Ivy League Early Decision
Ivy League Early Decision: How to Choose Which College to Pick? If you're a rising senior this year, I'm sure Early Decision and your Ivy League college applications are already on your mind (hint: if not, they should be). A lot of students have questions though around Early Decision and Early Action as a whole, including not knowing which school to pick, not knowing if ED really does make a difference, not knowing if they should go with their absolutely hardest school for ED, or a still hard, but not "the" hardest college so they can best leverage their chances. I'm going to answer your questions. For the purpose of this article, we're going to focus ONLY on Early Decision, and I will write a second article in the coming week about Early Action which is completely different. So, first of all, the "what" and "why" of college admissions and early decision, just so everyone's on the same page: EARLY DECISION The "What" -- Early Decision is the opportunity you have as an applying high school senior to designate one of your college applications as your #1 "priority choice" so college admission offices can basically "flag" your application to the
The Summer Before Your College Applications
How to Prep for College It's the summer before your college applications, as in the summer before your senior year. You know you should be kind of thinking about stuff...right? But what exactly should you be doing to plan? Allow me to step in: I'm a former Harvard admissions interviewer and a Harvard graduate and having been running my Ivy League college admissions consulting firm for the last 10+ years. In other words, I have some great tips + advice for you, so read on! Research schools: Use the summer to make a list of your top schools. I usually recommend that you break down the list into three categories = highly competitive reach schools, moderate schools, and low tier or safety schools (as everybody needs at least ONE safety). Make the list your top 15 choices and you can narrow it down from there. Most people apply to 8-10 colleges total when all is said and done! Summer internships, summer programs, jobs, or travel: Use your summer time wisely as this stuff make great college admissions essays and Common App essays! Just make sure you're doing SOMETHING and the more interesting the better. You're going to be asked one
Common App Essay Deadlines! Last Minute Help + Advice!
Common App Essays: Last Minute Help + Advice! Are you struggling to finish your Common App Essay + each individual school's supplementals? With only 2 weeks left before the January 2022 college admissions deadline, and with the holidays quickly approaching, a lot of students are panicked! What if it's not good enough??? What if my essays sound stupid? But suppose my topic is off base, and it's just not what the schools are looking for? What if I blow all of my chances? Panic can be a bad thing, but the harsh truth is...there may be some truth to your fear. The top schools in the US are looking for certain things, and if you don't check the boxes in terms of your college admission essays, you're simply not going to accepted. The following however is a list to make sure your essays, and especially your Ivy League essays if you're applying to the very top schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, Cornell, or Columbia, hit the mark. Check out the following list of pointers to see where your own admissions essays might stand, and most importantly, while you still might have time to make some adjustments. 1.
Ivy League Early Decision?
Ivy League Early Decision: Nov 1 Deadline! Ivy League Early Decision applications are due Nov 1. With only one week left, what can you do to make sure your college admissions essays are in the best state possible to secure your chances of getting into the Ivy League? Read on for the "Top Ten" tips for Early Decision from a former Harvard Interviewer: Early Decision Tip #1: Only submit your best work. Yes, early decision will help you, but if you're struggling to finish your college admissions essays on time, just to get in by the deadline, and as a result are submitting sub-par, or what you know is not your best work, it is better to WAIT and submit regular decision, than get rejected now because you ran out of time. Early Decision Tip #2: Make sure you've chosen the best school for your early decision (or early action) pick! I usually tell my students who work with me via my Ivy League College Admissions Consulting service, that you want to pick the most difficult school on your list for early decision, because it will give you a slight (slight! as in many 5-10%) boost to your
SAT vs ACT: What’s the difference? Which should I take?
Previously, there was never a question as to which one to take, most high school students took both. But now things are a little different with some colleges adopting test-optional or test-blind policies. Test-optional means the college doesn’t require testing but will take your scores into account if you submit them. Test-blind means that standardized tests such as the ACT and/or SAT will not even be considered during the admissions process. It’s important to know what the policies are for the Ivy Leagues or elite Top 20 universities that are on your list. It’s good to check periodically because right now policies are changing daily! Many of the Ivy League schools currently have test-optional policies for now. But don’t overlook that it can only help your application if you study hard and get great scores on the SAT/ACT to submit! The SAT and the ACT share quite a bit similarities - both tests have optional essays, math sections, reading comprehension sections, grammar sections. The essays for both are different, not harder or easier but just different. The ACT also does focus on slightly more complex math problems. It has a science section which is related to graphs and charts. The
Want to Transfer to an Ivy League? There’s still hope!
Sometimes you don’t get into your first or even second choice college when you apply to the Ivy Leagues or any elite Top 20 university. The top Ivies and colleges flooded with thousands of applications every year. And the most elite schools have very limited spots. It doesn’t mean you need to completely give up on your Ivy League dream. Though: you can always apply as a transfer student and give yourself a second chance to get in! Transferring to an Ivy League college would be great for you. Here are some positives that you can take away from a perhaps delayed entrance into your dream school Ivy. Ivy League school tuition is typically more expensive. So one or two semesters at another college could help you save money in the long term. During your time at another college, you could also work to improve your grades. In case your GPA was a determining factor as to why you didn’t get in the first time around. Also, you could take the time your freshman year elsewhere to get a better understanding of what you want to study and why. All of these things could help create an even stronger application
