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What’s the value of an Ivy League education?

Is an Ivy League education worth the nearly $90,000 per year cost of attendance, which includes tuition, room & board, fees, average estimates for books, personal expenses + transportation?  The following is the current estimated cost of attendance at all eight Ivy League institutions:  As inflation erodes the average middle class standard of living, while…

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Applying to the Ivy League (Or Similarly Selective Colleges) Requires a Gut Check

Applying to an Ivy League or other similarly highly selective college, where 95-97% of all applicants are denied admissions can be intimidating. To apply or not apply requires asking, “Just because I can (since I’m qualified), does that mean I should?”  Being the top of one’s class in one’s local high school, even in a…

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BeWhoYouAre.CreativeMarbles

More and More Ivy league Colleges, plus Stanford, Will No Longer Report Admit Rates

In college admissions, applicants often perceive exclusivity, translated as less than 5% admit rates, as a higher quality education, and (sometimes more importantly) a guarantee of lifetime prosperity, The Golden Ticket, as one is forever branded with elitism. However, in coming years, applicants may be guessing more often than not about the selectivity of a…

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All Ivy League Colleges Extend Test Optional Admissions for Fall 2023…and for a few Ivy League Colleges, beyond 2023

For at least one more application cycle, all Ivy League applicants will once again consider if they can demonstrate their aptitude with a standardized test score. Yale and Princeton admissions officers recently announced maintaining test optional admissions policies through Fall 2023, joining the rest of the Ivy League colleges, although with varying timeframes for the…

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So Goes Harvard…

As of December 16, 2021, Harvard is the latest college to join the chorus of admissions officers extending test optional/test-blind/test-free admissions policies for at least the next Fall 2023 application cycle and often beyond. (Longstanding Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons announced extending test-optional admissions policies for the next four years…

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Highly Selective Indeed

Throughout the Ivy League, possibly emboldened by test-optional admissions policies being one less barrier to entry, Fall 2021 applicants increased by double digits, adding subjectivity to the admission evaluation process and dropping admit rates year over year, some to record lows at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania.  Ivy League admit rates for the Classes…

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Biology Master

Biology Master Work at a Discounted Price

E.O. Wilson, a Harvard-trained renowned biologist, and reported Father of Sociobiology, the study of the social behavior of insects and animals which includes humans, has published an entire biology course—an interactive tome—synthesizing much of Professor Wilson’s life’s work, a rethink of the biological idea, free to anyone on iTunes, Biology: Life on Earth. Image of…

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All Ivy League Colleges Are Test Optional for Fall 2022

Since every Ivy League college—Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Barnard*, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell—extended their test-optional policies to include Fall 2022 admissions, current high school Class of 2022 juniors will not be obligated to submit SAT or ACT scores with their application.  Given the sudden change to test-optional policies, applicants inevitably ask whether…

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What Could Be Repercussions of Temporary Test-optional Policies?

For Fall 2021, 1575 colleges, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. universities are test optional (no SAT or ACT scores are required for admissions, but students can choose to submit scores) or test blind (no SAT or ACT scores will be considered, nor requested as part of the admissions evaluation), according to FairTest.  Since nearly two-thirds…

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The Ivy League Goes Test-Optional…Almost

Following both Brown’s and Yale’s test-optional announcements, yesterday evening, June 15, Harvard became the seventh Ivy League college to suspend the requirement of SAT and ACT scores for Fall 2021 first year applicants.  Why is Princeton, as the last remaining Ivy League, still requiring standardized test scores for Fall 2021 first year applicants? Since the…

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When will we go back to “normal”?

“When” is stumping even the best scientists and medical researchers. And, while historical virus outbreaks may offer precedent, uncertainty is still pervasive, creating complexity for families seeking to make educational decisions, like choosing a college.  Recently, Warren Buffet’s long time Berkshire Hathaway collaborator, Charlie Munger, who also earned his wisdom being alive for the last…

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