Big Picture

December 5, 2021

As colleges compete for your business in 2022, they often tout their shiniest new amenities—the Mall of America-size fitness center boasting a 35-foot rock climbing wall (University of Texas),...

June 23, 2021

“Bad” can be a very relative term, particularly when attached to high school grades. For a high-achieving teen with their eyes on gaining acceptance into a prestigious college, an...

March 9, 2021

Living in a society that is hyper-focused on selective college admissions, the moment a student receives an acceptance letter from their dream school can feel the victorious end of...

December 21, 2020

Back in 2012, a student at the University of Cincinnati won a restraining order against her parents for “stalking” her in college. They had installed spyware on their daughter’s...

March 13, 2019

Bribes and forgeries involving famous actresses, high-powered business executives, and a Stanford sailing coach—these sound like the ingredients for a tantalizing E! True Hollywood Story. Yet, strangely, we are...

March 26, 2018

“Holistic admissions, applications rise, demonstrated interest, SAT goodbyes…” There are enough hot-button issues taking center stage in the admissions world in 2018 to add a verse to Billy Joel’s...

September 1, 2015

As private college counselors, we are well-versed in the criticisms of school-based counseling.  Unavailable, inexperienced, misinformed—these are the words that some within our industry often use to describe the...

July 15, 2015

Now that you understand what research has to say about the contextual and often-limited benefits of attending a highly-selective school, you may have opened your mind to a few...

May 19, 2015

Pursuing your entire undergraduate degree abroad may sound like an extravagance reserved for the jet-setting upper-class, yet going to college in a foreign country can actually make excellent economic...

May 1, 2015

We begin with an analogy. Three racehorses: Cream of the Crop, Above Average, and Run of the Mill are selected by three trainers of varying quality to prepare for...

February 4, 2015

A simplistic view of higher education is that people emerge from four years of college with a specific skill related to their primary area of study: Education majors learn...

January 27, 2015

We’ll save the drama—even in an era of bloated tuition costs, ballooning student loan debt, and a weakened American job market, the answer to the general question of whether...

November 14, 2014

Inside Higher Ed, one of higher education’s leading news outlets, recently conducted a nationwide survey of college admission directors. The newly-released results are shocking, and reveal a profession entirely...

July 23, 2014

We frequently receive questions from students and families in reference to PayScale.com’s new college rankings, which sorts institutions on the basis of a calculated 30-year return on investment (ROI)....

June 5, 2014

In recent posts, we urged students to approach the college admission process with a “big picture” perspective and to consider long-term goals before “breaking the bank” on an expensive...

April 30, 2014

As college admission consultants, we are aware of the negative labels attached to our profession. In a field occasionally described as exorbitant, unregulated, and even predatory, we work hard...

March 29, 2014

Prior to the 1920s, attendance at a top-flight prep school was nothing less than a prerequisite for admission into an Ivy League college.

February 23, 2014

In their quest for acceptance, college applicants often fail to see the bigger picture.  They obsess over “getting in,” while ignoring current realities about the value and role of...

February 6, 2014

In the throes of the admissions frenzy, it is hard to be face-to-face with a college representative and ask anything other than a thinly veiled version of “Are you...

December 20, 2013

The lure of an elite undergraduate institution is undoubtedly very powerful.  And if you have the credentials and money to comfortably matriculate, by all means… However, if finances are...