National College #DecisionDay! Our Stats
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For our students in the class of 2025 (and the parents who love them), today is ‘National College Decision Day’. (A full list of where these students were accepted can be found at the end of this email. The list is remarkable for both its breadth and its depth – many schools on the list offered multiple acceptances to students served by Your College Concierge.)
For most families, May 1 allows for a collective sigh of relief and celebration. If you have a senior at home, I hope you’re celebrating, both your child’s destination and your ‘discount!’ to send them there.
This year, on average our students received just slightly more over $20,000 PER YEAR per school in financial aid GRANTS and Institutional merit SCHOLARSHIPS, including a $50,000 per year award from Rice University, $20,000 per year from UChicago, and a $30,500 per year award from Case Western.
These successes are taking place during a time when the competition for spots and money at competitive universities is fiercer than ever. Early data confirms what anecdotal reports suggested: though overall college enrollment continues to be down from its peak, the more competitive (more widely known) schools continue to be deluged by applicants, and they rejected legions of qualified students — many of whom would have been admitted just a decade ago.
This trend shouldn’t surprise – especially as college admissions becomes far less regional. Technology has given students access to schools that they may have never considered (and vice versa) — not just in the U.S, but across the globe. Yet despite increasingly sophisticated technology, college admissions — which includes not just who gets in, but what price they’ll pay (list vs. net) –remains a very ‘personal’ process, managed by real people who are moved by emotion and subtleties that are not reflected in scores, GPA or class rank. What separates two seemingly identical students on paper are intangibles such as the student’s demonstrated interest in a school, expressed career aspirations, potential contributions on campus, and their ability to move the needle on the school’s competitiveness.
Most applicants to any given school will have more or less the same grades, class rigor and scores. The students who receive the best results (admissions and financial awards) have a targeted admissions strategy and a contextually relevant application, and they effectively and sufficiently demonstrate three things (not necessarily in equal measure): Authenticity, Value AND Desire.
In a crowded field, the importance of niche positioning when it comes to Admissions cannot be underestimated. This requires a little inside information. We use data we’ve compiled from real students over the past two decades to inform each of our students’ applications.
There is no way around the fact that guidance, and a guidance counselor’s role, in helping students get into and stand out in a crowded college admissions pipeline is crucial. Fact is, too many of our school counselors are overburdened by huge caseloads. In many schools, counselors and counseling budgets are being cut. As a result, public school counselors say that on average, they can devote less than 22% of their time on college counseling. 850,000 students simply have no
counselor at all.
Which is a shame… because guidance matters a lot. Below is a table that shows the acceptance rates at select schools for students who worked with us v. the overall acceptance rate):
Post Secondary education is still the most crucial engine for success and access to the highest paying jobs.
Guidance creates the conditions for success for all young people. Yet the significance of college counseling is still under-recognized by too many.
At Your College Concierge we take pride in helping students claim ownership of the entire college admissions experience. Yes, we go to great lengths to guide and assist, but our students are the ones who lead and decide. As a result, they gain more than just admission to college; they learn about empowerment, which is a lesson that will help carry them to success in college and beyond.
YCC families come to us with varying goals and diverse backgrounds; some want financial aid and scholarship guidance – they know that their children have worked hard to gain admission to competitive colleges and want to ensure that they can afford them, sans debt; others want direction for their children on how to select and gain admission to the best schools (for them); most families want direction on both of these components of the process.
Many of our clients were educated outside the U.S. and find themselves lost
when it comes to the American higher ed system; others are born and raised here in America but find that the process of applying and gaining admission to college, not to mention paying for it, has become increasingly complex and super-competitive. They want to know that someone who’s dedicated to their family (and their child) has ‘got this’ so they can rest easy at night (and find peace at the dinner table)!
For 18 years now, we’ve been honored to guide more than 2200 diverse families to, and many already through, great colleges without having to sacrifice their life savings or saddle themselves with onerous student loan debt.
With that in mind, May 1 is bittersweet for us. We congratulate (and say so long) to the Class of 2025, and we begin working in earnest on behalf of the Class of 2026 and later – evaluating and formulating strategies to overcome the challenges that they will face as the next admissions cycle begins anew.
Now is the time that we are also planning our summer college application bootcamp. If you’re the parent of an 11th grader, there is simply no better way to assure that your rising 12th grader is ready to apply to college with the right college list, a rapport with admissions representatives at targeted schools AND a completed, stand-out college application by the first day of school next Fall.
If your teen participates, s/he will return to school with confidence and relief, knowing that the application is done, the essay is written, and the SUBMIT button can be pressed.
They will be able to focus on senior year, their rigorous schedule, senior leadership, college visits, college fairs, and Homecoming, while their peers are worried about last minute college application deadlines.
We refer to our SUMMER COLLEGE APPLICATION BOOTCAMP as “front-loading the pressure” while students are not frenzied by the demands of school. We work with them at a comfortable pace, step-by-step during the summer months when students have few other responsibilities.
I invite your rising 12th grader to participate in our 2025 Summer program. Our tuition is $1,997 but if you sign up before May 17th, you’ll enjoy savings of $500 by entering the following coupon Code: EBIRD2025.
We’d love for you to participate. To reserve a seat or see the complete syllabus, simply click here and register.
Now, Congratulations to Your College Concierge seniors and their families. You all worked hard, and you deserve all the credit. It’s been an honor to work with you! Best wishes for your continued success in higher education (see a listing below of their acceptances).
- Class of 2025
Auburn University, Babson College, Bennington College, Brigham Young University, Bucknell University, Case Western Reserve University, Clemson University, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, Cornell University, DePaul University, Duke University, Eckerd College, Emory University, Flagler College, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, Fordham University, Georgia State University, High Point University, IE University-Madrid, Indiana University – Bloomington, Johns Hopkins University, Kenyon College, Lehigh University, Louisiana State University, Lynn University, Michigan State University, New York University, Northeastern University, Nova Southeastern University, Pace University, Penn State, Pratt Institute, Purdue University, Rice University, Rollins College, Saint Leo University, Sarah Lawrence College, Southern Methodist University, SUNY Stony Brook University, SUNY University at Buffalo, SUNY, University at Albany, The Catholic University of America, The George Washington University, The New School, The Ohio State University, Tufts University, Union College. University of Alabama, University of Arizona, University of California-Irvine, University of California-San Diego, University of Central Florida, University of Chicago, University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Connecticut, University of Delaware, University of Florida, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Memphis, University of Miami, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Florida, University of North Georgia, University of North Texas, University of Oregon, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rhode Island, University of South Florida, University of Tampa, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of West Florida, University of Wyoming, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Wake Forest University, Washington University in St. Louis
