College Admissions is a Competitive Sport- – How To Win Your Personal Admissions Game!

June 1, 2018June 5, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Many parents, students, guidance counselors, and even my fellow educational consulting colleagues are under the belief that college admissions is an exercise in determining the “right fit” and that gaining acceptance into the Ivies and highly selective colleges is just a game of chance and luck. I disagree!

In participating in competitions these days, many students (K-12) are taught that everyone wins. With regard to the college admissions process, it is acceptable and recommended that students believe they will eventually like whichever college where they end up. That’s called SETTLING!

This statement may appear callous and insensitive. But it is a statement that addresses the harsh reality of the competitiveness of college admissions. The sooner one addresses this reality, the easier the college admissions process will seem. Indeed, this reality would seem less harsh if students were to stop treating the college admissions process as a structured maze to be followed to a definitive end or as a predetermined algorithm.

I approach college admissions as a non-formulaic, competitive sport. It’s about WINNING the ultimate trophy – acceptance into your top choice college. After all, students are not taking all those APs, attempting to get perfect SAT scores, requesting seemingly perfect letters of recommendation, and getting A’s to lose! By definition, you don’t play a competitive sport to lose!

Highly selective schools certainly have their choice of the cream-of-the-crop students as a result of all the applications they receive. Therefore, the real part of the competition is to understand and recognize how you can stand out and win, especially in applications to the Ivies.

Because college admissions is a competitive sport, we proceed accordingly with our advisory services and prepare our clients as competitive athletes – to win! We know that successful athletes must cultivate the positive qualities that are necessary to achieve victory-to win.

Persistence: Endure until the end. Persistence is simply the quality of always continuing to move forward and to continue regardless of perceived or real setbacks and challenges. We cultivate our clients’ positive aspirations by encouraging persistent determination.
Have a positive mindset: Being positive is an integral and intrinsic aspect of having the right winning mindset. We constantly help our clients maintain a positive mindset to win!
Self-Confidence: Really successful athletes are secure in their ability to play their best game. We believe that qualified students should project themselves as successful athletes with inner confidence through their body language in a positive manner, a sort of positive posture. We encourage our clients convey energy, enthusiasm and a positive attitude in communicating their achievements to key admissions officers and admissions committees.
Humility: Ego (parental and student) is one of the largest reasons why qualified applicants are rejected. I recall and Ivy League officer stating that when reading many students’ applications: “these students think they are all that”. If you practice humility, you will become an internally motivated person. You will seek to achieve and improve yourself not for external validation, but to satisfy your own desire to keep growing as an athlete and a person.
Practice, Practice, Practice: Practice deliberately with a purpose. Ultra-successful athletes reach their success by practicing with a deliberate purpose. They understand that in order to perform a skill at the highest level, they must practice it until they master it. Successful athletes waste no time getting right into their routine and practice with mindfulness. They don’t zone out or go through the motions. Instead, successful athletes focus on the mechanics, feel, vibe and repetition of developing new skills in order to become an elite athlete. We encourage and motivate our clients to constantly practice with a purpose.
Rhythm: Rhythm is defined as the expression of timing, and its practicality in sports is vast. Linear speed requires a well-timed sequence of (rhythmic) contralateral action. Any delays or errors in this timing can drastically limit velocity of movement. Rhythm plays a significant role in an athlete’s ability to successfully change direction fluidly and in time with extraneous factors such as teammates, opponents and apparatus (i.e. ball etc.). Rhythm is a singular characteristic within the broader scope of coordination. As a jazz harmonicist and banjoist (and physicist) who applies African Drumming, Blues, R&B, Calypso, Reggae, Funk, Hip Hop, Go-Go Swing, I naturally apply the use of rhythm to the competitive college admissions and application process. It helps our clients adapt in an improvisational, non-linear and harmonic way to the nuances and changes in their college admissions journey and ultimately gets them accepted into their top choice colleges.

As a successful college admissions advisor, I apply my special “athletic coaching” skills and “rhythmic” musical strategies to help my clients successfully achieve their college admissions goals: ACCEPTANCE LETTERS. Our strategic vision allows us to create, design and develop a compelling, authentic and distinctive personal brand for each of our clients. This vision elevates and differentiates our clients in the competitive admissions environment so that they become WINNERS and are accepted into their top-choice schools.

“Admissions is a competitive sport! Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs; graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs. The admissions affiliate: Ivy League Admissions Advisors specializes in admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges, Dr. Lowe also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college: College Transfer Admissions Advisors. Summer Camps: BS/MD Application Boot Camp and Ivy League Application Boot Camp.

