We originally intended to write a blog post on the best undergraduate programs for students interested in majoring in Southeast Asian studies. We set out to find programs that would allow students to delve into the histories of Southeast Asian countries while taking classes about literature, religion, and language. The results of that search were very disappointing.

When people ask us if it’s really worth it to go to an Ivy League school, it’s admittedly hard to answer. It’s a personal question, and a loaded one at that. Our answer is that it depends.  

We get this question a lot, and there is no one size fits all answer here. We understand that at its core, what this question really asks is how students can best position themselves to get into college. The truth is that there is no one club that sends your application straight to the accepted pile.  

Subject: College choice

Message: Hi! I’ve read your website and it seems like you’ve helped a ton of people get direction on their university choice. I was wondering if you could help me out too? I really have no idea where I want to go and I’m in my senior year of high school. I want to get into one of the Ivy’s but I don’t know particularly why or which one.

If you are an aspiring artist of any medium, spending your summer as a volunteer assistant arts teacher one day/week is not going to cut it. College admissions are, frankly, ruthless, and the BFA-track provides no exception. So, we’ve curated a list of impressive and rigorous summer programs for aspiring, cut-throat artists wishing to immerse themselves in their craft once school is out. 

It’s about that time of year when we start fielding questions about timelines, essay topics, and the Common App. It’s also the time of year when students find every excuse in the book not to keep things moving regarding the college process. The dreaded task of studying for finals might even seem more appealing than creating your Common App account, or perhaps you’ve deemed rewatching every season of Game of Thrones more important than opening up the Common App homepage.

There is exactly one requirement for the Common App essay: it must be 650 words or less. That’s it.

The Ivy League has always been hard to get into. But over time, it’s become astronomically more competitive. In fact, according to our estimates, the Ivy League has a combined average acceptance rate that hovers around 5 percent.

Recently we got this email:

Subject: Getting into ivy league with C's??

Message: Hi, I am currently a junior in high school and I was never really interested in studies and getting into good colleges back when I started 9th grade. But now, I finally found the motivation but I feel like its too late. Is there anything I can do with the time I have to boost myself?

This is a question we get often, and we want to start by debunking a theory about touring colleges. A lot of students and parents think that they’re touring colleges in order to make a grand impression and to demonstrate interest in that particular school. And that is not the case.