Weekly Column Patrick OConnor College Admissions: It's Not A Safety School if It's Not You
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To Sheila, it seemed like the perfect safety school. It had the program she wanted, she was well above the college’s average GPA and test scores, and she liked the college’s reputation for an above average social life. Even though she was admitted to one of her first choice colleges, the Plan B school hit the A list when she was offered a large merit scholarship and an invitation to join the school’s The romance lasted one year. Halfway into the second semester, she realized she was already taking junior-level classes in the university’s Around the same time, she realized there was only so much partying she needed in her life, which was much less than her fellow students needed. She had a thoughtful conversation with her parents, finished the semester, and transferred to the first choice college she’d been admitted to the year before. What lessons did Sheila learn that could help you? Simple: There’s no such thing as a Plan B school. Sheila didn’t give a single thought to the social lives of the other colleges she applied to, but it was one of the main reasons she applied to the college she attended—and that change should have been the wake-up call that this wasn’t the college for her. You definitely need to apply to at least one college where your chances of admission are strong, but that doesn’t mean you’re looking for a different kind of college. Keep the same criteria, and make them all first choice colleges. Look past the labels. Honors colleges, residential programs, and learning-living communities offer smaller classes, which are generally a plus—but they also offer fewer classes, which can be a minus. If AP credits or placement exams take half the limited choices off the table, that makes college less of a learning experience, and more of a hep community with lots of people your age that’s interrupted by the need to go to class once in a while. College is about living AND learning—make sure you’ll get the chance to do both. Turn off the disco ball in your head. Merit scholarships and junior-level placements can be real ego boosters (and can sure help cash-strapped parents), but if the college just isn’t you, it’s like paying half-price for a pair of jeans you’ll never wear. If April finds you thinking about a school you didn’t pay much attention to six months ago, you MUST visit the campus again. Pull out the list of what you wanted in a school, and view the campus clearly; it’s cool if your priorities have changed in a school because you’re a different person now, but it’s not cool if you need to change the person you are because of the priorities of the school. Look. Listen to your counselor. No disrespect to Sheila, but I told her family to do these things, and they blew me off. We may be older, we may drive ugly cars, and our hair isn’t what it used to be, but our job is to guide you around the landmines of college selection—and we are very good at it. Let us help you.
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