 By Aparna Huprikar and Jamie Lewis UFit College Consulting During the last two college admissions cycles, test-optional policies resulted in many colleges receiving record numbers of applications from many more fully-qualified candidates than they could possibly admit. This, in turn, has led to historically low admissions rates and more than a few disappointed students who were rejected from their top-choice colleges. These trends are leaving students and families feeling pessimistic and confused by what appears to be the randomness of current college admission decisions, since many students who were rejected or waitlisted from some colleges appear to have similar stats (GPA, course rigor, leadership, etc.) as those who were accepted. While a college's institutional needs are considered foremost when admitting an incoming class, colleges are also hyper-focused on protecting their yield rate. A college's yield rate is determined by dividing the number of students who ultimately commit to a college by the number of students who were offered admission to that college. Simply put, colleges want to know that if they offer you admission, you are likely to accept and attend their university. If your stats are higher than their averages, they might assume you will get into and likely attend a more competitive university. Today, more than ever before, it is important for students to demonstrate interest to the colleges they are applying to, so that the colleges feel confident there is a good chance they will attend if offered a spot in their freshman class. How can you show your commitment to attending a college during the admissions process? Here are some suggestions:
Now is the perfect time for high school juniors to start finalizing their college lists, thinking about an application strategy, and demonstrating interest in the colleges they will be applying to in the fall. For personalized assistance with any part of the college search and application process, please contact UFit College Consulting.  By Aparna Huprikar and Jamie Lewis UFit College Consulting Have you been waitlisted at one or more of your top-choice colleges? If so, you are not alone. This college application season, we are seeing longer waitlists as colleges try to predict yield rates in an unprecedented time. Colleges appear to be resorting to longer waitlists due to a significant increase in applications caused by test optional policies, growth in the number of colleges joining the Common Application platform, and a general uptick in the average number of applications submitted by students. Many students are feeling pressure to cast a wider net due to the lack of predictability in college admissions. Not only did many colleges receive a record number of applications, but they are still confronting an influx of gap-year students from the previous two admissions cycles, and don’t want to end up with the housing shortages that many colleges encountered last year because they underestimated the number of incoming freshmen who committed to their schools. If you were waitlisted this year from one or several of your top choices, don’t lose hope. Although frustrating, being waitlisted indicates that the college considered you to be a good fit for their community, but needs to see how their incoming class will ultimately take shape to make a final determination on your candidacy. It is not a rejection, so there is still a chance you could be accepted. Commit to a college you have been accepted to. Since most colleges do not move students off their waitlists until after college decision day, which is typically May 1 or May 2, you should absolutely commit to attending a college that has offered you admission, before their deadline. There is always a likelihood that colleges will start movement on their waitlists before May 1, but students should make sure that if that does not happen, they have secured a spot at a school where they have been admitted. Get excited about the college you are committing to because a waitlist option may not work out. Next, you need to assess whether you want to remain on a waitlist. Decide if you will opt in to the waitlist. You should consider all of your acceptances to determine if you truly want to invest your time and emotions by remaining on a waitlist. Many students prefer to commit to a school that they have been accepted to, so that they can start getting excited about their college years and start building friendships and connections with that college, instead of adding the stress of being on a waitlist. Remaining on the waitlist means that, if accepted, you will be faced with changing your college choice later in the spring or summer, perhaps after having invested a significant amount of time in the college where you have accepted admission. Students need to evaluate whether changing their decision would be worth it, depending on their academic goals and finances, especially if financial aid is involved in the decision. Therefore, it is very important for students to reflect on why they would want to stay on a waitlist. Perhaps the college that has waitlisted them provides a greater breadth of academics, or it has a particular location that is more appealing, or the college has greater proximity to close family, etc. All of these factors need to be considered and weighed. If you have decided to stay on the waitlist, make sure you remain visible.
How to write a letter of continued interest. By communicating with your regional admissions officer, you are reiterating your interest in the school. Here are some suggestions for when and how you should correspond with your regional admissions officer after a waitlist decision:
If you would like help with crafting a letter of continued Interest, or general guidance as you make your college and waitlist decisions, please reach out to our certified college counselors at UFit College Consulting.  By Aparna Huprikar and Jamie Lewis UFit College Consulting You don't have to be the parent of the most competitive student to start thinking about laying the groundwork for high school activities while your child is still in middle school. Helping your child find ways to explore their interests early on will give them a head start down the college planning runway and ensure they are ready to take off when senior year comes along.
