The following piece was written by Dr. Michelle Finkel. Michelle has been featured in our Admissions Expert series and is a former Harvard Medical School faculty member. She is the founder of Insider Medical Admissions. At first glance, medical school admissions might seem a far cry from the subjects of reality television confessionals. The players are stalwart, steady characters who live restrained lives and channel their passions with extreme discipline. Yet the admissions game is arguably one where the drama is real, the intensity is palpable, and the stakes are high. There are winners and losers, with thin margins separating one group fro... Read More About How to Write a Personal Statement for Medical School

Varsity Tutors brings you insider tips and advice straight from nationally recognized admissions experts. Stephanie Klein Wassink is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. She also holds years of experience on the Kellogg School of Management admissions board and runs her own consulting business, Winning Applications. Stephanie’s expertise lies in many areas of admissions, but shared her insights on the undergraduate application process with us below.  VT: How far ahead of time should a student begin working on his or her college application? Stephanie: Regardless of where I speak... Read More About Ask an Admissions Expert: Stephanie Klein Wassink

Varsity Tutors brings you insider tips and advice straight from nationally recognized admissions experts. Whitney Bruce has been helping students succeed in the college admissions process for over 15 years. Her experience on the admissions boards for both Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Michigan have led her to develop a true expertise for this subject and prepare numerous students for the lengthy process. Whitney currently counsels students as a team member of Accepted, a premier admissions consulting service. VT: How far ahead of time should a student begin working on his or her college application?  Whitney:... Read More About Ask an Admissions Expert: Whitney Bruce

Throughout your many years of school, you will never avoid the essay assignment.  This will be thrown at you over and over and over – so many times that you’ll eventually look back and find yourself in disbelief that you’ve actually written that many essays.  Whether you’re analyzing literature for an English class, writing personal statements for college applications, or taking a stance on an issue for an ACT writing task, you are going to need the same set of fierce writing skills to compose a well-structured and logical essay.  Some people have a better knack for writing than others and those natural i... Read More About Tips for Writing an Essay

High school students have a lot going on already, but when you add on the big college search, it’s hard for a student not to find life extremely overwhelming.  This is one giant process that requires a lot of guidance, so it is critical that a student really understands what they’re getting into before taking on this life-changing project.  It cannot be treated as something they will coast their way through or just occasionally check on.  The college search should be an extremely organized endeavor that you are keeping up with every day and giving very careful attention to. Of course, this takes us back to the overw... Read More About How to Prepare for the College Search

By Chloe Brown When I started my college search, I knew I wanted to go to a small, liberal arts school, either in New England or California. But once I visited Williams College, I fell in love. I knew that was where I wanted to go. So when fall of senior year rolled around, I sent off my Early Decision application and waited, typing up my other applications in between rounds of biting my nails. As you may have guessed, things worked out alright and in December I got a big, thick, purple envelope. While I don’t know exactly what goes on in the head of an admissions officer, I can tell you what sort of applicant I looked like. I had spen... Read More About How I Got Into Williams College

Just like the Analysis of an Issue section for the GMAT, the Analysis of an Argument has a pretty basic formula. And yes, we’re going to walk you right through it. This is the second of two writing prompts, and you’ll have 30 minutes to complete it. But, instead of arguing your belief (like you would in the Analysis of an Issue prompt), here, you are critiquing another author’s point. But, it still requires a similar, 5-paragraph setup. In the first paragraph, you have to take a stance (the author’s argument is logical or illogical), then use 3-4 paragraphs of points to confirm your stance and a strong conclusion to s... Read More About How To Improve Your Argumentative Writing

Although the "Analysis Of An Issue" is specific to the GMAT, the essay writing tips below will help you on any standardized essay writing prompt. This is the first of two writing prompts, and you will have 30 minutes to complete your essay.  You will be given an issue – typically a business-related or general interest topic – and you have to argue for or against it.  Graders are really looking for your typical 5-paragraph essay with an intro that states your opinion, 3-4 paragraphs of examples to support it and a conclusion to wrap it up. As promised, here is a walkthrough of how to nail the Analysis of an Issue Section... Read More About How To Improve Your Issue Analysis Writing

Younger siblings who have seen their brothers and sisters throw up their arms in frustration at the Common Application will be relieved to know that they themselves will not have to face the same fate.  The Common Application, currently accepted by more than 450 colleges and universities, is scheduled for an overhaul starting in the summer of 2013.  If you are currently a sophomore in high school, then you will be using The Common App 4.0 when you are applying to colleges.  Existing in paper form for many years, it is only recently that the Common App has tried to "catch up" to technology, even as smartphone and tablet usage has... Read More About How The Common App Will Be Improved

While others are stuffing their mouths with food and watching football, you can schedule some time to work on your college applications.  Spending time during the holidays to make progress on your applications will give you a significant advantage in the spring.  You will be much less rushed and avoid the "last minute crunch" many applicants face. Below are some tips for working on your applications during the holidays, adapted from this New York Times article: 1. Plan, plan, plan If you know where you're trying to go, you're much more likely to get there.  Set specific goals for your applications that you want to accomplish ... Read More About How To Use The Holidays To Work On College Applications

