The essay is the perfect place to highlight your character, sense of humor, and writing ability.
The SAT is just one part of an application, but at the majority of colleges standardized test scores still carry a lot of weight. Learn what numbers you'll need to be competitive when applying.
There's a lot more to Ohio State than exciting Division I football. The Ohio State University in Columbus made my list of the country's best public universities in the United States, and its Moritz College of Law and Fisher College of Business are both highly regarded. The Ohio State campus features historic buildings, attractive green spaces, state-of-the-art research facilities, impressive athletic facilities, and a new student union.
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If you're attracted to the small classes and personal attention found at a liberal arts college, but you like the sticker price of giant public universities, a public liberal arts college might be a great choice. Tuition is often less than half of what you'll find at private liberal arts colleges, but the schools are small with a focus on undergraduate teaching. Some are selective honors colleges within state systems, while others have an admissions bar that isn't much different from large public universities. Ten schools made my list of the top public liberal arts colleges. To get a partial idea of what it takes to get in, check out these comparison charts of SAT scores and ACT scores for matriculated students.
One footnote: if you qualify for financial aid, you may find that a $50,000 private liberal arts college costs no more than a $15,000 public liberal arts college. In fact, some of the more prestigious private colleges are in a better position than public institutions to meet all of a student's financial need. Many state budgets are still in crisis, and funding for public education is often getting cut.
Best wishes to the thousands of prospective college students who are taking the SAT on Saturday, January 28th. Scores for the exam will be available online on Thursday, February 16th. If you aren't happy with your performance on the exam, keep in mind that all of the country's most selective colleges and universities have holistic admissions. In other words, they look at the whole applicant, not just numerical data. You can partially compensate for less-than-ideal SAT scores with a strong academic record, a winning essay, good letters of recommendation and interesting extracurricular involvement.
Also remember that more and more colleges are going test-optional -- there are now about 850 4-year colleges and universities that do not require SAT or ACT scores. The test-optional schools include some excellent choices: Bowdoin, DePaul, Holy Cross, Mount Holyoke, Pitzer, Wake Forest, and many others.
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The Harvard Gazette announced today that Harvard saw its number of applicants stabilize for the first time in many years. The prestigious Ivy League school received 34,285 applications for the class of 2016, down slightly from the 34,950 applications Harvard received in the last admissions cycle. You can read more in the Harvard Gazette article here.
Realize that this slight decrease in applications won't change Harvard's position at the top of lists of the country's most selective colleges. The acceptance rate will still be well down into the single digits.
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