The Compass Academics Blog
Resources Designed for Academic Growth
You’ve Been Deferred: Now What?
If you’ve gotten a deferral notice, it’s important to take a step back, breathe, and assess your next steps. While a deferral for your college application can feel like a huge blow, it’s not the same as a rejection, and what you do next can have a huge impact on your...
The ACT is Digital, too! What Does it Mean for You?
The ACT was first introduced in 1959, and it’s safe to say that many things have changed since then! Over the years, the test has been updated and adapted to reflect the norms of the current educational landscape. For students taking the test in February 2024 and...
Will Standardized Tests Make a Comeback for College Admissions?
In July 2021, Smithsonian Magazine ran an article capturing a question on the minds of many prospective college students and college administrators alike: “Has the Pandemic Put an End to the SAT and ACT?” In that article, Amber Dance points to the closure of testing...
Tuition-Free Colleges: What You Need to Know
College for free? For many American students, it sounds too good to be true (though there are plenty of places abroad where free tuition is the norm). While it might not be the standard practice in the United States, there is a growing list of schools who provide free...
Safe Dating on Campus
As you unpack the boxes in your dorm room or apartment and get settled in for the next year of college classes, there’s a good chance you’ll be making new friends. For many students, there will also be romantic sparks flying. Dating during college can be a thrilling...
Making Your Dorm Your Own: 5 Dorm Decor Tips
As you head off for the shopping spree before your freshman year of college, you may be feeling lots of things: excitement about having your own space, nervousness about being away from home, overwhelmed about just what to buy! Planning your college experience comes...
Neurodivergent-Friendly Colleges and Universities
The term “neurodivergence” has entered the vocabulary of the general public — and for good reason. As Cleveland Clinic explains, the word is an umbrella term that “describes people whose brain differences affect how their brain works. That means they have different...
Should I Use ChatGPT in My Admissions Materials?
ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. It’s clear that the AI writing technology is going to disrupt industries and change the way many people do day-to-day tasks, but should it change the way students create their college admissions materials? The answer may be more...
Navigating College Roommate Drama
While some college students may end up in a single room or commute from home, most first-year students who live on campus are going to end up paired with a roommate (or possibly grouped with two or three other people). There are plenty of benefits to having roommates...
Common App vs. Coalition App: Understanding the Difference
It may be hard to imagine now, but before the ubiquity of the computer, applying to college was a much more time-consuming and tedious chore where applicants and counselors had to write/type answers to the same questions on every application; there wasn't even a cut...
How to Ask for Letters of Recommendation
A strong letter of recommendation can do a lot to help your application for admission or a scholarship stand out from the crowd. A great letter couched in lots of details that bring you to life for the committee can even be a force that helps override weaknesses...
Should I Take a Gap Year?
The so-called “gap year” saw a steep rise in popularity in the 1980s. As matriculation from high school to college became more and more expected for the population at large, many students found the intensity of moving from the structure of high school to the...
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