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application strategies

Which SAT II Subject Tests Should I Take?

There are a few ways to answer this question. The general advice we give is that you should take as many tests as you can in the subjects you excel in. If you feel comfortable you should take at least one humanities SAT II and one STEM SAT II. Of course there are always students who take two humanities or two STEM tests and still gain admission to top tier schools, but generally it’s a good idea to have one of each. 

What to do if you get Deferred

Many students apply early decision to a school because “they want to be done” with the college admissions process or they believe it will increase their chances of getting in. Despite the higher admit rates afforded by early decision, the majority of seniors will still be rejected or deferred. It’s important to remember that a deferral is not a rejection. If the school really didn’t want you, they would have simply rejected you. The majority of seniors who apply early will not get in; for example, 6173 students applied for the Harvard class of 2020. Only 918 students were admitted, while 4,673 were deferred or rejected. 

Get your Regular Decision Applications Ready

We know it feels great to finally have submitted the bulk of your applications, but just in case you don’t get accepted to wherever you applied early, we suggest starting your regular decision applications. We recommend starting the next round of applications sooner rather than later because although applying early will help you in the process, a lot of students will end up getting deferred. This means they must apply elsewhere in case they are eventually rejected during regular decision.

Five Major Tips for Editing your College Essay

Editing is a necessary skill to ensure your essay is coherent and also communicates enough about you. A lot of students get stuck on the idea of telling the admissions officers exactly what they think they want to hear, which can lead to their submission of an essay that realistically says nothing unique. By revising your essay, you can see how and where your narrative fails. This allows you to fix your essay’s flaws and submit a version of the essay that best reflects who you are.

How to Schedule an Interview for College

Most colleges offer some kind of interview as part of the application process. These are conducted in a variety of ways; some are on campus with an admissions officer, some are in your local coffee shop with an alumni, some are via Skype. These interviews tend to be relatively informal and offer the admissions office a chance to get to know your personality. An interview will probably not make or break your chances of getting in, but it can add one more dimension to your application, and ensure that you’re not a psychopath.

Should I Make a Resume for College Applications?

At the start of high school you probably walked through the club fair and signed up for more clubs than you could ever possibly manage. Now, as you apply to college, you’re probably only a member of about half of them. You’ve stayed in these clubs because they piqued your interest and clearly relate to what you’re passionate about. The reason that the college admissions committee wants to know what you’ve spent your time doing in high school is because your engagement speaks to your character. If you’ve been going home everyday directly after school ends and doing nothing, they see that you’re not engaged in your community. But, if you’ve been volunteering as a tutor or raising money for a local charity, then that gives them insight into your personality.

Do’s and Don’ts of Applying Early Decision to College

DO: Consider all of your options. It’s common to overlook schools when considering where to apply ED because you feel the pressure of only being able to choose one school. When you’re considering applying ED, be sure to actually imagine yourself at the school because your potential admission is binding.

When Should I Take SAT Subject Tests?

It was her summer going into senior year and Jillian was making her college list. She considered location, school spirit, which programs best fit her intended major, and whether or not they were on the common app, but it never crossed her mind to see if they required SAT subject tests, or SAT IIs. Jillian started filling out her apps and decided to apply to Cornell early decision. Jillian loved the idea of being in Ithaca and really pictured herself going to Cornell. When she was perusing the requirements, Jillian realized that she needed to send two SAT II scores to the admissions office. This seemed like it would be an easy task, but Jillian realized that the subjects she would have wanted to take exams for were on topics she had covered years ago.

Tips for Writing your College Supplements

Let’s say you’re at a party and you see the most popular girl at school.  This is a person who you’re kind of obsessed with, so you’ve definitely Facebook stalked her extensively. You might compliment her outfit to break the ice. It wouldn’t be weird to say that you liked her shirt if you really did like her shirt, but you wouldn’t want to compliment everything she’s wearing. And you definitely wouldn’t want to use superlatives in every sentence. You would play it cool, because at the end of the day the most popular girl in school wants to be friends with someone who is her equal, not an overenthusiastic fan.

