Many of our readers will already be waiting to hear their admissions outcomes when they receive this newsletter. Others will have a few more weeks of hard work ahead of them, and then likewise will enter the sit-and-wait phase of the admissions cycle.

In business school admissions, we've seen significant increases in application volume at several top schools this fall and winter. There was a 12 percent increase in application numbers to the top schools and in GMAT registrations last year; this means exceptionally competitive Round III admissions at several schools this spring.

n college admissions, the big news continuing to dominate the headlines is all about financial aid and the cost of college today. Cornell, Dartmouth and Northwestern have followed Harvard and Yale's lead in  announcing changes to their financial aid policies in order to provide assistance to lower- and middle-class families. Admissions are up across the board and breaking records at many schools; students are being put on waitlists simply due to the enormous volume of applications this season. 

Our consultants have advice for college and business, law, graduate and medical school applicants on how to manage this uncomfortable period. Unlikely as it may seem, there are proactive and productive steps you can take now that might be to your benefit.

Even if you're not applying to schools until next year, our consultants' advice is worthwhile reading. It will help you understand what you may be going through a year from now, and plan accordingly.

It is by no means too early to start making plans for 2009 admissions to colleges and professional schools. Although applications will not be available for several more months, this is an excellent time to start working seriously on school selection and admissions strategy. Call us at 703.242.5885 or via SKYPE (admissions.consultants) or email us to learn about our consultants' various fields of expertise and how they can help you position yourself for 2009 admissions.

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When you make your GMAT plans, make sure you include enough time for test preparation. "Proper preparation is the key to success on the GMAT," says Jeff Glazer, president of Griffon Preparation Services.

Glazer reminds applicants that the GMAT measures not only your verbal and quantitative skills but also your ability to use them to solve problems. "That means that studying for the GMAT must be approached differently than other tests," Glazer says. "Simply taking many timed tests will not usually improve one's score. You'll need to sit down with a few real GMAT tests and work out how to derive the correct answer from the information you are given."

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– Sheri was formerly Associate Director of Admission for Columbia University's Barnard College.

Your College Application Choices Can Be Confusing! To apply under the early or the regular admissions deadline, to use the Common Application or a school-specific application, to use the same basic essay for different schools or to write completely different essays... Our consultants can help you understand the choices you face and help you make the decisions that are right for you. Call us at 703.242.5885 or email us to learn more.

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Applications are up at colleges and universities nationwide, creating a level of uncertainty for both admissions officers and applicants. It's not surprising, as this is another year of historically high numbers of applications at numerous schools. The children of baby boomers are graduating in high numbers, and more are going on to two- or four-year colleges. In addition, the advent of online applications has led to students applying to more schools, especially top students who are aware that their preferred schools are competitive.

Georgetown University officials saw early applications rise 30 percent this fall, followed by a record total of applicants. The university has little idea of how many students, if admitted, would say yes. As a result, more students are likely to be put on a wait list.

This fall, the University of Virginia, Harvard University and Princeton University dropped their early admissions programs. Despite the move, all three schools have seen an increase in applications. Princeton has seen a 6 percent increase in applications, and the University of Virginia has seen a 4 percent increase. Harvard has seen a 19 percent rise. The figures include a 33 percent increase in the number of African American applicants to Harvard, and a 20 percent increase in the number of Latinos. Georgetown’s dean of admission, Charles Deacon, said he assumes much of the increase in applications to Georgetown this fall came from students who would have applied early to those schools.

Also affecting applications this year is a shift in financial aid. Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, Cornell, Northwestern and other schools have announced generous financial aid programs and matched Princeton’s guarantee that students who qualify will receive grants instead of loans.

Applications are up 30 percent at Vanderbilt, more than more than 7 percent at Cornell, and more than 7 percent at Johns Hopkins.

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Grad school applicants often underestimate the importance of identifying potential dissertation chairs and mentioning that match in their applications.

Finding the perfect mentor and future dissertation chair is a key factor to consider as you narrow your list of schools and prepare your applications.

"The best way to choose the right school for you is to review the top schools of your choice and then make sure there are professors studying your specific area of interest," says Senior Consultant Heather MacNeill.

