Imagine spending your summer at Columbia or Stanford as a high school student, taking a college course on a topic that fascinates you while being immersed in the student life of your dream school.
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Success is as much built on character as it is on intellect. We see this in the stories of the world’s most successful people. Bill Gates, principal founder of Microsoft, started The Giving Fund with Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet to inspire fellow billionaires to donate at least 50% of their wealth to charity; so far, they’ve gathered 190 pledges.
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You may already be familiar with the concept of holistic review processes for admissions in the United States. It’s the idea that college applicants should not be evaluated only by factors like grades and test scores, but by the whole context of their story, personality, goals, interests, and academic history.
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Whether you applied early action, early decision, or regular admission, the relief students feel after finally submitting their applications is palpable but short-lived. Quickly, it is replaced by anticipation, nervousness, and a waiting game that can feel endless even if it only lasts a couple weeks in some cases.
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There is a lot of mystery surrounding what happens to your application after you submit it. You put in weeks of hard work to perfect each component and tell your story as clearly as possible. Then, you hit the submit button on the Common App, stare at the confirmation screen, and wait for a committee of admissions officers (AOs) on the other end to make a decision about your future.
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The uncertainty of waiting for admissions results to be released can be both waning and distracting as you continue everyday life. Some students obsessively check their emails to see whether they’ll receive even a small clue about how they’re applications are being read by colleges. Conversations with friends and family could easily revolve around admissions results; and it can be tempting to spend many hours on sites like College Confidential, where students survey users about their chances of getting in.
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You might be surprised by how many factors outside of your actual application determine whether you will receive acceptance to a college.The state you live in, if you have visited the campus, and whether your application was among the first or last read by your admissions officer—called AO for short—could significantly move the needle in your favor.
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One primary worry that families typically share when beginning the application process (no matter how early they start it) is that they are already behind the game. With admissions to highly-selective schools becoming increasingly competitive every year, students begin thinking about the impact of their choices on their future applications at a younger and younger age.
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Applying to college is a major commitment not just for high school seniors but their entire family. From visiting colleges to completing applications, soliciting letters of recommendation to acing interviews, there are many elements to this process that require a high level of thought and preparation.
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Now that you’re in the second semester of 10th grade, hopefully you’ve gotten the rhythm of high school down. By now, you should have an understanding of what your teachers expect from you, what kind of effort is necessary for you to succeed in your classes, and which extracurricular activities are most meaningful to you.
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The second semester of junior year is like the moment you pull back an arrow. With your eyes on the goal, you are preparing to launch into the start of the college application process with hopes of hitting the red mark: your dream school.
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The last six miles of a marathon can often be the most difficult for many runners. After 20 miles and hours of running, you hit the dreaded “wall” and “the wheels fall off.” Your body is pushed to its limits, and it’s all a mental game from there on out to cross the finish line.
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Congratulations! After months of slaving over your computer to craft brilliant applications for colleges, you are now done with most of them and can give yourself time to rest as you wait for the results.So, what’s next? You can expect to hear back from most colleges in March and, by April, you’ll have all your results in hand to decide where you want to spend your next four years.
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Every admissions cycle, a greater number of students take advantage of early decision (ED) and early action (EA) deadlines to apply to colleges that excite them. Not only do these admissions pathways tend to offer those that use them greater odds of being accepted, they can also reduce the amount of time students spend worried about where they’ll attend school.
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Congratulations! You received an early holiday present. The school of your choice admitted you early action or—even more conclusively—early decision and now you can start shopping for sweatshirts and other college swag.
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At this time of year, the number one thing on most students’ minds is winter break. Plans of family trips, celebrations, and—maybe most importantly—no school work, start filling their thoughts shortly after Thanksgiving.
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Not every college student is happy with his or her choice of school. As perspectives change and people evolve, sometimes it makes sense for students to consider transferring to a different institution to complete their degree.
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True or false? STEM students are inherently bad writers and the college application process will be painful for them because of its abundant essay requirements.Most definitely, false.
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Found in the Writing portion of the Common App, the additional information section gives students 650 words to write about anything that couldn’t fit elsewhere. Some students may have important stories to share that did not fit in any other of the spaces in the Common App, such as the reason behind why they chose a certain activity or the way they earned their grades.
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We are in the midst of another application season. Chances are high that you’ve already started thinking about your personal statement and the numerous supplemental essays you’ll have to write before you can submit to all the schools on your list.p
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