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Caroline Koppelman
Official Common App Essay Guide 2025-2026

We’ve spent the past few weeks breaking down each Common App essay prompt one by one, and now it’s time for the grand finale: our ultimate guide to writing the Common App essay. Sure, there are seven different prompts, but at the end of the day, every school is looking for the same thing: a story.

Caroline Koppelman
How to Write Common App Essay Prompt 7: Example ...

We’ve been waiting for this one: it’s finally time to dig into Prompt #7, the crown jewel of the Common App essay prompts.

Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Letters of Continued Interest ...

Getting waitlisted or deferred from your dream school is hard. We know it’s hard! You feel rejected, but it’s this weird non-rejection rejection that can leave you feeling lost and confused. And while a lot of things in college admissions are totally out of your control, there is something you can do if you’ve been waitlisted or deferred to give yourself another chance. A letter of continued interest, sometimes known as a waitlist letter or deferral letter, is one of the few, actionable things you can control when admissions decisions seem so out of your control. It’s your only chance to make a good second impression, and we help students write them every single year.

Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Getting Waitlisted 2025

Getting waitlisted is the ultimate limbo – it’s not not a rejection, but it’s not a full-on denial, either. And depending on your circumstances, you could be feeling everything from mild disappointment to full-on panic. Don’t get yourself into a tizzy just yet, because there are things you can do to give yourself a shot at getting off the waitlist and make sure that you have a plan in place for the next year.

Caroline Koppelman
Best Early Decision II (ED2) Schools 2024-2025

Hey, look, sometimes ED doesn’t work out the way we want it to, and we have to change strategies. If you just got rejected or deferred from your ED/EA option, we’d like to introduce you to our good friend, Early Decision 2. ED2 is just as binding as ED, and it signals to the school that you are serious about attending that school, and guess what? Schools like when you’re serious about them.

berkeley

Berkeley Admissions Statistics 2025

Last admissions cycle, University of California, Berkeley (or just Berkeley) admitted 11.3% of applicants, a figure that highlights how selective the process has become. But that number alone doesn’t reveal much about what’s really happening in Berkeley’s admissions landscape. How exactly is that percentage calculated? What’s the breakdown between in-state and out-of-state? While Berkeley does release some admissions data, understanding the full picture requires looking more carefully at the numbers and the broader context around them. Each year, we analyze this information in detail so students can approach highly selective admissions with a clearer perspective and a more thoughtful strategy.

Summer Strategy Ideas for UC Berkeley

The UC schools are all excellent, top-tier state schools. But Berkeley stands out as being one of the best in the nation. With an acceptance rate of just 11%, it’s an extremely competitive school. If you’re dead-set on enjoying the NoCal life for the next four years at one of the best programs the west coast has to offer, we have some advice as to how you can maximize your summer.

UC Berkeley Legacy Guide

It isn’t uncommon in Northern California to see a child dressed up head to toe in UC Berkeley merch. These kids often go on to dream of going to Cal just like their parents did. We work with a lot of these kids and we always get questions from their parents about if their legacy status will help them get in. We have been doing a series on the ins and outs of legacy status at top schools and wanted to dive into what UC Berkeley says about legacy status and what that can mean for your applicant.