Students considering early application programs, such as Early Action (EA), Restricted Early Action (REA), and Early Decision (ED), should carefully track their application deadlines. Most EA, REA, and ED deadlines fall on November 1, including Yale, Harvard, and Princeton (REA), as well as UPenn, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown (ED). Other schools like MIT and Georgetown, which use their own applications instead of the Common Application, also have November 1 deadlines.

The University of California (UC) system does not offer an early admission program, and applications for all UC schools are due by November 30. Another common early deadline is November 15, observed by several prestigious colleges, including many liberal arts schools like Bates, Boston College, Reed, and Williams. Additionally, some state universities set different early application deadlines for in-state students.

Ultimately, staying aware of each college’s deadlines and understanding early application options can help you keep all opportunities open for the schools on your list.

There has been some discussion in social media about colleges that allow students to earn a bachelor’s degree in three years. To avoid confusion, let me set the record straight. Virtually every college in America, and absolutely every top college in America, requires students to earn 120 credits (or the equivalent) to graduate. Traditionally, students have earned these credits by taking 15 credits worth of classes each semester, usually five 3-credit courses per semester for eight semesters—two semesters per year for four years. Thus, 5 × 3 × 2 × 4 = 120. However, most colleges allow students to earn credit in less traditional ways. For example, many colleges give graduation credit for high AP scores on specific AP tests. Others give credit for results on proficiency tests, dual enrollment classes, summer classes, etc.

Some lesser-known colleges and online-degree-providing colleges provide alternative pathways to early graduation such as requiring fewer credits or granting credit for work experience and other factors. For many of these colleges, the motivation is simply monetary. They would rather have a student paying for three years than for none. For these colleges, the three-year degree is just a sales and marketing pitch. Casting these colleges aside, it is possible to earn a bachelor’s degree from a reputable college in three years. However, to do so the student must earn the same number of credits, 120, in three years instead of four. It is not impossible or uncommon, but it can be rather difficult. In some cases, students can earn credit while still in high school, can take classes during the summer, or can take classes that give are worth more than three credits. Earning credit in advance of freshman year is typically referred to as Advanced Standing or Advanced Credit. Each college has its own rules pertaining to earning credit prior to enrollment as a freshman.

The state of California has just announced that it is banning legacy as a factor in college admission. Legacy admission is the practice of giving additional weight to the applications of sons or daughters, and sometimes extended family members, of an alumnus. The University of California system has not used Legacy in the admission process since 1998, so this new ruling only affects private and non-profit colleges within the state of California. California joins three other states, Colorado, Maryland, and Virginia, in banning legacy admissions.

This new law is designed to reduce wealthy white privilege in college admission, because most people who would benefit from legacy in admission are from affluent white families. The statistics bear this out undeniably. Of course, this follows the Supreme Court ruling in June 2023 that found race-based admissions to be unconstitutional.

The new law goes into effect in September, 2025 and will apply to the incoming class of 2026.

Many Colleges Require Applications to be Received Earlier to Qualify

Many students organize their college essay writing by application deadline. However, many colleges require that you submit your application on the early application deadline, or another day prior to the regular admission deadline, in order to qualify for merit-based scholarships, even if you are not applying early action. These include UVA, UNC, U-Mich, UT Austin, Georgia Tech, BC, U-Miami, U-Richmond, USC, Vanderbilt, et. al.

These earlier deadlines are identified on the common application, so be sure to check each of the colleges you are applying to if you would like to be considered for a merit-based scholarship. Why would you not want to be? Unfortunately, neither Ivy League colleges, nor most other top colleges, offer merit-based scholarships. However, as you can see from the list above, many excellent colleges do offer these scholarships, which can be as lucrative as full four-year tuition!

At least 1,000 times in my career, I have been asked the following questions by parents seeking to have their children attend Ivy League or equivalent colleges:

• How prestigious is being a member of National Honor Society?
• How prestigious is being an AP Scholar with Honor or Distinction?
• How important is making Honor Roll or Dean’s List?
• How important is it to have your research published?
• How important is it to have a creative portfolio?

In almost all cases, I answer, “It is very nice,” which usually, and understandably, results in a head tilt or a few follow-up questions. Suffice it to say, it is neither the response they were hoping for nor expecting. After all, these “honors” are usually thrust upon us by those who benefit from them, financially or otherwise, directly or indirectly. In other cases, I provide the very frustrating, “Well, it depends…” response. Let me clarify.

National Honor Society

The National Honor Society wants you to be a member—not out of goodwill but for the financial benefit they reap. With this particular organization, fundraising is done locally, so it is beneficial for local chapters to enlist as many students as possible. In exchange, local chapters pay an affiliation fee to the national organization. If they could invite every single student in America to join NHS without losing prestige, they would do it. Of course, doing so would negate any value it would bestow upon students. At that point, the equation would shift from:

"To be a successful candidate in elite college admission, you must build a profile that is strong and dense, like a bowling ball, rather than colorful and puffy, like a beach ball. Decisions should be cohesive and decisive, rather than hollow and disjointed."

First, let me acknowledge that the title of this article is perhaps the dumbest one I have ever written—which is really saying something, considering I’ve written close to 1,000 articles over the past 40 years. My intention was merely to get your attention because the subject matter of this article is so critically important to your college success. In truth, the bowling-ball metaphor holds up to scrutiny as long as you don’t extend it too far into the realm of cliché or tackiness by, for example, discussing knocking down pins on the bowling alley of life, or stressing the importance of being cool and smooth.

Now, before I answer the question posed in the title, let me first talk about its antithesis—the “beach-ball application.” What do you see when you picture a beach ball? Easy question, right? You see a puffy, round, light, colorful ball filled with air that floats like a feather when batted around. These qualities also describe the kind of college application submitted by most candidates. They are filled with empty activities and unimpressive details. A “beach-ball application,” if you will, results when you don’t plan ahead, or when you select activities, classes, or programs that lack significant value or cohesive structure. Often, the “colorful” part comes in the form of big-name programs such as Harvard’s Pre-College Program, Stanford’s Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes, Tufts’ College Experience, or Summer@Brown. There is nothing inherently wrong with these programs, except that they typically cost too much for what you get in return. Mainly, they demonstrate to elite colleges that your family has enough money to pay for these high-priced, overrated college-campus summer camps. Using the beach-ball metaphor, they are colorful but don’t add much weight. However, if they contribute to your narrative in a meaningful way, they can provide some value. They certainly don’t substitute for “weightier” experiences that could transform a beach-ball application into a bowling-ball application. To be clear, the inclusion of these kinds of activities is acceptable if they add meaningful density to your application.

When Students for Fair Admissions brought its case against Harvard and the University of North Carolina for discriminating against Asian-American students in the admission process, they fully expected that the result of prevailing in the case would be a larger number of admitted Asian-American students. However, the results have proven inconsistent, and the reasons are both fascinating and entirely predictable.

With class of 2028 (the first class to be truly affected by the Supreme Court ruling) admission statistics trickling in, no consistent results can be identified. At MIT, the percentage of Asian American students admitted rose by 14% (41% to 47% of the class), mostly at the expense of Black and Latino applicants. There was a similar decrease in students of color at Tufts University and Amherst College. At Amherst College, the percentage of admitted Asian American students rose by 11% (18% to 20% of the class). At both Princeton and Yale, however, the percentage of Asian American students admitted actually decreased. Further, at Yale, the percentage of admitted white students increased slightly while the percentage of admitted Black students remained relatively unchanged.

What is a high school athlete? There is no one answer to this question. As it relates to college admission, there are five different categories of student athletes providing everything from 100% certainty in admission to only a small boost in consideration by the college admission team. Here are brief explanations of each of the five categories of high school athletes.

1. A Recruited Athlete

A recruited athlete is a student prized for both their academic record and athletic talent, whom a college coach believes can improve their team’s performance. In many cases, coaches and their coaching staffs have spent several years and thousands of dollars, not to mention the cost of athletic and training facilities, to build a competitive sports program capable of increasing the school’s national image, bringing in television dollars, high-profile March Madness, or Bowl game revenue, and giving alumni a reason to donate and endorse their pride.

A recruited student typically receives not only full tuition, room, board, and books but also highly valuable training, sports-related travel, fitness and coaching instruction, and a confidence-building opportunity that leads to academic and career success, either in their chosen sport or in the business world.

I am an admissions consultant, so, admittedly, my opinion on this subject might be a bit skewed. But if it is, it is based less on a desire to promote my business than on the actual value that professional admission consulting can have on a student’s admission success and state of mind. The simplest way I can make this case is by offering a comparison. Almost everyone sees the value of ISEE or SSAT test preparation. You might be able to get into a good private school with good test scores, but you are much more likely to get into a great private school with great test scores. Professional assistance helps. And the admission process is far more complex than merely preparing for a test. All in all, there are approximately 20 components that factor into private school acceptance, from identifying a personalized school list to writing essays that have the intended effect on admissions officers. Each of these 20 factors can be as important as test scores when applying to highly competitive private schools. Competition for spots at these schools is fierce, and working with a consultant can give you a much-needed advantage.

More families apply to the brand-name schools than to lesser-known schools. For example, Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts receives more than 2500 applications each year. From those, it admits about 350 students. St. Paul‘s School in Concord, New Hampshire, an all boarding school, receives 1400 applications per year and accepts about 150 students. The Groton School in Massachusetts receives around 1300 applications per year and accepts approximately 12% of those. A successful admission campaign for an elite private school can be challenging, but there are multiple pathways to acceptance, from stellar academics and test scores to extraordinary talent and more. By working with a consultant, you can ensure that your child’s case for admission will be as strong as possible.

Getting into top private schools is not unlike getting into top colleges. The fact is that highly valued individuals demonstrate a consistent set of values whether they are applying for college or private school. That is because, to a certain extent, top schools are seeking a consistent and predictable set of characteristics from their applicants, whether for college or for private school. Overall, they are seeking to establish an advantageous mix of talent while also creating a well-blended culture of high-achieving students who are high in energy and creativity and low in risk.

When you tour private schools, one of the most obvious things you notice is the involvement of students in extracurricular activities. You see signs of this all over, from the sports fields to the locker rooms, to the art studios, tothe maker labs, and into the performance halls. Almost without exception, top private schools boast extraordinary extracurricular activities—extraordinary both in scope and quality. Since the incoming class of any private school is far smaller than the incoming class at virtually any college, it is far more important for private schools to seek students whoare talented in any of these areas in order not only to build the class, but to build sports teams, orchestras, artwork to display,and theater groups. Of course, there is no better measure of a private school than its record of matriculation. Therefore, privateschools are very focused on admitting students whom they feel have a chance to get into top colleges. So, in mostcases, it is not the quality of the private school that determines how many of its students get into top colleges. Rather, it is each school's ability to recruit top students that determines a school’s record of matriculation. A school that can recruitmore high-level students is far more likely to have an impressive record of acceptances to elite colleges. This leads us to thefirst tip for getting into elite private schools.

By Brian Cook and Neil Chyten

When filling out activities for college applications, student athletes typically want to lead with their greatest accomplishments. They want to present a narrative consisting of an endless array of successes—and who could blame them? Certainly, this is only natural and, after all, doesn’t everyone love a winner? Don’t colleges want winners? Absolutely. And this is why the activities section should be reserved for the things that make you proudest: four years of hockey, becoming team captain or co-captain, holding the state record for the high jump, being a member of a division or state winning team, being awarded the most improved player on your team, or even your school’s version of Conn Smythe Trophy or Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

But there are other parts of your college application in which accomplishments might want to take a backseat to challenges and setbacks, where you can demonstrate your fortitude, grit, resilience, and mettle. Indeed, many college experts will tell you that your application should not just be a brag sheet, but rather an accurate reflection of who you are and who you can become, given exposure to the right college environment. It should provide insights into how a college education will be a resource you will use to better yourself and the world around you. It is for these reasons that college admissions officials like to see not only accomplishments but also how you deal with adversity, how you make the most of every opportunity that you are presented with, and how you make those around you better versions of themselves.

Teamwork: “Selfless collaboration designed to achieve a shared goal or objective.”

To you, a sport might merely be an activity you enjoy or that you have natural ability in. It might merely be a way for you to spend time with your friends enjoying a shared passion for competition or exhibiting skill. It could be a way for you to become popular or live out a dream of one day becoming a professional athlete. But to colleges, the fact that you play a sport means much more. Many colleges feel that sport is so important that 25% or more of their incoming class might be contractually committed to playing sports at the college level. There are many reasons that colleges put such a high value on athletics and athletes. One reason is certainly the value that sports brings to the campus, both monetary and reputational. From an interpersonal perspective, one of the main reasons that colleges like to see sports activities on a college application can be summed up in one word: teamwork.

The concept of teamwork is as important in life as it is in sports. For this reason, colleges often choose high-school athletes of all kinds and ability levels to fill their seats—not merely to fill a team’s roster spots. In doing so, they feel that these athletes will form strong bonds that will strengthen a well-rounded, community-oriented, highly collaborative community of students. Statistically, approximately 1 out of 16 high-school athletes will play competitively at the college level. For these high-school athletic standouts, building a strong athletic profile for potential recruiting activities can elevate student to the top of a college coach’s list and provide a powerful selection incentive to college admission committees. For the other 15, building a strong academic profile can go a long way toward enhancing their admission profiles thus giving them a stronger possibility of admission to highly competitive colleges. In other words, playing high school sports is not just good for one’s body and mind, it is good for college admissions as well.

"Prompted by Covid restrictions beginning in 2020, nearly 2000 colleges across the US became test optional virtually overnight. I do believe that some of the less competitive colleges will continue to be test optional, or test blind, maybe forever. But as for the nation’s most competitive colleges, expect more and more of them to require tests one again."By Neil Chyten

It was nice while it lasted, wasn’t it? In retrospect, the thought of not having to do all that test preparation and still have hopes of admission to your dream college seems too good to have been true. Alas, the era of test-optional admissions is coming to an end—but only for some colleges. We had already seen a trickle, a crack in the foundation, of our house of cards. Without tests, something was always missing – some objective measure of a student’s likelihood of college success to balance off the completely subjective 4.0 grading scale that differed from school to school as much as the highest mountain peak in the Andes differs from the highest peak in the Adirondacks.

