Tales From Both Sides of the Gate

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December 13th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

How Much Admissions Transparency is Too Much?

by CollegeSolved

Heath Einstein, Associate Director of College Counseling at The Hockaday School

“Mr. Einstein! Mr. Einstein!  Tufts has already admitted thirty-three students!” shouted a nervous ED applicant.

“No, that’s not right.  They haven’t released their decisions yet,” responded a confident and seasoned counselor.

True enough, Tufts has not yet notified early decision applicants of their decisions. But my anxious senior was, nonetheless, moved to near-panic status after reading this from the Tufts admission blog: “The first 33 members of the Class of 2016 have been selected.”

There is power in the words we choose to use.  Never mind that this was the first sentence of a very long blog entry, this student, like hundreds of others I would guess, will be slicing and dicing those twelve words from now through AP Calculus at the end of her day, carefully analyzing if she is one of the lucky thirty-three.

Students know that their applications can be reviewed at anytime during this six-week march from November 1 through mid-December.  However, the specificity of identifying an exact moment when decisions are made only serves to heighten the anxiety a student already feels, like a defensive end slapping his counterpart on the offensive line on the shoulder following arthroscopic surgery.

I am all for transparency. But how much information is too much?

 

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November 17th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

Athletes, Billionaires and the Value of College Education: It’s About the Music, Not the Lyrics

by CollegeSolved

Heath Einstein, Associate Director of College Counseling at The Hockaday School

Earlier this week the National Basketball Association’s player’s union rejected the NBA’s latest proposal in the ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Opting not to acquiesce to Commissioner David Stern’s ultimatum, the union plans to decertify—in a legal maneuver that ultimately worked in the recent National Football League labor dispute—and file anti-trust lawsuits in federal court. The NBA lockout has already become more protracted than the NFL confrontation and this week players missed their first paycheck of the season, harshly reminding them of what this work stoppage is about. The average player missed out on their first installment of $220,000, according to CNBC. That’s right—the average player earns that figure on a monthly basis. Kobe Bryant, star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, lost $1.1 million.

*****

According to an October 26th College Board report, the cost of attending college continues to far outstrip inflation, continuing a decades-long trend. Private non-profit colleges increased tuition and fees by 4.5%. Perhaps even more alarming, public colleges increased tuition and fees by 8.3% for in-state students and 5.7% for out-of-state students. Federal financial aid dollars no longer cover the bulk of expenses and students are left to fend for themselves, seeking riskier private loans to make ends meet. Over the thirty-year period 1978-2008, the increasing cost of college was roughly three times the cost of living inflation. To put this in perspective, consider how much time our nation has debated overhauling our unwieldy health care system. President Obama and Congressional leaders negotiated ad nauseam in order to arrive at so-called “Obamacare,” a controversial program that is currently winding through the courts. And the rate at which college costs outpace inflation dwarfs the rate at which medical costs relate to inflation.

*****

NBA players and owners bicker over how to equitably distribute billions of dollars; at the same time, the bubble created by the way in which we finance education is bursting, causing a bottoming out which will further widen the gap between those who can and those who cannot afford college. An increasing percentage of our population is comprised of non-traditional students: lower income, first generation, minority, etc. These young men and women, most of whom strive for greatness, are being priced out from meaningfully contributing to society. The fabric of our culture is slowly fraying at the seams and the basketball overlords are quibbling over pennies on the dollar. Something is wrong with this picture.

*****

Last night I had the good pleasure of attending a reception for Fred Lawrence, the recently inaugurated president of Brandeis University. President Lawrence shared his thoughts about the value of the Brandeis education, the perfect blend between the close connections found at liberal arts colleges and the pre-professional experiences offered at research universities. When asked what makes his college special, President Lawrence described Brandeis as a school whose essence cannot be captured in enrollment numbers or pictures in brochures. Rather, Brandeis is a sense of spirit, energy, and camaraderie. It is a mission-driven institution concerned for the welfare of all. In a most eloquent expression, “Brandeis is about the music, not the lyrics.”

*****

Against a backdrop of highly-paid athletes confronting billionaire owners, college costs continuing to spiral out of control, and factions of society starting to question the value of higher education, students are wise to pay little heed to the lyrics that drive up those costs, and focus squarely on the music which provides value for that investment. Scores of colleges provide ample opportunity to listen to the soothing sounds of their music at affordable prices. The life of a college can be found in those cascading harmonic notes.

