We live in an era where students are consumed by checklists: taking the SATs, navigating GPAs, and designing a schedule to fit all of their extracurriculars in any given Wednesday. These checklists distract students from the essence of what applying to college is supposed to be — which, at its core, isn't about getting into the "best" school. It's about getting into the best school for you.
College admissions is not about SAT scores, it’s not about grades… It’s focusing on the holistic college application process.
Logan Powell, Dean of Admission at Brown University and EXPLO College Advisor, sat down with us to demystify what happens behind the closed door of a college admission panel.
Admittance rates [and] acceptance rates have gone down at selective schools all over the country and around the world and that really drives up the pressure on students.
Through his experience serving as Director of Undergraduate Admission at Princeton University, Senior Associate Dean of Admission at Bowdoin College, and five years as a member of Harvard University’s admission staff, Powell's insider access to understanding the anatomy of a typical college application helps students find the right post-secondary education fit year after year.
Here are some really interesting (and some just fun) links that we have been recently indulging in to learn more about the college admission process.
- In the book "Don’t Go Back to School", Kio Stark draws on over 100 interviews with independent learners who say that passing on traditional education and college degrees was the best choice they ever made
- Helicopter Parents: The key to a resonating college essay? Don't write it for your high schooler.
- Talk about trying to stay well-balanced! Check out this history of the food pyramid and some of the weird USDA’s nutrition guidelines that date all the way back to 1894
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Arianna Huffington at Smith College Commencement Address. “Money and power by themselves are a two-legged stool — you can balance on them for a while, but eventually you’re going to topple over.”
- For those of us who have already gone through the application process: Life after college is weird. This can help.
- We all know that finding the perfect fit can be hard. But what about finding a perfect fit in... kitchen knives? Find out how to create a culinary collection personalized to you via Wired Magazine's kikuichi shun kitchen knife guide.
And for a shameless plug: our new 10-step guide will help you demystify the summer camp search process.
EXPLO has assembled an impressive team of experts to oversee our college preparatory offerings. Through optional courses and seminars, these experts advise and guide our students in various aspects of the college search and application processes.
- Advisor: Join expert college educational consultant Don McMillan to learn about the changing landscape of American admissions at highly competitive college and universities
- Weekday Trip: Explore nearby universities and get a sense for campus life in the northeast at Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, MIT, or Princeton University
- Seminar: Reflect on your future career with Laurie Santos, Professor at Yale University who teaches “Psychology and the Good Life,” the most popular course in Yale’s 317-year history, during her keynote address on EXPLO's CORE Day
- Workshop: You want your standardized test scores to show your potential as a student — and nothing is more frustrating than an SAT score that doesn’t reflect the kind of student you know you are. Break down standardized testing during our Princeton Review workshop.
- Program: It’s not about getting into the best school — it’s about figuring what important to you. At EXPLO, you'll find yourself; you'll learn about your own likes and dislikes, and have a better understanding of where you and your future fit in your post-secondary plans.
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Stephanie LaMont + Adam French