Prompted by Covid restrictions beginning in 2020, nearly 2000 colleges across the US became test optional virtually overnight. But one by one they started to come back, fearing that the lack of data would cause them to make serious mistakes in the admission recruiting process. One of the first re-adopters was Georgetown. It was quickly followed by MIT, Georgia Tech, all the Florida public colleges, the US Naval Academy, the US Military Academy, and more recently, Dartmouth College and Yale University. Harvard and most other Ivy League colleges will follow soon. Then, the country will be a checkerboard of colleges that require ACT or SAT, and those that don’t. And even though the University of California system has said they are permanently test optional, they have also stated many times that they will be developing their own standardized tests.

If you are applying to top colleges and are planning visits to see their campuses, you should be aware of which top colleges consider demonstrated interest in their admission decisions. The degree to which colleges consider demonstrated interest can vary substantially. In any case, we hope you find this list useful in planning your college visits.

Yes = Demonstrated Interest is considered

No = Demonstrated Interest is not considered

? = College does not provide this information

Mid Atlantic/NY Region

JHU No

Duke Yes

Georgetown No

CMU No

UPenn No

Haverford Yes

Swarthmore No

UVA No

UNC ?

NY/NJ Region

NYU Yes

Columbia No

Princeton No

Barnard No

Cornell No

South Region

Demonstrated interest is the process by which students display their interest in a particular college by engaging in activities that then become known to the college’s admission committee. Here are 12 suggestions for improving your demonstrated interest profile. The degree to which colleges consider demonstrated interest varies dramatically from "not at all" to "very important."

1. Recruitment Material: Respond early to recruitment mailings and emails from colleges to get on mailing lists.

2. Request Info: Fill out “Request Info” form on college admissions website to get on mailing lists.

3. Become “College Literate”: Research college websites to become literate about specific strengths and signature programs at each school in preparation to talk with college representatives on campus, online or by phone.

4. College Fairs: Attend college fairs, ask questions, and sign up for more info or give the college rep your card.

5. Social Media: “Like” the college’s Facebook page and other social media. Be careful with this if you have aFacebook page with any inappropriate comments in the news feed. Admissions officers can also find you thisway.

Parents and students often put far too much emphasis on the common application personal essay and not enough on the college supplemental essays and questions. While it is true that all colleges on the common app network will view the common app essay, making it rather important, colleges that offer or require supplemental essays put far more emphasis on these college-specific responses. According to one prominent Ivy League admissions official, “We don't care too much about the common app essay. Why should we, when we know that people can just pay someone to write it for them? However, we do pay close attention to applicants’ responses to our supplemental essay. In our opinion, that response gives us far more information about whether or not that person will be a good fit. It also tells us whether that applicant has taken the time to learn about us.”

This statement speaks volumes about the mindset of admissions officials at prestigious colleges and universities. First of all, it acknowledges the fact that they are aware that students get help writing admission essays. Second, it acknowledges that colleges care about whether students have done their homework about them. This is regardless of whether a college indicates that demonstrated interest, a rather murky measure of how much a student wants to go to a particular college, is a factor in admissions. Finally, it emphasizes the importance that colleges place on writing skill. A poorly constructed supplemental essay can hurt a student's admission candidacy, especially at highly competitive schools such as Ivy Leagues. A standard or mediocre essay will likely not have very much impact on a student's admission candidacy. However, an extremely well-constructed and well-conceived supplemental essay can actually move the needle in a student's direction.

While only a small percentage of colleges require students to submit supplemental essays, many top-tier colleges, consider the supplemental essay to be even more important than the Common App personal narrative. Harvard and many other top colleges view the supplemental essay as more authentic than the common app essay.

The fact is that only a small percentage of colleges require students to submit supplemental essays. However virtually all top colleges do, and they believe that these supplemental essays are at least as important as the Common App personal narrative. Harvard, and many other top-tier colleges, consider the supplemental essay to be even more important than the personal narrative. For these colleges, students must provide meaningful detail that will allow admissions committees to elevate them over other candidates.

So, then, how should one respond to the supplemental essay prompts? Let’s use Harvard as our example. First, it should be noted that Harvard has two “hidden” prompts found in the questions section: one under academics and one under activities. These are both quite short at 150 words. For the main essay, students can write about anything they want or choose one of the provided prompts.

As the expression goes, if I had a dollar for every time one of my students was asked by their parent to change their Common Application essay because it did not do enough to promote their extracurricular activities or GPA, I would have, well, a lot of dollars. So, parents, please accept this polite admonishment: the Common Application personal narrative is not an extension of the activities list or transcript. It is an opportunity to provide insights into a student’s character, interests, influences, resilience, and/or motivations. Yet so many parents feel that their sons and daughters have not done enough to promote the hundreds of hours that they have dedicated to extracurricular activities or earning high grades. As a result, they give extremely bad advice about how to respond to the Common Application prompts. The truth is that the transcript, honors section, and activity section are where these accomplishments belong.

College admission committees are very adept at pulling out the information that they need to make informed admission decisions. They do not need you to repeat the same information two or three times. What they do need from the Common Application essay is what they cannot get in other places: personal insights. One of the worst things you can do is to squander the opportunity to provide invaluable information about your character to add an exclamation point to information you already provided in other parts of the application.

According to NACAC, the National Association of College Admission Counseling, nearly 70% of colleges in America consider a student’s demonstrated interest when making their admission decisions. Of that 70%, almost half view a student’s interest in attending their college as either of considerable importance or moderate importance. In comparison, 92% of colleges consider high school grades to be of considerable or moderate importance, and 86% consider academic rigor to be of considerable or moderate importance. Some colleges consider demonstrated to be one of the most important factors in their admissions decisions. Examples of colleges that consider demonstrated interest to be very important are American University, Morehouse College (an HBCU), Dickinson College, Syracuse University, the University of Arizona, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of San Diego, and Whittier College.

Many top colleges indicate that they do not consider demonstrated interest at all. Examples colleges that make this claim are all eight Ivy League colleges (Harvard, Yale, Brown, UPenn, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Cornell) most of the Claremont colleges (except Pitzer), all the University of California colleges, as well as Stanford, MIT, U Chicago, Wash U St Louis, and Duke. However, this does not mean that these colleges do not give an advantage to students to those who apply ED.

Of all the ways you can prove your interest, one stands head and shoulders above all the others: applying through Early Decision, commonly referred to as ED. Doing so, you give up your freedom to decide among offers of admission from many colleges in exchange for getting stronger consideration from that college. And the difference in acceptance rate for ED vs. non-ED can be quite significant.

Have you heard the college admission term “Demonstrated Interest?” It refers to steps taken by students to prove their interest in attending a particular college. It includes activities like visiting campuses, requesting information online, following colleges on social media, and visiting information booths when attending college fairs. Not all colleges consider demonstrated interest, but for those that do these activities can provide a big boost. Of all the ways you can prove your interest, one stands head and shoulders above all the others: applying through Early Decision, commonly referred to as ED. Simply stated, your decision to apply to a college through ED means that, if you are accepted you will attend—no questions asked. The only exception is when another college offers you a better financial aid package. Even then, the college that has accepted you through its ED program has the option of matching or beating that offer.

Avalon Athletic Recruiting for Prospective Student Athlete

Athletic recruiting for college is a highly competitive, highly complicated path to an athletic scholarship or to the admissions boost that being a Prospective Student Athlete (PSA) can provide. For most people who were not PSA’s themselves, it is not a well-known process, and it can be a minefield of missteps along the way. Parents and players spend an incredible amount of time and money developing their talents; making sure that investment pays off in the end is the most important part of the process. For some, the journey ends upon high school graduation. For others, it can be a great benefit when seeking that high level college admission, securing the advantage of having a team to join when you arrive on campus, or exploring the possibility of furthering your sports aspirations professionally after college.

Avalon’s Athletic Recruiting process lays out the timeline and process for getting on a coach’s radar and having that effort lead to one of the very coveted "recruited athlete" spots that are a near lock on college admissions at the school of your choice. For some, it is like an additional boost in GPA or SAT scores. For others, it is literally a ticket to admission.

Obtaining a great letter of recommendation does not happen by accident or fortuitous circumstance. Getting an outstanding college recommendation happens through decisive, prescriptive preparation on how to orchestrate and receive a college recommendation letter that presents the student in the best possible light by showcasing skills, abilities, character, and other distinguishing personal qualities.

Colleges frequently require two or three recommendation letters (and allow 1-2 additional personal recommendations) from people who have knowledge of the student through experience, including academic teachers (usually English), guidance counselor, coach, advisor, or employer. They want the letters to be genuine and to be written by someone who truly knows the student well and can accurately describe the student’s skills, classroom presence, talents, attitude, special accomplishments, and demeanor. Typically, though not always, recommendations are sent through the Common Application. Each college has different rules, but most will accommodate teacher, counselor, and outside recommenders through the common application or directly through their own applications.

Popular thinking among parents and students in college and private school admission is that there are certain things that you can control and certain things that you can’t control. Among the things considered to be outside of your control are recommendations written by teachers and counselors. This incorrect belief starts with the assumption that you should ask for recommendations at the end of the school year prior to the year you apply to private school or college. In fact, if you wait until the end of the year to ask for recommendations, then you do lose control over what is written about you. You will simply ask and wait, and you will never know what your favorite teacher or counselor has written about you until you receive a rejection notice from your top choice school. Even at that point, you will be left wondering why you didn't get in to the school of your dreams, when your grades and test scores were excellent, when your number of community service hours was double the number of required hours, and when you were captain of the tennis team, editor of the school newspaper, and founder of the chess club.

Before you blame your favorite teacher or counselor for undermining your admission candidacy at the school of your dreams by writing a poor recommendation, the answer could very likely be something much less nefarious: they wrote good recommendations, but not great ones. Let me explain. Good recommendations are nice, but they are little more than a pat on the back when compared to a great recommendation. Frankly, you expect a good recommendation when you ask a teacher at the end of the year. And teachers, for their part, rarely write bad recommendations. They more typically write recommendations that say that students are good, great, or one of the best ever. Therefore, typically, good recommendations are the lowest form of flattery. When admissions committees receive good recommendations, they usually wonder more about what is not being said than what has been said. They understand that good recommendations are obligatory, whereas great or “best ever” recommendations are deserved.

Much about college admission is simply common sense. For example, it just makes sense that great teacher and counselor recommendations, great grades, and great test scores are important pieces of the admission puzzle. Other factors such as honors, activities, and "other recommenders" are less obvious.

Up to five of a student's academic honors can be listed under "Honors" in the education section of the common application. These can include school level honors such as: honor roll, valedictorian or Dean's list. They can include regional level owners such as: city spelling bee champion, or County science fair finalist. They can also include state-level, national level, and international level honors. An example of a state-level honor is “The Georgia Governor’s Award.” An example of a national honor is AP Scholar with Distinction. An example of an international honor is IMO (International Math Olympiad) Semifinalist.

As for activities, the Common Application allows you to enter up to 10. Which activities you enter, in which order, and how you summarize them will be discussed in a subsequent article. However, please understand that this is one of the most important and least understood sections of the common application.

Like everything else about college admission, obtaining teacher recommendation should follow a strategic plan. Also like every other aspect of college admission, the difference between good and great can be the difference between rejection and acceptance. If you think of it, there is really no such thing as a bad recommendation. Teachers do not generally trash students to colleges. Typically, recommendations are in the lukewarm to warm range. They might cite the fact that a student always got his work done on time or that he was a pleasure to have in class. Rarely will teachers indicate that a student was a distraction in class or that most of his papers were sloppy or ill-conceived.

As a result, colleges are desensitized to good recommendations and particularly enthusiastic over stellar recommendations. In other words, a good recommendation will not move the needle one inch, whereas an excellent recommendation can help a student get admitted. Here are five important facts about teacher recommendations.

Fact #1

You must ask for recommendations. Teachers do not write recommendations unless they are asked to do so by students. Also, some teachers will only grant a certain number of recommendations, since otherwise they may be inundated with requests. Therefore, you should ask for recommendations early. I always recommend that students ask at the end of junior year instead of at the beginning of senior year.

“Getting an outstanding college recommendation happens through decisive, prescriptive preparation on how to orchestrate and receive a college recommendation letter that presents the student in the best possible light by showcasing skills, abilities, character, and other distinguishing personal qualities.”

Article

As the school year rapidly draws to a close, the last term papers are turned in, projects are completed, final exams are taken, and summer plans are solidified, maybe the last thing that is on a student’s mind is getting teacher recommendations for colleges. After all, the summer is a time to kick back, relax, and unwind from the stress of school.

But wait. Getting an excellent recommendation from a teacher for college should not be something that is last minute or rushed. Like everything else about a student’s purposeful plan for college admission, the teacher recommendation should be high on the ‘to do’ list, especially if the student is about to enter the most critical year in his or her high school journey, the crucial junior year.

And even if the student is not about to become a junior, if he or she is entering freshmen or sophomore year, every student should begin to plan well in advance on how to get an awesome college recommendation. Planning early on in the process should include what attributes the letter written later on should emphasize and more importantly, how to attain these experiences.

Extracurricular activities, whether they are done in the summer or during the school year, or during vacation weeks, are critically important on applications for highly competitive colleges. Choose activities that can be used to prove your passion. Also, choose activities that truly interest you and that support other activities that you have engaged in during your journey through high school, or prove your willingness to dedicate time to meaningful self-improvement.

Article:

You know the expressions that begin with “If I had a dollar for every time I…”? Well, here’s another one. If I had a dollar for every time a parent asked me which contest a student should enter, or which summer program a student should enroll in, or whether to take a summer class at Harvard, or BU, or Stanford, or if we should try to find an internship somewhere, then I would have enough money to buy caps and gowns for the entire national graduating class of 2021. Don’t bother trying to do the math. I just mean that I get asked these questions multiple times on a daily basis. There’s a good reason why these questions come up. Extracurricular activities, whether they are done in the summer or during the school year, or during vacation weeks, are critically important on applications for highly competitive colleges.

Why Did My Test Scores Disappear from My College Application?

Don’t worry. Your test scores did not disappear. By way of a strange quirk of the Common Application, it may appear as if your test scores were not submitted to a particular college. Even further, when you review a submitted application through the Common Application, you could see the words, “There are no test scores to report,” causing a reaction ranging from hives to outright panic. The fact is that the common application gives colleges the means to withhold information from those seeking to review the application after it is submitted. And the information is not just test scores. It could also be essays, academic information, family information, or virtually anything else. Of course, all of this is assuming that you did enter your test scores properly on the common application testing section.

