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  • Applying Early

    Finally a student has cut down the list of schools and is considering applying early to get the ball rolling on his/her college plans. Typically, there are three ways that a student can apply early and some universities may offer more than one of the following options:

    • Early Action (EA), which allows a student to apply to more than one school early and gives him/her an early answer about his/her acceptance. EA applications shouldn’t be used liberally by applying this way to every school on a student’s list. Having the ability to submit multiple EAs doesn’t mean the student should feel free to overuse it.
    • Early Decision (ED), which also gives a student an early answer, but restricts him/her to applying ED to only one school and requires that the student will guarantee up front that (s)he’ll enroll if he/she is accepted. If the student is, that student must withdraw his/her applications to any other colleges. He/she is committed to the school and can’t apply anywhere else, even during the regular admission season.
    • Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) or Restrictive Early Action (REA) is the newest option, which limits a student to applying early to only one school to get an answer in advance about acceptance. It’s not binding, but restricts the student from applying anywhere else under an EA or ED application. The student can apply elsewhere during regular admission and does not have to make a decision to enroll until the school’s regular deadline.

  • SAT (1)

    SAT Exam

    Because almost every college and university in the United States accepts the SAT exam as part of the admissions and placement process, more than two million students take the test every year. The SAT exam is divided into the SAT Reasoning Test and the SAT Subject Tests.

    The SAT Reasoning Test assesses a student’s critical thinking, analyzing, and problem-solving skills, all of which are necessary to succeed in higher education. This test is divided into three categories: Writing, Critical Reading, and Mathematics. The Critical Reading section is further broken down into three sections, two of which are 25 minutes and one of which is 20 minutes. The Mathematics section is broken down in a similar fashion as the Critical Reading Section, with two 25 minutes sections and on 20 minute section. Time allotted for the Writing section is 60 minutes: 35 minutes for multiple choice questions and 25 minutes for students to write an essay. All of the sections are scored from 200 to 800 points. The SAT exam is administered seven times a year in the United States, U.S. Territories, and Puerto Rico. It is also administered six times a year in other countries.

    The SAT Subject Tests assess a student’s knowledge, as well as his or her ability to apply that knowledge, in specific subject areas. There are currently twenty subject tests, all of which fall under the general subjects of English, history, math, science, and languages. The tests assess how well a student has mastered a subject, but the content of the exams is not based on any specific curriculum or textbook. Colleges and universities use these exams in the admissions process, as well as to advise students and for placement purposes. Some schools require specific exams while others will allow the student to choose the subject tests he or she wishes to take. All of the SAT Subject Tests are 60 minutes and are comprised of multiple choice questions. It is recommended that students take the exams at the end of their junior year or the beginning of their senior year, or as soon as the student has completed the high school class related to the subject test (for example, Physics or World History).

    Students may register for the SAT exam online or via mail. Tests are administered on Saturdays; if a student cannot take the exam on a Saturday because of religious observance, he or she can take the exam on a Sunday. Students who are registering to take the exam on a Sunday for the first time, are younger than thirteen, are requesting to test closer to home (because the nearest testing site is at least 75 miles away), or plan to test in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, or Togo, must register with a paper application via mail. There is a fee of $41.50 to take the SAT Reasoning Test, which includes up to four score reports sent to colleges and universities. For the Subject Tests, there is a basic fee of $18.00, a fee of $8.00 for each additional exam, and an additional $19.00 for Language Tests with Listening.

  • Popular Universities

    Which university is the most popular one?
    Of course, Harvard University tops the list. You may believe Stanford to be the second, but you are wrong. You will be surprised that Brigham Young University-Provo ranked second.

    Recently U.S. News and World Report ranked colleges by the percentage of students accepted who actually wind up attending. In college terms, it is known as the “yield.” 79 percent of the students selected by Harvard enroll at the Massachusetts school. That is why Harvard ranked the first. Brigham Young University-Provo has 77% yield, ranked the second for the yield even though the school only ranked 113th by traditional method. University of Nebraska-Lincoln is third, with a yield of 71 percent even though it is ranked 89th by traditional method. Stanford University only comes in fourth, with a yield of 70 percent, of course Stanford ranked 4th by traditional method. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University tied for fifth, each with a yield of 69 percent.

