College Admissions Insider

While search engines provide millions of answers in less than a second, there is one life-changing question for which the answer doesn't arrive as quickly: Did I get in? When you want to know whether you’ve been accepted into your college of choice, things don't happen quickly. In fact, it may be months between the moment you press “submit” on your application and the day that acceptance...

When do you find "the one"? Some people don't pinpoint their perfect career path until midway through college. For others, that true passion waits to reveal itself after years of being in the workforce. But for a lucky few, that dream job shines brightly early on. These ambitious high schoolers are certain of what they want to do with their degrees before they even begin their colle...

For high school students who aspire to be doctors or work in health care, there are numerous fields to choose from — areas like surgery, physical therapy and dentistry, to name just three. But what is the right path to reaching that career? What majors might best set you up for success? And how many years should you expect to be in college? Helping us navigate those questions and more is Alison Pa...

It’s one of the oldest professions and a job that touches nearly every aspect of our lives, from finances and real estate to commerce, health care, and beyond. That far-reaching trade is law, which encompasses far more than the intense courtroom scenes we see in crime movies and TV shows. In fact, there are more than a dozen major fields of law and an array of even more nuanced concentrations offe...

Think about the latest TV series you binge-watched. Did it start by saying, "In this TV show, you'll meet a messed-up family with lots of problems." Probably not. It likely threw you right into the story, sharing something interesting just a few moments after you pressed "play." In other words, it hooked you quickly, and it did so by showing, not telling. What if you appli...

If you're on Bucknell's mailing list, you might have seen an email telling high school students that when they apply to Bucknell, a real human — not some computer algorithm — reviews their application personally. At Bucknell, we're proud of that fact. But that statement might raise a follow-up question: Who are those humans who will review my application? In this episode of College...

There's no better resource for learning about a university than its students. Nobody else truly knows what it's like to live in that campus community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students are the ones who take the classes, attend the events, participate in the clubs and live in the residence halls. That's why it's so important to talk to actual students when researching c...

Sometimes you travel a long distance to go see a college or university that interests you. Other times, if you're lucky, that college or university comes to see you. They're called counselor visits, and they're a great way to learn more about a university without leaving school grounds. In this episode of College Admissions Insider , we'll share our top tips for making the most...

A lot of emotions go through a student's head as their mouse cursor hovers over the "submit" button on a college application. There's excitement. There's hope. And yes, there's probably a fair amount of second-guessing, anxiety and maybe even a dash of all-out panic. To be fair, that's a pretty important click in the life of a college student. But if you have pre...

Imagine this: Every time you visit a college, email a counselor or even click a link in an email from a university on your list, you’re helping your chances of getting admitted. For schools that consider demonstrated interest, those scenarios are often a reality. Some schools keep a record of the actions you take to, as the name implies, demonstrate that you're interested in that school. It’s...

When applying to college, so much of a high school student's experience is laser-focused on perfecting every step of the college application journey. As a freshman, you build your initial list of schools you want to explore. As a junior, you begin visiting schools and reaching out to admissions offices. And as a senior, you wait with anticipation for good news. But the journey of preparing fo...

In a household where a parent or family member completed a four-year college degree, a high school student has someone right under their roof who can answer any question that student might have about the college search process. But some students don't have that luxury and might need to find other ways to get the information they need to find, apply to and prepare for college. They're cal...

Choosing a college home is a bit like choosing an actual home. It should be the perfect size, offer the features you want, and feel safe and comfortable. Just like shopping for a house, searching for a college starts with that one key word: location. So where exactly do you start when considering a school's geographic location when planning your college search? What factors should you absolut...

By some counts, there are about 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. As a prospective student, you can slice and dice that list in a seemingly infinite number of ways. You could sort by state, you could look at urban schools and rural ones, you could filter out schools that you consider too big or too small, you could look at what majors are offered, you could look at whether the school off...

They're the three letters on the mind of pretty much every college-bound high school student: G, P and A. But understanding how colleges and universities will interpret your grade-point average isn't so simple. Some institutions recalculate applicants' GPAs using their own scale. Some only count certain core classes in their calculations, meaning electives don't factor in to th...

By now you know that so many things go into a university’s decision of whether to admit someone. They might look at extracurriculars, essays, letters of recommendation, demonstrated interest, test scores (if you submit them and the school isn't test-optional), and, of course, grades. But higher-ed institutions don't just take a surface-level view of those A's, B's and C's....

When exploring colleges, there's only so much you can do online. At some point, you have to see these places for yourself — all five, 10 or 30 schools on your list. Unless a family member has unlimited vacation days (or a teleportation machine), the only way to realistically visit multiple schools in a reasonable amount of time is by planning a college visit road trip. But how do you organize...

College is more than a place to learn, meet interesting people and grow. For most students, it's also where you'll live — perhaps for four years of your life. Young people who may be accustomed to living in their own room at home will suddenly be sharing a room (and bathroom) with others. That fact makes finding the right housing fit just as important as finding the right academic fit. S...

If a typical college semester is about 15 weeks long and students eat three meals a day, that means they're eating 315 meals on campus each semester. That's more than 600 meals during each academic year. That makes food a pretty important part of the college experience — and an important part of choosing which college to attend. This is especially true for students who have special food...

The college application process is highly personal — no two journeys are ever the same. Even still, we can learn a lot from those who have traveled that road before by asking what they did right and what they wish they'd done differently. In this episode of College Admissions Insider , we invite listeners to our first college admissions roundtable. It's a chance to hear from current coll...

Today's high school students don't just rely on websites and viewbooks. They turn to social media to help them get a complete picture of life at a particular college. At some schools, the reverse happens, too. Some colleges and universities (not Bucknell) actually look at an applicant's social media to give them a fuller picture of the prospective student. In this episode of College...

These days, your dream school will look at way more than grades. They want the complete package: someone who shows promise both inside and outside the classroom — not some computer who can ace any exam but does little else. So how do you present that complete package to a college? Which out-of-the-classroom parts of your life are worth highlighting? Do some extracurriculars look better on a résumé...

There are dozens of reasons a student might choose to take a gap year, a voluntary yearlong break taken between the end of high school and the start of college. It might be to travel, find a job or internship, or complete volunteer or service work. In recent years, we've seen that about 3% to 5% of students take a gap year after high school. At Bucknell, that number is about 1% of each incomi...

Waiting is the most agonizing part of the college admissions process. You send off your materials and then keep clicking that refresh button until the decision arrives (or your phone dies). But for a select group of applicants, that waiting period is significantly reduced. These are the students who applied Early Decision or Early Action to their top-choice school or schools. These students could...

Top-tier American universities like Bucknell (which welcomed its first international student in 1858) have been attracting talented international students for generations. But even as more international students choose to attend college in the United States, the process for exploring, applying to, and attending American universities has not gotten any easier. This episode of College Admissions Ins...