If you’re a rising junior or senior, you’re probably starting to think about building and finalizing your college list. At this point, you may be wondering, “what do I do at a college fair?” or even asking yourself, “how do I network at a virtual college fair?” — and while this is unprecedented territory for all of us, luck for you, the experts know what to do.

Top universities are canceling admitted students days left and right, including Harvard, Columbia, UCSB, Vanderbilt, U-Mich, CalTech and who knows how many more to follow. This is definitely an unideal situation, courtesy of COVID-19, but with a little ingenuity, we can get through this! Here's our advice for how to not get stuck in a rut of disappointment, accept that this is our reality and still make an informed admissions decision.

Summer is quickly approaching, and you're in the planning stages. As a STEM major hopeful, how should you design your summer for maximal learning and college admission impact? Should you take classes at a local community college? Volunteer at a hospital? Apply to STEM summer programs for high school students? Which ones are still accepting applications anyway? We've got you covered. Empowerly is here to help you plan your summer roadmap. 

Good grades aren’t enough to drive admission to a top tier college. What sets you apart is demonstrable weirdness. We'll explain.

Want to get accepted to college quickly? We have an option for you! With so many admissions deadlines coming up and pressure ramping up too, plenty of students may be relieved to know there’s an underrated alternative. Consider applying to a school with rolling admissions.

Fall deadlines are fast approaching. You may have noticed that certain colleges offer early action for their acceptance processes. Submit your application early, and you’ll get the result early, too. So, should you apply early action?

University of California, Los Angeles is a public university located in the southern part of California. Founded in 1919, the university has about 31,000 undergraduate students and is one of the most applied-to universities in the country. Students can apply to UCLA through the UC application which is due on November 30^th for all students. Now let’s take a closer look at applying to UCLA!

The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university that many Empowerly and nationwide students have on their college list. Founded in 1833, the university is known for its strong undergraduate business and engineering schools, as well as having many prestigious graduate programs. Applications are due November 1^st for the priority deadline and on December 1^st for the regular deadline so let’s dive into the application process!

The college admission code isn't a code that can be cracked easily. There are no hard and fast rules that apply for all colleges and the selection criteria aren't entirely objective. But data can provide us with some clues into admission chances.

We all know what it feels like to leave things to the last minute right before an important deadline. Most regular decision deadlines for college admissions fall in January and we want to share them with you so you get you college applications in on time. The table below includes application deadlines for the most popular colleges.

College acceptance rates have been decreasing over the years, and the competition for spots is fierce. Many (but not all) colleges offer accelerated application processes such as early action (EA), restrictive early action (REA), and early decision (ED). In EA/REA/ED, deadlines are in the fall (usually November), and applicants usually hear back from schools in December or January.

Your senior year has finally arrived! Senior year is exciting and filled with lots of activities, but it is definitely not the time to slack off. It is time to get serious about college applications.

Confused about which questions to ask during college visits? Learn about the questions you should and should not ask the various individuals you will encounter during your tour.

Applying to college isn't just a matter of figuring out how or where or why! There's also when. Colleges offer a variety of application deadlines and it is important to be intentional in your choices because some styles are binding!. Below are the most common types of decisions and what they mean.

Tracking college admissions deadlines can be a daunting task and quite overwhelming. At Empowerly, we have helped hundreds of students through this process and today we wanted to review some strategies students and parents can use to manage this type of project.