STUDENT-CENTERED SOLUTIONS FOR COLLEGE PLANNING

An important point to remember as you complete your college applications is that colleges to which you are applying don’t have to admit you just because you are a good candidate academically. Your academic record merely puts you on the competitive “playing field.” In order to gain admission, you need to give the decision-makers a reason to want to admit you.

It might be useful to think about the selection of an entering class as an exercise in social engineering. As they review candidates, admission officers are looking for opportunities to shape a new and interesting community of scholars. They scan hundreds—and in some cases, thousands—of academically qualified candidates to find those whom they value most for the communities they are building on their campuses. After acknowledging your academic competitiveness, they are likely to ask: “What do we get if we admit her? We know she is a good student but what will she bring to the community we are trying assemble?”

This phase of the application review process is critical to all but a few of the candidates who are truly academic superstars. If your credentials don’t put you in the latter category, you need to be mindful of other talents, interests or perspectives that might set you apart from your peers—“gifts,” if you will, that might put your candidacy over the top in a tight competition.

In preparing your applications for admission, then, remember that they are like personal statements in which you are saying, “This is who I am and what I have to offer.”

Bring your talent to life. If you are a musician, make a studio quality recording. Audition if you can. If you are an artist, attend portfolio days or assemble a collection of digital images of your work to submit with your application. This demonstration of talent will be required for entry into highly selective conservatory or specialty programs in the arts. It can also make the difference for you at schools that value the arts but are not pre-professionally oriented in those areas. You do not need to have professional aspirations as an artist, musician, actor or dancer—or even as a major in the arts—in order for your talent to give your credentials an added dimension or, possibly, a competitive edge, in the selective admission process.

If you are an athlete, make sure your high school coach provides a good introduction or “scouting report” for the college coaches that might be interested in recruiting you. Be prepared to submit one or two game “films.” In doing so, resist the temptation to put together a highlight reel! Much as recruiting coaches want to see your skills, they also want to see what you do when you are not in the middle of the action. Posting carefully edited clips of your play on YouTube or through recruiting services probably won’t carry as much weight as you might imagine. The truth is, most recruiting coaches will not make a serious commitment to recruiting you unless they have seen you play.

By demonstrating your talents in this way, you go beyond the listing of activities and achievements on your application to reveal the nuances of tone and texture that distinguish your candidacy from the rest of the competition. More importantly, you give admission officers reasons to want to admit you because they value you for what you do well.

A critical element of just about every application is the student’s ability to bring clarity to the interpretation of his/her academic record. In other words, when there are irregularities in a student’s program and/or performance, s/he has a “story” to tell. The context for such stories, or explanations, often rests in factors that are beyond the student’s control, i.e., injury, illness, family moves, parental difficulties, etc. In the absence of explanations, though, admission officers must guess about the circumstances—and that rarely bodes well for the candidate, as admission folks are more often cynical than charitable in their assessments!

A circumstance frequently raised in this regard is that relating to a student’s documented learning difference. Specifically, families often wonder if or how the presence of “Individual Educational Plans” (IEPs) in the student’s academic experience should be conveyed in the application for admission without prejudicing the candidacy. While there are few solutions that fit every situation, it is important to consider the manner in which information is shared with the institution relative to the student’s candidacy for admission and, separately, as it relates to securing necessary support for the student once enrolled.

In terms of admission, I would err on the side of meaningful disclosure. Eliminate the guesswork for the reader. Give the admission officers who review your credentials the full picture so they can make a balanced and informed assessment. Places that value you for what you have to offer will try to find ways to admit and support you. Providing an awareness of a learning difference for which you are compensating may give them greater confidence in their respective abilities to help you find success.

That said, it is entirely possible that some schools will be averse to taking on a known learning difference. Frankly, there is no sense in worrying about that possibility. Think about it. By choosing not to disclose in light of irregularities, you force admission officers to draw their own conclusions—and that will rarely work to your advantage. If, per chance, you are admitted, do you really want to end up at a school that would otherwise have discriminated against you had you disclosed the learning difference? Do you think it will be any easier to secure accommodations in such an environment?

Speaking of accommodations, you can’t count on the admission office to pass along the documentation of academic support needs to the appropriate folks on its campus. While such information might indeed be passed along on a “need to know” basis, it is routinely purged from applicant files (in the spirit of confidentiality) after a student makes the decision to enroll.