Do All Colleges Allow Me to Self-Report My Test Scores?

No, not all colleges allow self-reporting, which means that official test results must be sent directly from the testing agencies to these colleges around the same time as your application. Most (though not all) colleges nowadays do allow you to self-report your scores, and only ask you to verify with an official report once you decide to attend that college. Also keep in mind that when you self-report your test scores, you may decide which scores to report. In other words, if you have taken the test multiple times you may decide which results to show on your application. You may decide to only show your highest component scores as opposed to listing all your results.

When one considers how important test scores are in the admission process, one must address the question on multiple levels. First, from the student's perspective, it might be far less stressful not to have to worry about earning high scores on benchmark tests. I just don't agree with this argument as a reason to eliminate testing. After all, you could also say that it would be far less stressful not to worry about achieving high grades or taking high-level courses in order to show one’s academic strength. The fact is that high test scores are earned through hard work, and hard work is one legitimate measure of college readiness and the likelihood of success.

From a college's perspective, test scores are an important equalizer on one level, and a discriminator on another. What I mean is, it is hard to equate similar grades from different school systems across the country. Therefore, it is useful to have a relatively objective measure of a student’s ability. Test scores can equalize the playing field for students across the country and across the world. However, another argument says that using test scores to evaluate student readiness for college feeds into the meritocracy, because wealthier students can afford individualized test preparation programs that have proven to be extraordinarily helpful in raising scores. In my opinion, both of these arguments are correct.

Allow me to begin with a metaphor. There are many who think the game of football is simple. Each team tries to prevent the other from gaining access to its territory. In reality, there are hundreds, or thousands of details that contribute to a team’s success. Similarly, there are many who believe that applying to college is simply a matter of submitting applications. The reality is that hundreds of decisions made between 9th grade and 12th grade will contribute to a student’s success in applying to top colleges. Furthermore, admission factors at these top colleges are evolving. What was true 10 years ago, or even five years ago, may not be true today. For example, the legacy advantage has all but disappeared. One’s ethnicity matters today but might not matter tomorrow. Even the importance of where you live keeps changing.

What about activities? Research projects have become all too common on college applications, so many colleges now value outcomes over experience. In other words, they want to see a published paper, a presentation, or even a poster. Are internships as valuable as they once were? Well, yes and no. It depends on certain factors. And that same frustrating conclusion is true of all activities. You really can’t look at any one activity and say this is good for your college application. You must look at your activities holistically. How does the sum of your activities contribute to your college admission profile?

For the past year, we have been building and tweaking our revolutionary new tool called mycollegelist.com, a free college list generator that helps students generate an initial list of colleges based on 27 characteristics—which is quite different from most college admission programs that use only two or three. Naviance, Scior, and Maia Learning, for example, use only GPA and SAT or ACT test score to generate their scattergrams. These programs are useful in other ways, but their college list generators lack authenticity because they do not consider many of the factors that colleges do when making their admission decisions. We are aware of two or three other programs on the market that use 3 to 4 characteristics which still falls far short of the 27 considered by mycollegelist.com.

Mycollegelist.com not only asks students to answer 27 relevant questions, it also explains how students can rank themselves for each in order to elicit the most accurate answers possible. The survey takes around 15 to 20 minutes to complete, after which students can see their likelihood of admission, as well as a personal preference score, at 200 of the top colleges in America. By asking appropriate questions and providing detailed instructions, mycollegelist.com much more closely resembles the way that colleges consider their candidates.

The feeling of submitting college applications has no equal, both in terms of the optimism you cannot help but feel and the fear of rejection that you cannot remove. Indeed, it is the official consummation of a long, 12-year journey through academic classes, extracurricular activities, standardized tests, honors and awards that has largely dominated your life since the moment you first walked into that kindergarten classroom 13 years ago. But whether you are about to experience splendor or somberness, one thing is certain – your job is done. Or is it?

To be clear, yes, most of your work in applying to colleges is done. PHEW! However, there are still a few things that both deserve and require your attention. For virtually all colleges, your submission of an application is followed by an invitation to their admission portal, a separate website through which you can submit supplemental material, and through which they will send out notifications of acceptance, deferral, or rejection. It is also the place you will either accept or reject a place on their waiting list. Various college portals differ in terms of what they offer and how they work. Almost all require you to set up an account, with a unique username and password. Then, you will have to read carefully to determine what else can and should be done through the portal.

All 692 students who were accepted to Harvard’s class of 2028 through its Restrictive Early Action (REA) program have one thing in common: a compelling story. Sure, some are spectacular athletes or have extraordinary artistic or musical ability (with emphasis on the words spectacular and extraordinary), but others were accepted because their stories captured the hearts and minds of Harvard’s admission committee. Some have risen above spectacular hardship. Others have had extraordinary accomplishments. All have captivating stories to tell that survived the elimination round only to make the severe scrutiny of the final cut. Once all the nuanced considerations have been accounted for (e.g., legacy, faculty favors, famous names, school slots, military members, mega donors, sports teams, orchestra, etc.), the real work of the admission committee begins. From this point forward, the thousands of remaining highly qualified applications are scrutinized, argued over, and, ultimately, accepted, deferred, or rejected. Unless you are a member of one of these groups, your only real chance of admission to Harvard is having a truly compelling story to tell, and the evidence to back it up.

For all other candidates, the story of Harvard acceptance begins with GPA and academic rigor but does not end there. Having very close to a 4.0 GPA, or the equivalent within other academic scales, just earns you consideration. Consider that there are literally tens of thousands of students with perfect GPAs, some of whom also have perfect, or near perfect, test scores. These accomplishments alone do not define a Harvard student. Harvard is not interested in assembling a gaggle of intelligent robots. They are far more interested in creating an eclectic class of doers who are capable of extraordinary accomplishments. Furthermore, they are interested in assembling a diverse cohort comprising students of several different beliefs, colors, upbringings, geographic locations, talents, and experiences. When you consider all these factors and simultaneously consider the extremely small number of spaces that are available, you may start to understand why so many people feel that getting into Harvard is a virtual impossibility.

If you are in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade, you have probably already started to formulate your college list. Traditional starting points for generating college lists are college rank, geographic location, and financial aid offer. After all, if you live in the Boston area and have a 3.5 or higher GPA, chances are very small that you would be interested in attending a school that no one has ever heard of in South Dakota—no offense intended to the Universities of South Dakota or Sioux Fall—regardless of the financial aid package they may offer.

Therefore, it makes sense to prioritize your goals. Do you want to go to a school near your home, one that is most affordable, or the highest ranked college anywhere in the country—or in the world. In some cases, you might be able to get all three in which case you have hit the jackpot! That possibility is far more likely if you are from a region like Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, or Chicago that has many excellent choices and generous financial aid opportunities.

Regardless of how you start your search, your college list should be made up of some schools you are likely to get into, some schools that you might get into, and some schools that you are not very likely to get into. Traditionally, these are referred to as safeties, targets, and reaches. Chances are that any school list generated by your school counselor is going to contain far more safeties than reaches. These lists tend to be quite conservative and not very aspirational. To me, this has never made sense. Why? Because the very nature of a safety school is that you are likely to get in but don’t want to go. How many of these kinds of schools do you really want in your list? Not very many. So, a much better idea is to populate your list with a few safeties, several targets, and several reaches. A good place to start your search is on the free website www.mycollegelist.com which is a free service of Avalon Admission.

We live in an era of high-tech online tracking and data collection, so you might think that personal interviews would be outdated and unnecessary. Don’t colleges already have more than enough information to form an opinion about each and every candidate? Yes and no. Even though information about online interests, political leanings, and social causes is plentiful and easy to access, no amount of data can capture the true essence of who you are, how well you will fit, and the kinds of contributions you are likely to make to the campus culture. Some colleges believe that interviews can help bridge this information gap. This leaves two critically important questions for students to consider about pending interviews:

1. What information are colleges hoping to learn from my interviews?
2. How can I use my interview to make the strongest possible case for admission?

1. College interviews are, most likely, not what you think. For most colleges, interviewers are free to ask whatever questions may arise based on the flow of the conversation. Yes, “conversation.” That single word is the main point here. Interviews should not merely be a series of questions and answers; they should be conversations. Your part in the interview is to promote that conversation, rather than providing simple canned responses to questions. The best way to do this is to answer questions in a way that both promotes and requires follow up questions. In addition, simple techniques such as pausing for a moment to think about an answer, acknowledging the complexity of a question, or acknowledging the value of a question are conversation promoters. If you over answer a question by providing too much information, you will stymie the conversation.

The Common Application completed its reboot on August 1st, right on schedule. This annual ritual provides colleges with their one opportunity to amend or fundamentally change their applications. By far, the biggest change we have seen is with Harvard’s application. Instead of requiring an extended essay as well as two shorter essays buried within the academic and extracurricular activities sections, the new Harvard Application has five short answer essays, each with a limit of 200 words. Not only is the format new, but so are the not-so-obvious opportunities to use these essays to discuss one’s diversity or adversity, to make up for the deletion of the “race” question. Harvard made no secret of the fact that race had been used as a factor in admission, for all the same reasons that affirmative action had been the policy in the US for the past 50 years: to equalize opportunities for traditionally marginalized groups such as Black, Hispanic, and Native American students. Then, as swift as a bolt of lightning, the Supreme Court made race-based admission illegal.

Here are Harvard’s five new short essay prompts:

• Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard?

Let’s start out this discussion of college lists with a basic premise: Each and every college on your child’s list should be one that they would be happy to attend. But what does happiness truly mean in this case? For many students and families, the highest priority of all is a college’s position on a list of top colleges. However, I would strongly disagree that simply because a college is ranked number 10 then it is a better fit than a college that is ranked number 15. To me, the highest priority in creating an appropriate college list is a ensuring a student’s happiness. However, defining happiness can be quite elusive since happiness is a multidimensional concept that takes into account a diverse range of characteristics. However, if you take my advice and actually spend time understanding and writing down the unique factors that would make your child happy, you will be roughly halfway through the process of formulating the perfect college list.

For example, would your child be happier at a small college or a large university? Would they thrive more in smaller classes with a lot of interaction or in larger settings? Would they be happy attending a college in a rural setting knowing that the vast majority of their time would be spent on campus, or would they prefer to be closer to the action offered by a college located in or near a big city?

For many parents and students, the names of prestigious colleges are like bright, shiny objects dangling in the night sky. Each one evokes a unique though similar reaction ranging from longing to lust. Similarly, for many parents and students, college names play a disproportionately important role in the creation of a college list, despite the fact that names have little to do with the nature or quality of experiences students will encounter over the next four years.

Additionally, a focus on college names to the exclusion of academic and experiential factors is not the only mistake that many parents and students make in developing the college list. Some parents and students discount entirely the possibility of attending a public college simply because it is not a private school, as if the mere fact of being publicly funded and administered somehow diminishes a college’s prestige or quality. Of course, this is nonsense. Furthermore, many students place a value on attending college near a big city, or other factors such as diversity, number of clubs and organizations, or even climate. I am not saying that these factors should not be considered. However, more than anything else, college is a place to learn, to grow, to experience, and to explore a pathway that may lead to a lifelong passion and rewarding career.

One of the most important and misunderstood steps in successful college admission occurs right at the outset: the creation of a logical, sensible, and aspirational college list. In many ways, the college list drives the process because it determines what you need, where you should visit, and even decisions as basic as which courses to take and which extracurricular activities to choose. It is likely that the first college list you see will come from your school’s guidance department. However, this can be problematic and even misleading. College lists provided by schools typically include many colleges you’ve never heard of and don’t want to go to. That is because school guidance departments tend to be overly cautious, focusing mainly on schools that you are likely to get into at the exclusion of schools that are possible and more attractive, but that might require a bit more effort to get into. These aspirational colleges should be considered and not excluded from your list. The truth is that the person creating your school-generated college list doesn’t really know you and is faced with the daunting task of creating lists for perhaps hundreds of students. They don’t have the time, the understanding, or the overarching motivation to help you create illogical, sensible, and aspirational college list. As a result, you cannot and should not depend on your school counselor to create your college list.

Some will say that the #SupremeCourt’s striking down of #AffirmativeAction is fair and others who will say the opposite. No one wants to be passed over to give an advantage to someone else. However, the inequities that exist in our society are now stronger than ever.

I am not taking a victory lap for predicting that America’s new conservative Supreme Court would most definitely strike down affirmative action as soon as they got the chance to do so. Well, they got their chance and they acted. There are some who will say that the Supreme Court’s striking down of Affirmative Action is fair and others who will say quite the opposite. Of course, fair has multiple meetings in this case. On one hand, it is not fair to discriminate against anyone based on race, religion, or skin color. On the other hand, it is not fair to perpetuate a system that is intrinsically and systemically unfair. In this case, we cannot use the collective “people of color,” because while blacks and Latinos are hurt by this decision, Asians actually benefit from it. From their perspective, they were discriminated against due to their race. If judged on all factors other than their race, there is no doubt that more of them would have received offers of acceptance from elite colleges. However, those seats were given to others based on a desire within the higher ed community to equalize opportunities for all races. From my perspective, this was a noble intention that had both profoundly impactful and patently unfair consequences. If you open yourself up to all arguments on both sides of the issue, it is clear to see the merits of each. From an individual perspective, this decision makes sense. No one wants to be passed over based on a desire to give an advantage to someone else. However, on a broader perspective, the inequities that exist in our society are now stronger than ever.

You are very likely in the process of completing your applications for University of California colleges, as well as your REA, EA, and/or ED choices. You may be working on your portfolios, your resumes, or even your introductory videos. You may still be scheduling live or virtual visits to your favored colleges. At the very least, you are hopefully requesting information from all the colleges on your list. Alright then! Now, it’s time to move to the other 99% of colleges whose application deadlines fall between January 1 and February 5. If you are applying to 15 colleges, then you have somewhere around 45 essays of varying length to write. And this doesn’t even include the Common App’s Personal Narrative. There’s no better time to start than right now. Why? Because you can’t expect any of your essays to be exactly the way you want it on the first draft.

