On the Valentine’s Day episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, host Ian Fisher has something for everyone as he and his guests offer advice on how to manage the rest of senior year, how to begin work on college essays (listen up, juniors), and how to negotiate merit scholarship offers from colleges.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, host Sally Ganga digs into the supplements for Barnard College and Washington University in St. Louis, the ins and outs of co-ops, and the financial implications of attending a college with a co-op program.

One of the hardest things for students—for people!—to do is separate the quality of their process from the randomness or disappointment of challenging outcomes. This is why Deal or No Deal always drove me nuts: You didn’t make the right choice because the next case was worth $.01; it was either the right choice in the moment or it wasn’t! All we can ever do is the best we can with the information we have available to us; we can’t justify bad decisions by good outcomes, just as we can’t condemn good decisions that resulted in bad outcomes.

On last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, guest host Ian Fisher discusses three very different phases of the college admission process: writing supplemental essays, receiving admission decisions, and repaying loans.

In the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coast Conversation, guest host Sally Ganga covers a wide range of topics, beginning with a discussion on how to prepare to repay student loans, and then an in-depth look at the supplemental essays for Loyola Marymount University and Occidental College. She wraps up with a lively conversation about the differences between studying the sciences and studying engineering in college.

You need guidance on Brown’s four supplemental essays. We’ve got advice. You and this blog are a perfect fit!

Before you get started, remember that while these are all short responses, they’re still essays, and all the essay rules apply: develop engaging openings and strong conclusions, and provide examples and specifics so that you are showing rather than telling.

So you’re interested in applying to Wellesley College? And why wouldn’t you be. Very few other colleges have the student opportunities and impressive alumni of this women’s college.

Love Reed. It’s a phrase that is sprinkled throughout campus, adorning buttons you’ll find on student backpacks in the fall and senior laurels in the spring. In order to Love Reed, however, you must first get to know it. The experience at Reed is different from the experience elsewhere on measures of intellectual engagement, academic rigor, and closely held traditions of weirdness. As an applicant, this is something for you to make a serious effort to learn before you apply, both because it’ll make you a better informed applicant and because it’ll help you craft a thoughtful response to your essay.

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.

The University of Maryland is one of the five colleges and universities that accepts only the Coalition Application. And while they require a student to upload a response to one of the five Coalition Application essay prompts, UMD also ask students to reply to five additional, or “supplemental,” fill-in-the-blank questions as well.