Overview Guide:
- Fair Opportunity Project:
Essays:
Hack the College Essay by John Dewis. (This is the one external source I've added so far, because it's worth it. It's endorsed by many of the other people included in this post).
The u/ScholarGrade Essay series (and his extras!):
- Part 1: How To Start An Essay, "Show Don't Tell," And Showcase Yourself In A Compelling Way
- Part 2: Throw Away Everything You Learned In English Class
- Part 3: Conquering the "Why [School]" Essay
- Part 4: What Makes An Essay Outstanding?
- What to do when you're over the word count
- What to do when your essay is too short
- How To End An Essay Gracefully
- Proofreading Tips
- If You Don't Have a First Draft Yet, Don't Read This
- Help with Essay Topics
5 High Schoolers and Their College Application Essays About Work, Money and Social Class - The New York Times
Top 41 Common App Admissions Essays - Study Notes
- A few thoughts on starting your college essays
- "What common errors do you see applicants make when writing their essays?"
- 5 Most Overdone Essays and How to Avoid Them
- What Your Essay Looks Like From the Other Side + Crucial Essay Advice
u/novembrr: When you're over the word count and can't for the life of you cut your essay down...
u/steve_nyc: 5 Steps to Starting Your College Essay
u/mistermcneil (admissions consultant): My World-Ending Guide to the College Essay
u/Jidawg: Tips About Writing Multiple Supplements from a Sophomore @ Dartmouth
u/G0mega: Last Minute "Why X" and Supplement Advice from a Brown sophomore
u/PhAnToM444: An analysis of why the "mundane topic" seems to work so well for college essays. (Even if you're not writing a mundane essay, you can bring those same components into your own essay).
Activities Section:
novembrr's activities series is so useful:
- Stuck on your activities list? Novembrr can help. (Comment replies give helpful examples of how to phrase ECs)
- How to write your Common App and UC Activities Lists
- What you should do if you have no ECs
u/MrsScholarGrade's series is new, and I hope I'll be adding more of her great work:
This post links several resources to find competitions/programs for your ECs or to find ECs based on your academic interest! I don't think you should be basing your activities on prestigious awards, but if you are doing something and you want to find ways to get more involved or get rewarded, this is a good resource.
LORs:
steve_nyc: How to Ask Teachers for College Recommendation Letters
novembrr: The secret to having excellent LORs
ScholarGrade: How to get top LORs that stand out from the stack
AP Score Reporting:
u/admissionsmom: Let's Talk about your AP Score
Interviews:
ScholarGrade: There have been many questions about interviews. Here's my guide
WilliamTheReader: Interview Tips!
admissionsmom: Up Close and Personal: The Interview. Here's My Cheat Sheet
AMAs about Admissions
BlueLightSpcl's AMA Series: Former UT-Austin Admissions Counselor, Author of Your Ticket to the Forty Acres, and A2C's First Moderator.
- June 2019
- June 2018
- July 2017
- October 2016
- June 2015
- June 2015 on other sub
- June 2015 on other other sub
- November 2011 while employed for UT
Steve_nyc's AMAs: College Admissions Counselor and Founder of A2C:
WilliamTheReader's AMA: Top 5 USNews University Alum, Worked in Alma Mater's Admissions Office, Part-Time Elite Admissions Consultant
Ethan Sawyer: the College Essay Guy's AMA. He wrote the first essay guide I shared.
Copied from steve_nyc (big shoutout here):
Admissions Officers:
- Former Cornell admission officer, Nelson Ureña
- Current Reed admission officer, Milyon Trulove
- Accepted to all 8 Ivy Leagues, Kwasi Enin
- Helps colleges create interview questions, David Singh
- Works in admissions at major research university in the South
- Current admission officers at Guilford, small liberal arts college
- Duke alumni interviewer
- Admissions student employee
- Admission officer (anonymous)
- Helps international students get into American colleges
- Insider Perspectives from a Highly Selective Admissions Office
Admitted Student AMAs:
- Columbia grad (graduated HS at 15, Columbia at 19)
- NYU grad
- Harvard student
- Stanford student
- Cornell student
- Johns Hopkins student
- Michigan student: 1, 2
- Boston College student
- Northeastern student
- Cornell student
- Transferred to top 20 national university
- Got into UC Berkeley
- Got into Davidson College
- Got into University of Missouri
- Got into several top 50 schools
- Helping students get college degree abroad
Information on Colleges
College Lists Wiki / Common Data Sets
Big Future - College Search - Find colleges and universities by major, location, type, more.
College Information - Peterson's - The Real Guide to Colleges and Universities
COMPLETE LIST OF 2019 FLY-IN AND DIVERSITY PROGRAMS - College Greenligh
Questions to Ask
14 Insightful Questions to Ask College Admissions Officers — Elite Educational Institute Admissions Mom
College App Guides
https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/wiki/index
Getting Into Your Dream College: A Master Guide | Commonlounge
Admissions Reflections from the Class of 2022 - Google Docs
How to Apply to College Video Course Series
Applying to college infographic.png - Google Drive
https://www.fairopportunityproject.org/#guides
College App Advice
r/A2C Class of 2023 Profile - ADVICE - Google Sheets
Information from and about Top School Applicants
Real Safeties, Matches, and Reaches From the Class of 2022- Domestic - Google Docs
/r/ApplyingtoCollege Survey Respondents
Scholarships
Find College Scholarships - Niche
Scholarship database | DAAD Office New York
Summer Opportunities/Internships
Summer Programs | MIT Admissions
Research Internships - Montgomery High School STEM Board
[Megathread] Summer Programs : ApplyingToCollege
Excel Organizers:
Top 40 (US News) Colleges Application Organizer - Google Sheets
College Application Organizer - Google Sheets
college application organizer - Google Sheets
Criticisms of college
Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables