Let's not forget about the juniors

On the morning of September 9, 2001, I woke up as my flight from New York was landing in London. I was a junior in high school and my best friends and I had finally arrived to start our “term abroad.” We were SO excited for everything ahead. I’ll never forget excitedly rushing to aol.com to sign in two days later when our group finally got internet access. I was the first one to make it to a computer. Before I could even enter my screen name (ha), there it was: a photo of the planes hitting the WTC.

BOOM! Life changed. In an instant. Forever.

Junior year is a tough time for anyone; that was true twenty years ago and it will be true twenty years from now. Your grades are all of the sudden incredibly important, you’re struggling with test prep, you’re trying to squeeze in college visits, you might be managing a handful of AP classes - it’s just so incredibly stressful in the best of circumstances.

Now, add a global crisis as the cherry on top of the pre-existing stress. That’s just a really, really difficult situation. I’ve been there. I get it.

So, as I see post upon post on social media about how sad it is that seniors are losing all of their end-of-high-school milestones - and don’t get me wrong, I feel terrible for the seniors too - I also think we need to remind ourselves: let’s not forget about the juniors. The seniors were already mentally checked out on high school well before this happened. But when the juniors look back in twenty years, these are the months they will remember. COVID-19 will probably define their high school experience, just as 9/11 defined mine.

Most of our seniors were admitted ED - so with school out, we’ve essentially spent the last couple of weeks with juniors, all day long. I can tell you firsthand that most of these kids are incredibly worried and scared about what the future will hold. They don’t know when they’re going to get to take the standardized tests that are hanging over their heads; they don’t know what’s going to happen to the coveted summer internships they worked so hard to land back in January and February; they don’t know if their schools will be back in session next fall. But they do know that their actions during this time will be judged by college admissions officers in less than a year - and the clock is ticking.

All of this on top of the fact that the “teenage brain is wired with an enhanced capacity for fear and anxiety, but is relatively underdeveloped when it comes to calm reasoning.” YIKES.

Here is some advice to help parents of juniors support their kids right now:

Try to be open and honest about any concerns with which your family is struggling, from finances to illnesses. Teenage imaginations will almost always create situations that are far worse than reality, so look at this as an opportunity to build trust that will come in handy during the college years ahead.

Watch for signs of depression and serious anxiety. When we meet with students on a regular basis, we can see shifts that might not be obvious to parents who see their children every day and aren’t actively looking out for this type of thing. Obviously, we share concerns when appropriate but every parent should be paying attention right now as well.

Pick your battles. Avoid power struggles. Cut them slack in all the areas that don’t really matter - but at the same time, set non-negotiable rules that emphasize health and wellness. Everyone needs to be getting an adequate amount of sleep right now to keep their immune systems functioning as well as possible, and it’s totally unacceptable for kids to be leaving the house to socialize.

Remind them about the silver linings of this situation. As terrible as this is, there are also a number of unexpected advantages. Kids who have been working like crazy all year can relax a little bit without worrying about messing up their perfect GPAs. Kids who haven’t been working like crazy can take advantage of a rare opportunity to positively influence their grades for the year. There are a million cool courses they can take online to explore different fields and now they actually have time to pursue them!

Celebrate their successes and accomplishments. We have a whole bunch of kids who just finished their Common App essays or are about to finish them within the next week. They are also making incredible headway on their teacher and counselor recommendation prep work, they finished their Common Applications long ago - we even have one girl who has written five supplemental essays already in addition to her main Common App essay! We are so proud! It’s important to recognize your kids’ hard work - and remind them how the upcoming months will be so. much. easier. as a result of buckling down now (here’s our list of suggestions for spending this time productively in case you haven’t read it yet).

And on a lighter (but totally serious!) note -

We at DC College Counseling are taking the official stance of no pandemic essays for the Class of 2021.

So, please don’t encourage this - NOT a good idea, Mom and Dad, NOT A GOOD IDEA AT ALL! This is going to sound terribly morbid, but if an immediate family member passes away, we will find a way to work that in. Otherwise, we need to show the admissions committee that there is more to your student than a pandemic that every single kid on the planet (literally!) is dealing with right now. Wasting valuable essay space on a topic that will not differentiate your student from any other student is not a good idea, no matter how life-altering this period of time will be for all of us.

More like 12,500th. 125,000th? Seriously, I would not be surprised if 75% of applicants write about this.

NOT UNDER OUR WATCH, PLEASE!

P.S. While it kills me to admit this, I actually did write the 9/11 version of the above for my college essay. Ughhhh. I know, I know. And my mom thought it was fantastic. Of course she did. It probably had two spaces after the periods, too. What can I say, we live and learn, right?!

