Students and families often ask me what risks are worth taking in their undergraduate application essays. My advice is always to be genuine, and know that there is always the possibility that the most sincere experimental essay will not be approved of by every reader. Admission committees are human (yes, real people!) and, at least in my experience, we could … Read More
Free essay consulting to students affected by travel ban & federal grant cuts
I cannot imagine being in a PhD program, and learning that my funding would be cut due to Federal grant cuts. I cannot imagine going through the difficulty of finding housing in a place I’d never been to before only to not make it past the airport. I cannot imagine saving my stipend for a plane ticket to my home … Read More
Trump’s Immigration Ban Is Already Harming American Science
In light of the unconstitutional executive order banning banning citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen—from entering America under any visa, for at least 120 days, I have been keeping a close watch on how this new order is impacting higher education students. The results so far are devastating, and I cannot overstate the impact … Read More
New York Times looks at pre and post college income
The New York Times recently released this interactive study where you can compare the financial statistics between incoming students, and those students’ ability to move into a higher financial class after graduation. While I think this is an interesting, and valuable, study, I do not believe that the odds of moving into the top 1% of U.S. earners should be … Read More
Common Application Prompts 2016-17
http://www.commonapp.org/whats-appening/application-updates/common-application-announces-2016-2017-essay-prompts 1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect … Read More
Hampshire College says “no more” to SAT/ACT tests
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/21/hampshire-reports-successful-admissions-year-going-test-blind Hampshire College is not the first school to step away from using standardized tests as part of a holistic college application process. One potential downside is becoming ineligible to participate in many of the “official college rankings” lists. But these lists tend to represent a number of factors, including alumni donations, that don’t necessarily provide insight into the academic … Read More
NYT opinion article on impact of highly competitive atmospheres
I came across this article today, interestingly timed in that May 1st many high school seniors were picking which college they would enroll in. Articles like this leave me feeling incredibly sad. More frequently, I hear the sentiments expressed and quoted in this article from not just college or high school students I work with, but even younger students as … Read More
Video applications instead of grades
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/for-applicants-who-send-videos-goucher-college-will-be-grades-optional/38933 There are a small number of schools looking to enter the territory beyond transcripts, grades, and essays. Is this a reflection of an increasingly multi-media centered culture, or a way to allow students (and only students) to speak for themselves? I was certainly curious reading through this article, and wondered about what narratives or cliches video-watching admissions counselors might … Read More
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