Kindness in College Applications

By Grey Joyner, Admission Consultant, Elite Admission   What are the most important attributes that college admissions officers look for? You might think of intelligence, academic achievement, leadership, or intellectual curiosity, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Those are all critical qualities to admissions officers. But one attribute that is often overlooked is kindness.   Dartmouth College recently invited author Jacques Steinberg, …

US College Application Trends 2023-24

By Grey Joyner Admission Consultant, Elite Admission While many aspiring US college students are still eagerly awaiting admissions decisions, some trends are beginning to emerge about the current state of the US college application landscape. Common App has released their regular research report “Deadline Updates”, which details findings about US college applications through 1 February (including most selective university regular …

Will top colleges shift back to requiring standardized tests?

By Grey Joyner, Admission Consultant, Elite Admission   Dartmouth College announced on 5 February that, after being standardized test-optional since the Covid pandemic, it will go back to requiring standardized tests of all applicants. In a statement, the university said that the “decision was guided by social science research that suggests we can improve our ability to identify students from …

How the college admissions process may change without affirmative action

By Grey Joyner at Elite Admission Consulting   The US Supreme Court ruling that universities cannot take race into account as a basis for granting admission is likely to have far-reaching implications for college admissions. On July 29th, 2023, the US Supreme Court overturned affirmative action, or the process of granting admissions priority based on race. Historically, this policy has …

Interview with an Admitted Student of Stanford Class of 2027

In the application cycle 2022-2033, we managed to assist another student admitted to Stanford University. We are excited to have her sit down with us for this brief interview to talk about her experience throughout the college application.   1. When did you have the idea of going to the US for undergraduate education? Around the second half of Year …

TSA Writing Task Sample and Analysis – II

The Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) Oxford is a 2-hour pre-interview test for applicants to undergraduate courses such as Economics and Management, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), Human Sciences, and Philosophy and Linguistics, at the University of Oxford. Its result plays a significant role in admission decision-making of these courses. In the second section of the assessment, applicants are required to …

TSA (Thinking Skills Assessment) Writing Task Sample and Analysis – I

The Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) Oxford is a 2-hour pre-interview test for applicants to undergraduate courses such as Economics and Management, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), Human Sciences, and Philosophy and Linguistics, at the University of Oxford. Its result plays a significant role in admission decision-making of these courses. In the second section of the assessment, applicants are required to …