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"Should I use the common application?" ,one of the questions we hear often.
Our answer is “Yes,” but with a few caveats. The Common Application was created in order to eliminate a lot of the ‘busy work’ involved in applying to college; take advantage of it.  Colleges pay a fee to be a member of the Common Application. If they didn’t believe in it, they wouldn’t pay to be a member. That said, cavalier use of this application is not in anyone’s interest. Do not use it to over-apply, but do use it as a timesaving tool, noting that each application can and should be personalized for each college. Use the Common Application in conjunction with a thorough investigation of the school, which may include a visit, a letter indicating interest, and an interview, among other things. When applying E.D. or E.A., use the school’s own application. The Common Application should never be the first point of contact between you and that school. Make sure that you tailor each application as much as possible to each individual school through the essay or personal statement.  Also, double- or triple-check your applications to make sure that the right school is getting the right application. Finally, most colleges require a supplement to the common application, and these can be downloaded from the college’s page or the Common Application website. While some colleges say their supplement is optional, the reality is that your application looks better when you complete “optional” material.

​After the Application is Mailed
This is usually a very trying time for students and families. You’ve done all the work, you’ve written a great essay, and you’ve gotten it all off in the mail well before the deadline, (We hope!!) Now what? Other than E.D./E.A. applications, which usually take 4-6 weeks to process, most regular decision college applications take anywhere from 8-12 weeks, depending on the volume of mail, data processing and reading procedures, and number of personnel on the college side. This time, when things are “up in the air,” can be daunting for seniors. Here are some tips for making it through these months and weeks:

• Concentrate on your studies! Colleges do ask to see winter term grades; you can help yourself a great deal by putting in a little extra effort.
• Follow up with all of your schools to make sure they received your application. Most colleges will send out a letter to you indicating that it has been received and is being processed. If you do not receive such a letter within 3-4 weeks of the deadline, give the admissions office a call to check on the status. Also, parents should check with their banks to make sure the application fee was deposited. Finally, the college counselors can always give a call to our contacts in admissions in cases where the application still is in limbo. With the amount of mail colleges have to deal with, the problem is usually that an application has been misfiled rather than lost or missing. 
• Keep colleges up to date on your progress since your application. Did you win an award at Founders Day? Cum Laude? Do a special community service activity? Make sure your schools know about these updates.
• Use the time you would have spent on college searches and writing essays to re-connect with your friends. Senior year really moves quickly--even though it may not seem like it in October--so enjoy every moment!
• Send thank you notes to teachers who were kind enough to write recommendations for you.

Decisions
And finally the time comes for the news to arrive. 
Thousands of students race to the mailbox, log-on to websites, call a dedicated phone line and the next few moments can feel like an eternity. When you get good news--and you will--celebrate! But also, be considerate of those around you who may not have heard the good news you have. Still, be joyful. It’s a wonderful accomplishment to earn a place in college. 

The key to how you will handle disappointing news is, of course, linked to the advice early in the process. Don’t apply to a college you don’t want to go to. If you follow this advice then whatever comes down the pike will simply be a decision. The bad news may sting and disappoint, but it won’t devastate. And it shouldn’t. So, focus on what your choices are rather than what they are not.

But can one always ‘move on?’ Not always. You may be angry, sad, confused, jealous—maybe all of the above. Yet, after some time passes you will put these decisions in their proper context, and hopefully you will understand them as part of a process, and not just the college process, but the process of growing up, finding a path to follow and looking for opportunity. In the face of college disappointment there are lots of people who will be in your corner: parents, college counselors, teachers, advisor, and friends.

Wait Lists
Because students are making more applications each year, and because colleges are much more conscious of their yield rate, students are finding themselves on wait lists more than ever. If this happens to you, take heart. Each year, we see many students accepted from waitlists, and we encourage you to take the following steps to enhance your chances:

• Send the response card back immediately. Sometimes colleges gauge your interest in them by how quickly you reply.
• Write a note to the admissions representative for that school underscoring how much you would like to attend the school, why you think the college is a good match for you, and any news about you that has taken place since you applied. 
• Let your college counselor know as soon as possible, what your plans are. Colleges rarely know whether or not they will use the wait list before May 1st, so it is often fruitless for us to make calls much before then. However, we will lobby on your behalf in late April and on into early May, when wait list action starts to heat up. 
• You might consider an additional letter of recommendation, most likely from a current teacher, indicating your excellence and growth during the year.​

Applying ‘Early Decision’ – and to a lesser extent ‘Early Action’ – is an indication to a college that it is your No. 1 choice. That is, if you were accepted to every one of the schools to which you applied, you would attend that one. In applying Early Decision, you are also signing an agreement that binds you to that college should you be admitted. While there can be an advantage in applying early at some institutions, you should consider how much you really want to go to that college before making the big leap.

SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

• Does the school match the criteria I have set for myself? Does it offer the major I want?
• Is it in a place I can envision myself living for four years?
• Is financial aid going to play a big role in where I go to college? (If so, please discuss this decision thoroughly with your college counselor )
• What do my parents think?
• Have I taken all the standardized tests required for admission? (Many schools require the SATII subject tests; make sure you take those by the November test date and rush the scores )
• Are my grades and standardized-test scores compatible with those of students usually accepted at the school? (If you are a postgraduate, you should talk to your college counselor before applying anywhere early.)
• Have I looked around enough to know what else is out there?
• Am I making an informed decision, considering all my options? 

For certain students, the option of sending some kind of early application is advisable; however, you should know what the differences are before getting started.

Early Decision (E.D.) is a binding agreement between you and the college, by which you agree that you will attend the college should you be accepted. At many schools, E.D. applications are due by November 1st or 15th, but the dates and E.D. plans do vary, so read the applications closely. Normally, decisions are mailed before the Christmas holiday. If accepted under an Early Decision plan, you must withdraw your applications at all other colleges. 

Early Action (E.A) roughly follows the same timetable as Early Decision, but it is not a binding agreement. If accepted to a college under an Early Action policy, you may still attend another college if you choose to. You have until May 1st to make your decision.  

Rolling Admission is a process used mainly by large state universities, although not exclusively. Under a Rolling Admissions policy, applications are read on a continuing basis rather than all at once after a certain deadline. If you apply to a school with a rolling admission policy, we recommend getting that application in as early in the fall as you can.

​Students and parents (and unfortunately many school counselors) are often unfamiliar with the Early Round (Early Action or Early Decision) option at many of America’s elite schools. We have crunched the data on the Early Round vs. Regular Decision admission rates, which should show you that whenever possible, you should apply to EA/ED.
 
While most Ivy League Schools offered Early Decision options, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale offer Restricted Early Action option to students. If student choose to apply to one of them, they cannot apply to any other private schools in the early stage, and public schools that offer ED options.

​If you look at the admission rates for Early Round, they are significantly higher at all 8 schools. (We have developed a ratio, which we term ER/RD, which measures how great of an advantage ER applicants have.) The ER/RD ratio ranges from 2.1 (Cornell) to 3.0 (Harvard). In simpler terms, it means you are 2.8x more likely to be admitted to Brown applying in ER than in RD.
 
Though Stanford has decided to not release their early round admission data, we can assume the situation is similar since all elite schools are still competing with each other for elite students.
 
Based on the above data, we can easily find out that, because of the timing of application, students with similar/ same background & academic performance will have diversely application outcome. Therefore, we highly recommend you to organize your timeline and work on your college application scheme at the earliest possible, including ahead preparation for related tests. This way, you can apply to your ideal colleges at the most advantageous timing and hence gain the admissions successfully. 

   Starting next September, high schooler could retake ACT individual sections, instead of the entire exam.
Officials at ACT said on Oct. 8 that starting next September, students who want to improve their scores would be able to retake single sections of the five-part test, including reading, math, science, English and optional writing, which lasts about three hours, instead of sitting for all of them again. The change would allow students to avoid getting worse marks on sections they had taken earlier and students will get a new “superscore” that combines their highest scores on the subsections from each time they took the test.
There’s already discussion about whether this change eases students’ anxiety or further disadvantages students without access to extra test-prep resource/ coaching.
However, one thing is for sure—College Board, owner of SAT, the other dominant of this game, would have to come up with some similar changes in reaction to this new policy of ACT.
​Read the full news here.

(Updates on Nov. 27)
Starting from the test at September 2020, students who take the ACT at US test centers will be able to:

• Retake just one (or two or three) section(s) at a time after completing one full ACT.
• Directly submit their ACT superscore by choice to colleges and universities if they have taken the full ACT more than once or participated in section retests.
• Choose between online testing and traditional paper testing. If students choose online testing, they will get scores back in as soon as two days.
• Registration for ACT Section Retesting and online testing will be open approximately 1week after the July 2020 test date.

However, for students outside the US,

• Only superscores will be available to them, beginning in Sept. 2020.
• Section retesting will NOT be offered at international test centers in 2020 but ACT is evaluating the availability in the future.

For higher education institutions who determine and maintain their own admissions score policies, ACT will provide test results from an entire ACT test, along with the best scores. More info

Freshman or transfer? International students vs. California residents (in-state), vs. non-California residents (out-state)