Advanced Placement Exam Registration Changes for 2019-20

The College Board, which administers Advanced Placement (AP) exams, will require students to register for May 2020 AP exams in November 2019. Alternatively, if students decide to register for the May 2020 exams after the November registration period closes, they’ll pay an additional $40.00 late fee.  Conversely, if students decide not to take the May…

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The Unveiling of the Educational Meritocracy

As the saying goes, “For every system, there is a counter system.” And, the recent Federal indictments of 50 individuals only becomes the latest example of an educational counter-system. College coaches, athletic department administrators, parents, and Rick Singer, the independent college admissions consultant, collectively found a way around the admissions office, the “front door” of…

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ARGGHHH…#$%@^ Sickness

The days of Calvin-esque thinking are gone. Now, to miss school and recover from illness is more trouble than worthwhile.  Missing assignments means hours of make-up work on top of already multi-hour nightly homework sessions, and missing tests is a complex, logistical hassle to coordinate already busy teacher’s, kid’s and parent’s carpool schedules to find time…

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Our Fervent Wish

…is that every high school senior and transfer college applicant and their parents temporarily develop multiple hands, whose swift fingers dance with the wind across the keyboard to craft brilliant essays well before the deadline. Deadline approaching. pic.twitter.com/CszGLJyrA1 — Academia ɐɹnɔsqO (@AcademiaObscura) September 4, 2018  

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How Dr. Seuss Helps In Writing the “Perfect” College Essay

For all the college essay writers who believe that crafting their statements will be done in one (maybe two) drafts, take heed of  Dr. Seuss’ (AKA Ted Geisel) experience on the painstaking care author’s take while ushering, shaping, crafting and editing their story until just right.  From the Publishers’ Notes at the end of “What…

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The Latest Iteration of Innovation for the High School Junior

Not every 16 year old (an American equivalent of a high school junior), both internationally and in the United States, has the same college planning needs.  So, at Creative Marbles, we offer three different levels of support to assist families who are seeking individualized college admissions plans, in the year before most students submit undergraduate…

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The Junior Dilemma

Right about now, junior parents’ anxieties about college applications begin rising.  Thus, they begin asking, imploring, nagging, begging, commanding their 16 or 17 year old teenager to discuss the details of their college plans.  However, juniors may resist their parents’ attempts to initiate conversation about their futures—mostly demonstrated by not applying for summer programs, not…

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Only 2.43% Made the Cut

By definition, “highly selective college admissions” means more applicants denied than accepted. Harvard’s admissions results put the exclamation mark on the above statement. 98% or 40,003 people, a combination of “36,119 regular decision applicants, plus the 4,882 students deferred in the early action process” were denied admissions for Fall 2018. And, before assuming that applying Early…

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