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Founded by Michael J. Youmans, Ph.D. (aka “Dr. Yo”)—creator of CommonApp Boot Camps and author of The CommonApp Handbook—with degrees from Harvard, Middlebury/Oxford, and Boston College School of Education, CollegePrepExpress provides comprehensive, individualized strategies for playing today’s ultra competitive college admissions game to win!
CommonApp Workshops
FALL 2026 One a month First THREE Months of School Year September (in time for all Early Apps) October (in time for almost all Early Apps) November (in time for 12/1 deadlines and later) Meet Sundays to Accommodate Most Sports * Get it DONE in Four 2-hr Sessions *Everything from CommonApp Registration to Submit * Zoom in from wherever you are *Offered for both Early and Regular Decision Applications *Designed/Taught by author of The CommonApp Handbook CommonApp Workshops Fall 2026 Workshop #Meeting Dates/TimesLocationMaterials NeededCost/Register 1 SeptemberSundays, all 10:00am-12:00pm ET 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4Zoom Laptop or tablet (PLEASE NO PHONES!) and charger$1,099 2 OctoberSundays, all 10:00am-12:00pm ET 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1Zoom Laptop or tablet (PLEASE NO PHONES!) and charger$1,099 3 NovemberSundays, all 10:00am-12:00pm ET 11/8, 11/15, 11/22, 11/29Zoom Laptop and charger Laptop or tablet (PLEASE NO PHONES!) and charger$1,099 Parents stop nagging your kids about getting their applications done. Get rid of the household tension by using a third-party approach: let US the bad guy for YOU. Students, stop worrying about WHEN you’re ever gonna find the time to do your applications, we’ll organize your time for you. What students say: https://collegeprepexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/chris-sullivan.m4v We did it!
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How Much Should I Study for Standardized Tests?!
Great Question–glad you asked. As those of you who work with us know, at CollegePrepExpress we’re not big fans of the two major college entrance exams, the SAT and the ACT. Marathon length, high stakes tests for teens are not our idea of a good time. It would be one thing if there were some redeeming quality to these exams–for example, if they were decent predictors of some desirable or meaningful life outcome–but there isn’t. SATs and ACTs won’t tell you how smart you are, how well you’ll do in college, what profession you’re well suited for, what your future net worth will be, how good a spouse or parent you’ll be, or whether you’re going to get into heaven. Nevertheless, and this is the crucial point, they still count A LOT towards college admissions, alternatively as recalcitrant gate-keeper and indomitable personal assistant, depending on your scores. So, really, the fact that they don’t actually MEAN anything is irrelevant; what matters is that they still count, even in an era when some colleges are beginning not to require them (e.g., California State Schools, the UC family). And that raises the question, how much time should you devote to preparation, i.e., practice and study? If you went around the country polling admissions committees officers about what counts the most for college admissions, you will find that they all share the same top few criteria: Grades and Course Levels Standardized Test Scores Grades and Course LevelsLetters of Recommendation Extracurriculars Application Essays & Interview (Campus or Alumni) While there may be some variation in the specific order, Grades and Scores generally head the list. Now let’s be super-analytical (punctiliously geeky in SAT parlance ;-)), and do a business-style assessment of how much time (our most precious resource) we should devote to studying for standardized tests. Let’s agree that our GPAs (or the sum total of all our grades) in high school count more than our tests scores. They do. But how much more–twice as much? three times? four times? five times? Let’s say we take five classes a year for four years. That makes 20 final grades on our final high school transcript. Now let’s conservatively assume that grades count FIVE TIMES more than our standardized test scores. That means, purely from the perspective of getting into college, we should invest about as much time studying for standardized tests as we spend on FOUR full-year classes (Did you catch the math? 20 ÷ 5 = 4 ;-)). Now if you think about how much time you have to invest in any ONE CLASS, it’s a gargantuan amount time: think of 9th grade English, 10th grade math, 11th grade U.S. History–you pick one. 5 days a week in class, homework almost every night, studying for quizzes, writing papers, studying for tests, prepping for exams, doing group work, sucking up to the teacher in the hallway…. it’s a LOT of work for that one final grade. Now multiply all that time and effort by 4, and that’s how much time–again, from a purely businesslike, cost-benefit analysis–you should spend taking practice SATs and ACTs and learning the material you don’t know. I know it’s not great news, and I don’t expect anyone to be doing cartwheels over this. Nor, frankly, have I ever worked with anyone who has actually made this kind of commitment. Those who’ve come close, however, have all consistently scored in the 700s across the board on the SAT and in the 30s across the board on the ACT. Carve out ONE HOUR A DAY–every single day–and you will write your own ticket to the college of YOUR CHOICE! Forewarned is forearmed. You may as well go into the unnerving college admissions process with your eyes wide open. CollegePrepExpress, LLC is here to help keep you motivated, focused, and as chill as possible. As long as you’re going to invest a whole lot of time and effort raising your scores (which ALWAYS pays off in the end), we’ll try to make your standardized test prep as fun and enjoyable as possible :-).
