| Test Date | Regular Registration Deadline Late Fee Applies After This Date | Late Registration Deadline | Photo Upload and Standby Deadline |
| October 18, 2025 | September 12 | September 30 | October 10 |
| December 13, 2025 | November 7 | November 24 | December 5 |
| February 14, 2026 | January 9 | January 23 | February 6 |
| April 11, 2026 | March 6 | March 24 | April 3 |
| June 13, 2026 | May 8 | May 29 | June 5 |
| July 11, 2026* | June 5 | June 24 | July 3 |
*No test centers are scheduled in New York for the July test date.
| SAT Test Date | Registration Deadline | Deadline for Changes, Regular Cancellation, Late Registration |
| Sept. 13, 2025 | Aug. 29, 2025 | Sept. 2, 2025 |
| Oct. 4, 2025 | Sept. 19, 2025 | Sept. 23, 2025 |
| Nov. 8, 2025 | Oct. 24, 2025 | Oct. 28, 2025 |
| Dec. 6, 2025 | Nov. 21, 2025 | Nov. 25, 2025 |
| Mar. 14, 2026 | Feb. 27, 2026 | Mar. 3, 2026 |
| May 2, 2026 | Apr. 17, 2026 | Apr. 21, 2026 |
| Jun. 6, 2026 | May 22, 2026 | May 26, 2026 |
Here is a quick online program Counselor’s might want to check out that will bring you up to speed on all the NCAA eligibility changes. It is self-paced so you can learn on your own schedule. Offered by Butler University here is a link to get registered: https://butler.catalog.instructure.com/browse/execed/ncaa/courses/ncaa?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMCKb1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHt1xsEZo4Nzim6rGYOQiV01fwzG691DW-hHk8AVtjTUhgQoZ3pEH6PmTfyXl_aem_Xk_TI8nBfDsRkNNttKeMeA
Technological advancement has always been driven by human creativity seeking to increase efficiencies and improve the quality of life within communities. This has been true from the wheel in antiquity to the steam engine’s emergence to the invention of automobiles and the development of the personal computer and the internet in the 20th Century. Each of these innovations has resulted in significant changes in the types of work people do to earn a living and the skills and knowledge workers need to be successful.
In recent years, a new transformative technology has emerged: artificial intelligence(AI). AI has dominated news during the past few years with the public release of ChatGPT that was followed by the release of several other high profile AI options. And, like previous technologies before it, AI is reaching the point where it is changing nearly all industries and its impact is only going to accelerate for the foreseeable future. Now is the time for districts to take stock of how to shift educational systems in order to ensure that their college and career readiness approach is preparing students for this new “Age of AI.”
As with many new transformational technologies, an initial response is often one of hesitation and fear. A common concern is that AI will replace human workers in the economy of the future, leaving many without a way to make a sustainable living–upending many common career-readiness programs of the past. It is certainly true that AI will replace certain types of work, but as with previous advancements, there will be new forms of work made available and new skills needed in order to successfully integrate this technology.
As districts and schools grapple with how to prepare their students to be career-ready when the exact nature of that landscape is still emerging, it is crucial that they build in skills training and development based on projections of AI integration and that they have processes in place to adjust their programs more frequently to keep up with rapid advancements than was needed in the past. Schools and districts must adjust the skills and knowledge that every student needs, the types of college and career preparation students need depending on their interests, and the kinds of career pathways that schools should be offering to maximize student opportunity in the future.
In order to modernize CCR districts to meet this future, districts should consider implementing ways to build students’ understanding of what AI is and opportunities to gain experience using it. Unlike library or internet search skills–which require students to find and consume verifiable information sources in order for them to then write a paper or do other homework–AI is more akin to a colleague that can help do work rather than a stand-alone resource.
Because of this, understanding what AI is and how to interact with it is a new universal skill for students. Students, at every grade level, in a developmentally appropriate way, can benefit from understanding what this new colleague can do to support their efforts, when and how they should engage with it in order to be career-ready. Students, regardless of career field, will need to know how to ask AI questions in productive and nuanced ways–referred to as “prompt engineering.” As part of this work, too, students need to understand the ethics, limitations, and challenges that come with AI. Schools and districts can create this guidance as they develop their own AI policies and curriculum.
