Maplewood

College Board

College Board is the organization practically all students will go through for a college opportunity - among College Board's best-known programs are the SAT and the AP (Advanced Placement). College Board also provides a wealth of educational and financial aid information for college-bound students.

SAT Calendar 2010-2011 - Register on line for SAT and check the fees. updated!

Jumpstart Your College Planning - Tips and strategy for a successful college application.

Action Plan for High School Seniors; for Juniors.

Tests and More Tests

SAT Reasoning Test - The College Board implemented changes to SAT in 2005 to include a new writing skill section. The New SAT has been taken by high school Class of 2006 and beyond. Learn about the three SAT question types.

ACT - an alternative college entrance exam to the SAT accepted by many schools. The multiple-choice tests cover four skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. The Writing Test, which is optional, measures skill in planning and writing a short essay.

The College Board and ACT have completed a concordance study to examine the relationship between two scores on SAT and ACT. ACT also compares ACT Composite score to SAT CR+M+W score.

Kaplan and Princeton Review are well-known test prep service providers that offer tutoring both on the web and in classroom settings.

AP - AP programs allow high school students to take college-level courses and exams in various subjects and earn college credit or advanced placement.

TOEFL - Test of English as a Foreign Language
Resources for students, test takers and applicants.

ETS - TOEFL test practice on-line.

SSAT - Start your college planning early.


College and University Info

College and University Info - College Board code, general info and links, application deadlines, application requirements, "likefinder" and side-by-side comparisons.

US News & World Report Ranking - Probably the most widely-read annual rankings of the schools, by fields of study and more. Check out their College Forum  at their Education Forum home. (Factors considered in the US News rankings include reputation, selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources, and student retention. Read about the cautions and controversies on rankings from the U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign site. Also, Beyond Ranking, a May 2007 open letter from a group of college presidents commenting on the use and misuse of the US News rankings. ) updated!

Washington Monthly's College Guide ranks universities and liberal arts colleges based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country). new!

Forbes Magazine's America's Best Colleges is a mix of both natioinal research universities and liberal arts colleges based on students' rating on the quality of education, their campus experiences, and postgraduate success. updated!

Maplewood 250 - Maplewood's shortlist of over 250 selective schools including the top national universities, top liberal arts colleges, and the best-value schools from the US News rankings. new!

Maplewood 40 - Maplewood's listing of 40 most selective private colleges and large national universities

Listing of College and University Websites indexed by state and alphabetically, from U of Texas at Austin.

College Information at NewsDirectory - a fast directory of college web pages by state, also a directory of college newspapers to catch a glimpse of campus news and student lives at different schools. updated!

CollegeSource - Virtual library of college catalogs in searchable pdfs, profile sheets, website links, maps. Free trial available.

Peterson's - The Peterson's College Guide on-line, plus standardized test practice, essay help, and more.

Princeton Review's Best 361 College Rankings - 62 rankings lists based on student feedback in academics, diversity and demographics, quality of life, extracurricular, social and political life and other categories.

Colleges That Change Lives - 40 schools offering a familial community that gets students heavily involved in cooperative rather than competitive learning, and a commitment to undergraduate education that focuses on the liberal arts and sciences.

100 Best Values in Public Colleges - The best value-for-the-money listing from Kiplinger, based on a combination of academic quality factors and affordability. See also their listings of 50 Best Values in Private Universities and 50 Best Values in Liberal Arts Colleges. new!

The Nation's Top Liberal Arts Colleges - The core of liberal arts education and comparison to large public universities explained. From the The Annapolis Group, a nonprofit alliance of the nation’s leading independent liberal arts colleges (member listing).

The Benefits of a Liberal Arts Education - Why choose a liberal arts college to study? What is the meaning of a liberal arts educaton? What are the main benefits? Read the perspectives of an admission counselor from a US liberal arts college. new!

Effects of a liberal arts education on students' lives - a study by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College new!

Liberal Arts - The New Specialty - how the new specialty prepares a senior vice president and CFO for professional success. new!

Top undergraduate business programs from BusinessWeek. Also, the best B-Schools (MBA programs).

Accredited Colleges and Universities - Check for accreditation of your college choice at the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) database.

Campus Virtual Tours - Virtual tours could be the next best thing to an actual school visit, with links to maps, webcams, photos, videos, and college and university websites.

eCampusTours - 360° x 360° virtual college tours of college campuses. Multiple spots at each campus. Account registration required.

Unigo is an online student-generated college resource guide covering over 1,000 US colleges and universities. Current students in different schools share photos, videos, documents, and reviews of their school. High school students and parents use the site as a research tool to explore college options. new!


The Application Process

Common Application - Facilitates and simplifies the college application process for students seeking admission to their member institutions. Over 400 four-year, selective colleges and universities use the common application form. You can open an account at 2010-2011 Common App Online(available from August 2010) and look up the detailedapplication requirements and deadlines for different schools.updated!

From Princeton Review the test prep expert, which also hosts a College Discussion forum:

What Colleges Look for in an Applicant

Competition in the College Application Process - Myth vs. Fact

Honors Classes Do Help

What's Your Major?

