All College Admissions Articles

If you’re going out to visit a college you’re interested in (which we highly recommend you do), it’s also a great idea to schedule an interview with a college admissions officer. These are the people who decide whether or not you get to attend their college. While it might sound intimidating, an interview with them …

Ah, summer. The time of late sunsets, BBQs, fireflies, and college prep. That’s right, summer is the perfect time to prepare for college and increase your odds of admission to boot. If that last sentence made you groan, never fret, because there are some great summer activities you can do (sometimes with friends!) to impress …

You’ve spent countless hours completing and sending in college applications. Then you played the waiting game. Some schools responded faster than others, but you finally got the envelope you’ve been waiting for. You tear into it, trying to keep your nerves in check and not completely shred the letter that’s waiting inside. After unfolding the …

What the heck is a HYPSter? It’s part acronym, part tongue-in-cheek term, meaning the kind of student who is accepted and attends a highly selective college like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, etc.–in other words, students attending the top colleges in the country. Many students aspire to these colleges, but many aren’t able to attend. What …

Fair warning: This post may make you reconsider some of the colleges on your list. The most selective schools in this country are actually even more difficult to get into than you previously thought. Believe it or not, the meager Ivy League admission rates published by the schools can be misleading. “How so?” you may …

Some four-letter words could get you in trouble; they might earn you detention or garner a reprimand from your parents. However, there is a particular four-letter word that is actually quite appealing. Not only do colleges want you to say this word, but they also want you to demonstrate it, embrace it, and live it. …

Nowadays, college degrees are more important than ever. Data estimates that by 2020 65% of job offerings will require a college degree. And with college grads averaging a salary double than that of their non-degree-holding counterparts, getting that higher-level education is essential. But getting into, paying for, and graduating from college is also no easy …

Test scores still matter. Even as more colleges are going test-optional, they are still very important in college admissions. In addition, just because a college does not use test scores when making admissions decisions, they may need test scores for other reasons. Here are seven ways they are used in the college admissions process: 1. …

Among the many questions I field regarding the college admissions process, one of them is among the most popular: “Is it important that I do volunteering work while I am in high school?” The short answer is: Yes, it does matter. However, like many things in the admissions process, there is more substance to that …

The universal college commitment deadline of May 1 is quickly approaching. While that is ideally the date by which you hope to make a final college decision, many of you may have already come to that decision. Either way, congratulations! The process of making a final college decision is by no means an easy task. Getting …