For Frustrated, Worried Class of 2024 Parents...

I'll be quicker than Senator Fetterman's morning grooming routine, because the clock is a-tickin...

If your high school senior son or daughter hasn't made the progress on their essays and applications  you hoped for this summer, we might be able to help.

I say "might" because

• We have only a tiny handful of spots currently open
• We're pretty picky about whom we work with;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Here's the scoop -- my team and I are finishing up the application and essay writing process with a bunch of our 2024 private clients.  What that means for you is that we have limited capacity to help your kiddo bring the applications and essays over the goal line, if they have October, November and December deadlines.

We call this program The November Sprint, and it's designed exclusively to relieve the blood pressure of moms (and dads) who are ripping out their hair over their kids' looming Early Action, Early Decision and other...

It's back to school time, which also means it's college ranking season. 

I think ranking colleges is a pretty silly exercise, but I understand that we humans are wired to compare A to B to C and so forth.  And I read them too.

To me, one of the most striking things about the various and sundry rankings is what they leave out.  Probably because it is unrankable:

Student effort

A couple of the Big Rankers measure average salaries, post-graduation, at each college.  Fine. But here's what does not go into those rankings, as far as I can tell:

• Elite colleges generally get the highest marks.  But elite colleges are heavily populated by kids from wealthy families.  It's great that Chip graduated from Princeton (and Exeter/Andover/Choate/Fieldston) and is pulling down $125K in his first year in consulting, but is that really because he went to Princeton? Or that Chip's old man (also Chip) called in a favor for his boy.
• The aforementioned effort.  What...

ACT and SAT Group Tutoring

Coupon Code: PREVIEW23

BREAKING -- the Common Application is out today!  

I haven't been this excited since the new phone books arrived (bonus points if you got the movie reference).

Putting my giddiness aside, today's the day when Class of 2024 college-bound kiddos can get a clickin' and a clackin' on their little computers and officially start the college application process.  Some thoughts:

• There's no race.  Even for rolling admissions colleges.   
• However, there's no need to wait until hours before deadline to start your applications.  These easily avoidable faux emergencies occur in November and December.  Today's August 1, but those deadlines will sneak up on thousands. Maybe even some of my readers (not you of course :)
• Generally, the Common App is straight forward. The parts that require some thought and strategy are 1. the personal statement, 2. supplemental essays and 3. the Activities Section.  Work...

Something funny dawned on me the other day when I was preparing my notes for our upcoming bootcamp session.

A few months ago, the college advisor multiverse had their you-know-whats in a bunch over the upcoming, predicted use of Chat GPT for college essays. The sky was falling. But now it's like this never happened.

These days, all the buzz is about the Supreme Court's recent decision that the current practice of race-conscious admissions violates the Constitution. Current practice.

I want you to understand something: the Court did not shut the door on underrepresented minorities at the country's elite colleges. Instead, the majority suggested that colleges must recruit differently. Individually, not based on race.

One of the two obvious methods we all expect college admissions departments to implement has to do with supplemental essays. That likely means that there will be more opportunities for students to talk about their cultural and ethnic "lived experiences".

(I can't believe...

Apparently college applications as of January are up by 22% compared to last year.

High school seniors are applying to more schools, according to one college consultant (not me, but I'm also seeing the same trend in my anecdotal, micro-universe).

Does that mean that it will be harder to get into college this year? Permit me to make a few comments.

First, more applications does not mean more APPLICANTS applying to college.  The number of kids applying is actually trending down, partially due to predicted demographics, and partially because of the pandemic, economy and outrageous cost of college, which has risen every year since the beginning of time.

(Side prediction:  next year's increase in college costs will again outstrip the current, also outrageous inflation numbers reported this week.)

Second, as the Common App data weenies point out, more applications does not equate to more enrollments.  Colleges will still have to scrap tooth and nail to convince...

I don't think it's me (I never do) but this year has been CRAZIER than ever.

I'm not only referring to the kids we coach through the college application process: parents have gone bonkers too!

On the kid-side, we had in inordinate number of seniors making last minute, final revisions to their essays yesterday for November 1 deadlines...

Re:  parents, I cannot begin to tell you how many "helped" their children by stepping in, pushing them aside and completely taking over the essay-writing process.  I see it every year, but I've never seen it this bad.

I'm not just griping.  There's an important point here, that's all-too-easy to get lost in the shuffle:  If you, parent, take over the college applications for your child, you are sending them an unsubtle message...

Not exactly a confidence builder, right?

Trust me, I know how busy our children are, and I understand the impulse to help. ...