Posts by Dave Bergman:

Is Newport Beach a Good Place for College Admissions?

Posted on: 31 Jul 2025

Newport Beach sits on a stretch of Orange County coastline known for harbor views, Balboa Island, and a major bond investment firm. Families here often want to know how the local school landscape holds up for selective college admissions. The answer, in short, is layered. Newport Beach offers strong public options and a genuinely useful […]

Runway to Anywhere: Getting into Top Colleges from Mesa, Arizona

Posted on: 31 Jul 2025

Mesa sits in an unusual spot in the national admissions landscape. It is the third-largest city in Arizona, with a population approaching 520,000. Yet it rarely appears in the college counseling conversation the way smaller, better-branded cities do. Families here default comfortably toward Arizona State University in nearby Tempe. That gravitational pull is understandable. ASU […]

Virginia Tech Supplemental Essays 2025-26 — Prompts & Advice

Posted on: 31 Jul 2025

Unlike many other public institutions with notable strengths in the areas of business, computer science, and engineering, Virginia Tech’s acceptance rate does not yet strike fear into the hearts of prospective applicants (although it has fallen from 70% to 55% in the past four years). However, it is important for wannabe Hokies to be aware […]

How to Get Into Clemson University: Acceptance Rate & Strategies

Posted on: 31 Jul 2025

Clemson University, a public land-grant institution located in South Carolina, is home to more than 23,000 undergraduate students. After receiving an all-time record of 60,000+ applications in 2024, it is fair to say that becoming a Clemson Tiger has never been a more common goal for stellar students in South Carolina as well as throughout […]

How to Get Into Colgate University: Acceptance Rate & Strategies

Posted on: 31 Jul 2025

Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, has long been a highly selective liberal arts school, but its popularity among top-of-their-class teens has exploded in the last couple of years. In fact, the amount of applications received has nearly tripled since 2020, leading to a Colgate acceptance rate that inches closer to single digits every year. […]

How to Get Into Middlebury: Acceptance Rate & Strategies

Posted on: 31 Jul 2025

Situated in scenic Addison County, Vermont, Middlebury College is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 liberal arts schools in the United States. While not quite as selective as the likes of Amherst, Swarthmore, or Bowdoin, Middlebury has extremely high standards for prospective applicants and rejects about 90% of those who apply. Middlebury has […]

How to Get Into Pepperdine University: Acceptance Rate & Strategies

Posted on: 30 Jul 2025

Pepperdine University is a rare institution that is ranked by U.S. News as a top 100 school while also having an acceptance rate of just under 63% last year. This private Christian university, located in gorgeous Malibu, is home to 3,500 undergraduate students. If you’re dreaming of joining them in the fall of 2026, this […]

How to Get Into Tulane: Acceptance Rate and Strategies

Posted on: 29 Jul 2025

Oh, to be alive in 1998…we watched with childlike naiveté as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa launched home run after home run assisted by their “totally natural” superhero muscles, the dotcom bubble continued to balloon every time a new domain was registered, and Andrew Johnson was still the lone president ever to have been impeached. […]