Teacher recommendations are an important part of your college application at many colleges, with most colleges requiring one or two letters in support of your application. These recommendations provide additional insight into your personality, intellectual curiosity, and potential impact on your college community. From my time on the admissions side of the desk, I know…
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….
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…
How to Choose a College Admissions Consultant
Earlier this week, my local high school had its college planning night for members of the class of 2013. As an admissions officer, I was often the guest speaker at such events, and as a high school counselor, the host. No matter how thorough we tried to be during that evening, families often left with…
Five New Year’s Resolutions for High School Juniors
Of course the New Year inspires all sorts of resolutions and fresh starts. If you are a member of the high school class of 2013, it also marks the time for you to begin your college planning in earnest. Here are five resolutions to get you started: Consider what you love to do: It’s often…
College Planning Tips: June
This is the fifth post in a series of college admission hints for parents and members of the high school classes of 2012 and 2013. At many colleges, an applicant’s SAT or ACT scores are just one piece of the admissions picture. Many times, a student’s test scores nicely correlate with his or her…
College Planning Tips: May
This is the fourth post in a series for parents and members of the high school classes of 2012 and 2013. Your high school path suddenly takes a detour. Your grades, which had been steady and consistent, take a nosedive. Perhaps its due to illness, personal or family issues, or a learning disability that…
College Planning: April
This post is part of a monthly college planning series for members of the high school class of 2012 and their parents. I made a quick college visit last week. I hadn’t been on this particular campus since my own college tour decades ago. The sun wasn’t shining, the trees hadn’t yet sprouted leaves;…
College Planning: March
This post is part of a monthly college planning series for members of the high school class of 2012 and their parents. It’s been a rough few months for American students studying abroad. The political situations in the Middle East and the crisis in Japan have cut short numerous study abroad programs and cancelled others….
College Planning for Parents: February
This is the second in a series of monthly blog posts designed for members of the high school class of 2012. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier and more effective. When I talk with parents about their goals for their child’s college application process, I…
Preparing for College: January
This is the first in a series of monthly blog posts designed for members of the high school class of 2012. It highlights planning steps that you can take now to make your college application process easier. Take a look at the calendar. In one year, your college applications will be submitted and you’ll be…
