Weekly Column Tag: college admissions
Tag: college admissions
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Another group of admission representatives from highly selective colleges were in my hometown last week to talk with students and parents about their schools. They also had a breakfast meeting with counselors, and their responses to questions about the application process have a little something for every member of a college-bound family: Supplemental essays are the game-changers. We’ve talked before about the Common Application, where students fill out their name and class schedule just once, saving time and avoiding repetition. Hundreds of colleges welcome Common App, but almost every college asks you to submit an extra essay or two (or three) you’re supposed to write just for them… …and it seems this is where things begin to go badly in a hurry. Many students are putting very little thought into these essays, which can include questions like “What makes our college different from the other colleges you’re applying to?” Since the essays are much more important than your address (they assume you’ve got that answer down), you really want to make these answers count. So don’t spend 30 seconds on the college Web site and answer “Your mascot is a marsupial, and the other colleges have mammals.” You have to take the time to think about why this college is special to you; when essay time comes, come back and find out how this is done. Talking to your BFFs? I think not. The reps were also dismayed at the very revealing content of many of the essays. As a group, these admissions officers were young, so they know all about Tweeting, IMing, and News Feeding—but they also know a college essay isn’t the place to talk about what you did in the high school parking lot after homecoming, har har har. Yes, you are indeed supposed to use your own voice and be yourself in a college essay,-- but use that voice to share your vision of solving a world problem, or a life lesson you learned that isn’t R rated. Be you, but be your best you—and that’s “you”, not “u”. LOL. Write with a brainy heart, not a hearty brain. The reps also had a word for students who think they can smooth talk their way into a college by getting “help’ with their essays, or buying them online: “Sorry.” It’s one thing to have someone proofread your essays, or to ask an English teacher to tell you if the essay sounds like you. Downloading a “winning essay” and retro-fitting it, or getting someone else to give your essay a boost creates an admissions file that’s inconsistent, immoral, and just too slick for a high school student. So write your own stuff, and share your thoughts and feelings with a reasonable amount of restraint. How will they know the difference? As one rep said, “We’re savvy, too.” “Let the kids drive.” This is the advice one rep gave to parents about the admissions process, and it’s perfect. A student admitted to a highly selective college will have to have a strong set of skills to make it through the next four years. The college application process test drives these skills—time management, written and oral communication, research, stress management—and just like driver’s ed, Mom and Dad can’t take the wheel, or the student could crash once they’re really on their own. Applying to college may be a new experience for a student, but the only way they get better at those skills is with a lot of practice and a little parental help, not the other way around.
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A recent column talked about when and if you should take the SAT or ACT a second time (the short answer was yes, but read the whole column, since it’s still up). In addition, a ton of wrong information is out and about on these tests that could cost you more money that front row seats at the Eminem/Jay-Z joint concert at Harwell Field in Detroit, and cost you more sleep than the folks who live next to Harwell Field are going to lose that very same night. In the interest of setting the record straight (get it—Eminem? Jay-Z? Record?), here’s the info on the tests—read on to make sure you’re Not Afraid: Every college that requires testing will accept the SAT and the ACT. There used to be a time when colleges on the coasts only took the SAT, and all the Many colleges are test optional. Another change in the past three years is the number of colleges that don’t require any testing at all. Many of these colleges see the test as one more stresser you just don’t need, or a piece of information that just doesn’t tell them all that much So if you want to send your scores, cool; if not, equally James. A partial list of these schools can be found at www.fairtest.org; you’ll notice Send the scores before you see them. This is the big issue that would make Doctor Evil pull his hair out if he were a school counselor—and if he had hair. ACT and SAT will send your scores to as many as four colleges at no extra charge, as long as you tell them where to send the scores before you actually take the test. If you wait to send the scores after you get them, it costs you at least $9 per college, and sometimes more. My advice? Save the dough, and send the scores for free. “But dude” says you, “what if I score badly? I don’t want a college to hold bad scores against me!” I get that—and the answer is they won’t, even if you send them bad scores. After talking to a lot of colleges and hobnobbing with my fellow school counselors, I can tell you I know of no college that sees a high ACT score and a low ACT score and uses the low scores in their decision. In fact, some colleges have computer systems that only let the admissions officials see your best scores, and other colleges will “superscore” your results by taking the best sub-scores of each test and putting them together. Not every college has these services, so ask—but even if they don’t, you won’t find a school where bad scores are used in a decision. You need to do your best on the tests, but don’t let them get the best of you—that’s the secret to test success beyond a Reasonable Doubt.
