Latest news with #collegeadmissions
Entrepreneur
20 hours ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Top Colleges Now Value What Founders Have Always Hired For
Strong academics will never get a student admitted to a top college. They'll only get an application read. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. If you're an entrepreneur, you understand this dynamic well: credentials open doors, but character closes deals. College admissions work the same way. A perfect GPA and test scores don't get a student into an Ivy League school. They get the application opened. From there, it's emotional intelligence, social awareness and self-understanding that determine who gets in — and who gets waitlisted or denied. This is why every year, top colleges turn down Valedictorians — and admit Salutatorians who demonstrate more maturity, curiosity and insight into who they are and how they grow. Related: 8 Must-Have Leadership Qualities for Workplace Success Why "be authentic" isn't helpful advice When students sit down to write their personal statements, they're told to "be authentic" or "show emotional intelligence." But those phrases are abstract. What do they actually mean? How do admissions readers interpret them? Most families assume that Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is about being kind, likable or involved in service work. But SEL isn't about checking personality boxes. It's a competency framework. A set of skills. And increasingly, it's the clearest proxy for future success — not just in school, but in life. What SEL really is — and why it matters now more than ever At its core, SEL consists of five key competencies: Self-awareness Self-management Social awareness Relationship skills Responsible decision-making These are real-world, transferable skills — rooted in emotional intelligence (EQ) — that students must develop if they're going to thrive in dynamic, high-pressure environments like college. Or startups. Or the real world. Colleges aren't just evaluating what students know — they're assessing how students think, how they grow, and how they relate to others. That's why the personal essay exists in the first place: it's a live demonstration of how a student thinks about themselves and the world around them. It's also why, in the new admissions landscape — test-optional, post-affirmative-action, and increasingly holistic — SEL has moved from "nice to have" to strategic advantage. Character is the competitive edge According to the 2024–2025 Common Data Set, across Ivy League and Top 20 schools, the number one most consistently important non-academic factor in admissions isn't work experience. It's not talent. It's not even extracurriculars. It's character and personal qualities. Let that land for a moment. MIT marked this category as the only "very important" factor in their entire non-academic review process — above talent, extracurriculars or recommendations. What they're really asking is: Can this student lead themselves? Can they work with others? Can they adapt and grow under pressure? Related: 4 Best Practices for Smarter Higher-Education Admissions Procedures The three most strategic SEL moves students can make Over decades in admissions, we've helped students turn personal qualities into compelling essays that demonstrate maturity, leadership and EQ — not just say they have it. Here's what actually works: 1. Insight over performance Most students treat the personal essay like a TED Talk. They tell a big story and drop a moral in the final paragraph — hoping it lands like a mic drop. That doesn't work. Colleges want to see insight. Reflection. Specific examples of how a student grew, not just what happened to them. The strongest essays aren't about life-changing moments — they're about mindset shifts. Big realizations > big stories. 2. Build a voice, not a persona Trying to sound "smart," "quirky" or "deep" almost always backfires. Colleges can tell when students are forcing a certain personality or voice on the page. How? Because it's the same "voice" that appears on nearly half their applications, they eventually end up denying. Strong essays don't need gimmicks. They need clarity. Don't: Overuse metaphors to manufacture meaning Write in a voice that isn't yours Hide vulnerability behind clever formatting Do: Be specific about how your thinking has changed Use language that sounds like you, not a TEDx speaker Share grounded, honest moments — not performances 3. Study the right models Students often base their essays on viral "How I Got In" posts, which are more about performance than substance. These essays follow a formula that doesn't demonstrate actual SEL. Better models? Read published personal essays from real writers — Joan Didion, Brian Doyle, Esmé Wang. These are authors who write with emotional intelligence, depth and nuance. Final thought If you're a founder, you know what it's like to bet on people. Admissions officers do the same. They're not just looking at performance. They're looking at potential. And the clearest indicator of future potential — in leadership, in relationships, in adversity — is how well someone understands themselves. That's what SEL reveals. And that's why it's the most overlooked yet powerful lever in modern college admissions strategy.