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November 4th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

Admit it. Write Here, Write Now

by CollegeSolved

Brian Crisp, Educational Consultant

College essays embrace an unusual genre, the personal essay. High school students are well-versed in research papers, comparative essays and persuasive arguments. Yet, very few have experience with composing the personal essay. The college personal essay is a precarious beast that should simultaneously relate personal growth while demonstrating that you are an enhancement to the school’s intellectual and social community. In addition, the personal essay must exemplify your abilities to write effectively and succinctly.
As many students are in the throes of addressing the personal essay, I would like to offer a two strategies essential in crafting an essay that will garnish the positive attention of admission officers.

Write Idea. Focus on your scholarly research and how this will enhance the university’s
academic community. Writing about hiking the Appalachian Trail or obsessively reading To
Kill A Mocking Bird will not distinguish you from other candidates with equal class rank,
grades and test scores. Instead of recounting your admiration of Atticus Finch or the red
pine of the Carolinas, enhance your essay with the research you’ve completed on forest
preservation for ecological and cultural conservation or the means with which Harper Lee
challenges notions of race and gender and its specific correlation with your own
understanding of humanity. Making your scholarly endeavors personal will pique curiosity
and demonstrate your potential to contribute to an academic community.

Write Hook. Since first impressions count and are indelible, the first sentence of your
personal essay is critical. With admission officers reading thousands upon thousands of
essays and spending fewer than seven minutes per application, you need to make your
first sentence memorable. Avoid all the sanctimonious and cliche statements about the
accolades of helping the poor children of Africa, idolizing the glories of the ivory tower,
recounting the challenges of barely making the basketball team or staying awake all night
contemplating your admission essay. Focus instead on a unique and personal attribute
that will grab your reader’s attention and induce a closer examination of your essay. The
following examples from student writings are great hooks:

Every morning at 5:30 a.m. my covers rustle and I feel the cold nose of the most
dependent responsibility of my life: my aging dog, Jackson.

When my school cafeteria banned tater tots, I was compelled to enter the political
spotlight.

Although I have no cape and look ill-fitted for skin-tight armor, I am my favorite super hero.
My nagging stepmother has been the sole impetus I have developed the extraordinary
ability to avoid shrill sounds and render myself invisible.

The personal essay offers students an opportunity to present their original and scholarly
voice to colleges. A unique essay with a strong scholarly commitment that reveals a
personal journey will easily delight and impress admissions officers. As applicant pools
grow with talented students with equal grades, scores and rank, the essay could be the
sole element that distinguishes you from your fellow applicants.

More About Brian Crisp

Brian Crisp, Independent Education Consultant
Brian is an independent educational consultant who works with families in Asheville, Charleston, and Savannah to optimize and realize their unique educational fit and admission success. As a former professor, administrator, and teacher, Brian has the knowledge and skills to counsel families in all aspects of educational planning.

To learn more about Brian and to speak with him about your admissions process

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November 2nd, 2011 by CollegeSolved

How to Waste Your Money Hiring a Private College Counselor

by CollegeSolved

Alumnus, University of Michigan and Co-Founder, College Solved

If you are considering hiring a private college counselor to help your student get in to the college of his or her dreams, chances are you are throwing your money away.  Don’t believe me?  Allow me to draw a parallel.

 

Let’s say you are a small business owner in Chicago.  You’ve been running a bakery for a few years and are thinking about expanding your reach.  You want to open up a new store in New York City.  You know Manhattan represents a large market for your baked goods and that the competition drives up real estate prices but you’re pretty sure your model can succeed.  So you start looking at real estate professionals to help identify your dream location.  So what is the right approach?

 

The obvious answer is you start to identify local real estate talent in and around New York City because those individuals have the most in-depth knowledge of the market.  Would it make sense to ask a trusted friend in Chicago for help?  Sure, if they could refer you to someone with vast knowledge of the NYC real estate marketplace.  But to hire a professional in Chicago to help with the Manhattan search?  It’s pretty easy to see that is a waste of time and money.

 

So if you live in Dallas and your student has his or her heart set on UCLA, why would you hire someone locally who is a college admissions generalist and an expert on UT-Austin admissions?

