Every year the Rhodes Trust awards 82 scholarships and 32 of those goes to Americans. The Rhodes scholarship is a prestigious one that it screens highly qualified applicants that attains exemplary scholastic achievements.

The highly competitive curriculum that most boarding schools offer is the key factor that contributes to the high percentage of scholarships granted to students who had prepared for college through boarding school education. Boarding schools promote an exclusive environment that caters to mold an individual to be ready for college life. With its highly demanding academic curriculum to its highly qualified professors who take part in the learning of students and the overall feel of independency of living away from home and making it on your own has greatly influenced boarding school graduates to their advantage. With this more parents are feeling that they have made the right decision in investing in a boarding school education even with its high price tag.

An important factor to consider as one of the qualification of the Rhodes scholarship is its requirement that an applicant should be truthful, courageous and has a moral force of character that is potential for leading his or her fellow students. Most boarding schools are equipped with the necessary trainings and workshops on instilling camaraderie, leadership and moral responsibility in its students. Aside from teaching academics they are immersed into the values of being responsible, independent, and reliable in their various extracurricular activities.

A graduate from The Hill School in Pennsylvania, who is a recipient of the 2010 Rhodes scholarship, attested that he owes much of what he has to his boarding school experience. Not only did it prepared him for the vast academic curriculum he will be facing in college but rather more of a preparation into the person he needs to become to survive college. The ability to be able to interact closely and work together with colleagues, teachers, staff and administrators and be able to adapt to different cultures, beliefs and values of everyone else without sacrificing individuality is the best lesson in life.

The goal of taking an ACT exam is to assess a student’s readiness for college. Although ACT scores are sometimes used by the state to measure a school’s performance making it compulsory to all graduating students including those who does not plan on pursuing a college education. The student is tested on four subjects and there is an optional test which focuses on writing.

Scores will range from 1 being the lowest and 36 the highest in every subject. The English exam totals to 75 questions and students are given 45 minutes to complete the section. Questions are divided into two categories, 40 questions pertaining to usage and grammar of the English language while the remaining 35 questions are geared towards the rhetorical skills of the students. Mathematics comprises of 60 questions and given a total of 60 minutes to finish the section. The mathematics section is divided among Elementary Algebra (24 questions), Intermediate Algebra (18 questions) and combination of Trigonometry and Geometry (18 questions). Reading is allotted 35 minutes for 40 questions. Sciences and Social Studies cover 20 questions, and the remaining 20 evolves around Arts and Literature. Science covers 40 questions with only 35 minutes to answer.

What scores does a student need in order to gain admission to a prestigious college or university may depend on the standards of a particular educational institution. The highest score for ACT is 36 which can be very hard to achieve. Most universities consider an ACT score of 27 as satisfactory but other factors come into play such as:

• The national rank of other students who took the test showing where a student ranks among other test takers. An ACT score of 27 will not be sufficient enough if there are many of students who got the same average out of the whole population who took the exam.
• Scores on individual subjects are also evaluated to determine a student’s areas of improvement and which subjects they are more likely to excel in.
• High school records and school extracurricular activities.

ACT scores can also help in qualification for a scholarship grant that can be hard to achieve especially if there are many qualified applicants. ACT score is not the only ticket you’ll need to get into a good college you will still have to work on everything else to be rightfully given the chance to pursue higher education in a prestigious and renowned college or university.

In the United States there are a lot of colleges and universities to choose from but not everyone can gain easy admission especially for the most prestigious ones like Harvard University, Yale and Princeton University. These top notch educational institutions are very selective and only highly qualified students are admitted.

It would be best to list a number of choices to be able to have a back up if in case you don’t get to the first few ones on top of your list. Prepare this list way before you graduate preferably a year from your graduation because the usual processing time for college applications take around 10 to 15 months.

The most important thing to assess before going through the process of selecting the right college or university for you is to choose what career or type of degree you want to take. Higher education is the key principle that will most likely determine what you are going to be as an independent adult. Higher education or a college degree is very useful in landing a job that can pay for the lifestyle you want to achieve in the future whether you plan on becoming a successful entrepreneur or a family man capable of providing for a family. A college degree will also add to your market value when you decide to become employed and join top ranking companies worldwide. Knowing your desired course or degree will be helpful in choosing the right school for you that can offer the best learning experience in the subject matter that you would want.

