When are ACT Scores Released? Dates for 2021-22

Vanderbilt University has reinstated test-required admissions beginning with high school graduates in 2029, joining a growing national trend among highly selective universities.

Most families begin test prep by opening a book. Elite tutor Tal Kitron recommends starting somewhere else entirely: with a strategy. In this piece, he outlines the three steps he encourages every family to take before their student begins studying this summer, including how to determine which test is the better fit, how to build a realistic timeline with built-in flexibility, and how to practice in a way that actually moves scores.

Every admissions cycle produces headlines, but the data underneath tells a more useful story. This piece walks through five statistics from this year's elite college admissions results, from single-digit acceptance rates to the growing gap between majors at the same university, and explains what each number means for families building a college list and deciding how many colleges to apply to. The takeaway isn't that admissions have become impossible. It's that informed planning matters more than ever.