College Planning Blog

STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR APPLICATION COUNT Series
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.

If you have heard me talk about the admission process you know that I liken the selection of applicants into the class to community building. Admission officers scan the hundreds of academically qualified candidates for those whom they want to include in the communities they are building on their campuses. Their questions raised upon acknowledgment of your competitiveness sound something like this: “We know she is a capable student, but what do we get if we admit her? 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 that 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, it is important to remember that your applications 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 (tape or CD). Audition if you can. If you are an artist, attend portfolio days or assemble a slide collection 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.  You do not need to have professional aspirations as an artist, musician, actor or dancer—or even a major in the arts—in order for your talent to give you 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—and 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.

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 performance 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 a previous blog article…
I observed that applicants should proceed cautiously with regard to submitting resumes with their applications for admission. Having worked with a number of students as they prepare their applications, though, I feel I need to change my view on the topic. This is especially true for users of the Common Application. The current version of the Common Application produces downloadable documents that are hard to read. This is particularly true of the Extracurricular Section where the detail associated with listed activities is difficult to follow.

That said, it might make sense to produce a brief resume that you can attach to your application. Keep it focused on activities and achievements from your high school years and organize it around the key themes of your application.

STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR APPLICATION COUNT Series

I have received a number of questions lately from students regarding the use of personal information in positioning their applications for admission. The questions range from the usefulness of a resume to the viability of leveraging family history to the competitiveness of credentials at highly selective colleges.

While I will address these and other questions in the set of tips below, I want to emphasize that admission committees are most interested in learning about you and what you have to offer the community of scholars they are building through the admission process. With that in mind, focus on your story. Present it consistently and eliminate the guesswork for the folks who will read your applications. Use your application to make a compelling statement that says, “Take me!”

Eight Tips for Making Your Case
1. Know what it is you want to say about yourself. If you are having trouble getting your arms around this, either because there is a lot to say or because you are struggling to find a beginning point, try the following:

• Think about how others see you. How would your friends describe you? Your teachers? Your parents?
• What key words and thoughts begin to emerge? Generous? Competitive? Studious? Inventive? A leader? A “renaissance” person?
• Choose two or three that are most consistent with your core identity.
• List your key involvements, experiences and achievements that make the connections to these themes.
• Look broadly and creatively at your application (essays, extracurricular profile, letters of recommendation) to find opportunities to make your case.

2. Resist the temptation to add newspaper clippings and certificates of your achievement. This isn’t the time to document your accomplishments; rather, it is a perfect opportunity to give your voice to the telling of your story.

An exception involves the submission of tapes, DVDs, CDs and portfolios that illustrate your talent. These submissions are important even if you do not intend to pursue specialty programs. The communities that admission officers are trying to build include theatre groups, orchestras and chorales, each of which needs to be populated by talented contributors. What do you have to give? Just as athletes get credit for their potential contributions, so should dancers, actors, musicians and artists. Let your talent speak for you!

3. If you are submitting information in support of your talent in the arts, send two copies—one to the admission officer who recruits in your area and the other to the director of the program that interests you.

4. If you are preparing tapes/DVDs to submit in support of your athletic interests, resist the temptation to put together highlight reels. Coaches want to see game films in their entirety. Why? They want to see how you make the plays—AND what you are doing when the spotlight doesn’t fall on you.

5. Resumes are not terribly helpful and only add to the clutter of the application. Most admission officers want to see how you distill the information that defines you in the space provided. If you absolutely need more space, submit an additional page with your application.

6. Focus on the events that have defined your life since the beginning of high school. Earlier accomplishments are nice but they are ancient history from an admission perspective! Reference them only if they have had a profound impact on the person you are becoming.

7. Reference family situations (achievements or setbacks) only to the extent that they have had an impact on you. You are the candidate. Family histories may be significant to those involved, but not to admission committees unless they have a bearing your personal development.

