Hoping to get into a college art program? Many of the best art programs are highly competitive, and, even if your portfolio is strong, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. In this guide, we break down what every part of your college application must include for you to become a standout art applicant. This article applies to all types of arts programs, including drawing, painting, photography, and fashion. Follow these tips to produce an exceptional application for art programs.
How to Get Into College as an Artist: What You Need to Know

Can Colleges Revoke Your Admission Because of Social Media Posts?

Recently, several colleges have made headlines because they’ve revoked incoming students’ admission due to their racist social media posts. That’s left lots of high school students wondering about how their Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter posts will affect their college admissions chances.
In this article, we’ll help you understand how social media can impact your admissions c chances. We’ll explain:
- Why some students have had their admission revoked recently
- What universities have said about their decisions
- What you can do to make sure your social media helps, rather than hurts, your admissions chances
Let’s take a look.
Has Coronavirus Made It Easier to Get Into College?

With so many aspects of the college application and admissions process being postponed, reformatted, or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students who plan to apply to college in Fall 2021 are wondering if getting into college will be easier or more difficult during the next year.
To help you understand the possible advantages of the 2021/2022 college admissions situation, we’ll cover the following in this article:
- Explaining the most important changes to college admissions
- Analyzing the aspects of the 2021/2022 college admissions process that may make it easier to get into college
- Five tips for applying to college during the 2021/2022 admissions cycle
Let’s jump in!
The Complete Guide to the Coalition Application

The Coalition Application can make applying to colleges much fast and easier, but only if you know how to use it. In this in-depth guide to the Coalition Application, we explain every part of the website you should know, what the best strategies are for using it, and how to decide if you should make use of the Coalition Application during your college application process.
Get Into Engineering Schools Like MIT, Caltech, CMU, or RPI With the SAT

Engineering schools don't look for the same things on a college application that the average school does. I would know -- because I have an engineering background and spent substantial time studying the process of getting into Caltech and MIT, and then I did it. Here, I reveal how they're different.
Sifting through glossy college brochures and trying to choose the right schools to apply to can feel overwhelming. Then, once you decide where to apply, you have to navigate each school’s application, wondering if you’re filling questions in properly and what your chances of being accepted are. The good news is, you don’t need to struggle alone! A college counselor can help answer many of your college-related questions, and they’ll use their expertise to advise you on the best college decisions for you.
Want to learn more about college counselors? In this guide, we’ve answered all your college admissions counselor questions, including every question they can help you answer, who should meet with a college counselor, and what you need to do before you meet with one.
The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has caused a pandemic that continues to impact many crucial sectors, including education. For college applicants in particular, it's a trying time filled with confusion and anxiety. Will COVID-19 affect college admission decisions or other parts of the admission process? We break down the answer here.
AP Scores in College Admissions: Do They Really Matter?

Since you put so much effort into studying for and taking AP tests, you've likely wondered whether colleges look at AP scores. How is all of your AP prep and effort going to affect your chances of admission to college?
In this guide, we'll illuminate the relationship between AP scores and college admission. We'll also discuss how important AP scores are for your application, how colleges consider these scores, and what being an AP Scholar can mean for your admission chances.
Getting into nursing school can be pretty competitive, so you might be wondering how your ACT score will affect your chances of getting accepted into your dream school. The answer to this question can vary depending on what kind of nursing program you choose, what schools you apply to, and how your other application materials look.
Different nursing programs handle ACT scores differently, so it’s important to find out as much information as possible about the significance of ACT scores in nursing school admissions.
In this article, we’ll help you understand how ACT scores affect your nursing school admissions chances by covering the following:
- The different types of nursing programs you can apply to
- The general application process for four-year bachelors of nursing programs
- How your ACT score factors into your nursing school application, and what a "good" ACT score is for nursing school admission
- Explaining how ACT scores fit into the admissions process at six of the best nursing programs in the United States
- Giving you five expert tips for achieving an ACT score that will help you stand out in the nursing school admissions process
So keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the ACT score needed for nursing school!
How to Get a Good Community Service Letter: 4 Steps to Follow

College Admissions, Letters of Recommendation, Extracurriculars
Have you done some volunteer work or community service and want to get a letter that shows how many hours you've completed and what jobs you did? Or maybe you need a community service letter to apply for a scholarship, job, or to a particular college? Do you know who you should ask to write the letter and what it should include?
Read on to learn what a community service letter is, why it's useful, and how you can get a great one written for you.
These 2 Recommendation Letters Got Me Into Harvard and the Ivy League

When I applied to college, I was accepted into every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, the Ivy League, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and more. While I had a strong overall application, the two teacher letters of recommendation were critical in getting me admitted.
Why? Both teachers said I was one of the top students they had ever taught. Both enthusiastically advocated for my personality, leadership skills, and energy.
How can you earn recommendation letters that will get you into your top choice colleges? I'll show you how in this article.
For the first time, I'm sharing my full, unedited letters of recommendation as examples for you. These are the exact letters submitted when I applied to college. Even better, you'll see exactly what my Harvard admissions officer underlined—what really stood out as important and noteworthy.
Complete List of Extracurricular Activities: 100s of Examples

How do you like to spend your time after school? Did you know that how you choose to spend this time could be one of the most important ways you shape your future?
Extracurricular activities are a critical component of your college application, and you need to impress colleges with your interests. But you might not know what good extracurricular activities look like or what you should be spending your time on.
We've got you covered here in our guide of hundreds of examples of extracurricular activities. Read on to get some inspiration for how to spend your valuable free time during high school!
Many people are familiar with the idea of all-girls' schools for elementary, middle, and high school, but did you know there are also women-only colleges?
In this article, we discuss what women's colleges are and why you'd want to apply to them. We'll also go over the top 17 women's colleges in the US and explain why these schools made the cut.
How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League, by a Harvard Alum

Getting into elite schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and others is a goal of many high school students. How exactly to accomplish this is often a mystery to students and parents going through the admissions process. Lots of unhelpful and vague advice abound, especially from people who have never gained admission themselves to these schools.
In high school, I got into every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford, and I attended Harvard for college. I also learned a lot about my classmates and the dynamics of college admissions in ways that were never clear to me in high school. Now, I'm sharing this expertise with you.
I've written the most comprehensive guide to getting into top schools. I'm going to explain in detail what admissions officers at Ivy League schools are really looking for in your application. More importantly, I'm going to share an actionable framework you can use to build the most compelling application that's unique to you.
How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades, By a Harvard Alum

On the 4.0 scale, an unweighted 4.0 GPA means perfection. You need straight As in every class—not even one A- is allowed. In college applications, this carries a lot of weight. You're essentially telling the college, "High school classes are a cinch. I've taken a tough course load, and I'm more than prepared for what college has to throw at me."
In high school, I got a 4.0 GPA with a course load featuring 10 AP courses. I got straight As and 12 A+'s. This strong course load, along with a strong application, got me into Harvard and every college I applied to.
While it's flattering to say, "Well, Allen's just a smart guy," in reality I relied a lot more on high-level strategy and effective academic habits. These were the same strategies I applied to my undergraduate work at Harvard and that led me to graduate summa cum laude with a 3.95 GPA. This is the guide I wish I had my freshman year of high school.