Coronavirus: What You Need to Know

Whether you are more of the “doomsday prepper” type or think this is all overblown, there’s no denying that Coronavirus is a hot topic right now. We decided it was probably a good time to revisit our cancellation policy to ensure that we are providing the best possible service in the best possible environment!

Client Cancellation Policy

As our clients know from their contracts, we have a strict 48-hour cancellation policy - for any reason. However, we’re not doing this to be mean; in fact, we actually this policy in place to help our students.

Since we are dealing with teenagers (who often-times have 123,352 better things to be doing than writing their college essays), we can’t make it too easy to call in sick. This is particularly the case because so much of our strategy involves helping our students complete excellent work on a specific timeline.

Not only does this help each incentivize each individual student to uphold their commitments, it also helps the client base as a whole. Imagine if we had 5-10 students canceling meetings each week at the last minute for social obligations or other completely avoidable reasons. This would mean that 5-10 other students were blocked from booking those meetings.

Truly, this impacts everyone. After a decade of running a business with a high-school-age client base, we are 100% confident that this type of policy is best for everyone.

This Doesn’t Mean Show Up Sick!

It is fine to come with a cold, but students who are contagious cannot attend in-person meetings. We mostly follow Fairfax County Public Schools’ sick policy. If you have a fever, you are contagious and you should not be here.

One exception where we do NOT follow FCPS policy is with head lice. Knock on wood, I don’t think any of our clients have had head lice before while working with us, but just in case - do not come here with head lice!

Additionally, if CDC recommendations are more stringent than FCPS recommendations, we will follow those. For example, as of today (March 5), the CDC recommends 14 days of self-quarantine after traveling from Italy. FCPS does not; we will go with the CDC. Please let us know immediately if you have been to any of the countries on the CDC list or have had contact with anyone that has.

No Wasted Time

Students who are contagious or quarantined but still fine to complete work should simply switch their in-person meetings to remote ones. We hold remote meetings via Zoom, which is a video chat tool that also allows for super-easy screen sharing when working on essays, applications, and other documents. It’s like skype, but better! If you would prefer to switch a planned in-person meeting to a remote meeting for any reason, just email Rebeccah and she’ll take care of it for you. Please CC Colleen and your coach (if applicable) as well so that we can make sure that very-last-minute requests are not missed.

If you are truly too sick to work over Zoom, we will take the hour of time that you reserved and put it towards something else beneficial! We will never bill you for twiddling our thumbs during a missed appointment! Instead, we’ll take your reserved time and spend it doing something useful that doesn’t require direct student interaction. Maybe it’s plotting out a strategy and outline for repurposing specific essay content for individual school prompts; maybe it’s reviewing work that has already been completed; maybe it’s performing research for program-specific questions to ask an interviewer.. there are typically quite a few things we can do!

Snow Day Policy = Public Health Risk Policy

If for some reason Fairfax County Public Schools needs to close because of a public health risk, we’ll just jump right to our snow day policy. All meetings will be automatically canceled and we’ll contact you to reschedule. We may decide it’s fine for our office to remain open on a case by case basis, and we’ll contact you to give you the option to come in if you desire in that scenario. If you choose not to come, there will not be a cancellation penalty.

Upholding Our Own Standards

We’d also like to share an update to our team member sick policy, given the current landscape. We absolutely hate canceling meetings, because we know what an impact it has on our clients. Even though we try as hard as possible to avoid this, sometimes there’s just no way around it if we want to maintain a healthy office environment. So, not only will we hold our staff to the same health guidelines as students, but we’ll also hold ourselves to the same cancellation penalty if we have to be the ones to cancel.

If Fairfax County Public Schools are open but a member of our staff is contagious or quarantined with less than 48-hours notice, here’s what will happen:

1. We’ll first try to switch to a Zoom meeting, if the team member can meet remotely.

2. If that’s not possible, we’ll try to find a different team member to step in. This may require switching to a Zoom meeting, but we’ll do our absolute best to find a different coach to substitute if the meeting involves a coach. We will not assign substitutes for meetings with Colleen.

3. If we can’t offer a remote meeting or a substitute, your next hour of work with us will be free. One catch: you do have to spend that initial time block doing something productive relating to the college admissions process :)

Double-Check Spring Break College Trip Plans

This isn’t about our own office, but given what may be ahead, it’s wise to start thinking now about what will happen if colleges close as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, but you still need to try to squeeze in those visits. You will likely have to identify a few other days this spring to be able to visit while schools are in session.

Double-Check Standardized Test Cancellations

It’s possible that the College Board or ACT will need to cancel upcoming SAT or ACT administrations, as they have already done in other countries, as a result of Coronavirus. Typically, when tests are canceled in the United States, makeup dates are provided. Please monitor your email carefully in case you are impacted by a cancellation.

WASH YOUR HANDS!

Please, please, please!

