Back in March, TechCrunch bloggers reported on a new site, dubbing it the Hulu of education.  It’s called Academic Earth.  On it, you can watch lectures led by professors from Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and Yale.  Sounds cool, right?  If that’s not enough, the company has expanded its offerings to include lectures geared toward high school students: AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science AB, AP Physics B, AP Physics C and AP Psychology.  Courses come with a description of each lecture, syllabi, and class downloads.  Want to know what you’ve learned?  The site also supplies exams (complete with answer keys).

The interface is clean; in less than a minute, you can grab a cup of coffee, log on and learn single-variable calculus from an MIT professor—in your pajamas, or outside in the park if you like!  You can log onto the website to watch lectures from the site or you can subscribe to Academic Earth’s RSS feed.

There are other sites out there that also offer free instructional content.  Before I ever heard of Academic Earth, I downloaded most of my intellectual video content from iTunes U in both video and audio formats.  One of the major criticisms of these sites, however, is that there is no interactivity.  Users cannot ask questions at present.  However, the founder of the company plans to work social networking features into its offerings (think comments sections, forums, discussion boards).

Academic Earth calls itself, “an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education.”  Sound too good to be true?  Go and see for yourself.

Autumn is here.  Falling leaves.  The Harvest Moon.  Apple cider.  Early Decision and Early Action application deadlines!

(A good explanation of the differences between Early Action and Early Decision application requirements can be found here.)

For students applying to an institution under Early Action or Early Decision programs, the November 1st deadline is looming.  If you are considering applying early to Ivy League schools, keep in mind that Harvard and Princeton no longer offer an early option and the remaining schools offer the following types of early programs:

It’s worth noting that Columbia advertises a Nov. 2nd postmark deadline for its Early Decision applications on its site.

Yale is the only Ivy that offers a Single-Choice Early Action option.  Essentially, a student is not required to attend Yale if admitted as an early applicant (admissions offices call this a “non-binding” program since admitted applicants are not obligated to attend), but an applicant is limited to applying to one college under an early program.  For a detailed explanation, visit Yale’s Q&A here.

Other colleges have a range of early programs and deadlines, so it’s important to know which programs your particular schools offer.  Stanford offers what it calls Restrictive Early Action and MIT offers a non-binding Early Action program.  Georgetown also has a traditional Early Action program.  Applicants have until May 1st to accept or decline an offer of admission under both of these programs.

Pomona’s Early Decision applications are due by November 1st, while Amherst College Early Decision applications aren’t due until November 15th; the same is true at Williams.

These are just a few examples of programs and deadlines.  If you have determined that applying early is right for you, make sure to follow your college’s application guidelines and be sure to have, in addition to your application itself, all supporting documentation ready.  This will include items such as: teacher recommendations, an application supplement (if required by your school), a guidance counselor report, the CSS Profile (if required by your school), and testing.  Keep in mind that most colleges require that you send testing prior to the October and November administrations of the ACT and SAT, respectively.  These scores may be accepted as additional testing, but scores from earlier test dates will be needed to consider your application complete.

1. New York Times, The Choice

The Choice is a relatively new blog that provides context, from a variety of perspectives, for any student preparing to apply to college.  Two weeks ago, The Choice published a series of posts in which readers forwarded questions for William Fitzsimmons, the Harvard College Dean of Admissions.

2. The College Board

The place to register for the SAT and other College Board standardized tests.  The College Board was also one of the first organizations to bring useful information about the college application process online.  You can register for an SAT question of the day in either email or RSS formats, look up all the colleges in your state or conduct an advanced search of schools that fit your criteria, among other things.   I wouldn’t visit this site to get the latest admissions news (visit #1, The Choice, for that), but if you’re interested in college admissions generally, The College Board publishes reports and materials on the topic.

3. U.S. News and World Report

Each year, scores of editorials scrutinize the U.S. News and World Report methodology for ranking colleges and universities.  That being said, the site is the best comprehensive and accessible list of schools I’ve seen on the web.  And if you don’t like their rankings, just click on the A-Z Directory or do your own Advanced Search.

4. The Education Conservancy

I couldn’t in good conscience send you to U.S. News and World Report without recommending The Education Conservancy’s College Unranked also.  While U.S. News and World Report has an incredibly accessible college list that allows you to do a thorough search for schools, The Education Conservancy does a good job of explaining that finding the right college will have little to do with its ranking and everything to do with it being the right fit for you.

5. Colleges That Change Lives

First a book and now a website, Colleges That Change Lives has a focus similar to that of the The College Conservancy.  They both place an emphasis on a student-directed college search and application process.  The site offers facts and figures about colleges that fit their criteria for being standouts.

We are former admissions officers from highly selective colleges in the US.  In our careers, we have met students from across the country and have read thousands upon thousands of their applications.  Our blog draws on years of admissions experience to help readers understand what the process looks like from the standpoint of an admissions officer, as well as what it takes to become a competitive applicant long before applications are due.

As the name Ivy Compass suggests, we’re dedicated to offering students direction as they prepare to apply to highly selective schools.  We’ll accomplish this through our blog, podcasts and video clips.  To give context, we’ll comment on the latest trends and topics in admissions.  Throughout the year, we’ll post links to resources that we find particularly helpful and we’ll write book and website reviews.  We will also pepper our blog with helpful lists and feature stories.

We invite students, families, guidance counselors,admissions officers, independent college counselors or anyone interested in selective college admissions to read, comment and share.  We are looking forward to hearing from you.