The Insider: College Admissions Advice from the Experts

If the college admission season has gone according to plan, you’re likely putting the finishing touches on your last supplemental essays, penning personal thank-you cards to your teacher recommenders, and hunkering down for a congratulatory bowl of ice cream and Netflix marathon. While this dream scenario is appealing to parents and students alike, it doesn’t quite match up with reality for so many seniors scrambling to stay on top of things during this stressful fall. If you’ve put off your applications for the last few months, waiting until a sense of urgency kicks in, you’re not alone. But we’re here to tell you that the time to get started is now (if not a month ago), and to help you take the first big steps towards college application success.

Earlier this week, we suggested five ways for students to begin to get involved during their high school careers. Today we pick up where we left off, with the last five tips on our list!

When it comes to the college application, some parts are easy to understand. Take tough courses. Get good grades. Write a strong essay. But when students are also encouraged to “get involved,” it’s hard for them to know exactly where to begin, and understandably so. For freshmen in particular, high school is a new experience with a wide variety of clubs, organizations, teams, and activities to be a part of, and getting involved in just a few of those activities can enrich your child’s four-year experience in high school.

Last Thursday, Bev Taylor authored an article on Huffington Post, claiming “Need Blind Admissions Is a Lie.” Its publication ignited a flurry of responses among college admissions professionals both publicly and privately. On Thursday, we posted part one of a response to her article, which offered a rebuttal to some of her proscribed actions and clarified some of the terms surrounding “need” in admissions and financial aid. Today, we continue with part two, which challenges Taylor’s central claim that need blind admissions just doesn’t make logical sense.

Last Thursday, Bev Taylor authored an article on Huffington Post, claiming “Need Blind Admissions Is a Lie.” Its publication ignited a flurry of responses among college admissions professionals both publicly and privately. For those of us who read applications at highly selective institutions, her article simply did not jibe with the reality of our own experiences. Those on my team who worked for institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Georgetown, and Babson were adamant that need-blind admissions means exactly what it says. I hope that the following conversation will help provide a clear response to Taylor’s article and offer some clarification on some challenging issues in admission and financial aid in higher education.

A few months after I graduated from college, sufficiently decompressed from four years of a staggering load of dense academic texts, I rediscovered reading for pleasure. Suddenly, I had time to crack the spine on books that people recommended to me long ago; time for newspaper articles that needed more than a few minutes to read and digest; time for sprawling, exhaustive articles in the New Yorker. As I read, I discovered vastly different writing styles, expanded my vocabulary, and satisfied old interests while stoking new ones. One week, I read Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, catapulting myself to the top of Everest. A month later, I was thousands of feet underground in Blind Descent, reading about cave explorers competing to find the deepest place on earth. You can experience tremendous adventures as a reader, but there are collateral benefits to your college applications as well. Reading broadly and deeply will expose you to new words and new writing styles. It will give you more to talk about (great fodder for interview conversations!) and teach you about different perspectives and ideas. We become better writers, better thinkers, and better collaborators by reading more—there isn’t an admission officer in the world who wouldn’t say that more reading makes for a better applicant. And the time to start is now. To make the most of your summer reading while you can still make it count, consider some of the tips below:

There are things we all share in common at College Coach: a passion for education, a love of books, professional admissions experience, a perhaps-too-nerdy interest in college visits. But despite all the things we have in common, there are many characteristics that make us different from one another. As a newer member of the team, I’ve enjoyed getting to know the subtle differences in my colleagues’ approaches to essay reviews, their philosophies on college admission, and of course, their passions outside of work. As you work with us to find an educational consultant that best fits your needs or the needs of your child, we will help you consider the personality and working styles that will bring out the best in you or your student.

With school winding down and summer break dominating most high school students’ thoughts, it hardly seems the time to think about college. But for high school juniors, the flip of the calendar from May to June marks the steady countdown towards winter’s application deadlines.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation…

There comes a time in the relationship between a college coach and a student when the question of summer activities is broached. The conversation might go something like:

Summer is just around the corner and, especially for those juniors powering through the sea of standardized tests formally known as “junior spring,” I bet y’all can’t wait! But before you head off to camp, work or the beach, I suggest you spend some time thinking about recommendation letters for college.