The next steps would be to assess the different factors that can contribute to your school selection like costs, location, environment, housing arrangements and school curriculum. These are all important factors to evaluate in choosing the right college or university. Are you thinking of living in a dorm? Are you comfortable in a sub urban community or do you want hustle and bustle of the city? Try to narrow your list down to those colleges and universities that best suits your needs and most of your wants because once you’ve made a decision you’ll be spending almost 4 to 5 years of your life there. It would be nice to have pleasant memories of your college experience to tell to your kids when you grow old.

Gather resources and inquire among friends regarding their experiences in their own college and university to gain enough knowledge on what it will feel like. You can go online and check out websites like Petersons, National Center for Education Statistics and University of North Texas.

College entrance exams are given to screen and evaluate a student’s cumulative knowledge that he or she acquired from high school. Skills in test taking are also evaluated like deductive and analytical skills that are very important skills necessary to survive in higher education.

Reviewing for college entrance exams shouldn’t cover entirely what you have learned in high school for the brain may be overloaded with too much information. A common mistake made by most students is they try to study and review everything extensively to the point that they become overwhelmed and eventually panic if they cannot remember every detail of information they have reviewed causing some of the most intelligent students to fail.

Knowing what you need to review is an advantage that can be used to effectively answer the test questions correctly. Here are some of the points you need to touch on for your review.

Language – basic sentence structure and grammar.
Spelling – test exams can give out sentences and the student must recognized the misspelled words used in the sentence.
Algebra – review basic operations of decimals, fractions, integers and whole numbers. Student should familiarized self with common formulas used in conversions, solving algebraic equations.
Geometry – interpretation of graphs and relationship of data should be covered in the review. Points, lines and shapes should be ran through and a list of common formulas should be remembered well.

On the night before the test day the student should have sufficient sleep and should not review anymore to give the brain time to relax and recharged for the next day’s test. Upon waking up, take a shower and make sure to eat breakfast to supply the brain of the necessary glucose to help remember all those that you have reviewed. Do not eat too much as this will make you sleepy, make sure to have plenty of water to hydrate and enough vitamins to keep your brain cells going throughout the test. Have some candy in your pocket in case the exam takes too long and you’ll need some sugar to refuel your working brain.

Make sure to read the instructions carefully, read it twice or thrice for full understanding. Many students fail their exams not because they do not know the right answer but they failed to follow the instructions. Should you feel panicky or sleepy take deep breaths and tell yourself that you can go through with this. Relax and calm yourself because tension and nervousness never helps in taking an examination.

A Brief History

Originally it was a school for girls back in 1922 and was regarded as the finest independent secondary school for girls in the country. In 1971, the school was converted into a coeducational institution and it welcomed the two new headmasters Russell Mead and Philip McKean. Now it beams of 39 acres of land with 29 buildings which includes intramural sports.

Enrollment and Admission

The Concorde Academy houses 148 boarding students and offers 217 day students. Its student body comprises of 49% of male students, 51% female and 11% international students.

Mission and Vision

The school aims to provide an environment where teachers and students collaborate to promote intellectual vigor and creativeness in each student. They provide a supportive atmosphere that cares for students by developing their talents and skills through a well structured curriculum and extra curricular activities. It embraces cultural diversity and understands different perspectives of its students.

Curriculum

A student chooses and prepares her schedule of classes every semester with the help of an advisor to be approved by the dean. In their freshmen year a minimum of 120 credits is required, for the second year 90 credits, and in the junior year 60 credits. Grades are at the end of every semester and are given in the scale of A+ to failing grade of E. There is one adult teacher that stands as the advisor for each student. Student and advisor meet frequently to offer counsel support and assist students to adjust in school. Advisors coordinate with other teachers of the student to receive feedback and further work together for the student’s improvements. Parents consult advisors on a regular basis to see how their children are doing in academic standing and overall school performance.

