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The Pilgrim College Guidance Blog

News, trends, insights, and the occasional self-indulgent fluff piece

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College Admissions Squid Game - Reflections on the 2021-2022 Application Year
Benjamin Lah Benjamin Lah

College Admissions Squid Game - Reflections on the 2021-2022 Application Year

If you have Netflix, there is a good chance you’ve seen “Squid Game,” the platform’s most viewed show of all time. In this South Korean survival drama, hundreds of cash-strapped people compete in a series of children’s games in the hopes of winning billions of won. I have to admit that I was hooked from the start. Like much Korean television and cinema, the major themes focused on economic struggles and social class, but midway through the series, I was struck with the premise in a much different way. I couldn’t shake the idea that the whole series was a metaphor for the college admissions process. 

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8 Things About College Admissions That Will Never Change
Benjamin Lah Benjamin Lah

8 Things About College Admissions That Will Never Change

With the start of the school year, there’s been a lot of talk about changes in the college admissions process—that the post-COVID landscape may never be the same. We’ve already seen SAT subject exams go away and the UC system going test-blind, but we’ll have to wait to see what else happens over the next few years. But no matter how much the college admissions world evolves, there are some essential truths that have emerged in my mind throughout my time on both the college and high school side. Some things will never change. And in no particular order...except maybe the last one, here they are.

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