Feb 9, 2019 | Applications & Admissions, Latest
Students who have built up solid GPAs, posted strong standardized test scores, and invested time and energy to develop extracurricular activities that they are passionate about have done most of the hard work…but they’re not quite finished yet! Students must still...
Jan 31, 2019 | Applications & Admissions, Latest
One of the most straightforward but still difficult questions students see on a college application is the ‘Why us?’ question. Why Stanford? Why Princeton University’s College of Engineering? This question is obviously harder to answer for students who haven’t had the...
Jan 26, 2019 | Applications & Admissions, Latest
I’ll start with a cautionary story. Years ago, Nina, one of my counselees, was scheduled for an interview with her first-choice college, the University of Southern California (USC). At our next meeting, I asked Nina how the interview went. “Oh,” she replied breezily,...
Jan 24, 2019 | Applications & Admissions, Latest
Recommendations are the only personal yet third-party perspectives colleges get on a candidate. They function as an independent validation of what the student has said about himself or herself; they can also help shed light on the student’s circumstances, both...
Jan 24, 2019 | Applications & Admissions, Latest
(Do) Students should be themselves To get started, I want to emphasize that students should look upon the college essay as a unique opportunity. It’s a chance for the writer to reveal something about themselves that cannot be found anywhere else in the application....
Jan 17, 2019 | Applications & Admissions, Latest
Every year, as summer vacations wind down, rising seniors hit that rite of passage: college essay season. All across the country, sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds struggle to find the 650 words that capture their unique identity and personality and help them stand out...
