Many applicants who are targeting top ranked programs wonder if they should consider adding a lower-ranked school to their list as a “safety school.” Should you? And is there such a thing? What is a safety school? A safety school is one where you are highly competitive, that is strong in your area of interest,…
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How Americans Save for College
The majority of American parents endeavor to be financially prepared to send their children to college. Almost 66% of parents with children under the age of 18, who they expect will attend college someday, are saving or planning for how to pay for this expense. If you fall into this age demographic, you may be…
How to Write the Qualifications Summary for Your Resume
The Qualifications Summary section of the resume is, in theory, the first section of the resume that the admissions reviewer will read: it sits at the very top of the resume after the applicant’s name and contact details, exactly where the eye is naturally drawn. However, if it is a bulky paragraph filled with ambiguity or…
4 More Elements to Telling an Attention-Grabbing Story
In our last post, we illustrated 5 key story elements with these opening application essay lines: The moment I found the lump, I suspected my life was about to change – in a big way. It was mid-May 2011. I was a busy consultant in McKinsey’s Chicago office, the proud father of a boy about…
Stand Out or Fit In? 4 Application Strategies to Help You Do Both
It can be confusing: Half of the advice you read urges you to stand out in your application, while the other half advises you to explain how you’ll fit in. So which is it? Should you stand out or fit in? The answer, unsurprisingly, is BOTH. You need to show your distinction and demonstrate fit…
5 Elements to Telling an Attention-Grabbing Story
Ready to write your personal statement? Then it’s time to conjure your inner storyteller. The best way to distinguish yourself from other applicants is to tell the admissions board a good story, a tale of your greatest achievements, dreams, and challenges. How do you tell a good story? It’s not about lifting plots from Harry…
Let Accepted’s College Admissions Consultants Guide Your Teen to Acceptance
Your child is a talented teenager preparing to apply to college. You want what’s best for them and realize that a little guidance, a boost, would go a long way to helping them get into the best college for them. And you want to give them that boost, that edge. But, they don’t want…
5 Things the Adcoms Hate
When I was admissions Director there were some things applicants would do that were minor, but that I found to be very annoying. Here are my top 5 “hates” that I’m sure are shared by many adcoms: 1. Asking for information that can easily be found on the school’s website Some applicants would do that…
Harvard Accepts Fewest Applicants of All Ivies
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Harvard University admitted just 4.6% of its applicants – 1,962 students for the entering class of fall 2018. This is down from 5.2% of applicants last year. Ivy League applicants were recently notified about their admission status. Seven of the eight schools making up the Ivy League…
How to Add Detail to Your Social Enterprise/Community Service Goals
Whether you’re applying for an MBA, a PhD in Public Policy (or many other doctoral fields), or a Masters in Social Work, you’re likely to talk about social enterprise or community service goals in your application. For some, this will be your primary objective – those of you seeking careers in the non-profit sector, for…
Is Drop in Foreign Student Visas Due to Trump’s Immigration Policy?
According to State Department data, the number of visas given to foreign students was noticeably lower last year after stricter immigration policies were implemented. This has added to the financial challenges that some US colleges and universities are experiencing. Foreign schools have increased their competition with their American counterparts, and some foreign governments have decreased…
Writing the Diversity Personal Statement
One of the many challenges of applying to college or graduate school is showing the admissions committee how you’ll fit in and stand out. Adcoms are trying to build student bodies that will work cohesively towards shared goals and ideals, but that come from different backgrounds and with different ideas so that the combined educational,…
3 Tips for Highlighting Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
One of most important pieces of advice I can give you regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. Here are three tips to help you achieve this essential writing goal: 1. Show the steps you’ve taken. If you are writing about a goal you achieved or a project you completed,…
You Can Get Accepted Off the Waitlist! Here’s How
The application process is not over for waitlisted applicants. You’ve still got a chance of getting into your dream school, so now’s not the time to slack off, and it’s certainly not the time to give up. Continue fighting for that acceptance! Your waitlist updates (you write those) and letters of support (other people write…
Top Tips to Improve Your SAT Score
When you’re prepping for the SAT, the last thing you want to do is waste time. And there are a lot of time wasters out there: from bad materials to tutors only familiar with the old test (it changed in 2016, people!), it seems like there are more potential landmines cropping up every day. But…
How to Stay Within Essay Word Limits by Reducing Verbal Verbosity
Most applicants – whether applying to med school, law school, business school, or any other grad school or college program – need to deal with rigid character or word limits when writing their application essays or personal statements. You may start out thinking that you have nothing to write, but generally, once applicants begin writing,…
Wishing You a Wonderful 2018
I just want to take this time to wish you a happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year. I think that as the year draws to a close, it’s important to reflect on the good that has come one’s way in the preceding year and to be appreciative of the many blessings we…
Ivy Leagues Release Early-Acceptance Rates
Many students who applied for early decision/action to Ivy League schools can stop checking their mail for their acceptance letters. Nearly every Ivy League university has reported the number of applicants who were accepted early this year, according to a Business Insider article. Harvard had the lowest acceptance rate, with just 14.5% of applicants receiving…
10 Tips and Tricks for Acing the IELTS
The path to passing the IELTS is not a straight line, nor a short walk. You can think of it more as a long hike, challenging but rewarding. Now, if you go on a long hike, you’ll need to pack a bag of supplies. In the case of the “hike” to IELTS success, your supplies…
Writing About Resilience in the Face of Failure
Essay questions dealing with failure, risk, mistakes, and difficult interactions or conflict often cause applicants to cringe, squirm, and bite their nails. After all, you want to show yourself succeeding and conquering the world in your essays and personal statements, not falling down. But there’s a reason why these questions are common. Schools want to…
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