For Immediate Release: 
David Petersam, Editor

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New Happenings at AdmissionsConsultants

Congratulations To This Past Year’s Clients!

We had another successful year and we would like to congratulate the, literally, thousands of clients who gained admission to the eight Ivy League schools as well as elite non Ivy institutions such as Stanford and MIT. Our clients worked very hard and showed great patience and understanding as we often insisted on making an additional set of revisions to the essays and sometimes asked them to go with stories and themes that may have seemed a bit unorthodox to the untrained eye. We would also like to congratulate the many applicants who won significant scholarships (representing over 50% of tuition) to their 'stretch' schools.

While we will not conduct an official tally for another few weeks, it appears very likely that we will have an admittance success rate similar to last year’s, when over 80% of our 3 application clients and over 95% of our 5 or more application clients received admission offers to at least one of their top-choice schools!

Special 'Head Start' Offer

As a professional services firm, we do not believe in running lots of 'specials' at AdmissionsConsultants. However, we do have a current special that we believe will be incredibly valuable to those of you planning to apply to business school, college, law school, or medical school this coming year. We invite you to sign up for a one-hour 'pre admissions' consultation. These consultations are custom-tailored to each unique individual and contain, in addition to brutally-honest and candid assessments of your chances at various schools, valuable positioning tips you will not find in any books or group seminars. Your candidacy is different from everyone else's and the advice you receive should be different as well.

So, why exactly is this a special offer? Because we will allow you to deduct the price of this pre admissions consultation from a multiple application package should you decide to retain our services for a fixed-fee multiple application package. These packages are comprehensive and include unlimited telephone support and unlimited essay revisions as well as comprehensive help that covers letters of reference, resumes/cvs, application completion, and interview preparation. We leave no stones unturned and this comprehensive approach, combined with our unique qualifications as former admissions committee members who made accept/reject/waitlist decisions, has produced an astounding 95% success rate.

We only require a minimum one hour retainer fee because we are so confident that you will be happy with our services and you will voluntarily return to us for additional help with your applications. With this offer, in addition to getting our signature, comprehensive service for your applications, you will also have several months to implement a detailed action plan to optimize your positioning and further increase your chances of gaining admission to your top-choice schools. Essentially, you will get a free initial consultation if you retain us for a fixed-fee multiple application package and the extra months to implement your positioning will further boost your admissions chances!

Let's face it. We know that the service you receive will only be as good as the consultant with whom you work. Our consultants earn far more than their counterparts elsewhere and our prices are very competitive because we choose to spend our money on top-notch consultants whose work generates word-of-mouth support instead of advertising. If you take advantage of this special offer, you will be helping yourself and, when you are successful at gaining admission to your top-choice schools, you will be helping us as well!

If you would like more information about our services, you can call us at 703.242.5885, visit our website, or email us. We will be glad to advise you through the application process and ensure that you maximize your admissions chances!

Are You Waitlisted?

Were you waitlisted? If so, don’t forget to keep the admissions office up-to-date on your recent achievements and activities. They can’t know what you’re up to if you don’t tell them. Moreover, sending in updated information in a way that respects the fine line between being persistent and being a pest, sends a message that you are still actively interested in attending that law school and will greatly increase your chances of being successfully admitted off the waitlist. You might also want to consider our fixed-fee waitlist assistance package, through which one of our consultants will assess your application packet and advise you on how best to proceed. To get started now, call us at 703.242.5885 or email us.

Were You Dinged?

A lot of applicants got disappointing news recently. If you were one of them, your best course of action is to take a cold, hard look at why you were ‘dinged’ by the school you hoped to attend, and to begin repositioning yourself as a re-applicant for next fall. The crucial step in this process is to understand what facets of your application led to its rejection. Our consultants can help you do this by reviewing your applications and giving you a candid assessment of what would have to be strengthened or improved to make you a stronger applicant. They can also tell you whether you have a realistic chance of gaining entry to the programs you have targeted. Keep in mind that re-applicants are judged by a different set of standards than first-time applicants are. We offer a special fixed-fee ‘ding’ analysis to help clients maximize their chances of success as re-applicants. Call us at 703.242.5885 or email us to get started right away!

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Business School Admission News

Family-Friendly MBA Programs

Have family responsibilities made you think twice about applying to full-time MBA programs? If so, take heart. More and more top business schools are turning their attention to the needs of students with families. This is especially true of schools that are trying to attract more women to their traditional MBA programs. It makes good sense, from the schools’ point of view. MBA students are generally of the age precisely when many women have babies or young children to take care of. Business schools realize that they can make traditional, two-year MBA programs more attractive to women by making it easier to mix courses with childcare needs. The University of Chicago and Stanford are among the b-schools offering MBA students more latitude in class schedules and selection, in a bid to accommodate students with family responsibilities.