 

If you are thinking about hiring a private college counselor outside of word-of-mouth you’re in a bit of a jam.  It’s really, really hard to find a qualified counselor for your needs in your hometown.  The counselor market is totally fragmented and, even though there are a few professional associations top counselors belong to that can help you screen for quality (we’ll get to those soon), chances are you are part of the 99% that is unaware either of them or of the differences between them.

 

So, at this important crossroads in your student’s life, you are faced with hiring someone that you likely encountered through word-of-mouth from a trusted friend.  That counselor may be talented, but chances are they are not the perfect match for your student’s specific needs.  If you hire that professional, you’ve likely just wasted potentially thousands of dollars. At the least, you haven’t found the best person for your student’s needs.

 

Your child is different than your friend’s son or daughter.  They want to go to an Ivy, they have a learning difference, they want to be an NCAA athlete, they want to travel far from home, they want to do a gap year, they are interested in visual and performing arts.  Your friend’s counselor did a great job with your friend’s student but they aren’t right for your student’s needs.

 

Before we delve into the appropriate selection process for the perfect private college counselor, let me explain the landscape of college admissions.

 

The National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) is the most influential industry association in the college admissions space.  It’s a 75 year old non-profit with over 11,000 members, including Harvard, Stanford and all the college brand names you know.  The organization consists mostly of college counselors who work at private high schools as well as college admissions officers.  NACAC, quite simply, shapes the admissions landscape as we know it, from a membership and policy standpoint.

 

In the private college counseling world, the most influential organization is the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA).  IECA is also a non-profit association in the DC area that has been around since the 1970’s.  Its members are mostly owners of small consulting businesses and are regarded as the most well qualified counselors in the business.  Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William Fitzsimmons called IECA the “Harvard of the counseling profession.”  Professional members have Masters or PhDs, have visited 50+ colleges, come with personal and professional references, and are some of the most knowledgeable experts in the admissions field.  They include former admissions officers from a host of top colleges.

 

So what if a NACAC member organization partnered with IECA to screen, qualify, and profile the top college admissions experts?  What if there was a service that quickly and easily allowed that small business owner in Chicago to find a trusted real estate professional in Manhattan with extensive knowledge of the NYC market?  As you probably guessed, CollegeSolved has done just that.

 

We are passionate about bridging what we call the information access gap in college admissions.  There are professionals out there who are qualified to get you the help that you need, but until now there was no way to find them easily.

 

We have over 160 admissions professionals in 28 states, Europe, Asia and Africa to help your family’s college search and admissions process.  There is a match for your needs and that professional may be local or may be across the country.  The majority of our experts have embraced distance counseling—they are helping students in countries like China everyday.  If you are lucky enough to live in a major city we may have the perfect match down the street.  That being said, I would recommend being open-minded to talented admissions professionals no matter where they may live.

 

At CollegeSolved we thought there had to be a better way—so we went out and created it.

 

So, let me rephrase my headline: hiring a private college counselor that isn’t the right match for your family’s needs is a waste of money.  To maximize value, hire the right expert.

 

Find the Right Private College Counselor For You

CollegeSolved has assembled the largest database of private college counselors available. Use our simple counselor search tool to narrow down our counselors by location, college expertise, experience, specializations and more. Once you’ve found the right one, we provide a free consultation over the phone, via email, or by video chat.

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Call us at 866-798-4479

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October 25th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

This is Who I Am – Take It or Leave It: The Admissions Essay

by CollegeSolved

Heath Einstein, Associate Director of College Counseling at The Hockaday School

When it comes to writing the college essay, the most common question students and parents ask is: What does the college admissions office want to hear? The answer, always delivered in an encouraging tone, is: There is no right or wrong answer. Colleges want to know whatever it is you’d like to tell them. Just be you.

That response is accurate, but it seems that students today eschew the I-learned-about-myself-by-hiking-through-the-Himalayas essay, once so prominent among high school seniors.

We live in more serious times now, an era that beckons people—even teenagers—to take a stand. No longer is it acceptable to be a relativist, arguing that humans lack innate morality and therefore anything goes. Indeed, universities ask students to make bold statements about their ideologies and cerebral passions.

