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I loved reading college applications at Dartmouth! Each one was like a riddle where I would try to fit the pieces of information together and form a complete image of an applicant in my mind. Every hopeful student wonders what happens to their college application behind the closed doors of admissions offices. Which applications rise to the top in a virtual stack of thousands?

Your letters of recommendation for college are an integral piece of your application. This part of the process is often overlooked, as it does not require work from your end. But every recommendation letter deserves thoughtful reflection!

Most supplemental essays are carefully selected to help an admissions officer learn if you’re the right fit for their school, and not in terms of grades or test scores. What kind of person are you? What occupies your mind on a daily basis? What motivates you? What do you care about in your friendships and relationships? How do you work, study, and learn best?

Fear of public speaking is one of the most common phobias in the world. Estimates indicate that 75% of people have speech anxiety. There are many reasons to avoid being part of this statistic! When it’s time to apply for college, comfort with public speaking comes in handy.

The college interview process is particularly nerve-racking. It’s one thing to write up an application and send it off into a faceless, virtual world. It’s another thing to talk to a human. But college interviews should be fun! It’s your chance to give some more color and personality to your application file, while also learning more about the school you hope to attend. While there’s no right way to answer college interview questions and most conversations will change based off of the individual, it’s good to prepare.

Let me start out by saying that I went to Yale, not Harvard. My wife went to Yale, her father went to Yale - it’s safe to say that I don’t have some unfair prejudice against my alma mater. Still, it is hard for me to deny that Harvard is - all things considered - the superior institution. Of course, I’m making a huge generalization here: Yale is better than Harvard in many specific ways or in several departments and disciplines. But we need not concern ourselves with such methodological nuance.

Homeschooled for high school? In the past, you might have been in a panic about applying to college as a homeschooler. However, things have definitely changed. As the number of homeschoolers has skyrocketed over the past two decades, so has the number of homeschooler acceptances at top universities.

Becoming a high school entrepreneur is no easy task. Starting and developing a viable business requires the kind of intense focus, dedication, and perseverance that few adults - much less the majority of teenagers - possess. Fortunately, becoming a successful entrepreneur while in high school is both possible and incredibly useful when it comes to your professional development and college applications. Entrepreneurialism is a rare quality, and one that is in high demand at competitive universities.

Take a deep breath. For those of you who submitted Early Decision or Early Action applications, congrats! You’ve likely been working really hard for 4-6 months, putting together strong and compelling applications.

Halloween doesn’t seem so scary when compared to college application deadlines that have become a somewhat frightening reality for high school seniors. The prospect of executing the college application process is extremely daunting, often because it can feel like there’s so much riding on which college you attend. Beginning your college applications means that you’re face-to-face with the reality that very soon, you’ll be making the major transition from childhood to adulthood (well, adulthood to some degree).