It’s supposed to be the jolliest time of year, but perhaps not for everyone. With college admissions being consistently more confusing, and acceptance rates continuing to plummet at some schools, the holidays can wind up being a season of bad news for some students. Perhaps they had their heart set on an Early Decision school, or really wanted to be admitted to another school. When the news isn’t great, it’s easy to spiral down into a sad, disappointment vortex. So here are some of our top reminders for students feeling the pain of college admissions decisions this time of year.
It used to be that colleges had one deadline. All applications would be read at the same time and colleges would send out their admission decisions. Now, there are several “early application” options. So should you submit early? What are the advantages and possible disadvantages?
The Common Application essay prompts have been announced for the 2022-2023 cycle, and they haven’t changed, more on that below. In addition, since the final option is “topic of your choice”, we offer some more prompts to generate ideas.
If you’re in high school, there are certain things you can do this summer to utilize the summer months in the best possible way.
Some colleges offer the opportunity for an applicant to engage in an interview with either a member of the university staff, a current student, or an alumni as part of the college admission process. In a previous blog post, we outlined why the interview is important, and 4 steps to mastering it. However, an important part of mastering the college interview is participating in a mock interview.
The warm weather is upon us, which means beach, biking, camp, swimming, hiking, etc. But for rising seniors, there are other important things to add to that to-do list. While having fun and relaxing is essential, get some of these other things accomplished to make the fall of senior year much easier for yourself.
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By now, hopefully, your main financial aid applications (FAFSA, CSS Profile) are submitted. For those of you who applied under an early admission program, you may have already seen some financial aid awards. Think you’re done? Sorry: there may be more roads to travel. The colleges and government sure can make this financial aid process convoluted.
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The world of college admissions sometimes seems like a waiting game…. and then a mad rush to the finish line. In this blog post we break down the things you should wait on, and those times it makes sense not to wait.
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If you aren’t already aware, college admission counselors use the term “safety school” to mean a college where a student has a very good chance of being admitted, based on data from previous years. It typically refers to a student’s chance of acceptance, but did you know that there are other types of “safety schools” and it might make sense to consider adding them to your list for various reasons.
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This year, many college applications, including the Common Application and the Coalition Application, have added a new, optional essay prompt about Covid-19. The essay allows students the opportunity to explain how their lives were impacted by the pandemic. There’s a big question in the world of college admissions about how and if students should respond to this optional essay prompt. But, at the end of the day, as with much of the college application process, it comes down to students trusting their intuition.
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