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Bright Horizons College Coach Class of 2021: Decisions, Part 1

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Emily Toffelmire

Written by Emily Toffelmireon December 29th, 2020

Emily Toffelmire brings to College Coach years of experience in both secondary and post-secondary education. She was a high school counselor in public schools in Nevada and California, as well as at an independent school in Thailand, where she helped students apply to colleges on four continents. She moved on to admissions at the University of Southern California, where she spent her first two years as an assistant director, recruiting and evaluating freshmen and transfer applicants from Washington and California. She then served as a senior assistant director of admission for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, overseeing the merit scholarship selection process and presenting to and interviewing hundreds of students across the country each year. Emily has a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Arkansas, and a Master’s of Education in Educational Counseling from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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December brings our first big round of admissions news from the students we work with here at Bright Horizons College Coach®. While families across the country (and around the world) are feeling a mix of emotions caused by what has felt like a volatile admissions year, we’ve received plenty of news to cheer about from our students. Here are some highlights from our class of 2021’s early action, early decision, and rolling deadline decisions. Stay tuned in 2021 for our regular decision outcomes. The Ivy League and Highly Selective Schools Because we know you want to know: From the Ivies, our students were admitted to Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. They also got yeses from Duke, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Stanford, Tufts, Vanderbilt, University of Notre Dame, and Barnard. College Coach Students’ Perennial Favorites Year after year, there are certain campuses our students love to apply to; we’re thrilled they received great news from Boston University and Boston College, American University, Wake Forest, University of Rochester, University of Miami, Tulane, and Emory. On the public university side, our students received offers from the always popular Indiana, Wisconsin, Oregon, Clemson, Rutgers, Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Texas at Austin. Liberal Arts Colleges Our students looking for small, supportive communities gravitate to liberal arts colleges, and were admitted to many of them, including Colgate, Colorado College, Reed, Dickinson, Eckerd, Franklin & Marshall, Hamilton, Lewis & Clark, Macalester, Sarah Lawrence, Trinity, and Union. Public Universities Almost all of our students apply to at least one public university, a strategy we always support. This year, they were admitted early to campuses in 25 states across the country, from large campuses like San Diego State and University of Minnesota, to relatively small communities like University of Vermont, SUNY New Paltz, and University of Nevada at Reno. Specialized Studies Our students were admitted to: health sciences programs, including nursing at the University of Portland and the BS/DO program at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine; the oldest private military institute in the U.S., Norwich University; the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University; the Rhode Island School of Design and California College of the Arts; and to STEM-focused campuses like Caltech, Georgia Tech, Illinois Institute of Tech, Rose-Hulman Institute, and Worcester Polytechnic. Diversity Many of the students we work with care about diversity and want to see this reflected in student populations, so we were happy to see admissions to some of the most diverse campuses in the country, including Whittier College, the University of San Francisco, St. Edward’s University, University of Houston, and University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Studying Abroad Though we primarily work with students applying to American universities, we see more and more students each year looking to earn their degree outside the U.S. Our class of 2021 has already received positive decisions from American University of Paris, Imperial College London, Richmond American International University, University of Edinburgh, and University College London. Scholarships Not only have our students received a wide array of amazing admissions decisions in the early round—they have also received some phenomenal scholarship awards. So far, we have seen merit-based aid offers of at least $20,000 per year at Case Western Reserve University, Catholic University, Chapman, DePaul, Dickinson, Drake, Lewis & Clark, Loyola Chicago, Marist, Marquette, Roanoke, Santa Clara, Seton Hall, Stevens Institute, Union, Universities of Denver, Maine, Minnesota, and Tulsa, and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Below is a sample list of colleges that admitted College Coach students so far. Note, this list is not comprehensive.
American University ​Iowa State University Toledo University
American University of Paris Johns Hopkins University Trinity College
Arizona State University Keene State University Tufts University
Avila University Kent State University Tulane University
Babson College Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Union College
Barnard College Lewis & Clark College University College London
Baylor University Longwood University University of Arizona
Biola University Loyola Marymount University University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Boston College Loyola University of New Orleans University of Delaware
Boston University Lynn University University of Denver
Brandeis University Macalester College University of Edinburgh
Brown University Marist University University of Georgia
​Bucknell University ​Marquette University University of Hartford
California College of the Arts Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University of Houston
Caltech Michigan State University University of Iowa
Case Western Reserve University Muskingum University University of Maine
​Chapman University Northern Arizona University University of Maryland Baltimore County
Clemson University Northwestern University University of Massachusetts Amherst
Colgate University Norwich University University of Massachusetts Lowell
College of Charleston ​Ohio State University University of Miami
Colorado College Ohio Wesleyan University University of Minnesota
Colorado State, Fort Collins Pace University University of Missouri Kansas City
Columbia University Pennsylvania State University University of Nevada Reno
Cornell University Quinnipiac University University of New England
Creighton University Reed College University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dartmouth College Rhode Island School of Design University of North Texas
DePaul University Richmond American International University University of Notre Dame
Dickinson College Roanoke College University of Oregon
Drake University Rockhurst University University of Pennsylvania
Drexel University Roger Williams University University of Pittsburgh
Duke University Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology University of Portland
​Eckerd College Rowan University University of Rochester
Elon University Rutgers University University of San Francisco
Emory University San Diego State University University of South Carolina
Fairfield University Santa Clara University University of Tampa
Farleigh Dickinson University Sarah Lawrence College University of Texas Austin
Franklin & Marshall College Seattle University University of Texas Dallas
Franklin College Southern Methodist University University of the Incarnate Word
George Mason University St. Anselm College University of Vermont
Georgetown University St. Edward's University University of Wisconsin
Georgia State University St. Joseph's University Vanderbilt University
Georgia Tech Stanford University Wake Forest University
Hamilton College State University of New York Cortland Wesleyan University
Harvard University State University of New York Albany Whittier College
Hofstra University State University of New York New Paltz Willamette University
Illinois Institute of Technology Stevenson University Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Imperial College London Texas A&M University ​Yale​ University
Indiana University Texas Christian University
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