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What are AP Tests and should I take them?
Should I take AP Tests

At Ivy Central, students often ask us: Are AP Tests necessary? How many should I take? Do colleges care which ones I choose? This blog addresses those questions and helps you decide whether Advanced Placement (AP) exams should be part of your college application strategy.

What Are AP Tests?

Advanced Placement (AP) Tests are standardized exams offered by the College Board, typically taken in May at the end of a year-long AP course. (The exams happen once a year in May.) These courses are designed to mirror introductory college-level classes and are available in many U.S. high schools and international schools. Students can also opt to self-study or take online AP courses through platforms like Pearson or Johns Hopkins CTY.

Exam Format:
- Most AP tests include multiple-choice and free-response sections.
- Language exams include a speaking component.
- Music Theory includes sight-singing.
- Studio Art involves portfolio submissions.
- Exams are scored from 1 to 5, with:
  
  5 = Extremely well qualified
  
  4 = Very well qualified
  
  3 = Qualified
  
  2 = Possibly qualified
  
  1 = No recommendation
As of recent updates, the College Board now uses Evidence-Based Standard Setting (EBSS) to determine scoring thresholds, which has led to higher pass rates in some subjects.

Digital AP Testing: What’s Changing in 2025?

Starting May 2025, AP exams are moving toward digital testing using the College Board’s Bluebook app.
- Fully Digital (No Paper Option): Humanities and Computer Science exams, including AP English Language, U.S. History, and Computer Science Principles.
- Hybrid Format: Math and science exams like AP Biology, Calculus, and Physics will deliver questions digitally, but require hand-written responses for problem-solving sections.
This shift to digital AP exams aims to enhance the overall testing experience in several key ways. First, it improves exam security by reducing the risk of lost papers and unauthorized access to exam content. Additionally, digital testing simplifies the administrative process for schools and test centers, streamlining setup, distribution, and scoring. Most importantly, it helps reduce opportunities for cheating by incorporating more secure and standardized digital environments, ensuring a fairer testing experience for all students. Score Setting and Scoring – AP Central | College Board

What Subjects Can I Take?

The College Board offers over 30 AP subjects across STEM, humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Popular and widely available choices include:
- Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Physics 1, 2, and C
- Math: Calculus AB & BC, Statistics
- Social Studies: U.S. History, World History, Psychology, Government
- Languages & Arts: Spanish, French, Music Theory, Studio Art
Updated Physics Curriculum: For the May 2025 AP exams, the AP Physics curriculum has been updated to align more closely with college-level coursework, emphasizing clearer expectations for essential content and skills. The revisions include:
- AP Physics 1: A new Fluids unit has been introduced, expanding the course to eight total units.
- AP Physics 2: The former Waves and Optics unit has been divided into two distinct units: Geometric Optics and Waves, Sound, and Physical Optics.
- AP Physics C (Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism): Both courses feature updated structures, with changes to the number and format of multiple-choice and free-response questions, along with a longer exam duration.
How APs Help Your Application:
1. Demonstrate Rigor: APs show that you can handle college-level material, especially if your school’s curriculum isn’t the most challenging.
2. Showcase Academic Interests: Taking APs in subjects not offered at school signals intellectual curiosity and initiative.
3. Compensate for Discontinued SAT Subject Tests: Since 2021, APs are one of the best ways to demonstrate subject mastery.
Additional Benefits of Taking AP Exams

1. Earn College Credit or Skip Intro Courses

Scoring a 3 or above may allow you to skip general education courses in college, freeing time for advanced classes or electives—and in some cases, enabling early graduation.

2. Strengthen Merit Scholarship Applications

Some colleges factor AP performance into merit-based scholarship decisions. Taking APs can make you a more competitive candidate for financial aid.

When Not to Take APs

While APs are valuable, they are not for everyone. Consider skipping or delaying APs if:
- Your school grades are struggling: Focus on improving GPA, which is often more critical.
- Your extracurriculars are weak: Top colleges look for both academic strength and personal achievements.
- You are already overwhelmed, and AP prep would compromise balance and well-being.
Remember: Quality matters more than quantity. One well-prepared AP score is better than several poorly handled ones.

Should You Take APs?

Here’s a quick checklist to help you decide:
- Are you academically strong and looking to challenge yourself?
- Do you want to demonstrate subject expertise not reflected in your school curriculum?
- Are you aiming for top-tier colleges or merit scholarships?
- Do you have the time to prepare without compromising your GPA or well-being?
If you answered yes to most of these, AP exams may be a great addition to your college application strategy.

Final Thoughts

AP exams can significantly enhance your academic profile when used strategically. But they are just one part of a broader application narrative that includes GPA, extracurriculars, essays, recommendations, and standardized test scores (if required).

If you’re unsure which APs to take or how they fit into your academic goals, reach out to Ivy Central. We’re here to help you build the right strategy for success.

Here at Ivy Central, we get lots of questions about AP Tests, whether they are needed or useful in the US college application process, how many you should do, and are some subjects are more valuable than others. This article will help you answer these and other questions about AP Tests.
October 13, 2022
Understanding College Rankings

September is college rankings season. Across the world, websites and newspapers publish stories about the rankings of colleges and universities; some focus on specific countries like the US and UK, while others claim to tell you which are the ‘best’ in the world.

While there are many other factors that students should use when making final admission decisions, college ranking lists are a resource that applicants should use, so in this blog, I’m going to help you understand college rankings.

What are rankings?

College rankings have been around for many years. Offering a list of colleges, ordered by numerical scores, they have become an essential part of the annual education cycle, with the US News, Times Higher Education, Forbes, and Shanghai rankings all being published in September each year. On the face of it, the rankings offer an easy way to compare one college against another, but this is different. Each compiler will use vastly different criteria when determining the status of institutions. The more prestigious lists seek to base their results on objective, statistical information, but many lists use more subjective assessments, such as students’ views. To make the most of the information that ranking lists contain is vital to understand what is being measured.

How college rankings are compiled

If you look at the three college rankings mentioned above, one thing is very apparent; there is little agreement across the rankings about which is the ’best’ college or university; while both US News has Princeton topping their list of national colleges, Shanghai has Harvard topping while the Times Higher Education ranking names Oxford University as its’ top institution in the world. So how is it that different rankings can come up with different results? Well, it’s all down to what was mentioned earlier, different rankings use different criteria to calculate their lists.

Let’s compare what US News and Times Higher Education consider when they assess institutions. Both ranking methodologies use quantitative and qualitative data to base their results on, but what they look at is quite different. The top two factors for US News are Graduation and Retention Rates and the subjective assessment by peers and counselors, each of which constitutes 22.5% of the total ranking score. The Times Higher Education methodology is a little more complex; it has three top factors, Teaching, Citations, and Research, each of which counts 30% towards the overall ranking. The teaching element includes a reputation survey to measure the “perceived prestige of institutions in teaching” and the student-teacher ratio at the school. The research consists of a study to judge the “university’s reputation for research excellence among its peers” and a measure of income the school makes related to its research. Finally, the citations element of the methodology seeks to assess the institution’s role in spreading new knowledge by capturing the number of times the universities published research cited by scholars.

The difference between the two methodologies becomes starker when you look at the other factors being considered. US News includes elements such as student selectivity (12.5%) and alumni giving (5%), which are significant factors for US colleges but have less relevance for other parts of the world where less store is placed on such measures. Using reputational rankings can become a circular discussion: a strong reputation leads to a strong reputation. This benefits well-known universities but fails to reflect the benefits of teaching and learning, research, community engagement, or any other academic activity.

The Forbes rankings are different again. Unlike the other three, the Forbes rankings only cover universities and colleges in the US. It places the highest weight on alumni salary, with slightly less importance given to debt load, graduation rate, return on investment, and the leadership and entrepreneurial success of graduates. Having the focus on salary debt load and return on investment results in colleges that charge less but achieve good outcomes for students appearing higher up the ranking links. While MIT tops the Forbes list, in third place is the University of California Berkeley, while UCLA and UC San Diego also appear in the top 20. In the US News rankings, Berkeley only makes 20th place.

Given that each ranking will be looking at different things and placing a different emphasis on them, it is common that they come up with different results, so it is wise to understand which ranking best aligns with individual student priorities.

Final Thoughts

College rankings can be a handy tool for students, especially as they begin their explorations of colleges. Alongside the numbered list, they usually have helpful overviews of the different institutions. It can be unhelpful to put too much emphasis on rankings. However, other factors such as size, location, and what the program includes should also be key when deciding which colleges to apply to.

September 29, 2022
Still Writing Your Common App Essay? 5 Tips to Help You

With the submission deadline for applying in the early round of US college applications rapidly approaching, you will hopefully be well on the way to finishing your personal essay. However, if you are struggling, this article will hopefully help as I share five tips from college admission professionals that can help you create a winning essay.

For many students, writing a solid personal essay is the most challenging part of the application; its test comes because what is required is significantly different from the types of essays most students have been writing during their schooling. While it may be challenging, you must spend the time to create as powerful an essay as possible; this is the one opportunity you have to help the admissions teams get to ‘meet you’ and understand something about the individual behind the grades and scores.

1. First impressions count

Any student attending college should expect to do a great deal of writing, irrespective of their major. So, the first thing somebody reading your supplemental college essay will ask is, ‘Can this person write?’

When you read your essay, is it well put together? A strong essay will nearly always have a strong theme or story that runs through it from beginning to end, with clear transitions from one paragraph to the next. Write using an active voice rather than the passive one generally expected for an academic essay; try to engage your reader from the very start so that you can be seen through your words. You should always ask people who know you well to read your essay; if they say that they can hear your voice as they read it, then you are probably a winner!

Finally, grammar and spelling count; make sure you go through what you have written and check it with a good spelling and grammar checker. Again, make sure you are using American spellings.

