Whitney Bruce has been helping students succeed in the college admissions process for over 15 years. Her experience on the admissions boards for both Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Michigan have led her to develop a true expertise for this subject and prepare numerous students for the lengthy process. Whitney currently counsels students as a team member of Accepted, a premier admissions consulting service. VT: How far ahead of time should a student begin working on his or her college application?  Whitney: Students can begin working on their college applications during the summer prior to senior year ... Read More About Ask an Admissions Expert: Whitney Bruce

Throughout your many years of school, you will never avoid the essay assignment.  This will be thrown at you over and over and over – so many times that you’ll eventually look back and find yourself in disbelief that you’ve actually written that many essays.  Whether you’re analyzing literature for an English class, writing personal statements for college applications, or taking a stance on an issue for an ACT writing task, you are going to need the same set of fierce writing skills to compose a well-structured and logical essay.  Some people have a better knack for writing than others and those natural i ... Read More About Tips for Writing an Essay

High school students have a lot going on already, but when you add on the big college search, it’s hard for a student not to find life extremely overwhelming.  This is one giant process that requires a lot of guidance, so it is critical that a student really understands what they’re getting into before taking on this life-changing project.  It cannot be treated as something they will coast their way through or just occasionally check on.  The college search should be an extremely organized endeavor that you are keeping up with every day and giving very careful attention to. Of course, this takes us back to the overw ... Read More About How to Prepare for the College Search

By Chloe Brown When I started my college search, I knew I wanted to go to a small, liberal arts school, either in New England or California. But once I visited Williams College, I fell in love. I knew that was where I wanted to go. So when fall of senior year rolled around, I sent off my Early Decision application and waited, typing up my other applications in between rounds of biting my nails. As you may have guessed, things worked out alright and in December I got a big, thick, purple envelope. While I don’t know exactly what goes on in the head of an admissions officer, I can tell you what sort of applicant I looked like. I had spen ... Read More About How I Got Into Williams College

The GMAT has one 30-minute essay: the Analysis of an Argument prompt. It has a pretty basic formula, and yes, we’re going to walk you right through it. Instead of arguing your belief, you will actually critique another author’s point. However, this essay still requires the classic, 5-paragraph setup. In the first paragraph, you’ll need to take a stance that the author’s argument is either logical or illogical. Next, you will use 3-4 paragraphs of points to confirm your stance. Finally, you’ll put together a strong conclusion to sum it all up. Example prompt:The Awesome Energy Riders have become an extremely popu ... Read More About How To Improve Your GMAT Essay