As August 1st approaches and deadlines loom, it’s easy for students and parents to go into the high alert phase. Common App opens for you, class of 2023. It’s time to add your colleges to the application. You have completed the Common App part of the Common App (or should have) and the Common App essay is in good shape. Whichever supplemental essay prompts were unknown will be there for us to see on August 1st. So many details and so much work! But is it really? After adding

The truth: Princeton and Stanford, among others, are not disclosing their admit rates. Harvard, Columbia, and MIT had admit rates under 4%. Sixteen colleges and universities now have admit rates under 10%. Some admit rates dropped precipitously in one year: New York University from 21% in 2021 to a 12.2% admit rate in 2022. Northeastern University is now an “unlikley” for all applicants. Test-optional policies and grade inflation caused by the pandemic drove this huge increas

From a Kaplan survey of College Admissions Officers: 68 percent said that a 3, 4, or 5 on an AP exam generally earned a student college credit. 66 percent said such a score would earn a student the right to skip entry-level courses. Only 22 percent said it would result in a boost in an applicant's chances of admission. Surprised? Even though well over half of the responding colleges gave college credit for a 3, less than a quarter said a score of 3, 4, or 5 would provide any

Holly Shulman Consumer Behavior and Marketplace Studies Major Ever since I visited my sister Abby at University of Wisconsin-Madison when I was in 7th grade, I knew Wisconsin was my dream school. I fell in love with the city-like campus as well as the school spirit that was evident after a short conversation with any student. Throughout the college process, I made sure to keep an open mind, but always knew I wanted to go there. After receiving my acceptance in December 2020,

Lindsay Arone I just finished my freshman year at the University of Miami, and I absolutely loved it! I am a psychology major on the pre-law track. With psychology being such a large major, it was slightly stressful picking classes, but everything always worked out. I had great experiences with my professors as well. Classes were on the larger side, but each professor was eager to help me when I approached them. I did very well academically this past year and I owe that in pa