In 1997, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 588 – also known as the Texas Top Ten Percent Law – guaranteeing automatic admission to all state-funded universities for Texas students in the top ten percent of their public high school class. This law was later amended to allow universities to cap their admissions to the Top Ten Percent students as 75% of their freshmen 'seats'. This has allowed University of Texas Austin campus to restrict … [Read more...]
UT Austin Changes Admissions Requirements
UT Austin announced changes to its admissions process and requirements for students in the class of 2019. These students can begin applying August 1, 2018 using the ApplyTexas application. Essay Requirements All freshman applicants will be required to submit one essay -- Topic A -- in ApplyTexas. Other long-form essays in ApplyTexas (B, C, D, S, etc.) will no longer be needed for freshman applicants to UT (but may be required for other Texas … [Read more...]
College Acceptances for Clients- Class of 2017
Yay! All of our college admissions decisions are in and all of our clients have selected their college for next school year. We assisted 27 current seniors, class of 2017, through the college admissions process, including 4 who were pro bono clients, mostly teenage moms. They received a total of 96 college acceptances, for a group of 23 students, that's an average of 4.2 each. Clients ranged from two college applications to 12! Some great … [Read more...]
How soon should we begin working with Brand College Consulting?
The earlier in the process, the better! The best, most helpful college planning starts before or during freshman or sophomore year of high school. This allows time to flesh out the student's ideal academic program, delineate interests and lay the foundation for a progression of directed summer and extracurricular activities. Many of the interesting and most helpful courses and electives have prerequisites that need to be taken by freshmen and … [Read more...]
How to Prepare for the ACT Test
The ACT is a national college admissions examination that consists of subject area tests in: English (grammar) Math Reading (passages and comprehension) Science (charts and graphs) The ACT Plus Writing includes the four subject area tests plus a 30-minute Writing Test. The ACT includes 215 multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete, including a short break (or just over four hours if … [Read more...]
50 Colleges That Create Futures
The college search is complicated and confusing. There are hundreds of ranking list, but many include student happiness as a factor. Parents and students want to know which colleges will actually prepare students for the real world, for employment, and which colleges go beyond the classroom. A new book by Princeton Review, Colleges That Create Futures: 50 Schools That Launch Careers By Going Beyond the Classroom is aiming to do just … [Read more...]
Turning the Tide- A Change in College Admissions?
Parents, teachers, college professionals, and students know the positive and negative effects of college admissions: from the joy of getting acceptances, to the intense pressure in applying, to the unending questions from well-meaning friends and family. Many professionals in the higher education field are also aware of the mental and emotional stress placed on students and the advantage of more affluent students from more well-resourced schools. … [Read more...]
Updates for the Common App
Good news from the Common App! Update #1-The system is no longer purging accounts. They used to only allow seniors to create an account after August 1st and then delete those accounts every summer. But NOW, junior students can create an account after Jan 1st, a full year before many college deadlines. NO, you shouldn't submit anything for the first six months, but it will let you poke around, add colleges of interest, see essay and writing … [Read more...]
3 Steps To Take Before the End of 2015 for FAFSA
Applying for financial aid will soon be less of a headache for college students and their families. Beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)—used to determine financial aid from the government as well as colleges—can be filed three months earlier, or as early as October 1, nearly a year before a student would start classes the following fall. This change in timing will allow completed tax … [Read more...]
Best Colleges for Engineering
Engineering is the application of science and math to solve problems. Engineers figure out how things work and find practical uses for scientific discoveries. Scientists and inventors often get the credit for innovations that advance the human condition, but it is engineers who are instrumental in making those innovations available to the world. Engineering is one of the cornerstones of STEM education, an interdisciplinary curriculum designed … [Read more...]
