Before You Hit "Submit" On Your College Apps, Read This

Application season is HERE! Like here, here. You probably know you’ll need to take care of the basic things like filling out the Common App and finishing your main college essay. However, if you want to maximize your chances of getting admitted and your scholarship offers, there are many more factors to consider.

For example, College Kickstart surveyed ten colleges that admit between 10 and 24% of their applicants. Those colleges reportedly increased their Early Decision enrollment by 5% (on average) from the 2025 class to the 2026 class. How can you use data like this and apply it to your own application strategy?

We hear it from students and parents all the time: “When it comes to college applications, I just don’t want to miss anything!”

That’s why our Educational Consultant Gilbert Guo is hosting a virtual event titled “Before Hitting ‘Submit’ On Your College Apps,” right before students head into their senior year. This presentation will address some of the most common mistakes students make during application season and how you can stay ahead of those in your own process! For more info or to secure your spot, you can go here to get started.

Should I work with a private college counselor?

It can be easy to get lost in the crowd!

Making the decision to work with an independent college consultant depends on many things: family dynamics, specific needs, and time. For some families familiar with the benefits of working with an IEC, it’s a no-brainer. Others wonder what the benefits would be. So we thought it would be helpful to hear from some of our current and past clients about why they chose to work with us.

• “I suppose we could have educated ourselves and done it ourselves, but we don’t have the time.” I feel the same way about doing my taxes; I could do it myself, but I’d much rather hire an expert!

• “Sometimes we would say the same things, but when you say it he listened.” Welcome to the teenage psyche! Often they do listen better to anyone but their parents.

• “We don’t know what we don’t know.” The process of applying to college has changed dramatically since most patents applied themselves. Of course families worry that they will miss something.

• “We wanted to find the right fit and having someone that had actually been on all of these campuses made all the difference.” It is like having a friend scope out the AirBnB before you rent it, but on a much larger scale.

• “College is too expensive of an investment not to get it right.” Absolutely! That’s why we put affordability first in our conversations with a new family.

• “Her schedule was so busy! We needed someone that could work with her when she was free.” We understand how packed many teen’s schedules are! That is why we work on school breaks, in the summer, and evenings and weekends — it’s when they have the time to buckle down and get thins done.

• “Working with you was a gift I gave to myself.” The high school years fly by, and having the last few years at home with your student be as nag-free as possible is a gift!

If you do choose to work with an independent college consultant, make sure that they are a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, which has stringent criteria for membership and holds its members to the highest ethical standards in the industry.

INTERVIEW: Do You Have What It Takes to Study Engineering in College?

While it's challenging to study engineering in college, it can also be very rewarding and stimulating! As part of College Matters' Student to Student series, we interviewed our former student Audry to talk about who would be a good fit for engineering, how unlikely classes and clubs helped her, and advice for engineering applicants.

INTERVIEW: The Most DIRECT Way You Can Become a Doctor: BS/MD

Do you have aspirations of becoming a doctor one day? There's a way you can bypass the medical school applications and get earlier assurance into med school. As part of College Matters' Student to Student series, we interviewed our former student Anish to talk about the basics of how BS/MD works and other important advice now that he’s a current BS/MD student.

College Matters Class of 2022 College Acceptances

We are so proud of all our students in the Class of 2022! Here is where our students have been admitted.

Appalachian State University

American University

Arizona State University

Bard College

Berklee College of Music

Bentley University

Boston College

Bowdoin College

Bowling Green State University

Brandeis University

Brown University

Bryant University

Carnegie Mellon University

Case Western Reserve University

Christopher Newport University

Clark University

Clarkson University

Clemson University

College of Charleston

The College of New Jersey

College of William and Mary

Colgate University

Colorado State University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

DePaul University

Drexel University

East Carolina University

Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester)

Elon University

Endicott College

Emmanuel College

Fairfield University

Fordham University

Gettysburg College

Hamilton College

Hobart William Smith Colleges

Hofstra University

Indiana University

Ithaca College

James Madison University

Johns Hopkins University

Lawrence University

LeMoyne College

Loyola Marymount University

Loyola University Maryland

Loyola University New Orleans

Macalester College

Manhattanville College

Marist College

Merrimack College

Miami University (OH)

Michigan State University

Middlebury College

Mount Holyoke College

Northeastern University

Oberlin College

The Ohio State University

Oklahoma State University

Pace University-New York

Pennsylvania State University

Providence College

Quinnipiac University

Reed College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rice University

Roger Williams University

Rollins College

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Sacred Heart University

Salve Regina University

School of Visual Arts

St. Lawrence University

St. Olaf College

Siena College

Skidmore College

Smith College

Stonehill College

Stony Brook University

Syracuse University

Tufts University

Tulane University

Union College

University of Alabama

University of Arizona

University at Buffalo

University of California - Davis

University of California - Irvine

University of California - Santa Cruz

University of Connecticut

University of Chicago

University of Delaware

University of Denver

University of Georgia

University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign

University of Maryland

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

University of Michigan

University of Missouri

University of New Hampshire

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina-Charlotte

University of Oregon

University of Pittsburgh

University of Rhode Island

University of Rochester

University of South Carolina

University of South Florida

University of Tennessee

University of Vermont

University of Virginia

Vanderbilt University

Vassar College

Villanova University

Wake Forest University

Western Connecticut State University

Western New England

Wheaton College (MA)

Williams College

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Yale University

How to Make the Most of College Admitted Student Events

Getting back on campus is great, but there are other ways to make up your mind.

Q: I’ve been admitted to several colleges. How can I choose by May 1?

A: It certainly is an anxious and unpredictable time! Even more so for high school seniors who are awaiting final decisions and feeling the pressure of the impending deadline to select a college.

The good news is that many colleges have gone back to in-person admitted student visit days. These are great and allow students to see the school through a different lens: one of a shopper and not an applicant. But what if you can’t attend?

• Participate in virtual events. Many colleges are hosting virtual visit days for admitted students. You’ll be able to interact with faculty, speak with current students, and view some of the facilities.

• Talk to a current student. If you don’t know someone from your high school or hometown that attends, call the admission office. They’re happy to make a connection.

• Reach out to faculty in your area(s) of interest. Most faculty are happy to answer the questions of admitted students. And if they won’t make themselves available, well, that tells you something too.

• Join the admitted student group online. These could be your future classmates. Do you like what you see and hear?

• Read the college newspaper. Most college papers are online and searchable. What events intrigue you? What are students complaining about? Is the general vibe activist, collegiate, intellectual, humorous?

• Ask for more time. If a college does not extend their enrollment deadline, call and ask if they will extend to give you time to make a decision.

But don’t double deposit!! Sending in two deposits is a violation of the NACAC guidelines and could result in you having both acceptances revoked. At the end of the day, you will need to go with your gut and choose. And if you’re really undecided, it’s probably because you are choosing from among several schools that are outstanding choices. And, most likely, there is no bad choice!

Should You Use Your Free SAT Score Reports?

When students register for the SAT, they are given the option to send their scores to four colleges for free. Sounds great! Right?

Here’s why you might want to consider waiting…

If you choose to send the free score reports, you do so before you see your scores. That’s not a problem if you do well, but if you don’t perform to your potential, you may have just sent a score to a college that you’d rather not have them see. And with the growing number of colleges and universities going test-optional, you may choose not to submit scores at all!

Worried that sending scores later may be financially challenging for your family? Don’t! Students that get a fee waiver to take the SAT will still be able to send scores for free after they’ve taken the test.

Generally, our advice is to wait, review your entire test history, and only then choose which scores to send to which colleges.

Waitlisted! Now What? Next Steps

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Welcome to the waitlist, the No Man’s Land of college admissions.  Unlike waiting in line at the deli counter clutching your ticket with 93 printed on it and realizing that they are currently serving number 89, the waitlist in college admissions works differently.  There is no order or ranking of students on the list, so contacting admissions to ask where you are on the waitlist is not a productive use of your time.  The waitlist is an enrollment management tool used to help a college or university meet its enrollment objectives.  Colleges look at prior yield rates, the percentage of accepted students who actually enroll, when admitting students.  For example, if a college has a yield rate of 20% and wants a class of 1,000 students, it will accept 5,000 applicants.  If the actual yield is lower than predicted, the college will utilize the waitlist to shore-up its freshmen class.  As an enrollment management tool, the waitlist is also used to shape the class.  If the university wants to expand an academic major, add geographic, socio-economic, ethnic or racial diversity, or increase the trumpet section of the marching band, they will pull students off the waitlist to meet their needs.  Although a student’s probability of getting admitted off the waitlist is unpredictable, we do have this happen to students every year.

