Statistics

Thinking about morning routines

Thinking about morning routines

SAT scores are weird. You get a number, ending in a zero, on a scale of 200 to 800, twice: one for reading & writing, one for math. You get a total score between 400 and 1600...except, of course, for those years when the writing was separate and you got somewhere between 600 and 2400. You're allowed to take the test multiple times and combine your highest reading & writing score with your highest math score, giving you a "superscore" that's higher than the total scores you got any of the individual times you took the test.

And then what? What does that number even mean?

What it means to be valedictorian

What it means to be valedictorian

I'm thinking about valedictorians for a number of reasons in this graduation season, but mostly because last week a friend sent me this article, titled "Wondering What Happened to Your Class Valedictorian? Not Much, Research Shows." My friend simply asked me: "Thoughts?"

I have thoughts.

Stop paying attention to acceptance rates!

Stop paying attention to acceptance rates!

If I could have one wish, at least as far as college is concerned, it would be this: we would all stop talking about acceptance rates and selectivity. It's really got us doing a lot of things the wrong way.

Changing your mind, again

Changing your mind, again

When I posted my piece in November about double majors, Allison--currently a student an Occidental College--commented about an important aspect I overlooked: at some universities, especially large ones, switching majors can be very difficult. High school students who really do plan on double majoring should make solid plans ahead of time to facilitate it. I agreed with her point...and then recruited her to tell me more about her own mind-changing switch to a double major.