STUDENT-CENTERED SOLUTIONS FOR COLLEGE PLANNING

In my last blog, I began to assess the gap year concept from a philosophical point of view. In this segment, I will talk about if and how the opportunity to take time off before starting college might have an impact on your application process.

I believe the answer to the gap year question is simple. “Take the time off! Invest in yourself. Do what you need to do to so when you enter college you are ready to embrace the experience with focus and determination.”

The college years should not be entered with hesitation or reservation. Don’t allow your enrollment in a college to be an accident of circumstance. College campuses are full of students who don’t know why they are there. As a result, many of them leave early.

When you enter, do so with a sense of purpose—a conviction that that college campus is where you need to be in order to lay the foundation for future success and happiness. And if you need to take some time away from the classroom to get your head clear or just to try something different before getting started, good for you!

My experience is that colleges value the added maturity and perspective students bring with them after having taken a year off—especially if that time has been spent productively. I can’t imagine that admission committees wouldn’t welcome students who contribute to a broader range of life experiences.

Having said that, you have two options with regard to declaring your gap year intentions. One, you can inform the admission committee of your intent when you apply for admission. Two, you can apply for admission without reference to the gap year and then, upon gaining admission, seek a deferral of your enrollment for a year.

I recommend the latter for two very practical reasons. Despite the tacit endorsement of the gap year by admission officers, you don’t want questions about your intent to enroll to enter into their deliberations.

More importantly, though, it will be much easier for you to complete the application process while you are still in school. You will be in rhythm with the rest of your peers as you complete your applications and you will have direct access to your school-based support system (counselor, teachers, coaches, etc.) as you pull together the various elements of your applications. Attacking the college application process 8-10 months after graduation will put you at a disadvantage, as you might not have easy access to the people and information you need.

In the final analysis, don’t assume that you need to go to college just because “it’s what you do after high school.” We don’t all work on the same developmental “clock.” For some, college makes great sense right after high school. Others, however, find great benefit in taking some time off. The “gap year” is an opportunity to be embraced—I wish more students would feel confident in taking advantage it!

“Do you think it would be okay if I took some time off before going to college?”

It’s a question that comes up with surprising frequency as students grapple with their post-high school options. And, while the questioner seems to be seeking validation around the idea, there is often an implied and even deeper concern about how colleges themselves might regard such a strategy.

I would like to address the notion of taking time off or the “gap year” at two different levels. In this blog, I will lay a philosophical foundation for the gap year discussion. In the next blog (Part Two), I will talk specifically about if/how the gap year might benefit you.

Conceptually, the question of the gap year fits within a broader consideration of the educational chronology or the seemingly required succession of experiences that young people must follow in their academic lives. The lockstep begins with pre-school and, for many, extends right through graduate school. It’s as though we as parents put our kids on a conveyor belt that moves them through a series of prescribed exercises that systematically measures their needs, fills them up with the things they “need to know,” tests them and, assuming they have acquired a “minimal level of mastery,” stamps them as fit for promotion.

While the educational chronology is geared to the developmental and academic needs of each age-group cohort, it fails to accommodate the kids whose progress along their respective learning paths requires different measures. Young people all over the educational spectrum feel the impact of such shortcomings within our educational system.

Consider, for example, the young woman who desperately wants to accelerate her progress toward high school graduation because, by age 14, she has exhausted the curricular offerings of her school. Or the young man who is “young” for his eighth grade class. Like many others whose academic tracking puts them ahead of their peers, each is struggling to weigh the desire to remain stimulated intellectually with the need to grow socially and emotionally in age-appropriate ways.

Unfortunately, ours is not a “one size fits all” system that works comfortably for everyone. It is important to remember, then, that the best interests of the young person may not always be defined by the chronology. As parents and educators, we need to remain vigilant in support of those interests even when doing so means taking them out of the lockstep of the conveyor belt. This is, by the way, one of the reasons the home-schooling effort has been mounted with such success.

This brings us to, what is for many families, the more pressing issue of the “gap year.” While some students are understandably concerned about their readiness—academic, social or emotional—to move immediately into college, others simply need to be able to step back and breath deeply before taking the next step into life as a full-time college student. Yet others are able to realize some pretty cool personal enrichment opportunities related to travel, service, or work.