Eighth grade is the perfect time to start thinking about areas where your child has demonstrated aptitude, interest, and talent. Throughout middle school, parents can help their children explore different activities to find areas that spark their interests and bring them joy. Have them consider activities inside and outside of their middle school. Encourage them to join a sports team, play a musical instrument, try out for the school play, join a religious youth group, take art or robotics classes, volunteer at an animal shelter, or prepare meals for the homeless, etc. The goal is to let them experience new things and find out what truly excites them. Once they get to high school, they will then have a better idea of which areas they want to become further involved in through the expanded high school offerings. Ideally, your kids will be participating in high school extracurriculars for true interest and passion and not just to have something to put on their college applications. Exploring interests early will be genuinely additive to your child's experience in high school and will inform their core and elective class selections and help them decide what they want to study further in college. Academics will always play an important role in college admissions, and a student’s profile can be further enhanced by their genuine interest and demonstrable growth in extracurricular activities. While it is good for students to do some further exploration of multiple activities early in high school, college admissions officers like to see continuity, longevity, growth, and leadership in at least a couple of extracurricular activities. How can parents help their middle-schoolers find their passion? Here are some tips:
Early exploration, experience, and planning will result in an organically competitive applicant profile for colleges by the time students are ready to apply. At UFit College Consulting, we work with middle school and high school students to help them find their passions. We provide valuable guidance regarding activities that are aligned with their interests and strengths, giving them a sufficient runway to demonstrate a growth trajectory in these areas. For students who may not have a clear idea of what they want to pursue, we help them find their areas of interest and develop a concrete plan.  By Aparna Huprikar and Jamie Lewis UFit College Consulting As parents, we want our kids to go to college and find their passions that they can convert into a meaningful career, preferably one that earns them a decent salary and allows them to be independent. No parent wants their young adult returning from college with a degree that only affords them a room in the basement of their family home. Without sounding too clinical and practical, how can parents guide their children to find a major in college that fulfills them and provides a decent return on their college education?
High school is a great time to explore academic interests outside of the core high school graduation requirements. Students should consider enrolling in electives offered by their high school and use their summers to discover fields that might interest them. For example, a student who wants to explore a more niche area of study in weather science could take courses in meteorology, seismic science, climate change, etc., at a local college, attend seminars or workshops hosted by organizations specializing in these fields, or sign up for an online class. Students can also gain real-life experience through job-shadowing and internships. Students interested in law or medicine can find opportunities at local hospitals or legal-aid clinics, where they can volunteer their time and learn from professionals. If they are interested in politics, perhaps they can take a course in public policy or volunteer to work with a local politician. The idea here is to show students the practical application of their interests in the real world. Most students don't get much time in high school to truly reflect on what they would like to pursue as a major or career. They don't understand what a job in a particular field entails. They don't necessarily even know about the abundance of configurations and combinations of majors and minors that they can pair up and study in college to reach their ideal future job or career. You may be asking, “How can they possibly be expected to know what career they want at 17 years old?” We are not suggesting your teenagers pick a major or career and carve it in stone. Rather, we suggest they take the time to explore as many options as possible, and reflect on what they care about and might want to do in the future. This way they will be more likely to start their college studies in the right neighborhood, even if they change their mind about the specific house a few times. In addition to exploring different subjects and careers in high school, there are many personality tests and questionnaires in the form of multiple-choice questions that purport to help your student find a career that is suited to them. In reality, this format does not allow students to really reflect about themselves; they simply fill-in bubbles from a stated list of options. These questionnaires result in a generic, computer-generated conclusion based on weights assigned to the questions answered. In our opinion, this is not a valuable way to gauge your teenager's interests or personality. At UFIT College Consulting, we have created a proprietary questionnaire with open-ended questions that delve deeply into a student's personality, strengths, and passions. It is an exercise in self-reflection that provides better insight into a student's mind. The consultants at UFit analyze these answers and prepare a document that showcases the various majors a student can pursue and the careers they can choose to realize their life goals. This exercise equally benefits students who have specific interests and those who are undecided. It also helps illuminate areas they can explore through classes, volunteer work, and internships and informs a student's potential college list and application strategy while creating a strong college application that tells a cohesive story with greater clarity, particularly if the student is applying to a particular major or department within a college. For parents, it provides relief knowing that their students have some foundational direction that they can build upon to create a successful college experience. If you would like your student to fill out this questionnaire and/or receive help finding specific ways to explore their interests, please reach out to us at [email protected]. College Admissions Jargon Explained  By UFit College Consulting It’s August, which means the kids are getting ready to go back to school and, if you are the parent of a high school junior or senior, you are going to start hearing a lot about the college admissions process. As with many other industries, the college industry uses many buzzwords that can be unfamiliar and confusing to anyone who is a newbie to this process. To help make things a little easier, we will outline some of the most common college admissions buzzwords and explain what they mean. We will start with the multiple ways students can choose to submit their college applications.