Stanford University asks applicants to share what drives them in the “intellectual vitality” question on its supplement to the Common Application. Apply Texas, a common application of sorts for colleges in the Lonestar State, requires all students to respond to two essay prompts (with an optional third essay), one of which reads:

Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

The wording is almost identical to the second of six prompts from which students choose one on the Common Application.

“In His Last Days, Qaddafi Wearied of Fugitive’s Life”
-The New York Times

“U.S. Troops to Exit Iraq by Year-End”
-The Wall Street Journal

“The Euro Crisis: Time for Super Mario”
-The Economist

“How Occupy Wall Street Is a Rational Response to a System That’s Failed”
-The New Republic

All of these headlines pertain to the news of today (literally these are headlines taken from today’s news), issues that this generation has created and the next generation must resolve. The current economic, political, and social climates are rife with essay fodder.

Years ago I rarely saw students select this essay option; today, it’s commonplace. The cynical view is that students recognized that this was a less common theme and pursued this topic as a way to distinguish themselves in the competitive marketplace. I take a less myopic approach and believe that students in 2011 are more aware of the world around them, more thoughtful about how to solve the major crises of today, and more willing to stand on their own and say, “This is who I am—take it or leave it!”

If my assumption is true, then I am confident that those we entrust to carry the flag in tomorrow’s world will fare far better than we have.

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October 4th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

Early Decision: Admissions Offices Get Greedy

by CollegeSolved

Heath Einstein, Associate Director of College Counseling at The Hockaday School

 

Sports could once be counted on to fit into discreet blocks of time.  The big three in professional sports—MLB, NFL, and NBA—each took up roughly a third of the year, with minor blending on the seasons’ fringes.  Baseball was king of the summer, football took over when the air turned cold, and basketball took center stage in the late winter.  So embedded is our association of athletics with the calendar that out vernacular includes these relationships: March Madness, spring training, boys of summer, fall classic, Friday Night Lights, tailgate Saturdays, and the list goes on.  With mini-camps, OTA’s, and the incremental move toward year-round training, the lines delineating one sport from another have blurred.  Less than twenty years ago superstar athletes Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders played football and baseball at the highest levels.  Today, that would be nearly impossible.

Key dates on the college admissions calendar have become equally distorted over time.  Once upon a time the process was simple: apply in January; hear back on April 1st; decide by May 1st.  Sure, there were rogue colleges that didn’t follow suit, but that was the basic timeline.  Uh, Toto, we’re not at *Faber anymore.

Each year colleges jockey for position so that students will flood their mailboxes (this is figurative, of course, since nobody actually mails applications anymore) with application packets.  The thinking is: if we can respond to students earlier than others, we will drive up applications because anxious (read: desperate) teenagers want to know they will be admitted somewhere, anywhere!  Colleges shroud this truth by defensively arguing they need extra time to carefully review all the supremely qualified applicants.  The result is earlier and earlier deadlines.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the most prestigious and popular public universities in America, now has an early action deadline of October 15th, moved last year from the more standard November 1st deadline. This mirrors the early action deadlines at the University of Georgia, and the University of South Carolina, to name just two.  Auburn University’s early action deadline is even earlier—October 1st.  And two years ago, Wake Forest University thought it would be a good idea to open its early decision application in June.  Any student may apply under this binding plan at the completion of his or her junior year.  In June of my junior year I was thinking: “Dude, this is going to be a rad summer!”  I was not anywhere close to knowing where I would apply, let alone submitting a thoughtful application.

Early action and early decision deadlines are now June, October 1st, October 15th, November 1st, November 15th, December 1st, and January 1st (and probably some others, as well).  This is confusing to students, perplexing to parents, and anxiety-inducing to counselors.  The earlier these deadlines are pushed back, the less time students have to make important choices, and the less time counselors have to work with students on these important choices.  Counselors become paper-pushers, spending too much time pumping out less-than-comprehensive recommendation letters, and not enough time in front of kids.  Enrollment management professionals ought to consider the real world implications of their policies, not simply how it will impact “the numbers.”

When I was a kid the NBA Finals started around Memorial Day.  Now they don’t finish until after most high schools in this country have held their commencement ceremonies…just in time to fill in that first application.

*Fictitious college in the 1978 John Landis classic, Animal House.  Those who don’t immediately understand this cultural reference are too young to…well, just too young.

Where Can I Get In?

My Reading SAT Score

200

My Math SAT Score

200

My Writing SAT Score

200
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September 29th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

Colleges pitting early applicants against regular deadline submissions

by CollegeSolved

In the college admission process, shifting trends in application deadline options seem to be benefitting the institutions far more than prospective applicants. Take for example the recent phenomenon of Early Action schools that require a student to apply by November and do not alert the student of their acceptance or rejection until after the common January 1 regular decision deadline!

Wasn’t the incentive involved in applying early the benefit of knowing prior to the general admission deadline if a student had in fact been accepted?

Schools such as the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the University of Miami disagree. These institutions claim they have moved the alert date back due to application volume and shortages in staff. But, could it be that in an effort to manage their enrollment, the admission office wants an opportunity to have a “sneak peak” at the general admission pool prior to making decisions regarding those brave souls who have voluntarily entered the race early?

The following are a smattering of colleges that take their time in making Early Action admission decisions:

School Deadline Response Type
Furman Nov. 15 Feb. 1 Early Action
U Conn Dec. 1 Feb. 1 Early Action
U of San Diego Nov. 15 Jan. 31 Early Action
JMU Nov. 1 Jan. 15 Early Action
UNC Oct. 15 end of January Early Action
Chapman Nov. 15 Jan. 10 Early Action
Wake Forest Nov. 15 Jan. 15 Early Decision
Dickinson Dec. 1 Feb. 1 Early Action
U of Miami Nov. 1 Feb. 1 Early Action
Centre Dec. 1 Jan. 15 Early Action
Bowdoin Nov. 15 Dec. 31 Early Decision
CNU Dec. 1 Jan. 15 Early Action
Mt. Holyoke Nov. 15 Jan. 1 Early Decision
Rhodes Nov. 15 Jan. 15 Early Action
Holy Cross Dec. 15 Jan. 15 Early Decision
Pitzer Nov. 15 Jan. 1 Early Decision

To gain the Avery Advantage, if you are applying early to a college with an alert date that follows the traditional January 1 deadline, be certain to complete and submit your Plan B college applications by their appropriate deadlines or suffer the consequences of the often regretted wait-and-see blunder.

More About Erin Avery

Erin Avery, Independent Education Consultant Erin is a licensed Independent Educational Consultant and member of IECA.
With 9 years of experience and expertise in admissions at top schools throughout the country, Erin can provide the inside track for finding and applying to your top schools.

To learn more about Erin and to speak with her about your admissions process

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September 16th, 2011 by Greg Fitzgerald

College kids still love junk food… but which is the best?

by Greg Fitzgerald

Greg Fitzgerald, Alumnus Bucknell University, CTO & Co-founder of CollegeSolved

CollegiateChat students' favorite college foods
CollegiateChat students’ favorite college foods

What was your favorite place to eat in college?  At Bucknell University, in the empty reaches of central Pennsylvania, our options were limited.  Sure we had a great cafeteria and student union eatery, but the off-campus choices (for poor college students) were a bit lacking.  The standard fast-food staples of McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s were always available (in fact, we’d often get fries from McDonalds, drive to BK to get a burger, and then hit Wendy’s for a Frosty all in one trip – what freshman 15?), but the real gem was the Sheetz MTO about a half hour down the road.  It must have been popular, because they opened a new one less than 5 minutes from campus a few years ago.

What  does this trip down clogged-artery memory lane have to do with…well anything?  Simple, the fact that unless you went to Bucknell, you probably didn’t know anything about the best places to eat, or hang out, or catch a movie, or get a coffee.  It’s the kind of information you can’t fully appreciate without talking to someone who’s been to the school – or even better someone who is currently there – I wouldn’t have known about the new Sheetz except for a trip back for reunion.

That’s really the driving force behind the CollegiateChat network that we’ve put together.  We want to provide access to thousands of students at hundreds of colleges across the country, so that you can find out what that school is really like, and if it’s right for you.  Want to know where to eat at Bucknell?  Call and ask Matthew.  How’s the Performing Arts program at Brown University?  Give Madeleine a ring.  Where else can you find an open, honest opinion from someone who’s actually experienced the things you’re interested in.

Oh, and we’ve already gone ahead and asked a few of our students their favorite places to eat.  Check out the Wordle image in this post to see their favorites.  Run for the border.