College and career readiness skills for all service, trade, and knowledge based professions are also being impacted by AI. Writing computer code, undertaking financial transactions, providing and documenting medical services, and implementing HVAC systems all now require interfacing with both software systems that have been supplemented with AI capabilities. Schools and districts can find ways to embed learning AI skills within these more traditional course pathways so students are able to develop AI skills that are specifically aligned with their passions and intended pursuits for their postsecondary life.
College and career readiness now requires that students know the advantages and risks that are associated with AI in the real-world today. Using AI features in Microsoft Office applications and the Google or Apple suites of personal productivity is different from using a generative AI tool such as Chat GPT, Gemini, or Claude. Teaching students this diversity of skills including how different fields are using AI is going to take significant work by superintendents, curriculum designers, principals, teachers, and counselors. But this work is critical and cannot be postponed in order to actually ensure students are ready for the future they will meet beyond graduation. Administrators and educators can approach this work by learning alongside students as they discover how to maximize the possibilities and benefits of AI, while learning safe and responsible use. The reality is that the AI future is now. And we need to prepare our students for it.
This is a blog post from SchoolLinks. Check them out here and sign up for their newsletter – https://go.schoolinks.com/resources-sign-up?_gl=1*1aoahnq*_gcl_au*MTAzNDg1MDE0Ni4xNzU0NTc5NzMy
These articles are scheduled to run in the Fall 2025 issue of LINK for Counselors. It’s going to be a dynamite issue! Reserve space now to reach the readers of this issue.
Choose a Major, Intelligently – By Louis E. Newman, the former Dean of Academic Advising and Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Stanford University, as well as a Professor of Religious Studies, Emeritus at Carleton College. He now works as a private College Success Coach.
Helping Students Through Emotional Crises – By Elizabeth Drucker
The 3 Pillars of College Admissions Success – By Brian Safdari, the founder and CEO of College Planning Experts and a Certified College Planning Specialist
College Essay Coaching – Make Sure Students Understand the Prompt – By Susan Knoppow, CEO, Wow Writing Workshop
How to Help Students Create a College Application Résumé – By Carolyn Kost, a teacher in high school and university classrooms and a college counselor for over 20 years.
From Compliance to Connection: How My College Counseling Approach Evolved – By Sonja Montiel, the co-founder of PEQ Performance Consulting, with over 40 years of experience in education, training, and speaking.
Early College Planning for Freshman and Sophomore High School Students – By Gina Gerrato Greenhaus, the founder of Greenhaus College Consulting
Guiding Your Students Toward Choosing Their “Best” College – By Nancy Regas, is the author of The Art of Being a School Counselor.
Helping Students Who Don’t Get into Their Early Decision College – By Elizabeth Drucker
Keep Your College-Bound Juniors on Track: Using Meetings Proactively – By Nina Berler, the founder of unCommon Apps and past college counselor at The Hudson School (Hoboken, NJ).
The Benefits of Immersive Learning in College: More Job Offers, Higher Salaries – By Dr. Jeffrey T. Gates
Tips and Strategies for a Successful College Admission Interview – By Dawn Marie Barhyte
Top 10 Dos and Don’ts for Counselors on College Fly-Ins – By Paula Cooper, a college counselor and IBCP coordinator at The British International School of Houston in Houston, Texas and Kate Trott, the director of College Counseling/Inclusion Awareness and IB coordinator at The Calverton School in Huntingtown, Maryland.
What Must Be Done: Meeting the Moment in Higher Education – By Rev. James J. Maher, C.M., President, Niagara University
TRANSFER – How can Attending a Community/Junior College prior to Transferring to a 4-Year School be Beneficial to Your Students – By Elizabeth Drucker
NACAC Fairs List – September – December 2025
Writing a college admissions essay is a little bit like going through a job interview. The prompts sound roughly like this: Tell us about a situation or task you encountered, what you did and what the results were. Situation or task (ST), action (A), result (R). Do a good job, and you’re a STAR!
This kind of formulaic writing is perfect for artificial intelligence (AI), and when a student is writing a series of three to five admissions essays and revising them multiple times, you can see why they’re tempted to use AI. In a recent survey, about 20% of college applicants said they used AI to produce their essays.
AI is useful in the college admissions process. It can, for example, help students and their families sift through the thousands of college options and identify the best-fit schools. There are AI tools that match students to scholarship opportunities among the thousands out there.
