USA – The Short List

June 25, 2026

Helly

USA

The Sports Analyst

University of Michigan

Helly has always loved sports. A dedicated tennis player, he developed leadership skills as a two-year Varsity Captain and member of his school’s Student Athletic Leadership Council. At the same time, he possessed a natural talent for numbers, channeling his love of statistics into math league, quiz bowl, and trivia competitions.

By junior year, Helly already had a clear vision for his future. He wanted to combine his passion for sports with his analytical mindset and pursue a career in sports analytics.
To help him explore that interest, we encouraged Helly to apply to the selective Moneyball Academy through UPenn’s Wharton Global Youth Program. The experience confirmed he had found his path.

As we built his college list, we encouraged the Michigan native to take a closer look at the University of Michigan. A campus visit changed everything. Helly discovered that combining Movement Science and Statistics could provide a strong foundation for sports analytics while offering opportunities to gain hands-on experience with a premier athletic department.

As application season approached, we discussed strategy. Like many selective public universities, Michigan fills a significant portion of its class through Early Action. We encouraged Helly to take advantage of the non-binding option, allowing him to demonstrate strong interest while keeping his Regular Decision options open.

Together, we crafted essays connecting his leadership, academic interests, and passion for sports analytics. The strategy worked. Helly earned Early Action acceptances and ultimately chose Michigan, where he will begin his journey as a Wolverine this fall.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

William

Ohio

The Raconteur

Middlebury

Client: William

William’s family contacted The Short List during his junior year. He was a bright student near the top of his class, and we learned a few key things about him very quickly: He is extremely mature, a great writer, and a music lover. He is also able to find good in most things.

The Short List explored several options with William and began to make recommendations. The challenge was that William found a reason to attend nearly every school on his growing list. We encouraged him to visit schools and attend the college meetings at his school. He began basing his college list on how well he felt he connected with the schools’ representatives. The problem was that he connected with nearly all of them. We asked him to dig deeper and consider the programs that they offered.

William loves language, which is clear in his writing, as well as his study of Mandarin Chinese. He exhausted every Mandarin course at his high school, and he emphasized that he wanted to attend a school with a strong Chinese language program. William did not have a clear favorite among the schools he was considering. We recommended Middlebury and, characteristically, William was ready to apply early before even visiting. We encouraged him to reconsider that decision, despite our feelings that Middlebury might be a great school for him.

He took our advice and focused on completing and submitting applications to all the schools on his final list. When William was accepted to Middlebury in early spring, among other schools, he was ready to send in his deposit. Again The Short List stressed the importance of visiting different schools before committing. The family decided to visit the three top schools on his list. Middlebury was the first of the three, and by the third night William had made his decision. Before he could even reveal his choice, his parents gave him a Middlebury T-shirt, telling him it was obvious how happy he was on the campus. They had been so certain of his choice that they slipped into the bookstore and bought him the T-shirt while he was occupied at a meeting during their campus visit.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Sara

Washington DC

The Advocate

Columbia

Sara (Washington DC)

When Sara, a University of Michigan alumna, engaged The Short List to help her with her graduate school search, it was the second time we had worked with her. Her family first engaged our services when she was a senior in high school.

Sara was working at a prestigious Washington, D.C., law firm and studying for the LSATs, so we began to explore law schools together. She had majored in psychology and envisioned a career advocating for young people in the courtroom. However, the more we worked with Sara, the more we began to feel law school might not be the correct path for her.

The Short List challenged Sara to think more deeply about why she wanted to pursue law. She has always been a driven individual with a very clear direction, one of the reasons she was always successful in her academics and extracurricular activities. A feeling of uncertainty was new for her.

The Short List challenged Sara to think more deeply about her chosen major and find the right path for her.

Sara grew up in an affluent town and graduated from one of the country’s premier public high schools, but she always felt pervasive pressure throughout her schooling, especially among the female students. Like many of her peers, she experienced feelings of self-doubt and struggled with low self-esteem. Even now, she attributes her success to the counseling she received in high school that helped her work through the challenges of those years. in discussing these experiences with The Short List, Sara began wondering if she should instead be a psychologist working with teenage girls.
Sara found an internship at The George Washington University Hospital and worked closely with a clinical psychologist. The deeper she delved into the profession, the more certain she became that psychology was the right path for her. She considered several schools, researched their programs, and visited their campuses, narrowing the list down to six schools to which she planned to apply.