A long-awaited FAFSA update: Why you shouldn't apply just to apply - and how to get help if you DO need to apply!!

Don’t “Apply just to Apply”

If you are 100% positive that there is absolutely no way that your family will qualify for financial aid, submitting the FAFSA will result in the following:

• Sharing personally identifiable information unnecessarily

• Providing information that could potentially bias the admissions committee against providing merit aid to the admitted student because of a higher-than-average household income and a perception that the additional money “isn’t needed”

• Providing information that could potentially make it more difficult to gain admission in the first place.

That last one is an especially important consideration: while a lack of financial need doesn’t really give anyone an advantage anymore (there are plenty of full-pay students, especially in the DC area), having financial need can still represent a disadvantage… whether the school claims to be need-blind or not.

Remember: many admissions officers do not have access to the numbers on financial aid forms when making the admissions decision, so other than context clues, they don’t know whether the student is applying for financial aid with a $50k HHI or a $500k HHI. They just know that the student applied for financial aid.. and BOOM! There goes any benefit associated with being a full-pay student!

Still: If you need to apply, you need to apply.

If there is ANY question that you might be eligible for need-based financial aid, please disregard the above information and go ahead and apply. You need to fill out the FAFSA; in all likelihood, the CSS Profile, as well; and any other forms required for the financial aid process. Many schools also have institutional forms, so please make sure to check individual financial aid websites. Don’t waste one minute thinking about whether to apply or not or worrying about a disadvantage. Control what you can control!

How to know?

Go ahead and visit FAFSA4caster to get a better estimate of your eligibility for financial aid before filling out a FAFSA. If your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is less than the expected cost of attendance at the highest-priced college(s) your student(s) may attend - you may qualify. Don’t forget to add the cost of attendance numbers together with multiple students in college - this is calculated per family, not per student.

• For example, let’s say your EFC is $100,000 and your son is a high school senior during the 2019-2020 academic year. You visited the schools’ websites and found that the cost of attendance at the pricest school on his list is Boston College, with an estimated cost of attendance of $76,161 (ouch) for the 2019-2020 academic year.

• Your first step should be to re-calculate the possible estimated cost of attendance for the 2020-2021 academic year. Boston College has had price increases of just under 4% (3.9%, 3.97%, etc) in recent years - let’s give them some wiggle room and re-calculate assuming a 5% cost increase to be safe. Your new estimate is $79,969. In this case, STOP! Don’t apply for financial aid. (Note: BC claims to be need-blind, and they very well may be, but why risk it? Many schools claim things that aren’t the case, or change policies mid-way through the admissions cycle.)

• However, let’s take that same scenario (EFC is $100,000 and the expected cost of attendance at your senior son’s highest-priced school is $79,969) and pretend that you already have an older child in college already. She will be entering her second year at UVA’s School of Engineering (that in-state tuition never looked so good, huh!) and the estimated cost of attendance is $38,210. Allow for a 4% increase based on UVA’s past data, which would come to be $39,738. Add the two numbers together: you’re now at $119,707. YES- you should apply for financial aid!

One issue I didn’t cover here, for simplicity’s sake - the way that schools present costs are slightly different from school to school and are not particularly straightforward. Some include allowances for items like living expenses, for example. Since it’s not a perfect calculation, if your EFC is anywhere near the expected cost of attendance, I would go ahead and apply just in case. On the other hand, if your EFC is $100,000 and your student is attending a school with a $70,000 cost of attendance, you should not apply. This will do you no favors.

YAY! WE WILL LIKELY QUALIFY! HOW DO I FILL THIS THING OUT?

If you do decide to fill out a FAFSA and apply for aid,  the good news is that there is a local organization that provides 1:1 assistance for free. College Access Fairfax will provide 1:1 assistance at their FAFSA completion workshops, as long as you show up with the documents they require in hand (don’t worry, there aren’t too many documents to gather).  Students do not have to be enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools and do not even have to live in Fairfax County. This is such a great service! There is still one workshop left on April 1 for Class of 2020 seniors who are filling it out on the later side, and you can register for that here.

They also provide programming for younger students that is absolutely worth attending if you believe you will apply for financial aid or would just like to learn more about the process. Events in March include Paying for College/Scholarship 101 (I would recommend this for families with students in 9th-11th grade) and several Middle School Financial Awareness seminars.

A FEW LAST TIPS

Believe me, I understand that it’s stressful to think about paying for college. Whether you qualify for financial aid or not, this is a source of stress for MANY families across income levels. Here are a few more tips concerning finances:

• Set a budget from the beginning and stick to it. Do not allow emotion to be a factor in your decision-making process; desperate people make bad choices. NO school is worth your retirement savings or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

• Try not to feel badly if you can’t afford to send your student where she wants to go (or can, but have chosen not to spend your money that way). I have seen so many parents beat themselves up about this over the years, which is crazy. Accepting that you can’t give your child everything is the worst part of parenting and 100% unavoidable. You can put it off, sure, but not forever.

