May 2025

Another May 1st come and gone, another admission cycle done! All the seniors I’ve worked with over the past nine to 18 months have chosen their college for next year (though I haven’t heard back yet from a few to know where they’ve chosen). Congratulations to the University of Texas Austin, Brown University, and Georgetown University. Y’all have some great students coming your way this fall!

For me at least, this is the quietest part of the year. Seniors have chosen their schools and have moved on. Juniors are deep in AP exams, IB exams, final exams, and just getting through the rest of the year. I don’t typically hear from them until summer.

So I’m on vacation for a long weekend. Whatever you’re doing now, wherever you’re going next year, I hope things are going your way today.

—Benjamin

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Here’s what I covered on the website in April:

Things didn’t go your way? Here’s some help from two jazz legends. For anyone who is disappointed they're not going to their top-choice college, two stories from two different jazz pianists give you some guidance on how to move on from here.

Three Quick Questions:

The full Three Quick Questions archive. I ask the same three questions:

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to your school?

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at your school?

When people come to visit your school, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

Have a look at this:

No, not that Elon…An NC university tries to distance itself from the DOGE leader. Remember that Elon University has nothing to do with the X guy.

10 lives, 5 years later: How the pandemic altered the futures of these kids, parents, and educators. Following up on subjects from pandemic stories at The Hechinger Report.

Here are some blog posts from the archive that are good for this May:

Common data sets. I wish more high school students knew about the Common Data Set, a form that many—though not all—colleges use to report information about the college. When you’re ready to do a “deep dive” to get to know a college, their CDS is one place where you look.

Four things juniors should do now, before the end of the school year. Do your best at school and finish with the best grades possible. Decide if you will take the SAT and/or ACT. Line up rec letters. Do some large-sweep online college searches.

Making a high school résumé. Scholarship applications may ask for a résumé. Teachers and counselors may want a résumé to help them compose a recommendation letter. Potential employers very often ask for a résumé—that’s what résumés were created for. So with all that in mind, here are some things to consider when putting together, or revising, your résumé.