Each spring, College Coach surveys the high school seniors that we’ve worked with through our private college counseling service to garner their insights on the college application process. We’ve just synthesized the results of our 2019 Senior Survey, and wanted to share the good news with our readers.

Over the course of the past 16 years, I have read thousands of college applications and the personal statements that accompany them. Some essays have remained fresh in my mind – often because the topics were inspiring, powerful, humorous, or beautifully written – but other essays stand out for all of the wrong reasons. Below are four of my most noteworthy observations about college application essays, including blunders students should avoid at all costs.

In an era of smart phones and technology always at our fingertips, social media is a deeply ingrained part of the daily lives of most teens (and often their parents!). As students prepare to apply to college, many families ask me about the role of social media in college admissions, specifically the college research, application, and selection process. Here are a few things to consider:

Travel back in time with me, if you will, to 1999. College admissions had recently transitioned from a buyer’s market to a seller’s, and application totals at many colleges began the steady climb to what continue to be unprecedented numbers. Twenty years ago marked my foray from college admission into college counseling as well. I have been on the front lines with students and parents through three different iterations of the format of the SAT, the evolution of web-based college searching, and the transition from paper to online applications, including the expanding reach of multiple online application platforms. 1999 was not just the beginning of my career in college counseling, but of an ongoing commitment to help students keep their wits about them in what, for many, is an overwhelming process. This includes helping them to be strategic about their college lists.

The environment, from questions around global warming to plastic in our oceans to single-stream recycling, is very much in the news on a seemingly daily basis. Many colleges now offer some form of an environmental studies major, and we’ll offer thoughts on the options available to students pursuing degrees in that area. We’re also answering your college admissions and finance questions.

Wouldn’t it be great to get a free instant daily update from College Coach whenever you want it? Now, you can, simply by saying “Alexa, read my Flash Briefings” to your Amazon Echo device. Introducing the College Coach Alexa skill! Enable the College Coach skill using your Alexa account, and whenever you say “Alexa, read my Flash Briefings” to your Amazon Echo device, you’ll hear the latest and greatest in college admissions and finance news in two minutes or less. Let Alexa help you keep in touch with College Coach and never miss an insider tip from our college experts.

If you would consider yourself “not-rich” and are headed to a campus that could very well be filled with lots of students who are, don’t miss today’s show. We’re welcoming Lauren Schandevel, who encountered this challenge at the University of Michigan and created a guide to help other not-rich students survive and thrive at the university. Perhaps her advice will be useful to you. We’ll also cover next steps for students who have made their final college choice and sent in their deposit. And last but certainly not least, we’ll take a look at the question, “Do colleges care if you are kind?” and try to offer some answers.

It happened with vinyl and Polaroids, so maybe it’s not surprising that a subject long thought on the way out is making a comeback. Cursive writing, not mentioned by the Common Core and required in just six states in 2010, will be required in elementary and middle school curriculums in nearly 20 states in 2019-2020.

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.

Students with no acceptances will want to tune in to this episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, in which we will help you best handle an admissions season gone awry and offer suggestions for moving forward with your college plans.