Admissions consultant Kent Harrill, a Cornell MBA who served on the b-school’s admissions committee, notes that Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management has long offered excellent support to students with families. His own MBA class included two women who had babies while they were students. Professors and classmates went to great lengths to help the women keep up with classes, to the point that one of the mothers now jokes that her child had “270 godmothers and godfathers.” Two additional reasons that Cornell is attractive to applicants with families, Kent says, are 1) that Johnson is sensitive to the needs of two-career families, and will try to help students’ spouses find work in Ithaca; and 2) that Ithaca is a wonderful place for families to live, offering excellent schools, parks, and cultural and recreational activities.

Application Volume Down but MBA Hiring Up at Anderson and Marshall

The LA Business Journal reports that fall 2005 applications to USC’s Marshall School are expected to be down by at least 15%. UCLA’s Anderson School is looking at a similar decline. There’s no doubt that Marshall’s numbers are largely driven by the beating the school took in last year’s BusinessWeek rankings, when it dropped from position 17 to 27. Anderson’s numbers are more of a mystery. Our consultants believe that cost increases for in-state students and a general drop-off in international student applications are to blame. Either way, the reduced applicant pool represents an opportunity for anyone interested in these schools. Admissions are still competitive – Marshall (which offers a fine business education, no matter what the rankings say) can be expected to turn down many more applicants than it accepts – but less brutal than they usually are.

One reason to consider Anderson and Marshall is that corporate recruiting has been picking up at both schools. Anderson Dean of Graduate Admissions Linda Baldwin is quoted by LA Business Journal as saying a third more companies recruited there than the previous year, and that more and more MBA students are receiving job offers before graduation. Marshall also revamped its career services program by bringing in Peter Giulioni as executive director of its Career Resource Center in fall 2004. (Poor student feedback on career services had been a major reason for Marshall’s tumble in the BusinessWeek rankings.)

Does conflicting information like this – application volume and rankings down, but hiring up – leave you more confused than ever about what schools to apply to? Our consultants can help. They have insiders’ perspectives on all of the top U.S. and international business schools. They can explain what goes on behind the rankings, and help you make an informed decision about which schools offer the best education for your needs and interests. They will also help you position yourself to maximize your chances of acceptance at your top choice schools. If you would like more information about how we can maximize your chances, call us now at +1 703.242.5885, visit our website, or email us.

MBAs Are In Demand: 95% of UA Spring MBAs Already Have Offers

We keep seeing good news on MBA hiring. On the heels of the businessschooladmission.com article about salaries at the top b-schools this past winter, the Arizona Republic now reports that 95% of spring 2005 MBA grads from the University of Arizona’s Eller School already had at least one job offer. The median base salary offer being made to them is $75,000 plus a $10,000 signing bonus, up from last year’s median salary offer of $73,000. It definitely looks like demand for MBAs is up across the board, and likely to keep rising – so now may be the time to invest in an MBA degree. 

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College Admission News

New York University To Increase Freshman Financial Aid

New York University is one of the most popular freshman destinations in the country. Each year it receives over 33,500 applications – roughly 10 applications for each freshman slot. But when decision time rolls around, many desirable applicants have been choosing to go elsewhere. It has to do with costs. Although NYU’s total fees are comparable to those of other top schools, its financial aid packages have been much more modest. For example, both NYU and Harvard have total annual undergraduate costs of about $40,000 to $41,000. However, Harvard’s typical freshman aid package is around $30,000, making the effective cost of a year there about $10,000. NYU’s typical aid offer is only $12,800 – less than half of what Harvard offers, and leaving its annual cost at over $28,000.

NYU hopes to change that situation by expanding its financial aid program. NYU intends to start making freshman aid offers that are more in line with what Ivy League schools offer, with the goal of recruiting a more diverse freshman class. The increased packages may be available as soon as fall 2007 – so 2007 grads, take note!

The above comparison of costs at NYU and at Harvard is a good example of how complex and confusing college choices can be. Help is available. Our consultants can help you understand both admissions and financial aid processes, and help you position yourself to improve your chances of getting the results you want. Call us at 703.242.5885 or email us to find out more about our college admissions consulting services.

Preparing for the Revised SAT

The revised SAT has been administered twice now, and feedback on the test is starting to take shape. As SAT tutor Bara Sapir notes, the test has undergone some of the broadest revisions in its 80-year history. Now it is three hours and 45 minutes long – that’s 45 minutes longer than its predecessor. In addition, the revamped math section has arguably more difficult algebra questions, and there’s an entirely new writing section. What’s a student to do?

