Editor’s Note: This is an opinion piece from one of our educators. We will be following up this piece with a more detailed and nuanced breakdown of the report discussed here, Turning the Tide.

On January 20, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released a new report on the state of college admissions that was endorsed by senior admissions staff and deans from schools all over the country, including those from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Brown. Titled Turning the Tide, the report outlines specific challenges to college admissions offices, encouraging them to find ways to relieve the pressure of the college admissions arms race and support better, more conscientious students nationwide. While the core values of the report are clear, well-articulated, and of critical importance, as a former admissions professional and College Coach educator, it’s hard for me to see the ways that this report will create meaningful change for college-bound high school students nationwide.

Happy New Year! We’re just seven days into 2016 and we hope that means many of your resolutions are still alive. Whether you’re going to the gym more, eating healthier, or resolving not to look at your phone while you drive (good one!), January 1 is a great time to think about what you want to improve in your life. For high school juniors and their families, the application work looming in the fall threatens to interrupt all kinds of progress. We’ve got some resolutions for students (and parents!) to help keep you on the right path over the next twelve months.

Students

1)  I resolve to do well in AP US History not just because it will look good in college admissions, but because it’s a fascinating class.
This is great advice no matter the class, and no matter the activity. If you throw yourself into your work, you’ll be much more satisfied than if you feel like you’re going through the motions.

Students all around the country are returning to their high schools this fall, and seniors are heading back with the special thrill and anxiety that comes with college applications. Those who have made the most of their time this summer will be pretty close to finishing their college list and will have a serviceable draft (maybe even a finished draft!) of their college essays. But even if you’ve taken care of a huge part of your college apps on your end, you’ll need to enlist the help of your high school guidance counselor to ensure everything is finished by the appropriate deadlines. A little extra thoughtfulness will go a long way towards making your application even stronger, and improving your chances of getting into your top choices. Here are some steps you should take to make the most of your high school counselor.

1. Establish a timeline that works for your high school guidance office

Your Guide for High School Tips and Preparing for College

When I was in high school, we used to argue about when you become a senior. Does it happen the second you walk off campus on the last day of your junior year? Or do you have to wait in summer limbo, becoming a senior only when you return for classes the fall? Now that I’m an admissions counselor, I can say definitively that your senior year starts in the summer. And why? Because you have so much you need to do to prepare yourself for the coming fall: coaxing nascent essay drafts into riveting final copies; shaving your college list down from twenty to the final seven to twelve to which you’ll apply;  organizing yourself for your final year of high school and the transition to college.

Do Asians face discrimination when applying to Ivy League schools?  Do they need to appear less “Asian” when submitting their college applications in order to be admitted?  These are questions I often receive when counseling students on competitive admissions — usually when students learn I worked as an admissions officer at MIT and Caltech.  They’re questions I’ve come across in articles such as “’The Asian Penalty,’” most recently featured in The Boston Globe.  And while the questions posed might sometimes lessen the sting one might feel at the possibility of not getting admitted to one’s dream school, the reality is much more complex.

What do college admission officers and high school counselors like to do for fun? Complete surveys, of course! In the spring of 2013, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) asked thousands of college and high school officials to share school-specific information about everything from graduation rates and enrollment trends to admission strategies and international education. Earlier this month, NACAC released the results of those surveys in the highly anticipated “2014 State of College Admission Report.” (OK, well, it was highly anticipated by me, at least!)

While parents and students of the Class of 2016 might be more infatuated with this past year’s admission statistics (and not those from 2013), please know that the results of NACAC’s 2014 report represent the most accurate and up-to-date compilation of national statistics surrounding the college admission landscape in the U.S. And while some of the findings were rather expected (colleges’ waitlist use, for example, is still going strong), you may be surprised by some of these stats. Read on to learn what the “State of College Admission” means for you!

As a college admissions consultant with College Coach, I’m frequently asked to compare academics at two different institutions. “Which school offers the better academic experience?”  This is an impossible question to answer because of the incredible variability between institutions and their offerings, not to mention the incredible variability between students (goals, talents, abilities, learning styles, comfort zones, etc.). Nevertheless, it is a question that is asked and so I thought I’d provide an answer… at least to a part of it.

Below is my nearly verbatim response to a student who asked me to compare academics at a large public research institution (call it Big U), a medium-sized public liberal arts and science hybrid (call it Hybrid State College), and a small, niche liberal arts college (call it Lakeview College). Names have been changed to reflect the generality of the discussion:

Transferring Colleges: Two-Year to Four-Year

There are lots of reasons – financial, academic, lifestyle – to start your college career at a two-year college.  Whatever went into your decision, you’ve changed and been changed by your two years at community college. Now that you’re thinking about applying to a four-year college, what do you do?

First, consider your priorities.  What’s most important to you?  Is it finishing as quickly as you can, even if that means a more expensive option, or are finances driving the bus?  Is it enrolling in a specific school, or perhaps a specific department or program?  Are you able to move to a new city or state, or are you only considering schools nearby?  Do you have other priorities? Being clear about what you want – what’s possible, what’s affordable, what’s practical – will be the first step in making sure the next ones are in the right direction.

To say that the college admissions process makes students and their families “a little anxious” would be an understatement for most people in almost any grade of high school. The climate surrounding college admissions has shifted so drastically in recent years, and for good reason! Many more students are attending four year colleges and universities, and earning a valuable degree in the process. But because most schools are not adding seats to their classrooms, increased competition in admissions has had a rippling effect on many high school students. Additionally, the increased use of the Common Application has undoubtedly resulted in students happily submitting more than the suggested number of applications to schools which they have no intention of applying. More is more in many minds, even though less is more is the wisdom we encourage in so many parts of this process.

I’d like to help identify where the anxiety might come from for many students and parents, and make suggestions for how to anticipate and potentially lessen some of the stress around the college process.

Most students picture opening the envelope or their email, and finding the announcement of their admission to the college of their choice: the ultimate fulfillment of their dreams as a high school student.  In general, I find students don’t think much beyond this moment, aside from imagining how great college will be.  (For the record, college is pretty great!)  Most parents, however, realize that this celebratory moment is just the beginning.  The transition to college is really exciting on paper, but it is also one of the most challenging moments in the life of a student and her family.

The College Transition for Parents

Parents, as you try to help your student with the transition to college, you must first and foremost be aware of how different college is from when you attended.  Technology, specifically the internet, has dramatically changed how students and parents conduct business with the school.