You probably know all about the Common App Personal Statement, and if you're applying to the University of California, you know about the UC PIQs … But many, if not most, colleges will also require their own school-specific supplemental essays. That's been changing a lot throughout the years, and there's all different kinds of prompts, and it can be really stressful to figure out exactly what every school wants.

And even though they're supplementals, it does not mean they're any less important.

So today, we’re going to be taking a look at the University of California system—or more specifically, their college essays, the UC Personal Insight Questions. If you are a rising senior, this is going to be top-of-mind for you, as college essays and applications come up for you; if you’re a younger student, then this should be a great preview of what awaits you during your upcoming application cycle.

Today's topic is the Common App Personal Statement. So, the Common App, as many of you are likely familiar, is a very large college application platform that supports over a thousand colleges, and at the forefront of that is the Common App Personal Statement, or the Common App essay, which gets sent to every college that you apply to through the Common App.

What I try to do is I try to review all the incremental movements that are happening in the college admissions landscape, what I think is helpful—I think, for all high school students, but especially if you are a rising junior and senior, and you are approaching the college application process, I think it's important to think about some of these shifts and how it impacts maybe the colleges you're selecting to apply to, how you're preparing, whether you're taking the SAT or the ACT, and how you're navigating this forthcoming college app process.

Choosing which college to attend is a massive decision for students. It makes sense, then, that after matriculating, so many students rethink that decision.

For any student looking to transfer schools, one of the first steps is building that transfer college list. Beyond all the factors high school students consider when researching colleges (e.g., location, student life, academics, size, affordability), transfer students should additionally consider whether or not their colleges of interest are “transfer-friendly” institutions.

Writing college application essays is daunting, especially for students juggling schoolwork,  extracurricular activities, and personal responsibilities. More and more applicants are turning to generative AI tools, using them to brainstorm, edit, or even fully write essays. Although ChatGPT or Gemini may seem like the answer to easier writing, using AI may actually harm more than help your application essays.

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Joseph Cichosz joining our Team!

When students build college lists, the prestige of a school is often less important than its ROI. College ROI, or return on investment, refers to how much money your student gains after graduation compared to what they initially pay for college. In other words, ROI takes a student's college tuition and expenses and measures it up against that student's projected earnings and career stability over the next few decades.

Today we're going to be taking a look at the University of California system, or more specifically, their college essays: the UC Personal Insight Questions. If you're a rising senior, this is going to be top of mind for you as college essays and applications come up for you. If you're a younger student, then this should be a great preview of what awaits you during your upcoming application cycle.

Hey, tonight's topic is building a college list that works for you, and invariably, as I was preparing the content for tonight, the reality is that this is a conversation that probably deserves an 8-hour ultimate guide that we can talk about in 6 parts—and perhaps we can pitch as a 6-episode series, whatever the case may be. There are so many little nuances, and I think once we get into some of what we're gonna talk about, I think, it will invariably lead to more questions.

Join us in congratulating our ILUMIN students and families: our Class of 2026 students secured over $4.93 million in merit-based aid and scholarships this past admissions cycle!

The results are in, and we couldn’t be prouder! Our seniors absolutely crushed this admissions cycle, securing spots at 154 different colleges and universities—including some of the most selective Ivy League and Top 15 schools in the nation, such as Stanford, MIT, and Yale.

Giles, if you don't mind, before we kind of launch into questions, you know… give us an intro,  tell us about maybe how you got started, what brought you here, and what delights you in the work of admissions.

Good evening, everybody. Pleased to speak to you all. My name is Trey Moore, and I currently serve as the Director of Admissions Engagement at the University of Northeastern here in Boston, Massachusetts.

Super excited to have Andrew McMillen from Carnegie Mellon University come on with us! He told me he's super honest—too honest, so we wanna test that theory and see what he might be able to share—but all in all, super excited to have him on.

I'm going to share some things that we're learning as it relates to college admissions, trends, and what's happening in a landscape; and we'll do some deep dives into some different trends, and share a little bit more about how you might respond to some of those trends.

This holiday season, we want to deliver a heartfelt congratulations to all of our ILUMIN students who received early acceptances from their dream schools!

We're thrilled to celebrate our seniors, who earned acceptances to 124 different colleges and universities, including some of the most selective and prestigious schools in the country, like Princeton and Stanford! From Ivy League institutions to top public universities and standout liberal arts colleges, our students’ results reflect their incredible dedication, growth, and resilience throughout the application journey.

We’re proud to share good news about our ILUMIN students and families: our Class of 2025 students have been awarded $3.79 million in merit-based scholarships!

We are incredibly excited to welcome Brian Kang to our team!

The college application process can feel overwhelming, but do you really need a college consultant? Many students and families navigate applications on their own, and with enough time, research, and persistence, you might not need outside help. However, before you make your decision, let’s explore some common reasons why people think they don’t need a consultant—and why they might want to reconsider.

Happy New Year, and a warm congratulations to our ILUMIN students who got into their dream schools through the early application round, including Early Decision and Early Action! We're thrilled to announce that some of our students have been accepted to schools including Caltech, Claremont McKenna, Duke, NYU, Princeton, Reed, and Santa Clara University.

We’ll be discussing five main types of supplemental essay prompts, which you can see listed here. Although the terms like “Why Us?” and et cetera are not necessarily the official terminology, it is really helpful for students so that they can learn how to identify the real questions that they should be answering.

Many of you have probably heard of the Common App—really big platform, supports over a thousand colleges in their college application process—and kind of at the forefront of that is the Common App Personal Statement, or the Common App essay, which gets sent to every college that you apply to through the Common App.

We’re going to take a look at some of the PIQs. For a lot of our seniors—definitely if there are any younger students, you are more than welcome to join to get a bit of preview of what’s in store—but this is mostly going to be geared for a lot of our incoming 12th graders who are going to be doing the college essays and applications coming on.

This is a transcript of a webinar from August 2024, a recording of which you can find on our YouTube channel. Thank you again to Ivy Method Tutors for co-hosting this webinar with us!

This is a transcript of a webinar from August 2024, a recording of which you can find on our YouTube channel. Thank you again to Samantha Castro-Rico, Ivan Chan, and William Kerr for coming to share their personal thoughts and experiences surrounding their own pathways to med school!

This past summer, The University of Chicago announced their binding Summer Student Early Notification (SSEN) application option: high school seniors students who have previously completed one of UChicago’s summer programs can now apply to the university between September and mid-October—earlier than the ED1 timeline. This development adds to UChicago’s wide range of early application options; the institution already offers ED1, EA, and ED2.