We could see that it would be important for Sara to communicate her own teenage struggles in her essay and describe the steps she undertook from counseling to internship that led her to pursue psychology as a profession. Sara was accepted to several of the nation’s top psychology programs and settled on Columbia University, where she will have the opportunity to pursue one of several tracks as she moves deeper into the program.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Sara and Grace

New Jersey

The Thoughtful Twins

Cornell, Univ of Pennsylvania

We were introduced to Sara and Grace by our summer planning consultant, Jill Tipograph. Jill had worked with the twins in organizing amazing summers and activities that extended beyond the summer.
We sat down with Jill, the twins, and their parents. The twins shared a passion for science and a desire to pursue careers in medicine. At first, the two seemed so similar that it was a challenge differentiating them. Luckily, the family engaged our services early enough that we had time to help each define her own path.

We agreed that we would work with them separately and asked them not to discuss our efforts between them. We then delved deeper into their backgrounds, and began to get a better sense of each sister’s personality. Sara loved music and community service. She played violin in her school’s orchestra and became the senior leader of the Fundraising Council and Debate Club. She also spent summers researching at Brown and Columbia Universities, and volunteering with the community blood bank. With Jill’s help, Sara had organized a violin program for a community center in the Bronx. She collected used instruments and spent months teaching the children how to play. She even directed a show they put on for their parents. Sara’s efforts were always directed at helping others.

The Short List helped each of the sisters compile a list of colleges that addressed their individual interests.

Grace loved science but felt conflicted because she also loved literature, writing, and the classics. In school she joined the Writer’s Workshop Club and became the editor for her school’s literary magazine and newspaper. Outside of school, she attended summer science research programs at Penn and Columbia, and writing workshops at Johns Hopkins. Grace pursued both science and writing with equal vigor.

The Short List helped each of the sisters compile a list of colleges that addressed their individual interests. Grace wanted to find a school that would combine her love for science and writing, while Sara wanted a school that would allow her to pursue science and human ecology. Each had a clear favorite: for Grace, the University of Pennsylvania and for Sara, Cornell. Through multiple meetings with admissions personnel and faculty, each girl found an advocate at her school who agreed to write on her behalf.

Both schools announced their early decisions on the same day. Grace opened her decision first and the family recorded her jumping up and down at news of her acceptance to Penn. The camera kept rolling as Sara received her acceptance to Cornell. When they called The Short List with the news, both girls were over the moon as they shared their news—separately.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Ned

California

The Consultant

Harvard Business School

Client: Ned

Ned began applying to MBA programs in the fall of 2009. He spent much of that fall working on his applications, visiting schools, interviewing, and, sadly, receiving denials or wait list notifications. Ned contacted The Short List in summer 2010 when he felt that the acceptances he had received were not the right fit for him. After reading Ned’s applications and hearing about his admissions interviews, we realized he had missed opportunities to communicate his entire story and many of his strengths.

The Short List emphasized to Ned the risks of turning down the schools that had accepted him. But, in every exercise where we had Ned prioritize his options, “applying again” came out on top. Ned decided the only choice that would make him truly happy was to “go for it,” whatever the outcome, so we advised him on how he could best improve his chances. We asked Ned to contact his schools to see what would have made him a stronger candidate. We also encouraged Ned to focus on fewer schools so he could put together quality applications and build up demonstrated interest. He decided there were just four schools that had programs strong enough to merit interrupting his career.

Although the young entrepreneurial company Ned worked for was receiving great press, they were also going through repeated layoffs. Ned was constantly adjusting to different management styles. We urged him to take on more responsibility at work in areas that would make him a stronger participant in the MBA classroom. We also helped him explore opportunities outside of work where he could leverage his experience to help others. Finally, we worked with Ned on how to better share his story in his applications. Ned returned to each campus to learn more about their programs and cultivate relationships. When invited to interview, Ned used our advice and walked into each interview with greater confidence.

He even completed one interview through Skype due to conflicts with his work schedule that prevented his traveling back to the school. In the end, Ned’s renewed effort made the difference when he was accepted to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Ned submitted his deposit, was busy wrapping up things at work, and had plans for a relaxing summer when his last acceptance came through. Ned made a significant change of direction and instead enrolled at Harvard Business School.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Michael

New York

The Younger Brother

Tufts University

Client: Michael

The Short List has worked with many siblings, including many sets of twins and younger siblings who have watched an older sibling go through the process. Even among siblings, every student is different.