• Bernie Sanders is NOT the answer. Sorry, had to stick that in there :) Don’t forget to vote on Super Tuesday tomorrow!

Good luck!

To FAFSA or not to FAFSA... that is the question!

Few things bother me more than processes that aren’t transparent.

As a result, I try to do whatever I can to be honest and direct with my clients. I do not believe in hiding the truth from people - it only causes problems in the long run, even if it seems like a good idea or “the right thing to do” at the time. (Side note: if you haven’t read the book Lying, I highly recommend it. Life-changing!)

One college admissions-related issue where transparency is seriously lacking has to do with filling out the FAFSA, and whether families without financial need should fill it out anyway.

Around this time of year, every year, questions about this issue roll in nonstop. On one hand, colleges and school counselors seem to be insisting that the FAFSA is required for everyone, financial need or not… but many families report that their accountants have advised them that it’s not required, and that they shouldn’t fill it out.

I’m with the accountants. NO! Don’t fill it out if you don’t have financial need.

But my school counselor said to fill it out!

The long and short of it is that school counselors often-times encourage all families to fill out the FAFSA to make sure that no families accidentally bypass it because of a mistaken belief that they aren’t eligible.

While I agree in theory that it’s better to have a hundred ineligible families apply for no reason than to have one eligible family miss out on financial aid… I feel like the whole thing gets tricky when gentle “encouragement” turns into “bombarding families with scare tactics” about how their students will not be eligible for merit-based scholarships if their parents do not apply for financial aid.

And it’s not just counselors, it’s entire school systems and even STATES! Some states have actually begun to force all graduating public school students to complete the form!

As a result, many families truly believe that filling out the FAFSA is just another necessary step in the college application process and they fill it out without questioning anything.

Even though I am not a fan of spreading inaccurate information to scare people into doing something, I think the school counselors that perpetuate this myth have their hearts in the right place.

Moreover, based on the outright arguments I have seen on college admissions list-serves, I am pretty confident that a good number of these counselors actually do believe it’s required and just don’t know any better. Which is sort of concerning, to be honest, but I digress!

But the colleges said to fill it out too!

Colleges, in my opinion, aren’t perpetuating the idea that the FAFSA is required for the same reason as the counselors. Instead, they want the data! If more students fill out the FAFSA, that just means that the colleges and universities have more information to use in sophisticated mathematical models that influence admissions decisions and scholarships.

You can read more about how data is used in the admissions process in a New York Times article that I shared on social media this past fall. It was one of the best college admissions-related reads of last year, in my opinion! You can find it here - but I took the liberty of copying and pasting a selection below, as well:

If you pick any two freshmen at the same college, they are very likely to be paying completely different tuition rates. Those rates are based not on the true value of the service the college is offering or even on the ability of the student’s family to pay. Instead, they are based on a complex calculation, using sophisticated predictive algorithms, of what the student is worth to the college and what the college is worth to the student.

The consultants many colleges hire to perform those calculations — known in the trade as “financial-aid optimization” — are the hidden geniuses of enrollment management, the quants with advanced math degrees who spend hours behind closed doors, parsing student decision-making patterns, carefully adjusting their econometric models, calculating for admissions directors precisely how many dollars they would need to cut from their list price to persuade each specific Chloe or Josh to choose their college. Outside the ranks of enrollment management, the work done by the companies that employ these back-room prodigies is almost entirely unknown. But collectively, they play as big a role as anyone in shaping American college admissions today.

Of course they try to suggest that families have to fill out the FAFSA. Come on - those algorithms won’t run without data!

The Actual Truth

Colleges provide three different types of scholarships, or “free money", “grants,” etc:

• Merit-based

• Need-based

• A combination of merit-and-need based

It is exceptionally, exceptionally rare for a school to require the FAFSA for a scholarship in the first category - one where financial need does not play a role in the selection process.

If you hear an admissions officer say that the FAFSA is required for scholarships, or if you read it on a college website, you need to delve deeper to determine if any of the schools on your list fall under one of those rare exceptions.

NOTE: Since many of my blog readers are Virginia residents, I want to point out that Virginia Tech is one of the schools that does show up on the exception list. Still, the reason for the exception won’t apply to 99% of the VT applicants with whom I work. Most of their “merit-based scholarships” do have a need-based component - which obviously requires the FAFSA - but some of their military scholarships require the FAFSA even though they don’t take financial need into consideration:

So, if you know that you will be applying for a military scholarship at VT: yes, you’re going to have to file the FAFSA regardless of need.

