On Friday, January 20, 2023, according to a newsletter sent to counselors, the University of Southern California (USC) admissions officers admitted its first ever class of approximately 2400 Early Action candidates, a 5.9% admit rate. 40,600 first year applicants requested admissions by the November 1, 2022 Early Action deadline, which was also the deadline for any students to be considered…
In the next few weeks, students who applied early admissions, both Early Action and Early Decision, will be: Admitted, Denied, or Deferred to the Regular Decision pool. Yet, in Teenager the three admissions responses (respectively) translate to: Validated (or Vindicated), Rejected and In-Between rejected but not a rejection. For students (and sometimes parents), the admissions process is inherently personal, the…
Twas days before the first Early Admissions deadline Students are furiously typing, their parents fretting Online applications half completed Teenagers rationalizing the form “won’t take that long to complete” Yet, their parents hover, murmuring about “crashed servers”, Admonishing not to submit at the “last minute”, literally 11:59 pm On the deadline day Still visions of acceptance letters danced in their…
Applying to college is confusing enough, as a teenager pauses to reflect on their young life to date in order to enter adulthood with an understanding of themselves. Then, in determining when to apply, applicants can only add confusion. So, to dispel urban legend about Early Admissions, I’ll explain Early Action, Early Decision and differences between Early Decision 1 and…
Many students as well as their parents believe that if they apply Early Decision they have an “advantage” given the higher admit rate over regular decision. However, given Early Decision is a binding choice, where students MUST enroll (legal but is it constitutional?) If admitted, considering the pros and cons therefore is prudent. While the percentage of students admitted from…
It’s college essay writing season, which also means that each student is likely running into writer’s blocks. College admission essays fit into the genre of autobiographical, a writing style for which most students are inexperienced. Although, at times, paralyzing writer’s blocks can be resolved by applying the appropriate antidotes. Thus, as many college applicant lack an experienced editor, I will…
“I’ll have a better chance of admission if I apply early, right?” is a popular question at this time of year, every year. Applicants, seeking any seeming advantage in the admissions process, believing the objective is winning a vaunted acceptance letter, can naively choose to apply during early admissions rounds. Groomed since Pre-K, many current Gen Z’ers, like Millennials, many…
For Fall 2021, MIT admissions officers have added two optional questions to understand the context of a student’s current COVID-disrupted reality. During a recent conversation, an MIT admissions officer explained the intent of the two questions. For the first question: If there is anything we should know about your school’s grading system or course offerings, please use the space below.…
College admissions officers are changing Fall 2021 early admissions opportunities, both Early Action and Early Decision. Early Action is defined as applying typically in November to receive an admissions decision in mid-Winter, without having to commit to enrollment until May of the following spring. Early Decision means applying early to receive a mid-winter admissions decision and an acceptance is a…
On June 18, 2020, Princeton University’s Dean of Admissions, Karen Richardson, temporarily suspended Princeton’s Single-Choice Early Action deadline for the Fall 2021 application cycle. All first year applicants will apply using a single deadline of January 1, 2021. Princeton is the first university in the U.S. to suspend the early admissions process for Fall 2021 admissions. Princeton’s Dean Richardson explained…