Simplify your College Admission Essay

There’s an episode of Friends where Monica and Chandler need a letter of recommendation for an adoption service. Joey volunteers to write the letter but becomes flustered. He tells Ross, “I want it to sound smart, but I don’t know any big words or anything!” Ross shows him the thesaurus and Joey proceeds to pick the “smartest sounding” word for every single word in his letter. 

The Hidden Value of Writing a Bad First Draft of Your College Admission Essay

Every great piece of writing has to start somewhere. You can be sure that The Great Gatsby wasn’t one of the greatest books of all time when it was solely a first draft. Even the most well respected authors go through various drafts before finishing their pieces. The art of writing is based on revision. Hemingway had to write and rewrite before he was happy with his work. It took him 39 rewrites to get the last page of A Farewell to Arms to sound the way he wanted it to. If they can do it, so can you.

How to Write the Williams College Supplement 2016

Imagine yourself in a tutorial at Williams. Of anyone in the world, whom would you choose to be the other student in the class, and why? 

Every year there are multiple supplements that ask you to write about a person. Whether the supplement is similar to Williams, which asks you to choose a person for your class, or Barnard where you’ll have to write about having lunch with someone, this question comes up a lot. As with all supplements, there are an endless amount of options.

How to Hack the College Admissions Process: Advice from Our Seniors

Our class of 2017 has started the college application process. They are writing their essays, finalizing their lists, and visiting schools. Most of them are calm and feel very prepared, but they can’t help but be a little anxious. There are so many unknowns in this process, so we decided to ask our class of 2016 for some advice. As the 91Ě˝»¨ class of 2016 heads to schools across the United States, including Stanford, UPenn, NYU, USC, University of Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, Barnard, and more, they’re offering their advice for our upcoming seniors. 

How to Get into Wesleyan

As applicants, you know that a standardized test requires studying and preparation. Years of work lead up to a 3 hour and 50 minute exam that will supposedly tell a person everything they need to know about you. For some, the tests are where they shine; their strengths lie in succeeding under pressure and scoring high. However, many of us feel less comfortable with the idea of letting a test determine who we are. 

When is the Last Time I Can Take the SAT for Regular Decision?

We recommend taking the SAT/ACT early so that you feel less stress during the college application process. If you find yourself needing to take a last minute exam, it can be hard to figure out which test dates will still be accepted by specific universities for regular decision.

Six Pieces of Advice for your Common App Essay

Don’t forget to keep the narrative structure

The college essay should be a story, not a book report. You want to create characters and a plot arc that readers can follow along with. Much in the same way you would tell your friends a story about something that happened, you don’t want to go straight to the take home points. Instead, build up the story so the reader is emotionally invested and wants to know more.  The story should come to a head and pay off for the reader. 

The Smartest Strategy for Applying to a Reach School

Most people don’t remember when they learned about Harvard for the first time. Harvard looks and feels like “college.” With its red brick buildings and green quad, Harvard the movie magic, picture perfect image of a college. No matter who you are or what your various connections to the school may be, Harvard is a reach for almost everyone.  is a school where a student falls towards the lower end of the indicated range, or any school that admits less than 20% of applicants who apply. Reach schools are incredibly well known and sought after—think Ivy League+ schools. In order to get in, you need something special. We can’t give you an exact formula for getting into Harvard, but we have developed unique strategies for helping students get to their reach schools. 

When and how to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation for College

As we’ve said, colleges aren’t just admitting your grades and test scores. They really want to know who you are and why you would be a good fit at their school. By your senior year, there isn’t much you can do to change the nature of your application. Unless you are retaking your tests, your grades and scores are basically set. There are only a few aspects of your application that you get to start from scratch at this point: your essays, your supplements, and your recommendation letters. Your teachers work with you everyday and can speak to qualities you possess that aren’t mentioned elsewhere in your application. The quality of your recommendation letter is extremely important, but we’ve found a lot of our students feel awkward when it comes time to ask their teachers. Here’s a guide to help you figure out how and when you ask your teachers for letters.