Regardless, plan to present documentation of your learning difference and the need for support to the counseling center/disability office after you have enrolled. Don’t assume the information was passed along by the admission office—and, even if it was, don’t assume that the institution will automatically make accommodations for you.

Allen Tinkler is an educational consultant who has counseled many students with learning differences through the transition to college. He observes that, “One of the biggest errors kids/ families make…is the assumption that just because the documentation was sent, whether to admissions or to disability support services, the college will provide accommodations and services. This is not true. The student must self-identify and go through some kind of intake interview, discuss accommodations requested and learn the procedures at the college. This is done with CURRENT, COMPLETE and APPROPRIATE documentation.”

Allen further observes, and I agree wholeheartedly, that students need to learn to be “strong self-advocates.” At his former school, “each student with an IEP or 504 plan was given a complete set of documentation at a final meeting with parents present and instructed that it was now up to them to take the responsibility for acquiring accommodations at college. They were instructed that, sometime between the distribution of those papers and the beginning of classes at college, they needed to contact the disability coordinator, present themselves and their papers. We were literally passing the baton over to them.”

Ownership and the assumption of personal responsibility are vital to your success in all aspects of life. This is especially true if support for a learning difference is a part of your reality as you begin the transition to college. Make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure your success as you move forward.

In my last posting, I reviewed the relevance of letters of recommendation in the college application process. The following are five tips for securing letters of recommendation that can help strengthen the overall presentation of your applications.

1. Choose teachers who know what you can do—the teachers who push you and don’t let you settle for “good enough.” They are the folks who are more likely to be invested in your long-term success. Contrary to popular belief, your most insightful supporter may not be the teacher regarded as the most popular. Generally speaking, at least one of your recommenders should be someone who is familiar with your critical thinking and communication skills.
2. Give your counselor and teachers the courtesy of time to think about and prepare a letter of recommendation for you. If you are a high school Senior and still have not asked folks to write on your behalf, do it now! Extend the same consideration (time, access to information) you would want if confronted by a writing assignment that accounts for most of your grade in a class.
3. Meet with your recommenders. Talk with them about why college is important to you. Share your dreams and ambitions. Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. If there are factors beyond your control that have influenced your ability to perform as you would have liked, make sure your recommenders are sufficiently informed so they can help you tell your “story.” In short, give them the necessary information and insight so they can write well-balanced letters on your behalf.
4. Share a resume of your activities and achievements. Don’t assume that they know the important details of your life experiences. Help them “connect the dots.” While your teachers know you well from your work in their respective classrooms, they may not have the benefit of the “big picture” that defines you.
5. Provide stories and anecdotes. Give your recommenders the “color commentary” as it relates to your academic and relevant life experiences that will enable them to give depth and energy to their assessments. Just as you want your essays to be engaging and “readable,” you should do what you can to ensure that the letters of recommendation submitted on your behalf engage the reader with the essence of your personality.
6. Provide a list of your application deadlines and the forms (either the hard copies or the links to online forms) used by each of your colleges for letters of recommendation. While your recommenders may elect to produce letters on their own stationery, they will still benefit by being able to respond to the guidelines and information requests provided by the colleges to which you are applying. As a courtesy, provide pre-addressed and stamped envelopes to those who intend to submit their letters via snail mail.

When you ask a teacher or counselor to write on your behalf, you will be able to waive your right of access to that letter. Do it. Your recommenders need to be able to provide complete and balanced perspectives without having to worry about how you or your parents will react to what they have written. If your recommenders are concerned about being second-guessed in any way, they will be less inclined to share the kind of information that is useful to admission officers in the credential review.
Give them some space and trust they will act in your best interests. The people you have chosen for this task are your strongest supporters and want to see you do well.

As students begin focusing on the details of their college applications, it seems many have unresolved questions regarding strategies for selecting the “right” teachers for the task of writing recommendations. Quite a few also want to know the potential benefit of securing letters from personalities outside of the school to write letters on their behalf.

First, let’s take a look at how and where letters of recommendation fit in the admission process. They are important to admission officers because they provide contextual interpretation for your academic performance. Writers share critical insight into your work habits and learning style as well as your ability to respond to challenges or setbacks. They can help explain irregularities in your academic program and/or performance and shed light into key factors that define your learning environment.