Writing is one of the more interesting subjects to teach, it may not be the most difficult, but it is definitely different than teaching math or science. William G. Tierney and Stefani R. Relles, two professors, guest wrote an article in the Washington Post about teaching writing. Their main point is that teachers spend too much time addressing bad writing and not nearly enough time helping students improve. They see writing as a product and not a process, and that is the root of the problem. Together, they have created a program that seeks to effectively teach writing to college-bound students who have struggled with the subject. Most of t... Read More About How To Improve Your Writing Skills

Applying to college is one of the most tedious processes any student will go through. So, to make it easier, the Common Application was created to be one standard application that works for a number of colleges. But, students still have to change their application or provide additional materials for most of the colleges that accept it. About 70% of schools require information beyond the application’s standard materials. The Common Application still saves high school students a tremendous amount of time, and it has become their saving grace from application tedium. And now, the Common Application has announced that it is making its pro... Read More About How To Apply To College With A Smartphone

Imagine being a college admissions officer, and your job is to say no to 75 percent of the applications you see. You’re supposed to decline students, and when you accept students or give your approval, you must have a very good reason. When you decline a student, there are no questions asked. So, admissions officers’ jobs are easier when they decline students, and some are just looking for reasons to decline you. If you claim to volunteer for 100 hours of community service every week or your application is full of typos, you’re probably not going to make it to the next round. Avoid these following pitfalls to improve your ap... Read More About How To Avoid College Admissions Red Flags

How cool would it be if you could start your college application essay with: “I’m a nationally published writer”? That is possible, and it would definitely wake up whoever is reading your application essay. The Huffington Post and the Patch (a network of over 800 hyper-local news sites), both owned by AOL, are currently recruiting bloggers (age minimum is 13). Right now, you can easily become a blogger and actually publish articles on the Patch’s website, which is read primarily by local audiences. The content provider has about 800 full-time writers, and it has asked all of them to recruit at least 10 writers each f... Read More About How Students Can Become National Bloggers

It’s really not that hard. Step one: Lead off the essay with the most interesting/impactful thing you have ever done or will do. Example: “Years from now I will save people’s lives every week, every day, every hour – perhaps even your life.” Step two: Make sense of your lead sentence. Example: “At ___________ I plan to study engineering and ultimately launch a career, specializing in automobile safety." Step three: Tell the reader why this was/is important to your growth as a person and student. Write about how this has/will affect you, the people around you or even the world. You’re probably askin... Read More About How Summer Experiences Craft College Essays

Scholarships – a college student’s best friend, one of the few things to actually mitigate the seemingly insurmountable amount of college tuition, the simplest way to reduce debt after college graduation. Yes, scholarship applications are important, and sometimes it can be hard to find that extra motivation to apply for them, especially when you’re not even sure if you’ll get any money out of it. Below are six common mistakes to avoid while writing a winning scholarship essay, from the US News & World Report. 1. Hurried writing: Sure it’s great if you can work quickly and well under pressure. But, there is ... Read More About Six Application Essay Mistakes

Young people interested in writing have a new home, and it’s Figment.com. The site launched in early December, calling itself an online community for young writers to share work samples, receive feedback from other young writers, read and explore new, young fiction writers.  Jacob Lewis, a former managing editor at the New Yorker, and Dana Goodyear, a staff writer at the New Yorker, created the site, originally envisioning it to be a similar to a social network site, like the young adults’ literary Facebook. However, the two noticed that young adults didn’t want another Facebook. What they wanted, “was to read a... Read More About Online Community For Young Writers

Technology is rapidly creating more ways to apply for college and continually taking the tedium out of the process, according to an article in The New York Times.             High school students can now choose from the Common Application, the Common Black Application, XAP, Embark, Superapp and the Universal College Application. All of these application formats promise to save students time by allowing them to fill in academic and personal information only one time for all colleges the student wishes to apply to and accept the application.         ... Read More About Different Ways To Apply To College

Sure, college tuition is increasing rapidly. But how expensive are some colleges’ tuition rates?       Here are the nation’s most expensive colleges, according to an article in The Washington Post, which cited a Campus Grotto finding. Sarah Lawrence College, a liberal arts college in Bronxville, NY, has no specific majors or areas of study. The college, instead, encourages broad reasoning and creativity, according to its Web site. It topped the list with its tuition of $56,420.  New York University and Wesleyan University followed with tuitions of $53,589 and $53,406, respectively. No college w... Read More About Most Expensive Colleges

Writing a strong essay may not be your specialty, but it is a vital part of the college entrance process. Working with a great writing tutor and following these simple tips from an article in The US News & World Report can help you turn your average or sub-par essay into a winning one. The US News & World Report questioned many college admissions officers who have to read entrance essays every year. A great intro: Your college entrance essay should start off with a creative, attention-grabbing intro. The only thing that’s more boring and painful than writing an entrance essay is reading hundreds, thousands of them. This is a min... Read More About Writing The College Essay

Many students who are on the bubble of being accepted into a college will be placed on a waiting list. Students will have to sweat it out for months while that college makes its final decisions.             Students can opt to stay on waiting lists; however, less than 30% of wait-listed students will eventually be accepted, according to The US News & World Report. Also, students’ chances are significantly lower for Ivy League Schools and other elite colleges. Recently, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has accepted anywhere from 0-40 students from its waiting list that... Read More About College Waiting Lists