Follow Compass’s 2025 Conference Circuit

Compass Senior Directors of Outreach, Matty Steiner and Jon Lee, attended the PNACAC annual conference on the scenic University of Portland campus in Oregon. PNACAC represents college admissions professionals from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The laid-back, outdoor vibe of the setting was in stark contrast to the glitzy, frenetic WACAC conference in Las Vegas the week prior. 

This was Compass’s first year attending PNACAC. In addition to the informative sessions that were offered, Matty and I were eager to visit in person with our college admissions school partners and Independent Educational Consultant friends. Along with Portland-based Compass Director, Alex Kudroff, we hosted a lovely pizza party at a local brewery where our guests could take a break from the conference and unwind.

One counselor friend noted with some concern that there were no admission test sessions in the conference schedule, which was also the case at WACAC. This was no surprise. Like California and Nevada, students in the PNACAC region are often applying to nearby and California colleges, where testing requirements are less rigorous than elsewhere in the country. For a complete list of colleges’ testing policies and score requirements, visit our College Profiles page.

Compass was represented by Senior Director of Outreach Jon Lee, Senior Director of Sales Sara Berard, and Managing Director of Group Instruction Torsten Sannar at the WACAC conference in Las Vegas, NV this year.

The annual WACAC conference was held in Las Vegas this year, and Compass got into the celebratory spirit by hosting a lively Counselor Cocktail Party at the Vesper Bar, just across the street from the conference. We had a wonderful turnout, and it was great to see the room filled with friends old and new.

When we were able to step away from the exhibitor hall, we joined professional development sessions that featured a range of timely topics. This year’s sessions addressed emerging trends in artificial intelligence in the application and admissions processes, evolving financial aid practices, and strategies for supporting neurodivergent students.

Although we did not present a testing session this year, we were continually approached by high school counselors and IECs who were eager to speak with the Compass team about the brand new ACT format and how colleges are responding to the updated exam. Visitors to our booth and guests at our evening mixer also reflected on the growing number of private and public colleges beyond California that have returned to requiring SAT or ACT scores for admission, and considered how these changes might impact their students’ options in the years to come. Since so many California and Nevada students apply to colleges outside the test-free UC and CSU systems, counselors were clearly keen to stay informed about these developments.

Compass Co-founder Adam Ingersoll attended the NYSAIS conference in New Paltz, NY. Adam was also a presenter at this year’s conference.

The NYSAIS conference for College Counselors, held in the Hudson Valley, brought together attendees from across the state and presenters from across the country. This year’s conference focused specifically on the new ACT exam. During my presentation, I outlined the changes to the test, as well as the timeline for those changes.

Senior Directors Jon Lee and Matty Steiner attended the 2025 IECA conference in Detroit, MI. Read about their experience from Jon below.

Set against the scenic Detroit River, the 2025 Annual IECA Conference offered a diverse lineup of professional development opportunities for Independent Educational Consultants. Out of eighty-five total workshops, the conference showcased growing interest in key areas shaping education today: nine sessions focused on neurodiversity, six explored the implications and applications of artificial intelligence, and five addressed financial aid and tuition economics. There were only two workshops dedicated to the college admissions tests. 

The first session, Admissions Testing in the Digital Era, was a collaboration between four of the most respected voices in the test prep field and frequent conference collaborators Matty Steiner of Compass Education Group, Jed Applerouth of Applerouth Tutoring Services, Megan Stubbendeck of ArborBridge, and Drew Heilpern of Summit Educational Group. 

The session provided an in-depth look at the new Enhanced ACT, detailing how it compares to previous versions of the ACT and the current SAT and examining how colleges are beginning to respond to the new exam. The quality of information and spirit of collegiality between these frequent co-presenters elevate our industry and make these events a lot of fun for attendees.

The second admissions test-focused session, Test-Optional Does Not Equal Test-Ignorant, was co-hosted by a blended group of IECs and Jed Applerouth. It focused on the fact that, although the majority of colleges in the U.S. officially espouse test-optional policies, the most competitive schools still value strong test scores and favor test submitters in the admissions process. You can access a searchable list of colleges’ current testing policies and score requirements on our website. 

Eric Anderson (Senior Director, Outreach and Partnerships) and Adam Ingersoll (Co-founder) attended the IACAC conference in Peoria, IL. Read Eric’s full conference write-up here.

Matty Steiner (Senior Director, Outreach and Partnerships) and Eli Bowling (Program Director) attended the PCACAC conference in Richmond, VA:

At PCACAC 2025, hundreds of attendees from the DMV area were able to network with peers and take advantage of the booths vended by industry professionals in between attending a variety of panels, including presentations about AI, test prep, and advocacy for LGBT and neurotypical students. Matty Steiner was there on behalf of Compass and they gave a presentation on the upcoming changes to the ACT. Alongside Stacy Richardson from the Potomac School and Damian Garcia from Glenelg Country School, Matty was able to provide clarity to the Core ACTs timeline as well as some of the changes that counselors could expect to see in this new version.  

During PCACAC, I chose to attend a panel that showcased data and tools for counselors surrounding AI use for the counseling and admissions processes. With AI becoming ubiquitous in the virtual world, the panel was well-attended by high school counselors, college admission representatives, and independent counselors wondering how students utilize these tools and how it can be helpful for counselors dealing with high caseloads. The general consensus is that the use of AI among students is going up (by almost 10% since 2023) and that universities have been slow to respond with AI policies around admissions.