It’s Getting Tougher to Get into BS/MD Programs

April 20, 2018June 22, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Is it getting tougher to get into BS/MD programs? Absolutely!

I’ve read on several websites that have stated “no”, “it’s not significantly different from prior years”, or “it’s easier to get into these programs”. Rather than assuming this or just writing a book about BS/MD programs we actually visit these programs. After our extensive research, review and visits, we have concluded it’s getting harder!

Why? Here are a couple of reasons: (1) More students are applying as a result of the Common App and easier access to apply. (2) It’s getting tougher to get into medical school so more students are attempting to enter the medical field through the BS/MD route, a trickle down effect. (3) More students sound exactly alike, so it’s so much easier for applicants to be rejected in bulk!

Since more students are applying and the number of spots remains unchanged, the rejection rates are higher. They range from 92% to 98%. We are even hearing about “perfect” applicants being rejected. The typical “perfect” applicant: High GPA, at least 10 AP courses, high SATs, musical, artistic and/or athletic extracurricular activities, research/clinical internships, shadowing doctors, helping the poor or starting an not-for-profit organization to help the poor.

Why are so many “perfect” applicants being rejected? It’s because they sound perfectly the same (contrived) on paper! Their parents are under the impression that their children are superstars. The fact is that they are all simply baseline in the BS/MD application process. Their applications lack color, rhythm, Wow-Factor, and personalized configuration.

Our offices usually receive calls or emails from parents who want their children to attend BS/MD programs. After they describe their children’s’ resumes, predictably naming all their achievements, they “sound” like perfect candidates. After we explain to them our fees, many never follow through (which actually places our clients at an advantage). When we do follow up a year later, we discover that these perfect candidates are not only rejected from BS/MD programs, but also Ivy League and highly selective colleges and universities. Our clients happily have the choice of whether to attend a BS/MD program or Ivy League and highly selective universities.

“Admissions is a competitive sport! Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe

BS/MD Application Boot Camp 2018

April 12, 2018April 16, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Pinnacle Educational Center/Admissions Advisors Group (PECAAG) announces the launch of its 2018 BS/MD Application Boot Camp (BSMDABC). This is the 4th anniversary of BSMDABC. The 2-day comprehensive, intensive and informative application boot camps, held during the summer, are specifically for high school rising seniors (current juniors) who have decided to apply to BS/MD Programs. (see Dr. Lowe’s blog: Top Advantages of Being Accepted To BS/MD Programs)

The camp is also specifically for international students who are seeking admissions to BS/MD programs. It is more difficult for an international student to be admitted to BS/MD programs than a US resident. See Dr. Lowe’s blog: (BS/MD Programs That Accept International Students) Camp activities include: Application (including essay) brainstorming, review, editing during the camp, followed by an application consultation prior to submission of application. The fee is $8,500.

There are 120 BS/MD programs in the U.S. and each year thousands of applicants apply to limited slots. Many of these programs have only 15 to 40 slots with over 500 applicants. The camp is beneficial to students who need a last-minute boost of their BS/MD Applications and students who wish to avoid inevitable mistakes on their applications that will definitely cause rejections.

“An overwhelming number of applicants to these programs come from the same socio-economic demographic and sound exactly the same on paper (high GPAs, high SATs, musical, artistic and/or athletic extracurricular activities, research/clinical internships, shadowing doctors, helping the poor or starting an organization to help the poor). The problem is that they all sound exactly the same“, said Dr. Paul R. Lowe, Pinnacle’s CEO and president and the camp’s director. “Our camp adds pizzazz, flavor and harmony to our attendees’ applications and student profiles to spotlight their accomplishments so that they stand out.”

“Admissions is a competitive sport! Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe.

Top U.S. Engineering Universities

April 9, 2018September 6, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Over the last 2 months, my A-Team and I visited colleges with top engineering (undergraduate) programs. We were not disappointed! The quality of research in these colleges are excellent. Beyond research opportunities for students, the schools had extensive research funding and facilities and attracted professors that are at the top of their field. They also have curricula that included co-op/internships, externships and interdisciplinary programs.

These top schools have impressive job placement statistics. The schools reported job placement rates of students upon graduation (which means students have jobs before they graduate), within six months of graduation or within one year of graduation. The acceptance rate of undergraduates who applied to top Masters and PhD in engineering is significantly higher than the national average and is between 85% and 92%.