When many of us parents applied to college, there was a single deadline for submitting applications and admission decisions were mailed out on a given date or on a rolling basis. If you are like us, you probably remember checking the mailbox daily and hoping to find a fat envelope which meant good news. Today, most colleges offer a variety of application deadlines to students and a subsequent variety of decision notification dates. Understanding all of these options as well as their acronyms will be the focus of this blog. ED stands for Early Decision (the binding one). Applying to a school early decision or ED means that if your student submits their application for their top-choice college by the ED deadline, they will receive an admission decision by the middle to the end of December. This is a binding decision, meaning if your student is offered admission, they must attend. Therefore, we only advise students to apply ED if there is one college -- from their curated list of colleges -- that they want to attend more than any of the others on their list. For some competitive colleges, applying ED can increase your student’s chances of admission a great deal, but they can only apply ED to one school. If your student gets admitted during the ED round, all other EA applications or rolling admission decisions have to be withdrawn. EA stands for Early Action. Some schools do not have an ED option, but they may have the non-binding early action option. If a student applies to a school early action, they must submit their application by the EA deadline and, in exchange, they will hear back from the college earlier than those who did not submit the application by the EA deadline. Students are not limited on the number of colleges they can apply to early action. Usually, students can apply EA to public schools and some private colleges along with an application to an ED school. SCEA stands for Single Choice Early Action. It is also commonly called Restricted Early Action. Only a handful of very selective colleges offer this option, and while SCEA is a non-binding agreement, there are varying rules regarding what other colleges you can also apply to in the early cycle. The advantage of applying to a top-choice college SCEA is that you will receive your admissions decision in December rather than March, while also signaling your strong commitment to the school. However, the opportunity cost here is that your student will likely not be able to submit an early application to any other private colleges. This choice is great for someone who has an extremely competitive application profile. Deadline for applying SCEA is typically November 1st. If you are accepted in December, you still have until May to make your final decision. RD stands for Regular Decision. All colleges have a general application deadline that is the latest date students can apply. This is the regular decision deadline. Applying to a college regular decision is non-binding, and students can apply to as many schools as they want. They will just receive their decisions later than if they had applied ED or EA. January 1st is a common deadline for regular decision applications, but the date varies from college to college. Rolling Admissions: Some schools process applications as they receive them and send out admissions decisions on a rolling basis. Some rolling admissions schools get back to students as quickly as within a week or two. The earlier a student submits their application to a rolling admissions school, the earlier they will hear back. ED I and ED II (both are binding). Recently, some colleges have added an ED II application option. To explain the difference between ED I and ED II, imagine that your student has applied to their top-choice school ED I but is rejected when admissions decisions come out in December. They would then have the option of applying ED II to a different school that offers this option, which is ideal if they have a clear second choice. Like all ED decisions, an ED II decision is binding. If your student is accepted by the school they apply to ED II, the same rules apply; they must attend that school. ED II deadlines are usually in early January (shortly after ED I decisions come out). If your student has already applied to their second-choice school early action or regular decision, they can change their application to ED II at any college that has this option. Similar to applying ED I, applying ED II can make it easier to get into some schools because you are committing to attend that school, if accepted. Having so many application options can be both a blessing and curse for students (and parents) today. The terminology can be confusing and looking up all the options offered by each school on your student’s college list can be time consuming. However, being strategic about how and when to apply to each school can help yield the best possible outcome for your student - being accepted to one or more of their top-choice colleges! If you and your student need help navigating this complicated territory and creating an application strategy, please reach out to UFit College Consulting. Our certified college consultants would be happy to guide you. How to Showcase Character in Your College Application  By UFit College Consulting There are many parts that sum up a college application: personal statement, essays, activities, awards, academic profile, recommendations, and test scores. From all these tangible pieces of your application, admissions officers read, evaluate, and form opinions about who you are, not only as a student, but as a person. What can you do to make sure that you are represented not only by your academic record, but also by your character?
