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.