By Nina Berler of unCommon Apps In advisory sessions, parents and students nearly always ask about standardized tests, deemed optional for the foreseeable future by nearly all colleges. My response: As colleges move away from tests and more into holistic...

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Selecting colleges is a critical piece of the college planning process. How not to select colleges: I’ve seen students who have built their college lists in a poor or even random fashion. Often they were unhappy with their subsequent college...

As we approach the fall and another college admission season kicks into full gear, we thought that we would share our eight favorite resources for those applying the colleges in the fall, in no particular order…. NACAC’s College Admission Status...

That face is still burnt into my memory, a photograph that will never fade: Professor Judy Smith, her granite features nestled into the corner of memory cluttered with lessons learned. I had signed up for her Native American Literature class...

Transitioning from high school to college is not easy for many young adults. Freshman year is full of many “firsts”. Not only are students navigating a new, more challenging academic environment, but they are also learning how to live with...

Matt was a clean cut kid from an affluent suburb of New Haven I met during his junior year of highschool who had been playing lacrosse basically since he was in diapers. His father was very, very committed and even...

The summer between when I graduated high school and the beginning of college I remember very well. I was working at Shady Glenn restaurant in Bolton, CT, and wearing one of those pointy white hats while scooping ice cream and...

The Washington Post recently published an article reiterating the importance of caution when it comes to social media for college applicants. While not new advice, this caution is especially important now with inflated application rates (and thus rejection rates) with...

This recent NBC article details the regurgitated arguments that slam the SAT for its socioeconomic biases and inequality, and may serve as a jumping off point for why all these points, meritorious as they all are, are short-sighted and ultimately...