A common question we are asked as college admissions consultants is, “How do you address a disability in your college application?” Or, to step back a bit, “Should you address a disability at all?” Former MIT and Caltech admissions officer, Zaragoza Guerra, tackles this complicated question in the latest installment of our video series, Ask the College Admissions Expert.

by Julie Wolf, Guest Writer

“It was the worst part of high school, hands down. I’ve blocked it out.”

This is my daughter, now a junior in college, discussing the college application process, specifically the anxiety-provoking personal essay. Unfortunately, I haven’t blocked it out. As January deadlines loomed, she dug herself into a hole, with stacks of essays still unwritten. The two of us stayed home over the school holiday while the rest of the family made merry with relatives out of state. Our next student, a high school senior, already has a draft underway, hewing to the start-in-the-summer advice that my daughter largely ignored. The clarity of hindsight shows that I was too involved from the outset with his sister, offering help that she didn’t want but came to rely on, so with Student 2 I’m treading lightly. Occasionally I peek into his room and see him sitting on his bed, tapping away at his computer. I back away; I don’t ask. One night, though, my resolve broke. To my amazement, he let me read his essay; I promised not to say much.

by Laurie Peltier, former financial aid officer at Becker College

If your child is headed off to college in the fall, you are probably worrying about a lot of things: What if they have a medical emergency while at school? What if they run out of money? How will I know they are passing their courses if I don’t see any of their school work?

There are documents pertaining to health, money, and college records that your child can sign to give you some peace of mind. Not all of these are required, but you may want to consider if you need them or not.

by Sai Somboon, former admissions officer at University of Pennsylvania

As a college counselor, I’ve worked with all sorts of students: dancers, actors, athletes, computer programmers, debaters, student leaders, and much more. Sometimes the students I counsel feel overwhelmed by the process, and I encourage them to take a moment. We breathe together, collect ourselves, and restart. This simple act can replenish our bodies with air and empower us to concentrate on the awaiting tasks. I find that the practice of mindfulness—whether at the beginning, middle, or end of the process—can empower students to triumph and overcome negative feelings and move towards joy, peace, and calm.

Everyone knows that colleges will review your grades and test scores (if required) when determining whether or not to admit you, but what if you’ve already done most everything you can do by those measures? You’ve already got good grades and perhaps you’re also sending strong test scores. What else can you do to help your college application stand out from the thousands of other applications submitted by other students with equally good grades and test scores? Former Brandeis University admissions officer Julia Jones lets us know in the latest installment of the video series, Ask the College Admissions Expert.

by Steve Fernandez-Brennan, former admissions officer at Occidental College

When helping students prepare for college visits before COVID-19 I would encourage them to do their research, to know what they wanted to learn, to keep an open mind, and to have fun. Fourteen months into the pandemic, what would I say now? The exact same thing—with one addition: be polite!

Finding a job can be tough, especially if you are a teen looking for your first job with no experience. In this video, our college admissions experts provide some helpful tips to aid first time job hunters in their quest to land an interview. Tune in to the latest installment of the Bright Horizons College Coach video series, We Can Explain, to learn how.

by Karen Spencer, former admissions officer at Georgetown University

We are often asked how homeschooled applicants are evaluated in the admissions process, and the answer is, per usual (if you read our blog regularly), “It depends.” Some colleges have an admissions officer who reads all homeschooled applicants separately, whereas other colleges have each admissions officer read them alongside the rest of their assigned applicant pool (which is often divided by region of the country). I polled my colleagues who worked at an array of colleges across the U.S.—private and public, selective and not-selective—to understand more of the nuances behind this review process and just what it is admission officers hope to learn from homeschooled applicants.

by Kimberly Asselta, former admissions officer at Babson College

I was not the captain of my high school cheerleading team. I vividly remember the day my coach read the names of the 1993-1994 team captains. I was devastated when my name wasn’t called. My dreams of wearing that gold “C” on my uniform and being seen as a team leader came tumbling down. That was “way back in the 1900s” as my two middle school sons like to remind me, and I’m totally over it. Really. As I look back on my time in high school with the wisdom that over twenty years of life and work experience brings, I can recognize that the “C” on my sweater didn’t define me or my leadership ability. I learned a lot from that experience, but that’s for a different blog post!

by Elizabeth Heaton, former admissions officer at University of Pennsylvania

What a crazy year! Students fully remote or attending high school in-person part-time via a hybrid model. Courses graded pass/fail. Standardized tests unavailable in many locations. Sports and other extracurricular activities postponed or cancelled. This was a difficult school year—and year—by anyone’s standards. For the class of 2021, those difficulties extended further to college admissions.