So, who should you choose to write your letters? The people best positioned to support your application are those who know you well from your recent work in the classroom. They are familiar with your intellectual abilities and academic skills. They have watched you respond to a range of challenges academically and understand your capacity and desire to learn. They are your teachers, counselors and advisors—they are your champions.

It is important to remember that teachers have vested interests in your success. Over the course of their careers, they take great satisfaction in seeing their students do well beyond high school. They truly want to see you achieve your goals. It is your job, then, to engage them in a manner that allows them to help you to find that success. Let them help you tell your story.

In approaching people for letters of support, you need to remember that, despite their daily interactions with you in class or at practice, they possess little knowledge about your life beyond. You do them a big favor by providing anecdotes and insights they can use to flesh out their letters on your behalf. I’ll talk more about this in next week’s blog.

Finally, you may find it useful to involve as recommenders people from the community who provide perspectives that validate your out-of-classroom experiences. For example, a letter from a private music teacher who attests to your diligent preparation, ability to perform under pressure, and determination to compete at a certain level will cast your private music study in more substantive light. Similarly, the coordinator of a local homeless shelter can testify to your selflessness and generosity and an employer can attest to your responsibility on the job.

Resist the temptation, however, to collect letters of recommendation from important people in the community whose sole contribution will be to say nice things about you and your family. Before asking clergy, politicians, well-connected family friends, or other prominent citizens for recommendations, ask yourself, “What is it that this person can say about me that my teachers and counselor will not already have said?” If the individual can shed personal insight into the way you approach your work, interact with others, or react to setbacks, the letter might be helpful. Otherwise, it just adds to the weight of your file.

The college admission process is right around the corner. For many would-be college applicants, the next three months represent a critical staging period as they prepare their applications for admission. In the coming weeks I will use this space to provide guidance to students as they assemble their applications that will put them in the most competitive position possible. My objective: give them the tools and insight necessary to compete for admission at the schools that fit them best.

An important preamble to this discussion involves the question of ownership. Specifically, who is going to manage this process?

On the surface, the answer seems clear. The student should manage the process. After all, it is the student who is going to college. It is the student who will be committing to four years of new educational and social experiences. And it is the student who will be setting out on this new adventure in an environment set apart from everything that she has known thus far in life.

Yet, quite often as I watch families engage in college planning and listen to their conversations, the student’s voice is noticeably absent. While parents talk excitedly about colleges “we’ve been hearing from” and the campuses “we have visited” with the conclusion that “we’re leaning toward XYZ college,” students shrink to the background. In this “committee of we,” they have become spectators. Rather than making the things happen, they are resigned to allowing things to happen to them.

As a result, I find it enlightening—and instructive—to talk with the students without their parents present. I want to hear, in their voices, the perspective they have to give to their life experiences. It is good to hear about their joys and concerns as well as their aspirations as they contemplate an uncertain future. More importantly, it is good for them to hear their own voices on matters of such importance in their lives.

The choice of a college is intensely personal. Making that choice or, should I say, making a good choice requires the engaged involvement of the person who will be most affected. It requires reflection, careful analysis, an attention to detail and a voice that speaks of ownership—all of which will power the decision-making process. It may be tempting for parents to simply charge ahead and manage the college application process in light of the student’s relative lack of experience and/or the inevitably burdensome workload their student will encounter during the school year. When that happens, however, the student’s voice is lost.

There is something to be said, then, for a partnered approach—an approach in which students are supported as they take ownership. This might be challenging for parents who are accustomed to taking the lead all the time. On the other hand, it is a good time (and opportunity) to begin vesting responsibility in the emerging young adult. While the short-term efforts (and outcomes) may be maddeningly erratic, the long-term benefits will be undeniable. By learning to take ownership of the process, including all of the potential frustrations and disappointments, the student will also find much greater satisfaction in the successes.

Finding the student’s voice and encouraging its emergence is an underlying premise of student-centered college planning. It is at the core of my live programming and it frames my approach to the one-on-one discussions I have with students. It is my intent to empower them with insight about college admission as well as with self-awareness and confidence that will carry them through the college planning process.

