College Acceptances Are Conditional

In Spring, Seniors can experience “Senioritis”, needing more effort to complete everyday homework, while coping with anxiety of waiting for college responses. In some cases, such a lack of motivation can lead to strategic missteps, from which the consequences can be destructive, especially for college admissions. All college acceptances are conditional or provisional. Often, one…

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Private Isn’t Always Private Anymore

Last summer, Harvard Admissions Dean William Fitzsimmons’ rescinded the acceptance of Kyle Kashuv, Parkland High School advocate, for a two-year old social media post, Dean Fitzsimmons deemed to be racist, stating: Harvard reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission under various conditions, including ‘ ‘if you engage or have engaged in behavior that…

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Congratulations to the Class of 2019!

Creative Marbles Consultancy is honored to have advised students who were accepted and will be attending the following colleges in Fall 2019: (Italicized college names are where students enrolled) Western U.S. Arizona State University, Barrett Honors College California Lutheran University Cal Poly, Pomona Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo California State University, Channel Islands California State…

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Advanced Placement Exam Registration Changes for 2019-20

The College Board, which administers Advanced Placement (AP) exams, will require students to register for May 2020 AP exams in November 2019. Alternatively, if students decide to register for the May 2020 exams after the November registration period closes, they’ll pay an additional $40.00 late fee.  Conversely, if students decide not to take the May…

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Only 2.43% Made the Cut

By definition, “highly selective college admissions” means more applicants denied than accepted. Harvard’s admissions results put the exclamation mark on the above statement. 98% or 40,003 people, a combination of “36,119 regular decision applicants, plus the 4,882 students deferred in the early action process” were denied admissions for Fall 2018. And, before assuming that applying Early…

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Early Admissions: “The New Normal”

In what’s increasingly becoming an “Arms Race” of admissions, more and more students are applying early admissions.  The higher admit rates during early admissions in comparison with the regular decision period seemingly indicates greater chances for admissions.  For the current Class of 2021, 14.5% of Early Action applicants to Harvard were admitted, while during Regular…

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Harvard’s Going to Admit Less Kids to “Play”

Everyone knows someone’s daughter’s boyfriend’s cousin’s auntie’s neighbor’s niece who was a 4.0+ GPA, perfect 1600 SAT scoring, president of her class who didn’t get admitted into the university of her choice.  Being admitted to college only on one’s merits is a persistent expectation, despite the evidence of “worthy” students being denied admissions every year.…

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Mind the Gap

Malia Obama recently became a famous representative of a Millennial trend, The Gap Year.  Defined as a “year-off” between high school and starting college, most “Gap Year-ians” aren’t just loafing around, playing video games and drinking Bobo teas all day.  For a generation raised on scheduled play-dates, year-round athletics, and regimented community service activities, the…

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Depth Over Breadth?

“Well-lopsided” is the new catchphrase in college admissions. In CMC’s recent conversation with an Ivy League admissions officer, she mentioned that the trend for applicants are either well-rounded, with depth in each activity or well-lopsided—which means if applicants are going to focus on one activity, like a sport, Olympic training should be in view for such a candidate. In…

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The “Inside” Track on College Admissions, Especially To The Ivy League

Kwasi Enin was recently accepted to all 8 Ivy League colleges – and offered these words of “wisdom” for future college applicants on The Late Show with David Letterman: In other reports, college admissions officers have recounted stories of being offered free surgical procedures from parents who are doctors in exchange for their kid’s acceptance,…

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Choosing Harvard: Thoughts About a “Prestigious” University

As Juniors and their families begin sizing up prospective colleges for application and weighing the value of a college’s reputation, I thought I’d share I came to be a Harvard graduate, along with thoughts about a recent New York Times article, Measuring College Prestige vs. Cost of Enrollment.  Quotes from the New York Times article will…

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