We worked with Michael’s older brother three years ago and met Michael, then a high school freshman, at Zach’s graduation dinner. Michael asked if he might be able to work with The Short List, too.

We started working with Michael in his sophomore year, which gave him plenty of time to plan out the process. He was studying Latin at the time. After traveling to Nicaragua for a sophomore community service spring break, during which he was frustrated by not being able to communicate with the people he was trying to help, Michael decided to switch to Spanish so he could return to Nicaragua the following spring and converse with the villagers.

He arrived back in Nicaragua a year later and many of the villagers greeted him by name. They shared stories about their lives, families, and aspirations, and Michael began to understand the true benefit of language. Michael enrolled in a Spanish course that summer to accelerate his learning and allow him to enter Spanish III as a senior. The Nicaragua trips and summer program had changed his thinking about what he wanted to study, so he took his time exploring colleges and applying.

Michael’s relaxed strategy paid off; he was accepted to almost every school to which he applied.

Michael began to look for strong language and economics programs that would allow him to continue studying Spanish and economics in the third world, especially Central America. Michael’s relaxed strategy paid off; he was accepted to almost every school to which he applied and elected to attend Cornell University. He wrote, “I intend to continue learning Spanish and study abroad in one of Cornell’s many Spanish-speaking programs. Cornell requires all study abroad classes to be taught in the language of that country, which will unquestionably aid in my ability to speak Spanish fluently one day.”

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Meg

Ohio

Social Enterprising MBA

Columbia University

Client: Meg When Meg was a college senior in suburban Ohio, she submitted an application to join a tutoring program in Boston. At the time two things motivated her: she wanted to be a teacher, and she wanted to live in a big city. She traveled to Boston for the final round of interviews and spent a day student teaching. The day was challenging. She found herself losing patience with the students when they did not understand the concepts she was trying to explain. She began to question whether teaching was the right fit for her, and the interviewers agreed. She did not move forward with the program.

Trying to figure out where to turn next, Meg thought back to her summer internship at a progressive private school doing data analysis to help teachers better understand standardized test scores. She transformed a stack of papers containing five years’ worth of data into an interactive dashboard visualizing student progress year over year. She had used her analytical skills to benefit the students’ education—a cause about which she cared deeply. She decided to look for opportunities that would help further her analytical skills and applied to one of the country’s top consulting firms in New York City.

Over the next three years, she performed analyses that helped solve complex problems for corporations. She enjoyed her experiences working for the consulting firm but couldn’t stop thinking about her dream to work in education. She contacted The Short List to share her hope of finding an MBA program that would continue to expand her analytical skills but also allow her to focus on social enterprise and education.

The Short List helped Meg research top MBA programs that had strong missions in social enterprise and education.

The Short List helped Meg research top MBA programs that had strong missions in both areas. We encouraged her to visit each school, as we worked with her to refine her story in both her essays and interviews. Columbia University in New York City emerged as the clear leader. She wanted access to the organizations that interested her the most, and being a subway ride away would make that possible. She decided to apply to Columbia Early Decision.
Just before Thanksgiving, Meg wrote to us with great news: “I got accepted into Columbia! They actually asked me to do the January start date and complete the 16-month program; same program, different timeline.” Meg gave her notice at work and six weeks later passed through Columbia’s gates determined to graduate from her MBA program with real-world experience under her belt that would help her make an even bigger difference in the field of education.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Mary Anne

Ohio

The Tennis Player

Bucknell

Mary Anne (Mac) came to The Short List her sophomore year as an accomplished tennis player. She had been playing since the age of four and knew that tennis would be a part of her future. A bright and accomplished student, Mac knew a strong academic environment was her primary consideration in choosing a college, but she was uncertain whether she should also pursue playing tennis at the competitive level. Additionally, Mac was involved in a number of high school clubs and organizations and had just been selected for an elite choral group; she was looking for a college campus where she could continue to explore all her passions.

The Short List put together a list of potential schools and walked her through an in-depth evaluation and research process for the schools she was considering. We knew it would be important for Mac to visit campuses to find the school that would provide the best fit academically, athletically, and personally, and we helped her plan a few different campus visits.

The Short List understands the challenges athletics places on a student’s schedule and the importance of time management. During fall of Mac’s junior year, we discussed with her and her parents a plan for her standardized tests, as well as campus visits that would work with both her tennis and demanding junior year schedule.

The Short List understands the challenges athletics places on a student’s schedule and the importance of time management.

