The Candlelight Blog

Notes on College Admissions,
Essays, and Everything in Between

Practical guidance from a former UC scholarship reviewer to help you approach the application process with clarity and confidence.

Latest Essay

Building Your List

Fit Over Rankings

By Heather Wood • July 2026 • 7 min read

Four criteria every family can use to evaluate college fit: cost, major, location, and size. Where to actually do the research, why the Common Data Set beats any ranking site, and how to use AI to help (with rules).

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More Essays

Issue No. 1 The Big Picture

The Prestige Trap

July 2026 • 8 min read

Why prestige is such a magnetic idea, why the data doesn't back it up, and what actually predicts whether a student will thrive in college.

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Coming Up Next

Building Your List

Likelies, Possibles, Long-Shots

A framework for building a balanced college list without guessing.

Summer Planning

Summer Isn't a Pre-College Program

What admissions readers actually want to see, and why prestige-chasing summers backfire.

Applications

The Common App Just Opened

Where to start, where not to, and how to avoid the biggest first-week mistakes.

New essays every week. Have a topic you'd like me to cover? Send it my way.