Here is a list of top U.S. Engineering Universities:

Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Purdue University
Rensselaer Polytechnic University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Stanford University
University of California Berkeley
University of Michigan

“Admissions is a competitive sport! Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs; graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs. The admissions affiliate: Ivy League Admissions Advisors specializes in admissions to Ivy League and highly selective colleges. Dr. Lowe also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college: College Transfer Admissions Advisors. Summer camp: Ivy League Application Boot Camp.

Disappointed That You’ve Been Rejected From Your Top Choice Colleges? Find Out What Your Next Step Should Be!

March 28, 2018April 16, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Based on my over 20 years experience as a college admissions advisor and admissions strategist, I thought I would share some advice with students who have been receiving disappointing decision results.

Admissions committees give careful, individual attention to each applicant. They review each applicant with a magnifying glass and compare each applicant to other qualified applicants. They accept applicants who will inspire those around them during their college years and beyond.

My firm’s strategies involve widening the lens through which our applicant-clients are viewed, recognizing and valuing the different dimensions that shape each student. We understand, in real-time, how an admissions committee at a particular college may view each dimension separately and collectively in comparison to other students during the selection process by visiting schools and talking with admissions officers. As an alternative to settling for a rejection decision (which most students do) to a student’s first choice school, I posit this possible solution:

The student may consider reapplying as a transfer student. It is not too early for a high school senior to consider this. I call it our Admissions Second Chance Program. I review and investigate what went wrong, because, in all cases of rejection decisions, something wasn’t right! Usually I find innumerable mistakes or homogeneity on the Common Application and/or school-specific supplemental essays. Many times I have discovered that no matter how “amazing” the student sounds on paper (top grades, high GPA and SATs, volunteerism, extracurricular activities, recommendations, ESE (Expensive Summer Experiences), to me, they were unconvincing to the admissions committee at a specific school for many reasons. In these cases, we make recommendations to improve the student’s profile and properly connect the dots within their application and beyond. In unique cases, we have been retained by clients who were initially rejected and after our review and intervention the student’s application was reconsidered and ultimately accepted for admission.

By visiting the Ivies and highly selective schools, understanding the dynamic changes and nuances in individual colleges, and knowing what to do to make a student stand out amongst other applicants, my team and I gain an insightful perspective of each school and develop strategies to help our clients get accepted.

“Admissions is a competitive sport! Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe.

Ivy League Application Boot Camp 2018

March 20, 2018March 22, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Pinnacle Educational Center/Admissions Advisors Group (PECAAG) announces the launch of its 2018 Ivy League Application Boot Camp. The 2-day comprehensive, intensive and informative application boot camps, held during the summer, are specifically for high school rising seniors (current juniors) who have decided to apply to Ivy League colleges and universities. (see Dr. Lowe’s blog: Why Your Child Should Apply to Ivy League College or University?)

The camp is also for current college students who are interested in transferring and current high school seniors who were rejected the first time around and interested in reapplying to the Ivies. Camp activities include: Application (including essay) brainstorming, review, editing during the camp, followed by an application consultation prior to submission of application. The fee is $8,500.

The rejection rate for Ivy League schools is as high as 95%. On average 35,000 applicants apply to each school. That means that on average 25,000 to 33,000 students are REJECTED each year from each school. “Schools like Harvard Yale and Princeton could pick everyone with 4.0s, perfect SAT scores (and top violinist and pianist) and they could fill an entire class 10 times over,” said camp coordinator, Dr. Diana Alexandrova, the camp’s coordinator and Pinnacle’s International Student Advisory’s managing director. “Our camp is also beneficial to international students who attend U.S. boarding schools or schools in their respective countries who want a competitive edge in the Ivy League application process.”

“The numbers are staggering and speak to the value and worth of an Ivy League degree” said Dr. Paul R. Lowe, Pinnacle’s CEO and president and the camp’s director. “It is enjoyable to help students in this way. Our camp attendees benefit from our discovery of mistakes they could have made on their applications.”

BS MD Programs That Accept International Students

March 13, 2018August 10, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

It’s pretty difficult for U.S. high school students to be admitted to BS/MD programs (or medical school-from-high school programs). It’s even more competitive and extremely difficult for international students from non-U.S.-based high schools or U.S. based-top boarding schools to be accepted to these programs.

