College Advice

1. Adapt the plot of a really good movie you saw during summer and hope your conversationalist didn't see the same one. 

"Oh yeah, I was interning at this oil rig and it totally collapsed, fucked up the Gulf of Mexico, a bit of Louisiana, and my galoshes."

2. Make up an entirely new persona. 

Dye your hair hot pink, but only after getting a pixie haircut à la Alexandra Warrick, and insist that professors only call you Sanpietra von Gufftenschaefen. And wear only Gucci gowns to class. 

3. Covet ops.

Once you've managed to suffer through the nauseatingly captivating details of their summer internship at a consulting firm, and they ask you, "So what did *you* do this summer?" ... 

Squint your eyes, give shady glances out of the corners of your eyes, pull them ten feet away from where you were standing (even better if it's ten feet closer to the nearest group), and whisper, "I can't tell you about the things I saw."

And, perhaps the best way to escape back to school convo...

4. Avoid the relationship altogether. 

If you see the other person making a solidly happy jaunt your way, immediately look at the nearby tree with unbreakable eye contact and keep a firm pace as you continue walking down College Walk.

Just make sure you give College Advice a firm pat on the ass if you see us jaunting to class in a Gucci silk chiffon gown.

Bates College Program URL: Prologue to Bates

Eligibility Requirements: Open to first-generation college students and/or students from diverse backgrounds

Application Deadline(s):

Prologue I: September 7th, 2016

Prologue II: September 28th, 2016

Program Dates:

Prologue I: October 9 – 11, 2016

Prologue II: November 13 – 15, 2016

Bowdoin College Program URL: Explore Bowdoin

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): September 23th, 2016 at 11:59 EST

Program Dates: November 3 – 6, 2016

Read more about Bowdoin College here.

Bucknell University Program URL: Journey to Bucknell

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors who have at least a 3.3 unweighted GPA and have taken the SAT, ACT, or PSAT.

Application Deadline(s): Rolling

Program Dates: November 6 – 8, 2016

Colorado College Program URL: Flyin’ Tigers

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors that either self-identify as students of color, are Pell Grant eligible, and/or are first generation college students

Application Deadline(s): September 21th, 2016

Program Dates: October 29 – 31, 2016

Columbia University (for engineers) Program URL: Columbia Engineering Experience

Eligibility Requirements: Exemplary academic records, particularly in math and science. Sincere interest in pursuing an engineering education. Genuine appreciation for the educational value of diversity in all its forms

Application Deadline(s): September 7th, 2016

Program Dates: October 9 – 11, 2016

Read more about visiting Columbia here.

Connecticut College Program URL: Explore Weekend

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors from underrepresented groups and those committed to issues of diversity

Application Deadline(s): October 3, 2016

Program Dates: November 12 – 14, 2016

Davidson College Program URL: Multicultural Visitation Program

Eligibility Requirements: Open to high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): September 16, 2016

Program Dates: October 30th - November 1st, 2016

Dickinson College Program URL: Discover Diversity

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors who are first generation college students or are from an underrepresented cultural or socioeconomic background.

Application Deadline(s): October 3, 2016

Program Dates: November 10 – 12, 2016

Elizabethtown College Program URL: Overnight Visit

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors.

Application Deadline(s): Rolling

Program Dates: Must apply 2 weeks prior to visiting.

Franklin and Marshall College Program URL: Collegiate Leadership Summit

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors who have a minimum GPA of 3.3 in rigorous class, of a background underrepresented in higher education, and demonstrated leadership in his or her school or community

Application Deadline(s): October 12th

Program Dates: November 6 – 8, 2016

Grinnell College Program URL: Grinnell Diversity Preview Program/Discover Grinnell

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors who are students of color (African American, Latino, Asian, Native American) OR the first in their family to attend college, and are interested in liberal arts education (arts and humanities, mathematics and sciences, and social sciences)

Application Deadline(s): September 12, 2016

Program Dates: October 2 – 3, 2016

Haverford College Program URL: Multicultural Scholars Experience

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors 

Application Deadline(s): September 16, 2016

Program Dates: October 23 – 25, 2016

Kenyon College Program URL: Cultural Connections Program

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): October 31, 2016

Program Dates: November 5 – 7, 2016

Lehigh University Program URL: Diversity Achievement Program

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): September 16, 2016

Program Dates: October 9 – 10, 2016

Lewis and Clark College Program URL: LEAD Program

Eligibility Requirements: Seniors in high school who are leaders in their schools and communities

Application Deadline(s): September 15, 2016

Program Dates: November 6 – 8, 2016

Miami Univ. at Oxford Program URL: Bridges at Miami University

Note: 10 participants will receive a 4-year full-tuition scholarship to attend Miami University

Eligibility Requirements:

High school students graduating in 2016

Minimum of 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale or top 25% of graduating class

Rigorous curriculum

Demonstrated leadership/co-curricular involvement

Test scores (PLAN, ACT, SAT, PSAT)

Application Deadline(s): September 19, 2016

Program Dates:

October 30-31, 2016 (Chillicothe, Columbus)

November 6-7, 2016 (Cincinnati, Dayton)

November 13-14, 2016 (Out of State)

November 20-21, 2016 (Akron, Cleveland, Toledo)

Oberlin College Program URL: Access Oberlin

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): 

October 6, 2016 (October program)

October 27, 2016 (November program)

November 10, 2016 (December program)

Program Dates: 

October 27th - 29th, 2016

November 17th - 19th, 2016

December 1st - 3rd, 2016

Or maybe... don’t consider Oberlin?

