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?

UT Austin

Rejected Early Action from the University of Texas at Austin 2024-2025

UT Austin is a highly selective university whether or not you are a Texas resident, but it is much harder to get into from an out-of-state address than for those that live in Texas. The published acceptance rate sits around 30%, but that is completely useless as a gauge for out-of-state applicants, who have to face odds that are about one-fourth of that.

Deferred Early Action by the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) 2024-2025

Getting deferred is disappointing. Probably part of the reason you applied Early Action to the University of Texas at Austin was that it was a dream school or at least near the top of your list. Getting deferred might feel like a major setback; however, you didn’t get rejected, and this isn’t over yet. They are still reviewing your application, and there are a couple of things you need to do if you have been deferred by UT.

How to Write the University of Texas at Austin Supplement 2024-2025

The University of Texas at Austin has transitioned from being a well-respected state school a few decades ago best known out west to being one of the most sought-after universities by students across the country. Attending UTAustin as an out-of-state student is no small accomplishment. The overall acceptance rate of about 29%, is heavily skewed due to the preference given to in-state applicants. They are required to reserve the majority of seats for in-state applicants, so the acceptance rate for out-of-staters and international students is only about 12%. This is based on the most recently released Common Data Set.

How to Get Into UT Austin

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the flagship university in the University of Texas system, UT Austin. The public research institution in Austin, Texas, has over 40k undergrads. UT Austin is popular with students for many reasons, including research opportunities, great sports, school spirit, over 170 majors, its purposely “weird” home city, and being the #1 public university in the Lone Star state.