Stop Guessing: Build a Winning College List
BenStop Guessing: Build a Winning College List
Choosing where to apply is one of the highest-stakes decisions in admissions and most families make it on rankings and gut feeling alone. Former Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt admissions officer Ben breaks down what separates a strategic college list from a lucky one, from fit vs. prestige to admit rates by major. Whether your student has zero schools picked or twenty, leave with a smarter starting point, not just a longer list.
Speaker Info
Ben
Ben Gutierrez has over ten years of experience guiding students through college admissions, with expertise in selective universities. He has served on admissions and scholarship committees at Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins, where he gained insight into what top schools value. Ben helps students—especially those interested in STEM, pre-health, and research—develop standout academic and extracurricular profiles. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Vanderbilt and an M.L.A. from Johns Hopkins.
About this Webinar
Choosing where to apply is one of the highest-stakes decisions in the entire admissions process — and most families are making it based on rankings and gut feeling alone. Join Ben, a former admissions officer for Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt, for Stop Guessing: Build a Winning College List, where he'll break down what actually separates a strategic list from a lucky one. You'll learn how to weigh fit against prestige, how admit rates by major change everything, and how to build a list where every school is a real option — not a guess. Whether your student has zero schools picked or twenty, this session will replace guesswork with a clear framework. Come ready to leave with a smarter starting point, not just a longer list.
In this webinar, you'll learn:
Fit Over Rankings: A school ranked #8 isn't automatically better for your student than one ranked #30 — Ben breaks down what "fit" actually means in an admissions read.
The Real Numbers: Overall admit rates hide the truth. Major-specific and campus-specific data change which schools are realistic reaches, targets, and safeties.
The Balanced List: Most lists fail because they're all reaches or all rankings. Learn the framework for a list that's ambitious and realistic at the same time.