Caroline Koppelman
Why This College Essay Question Guide and ...

Why do you want to go to school here? If there’s one prompt you are certain to write more than once, it’s this one. This prompt comes in a few different flavors, but at the end of the day, they all want to know why their school is the perfect school for you and why you’re the perfect student for them. No pressure or anything.

Caroline Koppelman
Official Common App Essay Guide 2024-2025

We’ve spent the last few weeks breaking down the Common App essay prompt by prompt, and today we’re going to give you our ultimate guide to writing the Common App essay. There might be seven different prompts, but ultimately, all schools want the same thing from their applicants’ Common App essays: a story.

Caroline Koppelman
Rejected Early Decision from Columbia 2023

Getting a rejection in the Early Decision round is definitely not easy. But the good news is, it’s really just the start, and that one rejection has no bearing on how you’re going to do with other, similarly competitive schools. The thing about Early Decision is it comes alone and it comes first. It’s sometimes easier to tolerate a rejection when it’s preceded by several acceptance letters. College admissions are extraordinarily competitive these days and the Ivies are just more competitive than any other time or place in history. That’s it. It doesn’t get harder. And Columbia in particular has just a 4% acceptance rate! So, if you’ve been rejected in the Early Decision round, don’t despair. We have some advice about how you might go forward. (And don’t worry, it’s really not that much more work!)

Caroline Koppelman
Deferred by Harvard — Now What? (2023-24)

If you’ve been deferred by Harvard, you are not alone. Harvard is notorious at this point for deferring an enormous percentage of early admission applicants. While most elite colleges with early admissions programs, like early decision and early action, only defer students they are seriously considering for the next freshman class, the statistics Harvard has released on early admission suggest that they take a very different approach.

Caroline Koppelman
Writing the “Why This College” Essay

Even though every college has slightly different supplementary application materials, you’ll likely run into a variation of one question more than any other: “Why do you want to attend this school in particular?” It’s every institution’s way of saying, Let’s cut to the chase. Why us?

tufts

Deferred by Tufts Early Decision 2024-2025

If you are reading this post, a deferral was not part of the plan. You applied to Tufts early decision because you wanted certainty. If you got in, you’d be set. If you didn’t, you’d know Tufts wasn’t in the cards. But now you’re on the receiving end of a deferral decision and it’s not a yes or a no, but a very unsatisfying maybe.

Applying to Tufts as a Student Athlete

Tufts is a small liberal arts college in Medford, Massachusetts that packs an impressive punch academically, and athletically. Students at Tufts have access to 90+ undergraduate majors, and there is a huge focus on research, with amazing opportunities for research positions and internships available to undergraduate students. Over 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students at Tufts are engaged in research at any point in time!

The Best Majors at Tufts

Tufts is a school outside Boston. Not just a school, though, it’s a leading research university that pairs a serious academic powerhouse with a close and supportive community. The Tufts motto is Pax et Lux, or “Peace and Light,” which can sound pretty lighthearted or even angelic, but what it really speaks to is the bringing of peace and light into the serious world of world-class academics. Tufts does serious stuff, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously.  

Demonstrated Interest at Tufts

So you want to be a Jumbo, huh? Elephants are not normally credited with, you know, subtlety, and you might be tempted to take the “spraying water through your trunk” approach to demonstrated interest. Here’s the thing, though — demonstrated interest is not the secret weapon that you think it is, and it’s important that you know where to focus your energy as you knock out your applications.