How to Brainstorm Your Personal Statement
The most important work on college application essays comes before you write the very first word of your very first...
The Vine
A blog where Ivy Experience disentangles college admissions.Ivy Experience’s Spring Webinar Schedule 2025
We are excited to announce our full schedule of webinars this spring! See below for topics, dates, and registration links....
Ivy Experience’s Fall 2024 Webinar Schedule
We are excited to announce our full schedule of webinars this fall! See below for topics, dates, and registration links....
Big Changes to the ACT Coming Spring 2025
ACT has dropped a bombshell announcement of three major changes to the test coming to the National test dates in...
5 Questions with Lech Harris
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview Lech Harris, one of our College Admissions Specialists! What...
5 Questions with Kevin Trudel
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview Kevin Trudel, one of our College Admissions Specialists! What...
5 Questions with Jordan Holmes
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview Jordan Holmes, our Assistant Director of College Admissions! What...
5 Questions with Alyssa Coltrain
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview Alyssa Coltrain, our Director of College Admissions. What is...
Writing the Identity Essay
In the summer of 2023, the United States Supreme Court determined that the admissions programs used by the University of...
Why Rankings Matter Less than You Think
Every year, the US News and World Report publishes its rankings of the top National and Liberal Arts universities in...
Financial Aid 101: The Basics Every Family Should Know
This year, the Department of Education has been working out issues with the new version of the Free Application for...
How to Contact Admissions
No matter where you are in the college process, you will eventually want to reach out to someone on a...
Ivy Experience’s Spring Webinar Schedule
We are excited to announce our full schedule of webinars this spring! See below for topics, dates, and registration links....
Applying as an Out-of-State Applicant
As decisions begin to roll out from some colleges around the country, it’s important to remember that some institutions were...
Building Rapport with an Admissions Officer
At the other end of your application is an admissions officer—another human being tasked with getting to know you in...
Who are Admissions Officers?
Who are admissions officers? Gatekeeper? Resources? Representatives? At the core of it, admissions officers are people—human beings who have preferences...
How Colleges Evaluate Activities
How you spend your time outside of class is very important to colleges. Spending time doing what you love is...
Statistics that May Surprise You
Applying to college can be full of surprises, including some statistics about the process. Below we share some of the...
Introduction to the University of California system
With ten campuses and a study body of nearly 300,000, the University of California (UC) system is an attractive option...
College Transition Tips
It is a great feeling once your essays and applications; you’ve heard back from colleges, and are finally able to...
All About Applying by Major
Many colleges and universities ask applicants to choose their course of study, or major, in their applications. Not all students...
What Is a Personal Statement?
Writing a personal statement can be a difficult task for students. Used to writing analytical essays for their classes, students...
Why Choose Ivy Experience?
Ivy Experience works with students at every phase of their high school journey and college preparation process. We work closely...
Our Favorite Personal Statements
Writing a personal statement is ultimately personal. However, just like admissions officers, each of our essay coaches has their own...
The Best Time to Write College Essays
We are going to be honest with you: there is no good time to write college essays. There are only...
What to Do about a Waitlist
So, your application has been waitlisted. Now what? A waitlist decision is never what you were hoping for and can...
5 Questions with Teddy Allor
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview Teddy Allor, one of our College Admissions Specialists. What...
5 Questions with H. Ulrich
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview H. Ulrich, one of our College Admissions Specialists. What...
5 Questions with Eric Karlan
Get to know our essay coaches! We sat down to interview Eric Karlan, one of our co-founders. What changes to...
Why Your Student Should “Fall In Love” With Their Likely Schools
While it is common to hear a student rhapsodize over a reach school, it is unusual to hear much enthusiasm...
An Honest Conversation About Grades
Let’s be honest. There’s a lot that goes into college applications: grades, test scores, recommendations, activities, and essays. It can...
How to Prepare for a College Interview
The college admissions process can be overwhelming. Beyond applications, essays, and standardized tests, some schools also require college interviews. So...
My College Application Essays VS ChatGPT
Much has already been said about ChatGPT. The Atlantic declared “The College Essay Is Dead”—but they are referring to...
What To Do After Submitting Your College Applications
Congratulations! You are done submitting all of your college applications. But don’t be tempted to sit back and wait for...
All about Deferrals
Getting deferred from your Early Decision or Early Action school is never the decision you were hoping for. But it...