Pitzer College Program URL: The Diversity Program at Pitzer

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors from underrepresented racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds

Application Deadline(s): September 12, 2016

Program Dates: October 27 – 29, 2016

Reed College Program URL: Reed Overnight Multicultural Experience (ROME)

Eligibility Requirements:

be a high school senior;

live in the United States;

be from a historically underrepresented racial or ethnic background;

be a United States citizen or permanent resident.

Application Deadline(s): September 6, 2016

Program Dates: October 9 – 11, 2016

Tufts University (engineering + arts/sciences) Program URL: Voices of Tufts

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): 

October 6, 2016 (Engineering)

October 12, 2016 (Arts / Sciences)

Program Dates:

October 20 – 21, 2016 (Engineering)

October 27 – 28, 2016 (Arts / Sciences)

University of St. Thomas Program URL: Fly In Program

Eligibility Requirements: Be a high school senior, admitted to St. Thomas

Application Deadline(s): Rolling, based on admission 

Program Dates: Rolling, based on admission 

University of Rochester Program URL: Multicultural Visitation Program

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): October 7th, 2016

Program Dates: November 10 – 12, 2016

University of Vermont Program URL: Discovering UVM

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s):

October 7, 2016 (October program)

October 21, 2016 (November program)

Program Dates:

October 23 – 25, 2016

November 6 – 8, 2016

Vassar College Program URL: Vassar View

Eligibility Requirements: Open to all high school seniors

Application Deadline(s): September 9, 2016

Program Dates: October 9 – 11, 2016

Read more about Vassar here.

Wesleyan University Program URL: Fall Open House

Eligibility Requirements: n/a

Application Deadline(s): October 12, 2016

Program Dates: November 10-11, 2016

Whitman College Program URL: Visit Scholarship Program

Eligibility Requirements: High school seniors from underrepresented socioeconomic, racial and cultural backgrounds

Application Deadline(s):

September 16, 2016 (October program)

September 30, 2016 (November program) 

Program Dates: 

October 13 – 15, 2016

November 6 – 8, 2016

Read next: How to make the most out of your campus visits

A) #41st National University - US News and World Report's 2016 Best College Rankings

B) Named a Southern Hidden Ivy in the book Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence

C) Received a 97/100 Smart Rating on StartClass.com

Admission Profile At a 28% admission rate, it's a tough bet, and likely, necessitates some backups. That being said, if you posted decent grades (3.5+) and notch around a 31 on the ACT, your odds are looking quite fine.

Type of Student “I want to go to amazing parties, but still receive a good education.”

Academic Peer Schools Lehigh University, Dickinson College, University of Illinois, University of California-Irvine, Trinity College

# UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Description University of Illinois is your standard Big Ten public university (large, big athletics and Greek life presences), but with a twist -- it has elite business and engineering schools. Both programs are top 15; if you’re thinking of a future in business or engineering, these are worthy of consideration.

Applicant Profile While the 62.4% acceptance rate will ultimately give you a better chance of admission, Illinois’s standards are quite similar to Tulane. If you want to be admitted to most programs, you’ll need pretty good grades and an upper-shelf ACT score (30). However, the standards get tighter with the business and engineering programs, with business likely needing a 31+, and engineering  32+.

Type of Student “I want to get that big state school experience with all of those crazy fraternities, but I want to get a fantastic education as well.”

Academic Peer Schools Lehigh University, Penn State University, Occidental College, University of Wisconsin, Connecticut College

--

# LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

Description Admittedly, I’m a little bit biased because I was recently admitted to Lafayette as a member of the Class of 2020; I was drawn to the school because you get to:

Use university-sized resources (Lafayette has roughly $350,000 in endowment per student - more than Carnegie Mellon and Tufts’s figures combined)

Watch Division I athletics (Lafayette made it to the NCAA Men’s Tournament in 2015)

With a 2,500 undergraduate population and no graduate students, you have many more opportunities to work closely with professors and you get the perks of a small liberal arts college. And, as an added bonus, New York City and Philadelphia are no more than a 75 minute bus ride away.

