College admission from the other side of the desk
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|May 24, 2021|8 MinutesFor more than a decade now, every time I attend an annual NACAC conference, the event…
The college admission questions high school juniors face right now
Sally Port at Rice university Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|April 5, 2021|6 MinutesAs we commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Covid…
Major Myths, Revisited
Pepperdine University Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|March 14, 2021|6 MinutesA recent article by Verónica Leyva takes issue with students…
A difficult year: early admission outcomes in the age of Covid
Stanford University Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|February 25, 2021|5 MinutesWhen early application season is in the rearview mirror, it…
The Role of Majors in Applying to a Liberal Arts Program
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|December 4, 2020|4 MinutesA liberal arts education assumes that students do not commit to any course of…
The Role of Parents in the College Application Process
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|September 3, 2020|7 MinutesMy husband and I live on a college campus where he is a professor. Over the…
Waitlist Wisdom
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|March 22, 2020|7 MinutesIt used to be that at the end of each application season students got thick…
High School Course Selection
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|May 20, 2019|6 MinutesAs an admission officer at a very selective college, perhaps the most common question…
Interviewing
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|16 Minutes What is an interview? We go through our lives interviewing and being interviewed every day. An…
Dreams deferred, Part 2: being deferred in the early application season
Andrea van NiekerkBy Andrea van Niekerk|6 MinutesPART II: What are students to do when deferred? I spoke previously about the reasons why selective…