Concorde Academy also offers summer camps that are a good opportunity for students to bond and learn outside the classroom setting. It is a fun filled activity that is very exciting which every student looks forward to at the end of every school year. The Concord Academy Summer Camp is accredited by the American Camp Association.

Technology, particularly the arrival of personal computers and the Internet have revolutionized education. It has made it easier for the teachers to supply knowledge and for the students to understand it.

Computers have interactive audio-visual media. PowerPoint presentations and animation software programs can be utilized to render information. These result in inviting a larger attention from the students. These software programs can also serve as visual aids to the teachers. These audio-visual teaching techniques have brought about significant improvements in student attendance and concentration. Interactive media have proven to be helpful in enhancing the concentration of students.

The Internet is a huge information base. This could be one of the most effective tools in acquiring knowledge. All the students need to have is a search engine where they can type in their search queries. There are loads of different websites and web directories that offer information on a wide variety of subjects.

Today, computer education is a part of our school and college curricula. The wide range of different applications and computer programs has made it necessary for almost all of the students to become knowledgeable about these programs. Considering the advantages, it’s critical that every student at least have the basic knowledge in operating the Internet and different computer programs.

Technology has also given birth to online education and distance learning. Today, students do not necessarily require being physically present in classrooms. Many educational organizations offer online courses. Majority of the schools and colleges have online facilities where the students can perform and submit their assignments. There are universities that have programs that allow students and teachers interact with one another and access different reference materials via the Internet.

The importance of the computer and Internet technology in education cannot be stressed enough. The introduction of computer technology and the Internet in the educational field has made the process of learning and teaching an interactive and exciting activity. Computer and the Internet technology is indeed two of the most greatest inventions of mankind.

According to Higher Education in the Unites States – An Encyclopedia, a college or university education, also known as tertiary education, is chiefly designed to develop the technical skills of the student in preparation for the professional or working life, with the hope that it is in line with the degree earned.

Colleges and universities offer comprehensive body of knowledge from many disciplines. These can be acquired by taking up degree or non-degree courses. Degree courses entail a longer period of studying. These courses are mostly concentrated on theories in their contents and instructions.

Theories and different schools of thoughts included in their respective curriculums are taught to ensure the knowledge and the skills necessary in the real practice of the field are acquired.

On the other hand, non-degree courses mostly involve a shorter period of studying. These include direct teaching of practical and actual trainings from vocational and technical courses.
Actual trainings and on-the-job applications of theories are usually performed under these types of courses. The schools that offer these courses are equipped with the real tools and machineries the students are most likely to utilize in the real job scenario.

Not all colleges and universities offer these courses. Actually, colleges have more specific types of degrees offered while universities have broader and wider choices of courses.

Vocational courses are exclusively offered by vocational and technical schools. However, these schools may also be part of a university. College, on the other hand, is specific in its category of courses offered such as College of Law or College of Medicine, such as the American College of Physicians. It is immediately implicated that the courses offered are related to medicine or law only.

As defined in the New World encyclopedia, a university consists of different schools or colleges. A university may have school of arts and sciences, college of education, or school of business. Thus, the university offers more courses while a college has a particular category or group of disciplines offered.

In realizing one’s dreams and aspirations, it is critical that the person has a specific path chosen to achieve such goals. These paths are through training and education. Without this, the person can only rely on either just instinct or trial and error methods. These methods are not only ineffective and unscientific; they are also costly and may prove harmful to one’s future. Therefore, it is imperative that every person decides on which type of course to enroll from a specific college or university that he or she considers as the one that can provide the necessary tools in achieving their dream.

The reliability of standardized tests can be 100% reliable if the results are the same when taken twice. But for all tests there is what we call a measurement error. A measurement error is the variation of an individual’s score due to different testing conditions or the taker’s mental or overall state at the time the test was taken. Because of measurement error two individuals with different scores on a test today might get the same scores on the test given the following day.

