What about being a student at _____ most excites you?

Why would you like to attend ______?

Or, my personal favorite and most succinct, Why _____?

As admissions officers wade through equally qualified applicants, they work to determine who is going to be the best fit with their institution. Who gets what they are all about? Who has done their research and understands “Why this College?” They ask it in a lot of different ways, with varying requirements when it comes to length, but they’re all trying to get at the same thing: Why do you want to be here, as opposed to one of the other wonderful schools on your list?

For most students, the high school transcript is going to be the most important part of their college application. But what are college admissions officers actually looking for when they review a transcript?  Former Fordham, Barnard, and Montclair State admissions officer, Tova Tolman, explains how she would approach transcript review—what grades were important to her and what grades she ignored—in the latest installment of the our video series, Ask the College Admissions Expert.

With spring now officially underway, we have to ask: high school juniors, do you know who will be writing letters of recommendation for your college application? If not, let this video serve as your official notice that it’s time to start figuring that out. Teachers—especially the popular ones—get very busy with recommendations once the fall gets underway, and you don’t want to be last on a teacher’s priority list (or, worse, not on her list at all because you waited too long to ask). How then can you decide what teachers to ask for letters of recommendation? Find out in the latest installment of our video series, We Can Explain.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Sally Ganga and guests discuss how many AP classes should you take, financial aid questions for admitted students to ask, and tips for your college visits during upcoming spring breaks.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Elizabeth Heaton celebrates her birthday with us and discusses with her guests how to consider value when building your college list, tax breaks for those paying for college, and what to do if you missed the January deadlines for applying to college.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Elizabeth Heaton is back in the host seat to tell you all about how to best proceed if you’ve just been deferred from your Early Action or Early Decision school(s). We’re also answering your questions in a two-segment Q&A, featuring listener submissions.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation Ian Fisher is back in the host seat and is celebrating making it past the November 1^st early deadlines. Ian and his guests cover all things about applying to and paying for schools in California, and unpack the essay prompts for Carnegie Mellon and Syracuse University.

Whether you’re just putting the finishing touches on your college essay, or you’ve yet to put pen to paper (alright, finger to keyboard…), if you’re college applicant, you need to check out the latest installment of our video series, We Can Explain.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Elizabeth Heaton is in the host seat and here to talk about early action, supplemental essays for Georgia Tech and Emory, financial aid at Northeastern University.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Ian Fisher welcomes a student guest to talk about her college search, and is later joined by members of the College Coach team to talk Early Decision and paying the tuition bill. In the middle of all of that, Ian squeezes in a spotlight on Colorado College.