Why am I getting so much mail from colleges?

If you have taken a national standardized test in the last few months and checked the box allowing colleges to send you materials and publications, you’ve probably felt your inboxes swell with electronic and print publications over the last few weeks and months. Don’t worry, swelling is normal and will die down in a couple of years. Nonetheless, with a sudden affliction of this variety, families will have questions. Let’s diagnose the phenomenon together.

Some years ago on a soccer sideline somewhere, or maybe in the chatty pre-show moments of a high school theatre performance, a mom or dad started the dreadful rumor that one must complete hundreds of hours of community service in order to even be considered for admission to the top colleges and universities in the country. Since that day, this misinformation has been taken as gospel by college-bound high school students and their parents. But they’re wrong.

Let’s all pause for a moment and say this together: there is nothing extra special about community service.

Now that I’ve said that, let’s throttle back from the edge so you can understand what I mean. When colleges and universities consider a student’s extracurricular profile, they are looking for the ways students have made an impact on their communities. One student might run track. Another might join the wind ensemble. A third might tutor elementary school kids. A fourth might volunteer at the local soup kitchen. As a college admission officer, I had no preference for one of these students over any of the others.

Whether your school is public or private, big or small; whether you have an independent counselor or are working with the counselors at school, one truth remains: this is your college process. Independent and school counselors are there to help, but the more you put into the college process, the more you’ll get out of it. So be proactive and seek out opportunities to work with a college consultant. There are plenty of things you can do to help yourself get the most from the college counseling you have available.

Always Be Prepared

Before any meetings, get organized. Pull together all your paperwork, transcripts, testing results, timelines and checklists in anticipation of meeting with your counselor. Make a list of the questions that you need to get answered so you can write down answers during the meeting.  Make sure to take notes; not only will it make it easier to remember what you have to do, but it will show your parents how responsible you are in taking ownership of the college process.

When it comes to deciding what to do for your summer activities, it can be hard to make sense of what matters to colleges and what doesn’t. Given the wide range of options, what are the best things to do? How should students prioritize? And when is the right time to get started?

Some programs have bumper-sticker names and the price tag to match. While it seems simple and logical that big-name programs are correlated with competitive positioning in the college admissions process, that’s not really how it works. There are a few exceptions to the rule, of course; a handful of summer programs (very few!) that by name alone will turn an admissions officer’s head. But even those special opportunities are not likely to make or break your application on their own.

Colleges want to see students use their time to explore interests, expand depth of understanding or exposure to a subject, or further develop a concentration or talent.

In Part One, which we published on Wednesday, we discussed the early stages of the athletic recruitment process. Today, we will talk about the next steps for aspiring college athletes.

Find your fit, put together your materials, and get in front of the coaches you want to play for.
Get started early and use the summer to build on your exposure to the colleges you are interested in!

Sophomore year is a good time to start looking at current college rosters to see how you match up. Ask your coaches for programs that will suit you and do your own research. As you get to the summer before junior year, it can be helpful to create a sports resume. Most colleges want to see you play before they recruit you, so pick tournaments, showcases, teams, and camps that will get you in front of those coaches you want to play for. If you are considering Division I or II, be sure to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Remember that the better your grades and test scores, the more likely you are to be recruited, the more likely you are to get accepted, and the more likely you are to earn a scholarship where available.

Many high school students are interested in participating in college athletics, but many are unsure what to do and where to start.  Adding athletic recruitment to the college application process not only requires additional work on the part of the athlete, but it actually moves up every part of the college application timeline. In addition, one of the biggest surprises for aspiring college athletes is that recruitment rarely provides the financial impact on college costs that many families are led to expect. There are huge differences in athletic recruitment from sport to sport, and between Divisions I, II, and III, that will affect financial benefit. What is most important is that with talent, tools, and time, students can find an athletic program that will fit their  abilities at a school that can provide them with a wonderful college experience.

Below, we catalog the most important considerations for students who are interested in making athletics a part of their college experience. In part one, we discuss the early stages of the college selection process. In part two, we will discuss the steps students will take to put together and submit applications to their schools of choice!

Staying Ahead of Your Applications | Part 2

In Part One of this post, we offered three big organizational tips to help juniors get started on their college application process. Now that you’ve gotten yourself organized, here are five key elements that every student should add to her timeline in the spring of the junior year of high school:

Staying Ahead of Your Applications | Part 1

As we ring in the New Year and juniors begin the spring semester, the college application process kicks into high gear. With so much work in such a short period of time, many students struggle with what to do and how to do it.

Every junior needs to take two small steps at the start of the year to get on track and stay there. First, adopt a strategy to keep content organized. Second, create a college application timeline that will ensure that the entire family knows what needs to happen and when. It is critical that students find ways to manage their college processes while simultaneously maintaining their school work and extracurricular activities. Consistent academic performance should always be at the top of your to-do list.

In 1990, I started my first job at a college. I processed federal student loans at a proprietary trade school. Two years later, I became an Assistant Director of Financial Aid at a four-year private college and then, five years later, the Director of Financial Aid at another four-year private college, where I stayed for seven years, also serving a stint as the Director of Admissions. This college was quite small, allowing me to interact with people in many departments on campus: residence life, student services, the registrar, and student accounts. I thought I knew all there was to know about college admissions and financial aid…

Then my twins became high school juniors and our own process began.

Here, in this first of a series of blog posts about my kids’ college application and enrollment processes, I plan to share all the new things that I have learned along the way. First: how to stay organized.

So you’ve just submitted your application and you’re patiently waiting to hear a response when – beep! – a surprise email lands in your inbox. “Greetings!” the email begins. “My name is Mary Jones, and I’m the alumna assigned to conduct your interview for Grand University.” Whether the idea of an alumni interview puts you completely at ease, or if you’re feeling nauseous at the prospect of impressing an alum, here are six secrets you should know to best prepare for your alumni interview.

Six Tips For Your College Alumni Interview