The official e-newsletter of The Equestrian College Advisor.

From the blog:

My four-year-old Dutch gelding Kashmir had a bit of a rough end to July and start to August.

After getting kicked in the pasture by his 29 year-old turnout partner (which he richly deserved – he’s a bit of a bully sometimes), he went on three and a half weeks of stall rest to heal a hematoma on his left stifle. And because that also meant heavy doses of Bute and required a trip to a quiet rehab farm 30 minutes away from home in order to secure the success of our treatment plan, we also incorporated ulcer treatment into his regimen. Read More

"To make the most of their five-figure (or more) investment, incoming freshmen need to understand what college entails before they set foot on campus. Success requires personal responsibility for time management, meeting deadlines, following directions, being prepared for class, self-advocacy, and knowing where and when to ask for help.

Here are six rules that can make the difference between success and failure."

"Any parent with an ounce of self-knowledge will agree that parenting is a multi-decade exercise in recalibration. In our house we are either grossly overreacting or, just as unsettling, underreacting. Here’s my question, as another class of kids get very close to leaving home: What if they remember only the worst parts? What version of us will they be taking with them?"

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Fall Testing – Pros and ConsBy the time school starts again in the fall, most high school seniors have taken the SAT and/or ACT at least once in preparation for submitting their college applications.Depending on the scores they received the first (or even second) time around, however, some may consider sitting the test one more time in the fall – but is that wise?The Pros

• For students applying to schools that “super score” (that is, take the highest composite score from each section of each test sitting for the highest possible average), additional scores might bump their score into a new range for merit scholarship.

• For students applying to schools that don’t “super score” but instead take the highest overall score, one additional sitting provides an additional opportunity to boost their overall average before application deadlines arrive.

• For students applying for a regular decision deadline, all scores will be available to the colleges at the time the application is evaluated; they won’t receive additional data after the student’s application has been evaluated.

The Cons

• For students who have already completed a test twice (in spring and summer, for example), the chance of raising a score with a third sitting is slim; anecdotally, many admission counselors see scores begin to decrease on the third sitting and colleges frown on students testing more than three times.

• The pace of senior year (from classes to extracurriculars and the additional pressure of working on college applications) can inhibit a student’s ability to properly prepare for a fall exam and may result in a lower score.

• Seniors who test in the fall for the very first time will not have time to take a second test before the majority of their application deadlines arrive and may be stuck submitting a lower score than they would prefer.

Many juniors also contemplate taking a fall test to evaluate their abilities in advance of their own college application cycle; college counselors don’t generally advise thiscourse of action because students haven’t had the benefit of absorbing much of theirjunior year coursework and may score poorly as a result. The spring of junior year isplenty early enough to allow students to not only score strongly, but also to re-testbefore senior year if they desire.

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