A student’s character assessment has increasingly become an important part of the college application process. Admissions officers want students who will be contributing members of their college community, will uphold the values of the university and its mission, and exhibit traits such as kindness and compassion. They are looking for students who will be a good friend and a source of inspiration for fellow students. A person’s character can be stratified in many layers. Most admissions officers look for evidence of the these four types of character.:
It is important to exhibit these strong character traits in your application without spelling them out. Usually, character assessment tends to be an inference-based exercise. It is something that should be inherent in your application and easily revealed to the reader. There are several ways in which your application can reflect your character and who you are as a person:
Demonstrating character in a college application is not about creating a checklist of items to draw attention to your qualities, but more about being true to yourself and to your commitments. Your accomplishments, interactions, interests, and passions will be the gateway to illustrate your multidimensional strengths and character traits. At UFit College Consulting, we can help you develop an application that will bring your innate qualities to the surface and accurately represent you and your character, beyond the quantitative aspects of your application.  By UFit College Consulting Are Letters of Recommendation an Important Part of the College Application? Many colleges require students to submit letters of recommendation from their high school counselor and two teachers. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that admissions officers won’t look at these letters or that providing them do nothing more than check a box. If a college wants you to submit these letters, it is because they use them in their holistic evaluation of your application. In fact, admissions officers say that in the absence of test scores, the letters of recommendation have become an increasingly important factor in their overall evaluation of you as a student and a person. Who Should Write the Letters of Recommendation? Apart from the required letter of recommendation from the high school counselor, students need two recommendations from teachers. Ideally, you should ask your junior year core subject teachers (English, Math, Science, Foreign Language, or Social Studies). Ask teachers you feel know you well, you have a rapport with, and in whose classes you did well. If you are going to be pursuing a STEM major in college, make sure you ask at least one math or science teacher to write your recommendation. Similarly, if you will be studying humanities in college, ask an English or social studies teacher to write one of your recommendations. If you will be studying fine arts or performing arts, those majors may have a supplemental application that requires an additional recommendation from a teacher or mentor who knows you and your artistic endeavors. In addition to your academic recommendations, some colleges will allow you to submit additional letters of recommendation. If you have had a job or internship, do community service work, or are involved in any social, religious, or political organizations, you should consider asking your boss, supervisor, mentor, or peer leader to write you a recommendation letter. These letters can add dimension to your application and provide further evidence of character, responsibility, and leadership. When Should You Ask for Letters of Recommendation? The ideal time to ask your counselor, teachers, and others to write your recommendation letters is in the spring of your junior year. Don’t wait too long, as some teachers have to limit how many letters they are willing to write, and you are not going to be the only one asking this of them. Some teachers like to write these letters over the summer when they are less busy, so if you are a junior and haven’t asked your teachers yet, do it as soon as possible! Be mindful that teachers are not required to provide letters of recommendation, so be respectful and courteous when making these requests. If it makes sense, set up a virtual call or an in-person meeting to discuss what you would like them to highlight in your recommendation. Such a meeting will go a long way in securing a strong letter of recommendation. It may also make sense for you to create a resume that you can share with your teachers. Don’t forget to thank your recommenders after the application process is complete with a nice handwritten note. What Should You Ask Your Recommenders to Write About You? For many of you, your counselors and teachers don’t really know you that well and because of Covid, they may not have even taught you in person this past year. Therefore, it is your job to provide them with the information they need to know in order to paint you in the best light possible. Luckily, this also provides an amazing opportunity for you to determine what it is you want admissions officers to know about you. For some of the most competitive schools, getting a resounding recommendation letter that states that you were “one of the best” students the teacher has ever taught or a sentiment along those lines, will serve as a differentiator for you as an applicant. Here are some examples of information you can provide to help your counselor, teachers, and others write a positive, anecdote-filled letter that goes straight to the college admissions officer who reads your college application:
 By UFit College Consulting This college application season, we are expecting to see longer waitlists as colleges try to predict yield rates in an unprecedented time. Not only did many colleges receive a record number of applications, but they are also confronting an influx of gap-year students from the previous admissions cycle. This situation has created more noise about how applications are evaluated and how many students are ultimately admitted. Decision deadlines have been pushed back and students are feeling more anxious than ever.
