Caroline Koppelman
Why This College Essay Question Guide and ...

Why do you want to go to school here? If there’s one prompt you are certain to write more than once, it’s this one. This prompt comes in a few different flavors, but at the end of the day, they all want to know why their school is the perfect school for you and why you’re the perfect student for them. No pressure or anything.

Caroline Koppelman
Official Common App Essay Guide 2024-2025

We’ve spent the last few weeks breaking down the Common App essay prompt by prompt, and today we’re going to give you our ultimate guide to writing the Common App essay. There might be seven different prompts, but ultimately, all schools want the same thing from their applicants’ Common App essays: a story.

Caroline Koppelman
Rejected Early Decision from Columbia 2023

Getting a rejection in the Early Decision round is definitely not easy. But the good news is, it’s really just the start, and that one rejection has no bearing on how you’re going to do with other, similarly competitive schools. The thing about Early Decision is it comes alone and it comes first. It’s sometimes easier to tolerate a rejection when it’s preceded by several acceptance letters. College admissions are extraordinarily competitive these days and the Ivies are just more competitive than any other time or place in history. That’s it. It doesn’t get harder. And Columbia in particular has just a 4% acceptance rate! So, if you’ve been rejected in the Early Decision round, don’t despair. We have some advice about how you might go forward. (And don’t worry, it’s really not that much more work!)

Caroline Koppelman
Deferred by Harvard — Now What? (2023-24)

If you’ve been deferred by Harvard, you are not alone. Harvard is notorious at this point for deferring an enormous percentage of early admission applicants. While most elite colleges with early admissions programs, like early decision and early action, only defer students they are seriously considering for the next freshman class, the statistics Harvard has released on early admission suggest that they take a very different approach.

Caroline Koppelman
Writing the “Why This College” Essay

Even though every college has slightly different supplementary application materials, you’ll likely run into a variation of one question more than any other: “Why do you want to attend this school in particular?” It’s every institution’s way of saying, Let’s cut to the chase. Why us?

AP classes

Classes to Take in High School for Engineering

If you want to get into the engineering school of your dreams, you are going to have to show you are serious about engineering and that you have some math and science chops. Elite engineering programs are competitive. Taking the right classes will help your application compete. So what classes should you be taking in high school if you are engineering school bound? Let’s break it down.

How Will the Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and Tests?

It’s Monday, many schools across the country are out for the next three or more weeks across the country, and this is just the beginning. Over the next few weeks, teachers will be working on designing and implementing remote learning. Still, there is sure to be a steep learning curve that isn’t helped along by the fact that 19 million Americans don’t have access to reliable internet. With so much up in the air, it’s hard to guess what will come next, but it is entirely possible that schools will not invite their students back onto campus until fall. Yes, fall.

What Classes Should I Take Junior Year of High School?

We get a lot of questions about which classes kids should take senior year. Somewhat surprisingly, this can be a contentious topic. While we always want to encourage our students to follow their hearts, junior year can be make-or-break and your course load and schedule are crucial components. We have a bit of advice for students who are really grappling with the potential academic paths ahead: keep trucking along.

What Classes Should I Take Freshman Year of High School?

We sometimes work with families as early as 9th grade, but oftentimes we don’t start working with them until after they’ve begun their freshman year. This means that they’ve already selected and started their classes. Class selection is a big task that we tackle with each and every one of our students, and because we often miss out on this process with 9th graders, we wanted to clue every rising freshman (and their parents, who we’re going to assume are reading this right now. Hi.) in on some considerations to have when you’re making your class selections.

What Classes Should I take as a Junior in High School?

When it comes to picking classes for junior year (and all years, really) it’s important to keep in mind that you’re positioning yourself to apply to college. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for an admissions counselor to discern what you want to major in and what your academic interests are. You’re painting a picture of who you are, and your class list is one of the ways to showcase your talents and interests.

Will Taking Harder Classes (honors, AP, advanced, IB) Help me get into Top Schools?

We receive dozens of the same questions during every single application season. They range from questions about testing, grades, time management, and class selection, but we want to make sure that you know we hear you. Every time you email us, we reply to each individualized question. But in order to make this knowledge as accessible as possible, we’ve started to address these questions in the public forum (on the blog) so that you can understand our stance on the hot topics of college applications. Let’s get started with a question that plagues every single student around this time of year as they’re selecting classes for next year: “Should I take the AP class?”

What Tests Do I Need to Take for Undergraduate Admission to a Top School?

Testing is a big part of your high school academic experience the college application process. From figuring out which standardized tests to take to determining AP testing, regional state required exams, as well as your midterms and finals, there’s a lot to balance. It’s not just you; it can be overwhelming for everyone. Let us break it down for you: