Choosing Your Courses for the Next Year


Soon, many sophomore and junior students must make choices about their courses for next year. We know the admission process at very selective colleges is based, above all, on your…

The 2022 admission season: what juniors might learn from it


With colleges having announced their 2022 admission decisions, I yet again feel like a recording stuck in a loop as I reiterate to my students that admission at the more selective…

No, it’s not fair!


Every year commentators call on new superlatives to describe the plummeting admit rates at selective colleges. Beset by a growing sense of anxiety about their chances of admission…

Waiting on the Waitlist


With college admission decisions made and released, the attention of students and admission officers turns to the tricky challenge of the waitlist. And rarely has the process…

Empathy: Considering another’s perspective in a college application


In preparing their applications to college, high school students are encouraged to be authentic, engaged, passionate, and committed. These are indeed great aspirations, and,…

College admission from the other side of the desk


School counselors and IECs work with high school students and families. As an admission officer, I worked primarily with applications. This inevitably informs one's perspective…

The college admission questions high school juniors face right now


As we commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Covid lockdown, the college admission season of the pandemic draws to its confusing and stressful end. No wonder then that high…

Major Myths, Revisited


Students should be encouraged to look at its exciting range of possibilities rather than casting around for a narrow academic box to climb into. But college is also not summer…

A difficult year: early admission outcomes in the age of Covid


Selective colleges across the country, both those with non-binding Early Action policies and those who offer binding Early Decision program, found themselves blitzed with…

The Role of Majors in Applying to a Liberal Arts Program


In the admission process to a selective liberal arts college, a lack of any academic focus can also help to weaken a student's application. Some colleges will require applicants…