Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Letters of Continued Interest ...

Getting waitlisted or deferred from your dream school is hard. We know it’s hard! You feel rejected, but it’s this weird non-rejection rejection that can leave you feeling lost and confused. And while a lot of things in college admissions are totally out of your control, there is something you can do if you’ve been waitlisted or deferred to give yourself another chance. A letter of continued interest, sometimes known as a waitlist letter or deferral letter, is one of the few, actionable things you can control when admissions decisions seem so out of your control. It’s your only chance to make a good second impression, and we help students write them every single year.

Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Getting Waitlisted 2025

Getting waitlisted is the ultimate limbo – it’s not not a rejection, but it’s not a full-on denial, either. And depending on your circumstances, you could be feeling everything from mild disappointment to full-on panic. Don’t get yourself into a tizzy just yet, because there are things you can do to give yourself a shot at getting off the waitlist and make sure that you have a plan in place for the next year.

Caroline Koppelman
Best Early Decision II (ED2) Schools 2024-2025

Hey, look, sometimes ED doesn’t work out the way we want it to, and we have to change strategies. If you just got rejected or deferred from your ED/EA option, we’d like to introduce you to our good friend, Early Decision 2. ED2 is just as binding as ED, and it signals to the school that you are serious about attending that school, and guess what? Schools like when you’re serious about them.

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.

neurodiverse

College Advisor for High Schools Students with OCD

Teenagers with OCD face significant challenges during the college application process; the anxiety and rumination over the process itself are tacked onto the intrusive thoughts, compulsions, and obsessions they already have to deal with on a daily basis. The college application process can be especially triggering for students with OCD, which is why they benefit so much from working with us.

College Advisor for High School Students with Depression

When you have depression, getting out of bed or managing basic tasks can feel like a huge burden – now imagine stacking the stress of college on top of that with no assistance. Depression often comes with other mental health struggles, like anxiety, and those conditions can make it uniquely difficult to manage the college process. But, that’s where we come in.

College Advisor for High School Students with PTSD

PTSD is hard to deal with, especially for teenagers. Not only have you experienced an awful trauma, but now you have to deal with the aftereffects. Students with PTSD may struggle with hypervigilance, disassociation, fatigue, problems with making decisions, or detachment from their surroundings. These symptoms can make planning for the future really difficult. Now, this doesn’t mean students with PTSD are doomed, it just means they need help and support to make the most of the college prep process.

College Advisor for High School Students with Executive Dysfunction or Executive Functioning Disorder

Executive dysfunction, sometimes called executive functioning disorder, is not typically a standalone diagnosis, but rather a set of symptoms that go along with many different mental and physical illnesses. Executive dysfunction is often thought of as a byproduct of ADHD, but it is also seen in kids with depression, anxiety, autism, epilepsy, MS, and kids with repeated concussions and head injuries. What exactly causes executive dysfunction varies, but the impact on students is the same.

Best Colleges for Autistic students

Neurodiverse students deserve to go to college. If you want to go to college, you should. However, if you are autistic, you might want to find a school with a specialized program that can better support your integration into college life. Many autistic students decide they don’t need this and that’s fine too. But if you are nervous about college and want a college that has a program for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, we wanted to compile a list of your best options.