2. You are the story

The college admissions team is reading your essay because they want to find out about you, so make sure that what you are writing about is you. It seems an obvious thing to say, but you would be surprised how often students write essays where they talk about their parents, grandparents, or teachers who have helped shape them into the person they are now. Unfortunately, this sort of supplemental essay rarely comes across well as you will inevitably spend much of your limited word count talking about what makes that person special rather than what makes you special, how you live your life as an individual, in the spirit of the person.

To create a strong impression on the admissions officer, you want them to feel that they know what makes you who you are, your motivations, and your passions.

3. Reflections

Creating the strong impression I just mentioned requires you to reflect on who you are and how you became that person. This is something that many students find difficult, but without sharing that knowledge in your essay, you risk it will come across as shallow or, worse still, clichéd! On the other hand, sharing your reflections can add depth and character, making even an everyday experience, such as waiting for the school bus, into a profoundly revealing portrait of you and your life.

4. Add value

When talking about their work, top college and university admissions officers will speak about ‘crafting a community.’ What they mean by this is that they are not just trying to fill the number of places available; instead, they are looking for people who will contribute to the campus experience. So in your personal essay, try to focus on your genuine strengths, using anecdotes that will best portray them.

5. Be consistent

Be clear about what impression you want to create in the minds of the people who will read your application. Having done that, ensure your application, including your essay, aligns with that picture. For example, suppose you want your essay to portray you as a passionate biology researcher. In that case, you don’t want your activities to reflect a person who loves to spend their time deep into self-published online stories. If your essay does not resonate with the rest of your application, you need to take a step back and consider how you can make the whole application reflect who you are. Ivy Central always here to help you.

Good luck!

September 8, 2022
Five Top Tips for Making the Most of Grade 9

Five Top Tips for Making the Most of Grade 9

The move to Grade 9 can feel somewhat overwhelming, but it is also the start of a new chapter in a student’s life. Many think that learning has more of a point as thoughts start to move toward what comes after school. This makes Grade 9 a critical transition point for students; it allows them to explore options without worrying about standardized tests or researching colleges. Grade 9 is also the time to put in place good study practices, ones that will take you through the remainder of your education. In this blog, I will share five top tips to help you make Grade 9 the best yet.

Tip 1: Build good relations with teachers.

Teachers are essential to any pupil’s future; they will grade the work done, including the final grades awarded at the end of their course in Grade 10 and maybe beyond. Your son or daughter might also want to ask them for academic references for summer programs and possibly when they apply to college, so forming a good relationship with them in Grade 9 is a good start.

Read More: Types of Colleges

A starting point for this should be encouraging your son or daughter to participate in class actively. Being actively engaged in the lesson will help your child remember what they are being taught, but it will also show the teacher that they are eager, which will help boost their academic reputation. Most grades have some element of subjectivity, so your teacher’s perception of a pupil can influence the grades they award. A teacher is more likely to give the benefit of the doubt to a child they know to be an engaged student who positively contributes to their lessons.

If your child is interested in a particular subject, encourage them to talk about it. For example, perhaps your son or daughter has watched a documentary or read a book related to the topic; talking to the teacher shows them that the pupil is exploring the subject beyond the curriculum and may also prompt them to suggest other material they can explore.

Teachers are busy people, but if a pupil approaches them in the right way, they will often make themselves available to help with any questions pupils might have about their studies or assignments.

Lessons often build on previous material, so if a student needs help understanding a concept, you should encourage them to address the problem with their teacher as soon as possible to avoid getting completely lost and falling behind. If they are not achieving the grades they want, try reaching out to ask your teacher what your son or daughter can do to improve. Are there particular topics they need to improve or are there additional resources that can help?

Tip 2: Good study skills

Sometimes pupils think that studying is something that should naturally happen, so helping them to understand that it is a skill that can be practiced and improved is an essential part of assisting them in making an excellent start to Grade 9.

First, ensure they have a good area to study at home. Having a place where they can sit and concentrate while doing homework is important. Encourage them to keep it tidy while making sure they have all the stationery and equipment they need to work effectively.

One of the study habits that many students struggle with is avoiding distractions. So set some ground rules about not having mobiles in the same room while working, and teach them how to stop notifications appearing on their screens whenever somebody sends a chat message. As I have already said, many young people struggle to let go of their grip on social media, even for a short time, so also make sure that they can catch up once their work is finished.

Another habit that pupils need to develop is planning, so buy them a good daily planner to record test dates, assignment due dates, study times, and fun activities like meeting with friends or an important match on television.

Taking good notes is vital for helping your son or daughter learn more effectively. Teachers have different teaching styles, so help your child experiment with different styles to find what works best for them. Louisa, at LP Tutoring, has some great suggestions about different types of note-taking on her website.

Tip 3: Evaluate Progress

Keeping abreast of how your son or daughter is getting on in school is the best way of picking up on any issues early.

Make sure you ask about school, encouraging them to share the academic aspects of their school life and the social and extracurricular side. We all know that asking a teenager how school was, is likely to result in a very non-committal answer, so try to use open questions such as ‘What was good about school today?’ In addition to talking about school also help them to evaluate and improve their study skills.

There are more formal ways to evaluate your son or daughter’s progress through reports, grades, and exams. Keep an eye open for slipping grades or notes of concern from teachers. It is usual for grades to dip during the first half of Grade 9 as students adjust to new expectations and subjects. Our experience is that grades usually go back to a more usual level before the end of the grade. If you are concerned, talk to teachers to help you understand what support or resources might help your child improve their performance.

Tip 4: Try new things

Grade 9 provides an excellent opportunity for pupils to explore, extend and deepen their career, academic and extracurricular interests. Encourage your son or daughter to sign up for extracurricular activities and clubs linked to areas they are interested in but also new to them. In doing so, you will be helping them to push their boundaries and experience things that would otherwise pass them by.

Taking part in new things is not just about the knowledge or experience they gain; it also helps them develop the soft skills and self-confidence that will help carry them into adulthood.

Tip 5: Let them fail

My final tip for parents of students going into Grade 9 is for you to take a step back so that your sons and daughters can move forward themselves. As a parent, I know how difficult it can be to watch your child face the risk of failing, but it is probably the quickest way of helping them grow.

A lot has been written and said about failure, and It’s probably a blog in itself. Helping young people to understand that it is normal to be fearful of failure but never letting failure stop them from chasing their dreams is an important lesson. In addition, those with tremendous success understand that failure is simply one of the many stepping stones to success.

Working with study abroad consultants, overseas education consultants, or, as more commonly known, college counselors, can help you plan ahead and make those high school years count. Ivy Central offers exceptional focus to help you prepare for women college admissions throughout the high-schooling years. Start today!

September 1, 2022
U.S. Colleges Interviewing this Fall
College Interviews for Admission

Giving a solid college interview can help sway the decision in your favor. If you haven’t already identified those colleges on your list that are interviewing this fall, now would be a good time to do that.

Colleges either offer informative or evaluative interviews. The former means that colleges want to get to know you more and offer you the chance to get to know them more. However, ‘evaluative’ interviews mean that your performance during the interview will affect your admission decision. Also, while most colleges offer an interview, you will be given the option to choose between an in-person interview and a virtual one. However, there may be a couple of those that would only invite students for an on-campus or in-person interview.

Moreover, while some colleges offer an open interview schedule that gives you plenty of options, others will only provide an interview once you have submitted your application to them. Therefore, if you are certainly applying for an Early Action or Early Decision, ensure that you have appeared for the college interviews before your application in case they allow it. This will help them view all parts of the application together, including your interview performance.

I am sharing below a list of some of the top-tier colleges that will be interviewing this fall –

BABSON COLLEGE

BATES COLLEGE

BOSTON COLLEGE

BOWDOIN COLLEGE

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

CARLETON COLLEGE

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY

CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE

COLGATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY

COLORADO COLLEGE

CONNECTICUT COLLEGE

DENISON UNIVERSITY

DICKINSON COLLEGE

EMORY UNIVERSITY

FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

HAMILTON COLLEGE

HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE

HAVERFORD COLLEGE

KENYON COLLEGE

LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

MIT

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

OBERLIN COLLEGE

OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

PITZER COLLEGE

POMONA COLLEGE

SCRIPPS COLLEGE

SKIDMORE COLLEGE

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

TUFTS UNIVERSITY

TULANE UNIVERSITY

UNION COLLEGE

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

VASSAR COLLEGE

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS

WHITMAN COLLEGE

I wish you luck with your interviews!

Working with study abroad consultants, overseas education consultants, or, as more commonly known, college counselors, can help you plan and ace those interviews. Ivy Central offers exceptional focus to help you prepare for and demonstrate to college admissions throughout the high school years. Start today!
August 30, 2022
Guide To Becoming a Lawyer in The US Part 1.
Becoming a Lawyer in the U.S.

Through my discussions with students working with Ivy Central, I have noticed an increase in students expressing an interest in a career in law; with that in mind, in this article and the next, I will show you how to become a lawyer.

This guide focuses on the US, and in my next article, I will look at the UK. The routes to qualification are very different in each country, so the first question you should ask yourself is, ‘Where do you see yourself working?’ If your answer is the US or the UK, then you should follow the route for that country. However, if you want to practice in a different country, research the requirements for where you want to live. Many countries will have ways in which somebody with a qualification from another country can ‘convert’ their qualification to enable them to practice in that country, but this is not always straightforward. As a general rule of thumb, people who have qualified in the UK find it easier to convert to working in another country than those whose qualification was awarded in the US.

The legal profession in the US and the UK is regulated, meaning you must meet certain professional standards to practice. Once you have met these standards, the legal profession offers many career options to suit nearly all interests. No matter what area of law you would like to end up working in eventually, all people aspiring to a legal career start the same way. Irrespective of where you intend to work and which area of the legal profession you plan to work in, the path to becoming qualified can be challenging and lengthy.

