Write your best Common App Essay: 2023-2024 Edition Here is a dirty little secret: some of the 2023-2024 Common App essay prompts will bring you down like quicksand while others give you the exact structure and framing that you … [Read More...]
How to get into the Ivy League – Ethically
So much of what you read, watch, or hear in the media is there to make you feel like it's impossible to get into Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale without cheating your way in or using some … [Read More...]
UMass Amherst receives record 30,000+ Early Action applications
University of Massachusetts Amherst is gearing up to release all of its Early Action (EA) admission decisions on the evening of Wednesday, January 24 during an admissions cycle in which the public university had over 30,000 students apply through … [Read More...]
6 Lesser-Known Healthcare Careers to Consider
The healthcare field is a vast and ever-evolving landscape, offering a multitude of career paths to suit diverse interests and skill sets. Many favor prominent nursing, medicine, and pharmacy roles, but numerous lesser-known healthcare careers … [Read More...]
University of Maryland’s 650-character leap into lawlessness or a legal loophole?
For years, University of Maryland College Park emphasized grades and scores in its undergraduate admissions review process for first-year applicants. Then, a few years back, the university that Testudo the diamondback terrapin calls home added … [Read More...]
Fundamentals of Financial Aid for 2024
If one sentence could sum up the state of financing an American college education in 2024 it would be, "The more things change the more things stay the same." While change is afoot, much remains the same. Changes are particularly pronounced with … [Read More...]
Healthcare Careers You Can Pursue Without an MD
A career in healthcare is coveted by many due to comfortable paychecks, and more importantly, high job satisfaction. Knowing that at the end of the day, the job you did helped save or improve lives cannot be quantified, but makes a big difference … [Read More...]
The top 23 songs to listen to while completing your college applications in 2023 are…
Picture it. You are all alone in your bedroom at 11:47 p.m. on a Tuesday night. By day you are an overloaded high school senior year who feels dominated by IB or AP course assignments, juggling the responsibilities that come with leading four … [Read More...]
Now is the time to build an “Extraordinary Extracurricular Résumé”
It's Fall 2023, you are a high school senior applying to America's most selective colleges, and you don't have an extracurricular résumé? If you want to give yourself the best chance of getting into the colleges on your list, I strongly recommend a … [Read More...]
Princeton wants to learn about applicants’ “lived experiences”
Princeton University has released its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants, making it the final Ivy League institution to do so. The most notable change in Princeton's supplement from last year is the addition of a new … [Read More...]
Northwestern University adds six new essay prompts to its application supplement
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois has added six new essay prompts to its 2023-2024 supplement to the Common Application for first-year applicants. At the same time, Northwestern becomes the most selective Common App college to no … [Read More...]
Wake Forest Introduces Exclusive Early Action (EEA)
Considering how much the word "inclusive" is bandied about these days, Wake Forest University would, at first glance, appear to be taking a big risk by creating a new Early Action admissions option that will be the exclusive domain of only certain … [Read More...]
Wake Forest’s new supplemental essay prompt builds on a trend and guest stars Maya Angelou
Since The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2023 that colleges can no longer admit students on the on the basis of race, a number of selective colleges have added new essay prompts to their 2023-2024 first-year applications to inspire … [Read More...]
Now Open: Application for New UC Berkeley 4-Year Haas Business Program
The time has finally come. For years high school students interested in engaging in a traditional four-year undergraduate business program leading to a BS in Business Administration have had to look beyond University of California, Berkeley and … [Read More...]
Lafayette College Elevates Equity Over Extracurricular Achievements
Lafayette College, a small private college in Easton, Pennsylvania with a reputation for solid undergraduate engineering and liberal arts programs, used the launch of the 2023-2024 Common Application as an occasion to get media attention for its … [Read More...]
Study Abroad Programs: Short-Term vs. Long-Term Courses
In our globalized world, international education is more than just a trend; it's an opportunity. Students worldwide have been seizing the chance to experience new cultures, learn new languages, and engage in a rich and diversified academic … [Read More...]
Rice University adds new 500-word required essay to its application
Rice University in Houston, Texas has decided to add a new essay requirement to its first-year application that explicitly mentions race just weeks after The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that colleges can no longer admit students on the … [Read More...]
Digital SAT: All You Need to Know
I'm excited to announced that on August 8, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time in the United States I plan to live broadcast here a deep dive conversation with test-preparation expert Brian W. Stewart, M.Ed., president of BWS Education, who is … [Read More...]
Johns Hopkins Introduces New Supplemental Essay Prompt for 2023-2024
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland has released a new supplemental essay prompt for students applying during the 2023-2024 admissions cycle. All first-year applicants to Johns Hopkins (JHU) will now have respond to a prompt that … [Read More...]
WashU unveils new supplemental essay prompts for 2023-2024 admissions cycle
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) has released new supplemental essay prompt options for students applying during the 2023-2024 admissions cycle. In addition being required to respond to the first prompt, which is a returns from last … [Read More...]
Penn unveils new supplemental essay prompts for 2023-2024 admissions cycle
University of Pennsylvania has released its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants. All first-year applicants to Penn will complete several Penn-specific short essays; yet, for the first time, the exact prompts students … [Read More...]
Brown University 2023-2024 Supplemental Essays: A Real Bear
Brown University's 2023-2024 supplemental short essay prompts for first-year applicants have now been made public as a result of the Common Application's launch for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle. All first-year applicants to Brown will write … [Read More...]
Harvard 2023-2024 supplemental short essay prompts revealed
Harvard University's 2023-2024 supplemental short essay prompts for first-year applicants have now been revealed with the launch of the 2023-2024 Common Application. This news comes in the wake of Harvard's past use of affirmative action being ruled … [Read More...]
NYU has all new supplemental essay prompt options for 2023-2024
New York University has all new supplemental essay prompt options for first-year applicants to choose from as they decide whether or not to submit an optional 250-word essay as part of their Common Application when applying to the private university, … [Read More...]
Stanford University 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts Released
Stanford University has released its 2023-2024 supplemental short essay prompts for first-year applicants. All first-year applicants to Stanford will complete three Stanford-specific short essays, one of which is in response to a prompt that makes … [Read More...]
Columbia University’s 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts Announced
Columbia University in the City of New York has released its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants. All first-year applicants to Columbia will complete several Columbia-specific short answer questions, and this year's … [Read More...]
Common App Essay: Size Does Matter
Every year students ask me the same question: "How long should my Common Application essay be?" I am never shy about providing them with the response that best summarizes how they need to approach both the Common Application essay and the … [Read More...]
Cornell University Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York is the third Ivy League college to officially release its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants. Dartmouth and Yale released their supplemental prompts earlier this month. As most high … [Read More...]
UNC Chapel Hill Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has officially released its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants. All UNC applicants will also need to respond - and respond well - to one of the Common App's main essay prompts in … [Read More...]
The 5 Most Ridiculously Underrated Colleges in America
When one works in college counseling for as long as I have, it's hard not to pick up on patterns - most notably patterns in the colleges that are most attractive to the vast majority of students and parents. Many of the students and parents with … [Read More...]
Yale Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts
Yale is the second Ivy League college to officially release its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants. Dartmouth released its supplemental prompts earlier this month. As most high school seniors applying to Yale do so through … [Read More...]
10 Best Colleges for Smart Skiers and Snowboarders in North America
Do you like to study - and like to ski or snowboard? Are you just as into learning as you are into hitting the slopes? Then, you've come to the right place, as today I'm happy to present to you what I deem to be the ten best colleges and universities … [Read More...]