Many students are unaware of the incredible opportunities that honors programs provide. These are selective programs for highly motivated students within a university that often offer students numerous benefits, including small classes with the best professors, priority class registration, access to mentors, funded travel and research, networking events, and more.

Summer is just around the corner and many students are making plans for summer programs, volunteering, internships, and other structured opportunities. For highly motivated teens, a self-directed project can be a great opportunity to learn more about something that intrigues them and also create a tangible outcome they can add to their resume or portfolio.

The term “highly selective schools” refers to colleges and universities with an acceptance rate of 20 percent or less. However, in recent years, the number of schools with such low acceptance rates has increased, making the college application process even more competitive. While only 26 schools have an acceptance rate of less than 10 percent, and yet these schools are the ones most likely to be mentioned by students. This narrow mindset can limit their options and make the college application process more stressful than it needs to be.

As college decision letters hit mailboxes (or email accounts) in April, thousands of accomplished high school students face rejection from dream schools like Stanford and Duke. For parents, it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see incredible kids get turned down by elite colleges despite straight A’s, stellar SAT scores, top AP scores, and armloads of extracurricular achievements. How can parents best comfort and encourage their teen after such a significant letdown? 

As families explore highly selective colleges where total costs often exceed $80,000 a year, financial aid packages determine whether such prestigious degrees become accessible or remain pipe dreams. Unlike public universities offering substantial merit scholarships, elite private colleges provide almost exclusively need-based aid. However, with few exceptions, these schools promise to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. Here’s what families should understand.

There are a number of important strategic considerations to make when thinking about applying Early Decision (ED) or Restricted Early Action (REA) to highly selective colleges. When students ask us whether or not they should apply ED to a college, our answer is always, "it depends."

As you and your child begin looking at colleges, it's important to remember that not all schools are created equal. Highly selective colleges can be an excellent option for some students, but they're not right for everyone. Here are four important questions to ask when considering whether a highly selective college is the right fit for your child.

As a parent, you want your child to have every opportunity to succeed. So when it comes time for college visits, you might think it makes sense to focus only on the schools that seem like reach schools. After all, those are the ones where your child has the best chance of getting in, right? Wrong. We encourage all families to make sure that students actually visit two schools in their possible category for every reach school they tour. Why? Because it can help your child get a better feel for what they're looking for in a college and also increase their chances of being admitted somewhere. Plus, touring colleges is expensive - so you don't want to waste money by only visiting reaches.

The college admissions landscape is constantly evolving, and one of the latest trends is the rise of highly selective college majors. Even if the overall acceptance rate of a college is relatively high, certain majors within that college may have a significantly lower acceptance rate. This is particularly true for majors such as biology, business, engineering, computer science, and nursing.