College Admissions Counseling

The courses you take in high school will both help you explore your academic interests and goals and determine your readiness for specific fields of study in college. It’s important to take a long view of your high school coursework to make sure you’re set up for admissions success. For instance, some colleges require that students take a certain number of art or foreign language classes in high school. Applying as a Math or Computer Science major? Let’s make sure that your high school classes position you for success in those fields.

The arc of your extracurricular involvement during high school is also important in the college journey. This is a time to explore your interests and passions and dedicate yourself to activities inspire you, and in which you can make an impact. Our counselors can help you identify and pursue your interests in fulfilling ways, from joining or starting a new club at school to discovering summer break research and internship opportunities.

The activities resume is an oft-overlooked, but deeply meaningful, part of any college application. This is your chance to highlight your unique interests and your commitment to the activities and causes that inspire you. Outside of the classroom, how did you spend your time in high school? The answer to that question gives a solid glimpse into how you’ll add to the college campus of any school that’s smart enough to admit you. You’ve dedicated your heart and soul to your activities. Let’s make sure that you present your accomplishments to admissions officials in a compelling and impactful way.

Creating an inspiring and balanced college list is one of the cornerstones of a strong college application process. But, with nearly 4000 degree-granting colleges in the United States, it can be hard to know where to start. Are you interested in large research university or a smaller liberal arts college; a public school or a private school; a 2-year community college, a 4-year university, or a 6+ year BSMD program? How close do you want to be to your hometown and what areas of the country are of interest to you? What kinds of majors, research opportunities, internships, study abroad programs, athletics, and extracurriculars will be important to your college experience?

In addition to identifying schools that excite you, balancing your college list is important to your admissions success. After carefully weighing your achievements, qualifications, and goals, we’ll consider your profile in comparison with those of admitted students at your colleges of interest to ensure a good match and make sure you list is well-balanced. You don’t want to only apply to Ivy League schools where fewer than 5% of students are admitted, no matter how qualified they are. At the same time, it’s important to push yourself and aim high: you don’t want to only apply to schools where you’re guaranteed admission. It’s crucial that your list has a healthy mix of “reach”, “target”, and “likely” colleges, and that you’re excited by the prospect of attending any one of the schools that make the final list.

Our admissions counselors will work with you step-by-step to brainstorm, research, and refine your college list. List-building is one of the most important and most fun parts of the application process. Let’s dig in to explore and discover the schools that speak to you!

SAT and ACT preparation has been our core business at Mindfish since the founding of the company nearly 20 years ago. As part of your college application process, we’ll advise you on testing policies at the schools you’re interested in put together an optimal testing and test prep plan to maximize your chances of admission. Many of our college counseling students also work with our expert test prep tutors, some self-study for the test, and still others work with test tutor instructors outside of Mindfish. Whatever your test prep plan, we’re here to make sure that testing is optimally integrated into your overall admissions strategy.

Visiting your colleges of interest is an important step in honing your college list. Beyond all of the data, marketing copy, and reputation that surrounds a specific school, it still has to feel right to you. Guided tours, virtual tours, and informal campus visits all play a role in this process. We’ll strategize with you to plan your visits, ask the right questions, and show demonstrated interest at the colleges you’re considering.

How do you show your interest in a specific college? Out of thousands of applicants, how do admissions officials know who really wants to attend their college? “Demonstrated interest” refers to a student’s trackable engagement with a certain school. You can demonstrate your interest by attending college fairs and talking to admissions reps, going on a campus tour, visiting a school’s website, and joining mailing lists. As we refine your college list, we’ll help you highlight your genuine interest to the admissions office.

Your college essays are a unique opportunity to showcase your authentic self on your application. Beyond the data, the scores and grades and activities, what makes you tick? What keeps you up at night with excitement? Have you had an experience that changed the way you think about the world? Or, is there an aspect of your day-to-day life that holds special meaning for you? In your essays, you get to be uniquely you. Out of thousands of college applicants, what would you contribute to the campus community? Why should a college say yes to exactly you?

These are big questions and the college essay process can sometimes be daunting for students who tackle it on their own. And, these days college essays carry more weight on applications than ever before. Rest assured that our counselors are experts at helping you tell your own authentic story and highlight your uniquely amazing traits and experiences. When approached in the right way, the college essay process is a fun and fulfilling journey of exploration and self expression that can help make the difference in your college profile.

Early Decision, Early Action, Rolling Admissions, Restrictive Early Action, Regular Decision…oh my! How and when you apply to your colleges of choice is a big part of your application plan. For instance, some schools confer an advantage to applicants who apply in a certain way or at certain times during the admissions cycle. After we balance your college list, we’ll analyze that dynamic as well as overall rates of admissions, deferral and waitlist policies, and most importantly, your preferences, to help you craft an optimal application strategy.

A big portion of the college application process is essentially project management. Many students will apply to 10 – 15 (or more) colleges and each application entails specific deadlines and deliverables along the way. Pacing yourself to get everything done in a stress-free manner, staying on top of your to-do list, and not letting everything pile up at the last minute are crucial to your success and sanity in this process. Your Mindfish counselor is there to drive the process forward and help you set priorities at all stages of your application journey. We’ll also set you up with a centralized software dashboard for your admissions process that enables you see all of the moving parts in one place and navigate your applications efficiently and effectively.

Similar to your college essays in some ways, your letters of recommendation are an opportunity to showcase your unique circumstances and accomplishments and tell your authentic story. In the case of letters of rec, you’ll have trusted advocates, usually high school teachers and counselors, sharing their perspective on you and your story with college admissions officials. It’s important to choose your recommenders in an intentional manner and cultivate relationships with the adults in your life who you might tap for this important assignment.

At some colleges, application interviews are an important part of the process, both to demonstrate your interest in that specific school and help the admissions committee get a sense for some of the intangible qualities that define you and aren’t evident in other parts of your application. Interviews can take several forms, from less formal alumni interviews that don’t have a huge bearing on admissions decisions to more structured evaluative interviews. In all cases, it’s important to undertake your interview with preparation and confidence. We’ll help you get ready to put you best foot forward!

The financial dynamics of a college education are unfortunately some of the most often ignored aspects of the college admissions process. Would you ever buy a car, or even a meal, without knowing what it cost? Your college education is one of the biggest financial investments your family will ever make and it’s important to considers finances throughout this journey. FAFSA, CSS, 529, EFC, SAI…what does it all mean? How do you balance your academic aspirations with your families financial situation? We’ll consider the financial aspects of college throughout this journey and equip you and your family with the tools to make this confusing landscape more transparent and ensure a successful outcome on all fronts.

It’s April of your senior year and, at last, all of your college acceptances are in. Of the many great schools who were smart enough to accept you, which one will you commit to? How do your financial aid offers compare to one another? Are there special programs at various schools that are attractive to you for different reasons? After all of your hard work and soul searching, it’s time to decide where you’ll spend your college years. During this final stage of your admissions process, your Mindfish counselor is there to help you compare, contrast, and evaluate all of the exciting opportunities in front of you.