College Selection Process

It's an objective fact that in recent decades GPAs of high school graduates have trended upward. Currently, the most common grade in both high school and colleges classes is an A. The causes and effects of grade inflation are constantly the subjects of discussion. Therefore it should be no surprise that the average GPA for high school graduates is on the rise. "About half of American teenagers now graduate high school with an A average, compared with fewer than 40 percent in

I usually try to offer objective advice in my blogs; every person and applicant is different. I am aware that something that might seem like the obvious or right decision to me, might not be the right or obvious decision for someone else. However, reeeeeealy struggle to remain objective about legacy admissions (and if I'm honest I don't think any one is objective about it—it either benefits you or it doesn't). I continue to be surprised that it is still a thing. It feels like

13 years is a lot of post-secondary education. That is how long I spent in "college" after high school. First, four years of college (Um Yah Yah), followed by two years for my master's degree, and finally seven (grueling) years of doctoral studies. Yet, to the best of my memory, I don't think anyone asked me during all of those years why I was going to college (though I certainly asked myself that many times during those last seven years). Instead, most people asked me where

There was a time when getting into the college was basically a numbers game—GPA + test scores = your answer. Clean, simple… almost predictable. That kind of certainty is gone at many colleges. Colleges have traded spreadsheets for stories, formulas for context. Today’s admissions process asks a different question: not just how did you perform, but who are you in context? In this post, I break down formulaic vs. holistic admissions, why it’s happening, and what it actually mea

I love a good statistic. My friends and family joke that if there is an opportunity to win an argument using a statistic, I can recall the most obscure facts from memory. So I find it disconcerting when a statistic that seems clear, actually isn't. What I'm talking about here are admissions rates for public universities. Turns out those straightforward numbers aren't so straightforward when there can be wildly different admit rates depending on specific demographics (e.g. the

I remember the college visit tour I went on with my dad the fall of my senior year. The excitement, the anticipation, the anxiety. I had selected five colleges to visit, and there were certain campuses I was more eager to see than others. The college I believed was my top choice was the first stop on the trip. I am so grateful I visited before making my final college decision. After spending a full day there, including an overnight stay in the dorms, my perception changed co