After you get your transcripts, letters of reference and write your admissions essay and send it off, your fate is in the hands of an admissions committee.

And you might have sent the same admissions package to multiple schools, but only get in to one or two.

So what’s the deal? Is it just a lottery draw and luck? Or is there some kind of method to the madness?

This week we’ll tell you what really happens behind the closed doors of the admissions process. We’ll tell you how choices are made and how different factors from grades to extra-curricular activities are weighted to tip the scale in your favor.

So check in all week to have a backstage pass to the secret world of admissions decisions.

Is high school too stressful? Many straight A students who go to elite high schools are opting out of applying to Ivy League schools–even though they have high chances of getting in. Why? Because they are already stressed out at high school and don’t want to sign up for four more years in college. This reality paints a different picture than TV shows like Gossip Girl, Beverley Hills 90210 and Friday Night Lights which depict privileged kids as partying it up and paying to pass. This week we’ll weigh in on whether we think high school are putting too much pressure on students.

To the other extreme, we’ll tell you what to do if you never finished high school but you want to go to college. We’ll explain the GED (General Education Development exam) and how it works, so that you can open up your options for the future.

We are also going to help prepare you for college visits. We’ll help you with questions to ask students and admissions advisors so that you can get a feel for the atmosphere at the college.

So come and visit us to find out about these trends in college admissions and application! 

Figuring out what college you want to go to is already pretty tricky in itself. Figuring out what career you want and what major you need to take to make your dream job happen adds a whole other layer to the mix.

CampusCompare helps you cover the first part of finding a college. And this week, we are going to focus on how to help you figure out what career you want and how your college education can help make it happen. We’ll give you strategies for figuring out what you want to do, the types of careers out there and which college majors will help you achieve your goals.

So you may want to punch in. You’re about to be on the clock.