11th Grade

Embarking on the college journey feels like stepping into a world full of unknowns. With tests, essays, and recommendation letters swirling around, one important factor often gets pushed to the side — visiting colleges in person. That's where fly-in programs come in.

As the college admissions landscape has evolved, these are the more common questions I am getting from students and their families. Yes, grades and test scores remain pivotal, but that’s just the first hurdle. What makes the difference between being admitted, deferred, or denied is a student distinguishing themselves uniquely — what we call being "pointy.

The college application process is stacked with buzzwords, including the often-used “holistic review” and “hook.” Right now, more and more families are trying to decipher terms like “profile building,” “applicant profile,” and “telling your story.” What do these terms mean, and how do they differ?

Are you a natural linguist? Do you thrive on exchanging cultures? Did you grow up speaking multiple languages in your household?

By Tiffany, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor The summer season can be an impactful period in the college admissions process, and it is important to start planning for the longer break now. In fact, many universities prompt students to answer some variation of the “How did you spend your last two summers?” question in their supplemental essays.

By Jonathan, IvyWise Tutor Students around the world are confronted daily with the topics of social and racial justice, whether in their own experiences and communities or, at the very least, in the news and on social media. Students who care deeply about these topics or want to learn more about them might be wondering how to integrate them into their own lessons. There are numerous resources, such as the Zinn Education Project, which provide grade-level-specific teaching materials that center racial and social justice across a variety of subject areas, including art and music, world history and global studies, economics, and even math.

While we are not supposed to have favorite applicants in the admissions process, I will fill you in on my little secret; my favorite applicants to read at Johns Hopkins University were often the Biomedical Engineering (BME) applicants. I loved learning about their innovative solutions to the problems overwhelming healthcare. These students are always so creative, passionate, and excited about making their impact in the world through engineering.

By Kelly, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor Have you been drawing in a sketchbook since you were five? Did you receive national/international recognition for your fashion design work through competitions/awards? Are you involved with your community in arts-related initiatives such as mural painting projects?

By Carolyn, IvyWise College Admissions Counselors When I first begin speaking with students and their families about college, the tone of the conversation is often trepidatious. Students know that this process involves a lot of work and high-stakes decisions, and with that comes an understandable amount of stress. While I do not want to invalidate these feelings, too much stress can have detrimental effects on your mental and emotional health and may even cause some unforced errors along the way.

There are so many factors to consider when choosing a college. Students are thinking about everything from, “does this school offer the major I want to pursue?” to “will there be pick-up games of ultimate Frisbee on the quad?

“You know, there’s math in music” my piano teacher said as I lowered my hands from the keyboard. With one simple phrase, she sent my 12-year-old mind into a cyclone, questioning the sneaky places that math might also be hiding without warning. As the daughter of two accountants, I considered this statement as an attack on a whimsical, free flowing form of expression — all of the things I did not know math could be.

After schools across the globe suddenly transitioned to virtual learning models in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students struggled to adapt to their new online learning environment. Now, as schools make plans for the fall semester, we're seeing that online learning is likely to continue for many primary, secondary, and higher education students for the next academic year, in some format. So what can families expect if online learning continues, either partially or full time this fall?

As a former high school English teacher, I always tout the importance of reading as a means to improve one's writing, especially when it comes to the college essay. Author Annie Proulx perhaps sums it up best: "Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write."  Reading exposes you to different writing styles, diction, and sentence syntax which can influence, improve, and even inspire your own writing style.

  You have it down to a science — you know the best way to get up to speed on class schedules and which clubs to join. Or perhaps this is your first time moving and you’re a little nervous about attending a new school. From a personal perspective, you have so much to consider.

“I got a B in AP Calculus,” a student recently said to me. “I guess I won’t have a shot at my dream schools, since I know colleges automatically reject students who don’t have straight A’s.” This is a conversation I often have with students this time of year.

Sometimes, the college process feels like climbing a mountain — a little intimidating, with some obstacles you need to navigate along the way. But if you pick your milestones, break it down into smaller pieces, and remember to have some fun along the way, you will make it to the top. For juniors in the middle of college prep, the second part of the year can feel like you’re staring up a mountain — so what do you do next?

How can high school students use executive functioning skills and practice stress management during the college application process? In Semester 5 Episode 6 of our podcast, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor Robin (formerly at Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University), Executive Functioning Team Leader Lorenza, and Executive Functioning Coach Nicki share their top tips on how school high school students can further develop their executive functioning skills and practice stress management and self-care during the college application process. Tune in here!

By Danielle, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor One of the most common discussions I have with families is when to apply to business school. There are three questions to consider: Should the high school student apply directly into an undergraduate business program? Should the student apply at the end of their undergraduate studies through deferred enrollment programs?

When it comes to researching colleges, there is certainly not a lack of information available — so much so that it can be overwhelming to figure out which data points are most useful. Numerous ranked lists are published annually, there are websites that provide students’ reviews of colleges, and then there’s my personal favorite, the thick, desktop Bound-For-College Guidebook. If anything, with so much information available, one might even experience analysis paralysis while sifting through all the data points and statistics.

The Price Is Right is iconic, having graced TV screens since 1972. Plinko, the Showcase Showdown, and of course the excitement as they call your name to come on down to contestant’s row is familiar to a lot of people, so I was thrilled when I appeared as a contestant in 2017. Becoming one of the nine players that are plucked out from an audience of 300 (that's a 3% “acceptance rate") is not as simple as just showing up and hoping for some good luck.

By Tasha, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor If you’re wrapping up junior year of high school, there’s a lot to think about: college tours, signing up for standardized tests, applying to summer programs – the list goes on. There is one more thing you should be prioritizing as you look toward your senior year: developing your writing skills. Your personal statement and writing supplements are a chance for you to showcase your best writing—the kind of writing you would do in classes and on campus.