We're pleased to announce the latest release of College Kickstart 2015!  You'll notice faster performance, updated admissions data (including 2019 admission rates for several top schools), expanded school coverage, and for College Kickstart Plus users, over 200 department-specific admission rates across 34 public and private institutions.

Click on continue reading for the details. 

The College Board announced earlier today that SAT scores from June 6th will be counted, despite a printing error that set 25 minute time limits on sections normally limited to 20 minutes.

After careful consideration, the College Board indicated that the two affected sections would not be scored, and that due to the design of the test, they would have no impact on the reliability of the results.

Bottom line: your SAT score will stand and you can expect to get the results on June 25th.

Click here for the announcement

If you're a California resident with financial need, don't assume that it's always cheaper to attend a University of California or Cal State University campus.

Depending on your academic credentials and financial situation, there may be many excellent private school options to consider. Read on to see our list of 50+ affordable alternatives to UC/CSU campuses.  

We're thrilled to announce our partnership with Alliance College-Ready Public Schools to bring better college planning to inner city youth.  As a result of the agreement, nearly 2,000 rising high school seniors and counselors across 15 Alliance high schools in the Los Angeles area will put College Kickstart to work for college planning.  

Click on Continue Reading for the details.

Here's a useful series of articles from the Washington Post for those of you about to embark on the college admissions process.  It chronicles the admissions journey of a high school senior, Samantha Fogel, and includes perspectives from her high school counselor as well as parents.  

1. Getting started
2. Parenting the college applicant
3. The search process
4. Deciding where to apply first
5. How not to bomb the college essay 
6. Dealing with deferral
7. Making the college decision

For those of you looking for possible admission essay topics, here are seven about work and class that caught a college's eye.  

Click here for the article

For those of you that have been waitlisted at one of your top choices, here's a list of waitlist statistics for several popular private and public schools, along with notification dates and links for more detail if available.  

Our sample of waitlist statistics from 127 private and public institutions paints the following picture:

• On average, 18% of students accepting a place on a waitlist were admitted

• Half of the schools admitted 10% or less of the students accepting a place on the wait list last year

• 35% of the schools admitted 5% or less

• 9% admitted no one

There are several factors driving the low rates, including the size of the waitlist (often very large), and how well a school anticipates its admissions yield. 

Click Continue Reading for the list.

The National Association for College Admissions Counseling released its 2014 State of College Admissions report last Thursday.  

We had an opportunity to review the 72 page report and took away some key points about overall application and early admission trends.  

The findings strongly reinforce the need for students and families to actively evaluate early admission opportunities as an integral part of their college plan.  

Click on Continue Reading below for the summary.

Here's a list of our favorite tips and study guides to prepare you for the APUSH exam:

• apushreview.org. Judging from the feedback, if there's one site you're looking for to cram for the APUSH exam this is it.  It's produced by a history teacher named Adam Norris, and contains a blend of practical tips and engaging videos.  

• Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.  Here's a neat set of videos that consists of both test tips and study guides for the nine periods covered in the AP exam.  Use this for the big picture.

• studynotes.com.  Here's a online study guide for the APUSH exam by the folks at Study Notes.  It's far more comprehensive, with chapter and topic outlines, vocabulary review, timelines, Supreme Court cases and sample tests.  The downside is that it's all text, so brace yourself.

• Essay tips.  This guide posted by the Allen Independent School District in Texas gives "to the point" tips for mastering the APUSH long essay and document based question (DBQ).

• quizlet.com.  Useful flash cards for reviewing material.

Here's a list of our favorite tips and study guides to prepare you for the APUSH exam:

• freeman-pedia.com. Start here for a comprehensive review of all things AP World from Ben Freeman, a history teacher based in Virginia. It's a mix of text, visuals and crash course videos from John Green.   

• learnerator.com.  Here's a set of test tips for the AP World exam from learnerator.com.  

• Essay tips.  This guide posted by the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in North Carolina contains tips your AP World essays and DBQ.  Click on the left menu options for the comparative, time and DBQ essays for details.

• quizlet.com.  Useful flash cards for reviewing material.  Note: there are several quizlets to choose from, we've opted for the one based on the 2013 Princeton Review material.

Here's a list of our favorite tips and study guides to prepare you for the AP Psychology exam:

• Charles Schallhorn (YouTube). Here's a set of YouTube videos designed to give you a crash course in AP Psychology.  It's a bit dry but complete! 

• CrashCourse. Here's an engaging introduction to psychology from Hank Green.  It consists of a set of 40 short YouTube videos and they're highly viewed and rated. Note that this doesn't necessarily focus on mastering the AP Psych exam so pick and choose topics as needed to supplement your cramming.  

• psychologyprogram (YouTube).  This is a 90 minute crash course in all things AP Psych.  It's missing the supporting outline/study guide but there are lots of positive reviews about the content.

• educator.com.  Here's a video review of the exam and tips for mastering it.

• Teacher test tips.  This guide posted by the Amador Valley High School in California offers test taking tips for the AP Psych exam.

• quizlet.com.  Useful flash cards for reviewing material.

The University of California recently introduced an online information center to increase transparency to UC admissions and other areas of public interest.  Though the site has not been updated with 2015 admissions data, it should prove handy for those of you interested in understanding how gender, residency, GPA and other factors influence admissions.  Note: it does not currently provide test score statistics, nor does it detail admission rate by departments or majors within a university.  

Click here for the press release, or here to go directly to InfoCenter.

"Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be" by Frank Bruni is a book that every stressed out rising senior or parent should read.

It's a quick, entertaining and grounding read about not getting too caught up in the madness of modern day college admissions.  It makes the point that brand name schools turn out to mean very little when it comes to success in life, and that there are countless examples of successful people who started from humble educational backgrounds. 

It's not where you start, it's how you finish!

Click here for the Washington Post review

Click here for the New York Times Sunday Book Review. 

Looking for help on which college to attend?  Here's an interesting article from Michael Roth for The Washington Post on how to navigate your way to a decision.  Michael is the president of Wesleyan University, a liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut. 

Click here for the article.