The short answer is yes. Colleges want to know what your child does beyond the classroom. Since the transcript tells them what the grades are -- what happens in the classroom -- the next question is “how else do they spend their time.”

Both the Common Application and the Coalition Application -- the two primary ways students apply to college online -- have dedicated places for students to list their extracurricular activities. While this is the preferred and required place for students to list their athletics, arts, community service, religious or summer activities, many colleges also offer the opportunity to upload a Word or PDF resume. I suggest that your child do this even though their...

Once upon a time, there were unwritten rules about writing college essays. Here are a few that many students have been told over the years:

Do NOT write about being in love or having a “significant other.” A college essay is not where you should talk about sex or how deeply you may have been hurt by young love.

Do NOT use an essay to complain about your parents, teachers, school, rules, etc. Teenage angst is so tired and no one wants to hear about how bad people treat you. 

Do NOT write about religion and politics. Too controversial and you never know who is reading it on the other side and how they might interpret it. 

Even today, I am in full agreement with numbers 1 and 2....

As students wind down the school year and are starting to look at what’s ahead for their 2020-21 application cycle, they must know more than just the basics. Yes, colleges will start grades, scores, resume, recommendations and essays, but how much each will weigh in the process is still, like almost everything, uncertain.

Historically, colleges have focused on 13 key factors in terms of admission:

• Rigorously appropriate curriculum with Honors, AP and IB classes

• Highest grades possible

• Solid ACT or SAT scores that is consistent with high school performance

• Strong, well-written personal and supplemental essays

• Diverse resume with activities that show passion and purpose 

• ...

Writing a college essay is hard. Very few students go into the writing process “pumped” to sit in front of a computer to tell a story. It's part laborious, oftentimes frustrating and occasionally embarrassing. The most common thing I hear is “I don't know what to write!” and then it becomes my job to help the student to brainstorm and believe in the idea that we have thought of together.

Know what's far easier? Documenting life. Instead of trying to devise some cleverly creative epiphany that they think will change the landscape of college admissions and help them get into the college of their dreams, students should simply share what has happened in their lives or what is...

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, several camps, colleges, and universities are canceling their on-site summer programs. Many people are even speculating that colleges will not even start in the fall. Craziness.

What I do know is that for students applying to college in the fall, essays and resumes, their stories, will play a significant contribution to their process.

Stories, not stats, will play a big part of college admissions 2020.
I’m willing to say that students who are creative and innovative will stand out tremendously this year and I’m willing to bet all the way through 2023. Yes, freshmen in high school will have more emphasis on their stories, not solely...

Over a month ago, I released two blog posts about how standardized testing - the ACT and SAT specifically -- are changing given COVID. Test dates were being cancelled or postponed for much of the spring. As of today, the summer dates of June ACT and SAT have also been canceled and both agencies are looking into summer and fall alternatives.

What's Going on With Standardized Tests?

SAT and ACT Tests Are Being Canceled, Now What?

Uncertainty and fear rule our world right now, and to imagine a mass of teenagers crowding into a building to sit next to each other for three or more hours. To me, that sounds, well, dangerous. We have no idea who’s infected and who’s not, and even when we do...

I’ve been on a rampage over the past week on social media decrying the need for any school to give students “grades” this spring. In the midst of all that we’re going through as a country and even as a world, As, Bs, 92s, 87s and Cs, seem pointless. 

No teacher who is new to teaching online can grade as fairly as they are accustomed to. No student who is new to taking classes online can offer consistent maximum effort on a digital platform while being distracted and possibly confused. And most of all, let’s not forget that we, all of us, are in a CRISIS and have had to make a ton of life adjustments that are disruptions to our normal routines. This COVID-19 thing is...

College admissions offices are almost done with the class of 2020 and will quickly turn their attention to the class of 2021. When you and your child cannot visit in person, there are many ways to engage with the admission office via technology:
Parents, please share this with your kids:

Follow the colleges’ social media accounts (but make sure that YOUR accounts are clean first!)

#1 Subscribe to and comment on admission offices’ blogs.

#2 Sign up online for recruitment emails. This identifies you as a prospective student and puts your information in the college’s database.

#3 Open and, if appropriate, reply quickly to any emails you receive from colleges. Click through on the...

With the COVID-19 chaos and every college in the country now closed for the year, students and parents need to really evaluate if they want to or need to return to the same university. While your child may be “happy” where they are, the question is now: how productive will they be? 

College students are on the clock in terms of graduation. For families that are concerned about college costs, there is a lot of uncertainty about how some schools will handle finishing this semester and move forward in the fall. My fear is that the kids who were on the four-year-track may now need an extra semester or year to finish. 

• How will distance-learning credits count towards...

Many students in the class of 2021 are concerned about how they're going to be evaluated by colleges given the global pandemic and their SATs or ACTs possibly not being a part of their application. As of right now, most schools have not determined how they will handle this, but please know that colleges want to evaluate students based on their best selves. So if students don't have testing yet, they can in the fall, and we're hoping that we're all through this in the coming weeks or months.

Colleges understand that this is a stressful time. Remember, the administrators and admissions officers are all working from home and most likely are quarantined to some capacity too. What the next few months...