As decisions roll in, take a deep breath! There will be excitement and disappointment as you receive these decisions. Through it all, remember that there are multiple colleges that will be a good fit for you. If you get waitlisted from one or several of your top choices, don’t lose hope. Although frustrating, being waitlisted indicates that the college did consider you to be a good fit for their community, but the admissions committee needs to see how their incoming class will ultimately take shape to make a final determination on your candidacy. It is not a rejection, which means there is still a chance you could be accepted to that college. What should you do if you are waitlisted? Since most colleges do not move students off their waitlists until after college decision day, which is typically May 1 or May 2, you should absolutely commit to attend a college that has offered you admission, before their deadline. Make sure you are excited about the college you are committing to because a waitlist option may not work out. Despite the pandemic, some competitive colleges may not see much movement in their waitlists because they continue to enjoy very high yield rates. Others might see significant movement in their waitlists because of the uncertainty Covid has caused. Next, you need to assess whether you want to remain on a waitlist. How do you decide if you should remain on the waitlist? You should consider all of your acceptances to determine if you truly want to invest your time and emotions by remaining on a waitlist. Many students prefer to commit to a school that they have been accepted to, so that they can start getting excited about their college years and start building friendships and connections with that college, instead of adding the stress of being on a waitlist. Remaining on the waitlist means that, if accepted, you will be faced with changing your college choice later in the summer, perhaps after having invested a significant amount of time in the college where you have accepted admission. Students need to evaluate whether changing their decision would be worth it, depending on their academic goals and finances, especially, if financial aid is involved in the decision. Therefore, it is very important for students to reflect on why they would want to stay on a waitlist. Perhaps the college that has waitlisted them provides a greater breadth of academics, or it has a particular location that is more appealing, or the college has greater proximity to close family, etc. All of these factors need to be considered and weighed. If you have decided to stay on the waitlist, how do you remain visible?
What should be included in the Letter of Continued Interest? By communicating with your regional admissions officer, you are reiterating your interest in the school. Your letter should include any updates, honors, or awards you have received since the time of your application. Here are some suggestions for when and how you should correspond with your regional admissions officer after a waitlist decision:
If you would like help with crafting a Letter of Continued Interest, or general guidance as you make your college and waitlist decisions, please reach out to our certified college counselors at UFit College Consulting.  By UFit College Consulting If you are planning to visit colleges this spring or summer, you will want to get the most out of each visit, whether it is in person or virtual. While taking a campus tour is an integral part of every college visit, there are other important factors you should also consider in order to gain valuable insight into each school. After all, you are thinking of spending your next four years there! If you were looking to buy a car, you wouldn’t just look at the car’s interior and exterior. You would take it for a test drive, read the reviews, and talk to current and previous owners. When it comes to looking at colleges, there are many factors you should consider and explore before, during, and after your online or in-person college visit:
 By UFit College Consulting The weather is warming, the snow is melting, and spring break is right around the corner. If you are the parent of a high school junior or senior, spring break has always been an ideal time to visit colleges. Like everything else in this crazy COVID year, visiting colleges right now is less than ideal. It is, however, doable. Although very few colleges are offering in-person campus tours, some are providing maps for self-paced walking or driving tours, and all colleges are making a plethora of virtual visiting opportunities available from the comfort of your home.