Yes, AI is good at many things, but one thing it’s not good at is authenticity. The reason a college asks students to write essays in the first place is that they want to hear the student’s voice, understand their experience and see how their mind works – all in an effort to decide whether that student is a good fit for their institution. Grades and test scores tell, but stories “sell.”
Admissions officers have tools at their disposal to uncover AI-generated content. So if your student is considering using AI to write their essays for them, let them know it’s not a good idea.
When the Common App released its 2025-26 essay prompts earlier this year, they did indeed sound like job interview questions. The Common App is used by 1,000 colleges nationwide, either exclusively or alongside a proprietary application, so these prompts are important. And it may be difficult for students to come up with responses that put their best foot forward. In previous years, a family may have hired an essay coach or even an essay writer to help their student respond.
AI can play that role, but it’s important to use it intelligently and ethically. While admissions officers may be able to identify whether AI wrote a student response, they’re less able to see whether the student used AI to generate ideas or polish a killer essay.
Here are a few tips:
Start early. The Common App published its 2025-26 essay prompts, which remained the same from 2024-25, in February. Colleges that use the Common App may not use all of the prompts, but they will likely select from them. By establishing an account on the Common App, a student can stay up to date and have the opportunity to start thinking about their responses over the summer, before their senior year begins.
Look for supplemental essay prompts and short answers. About two-thirds of Common App colleges have supplemental applications, and these may have additional essay prompts and short answers. Once the student has narrowed down their choices, it’s a good idea to explore what kinds of additional writing may be required.
Do your own thinking. There’s a fundamental “why” colleges require essays: They want you to think on your own. They want to know if this student is being authentic, or will they be admitting someone they don’t even know.
Use AI to assist, not generate. Artificial intelligence is just Google on steroids. AI may help you through writer’s block or spark ideas. Use a variety of platforms, and write as much of your own story as you can so that you maintain your own voice. Use AI to review your final essay before submission.
Make a video “essay.” More colleges are trying to get around the AI problem by offering applicants the chance to submit a brief video introduction. A lot of these are optional right now, but if you have the chance, it’s a good way to demonstrate your authenticity.
Don’t stress. Essays count for perhaps 25% of an admissions decision, give or take. Admissions officers generally take a holistic approach, looking at the whole student, not just test scores, grades or essays.
One problem is that colleges are not clear about their AI policies. They know it’s not going away, and, indeed, admissions offices are increasingly using AI to sort through applications. Efforts to ban it outright have largely failed, so they’re trying to find a reasonable middle ground.
In general, though, if AI is used to brainstorm, research and polish, that’s really no different from doing internet research and having mom read the essay over before submitting it.
Brian Safdari, who founded College Planning Experts in 2004, is a Certified College Planning Specialist™. He and his team have assisted more than 7,500 students nationwide on their college journey using their exclusive My College Fit System. For more information, call 818-201-4847 or visit collegeplanningexperts.com.
Looking to fill some wall space as you get back to school this year. http://www.onetrustedadult.com has some great posters available to download for free. Here are some examples:
Across the next several months I’m conducting 100 one‑hour interviews with leaders who shape how colleges present their value to the world, including school and independent counselors.
The study explores a question at the heart of our work:
Has the business model of American higher education eroded audience trust, and, if so, what messaging or structural shifts can restore confidence?
Your expertise working with students is essential. Conversations center on three prompts, framed for a marketing lens:
Confidentiality
Interviews are recorded solely for my reference. Neither you nor your organization will ever be quoted, cited, or identified without your written consent.
Next steps
If you’d be willing to contribute, please choose any available slot here.
For additional background, a short project brief is available: Is College Broken?
Thank you for considering this request. Your insight will help map actionable paths to rebuild public confidence in higher education.
Looking forward,
Teege Mettille
Author & Researcher
Higher education is many things, but fast is not one of them. That’s a problem for people who are hoping to pivot into a new career or take on an advanced position within their current professional focus.
You want to move up the ladder, but you know that it could take three to five years of education to do it. Is there a quicker way to health care leadership? There can be.
If you are a high school guidance counselor working with people interested in health care careers, there are tons of ways they can get rewarding jobs. In this article, we take a look at the various paths toward public health leadership.
What Does Leadership Look Like in Healthcare?
Before we get too far into the weeds, it’s important to keep in mind that leadership doesn’t mean the same thing across the board.
It could mean organizational leadership—in other words, healthcare professionals that oversee the work of other healthcare professionals. It could also mean community leadership—people who play an important role in the lives of patients. Both jobs are important. Both also typically require a willingness to continue one’s education beyond merely getting an undergraduate degree.
