Our Blog

September 4, 2015

Washington, DC— NPR’s Morning Edition spoke with Andrew Belasco about his research on test-optional admission policies as they examine why colleges choose to go test-optional. Hosted by Cory Turner, the...

September 3, 2015

Episode Description: In this College Transitions podcast, Andrew and Michael discuss the burgeoning test-optional movement and whether students should consider withholding their SAT and/or ACT scores when applying to test-optional...

September 2, 2015

Episode Description: In this College Transitions Podcast, Andrew Belasco sits down with Michael Trivette to discuss how AP exams factor into the college admissions process. Listeners will gain a...

September 1, 2015

As private college counselors, we are well-versed in the criticisms of school-based counseling.  Unavailable, inexperienced, misinformed—these are the words that some within our industry often use to describe the...

August 27, 2015

New York, NY— The Hechinger Report cites research by Andrew Belasco in an article titled, “The real reason that colleges go ‘test optional,'” and looks at some of the underlying...

August 10, 2015

One of the most memorable essays I ever read was written by a student we’ll call Sam, a rising high school senior from Massachusetts. He had written at least...

August 4, 2015

Jersey City, NJ— College Transitions was recently featured in Forbes on an article discussing who benefits from test-optional admission policies.  The author cites research by College Transitions CEO, Andrew Belasco,...

August 4, 2015

Washington, DC— College Transitions was featured in U.S. News & World Report in an article offering advice for how students can reduce the financial costs of a gap year....

August 3, 2015

UPDATE: We have recently updated this post/topic, and you can click here to read. In the early 1990s, the University of Pennsylvania was struggling to keep up with their...

July 28, 2015

Washington, DC— College Transitions was recently highlighted in The Washington Post after George Washington University joined a number of institutions who have since adopted test-optional admission policies. College Transitions...

July 24, 2015

A few weeks ago, I wandered across a blog post titled “How Understanding ‘Toy Story’ Can Get You into College.” As a lifelong Pixar fan, I was intrigued by...

July 15, 2015

Now that you understand what research has to say about the contextual and often-limited benefits of attending a highly-selective school, you may have opened your mind to a few...

June 18, 2015

For many students and their families, attending a liberal arts college sounds like an expensive proposition. After all, liberal arts schools are known for their small class size, available...

June 15, 2015

Boston, MA— The Boston Globe recently profiled Andrew Belasco’s research focusing on test-optional admission policies. Author Kevin Lewis writes: “IN RECENT YEARS, many selective liberal arts colleges have made standardized...

May 19, 2015

Pursuing your entire undergraduate degree abroad may sound like an extravagance reserved for the jet-setting upper-class, yet going to college in a foreign country can actually make excellent economic...

May 12, 2015

Welcome to the sixth installment of College Transitions’ “So you want to be a…” series. Designed to help career-minded high school students think intelligently about their postsecondary journeys, these...

May 1, 2015

We begin with an analogy. Three racehorses: Cream of the Crop, Above Average, and Run of the Mill are selected by three trainers of varying quality to prepare for...

April 24, 2015

Without a solid game plan, a college fair can easily become nothing more than a blur of smiles, handshakes, and the accumulation of enough glossy pamphlets to wallpaper your...

April 15, 2015

Welcome to the fifth installment of College Transitions’ “So you want to be a…” series. Designed to help career-minded high school students think intelligently about their postsecondary journeys, these...

April 7, 2015

An iconic year, even by the standards of its iconic decade, 1969 teems with momentous events in America’s cultural history: the moon landing, Woodstock, the Amazin’ Mets, and the...