We have compiled a list of the colleges we are aware of that are offering in-person visits and tours. This list is fluid since colleges are modifying their policies every day. As always, we recommend that you check the colleges' websites or call their admissions offices to receive the most up-to-date information. Also, some colleges are only offering in-person visit opportunities to admitted students, so we have not included them in our list below. As summer rolls around, there will likely be more colleges offering in-person visits. Here are some colleges that are currently offering in-person visits and tours to high school students:*
You are not alone if the colleges your student is considering is not on this incredibly small list. Luckily, many colleges have gotten creative with virtual options. There are many other ways for you and your student to explore college campuses. Here is how you can learn about colleges that are not offering in-person tours:
 By UFit College Consulting Now, more than ever, college admissions officers spend time evaluating a student’s potential to be an invaluable contributor to its campus community and beyond. To make this determination, admission officers look very closely at students’ extracurricular activities to create a picture of an applicant as a learner, peer, and leader. In addition to the interview and application essays, extracurricular activities provide an opportunity for students to showcase their personalities, character, curiosity, leadership, and passions outside of the classroom. So, when should students start thinking about extracurricular interests? How many activities should they pursue, and which ones should they choose? Choose activities that are truly of interest, not just those that look good on resumes. When selecting extracurricular activities, a logical approach is for students to pursue activities that they are truly interested in and will enjoy doing. If they choose activities because they think will look good to admissions officers, they will be doing themselves a disservice and it will be unlikely that they will be able to sustain participation or achieve steady accomplishments in those activities. Choose depth over breadth. While it is advisable for students to explore a variety of activities early on to find those they enjoy most, they should be careful not to spread themselves too thinly. Doing so will only result in greater stress and the inability to deepen their participation in their chosen activities. Following their initial exploration, it is better for them to have one or two activities with strong achievements than to participate in numerous activities where they are not able to display a trajectory of growth. No matter which activities they choose, they should strive to increase their accomplishments and actively seek out competitions, internships, and other avenues that demonstrate their passion and leadership. Find ways to be differentiated from everyone else. Not all the activities students choose in high school have to be conventional ones like high school sports, debate, Model UN, or Scholastic Bowl. Students can explore a myriad of ways to display their talents and interests that will create differentiation from their fellow applicants, including working part-time jobs, doing volunteer work, or getting involved in community engagement. While there is nothing wrong with participating in the typical student activities, students should try to take on leadership roles and keep track of their specific accomplishments in order to distinguish themselves. Get involved as early as possible. Ideally, students should start thinking about activities in middle school. Some activities, like sports, theater, music, research, and impactful community service projects, typically need a longer runway than others. Starting early will give students an opportunity to take classes, join clubs, or explore ideas prior to high school, to see which activities they possess a talent for and enjoy the most. Students need the benefit of time to find their passions and meet others who share similar interests; joining activities in middle school is a great way to make connections with peers and plan for high school extracurricular activities. It also allows students to start high school with some foundational direction that they can build upon and will position them to progress in their activities, perhaps win some awards, and create a path to leadership in their high school and community. Starting early also allows students to demonstrate length of commitment to an activity. Admissions officers look favorably upon activities or projects that have been pursued for multiple years. An activity a student joins in their junior year will usually not hold as much weight (it also depends on the activity) as something they embarked on in their freshman year of high school. Consider using a certified college consultant to help guide your student. With so many extracurricular options available to students these days, many parents don’t know where to start or how to best advise their students. At UFit College Consulting, our certified college consultants can be your guides. We assist with activity planning, as early as eighth grade and, through detailed conversations together, we help students choose activities to explore. We also actively facilitate brainstorming sessions to create unique, personal projects. Our first consultation is always free, so don’t wait to take this first step towards helping your students find their strengths and passions.  By UFit College Consulting For most of us parents, applying to college didn’t require much more than a number two pencil. Deciding which colleges to apply to was mainly based on grades, test scores, cost, and proximity to home. If we had decent grades and a decent state school, the college decision was a no-brainer. If we visited a campus before applying, it was to see a friend. We didn’t spend months doing research, touring colleges around the country, and sitting in on classes. We didn’t have dozens of resources available at our fingertips and a visit to our local library just wasn’t worth the effort.