Reuters
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US court reinstates former USC coach's college admissions scandal conviction
BOSTON, May 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday reinstated a former University of Southern California water polo coach's bribery conviction arising from his role in the nationwide "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, opens new tab that a trial judge wrongly overturned a jury's 2022 verdict finding Jovan Vavic guilty of conspiring to commit federal programs bribery by accepting payments to help wealthy parents' children gain admission to USC as fake athletic recruits. The judge had set Vavic's conviction aside and ordered a new trial after concluding the prosecution during closing arguments misstated what it needed legally to prove its case, which arose out of the investigation dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues." But U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman, writing for a three-judge panel, said that while part of Vavic's conviction could no longer stand following an appellate ruling in a different "Varsity Blues" case, the prosecution's closing arguments were not contrary to the judge's jury instructions on the law. The ruling opens the door to Vavic being sentenced three years after the jury's verdict. His lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. He was among dozens of people charged in 2019 in the investigation, which exposed how some wealthy parents went to extreme lengths to secure spots for their children at schools like Yale, Georgetown and USC. They did so with the help of William "Rick" Singer, a California college admissions consultant who was sentenced in 2023 to 3-1/2 years in prison after admitting he facilitated college entrance exam cheating and helped bribe coaches to secure his clients' children's admission as phony athletes. More than 50 people, including coaches and parents, pleaded guilty. Prosecutors claimed that in exchange for more than $200,000, Vavic helped mislead USC admissions officials into believing children of Singer's clients belonged on his championship team. While prosecutors said some money that Singer paid went toward Vavic's children's private school tuition, another $100,000 went to a USC account used to fund the water polo team.
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How Tech Platforms Are Changing College Counseling Access
College admissions prepration is undergoing a quiet transformation, driven by college counseling technology platforms built by and for those most closely involved in the process. As traditional high school counseling models are increasingly strained by understaffing, competing priorities and outdated tools, technology platforms are changing how families and independent counselors navigate one of the most complex decisions in a student's life. The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students per counselor, yet U.S. public schools average 385:1. Counselors understandably prioritize mental health crises and behavioral issues over long-term college planning, leaving many students and families to navigate admissions primarily on their own. That vacuum has fueled the rise of private educational consultants but at a cost that is often out of reach for most families. That's where CounselMore and College Sharks come in – two technology innovations designed to address the access and guidance gap. CounselMore, founded in 2016 by higher education veteran Margaret Rothe, helps counselors serve more students with less administrative overhead, offering structured workflows and real-time admissions data. College Sharks, by contrast, is a direct-to-family resource created by college consultant Lee Norwood to deliver high-quality admissions guidance in a flexible, low-cost format. Norwood, founder of Annapolis College Consulting, sought to create a platform that would help more students in a way that was both accessible and affordable to them. College Sharks packages expert guidance into an engaging on-demand course comprised of multiple short videos. 'Students can asynchronously access college counseling to do what they can when they want,' said Norwood, who explained that College Sharks provides students with short videos and a workbook to drive their own college counseling experience. College Sharks has a particular emphasis on helping students maximize merit-based aid by tailoring their college list and creating a competitive application. CounselMore CEO and co-founder Margaret Rothe CounselMore The innovation focuses on human-centered design rather than AI automation. College Sharks was built to be relatable and real, showing students actual offer letters, sharing candid commentary and emphasizing authenticity over perfection. Meanwhile, CounselMore's professional-grade infrastructure enables independent counselors to efficiently reach more students. 