Jessie's Blog

Saturday, I was volunteering at our local ski area, handing out awards for the kids’ costume race. (Thing 1 and Thing 2 had performed a smashing dance, tapping away in their ski boots. My Cat in the Hat was concussed and sullenly left for home to avoid bright light.) That concussion, and the admissions scandal… plus another dozen or so other things that had come up that week had rattled me. But it was the scandal that really stuck, especially when another parent approached me to half-jokingly sa…

A recent cluster of articles (see links below) about a pending lawsuit challenging Harvard’s admissions reminds us of the importance of evaluating an application honestly before a student hits SEND. We can sometimes get so bogged down by the IQ of the application (e.g., test scores, GPA) that its EQ -- its intangibles -- falls by the wayside, or is, at best, an afterthought.

Let me begin with a few examples. But first, keep in mind that once most 17-year-olds cough up a rough draft or answer a …

Beginning the process of letting go of Bryn at UChicago's Orientation 4 years ago. Check out that grip!

Bryn, our oldest, is graduating this weekend from UChicago. Natalie, a college junior, has just returned from Spain and is in the midst of a hard-earned internship at the local hospital. Aaron will be wrapping up his finals and preparing for a ski camp in Oregon, which starts the day after Bryn’s graduation. Mary will still be in school. And my mother, recently widowed, is in the midst of ha…

 Jimmy Kimmel failed a test as an undergrad at Arizona State. It wasn’t because he hadn’t prepared. Or because he skipped a bunch of classes in favor of playing Grand Theft Auto with his roommates. You will likely never guess the reason why. It was because he didn’t have a pencil on him and couldn’t bring himself to ask a classmate to borrow one. Yes. Jimmy Kimmel. The guy who was on the cover of the February 2018 GQ and hosts a daily show that more than 2 million viewers watch. A pencil? Wait, …

Congratulations to all of our applicants! Your hard work has paid off, and your successes are commendable - and all your own!

The YES! List for CompassU 2018

(so far...)

Delia came to me struggling with a low GPA and a desire to get into a BSN program. She knew her grades were not competitive for these programs. She said she was trying.  (Read Delia's full story here.) I leaned toward her and smiled. “You’ve been trying very hard. I can see that. I want you to try one thing. Would you be willing to be paid $40,000 for turning off social media for an hour?” “Sure, I mean, it can’t hurt, right?” she responded, dubiously. “Turn your phone and all social media off w…

• Learn about opportunities
• Show genuine interest in a school
• Gather talking …

Hollie, whose daughter was accepted at Muhlenberg University, wrote the following testimonial for Elevated Admissions. “Jessie was absolutely wonderful for Emily... She also kept me sane. Emily. Was a somewhat unique situation. We did not use a college coach when Emily was looking for colleges the first time around. She was a 4.0 plus student with all honors and AP courses. Emily also was going the student-athlete route. We decided on a small school outside of Boston. From the moment Emily arriv…

Jessie took her time to get to know Robert and get to know what his likes and dislikes were in school and in life. She also really spoke to him and listened to him about what was important to him in college. She understood my concerns as a parent as to the distance away a college was and the expense for each college. She worked to fit the college to the student. She encouraged Robert with just the right amount of pressure to meet his deadlines and really took the time to help him write an approp…

Jessie is a strong writer, and she and her team's feedback on essays are critical. We have learned more and more with each child that those essays are very important to admissions counselors. She is also quite adept at remembering off the top of her head what each college expects in terms of scores, grades, visits, etc., and is very practical at matching a child's dreams with reality.