The United States is the most popular destination for Ivy Central students wanting to train for the legal profession, so I will start by taking you through the different steps required to qualify there.

Top Summer Program: National History Academy | Ivy Central

Complete an undergraduate degree.

In the US, a degree requires at least four years to complete to get the right job. The first two years provide an opportunity to try out different areas of interest but will normally have some common thread running through them. As you approach the end of your second year, you will need to ‘declare a Major.’ This is where you state the area of study that you will concentrate on during your final two years and will be the subject you will do your final work. Although your major will be the focus of your work, there is still plenty of time to study other areas, do internships, etc.

If you want to be a lawyer in the future, there is no set major that is required, but there are several considerations that you should be aware of.
- Consider a course that will develop your critical reasoning and attention to detail. These are critical skills for lawyers; fields such as Classics, Linguistics, and Mathematics, demand more critical reasoning and attention to detail than others. Additionally, all liberal arts curricula or extracurricular spike are designed to foster these traits. Gravitate towards schools and programs that prioritize these skills.
- Choose a writing-heavy major. As a law student, you will spend a lot of time writing papers and taking long legal exams. Doing a major that will build your writing skills and stamina through frequent assessment will help you prepare for this.
- Choose the right college. Your choice of college can greatly impact your chances of being accepted by a law school, but it is not just about the prestige of a particular college. Your college Grade Point Average (GPA) will be one aspect that law schools will look at; another will be letters of recommendation from your professors, so a college that offers a rigorous academic program and small class sizes is likely to be a better option than some of the very large state universities.
- Look for colleges that offer ‘Pre-law advising.’ As a prospective law student attending a college that offers this will help give you the context and support, you need when it comes time to apply to law schools.
Some people refer to doing a “Pre-law track’ as an undergraduate. However, there is no such thing, and unlike medicine, there are no prerequisite courses you must take to be considered for law school. You should choose an academic subject to major in; Political Science is the most popular major among those going into law school, but other options, including Psychology, History, and English, are also popular. The one possible exception is Patent Law, where an undergraduate degree in a technical field such as Engineering, Chemistry, or Computer Science is required.

Take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)

Toward the end of your undergraduate degree, you will need to take the LSAT, a standardized test used by law schools to assess the suitability of potential students. The test measures the skills critical to success in law school, including critical thinking, reading comprehension, information organization, and argument evaluation. The test is offered several times a year. Dates will vary on where you are taking it; however, you will need to take the test no later than December before the fall semester that you intend to start at law school.

The Law School Admissions Service administers the LSAT, an online test of five different sections, each lasting 35 minutes, with a ten-minute break between the second and third sections. The different sections are;
- Logical reasoning
- Analytical reasoning
- Reading comprehension
- Unscored section
- Writing sample
Except for the writing sample, all sections are multiple-choice; the unscored section is made up of questions from any of the previous sections but doesn’t count toward the score awarded. The writing sample requires the student to take a position on a topic with no right or wrong answer. The essay is assessed based on the writer’s ability to support their position.

After taking the LSAT, your raw score (the number of correct answers) is converted to an LSAT scale, the score you will receive. The lowest score is 120, and the highest is 180. According to the LSAS, the average LSAT score is 152, although this changes from one year to the next.

Law School

To practice law in the United States, you must be awarded a Juris Doctor or JD law degree. This takes three years to complete the qualification, which will take place at one of the many law schools approved by the American Bar Association. You should aim to complete your applications early in your senior year of undergraduate study, which means researching and planning your application during your junior year.

The first year of law school is considered by most to be the hardest of the three. This is the year where all students must gain a foundational understanding of the law by studying topics across the legal spectrum, including civil procedure, constitutional law, legal writing, and contracts. Topics are taught using a case method approach where you will analyze judicial decisions and consider how they relate to other cases.

Having made it through the first year, students better understand what is expected in the second and third years. It is also the point where you, as the student, can choose classes that match your interests. Alongside their study, most students will also become involved in extracurricular activities such as moot court competitions and the third-year legal clinic, where they can do real legal work for low-income clients.

Bar Exam

In the third year of law school, students will start to think about taking the Bar Exam; this is the exam that all lawyers will need to pass in order to practice and is taken in the state where you intend to work.

Exams normally happen twice a year and usually last two days, although some will take three. The format for each state is slightly different but usually comprises multiple-choice questions, essays, and simulations. Having passed the Bar Exam, you are now able to practice, but that is not the end of your journey.

Master of Laws

Many law students will continue their studies beyond the three years of law school but studying for the LLM, and the Master of Laws is normally called. This qualification shows that the student has expertise in a specific area of law, such as international law, family law, or business law. Having an LLM is often a requirement that law companies will ask for as it shows that candidates have gained specialist knowledge in the law.

Doctor of Judicial Science

This is the highest law degree available in the United States and takes three years to complete. This is the qualification taken by those who have many years of legal practice behind them and now aspire to work as law professors in an academic setting.

