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.

In my February 23 blog, “Senior Year Course Selections that Make a Difference,” I wrote about the importance of making appropriate course selections for the Senior year. The basic message was this: “Take courses that present reasonable challenges for you academically, do well in them and choose colleges that value you for your efforts.”

The following are questions I have received since that might speak to issues you are confronting.

Question #1: “If I know that I don’t want to pursue sciences in college, would it be okay to drop science (probably AP Physics)? I have gotten B+’s in science so far but I have to work real hard in those classes to get the grade.”

Answer: The answer depends on two things: the course you plan to take in place of the science course you are dropping, and the colleges to which you want to apply. As a rule, it is best to replace a dropped course with another that would provide the same level of challenge. Generally speaking, dropping AP Physics for a survey course in government or economics won’t reflect well on you.

That said admission officers at highly selective schools are watching to see what you do when you think the pressure is “off”—when you don’ think you have to push yourself any longer. They’re looking for the slightest reasons to turn students down. Dropping the science course without adding a suitable replacement gives them a reason to say “no.” Less selective schools, on the other hand, are not likely to view your course selection as critically.

Question #2: “How do colleges feel about online courses?”

Answer: Admission officers are accustomed to seeing a range of academic experiences as the range of educational opportunities available to students continues to grow beyond the traditional classroom. This is true not only of online courses but dual degree coursework and college courses offered (for college credit) on high school campuses.

Documentation is important, as you want to eliminate the guesswork that is otherwise bound to emerge in evaluating your credentials. If you plan to submit grades achieved in a “non-traditional” high school classroom setting, make sure your application includes a description of the course, a syllabus (if possible) and information about the accreditation of the school or program from which you received the grade.

Question #3: “I am taking AP Calculus AB as a Junior and our school doesn’t offer any higher level math classes. What should I do next year?”

Answer: If you like and do well in math, you might explore advanced coursework at local colleges. This is especially true if you are considering math/science/engineering academic tracks in college, as you will need to demonstrate proficiency at the highest levels possible in math when you apply for admission. In that case, proceeding without math next year will be problematic.

If math is not central to your future academic directions, then you may have more latitude within your school’s curriculum. For example, statistics is a highly utilitarian course and an Honors or AP Stats class could prove to be very useful regardless of your intended major.

The selectivity of the colleges under consideration comes into play when it comes to substituting courses. If you are considering more selective schools, it is better to replace rigor in one discipline with similar rigor in another.

Question #4: “My problem is that AP Spanish conflicts with orchestra next year. I have played the cello forever and am first chair. I hate to give it up. Will it hurt me if I drop Spanish to stick with orchestra?”

Answer: Believe it or not, this is a fairly common dilemma for students who are accomplished in the performing arts. In most cases, dropping a high level academic course to continue involvement with orchestra (in this case) will not hurt your competitiveness IF you explain the situation in your application (in an interview or note attached to your application). You might also explore the potential to take the AP Spanish class online or at a local college. Regardless, you need to make sure college advisor corroborates your explanation.

Question #5: “My daughter is planning to take three APs and two honors courses next year. I’m concerned that it might be too much with all of her other activities and the stress of the application process on top of it. Should I encourage her to switch from AP English Literature to an honors course instead?”

Answer: Remember my earlier advice: It’s important to step up academically. While the senior year should be fun and memorable, there is every reason to believe it should be challenging as well. At many colleges, especially those that can be very selective, admission officers are watching to see how talented students respond to the challenge. My advice is to let her follow her instincts. If she believes she can handle the challenge, she should go for it!

Final note to students: Each of these questions, as well as others like them, might also be directed to the persons on the admission staffs at schools of interest to you. Those persons can be key resources as you look for information and/or guidance in anticipation of the application process. Articulate your question in a brief email and see what happens. If you receive a thoughtful response you will have gained the information you need and you will have begun a conversation—and a relationship—with someone who will likely review your application at some point.

As high school Juniors engage in course selections for the Senior year, they invariably come to a question that sounds like this: “Is it better for me to take a course where I know I can get an “A” or should I take a harder course and risk getting a lower grade?” The answer is threefold:

1. Step up to courses that present reasonable challenges to you academically. You know better than anyone your capacity to get work done. Find ways to push that capacity.
2. Do as well as you can—not “good enough”—in those courses and, then,
3. Look for colleges that will value you for what you have achieved and for the trajectory of your performance curve.

Let’s take a look at the question from the perspective of the admission committee and what colleges want to see from you academically. Generally speaking, the harder it is to get into a college the greater is the likelihood that its admission officers will be checking to see if you are continuing to stretch yourself academically. Because they are choosing from among thousands of well-qualified candidates, they can afford to use the strength of an academic program as a competitive credential or “filter” in deciding whom to admit.

Here’s another way to think about it. If highly selective colleges know that they are setting the competitive “bar” at a certain level in their own classrooms, they will be looking at your record to find evidence that you are prepared to meet that “bar.” What confidence do you give them in your ability to do so if you have chosen to compete at a comfortably lower level in high school?

That doesn’t mean you should register for every high level course you can get into. Rather, you need to know your capacity to tackle challenges and make a conscious effort to move to the next logical level of rigor for you in each academic discipline. Don’t over-reach your capacity! The key is to focus on colleges that will value you for your experience in those courses.

Regardless, wherever you go to college you are likely to find academic expectations that exceed any you encountered in high school. If you have continued to step up academically through each year of high school, the step into the college classroom will be one for which you are prepared. On the other hand, if the academic challenge you give yourself in your Senior year of high school is not that different from the one you experienced as a Junior, then the step up to college will be much more awkward, if not painful.

The bottom line: Do what makes sense for you. Take stock of where you are on your learning path, set your college sites reasonably and build a strong foundation through your coursework in high school that will propel you into a successful experience in college.

Subscribe to Best College Fit™ to access the February 1 webcast, “Course Selections: What Do Your Choices Say About You?” in the BCF Webcast archives.