If there is any question whatsoever about whether a FAFSA might be required at a certain school for merit applicants without financial need, make sure to do your due diligence; after all, policies change. Give their financial aid office a call. Ask: “What kinds of scholarships require the FAFSA? Does your institution have a single scholarship that is merit-based only, with no financial need component whatsoever, that requires the FAFSA?”

Be warned: the person may very well tell you at first that merit-based scholarships do require the FAFSA at their institution. But once you start pressing about whether those “merit” scholarships incorporate financial need, you will learn that it is incredibly rare for a college to require the FAFSA for a scholarship that is truly based on merit alone.

Think about it - why would you need to share your financial information for a scholarship that has nothing to do with financial need? That would make no sense.

So why not just submit it anyway, just in case? Can that really hurt?

It sure can!

More on that in my next post..

(And just to be clear - families with financial need should fill it out. No debate there.)

#UVA24: An Analysis

2/5/2021 Update: This page is getting a ton of hits with the release of the #UVA25 Early Action decisions this evening. I just wanted to make sure that readers are aware that this was posted last year. Check out today’s blog post for some initial thoughts on the decision release. We’ll have more to come later after we can spend some time with the data!

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I originally said that I’d wait to post an overall impression of this year’s early round until I learned all of the EA and ED II decisions. Still not quite there yet (looking at you for EA, Virginia Tech - and while 3 out of our 4 ED II applicants have been accepted to their respective schools (YAY!), we are still waiting on the 4th).

I decided to go ahead and share my interpretations of UVA’s early results, anyway, since we had some uncharted territory this year with the return of ED.

March 2019 - I was (coincidentally) on campus the day after the RD decisions were released!

If you weren’t aware, UVA re-introduced a binding early decision option this cycle to supplement their non-binding early action process, after almost fifteen years with no binding application plan).

Most everyone had no clue what to expect this year as a result. Would it become easier for applicants who were willing to commit? Would it become more difficult for everyone else? We all know that ED makes a huge difference in outcomes for William & Mary applicants (as is typical at most institutions), but UVA staff kept reiterating that this type of situation would not necessarily be the case there.

Well, both the ED and EA results are now in, and here’s what I have to offer after a few hours playing with the numbers:

• The number of early decision applicants this year turned out to be quite small. When UVA first decided to stop offering an early decision plan in 2006, they received about 2,500 ED applications each year, representing approximately 15-17% of an overall applicant pool numbering between 14,500-16,000. This year, with the re-introduction of ED, there were only 2,159 ED applications - but the overall applicant pool has steadily increased to one that now exceeds the 40,000 mark. Therefore, the percentage of ED applicants only represented about 5% of the overall pool this year. That’s significant. There are so many explanations for why this could be - perhaps Class of 2021 students had already mentally committed to applying ED elsewhere before the option to apply ED to UVA was announced in the spring of their junior year. Or maybe it’s just that UVA has always been a relatively predictable school in terms of admissions, and qualified applicants didn’t feel like they needed to apply ED to be admitted.

• At least when it comes to the limited information we have (i.e. we have no data about the qualifications of the admitted students), it does not appear that in-state students who applied early decision had much of a statistical advantage over the ones who applied early action. The ED acceptance rate for this year’s pool was about 40% for Virginia residents, compared to a 35% (ish) acceptance rate for Virginia residents who applied EA. When you consider that many schools have ED rates that are triple the size of their EA rates, this is really interesting.

• On the other hand, there was a very significant advantage for out-of-state students applying early decision. The acceptance rate was about 28% for ED out-of-state students, compared to 15% for EA out-of-state students. Applications to top public universities have skyrocketed in recent years as a result of all of the restrictive and single-choice early action policies, and the landscape has created a situation where it’s nearly impossible for these admissions committees to determine who wants to come and who is actually just mass-applying to all of the top public schools in the United States. This has resulted in what I like to call the “Michigan Effect” - with mass out-of-state deferrals across the board that don’t even really seem to correlate with candidate qualifications. So, the decision to prioritize out-of-state students who apply ED (vs. out-of-state students who apply EA) feels very fair to me.

• The EA acceptance rate for in-state students went from 43.4% last year to 35% this year, which represents a 19% drop from year to year (don’t forget that the rate is statewide and is not representative of the Northern Virginia applicant pool - I highly doubt that NOVA students are admitted at a 35% rate). That means that 1 out of every 5 in-state students not admitted early action to UVA this year would have been admitted last year.

• But if we compare the total number of applications from last year (RD + EA) to the total number from this year (RD + EA + ED), they are REMARKABLY similar. So even though more kids applied early this year, less applied regular.

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Here’s what I think happened this year - I feel like a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but hear me out!

