los altos

Advising 101: How To Handle the Waitlist

It’s spring, and all the admissions decisions are finally rolling in! For most seniors, this is a time full of mixed emotions. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking to sort through your acceptances and rejections, not to mention what happens in one of the most vexing admissions situations: a spot on the waitlist. If you’re no longer … Read more

Advising 101: What Are Admissions Officers Looking for in College Essays?

One rumor that stubbornly reappears concerning the college application process is that the essays don’t really matter. The truth is that they do, especially when considering highly competitive applicant pools or students with borderline GPAs or test scores—in these cases, high-quality, compelling essays can tip things in an applicant’s favor. Moreover, essays are a crucial … Read more

Academic Advising 101: Creative Ways to Spend Your Summer

At Green Ivy, we like to periodically spotlight on some of our favorite summer programs at colleges and other venues, featuring everything from STEM research and creative writing courses to outdoor adventure trips. Those featured programs are great ways to spend part of your summer, but they may not be the right fit for students … Read more

Advising 101: How to Start Generating Ideas for Your College Essays

Depending on the time of year, it might seem too early to start writing your college application essays, but the present moment is always a great time to start generating ideas for those essays by, for example, jotting down experiences that have resonated with you or that you found meaningful. At Green Ivy, we’ve seen … Read more

Debunking Five Common Myths Surrounding College Admissions

Green Ivy has worked with students on their college applications for about two decades, so we have heard our share of myths, rumors, and misconceptions about the college admissions process. To help you keep things in perspective, we wanted to write about the five myths we hear most often, and explain why they don’t hold … Read more

Academic Advising 101: Tips on Proactively Managing the College Application Process

A 2018 Wall Street Journal article reported that, at some elite colleges, admissions officers spend approximately eight minutes (sometimes less) on each application. This phenomenon is partially due to the ever-rising numbers of applications colleges receive each year and is partially the result of applications at some schools being evaluated by several different people according to … Read more