category: college admissions

parents are pretty important to the college application process. they help us with essays, take us on college trips and comfort us after rejections. and we are so thankful! but they can also definitely get on our nerves. if we were being completely honest, here’s what i think most of us would tell them:  …

bored by your own college essay? here are some tips that will liven it up, from ethan sawyer, aka the college essay guy! here are three tips to help you avoid writing an essay that’s, for lack of a better word, boring:   1. make sure the connections your essay makes are non-obvious and specific.…

it’s the worst place to find yourself—the night before your college apps are due with nothing but a blank word doc before you. check out these tips for how make it work even at the very last minute, from ethan sawyer the college essay guy. first of all, if there is anything in this bright…

remember that moment of excitement-relief-terror you experienced when you submitted your final college application? it didn’t last long. submitting college apps is a double-edged sword. on the one hand, you no longer have to spend countless hours perfecting personal statements, re-typing extracurriculars, entering numbers into forms, etc. that agony finally reached its end. on the…

many of us have already received responses from our early decision colleges. but the regular decision acceptance letter season is coming in just a few months. attitudes toward the correct behavior during this time vary. a lot of people don’t believe the admission decisions to be private and decide to tell everyone they know as…

about a week ago, i was rejected by stanford. here’s the thing: i would’ve been genuinely confused if the decision had been anything else. the rejection still hurt, though. rejection almost always hurts. there were definitely a few tears. as well as…an embarrassing amount on stanford-related youtube channels to unsubscribe from. i admit i ate…

so it’s time to start picking out colleges. this is exciting and scary at the same time! you will soon enter a whole new period of your life, when you will likely be living in a different place with people you’ve never met. of course, you’ve heard of a number of prestigious schools that you…

here’s another key tip to keep in mind for your college applications, from college essay guy ethan sawyer! the short answer is this: it’s okay to discuss religion in your essay as long as the take-away (or values) promoted in the essay are universal. here’s what i mean: in the past, i’ve had students write…

so you’re completing your college application and arrive at the dreaded “why us?” essay. what to do? here’s what ethan sawyer, the college essay guy, recommends! here are three quick tips to get you on the right track:   1. don’t write about the school’s size, location, reputation or the weather. why? because that’s what…

dozens of college essays are piling up. you have so much homework. you are totally overwhelmed. how can you possibly submit all of your applications by their deadlines? looks like it’s time for some… organization. here are my tips for keeping the application process as stress-free as possible.   go one school at a time.…