For twins and multiples, the college process is twice (or more) intense than for everyone else, from deciding where to apply, doing college visits, writing essays, and figuring out how to pay for it all. We’re offering insight into how twins and multiples are treated in both the admissions and financial aid processes, and giving some tips for successfully navigating both. In Office Hours, we have a plan for seniors who want to attend college next fall but haven’t yet submitted applications.

Post-January 1 can be super challenging for seniors. After the crush of finalizing and submitting applications, have nothing left to do but wait—and that can be tough. We have some suggestions for actions you can take once all of your apps are in. Since it’s the new year, we are all about resolutions—and we have thoughts about some good resolutions you can make related to college admissions and finance.

So you’ve booked that college interview. You feel prepared. You’re able to speak to your interests, you can articulate why you hope to attend this particular college, and you’re armed with some good questions to ask your interviewer about the school. What’s stressing you out though? The eternal question: what to wear??? Have no fear. Enter former University of Pennsylvania admissions officer, Sai Somboon, to answer the question, “How should I dress for a college interview?”

Today we’re going to tackle a selection of questions frequently asked by “international” students, the answer to all of which could be: “It depends.” In fact, I put the word international in quotation marks because the answer to, “Who do colleges consider an international applicant?” is often, “It depends.”  That’s how diverse the range of responses from different colleges can be. But before I answer the questions below, as best as I can, let me tell you two things about international admissions that I know for sure:

My former college roommate called me in early fall to ask a question about her daughter’s college application process that went something like this: “We can’t decide whether it’s worth the time and money for Leah to visit these colleges where she wants to apply. What do you think?”

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post came out with a story that outlined online consumer behavior tracking methods used by many higher education institutions to determine the likelihood that a student would enroll if accepted. This seems to be somewhat surprising to people, probably because they don’t think of colleges as businesses trying to sell something to consumers. In an age when admissions practices seem more complicated and opaque than ever before, it also feels like one more secret kept from the students and parents who are already stressed out about grades, test scores, and application essays.

Some years ago on a soccer sideline somewhere, or maybe in the chatty pre-show moments of a high school theatre performance, a mom or dad started the dreadful rumor that one must complete hundreds of hours of community service in order to even be considered for admission to the top colleges and universities in the country. Since that day, this misinformation has been taken as gospel by college-bound high school students and their parents. But they’re wrong.

Let’s all pause for a moment and say this together: there is nothing extra special about community service.

One of your biggest allies in the college process is your school counselor. Whether writing a letter of recommendation, sending out a transcript or directing you to local scholarship resources, there are many, many ways in which they will support you. We have advice from a former school counselor on how you can be a better partner. We’ll also take a look at the costs associated with applying to college and walk you through some goal setting suggestions for underclassmen.

Love watching blooper reels for your favorite TV shows? We’re offering our own blooper reel of mistakes we saw students and parents making when we were admissions officers. Don’t be them! We’re also welcoming the associate director of admissions for Bard College at Simon’s Rock to share more information about early college programs, including what they are and who would most benefit from these opportunities. Finally in Learning to Live Like a Student, we’ll focus on how small and large financial choices that students make while they are in college can and will impact their financial future after graduation.

Call them what you may – likely, foundation, strong possibility, or no problem colleges – there is no such thing as a safety school anymore. Most students consider a “safety” (a term, it should be known, that colleges themselves universally find distasteful) to be a school that nearly guarantees them admission. In other words, the students’ grades, rigor, and test scores place them so far above the typical admitted student, that gaining admission into those particular colleges seems to be a sure thing, a slam dunk. But as someone who – for the past 13 years – has diligently created lists of best fit colleges for high school seniors, I know that the days of feeling secure in a safety school are long gone.