From admissions advice to little-known facts about Siena, we love covering the topics in our blog that we know you want to read. Just like we did for our most popular news stories from 2016, we thought we'd round up our most popular blog posts from this year as well, in case you missed any. Click on the titles to see the full posts!

A sincere thanks to everyone in Siena's community who once again helped us live out another fantastic year here in Loudonville, NY. There's no question that 2016 was filled with incredible times and memories we won't soon forget—and we can't wait to see what 2017 brings. In the meantime, from Siena's family to yours, have a very merry Christmas! 

College always takes an adjustment period, but sometimes you just know if a place isn’t for you. Thinking about switching schools? We recommend syncing up with a transfer admissions counselor at the college you're considering to make sure you get all the answers you need. Here are some questions to ask.

If  you didn't already know, this year we made the essay on our application optional. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should absolutely skip it over. Our admissions team has a few suggestions for why you may or may not want to consider writing it.

Wherever you're spending this Thanksgiving, we wish you a happy holiday surrounded by family and friends. And we'll leave you with one of our favorite quotes from St. Francis of Assisi to think about around the table this year: "For it is in giving that we receive." 

We hear from students often that contacting an admissions counselor feels like a risky move. But at others, like Siena, not only is it totally okay to contact us, we wish you would! Not sure if you should reach out? Here are 10 instances that are worthy of a call or email (at least at Siena).

One quick look at this long list of blog post titles and it's easy to see that we love dispensing college advice, straight from our admissions team. But every now and then, we like to branch out of Siena and tap other admissions consultants, college counselors and others for their best admissions tips to share with you. Here's our latest roundup (including advice from a Shark Tank contestant!).

For many schools, you don’t have to wait as long as you think to find out if you’d get in. As long as they offer an Early Action option, like Siena does, you can speed up the process by submitting your application (usually in November) to receive a priority review. Not sure if you should strive for that early deadline? Here are five reasons why we think Early Action is a smart move.

Fall is prime time for college campus visits, which as you probably already know, we're a huge believer in when it comes to deciding where you'll be the happiest. Got your list of tour dates all set? Here's a list of our 15 best tips for getting the most out of each stop. 

This year's Open Houses at Siena College are scheduled for October 9 and November 6, and we couldn't be more pumped to get the parties going. Yes, parties. At Siena, that's how we treat admissions events—with careful planning, unique details and the goal of always outdoing last year's events.