Our Blog

July 21, 2025

Colby College may not be a household name in exactly the same way as other schools boasting single-digit acceptance rates (e.g., Harvard, Yale, etc.), but make no mistake—this small...

July 18, 2025

According to the Harvard Youth Poll, 33% of college students are uncomfortable sharing political opinions on campus. That’s a 20-point increase from 2015. This survey not only speaks to...

July 18, 2025

Fairfax County, Virginia is home to one of the most competitive K–12 ecosystems in the United States. Families have access to powerhouse public schools—Langley, McLean, Madison, Oakton, Woodson, Robinson,...

July 18, 2025

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, often abbreviated as UIUC, just admitted its largest freshman class in school history and now serves approximately 34,000 undergraduates. Boasting one of the...

July 18, 2025

Tom Cruise’s iconic Princeton University interview in the ’80s classic Risky Business leads his character, Joel Goodson, to receive an against-all-odds letter of acceptance. Back in 1983 when the...

July 17, 2025

Bethesda sits eight miles from downtown Washington, D.C, yet functions as its own dense economic engine. Lockheed Martin runs its global corporate headquarters from a campus on Rockledge Drive....

July 16, 2025

Bethesda sits at the intersection of two powerful forces in American education. First, it has an unusually strong public school system. Second, it sits directly beside the federal research...

July 16, 2025

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of the top public universities in the entire United States. Top-ranked computer science, engineering, and business programs, in particular, attract an endless...

July 16, 2025

When I taught first-year students at the University of Iowa, some of my favorite students were my adult learners. They already had so much of the emotional intelligence that...

July 16, 2025

Penn State University’s University Park campus, affectionately known as “Happy Valley,” has long been a favored destination of Keystone State residents, many of whom have adopted the Nittany Lion...

July 15, 2025

Bethesda sits just outside Washington, D.C., and few suburbs send students to selective colleges at a higher rate. The community’s wealth, its proximity to federal agencies, and a deep...

July 15, 2025

The Most Common College Admissions Mistakes Milwaukee-Area Families Make and How to Avoid Them The Milwaukee metro region is home to some of the strongest high schools in Wisconsin....

July 15, 2025

Unlike its Ivy League peers, the undergraduates at Brown University shy away from a competitive, cutthroat classroom atmosphere in favor of a more intellectually curious, artsy, and progressive vibe....

July 14, 2025

Families raising college-bound teenagers in Bethesda, Maryland compete in one of the most academically saturated markets in the country. Indeed, Walt Whitman High School ranks 2nd in Maryland and...

July 14, 2025

In the wake of the Varsity Blues scandal of 2019, it’s not hard to come up with a number of cynical, mocking responses on the topic of “How to...

July 14, 2025

Many of the 26,000+ annual applicants to MIT would qualify as “geniuses” when measured by sheer IQ and traditional academic achievement. Yet, somehow the majority of this highly capable...

July 14, 2025

The oldest Jesuit institution in the U.S. is also among the nation’s most elite undergraduate universities. What’s more, its popular Washington, DC, locale helps draw massive numbers of applicants...

July 13, 2025

Inflation is a big-ticket news item right now, even in a time of many big-ticket news items. The news cycle repeats its concerns in blaring color—inflation, tariffs, general instability—parroting...

July 10, 2025

Gainesville is built around a research university. As a result, that fact shapes nearly everything else about the city. UF’s campus sits at the center of town, not at...

July 10, 2025

Fairfield County, CT, families enjoy exceptional school systems, abundant extracurricular options, and a culture that values academic and personal achievement. Students here attend some of the top public and...