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H&C EDUCATION BLOG

10 Writing Competitions for High School Students in 2021-2022

Are you an aspiring novelist, a hobby writer, or a burgeoning poet? Have you tried your hand at nonfiction essays or playwriting? If so, you might be a great candidate for a national, regional, or state writing competition for high school students. Although specifics of each competition vary widely, these

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Planning the Summer Before Your First Year of High School

The transition from being a middle schooler to high schooler can be a stressful one for many students, as it involves a variety of changes in a student’s academic and extracurricular life. However, the summer break in between 8th and 9th grade, if used effectively, can help prepare students for

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Update on the 2020-2021 College Admissions Cycle

By this point, many colleges and universities have concluded their Regular Decision processes, notified applicants, and released their adjusted acceptance rates for the 2020-2021 admissions cycle. For some elite universities, those acceptance rates plummeted to record lows, such as Harvard’s 3.4% and Yale’s 4.62%. This 2016 satirical piece in the

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How to Make the Most of Your Summer in High School

With summer quickly approaching, many students and parents are wondering how they can make the most of these two months out of school. The truth of the matter is that summer is what you make of it, so use this time to your advantage to grow, learn, and experience new

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How to Get Off the College Waitlist or Deal with Deferral

In 2021, college waitlists were longer than ever. And since many accepted students deferred admission due to COVID-19 and virtual learning, many colleges experienced a significant drop in their yield rates. The yield rate is the percent of accepted students who choose to enroll at a particular institution, and admissions

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COVID-19 and Your College Application

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended normal practices for colleges and universities around the world, and the admissions process is no exception, adding another layer of stress and uncertainty to an already daunting process. Recently, 70% of schools in the U.S. have become test optional, which means other factors are becoming

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How to Prepare for an Alumni Interview

Once you’ve turned in your college applications, you might get an email asking you to schedule an interview with an alum of the school. These are often graduates who have joined your local alumni association and are willing to dedicate their free time to speak with potential students. While it

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Why Specificity Matters in College Essays

In the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, Harvard College received more than 57,000 applications: a record high and a 42 percent surge in applications compared to last year. With three essays included on the application, not including the optional open-ended essay, that means that admissions officers read at least 170,000 responses to

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The Role of Community Service in the College Admissions Process

Nowadays, getting into a top-rated university is no easy feat. Applicants are expected to have a near-perfect academic record, stellar test scores, an impressive extracurricular profile, and compelling essays. In extremely competitive college applicant pools, every detail about an applicant’s experiences could make or break them. And in recent years,

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