The College Expert Team takes pride in staying up to date with news and trends in the college admissions world. We attend IECA and HECA conferences, visit multiple colleges each year, meet with college representatives, and take an active role in the community of Independent Educational Consultants. Through doing so, we are able to recommend the best possible list of colleges for our clients, and we love spending time with our students on their applications and essays.

With the knowledge and experience of our team, each year we recommend a variety of colleges across the country, many that clients do not recognize, and others that clients may not have considered without a comprehensive discussion of the school’s fit for their child. We strive to help families make private colleges affordable, and are thrilled at the merit scholarships, grants, and aid our students received. It’s been another great application season, and we want to celebrate this year’s class and the success of each student.

Here is a brief summary of our year

The class of 2015 embraced the application process with excitement, due diligence, and flexibility. After attending Research Jam Sessions and several summer workshops, when the Common Application went live on August 1st, our students were ready to go. Being proactive, almost 100% of our students applied somewhere Early Decision, Early Action or Priority, and we encouraged students with rolling admission applications to have them in by the beginning of October. All in all, over 50% of applications submitted were Early Action or Early Decision, and many students completed the application process by November 1st.

We are proud of our students’ dedication, hard work, and we are thrilled with their acceptances. Our students are matriculating to a wide variety of colleges across the country including Ivy League, small liberal arts colleges, great research universities, music conservatories, Big 10 schools, a Canadian University, and colleges with in-state tuition.

A lot of our students found themselves accepted into their colleges’ Honors Program, a great honor in itself. Many of our students found themselves with merit scholarships, and some with full rides. We are happy to announce that the nation’s top music, film, theater and architecture programs accepted our students! In addition, we have athletes continuing their sports on the collegiate level, and they will compete in swimming, soccer, volleyball, basketball, football, and hockey.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the 51st class of U.S. Presidential Scholars. Of 141 students picked across the nation, one of our students received this distinguished honor. And, this year one of our students found himself accepted to two Academies (10% acceptance rate), and we wish him well as he serves our country.

Even though spring came early this year, we noticed a continued upswing in students choosing colleges in warmer climates; though many decided to stay in the Midwest (namely outside of Minnesota). Our students have a higher rate of applying to, and choosing, out of state schools. They exceed the national average in applying early with 89% attending a four-year out of state college and 80% matriculating to private universities. Across the country, 20% of students decide to attend out of state schools, and 34% choose private colleges and universities. Our students will attend colleges in: Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Minnesota (just to name a few).

Our students want to experience the world and build upon their knowledge, and we are overjoyed to help them prepare for this new chapter. 100% of our students will attend a 4-year college in the fall, a number that showcases the importance of finding great match schools. Over 40% of our students were accepted by their Reach colleges, and out of all the applications submitted this year, 75% were accepted, 17% denied, and 8% waitlisted or deferred. We understand that leaving high school can be bittersweet, but our students cannot wait for the start of their freshman years!

Here are our 2015 statistics:

• 100% will be attending four year colleges this fall
• 89% will go out of state (National average 21%)
• 95% attending high or first choice college
• Students on average submitted 10 applications
• 16 out of 21 accepted Early Decision
• 10 out of 15 accepted Restricted Early Action
• We are very proud of our 72% acceptance rate for students applying to highly selective Early Decision and Restricted Early Action Colleges. This includes many of the most selective colleges with acceptance rates under 8% – such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton, Penn, MIT, and Cal Tech
• 99% applied Early Action, Early Decision, Rolling or Priority
• 50% of all applications were submitted by the early deadline
• 80% are attending private colleges (National average 34%)
• Of all the applications submitted: 75% accepted, 17% denied, 8% waitlisted or deferred
• Students were accepted to over 40% of Reach colleges