Notes on learning well, teaching better, and lifelong study.
Most admissions officers say looking at applicants' social media is fair game, but fewer than a third say they've actually done it. Here's when it can matter, and why your group chats aren't as private as you think.
Read moreMichigan high school graduates with a 3.0 GPA are guaranteed admission to 11 of the state's 15 public universities. Here's which schools are included, which aren't, and the scholarship deadlines that come much sooner than you'd think.
Read moreOut-of-state tuition can cost two to five times the in-state rate, but it isn't always the price you have to pay. Neighboring-state deals, scholarship waivers, and regional exchanges can cut the bill by thousands of dollars a year.
Read moreStanford admits fewer than 4% of applicants. A tally of 136 self-reported 2026 decisions shows a big gap in perfect GPAs, an edge for students who started things, and a large advantage for early applicants.
Read moreOut-of-state tuition at public flagships ranges from $13,616 at South Dakota to $67,096 at Michigan. Here's where the bargains are and why the sticker price doesn't tell the whole story.
Read moreState data on fall 2024 freshmen shows Westlake, Allen, and Westwood sent the most students to UT Austin. But even at the top feeder schools, only a small share of graduates end up there.
Read moreInstead of quoting acceptance rates, this post counts how many students score 1500+ and how many seats the Top 20 schools actually have. The math is better than you'd think, but that doesn't mean any single school is likely.
Read moreEarly Decision II gives students a second binding round after December results. Deadlines range from January 1 to February 15, 2027, and the earliest ones leave very little time after an ED1 decision.
Read moreA tally of 447 self-reported 2026 Ivy League decisions points to a GPA plateau at 3.9, a big ACT 36 gap, research with real output, and no early-round advantage for unhooked applicants.
Read moreUCLA is test-blind, so grades and activities carry the whole application. A tally of 67 self-reported 2026 decisions shows a GPA gap, an edge for academic activities, and a boost for California residents.
Read moreThe U.S. math competition pathway runs from the AMC to the AIME to the USAMO, and each stage rewards a different skill. Here's how it works and what changes for 2027.
Read moreMost DECA events pair a multiple-choice exam with a live roleplay in front of a judge. Here's how the formats, levels, and preparation actually work.
Read moreWinning more scholarship money than you need can shrink your other aid, create a tax bill, or hurt next year's FAFSA. Here's how excess aid actually works.
Read moreClass of 2027 National Merit Semifinalist cutoffs run from 208 to 223 depending on the state. Here's how the program works and why the same PSAT score can mean different things.
Read moreNo core requirements sounds like no requirements at all. The real story is a different kind of structure, one that depends on eroding infrastructure.
Read moreThe College Board's other credit-by-exam program gets a fraction of AP's attention. Used for the right reason, it's actually the more useful of the two.
Read moreRereading notes feels like learning. Retrieving them from memory is what actually builds it. They are not the same activity.
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