Today, parents and students have access to a multitude of information about colleges. More importantly, students are more invested and interested in making informed decisions about their future home and want to play a more active role in this important milestone. While some students are lucky enough to be able to scour the country, or even the world, in search of their perceived pinnacle of higher education, having so many options can make the task quite daunting. As parents, we are likely to place our own aspirations, experiences, and opinions upon our children as we help them make their college list. The resulting list may not align with our students’ ideas and could potentially exclude colleges that we are not familiar with but might be a great fit for our students. This is where college counselors, like me and my partners at UFit College Consulting, can help. We guide students as they navigate the crowded, competitive, and often confusing college marketplace and we help them develop a customized and strategic list of great-fit colleges to which they can confidently apply. When we work with students, we spend time really getting to know them and asking them a carefully constructed set of questions. If you and your student are putting together a list on your own, discussing the following topics together will help your student determine what types of colleges should and shouldn’t be on their list:
These are just a few of the many factors to consider as you and your student begin to create a college list. If you feel that your student would benefit from the help of our experienced and nurturing college consultants, please email us at info.UFitCollegeConsulting.com. Our first consultation is always free.  By UFit College Consulting What students choose to do during the summer most certainly can improve their profiles during college admissions. Students should use these breaks to explore their interests and gain experience outside of the high school classroom. Whether students spend their summers earning money for college, taking care of younger siblings, doing volunteer work or research, or attending competitive summer programs, they will be elevating their uniqueness and demonstrating that they are responsible, reliable, and driven. What students do during the summer months will add depth to their applications and help admissions officers understand who they are and what they are passionate about.
For students that do not need to work full-time over the summer, there are many activities they can participate in such as academic exploration programs at universities across the country, internships, independent projects, volunteer work, part-time jobs, self-learning, and research. These activities can help students showcase their leadership, creativity, dedication, and collaboration skills. Many of these activities can be done part-time, so even if a student has family responsibilities, they can be considered. Please note that many summer programs open their summer applications in December or January, so now is the perfect time to start exploring these options. Some summer programs are competitive and some simply fill up on a first-come-first-serve basis. The more competitive programs will require strong grades, essays, and recommendations. Applying to these programs can be similar to applying to colleges. Many of the competitive programs are also free, or charge comparatively lower fees than other programs, which is one of the reasons for their low acceptance rates. There are an incredible number of programs to choose from that are geared towards students in different years of high school, and students should choose programs that will highlight their passions. If students start early in high school, they can take a summer program to explore their interests, and, in later years, they can build upon an existing foundational interest to create a deep-dive into this area of interest. Sometimes, summer activities can extend into the school year or over multiple summers. And, of course, they can help students determine what they will choose to pursue in college. Not all things in life have to be structured. Students can also create their own summer activities, such as a self-directed research or passion project, self-learning, or volunteering within their community. No matter the chosen path, it is imperative to be involved in an activity that is impactful and measurable, along with being memorable. It is important to note that students who do not have the luxury of taking several weeks over the summer to attend a summer program or time to do volunteer work or a self-directed project are not at a disadvantage. Those who need to work or have family responsibilities, such as taking care of siblings, should communicate this in their college applications. Doing these things exhibits a tremendous depth of character, commitment, and responsibility. Admissions officers do not expect students to attend expensive programs. They want to understand the many ways in which students are spending time based on their circumstances. With so many summer options available, it may seem like a daunting task to find the best fit for your student. Ufit College Consulting can help. Our certified college consultants can provide guidance on summer activities, including finding the best programs or activities for your student, helping with self-initiated projects, developing strong applications for competitive programs, and creating an overall strategy for meaningful things to do each summer. We also believe it is extremely important for students to take time for themselves to recharge and have fun over the summer. At Ufit, we will help your student achieve this balance, while helping them select activities that will result in a fun, interesting, and meaningful summer. Here are some examples of various summer programs (please note there are MANY more out there): STEM: Research Science Institute at MIT, Simons Summer Research Program, Vanderbilt Center for Science Research, Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR), Penn Summer Research Initiative, UIC CHANCE STEM Academy, Ross Mathematics Program at Ohio State University, Stanford University Mathematics Camp (SUMaC), Summer Science Program (SSP), WYSE High School Summer Camps at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering, UIC