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It was mid-April, and Maura was just about to send in her enrollment deposit at the college of her choice. It hadn’t been the first choice on her list, but the financial aid package was considerably better than the offer that was made at her top choice school. This would leave more money for graduate school—and besides, a second trip to campus convinced her she could be happy and successful there. Maura took her deposit check to her mailbox, only to discover the mail had come early that day. She flipped through the mail on her way up the driveway and discovered a letter from the financial aid office at her top choice school. “We’re glad you’re still considering us” the letter read, “and we wanted to let you know we found another $3000 in annual grant money for you. Please let us know if you have any questions, and we look forward to seeing you in the fall.” Maura ran back to the mailbox and texted her father to tell him the good news. While this may sound like the best dream you could have that doesn’t involve front row seats at a Lady Gaga concert, students had experiences similar to this one last year with their eyes wide open. For reasons that can’t be explained, many colleges sent out letters in the midst of decision month to admitted students who hadn’t sent in their deposits that said “hey, we just ripped open the mattress, and look what we found!” The economy was tough, there were more than enough students to go around, yet Santa came early to these seniors, and proved to be a game changer. Since it happened last year, is it likely to happen this year? It’s hard to say—and that’s the problem. On the one hand, seniors are getting phone calls every night from well-meaning students saying “Hope you’ll join us”; on the other hand, families who know about last year’s mystery money are telling students to hold on and see what happens, thinking colleges will court them like presidential candidates schmooze undecided voters on Halloween—except of course, the students get cash, while the voters don’t. Since we can’t tell which colleges might be offering incentives to which students, families should consider two things. First, if you’re in Maura’s shoes, call your first choice college and tell them they’re it, but the money situation is tight—this isn’t bargaining as much as it’s being honest. While last year’s bonus bucks came to students out of the blue, many more students got increased aid by simply asking for it—so that might be worth a try. Second, read your admission information carefully. It’s true you have until May 1 to deposit at 1—and only one—college, but some colleges engage in the shady practice of giving better housing and top dibs for class registration to students who deposit before then. That’s violating the spirit of the May 1 deadline, but it’s still being done, and that could leave you with five 8 AM classes next fall, and having Mr. Ed as your roommate. If your college is offering these “bonuses”, call them to see if they have more aid for you, and go from there. If another college calls with more money before May 1, you can always cancel your deposit at School A, but you might not get it back. The windfall for last year’s undecided students makes this April an even crueler month—take a close look at your options, then make your best call.
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Students, parents and school counselors are still spinning from a week of college news that surprised even the most cautious college watchers. Thin envelopes, noisy e-mails, and overworked Web sites have left a cloud of data and decisions that ask two questions—what happened, and what’s next? First, a look at what happened:
What does all of this mean? Three things:
If you have many college acceptances, congratulations! In addition to reviewing the financial aid offers from these colleges, review your notes from when you visited these colleges to help make your decision. If possible, visit these campuses a second time between now and May 1. It’s been at least three months since you applied, and five months or more since you visited. You may have different interests now than you did last fall, or you may see the college a different way. There’s a big difference between “I hope I’m admitted here” and “Do I want to go here?” Make sure you’re answering the right question, now that they’ve said yes. If you’ve been waitlisted, ask yourself if you’d still want to go to this college if they called today and said “Yo, our bad—you can come.” If the shine is off this college, take your name off the list and move on. If not, send back the postcard with a brief, updated list of all you’ve done since you applied, see if a teacher can write another letter, and be prepared to wait until late June for the college to run through the wait list, knowing financial aid may be limited at that point. Of course, be sure to deposit at another college by May 1st, just in case. In a year of surprises, there are sure to be more to come. For now, find a quiet place to focus on what matters most to you—the answers on what to do next will fall in place.
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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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The smoke is finally clearing from Early Notification Week, when students who applied Early Action or Early Decision heard the news from many of their colleges. Students and counselors are reporting a record number of deferrals this year, where colleges wait until winter to make a decision on the student’s application. I know—you applied early because you wanted to hear early, choose a college, and get back to the business of being a high school senior, and suddenly the decision you thought would be over one way or another, isn’t. That’s not especially soothing… … but on the other hand, it’s pretty cool. A dozen years ago, almost all early applicants were either admitted or deferred, but no longer—at most colleges, an early applicant who wouldn’t be successful at that college is now being told no in December. That means if you were deferred this year, the college sees some potential in your application… …now, you just need to build on it. Most deferral letters asked students to submit seventh semester grades; now that those requests have been passed along to school counselors, most students think there’s nothing left to do but sit and wait—and they would be wrong. First, if the college wants to see your grades, they’d better be your rockin’ best—so focus your neurons on something besides DJ Hero 94 and figure out what you can do to make your grades sparkle. If you’re still in school, this means making the rounds with your teachers to ask if extra credit or make-up work is possible. I’m not trying to go all Ebenezer on you, but there’s bound to be some down time around the 28th or 29th where an hour or two of school time can send you on a trip to A Land. If the college that said “show me something” means anything to you, it’s worth the effort. Second, unless the college says otherwise (like MIT, who only wants to hear from you once), you should write a letter back to the college now to tell them about all the great things you’ve been up to since you sent your application in. This is a small way to demonstrate continued interest in the school, but it’s big enough to separate you from the students who won’t write anything at all. Don’t feel obliged to make stuff up (“It was an honor to accept the Nobel Prize on the President’s behalf”), but don’t be shy--and speak from the heart. Third, this is no time to pine—and I’m not talking about your Kwanzaanukahmas tree here. A record number of students are applying to college this year, and a higher percentage of those applied early—that overwhelmed the colleges. If you were hoping one person would ask you to the New Year’s dance, and thirteen people popped the question, you’d want some space to sort things out, right? Colleges are no different—it’s a banner year, and they want things to work out in the best possible way for everyone. Time—and your continued communication with them—will help them do that. It’s hard not to take “tell me more” personally, but if you see this is more about the college than about you, the best thing to do is to give them exactly what they want—more of the very best you that you can offer. Jump at the chance; be clear, smoke your grades, don’t go crazy, keep the big picture in mind, and the next leg of your college journey will be sweeter than walking in a winter wonderland.
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