Based on my professional experience as a BS/MD admissions advisor, visiting and touring colleges and talking with admissions officers and administrators, here is a current list of BS/MD programs that will consider reviewing applications of international students:

Boston University Seven-Year Liberal Arts/Medical Education Program
Brown University Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME)
Case Western Reserve University Pre-Professional Scholars Program in Medicine
New Jersey Institute of Technology/American University of Antigua
New Jersey Institute of Technology/St. George’s University School of Medicine
Northwestern University Honor Program In Medical Education (HPME)
Pennsylvania State University Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program
Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars Program (MSP)
University of Connecticut Special Program in Medicine
University Rochester – Rochester Early Medical Scholars (REMS)
Washington University in St. Louis University Scholars Program in Medicine

Working with international high school students who desire to matriculate to BS/MD programs is a very involved, comprehensive and long-term process. My team and I must clearly understand student goals, continuously help students with their applications and develop successful admissions strategies.

Of course, after this long and arduous admissions process one of the major benefits that I observe with our international BS/MD clients is that in their senior year in high school they (and their parents) are happy to know that they can be called “Dr”. They also know that the next step in their medical career is matching to a U.S. medical residency program!

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network. He and his team of admissions advisors, through the admissions affiliate, BS/MD Admissions Advisors, help high school students get accepted to BS/MD programs. Many of Dr. Lowe’s BS/MD Admissions client are international students want to attend medical school from high school and then entire U.S. medical residency sub-specialties.

Top Colleges Enhance Efforts To Enroll Low-Income Students

March 7, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

As the cost of college continues to rise, college enrollment is becoming out of reach for low-income students. According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2017–2018 school year was $34,740 at private colleges, $9,970 for state residents at public colleges, and $25,620 for out-of-state residents attending public universities.

Launched in December 2016, the American Talent Initiative (ATI), funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 additional high-achieving, lower-income students at the 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025.

Based on the most recent federal data available, there are approximately 430,000 lower-income students enrolled at these 270 institutions. ATI aims to increase and sustain the total number of lower-income students attending these top-performing colleges to about 480,000 by 2025. To reach this ambitious goal, ATI will work to support its members’ work while adding more top-performing colleges to its membership in the coming months and years.

ATI now has 97 member colleges that are taking the steps toward socio-economic diversity in colleges. Each ATI member institution has started to enhance its own efforts to recruit, enroll, and support lower-income students, learn from each other, and contribute to research that will help other colleges and universities effectively serve lower-income students

Educators, college administrators and legislature recognize that America’s top-performing colleges have an important role to play in this effort. Research shows that when high-achieving, lower-income students attend high-performing institutions, they graduate at higher rates, and have a greater chance of attaining leadership positions and other opportunities throughout their lives. Yet in each graduating high school class, there are at least 12,500 lower-income young people with outstanding academic credentials who do not enroll at institutions where they have the greatest likelihood of graduating…

ATI currently represents many of the country’s most elite colleges and universities. To date, all the Ivy League schools are ATI members. Here is a direct effect of ATI: After 28 years without transfer students, Princeton University will begin accepting students from community colleges in fall 2018.

Why Your Child Should Apply to an Ivy League College or University?

February 13, 2018February 16, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

I often hear from some parents in my college admissions seminars or who call my firm inquiring about our service: “It doesn’t really matter if you attend an Ivy League school” or “it doesn’t make a difference if you attend an Ivy League school” and finally, “its all about the fit; it doesn’t matter where you go to college”. I even hear from many of my peer independent educational consultants, public high school guidance counselors and private school college counselors (who are not Ivy League undergraduate alumni) that it really doesn’t matter if that a student should applies to the Ivies or attends the Ivies. I even hear from parents whose children have applied to the Ivies (after they have taken 9 AP courses, received tutoring in order to achieve near-perfect SAT scores and written that perceived awesome essay) that it does really matter. Really?

As an Ivy-trained physician-scientist, prior to entering the admissions advisory field 22 years ago, I like to corroborate and validate my professional recommendations and advice with meaningful studies and reports, and real data that have linear correlations.

Year after year, thousands of students apply for coveted spots and are rejected (see my blog on rejection rates). There must be a reason or reasons why each year one reads the following statistic 30,000 students applying for 2,000 spots, or why there is an uptick in the number of international applicants to Ivy Leagues schools.

