One of the most impactful talks when I was at Sacred Heart University was from their Executive Director of Wellness, James Geisler. This talk was a “lunch and learn,” so I didn’t take notes like I did for the other talks. He grabbed my attention from the start. He began by talking about the “teen mental health crisis.” He said that the definition of “crisis” is that it’s something that is “acute.” This has been going on for years; it’s much bigger than a “crisis.” Mr. Geisler

Jeff Selingo has been offering quite a few webinars for people who have pre-ordered his book. I continue to learn new things in each one and wanted to share some tidbits that I thought you would find valuable. In all his research he’s done over the years, he found that most students choose to attend college within 75 miles of their home. That is not something that I see with my students; I find that they don’t want to be quite that close to home. Also, 60% of students nationa

I was recently struck by something when I was registering for upcoming campus tours. I’ve toured about 75 colleges over the past few years that really run the gamut in all possible ways. When I was registering for my upcoming ten tours, I was asked two questions that I have never come across before. Colleges can ask anything they’d like when you’re signing up for tours just like when they’re selecting questions for their supplemental application prompts. These things really s

To dovetail on last week’s post, many people have misconceptions about merit aid and need based aid. A few recent SAT tutoring parents told me they were hoping their daughters could earn a 1000 or 1100 so a test optional school would offer scholarship money. Colleges don’t offer scholarship money to the lowest quartile of students. Rather, they use their funds to attract the highest achieving students or students that they really want to become a part of their community based

There was a great talk given by Jed Applerouth at the recent IECA conference for private college counselors. Mr. Applerouth runs a test prep company, and his talk was entitled “Test Optional Doesn’t Equal Test Ignorant.” If you’ve been following my page for a while, you know that I’ve written quite a few posts about what test optional means and what makes it so nebulous. A few weeks ago, I discussed the fact that students need to look at the midrange scores for each school wh

If you’ve been following my page for a while, you know some of my favorite college-related podcasts and books. Dr. Lisa Damour is toward the top of my list. She had an another great college episode on March 10. Within the next few days, the seniors will have received all of their admissions decisions. This is obviously a time of very high emotion for seniors as well as their parents. The picture on my post shows the most important part of this episode in my opinion. A mother

I don’t know if you’ve heard about the “demographic cliff” or “enrollment cliff,” but this is something that higher ed has been monitoring for years. The number of high school graduates is expected to peak around 2025 or 2026, then the number of students enrolling in college will decline pretty significantly. This will affect the admit rates for students who plan to go to college. Enrollment is already down about 10% since 2022. On average, colleges are admitting a larger pro

I thought some of you would find this interesting. Every year the National Association for College Admission Counseling releases their State of College Admissions report. I have put a box around the most important criteria when colleges are making admissions decisions. You’ll see the third item on the list is about the strength of high school classes. Colleges like to see that students have taken the most rigorous classes that they can do well in and in as many subject areas

I talked about building a balanced list last week. How is a student supposed to build a balanced list if they don’t know about any colleges other than the public flagships of their state? Parents of juniors, here is task two: research schools. There are so many amazing, free tools to use. I love Big Future (by the College Board) and College Navigator (by the Department of Education). Students can enter criteria that appeal to them, and they will receive lists of schools with

If you remember that deferred student profile from last week, it might leave you wondering what to do if your student most likely won’t earn those test scores and/or doesn’t have a GPA nearly that high. It’s very important for students to create a balanced list when they’re starting the application process. The pictures I attached are from a software program that I love, College Kickstart. It uses students’ GPAs and test scores to categorize schools as likelies, targets, and

The most important criteria colleges consider across the board when evaluating students for admission is their high school GPA in college prep courses. All colleges will recalculate a student’s GPA. They only count the 5 core subjects (math, science, social studies, English, and world languages) as well as electives that are taken above the regular level. So, PE and other electives that are not AP, IB, or AICE (Cambridge) will not count in the recalculated GPA. You will see i

I want to let you know about a recent situation with a senior in the hopes that this doesn’t happen to any juniors or younger. I received a text last Saturday from a mom the morning after UCF decisions came out. The mom was hoping I could tutor her senior over the next three weeks in the hopes of her SAT score improving on the December 7 test. The daughter was heartbroken that she was deferred from UCF. The school is going to re-evaluate her application after the upcoming SAT

When should students start the college application process? While I write posts every week about various aspects of the college application process, this is one that I have shied away from. The reason I have been hesitant to write about it is because I don’t want it to sound like I am trying to drum up business. That is absolutely not what this post is about. Personally, I think gradually starting the process after winter break of junior year is a great time! Lots of work can

I don’t know if you remember what it was like to be a freshman in college, but for many students it’s not an immediate love fest. I think many things are exacerbated in today’s world with social media being so prevalent for teens. It is easy to be lonely and go on social media and think that all of your other high school friends are having the time of their life based on what they are posting on their “highlight reels” that probably isn’t based on reality at all. It is very e

Today’s Thursday Thoughts were inspired by my recent tours in the NYC area, specifically my tour of Fordham University, which will be posted on August 13th. There are a myriad of ways to learn about a specific college including the school’s website, various social media accounts, Tik Tok, synchronous or asynchronous virtual tours hosted by the school; books like the Fiske Guide, College Match, College Finder; and websites like CampusTours, CollegeXpress, Niche, Campus Reel, Y

I have talked about demonstrated interest before, but it has been on my mind again recently as I am working with my students, but also as I was signing up for all of my tours in the New York City area. Princeton makes it very clear that they do not track demonstrated interest. As you will see in the picture below, they say that the admissions committee will not take into consideration if a student has visited campus or not when they are deciding to admit or deny a student. Ho

Decision day for most colleges was yesterday. Some universities decided to postpone the date since the rollout of the new, “simplified” FAFSA has been such a nightmare this year. It is hard for many families to sit down and have tough financial conversations with their 17 and 18-year-old children. Some families decide that if their child gets into a “dream” school, they will figure out how to finance that education later. This tends to leave teens heartbroken when they have g

I just finished reading a fiction book in which the author made some really good points about her college admissions process. (I wasn’t expecting any of this when I picked up the book, but I was pleasantly surprised.) I like how she said that her friends joked that waiting on admissions letters was like being left on read by the guy you like. For those of you with teens, you know being left on read is the worst! For many seniors, this next month feels interminable because the

This month many seniors will be receiving quite a few early action decisions from school. Those of you who have been following my page for a while know how much I value Dr. Lisa Damour’s advice. (She is a psychologist who specializes in adolescents.) Dr. Lisa advises that parents shouldn’t be more happy or more disappointed than their teenager is. If things go her way and she’s very excited, parents should certainly feel free to say how happy they are and ask how the teen wan

November 1 is just three weeks away! This is a big day in college admissions because most early decision and early action applications are due on that day. Do you know the difference between ED and EA? Early decision is a binding decision. Students are only allowed to apply ED to one school because if they get into that school, they must attend it. If families would like to compare various financial aid or scholarship packages, early decision is not the right choice. Universi