8. Perhaps the most important tip is actually the reminder that you need to put yourself on competitive playing fields where you will be valued for what you do well. This is the essence of a good college fit. You can’t will your way into a college or university simply because you are qualified and have a strong desire to attend. If what you have to offer isn’t valued, your chances of getting in aren’t that great. Focus your time and attention on making the case for yourself at schools that make sense for you.

For more information on finding a good college fit and putting together a compelling application, check out my book, Winning the College Admission Game; Strategies for Students and Parents. Winning can be found in bookstores and online including my website, www.TheAdmissionGame.com.

STRATEGIES TO MAKE YOUR APPLICATION COUNT series
Producing a college application essay is one of the most daunting tasks facing students in the senior year of high school—and for good reason. Add to the high stakes nature of the admission process itself the fact that the essay is the one credential yet to be created—most of the student’s relevant personal and academic history has already been recorded—the prospect of having to create a statement that might tip the competitive scales brings with it enormous pressure.

Multiply that dynamic by the number of original essays required to complete applications for all of the colleges on a student’s “short list” and you get the picture — you’ve got your work cut out for you!

That said, most students submit essays that do little more than satisfy requirements. For all intents and purposes, their essays are worthless. Ouch! I didn’t say they were bad essays or technically flawed. I am simply observing that, from my experience, a vast majority of essays fail to make a difference in the applications of the students who submitted them.

For the students who submit them, such essays represent solid efforts but that’s it. The essays may be “good enough” to meet the requirements, but they fail to elevate the applicants above the competition.

Writing a winning essay isn’t easy. However, if you can pull it off, you will have introduced a highly competitive element to your application.

Producing an essay that will grab the attention of the reader requires time, reflection and a bit of inspiration. It won’t materialize out of thin air. In other words, to create a compelling statement, you need to invest in its development. You can’t rely on the adrenaline rush or the sense of urgency that comes with deadline writing. Rather, you need to engage in a systematic drafting and editing process that could go on for a month or two.

Time can be your greatest ally if you use it wisely. You see, time can be an editorial tool that allows you to gain valuable perspective as you draft and edit your essays. Given time, you can step back from your working drafts and edit effectively. Conversely, if you are prone to “one-draft” writing, you deny yourself the opportunity to make a good essay great.

Consider the following tips as you prepare your college essays.

• Resist the temptation to look for examples of great college essays for ideas and/or inspiration. They will only confuse you more. Besides, those ideas have already been taken.
• Don’t give up ownership. You will find lots of opportunities to let other people (i.e. friends, parents and essay writing services) “help” you. Colleges want to hear your voice—it’s like your DNA. Authenticity is big here. While others can help with reflective editing, make sure the words you use are your own.
• Think about the messages/impressions you want to convey. What do you want the reader to know about you that won’t be apparent anywhere else in the application?
• Choose a topic about which you are an expert. The topic should give you a platform or perspective from which you are comfortable delivering the message.
• Answer the “why” questions. Why is the topic important to you? Why do you care about it? Why has it affected the way you see yourself in the world? As you answer the “why” questions, you give the reader insight into your soul. That might seem intimidating, but if you can pull it off your essay will make a difference.
• Be careful not to reframe information that is already presented on your application.
• Make sure you tell your story. If little-known circumstances have affected your academic performance or your life experience in general, you need to use a personal statement to address them.

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—don’t settle for “good enough.” Rather, invest the extra time and effort it takes to produce great results. For more tips about writing a great college essay, check out Chapter 11, “Make A Difference with Your Essay,” in Winning the College Admission Game: Strategies for Students. The book is available in bookstores and online (www.Amazon.com; http://www.theadmissiongame.com/products.php).

A question that seems to circulate among high school Juniors at this time of year as they make course selections for the Senior Year sounds something 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?” And the answer is: “Take the harder course and do as well as you can–why not shoot for the ‘A’?!”

There are two perspectives to consider here. One revolves around the college admission process 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 can meet that “bar.” What confidence do you give them in your ability to do so when 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 in order to compete for admission. 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, then, will be to focus on colleges that will value you for your experience in those courses.

