Hott off the Press

A blog about college insights and more.


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Washington College honors history, place

By Karen Hott, March 2022
Washington College, in Chestertown, Maryland, on the scenic Chester River, makes full use of its history and its location on a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Recent land purchases along the waterfront have expanded its footprint and facilities, including a revamped boathouse and the new Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall, which reclaimed a site that was once storage for petroleum and chemicals.
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Fear not. There will be a college for you.

By Karen Hott, March 2022
Rick Clark is the admissions director at Georgia Tech, a selective university that has become more selective each year. He wants kids to know that they should not fear the process of getting into college. Most colleges accept most applicants, so think of abundance rather than scarcity. Here’s his March 8, 2022, blog that was triggered by an email he
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UMD CP Scholars Program Explained

By Karen Hott, February 2022
Congratulations! What? The University of Maryland has a somewhat bewildering array of offers of admission to their Early Action applicants. (You pretty much have to apply Early Action because UMD selects 90 percent of their freshman class from that pool.) One possibility is that you get into one of their 12 Limited Enrollment Programs (LEPs). Another is that you didn’t
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Honors College at University of Maryland

By Karen Hott, February 2022
Early action applicants to the University of Maryland, College Park, got their answers the end of January. Several positive outcomes were possible, but what do these outcomes mean? Limited Enrollment Programs Students who applied to a Limited Enrollment Program (LEP), like engineering, psychology, or computer science, may have been admitted to the university but not the LEP. If you’re told
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Syracuse “embraces concept of disabilities as diversity”

By Karen Hott, February 2022
Syracuse University has a strong support system for students with learning differences. Staff point out that students transitioning from high school to college should expect to find differences in student responsibilities, parent roles, types of accommodations, and teacher engagement. However, landing at Syracuse might be softer than landing at a school that provides only what the law requires. If you’re
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Harvey Mudd combines liberal arts, STEM

By Karen Hott, December 2021
Harvey Mudd College is the STEM school of the five undergraduates schools within the Claremont Colleges, joining Pitzer, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, and Pomona. These schools, plus two graduate institutes, lie within a square mile 35 miles east of Los Angeles. With about 6,000 undergraduates among them, the Claremont Colleges share 2,000 courses for cross-registration and run the same schedule. In
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Test-Optional at Emory, Rhodes, and UNC

By Karen Hott, December 2021
The bottom lines:  1. Be careful about the conclusions you draw from numbers showing that a greater percentage of admitted students submitted test scores. Test scores often correlate to achievement in the classroom, so those with high scores most often have high GPAs in rigorous classes. 2. Test scores don’t drive admissions decisions.  3. Private schools have more latitude in
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Guide to Paying for College

By Karen Hott, December 2021
College Essay Guy The College Essay Guy, Ethan Sawyer, collaborated with financial aid expert Jeff Levy and others to put together this simple guide to paying for college. Check it out at the link below: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/paying-for-college/home
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: collaborative, interdisciplinary

By Karen Hott, November 2021
The RPI Open House Nov. 14 conveyed the strength and flexibility of its programs. Rensselaer, in Troy, New York, comprises six schools: Engineering; Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences; the Lally School of Management; the School of Science; and Information Technology and Web Sciences. Apply by December 1 to receive $5,000 added to your financial aid package if you’re admitted.  Rensselaer
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Is this a good school?

By Karen Hott, October 2021
Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admissions for the highly selective Georgia Tech, always writes an engaging blog, but this one is a gem! I love the photo of his daughter. On Sunday after lunch, I was watching college football highlights, when the back-and-forth battle in Happy Valley between the University of Illinois and Penn State came on. At the time,