Also, let’s not forget the all-important activities section of the common application. You can enter up to 10 activities ranging from community service to academic enrichment. Each activity should be accurately described, along with your position or achievements. Also, don’t forget the common application’s optional community disruption/COVID-19 essay to describe how the pandemic or some other disaster has negatively impacted your application. Don’t feel bad about using this space to discuss the hardships you may have faced resulting from any one of several natural disasters or personal disasters that you may have faced. Of course, as with every aspect of your application, it is better to discuss how you have risen above these challenges than to admit how you have succumbed to them.

Summary

"It is important to understand that rankings are general statistics which means that they apply to different individuals in different ways. For example, up to 42% of a college’s rank is based on graduation rates. Nonetheless, college rankings are so deeply entrenched in our collective psyche that we will undoubtedly continue to recite them, and even depend on them, despite their shortcomings. There are certainly much better ways to rank colleges that would more accurately consider the needs of individual students."

Article

Last year, the University of Chicago was ranked 6th in National Universities by US News and World Report. This year, it is ranked 12th. Similarly, Dartmouth went from 12th to 18th, and NYU went from 25th to 35th. Conversely, Columbia University went from 18th to 12th and UCLA went from 20th to 15th. For colleges that decreased in ranking by up to 100%, what did they do differently to account for such a drop off in performance? For those colleges that increased in ranking by up to 50%, what did they do right to earn their higher honors? In both cases, the answer is nothing. What changed is the ranking criteria used by US News and World Report. If you are one of those people who believes in the absolute value of rankings and would like to remain that way, you may not want to read the rest of this article. For those that dare to take a deeper dive into rankings to understand how truly limited they are in their ability to quantify quality to the point where colleges with absolutely no similarities are ranked against each other and unjustly compared to each other, read on!

There are many ways to gain admission into the college of your dreams. It helps to fully understand the college admission process so that you may take advantage of some less-traveled paths.

There are several things you should know about getting into your top-choice colleges. The first thing to know is that if your top-choice colleges are very highly ranked, then the odds are far higher that you will be rejected than accepted. At the most competitive level, colleges look for a lot more than GPA and test scores, although these two factors are definitely important. You must consider that anyone applying to a highly ranked college has those credentials already. Therefore, to stand out from the applicant pool, you must have lots of other factors that catch the eye of admissions officials. Alternatively, you could present at least one extraordinary accomplishment.

The second thing to know is that ED (Early Decision) and ED-II (Early Decision Round II) can give you a significant advantage among the applicant pool. Colleges prefer a “sure thing,” so they are more likely to choose a candidate who is 100% committed to attending that college if accepted. If you are unfamiliar with ED-II, just know that it is exactly like ED, except that your ED-II application (you are only allowed one) is due on the same day as regular decision applications. In exchange for gaining a higher chance of admission, you are required to attend your ED-II school if you are accepted. Alternatively, EA, or Early Admission, gives you no statistical advantage in being accepted, but does provide you with the decision far earlier than RD (Regular Decision). EA, ED applicants typically hear from colleges within the first two weeks of December, whereas ED-II and RD applicants must wait until March or early April to hear their colleges’ decisions.

The first one I noticed was Harvard, which up through last year provided students with an “optional” essay that would be uploaded in the form of a Word doc or PDF. Of course, that was a dog whistle for counselors signaling that a long essay was needed. This year, however, Harvard has replaced the long essay with five short essays up to 200 words in length. Then, it was Cornell, which shaved 300 words off its 650-word essay, leaving behind a paltry 300 word maximum. The University of Pennsylvania, similarly, now asks for mini essays instead of it’s far longer essays of years past. The examples go on and on.

Indeed, across the college spectrum, I have noticed that most colleges are now asking only for short essays, in some cases several of them, and that only a handful of colleges are still requiring a long essay. Old hold out University of Chicago still has a weird essay upload, and Georgetown is asking for a half a page single spaced.

Why the change? Well, the skeptic in me believes it has to do with college rankings. Having shorter essays means receiving more applications which, without extra seats being added, means more rejections and a lower acceptance rate—weirdly resulting in a higher ranking. It’s the old “I only want to belong to a club that I can’t get into” mentality. If it’s too easy to get in, it’s not worth going to.

“ Now that the Supreme Court has made it illegal to use race as a factor in college admission, many students belonging to classes that were previously disadvantaged in the elite college admission process now have increased chances, although the difference may not be as significant as many believe.“

Now that the Supreme Court has made it illegal to use race as a factor in college admission, many students belonging to classes that were previously disadvantaged in the elite college admission process now have increased chances, although the difference may not be as significant as many believe. Asian and Caucasian students stand to gain the most from this controversial decision as they will (in theory, at least) no longer be subjected to a higher standard. Yet, we all know that nature does not like a vacuum and the same holds true of college admission. In the absence of race as a defining characteristic of a candidate, what will take its place and what must students know to be well positioned in the post-race-based world of college admission?

First, it is necessary to understand that the reasons behind using race as an admission factor are noble. For the most part, race-based admission policies do not benefit those who put the rules into place. Conversely, they are intended to equalize a playing field that many consider to be sloped to the advantage of Caucasian and Asian students. However, it is not the intention of this article to justify or criticize Affirmative Action. Rather, it is my intention to discuss what factors will rush in to fill the void, just as air rushes in to fill a jar or can when opened.

This is what you likely don’t know, but definitely should know, about elite college admission: CHARACTER MATTERS – A LOT! If admission into some of these elite colleges is your goal, then you have to pay as much attention to exhibiting the eight elements of character as you do to having impressive grades, test scores, and activities.

I shouldn’t be surprised. In a recent College Application 101 Workshop I held in Newton, Massachusetts, an engaged group of students sat through three hours of instruction about how to set up their Common Application and populate the recommender, activities, academic honors, and writing sections. Following this, I asked for questions related to the college application process and was surprised by the largely linear thinking that most students demonstrated. Then again, as I said earlier, I really shouldn’t be surprised. Ever since grade school, students have been indoctrinated in the belief that grades and test scores are all that matter. Somewhere along the way, they were introduced to the idea of becoming a well-rounded student by playing at least one musical instrument, participating in at least one sport, and having at least one example of community service. Further, they had learned either on the Internet or from their friends that the common app personal narrative was an opportunity to wax eloquent about their personal accomplishments, community service, or commitment to excellence of one type or another. All of these examples of mistaken thinking fall under the category of science. More precisely, they fall under the category of “College Admission as Science.” The only problem is that college admission is not science; it is an art form.

Competition to attend #Harvard college is fierce. With such a small percentage of students actually achieving admission, a cottage industry of trying to figure out the magic formula has emerged. Here, we present three case studies, two of successful Harvard applicants and one of a student who was rejected. They are all outstanding students, but why did two get in and the third one did not? This article warns that you should not try to emulate successful candidates because what worked for them may not work for you. Each student is different, and to be successful, each student must present the strongest possible case based on activities, decisions, and accomplishments.

If Harvard were a planet, it would have enough mass to attract hundreds of moons in its gravity. Its enormous stature is also the reason it inspires so many so-called “secrets” of admission. We have all heard the stories of students who were accepted at Harvard, as well as those who were rejected. From these stories, many hopeful parents and students have created their own narratives about how to get into Harvard, without truly recognizing that Harvard admission is a largely holistic process. Successful admission at Harvard is based on several intertwined decisions and accomplishments that date back to ninth grade, and possibly even earlier, and collectively tell a story that is compelling enough to warrant a “thumbs up” from the most selective college admission team on the planet.

Over the past 5 years, internships have become very popular for students applying to highly competitive colleges based on a belief that an internship alone may be a ticket to elite college admission. The truth is that there is no one factor, not even an internship, that will ensure admission into a highly competitive college. Put into context, an internship can be a wise and valuable use of time, providing a student with work experience, responsibility, and the opportunity to build passion for a particular subject. However, in this era of 10 to 30 candidates for every college seat, admission committees have come to expect much more from their candidates. To these colleges, an internship is only one part of one activity among many parts of many activities. To better understand this statement, it helps to understand what it is about internships that colleges value, and what it is about a student’s overall set of activities that colleges are seeking.

I. An Internship Should Have Five Components:

A. Authenticity

B. Value/Relevance

C. Supervision

D. Documentation

E. Supervisor’s Recommendation

A. Authenticity

At Avalon Admission, we specialize in making strong cases for Ivy League acceptance by presenting students as individuals likely to make a positive difference in the world. We expertly weave together seemingly disparate elements of a student’s academic accomplishments and life experiences into a cohesive narrative that encourages a sense of confidence on the part of Ivy League admissions committees.

If you are submitting ACT or SAT scores to colleges, or SSAT or ISEE to private schools, does the movement toward test-optional admissions help you or hurt you? The answer is simple: Yes, it does. But how can this be so? Won’t my excellent test scores make me stand out from those who are not submitting any scores? The answer to this question is: no. If all this seems counterintuitive to you, that is because colleges and private schools are changing, adapting to the new reality of our changing world. This is not to say that a high test score is bad; quite the contrary. High test scores are one measure of your academic ability that colleges and private schools appreciate as a relatively objective measure of academic intelligence. Notice that I use the word “relatively,” because everyone knows that test scores can be improved with the assistance of professional tutors, or in some cases classes. So, now that I have stirred up confusion in this salad bowl of admissions characteristics, let me do my best to unravel the mystery of college admission and private school admission for 2022 and beyond.

Of all the changes to college admission and private school admission in the last few years, perhaps the one that is most misunderstood is the movement toward test-optional admissions. Many colleges are now test optional—some permanently—while others are gravitating back to mandatory test submission. For applications that come in unaccompanied by test scores, colleges and private schools are doing their best to make up for this missing data by placing more value on other factors such as GPA, extracurricular activities, proven leadership skills, analysis of one’s use of free time, character, recommendations, and essays.

Getting into top private schools is not unlike getting into top colleges. The fact is that highly valued individuals demonstrate a consistent set of values whether they are applying for college or private school. That is because, to a certain extent, top schools are seeking a consistent and predictable set of characteristics from their applicants, whether for college or for private school. Overall, they are seeking to establish an advantageous mix of talent while also creating a well-blended culture of high-achieving students who are high in energy and creativity and low in risk.

When you tour private schools, one of the most obvious things you notice is the involvement of students in extracurricular activities. You see signs of this all over, from the sports fields, to the locker rooms, to the art studios, to the maker labs, and into the performance halls. Almost without exception, top private schools boast extraordinary extracurricular activities—extraordinary both in scope and quality. Since the incoming class of any private school is far smaller than the incoming class at virtually any college, it is far more important for private schools to seek students who are talented in any of these areas in order not only to build the class, but to build sports teams, orchestras, artwork to display, and theater groups. Of course, there is no better measure of a private school than its record of matriculation. Therefore, private schools are very focused on admitting students whom they feel have a chance to get into top colleges. So, in most cases, it is not the quality of the private school that determines how many of its students get into top colleges. Rather, it is each school's ability to recruit top students that determines a school’s record of matriculation. A school that can recruit more high-level students is far more likely to have an impressive record of acceptances to elite colleges. This leads us to the first tip for getting into elite private schools.

Application deadlines for most private schools are January 15 and Feb 1. Most decisions come out on March 10. The key to a successful private school experience is identifying schools that fit your interests, values, goals, and expectations. Many private schools have vast resources and myriad traditions that create a strong sense of community and belonging. They also offer smaller and higher-level classes. These factors are common differentiators between public and private schools. Additionally, guidance counselors at most private schools have smaller caseloads, and more time to advise each student on school and college issues.

Applying to private school can be a challenging and time-consuming process. If you have already decided to apply, calling Avalon Admission can ensure that your journey is seamless and that your effort is rewarded. Avalon Admission provides families with concierge-level service across every aspect of the private school admission process, including choosing the right schools, writing parent and student essays, and preparing for visits and interviews.

With so much riding on so few considerations, decisions often come down to subtle reference points and nuance. This is where Avalon Admission can help. By working with Avalon, you can ensure that your child has a greater chance of admission into a top private school. In most cases, all activities associated with the private school applications must be completed by the application deadline. These include school tours, tests, interviews, essays, personal statements, and recommendations. Avalon Admission helps families sort through each school’s requirements and keeps you on track for timely and effective submission of all applications.

Internships! The mere mention of the word brings waves of joy to parents of students seeking admission to high-value colleges—as if the mere mention of the word will result in multiple offers of admission from top colleges across America. Indeed, internships can be valuable additions to college applications, but not necessarily so. Why? The answer is simple and intuitive once you allow yourself to enter the mind of a college admission official. Just as there are varying degrees of meaningful extracurricular activities students can embark upon, there are also varying degrees of effective internships. So, seeing an internship on an application will invite scrutiny, which can be a good thing as long as the internship can hold up to that scrutiny. With this in mind, here are the five characteristics of a successful high school internship.

1) Authenticity

Among the things that college admission officials look for in an internship is authenticity. In other words, is it real? There are varying degrees of authenticity, or lack of authenticity. In the extreme, the internship can be wholly contrived—made up. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous parents who will put things on an application that are simply not true. They know that the chance of discovery is rather small. In a less extreme example, the internship could result from a business relationship or personal connection. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this as long as the internship is demonstrated to be valuable to the student’s admission case. Also, it should not be a situation where a student does minimal work from his computer or shows up once or twice in a summer.

There are some who believe that applying to college is simply a matter of submitting applications. The reality is that hundreds of decisions made between 9th grade and 12th grade will contribute to a student’s admission success. Furthermore, admission factors at top colleges are evolving. What was true 10 years ago, or even five years ago, may not be true today. For example, the legacy advantage has all but disappeared. One’s ethnicity matters today but might not matter tomorrow. Even the importance of where one lives keeps changing.

What about activities? Research projects have become all too common on college applications, so many colleges now value outcomes over experience. In other words, they want to see a published paper, a presentation, or even a poster. Are internships as valuable as they once were? Well, yes and no. It depends on certain factors. And that same frustrating conclusion is true of all activities. You really can’t look at any one activity and say this is good for your college application. You must look at your activities holistically. How does the sum of your activities contribute to your college admission profile?