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Results
REFERENCES To email or talk to former students and parents about CollegePrepExpress, LLC, email or call/text (413) 329-7540 for contact info. We’re happy to connect you with past families — just reach out! MORE RESULTS —>
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Writing College Applications: Place the Big Pieces First
During the dog days of summer I work all day long with students on their college applications, mostly via the CommonApp. One of the common mistakes they make, prior to coaching, involves a failure to properly prioritize their main application to-do list. Irrespective of how smart or high-achieving a student may be, sometimes applicants become overwhelmed with the sheer number of questions to answer, forms to fill out, and short-answer and essay prompts to respond to, and they start attacking tasks as they think of them (any task—even randomly) in an effort to move the whole project forward. Take A*****, for instance, a super-smart student bound for a highly selective college a year or so from now, who came for an application consultation the other day. I asked him what he’s been working on since last we met and how we could best spend our hour together. “Well, I’ve been thinking about and writing up some of my Activities, thinking about my main personal essay, mulling over ideas for the approximately 12 supplement essays I have to write, and filling in some of the supplement short answer questions.” I started feeling a little anxiety myself listening to him describing all the plates he had spinning at the same time. He, like many motivated and ambitious students, needed help prioritizing a sprawling college application to-do list. As with organizing big, medium, and small items in a cupboard or on a shelf or in a suitcase, the trick is to place the big pieces first, then the medium ones, and then see where the small pieces fit or add accents. As applied to the CommonApp, this means doing the THREE big pieces of the common part of the CommonApp first, and THEN turning your attention to the supplement questions, short answers, and/or extra essays. So what are the three big pieces of the CommonApp? Good question, glad you asked. The first is the set of forms—what I call the “Simple Forms”—to complete under the CommonApp Tab: Profile, Family, Education, Testing. This creates the first picture of yourself—an outline really—based on your grades, test scores, senior year courses, languages spoken, and honors. The second is the Activities list. This is where committees go beyond the numbers and start to get a more three-dimensional construct of who you actually are: how you spend your time outside of class, how accomplished you are in various pursuits, and what your passions, values, beliefs, and goals are. The Activities list includes school clubs, organizations and activities in and outside of school, sports (V/JV and/or town sports), paid jobs, volunteer/community service, religious pursuits, and hobbies, and they ALL paint a picture of you. It is against the backdrop of the Simple Forms and Activities list that admissions officers read your main personal essay, which is the third big piece. What is it about yourself and/or your high school career and/or about your hopes and dreams for college and/or career that you want to emphasize or elaborate on? Paint a picture of yourself that seeks not to impress the committee, but rather, as Tina Fey’s character in Admission says, “Make us fall ion love with you!” Once these three BIG PIECES are in place, you’ll be able to do a much better and ultimately more effective job responding to the supplement questions and essay prompts. Relatively speaking, they are the little pieces that fit around or add a little sparkle to the big pieces. Moreover, as in the case os A****, you’ll be able to more easily wrap your brain around all the details involved in the supplements section, for example deciding which other topics to write about, with slight changes, to answer multiple questions from different schools. If you need help filling out the simple forms, Activities List, main essay, or supplement questions and essays, that’s what we’re here for 🙂 See also: CommonApp Boot Camp (Summer) CommonApp Getting it Done! Workshop (Fall) CommonApp Handbook: A Harvard Ph.D.’s guide to getting into selective colleges in the age of dwindling admissions rates without lying, cheating, or bribing Paperback – January 21, 2020
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“So, tell me a little bit about yourself” – How to Answer in a College Interview
Welcome to application writing crunch time, a rite of passage for HS seniors! The vast majority of college-bound seniors are deep into writing, reviewing, and polishing applications, and many are in mid-interviewing season. I’ve offered advice about how to answer the most commonly asked supplement essay and interview question both in a prior blog post and in my new book, The CommonApp Handbook, “Why do you want to go here?” In this post, I’d like to offer some advice about answering another very commonly asked question, often the first question right after you sit down for a campus or alumni interview: So, tell me a little bit about yourself? If you have a basic strategy to guide your answer that feels comfortable and right for you, particularly if acquired through experience, by all means go with it! Your main goal is to be your authentic self on your most excited and enthusiastic day about spending four years in an intellectual amusement park for (mostly) young adults. If you know how to best show yourself in that light, just do it! But if you’re new to interviewing or you’re looking for some input, I suggest answering this question as a series of