By the end of her junior year, having researched and visited several schools, Mac decided tennis would not be a factor in forming her college list; instead, she would focus on schools that had the most to offer in her areas of academic interest. With this clarity, we helped Mac refocus her list of schools and prepped her for her final campus visits, as well as on-campus interviews over the summer. By the time fall semester arrived and her senior tennis season was underway, Mac had finalized her college list and had a good jump on her applications. Because she had taken the time to visit schools, clarify her goals, and define her criteria, she was able to identify a succinct list of schools that met her criteria and incorporated a range of reach, target, and probable schools.

Mac was offered early admission and scholarships to her top two choices and will be enrolling at Bucknell this fall. Following her acceptance, we encouraged Mac to contact the tennis coach, and she plans to try out as a walk-on in the spring.

January 28, 2018June 12, 2018

Maddie

New York

The Planner

Harvard

Client: Maddie

The day we met Maddie, we knew she was someone special, driven to do her best in everything. She was the top student in her class, taking additional high school classes at a local university. She also served as president of her class and a leader in many other activities.

At the time, Maddie was a sophomore in high school, and we quickly saw what drove her success: She took the time to plan. She wanted to visit quite a number of schools, so we mapped out a two-year college visit strategy that took advantage of her school breaks and summer vacation. We spaced her visits so they would be manageable for both her and her family, and did the same with her SAT and ACT testing strategy, helping her attend college fairs and complete any homework we assigned her between calls. Maddie was always ahead of the game and, as a result, exhibited very little stress.

Maddie had prepared academically to apply to the best schools in the country, but she also wanted the schools on her final list to be those where she could imagine spending four years. As she began to visit schools, she looked for ways to connect.

There was nothing The Short List suggested that Maddie wouldn’t try. We explained the importance of demonstrated interest, so she took notes and photos, and collected contact information. She established relationships, and the schools learned about her well before she applied.

In the end, Maddie did not want to apply to any school with a binding decision. She wanted to give herself the option to choose rather than getting caught up in the frenetic “Early Decision” game that she saw so many of her classmates and friends pursuing. in the end, she was accepted to nine of the schools to which she applied, including four ivy League schools. She ranked three schools, all excellent options, as her top choices, and asked her family to allow her to visit each of the three one more time. Ultimately Maddie, now a freshman, chose to enroll at Harvard College.

January 27, 2018June 12, 2018

Lindsey

Tennessee

The Lawyer

Georgetown

Client: Lindsey We first met Lindsey five years ago when she was a junior in high school aspiring to become a doctor. Her family included four generations of doctors, leaving her with no doubt that she, too, would be a doctor one day. She entered Vanderbilt University in fall 2007 as a pre-medical student.

The direction of her life changed, however, when Lindsey entered a public policy course during the second semester of her freshman year. She found herself in the center of lively debates over stem cell research and mandated health care. She became fascinated by the interplay of economics, politics, and science, and she decided to switch to a double major in medical health and political science.

The Short List worked with Lindsey to help broaden her knowledge through study abroad and internships. During the summer of 2009, she spent two months in Europe with the prestigious London School of Economics. Later that same summer, she completed a congressional internship in Washington, D.C., at the height of the health care debate. She saw how lawmakers and, more specifically, lawyers helped shape that debate.

The more Lindsey studied and experienced, the more confident she became that the right path for her was, in fact, law school. As a lawyer, she felt she could help create health care policies with far-reaching impact.
Lindsey contacted The Short List a third time to help her explore law schools. She had narrowed her list to focus on schools in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and North Carolina to give herself proximity to the federal policymaking process.

The Short List helped her prep for her interview and watched her confidence soar.

The Short List visited Lindsey at Vanderbilt. She was mature, focused, and eager to move forward with her plans. She had already taken the LSAT once and was preparing to take it a second time. She applied to several schools, but was increasingly drawn to Georgetown University Law School.

In late fall 2010, Lindsey began to receive acceptances, but Georgetown remained silent, so she traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a Georgetown Open House. She connected with students, faculty, and administrators and left convinced Georgetown was the right school for her even though it was a long shot.

Shortly after her visit, Lindsey received a call inviting her to interview with Georgetown. The Short List was convinced the interview would demonstrate what made Lindsey exceptional. We helped her prep for the interview and watched her confidence soar.

Only a week after her interview, Lindsey received the thrilling news that Georgetown University Law School would be welcoming her to the Nation’s capital in the fall of 2011.