So, there you have it, a quick guide to becoming a lawyer in the United States. In the next article, I will look at the route for those who want to study in the United Kingdom.

Summer Programs for High School Students | Ivy Central
July 7, 2022
And the Graduation Rate is…..

There are many considerations that you should use to decide which college is right for you. Having the right major is one of the most important, as will be the reputation of the college, its size, location, and student body. Another aspect you should look for when researching your college options is the graduation rate; this can tell you a lot about the quality of the education provided by a college.

Degree courses in the US are based around a four-year program of study, but across all institutions offering degrees, the average time it takes students to graduate is over five years. The reasons for this are numerous. It might be that a student changes their major, or there are personal circumstances that result in them taking time out from their studies, but it might also reflect difficulties in getting a place on popular courses or struggling to pass a graduation requirement.

Read More: Ivy League Universities

Graduating in four years means reducing the cost of college; if you take longer, additional tuition, accommodation, and food will need to be paid for. This is where the institution’s graduation rate comes in.

The graduation rate is expressed as a percentage of those starting at the college as a freshman who go on to graduate from the same institution; they will usually show this as a four and six-year graduation rate. If the institution has a high graduation rate within four years, it suggests that the odds of completing the degree in that time are good.

It is important to note that the graduation rate is not the same as the retention rate, which shows the percentage of students who return to the same college for their second year.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the colleges and universities in the United States with the highest six-year graduation rates include:

·       Yale University (97.5%)

·       Princeton University (97.3%)

·       Harvard University (96.4%)

·       Dartmouth College (95.9%)

·       Harvey Mudd College (95.9%)

·       University of Pennsylvania (95.7%)

·       Duke University (95.4%)

·       Bowdoin College (95.2%)

·       University of Notre Dame (95.2%)

·       Amherst College (95.2%)

Out of the public colleges, those with the highest graduation rates are:

·      U of Virginia (94.6%)

·      College of William and Mary (92.1%)

·      U of Michigan at Ann Arbor (91.6%)

·      U of California Berkley (91.1%)

·      U of North Carolina Chapel Hill (90.9%)

·      U of California Los Angeles (90.9%)

·      U of Florida (88%)

·      U of Wisconsin Madison (87.2%)

·      The College of New Jersey (86.6%)

·      U of Maryland at College Park (85.4%)

Other colleges that are popular with our students include:

·      Georgia Institute of Technology (85.3%)

·      U of Washington Seattle (84.4%)

·      U of Texas at Austin (82.7%)

June 16, 2022
‘The Open Curriculum’: Should you opt for one?
‘

The Open Curriculum’

Should you opt for one?
As a follow-up to my previous blog on ‘What do you study at US colleges?’, I thought diving into some of the aspects mentioned would be worthwhile. I hope this blog will help you make your college search and shortlisting process smarter and easier, especially regarding some of the rather rare curricula offered by US universities.

When I first started understanding the US education system, I was enthralled by the unique curricula each university offered. In particular, the Open Curriculum caught my attention as it encouraged students to dive into the subjects of their choice directly.

Let’s understand what kind of student is likely to make the most of an Open Curriculum –
1. If you aren’t keen on taking Core courses, as you want to engage in courses that you are interested in or those that align with your future goals
2. If you want the complete freedom to explore various courses until you settle on a major/s
3. If you would appreciate early guidance on how you can best prepare for the future you envision for yourself
4. If you identify as an interdisciplinary learner who loves to delve into many subjects at once
A common misconception about the Open Curriculum is that you don’t need to major/concentrate on a specific subject. This is untrue. You will need to declare a major or concentration in your second year, and you need to fulfill this requirement to graduate from college.

Read More: US and UK Find the Right Job

In this blog, I would like to explore four of the universities that offer an Open Curriculum –

1. Brown University

Brown’s famously known Open Curriculum allows students to generously explore the flexibility of this curriculum. While expected to complete concentration requirements, Brown allows you to ditch the traditional letter grades as you can opt for courses for satisfactory/no credit. However, remember that at Brown, you would also need to be comfortable with mapping your own syllabus and academic/research path. You can explore courses according to the ‘academic divisions’ they belong to or simply ‘your interests.’ These cover 80 concentrations that the university offers.

2. Vassar College

A small private college in New York, Vassar, too, boasts of an Open Curriculum in that way of not offer a Core or distribution requirements. The ‘open’ ethos demonstrated by its curriculum is also seen through their “Your Space” section in the application for incoming freshmen, encouraging students to share something they haven’t had a chance to. The Career Development Office maintains an incredible alum network (pssst. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are alums), which can be a great resource for curating your niche.

3. Amherst College

Amherst, a hidden Ivy, does not offer a core curriculum, but undergrads are expected to complete one first-year seminar and their major-specific requirements. The academic path, otherwise, is yours to craft. If you don’t wish to choose a specific academic area as a major, you can pursue the Independent Scholar Program, where you can set out to create an individualized program of study under the guidance of a tutor, which a committee must then approve.

