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Academic Index Admissions college admissions Dr. Michele Hernandez Insider Tips Ivy Admissions Ivy League Admissions Top Tips

Calculate Your Academic Index: The Secret Formula

Since the 1950s, Ivy League schools have been using a secret ranking formula called the Academic Index (AI). Top Tier Admissions Co-Founder, Dr. Michele Hernandez, in her book A is for Admission, was the first to reveal this formula to the public. As part of our commitment to making the college admissions process more transparent, […]

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Deferral Dr. Michele Hernandez Early Decision Seniors Top Tips

Top Tips If You Were Deferred: 2021

Early Decision notifications are being released and thousands of students are waiting to hear whether they were accepted. Though you can get accepted or rejected, you can also get deferred. What does a deferral mean? WHAT IS A DEFERRAL? A deferral is when a school postpones making a decision about a student’s application and pushes […]

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college admissions Dr. Michele Hernandez Middle School

Get An Early Start On College Admissions: Middle School Edition

We are often asked if middle school is too early to start thinking about college admissions. Though some would argue that thinking about college while in middle school could lead to additional stress for students, we would argue that the earlier students start thinking ahead, the less stressful the process will be. For example, forecasting […]

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Admissions Admissions Statistics Admissions Trends Class of 2024 college admissions Early Decision Early Decision II Insider Tips Ivy Admissions Ivy League Admissions

Why Early Decision Still Makes Sense for Many Students

Post by: Dr. Michele Hernandez We’ve had vigorous debates on this blog and with students and parents about the merits of early decision. As a brief primer, both early action and early decision have early November deadlines, but early action is NON binding (you do not have to say “yes”) while early decision is binding (you […]

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Admissions Brown college admissions Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Dr. Michele Hernandez Georgetown Harvard Ivy Admissions Ivy League Admissions MIT Princeton Stanford Top Tips UChicago University of California UPENN Yale

The New “X” Factor for Getting into Top Colleges

Twenty years ago, admissions to top colleges was much more formulaic. Applicant pools were smaller, more homogeneous, and more self-selecting. Each college had its own application that students filled out by hand. Most high schools calculated and reported class rank. “Merit” was pretty much defined as high class rank and high test scores, with some […]

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