-UVA may have been particularly conservative with their decisions, particularly in the ED pool. At the time the ED decisions were released, the RD deadline hadn’t passed and so much was still unknown in terms of the overall number of applicants. Especially in the wake of the Virginia Tech enrollment debacles of the last several years, I could certainly see UVA deciding that a conservative approach in the face of change would be much better than an over-enrollment situation.

-Perhaps more applicants who might have initially applied RD chose to apply EA instead after ED was added. This makes sense given that some other schools have started to indicate that students need to either apply EA or ED to be competitive applicants when both options are offered; RD has almost turned into an afterthought in those situations. Of course, this is not the case at UVA, but it’s very possible that applicants didn’t realize this. So that would explain why the combination EA/ED numbers were greater than EA alone during the 2018-2019 cycle, while the RD numbers were down.

If I’m right in terms of the intentionally conservative approach, I think that this may extend through RD because the overall yield may be hard to predict. For example, if all the people with UVA as their #1 choice applied ED, the EA/RD pool should have a lower yield since that “#1 choice group” is no longer part of it. But how much lower? It’s so hard to say. Ultimately, I think that since there’s still so much uncertainty, we may see more waitlist movement than in past years.

I can’t help but wonder about two things:

1. Given that ED acceptances were released before RD applications were due (in other words - the committee had to make the ED decisions when it looked like the total number of applications was trending upwards, before it normalized).. and given that the situation this year was unpredictable for everyone - including the UVA admissions committee - maybe UVA will be a bit more generous in the ED round next year?

2. Given the same issue, it will be very interesting to see if deferred ED students are admitted this spring at the same rate as the deferred EA students. Or even admitted from the waitlist, for that matter! It would not surprise me if we saw a greater ED advantage emerge down the line, either in RD or from the waitlist.

Only time will tell!

2020-2021 Common Application® Essay Prompts Released for the Class of 2021

Yay! I have been waiting for this day in eager anticipation for a while!

The Common Application® organization performed a study to determine whether the current essay prompt choices were effective, and I am VERY happy to report that they just announced the decision to stick with last year’s prompts for the Class of 2021!

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right?

Here are the 2020-2021 Common App® Prompts:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.

2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma — anything of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

A few pieces of advice to all HS Class of 2021 students beginning this process:

Focus on the message, not the story. The #1 concern I hear from students and parents is that they just don’t know what to write about. This is especially the case from students in Northern Virginia, who have often just lived a normal, suburban lifestyle - no huge tragedies or adversity to overcome. The good news is that with a few exceptions (we’ll get to those), it honestly doesn’t matter what you write about. I swear. An amazing topic is not what makes an amazing essay.

What will make an amazing essay will be an authentic snapshot into your personality - a characteristic that you can share about yourself that really captures who you are. Maybe it’s a cool way you think, an odd quirk, or an interesting habit you have. If you are working on this alone without our help, talk to your parents, siblings, friends, and teachers about characteristics that make you unique. What are you “known for”? It doesn’t have to be fancy or impressive!

Once you have something in mind, back into a story that clearly showcases the characteristic. Again, it’s not really about the story itself (caveat to come!); instead, it’s about how well the story showcases the characteristic… how authentic it sounds!

That said, try as hard as you can to try to avoid cliche, overused, and/or inappropriate topics. If you feel like you HAVE to write about a cliche story, write about one that is loosely related to it (so you are able to reference or mention whatever it is without having your whole essay revolve around it).

End by considering how you will be able to apply that characteristic in the short-term and/or long-term future, to be able to make a difference in a positive way.

What does the prompt release mean for DC College Counseling students in the Class of 2021?

All Class of 2021 students will receive their WOW Writing Workshop login information at some point in the next week, and then our essay writing process will officially begin! Every student and parent will also receive an email containing instructions and next steps from me (Colleen). Get excited!!!

Since all of our work is individualized and customizable, we have set alternate schedules with some students for various reasons; however, most of our students will have their main essay 100% complete by/around spring break. Yep, you read that right! And it is going to feel AWESOME to have this done so early. Bonus: Juniors enrolled in AP English Language typically have to write their “college essay” as an end-of-year assignment. So you can cross that off the to-do list as well. You’re welcome :)

Most of you have heard us rave about the WOW system already: this is now our third season as WOW partners and we use a slightly modified version of their approach, so that we can incorporate our in-person meetings and high-touch project management work. All students will have three assigned meetings at pre-determined stages and ongoing coaching and editing work in between. They will conclude the process with a fourth “meeting,” a final polish from our self-described “Rumpelstiltskin of editing” who specializes in performing the best final edits you’ll ever see! Then, of course, I will weigh in one last time.

If you’re not a DC College Counseling student (yet) but are interested in working together:

It’s not too late to sign up for an ongoing package; we just started with two new Class of 2021 students this week alone! Start with a no-obligation Meet & Greet to learn about how my fabulous team and I can help a student achieve their goals with very little stress along the way.

