July 2025

Happy Fourth of July! Instead of some small note about how things are going with my clients or college admission in general, let me say something about Independence Day.

The cool thing about the US Independence Day is when we celebrate it. Not on October 19, the date of the victory at the Battle of Yorktown that effectively ended the Revolutionary War. Not September 3, the date that the Treaty of Versailles was signed that officially ended the Revolutionary War. Not March 4, the date the first session of Congress began on. Not April 30, the date of George Washington’s first inauguration. Not June 19, the date that Americans living in slavery finally had their freedom recognized. Not August 18, the date the 19th Amendment was ratified. We celebrate the date when our Independence was declared, not gained.

We often talk, whether optimistically or cynically, about America being the “land of opportunity,” about the “American Dream,” about the possibility available here. And, appropriately I think, we celebrate our independence on the day that the possibility of America was put into place.

I hope you’re having a great Independence Day. May your life be full of possibility, of opportunity, of independence.

—Benjamin

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Here’s what I covered on the website in June:

Get a service industry job if you can. There’s a lot of pressure to get some kind of job within your chosen field, to work with people in your chosen field, and to have a job history within your chosen field as soon as possible. I understand that pressure and don’t necessarily disagree, but if you plan to ever work with other people, then you can’t go wrong getting some experience in a service job.

Three Quick Questions:

The full Three Quick Questions archive. I ask the same three questions:

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to your school?

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at your school?

When people come to visit your school, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

Have a look at this:

7 life skills to master before college (RIT). Some of these I had down before even starting high school. Others…I’m still working on decades after college.

Here are some blog posts from the archive that are good for this July:

Four quick tips for your application essays. I strongly believe that college-bound seniors should have a solid draft of at least one application essay before the first day of school. If you haven’t quite begun yet, are in the middle of drafting and revising, or feel you’re just about finished—here are four tips for improving your essay.

Paying for college: some basic principles. The pricing for college is some of the most complex and opaque pricing out there. Still, there are some basic principles that can help make the process a little easier and more rational in the long run.