Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Letters of Continued Interest ...

Getting waitlisted or deferred from your dream school is hard. We know it’s hard! You feel rejected, but it’s this weird non-rejection rejection that can leave you feeling lost and confused. And while a lot of things in college admissions are totally out of your control, there is something you can do if you’ve been waitlisted or deferred to give yourself another chance. A letter of continued interest, sometimes known as a waitlist letter or deferral letter, is one of the few, actionable things you can control when admissions decisions seem so out of your control. It’s your only chance to make a good second impression, and we help students write them every single year.

Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Getting Waitlisted 2025

Getting waitlisted is the ultimate limbo – it’s not not a rejection, but it’s not a full-on denial, either. And depending on your circumstances, you could be feeling everything from mild disappointment to full-on panic. Don’t get yourself into a tizzy just yet, because there are things you can do to give yourself a shot at getting off the waitlist and make sure that you have a plan in place for the next year.

Caroline Koppelman
Best Early Decision II (ED2) Schools 2024-2025

Hey, look, sometimes ED doesn’t work out the way we want it to, and we have to change strategies. If you just got rejected or deferred from your ED/EA option, we’d like to introduce you to our good friend, Early Decision 2. ED2 is just as binding as ED, and it signals to the school that you are serious about attending that school, and guess what? Schools like when you’re serious about them.

Caroline Koppelman
Why This College Essay Question Guide and ...

Why do you want to go to school here? If there’s one prompt you are certain to write more than once, it’s this one. This prompt comes in a few different flavors, but at the end of the day, they all want to know why their school is the perfect school for you and why you’re the perfect student for them. No pressure or anything.

Caroline Koppelman
Official Common App Essay Guide 2024-2025

We’ve spent the last few weeks breaking down the Common App essay prompt by prompt, and today we’re going to give you our ultimate guide to writing the Common App essay. There might be seven different prompts, but ultimately, all schools want the same thing from their applicants’ Common App essays: a story.

uchicago

Legacy Admission Guide for U Chicago

“What’s up with U Chicago legacy admissions?” It’s a harder question to answer than you might think. We work with legacy students often, so we make it our job to fully understand legacy admissions at top schools. This means looking at data, talking to admissions officers, and doing research. For many schools, this gives us a full picture of what to expect when applying as a legacy. For some others, it isn’t quite as clear-cut. U Chicago is unfortunately one of the latter. However, we still wanted to talk about legacies at U Chicago and give some tips for students who are hoping to follow in their family's maroon footsteps.

How to Write the University of Chicago Supplement 2022-2023

The University of Chicago, or as we like to call it around here, UChicago, is a private research university in, shocker, Chicago. To say UChicago is for academics and high achievers is an understatement – they boast 94 Nobel laureates, 10 Fields Medalists, 4 Turing Award winners, 52 MacArthur Fellows, 26 Marshall Scholars, 53 Rhodes Scholars, 27 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 20 National Humanities Medalists. Unsurprisingly, UChicago is verrrry selective, with a 6.4% acceptance rate.

Most Unique Programs at UChicago

UChicago is a very unique school with a unique culture, so finding unique programs here was relatively easy. When applying, you’ll want to prove that you’ve done your research on what they have to offer, and hopefully our guide will make it simple to get a jump on the types of niche programs you can talk about in your application. It also takes a unique personality to really jive with UChicago, and doing your research on the school and their programs will help you determine if it’s the right fit.