Author Archive: James Maroney

Students planning on starting college next fall need to be thinking about their applications now. Even though those deadlines may seem far away, they’ll be here before you know it! Make sure that you’ve got a plan for how you’re going to get everything done by the deadlines. College applications can’t be put together overnight, so make sure to give yourself plenty of time. You don’t want to end up rushing and hurting your chances.

Here are a few key aspects of the application that you should keep in mind:

Grades – If you’re applying regular decision, your first semester of senior year grades will be included in your application. Make sure you keep your grades up! Across the board, admissions officers cite grades as the most important aspect of any application. With schools using different models for teaching in the world of COVID-19, it’s especially critical that you be responsible for your own success. [...]

• 3 Hours of assistance from one of our experts.  Use the time to review your Common Application, brainstorm your essay, or prepare for your interviews.
• One essay edit and reaction
• Access to our video course on creating a winning application.
• Our Essay Guide

As rising seniors look to the fall semester, college applications are at the front of their minds. The situation at hand is in flux, and that means it’s hard to know what to focus on.

Typically, standardized tests are a critical component of your college application. In past years, we have advised students that standardized test scores are one of the last elements of their application that they can control. By the time students are in the end of their junior year, they can’t change their past grades. They can’t add a bunch of new activities or sports that will make them stand out against their peers. The only two things that they can really change at this point are test scores and their essays.

The pandemic has created a situation where students cannot take standardized tests even if they want to. There have been very few opportunities, leaving students without scores. Luckily, most colleges [...]

This package is only for students who have completed one of our group SAT or ACT classes.  It consists of 4 hours of one-on-one tutoring with one of our top tutors, plus a subscription to our Solving the College Puzzle class which consists of hours of lessons from James Maroney on how to find, apply to, and get into your first choice college.  There are lessons on numerous topics.

• How to Choose a Major
• How to find schools that are strong for a specific major
• How to pick the size of school
• How to build a list of schools
• What to look for on a college visit
• How to write a winning essay
• How to interview

and more!  The tutoring would normally be $480 and the class would normally be $199, but the package is just $349

Four hours of additional private tutoring for a student who has already taken our group SAT or ACT class.  This one-on-one sessions will be tailored to the individual students needs.  Sessions are flexible and scheduled Monday through Saturday.  After you complete your purchase we will reach out to you to arrange the scheduling of the sessions.

• Course put together by an expert with over 20 years of experience helping students get accepted to college.
• Access to proprietary scholarship database with over 11,000 different scholarship programs at more than 1,500 colleges
• 12 video lessons, designed to walk you through choosing a major, finding colleges that are strong for that major, creating your list of schools, preparing for the college visit, writing your essay and more!
• Tools to help you manage the whole process

The Our self-guided SAT course, which consists of over 50 video lessons covering all the skills and strategies necessary to succeed on the SAT. These lessons are taught by Yale graduates and add up to almost 10 hours of instruction as well as over 400 practice problems, all with video explanations, and access to our proprietary skill breakdown through our online test center. Our test center will grade your test and highlight specific skill areas for you to work on.