If you submitted college applications early action or early decision, chances are you will be receiving news on your submission in the month of December. I used to think it was cruel to be sending out admission decisions during the holidays, but after watching students receive and process the news, I’ve changed my mind. Because, I’ve come to realize that each decision is actually a gift to remind students that it’s not what happens, it’s how they respond that makes all the difference.  

One of the more anxiety-ridden tasks I’ve ever completed was the time I was given the responsibility of properly executing wires transfers for my family.

It’s the month of Halloween!  And in the spirit of the holiday, this month’s blog is going to contain some candy-coated treats to hopefully make a few things like that scary FAFSA, more palatable.

The pressure to choose your major and have a post-graduate plan before you even apply to college seems to be much more intense.  It’s probably the thing I hear most from juniors and seniors: “How do I choose a major?” “What if I change my mind”? “How do I know now what I want to do in the future?”. 

About 3 weeks ago, I decided that this month’s blog topic would be about building a balanced college list. And it’s taken me about that long to write it. It’s not that I didn’t know what to say, it’s that I had so much to talk about, I had a hard time narrowing it down.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  I totally agree. But if it IS broken, and you fix it, make sure it’s better. Both the FAFSA and the SAT have initiated major changes and both are set to debut for the Fall 2023-2024 application season. 

CONGRATULATIONS to this year’s graduates!  I’m so excited about all that awaits you.  But, before you rush headlong into the next part of your journey, I hope you’ll take the time to pause and celebrate all you’ve accomplished and reflect on what it’s meant to you. 

The college admissions process is one that changes every single year based on the goals of the institution and lacks a tremendous degree of transparency. That’s why so many experts have dedicated their careers to creating ways to get information out to families about all aspects of the process. 

College applications are up once AGAIN this year.

It shouldn’t be surprising. Lower admit rates and higher yield percentages are how colleges are evaluated. I’ve said it before and I will keep repeating it: colleges are businesses.

It's already starting. Articles like these letting students know that the top UC's are once again poised to receive a record number of applications.

This is not unique to the UC’s nor is it a one-time event. This has been happening since the pandemic. What IS unique to the UC’s are WHY this impacts the process in such a frustrating and unpredictable way.

With many of the early outcomes released and the remaining colleges not delivering news until March or April, the month of February is the calm before the storm

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I’ve used this same quote to ring in the New Year for many years and it truly amazes me how simple and yet how profound it is.  

For many families, the price of college comes in a close second to the next largest purchase they will make, their home. Add in several children and college could easily be the biggest investment a family makes in their lifetime

Does volunteering look good on an application? How many hours of volunteer work should I d0? What type of volunteering do colleges look for? These are questions often asked when the goal is to “look good” on a resume or college application. But how do you determine what “looks good” for each college? It’s an impossible task and a moving target that changes every year. As such, I’d like to propose a different goal for volunteering: to inspire gratitude.

I promise, there is no correlation between my talking about the new Digital SAT in the month of things that go bump in the night. As we head into next year, you’re probably going to hear more about it because it starts internationally in March 2023 and is in play domestically March 2024. This means that it will affect students who are currently sophomores or younger. That’s the reason why I am taking this time to introduce it (if you haven’t yet heard about it) and share some preliminary info.

“Have you heard this episode? It made my blood boil”. I clicked on this text from a dear friend that contained a recent episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History, entitled “Lord of the Rankings”. In it, Gladwell describes the history and methodology behind the US News & World Report College rankings system.

I am a recovering procrastinator. I say recovering because I do occasionally wait until the last minute but it’s a rare occurrence these days.

As I attend the graduation parties, see their pictures on social media and receive my students’ graduation announcements, I get misty-eyed. I’m excited to see what experiences these bright, talented, compassionate, resilient, and caring individuals will create and how their stories will continue to unfold.

Sarah was fortunate that she had three different people ask her to prom but she didn’t know who to choose, so she decided to ask each one why they chose her.

This college admissions season was, once again, extremely competitive with record numbers of applications and record low admit rates. But, was it? if you look more closely, you see that the competition is increasing mostly amongst a certain group of colleges. The “name-brand”, highly selective universities.