Where do the experts go for advice?
This information is available to YOU as well!
I always have to suppress a laugh whenever Hannah Serota (our CEO and founder at Creative College Connections) introduces our consulting team at events; she notes that we have over 100 years of experience, making me feel ancient! But that amount of experience is vital when thinking of the work that we do. Knowing the inner workings of an admissions committee, how each phase of the process or section of the application can impact the final admissions outcome makes a huge difference in the lives of each of our students. Like all professionals, though, we cannot allow ourselves to simply rest on that experience. COVID-19 or no, the admissions world can change in a heartbeat and we continually work to keep ourselves up-to-date. Campus visits (when able!), conferences (now virtual), ongoing outreach to college representatives, professional journals, etc. are all helpful to maintain our college-specific and admissions process expertise.
One of the most fun ways to stay updated is also available to you: blogs written and maintained by college admissions professionals. Some of these pages developed as a way to market the university/college in a more subtle way, albeit less ‘in your face’ when compared to a brochure or phone call. Over time, though, some universities realized that these blogs could also be a service to the public, answering the most frequently asked questions that they receive in a friendlier format than any direct marketing plan. Here are some of my favorites that I encourage you to explore as part of your ongoing summer college research. Whether you are a parent or potential applicant they will help you gain more confidence in your knowledge of the college or university, your general application knowledge and, hopefully, feel better prepared to take on the task of completing your applications in the fall.
All of these blogs have plenty of entries that discuss specific campus issues, but these - in no particular order, are those which go beyond simple self promotion, with a few suggested articles to get you started:
Georgia Tech
(they have a podcast
with the Dean, too!)
Narrowing Your College Search: Academics
(the first of a multi-post series on things to consider when building a list)
Rethinking the End Game
(reframing the application process)
University of North Carolina
and University of Virginia
are terrific for their deep-dives into their specific admissions process, essays, and strategies for deadlines.
Explore the admissions pages of other schools on your list to find their unique blogs, too. The posts from current students can be especially helpful to learn more about the atmosphere of each campus that you might otherwise not learn about.
~Martha
Martha is a three-decade admissions professional, with experience in admissions at a number of highly selective liberal arts colleges, including Hamilton College, Oberlin College, and Bryn Mawr College. Martha knows selective and hyper-selective college admissions from the inside. She consults with Creative College Connections students remotely from her home in Pacific Grove, CA, where she also works as a college counselor at a boarding school.
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