Resume Magic
Yale podcast/blog: https://admissio
Michigan’s application instructions: http
Princeton’s helpful tips: https://admissio
Yale podcast/blog: https://admissio
Michigan’s application instructions: http
Princeton’s helpful tips: https://admissio
Students are invited to tell the NYT’s what they’re reading in The Times and why, this year in writing OR via a 90-second video.
Contest dates: June 6 to Aug. 15, 2025
Our Summer Reading Contest is our longest-running challenge — and our simplest.
All you have to do to participate is tell us what you’re reading, watching or listening to in The New York Times and why. Students can enter by submitting a short written response — or they can make a video up to 90 seconds long.
Don’t have a subscription? No problem! We’ll be providing dozens of free links to teen-friendly articles, essays, videos, podcasts and graphics every week from June through August.
Got questions? Everything you need is detailed below.
But if you’re a teacher who would like to have your students practice for this now, before the contest begins, note that the only rule around content is that a piece must have been published in 2025. Beyond that, we don’t care if your students pick something on sneakers, starlight, Syria or Saturday Night Live; TikTok, the tropics, Trump or Timothée Chalamet.
The announcement is available as a one-page PDF to download!
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Our essay experts know best. Check out these 10 tips from Emma that will help you write the most effective personal statement.
Interested in completing your college essays this summer? Summer is the best time to tackle this important essay, so start coming up with a plan now!
Of course, your essay might have one of these messages at its heart. Maybe you did learn more from the kid you tutored than they learned from you. Maybe you did find the “silver lining” in a terrible situation. Both of these could make for great essays. But you want to verbalize that realization in your own unique and surprising way.
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Congrats to our seniors!
Arizona
Barnard
Baylor
Brown
California Institute of Technology
Coast Guard Academy
College of Charleston
Cornell – 4
Emory
Fordham
Georgetown – 2
GWU
Harvard – 2
Indiana Kelley – 2
Johns Hopkins
Lehigh
Loyola Maryland
North Carolina State
Northeastern – 2
Notre Dame
NYU
Penn State
Purdue
St. John’s
Syracuse
Tulane
University of Amsterdam
University of Arizona
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Colorado, Boulder – 2
University of Georgia
University of Illinois
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Miami
University of Rochester
University of South Carolina – 2
University of Texas, Austin
Vanderbilt
Villanova – 3
WashU
Wesleyan
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The Gilder Lehrman History School program is back!
History School is open to all high school students and available free of charge. All courses are led by a History Teacher of the Year-winning educator and consist of 6 one-hour-long classes held weekly via Zoom.
Registration is now open for the following courses:
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The NewMu Teen Fellowship is a paid, after-school program for New York City public high school students. The Fellowship spans two school years, allowing time for Fellows to develop their creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression. They work directly with professional artists, Museum staff, and community members and gain creative and professional development through mentorship, work experience, and leadership opportunities. The Fellowship amplifies youth voices and ideas by supporting large-scale projects, including a public display of their artwork and a Youth Summit.
The Fellowship meets weekly on Tuesdays, from 4 to 6pm, and will run from September 2025 through June 2027, excluding summer breaks and school recesses. Fellows are expected to commit to the full program, consisting of two school years.
Read more here and apply by May 18!
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The college process often amplifies anxiety among teens and their parents, yet stress is inevitable. The goal is to manage it healthily, according to Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, and host of the Ask Lisa podcast.
Lisa joined Jeff Selingo on a special 30-minute edition of “Next Office Hour” last week. Let’s all give the episode a listen. Some top takeaways:
Accept discomfort. Parents should acknowledge emotional stress as normal. “We cannot prevent emotional pain in our teenagers. Rather, we should help them manage discomfort when it comes,” Damour said. The focus should be on helping teens cope constructively, like allowing space for healthy distractions or emotions rather than harmful habits
Encourage healthy coping. Crying, spending time with friends, physical activity, and mindful rest are all beneficial ways teens can process stress. Parents should be alert only when teens use costly coping mechanisms like substance use or self-criticism.
Reframe high school. Teens should focus on cultivating genuine interests and strengths rather than solely trying to impress admissions officers. Enjoying downtime without guilt is crucial for mental health.
Recognize parental roles. I loved Lisa’s analogy of the Pit Crew vs. the Tow Truck. Parents often feel pulled between supporting their kids (pit crew) and pushing them (tow truck). Constant towing suggests a teen may not be ready for college, highlighting the value of considering gap years or alternative pathways.
Dealing with rejection. College admissions isn’t always meritocratic. When teens face rejection, validate their feelings but emphasize they’ll thrive by focusing on what they can control.
The big picture? Parents and teens often overestimate how much college prestige matters.
If you don’t follow Jeff Selingo, you should. See past issues and subscribe to his newsletter. You can also find him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Threads if social is your thing!
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Congrats to all of our seniors! This post includes many of our students’ results released through the end of March:
Abilene Christian
American U*
Auburn*
Barnard
Baylor*
Boston College
Boston University
Brown
Cal Poly Pomona
California Institute of Technology
Catholic U.
Clemson*
College of Charleston*
Colorado State
Cornell* (A&S, Nolan, Human Ecology, CALs)
East Carolina*
Elon*
Emory
Florida Tech
FAU
Fordham*
Franklin & Marshall
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard*
Hamilton
Hunter College
Indiana U (Kelley)*
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins*
Kenyon
Lehigh
Loyola Chicago
Loyola Maryland*
Michigan State*
Miami Ohio*
Northeastern*
Northwestern
Notre Dame
NYU
Ohio State*
Pace*
Penn State*
Pepperdine
Purdue*
Quinnipiac
Rhodes
RPI
Rutgers*
San Diego State
Seton Hall*
Steven’s Institute of Technology*
Skidmore
SMU*
St. Andrews*
St. Johns*
St. Joseph’s (Philadelphia)*
SUNY Albany, Binghamton*
Syracuse*
Tarleton State
TCU
Texas Tech
Tulane*
University of Arizona*
UC Berkeley
UC Davis*
UC Irvine*
UCLA
UC Santa Barbara*
UC San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Delaware*
University of Colorado, Boulder*
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign*
University of Georgia*
University of Maryland*
University of Massachusetts, Amherst*
University of Michigan*
University of Miami*
University of Minnesota*
University of Montana
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Oregon*
University of Pittsburgh*
University of Rochester*
University of Southern California*
University of South Carolina*
University of South Florida
University of Texas, Austin*
University of Vermont*
University of Virginia*
University of Utah*
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin*
US Coast Guard Academy
Vanderbilt
Villanova*
Virginia Tech*
*multiple students admitted
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I haven’t fan-girled over Adam Grant in a while, so I’m excited to share this one:
I’m seeing a growing number of students complain: “My grade doesn’t reflect the effort I put into the course.”
Public service announcement: High marks are for mastery, not for motivation.
Working hard doesn’t guarantee doing a good job, that you are a good person…. or college admission.
Read more here.
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I can’t think of a better example of nerding out to post on a blog about college admissions than Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider and Louisa Zhang’s (Illinois ’27) “Trends in High School GPAs among Incoming Freshman Classes of Big Ten Schools.“
They analyzed 286 reports to source Questions C11 and C12 in the Common Data Sets. The reports accessed in this work are published publicly by each University.
Other data nerds can join in the fun through a MicroProject they built to spread the data love. Oh, and their work also highlights the need for near-perfect grades for some of the more selective Big 10 schools!