The following post was written by Anna Carapellotti and appeared originally on the Admissionado College Admissions blog.

Those of you with your heart set on attending one of the Universities of California may have already noticed that they have replaced the personal statement this year with eight “Personal Insight” questions, from which you must choose four to answer. Each response is limited to 350 words, and their hope is that this format gives you a “clearer guidance and more flexibility in the kind of information you want to share.”

So, how should you approach these new questions? Let’s take a look at what they are and some strategies you could use to maximize your answers.

Courtesy of CNBC, here are some nuggets of wisdom from several of this year's notable commencement speakers, including Sheryl Sandberg, Jane Goodall, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Mike Krzyzewski, and last but not least, President Obama.  Enjoy!

Click here for the article.

The following is a guest post written by Sarish Kasat of Admissionado, a premier college admissions consulting company focused on helping students get into their dream schools.

Congratulations! You’ve been admitted to college!

But wait, not only have you been admitted to one college, but after years of hard work and dedication throughout your high school life, you’ve been accepted into more than one college. And they’re all amazing programs. Yikes, you thought the application process was hard, now you have to decide between Northwestern, UCLA and UC Berkeley like our student Tim? Not an easy task, but a very admirable position to be in. Where do you start? Our advice is always, above all, without a doubt, go to the BEST college you get accepted to. But what if you get accepted into two equally great universities that are both in the same “tier” of excellence?

Whether you’re just beginning to think about your student’s college plans, or you’re deep in the throes of SAT/ACT prep, school research, filling out the FAFSA, etc, you already know that the college application is stressful for everyone involved.

Even more so when you turn to the black hole of the Internet for guidance. Sure, there are a lot of really knowledgeable people sharing really great information (you’re reading some of it right now!) but this is the Internet, and unfortunately for you, someone doesn’t need to be really knowledgeable to share their thoughts or advice. And that leaves you, a well-intentioned parent, on the receiving end of some really BAD information.
We’ve seen it all and once we stopped screaming at our computer screens (true story) we decided it was our duty to call out that bad advice, break down why it is so wrong, and share the truth so you can guide your students effectively.

So let’s get to it, shall we? Here are the four most egregiously bad/wrong/misguided/awful pieces of advice we’ve found on applying to college:

Beginning this fall, the University of California will replace the two personal statement prompts in the UC Application with short answer questions that students can choose from.  

Freshman applicants will now choose four out of eight "personal insight" questions to answer.  Each is limited to 350 words and will have equal weighting.

The new questions will be available August 1st as part of the fall 2017 application.

Click here for FAQs or here for the personal insight questions.

So, your student has gotten those hard-earned (and highly coveted) acceptance letters. (CONGRATS!) You’ve gotten the screaming/dancing/calling everyone you know out of your system, and now it’s time to start preparing for the next step: paying for college.

Everyone knows that tuition is the primary cost of college, but there are a variety of others that can add up significantly.

It’s important that these costs are understood by the entire family —from those who are able to fully finance their student’s education to those on financial aid. Actually, it’s especially important for the latter, since you can’t get grant, scholarship, or loan money to cover many of these expenses.

With admissions decisions right around the corner, here's an article from Forbes we think you'll find useful in helping you to make a final decision on where to attend.

Clickhere for the article. 

Should my safety school be an out-of-state public university?

This article from the Washington Post provides good evidence of the trend towards admitting more out-of-state applicants at many of the nation's most prominent public universities.  While some of this shift may be attributed to "increasing campus diversity," most of it is attributable to maximizing tuition revenue as state budget support for public universities wanes.

Click here for the article.

Later today, a new report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education called "Turning the Tide" will be introduced.  Backed by 50 admissions deans and educators from well-known colleges and universities, the report recommends ways to tone down the frenzy of college admissions.  

Coverage is provided in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but we find this segment from the CBS Morning News to be most insightful.  

It's official—the University of California Board of Regents approved a budget plan to enroll an additional 10,000 California undergraduates over the next three years, including 5,000 freshman and transfer students for the Fall of 2016. 

Click here for the article.

Here's an interesting video from Steve Lemanger, a former admissions director at Princeton University, on the mistakes that applicants make.  The big takeaway is that much of your application has already been set with your grades, test scores and recommendations.

Click here to check it out.

For those of you curious about how admission decisions are made, here's an interesting article from Business Insider on the Ivy League admissions process. Excerpted from a talk given by Nelson Urena, a former admissions officer at Cornell University, it outlines the typical steps that are taken from the time the application is submitted to the time the decision is rendered.  

Here's the Wall Street Journal's take on the University of California and the shift at many of its campuses to greater foreign and out-of-state enrollment.  According to the article, the UC system accepted 62% of in-state applicants in the 2014 school year compared to 84% four years earlier.

The good news for Class of 2020 applicants is that in-state admissions should improve this year, thanks to $50 million in additional state and UC system support.  If approved later this week, an additional 5,000 in-state applicants will be admitted relative to last year.

Click here for the article, or here for our take on Fall 2015 UC admission trends.

The shift to test-optional admission continues to build.  This article from the New York Times highlights several reasons for the shift and reviews the results from several studies, often conflicting, on its impact.  Some suggestions for when to consider applying test optional are also made.

Click here for the article.