By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. Over a half century ago, while Jimi Hendrix riffed “The Star Spangled Banner” at legendary Woodstock, another group of people were making a countercultural decision that we’re only starting to feel the momentum of today. In 1969, the admissions team at Maine’s Bowdoin College made the school the first American..
By – Nora Lessersohn This admissions cycle, as COVID-19 has forced over 55% of colleges to go “test optional,” “test flexible,” or “test blind,” you will need other parts of your application to help you stand out from the crowd. With any luck, testing will soon be a thing of the past, and finding ways..
By – Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. Many adults lament the fact that many teens these days no longer hold jobs. They worry that the younger generation is no longer learning the humility that comes with doing “menial” work, nor the responsibility that comes with managing personal finances. What the older generation often misses, however, is..
By Nora Lessersohn, A.M. Unlike most high school students, I knew exactly what I wanted to study in college: Religion. I indicated this on all my college applications, and when I got to campus I never changed my mind. I even wrote my personal statement about a conversation I had with a Henry David Thoreau..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. As a college consultant, the big question I keep getting from parents and students alike is: what are the chances of getting in next year? Can you blame people for asking? With changes about college admissions practices in the news cycle nearly every day, families are correct to wonder what it all..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. In June of every year, commencement speakers appear onstage to impart words of wisdom to excited and anxious graduates. Their messages are meant to fortify young people as they transition from childhood into adulthood. While tradition holds that most students sit and listen, I thought it was important to allow..
By Nora Lessersohn and Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. As spring and summer programs are cancelled, and the world’s communities continue to suffer from the COVID-19 crisis, you may be looking for ways to spend your time and help others. Of course, most of us can’t be out contributing on the front lines. Fortunately, many organizations..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. The arrival of Covid-19 has disrupted education in a way that we have never experienced before. While the impact of the pandemic on your high school education, admissions prospects, and financial aid packages is nowhere close to being known, we are providing you with information that we do have as..
By Nora Lessersohn Along with classes, sports seasons, academic competitions, and recitals, we know that summer programs are already starting to be cancelled. If this applies to you, you are probably thinking 1) Uh Oh! 2) What should I do this summer instead? While our current global crisis is extremely challenging for many, it can..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. While schools have closed and parents scramble to find ways to juggle all of their new responsibilities as most support networks disappear, I’ve watched several students enter a free fall in which they can’t tell left from right, nor up from down. It is a natural reaction, a form of..