Engineering Experience Camp, Georgetown Medical Academy, Forensic Science Academy, etc. HUMANITIES: Telluride Association Sophomore and Junior Summer Programs (TASS and TASP), Carleton College Liberal Arts Experience, Yale Young Global Scholars, National Institute of American History and Democracy Pre-Collegiate Summer Pre-College Program in Early American History, Field Museum in Chicago Internships, Speech and Debate at Northwestern University through National High School Institute (Cherubs), Governor’s School Residential Program offered in various states, etc. ARTS: Carnegie Mellon Summer Music Programs, Juilliard Pre-College Programs, NYU Summer Theater and Music Programs, MPulse Musical Theatre Workshop at U Michigan, and National High School Institute at Northwestern has Theater, Film, and Video Programs (Cherubs) etc. INTERNSHIPS: local companies, high school STEM internships, internships with local and national politicians, etc. VOLUNTEER: local libraries, hospitals, nursing homes, animal shelters, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, forest preserves and organizations such as American Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, Turnout Nation, Project Linus, etc.  By UFit College Consulting December is the time of the year that students find out whether they have been accepted, rejected, or deferred from the colleges they applied to during the early application process. It is a stressful time for students, as they focus on their first semester grades, while trying not to think about decision day. If you received an acceptance, congratulations! An acceptance needs no further discussion other than remembering that if your acceptance is to an early action (EA) school, you can still choose to apply to additional schools during the for regular decision process. If you have been accepted to an early decision (ED) school, you will be attending that school, barring any extenuating circumstances. Now, let’s talk about the difficult news of receiving a rejection letter from your early decision or early action school. Is it going to feel devastating? Yes. No one likes to receive a rejection, but don't lose hope. Even though receiving a rejection from a school can be demoralizing and make you feel that you are not going to receive an acceptance anywhere else, we want to remind you that colleges reject strong candidates all the time. A college decision is often about your fit with the college. Perhaps it had too many similar candidates and had to make the difficult decision to accept only a few of these candidates. Remember that you will be a good fit at many colleges and receiving bad news from one is not a litmus test of your future college acceptances. You should not let this rejection discourage you from continuing on your college journey. Keep your chin up, apply to more schools during the regular decision round and soon you will likely have multiple options from which you can choose your home for the next four years. What if you are deferred? Unfortunately, it may feel like you are in no-man’s-land. However, the good news here is that the college did consider you a strong candidate for their school, but they likely want to see more. They might be interested in your first semester grades to confirm your academic trends and get a full picture of you as a student in order to re-evaluate your application during regular decision with the rest of the applicant pool. Remember that colleges are looking to fill a class that is diverse and they will sometimes need to reconsider your application in the regular round to ensure they achieve this goal. Every year, colleges accept students who are deferred in the early round, so finish your semester strong and continue to excel in your activities. As a deferred candidate, there are many things you can do to stay visible. You can communicate with your regional admissions officer by reiterating your interest in the school and sending an update on your first semester grades and any awards or honors you have received or activities you have started since your early application was submitted. Your high school guidance counselor will be sharing your first quarter grades with the school as well. Most schools will require you to send these updates, but you can also connect with your regional admissions officer to express your continued interest. Here are some suggestions for when and how should you correspond with your regional admissions officer after a deferral decision:
If you would like help writing a letter of continued interest or polishing your applications for the regular decision round, please reach out to our certified college counselors at UFit College Consulting.  By UFit College Consulting As part of the college application process, along with visiting colleges (in-person or virtually), you may have opportunities to connect with an admissions officer or other admissions office personnel. These opportunities might present themselves when you attend an information session, need to ask a question, or want to update your application. Some colleges allow you to make appointments with someone in the admissions office, and most will allow you, or even encourage you, to email your local admissions representative. Regardless of the reason, it is always important to make a good impression when reaching out to an admissions officer and to realize that just because a college encourages you to contact your admissions officer, it does not mean that you should send multiple emails or ask questions that can be easily be answered by looking at the college's website. Doing so might have a negative effect; you might end up annoying the admissions staff! Here are ways in which you can make a positive, lasting impression:
 By UFit College Consulting Congratulations on submitting your college applications! You deserve a big pat on the back and some much needed rest and relaxation. The hardest part of the college application process is finished. Or is it? Depending on which schools you have applied to, an interview may now be required or recommended by the university. It could be conducted by an admissions officer or an alumni. Either way, it is important to be prepared.
Here are some tips to help you stand out and make a great impression during your college interview:
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