Additionally, the academic flexibility offered encourages students to take up two majors, sometimes three! The lack of a core curriculum also means that students can undertake research starting their first semester, which is rare.

4. Wake Forest University

This ‘relatively large’ liberal arts university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, boasts its beautiful on-campus magnolias and cherry trees. Interestingly, Wake Forest (or ‘Work Forest’ as some students like to call it) does not offer an Open Curriculum to all of its students. It does so for a select few that a committee nominates. These students get to have more freedom in terms of selecting their academic courses, along with fulfilling limited general education curriculum requirements.

Some of the other colleges that offer an Open Curriculum are Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, Hamilton College, Grinnell College, and Smith College.

A word of advice:

While the flexibility offered by a college or university that offers an Open Curriculum may differ, you must understand how your undergraduate years will pan out when you opt for one. While it may allow more room to explore a variety of courses, it also means that you need to provide more structure to the academic route you take. These are the key points I would recommend you think about when you need to choose between a college offering an Open Curriculum and one that does not.

If you haven’t already, I wish you luck with making a college choice.

Working with study abroad consultants, overseas education consultants, or, as more commonly known, college counselors, can help you plan ahead and help you make the right choice for colleges. Ivy Central offers exceptional focus to help you prepare for college admissions throughout the high-schooling years. Start today!
May 26, 2022
Journey to US College-What Students Should Consider

Journey to a US College-What Students Should Consider

It can be very easy to be seduced by the idea of going to college, particularly at one of the great colleges and universities worldwide. The good news is that the dream is increasingly becoming a reality for those who aspire to this goal ,but achieving it is not always straightforward and can sometimes come as a shock.

In this article, I want to help anybody considering applying to a US college, and their families, think about some of the hard questions that will need to be answered on their journey toward college and university.

Academics

People have all sorts of motivations for applying to college. It might be the prospect of exploring an area of interest in more detail or the freedom to develop into the adult you want to be. Whatever your motivations, for colleges and universities, it is about you as a student, and while US colleges look at more than just your grades, how you perform at school is an essential element of your application and graduation rate.

Not all colleges expect the same academic performance; top colleges will expect a higher academic achievement, so you must take a step back and look at how you have performed over the last few years. The good news is that, in most cases, an institution will match your academic performance, but that might be different from the college of your dreams.

Top colleges, like the Ivy Leagues, will expect you to have averaged A’s across the four years of high school. So, if an Ivy League is your dream, look at the grades you have been getting; if they are not A’s, then ask yourself if you can and are willing to do the work needed to turn them into A’s.

If you are not that A student, then by all means, still apply, if that is your dream, but also make applications for colleges that better reflect the grades you are achieving. Ivy Central would advise that at least half of your applications should be made to what we call target institutions. These are ones that broadly align with your academic performance. If you don’t get the grades you expect, you should include at least one safety college.

Another question you should ask yourself is, ‘are the subjects you are good at the subjects that are important for what you want to study or indeed work in?’ Over my career, I have met many young people who have a view about what they want to study that is incompatible with their academic strengths. For example, they might wish to study mechanical engineering at college, but maths is not a strong subject for them, and they dislike physics, both integral subjects for what they want to study. Too often, these people drop out of their studies because they can’t cope with the work or it just does not interest them enough. Fortunately, switching from one major to another in the US is often possible, but a hard, realistic assessment of their strengths can help you avoid that.

Occasionally students feel pressure from family or friends to aim for a particular study area. It is essential to recognize this pressure and for you, the student, to own the decision about what you do at college. Try to understand the feelings family and friends have about your future, try to help them understand why you believe your choice is right for you and your dreams, and realize your concerns about pursuing the major they would prefer you to follow.

Asking yourself these questions is not always easy; it can be hard to refocus your dreams if the reality does not fit. However, the ability to reflect on who you are is an important skill to master and will help you to make better decisions throughout your life.

Read More: Public versus Private Universities

Family discussions

While you will be the one attending university, the support and encouragement of your family should be an essential consideration. While you will have your dreams about going to college, your family will likely have dreams for you as well. Hopefully, those dreams will match yours, but that is not always the case. There have been occasions where the parents of students we have worked with have wanted their son or daughter to attend a particular college or sometimes go to a college near family members who can offer support.

Another important area to have an early conversation with your family about is cost. Irrespective of where you go to college, it is expensive, so talk to your family about what the family can afford. Sometimes we see students who have the potential to be accepted by one of the highly selective private colleges in the United States but are not able to afford the high costs that can be required. In those circumstances, it might be better to focus on slightly less selective colleges that will appreciate what you bring to the college community and provide you with scholarship money to make it more affordable. This can be a particularly beneficial strategy if you intend to go onto one of the professional programs like medicine or law.

One of the most common areas where we see differences between parents and students is what to study. Some parents will put a value in studying a particular major, typically in the STEM areas, but you, the student, might want to pursue your interest in the arts or humanities. Understanding these tensions can help you when considering your choice of college. For example, you could look at colleges that will provide the opportunity to follow a double major, one with more of a STEM focus and a second in the areas you want to follow.

