JENNIFER HASSELL, INDEPENDENT COLLEGE CONSULTANT Based in Fairfield County, CT — Serving Students Nationwide

You open the portal. You see confetti. You scream. You got in! But then you read more closely. Start in the spring. Start at a satellite campus. Start abroad. Start somewhere else and transfer later. Wait. . . what? Before you panic, take a breath. These “alternative pathways” are not rejections in disguise. In many cases, they’re strategic enrollment models that still lead to the same diploma. Let’s unpack what these actually look like. 1. Spring Admission Some universities

Engineering is one of the most diverse academic fields a student can pursue. While it’s often thought of as a single track, there are dozens of distinct engineering majors, each requiring different interests, strengths, and ways of thinking. Among the top engineering programs, breadth varies widely. Some highly ranked schools, often those offering doctoral-level engineering degrees, may have only four to six undergraduate majors. These programs are known for the depth of thei

Many students come into the college search focused on rankings, acceptance rates, and outcomes. Those things matter. But increasingly, students are asking a quieter, deeper question: “Where will I feel like I belong?” Today’s young adults are navigating what the former U.S. Surgeon General has called an epidemic of loneliness . Research from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education shows that nearly two-thirds of college-aged students feel a lack of purpose, and many describe

What the latest hiring trends mean for students plus practical steps they can take today. The job market is shifting again, and this time the pendulum has swung back toward more traditional recruiting practices. According to the Wall Street Journal , companies are narrowing their entry-level hiring to a small set of “core schools,” making campus access and strategic planning more important than ever. As the article notes, “Everyone’s not starting from the same place if some p