In my next blog, I will address the implications of the “gap year” for students in the admission process.

Note: The next Web-Side Chat, “Choose Courses Wisely,” will take place at 7PM ET on January 26, 2009. This presentation will put course selections within the context of the college admission process. Along with the ensuing Q&A session, it will be especially valuable to students as they choose courses for their junior and senior years of high school. To register, go to: https://www.theadmissiongame.com/members/subscribe_introduction.

During the Best College Fit “Web-Side Chat” earlier this week, a question was raised about the new Score Choice option being offered to SAT test takers by the College Board. Score Choice gives students the opportunity to determine which of their SAT results they would like to send to colleges and is similar to the long-standing score reporting option offered to test-takers by the ACT. Prior to Score Choice, the student’s entire record of SAT results was included in any report sent to a college.

This change in policy regarding score reporting options for the SAT will take effect with the March 2009 test for students in the high school class of 2010. For more information about the SAT Score Choice, go to http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy.

On the surface, Score Choice, whether it involves the SAT or the ACT, would seem to be a good thing as you, the test taker, can exercise some control over which results are forwarded to colleges. The test makers argue that this will ease the stress you feel on the day of the test which will in turn help you relax and perform at a higher level. As logical as that assessment seems, I have not seen published research that demonstrates that higher scores will result.

While nearly 20% of the four-year colleges and universities in this country (778) offer optional test submission policies of some sort (check out http://www.FairTest.org to see the list), it is not likely that you will be able to escape having to take the SAT or ACT entirely. Somewhere along the line, you’ll need to submit test results with a college application. As a result, make sure you are aware of your testing options as well as the implications that come with them.

The following are a few observations relative to Score Choice.

1. You can’t mix and match subscores. Score Choice for both the SAT and the ACT allows you to choose from among different sets of test results those that you want to forward to colleges. It does not allow you to put a Critical Reading score from one test administration together with the Math result from a separate test and the Writing from yet another. While it is common for admission officers to combine the best subscores in their assessments of candidates, you cannot make such determinations through Score Choice.
2. If you want to take advantage of Score Choice, be careful when you register to take the SAT that you do not provide names of schools to be recipients of your results. If you do, those schools will automatically see results that, had you been able to see them in advance, you might have elected to withhold. I recommend waiting until early in your senior year when you have identified your short list of colleges to order score reports. At that point, you can determine which scores should be sent to each college.
3. Not all colleges observe the Score Choice option. In fact, a handful of institutions require their applicants to submit all of their test results. That said, they have no way of knowing how many times you have taken the tests—you’re on your honor to convey the necessary information. Check with the schools that interest you to find out what they require.
4. Resist the temptation to take the SAT over and over until you get the scores you want to submit. Not only is there a point of diminishing return with score improvement on multiple test administrations, obsessing on tests and test results will detract from your ability to do the other things you enjoy in life. You only have one shot at being a teenager. Don’t give it up to the pursuit of higher test scores! Focus on the test (SAT or ACT) with which you are most comfortable and limit yourself to three testing opportunities.
5. Finally, ownership is the essence of Score Choice. You own your test results. You control who sees them. Nobody, other than your counselor (on a need-to-know basis), should see your test results unless you give your consent. Moreover, your results should not arbitrarily appear on your high school transcript without your permission.

Regardless of your college aspirations, standardized tests are going to loom large in your life as you engage in the competition for admission. Take the time now to make sure you understand your testing/reporting options and then develop a plan that will enable you to put your best foot forward.

Correction: In the December 14, 2008 blog (Life After the PSAT), I offered a basic formula for using PSAT results to help you arrive at a short list of colleges at which your scores will be competitive. In that formula, I indicated that you could multiply your PSAT result by 10 and then add 60 to reflect typical score improvement to approximate your SAT result. However, to illustrate my point I suggested “a PSAT Critical Reading result could become an SAT score of 630 down the road.” That is incorrect. The likely 60-point improvement should be attributed to the combined Critical Reading and Math score rather than each of the subscores.

Note: The next Web-Side Chat, “Choose Courses Wisely,” will take place at 7PM ET on January 26, 2009. To register, go to: https://www.theadmissiongame.com/members/subscribe_introduction.