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.

NYU

Transferring to New York University (NYU) 2023

Have you been dreaming of living in New York? Transferring to NYU can give you access to everything New York City has to offer, while at one of the most well-known and well-respected colleges in the country. NYU definitely has the cool factor as far as colleges go. Home to more young celebrities and influencers than we care to count, we’ve found that a rising number of students are looking to NYU as a transfer option because it offers the opportunity to build their career outside of academia parallel to earning their degree. Like with many transfer programs, though, housing is not guaranteed. If you’re looking to transfer to NYU, you may also have to accept the reality of being young and hustling in New York City — numerous roommates in tiny apartments included.  

How to Write the NYU Supplement 2022-2023

NYU is one of the most popular colleges in the world – so much so that they even call themselves “the top dream school in the country.” A little egotistical, but we digress. A record-breaking 105,000 students applied to NYU’s current freshman class, which dropped their acceptance rate to 12.2%. NYU is getting more and more competitive, and what used to be seen as a safety school for the Ivies is now almost as hard to get into as Cornell.