Some numbers for you number-lovin’ people

Ranked 21st Best Liberal Arts College by StartClass.com

Received a 98/100 smart rating from the above website

Considered a Little Ivy and a Hidden Ivy (along with Tulane)

Applicant Profile Lafayette has made it a point to be different from other liberal arts colleges in this regard. A 3.5 GPA and 30 ACT could be cause for rejection at many of Lafayette’s peer schools, but at the College - it’s not as important. They care more about the fact that you have the right spirit within you: the inquisitive nature, desire to try new things and to revel in experiences you’ve never had before. Lafayette wants students that will make them proud - not one-dimensional students.

Type of Student “I want to do it all (from sports to Investment Club), but I still want to go out with my friends frequently and get an amazing education from a highly respected institution.”

Academic Peer Schools Kenyon College, University of Richmond, Wake Forest University, Boston College, Georgia Tech

– CO

# LAY OUT YOUR OUTFIT

Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama are one of the lucky few who can get away with wearing the same outfit everyday (don’t believe me?). 

For the rest of us who are without decision fatigue, we should treat every day as a fashion show. Or, at the very least, a Gossip Girl episode.

Choose your outfit the night prior; it streamlines the waking up process. 

Instead of groggily wading through notes strewn across your floor from a late night cram session and accidentally picking the shirt you wore last week with the pizza stain still in it, you can have a beautiful outfit pre-planned, increasing your confidence and focusing your attention to things that are more important. Like the next SoHo sample sale to attend. 

For me, my EC dorm can often times be chilly (and Housing has yet to answer my email requests about installing floor heating in our bathroom). So I have to succumb to pulling on my Redwing socks and jeans hanging on the wardrobe door. I then only have to tug on a shirt with my favorite JACHS sweater over it before I’m out the door to CC (Contemporary Civilization) on Monday and Wednesday mornings. 

Recently, I’ve taken a fond interest in sporting my light red rain jacket – even in spite of the recent sunny weather. 

# OUTLINE YOUR AGENDA

One of my three notebooks is solely dedicated to my daily agenda. I list the day’s events, meetings, and goals. 

As you may recall, I used to break my day into hours from 8am-8pm, with tasks wrestling for open spots between classes – but this always made me feel overwhelmed and unable to add new things into my day as they came up.

Instead, I now only list the events I have scheduled with two tables. 

One becomes my school list; targeting all of the homework I have to do for the day. The second list is for other activities – clubs, internship work, College Advice, applications, etc.

I limit myself to two boxes, because this yields only eight things to do. 

SIDE-TIP: OVERESTIMATE & OVER-COMPARTMENTALIZE

When creating your to-do list, it’s important not to overwhelm yourself. 

Everyone feels like SuperMan once they finish half of their Starbucks vente, but there’s only so many hours in the day and so little time to finish 5 Econometrics problem sets.

Instead of cramming an infinite amount of work, overestimate the amount of time it will take to do each task on your to-do list. 

If a problem set normally takes 2 hours, give it 3. Reading Rousseau on a rainy Wednesday? Add in an extra two hours. (It also helps if you actually close Facebook/Snapchat/etc once you start working.)

Also, avoid trying to “finish a project” in one sitting. Our minds aren’t coded to pump out endless supplies of work in a continuous fashion. The best way to combat our humanness is to simply break up large assignments into smaller pieces.

I’ve found a strong comfort in writing “Finish one-fourth of next Psych chapter” on my to-do list over four continuous days, as opposed to writing “OMG FINISH THE FUCKING CHAPTER THE TEST IS TOMORROW” 12 hours before the exam.

# BUDGET TIME FOR SPONTANEITY  

The greatest moments are those that we don’t anticipate.

In our speed-driven, productivity-over-all-else society, we often forget to stop and fucking smell the roses. 

Whether it’s a conversation outside Ferris with a close friend I hadn’t seen in awhile, or walking in-between classes when I end up unexpectedly flirting with a boy I like, we can’t plan for those special moments. And that’s what makes them special.

Instead of booking your calendar from sunrise-to-sunset, add one-hour breaks for frequent walks and do-nothing time. Avoid booking back-to-back meetings and, instead, create 15 minute buffers between each commitment.

# PUT AWAY THE LIST AND REFLET

Once your plans for tomorrow are solidified, stop thinking about them.

Plug your phone into the charger, pack your Muji notebook into your agnès b. bag, and crawl into bed or a comfy armchair. Preferably with a Gossip Girl book in hand.

Instead of worrying about your next day, it’s important to end your current one on a high note. To combat worrying about tomorrow, I started writing out lists things that I’m grateful. 

On a new page in a beautiful red Moleskine notebook, I list 3 things I’m exceptionally lucky to have. Sometimes it’s the chance to be young, wild, and beautiful while living in NYC (kidding… kinda). Other times, it’s the sweet, sweet taste of pinot grigio wine with my EC roomies. And far too often, it’s just the trail mix at Ferris Dining Hall.

Signing off, CT

Photos by CS. Thanks, girl! Steps of the Met source.