 

 

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September 13th, 2011 by Andrew Ullman

College Search on the Web: The Gameboy May be More Innovative

by Andrew Ullman

Andrew Ullman, Alumnus, University of Michigan and Co-Founder, College Solved

College search is, and has been for some time, a broken process.  There exists a vast divide between those in the know and the majority of students and families searching for the right fit.  If the Internet, in its purest form, is a mechanism for connectivity, it stands to reason that the great divide should be shrinking over time.  Yet here we are, approaching the 2011-12 school year with a new crop of over two million college-bound high school seniors, just as confused as students before them; before the days of social networks and rapid-fire instant gratification.

I grew up in a public school household in Scottsdale, Arizona.  I’m not aware of any cases of private high school education in my family until I went to a parochial school in Phoenix called Brophy College Prep.  It was a great education but, not surprisingly, even at a school deemed to be tops in the state, my guidance counselor didn’t know my name.  So, my college decision process was very similar to most other students at the time: random and with some family guidance.

My grandfather sailed into Detroit Harbor from Buffalo in the roaring 20’s to get to the University of Michigan—I took America West Airlines.  I had an amazing experience and loved every minute in Ann Arbor.  My path was set from an early age so I feel lucky to have had a college that met my criteria also be one that was a family tradition.  Michigan offered me the chance to find just about anything I wanted on the academic side while providing an amazing sports atmosphere.

My business partner and co-Founder of CollegeSolved, Hayward Majors, had a slightly different story with a similarly lucky outcome.  He’s from a small town in southern Virginia where he went to a public high school.  With little assistance from his guidance department, his family helped his search by implementing a rule that he stay within three hours of home.  For a southern kid, it doesn’t get much better than early admissions to Duke.  Season tickets to Cameron Indoor Stadium for basketball games and a great education are things to be proud of, especially when his business partner (me) gets to tag along to some of those games!

To be fair to our former guidance departments, the game has certainly changed since we were involved in the late 90’s.  Colleges have only gotten harder to get into over the years and with the Common App, students are applying to more and more schools.  I know my former high school now has a dedicated college counseling department.  So the high schools have changed, the colleges have changed, yet the tools available to students have taken a generally stagnant path.

So as I reflect on what life was like in 1996 and how different it is in 2011, I have a lot of questions.  Gas was around $1.20 per gallon.  The DVD came out—but only in Japan.  eBay launched.  The Nintendo 64 arrived.   Needless to say we have come a long way since the days of my college search.  It begs the question why the college search and admissions process hasn’t evolved in a similar fashion?  We at CollegeSolved have some guesses, but we’re not here to harp on the past.  We’re here to usher in the future.

College search and admissions should be about leveraging the best the web has to offer and then taking the conversation offline.  It’s this virtual-to-personal approach that we’ve been working on at CollegeSolved and are proud to launch to the public.  We believe that we’ve created a set of tools that will bridge the gap between millions of web-savvy, eager high school students and the educational opportunities they seek.

College search tools just got a major upgrade.  No longer do students need to enter scores of data only to hit “search” and get a list of either 1,000 colleges or none that match their requirements.  Our search tool is set up like Kayak, where users can see how all of their inputs (test scores, majors, miles from home) automatically adjust their search to get down to a manageable list of colleges.  This allows you to tweak your search so you can see how changes you enter affect your college list.  From there, students can compare schools side by side and see how they stack up by entering their test scores and such.  You can even see graduation rates and expected post-graduation salary by college.

Perhaps you already have a few schools in mind.  Start your research on our site, the only place to see how you fit in, personality-wise, with students at hundreds of colleges.  Once you find a good fit, you can talk to one of our currently-enrolled college student ambassadors for free to get the real scoop.  You schedule a time that’s convenient for both you and the college student, and we connect you on the phone privately and securely with no email or name exchange.

Finally, should you need help that’s not being provided in your school either with search or admissions at schools you’ve chosen, you can tap our expert network.  Through our partnership with the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), a 35-year old non-profit called “the Harvard of the counseling profession” by Harvard Dean William Fitzsimmons, we bring the most qualified admissions experts to you, regardless of where you live.  If you live in New York and want to go to school at Stanford, you can find a former Stanford admissions officer across the country to help you with your search.  If you want to be an NCAA Athlete we have experts who specialize in that or a number of other student backgrounds.

