NS College Consulting Blog

When it comes to the college application process, there are few things as useful as an activity resume for it's one of the best ways to highlight your skills, talents and accomplishments while also showcasing everything that makes you unique, special and interesting. We are seeing an increasing number of schools requesting activity resumes as addendums to applications. Note: Sometimes schools offer applicants the option of submitting their resume, in these cases we HIGHLY recommend including the resume because it gives you one more opportunity to accentuate your positive attributes while also helping you remain competitive with those applicants who uploaded their resumes.  Read more

September 2015, marked the launch of the ACT’s new “enhanced” writing section. The revised test was designed to improve the writing assessment’s accuracy by pinpointing each student’s specific strengths and weaknesses. However, rather than giving a richer overview of a student’s writing abilities, the new section is fraught with issues which are impacting students, parents and admission officers.  Read more

Dear Seniors,  Read more

It’s hard to believe but 2015 is about to come to an end which means our children are one year closer to going off to college. As exciting as this might be, it is also bittersweet and for many of us, foreboding. As we start 2016, we wanted to share some of our favorite New Year’s Resolutions which we hope will reduce the angst and keep your homelife calm and stress-free (or at least, as stress-free as possible considering we’re raising teenagers).   Read more

Last week, we discussed the college interview. As we mentioned, a college interview can be extremely beneficial because it helps admission officers see you as a whole person rather than just a name on a page. Sometimes location and logistics make it impossible to have an in-person interview.  When this happens, see if you can schedule a Skype interview instead. Similar to an in-person interview, Skype interviews provide a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd and make a good impression. If you have a Skype interview coming up be sure to keep in mind these Skype-specific tips:   Read more

You took the ACT, asked for letters of recommendation, filled out applications and wrote many essays. All that’s left are college interviews. Still feeling stressed? Don’t worry you got this!   Read more

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Now that we have covered writing the Common Application main essay, it’s time to focus on another type of essay that we affectionately call the “Why” essay. As the name indicates, this essay asks the student to address their reasons for applying to a specific school. For example here is the prompt from the 2015-2016 Boston University application:  Read more

Last week’s blog focused on choosing a topic for your Common App main essay. This week we are getting into the nuts and bolts of writing, with tips and suggestions for how to craft your perfect essay.   Read more