For students who need less help overall and are primarily concerned with the main essay, we have the new hybrid Strategy & Planning Plus option.

Last but not least - a cool opportunity! If you’re not a DC College Counseling student (yet) and aren’t able to contract for services:

We’re expensive - I get it! This spring, we have three pro bono (yes - free!) spots available for high school juniors who would like to complete their Common Application® Essay before April 1. The students must have parental permission and the ability to attend in-person sessions, and must also allow us to publicly chronicle their experiences throughout the writing process. To be clear, no actual essay material will be shared, just more about the process itself.

We’d prefer to extend this opportunity to students with demonstrated financial need or are underserved in some way, although it’s not a hard and fast requirement. If you are this student, please shoot me an email with a little bit about yourself and why you’d like to be considered! And if you are a third party who knows of a deserving student that might be able to benefit from this, let us know.

Welcome to Miami / Bienvenidos a Miami

Am I the only one who automatically starts singing the Will Smith song in my head when I think about Miami? (It just occurred to me that anyone applying to college today was born years after that song came out.. yikes!)

I visit 30-40 schools per year to be able to stay on top of all of the new trends and recommend schools to students, but hardly any of my trip reports make it to this blog. One of my goals for 2020 is to change that!

I decided that my recent visit to the University of Miami was a perfect place to start, because it has a very wide appeal for many different types of students.

The school wasn’t always as well-regarded as it is now, and a lot of where it is today is because of former president Donna Shalala. I probably wouldn’t have said it this way myself, but I agree with the Miami Herald’s characterization that Shalala “transformed the university from a beer-and-party-school to one with a global reach, raising billions of dollars in the process.”

UM’s most recent Common Data Set statistics show a score average range of 1250-1430 for enrolled first-year students (or 29-32 on the ACT). If my calculations are correct, it also shows a 31.27% acceptance rates for students who applied via non-binding plans (early action and regular decision combined) and 55.6% acceptance rate for students applying via early decision.

Okay, enough on the statistics. Here are my thoughts!

WHAT TO LOVE:

• THE WEATHER! I mean, really. It was so depressing to fly back to DC!

• THE CITY! Miami is just booming right now. I stayed downtown near the new (ish) Brickell City Centre complex and it was beautiful. So much to do. It’s really a great city.

• Along those lines, it’s awesome that students get to experience the “city life” when they want, the “beach life” when they want, and a fully residential, closed campus when they want. Definitely a best-of-all-worlds kind of situation.

• It’s one of the few schools that has a ton of school spirit despite being both private and mid-size (11,000+ undergraduates). Typically we see this kind of school spirit at a much larger public school. This almost always correlates with a loyal alumni network and that’s definitely the case here as well.

• Sought-after majors that aren’t offered everywhere - from engineering to business to communication to nursing to architecture - to very highly regarded niche programs like meteorology, marine science, music, and sport administration. There are really a lot of options, especially when considering the size of the student body. UM does a lot, and does a lot well.

• It’s selective while still being possible for a “normal” (i.e. you don’t have to cure cancer) student with good grades and test scores to get in.

• There’s an incredibly active Jewish community (but it’s not the kind of thing where students who are not Jewish will feel left out - I do not get that sense at all).

• Generous merit aid to qualified students, especially those with high test scores.

• No essay on the Common App supplement - it basically takes five minutes to apply!

WHAT TO THINK MORE ABOUT:

• The surrounding neighborhood is not amazing. Coral Gables itself definitely does have some nice aspects - I had lunch at Bachour, which was soooo delicious, and I also went shopping at Merrick Park, which was very nice and upscale. But the immediate area surrounding campus is not exactly a bragging point.

• Students that do not speak Spanish might feel a little out of place. I am actually from Miami originally, but I do not speak Spanish - and whenever I am in Miami I am reminded that I wish I did!

• The campus itself has a lot of concrete, which makes sense given the hurricane situation. The school is beautiful in a lush, tropical sort of way, but it’s not beautiful in the “classic college campus” sort of way.

• Back to the whole “city life” thing - there’s a higher percentage of students that go out clubbing on the weekend than one will find at most schools. Some students appreciate this, some don’t.

All in all, it gets a thumbs-up in my book and I can see why it appeals to so many different kinds of students. Pro tip: if you decide to visit (and you should!), a lot of hotels in Miami have great discounts for those visiting the school. I stayed at the W for something like $249/night when the website was showing rates of $800+/night. Make sure to take advantage of that!

Summer Internship and Job Application Prep

We’ve gotten SO much positive feedback from our new internship database - keep watching for more listings each week, because we have a whole bunch of great ones on the pipeline! So far, you can see our January 14 listings here and our January 7 listings here.

Several families have asked whether resume and interview preparation for the college application process can also carry over to the internship and job application process. Is it basically the same?

