: Is AI the secret weapon for college applications? However, the answer isnt black and whiteit depends on how students use it. What truly matters is whether they rely on AI to generate generic essays or leverage it to enhance their creativity and craft engaging responses.

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Preparing for Early Admissions Decisions

AHM Advising

High school seniors and parents, this is undoubtedly a stressful time. The holiday season has arrived, midterms are around the corner, and admissions decisions for ED I will soon be released. Please try to keep it all in perspective. If you happen to receive a defer or deny decision in December, take a deep breath and remember that this is not the end of the journey - it is just a detour.

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Applying to Business School Last Minute?

North Star Admissions Consulting

Currently, many of you are putting the finishing touches on your Round 2 applications. Ideally, you have been working on your materials for months. However, if you find yourself applying to business school last minute, its especially important to prioritize your efforts. Calendar The key to pulling off great last minute business school applications is organization.

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GED Math Test Success—Overcoming Math Anxiety

Peterson's Blog

Did you know that 93% of adult Americans indicate that they experience some level of math anxiety (Luttenberger et al., 2018) ? This anecdote should point to the fact you are not alone if you are nervous about the math section of the GED. Suppose youve realized that you have some math anxiety and want to work with it to achieve your highest GED scores.

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Admissions Transparency: Navigating Changes in Data Disclosure

Top Tier Admissions

Recent news of Harvard College’s decision to halt the release of admissions data on decision day marks a significant departure from nearly 70 years of precedent. As reported in The Harvard Crimson , this shift, attributed to adjustments following the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling on race-conscious admissions , reflects broader trends among elite universities to limit public disclosure of their admissions statistics.

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The 30 Best Gifts for Guys In Their 20s

Grown & Flown

Credit: Dollar Shave / Amazon We are a reader-supported site and receive compensation from purchases made through these links. See more about our Privacy and Affiliate policies here. Trying to find the best gift for guys in their 20s can be a challenge, to say the least. Whether hes a new graduate , a new husband , or even a new dad, he can be very particular about the things he uses and wears.

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How to Write the University of Maryland Supplemental Essays: Examples + Guide 2024/2025

College Essay Guy

TABLE OF CONTENTS (click to skip ahead) What Are the University of Maryland Supplemental Essay Prompts? How to Write Each Supplemental Essay Prompt for University of Maryland How to Write the University of Maryland Supplemental Essay Prompt #1 How to Write the Univeristy of Maryland Supplemental Essay Prompt #2 How to Write the University of Maryland Supplemental Essay Essay Prompt #3 How to Write the University of Maryland Supplemental Essay Prompt #4 How to Write the University of Maryland Sup