Apply. Compete. Succeed.  Blog

It’s that time of year again when U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) ranks the top universities in the United States. To virtually no one’s surprise, it once again came down to a battle between Harvard and Princeton for the number one slot. These two universities typically fight it out to be number one in the magazine, and this year it happened to be Princeton.

Read More

I’ve been an independent college consultant for fourteen years. I’m very good at what I do, but I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert in everything and I am not the best fit for every family. For example, I am not a good fit for families looking at boarding schools or for students with special needs. When I’m not the best fit for a family, I try to refer them to someone who might.

I often encourage families to research many independent college consultants – one size does NOT fit all. Families should make a decision about a private college consultant based on answers to these six questions:

Read More

I am currently finishing Gregg Easterbrook’s The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America. It is one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read about football, and as someone who’s been a lifelong football fan, it was an eye-opener to put it mildly.

The author’s basic premise is that contact football grievously injures tens of thousands of young people every year from elementary school up to and including the pros. However, while concussions are a major focus concerning the NFL today, Easterbrook makes a much more salient point: the vast majority of concussions happen well before a player ever reaches the NFL (if that happens, which is unlikely), and indeed we need to focus on high school and college football if we are to address the epidemic of concussions.

What does this have to do with my college consulting? Many of my clients are scholar athletes, which is a good thing. However, occasionally I will have a client that is so addicted to a sport – including football – that they have dreams of making it to the pros one day. However, as Easterbrook notes in the book, the chances of winning the lottery are probably about equal to ever becoming a starter in the NFL. Indeed, most people will end their athletic career in their last year in college. Given that, Easterbrook makes a powerful indictment of parents who coerce or encourage their children to become virtual full-time athletes, instead of being scholars first, athletes second.

I recommend Easterbrook’s book immensely because it has much to say about our sports-saturated culture and also the very sorry epidemic of parents who misguidedly believe that sports is a ticket to a happier and wealthier life for their kids. It isn’t for the vast majority of students entering college.

Read More

On newsstands right now, US News and World Report ranks the top colleges and universities in the nation. No big surprise here - Princeton University is number one. Traditionally, Princeton and Harvard trade places at number one, like a game almost.

Read More

One uphill battle I have been fighting for a while (rather unsuccessfully, to be honest) is to convince high-achieving young women to apply to all women's colleges. Specifically, Wellesley, Smith, Scripps (among others). You would be surprised at just how few high school girls even consider these colleges. The reasons, as you expect, are due to the same-sex component; these students have been to coed schools their entire lives, and want (understandably) to go to a coed university. They also feel that they will have a rather strange existence as a college student without that coed component.

Read More

One of the biggest questions I get is should students take the SAT Subject Exams. The short answer is yes (it's a long story), but allow me to share my thoughts about this whole concept.

The Subject Exams are meant, in theory, to test a student's knowledge in a given discipline. Fair enough. It is meant to be a standardized exam, so no grade inflation will affect results from school to school. Understood.

But wait a minute: isn't this why we have AP examinations? Also, how much more anxiety to we have to keep throwing at high-achieving high school students? They need to keep their GPA's high, belong to half a million activities, take the ACT and/or (usually "and") SAT -- multiple times -- and still have something resembling a social life. Add to that admission rates lower than 6% at Harvard and Stanford, and . . .  do we really need MORE tests?

I've been an advocate for a long time to make the college application system more fair, efficient, transparent, and merit-based. This does nothing to further any of these goals.
Yet, we don't make the rules, we live by them, so in a nutshell, take the SAT Subject Exams.

Read More

One place where I studied for a term was McGill University. It is located in Montreal, and interestingly, is an English-language University in the middle of one of the largest French-speaking cities outside of France.

Increasing numbers of my students are looking at Canadian institutions (full disclosure: my mother remains a Canadian citizen), and I'm not surprised. They offer affordable options to American institutions, are generally of high quality, and Canada routinely is rated one of the top places in the world to live.
McGill is often called the "Harvard of Canada." I wouldn't go that far, but it is an amazing institution. The pros: great academics, located in the heart of one my favorite cities in the world, and a very international study body. The cons: most of the dorms leave much to be desired, McGill just does not command the same prestige as top-notch American universities, and believe me, you have not experienced a winter until you have lived in Montreal in January and February

McGill is often called the "Harvard of Canada." I wouldn't go that far, but it is an amazing institution. The pros: great academics, located in the heart of one my favorite cities in the world, and a very international study body. The cons: most of the dorms leave much to be desired, McGill just does not command the same prestige as top-notch American universities, and believe me, you have not experienced a winter until you have lived in Montreal in January and February

Read More

Working for 13 years as an independent college advisor, I am often asked by families if they should still be working with their high school counselor. My advice is an emphatic YES.

Read More