What Do Ivy League Colleges Look For? An Interview with Elizabeth Heaton

Brad Baldridge recently interviewed College Coach expert Elizabeth Heaton for his podcast Taming the High Cost of College.

Beth and Brad spoke in depth about what it takes to be admitted to highly selective schools like those in the Ivy League, covering everything from admissions officers’ qualitative to quantitative expectations.

The national reply deadline of May 1^st is just around the corner, so last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, focusing on multiple aspects of the decision-making process, was well-timed. Sally Ganga guest hosted, bringing in three unique perspectives to discuss selecting the right college.

Asking the Right Questions

In the first segment Sally was joined by College Coach expert Peter Silberman to discuss the role of college visits in making thoughtful, nuanced decisions. Peter discussed the overload of informational resources available to students today; he suggested using college visits to “cut through” the excess noise and go straight to the source for your answers: current students. Another great suggestion was tuning into visual cues around campus, looking at everything from event flyers to newspaper op-eds.

What We Learned From the 2016 Admissions Cycle

Now that colleges have released the bulk of their admissions decisions, and students are reconciling their application triumphs and defeats, it’s time to take a step back and assess the trends and surprises from this year’s admissions decisions. While not all of these findings are unique to the 2016 admissions cycle, they are noteworthy enough that all college bound students – especially those wrapping up their junior year – should pay careful attention. And if you count yourselves among the thousands of hapless seniors who didn’t earn a spot at your dream college, perhaps the rationales below will help explain why you were the recipient of a “thin envelope,” while your neighbor/best friend/classmate was not.

Turning the Tide: An In-Depth Look At The Harvard Admissions Report

One thing is clear about the recent Turning the Tide report on the state of college admissions, released recently by the Harvard Graduate School of Education: a single conversation simply isn’t enough to cover all the issues raised by the report. Regular listeners will recall that, in the March 17 episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, host Ian Fisher and guest experts Elyse Krantz and Beth Heaton introduced the report’s basic findings. But in order to provide a more comprehensive analysis, this week they continued their robust conversation, digging more deeply into the effect and impact the results will have on college admissions, and what it means for students. Ian, Elyse, and Beth addressed ways that students can engage with diversity and community, as the report recommends, while still allowing students to ‘find their authentic self’ in the application. They also addressed the concern raised by the report for ‘overcoaching’ in the college admissions process, and the role that strong college advising and counseling can play in the process.

Middle school is an important transition time for students between childhood and the teen years, and yet it fills so many parents with dread. Many questions arise, like: What do I concentrate on now that my kids are older? What do they need to do now to get into a “good” college later? What’s the balance between hovering over them and letting them try and possibly fail?

While middle school is too early to truly start the college admissions process, there are a few skills that can make great advances during those tween years:

Demonstrating Interest Without Spending A Lot

You’ve identified your dream school(s) and you have a strong list of other colleges to apply to. Your numbers (GPA, standardized test scores) are where they need to be. You’re working on an essay that’s going to show your admission officer (AO) who you are and how you’ll fit into her school.

But have you shown them the love?

At a significant number of schools, demonstrating interest matters in the admission process—if you don’t show the AO that you are very interested in their school, they won’t show their interest in you (in the form of an acceptance letter).

‘Tis the season for college finance, and last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, was chock full of great information about paying for college.

The Parent Perspective

Beth’s first guest was Rita Boyd, mother of three: a first-year college student; a high school senior (who is in the midst of college decision time); and a high school freshman. Rita offered some honest and thoughtful insights on how she and her husband approached the college finance process with their kids, including tough conversations about how much they were able to contribute to each child’s education.

In today’s entry, we continue the conversation between Ian Fisher and Elyse Krantz on the Turning the Tide report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. You can re-read part one on our blog here, and if you’re interested in further conversation, you can explore the archives of our Getting Inradio show to hear more from Ian, Elyse, and Elizabeth Heaton, on the impact of the report.

Ian Fisher: Interesting to see you highlight community service first, because that’s the one that stood out to me. Nearly one year ago, I wrote an article for this blog titled “Colleges Don’t Care About Community Service.” I felt pretty good about that declaration because nothing I had ever seen from college admissions suggested that there was something special about community service within the full suite of extra-curricular activities. At a glance, this seems like a departure from that position.

Last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation covered the recently published “Turning the Tide” report, continued our students’ perspectives series, and perhaps most importantly, offered timely advice for appealing financial aid awards!

Turning the Tide

Harvard Graduate School of Education’s recently published report has been making waves in the college admissions community. Host Ian Fisher, Elyse Krantz, and Elizabeth Heaton boiled the report down to its three overarching recommendations. They also discussed the ways they feel that the report will (and won’t) change what admissions offices are looking for in applicants. Keep an eye out for a return to this topic in the coming weeks, both here on the blog and on the radio show.

Your brain is like a muscle that grows and gets stronger when you stretch it. You wouldn’t run a marathon tomorrow without any training, right? If you’re serious about completing the marathon, you’ll start training and increase your distance incrementally.

Developing a rigorous course load throughout high school requires similar training. Colleges are not looking for perfection over four years—they are looking for growth. Each year’s curriculum should stretch your brain a bit further, but within reason, based on previous efforts. If you struggled for a C in a particular subject area, you might not be ready to jump to the honors level the next year.  But if you earned an A or B without losing sleep, you might be ready for a more rigorous challenge. As rigor increases, it’s normal to experience a slight dip in your grades while your brain-muscle gets used to it. But over the course of the year, you’ll grow, and ideally be ready for more stretching the following year.