Sapir advises, “Stay calm and focused for one thing. Just remember that the SAT isn’t measuring how much you know, it’s measuring how well you can reason with the information provided. Since it is NOT a computerized test, you don’t have to grapple with any pressure to answer questions in order they’re given. Like always, you can skip troubling questions and return to them later. This is advantageous for you score wise - by actively giving yourself permission to do this, you are more likely, ultimately, to get the right answer. But it also means you’re working WITH your brain instead of fighting it. We all feel as if we sometimes have a word ‘on the tip of our tongue’ but can’t locate it. But give yourself a little breather (with no self-judgment) and you’ll find the answer or method will appear with very little prodding. Eliminate the stress, and that is what happens.” The best thing about this advice, Sapir continues, is that “this goes for ALL parts of the test.”

We’re also hearing anecdotal evidence suggesting that many test-takers were caught off-guard by the essay. A common problem was not being able to finish an essay in the 25 minutes allowed. What can you do to prepare yourself for that challenge? We wholeheartedly agree with three pieces of advice from a Boston area student who got a perfect 2400 on the new SAT: 1) Read a lot. It will give you ideas and evidence you can use in your essay. 2) Practice grammar. You want to be able to write a correct sentence without having to stop to think about structure or wording. 3)  Practice writing – and do it under timed conditions, by hand. Dumb as it may sound, there is an element of physical conditioning involved in the SAT essay, especially for people who usually use keyboards. You don’t want to get a lower score because your handwriting is unreadable – or turn in a half-finished essay because you got writer’s cramp after fifteen minutes.

To Be or Not To Be – An Undergraduate Business Major

You know you want to be the next Donald Trump. Does that mean you should make business your undergraduate major?

In fact, notes college admissions consultant Sara Hernandez, a former Assistant Director of Admission at Cornell, many of the country’s top business schools do not even have undergraduate programs. Their view is that undergraduate years are best used in learning how to think – how to study, question, and reason. Those skills, they feel, are best learned through a liberal arts or science discipline. On the other hand, Hernandez says, some top business schools have both undergrad and graduate business programs. For example, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has a large undergrad program, with over 2,000 students. It believes that it can give undergrads both a sound liberal arts education and a good foundation in business.

It might help you make a decision if you keep in mind that graduate schools of business do not formally require or prefer applicants of any particular background. They do want students with a minimum level of quantitative training and skills, and you want to make sure you gain those somewhere along the way – so take statistics and calculus, even if you’re majoring in performing arts. You should also think about building a record of extracurricular activities that demonstrates leadership and accomplishment, as these are also qualities that b-schools want. Keep in mind, too, that an impressive undergraduate record will make you more attractive to employers as well as to graduate schools – and that most of us do our best work when we’re involved in something that fascinates us. The bottom line (and the good news) is that you can major in just about anything as an undergrad and still make yourself an attractive applicant for an MBA program.

Our consultants can help you understand what you should think about as you select and apply to colleges, to best position yourself for eventual admission to business and other professional schools. We provide professional assistance to all high school students, no matter where they are in the college planning process. Call us at 703.242.5885 or email us for more information about our college admissions consulting services.

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Law School Admission News

Summertime is the Time to Fine-Tune Resumes

Law school admissions consultant and former Harvard Law School admission officer Mark Meyerrose says that now is the perfect time for law school applicants to review their resumes and to think about what they might add, or draw more attention to. “With summer fast approaching, many of my clients are doing whatever they can to best position their candidacies,” he says. “Among other things we have been identifying extracurricular, professional, and/or academic activities which will highlight or augment their credentials. For almost all applicants for the coming admissions cycle the next few months are the last opportunity to do this sort of 'tweaking' to their resumes.”

Are you unsure of how your resume stacks up to those of other applicants? Try showing it to someone you can trust – a professor, an employer, or a friend who’s in law school. Our law school admissions consultants can also help, by bringing an insider’s eye to your resume and other parts of your application packet. Call us at 703.242.5885 or email us for more information about our admissions consulting services.

Drexel University To Open Law School

Prospective law students might soon have another school to consider. Drexel University, in Philadelphia, has announced plans to establish a new law school, with classes beginning in the fall of 2006. Drexel’s law school would be rather unusual in requiring students to choose health care, technology, intellectual property, or entrepreneurship as a focal point for their law education. It would also require law students, like other Drexel students, to do work ‘co-ops,’ which involve completing two, six-month work stints in between academic terms. If you’re concerned about law school costs and don’t mind taking a bit of a risk, take note – Drexel’s law school will discount tuition for the first class of students, in part because there is some risk that the school might not have gained ABA accreditation by the time the that class graduates.