These days, you have to be smart and strategic to get into top colleges. Everything about your admission candidacy must make sense. First, you must be able to check the boxes for GPA, academic rigor, recommendations, and test scores (if submitting). If these are all excellent, then your application will find its way to the “Maybe Pile.” Then, your application will have to exhibit some special qualities for it to advance to the “Admit Pile.” Ask yourself, what will your application say about you as it is being read by the admission committee? Being smart helps, but it won’t get you in by itself. Being a person of high character and integrity helps. Having a special talent helps. Being of a particular ethnicity or geography helps. Being a first-generation college student helps. Even being a Pell Grant recipient, a Questbridge candidate, or an ROTC candidate helps. However, many of these things you cannot control. Among the things you can control are academic honors and awards, extracurricular honors and awards, meaningful activities, and meaningful community service.

Everyone wants to get into a top-choice college but simply wishing for it won’t make it happen. Everything about college admission is strategic, and each individual strategy combines into a comprehensive plan of action that begins as early as ninth grade. However, it is never too late to begin. Whether you are in 9th grade, 10th grade, or 11th grade, there are several things that will increase your chances of getting into one or more of your top choice colleges. Here are the top five.

1) Begin by creating an appropriate college list. By this, I do not mean that you should only apply to slightly competitive colleges. On the contrary, I believe you should have more reaches than targets and more targets than safeties. It is how you choose the colleges that makes your list appropriate. For every college in America, there are up to 100 factors you should consider before applying. Choosing colleges is not just about the ranking. It is also about the community, the experience, the available activities, the location, and the size. It is about finding the right match for your major, your passion, your interest, and even your likely career path. It is about access to labs, internships, research opportunities, and professors. There are also many social issues to consider including religion, gender identity, international emphasis, political emphasis, culture, living arrangements, food, personal safety, and having the opportunity to satisfy your interests and curiosity for important social and societal issues. If you have chosen your list correctly, then your top choices will be colleges that fit your overall profile. Colleges are far more likely to accept you if they feel that you are a good fit for their campus, their culture, and their academic opportunities.

Everyone seems to know that admission to top colleges is more competitive than ever. It is simply a matter of numbers. More applications means a smaller percentage of acceptances. Furthermore, the rules are constantly changing. Now, first-generation counts more than legacy. In most cases, standardized tests are still optional, and everyone claims to have the winning formula for writing the perfect Common App essay. But in this maelstrom of misinformation comes a simple set of rules to help students avoid the missteps that can never be erased, and to maximize opportunities that can never be taken away. Here are the seven critical mistakes to avoid in high school if your goal is admission to top ranked colleges.

1. Starting in 9th grade, avoid taking CP-level classes, if possible. Insist on being placed in high-level classes such as honors or AP, if they are available. One of the five most important factors in college admission is academic rigor. This means that top colleges expect students to challenge themselves by taking the most challenging courses from those offered at their school. Even getting straight As in CP-level courses it’s not enough to draw admiration from admissions officers at elite colleges.
2. Avoid building a nonsensical list of random activities. Don’t sign up for activities simply to fill spaces on the Common Application or other applications. Some parents insist on having their sons and daughters take tennis lessons, or violin lessons, or art lessons because they feel that having a well-rounded list of activities will enhance their position among applicants to top-level colleges. In reality, your activity list should be well thought out, intelligently designed, and methodically enacted. Each activity should build upon the others and strengthen the student’s narrative. Each one should be justifiable, purposeful, and useful.
3. Just because many colleges are test-optional does not mean that you should not take tests. In fact, take advantage of this period of time by submitting tests if the scores will help you and holding back on test scores if they will not help you. Standardized tests are still considered to be validators of academic ability. In fact, they are still among the five most important factors in college admission.
4. Don’t miss the opportunity to nurture strong recommendations in 11th grade. As you begin junior year, don’t forget that you will be asking two (or three) of your teachers for college recommendations. A good recommendation will not help you. A great recommendation may move the needle a little bit. A stellar recommendation can make all the difference in the world as your application is discussed among elite college admission committees who trust the word of teachers as if it were gospel.
5. Don’t wait until 12th grade to create your college list. This will only result in lost opportunities that may be hard to recover from. It is always helpful to look forward as far as possible, so having specific colleges in mind can help guide your decision-making along the way. Also, approximately 50% of top colleges in America consider demonstrated interest as an admission factor. You can only show interest in a college if you have identified it as a college you are interested in. There are many ways that you can show demonstrated interest including college visits, virtual visits, website visits, and visits to social media platforms.
6. Do not apply to colleges without first doing research. You should go down a rabbit hole or two, either following the research of a particular professor or identifying details of a particular major. Check other resources such as Unigo or Reddit to find out what students are saying about the college. Based on this research, get a general idea of how well you will fit in and state this information in both your interviews and your essays.
7. Don’t apply to too many safety schools. Your college list should have far more reaches than safeties. After all, how many safeties do you need? A college list should always be aspirational and intelligent. It should consider factors other than rankings—factors such as the strength of specific programs, the size of classes, the general atmosphere, the flexibility to take classes at nearby colleges, access to professors, availability of research, geographic location, financial aid policies, student life, and record of career or graduate school placement.

How About Cornell, CMU, Rice, WashU St. Louis, UCLA, USC or Wake Forest?

Here are three representative student case studies and predictions using data from the amazing MyCollegeList.com program

Student One:

Adrianne is an Asian female who attends one of the most competitive private schools in America. Both of her parents attended college. She hopes to study Computer Science. Roughly 2/3 of her classes are either honors or AP level. Her converted GPA on the 4-point scale is 3.628. She is in the top 10% of his class. She is considered by her teachers to be a good student and hard worker, always getting assignments done on time and being a regular participant in class discussions. For activities, she has played both piano and violin for more than eight years and plays in the school orchestra. She started a computer club and has been the president for the past two years. She won a presidential award for community by contributing more than 100 hours of her time over his first three years in high school. Her summers have mostly been spent studying for tests and sailing, a hobby she has enjoyed since she was five years old. She has taken five AP exams and received scores of 5 on all of them. Her SAT superscore is a 1510.

Ivy Day—the day when Ivy League admissions decisions are handed out, is right around the corner at the end of March. As you know, applying to Ivy League schools can produce three different outcomes: acceptance, rejection, or waitlist. None of these three outcomes is based on absolute data. As you can tell by analyzing scattergrams on Naviance, it takes more than test scores and GPA to get in to an Ivy League college, though those factors almost always must be extremely strong as well.

Still, what is good enough for acceptance one year may not be good enough another year. Also, a high school’s matriculation performance can vary dramatically from year to year. Similarly, the exact same student applying to the same school in different years can have different outcomes. Why? It has to do with the pool of applicants that you are in. A stronger pool means that admissions will be more selective. This is on top of the fact that far more valedictorians, and those with perfect test scores, are rejected from Ivy League colleges than are accepted—far more, and the numbers are even close!

There are 40,000 valedictorians in the U.S. each year. Yet, the total number of Ivy League acceptances each year is around 25,000. Even if colleges accepted every valedictorian from across the country and didn’t take any legacy students, athletes, international students, homeschooled students, or students with special accomplishments or circumstances, it would still mean that around the same number of valedictorians were rejected as accepted. Does this mean that the valedictorians did something wrong or could have done something better? No, it is always about the other guys in the applicant pool. For one or a number of reasons, colleges just like some students better than others.

Over my 40 years of training students to prepare for college admission, I have come to understand that there is magic inside of every student just waiting to be unleashed. Somewhere along their 12-year academic journey, students who are fortunate enough to encounter a gifted teacher or dedicated counselor who recognizes and ignites this magical spark may reach their college potential, and then achieve even greater happiness and success in a rich and rewarding career. Ever since helping my first student get into Stanford University all the way back in 1984, I have been seeking to crack the code of college admission counseling and find the perfect college for each student. For high aspiring students, I have been refining the secret formula whose effect on Ivy League admissions committees is swift and absolute, and whose implementation leads to generous merit-based scholarships at non-Ivy-League schools. Nearly free tuition at a major liberal arts college, with a few first-class plane tickets home thrown in, can be an offer too good to pass up, as it was for one of my students recently. This is the holy grail of elite admissions. So far, I am happy to be able to report that I have had the great fortune of helping high aspiring students reach and exceed their college dreams more than 1000 times over.

The college admission process does not begin in twelfth grade; it begins in ninth grade or even earlier. Yet, according to a NACAC survey, most school counselors spend more than 80% of their time on non-college related activities. Even if your school has a dedicated college counseling staff, chances are that each counselor has a caseload of hundreds of students. In fact, the average caseload for each counselor in the US is roughly 500 students each. As a result, school college counselors spend an average of only 15 minutes per year, 45 minutes over the course of three years, with each student in grades 10 through 12.

How much guidance can a school counselor possibly give a student in 45 minutes? Perhaps they can demonstrate how to use Naviance, how to set up a Common Application account, how to ask their teachers for college recommendations, and how to fill out the FAFSA and CSS forms. Maybe they can provide a little bit of guidance on writing essays. Perhaps your school has a college information night and a college fair. But these activities fall far short of what students need to ace the college application process. In all, there are approximately 30 factors that contribute to successful college applications. There is simply no way that school counselors can provide sufficient information about all of these activities in the limited time that they can dedicate to each student.

Some students and families have an implicit and unwarranted bias against public colleges and universities. In some cases, they may feel that states simply don’t have the funding or resources to dedicate to their public college systems. They may feel that state colleges are designed to provide the most basic level of higher education to citizens of that state. In many cases, these beliefs are true. Clearly, not all state college systems are high caliber, and within a state there exists a great range of quality from campus to campus. However, with careful scrutiny, one can identify several state colleges that are every bit as good as, or better than, most private colleges. In doing so, families can save a significant amount of money especially if the college you are considering happens to be located in your home state. Here are some numbers from US News and World Report to support this statement.

Average Annual Tuition and Fees at Ranked Colleges

(After financial aid and scholarships)

Private $38,185

Public (Out of State) $22,698

Public (In State) $10,338

It should be noted that averages are not actual costs. In reality, some students will pay more and some will pay less than these amounts. At the University of California, for example, out-of-state students pay a $30,000 nonresident supplemental tuition fee in addition to the normal tuition and fees. On the flip side, out-of-state students can be awarded merit-based scholarships. Need-based scholarships are also quite generous not only at state colleges but at private colleges as well.

Whenever students and parents discuss the common application and other college applications, all they seem to talk about is the personal narrative and college-specific essays. While these essays are critically important parts of a student’s application, the truth is that there is a lot more to an application that must be addressed if a student is to successfully navigate the college admission process.

With so much information about college application essays available on the Internet, it is difficult to differentiate good advice from bad. Also, it is important to understand that an essay that works for one person may not work well for another. Your application essays, both the personal statement and college supplements, must reflect your values rather than someone else’s. If you try to emulate another person’s essay, even if that person was successful in gaining admission, you are likely failing to write about the things that make you a worthy candidate to colleges.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to emulate essays from successful college applicants. For every successful essay that you see, there are 1000 that you don’t see. Further, you know nothing about the applicant himself. Perhaps his essay was only passable, but he had a perfect 4.0 GPA and 1600 SAT score or was a world-class musician. To think that one essay has captured the formula for success is like using the moon to prove that there is no intelligent life in the universe.

Just because one girl wrote a now-famous essay about Papa John’s Pizza and got into Yale doesn’t mean that you should write about Burger King to get into Columbia. Just because one student wrote about Costco doesn’t mean that you should write about Walmart. It doesn’t work that way. The main objective of the common application essay and college supplemental essays is to reveal some characteristics about you that makes you an attractive candidate. Focus on these five tips for writing a winning college application essay.

The Five Best and Worst Activities for Summer

Summer is when high school students can engage in meaningful activities that greatly enhance their college applications. Since college applications contain information about a student's record from 9th through 12th grade, it makes sense to plan advantageous summer activities for the three summers that precede a student's entry into college. The summers after 10th grade and 11th grade are particularly important because many colleges ask students to list these activities.

Conversely, many activities do not help, and may actually weaken, a student’s college admission profile. For example, it is great fun to go to summer camp, but doing so will not enhance a student's college application. It is also wonderful for families to travel together over the summer—to see parts of the country or parts of the world. However, summer vacations that are taken purely for fun actually weaken a student’s application.

In general, it makes sense to research and enroll in summer activities that will strengthen a student's activity list on the common application and individual college applications. More specifically, it is advantageous to pick summer activities that somehow connect with a student's unique selling proposition—his most important attribute or contribution to society. It also makes sense to pick summer activities that strengthen a student's case for admission into a particular school, department, or discipline. For example, if a student is going to list engineering as his first area of interest, it would make sense to have summer activities related to engineering to bolster that student’s engineering profile.

Every day, students must make decisions that range from the mundane to the sublime, from which socks or stockings to wear to which summer activities to choose. Many high school students, particularly those who are focused on boosting the impact of their college applications, choose activities that fit into neat categories on the Common Application’s activities section. This is a good idea. However, there is an even better idea: choose activities that can lead to academic awards or honors.

On the Common Application, there is a subheading on the education tab entitled “Honors.” Here, you can enter up to five academic achievements in grades 9 through 12. These can be school level awards, state or regional awards, national awards, or international awards. Obviously, national and international honors are weighted more heavily than local- or state- level honors. However, all honors are considered to be significant additions to a student’s application.

Therefore, as you choose your activities, consider some that can be included in the Honors section of the Common App. These can include international awards such as: The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair or IMO (International Math Olympiad); national awards, such as; AP National Scholar or The Science Olympiad National Tournament; state awards such as the State Spelling Bee, or state-level honors programs; or school awards, such as Honor Roll, Dean’s list, Valedictorian, etc.

The secret to successful elite-college admission is not what you think. It is not about having an exceptionally high GPA and test scores. It is not about having 100 activities squeezed into 10 spaces on the Common Application. It is not about having 10 AP test scores of 5. It is not even about having excellent teacher recommendations. All of these things are already assumed if you are applying to an elite college. However, you should understand that every serious candidate for these elite colleges has also accomplished these things. Therefore, these factors only get you into the game; they do not get you in the door. If your dream is to enter the Ivy gates of Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, U Penn, Columbia, Princeton, Brown, or Yale, the secret of success comes down to three words that you should memorize and never forget: “Prove your passion.”

