Whether you are thinking about applying to the Ivy-League Institutions or your local community colleges, college research is needed. Juniors, after they have taken all their finals and exams (hopefully, their first SAT by May), should begin looking into what types of colleges they are interested in applying to based on their current school records and grades. Knowing what colleges are best suited for them is the key step before applying.

Lee Academia consultants are here to help. We have done all the research for you and will continue to stay up to date with current trends and admissions that only a few are aware of.

With the March Madness, and seniors finding out their college acceptances or rejections this March and April, everyone becomes stressed and anxious, even the juniors who begin to think about colleges and their future. Do not listen to the myths and gossips out there. Speak to an expert who can guide you and help you narrow down your college options and find a best-fit college for you!

Early-Bird Registration for College Consultations begin this April 1st, 2014. After May 30, 2014, regular Registration begins. Consultations are year-round with College Packages for rising Juniors and Seniors beginning in July 2014 to the end of the academic year. Contact us for more information.

Lee Academia's Consultants present their simple 5 Step process.

For most people, the third Thursday of March is just another day. But for medical students, it’s Match Day, the day that determines not only where they will work after medical school, but what kind of doctors they will become.

Matching medical students to residency programs is a complicated system. Here, medical students rely on a computer algorithm to tell them where their first job will be. The result determines not only the type of training they receive, but their medical specialty, where they will live and even the fate of their relationships.

Every doctor remembers his or her Match Day. Good luck to the medical students on this Match Day! If you’re a doctor, please share the story of your Match Day experience.

Today, College Board announced a fundamental rethinking of the SAT, eliminating essays, ending the penalty for guessing wrong and cutting the obscure vocabulary words.

David Coleman, president of the College Board, criticized his own test, the SAT, and its main rival, the ACT, saying that both “have become disconnected from the work of our high schools.”

The SAT’s vocabulary words will be replaced by words that are common in college courses, such as “empirical” and “synthesis.” The math questions, now scattered widely across many topics, will focus more narrowly on linear equations, functions and proportional thinking. The use of a calculator will no longer be allowed on some of the math sections. The new exam will be available on paper and computer, and the scoring will revert to the old 1600 scale, with a top score of 800 on math and what will now be called “Evidence-Based Reading and Writing.” The optional essay will have a separate score.

The new SAT will be introduced in the spring of 2016.
Starting in the spring of 2016, some of the changes to the SAT will include:

• Instead of arcane “SAT words” (“depreciatory,” “membranous”), the vocabulary words on the new exam will be ones commonly used in college courses, such as “synthesis” and “empirical.”

• The essay, required since 2005, will become optional. Those who choose to write an essay will be asked to read a passage and analyze how its author used evidence, reasoning and stylistic elements to build an argument.

• The guessing penalty, in which points are deducted for incorrect answers, will be eliminated.

• The overall scoring will return to the old 1600 scales, based on a top score of 800 in reading and math. The essay will have a separate score.

• Math questions will focus on three areas: linear equations; complex equations or functions; and ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning. Calculators will be permitted on only part of the math section.

• Every exam will include, in the reading and writing section, source documents from a broad range of disciplines, including science and social studies, and on some questions, students will be asked to select the quote from the text that supports the answer they have chosen.

• Every exam will include a reading passage from either one of the nation’s “founding documents,” such as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, or from one of the important discussions of such texts, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

What are your thoughts about this new SAT in 2016? Feel free to share your thoughts and/or concerns.

The U.S. News & World Report surveyed more than 1,300 graduate schools and programs and ranked them according to their methodology.

They offered a sneak peak of the 2015 Best Graduate Schools rankings. Surveying 453 accredited master's programs in business, the U.S. News & World Report listed in alphabetical order the top 10 highest-ranked business schools:

Columbia University (NY)
Dartmouth College (Tuck) (NH)
Harvard University (MA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
New York University (Stern)
Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)
Stanford University (CA)
University of California—Berkeley (Haas)
University of Chicago (Booth)
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 

The actual ranking and score of these and other graduate schools – including those offering full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs – will be available March 11, 2014, on usnews.com. Use #BestGradSchools.

Lee Academia's professional experts can help you with your graduate/professional school journey. Contact us for more information.