The holistic approach in college admissions refers to a variety of reading practices and context framing that allows admissions officers to admit a diverse pool of students. Since they cannot compare one student to another in order to fairly assess the competitiveness of their candidates, admissions officers think about how
Photo credit: CNBC Ahmad is a first-year student at Harvard University pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations. Originally from Aleppo, Syria, his family sought asylum in the U.S., which has been a source of inspiration for his academic concentration. On Harvard’s campus, he is active with the
The Common Application (aka the “Common App”) streamlines applying to over 900 schools both in and outside of the U.S. and is the most popular platform for college applications in the country. While the process of filling out the application remains fundamentally the same year-to-year, there were some changes to
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
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
The January 1st deadline is fast approaching! Use this checklist as you finalize your applications or ask our college admissions consultants for help. This first group of questions is meant to help you assess how well you have described yourself as an applicant that is both a fit and a
Article originally published on Forbes.com College application deadlines are just around the corner. At this point, high school seniors have already done just about all of the heavy lifting: they’ve worked for the past three and half years to build strong academic transcripts and impressive lists of extracurricular activities, and
This article was originally published on Forbes.com Last year’s admissions cycle produced the lowest acceptance rates in history at Ivy League schools and at most other elite colleges in the nation. Harvard’s acceptance rate for the class of 2023 was 4.5%; Princeton admitted 5.8% and Columbia 5.1% of their applicants;
There’s no such thing as a bad question. And when it comes to college admissions, many parents share the same doubts and anxieties. So I thought I’d address some of them here, because if you’re not already working with our college admissions consulting firm (and we hope you will!), you
The college essay is the hardest part of the application process. For many students, it’s difficult to get going: they feel pressured to sum up everything they’ve accomplished, everything they are, in 650 words—so where to begin? And, for many students, it can be just as difficult to conclude: how
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