Sorting Through Uncertainty (Part Three of Four)
Monday, April 7th, 2008
“But I don’t want to go there!” Such is the all too frequent response of a despondent high school senior as s/he is reminded of the colleges that have admitted him/her. Despite the best of plans, when outcomes don’t match expectations in the college admission process you may be left feeling like your life has gone into a hopeless tailspin. The reality is that things are rarely as bad as they seem.
In this posting, I will address some of the scenarios you may be encountering now that all of your admission decisions are in hand.
Scenario #1: While you have been admitted to a number of very interesting schools, your absolute first choice college has offered you a place on its Wait List. Now, you find yourself in an awkward position. Do you hold out hope that you will be moved from the Wait List or do you begin to invest emotionally in the options that are real?
As you may have noted in my March 31 posting, “Gaining Admission from the Wait List,” Wait Lists are likely to be active at most institutions. The only question is when and for how many students. The key to getting in rests in the decisiveness of your response. If you want to compete for a place in the class from the Wait List, you must get on the “radar screen” of the admission committee at that school. Let them know you will enroll if accepted. In addition to sending updates of grades and achievements, visit the campus and interview if possible. Make sure the person who recruits in your area knows of your interest and knows how to find you. Wait List calls often come without warning and will leave you with little time to react, so be ready.
The trick in this scenario is to maintain a balanced perspective. While you want to do everything possible to enhance your chances of admission from the Wait List, be careful not to under-value the options you do have in the process. After all, you are holding offers from places that are presumably good “fits” for you. Make sure you invest the requisite time and energy in preparing to choose from among them if the Wait List situation doesn’t pan out.
Scenario #2: You didn’t get into any of your top choice colleges, but you have been admitted at a couple of your “safety” schools. Unfortunately, they don’t hold the same luster that is associated with the places that turned you down. As “back-ups,” they we were fine—perhaps because you didn’t think you would ever really have to consider them. Besides, now that your friends have been admitted to some of the places that turned you down, the schools that are left may not seem nearly so exciting. You feel stuck. If this is the case, what can you do?
If you find yourself in such a situation, re-assess the options you do have. They weren’t so bad when you decided to apply. Rediscover them. Find out why they made it to your list in the first place. They may not carry the same cachet as the places that turned you down, but the academic opportunities they present are probably every bit as good as those you would have found at the other schools.
An alternative is to apply somewhere else as a late applicant. This is easier said than done, though, as most schools are reluctant to entertain late applications from students with whom they have little or no history. Your best chance in this instance is to find a college or university with an active Wait List and hope it will see your credentials as competitive with the students it is considering from its Wait List. This is not likely to be the case, though, at places that are as selective as those that turned you down earlier.
Scenario #3: Finally, you might have received an offer of admission that is contingent upon your participation in a remedial program over the summer. If a college likes what you have to offer (it is excited by the way you answered the “what do we get” question!) but is concerned about the degree to which you are prepared to find success, it might refer you to a series of pre-enrollment courses designed to bolster your academic and study skills. In this scenario, it is clear the college values you and is investing in your success. You need to be realistic, though, in your assessment of the situation and make sure you are prepared to do what is necessary to make good on the opportunity.
A variation on this theme involves offers of January admission. You’re in, but there is a catch. You can’t start the first semester. Such offers typically encourage, if not require, you to pursue other off-campus programming during the first semester as a non-enrolled student. You must understand, though, that you are not being offered admission for the fall semester and, in most cases, will not be given the opportunity to enroll in the fall even if the Wait List becomes active. If you really like the place and such a scenario is agreeable to you, go for it. It may represent your best chance of getting into that college.
Finally, if you are uncomfortable with the range of options that lie before you, consider stepping back from the educational treadmill. Take the year after high school “off.” Don’t go to just any college just to be there. The last thing you want to do is waste your time and your parents’ money on an experience that means little to you.
Instead, get a job. Travel. Get involved in community service. In short, take the opportunity to write a new and different chapter in your life. A “gap year” of this sort can be very healthy and productive to your personal development if you use it well. Besides, you are then afforded the opportunity to reapply a year or so later when you are ready to embrace a new educational opportunity. I have yet to hear of an institution that doesn’t see the investment in a gap year as a positive development.
For a compelling perspective on the subject, I would urge you to read “Don’t Worry About College, A Letter to My Granddaughter” by John Taylor Gatto. The article can be found on page 24 of the March/April issue of Life Learning Magazine: http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/0804/index.html. On the right side of the page, click on “Download a PDF version” for free.
