Top Tier Admissions
Every fall, our families often ask some version of the same question: “Should my student take the SAT or the ACT?” Colleges do not award extra credit for choosing the ‘harder’ test, and institutions such as Penn, Yale, and Stanford explicitly say they do not prefer one exam over the other. The real question is […]
Every applicant faces the same narrow space: 650 words to show an admissions committee who they are, what matters to them, and what they might bring to a college campus. Then come the supplemental essays, shorter still, asking about everything from academic interests to why a particular school is the right match. Students hear a […]
You don’t need to know what you want to be when you grow up. But you do need to know how to explore what interests you. For many high school students, choosing a college major can feel like an enormous decision. The question seems simple enough: What do you want to study? But underneath it […]
Every year, talented applicants submit graduate applications built around the same parameters that helped them prepare a strong and winning Common Application: open with a catchy hook, tell a compelling story, relay a scholarly niche, and showcase strong character and promise. Those essentials have their place, but they are not what graduate admissions committees are […]
I still remember the day my oldest child decided to apply to Brown. I scoured the admission data that year, determined to find some ray of optimism in an otherwise dismal landscape of bloated applicant pools, plunging admit rates, and impossibly high application standards. Like every parent, I wanted my child to obtain what he […]
The Senior Year Roadmap
Every deadline from August to May – test dates, applications. decisions – in one place. Signup to download the full 9-page Senior Year Roadmap (PDF)