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College Admission for Mere Mortals
I recently met with a potential student client and their family. The student was serious about their academics and had many compelling ideas about their future.
Learning from Economists – Experience Good
In economics, the term “experience good” describes a product or service that is difficult to evaluate until after it has been consumed. Thus, the word “experience.”
3 Shades of Gray of Early Decision
For the record, I’m not a big fan of early decision plans. Applying for early decision requires young people to make a big decision in junior year (or early senior year) of high school to choose the one perfect university they will commit to.
The Story Behind the Story
No matter what you read online or hear from others, there are no simple formulas to craft a great essay. However, some fundamental components of the personal statement can give you confidence that you are on the right track.
Leave Your Passion Project at the Door
A wave of students is convinced that they’ve found a powerful secret to give them an advantage in the race to their highly selective dream school. I’m not sure where this trend comes from, but I suspect some private counselors or websites of questionable value are spreading the word to get clients or clicks.
4 Types of Personal Statements
Writing the personal statement for a college application can feel like a daunting task. How do you start? What is the right format? How do you find the one topic that will get you admitted to your dream school?
The Curse of the Average “Above-Average”
Suddenly, students find that they are running in a race against many other students, all working hard to outdo themselves to get into a “good” college.
Are You Standing on Hot Coals?
There is often a “hot coal moment” for many families and students I work with.
It is hard to predict when this moment will happen.
Sometimes, it happens immediately after students finish the junior year PSAT. Some parents get a nagging feeling they may be too late helping their student plan for college admission.
Need versus Want – Part 2
In many ways, the list of what students need from a college is probably fairly short. Below are a few ideas, but this might not be a comprehensive list of all the needs.
The reason it’s so difficult to filter out “want” from “need” is that most of what a student needs from a college is subjective and perhaps a little abstract. It’s hard to easily measure most of what colleges do in terms of education.
Need versus Want – Part 1
Qualities you may want from your college education but probably do not need…..I often hear students confusing qualities they want with qualities they need.