To learn more about student-centered college planning, check out The College Planning Workbook in the TAG Bookstore. This interactive resource walks students through the application process with a range of hands-on exercises and includes a chart entitled “Whose Job Is It Anyway?” The fourth edition of the Workbook ($20) will be available for shipment in September. Order by August 31, however, to reserve your copy for $15.

Guest blog by Jon Reider, Director of College Counseling, San Francisco University High School, San Francisco, CA
(Reider writes in response to discussion about the suggested essay word count on the Common Application.)

Probably the most famous speech in American history, “The Gettysburg Address,” is 187 words. Would that make a good college application essay? Would you encourage Lincoln to pad it out with more examples? Historical accounts of the speech frequently remark that the preceding speaker, Edward Everett Hale, one of the great orators of the time, spoke for two hours. But nobody remembers what he said. Virgil wrote in iambic pentameter, surely a constraining challenge. Shakespeare adhered to the 14-line sonnet form. Throwing strikes is hard, I am told. Structure and discipline can just as easily produce great writing or great pitching as inhibit it. No, you don’t have to remind me that the typical high school senior is not Shakespeare or Sandy Koufax.

Good writing is succinct. Yes, Faulkner, Henry James, Dickens, Cervantes, and Fielding wrote wonderful, long books. How many of you have Henry James lined up to read this summer? Every writer is constrained by length. Every journalist has a limit on their copy. Almost every college supplement has a word limit. Some colleges want an answer of just 25, 50, 200, or 250 words. How do they decide on that boundary? Basically, they don’t want to read too much. Not necessary and not enough time. Kids manage. Brief writing is hard. Mark Twain said, “If I had more time, I would write a shorter story.”

Why is the desired standard length 500 words? Who decided that? I don’t know, but I suspect it had to do with an estimate of how many words, in normal size type, would fit on a single page, back in the days when essays were typed onto an actual piece of paper and read by someone who wanted to read just a full page and nothing more.

Now, in the electronic age, there is no such thing as an actual page, and 500 words seems arbitrary, and to some, it seems, insufficient to be fully expressive. Any number is arbitrary. There is no reason a classic sonnet HAS to be 14 lines. It just is.

I remember reading those essays, each one mind-numbingly similar to the one before. 500 words is enough to make your point and for the reader to decide if you have something to say. The University of California allows only 1000 for two essays, and I can’t remember anyone complaining that they couldn’t work within that limit. The UCAS (British application process) essay and counselor’s letter are strictly limited in length. It’s actually a relief to have a space limitation for that letter.

500 words will take some work for many kids. That might be a good thing. Not to be overly utopian, but it might be the best thing for student writing since the evolution of the opposable thumb. Students will have to choose their words carefully, delete (almost) every use of the passive voice and the words ‘very’, ‘basic’, and ‘the fact that’. Every student and adult should read Chapter Two, “Elementary Principles of Composition,” of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, especially the section titled, “Omit Needless Words.”

The complaints about even an implied or suggested limit, which is all the Common App is doing, ignore that the essay process should encourage good writing, and good writing is, by definition, brief.

Having talked with a fair number of rising high school seniors over the last six weeks, I am coming to the conclusion that these can be the “dog days” of the college application process. This is especially true for those who have identified target schools and are beginning to grapple with their essay assignments!

If this sounds like you, the good news is you recognize the need to be thinking and acting upon your college applications in a timely manner. That recognition, however, doesn’t lessen the anxious avoidance you experience—or the nights of fitful sleep—or the extended periods of time you spend staring at an unresponsive keyboard! The words and the critical messages they convey will not materialize out of thin air. You can’t will a good essay to completion!

The following suggestions are offered, then, to help you work through the creative blues to points of clarity, if not inspiration, as you get started in the essay writing process.