The second and often overlooked perspective on selecting courses has to do with your ability to prepare yourself for the next level of rigor in college. 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 with regard to course selections–and your eventual college selections–is this: 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.

Whether they realize or not, high school seniors are entering one of the most critical phases of the admission process. This is the time of the year when admission officers watch to see what students do when it would seem the spotlight is no longer on them. They want to see how students respond down the “stretch run” of the senior year.

Consider, then, the mile race. It is an apt metaphor for your high school experience. In order to complete the race, you need to make it around the track four times. Winning requires that you endure the grueling pace and still have what it takes to sprint when the race is on the line.

Let’s suppose, then, that your race has gone exceedingly well through the first three laps. You jumped out to an early lead and have maintained a strong pace. With only one lap to go, you are by yourself. You can’t even see the competition! This is a critical stage of the race because you begin to ask yourself, “Do I really need to work that hard in running the last lap? Should I save myself for the next race and spare the inevitable agony that otherwise comes with a sprint to the finish?”

The question you really need to ask yourself, though, is: “What have I won?” The answer is simple. “You haven’t won a thing!” You may have a “feel-good” feeling about where you are in the competition, but the race isn’t over. Moreover, changing your approach with a lap to go could prove costly as other runners are bound to be pushing hard to catch up.

The same is true of your high school experience where each year is like a lap of the race. Each year was important academically as it prepared you to step up and meet the challenge of the year that followed. In all likelihood, your Junior Year really put you to the test as the work was harder and the expectations were greater. But you made it and that may have been cause for celebration in itself!

Having done well through your Junior Year may have left you feeling good about your prospects of graduating and getting into the colleges of your choice. Nonetheless, you need to ask yourself, “What have I accomplished? How many colleges have accepted me?”

The Senior Year is the all-important “last lap” of your high school experience. If your objective is to not only graduate but to get into colleges that can make choices among hundreds if not thousands of compelling candidates, you need to be attentive to how you are finishing the “race.” Even now, in late February of your Senior Year, the outcome of the race has yet to be determined. And, believe it or not, admission officers at selective institutions are waiting and watching to see who among the competitive applicants will sprint–or stumble–when the race is on the line.

So, stay focused academically. Continue to get the most out of your high school experience–even when it would seem that doing nothing is a viable option. In doing so, you give admission officers every reason to be excited about you as you sprint to the finish!

Happy New Year! I trust your holidays have been times of peace and joy and that 2008 is starting with great promise! As families with the prospect of college looming on the horizon for your young people, this couldn’t be a better time!

Before the holidays, a brief debate flared on the listserve for the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) of which I am a member. The debate centered on ownership for college planning and the role that parents should, or in some cases, do take in managing the process. More than a few secondary school counselors reported that many of their parents are yielding to impulse in the completion of applications. Transgressions range from filling out the forms to editing if not writing the essays!

Some colleagues found the actions of these parents defensible in light of the tremendous pressure students feel to perform in the classroom as well as their relative lack of experience in handling such transactions. Their argument, “Why not give these hard-working kids the support they deserve?” Besides, the logic continued, isn’t this type of parental support consistent with the tendency to hire private educational consultants, put kids in pricey test prep programs or pay for access to essay editing services?

But not surprisingly, the consensus in this discussion fell strongly in line with the notion that the student must shoulder the responsibility for making things happen. After all, the parents aren’t going to college. The application is not a representation of their respective bodies of work. Rather, it is the student who is evaluated in the competition for admission. And it is the student, who, based on the strength of his credentials, will be given the opportunity to test his skills at the next level educationally.

This is the underlying thesis of my book, Winning the College Admission Game: Strategies for Students and Parents. If you have seen the book, you know it is a “flip book.” It has two “front” covers and contains messages for two audiences–students and their parents. You see, this whole exercise of finding and getting into the college that is best for the student comes at a time in the student-parent relationship when communication can be strained and the only commonality in their respective visions for the future is that there will be a future!