Fishing for a major - Explore your options.

Ten questions to ask yourself as you explore majors - distinguish between those that sound mildly interesting and those that really seem right for you. Explore major profiles at College Board.

Your major = your career? - It's a good idea to give your potential career some thought at the college application stage. But don't be obsessed about a major that you think will lead to your career. Exploring careers.

Selling Your Liberal Arts Degree to Employers - Are liberal arts degrees of value to the employer?new!

The Essay Conundrum:

Top 15 Essay Tips from the essay readers at Carleton College.

The Good, the Bad, and the Risky - sound advice from a veteran admissions officer at University of Virginia. new!

Essay Tips from Davidson College.

Essay Edge - Essay service for hire on the web. The output may not be speaking your voice though.

Essay Samples and Sample Personal Statements.updated!

Confessions of a College Interviewer - insightful tips from a 20-year veteran college interviewer.

The Education Conservancy - reaffirming education values and principles amidst all the admissions process frenzy. College Unranked - "college choice and admission are a matter of fit, not of winning a prize." from a 20-year veteran college interviewer. updated!

College Financing


The Price Tag - How schools figures the Cost of Attendanceand other basic and useful info, though more relevant for US students.

Who Truly Needs Financial Aid? - Trends in scholarships and financial aid for college and the process of award decisions from US News & World Report - Education.

FinAid - a comprehensive financial aid resource portal with acollege cost projector calculator to estimate how much one of your most important life investments to make would cost.

The Financial Aid Podcast - an Internet radio station exploiting the new media to bring daily news and commentary on financial aid, scholarships, and more to your computer or iPod. Free subscription.

Financial Aid from US Dept of Education - US government loans, grants info for students who are US citizens.

US colleges offering financial aids for international students - listings by state, with links to schools and related sites.

Funding for US Study Online - an extensive database of scholarships, fellowships and grants for international students organized and maintained by the Institute of International Education (IIE), with listings by programs, areas of study, countries and regions, and locations in the US. (Program listings for Asia/East Asia Region; for Hong Kong.) new!

InternationalScholarships.Com - Free scholarships database for international students. Free membership.

International Students

Is the U.S. Right for You? - A checklist from Princeton Review, the test prep expert. Explains the "liberal arts philosophy" in the curriculumm of US undergraduate programs of study and more.IIE - Institute of International Education - The experienced US education exchange and training organization puts on an annual US Higher Education Fair in Asia (next Hong Kong Fair on October 16, 2010). updated! Publications include the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchangewith comprehensive statistics on the international students in the US and the on-line Survey Report on International Students and U.S. Study Abroad.

IIE Hong Kong; IIE China

Final Applications and Initial Offers of Admission - Findings from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) International Graduate Admissions Survey, August 2007. new!

EducationUSA - Supported by the US Department of State, this website of a global network of advising centers on education in the USA provides basic information, key terms and ideas on undergraduate studies, graduate studies,professional school and other educational opportunities for international students. (What's the Liberal Arts philosophy in US college education?)

The Nation's Top Liberal Arts Colleges - The core of liberal arts education and comparison to large public universities explained.

The Benefits of a Liberal Arts Education - Why choose a liberal arts college to study? Read the perspectives of an admission counselor from a US liberal arts college.

Useful Guides and Tools

Newsweek/Kaplan College Guide 2010 Edition. This annual college planning guide by Newsweek and Kaplan contains the latest profiles of America's 25 hottest colleges - termed the new Ivies. Plus practice for the new SAT, tips on researching and evaluating schools, winning the admissions game, campus visits, campus life. Comprehensive College Research Guide includes a detailed directory of schools featuring tuition, admissions requirements, campus demographics, and more. (It's fun just to go through the hottest college lists and see how they have changed from year to year, so we keep some of the links to the hottest college lists in previous years: 2007; 2006; 2005.)

Fiske Guide to Colleges 2011 by Edward Fiske updated! - The former education editor of the New York Times puts out an annual guide with basic statistical academic information and more personal descriptions of the campus cultures and personality of each school.

Boarding Schools

Boarding school at Hogwarts, anyone? - from The Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 2005.

Boarding School Finder - from TABS (The Association of Boarding Schools). Try their school browser and guided search. 

Boarding School Review - reviews by alumni, detailed school profiles based on school-supplied info, top school listings (not rankings) by acceptance rates, SAT scores, sizes, diversity, student attention, endowment, affordability, breadth of offering in activities, sports, academic courses.  

BoardingSchool Admission Application  - The "Common App" for boarding schools is used by over 200 schools. Application fee info available on list.   

SSAT Central - Peterson's mini-portal on preparing for the SSAT, with test dates, tips and strategies, study guides.

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)  

IB and AP program choices for high schools   

AP Program - With 35 courses in 20 subjects to choose from, you can demonstrate your maturity and readiness for college, and show a willingness to push yourself to the limit.  

International Baccalaureate Organisation and The Diploma Programme - 2-year pre-university program in which a student's performance is measured against well-defined levels of achievement in a rigorous curriculum.

A Passion for Learning - how the best American high schools - though not boarding schools - see what makes their school one of America's best high schools. new!