About Admissions

The About Admissions blog levels the college admissions playing field by offering expert advice to applicants everywhere. (Background photo - Justin Schmauser schmauserphoto.com)

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Episode one of the About Admissions podcast with Kirk and Drew.  Give a listen and let us know what you think!

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Early Admissions success looks like this

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Top 10 Reasons NOT To Apply Early Decision To College

With November deadlines fast approaching, have you really thought about why you are applying Early?

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Ten Epic College Essay Fails

Kirk has read each of these awful essays (and more) in his experience as an admissions officer at Princeton, Penn, and Bowdoin. Don't be that applicant!

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Love and college admissions

It's time to stop thinking about getting into college, and start thinking about going to college. Do the schools on both lists offer the same majors? Have about the same class size? Do the students at all schools care equally about learning, or th...

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“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

-John Wooden

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5 Ways to Fix College Admissions

The admissions process is becoming more stressful and complicated. Here's how we can alleviate some of the pressure on students.

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Your Story: Uncovering Your Narrative for the College Application (Part 2 of 2)

Let me give you one example.  A student recently approached me and said, “I love studying history, how can I communicate that on my application?”  His idea was to proceed by listing off papers he had written and competitions he had won.  I told him he needed more than just that.  Sure, it signified that he worked hard, but it didn’t make him particularly interesting or unique.  Hard work, though necessary, isn’t a sufficient reason for a college to accept you. I dug a bit deeper into why he liked history.  Then it came out: history began as a personal pursuit for him.  Though he was born and raised in America, his parents grew up in Beijing, China, and his grandparents were from the countryside of China.  Both grandparents died before he had met them, and he was curious to know about them.  He began, at a young age, asking his parents what his grandparents were like and what they did, where they lived, and how they lived.  That led him to an interest in books written about the region, which then led to a broader interest in a certain area and time-period.  As he dug deeper and deeper, his passion for history grew. Now that’s a story.  That tells a college that he has a passion, he’s interested in something, he has devoted himself to a pursuit, and he will likely use the resources he has in college to be successful.  That is eminently more powerful than a list of facts and figures and will make an incredible college essay. In conclusion, make a list of everything you’ve done, be aware of the facts, figures, titles, accomplishments, clubs, etc…but, also, look deeper than that to uncover your real story, the narrative of who you are.  If you do that, you’ll have a better chance of getting into the school that’s right for you.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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Your Story: Uncovering Your Narrative for the College Application (Part 1 of 2)

As summer approaches and you begin thinking about college applications, let’s take a moment and talk about the “fundamentals” of your college application: the narrative. What is the college application?  It’s a package of materials that you send to colleges to show them what kind of person you are.  Admissions officers at each college then examine these materials as they decide whether you would be a happy and productive member of their incoming class.  To maximize the effectiveness of your college application, you must tell a story about yourself, a narrative.  When we say “story,” we don’t mean something that’s make-believe, as many students think.  There’s no use in puffing yourself up and telling a college something that’s not true.  Any admissions officer worth their keep will be able to smell that kind of nonsense from a mile away.  Most importantly, it’s nearly impossible to make something up about yourself that will be more effective than simply telling your own story.  So don’t make anything up. Instead, focus on telling your story.  What does this mean?  It means that you’re not a pile of facts and figures or titles and accomplishments.  You’re a real person with reasons and motivations for doing what you’ve done.  You have feelings (hopefully) and have put thought into your decisions.  You have had rich, transformative experiences.  You are passionate about something, even if it’s not school, and you’re willing to work for it.  The richness of experience that a college is asking for is simply part of being human and simply needs to be thought about and exposed.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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Even if you already have some kind of system for managing your day-to-day tasks--if you've made it this far you probably do--you need to think about planning and organizing your college applications in a different way than you’ve had to think about planning and organizing anything else. To this end, we recommend a kind of organizational tool called a Gantt chart. Unlike your calendar or your planner, a Gantt chart allows you to maintain a big-picture sense of a project while not losing track of the details. Perhaps as importantly, a Gantt chart is also very visual—it is easier to look at and process than a normal planner, especially when you have as many strings to tie together as you do for your applications. You can make one for free using the very handy website tomsplanner.com. Here’s an example that we’ve put together with a college application timeline in mind; this stretches from June through October of a hypothetical senior year. We know achieving your goals is easier said than done. For more tips and support from our experts, visit our website.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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The Class of 2013 is nearly at the end of their bright college years – we asked some current seniors what advice they would now want to give to their high school senior selves. Here’s the beginning of a series on what they had to say: “Life as a senior for the second time now is similar to the first: full of emotions, questions (what will life be like next year?!) and schoolwork to complete. It’s easy to get lost in those thoughts; harder to step back, appreciate, and make the most of the last few weeks.  Spend time with family, friends and teachers who have stuck by you and made your high school experience so memorable. Finish strong, celebrate, make some memories and always remember the route you traveled to lead you where you are today!” - Nick Adams

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Advice from Yale Seniors to High School Seniors. A great series kicking off on the Yale Admissions Tumblr.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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Thanks to the NYT's Choice blog for this frequently updated data table, which also provides 2012 and 2011 data. Interestingly, Frostburg State and Rensselaer Polytechnic both have regular admit rates higher than their respective early admit rates.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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These activities must be evaluated in terms of your personal context. If you go to a high school of 200 students, there won't be 50 clubs for you to choose from. If you are the oldest of six kids and have to help out around the house, you will not have time to be president of six clubs. But all successful applicants will have proven themselves in some extracurricular arena. How you define that arena is up to you.

A Former Ivy League Admissions Officer

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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Choosing the Right College: Apples or Oranges? (Part 2 of 2)

(Check out Part 1 if you missed it at the end of March.)

It's time to get practical. When trying to decide between schools, the best of course of action is to visit each one and mingle with the community of current and incoming students. That’s right: if you’re considering attending a school sight-unseen, think again. A prefrosh visit is utterly essential. Don’t even consider attending a college without first seeing how it fits you and your personal preferences. When visiting a school, the most important variable to observe is the student body. This is the community in which you’ll be living, working, and socializing for the next four years. If you feel at home and happy early on, the transition to independent and challenging academic work will be much easier. As we’ve said before, the best place to look for a diverse, social college experience is the dining hall. This is the single place on campus that will showcase the entire cross-section of social life. Everyone has to eat, and generally speaking, like-minded people tend to dine together. If you want to understand the implicit and explicit social dynamics of a college, then take a long lunch and/or dinner and pay attention to your surroundings and even try speaking with some of the current students. As a prospective student, you will certainly be welcomed and inundated by numerous opinions about the school. Let this be your first lesson in filtering information to suit your preferences rather someone else’s. You also must go to some classes in subjects you find interesting. While the anonymity and awe of large lecture classes is appealing, also seek out smaller seminars to gauge the collegiate discussion dynamic. Of course scholarship is going to transcend most high school curricula. Don’t be daunted; you’ll fit right in by the end of freshman year. Last but not least, you have to understand that there is no perfect school out there. Every setting will have times both good and bad. Exams and papers will be more frequent than parties; the hallways you end up walking will keep you company through successes, failures, and mediocre experiences alike. The key is to place yourself in an environment conducive to success in and out of the classroom. That way you’ll get the most out of the next four formative years of your life.

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.

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Fill out this worksheet as your visit schools!

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And just 3.4 percent of regular decision applicants!

This blog post was created in collaboration with Signet Education.