George Washington University Establishes Animal Law Clinic

George Washington University and the Humane Society of the United States have joined forces to establish the Animal Law Litigation Project, a clinic that will allow law students to gain experience in this developing field of law. Selected GWU Law School students will take an Animal Law Lawyering course and then work side by side with HSUS legal staff on cases concerning wildlife protection, the treatment of animals on farms and in laboratories and entertainment facilities, and the welfare of domestic animals. GWU is already one of the leading schools for animal law in the country, with active projects to research and improve animal welfare law in the District of Columbia and an annual seminar on animal and wildlife law.

Do you have an interest in a particular field of law, and questions about which law school would best prepare you for it? Our consultants can help. You can sign up today for a highly customized 'pre admissions' consultation, in which one of our consultants will provide guidance on career tracks and school choices. (As always, we will allow you to deduct the price of this one-hour consultation from a multiple application package if you decide to retain our services for a Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Diamond application package. We only require a minimum one hour retainer fee because we are that confident that you will be happy with our services and you will voluntarily return to us for additional help with your applications.) It’s never too early to begin planning your law school admissions strategy. With our pre-admissions consultation, you’ll get our signature, comprehensive service for all of your law school applications, plus several months to implement a detailed action plan to optimize your positioning and further increase your chances of gaining admission to your top-choice law schools.

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Medical School Admission News

2006 AMCAS Applications Being Accepted

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) has posted the Web page for 2006 applications. Anyone interested in entering medical school in fall 2007 should go to their web site and register now. Even if you aren’t nearly ready to assemble your applications, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with what exactly you’ll be asked for. But keep in mind that, at many schools, the sooner you apply, the better your chances are of being accepted - assuming, of course, your application is not only complete but well-prepared.

How do you know when your application is ready for you to click the ‘submit’ button? We can help. Our consultants will discuss your background and goals and review all aspects of your submission package to help you optimize your chances of gaining acceptance at your preferred schools. Call us at 703.242.5885 or email us to get started right away!

2006 Applicant Considerations

Medical school admissions consultant Dr. Bonnie Jones reminds 2006 medical school applicants to use their time wisely. Many applicants have several weeks of relatively free time remaining until June, when they receive MCAT scores and are able to submit AMCAS applications. Jones, who spent 23 years as Associate Dean of Admissions at NEOUCOM, advises that, “This window is the perfect opportunity to (1) develop a draft of your AMCAS application, (2) write your essays, and (3) decide on your recommenders."

Federal Judge Rules Against Dyslexic Med Student on Test Request

A U.S. District Court Judge turned down a Boston area medical student’s request that the National Board of Medical Examiners be ordered to give her an extra day to complete her second-year medical school examinations. The judge ruled that such timed tests are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The student, who has already taken and failed the exam several times, risks being expelled from medical school if she cannot pass them on her next try, in the standard two-day time span.

Study Highlights Concern for Medical Professional Diversity

The University of Michigan Health System recently conducted a study to find out why Hispanics continue to be under-represented in health research studies. Although Hispanics represent one of the fastest growing demographic segments of the U.S. population, they continue to play a minimal role in health research. This situation raises obvious problems for public health and health care planning. The UMHS study concluded that a handful of simple changes could make a positive change. Study respondents said they would be more willing to participate in health studies if they could work with Spanish-speaking researchers, if they thought the research might have some benefit to them or to the Hispanic community, and if they could participate in studies on weekends rather than during the work week. While medical school admissions were not directly addressed by the study, these findings do highlight why the medical profession is concerned with shaping professionals who are able to work with diverse populations. Aspiring medical students should keep this in mind as they prepare their applications, and think about what evidence they can present to show that they both understand diversity issues and will be able to work with them effectively.

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Summary

AdmissionsConsultants is a full-service admissions consultancy that maximizes its clients’ chances of gaining admittance to their programs of choice. Our consultants have admissions committee experience. They have made accept/reject/waitlist decisions themselves and, therefore, truly have expert knowledge of the application process. It is this admissions committee experience that enables us to recognize exactly what differentiates successful from unsuccessful applicants, in all steps of the admissions process – including strategies, essays/personal statements, letters of reference, resumes/cvs/activity statements, applications, and admissions interviews. We understand that admissions committees care about more than just typo-free essays. Our sincere desire is to maximize our clients’ chances of achieving their educational goals. That is why we have offered comprehensive services since our company’s inception over 8 years ago.

Last year, we assisted a former undergraduate admissions officer with some graduate school applications. She chose us because she recognized she would benefit from the expert advice of someone with the appropriate admissions committee experience. We offer this same expert level of service to you.

If you would like more information about our services, you can call us at 703.242.5885, email us, or visit our website. We will be glad to advise you through the application process and ensure that you maximize your admissions chances!

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Copyright

Copyright 2005 AdmissionsConsultants, Inc. All rights reserved. While we ask that you not reprint or host this newsletter on a web site without our express written permission, we do encourage you to e-mail any friends or colleagues whom you believe may find this newsletter helpful.

Information provided in this document is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

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