The reason for this is quite simple. Graduate admissions are highly competitive. Many of the top programs in the nation only have a few open seats available each academic year. Given a high ratio of applicants to open seats, the faculty members serving on admissions committees tend to approve candidates with research interests overlapping their own. You'll maximize your admissions chances by persuading the admissions committee that you have researched their program and feel confident that it is the right fit for you, especially in terms of your research compatibility with the faculty.

In addition to identifying faculty members who are interested in your field of expertise, you must also consider whether or not these faculty would be available to work with you when you do your research. Heather notes, "It is fairly important to contact potential professors when applying to Ph.D. programs. Because you may be working closely with them, you need to know if they are accepting new students or if they are on sabbatical or otherwise unable to take new students."

– Senior Consultant Heather MacNeill is former Assistant Director of Graduate Admission at Pacific University.

Does Your Law School Application Plan Cover All the Bases? Our consultants can explain the entire process of law school admissions and help you avoid inadvertent mistakes that could reduce your admissions chances or limit your school options. Call us at 703.242.5885, email us, or visit our website to learn more about our law school admissions consulting services.

Future J.D.s know (or should know) that law school applications have an 'Activities' section, and they know (or should know) that what they list there can make a difference in their admissions outcomes.

One question that our consultants hear from time to time is "what kind of activities look good on a law school application?" Does participation in your school's student government look better than heading a sports team or theater group does? Do you need to do something that shows political or social activism, or that gives you a byline in a newspaper or magazine?

The answer to those questions is simple: Do something you are genuinely interested in.

You are more likely to get involved in an activity that you care about much more fully and deeply than you are if you pick something completely random. It's the quality of your participation, not the particular thing that you get involved in, that can help convince admissions committees that they want you in their next J.D. class.

There really is no such thing as a 'right' or 'wrong' extracurricular pursuit. Just do something with some demonstrable commitment and passion!

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It's time for 2009 law school applicants to begin considering when they will take the LSAT.

The LSAT is scheduled be given on:

• Monday, June 16, 2008
• Saturday, October 4, 2008 (or Monday, October 6, for Saturday Sabbath observers)
• Saturday, December 6, 2008 (or Monday, December 8, for Saturday Sabbath observers)
• Saturday, February 7, 2009 (or Monday, February 9, for Saturday Sabbath observers)

Whenever you plan to take the test, make sure you give yourself enough time for test preparation "Proper preparation is the key to success on the LSAT," says Jeff Glazer, president of Griffon Preparation Services.

He advises against using non-LSAC practice tests. "Study books published by companies that use fake questions should be avoided at all costs," he says. "Such questions rarely mimic the real thing and can cause confusion on test day."

If you choose to prepare for the exam on your own, some of the best self-study material available for the LSAT is distributed by LSAC themselves, says Glazer. "They have multiple publications that include real LSAT questions from previous test administrations. In particular, LSAC's SuperPrep contains three exams plus wonderful explanations of correct answers from the test writers."

The most important thing, Glazer reminds test-takers, is to put adequate time and effort into LSAT prep. "Since the LSAT is weighted so heavily in the law school admissions process, it is crucial to spend as much time studying for the LSAT as possible.”

Former AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen expressed his concerns about the number of U.S. citizens applying to Caribbean medical schools. He noted that an ongoing lack of information about these schools leaves American employers with questions about their quality. "Unfortunately, we just don't know as much as we'd like about medical education in offshore schools or about the relative performance of their graduates during their careers as practitioners," Cohen wrote in an open letter on the subject. He called for more dialogue so that the American medical community could better assess the Caribbean schools' educational value. Until that happens, U.S. graduates of Caribbean schools will continue to face doubts about their qualifications.

We asked one of our consultants, Dr. Gregory Goldmakher, to explain the concerns that U.S. medical professionals have about graduates of Caribbean medical schools.

"Applicants considering schools in the Caribbean should realize that there are serious challenges to overcome for anyone who receives their medical education from a foreign medical school," says Gregory.

One of these challenges lies in securing admission to a residency program.

