Blog - JRA Educational Consulting

Sitting deans of admissions almost never explain, on the record, how their offices actually read applications. That's what makes a July 2026 interview with Jim Bock, vice president and dean of admissions at Swarthmore College, worth an hour of any admissions-minded family's attention. Speak...

An independent educational consultant (IEC) is a professional advisor whom families hire directly, and pay directly, to guide educational decisions: college admissions most visibly, but also K-12 school placement, therapeutic placement for students facing emotional or behavioral challenges, and graduate school. The operative word is independent, and most families ski...

Most students treat the personal statement as a writing problem. It isn't. By the time a student is agonizing over the first sentence, the outcome is mostly decided, because the essay was won or lost the moment they chose what to write about. A sharp topic carries a mediocre writer. A weak topic sinks a strong one.

This matters more in the 2026-27 cycle than it did five...

If your student is thinking about majoring in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM), you've probably heard one thing over and over again:

"It's so competitive."

While that's certainly true, I'd like to offer a little reassurance. After recently attending a webinar on STEM admissions hosted by a panel of college admissions officers, I walked away ...

This summer, seven universities announced cuts to the same part of the application: the supplemental essay. Five of them – the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, University of Vermont, and Tulane University – eliminated supplemental essays entirely. The other two trimmed.