'We're empowering the college counselor to create a local 'DIY' program,' said Rothe, to get resources to more students and remove a barrier to college counseling access. Both platforms offer more of what students and families need: clarity, structure, and trustworthy guidance at a more accessible price point. CounselMore's plans start at $35 per month for college counselors. Students pay $600 per year for College Shark' programs, compared to an average hourly rate of $224 and an average cost per student of almost $6,000, according to a study conducted by the Independent Educational Consulting Association. Anecdotally, the price for more exclusive services can be $50K or more. CounselMore builds its database from authoritative sources including the U.S. federal government's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and proprietary collection teams that validate institutional data at the program level. Rothe asserts that CounselMore's data is much more current and reliable than the widely used U.S. News Best Colleges tool. But CounselMore is more than a data engine. It integrates that information with decision-making tools designed for human impact. For example, students can compare their confidence levels and experience with how specific colleges weight different components of the application. That contrast reveals where effort should be focused – whether improving writing skills for an essay-heavy school, increasing standardized test scores for colleges that weight scores higher or recalibrating expectations based on eligibility requirements. The innovation is in the infrastructure: scalable support for students, actionable tools for advisors, and transparency for families. CounselMore has also become a collaboration hub for educational consultants to license their own proprietary resources, such as College Sharks' curriculum, or build and distribute their own custom programs through the platform. The $3 billion educational consulting industry remains largely unregulated, and access is still uneven. College counseling tech platforms such as CounselMore and College Sharks combine trusted data, proven workflows and scalable delivery to make high-quality guidance available to more students. Full disclosure: the author is a client of Annapolis College Consulting and is a CounselMore user. Did you enjoy this story? Don't miss my next one: use the blue follow button at the top of the article, near my byline, to follow more of my work and check out my other columns here.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Forbes
AI For College Admissions Essays: A Proposed Ethical Framework
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - JUNE 29: People walk on the campus of the University of North Carolina ... More Chapel Hill on June 29, 2023 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admission policies used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the Constitution, bringing an end to affirmative action in higher education. (Photo by) Across the country, students are turning to AI for help drafting one of the most personal pieces of their college applications: the personal statement and college supplemental essays. According to Acuity Insights' 2024 survey of over 1,000 applicants, 35% of students said they used AI tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly to support their applications, and 76% of those users relied on these tools for the majority of their work. Yet 63% said they didn't know how much AI use was permissible, and only 42% received clear guidance from schools. Rather than banning these tools or ignoring them, we need a shared framework that helps students use AI ethically and responsibly while preserving the integrity of the application process. Here's a simple framework I propose, adapted from my research on AI literacy and admissions strategy. It's called SAGE: Source, Analyze, Generate, Edit. Each step guides students through a thoughtful, transparent process in using AI in the essay writing phase of college admissions. Rule#1: Source your story, not someone else's. Before using any tool, reflect. What is the story only you can tell? AI can help you identify themes in your narrative, but it shouldn't replace your voice. Use journaling, voice memos, or trusted conversations to identify experiences that define who you are. In my book Get Real and Get In, I encourage students to engage in the 'When I Was Little' exercise. This activity prompts you to recall your childhood dreams and interests, like wanting to be a roller coaster test-rider or a superhero. These early passions can reveal underlying values and motivations that are still relevant today. By tapping into these authentic experiences, students can craft essays that truly reflect their unique identities. Avoid asking AI to 'write my college essay about X.' Instead: Use AI to brainstorm questions or themes based on your own experiences. Use AI to help uncover what to write about, not how. My custom College Admissions X-Factor GPT is designed specifically for this purpose. The GPT guides you through a series of reflective questions to help identify your unique experiences, values, and intellectual passions. For example, you might prompt it with: AI becomes a powerful tool when it reflects you back to yourself. That's how it adds value to the writing process by acting as a mirror, not a mouthpiece. Rule #2: Analyze the prompt and your intention. Each essay prompt asks something different and reflects the unique values of each college or university. What is the college truly looking for? Use AI as a thinking partner to understand what the prompt is really asking and what part of yourself you want to highlight. Try asking AI: Rule #3: Generate with caution. AI can be a helpful creative partner, but like any collaborator it should follow your lead. Used wisely, AI can help you get unstuck. It can suggest structure, compare tones, rephrase awkward transitions, or offer a few ways to start a paragraph. This is especially useful if writing isn't your strongest skill, or if you're staring at a blinking cursor and don't know where to