    U.S. News_Rank Acceptance_Rate Yield
    Harvard University (MA) 1 9% 79%
    Brigham Young University–Provo (UT) 113 74% 77%
    University of Nebraska–Lincoln 89 62% 71%
    Stanford University (CA) 4 10% 70%
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4 12% 69%
    Yale University (CT) 3 10% 69%
    Princeton University (NJ) 2 10% 68%
    University of Pennsylvania 6 16% 66%
    Yeshiva University (NY) 50 69% 65%
    University of Florida 49 42% 63%
    Columbia University (NY) 8 11% 59%
    Brown University (RI) 16 14% 56%
    Texas A&M University–College Station 64 76% 56%
    University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill 30 35% 56%
    University of Notre Dame (IN) 18 24% 56%
    Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge 130 73% 55%
    University of Texas–Austin 47 51% 54%
    Dartmouth College (NH) 11 15% 52%
    University of Virginia 23 35% 52%
    University of Georgia 58 54% 51%
    Kansas State University 130 95% 50%
    University of Alabama 83 64% 50%
    University of Oklahoma 108 89% 50%
    North Carolina State University–Raleigh 83 60% 49%
    Ohio State University–Columbus 56 59% 49%
    University of Missouri–Columbia 96 86% 48%
    University of Tennessee 108 71% 48%
    Cornell University (NY) 14 21% 47%
    Georgetown University (DC) 23 21% 47%
    University of Kentucky 116 77% 47%

    So why Brigham Young University has high yield? BYU accepted 74% of the 10,010 people who applied for admission in the summer term and fall semester of 2007. The majority of students at Brigham Young University have traveled the world to preach the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the founders of Brigham Young University. It is the oldest existing institution within the LDS Church Educational System, is America’s largest religious university, and has the second-largest private university enrollment in the United States. Approximately 98% of the 34,000 students at BYU are LDS; two-thirds of its American students come from outside the state of Utah. The university’s primary focus is on undergraduate education. About 70% of student tuition is funded by LDS Church tithing funds, making tuition relatively less expensive than at similar private universities. It is the money! This explains the yield score.

    For BYU, the average ACT score and GPA for these admitted students was 27.9 and 3.78, respectively. Students from every state in the U.S. and from many foreign countries attend BYU. In the 2005-6 academic year, there were 2,396 foreign students, or 8% of enrollment. Slightly more than 98% of these students are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2006, 12.6% of the student body represented ethnic minorities, mostly Asian/Pacific islanders and Hispanics.

    BYU received other reviews. Princeton Review has ranked BYU the best value for college in 2007, and its library is consistently ranked in the nation’s top ten–#1 in 2004 and #4 in 2007. BYU is also ranked #19 in the U.S. News and World Report’s “Great Schools, Great Prices” lineup, and #12 in lowest student-incurred debt. Due in part to the school’s emphasis on undergraduate research, BYU is ranked #8 nationally for the number of students who go on to earn PhDs, #1 nationally for students who go on to dental school, #6 nationally for students who go on to law school, and #10 nationally for students who go on to medical school. BYU is designated as a Carnegie research university with high research activity, one of the highest classifications by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

  • 2008 College Acceptance Rates

    These are 20 universities with low acceptance rates for 2008. Some of these are record rates such as Harvard’s 7.1%.

    Harvard University – 7.1%
    Yale University – 8.3%
    Princeton University – 9.5%
    Stanford University – 9.5%
    Columbia University – 10%
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 12%
    Dartmouth University – 13.2%
    Brown University – 13.3%
    Washington and Lee – 15%
    Swarthmore University – 15%
    University of Pennsylvania – 16.4%
    Bowdoin University – 18%
    Georgetown University – 18%
    Duke University – 19%
    University of Southern California – 21%
    University of California, Berkeley – 21.5%
    University of California, Los Angeles – 22.1%
    Cornell University – 22.9%
    Vanderbilt University – 23.1%
    New York University – 24%

  • UC Schools New Ethnic Acceptance Plan

    Recently announced by Mercury News, UC Schools will now be accepting a lower percentage of asian and oriental heritage. In addition to this, UC schools have agreed to accept more African Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians. This is because students with asian background are taking up a larger majority of the UC universities every year. California wants its colleges to be more diverse and therefore implementing this plan. UC has also agreed to eliminate SAT subject tests as a requirement and to consider “lower-ranking” students more.

  • Welcome!

    Welcome to IQx.com where we supply an abundance of information online about colleges and universities around the world. Varying from Harvard to Oxford to Tokyo, we are sure to provide the resources. Below, we discuss up to date news on different colleges. On the right, we supply pages upon pages of information about the hundreds of unique universities. Be sure to visit the IQx forum for a college based community! Have a look around, and don’t hesitate to return to IQx.com.