Getting to that future, though, in a manner that is ultimately rewarding to the student and satisfying to the parent calls for a new kind of teamwork–an approach that requires parents to cede ownership to their students, an approach in which “directing” needs to give way to “guiding.” Turning over the controls isn’t easy, especially for parents who have spent their lives making things possible for their kids, but at some point it’s necessary. (If you have taught your kids to drive, you know what I mean!) For kids, going to college represents, among other things, the opportunity to step out of their parents’ shadows and into a world of possibilities they can begin to imagine for themselves. And getting there, despite their inexperience and busy schedules, is something they must learn to do for themselves.

The gift of ownership, then, can be incredibly empowering for a young person who is straining to define herself. If you are a parent, either early in the college discovery process or watching your student complete the college application process, it is important to loosen your grip on the controls and begin stepping back. The fact is that college admission officers are eager to see how students are emerging as young adults. They want to hear their voices and learn about their accomplishments. They want a measure of the student’s vision and self-confidence that can only come from the student. You have done your job in that you have brought her to the point where she can begin speaking for herself. Now, it’s her turn.

And if you are a student in the college planning process, know that this is your time. Mom and Dad aren’t going to college with you. This is a big step for both of you and your parents as your roles are changing. Letting go for them won’t be easy but the chances are they have prepared you well for what you are about to encounter. As much as you will continue to call on your parents for guidance in the college planning process and throughout your life, you cannot expect them to get you from where you are to where you want to be. This is your journey. In stepping forward, then, remember that your college application needs to tell your story. You need to be the voice behind your essay. Embrace the gift of ownership and run with it. Make your future happen!

Student ownership and the notion of a student-centered college planning process are central to the programming offered by The Admission Game(R). In particular, these messages shape the content of the monthly College Planning Newsletter and the Straight Talk About College Admission teleseminar series. The next Straight Talk seminar takes place Wednesday, January 9 (9PM ET) when I will be joined by former dean of admission, Sam Barnett, in talking about “Senior Year Course Selections that Make A Difference-and Why.” For more information about the seminar and to register, go to http://www.theadmissiongame.com/teleseminar_schedule.php.

Periodically, a prominent college or university will gain notice by virtue of announcing bold new initiatives that are sure to improve the college-going landscape. In the last year alone, colleges dropped Early Decision programs, eliminated student loan programs in favor of new scholarships, and modified entrance test requirements–all in the interest of improving access while reducing the angst associated with college entrance. The problem with these announcements is that universities are adept at cloaking institution-specific enrollment strategies as social initiatives. Therefore, you must read carefully to appreciate just who is being served.

In doing so, you have probably noticed that “access” is a buzzword commonly associated with emerging initiatives. And why not? Access to post-secondary education is an important element of this nation’s social agenda. Thousands of underserved students who would benefit from a college education come up short when they fail to receive the support needed to complete the application process and/or secure the funds necessary to afford college costs. Presumably, then, initiatives in the name of “access” are targeting these areas of need. As such, they are greeted warmly–especially when they come from this country’s most prominent universities.

It happened again when Harvard University recently announced a plan to overhaul its financial aid program for undergraduates. Citing the need to improve access for students from middle income families–and to get a greater share of these students who are also admitted to public flagship universities–Harvard has determined that, for families whose incomes range up to $180,000, family contributions to student costs will not exceed 10 per cent of family income in a given year. The University will also remove home equity from calculations of family wealth and eliminate all loans from financial aid awards.

On the surface, the Harvard announcement reads well. An institutional leader–one of the most widely known and highly respected places on the face of the earth–steps forward with a bold new financial aid strategy to, you got it, create access. It sounds great. But before you add Harvard to your short list of colleges, read the fine print. “Where” and “how” will improved access be truly realized? Will this move–and the $22 million that it puts into play–make it possible for more kids to go to college? Will it even make a Harvard education more accessible to thousands of qualified students who dare to be encouraged by the promotional rhetoric? More importantly, how might it affect you?

In reality, this plan is not likely to inspire more middle-income students to go to college, so improving access to education isn’t a likely outcome. And, while more deserving middle-income students will probably apply to Harvard because of the financial aid plan, they must first be admitted before they can take advantage of it. As enticing as the new financial aid plan might be, it offers no assurance that qualified middle-income students will actually be among the 10% or so of students who apply and are admitted at Harvard.

