Top Tier Admissions
Today’s students have to balance many competing obligations. With rigorous course loads, standardized test prep, family obligations, and after-school jobs, they often don’t have much time for extracurricular activities. Yet, as we’ve noted before, extracurricular commitments are a crucial part of the college admissions process. With limited time and energy, students (and their parents) often […]
We are often asked if being a legacy applicant is a benefit in admissions. “If my mom went to College X does it increase my odds of being admitted?” Typically, your parent having gone to the college to which you are applying will carry weight, but check with each school. Some schools such as MIT […]
We wrote an overview of UT Austin’s admissions information and had a great interview a while back with Alexandra Taylor, who was Assistant Director of Admissions at the time. Because of the many questions we have received about UT recently, we wanted to comment on the current admissions situation. In light of the March, 2019 […]
Athletic recruiting in lower-profile sports programs was at the center of the recent admissions scandal, along with special accommodations and cheating on college admissions testing. Former Georgetown tennis coach George Ernst allegedly accepted bribes to help 12 students earn admission as tennis recruits over the course of 6 years. Rudy Meredith, Yale’s former women’s soccer coach, […]
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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