begin. But there's a difference between using AI to clarify your message and asking it to invent your story. Letting AI generate full paragraphs or entire drafts can lead to several problems: Start with your own ideas. Free-write, bullet-point, record a voice memo; whatever helps you capture your thoughts honestly. Then, invite AI into the process as a second set of eyes, not a ghostwriter. Once AI gives you suggestions, rewrite them in your own voice. Keep what works, revise what doesn't, and delete what feels off. Never submit anything you haven't reviewed, rewritten, and fully made your own. Rule #3: Edit for voice, accuracy, and authenticity. Generative AI can improve grammar, streamline wordiness, and suggest more polished phrasing. But only you can ensure the essay reflects your actual experience, values, and tone. If you let AI overwrite your voice, you risk sounding generic or inauthentic. So what is 'voice,' exactly? It's the unique way you communicate your own perspective. It shows up in the details you choose, the metaphors that feel natural to you, the rhythm of your sentences, and the level of vulnerability you're comfortable with. Admissions officers are attuned to what it doesn't feel real. If your essay reads like it was written by a 35-year-old data analyst, but you're a 17-year-old aspiring biology major, that mismatch can work against you. Think of this step as closing the loop: AI may have helped you get started or stay organized, but now it's your job to make sure the final product is unmistakably yours. If you're a teacher, counselor, or admissions officer, now is the time to create clear, proactive guidance. College essays remain one of the most personal components of an application. That hasn't changed. What's changed is the tools that students have available to arrive at that voice. By offering students a framework like SAGE, we can help students gain additional support in the application process and help them to amplify, not muffle, their unique voices.
Forbes
6 days ago
- General
- Forbes
College Admission Waitlist Follies
getty Historically, the college admission 'waitlist' was something that enrollment leaders used to round out their first-year class after the May 1 National Candidate Reply Date. With enrollment deposits in the bank, schools had a better sense of their yield—the number of students who accepted their offer of admission–and would rely on the waitlist to fill in the gaps or replace students who 'melted' (withdrew for any number of reasons after enrolling) over the spring and summer. Most of the waitlist activity was in May and early June and more prevalent among less selective schools. That was then, this is now! As application numbers have soared and admission and yield (as well as teenage behavior) are less and less predictable, enrollment managers increasingly use the waitlist actively as a significant tool in their process. No longer is it confined to a month or two. During this current admission cycle, some students were placed on the waitlist starting in November and December when their early application decisions landed. Instead of a college deferring an Early Decision applicant to the Regular Decision round, only to then waitlist them (this unfortunately happens), some schools are skipping the deferral and sending them directly to the waitlist. Other students were notified of their placement on the waitlist in March, and by the end of that month and into April, there was already significant movement with colleges accepting students off their waitlist. As we near the end of May, there are miles to go before enrollment leaders sleep. Waitlist activity at many institutions will likely persist well into the summer. Uncertainty reigns, even among the most selective colleges and universities. Take Harvard University for example where the Trump Administration has banned international students from enrolling. If nearly a quarter of their students are unable to attend, one has to assume that the waitlist will be crucial, and this will have repercussions throughout the admission landscape. Students track waitlist activity on social media, Reddit, and among friends while developing their own acronyms, like LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest). They often wonder if the 'list' is ranked (no) or if there is some priority, rhyme, or reason. The reality is that most colleges use it to fill specific needs. For example, if they are tracking behind on full-pay, male students from the midwest, these applicants will get the call. For universities that admit by college and/or major, if they are running short on humanities students in the College of Liberal Arts, these applicants will be in luck. There are plenty of articles and consultants that will claim they have the secret formula to being admitted off the waitlist. This is not that. Instead, I wanted to take a break from the hype around high-stakes selective college admission and offer some stories from admission officers and counselors. I asked them to share outlandish, creative, and/or head-scratching approaches that students have taken to try and be accepted from the waitlist. Stories flooded in, like the student who had a life-sized paper mache statue of herself with a fake acceptance card in her hand-delivered to the admission office. The follies had common themes and here they are: Footwear Fouls In an attempt at a Cinderella motif, one student sent a small glass slipper with a note asking to be accepted from the waitlist saying, 'I had a ball