So, take this plan–and the rhetoric that surrounds it–for what it is. In this case, all roads lead back to the institution and not the common good. While a relative handful of students and families might benefit, it is really the institution’s best interests that are being served as it seeks to attract and retain more students whose families fit Harvard’s new definition of “middle income.”

As promising as it might sound, this initiative means little to most students who are considering their college options. It is not going to reshape the social fabric of higher education and it certainly isn’t going to create access outside of the ring in which Harvard competes for students. The good news is you can experience quality options at scores of other colleges across the country. The best course of action, then, is to stay student-centered. Sidestep the distracting rhetoric raised by announcements such as this and focus on finding colleges that represent the best fit for you. Find your point of access by putting yourself into competition at places that will value you for what you do well.

During the December 19 (9 PM ET) installment of the Straight Talk About College Admission teleseminar series, I will go “Inside the Financial Aid Application Process” (9PM ET) with guest expert, Carl Buck. A long-time financial aid professional (Rice, UCLA, Rutgers) and author of Best College Deals, Carl is currently a Vice President at CHASE Bank. Join us to learn how you can make the financial aid process work for you. For more information and to register for the seminar, go to: http://www.theadmissiongame.com/teleseminar_registration.php

Writing the college essay or personal statement is one of the most daunting tasks that confront students in the senior year. The fact that they might still be working on an essay or two at this point in time is testimony itself to the degree of difficulty involved with finding the words that will adequately reveal the person behind the credentials. While the essays that emerge generally are solid writing samples and “good enough” to satisfy application requirements, only a fraction actually make a difference in the admission outcome.

Engineering an effective essay–one that will grab the attention of the reader–requires time, reflection and a bit of inspiration. Despite the popular notion among teenagers that the urgency and adrenalin rush of approaching deadlines brings out their best work, the reliance on such strategies leaves them woefully short of the time needed to gain perspective–to step back from their working drafts and edit effectively. Unfortunately, students who are still puzzling over what to do with essay assignments in early December are finding themselves in a time bind. One-draft writers, they deny themselves the opportunity to make a good essay great.

Keep in mind that the most systematic approach to essay writing begins with journal entries at the end of the Junior Year and continues through the development of early drafts just before the start of the Senior Year. That said, there is still hope for students who are trying to find the essay “magic.” Consider the following tips in addressing the task.

• Resist the temptation to look for examples of great college essays for ideas and/or inspiration. They will only confuse you more. Besides, those ideas have already been taken.
• Don’t give up ownership. You will find lots of opportunities to let other people (i.e. friends, parents and essay writing services) “help” you. Colleges want to hear your voice–it’s like your DNA. Authenticity is big here. While others can help with reflective editing, make sure the words you use are your own.
• Think about the messages/impressions you want to convey. What do you want the reader to know about you that won’t be apparent anywhere else in the application?
• Choose a topic about which you are an expert. The topic should give you a platform or perspective from which you are comfortable delivering the message.
• Answer the “why” questions. Why is the topic important to you? Why do you care about it? Why has it affected the way you see yourself in the world? As you answer the “why” questions, you give the reader insight into your soul. That might seem intimidating, but if you can pull it off your essay will make a difference.
• Be careful not to reframe information that is already presented on your application.
• Make sure you tell your story. If little-known circumstances have affected your academic performance or your life experience in general, you need to use a personal statement to address them.
• Eliminate distractions. Make sure the reader won’t have to struggle to read through the essay due to misspellings, grammatical errors or illegibility. Use spell-check and read your essay out loud. Your eyes can play tricks on you as you silently read through a draft for the tenth time. Listen to how your words sound.
• Give yourself time to step back from your work–to reflect on what you have written and to collect other opinions about the strength of your presentation. The more time, the better.

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!

This is the college application process and you know the stakes. Don’t settle for “good enough.” Rather, invest the extra time and effort it takes to produce great results.