There are approximately 40,000 high schools in the United States. In every one of these high school are anywhere between 1 and 100 students who feel that they deserve to get into an Ivy League college. Even further, they believe that all their work over the past four years of high school, all their extracurricular activities, and all their wonderful accomplishments provide virtual guarantees of admission. However, all you have to do is consider the numbers to understand why this is not the case.

When considering your high school accomplishments, big or small, accomplished over time or in a moment, you must also consider how they will play to your audience: college admissions officials. Furthermore, you must consider how they collectively contribute to an overall narrative that is appealing to that audience. To further complicate matters, what is appealing to one school may not be appealing to another. It goes without saying that MIT is in the market for a whole different type of student than is Brown. While each of these 15 tips is deserving of its own chapter in a college admission handbook, allow me to provide you with the chapter titles which I believe you will find useful. Each one comes with a brief explanation.

1. Show a long and consistent record of excellent grades and test scores.

You’ll need four years of consistently excellent grades to be a strong candidate for a top college. If there is some inconsistency, it is advisable to have a solid explanation as to why it occurred. A trend upward from grades 9-12 is better than a trend downward.

2. Show a long and consistent record of taking challenging courses.

Academic rigor is one of the most important factors for top colleges. Take the most challenging courses your school offers if your goal is to apply to the Ivy Leagues or other top colleges

Measuring the Unmeasurable

It is easy to understand the allure of simplicity in college admission. Using strictly objective factors such as SAT or ACT scores and GPA (even though it could be argued that GPA is far from objective or standardized) a simple computer algorithm can easily select candidates to make the cut for the next incoming college class. Yet, it is widely believed that such objective factors only begin to tell the true story of a candidate, let alone their likelihood of beneficial campus integration and an all-around successful college experience.

So, colleges try to use creative methods to measure the unmeasurable. They seek candidates who demonstrate high degrees of “character.” And different colleges defined that word according to their own values and standards. However, within that term are embedded other terms such as compassion, determination, open mindedness, helpfulness, charity, community, and responsibility. They look to activities to find evidence of character. They scour recommendations from teachers and counselors in order to find hidden highlights of actions that speak much louder than the words that convey them. They look for recognition in the form of awards or honors from people or organizations in positions to recognize these qualities in individuals. They look for the reasons behind the choices that students make. They certainly hope to find reasons that are far deeper than a desire to pad a college activity list.

In this article, college admission expert Neil Chyten explains the differences between Early Decision, Early Action, and Restrictive Early Action programs, and the advantages and disadvantages associated with each.

It seems counterintuitive that any early admission program offered by Harvard would not be binding. However, it is not binding! Restrictive Early Action, or REA as it is widely referred to, is the same as any Early Action (EA) program in that a student is not required to enroll if accepted. However, that is where the “Restrictive” part comes in. While Harvard’s REA program is not binding, it is highly restrictive in that you are not allowed to apply to any other private college’s or university’s EA or Early Decision (ED) programs. For example, you could not simultaneously apply REA to Harvard and EA to MIT. You could, however, apply EA (not ED) to University of Michigan and the University of Virginia, since they are both public institutions.

Harvard’s REA admission program is identical to those offered by Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. In all four cases, you are allowed to apply to any public university’s non-binding EA program, however you are not allowed to apply to any private university’s EA or ED admission plan. University of Notre Dame has a less restrictive REA program in that you may apply to other colleges under their non-binding EA programs, but you may still not apply to any college, whether public or private, under a binding ED program.

As you wind your way through the Common Application, one of the more confusing and important aspects is choosing the right admission plan. Many colleges give you the option of applying more than one way. Of course, all colleges offer regular admission. Many other colleges offer something called Early Action (EA), which is a non-binding, early-notification option. Still other colleges offer one or two rounds of what is called Early Decision (ED-I and ED-II). The big difference with ED is that you are bound by the decision. In other words, by selecting either ED option, you promise to enroll should you be accepted. The only real exception to this binding commitment is a case where the school that accepted you through ED cannot match the financial aid offer given to you by another school. In this case, you are allowed out of the binding obligation in order to attend the school with a better financial package.

Many people are familiar with ED-I. Indeed, it is pretty easy to figure out. If you have a clear favorite college and that college offers ED-I, it makes logical sense to apply this way. Here, the only downside is that you have to get your application in early, usually by November 1. If you are applying using the Common Application, that means you will have to get your entire application, including essays, completed by that date. It also means that you may not have an opportunity to take a standardized test in November or December as you could with regular decision Applications which are typically due in early January. Nonetheless, the upside tends to be far greater than the downside. ED applications are rewarded with a higher percentage of acceptance and, for some colleges, the difference can be significant. Also, getting your decision early can take a lot of stress out of the second half of your senior year of high school. Typically, the results of the ED-I are released in December. Regular admission decisions are usually held back until March or April.

If your test scores are good, they will certainly help your case for admission. If they are not very good, then by all means do not submit them. The choice is yours, and having a choice gives you an advantage in college admissions. Take advantage of it while you still can!

Click below for Avalon's Free resource for creating a college list and predicting your chance of admission.

MyCollegeList.com

It is time again for rising 11th graders to start thinking about their college list, and for rising 12th graders to solidify theirs. So, where does an intrepid 11th grader begin, and a slightly behind schedule 12th grader turn for help? The truth is that most students begin in the worst possible place – US News and World Report’s college rankings. Don’t get me wrong, college rankings have their place in college admission, it is simply not the best place to start. The best place to start is alone in a silent room, asking yourself the right questions, and doing some serious soul-searching.

While it is certainly glamorous and satisfying to say that you got into a top 10 college, an Ivy League college, Stanford, Duke, U Chicago, USC, Northwestern, or one of the Little Ivies, it is far more important to consider how you want to be spending the next four years of your life—years that will likely impact how you will spend the rest of your life. Are you sure you want to attend a college simply because it has a prestigious name? Wouldn’t you rather spend the next four years nurturing an intrinsic desire you have to study in a particular field? Wouldn’t you rather feed your natural passion for learning a particular subject? And while it is definitely possible to have the best of all worlds, it is far more advisable to explore your passions than to trust a list based on various characteristics, many of which have nothing to do with you or the quality of education you will receive.

A preponderance of strong and highly advantageous activities begun early in high school will dramatically improve a student’s chance of receiving offers of admissions from elite colleges. The issue is not whether the right set of activities will improve a student’s chances. The question is which activities will do so, and which ones are just a waste of time and money. In order to address this question, one must understand a basic premise of college admission: colleges are not looking for well-rounded students, but instead are looking to build a well-rounded student body. They do this by accepting strong students across several priority areas.

For example, most major universities have many departments that needs students to fill seats. Because this is a seller’s market (where colleges are the sellers), admissions officers can afford to raise the price to extraordinarily high levels. In other words, they can accept only the strongest students within each department. Therefore, for example, if you are making a case for admission to an elite college as an economics student, you should not only have strong grades but also a strong list of related activities. The same is true of students applying for admission in virtually any department. The activities chosen over four years of high school should demonstrate passion for a particular field of study.

When I was taking driving lessons so many years ago, I was never told where I should be staring as I maneuvered my car down the highways and country roads of New England. Instead, I was simply told to keep the car centered between the lines and to keep enough distance between my car and the car ahead. I was told what to do, but not how to do it. It wasn’t until I taught my own daughter to drive that I discovered an important strategy. That strategy now forms the basis of the advice that I give to all students prior to senior year of high school. The strategy is, look as far down the road as possible and use your peripheral vision to stay between the lines. But this is much more than a driving strategy. It is a college admission strategy, and it is perhaps the most important advice that any student can heed.

The fact is that a collection of decisions you make will determine where you get into college. The number of decisions ranges somewhere between 75 and 125. They include decisions on classes, tests, test prep, summer activities, clubs, homework, personal priorities, essays, and recommendations. But unless these decisions collectively produce a magnificent picture of you as a compelling college admission candidate, they may fall short of the potential impact they could otherwise have. The best way to make decisions is to do so with a clear view of where you are steering your car. However, in this case, the car is your future. Each turn of the wheel is a decision leading you toward that future. If you take all the correct turns, your car will reach it’s intended destination with plenty of power to spare

There are many colleges in the US named Columbia. The most famous of these is in New York City and to avoid confusion is often referred to as “Columbia College in the City of New York.” You know you are on the right website if you see a king’s crown next to the name. Columbia College is the undergraduate part of Columbia University that includes 17 graduate and professional schools. It offers a very robust core curriculum, over 100 majors and concentrations, an extremely diverse student body, and an incredible array of job opportunities and internships. Unlike its neighbor NYU, Columbia College has a robust campus within the city of New York. For NYU, New York City is its campus. Also, Columbia College has the intensity of a big city college and, therefore, it is not for everyone. Students who prefer a small, quiet, or pastoral setting may not enjoy campus life at Columbia. This is definitely not a school for everyone, so anyone considering applying to Columbia should definitely visit the campus first! It has the feel of big, crowded campus, and is surrounded by New York City which, by itself, should eliminate it from consideration for any student who prefers a more laid-back college experience.

Pomona College shares a campus with four other colleges. Collectively, these five colleges make up the Claremont McKenna College (CMC) consortium. If you are fortunate enough to be accepted at Pomona, you will have the unique opportunity of taking classes at four other excellent colleges without ever having to leave the one-square-mile campus. Claremont McKenna, Scripps, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer each has superb courses and performance opportunities. Collectively, the five schools have 8000 students which is advantageous socially while not diminishing the benefit you get from small classes and intimate relationships you enjoy with your professors at Pomona. Each week on campus there are dozens of events and there are more than 200 student groups and clubs. Located in Claremont, CA, Pomona is idyllic with beautiful flying buttresses, large columns, western architecture, and impeccably landscaped grounds. The dorms are very nice and the food is excellent. While Pomona is known for its rigorous academics, its campus is serene and it is common to see skateboards, frisbees, and bicycles. Sharing grounds with students from five exclusive colleges means that daily interactions are both profoundly rewarding and highly eclectic. Students pretty much stay on campus as Claremont does not offer college students very much. Of course, LA, the city of stars (when you can see them) is less than an hour’s drive on “The 10 West.”

Cornell is the largest of the Ivy League colleges, both in campus size, which is 745 acres, and undergraduate population, which is 15,000. For comparison, Colombia’s is the smallest Ivy League campus at merely 32 acres. Cornell is located in the very rural town of Ithaca, in upstate New York, and is considered to be a campus school. In other words, virtually all social activities take place on campus. If you want to take a long weekend in New York City, it is a good 200 miles away. The best word to describe the Cornell campus is “gorgeous.” All four seasons in this Upstate New York region have their own special quality, whether that is attributable to fall foliage, winter snow, spring flowers, or summer at the lakes that are bountiful in the region. You are quite likely to fall in love with it if you visit. Plus, the area around Cornell is spectacular as well. In all fairness, some students do indicate that they feel a sense of isolation based on its remote location. However, most students simply take advantage of the activities that abound on campus.

To say that the Harvard campus is iconic is a dramatic understatement. Even the Harvard name conjures up familiar images of traditional brick buildings, and stressed-out students walking through Harvard Yard and touching the bronze toe of John Harvard for good luck. It also brings up images of world-class professors conducting world-class research. Most Harvard freshman live in suites that are quite ordinary but sufficient for comfortable living. Most dorms at Harvard have a common room and their own bathroom. Suites are shared with between four and six students. Walking around the Harvard campus certainly gives you a feeling of inspiration, especially knowing how many famous people have preceded you walking through these spaces. Harvard College is located in Harvard Square which is a bustling city, and is just across the Charles River from Boston. Clearly, there is certainly no shortage of restaurants and nighttime activities. Both Boston and Cambridge are world class cities that offer a tremendous number of cultural and social events. Even the most iconic baseball park in America, Fenway Park, is a stone’s throw away. MIT is a $7.00 Uber ride or a gorgeous 10-minute bicycle ride along the Charles River away.

Of course, Williams has the reputation of being a small New England liberal arts college. Indeed, it lives up to that recommendation. However, students on campus do not feel hindered by the environment. In fact, they say there is lots to do both on campus and in the community. There are many restaurants around town, as well as many outdoor activities such as hiking, equestrian, golf, skiing, and opportunities for volunteer work. On campus, there is an active performance center and a plethora of clubs. New York City is only a few hours away by bus if you need a big city fix. One major advantage is that almost all students have a single room throughout all four years of college. Food is good, though not gourmet. Campus is idyllic, especially in the fall and winter when it is absolutely gorgeous.

The CMC Consortium, as it is known, is made up of five undergraduate colleges and two graduate colleges that, in effect, all share a single campus in Claremont, California. All seven colleges are located in a 1 square mile area. Students at each of the five undergraduate schools can take classes in any of the other four, and even fulfill a major at any of the other four. Quite literally, it is a two-minute walk from Harvey Mudd to Pomona, or from Claremont McKenna to Scripps or Pitzer. If you don’t want to walk, bicycles are readily available to take you from building to building in college to college. All five of these colleges are highly ranked and highly respected nationally.

CMU is a mid-sized city campus recently enhanced by new buildings including the Tepper Quad and the TCS Hall. The Tepper Quad is interesting because it is the home to the CMU business program and literally and figuratively connects to the other seven colleges on the university campus, thus making a statement about dedication to its highly ranked business. TCS hall is the new home of the graduate level computer science program and designed to facilitate collaboration between the university and business. The area in and around CMU is generally considered to be safe. Architecture on campus is eclectic, ranging from modern steel and glass to classical. CMU has a strong Greek culture with around 20% of students participating. Most CMU parties are held at the fraternities or sororities.

It is a fact that five out of the eight Ivy League colleges give college credit for AP exams in which students have scored at least a 4, or in some cases, the score must be a 5. While the AP credit policies vary from school to school, they can also vary from department to department within a school. In all cases, earning high scores on AP exams helps you earn admission to top colleges. It also allows students to circumvent certain basic courses and instead to take more rewarding, higher-level classes. Here are the AP credit policies of all eight Ivy League colleges.

Columbia University: Undergraduate students may be granted credit or be exempted from certain courses or requirements on the basis of Advanced Placement tests administered by the College Entrance Examination Board. Typically, a score of 4 or 5 is required for exemption or credit, respectively.

