Early Prep is Key

Top schools saw record numbers of early action applicants again this year and admitted an even smaller percentage. Letting go of perceived control can be one of the hardest parts of parenting. Unfortunately, sometimes uncertainty and our growing lack of agency over our children’s future get funneled into the admission experience as a last-ditch effort to cling on. There are so many factors that go into building a class and, often, there is an overabundance of talented applicants–many of whom could be successful at a given college or university. Being top in your class does not mean an automatic acceptance at a college or university anymore. As more colleges move toward holistic admissions, other factors are becoming increasingly important, including course rigor, GPA, extracurricular activities, essays and in some cases, test scores. 

When applying to college, teenagers and their parents often gauge their chances by looking at a university's overall acceptance rate. This statistic rarely tells the whole story.  

The application volume for this cycle increased nearly 10% from last year—which itself was up some 10% from the year before that. Over the past two decades, the number of applications submitted to colleges has increased more than 150%, even as the size of high-school graduating classes has remained fairly stable.

I hope this demonstrates just how imperative it is to get the process started early. We will guide you on how to approach this process so as to not feel overwhelmed or have your child get lost in the large number of students assigned to his/her/their guidance counselor.

Wishing you the best. And remember…early prep is key!