When putting together an incoming first-year class, college admissions officers spend a significant amount of time evaluating hundreds of factors to determine an applicant’s competitiveness for their institution. While many of these factors are important, it’s hard to overstate the value of leadership in college admissions. Their holistic evaluation process can be quite hard to…
What you need to know about the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) – updated to include the structural changes implemented in August 2024. The LSAT is the test required for admission to every law school in the United States. It is a time-intensive test consisting of four sections of multiple-choice questions: Logical Reasoning (2 sections),…
Understanding the BS/MD admissions process is crucial for high school students aiming for a direct path to medical school. These programs, which blend undergraduate and medical education, are as competitive—if not more—than many top-tier undergraduate programs and demand impeccable academic and personal records. At Solomon Admissions Consulting, the expert team, including Medical School and BS/MD…
Updated: August 2024, (Originally published: August 2021) College application essays remain a cultural mainstay even during these unprecedented times. Instead of spending hours dreading the process, Solomon consultants are ready to guide you through your first draft to the final uploaded copy, and also to answer the question: “How long should a college application essay…
1. Emphasize Hardships and Challenges Overcome in UC Essays: The UC’s want you to place your grades from 10th and 11th grade in context. For example, if you had a bad semester due to hardship, including an environment that discouraged educational goals and aspirations, being forced to take care of a younger sibling, commuting an…
Should You Take a Gap Year? Exploring the Benefits and Considerations An increasing number of students are opting to take a year off between high school and college. The reasons vary from wanting to “take a break” from homework and exams to a desire to travel, follow a passion, or simply work and save money…
Faculty Frustration with High School Curricula Having spent the majority of my career in enrollment management positions, the question of standardized testing’s impact on college admissions arises more frequently than you might expect. Collegiate faculty often express frustration with high school curricula, particularly the lack of courses that encourage students to think critically or synthesize…
As a college admissions consultant, I often find myself advising students to consider whether to apply Early Action to their top-choice colleges. While many students are still weighing their options or trying to make a final decision, Early Action can provide numerous benefits that can help make the college application process a little less stressful. …
The Common Black College Application (CBCA) is a one-stop shop for African American students seeking to attend historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The CBCA streamlines the college application process by allowing students to submit one application to multiple HBCUs, thus saving time and effort. Recruiting talented students The CBCA helps provide a broader pool…
For high school juniors, the spring brings more than just a flurry of pollen invaders; introductory meetings with college advisors are scheduled, emails from colleges and universities start to consistently appear in inboxes, and a buzz starts to arise as students get into the tempo of the college search process. While there is often much…