Prestige, Power, and the Luxury of Choice in American Higher Education
Barbara Sams, Managing Partner A little more than a decade ago, the New York Times columnist, Frank Bruni, published Where You Go Is Not Who You Will Be. At its core, the book is a corrective to a category error: confusing a college admissions outcome with an identity. Bruni argues that [...]
What do you need to be succcessful?
Nelie McNeal, Founder and Managing Partner Where do I want to go to college? Many high school students ask themselves this. Where will home be a year or two from now? Where will I be happiest? Fair enough; we’re all curious about what lies ahead for ourselves. But if you [...]
Are we building a person or building a resume?
Elizabeth Schnell, College Consultant At colleges that use holistic admissions, we know that that admissions readers rely on students’ activities to gain context for evaluating a candidate. So how should students decide what activities to pursue and how to highlight them? Our best advice for students is to reframe this question and aim to develop your whole self rather than developing your activities resume. Feeling like you must “check all [...]
Admission Processes
Susan Lutz, College Consultant One of the most common misconceptions I see in the college admission process is the belief that all colleges review applications the same way, or that there’s a “game” to winning admission. In reality, colleges use different admission systems. Some rely on a rubric or criteria-based [...]
Your College List Is Not a Bracket
Barbara Sams, Managing Partner Every fall, college rankings are released—and overnight, otherwise rational families begin behaving like the list is a legally binding document. Colleges rise, colleges fall, group chats explode, and suddenly a school your student loved last week is “off the list” because it slipped four spots. Four. [...]
Trial Balloon
Jeanie Grimm, College Consultant Decades ago, when the writer of this piece received her college admissions decisions, there was no internet (Cue: gasp!) Colleges did not even communicate with students. There were no portals, no websites with “Important dates and deadlines” subsections…nothing. You learned that decisions were out when your [...]
The Perils of “Name-Dropping” at Cocktail Parties (and Among Teens)
Nelie McNeal, Founder and Managing Partner There’s a certain comfort in the familiar chatter of high school parents: the anxious smiles, the ease of swapping test scores and GPAs. But as higher‑ed expert Jeff Selingo observes, these casual conversations come with a hidden cost. As he gently nudges families to [...]