David Altshuler, M.S.
(305) 978-8917 | [email protected]

Category: College Admissions

Choose Your Story, Part Two: Brothers at Arms

Barry and Jonathan’s computer repair and website design business was nearing the end of its five-year run. Their warehouse was small; there was barely room for all the blame that the brothers threw back and forth. The technological entrepreneurs, aged 29 and 30, were angry at themselves and at each

Read More »

Go, Now.

Remember how in The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one of Douglas Adams’s characters is responsible for summarizing the planet earth? In as few words as possible? Because the encyclopedia for which he writes has limited space? Space is at a premium because there are well over a billion

Read More »

Lori’s Brain

I now devote myself full time to helping children and their families choose and apply to colleges and working with troubled teens. But for 20 years I ran a tutoring and test prep shop. My friends and I, most of whom I met in graduate school, would help students prepare

Read More »

Life Test

Life is an exam. Failure is not an option. There is only one score card. Before elucidating the scoring system, here is a paragraph about myself: I live on the top floor of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. My 2.3 children go to Cornell and Princeton respectively. My

Read More »

Say it Ain’t So

There is no debate over which year was the Greatest Year in the hundred year history of baseball.* You might think that there would be discussion among barflies, tailgaters, and fans from different cities across the country. You might expect a spirited conversation with reasoned arguments, endless statistics and salty

Read More »

No Emotional ROI

“Why do you want to go to college?” “To get a job.” This conversation, of which I’ve been a part well over a thousand times with my college counseling clients, is exactly backward. Indeed, the reason to go to college, the only reason to go to college, has always been

Read More »

From Patrick O’Connor of the Roeper School

The Following Article is from my colleague, Patrick O’Connor at the Roper School: The Best Advice When Colleges Say No School counselors know the real March Madness begins next week, when some of the nation’s most selective colleges release their admissions decisions. As a pre-game warm-up, let’s stick with the

Read More »

Charlatans, Fools and Essays

“There is no possibility whatsoever of reconciling science and theology, at least in Christendom. Either Jesus rose from the dead or he didn’t. If he did, then Christianity becomes plausible; if he did not, then it is sheer nonsense. I defy any genuine scientist to say that he believes in

Read More »

College Admissions Case Study

Mark’s profile was stellar: Five APs as a senior including Advanced Placement Government/Economics, AP English, AP Calculus; AP Psychology; and AP Biology. He had 1400 on his SATs: CR, 690; Math, 710. He wasn’t a starter on his high school basketball team but he worked harder than some of the

Read More »

Simplified Financial Aid Primer

As many of the families who depend on my gentle guidance are enthusiastically filling in the FAFSA and the CSS Profile this month, I have prepared the following simple, straight forward Guide to Financial Aid so that our children can make concrete plans for a lifetime of indentured servitude. I

Read More »

Copyright © David Altshuler 1980 – 2024    |    Miami, FL • Charlotte, NC     |    (305) 978-8917    |    [email protected]