Hott off the Press

A blog about college insights and more.


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Johns Hopkins Admissions Staff Gives Tips on Essay

By Karen Hott, August 2018
Pro Tips On Writing Your Personal Statement Friday at 20:33 Follow By the admissions staff at Johns Hopkins University Hello high school seniors! We know that writing your essays can seem especially daunting when applying to college. But the essays are a great opportunity to add depth to something that is important to you and address a topic you’re not able
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Commonapp.org Launches after Refresh

By Karen Hott, August 2018
The Common App website was down for a refresh July 27 to 31, but it’s back up and running now with the new 2018-2019 Common App. If you’re a rising senior, you probably started an account through your high school counselor’s office, but if you don’t have an account, you can start one today. Need help setting up the account?
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Parents, grandparents may be key to scholarships

By Karen Hott, June 2018
Did your grandfather serve in the military? You may qualify for a scholarship because of that association. Even the Navy Seabees have scholarships available for undergraduate school.
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Good numbers are not good enough

By Karen Hott, March 2018
If you want to know how important the college application essay can be, consider this: My daughter was applying to law schools, and the dean at Georgetown invited her to a group interview at Georgetown Law. The group of 12 attendees were to discuss real application scenarios to voice their opinions on whether an applicant should be accepted or not.
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Waitlisted? Don’t wait to express your continued interest.

By Karen Hott, February 2018
If you’ve been waitlisted, congratulations! That means that you haven’t been flat-out denied admission. However, the school may ask you if you’re still interested. Whether or not the school asks you this, if you haven’t ruled that school out, let the admissions office know that you still want to be considered. Colleges have to play a numbers game, and that
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Inside U-Md. admissions

By Karen Hott, January 2018
The Washington Post ran a story at the end of December 2017 that allowed readers an inside look at the “holistic” process of admissions at the University of Maryland in College Park. “Thirty thousand applicants, one flagship university” Some highlights from the article: The applications are randomly distributed among 35 people on the admissions team, including 14 seasonal hires, who
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Look to future career for scholarships

By Karen Hott, January 2018
Most professional organizations have associations devoted to networking and growing their memberships, and one way they do this is by offering scholarships. You can find many of these by searching the Internet using the keywords “scholarship” and your area of interest. Scholarship application deadlines tend to be later than college application deadlines. If you think a career in nursing is
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January regular decision deadlines for popular schools

By Karen Hott, December 2017
January 1 St. Mary’s College of Maryland Northwestern University January 10 The George Washington University Georgetown University January 15 American University Florida State University University of Delaware University of Georgia January 20 University of Maryland, College Park
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Don’t Forget Those Supplemental Essays

By Karen Hott, October 2017
Until you actually get into a college’s application process, you may not realize that you have more than one essay to write. Today, over 700 colleges accept the Common App, which requires one essay of 650 words; over 130–even the University of Maryland at College Park–now accept the Coalition for Access and Affordability application, which has one essay of 500
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Visiting a College Is the Best Way to Evaluate How It “Feels” to You

By Karen Hott, September 2017
Living in the Baltimore/Washington/Annapolis area, we have dozens of schools within a day’s drive. Most schools offer tours daily; go to the school’s website and find the “visit” tab to set up a tour. Parents, some of my best memories with my daughter, who has now graduated from Elon University in North Carolina, are of visiting colleges in Virginia, Maryland, and North