Fresh New Going to College Content - for the test-takers

Now that we have your attention, let's point out some of the stuff that you should already know about...but may not know about because, well, stuff changes so quickly.

1 - SATs and ACTs are increasingly less important. Want proof. 775 schools, per the folks at FairTest.org are now "test optional."

2 - Does this mean you should blow off the tests? Not necessarily. But you should take a look at whether your hit list of schools is covered here.

3 - Test optional means, well, just what it sounds like. Sure if you get high scores and think that'll help you stand out, by all means have them sent. If not, don't.

It's been widely reported that George W. Bush got an 1160 under the old scoring system. You can decide whether that's a predictor of success or impacted his ability to get into Yale.

Hey, Check Out Our Re-Launched Blog

Today, we're pleased to relaunch our blog -- complete with a cool new template.

The flow of information should get more rapid, too -- in addition to the hundreds of facebook friends we've made and the thousands of visitors we've had over the summer, U Sphere is working on a few more super-secret things as part of our commitment to U -- the college-bound student, the parent of the college-bound student, and the university looking to find U.

We're also pretty pumped about a couple partnerships we'll be announcing in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned: and you can always send us a note if you want to weigh in on something.

Standardized Tests Less Reliable as Predictor; But Grades Still Matter - Study

Bob Schaeffer, Director of FairTest: The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, shared something today that's important to note. (And, since his thoughts on the validity of standardized tests are always on the mark, we thought we'd pass it along.)

A study of students at the University of California campuses (done by a couple UC researchers) tells us that grades in high school are a more accurate predictor of collegiate performance than standardized tests.

You can link to the study here.

BTW, nearly 740 schools are now "test optional."