 If you happen to be waitlisted, we offer the following advice.  First, make sure that you put an enrollment deposit down at a college to which you were admitted.  This is critical.  Because you typically won’t come off the waitlist until after the May 1st deposit deadline, you will need to put an enrollment deposit down at another school to reserve your spot.  Second, follow the directions given to you by the school that waitlisted you.  Some schools want you to simply check a box on your student portal to indicate that you wish to remain on the waitlist and others want you to submit a letter of continued interest.  Follow the directions!  If the college wants additional information, it is good to include any updates to your academic record or extracurricular curricular activities and why the colleges is a good match for you.  It should be brief and highlight new information that wasn’t included in your initial application.  Finally, don’t be a nuisance to admissions.  Reaching out to your regional admissions representative once is fine, but multiple calls, emails, and fancy chocolates won’t improve your chances.  With an overall increase in applications this application cycle, we do anticipate more movement on waitlists this year, so if you happen to be one of the lucky ones, congratulations!  

How to Get Ready for the Connecticut School Day SAT

The state school day SAT will be administered online this year!

This past week, many Connecticut high school juniors were surprised by the news that, for the first time, the SAT administered in March to high school juniors in the state will be taken online.

Standardized testing being what it is — stressful — has resulted in students and families having many questions.

Q: Is this the new digital test version that is shorter and adaptive?

A: No. The March school day SAT will be the exact same test format as the paper version. The only difference is that it will be taken online.

Q: Will colleges still accept it for admission purposes?

A: Every college admission officer that we talked to said that they would consider it just as they do any other SAT test score.

Q: What can I do to prepare?

A: The best way to prepare is to familiarize yourself with the interface. The College Board has a test version here where students can walk through a shortened sample test and the functionality of the system.

Q: The sample version online has an essay section! Will there be an essay on the March test?

A: No. You can ignore that part of the mock test. It’s a leftover from a previous version.

Q: What parts of the practice site should I pay attention to?

A: Students should familiarize themselves with how to move from question to question and section to section, how to flag a question so that they can go back to it later, how to highlight portions of the test and strike out eliminated answers, and how to use the math reference section.

Q: How can I practice the reading section?

A: What is tricky about the reading section is that the passage and the question and answers are on the screen together. Students need to scroll up and down to read the passage on the left-hand side of the screen, while the right-hand side of the screen is fixed. We suggest getting a PDF of a practice test (the College Board has several here) and taking it online. If you can, put the reading passage on one screen and the answer sheet on another to simulate the scrolling you will need to do.

Q: I’m worried that I’m not going to do as well on this version as I’ve done in the past!

A: Mark Anestis of The Learning Edge in Guilford says, “Don’t panic. It’s the same test!” And, besides, if you leave the test and really feel as if you bombed it, you have the right to cancel your score. So there is absolutely no reason to be stressed. Anestis says that as long as you spend some time getting used to the digital tools, you will be ready to go. So take a deep breath, and go in there and do your best!!

Looking at Colleges is Like a Game of Wordle

Have you caught the Wordle bug yet? It seems like the once-a-day word puzzle sensation is everywhere!

The game is simple. You have six chances to guess the five-letter word, only being told what letters are correct and in the wrong place or correct and in the right spot.

Our Wordle-fest group chat (yes, it really is a thing) has had some fierce debates about the best way to go about solving each day’s puzzle. Some, like myself, subscribe to the “stay with what you know” strategy. If I know that I have an S in the first spot and a Y in the last, my next guess will follow that pattern — something like SPICY. In the other camp, we’ve got the “eliminators.” They are happy to burn a turn with a strategic guess, with the intention of eliminating as many letters as they can early on. They’ll start with SCORE and then guess IRONY. (See what I did there?)

So how can your Wordle strategy inform how you research and visit colleges? Read on!

Some students are eliminators!! During every college visit, and at each virtual event they attend, they are figuring out what they don’t want. They’re ticking things off the list rather than adding them. SMITH wasn’t quite right? They’ll check out UCONN. And that’s okay. They’re not wasting time! At every step of the way, they are getting clarity as to what they ultimately want in their college experience.

And then there are the students that are fine-tuning their criteria, visit by visit. They’ll return from a tour saying, for example, “I liked BROWN a lot, except maybe a more outdoorsy crowd.” Off to BATES they go!

Whatever your campus Wordle approach is, know that there is no right way to go. Sometimes you need to eliminate criteria, and sometimes you need to fine-tune or confirm what you think. Regardless, the most important thing is to keep playing! For that’s how you’ll find your MATCH!

Acknowledgments. Thanks to my Wordle-fest friends (Alicia, Becky, Bill, John, Katie, Ken, Linda, Steve) for your inspiration.