when I visited and the fit is there.' Another applicant sent a gold shoe that said "Just trying to get my foot in the door." Clearly, this is a popular approach, as one admission officer explains, 'Once we had a young man send the admissions office one of his size blue 15 Converse All-Stars with a note saying, 'I've got one foot in the door, how about the other one?'' Unfortunately, all they did was lose a shoe! Laughable Letters Often, waitlisted students will enlist alumni, politicians, celebrities, or other VIPs to write appeals to the director of admission on their behalf. Regrettably, the individual writing seldom knows the applicant well enough to be compelling. One student asked a notable senator to support them with the waitlist, but likely an aide wrote the letter because they mixed up the names. The plea they sent to the college was mistakenly addressed to the applicant and spent the whole note explaining how impressive the director of admission was and why they should be admitted. Needless to say, this correspondence was posted in the office for some time. An admission leader shared, 'One thing that I still have in my drawer is a folder from a girl who listed the number of reasons we should admit her from the waitlist. It was the exact number of people we had on the waitlist.' Another student sent a postcard to the director of admission every day until his status changed. A budding poet (pun intended) who found themself on a waitlist sent a letter with this simple rhyme: 'Roses are red, Violets are better. I will sit on your waitlist until I get my acceptance letter.' A counselor writes, 'About 25 years ago, I worked in admissions at a university in the Pacific Northwest. One year, a waitlisted student from Colorado took it upon himself to launch a daily letter-writing campaign to our office. Each day an envelope would arrive with a new reason for why we should admit him off the waitlist. I think it was Reason #6 that stated simply, 'I SUNBURN EASILY.'" Edible Efforts Many contributors shared stories of branded cookies or baked goods that incorporate the institution's colors that arrive at their offices. An admission officer writes, 'A long time ago, we had a student who had created a baking company while in high school. While on the waitlist, they sent a package of baked goods to us every single day.' Another leader explains, 'Every week through the month of April, a bundt cake arrived for the admissions staff and on the Friday closest to Easter, a human in an Easter bunny costume came with a bundt cake to continue with the creative waitlist advocacy.' And a student on the waitlist at Harvard, whose parents owned a candy store, once sent a three-foot-wide chocolate Harvard seal to the admission office. Musical Maneuvers One admission officer shares, 'My favorite waitlist attempt was a rap video about all the great things this student would do on campus if admitted,' adding, "Think Michael Scott meets Napoleon Dynamite.' A high school counselor says, 'Back when I worked in admissions, I traveled to New England each spring for a week or two of college fairs. One school in particular always hosted a lovely dinner for the admissions representatives before the fair, and I arrived on campus looking forward to the dinner and meeting with interested juniors at the fair. I had completely forgotten that there was a senior at this school on our waitlist. I enjoyed dinner and the chance to catch up with other admissions colleagues, right up until I heard that the school's a cappella group would be performing while we ate dessert. That's when I remembered that this waitlisted student was in the singing group. What I thought might be a slightly awkward few minutes of trying not to make eye contact with him while they sang turned even worse when I saw him step forward after their first song to call my name and ask me to come forward so they could serenade me. Bright red, I stood in front of the entire room of cackling college admissions officers while he kneeled in front of me and sang a song I've clearly blocked from memory. Unfortunately that turned out to be a year that we were not able to make many offers of admission from the waitlist and we did not admit him.' But the story doesn't end there…the former admission officer writes, 'Flash forward five years to my first year as a college counselor, working for another New England school. I went out to greet an admissions representative, visiting our students on behalf of another university, and discovered that he was the same young man who had serenaded me at that college fair. He ended up graduating from the college he was now representing as an admissions officer, wanting to share his transformative experience at that college that he ended up loving. Sometimes this process works out just as it should!' Closing Counsel My advice is, 'don't try these at home,' as more often than not it does not end well and you run the risk of annoying the very advocates that you want to have pulling for you. Follow the directions on your waitlist offer and don't do any more or less than instructed. If they ask for a letter of interest, send it. If they direct you not to submit additional materials, definitely do not send a rap video, shoe, or bundt cake. If it is meant to be, the college or university will reach out. In the meantime, while it does not hurt to remain on the waitlist optimistically, make sure you are getting excited about the school in which you enrolled and all the opportunities that you will have there.
