A test-optional college or university will not reject an application that lacks an SAT or ACT score. However, a strong score can still strengthen an application at that school, especially for merit scholarships or competitive majors. • Check each school's mid-50% test score range for admitted students. • Compare your student's score to that range, school by school. • Don't assume one school's test-optional policy tells you anything about another school's.

Before drafting, ask what quality this prompt Is seeking: resilience, curiosity, leadership, self-awareness. Writing toward that trait, rather than the literal topic, produces a sharper essay every time. • Re-read the prompt and underline the verb (it usually reveals the real question). • Name the trait the prompt is testing for before drafting an outline or a single sentence. • Check the final draft against that trait: does it actually demonstrate it?

In an early draft, feedback should stay almost entirely at the level of: what is this essay actually trying to show about the student, and does the structure support that. Line-level polish is the very last step, not the first one. What to do about it • Share a rough, even messy, first draft rather than waiting for a clean one. • Ask readers to respond to the structure and the "so what," not the sentence-level writing. • Save grammar and word-choice polish for the final one o

Five Things Every College-Bound Family Needs to Know This Week The Common App reopened, the FAFSA beta launched, college costs jumped 10%, elite schools doubled down on testing, and a federal judge let a major early-decision lawsuit move forward. Here’s what actually matters in each. By Dr. Nathan Hurwitz · College Admissions Consultant, Hurwitz Consulting · August 14, 2026 The 2026-27 admissions cycle is fully underway. In the span of two weeks, the Common Application re

Fit comes first: academic environment, size, location, and the specific programs or departments a student actually cares about. Reach, target, and likely balance comes second, once a fit-based shortlist exists. A list built this way is both a stronger application strategy and a more honest one.

Campus tours and test-prep calendars get most of the attention, but the more useful starting point is earlier and quieter: helping a student notice what they're actually drawn to. That can begin as early as freshman year, informally, through conversation rather than formal planning. Campus tours and test-prep calendars get most of the attention, but the more useful starting point is earlier and quieter: helping a student notice what they're actually drawn to. That can begin a

Parents frequently ask where to start the college conversation. The honest answer isn't a spreadsheet of schools; it's a single question: describe yourself in three sentences, using only things you've actually done.

Admissions offices at selective schools read essays in large volume each cycle, and essay readers are consistently trained to weigh voice and reflection over subject matter. The topic is rarely the problem. The absence of a distinct thinking pattern is. How to test for it Read the essay's last paragraph and ask whether it reveals anything that couldn't be true of dozens of other applicants. If the answer is no, the essay is describing an experience instead of demonstrating

Students pour weeks into the Common App personal statement and then, exhausted, treat the supplements as an afterthought. For most selective schools, that order of priorities is backwards.

Students pour weeks into the Common App personal statement and then, exhausted, treat the supplements as an afterthought. For most selective schools, that order of priorities is backwards.

Selective schools aren't assembling a class of generalists; they're assembling a class made up of specific contributors. One or two activities pursued for years, with a visible trajectory from member to officer to founder or lead, usually outweighs a list of eight clubs attended twice each.

Every admissions season, thousands of technically flawless personal statements get read, filed, and forgotten — not because the grammar was off, but because the essay could have been swapped onto a different student's application without anyone noticing.

Most college essays fail for the same reason — and it's not grammar. Here's the fix, plus a free Essay Brief download.

HIGHER ED INSIDER · FROM THE BLOG Edition 2026-12 February 16–20, 2026 $368MHARVARD ENDOWMENT TAX $280MYALE ENDOWMENT TAX $217MPRINCETON ENDOWMENT TAX 363STANFORD LAYOFFS 19%INT'L ENROLLMENT DECLINE 44%BORROWERS WITHOUT PRIVATE LOAN ACCESS Dear Parents and Guidance Counselors, This was the week the federal endowment tax stopped being an abstraction and started showing up as layoff notices. Stanford cut 363 positions. Princeton signaled cuts of five to ten percent across depar