The notebook
“Somebody finally wrote down the part everybody else charges for.”Josh Tran, UCLA class of 2030
Your Activities List Is Doing More Work Than Your Essay
Ten slots. A hundred and fifty characters each. No paragraphs, no room to explain, and in most offices it is the first thing anybody reads about your student, ahead of the essay and sometimes ahead of the transcript. Families spend a summer on the personal statement and fill this in during the week it is due.
The Early Decision Arithmetic Nobody Runs For You
Every spring a parent shows me a table of admit rates and asks why anybody applies in the regular round. At a selective school the early number is often several times the regular one, and printed side by side like that it looks like a decision that makes itself.