Cornell University gives AP credit for exam scores of 4 or 5. Advanced placement credit is college credit that students earn before they matriculate as freshmen and that may count toward the degree and/or degree requirements as specified by the individual college at Cornell. Its primary purpose is to exempt students from introductory courses and to place them in advanced courses. Its value is that it allows students to include more advanced courses in their studies.

We have seen it hundreds of times—well-intentioned parents following questionable advice they get on social media. “Just because one student got into Yale after writing about her favorite pizza, and another student got into several Ivy League colleges after writing about shopping at a wholesale club, does not mean that a similar strategy will work for others.” According to Avalon Admission founder Neil Chyten, colleges look at the whole picture, the whole student, not simply at a few activities or a single essay.

“We sometimes find ourselves at odds with parents who feel they have learned a secret admission strategy from their favorite social media site. They think that they can game the system by following advice found on WeChat or Reddit or Twitter. Just because one student on the varsity tennis team got into a highly competitive college doesn’t mean that playing tennis is a winning strategy for others.”

So, is there an effective strategy for getting into top colleges? “Yes,” says Neil. “The best strategy is making a strong case that you are a great fit for the college. Details will vary from student to student. You can accomplish this through your essays, your activities, your honors and awards, your recommendations, your choices, your interviews, and many other factors that vary from college to college.”

One very effective strategy for writing compelling college essays and making a strong impression during your interview is to conduct research on each college you are applying to. In short, the more you know about the college, the more effectively you can make the case that you will make a significant contribution to the campus and that the college will help to further your life goals. Use the following suggestions to guide your research

1. Read Mission Statement and Strategic Planning Statement
2. Scan each column of information including academics, research, about us, campus experience, and anything else that looks interesting to you.
3. Gain an understanding of campus size, campus culture and living situation.
4. Under academics, navigate to your anticipated major and do significant research to determine the extent to which the college’s priorities match your experiences to date and your anticipated future path. This is particularly important because admission committees want to make sure that you are a good fit for their institution, both in terms of how well they can assist you along your path and how much of a contribution you are likely to make to their institution.
5. Look at some of the classes offered or required under your anticipated major.
6. In particular, focus on the aspects that colleges seem to be proudest of, such as their recent research and success stories, new construction, and how they’re making a difference in the community.
7. Write down any interesting catch phrases or marketing phrases they use. For example,

No high school research activity is ever going to hurt a student’s college admission chances. The only questions are how much will it help and is it worth the time and effort? Four years of high school certainly seems like a long enough time to develop a strong list of meaningful activities. However, four years is not as long as it seems. High school years are full of responsibilities. Students must maintain high GPAs and that alone takes a significant percentage of their non-school time. They must attend classes, read books, write papers, study for tests, and all the other things that will ultimately determine their grades. They must also find time to study for standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, as well as the APs that are offered in May. In most cases, students have significant extracurricular activities such as clubs, sports, school newspaper, community service, performance, music lessons, debate, science fairs, math competitions, etc. Further, students really only have three years to accumulate these activities, since college applications are due in the first half of senior year.

When you add up all these time commitments and subtract them from all the hours available throughout the week, students are left with a certain amount of time during which they may undertake other activities that will strengthen their college applications while nurturing their intellect and curiosity. The most valuable times a student has for meaningful activities are the summers following 9th grade, 10th grade, and 11th grade. In an effort to capture revenue from highly aspirational families during these incredibly valuable (though limited) periods of time, admission-related service companies bombard students and parents with information about a plethora of activities, each of which promises to boost a student’s chance of admission at elite colleges across America. Recently, more and more companies that offer research-related opportunities have sprouted up, and while they may be perfectly fine, the question of how to best use a student’s spare time and a family’s finite resources still remains. Certainly, one option is to undertake a research project. In some cases, such a project may, in fact, represent the best use of a student’s time and a family’s resources. However, in order to gauge how much impact research will have on a student’s application, one must understand how colleges will evaluate that research.

Finally! Your senior year of high school is about to begin, but it doesn’t even count, right? After all, colleges only look at your grade 9 through 11 transcripts, right? For your early action and early decision colleges, the choice of who gets in and who does not will be made before your 12th grade transcript is even available, right?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

It is a basic human tendency to look beyond tomorrow all the way to the horizon, which in your case translates to “college.” But if you neglect the importance of 12th grade, you could be shooting yourself in the foot and, in effect, nullifying three years of hard work. For many schools, the 12th grade first-quarter or the first-semester grades will be made available to colleges in time for them to make even their early round decisions. Even more important to consider is that it is a mistake for you to count on your early round college or colleges as being sure bets. Even if you do get into an early action college, you will want to wait to see what other options come along in the regular round.

One of the worst mistakes you can make is to treat your 12th grade as an offramp to college. Nonetheless, many students will choose easy “gut” classes so that they can relax in 12th grade and hang out more with friends as they mentally prepare to enter college. But here are some things to consider:

When we start working with college admission candidates as early as 9th or 10th grade, we often ask them what they are passionate about or which subject they are most interested in. When we do, we understand that preferences and passions can change quickly, due to one great teacher, an interesting summer experience, or even a simple field trip to a lab, a museum, or a historical site. Nonetheless, the information is useful to us because it gives us a direction in which to start our journey. From there, we expect the nature of curiosity and talent to take its course.

The same is true of colleges. When you start filling out college applications, you will be asked what you intend to study. The question can take many forms, some more daunting than others. In very few cases are you asked to declare an actual major at the time of application. Instead, colleges are simply trying to get a feel for what their applicants intend to study so that they can cobble together a well-rounded student body. They know very well that many, if not most, applicants will change their minds by the time they are asked to declare their major, which typically occurs at the end of sophomore year.

However, as with many aspects of college admission, the question posed in the title of this article is neither simple nor universal. First, it must be recognized that the term “major” only refers to a collection of classes, or credits, within a larger body of classes taken by the student while at college. A college degree typically consists of 120 credits, of which approximately 40 credits must be earned by taking classes directly related to one’s major. The other 80 credits are typically earned by taking a college’s core requirements, electives, and extracurricular or curricular-related activities (labs, research, internships, etc.)

While most students think that the college interview is intended to provide information about you to the college, in actuality, the interview is more evaluative than substantive. In other words, colleges are not trying to learn more about your activities and accomplishments; they are trying to evaluate some of your intangible qualities. In particular, colleges are very interested in evaluating your leadership, your resilience, your confidence, and your personality. Therefore, you should focus more on how you answer questions than on what you say. In fact, most students tend to say too much in the interview, which makes it much more difficult for the interviewer to evaluate your interpersonal characteristics.

Keep your answers short and focused. Never speak for more than one minute when answering a question. Don’t think that you have to use every question as a platform for getting out all the information you want to provide. Once again, the interview is not about learning about your accomplishments. It is about evaluating your interpersonal characteristics. Answer the question directly and don’t provide any more information than you are asked. Give the interviewer the opportunity to ask follow-up questions. If you do this correctly, the interview will feel much more like a discussion than an interview. Here’s an example of a correct and incorrect response to the same question:

With so many ways to cut down the cost of college, including through various types of scholarships and financial aid offers, only those few super wealthy families whose students are admitted into highly ranked “dream schools” need to pay full price. Even for families who do fall into this group, there are ways to cut down the costs of tuition.

Let’s begin with families who are not super wealthy. For families whose collective income is less than $250,000 per year, virtually every college in America will offer some form of need-based financial aid. This financial aid may be in the form of work study, loans, grants, or any one of several types of need- based scholarships. Typically, these scholarships are offered for the simple and admirable reason of making college more affordable and democratic. Not only do many colleges offer their own form of need-based aid, the government and many private agencies also provide scholarships, grants, and loans. For example, the US government offers Pell Grants and Stafford Loans. Loans, of course, have to be paid back whereas grants do not. To qualify for Pell Grants and Stafford Loans, you must fill out the FAFSA form that can be obtained at

In college admissions, buzz words rarely survive the time it takes to utter them. In the swiftly moving cat-and-mouse game between admissions officers and counselors, as well as the multitude of organizations that prey upon students caught in the middle, the rules are continually changing. “Legacy” has given way to “opportunity.” “Well-rounded student” has been replaced by “well-rounded student body.” “Statistical analysis” has departed and made way for “response to challenging circumstances,” or “filling time with endless activities,” or any one of a number of other factors the colleges hope will add up to a successful college experience, ultimately contributing to the intricately woven tapestry of their campus experience.

Alas, the latest buzz word to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous expectations and the attitude of some parents that if I put enough meal into the mixture I will be able to feed my appetite for Harvard, Yale, MIT, or Stanford—is internships. At one time, internships were the exclusive province of well-connected private-school overachievers. Thus, to elite colleges, they were useful differentiators in the same way that high SAT scores were. Frankly, they were more a predictor of ZIP Code than they were of college success. In this respect, they stood out among other activities and were often rewarded, in conjunction with a number of other important objective factors, by highly competitive colleges.

In 2022, Harvard received over 60,000 applications for less than 2000 seats. Of those 2000, approximately 700 are reserved for students with special talent in fields such as music, sports, acting, writing, as well as for those with striking accomplishments such as Olympic gold medals, best-selling books, creation of multimillion dollar corporations, or ideas that have left indelible mark on the world before the age of 20. The rest of Harvard’s applicants are students with stellar academic records. Many are valedictorians of their schools, have perfect GPA and SAT scores, and 10 or more perfect AP scores of 5. You would certainly think that your valedictorian child would be a sure bet for Harvard, until you consider the fact that there are far more high schools in America than there are seats in Harvard’s incoming class. Now, let’s add to this group of US-based super-achiever students all the other students from all around the world who also believe they are sure bets to get into Harvard. There are 195 countries in the world and Harvard likes to take students from most, if not all, of them. Further, no one applies to Harvard unless they feel they have a reasonable chance of getting in, based on the fact that they are extraordinary students.

Whenever students and parents discuss the common application and other college applications, all they seem to talk about is the personal narrative and college-specific essays. While these essays are critically important parts of a student’s application, the truth is that there is a lot more to an application that must be addressed if a student is to successfully navigate the college admission process. In this series of articles, we will discuss all components of a successful college application. Part One was about the essays. Part Two was about activities. Part three is about recommendations

One of the most important and underrated parts of a student’s college application is the recommendation section. To colleges, the information provided by unbiased individuals such as teachers, counselors, and coaches is pure gold. Written correctly, recommendations provide personal insights into a student’s characteristics, which has the potential to add significant depth to each student’s application. For students with extremely high GPAs and test scores who are competing for spots at elite colleges, recommendations serve as differentiators that allow students to stand out from a strong and crowded field. For students with less-than-stellar academic records, recommendations can provide information that either explains away a lower GPA or provides additional information that may allow colleges to overlook relative weakness in academic performance. In either case, character means a lot in the admissions game, and recommendations are the best way to showcase these important, though non-objective, characteristics.

Summertime is a great time to visit college campuses, sit in on summer classes, speak to students, check out dorms and dining halls, and meet with an admissions officer. However, like everything else in life, the careful planning of the college visits is imperative and crucial. Think of the college visit as an extension of the application process and while most colleges do not require a visit or an interview with an admissions officer, it does help to show your sincere interest in attending (called demonstrated interest) and help to determine if the school is a good fit for you and for the school. Here are eleven tips that will make your college visits meaningful and memorable.

1. Do your homework. Learn everything that you can about the college before you visit. Read college brochures and check out their websites. Make a few notes of things that interest you or questions you have, so that you can refer to them during your visit.
2. Let the admissions office know that you are planning a visit and give them the date and time. A representative from the admission office will probably contact you to ask if you would like a tour, participate in an information session, or have an interview.
3. Dress appropriately.You are not expected to be a young professional, but you are expected to be neat and respectful. Ripped jeans and tee shirts from your favorite band or with pictures of marijuana leaves will not serve very well to establish you are a serious candidate. Shorts are fine on a hot day, but make sure you look neat and presentable.
4. Participate in everything that is offered. This includes scheduling a tour, taking part in an information session, sitting in on a class, visiting different facilities, meeting with a department head in a subject that interests you, and setting up an interview.
5. Give yourself extra time for the college visit. Try to do one visit to one campus a day. Do not overbook visits even if colleges are located close to each other. Remember, that visits take time and often run longer and later than anticipated. Plus there are other considerations like traffic, parking, locating places, and negotiating around unfamiliar surroundings.
6. When you arrive on campus, walk around and spend some time checking out the environment. Visit classrooms, dorm, dining halls, library, theater, students’ center, athletic facilities, and the college bookstore. Get a feel for the environment. Talk with students. Check out the technology.
7. “Never leave them empty handed” is a saying in business that refers to the fact that people remember someone better when they have a tangible reminder of the encounter. Therefore, compose a neat, up-to-date resume and bring copies to all interviews. The resume should highlight your experiences and be reflective of your abilities and talents.
8. When you attend the interview, establish eye contact, be open and friendly, and ask questions that demonstrate your research and genuine interest in the college. Inquire about opportunities based upon your skills and interests. The answers to your questions will help you decide if the academic program that the college offers meets your needs and expectations. They also facilitate dialogue and make a positive, lasting impression. Remember that it is OK to be nervous and that college admission officers are trained to help you feel more comfortable and confident. Be yourself!
9. Write down the names and addresses of everyone that you encounter and made your visiting experience productive. Send personal thank you notes to all of the officials and college representatives who assisted you during your time on campus.
10. Take photos during your visit and notes after your visit. Record your impressions. List the pros and cons of the college. Taking notes will help you remember your thoughts and impressions of the school and are invaluable when you decide where you would like to apply and attend.
11. Consider your comfort level. After the visit think about what you experienced and ask yourself if each school is a place where you could fit in and be comfortable and successful for the next four years of your life.

Everyone wants to get into a top-choice college but simply wishing for it won’t make it happen. Everything about college admission is strategic, and each individual strategy combines into a comprehensive plan of action that begins as early as ninth grade. However, it is never too late to begin. Whether you are in 9th grade, 10th grade, or 11th grade, there are several things that will increase your chances of getting into one or more of your top choice colleges. Here are the top five.

