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

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.

"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.

One of the best ways to make your college decision is to attend the admitted students weekend for each school on your short list. This article from Story2 provides tips on how to get the most from the experience.

Click here for the article.

Here's an interesting article from Nick Ducoff, a VP at Northeastern University.  He argues that it's not a skills gap, but rather an experience gap that holds back college graduates from the best job opportunities.

Though the article is conveniently self-serving—Northeastern is well-known for its active co-op programs for undergraduates—there's no arguing that experiential learning is extremely valuable for transitioning bright minds into the working world.

Click here for the article.

Now that you've been admitted to several schools on your list, how will you choose which one to attend?  Here's an article from the Huffington Post on how to navigate your way to a decision.

Click here for the article.

In this five part series from the New York Times, two college admissions experts answer questions to help students and their families make their final college decisions.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Here's an interesting article from the Washington Post about "undermatching"—when low-income students with the ability to succeed at elite universities never apply or attend one.  Past studies have shown that as many as four in 10 in this pool choose not to attend an elite institution because they didn't apply or decided not to enroll.

Undermatching is a serious social issue impacting long-term economic equality and social mobility, but it's also one that can be avoided with better information and planning.  

Read the article here

University of California President Janet Napolitano indicated earlier this week that the UC system will not expand enrollment of California freshmen and transfers this fall if more funds are not appropriated from the state. Furthermore, enrollment of out-of-state students at UC Berkeley and UCLA will be capped.

Click here for a Los Angeles Times report on the topic.

This article from the Wall Street Journal explores the "value" of attending a name-brand college from three perspectives: the applicant's, the and the employer's and an admissions expert.  The article also includes a list of "best value" schools courtesy of PayScale that considers return on investment (future reported salaries) in addition to cost.  

Click here to read the article now.

Business and related fields are the most popular undergraduate majors in the country, accounting for approximately 20% of all college students. If you're thinking about it but still aren't sure, continue reading about the pros and cons of an undergraduate business degree and perspective from pundits, courtesy of the New York Times.