Some people think of sophomore year as kind of a throw-away. It’s not freshman year where everything is new. It’s not senior year where everything is your last. It’s not junior year where you’re scrambling to make it through the barrage of standardized tests. We like to think of it as an opportunity for a cornerstone year. Consider this: you’re well-adjusted to the flow of high school, but the onslaught of junior year has not yet begun. It’s the perfect time to build a solid foundation for the college application process.
How to Make “Camp Counselor” Sound Good on College Applications
We’ve written about the pros and cons of becoming a camp counselor in the past, but this post is more to focus on how to take something that’s bland (in this case, a job as a camp counselor) and make it stellar. Okay, “bland” might be a bit harsh, but let’s be honest here--colleges love students who pursue their academic interests in full, and being a camp counselor probably wasn’t the most intellectually stimulating time of your life. Are we right? Lots of funny and *deep* moments were had, we’re sure. But it’s not like you had the time or energy to debate the three key bills that need to pass in order to influence lasting criminal justice reform while you were making sure that 18 six-year-olds showed up to nature arts & crafts on time.
What If My Summer Program is Canceled because of Coronavirus/COVID19?
Now that we are in the second (or third, depending on where you live) week of self-quarantine and social distancing, people are starting to settle into the idea that things aren’t just going to go back to normal tomorrow. We’re looking at weeks, if not months, of things not being normal. In much of America, it is unlikely that students will go back to school until it starts back up again in the fall. A foreseeable side effect of these massive shifts to our usually predictable calendar is a similar re-scheduling frenzy around summer programs. The summer programs that are most likely to be canceled are those on high school and college campuses.
Coronavirus/COVID-19 College Essay Examples
Part of our job at The Koppelman Group is to keep up with the conversations that are happening within and between admissions teams around the country. Right now, a lot of the conversations are centered on what is happening with the Coronavirus and how to keep all the cogs moving and balls rolling in the right direction. Looking forward is hard to do when you aren’t quite sure when we will take our foot off the social distancing-pedal. However, one forward-thinking conversation that is making its way through the hub-bub is how college supplements are going to be reshaped to reflect the unique qualities of this school year. Namely, colleges will be more curious than ever about how you spent your time.
How Will the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and Tests?
It’s Monday, many schools across the country are out for the next three or more weeks across the country, and this is just the beginning. Over the next few weeks, teachers will be working on designing and implementing remote learning. Still, there is sure to be a steep learning curve that isn’t helped along by the fact that . With so much up in the air, it’s hard to guess what will come next, but it is entirely possible that schools will not invite their students back onto campus until fall. Yes, fall.
15 Application-Boosting Activities for High School Students During Coronavirus/Covid-19
We saw it coming, and it’s happening. Colleges and universities acted first, but now high schools are also taking swift action to keep students safe. For millions of students around the world, this means staying home and social distancing — or avoiding contact with all non-essential people. Most students will not have had this much free time since before they started structured schooling at four or five years old, including during summers. Without camps, sports, and other structured activities, and with it inadvisable to hang out with friends, there is a lot of free time to tackle.
High School Sophomores and Juniors During The Coronavirus/COVID-19: 6 Things To Do
The coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic is real, it’s happening, and it’s here to stay for a while. Schools across America are extending spring break and moving to online learning. SATs and ACTs test dates are being postponed indefinitely across the globe. Companies are even canceling summer internships preemptively. Stuff’s happening — to put it lightly — and Netflix is beckoning you towards procrastination. Even if you’re not in quarantine and cases of COVID-19/Coronavirus haven’t hit your area yet, it’s understandable to feel isolated, confused, frustrated, and alone.
How Many Colleges Should I Apply to?
We get this question a lot: how many schools should I be applying to? The answer is a bit different for everyone, but we’re very intentional about the range that we suggest for each person, which is between 8-12. More is not better, in this situation. It’s just more stress and more work. And at a certain point we’re looking at diminishing returns in terms of essays and overall work quality if you’re applying to 18-20 schools. We know that it’s scary to have fewer schools on the list, but if you’ve done everything right leading up to this point, there really should only be 8-12 schools on your list. Why this range? A few reasons.
Which Reach Schools Should be on a College List?
Reach schools: a sensitive topic. We know. Every year, we have to talk our clients down from 8 to 3 reach schools on their list, and it’s rarely pretty. Sometimes, there are tears. Often, there are large exhales. We understand that it’s challenging to whittle the “reach” category of your list down to a realistic size and scope because the college application process is probably one of the most challenging and stressful times in your life thus far. And making decisions when you’re stressed out is hard. We don’t envy you, but we do want to help you and remind you that with this blog post and every other one that we are on your side. We want you to go to college just as much as you do.