Planning

Another consideration is that you should try to be realistic about the amount of time you have or can put into applying to college.

Applications to top-tier colleges take time.

A student at the end of Gr 11 only has six months before the application round ends; during that time, in addition to all of the work you are doing for the application, you will also have to keep on top of your school work and continuing to work on your extracurricular activities. So when you are starting the process of building your application profile is essential. The earlier you start, the better.

Even if you are starting the process early, you are still likely to struggle to do all of the things you are used to while completing the activities and working to build your profile. Are you willing to spend less time playing your favorite sport, hanging out with friends, watching television, or whatever it might be? Successful students find they have to manage their time well if they are going to accomplish everything they want to. Are you willing to make the sacrifices needed to achieve your goals?

None of this is said to try and put you off following your aspirations of college; far from it; we want you to succeed but asking these tough questions is part of the journey.

There will be bumps on the road, times when things don’t go how you expect, maybe you don’t get the grade you expect, or a research experiment fails; often, people will not be accepted by the colleges they most want to attend.

All of this is normal, and you should expect to have disappointments along the way, but there are rarely no options remaining open to you. So be flexible and open to opportunities, and you will have a great future ahead.

Good luck!

May 26, 2022
Should I study for a Psychology Degree?
Should I study for a Psychology Degree?

Have you ever looked up at the clouds and seen animals in the shapes, or wondered why you catch somebody else’s yawn, perhaps you have felt sudden pangs of hunger as you have walked past a fast food outlet? If that sounds like you and you are interested in why you do these things, then maybe a degree in psychology is for you!

What is psychology?

Examples of psychology can be found everywhere, from conforming to societal norms to the typing symbol on WhatsApp, intriguing us and ultimately keeping us online longer.

Psychology focuses on understanding a person’s emotions, personality and mind through scientific studies, experiments, observation and research. By describing the behaviour of humans, and other animals, we are better able to understand and sometimes manipulate outcomes!

The applications of psychology are widespread, and as such, the subject has many diverse subfields, such as health psychology, developmental psychology, and forensic psychology.

What do you study in a psychology degree?

In a word, science. While not a ‘hard’ science degree like the physical science degrees, psychology very much has its feet deep into the STEM world, so you can expect to have studied subjects like biology, chemistry to a high level while at school. Another area that you will need to demonstrate some skill in is maths, particularly statistics.

Psychology uses statistics to make sense of vast amounts of data and to understand its relationship to other pieces of data, even when those data points are tiny. While much of this statistical analysis can be done using statistical software, it is still important that students studying psychology have a good understanding of the field.

As a science degree, you should expect to cover topics relating to the scientific method, but you will also get to explore areas such as developmental, behavioural, social, and cognitive psychology. As you progress through college, courses become more specialised. You might take courses on psychology as it relates to relationships, media, or education. You should also expect lots of reading, in your coursework, you will be expected to back up the arguments you make. Psychology is also a field where new studies and ideas are frequently being published, so it is important to keep up to date with professional publications.

Is psychology a good degree for me?

A psychology degree is a good choice for students who want to work with people and are interested in understanding human behaviour and mental processes. Helpful skills for psychology majors include open-mindedness, critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication abilities. Therefore, this major is for people who can handle stress, social dilemmas, and high-pressure situations.

What can I do with a degree in psychology?

Having an understanding of human thought, behaviour, development, personality, emotion, motivation, and more can give you insight that is valued across many different careers within psychology itself or more often in an almost endless number of other career areas.

Professional careers in psychology: These will normally require you to go on to gain postgraduate qualifications before becoming licensed, in the US, or chartered, in the UK.

If you intend to work in the US, it is important to know that each state has its licensing requirements that you must meet. That said, typically you will need to complete a master’s, or more frequently, a doctorate in psychology. In addition, you should expect to gain work experience in a related field together with at least one year’s post-doctoral experience. Having met these requirements, you must pass the Examination in Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) and any other requirements of the individual state before being awarded your licence to practice.

For the UK, having completed your degree, it can take a further five years of experience and further training before you can call yourself a Chartered Psychologist. After their degree, students wanting to gain chartered status will complete an accredited doctoral degree before doing further training and supervised work experience.

If gaining professional status is for you, there is a wide range of psychology careers to train for, including:
- Clinical psychology
- Therapist or Counsellor
- Educational Psychology
- Sports and Health Psychology
- Occupational Psychology
- Neuropsychology
Other careers where a psychology degree can be helpful
- Human Resources
- Social Worker
- Probation/Correction Officer
- College/Career Adviser
- Teacher
- Marketing
- Public Relations
Top colleges and universities for psychology

Psychology is one of the most popular degree courses in both the US and Europe so you should be able to find one that fits your needs. According to the QS World Rankings the universities with the top psychology courses are:
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- University of Cambridge
- University of Oxford
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California Los Angeles
- University of Central London
- Yale University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
March 31, 2022