For each college that you apply to via the Common Application, you’re going to need to create a supplemental essay that answers that school’s specific questions while showcasing your talents and telling your story in a way that demonstrates your unique fit for that particular program. Please explore the tips below to learn how to…
College Planning: July is for Beginning Your College Journey
This post is part of a series of excerpted from Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier and more effective. If you are fortunate, you have an accessible and knowledgeable guidance counselor available in…
College Planning: June is for Judging Test Scores
Are you a high school junior planning to apply to top colleges and universities next year? This post is part of a series of posts that will help you prepare for next year’s application process. Oh, and if you don’t want to wait for the monthly posts, please download Preparing for College in High School:…
Thinking About Your Summer Job
This post is part of a series of monthly blog posts designed for members of the high school class of 2014, and excerpted from Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier and more effective….
College Planning: May is for Making Your Case
Are you a high school junior planning to apply to top colleges and universities next year? This post is part of a series of posts that will help you prepare for next year’s application process. Oh, and if you don’t want to wait for the monthly posts, please download Preparing for College in High School:…
College Planning: April is for Asking Away!
This is the sixth in a series of monthly blog posts designed for members of the high school class of 2014, and excerpted from Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier and more effective….
5 Mistakes To Avoid When Applying To College
What’s the fastest way to mess up your college application? U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2013 guidebook features 10 college admissions officers sharing their pet peeves. Among the highlights: Be yourself: “I’ve been jaded by years of reading captivating pieces only to meet the student and realize that he or she could not…
Applying To Too Many Colleges Can Hurt Your Chances
Grace Oberhofer decided to apply to an even dozen colleges. “I wanted to have options,” says the 2011 graduate of Tacoma School of the Arts in Washington. She got them: Though wait-listed by first choice Harvard, she was accepted at Tulane, Oberlin, Brandeis, Duke, Sarah Lawrence, and Tufts, where she is a sophomore this fall….
College Planning: March is for Marching to the Tune of a Solid Transcript – Is a B Better Than an A?
Are you a high school junior planning to apply to top colleges and universities next year? This post is part of a series of posts that will help you prepare for next year’s application process. Oh, and if you don’t want to wait for the monthly posts, please download Preparing for College in High School:…
Winter Bonus Tip: Interpreting Your PSAT Results
By now you have received your PSAT/NMSQT results. While some students will anxiously await their scores in hopes of progressing further in the National Merit Scholarship/National Achievement Scholarship competition, many simply glance over the report before relegating it to their growing pile of college related information. Fortunately for test takers at all score levels, the…
College Planning for Parents: February is for Finances
This is the third in a series of monthly blog posts designed for members of the high school class of 2014, and excerpted from Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier and more effective….
The Successful Applicant to Highly Selective Colleges
I work with really smart high school students every year. These students have excellent grades in challenging curriculums, strong tests scores and demonstrated commitment to their extracurricular endeavors. These students end up with college choices that many other students can only dream about. However, when fewer than 10% of applicants are admitted to some of…
College Admissions: 3 Tips for After You Submit
Over New Year’s weekend, I visited a friend’s home for dinner one evening. Another guest, a high school senior had filed her college applications well in advance of the January first deadlines, but took advantage of our host’s secure internet connection to check the status of each and every application on the eve of the…
College Planning: January is for Juggling Test Dates
Take a look at the calendar. In one year, your college applications will be submitted and you’ll be waiting for admissions committees to pore over your accomplishments and carefully read your essays before rendering a decision. This month, create a long-range plan for your standardized testing. If you took the PSAT in October, reflect on…
Colleges Use Rejections to Raise Rankings
The Wall Street Journal’s “Colleges Rise as They Reject” explores the efforts of colleges’ across the U.S. to encourage as many high school students as possible to apply to their institution. Of particular interest are those prospective applicants who will improve geographic diversity (they make the school look good) and who come from wealthier families…
Five New Year’s Resolutions for High School Juniors
This is the first in a series of monthly blog posts designed for members of the high school class of 2014, and excerpted from Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier and more effective….
Calling All University of California College Applicants!
If you’re applying to the University of California (any of them) and you haven’t finished your application, then you’ll want to listen up. For the NEXT WEEK ONLY we’ll be offering $100 off of our UC Application Package. If you still haven’t submitted, then this is GOOD NEWS for you – let’s increase your chances…
Fatal Flaw #4: Superficiality
When you write superficially you tend to blend into the great mass of applicants who on a superficial level are very much like you. They have the same goal. They have prepared similarly to gain acceptance. Of course, blending in is exactly what you don’t want to do. How can you distinguish yourself? Use specifics…
Advantages and Disadvantages of Combined BS/MD Programs
If you are fully committed to the idea of pursuing a medical career, a combined program may seem like the best of both worlds. In one application process, you can assure yourself of your future medical career, eliminate uncertainty and stress during your undergraduate years, and, without completing a full medical school application process, potentially…