Naturally, any job that requires grad school isn’t exactly a quick job. Most of the jobs described below will take more than four years for even high-achieving students to get. However, it is worth keeping in mind that high school students who already know they are interested in healthcare leadership are in a very good position to accelerate the timeline and get a jump start on their careers.
Bundling Degrees
If you have a senior who knows for certain that they want to go into a nursing career, they may be well positioned to bundle their credentials.
Some universities will allow high-performing students to essentially work on their graduate and undergraduate degrees at the same time.
In this case, instead of spending four years just getting a BSN, the student might be able to get both their bachelor’s and their master’s in five years. Naturally, this is an intensive line of studying and not suited for everyone.
However, driven students who know they want a leadership role will benefit from the accelerated timeline. They’ll also most likely save money on their overall education.
How worthwhile is it to work ahead? Well, for one thing, it can save the student tens of thousands of dollars in the long run. It will also increase their earning potential considerably. Almost from the start of their career, they’ll be making six-figure salaries, which is a major benefit that few healthcare professionals experience.
Pharmacists
Not a ton of 17-year-olds say, “I want to be a pharmacist when I grow up.” Those that do, however, are well-positioned to play an important leadership role in their healthcare community.
Many of us mistake pharmacists for clerks. Aren’t they, after all, the person who rings up your transaction and hands you a prepackaged bottle of pills? Well, actually, the people you interact with at the pharmacy are most often technicians, not necessarily the pharmacists themselves. Their job is more complicated than many of us assume based only on what we see.
For one thing, they are many people’s first point of contact with the healthcare system. An older patient with many medications to manage might speak every day with their pharmacist about potential side effects or drug interactions.
For another, the work they do is much more complicated than we in line at Walgreens see. What is the fastest way to become a pharmacist?
The quickest way to become a pharmacist is through a direct entry program that allows them to get the skills they need in about six years.
Absent a direct entry pathway, the process takes about eight years, so this is a great way for them to begin working a little earlier.
Administrative Roles
Healthcare administrators don’t get as much attention as doctors and nurses—maybe because the average patient will never meet one.
However, the leadership they provide their healthcare systems has a direct role on everyone living within the community. Though they don’t interact with patients at the bedside, they do make choices that influence thousands of lives.
You can get administrative jobs with a four-year degree, but most high-level administrators will have a master’s or even a Ph.D.
The timeline is generally four years of education for an entry-level position, but graduate school can add three to five years to that timeline, assuming a traditional course load.
Conclusion
We know. Getting high school juniors and seniors to start thinking about not only their undergraduate degrees, but graduate programs and career trajectories is hard. We live in an age where college completion timelines are ticking upward, and students are more likely than ever to change their majors. Rare is the high school senior who will be able to map out their future before they even have been accepted into a university.
Is it even worth pushing these programs? For the right student, it can be. Knowing what you want might be rare, but it is an enormous advantage for the right person. These programs accelerate degree completion timelines, save people money, and maximize their early earning potential. Anytime you have the chance to double your starting salary, it’s an opportunity that at least deserves serious consideration, isn’t it?
That’s what’s on offer with many of the programs we’ve described above. Keep an eye out for students who could stand to benefit from just a little bit of forward thinking.
Do you ever catch yourself saying these things after reading a student’s essay?
At Wow, we find ourselves there too, but we quickly recover. Do what we do:
Here’s what Shannon, one of our writing coaches, said during a recent discussion about when to let go of imperfect essays:
“I remind myself that I am accountable to the student, more than I am to the essay. The essay is not a product. My job as a coach is different from being an editor. An editor is accountable to the essay. But as a coach, we’re accountable to the student and their learning process. I ask myself, ‘Is this next draft to support the student or is this next draft to support what I think should be their final essay?’ That question helps me determine when and how to keep moving.”
I share Shannon’s feedback because she has only been with Wow for two years, after many years of experience using different methods as an independent essay coach. Shannon is a beautiful writer and a talented teacher. I hope her advice helps you too.
My parting advice to you: Follow a process. Whether it’s the ten-step Wow Method or something you’ve developed on your own. Trust the process. Trust yourself. And trust your students.
Susan Knoppow is CEO of Wow Writing Workshop. She can be reached at susan@wowwritingworkshop.com
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