The Five Things in Your Control
There are seemingly innumerable factors that go into every decision, whether it is an acceptance, deferral, waitlist, or rejection. Many...
Ivy’s Recommendation Letter Primer
We often say that there are very few things under your control in the admissions process: your grades, your activities,...
Six Advantages of Liberal Arts Colleges
Often our students aren’t excited about the idea of liberal arts colleges, believing them to be too small, expensive, or...
6 Types of College Application Deadlines
What’s the difference between early action and early decision? What about single-choice early action? How do I choose? The way...
College Essays about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In recent years, many colleges and universities have expanded their supplemental college essay prompts to include topics about diversity, equity,...
Test-Optional Policies: What Juniors Need to Know
With the spread of “test-optional” policies nationwide, the term itself has become broadly used and widely misinterpreted. In this post,...
How to Show Demonstrated Interest
Beyond essays, applications, grades, and activities, what more can your student do to strengthen their application at their dream school? ...
Finding the Right Scholarships for You
When thinking about how to pay for college, many families immediately turn to student loans. But there are thousands of...
Paying for College: Maximizing Merit Aid
Your student has worked hard all through high school, and now it’s time to apply to college. Hopefully, their grades...
The College List: Aiming for Appropriate Target Schools
As students build their college lists, they may have a balance of likely, target, and reach schools. Likely schools are...
The College List: An Honest Conversation About Reach Schools
We see the headlines every year: Student gets into _____ of the eight Ivy League schools to which they applied....
All About Applying Undecided
I have no idea. That is not an uncommon answer when we ask students what they want to study in...
College Search, Applications, and Essays Outline: Grades 9-12
Ideally, students complete the bulk of their college applications during the summer after 11th grade. But when it comes to...
How to Research Colleges Beyond Virtual Tours
Look Within Our advice is to look within when beginning your college search. Remember that you are not just looking...
An Updated Guide to Virtual College Tours
Where to start Without the option to visit colleges in-person, virtual tours and online content can provide a bridge and...
Test-Optional Policies: What Do They Mean?
Before COVID-19, there were already more than 1,000 colleges and universities that were test-optional. But with so many institutions changing...
Recommendations & Application FAQs
With continuing uncertainty about when (and if) schools will resume this spring, we recognize that juniors and families will have questions...
My College Visits Got Canceled – Now What?
In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, many colleges have made the decision to shut down their campuses for the remainder...
Popular Schools With Why College Essays
American University Why are you interested in American University? 150 words Bard College Why Bard? 250 words Barnard College What...
The Ivy Experience College Application Essay Prompt Database 2019-2020
While most students will have to write a personal statement for the Common App or Coalition, many universities change their...
Information for Athletic Recruits
Guest post by Matthew Gnall The Athletic Advantage Forced to transparency by the SFFA lawsuit, Harvard revealed in a report...
List of Our Students’ College Acceptances 2019
Allgeheny American Amherst Arizona State University Auburn Babson Bard Barnard Baylor Belmont Bloomsburg Boston College Boston University Bowdoin Brandeis Brown...
State of Admissions 2019
‘The Most Competitive Admissions Cycle Ever’ – Again If you have read any articles on admissions statistics this month, you...
Maximizing College Visits – the “Why College” Essay
We all know campus visits are an important part of applying to college – they can give students and families...
7 Common Mistakes on the Common App
If you are applying to college, you will almost certainly be using the Common Application. Here is our list of...
What Does the UC System Value in an Applicant?
The University of California system recently published a list of 13 factors they weigh in evaluating every student’s application. While...
Pitt and Penn State Join the Common App!
Another year, another group of schools joining the Common Application. Notable for many of our students are the additions of...
State of Admissions 2018
This is our first (of what we intend to be annual) State of Admissions – an email that recaps our...
How to approach the Common App essays (2018-2019)
The Common App recently released the prompts for the 2018-2019 personal statement. After making some tweaks for the past few...
What is the Coalition Application?
In this Q-&-A-style guest post by Philadelphia area college guru Cigus Vanni (edited by Ivy Experience), Cigus explains what rising...
Why work with Ivy Experience on essays?
With college essays and applications looming on the horizon, you may feel overwhelmed by what is ahead. What are colleges...
Top Ten Common App FAQ’s
The Common App is intended to save you time, energy, and stress in the college application process. It is meant...