Standardized tests cannot really measure difference between two individuals as they rarely cover different factors of an individual’s intellect furthermore a student’s overall academic excellence is not brought by just excellence in cognitive ability rather it is a combination of cognitive, analytical, creativity and skills. Students learn when they can actively extract meaning out of their actions then connecting this knowledge to something that they are trying to learn. Most standardized tests only concentrate on narrow skills and memorization on facts.

Listed below are the most common standardized achievement tests administered to students today.

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

A standardized test for college applicants published by the College Board, a non-profit organization in the United States is one of the most common tests high school students are preparing for.

American College Testing (ACT)

Is a standardized test for college admissions to screen applicants for higher education in the US produced by the ACT Inc. It is a multiple choice examinations covering subject areas in English, Math, Reading Comprehension and Science.

Standardized testing is faced with a lot of loop holes in fairly evaluating our student’s academic performance. A much better way to evaluate student achievement should be done by integrating teacher observation, student work and performance assessment. In these factors a student’s overall hard work is evaluated fairly. This is a good reference for companies that offer standardized tests so they can progress from the ancient testing method that we use today.

All schools have a uniform accepted grading system for evaluating student performance in examinations. Teachers from different subjects assign a grade to each student in which these scores are computed into what is known as the GPA. These grades are represented in letters. The highest is A while the lowest is F. Some schools split the grades in three sub categories like A+, A- and A. Here is the grade point equivalent of the letters.

A – (3.5 to 4)
B – (2.4 to 3.49)
C – (1.5 to 2.49)
D – (1.0 to 1.49)
F – (0.0)

There are two methods to calculate GPA. The first method entails simple averaging. The second is computing for a weighted GPA. Since every subject has its own level of difficulty a simple average GPA may not show a true evaluation of student performance. Nevertheless with a good recommendation and good test results from standardized tests, a good GPA can boost your chances for getting in a prestigious college or university. The US News and World Report says that having a high GPA is necessary to those people who dream of getting in graduate schools like Harvard Medical School (3.8 average GPA), Stanford Business School (3.6 average) and Yale law (3.9 average GPA). Most colleges accepts freshmen students with a 3.0 average GPA.

It is a good thing that employers don’t specify a certain GPA when they accept applicants. But they tend to look at the university or college where an applicant comes from, most employers take into consideration the enormous load of school work a college graduate has besides the painstaking curriculum they also need to juggle extra curricular activities at the side to earn credits in overall academic performance. Employers are keen to look at experience in forms of internship and practicum where a high GPA is not necessarily required.

Calculating your GPA is easy. Make a list of the different courses you have taken for the semester then write the scores you acquired for each subject in their alphabetical form. On the side of each alphabetical score write the equivalent grade points for each subject to sum it all up. Divide the sum of the grade points to the total number of courses and you’ll get your GPA.

Home schooling dates back in the 17th century in Europe where families has resorted to home schooling their children due to lack of income. Nowadays parents have other reasons why they choose homeschooling instead of the traditional way of schooling. Parents are now starting to take a stand and gain control of how to develop their children’s abilities. Although homeschooling is legal in the US there are still laws that govern homeschooling, these are private school laws, home education laws and equivalency laws. Home schooling is growing in popularity among other countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Can I save with Home Schooling?

The common misconception is that more parents choose home schooling because it is cheaper. Although it can be a little less expensive compared to private schools if you know where to find resources and how to use them effectively, home schooling might just work well with your family budget. There are package curriculums available from various institutions it may run from a few hundred dollars to around a thousand. To give you an idea of home schooling curriculum here is an example, an elementary grade program from Calvert School can cost around 500 to 600 dollars and as high as 1,400 dollars from Laurel Springs. These are just estimates but if you would really want to give your child the best home schooling education you need to be resourceful and learn your way through the Internet because it can be a very rich source of information and most of the time it’s free or is widely available at a lower price.

If you are a hesitant parent and is concerned of your ability to teach your child at home you can seek help from other parents whose children are home schooled in forums and support groups available all through out the state. This will help you to choose among the different curriculums and where to get tips that can help enhance your teaching style and develop your child’s talents and skills more effectively than what traditional schooling can do.