At CollegeSolved, we have built our business around the mantra that college search on the web can be better and that those in the know, current college students and admissions experts, should be available to assist in the process.  We’re excited to act as the conduit that connects students searching for a match with the services and people that will help them make informed decisions.  Better guidance yields less transfers, more focused students, and a better education.  Time to retire the old Gameboy.

Where Can I Get In?

My Reading SAT Score

200

My Math SAT Score

200

My Writing SAT Score

200
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September 12th, 2011 by CollegeSolved

College Admissions and the Jersey Shore Connection

by CollegeSolved

Faraz Fatemi, Senior, Junipero Serra High School

Monday: Go to school, go to a club meeting, go to the gym, finish my homework, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS

Tuesday: Go to school, go to a doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointment, finish my homework, go to the gym, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS

Wednesday: Go to school, go to another club meeting, finish my homework, go to my community college business course, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS

Thursday: Go to school, go to practice, go to the gym, finish my homework, watch Jersey Shore, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS

Friday: Go to school, go out to lunch with my friends, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS, go to that one party everyone at school was talking about

Saturday: Go to the gym, go to practice, go out to lunch with my family, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS, go to another party

Sunday: Watch the 49ers Game, WORK ON COLLEGE APPS, finish all my weekend homework that I regret having left until Sunday night

Notice a trend? The one mainstay of my hectic senior year schedule has become working on one of my various college applications. Not gonna lie though, I’m loving every minute of it. You’d think that twelve college applications wouldn’t take THAT long and me, having started on the day that the Common Application was released to the public in late July, should’ve been done a long time ago. But I, like tens of thousands of high school seniors across the world, am spending a majority of my time attempting to craft an essay or a resume or an application that will allow me to gain admission to the college of my dreams, whichever school that may be. We are working at all times of the day, putting blood, sweat, and tears in anticipation of that cold, rainy day in April (or January for Early Action/Early Decision students) when we receive the letter that will ultimately determine our future.

As many students know by now, there are various components that go into the whirlwind commonly referred to as the college application. Everything from finding the right college to standardized testing to transcripts to a flurry of essays and supplements make it a rather arduous process. For me, the high and low points both came on the same step: the Common App Personal Statement. I spent the first three years of my life as a high school student compiling list after list of potential colleges and slowly narrowing the list down after visiting a variety of different schools, receiving numerous brochures in the mail, and utilizing multiple online college-matchers and screeners. In retrospect, I wish I had known about CollegeSolved before I began, as that would’ve made things so much easier. But anyways, after three years of research I was able to enter senior year with a list of colleges that I wanted to attend and I knew would be good fits for me. As I began working on applications, I knew that my grades were finalized and could not be changed, my test scores likely were as high as they were going to get, and the activities I had completed during my wonderful three years and counting of high school would more than fill up all the “Extracurricular Activities” slots on all the applications. The one thing that I could influence, however, was that Personal Statement. Those 250-500 words (although nobody I know has actually abided by that word limit) could very well make or break my application. I cranked up my laptop and got to work, churning out essay after essay about a variety of irrelevant topics in hopes of coming up with a single essay capable of “wow-ing” an admissions director. Six essays, two cartridges of printer ink, and many screams, tears, and paper cuts later, I had an epiphany: I was only going to submit one of these essays, so, as in life, quality trumps quantity. I had to pick a single essay to write, and this only added to the frustration I was experiencing with the process. I utilized every resource available to me, from counselors at my school to my parents to my friends to my ten-year-old little brother, polling everyone to come up with the topic I could best develop. Finally, I reached a point where only one essay stood out, and I took it and ran. After reviewing about ten different essay guides and revising my essay over fifteen times, I had quite possibly the most gratifying moment of my young life: hitting the “Upload Document” button on the Common App Writing Section.

The main advice I’d give for high school students who are either about to begin or have already begun this daunting process is to start as soon as possible, exhaust every possible resource you have in completing the components of the application, and just be yourself and be honest in everything you submit. And yeah, the application is very important in deciding your future, but after you click send there is nothing to do except sit back, relax, and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is senior year. We’re only seniors once, so let’s make the most of it. Good luck to all high school seniors and I hope we all get into the schools we want to attend in next fall!

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