Selecting a College vs. Being Selected by a College

Worries about “not being accepted” to a college are common, since most parents and students believe they’re at the mercy of an admissions officer’s decision. Often, students think, “How do I make my experience, like GPA, test scores and extracurricular activities, match the “right” selection criteria of (insert name of college)?” Few students turn the…

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The Early Admissions Arms Race

According to the Common Application, “around 860,000” applications were submitted on November 1, 2019 for Early Action, Early Decision and Regular Decision application deadlines, which for the first time, exceeded the “around 720,000” applications submitted last year on January 1 for traditional Regular Decision deadlines. The increasingly competitive nature of the college admissions process—evident in…

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The Unveiling of the Educational Meritocracy

As the saying goes, “For every system, there is a counter system.” And, the recent Federal indictments of 50 individuals only becomes the latest example of an educational counter-system. College coaches, athletic department administrators, parents, and Rick Singer, the independent college admissions consultant, collectively found a way around the admissions office, the “front door” of…

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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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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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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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