SAT Optional Colleges

While The New York Times highlights the growing number of schools opting to make the SAT or ACT optional for applicants, the truth is that the vast majority of colleges and universities still require standardized test scores to gain letters of admission. And this is not changing any time soon. Interesting article nonetheless.

More: Students' Paths to Small Colleges Can Bypass the SAT, The New York Times

"...selective colleges seek quality, not quantity"

This is true. Too many parents, and by extension, their children, believe that high school students need to be "scheduled" in some sort of impressive activity during every waking hour. While it is not bad to be involved in multiple extracurriculars, it is bad if it's just for the sake of having more than the kid next to you. Colleges would rather students find one true passion and take it far instead of being a mediocre member of all 75 clubs offered at their high school.

Parents must remember to allow their teenagers to be teenagers. This means having a social life and not judging your child for taking some afternoons and evenings "off" to unwind or just relax.

More: Teen schedules should stress quality, not quantity; Classes, work, social life add to pressure, Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York)

Placing Rankings in Perspective

Great and simple advice from a director of college guidance in northeastern Pennsylvania. The best line comes at the end "A good search should begin within the student, who assesses what he or she needs and wants in a college. Then the student can compare his or her criteria to that employed by a specific rank and determine its relevance. This process, however, takes time."

More: College Countdown - School rankings may not match student’s need by Karen Mason, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader

Princeton Review on Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg News joins the growing number of news organizations heralding the arrival of this year's Princeton Review College Survey.

The Washington Times Highlights Princeton Review

With the release of The Princeton Review's The 361 Best Colleges 2007, The Washington Times' Jennifer Harper writes an article reminding students that it's not all about getting into the Ivy League. According to The Princeton Review, Rice University ranked the highest in "quality of life," while University of Texas edged out University of Wisconsin to take top party school, and the U.S. Air Force Academy ranked #1 for "professors who make themselves accessible."

As the school year begins, new rankings and college guides seem to come out everyday, and it's important to remember that each list and guide has unique criteria that may or may not jibe with every student's criteria for picking a school. Therefore, always take these guides and "best lists" as important points of reference, but not as "the end all be all" when determining the school that's right for you.

More: Collegiate ranking looks beyond books, The Washington Times

NBC's Today Show Goes Back To School

Elizabeth Wissner-Gross, author of What Colleges Don’t Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You to Know), was a guest on the Today Show on August 15. She answered questions from students and parents about college admissions, providing some good advice on how students should approach the process considering "how competitive the college admissions process has become..."

NBC's Back to School site includes many articles directly related to college admissions and the freshman experience. Some of the best are What Colleges Don't Tell You, which includes an excerpt from Wissner-Gross' book, How to Survive Getting Into College, in which former Ivy League admissions officer Rachel Korn gives tips to high school students applying to college, an informative article by Today Show contributor Dr. Ruth A. Peters on Getting your teen ready for college will help to get parents thinking, and Peters is at it again in How to prepare your child for freshman year. Finally, a must-read for students and parents: Kid college-bound? Teach him how to budget is a good reminder of how to get out of college with some money to spare.

More: "Today" Goes Back To School"

College 101

FoxNews.com has created an informative subsection of its news site called "College 101." It includes articles on everything from paying for college to dorm life. A particularly valuable article analyzes the growing debate in academia between the importance of a liberal arts education vs. professional training.

More: College 101 at FoxNews.com