You’ve seen your friends’ shell-shocked faces over the last few weeks.  Their child – a super-star, straight-A student who took allllllll the Honors and AP classes, a student government leader, four-year varsity athlete, an Eagle Scout or yearbook editor, not only denied from their top-choice (super-crazy-6%-admit-rate) college, but waitlisted – WHAT?! – at what you and they considered a second-tier choice.  Or their “safety” school. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? University of Portland There are three basic answers to this question: College admission is different than when we applied 25 ..read more

 This article is an update to our “College Admissions 101” from a few years ago; it should help you understand what’s changed about how colleges make their admission decisions and build their class. Top 5 Things To Know About College Admission  College admission is not fair.    Colleges don’t necessarily admit the “top” students from their applicant pool. Colleges have “institutional priorities” – goals they strive to achieve as they build their campus community.  They don’t tell us (or you) what they are.  [See Georgia Tech Admissions Dire ..read more

 College rankings:  everyone loves them, college counselors hate them.  They don’t really tell you much, if anything.  And they REALLY don’t tell you if a college is right FOR YOU. This past year, US News & World Report, which publishes the most popular of the colleges rankings, changed up their methodology, giving more weight to data points that hadn’t been considered before, and reducing or eliminating some factors that had been considered in the past.  Madness ensued!  Some colleges were shocked when they tumbled out of the top 50 (and even ..read more

In a recent Forbes Magazine article, our counseling colleague Brennan Barnard interviewed four admission deans from top colleges about what they’re looking to see in students’ essays – specifically their supplemental essays.  Brennan is well known in the college counseling community, so it wasn’t hard for him to pick up the phone and get comments from high-level admission experts from Northwestern, University of Vermont, Harvey Mudd, Vanderbilt and the University of Chicago.  Since I find the non-stop popup ads in Forbes really annoying, I’ll summarize their advice for you here.  ..read more

[Moms and dads – play this in the background while you’re reading this article.] Can I say I did 5 hours of community service per week when I really did 2? Can I say I was the VP of a club my friend started, even though we never met or did anything? Can we say we have $50,000 in our savings account when we actually have twice that amount? Can I round my GPA up a little bit? How will they know? Students and parents ask us questions like these all the time, related to their college applications.  This year, we’re hearing a new question: Can I use Chat GPT to write my essays? Some colleges ..read more

Not a day goes by that we aren’t thinking about teen mental health – talking to a parent about how stressed out her son is, or getting a call from a mom whose daughter is having problems at school.  COVID did a number on our teens – there’s lots of documentation to back that up – but things haven’t gotten “back to normal” in the way we all would have hoped.   Bullying is a bigger issue than it ever was – teens today are growing up with social media in the palm of their hands.  Despite the fabulous body positivity movement, teens still struggle mightily with how they look an ..read more

 College admission testing is probably one of the most discussed and most confusing parts of the college admission process.  Most colleges went test-optional by necessity in 2020, and many have continued the policy of not requiring test scores (more on what test-optional means, and why so many colleges stayed that way, here). Burning Questions About College Admission Testing How much should you prep?  Which test(s) should you take?  When should you start this process?  Should you take and submit a test at all?  Will colleges just assume your test s ..read more

 Is a religious college right for you? Many students and families steer clear of colleges that have a religious affiliation.  But all colleges that are connected with a religious sect are not the same – the vibe on campus, the level of religious involvement and what will be required of you as a student will be different. For example, there are a good number of well-known Catholic universities in the United States.  Georgetown University is Catholic, and they affiliate with the Jesuit order.  Similarly, Loyola Marymount, Loyola Chicago, Boston College, Santa Cl ..read more

As we move into summer, rising seniors should be getting ready to focus on their college essays.  To help you get started, here are the top five(ish) questions people ask us about essays: What’s the goal of my college essay? Your college essay should help colleges understand WHO YOU ARE, what you value, and how you will be a contributing member of their campus community.  Your essay should make you memorable and likeable. Don’t rehash your resume; you share that information through your activities list and/or resume (here’s some advice from the University of Richmond about how to cra ..read more

Every few years, the College Board makes changes to the SAT.  I ran into Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of the Princeton Review, at a recent conference, and he was kind enough to speak with me briefly about the SAT changes for U.S.-based students starting next spring (2024). How is the SAT changing? No more #2 pencils! The SAT will be digital, no longer on paper. The test is shorter.  Instead of 3+ hours, it's just a little over 2. The test is now adaptive by module.  This means your performance on the first group of questions will determine if you get the easier or harder set o ..read more