So let’s review the reasons why your child should apply to the Ivies:

A study in the journal, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, confirms parental suspicions that the best route to a top job is to attend an Ivy League school. According to Dr. Lauren Rivera, the author of the study, “Elite professional service employers rely more on academic pedigree more than any other factor. Where you went to school rather than what you did there makes the difference”.
PayScale Inc., an online provider of global compensation data, in a survey demonstrated that an Ivy League diploma is still worth its price of admission and tuition. An Ivy League education makes a job candidate stand out, even before a recruiter talks to them! The median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college graduates and at 10 or more years into graduates’ working lives, the spread is 34%.
“Because of the bitter competition for premium salaries, elite educational credentials are often a precondition for even landing a job interview. With so many applicants for every vacancy, many consulting firms and investment banks, for example, now consider only candidates from a short list of top-ranked schools. Degrees from elite schools clearly open doors. For example, more than 40 percent of the 2007 graduating class at Princeton landed one of the most highly sought prizes: a position in the lucrative financial services industry.” Dr. Robert H. Frank
According to a U.S. Department of Education report, the median annual earnings for an Ivy League graduate 10 years after starting amount to well over $70,000 a year. For graduates of all other schools, the median is around $34,000. But things get really interesting at the top end of the income spectrum. The top 10 percent of Ivy League grads are earning $200,000 or more ten years after starting school. The top earners of other schools, on the other hand, earn $70,000.
Top 20 universities producing billionaires is dominated by blue-chip, elite U.S. institutions. Billionaires are likely to have attended some of the traditionally most prestigious universities. Top universities have become the place where “global players gather”. (Educational insights from an annual profile of the uber-rich – Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census.)
Business Insider’s “The 48 best colleges in the Northeast” – 2015: Of the top 10 colleges, the 8 Ivy League colleges/universities were on the list.
Wall Street Journal article: “In Producing Presidents, Ivies Still Have It”. Ivy League colleges are the top U.S. President-producing schools.
Globally, extreme wealth is closely connected to elite education. “The economic sectors where the very wealthy are most closely connected to elite education are hedge funds, venture capital, the internet, law and finance. Those fields may require greater smarts, better training and stronger elite social connections.” – Wealth X Study
“Elite firms hire from elite universities” from “Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs” by Lauren A. Rivera.
The Economist has established that there is a direct correlation between education, the inheritance of privilege and class. According to an extensive report in The Economist: “For those at the top of the pile, moving straight from the best universities into the best jobs, the potential rewards are greater.”

The next time you are out and about and you see decals that have an Ivy League university, or a parent with sweatshirt that states: ” Ivy League school Mom” ask yourself does it really matter?

2018 Hardest Colleges To Get Into In America

February 2, 2018April 16, 2018 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

College admissions decisions will be released in late March through early April. Many top high schools seniors will be disappointed when they check their emails to discover that they will be rejected from the Ivies and highly-selective colleges. Even with having a high GPA, top SAT scores, high grades and a “manufactured” application and personal statement will be rejected from these schools. Year after year, I hear the horror stories from parents whose kids got in nowhere because they thought the college admissions race was just about grades, SAT scores, their perceived ‘unique’ applications, generic essays and perfect connections.

Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on educational institutions released its latest list of the hardest colleges to get into in America. The hardest colleges ranking is based on acceptance (rejection) rates and SAT/ACT test scores using data from the U.S. Department of Education. The rejection rates of these colleges range from 85% to 95%.

Here is a list of the top 25:

Harvard University: 95%
Stanford University: 95%
Yale University: 94%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 92%
California Institute of Technology: 92%
Princeton University: 93%
University of Chicago: 92%
Columbia University: 93%
Vanderbilt University: 89%
Brown University: 91%
University of Pennsylvania: 91%
Duke University: 88%
Dartmouth College: 88%
Harvey Mudd College: 87%
Pomona College: 91%
Northwestern University: 88%
Rice University: 89%
Johns Hopkins University: 87%
Swarthmore College: 87%
Claremont McKenna College
Washington University in St. Louis: 83%
Cornell University: 87%
Amherst College: 86%
Bowdoin College: 85%
Tufts University: 86%

Ivy League and highly selective colleges use holistic, committee-based and team-based approaches and review processes when evaluating applicants for admission. That means admission to these colleges is not based on a simple formula of grades and test scores. Instead, these colleges consider a variety of factors including but not limited to: the student’s academic record, extracurricular interests, intellectual achievements, character, emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence and personal background to decide who will be rejected or accepted.

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe, founder and managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group, provides comprehensive counseling advice, exclusively for admissions to top private schools; Ivy League and highly-selective colleges/universities; BS/MD programs; graduate and medical schools and top visual and performing arts programs. He also specializes in helping students who have been wait-listed, deferred or rejected gain admission into their top-choice schools: College Application Rejected. and student who wish to transfer to another college: College Transfer Admissions Advisors.