Blog – College Dollars and Sense – Page 2

Why Writing About Your Privilege Backfires–and What to do Instead

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
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Caroline Matas, Ph.D. Did you recently go on an international trip that changed your life and view of the world? Did you volunteer at a local food pantry that made you realize how lucky you are to never…

The Reconstructive Nature of Memories (And Why That’s Good for Your Essays)

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
1,045 views

By Adrian Cho, Ph.D. “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” – Marcel Proust (1871-1922), In Search of Lost Time: Swann’s Way The cursor blinks on…

The Word Limit

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
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By Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D. “I hit the word limit so I stopped writing.” Every year, throughout the essay drafting odyssey, multiple students dismay me with this very phrase. It’s an idea that…

The Application Season’s Deadline Dash

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
855 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. There’s nothing like an imminent deadline to force people to get started. Unfortunately, that mindset doesn’t work for the college admissions process. Planning to start…

“Fool’s Gold”: Fake Honors in College Admissions

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
2,466 views

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. My mom recently toted several items over to my house in an eager effort to clean out my old closet. Shoved in a plastic Safeway bag was a mixture of relics from my teens…

Is a Liberal Arts School Right for You? You Might be Surprised!

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
1,734 views

By Caroline Matas, Ph.D. Often, when I start talking with high school students about what kind of college they’d like to go to, they’re not sure where to begin. There are so many different variables…

The Pay-to-Play Summer Program

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
2,248 views

By Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D. I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the concept of “value.” Maybe it’s because I work in a field where people often mistake appearances for substance…

When They Say “No”: Dealing With Rejection and Moving Beyond

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
1,160 views

By Adrian Cho, Ph.D. “Dear applicant, Thank you very much for your interest. We regret to inform you….” No need to even finish reading the email–you already know it’s a rejection. Your heart…

Tell Me about Yourself

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
1,831 views

By Adrian Cho, Ph.D. “Tell me about yourself.” No other set of four words have quite the same potential to conjure up existential angst. It’s really asking, “Who are you?” Considering the question…

The “Explosive” Truth about Fit

Distinctive College Consulting
Admissions
1,360 views

By Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D. When J. Robert Oppenheimer began attending Harvard University as an undergraduate in 1922, he had only recently recovered from a serious gastrointestinal illness (Wikipedia…