How to Build a College List: a Checklist
Building your college list can be an overwhelming and somewhat daunting task. When we construct our college lists with our students, we make sure that the list is balanced in terms of the likelihood of application review (sorry if this is “,” but applying to Yale on a whim with a 26 ACT score “just because,” is probably a waste of time and money), but consistent in terms of fit. What do we mean when we say “fit?” We mean that we want you applying to schools that are all of the following: cultural, academic, and social fit. Here’s a checklist to methodically take you through how to make sure that your college list is built-out correctly.
How to Write a Letter of Continued Interest
One of the steps that we suggest after being deferred is to write a letter of continued interest. When you’re in limbo, it’s completely understandable to get stressed out and overwhelmed, but trust us when we say that taking steps to contact your dream school will alleviate some of your anxiety. There are no guarantees, but you do have one last chance to double down on your interest in X school.
What is a Letter of Continued Interest?
A letter of continued interest, which we have sometimes called a deferral package, is a letter that you send to the admissions office after you’ve been deferred or placed on the waitlist of a school. And while we think that it’s important to tell your dream school that you still want to attend, we are not suggesting that you send a letter of continued interest to every school that you’ve been deferred from. The process is similar to writing another (shorter) supplement, and if you don’t have valid reasons for still wanting to attend, and pertinent updates, you’ll be wasting your time and the time of the person reading the letter.
Transferring to Cornell University
Last year, we did a deep dive into transferring to Cornell. This is because Cornell is a true outlier among the Ivy’s with a transfer acceptance rate of 18%-19% for the past four years. For context, Princeton didn’t even accept transfer students until last year and Columbia’s transfer acceptance rate is around 6%.
Transferring to Penn (The University of Pennsylvania)
Penn’s transfer acceptance rate has hovered around 8% for the past few years. Especially when attempting to transfer into top tier schools, it’s important to keep in mind that 1) they’re only replacing the small percentage of students who left and 2) acceptance rates are low across the board. And if you were out of range to apply right out of high school, one year of good grades in college won’t do much to help because the evaluation process includes high school performance. If you’re serious about transferring and think Penn is the place for you, keep reading. We’ll detail the three required writing supplements, but be sure to check for additional requirements for special programs.
How to Recover from a bad Freshman Year in High School
So, you had a not-so-great freshman year? You’re likely reading this because you ended your freshman year with a less-than-stellar GPA or you just felt like your performance was lackluster. It happens, and we commend you for searching out information to better yourself in the future. It’s better than getting to senior year, realizing your GPA sucks, and frantically Googling, “how to get into college with bad grades.” (Yes, we wrote a blog post with this title.) The first step is admitting you have a problem! We’re here to tell you: it’s going to be okay. We know that you are capable of more and we want to help you get on track. Here are three easy steps to getting out of a freshman year hole:
Transferring Colleges to a School with no Supplement
We have written a lot about the transfer process and the importance of writing stellar supplements. And if you come across a transfer school that doesn’t have one, you might feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. Well, you haven’t. We know that transfer acceptance rates are low, and we also know how easy it is to apply to schools that don’t have supplements. So how do you make yourself stand out to their admissions teams? You write one anyway.
Five Tips for Your Junior Year of High School
Ah, junior year. For many, junior year signifies such milestones as getting a driver’s license, but it is also known for striking fear in the hearts of underclassmen everywhere. Yes, it’s very true that junior year is a cornerstone year for the college application process, and while we want to assure you that it’s going to be alright, we also want you to be prepared for the reality that junior year brings in tow.
How To Transfer to NYU
If you’ve decided that you want to transfer, and think that NYU is the ideal school for you, you’ve come to the right place. This blog post will detail how to answer the two mandatory writing supplements, which at first glance seem slightly redundant and therefore confusing.
When Should I Transfer Colleges?
It’s undoubtedly one of the busiest times of the year for high school seniors, but if you’re currently in college and you’re considering transferring, it’s also time for you to get that process started. You might be thinking --“but I thought transfer applications aren’t usually due until March.” You’re right, but there are tons of materials to gather, and even more essays to write, and it isn’t ideal to be bogged down with all of that extra work while you’re trying to keep your grades up and hopefully do something fun for spring break.