With colleges still scrambling to decide on their admissions policies after the Supreme Court's decision around affirmative action, one of the elements of the application that has received greater spotlight is the college essay. With many colleges likely to adopt some sort of measurement of adversity as a means of continuing to ensure diversity in their accepted cohorts, and with the pandemic still a foundational experience for many students who will be applying this cycle, the "trauma essay" is on the rise as a go-to topic. This week, Tyler explains why it shouldn't be. He then provides a couple alternative suggestions that will help you brainstorm the right narrative to stand out.

Tina Yong's Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyD0m7JXgjA

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With the recent landmark decision on race-conscious admissions policies, the Supreme Court has forced colleges to quickly re-evaluate their admissions criteria for the upcoming cycle and beyond. This week, Tyler shares his initial reactions to the decision, thoughts implications for the future, and suggests how students and families can best start preparing for the new post-decision world of college admissions.

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With the ever increasing cost of college tuition, especially for international students, the question of how to even go about affording a college education is more important than ever. This challenge becomes magnified by the myriad and murky processes surrounding financial aid and scholarships. This week, Tyler dives into some strategies to go about seeking and qualifying for merit-based scholarships as one means of supporting the expenses of a university education.

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Even if you're only aiming for the very top tier universities, you're probably approaching your college research the wrong way. While many of these top universities are comfortable with their position and aren't really taking risks in terms of innovation, many of the schools immediately behind them are doing their very best to disrupt the status quo of higher education to provide a more meaningful, valuable, and future-proof experience that actually sets students up for success. This week, Tyler dives deeper into some of these schools and suggests how to utilize their offerings to refine and improve your own college search, and demand more from the universities you are thinking of applying to.

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Some big news to cover this week as Columbia decides to no longer submit data to the U.S. News and World Report College Rankings. What does this mean, and how might it affect rankings going forward? After that, Tyler digs a little bit further into what you actually need to demonstrate in your application to get into a good undergraduate engineering program, and provides some alternative pathways to a degree from a top tier engineering school.

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With the world of business increasingly adopting AI and machine learning to drive its decision-making, choosing an undergraduate business degree that is best fit for you is critical. Business programs in particular tend to vary the most among bachelor's degrees when it comes to the actual learning experience, so it's essential to go beyond the rankings and actually look at what a school is offering This week, Tyler provides some guidance on how to do so, some schools to maybe pay a little closer attention to, and how to make the most of your high school journey to give yourself the best shot of getting in.

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As costs of college continue to rise, greater scrutiny has been placed on the general education requirements of universities. Why am I paying so much money for my child - who knows they want to be a computer scientist - to take classes in food science and a physical education? This week, Tyler digs into a recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Learning to evaluate how colleges are responding to this criticism, and advises on how to refine your college research to identify the schools that will actually give you the most meaningful value for your investment.

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Building on last week's discussion of college application x-factors, Tyler takes some time this week to dive deeper into the essential character building that is inherent in the process of weaving your extracurriculars together. With colleges increasingly looking for mature, thoughtful, impact-oriented young adults, it is more important than ever to expose students to the risks of real-world failure that are essential to developing those necessary characteristics. Listen in this week as Tyler shares a story about helping one of his students experience meaningful failure, and how that shaped her high school experience, personal development, and college applications.

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How can you make sure your college application will stand out among thousands of other applicants, especially when your painstakingly and strategically assembled application is only going to get around 8-10 minutes of an admissions officer's time? This week, Tyler dives into the college "x-factor," the element of your portfolio that makes you memorable and distinct from all the rest.

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If life is like a box of chocolates, college is like a cup of Starbucks: fully customizable, highly energizing, and a little overpriced. This week, Tyler goes deep into the college menu to offer some tools to explore your college research and list building, identify the factors that are most important to you, and create a more personalized set of search criteria to order up a set of schools that is just right for you.

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