The Pilgrim College Guidance Blog
News, trends, insights, and the occasional self-indulgent fluff piece
Photo credit: Jen Jordan Photography
Q & A With Sean Kim, Freshman at Amherst College
In my previous life, Sean Kim was a student of mine who successfully navigated through the COVID application year and is now a first-year student at Amherst College. After finishing his first semester, he was nice enough to share some insight regarding the application process and college experience.
My Favorite College Essay Ever
There’s a pretty well-known book called “50 Successful Harvard Application Essays” that’s made the rounds over the years. Given the title, I can only assume that sales are doing just fine. I’ve always had mixed feelings about the book. On the one hand, I actually had a student featured in the third edition (for the record, I take no credit for his inclusion in the book or his admission/matriculation to Harvard). But on the other hand, the idea of sample essays has never sat well with me, even with a wide variety of examples. To the credit of the arrangers, they also explained why each essay was compelling in its own way. In all my years of college admissions and college counseling, there are only a handful of essays that I still remember to this day. And in the spirit of essay writing season, I’d like to share my impressions of one essay from a former student and why it worked so well.
“And Why?” How to Approach the “Why our school?” Question
The question itself shouldn’t surprise you. Why ARE you applying to that school? To anyone who has applied Early Decision already, the answer(s) to this question probably came easily to you because you were writing about your top choice. For the rest of your schools, and for anyone else who hasn’t applied anywhere yet, it may not be such an easy question to answer. Maybe it’s the audience? That would be a fair point. The readers are the ones who will decide your admissions fate after all. But if you are applying to the right schools, this is a question that should be embraced, not feared.
What Should High School Juniors Be Doing Right Now?
It’s approaching late October and I feel for high school juniors. The seniors who are applying early are well into the application process by this point. Meanwhile, the juniors are well into their “dreaded” junior year as they say, which is hopefully not as bad as people make it out to be. Maybe it’s a little too early to do anything college related. Or maybe not. Juniors, as your senior classmates and counselors are working hard right now, you might be taking some mental notes, but there’s a lot more you can actually do a year ahead of your time. Here are some things to consider.
Tell Your Story - Reflections on the 2021 NACAC National Conference
The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) is my professional organization and the annual conference has always been the event I’ve always looked forward to. It’s a time to reconnect with friends, attend sessions on various topics/trends, and maybe even do some light networking. But this year felt different. Way different.
Should You Apply Early?
It was the first few days of September when I began to work on this post. I almost immediately began to question if it was too early to address this topic. On the one hand, I had already made reference to it as one aspect of college admission that will never change and also as a sign of demonstrated interest, so maybe the deeper dive could’ve waited. But after considering my options for future posts, and in the spirit of making an early commitment, here we are.
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.
Demonstrated Interest in a Post-COVID Landscape
I have to admit I had some hesitations about this post. I hesitated using the term “post-COVID” given everything that’s been in the news recently. This upcoming application season should still be considered a COVID application year in terms of policies anyway. My other hesitation was addressing demonstrated interest to begin with. The topic is covered well enough online, though the idea can still be a little misleading, as if it’s solely a strategic endeavor that students must master in order to gain a competitive advantage. But given that campus tours (a very direct way to demonstrate interest) are starting up again as the Washington Post recently reported, I figured it was better to address the topic head on.
What to do Before Starting the Common Application
As many of you know, the Common Application goes live on August 1st. It isn’t exactly Christmas morning, is it? …If the thought of filling out applications feels way too early, which is understandable considering you’re still on summer break, there are a few other things you can do in instead.
Why “Pilgrim?”
The placement of quotation marks is important here, though the title of this post is probably still misleading. It is not my intention to explain why you should hire me. This is more an attempt to explain the theme of this site.