Here at Ivy Coach, we often stand atop our soapbox in elite college admissions to speak truth to power, to debunk commonly held misconceptions, and to offer a healthy dose of sanity to stressed out parents and students navigating the churning waters of highly selective college admissions. When an admissions officer says something as though it’s the Gospel, like the notion that colleges are need-blind, we’ll call them out in a heartbeat by countering their suggestions with a whole lot of common sense. After all, if colleges were truly need-blind, then why would so many ask on the supplements — which admissions officers can read with their own two eyes — if students need financial aid. Why would this information not be on a separate document that admissions officers can’t see? And, likewise, when an admissions officer tells it like it is, we’ll give them a megaphone so the truth can reach a wider audience.

Tulane University’s Jeff Schiffman, a Director of Undergraduate Admissions, has been a truth-teller for many years on the pages of his college admissions blog, the Tulane University Admission Blog. Schiffman, a former Tulane student himself, been writing the blog since 2007 and we believe the blog has been a wonderful source of advice to high school students applying to Tulane and other highly selective universities. And while he recently announced that he’ll be leaving Tulane for a position outside of academia, Tulane will be continuing their always insightful blog — just from a new page.

So, today, we salute Jeff Schiffman for all of his years writing about the admissions process at Tulane. We will miss his writing and candor but we wish him well in his new endeavors!