"Each year, about 16,000 residency positions become available nationwide," says Greg. "Approximately 12,000 of those are filled by graduates of U.S. medical schools. That leaves 4,000 available positions for other graduates - and there are usually over 30,000 foreign-trained doctors competing for them.

"Some of these candidates were highly skilled physicians in their countries of origin - cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and the like. Given that kind of competition, getting into a residency program with a foreign medical education from a school in the Caribbean is not easy.

"However, there are a few well-established Caribbean schools that can serve as a launching point for a medical career in the US. Ross University, for example, has made great efforts to establish connections with U.S. medical schools. Students from Ross and its peers generally do their third and fourth year clinical rotations in U.S. hospitals. These rotations allow the students to become known as individuals in the hospitals and departments where they work. They have the opportunities to show their skills and dedication and to develop personal relationships with the physicians and administrative staff who ultimately make the decisions about residency program admissions. These opportunities and relationships can be enough to compensate for the inherent disadvantages that graduates from foreign schools face in the residency admissions process."

We asked Greg how a prospective applicant could tell which Caribbean medical schools might be worth considering. He said that applicants should ask themselves these questions:

"One - What are the USMLE scores of students who attend the school? Although residencies are technically not supposed to use Step 1 scores to select their residents, all of them do. Find out if there are in-house preparation programs offered at the school you are considering. Also find out what students' average scores have been in the past few years, and what percentage of students pass the Step 1 on their first try.

"Two - At what U.S. hospitals do the students at the school you are considering do their clinical rotations?

"Three - Where have recent graduates matched for residency?"

Greg encourages applicants looking at Caribbean schools to keep an open mind about other options as well. "If you're interested in a career in primary care, but your GPA and MCAT scores are such that you are concerned about being able to get into a regular U.S. medical school, you could consider a school of osteopathic medicine – that is to say, a D.O. program – in the U.S."

– Dr. Gregory Goldmakher has an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.

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• Finding additional classroom and laboratory space and equipment for first- and second-year students.
• Securing sufficient clinical training sites and faculty for third- and fourth-year students and ensuring that students on different campuses have comparable experiences.
• Maintaining student support services and administrative infrastructure despite increased demand on admissions, financial aid, and other resources.
• Developing accurate cost estimates for the expansion, and obtaining financial support through state appropriations, tuition, and donations.
• Acknowledging increased demands on current faculty, and recruiting additional faculty.
• Creating interdisciplinary planning teams and strategic partnerships.

The new study found that class size expansion at existing medical schools typically follows one of two models for growth: "in place"-in which more medical students are enrolled on an existing academic medical center campus by increasing infrastructure capacity, or the regional campus model.

The regional campus model can be of two paths. Under the traditional path, the school accommodates a larger class by providing students with their third- and fourth-year clinical education at a regional campus location. Under the second path - an emerging trend in medical education - a medical school creates a new branch campus that offers all four years of medical education while operating within the accreditation of the four-year program on the main medical school campus.

Are you considering applying to medical school? Call to speak with one of our consultants today. Our consultants can give you the insight and advice you need to make informed choices about your growing medical school options and how to best position yourself for admissions success. Call us at 703.242.5885, email us, or visit our website to find out more about our services.

Spring is always a popular time for pre-meds to take the MCAT. Scheduling the test in April or May means you'll still have the material from your spring semester courses fresh in your mind, reducing the amount of time you need to devote to review. You'll also leave yourself plenty of time to retake the test in the summer or fall if you're disappointed with your initial score.

Dr. Brett Ferdinand, Chief Instructor for MCAT-prep.com, offers this advice on test preparation:

"One – Take adequate time to plan and prepare for the MCAT. You can't expect to sign up for the test at the last minute and do well on it.

"Two – Motivate yourself to do your very best on the exam. MCAT scores are important in medical school admissions. You want to get the highest score you can.

"Three – Conduct a focused MCAT review. Be mindful of what you personally need to work on in order to do well on the test. Don't settle for a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to test preparation.

"Four – Take realistic practice tests. That means using one of the full-length, computer-based practice MCAT tests available from the AAMC. You should take at least one test under realistic test conditions – that means sitting down to take it with no food, drink, music, phone calls, and without taking excessive breaks."