College Prep Tips & Resources for Every Grade

If you’re planning to apply to Rice University, you can request to be interviewed as part of the admissions process. While Rice University interviews are optional and not guaranteed, they provide a unique opportunity for you to learn more about the campus experience, showcase your knowledge of Rice, and highlight your life experiences and accomplishments. If you don’t have an interview, it won’t hurt your chances of gaining admission. However, participating in an interview can give you a competitive edge, since your interviewer submits a report to the admissions committee.  

As students prepare to head back to school, many are examining their class schedule, gauging how difficult the next academic year will be and how they will achieve their grade goals. But it’s not just grades that colleges consider when evaluating applicants for admission. Colleges are also looking at the classes applicants are taking, how challenging they are, and how those courses align with students’ interests and academic goals.

When most people think of college students, the image of young adults — recent high school grads — engaging in all aspects of campus life may come to mind. However, a growing number of college students are older. Known as adult learners or nontraditional students, they don’t fit the mold of the conventional college student. In fact, 37% of college students are 25 and older, according to recent data from the Lumina Foundation. Adult students face many challenges when they go back to school, but they also have many advantages.

Founded in 1873, Vanderbilt University is a private research institution known globally for its strong academic programs and research opportunities. This close-knit campus community is located in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee, and offers a college experience unlike anything else. While not an Ivy League school, Vanderbilt is known as a “Southern Ivy” because of its highly selective admissions process and stellar academic reputation.

Students who are starting to research undergraduate programs can easily be overwhelmed by information. It’s not just a matter of which schools to apply to, but which type. Different types of colleges and universities offer different campus environments, class sizes, and program offerings, among other things. 

Let’s examine the different types of U.S. colleges you may come across. 

While the application process may seem intimidating at first, every student’s college admissions journey is an opportunity to discover more about themselves and their academic goals. With the right strategy, all students will be able to identify their own best-fit schools and showcase why they deserve a spot on campus. 

If you’ve been paying attention to education or technology news lately, you’ve likely heard a lot about ChatGPT, the new tool from OpenAI that generates astonishingly human-like text based on prompts and questions submitted by the user. We have been getting a lot of questions about this tool and how it should or should not be used in the college application process. Because this is a new advancement and I am far from a technological expert, I thought it would be best to pose these questions to the tool itself.

The college process can feel overwhelming, especially when students get a late start. From compiling a best-fit list to writing essays, there are many steps in the college application process. Consequently, we always encourage students to start early and build executive functioning skills that will serve them throughout college and beyond. While high school is undoubtedly a crucial time, there are several steps students and families can take to start preparing long before ninth grade.

Taking AP or IB courses doesn’t just look good from a college admissions perspective—these classes can also translate into college credit once a student enrolls. While policies vary by college, many universities will grant college credits that go towards specific course requirements, in turn allowing students to free up some room in their schedules. Even if AP and IB courses are only applied towards a student’s overall credit count, completing advanced classes is a great way to get a jump start on college.

In eighth grade, my English teacher Mrs. Houlihan told me that I was the only student in my class who knew how and when to use a comma. That feedback stuck with me, not just because it made me feel like the greatest student of all time (which, let’s be honest, I totally was), but because it made me realize the awesome power of the comma. For such a tiny piece of punctuation, the comma packs a mighty punch, in that using it correctly or incorrectly is one of the most glaring signs that a writer either does or does not know what they’re doing.