Reserve your spot on our 2025-26 roster while you still can!

Resources & Tips

Ivy Divider
Ivy Divider

CEA Blog

Our Home State Creates Tuition-Free Program

Topic: College Admissions, News  |  Posted on July 7th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

New York has passed a program to make all public schools and universities tuition-free for full-time students, and we could not be more proud as pavement-pounding, hot-dog-eating residents of Manhattan. Students who attend school full time and are on track to graduate between two and four years can take advantage of this new program. Many […]

Dialogue: The Dos and Don’ts of Quotes in Your College Essay

Topic: Admissions, advice, College Admissions, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, Quick Tips, Tips, Uncategorized  |  Posted on July 5th, 2017  |  Written by CEA HQ

“Hey,” I began, “you have cow eyes. I know that sounds like a bad thing but have you ever looked into a cow’s eyes? They are so deep and brown and beautiful. I’ve looked into a lot a cow eyes because I’m from Wisconsin.” This dialogue segment is from Malcolm Conner’s winning “Modern Love” College […]

6 Tips to Make Brainstorming for the College Admissions Essay Enjoyable

Topic: advice, Brainstorming, College Admissions, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, Quick Tips, Tips  |  Posted on June 23rd, 2017  |  Written by Nina Bailey

It’s time to start brainstorming for your college essay! If you find the prospect of brainstorming to be far less fun than a.) sleeping outside b.) tattooing your tongue or c.) bathing in hot chili oil, don’t despair. We have six stellar suggestions for how to make brainstorming not only effective, but even (gasp!) fun: […]

Yale Welcomes the Use of Technology in College Applications

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, College Spotlight, News, Standout Students  |  Posted on June 16th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

Are you the next Steven Spielberg? Quentin Tarantino? Ava DuVernay? Well, now is the time to work your cinematic magic, because Yale has opened its arms to digital uploads in place of a short essay! Since more and more of us spend time viewing content than reading it (summer reading list) in our daily lives, […]

Why Summer is the Best Time to Write Your College Essay

Topic: advice, College Admissions, Essay Tips, Essay Writing, Productivity, Quick Tips, Starting Early, Summer Preparation, Tips  |  Posted on June 15th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

Listen, we get it. The waves are crashing, sun is beaming, and all you want to do is chill. You’ve been working all year long to make sure your grades are up to par and that you’ve put enough energy into your (nine-thousand?) activities to make a real impact on your community and make an […]

The Common App Announces New Application for Transfer Students

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, Common Application, News  |  Posted on June 12th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

The Common App has been a staple for college applicants for years, allowing undergraduate hopefuls to apply to multiple schools through the power of one application (with the choice of one essay prompt). The problem, however, was that all applicants found themselves facing an application meant for high school seniors, when only a fraction of […]

Why Duke is Accepting More Transfer Students than Ever

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, News  |  Posted on June 7th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

They say orange is the new black and it seems like transfer is the new freshman. Duke University, a school with an incredibly low acceptance rate, is spreading its wings and accepting more transfers than ever before. But why?! “We want to increase the number of transfer students gradually because there’s an acknowledgement that transfer […]

How this Student Got Into All 8 Ivy Leagues

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, Common Application, Inspiration, News, Productivity, Standout Students, Starting Early, Summer Preparation  |  Posted on June 5th, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

  Yes, he’s done it. Martin Altenburg, a 17-year-old from Fargo, North Dakota has gained acceptance into every Ivy League plus a couple more schools for good measure. You might be asking yourself, “But don’t Ivy Leagues have some of the lowest acceptance rates in the country?” Yes, they do! But Altenburg figured out the […]

The Main Takeaways From the NYT ‘Modern Love’ College Essay Winners

Topic: College Admissions, Essay Writing, New York Times, Standout Students  |  Posted on June 2nd, 2017  |  Written by CEA HQ

“You can blame it all on Percocet.” This is the opening line of the winner of The New York Times “Modern Love” college contest. Out of 2,000 entries from college students from all across the country, there was one winner and four finalists; all of the essays were published in The New York Times. The […]

This High School Senior Wrote Her College Essay about Pizza and Got Into Yale

Topic: Admissions, College Admissions, Essay Writing, Inspiration, News  |  Posted on June 1st, 2017  |  Written by Kat Stubing

We at CEA love pizza. It is one of our greatest passions and our favorite fuel for advising brainpower. It is no surprise, then, that we were brimming with joy when we saw that a High School Senior scored acceptance to Yale with an essay about Papa John’s. With an acceptance rate of just 6.3%, […]

1 10 11 12 13 14 26