1. Resist the temptation to buy the “best college essays” book. It will only contribute to the “paralysis by analysis” you are experiencing. The essays you will find in those books are not only well-written, but they also fit the context of someone else’s life story. Instead, focus on your own storyline.
2. Identify key themes and/or messages you want to convey. Are there two or three things you want to make sure the readers of your application know about you? In answering this question, go beyond the obvious. Don’t restate information that can be found elsewhere in your application. This is your opportunity to provide insight and interpretation. Coming to grips with the objective of your message will help you find the most effective form for presenting it.
3. Reflect on your most memorable life experiences. How have they shaped you? I know a group of students who just returned from a two-week tour of Europe. They came home with great pictures and wonderful stories. Two years from now when they begin writing their college applications, they should reflect less on where they went and what they saw—and more on how some aspect of the experience changed them.
4. Find the story within the story. Quite often, metaphors are effective in framing key messages in college application essays. If you have identified themes or messages to be conveyed in your application, think about vignettes or moments of revelation or clarity that speak to the bigger picture of your developing perspective. What were you feeling at the time? How did you react? What has been the impact of that experience on how you see yourself in the world?
5. Reveal—don’t tell. You should be getting the impression that it is best not to recite the facts of your life. Instead, take the reader between the lines to understand you, as a thinking person, better. This is your opportunity to reveal the depth and breath of your life experiences that can be found within you.
6. Keep a pen/pencil and paper beside your bed. You may wrack your brain all day trying to come up with clever ideas but invariably the best stuff emerges in those hazy, subconscious moments just before you drift off to sleep! If you can, push back the sleep long enough to jot down your new inspirations.
7. Read-a lot! Quite often, essay writers are consumed with a myopia that limits their ability to understand their place in the world in which they live. Break out of the “box” by reading news stories and editorials. Better yet, read books that make you think. Biographies can be great sources, too! I have found increasing inspiration from the life stories of people who have risen from relative obscurity to make significant contributions as thinkers and doers. Contact me if you would like some book ideas: Peter@TheAdmissionGame.com
8. Take advantage of the time you are giving yourself. Resist the temptation to write a college essay in a single draft. Good writing—and editing—is a process. Manage it well to your advantage!

Finally, be honest about your effort. One of the most effective collaborators on my early writing projects was my dad. He would look over an essay and hand it back to me with the simple observation, “You’re not going to hand it in that way, are you?”

While he was happy to go over things I had written with me, he wouldn’t do the thinking or writing for me. He knew that I knew I could do a better job and he was willing to help me if I was truly interested in helping myself! Help yourself, then, and don’t settle for “good enough.” Rather, invest the extra time and effort it takes to produce great results.

If you are 16-17 years old and you don’t know what you want to do for the rest of your life, you are—NORMAL!

I see a lot of evidence that students are hung up on the college search process because they don’t know what they want to do—as though having a major (and a career) all sorted out is a prerequisite to going to college! Guess again. Figuring out your direction in life is what a college education should do for you!

While it is easy to understand that families want some tangible evidence of their likely “return” on dollars invested in education, the reality is that most kids simply aren’t ready or well enough informed to make career decisions when they are seventeen! If you are contemplating your college options, consider these statistics:

• You will probably change your major in college! Most students (about 65%) change their minds about their majors at least once while they are in college. Half of them change their minds twice.
• Many colleges report that 80-90% of the people who graduated more than 25 years ago are now in careers that did not exist when they graduated.
• About 85% of the parents I survey indicate they are no longer in the careers they intended to pursue when they were 18 years old!

What does this say about the importance of “knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life” before you start college? Hopefully, the data gives you pause and allows you to relax. It also reinforces the need to find colleges that fit you best.

Look into colleges that offer strong programs that meet your needs. The good news is that there are hundreds of great places that welcome students who are undecided about their futures! These are the same places that produce doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, accountants, curators and business executives from among the thousands of undecided students who enter their doors each year.

So, if you are still searching for some direction, don’t worry. You’re normal. It’s difficult to know at any age what you’ll do for the rest of your life, so relax. Seize the opportunity to explore. Turn your indecision into an opportunity that opens doors to learning at colleges that fit you well. Moreover, know that you’ve got a lot of time to figure out what the rest of your life will look like.

Take advantage of your college years to become educated about a lot of things including yourself and the world around you. In doing so, learn how to learn. Even if you have pretty firm ideas about a career, your ability to process information and think critically will put you in good stead wherever you might find yourself in life.

Finally, if you want to have some fun, ask your parents to talk about their career aspirations when they were your age. The odds are they had vastly different ideas back then about what they would be doing at this point in their lives! Find out what influenced their thinking if and when they discovered new interests. What, if any, changes would they make? Just as most people of your parent’s generation followed pathways to success that they couldn’t imagine when they were your age, you need to be flexible in finding and following your path. A good college “fit,” then, is one that will encourage you in this direction.