1) Begin by creating an appropriate college list. By this, I do not mean that you should only apply to slightly competitive colleges. On the contrary, I believe you should have more reaches than targets and more targets than safeties. It is how you choose the colleges that makes your list appropriate. For every college in America, there are up to 100 factors you should consider before applying. Choosing colleges is not just about the ranking. It is also about the community, the experience, the available activities, the location, and the size. It is about finding the right match for your major, your passion, your interest, and even your likely career path. It is about access to labs, internships, research opportunities, and professors. There are also many social issues to consider including religion, gender identity, international emphasis, political emphasis, culture, living arrangements, food, personal safety, and having the opportunity to satisfy your interests and curiosity for important social and societal issues. If you have chosen your list correctly, then your top choices will be colleges that fit your overall profile. Colleges are far more likely to accept you if they feel that you are a good fit for their campus, their culture, and their academic opportunities.

There are advantages and disadvantages to applying to college using the early decision (ED) option. The two big advantages are that you can increase your odds of admission and you get the decision as many as three months earlier than regular admission. Knowing in December where you will attend college in the fall can alleviate the stress that is typically felt by high school seniors and their families while waiting for college decisions. The disadvantage to ED is that it is binding, meaning that you must attend if you are accepted. The only exception to this is when another school offers you a greater financial aid package that your ED school cannot match. I can tell you based on personal experience that many students have buyer’s remorse after being accepted at their ED school. They wish they had rolled the dice with hopes of getting into other colleges on their list. So, this decision should not be taken lightly. Typically, an ED school should be a “reach” or “strong target” school for you as opposed to a safety. Furthermore, it should be a school in which ED provides a much greater chance of admission.

Another disadvantage to both ED and EA is that your senior year grades beyond the first semester will not be taken into account. That may be fine for students who have a very strong GPA going into senior year. However, for students who were hoping to bump up their GPA prior to applying to college, they will not have that opportunity if they apply using ED or EA.

In this article, college admission expert Neil Chyten explains the differences between Early Decision, Early Action, and Restrictive Early Action programs, and the advantages and disadvantages associated with each.

It seems counterintuitive that any early admission program offered by Harvard would not be binding. However, it is not! Restrictive Early Action, or REA as it is widely referred to, is the same as any Early Action (EA) program in that a student is not required to enroll if accepted. However, that is where the “Restrictive” part comes in. While Harvard’s REA program is not binding, it is highly restrictive in that you are not allowed to apply to any other private college’s or university’s EA or Early Decision (ED) programs. For example, you could not simultaneously apply REA to Harvard and EA to MIT. You could, however, apply EA (not ED) to University of Michigan and the University of Virginia, since they are both public institutions.

Harvard’s REA admission program is identical to those offered by Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. In all four cases, you are allowed to apply to any public university’s non-binding EA program, however you are not allowed to apply to any private university’s EA or Early Decision (ED) admission plan. University of Notre Dame has a less restrictive REA program in that you may apply to other colleges under their non-binding EA programs, but you may still not apply to any college, whether public or private, under a binding ED program.

There are lots of things that you can do in 45 minutes but providing students with all the advice and information they need to successfully apply to college is not one of them. Yet 45 minutes is the amount of time, on average, that college counselors spend with students over the entirety of their four years of high school. Please don’t misunderstand—this is not an indictment of your school’s college counselor. It is simply a statement of fact as collected by the National Association of College Admission Counseling, or NACAC, the preeminent body representing college counselors across America.

The fact is that college counselors are overwhelmed by the enormity of their caseloads which range from a high of 924 students per counselor in Arizona to a low of 200 in Vermont. New York’s average caseload is 635 students, while in Massachusetts it is 423. As a result of the enormity of these caseloads, the average student receives 45 minutes of time with his school counselor over four years of high school. Typically, counselors at private schools have smaller caseloads but they still cannot possibly provide students with all the assistance they need. They do a great job and provide general guidance, but not drilling down into the details. There simply is not enough time to do so for all their students.

Is it a good strategy to opt into the ACT Writing Test? While the answer to this question can be somewhat complicated, the simple answer is, “Yes, but only if you are an excellent writer and you are familiar with the format of the test.”

Only a few years ago, we at NC Global posted an article in which we provided a list of colleges that required or recommended the essay portion of the ACT or SAT. Even then, the list of colleges had shrunk dramatically from what it had been even five years earlier.

Once heralded by colleges as a valuable data point, the SAT Essay no longer exists and the ACT Writing Test is required by only a handful of schools that very few students apply to. The only notable exception is the US Military Academy at West Point, a fact which, I suspect, will change very soon. In fact, it is much more likely that the ACT Writing Test will follow the SAT essay into extinction over the next few years. Stay tuned. Here is the list of schools that require the ACT Writing Test:

• Molloy College
• University of Mary Hardin
• United States Military Academy
• University of Montana Western
• Soka University of America
• Martin Luther College

• How many students do you work with each year?
• Where do most of your students matriculate?
• How many years of experience do you have?
• How much essay writing assistance do you provide?
• Do you help with international college admission as well as US college admission?
• Do you help students with their teacher, counselor, and “other” recommenders?
• Do you provide advocacy for students with special skills or talents?
• Do you have any college connections?
• Do you offer a money-back guarantee of admission?
• How would you describe your counseling style?
• How much do you charge?

Parents who are navigating the college admission process for the first time, or even the second or third time, often find the process daunting. On a very superficial level, it is relatively easy: pick some colleges, fill in questions on the common application, write some essays and invite a couple of recommenders. If you follow these steps, you are likely to get into a few colleges, as long as you have included some safety schools on your list. However, the goal for most students is not to get into just “a few colleges.” The goal is to be accepted at the “right” colleges and to have advantageous choices of where to attend. This takes a little more work. Unfortunately, many families start later than they should, either at the end of 11th grade or the beginning of 12thgrade. For these families of underclassmen, college is just a distant painting hanging on a wall in the far corner of your home.

The importance of an internship as a standalone activity has been severely diminished. Internships that serve no purpose other than to take a position on a college application will not positively impact a student’s candidacy. In fact, they could have the opposite effect of red flagging an application that is being padded or stuffed by overzealous parents or by concerned students to cover up a weakness. In contrast, internships that fuel a narrative or support an area of interest can play an important role in proving a passion, proving a tendency towards self-improvement, proving a capacity to make intelligent choices, and proving the validity and accuracy of the autobiography that is a student’s college application.

On the Common Application under the Education tab is a subsection entitled “Honors.” It begins with the following question:

Do you wish to report any honors related to your academic achievements beginning with the ninth grade or international equivalent?”

What counts as an academic honor? The answer is rather murky and open to interpretation. Basically, any honor you have received based on any subject or group of subjects you have studied qualifies for entry into this section. Furthermore, the honor can be related to art, music, or performance, as long as these are subjects that you have studied.

A good example of an appropriate entry into this section would be acceptance into the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Formerly known as Modern Music Masters, Tri-M recognizes students for their academic and musical achievements, and therefore qualifies as an academic honor. Another example of an academic honor would be making honor roll, Dean’s list, or earning any other school award based on grades or GPA. Similarly, winning an academic honor within an individual school academic department would qualify. Winning an academic contest such as Scholastic also qualifies, as does winning any contest related to any academic, artistic, or musical achievement. Also, being voted as your school’s valedictorian or salutatorian would absolutely qualify. Overall, you may enter as many as five honors into the Common Application.

When I was in fifth grade, I loved to play football and baseball and watch the Boston Bruins. I had just switched from Bowen School to Countryside School in Newton, Massachusetts, so I was busy making new friends and taking interesting classes. During the summer, I went to Camp Manitou, an overnight camp in Maine. There, I learned volleyball, archery, riflery, swimming, and waterskiing as I also enjoyed the traditions of Color League and College Wars. I was on the maroon team, and my college was Oberlin. I still remember the Oberlin fight song we used to sing at dinner. College wars…how ironic! Who would've known that 50 years later I would be involved in a new kind of college war, the kind in which super high achieving students fight for seats at the top colleges in America and around the world.

Many fifth-graders these days are taking coding classes, are attending math camps, and are learning robotics rather than playing baseball, or swimming, or running around the playground. Many parents of fifth-graders are busy planning their child's future—a future that, for many, includes four years at a top 20 college, followed by 2 to 4 years at graduate school. For me, I take calls and WeChat messages all the time from parents of fifth, sixth, and seventh graders asking what they can do to get their children into an Ivy League college. I handle these questions with mixed emotions and a variety of answers. On the one hand, I admire the work ethic of both parents and students intent on successfully navigating the serpentine waters of Ivy League admission. On the other hand, I think to myself how wonderful those years were: playing, meeting new people, and just having fun.

If you are like millions of other families across America and across the world, you hire tutors to help your child with a difficult subject, to write a paper, or to pass a test. Indeed, tutoring in America is a $15 billion industry. Most tutoring is done by individuals with little or no training in the fine art of teaching. Much tutoring is done by college students or graduate students. There is no class a person can take to learn to be a tutor, or to improve his tutoring skills.

Often, tutoring is done by students who attend top colleges. Indeed, many tutoring services boast about the names of colleges that their tutors attend more than they boast about the teaching ability of their tutors! It is as if going to a big name college automatically makes you a great tutor. In reality, attending a top college has little or nothing to do with how well you can teach. On the contrary, some of these students are just so smart that learning comes easily to them, so they don’t really have a deep understanding of how to help a student who struggles in a particular subject area.

Given the fact that there is no accrediting agency for tutors, you rarely know how good a tutor is until you start working with him. Even though you may get a recommendation from a friend, the relationship between a tutor and a student is always unique, and no two relationships are the same. In other words, a person who was a great tutor for one student may not be right for another student. And just because a tutor has a degree from Princeton doesn’t necessarily mean that he is a great tutor.

How proud of your child would you be if she qualified for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program? How proud would she be of herself if she were part of this highly-regarded program? How impressed would colleges and/or private schools be, knowing that she is a gifted and talented student? The fact is that the Johns Hopkins CTY program is one of the most prestigious programs that students can attend. Being accepted into the CTY program is both extremely possible and extremely helpful. As experts in the field, NCGE has been helping students get into the Johns Hopkins program for years, and we have seen the tremendous boost it has made in students lives, personally, emotionally, and also in the private school and college admission process.

First of all, being identified as academically gifted can improve a student’s self-esteem. Second, there is evidence to suggest that students who are identified as academically advanced have stronger family relationships. Further, when matched with other advanced students, academically gifted students start a long pathway of taking rigorous courses that are both personally rewarding and that provide excellent data for college and private school applications. Simply being among other extremely intelligent students has its own rewards. Often, gifted and talented students feel as if they’re being held back as their classes rightfully focus on the needs of all students, not just advanced students.

Last year (2017) a new test was introduced by the Enrollment Management Association (EMA), the producer of the SSAT. The test is called The Character Skills Snapshot and was designed to provide additional information about students applying to independent secondary schools. This new tool is a 20-30 minute on-line assessment that measures eight essential character skills that were not previously considered in any objective way in the admissions process. The results of this new assessment complement the traditional evaluation tools utilized by private high schools such as the student’s grades, application essays, letters of recommendation, and the results of cognitive SSAT and ISEE standardized tests.

The Character Skills Snapshot was created to measure eight character skills deemed important in private secondary school admission. They are a student’s:

• resilience
• open-mindedness
• responsibility
• teamwork
• social awareness
• self-control
• intellectual curiosity
• initiative

Results are obtained by answering two types of questions:

• Forced choice
• Situational judgment.

The forced choice questions are used to measure seven of the character skills considered essential in private secondary schools. The situational judgment questions are employed to measure social awareness.

How proud of your child would you be if she qualified for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program? How proud would she be of herself if she were part of this highly regarded program? How impressed would colleges and/or private schools be, knowing that she is a gifted and talented student? The fact is that the Johns Hopkins CTY program is one of the most prestigious programs that students can attend. Being accepted into the CTY program is both extremely possible and extremely helpful. As experts in the field, Avalon Admission has been helping students get into the Johns Hopkins program for years, and we have seen the tremendous boost it has made in students lives, personally, emotionally, and in the private school and college admission process.

First of all, being identified as academically gifted can improve a student's self-esteem. Second, there is evidence to suggest that students who are identified as academically advanced have stronger family relationships. Further, when matched with other advanced students, academically gifted students start a long pathway of taking rigorous courses that are both personally rewarding and that provide excellent data for college and private school applications. Simply being among other extremely intelligent students has its own rewards. Often, gifted and talented students feel as if they're being held back as their classes rightfully focus on the needs of all students, not just advanced students.

As someone who has tutored and counseled students for well over 30 years, who has written countless tutoring and training guides, and who has personally trained more than 500 tutors and counselors, I can tell you first-hand, second-hand, and third-hand that being an effective tutor requires significant skills that go far beyond IQ and subject-matter expertise.

Unfortunately, many tutoring companies are merely involved in window dressing – only hiring individuals who have attended top colleges and earned “impressive” degrees – with no regard for their communication or tutoring skills. They believe that parents will be impressed by the pedigree without knowing anything about the quality or style of their teaching. For all you current and aspiring tutors out there, you may be brilliant and/or have deep content knowledge, but if you don’t know how to help a struggling student master a difficult subject, test, or assignment, then you are not a good tutor.

There is an appropriate sports analogy that applies quite well here. “The best players do not necessarily make the best coaches.” It is not hard to understand why this might be the case. For certain super intelligent people, learning comes easily while teaching those same skills may not. Further, they may have never, or hardly ever, sat across the table from a tutor to receive instruction in a subject that may have eluded, perplexed, or frustrated them. In theory, having been tutored can provide wonderful insights into becoming a tutor.

You probably already know the three most important criteria for getting into top colleges and private schools. They are:

· Overall GPA

· Grades in college prep classes

· Rigor of academic schedule

Said another way, to be a legitimate candidate for top colleges, students must take rigorous classes (such as AP and honors) and earn excellent grades in those classes. Beyond grades, other important criteria for getting into top colleges and private schools include:

· Test scores

· Recommendations

· Application essays

· Extracurricular activities

· Demonstrated interest

However, earning excellent grades in high level courses should be the number one priority for all students who are thinking about entering some of the country's most prestigious private schools and colleges. You may think that earning great grades is just a matter of working harder. You might think that by spending countless hours memorizing facts and figures, going over math problems and grammar questions, your GPA will soar to new heights. To a certain extent, you may be correct. Working harder does often translate into higher grades. However, earning grades is not just about working harder; it is about working smarter. And, working smarter involve some basic understanding of how your brain works.