widening concentric circles: Start with yourself at the center: name, age, place of birth, current location. Next move to immediate family: ages, occupations, maybe something funny about a sibling or pet. Then talk about your school and/or community: ALWAYS lead with academics and studies. Use language like, “I’m grateful for the solid educational foundation acquired at school xxx and the special attention I received from my favorite teachers, abc and def.” “My favorite subjects include…” “A favorite unit, concept, project, or academic experience/achievement was…” (it’s an especially good idea to discuss an area(s) of indicated interest in college supplements.) Finally move to extracurricular activities like sports, clubs, hobbies, summer expoeriences, jobs, and community service: focus on two, three max and be especially enthusiastic about these and, if possible, focus on any leadership roles or experiences that cast you in a leadership role. That should do it. And don’t be afraid to check in with your interviewer to make sure you’re answering the question correctly. Little questions like, “Am I answering this correctly?” “Is this the sort of information you were asking about?” This way, if you happen to go off track, your interviewer can help get you back on the rails before it’s too late! If you’d like a copy of CPE’s Interview Guide©, including a list of 20 of the most commonly asked interview questions, it’s included in the “College Visits” chapter of my new book, The CommonApp Handbook; if you don’t need the whole book, just email me (DrYo@CollegePrepExpress.com) requesting a copy of the interview guide, and I’ll email it to you! We’re here to help! 🙂
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Dr. Yo’s NEW Bag O’ Trix, Shortcuts, and Workarounds for the Digital SAT
Who doesn’t love tricks and shortcuts when it comes to high-stakes tests like the SAT? Practically no one, of course. So here are Dr. Yo’s favorite tricks, shortcuts, and workarounds for the Reading & Writing and Math sections of the Digital SAT. Reading & Writing Always read the question and skim the answer choices BEFORE reading the passage. This helps get your head in the game and gives you clues about what the item is really asking. Use the highlighter tool. Highlight key words in both the question stem and the passage. When answer choices contain four verbs that differ only in number (singular vs. plural), choose the one there’s only one of. Subject-verb agreement questions are often built this way. In other words if there are three singular verbs and one plural verb, the answer is ALWAYS the plural one, and vice versa. When answer choices differ only in punctuation, start by checking for independent clauses on both sides of the punctuation. If there aren’t independent clauses on both sides, eliminate semicolons and periods. (The ONE rare exception is semicolons used to separate items in a series that already contain commas.) Pay special attention to extra words in (i.e., those that deviate from) the seven major question stems. Beyond the standard “logically completes the text,” “supports the claim,” and similar language, any additional qualifying wording is often a critical clue. Punctuation around non-essential elements comes in pairs. Parentheses, commas, and dashes usually appear in matching sets, except at the very end of a sentence, where a period replaces the second mark. Avoid unnecessary words. Shorter is sweeter in Standard English. When two or more answer choices mean essentially the same thing, eliminate all of them. The SAT can’t have multiple correct answers. If two answers are “therefore” and “thus,” for example, neither can be correct. Be skeptical of emotionally extreme answers and absolutes. Words such as always, never, only, all, best, and proved are often red flags. Remember that SAT answers are evidence-based. You should be able to defend your choice by pointing to specific words or phrases in the passage and question stem. Complete the text in your own words before looking at the answers, as they are seductively tricky. Math Desmos. Become a beast with it. Practice until you can play it like a violin. Learn every tool, symbol, and feature available on the Digital SAT version. Plug in answer choices instead of solving algebraically whenever possible. For literal equations, make up your own numbers. See how the equation behaves numerically, then translate your findings back into algebra. Desmos. Many problems that appear difficult become much easier when graphed. For systems of linear equations: Infinite solutions = the same line in disguise (one is just a multiple of the other, so same slope and same y-intercept). No solution = parallel lines = same slope. One solution = lines with different slopes that intersect. Zeros, roots, solutions, and x-intercepts are usually different names for the same thing. For systems of equations, try combining equations. Adding or subtracting (occasionally multiplying and dividing) corresponding sides often leads directly to the answer. For quadratics, don’t waste time finding roots when all you need is their sum or product. Sum of roots = -b/a Product of roots = c/a When in doubt, graph it. Likewise, ALWAYS draw a picture or use some kind of chart to help you. When you need to plug in answers to see which one is correct, plug them in A–>D for easier problems and D–>A for harder ones (i.e., the harder the problem, the greater the chance the answer is C or D if they know you have to plug them in!) Did I mention Desmos? If you’re going to sit for another exam down the road, you might consider some private tutoring with Dr. Yo or registering for one or more of his Design Your Own SAT Prep Class Schedule. We’re here to help!
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