Great question, and the answer is “yes and no.” Here’s a breakdown for you:

Creating a Resume

College Admissions

The resume must be one page long at the absolute max and should have a clean format that is easy to read (and easy to skim!). It should provide a general overview of the student’s greatest accomplishments and other need-to-know information, grouped into sections with headings. All of our clients have a sample template in their Google Drive folders, and non-clients can purchase a low-cost editable instant download of the same template here.

Job/Internship

The format should be very similar to the admissions resume in that it should not exceed one page and should be easy to read and skim. It should also be grouped into sections and headings. However, it should not be general in nature - it should be tailored to the position as much as possible and should highlight experiences that coincide with the job duties.

BRINGING a Resume

College Admissions

It’s not absolutely necessary for students to bring a resume to a college interview if they don’t have one prepared already. Most of the interviewers will not read the resume; however, if students have one prepared or are willing to put some time into creating one, they should go ahead and take it with them. It will only help project a positive impression!

Job/Internship

Students must always, always, always bring a resume with them to a job interview--even if they have emailed it to the employer ahead of time! No way around this. They should bring several copies in a portfolio or folder to ensure that they do not become dirty or crumpled en route to the interview.

Interview Preparation

College Admissions

As many of our students know, interview preparation for a college admissions interview is essential! A few of the tasks we cover in our interview prep sessions include developing answers to common interview questions, writing questions to ask the interviewer that show research and interest, perfecting a handshake, and practicing eye contact. We also advise several practice rounds with one of our staff members or a parent; this will help students learn to answer questions on the spot while maintaining a professional approach (it will also help to eliminate fillers like “um” and “like”).

Job/Internship

Just like college interviews, job interviews require preparation. Many of the skills from college interview work will help with job and internship interviews, such as sustained eye contact, a strong handshake, and a professional approach. It’s also critical to practice answers to common questions and arrive to the interview with questions that show research and interest; however, the nature of all of these questions will be completely different.

Interview Attire

College Admissions

College interviews usually require business casual attire. This can mean a nice dress or pants with a blazer or sweater for girls, or nice pants with a button-down shirt for boys. No leggings, athletic wear, or jeans! Girls should pay attention to their shoes to make sure that they are able to walk comfortably and that they are not wearing a heel that is too high. All clothes should be clean and pressed, and fit well. Nothing too tight or too baggy, and certainly nothing that could be considered even remotely objectionable. Boys should make sure to have had a haircut recently and girls should have their hair styled away from their face in a polished way. No heavy makeup, perfume, or cologne. When in doubt, students should ask themselves it their outfit would be appropriate to attend a religious service at a grandparent’s retirement home. If the answer is yes, that’s a good sign!

Job/Internship

Job and internship interviews are a little trickier because it very much depends on the job. It would be strange to walk into Starbucks in a suit for an interview, but it would also be inappropriate to walk into a corporate internship full of men and women in suits while wearing a pair of khakis. Regardless, however, it’s always best to look your best for a first impression. We recommend trying to get a sense of the typical office attire of the workplace and going for one or two notches above that, if it’s more of a casual setting. All grooming-related tips from the college interview still apply.

Interview Scheduling and Timing

College Admissions

Students should plan interviews far ahead of time--this ensures appropriate preparation and it also shows interest in the school! Plus, some schools’ interview slots that fill up relatively quickly - like William & Mary’s summer interview schedule. On the day of the interview, it’s best to arrive no earlier than 15-20 minutes in advance and no later than 5 minutes in advance.

Job/Internship

Timeliness is equally important for job and internship interviews. Unlike college interviews, however, students don’t just “sign up” and interviews aren’t extended to all applicants. It actually plays out in the opposite manner! Instead, students first need to submit an application if one exists (typically this is the case for internships) and/or submit a resume and cover letter. Students should be sure to read the specific instructions in the listing, which may be very different from position to position.

Whether it is a job or an internship, interviews are typically only granted after the organization has reviewed the student’s materials and decided that the student meets the position’s initial qualifications. If the organization is interested in interviewing a student, a representative will typically invite the student to come in and may suggest a set of times. On the day of the interview, follow the same advice regarding timing - no more than 15-20 minutes in advance and no later than 5 minutes in advance.

Interview Questions

College Admissions

Admissions officers or alums will certainly ask students questions about their academic history and plans for the future, extracurricular activities (volunteer, arts, sports, etc.), and their interest in attending that particular school. Some interviewers may ask students to describe themselves or how others would describe them. They’re trying to get an overall sense of the student’s work ethic, their dedication to things outside of school, and their overall personality - as well as their likelihood of attending the school if admitted. A lot of that will come out through the rapport the student has with the interviewer, but it’s extremely helpful to prepare for questions so that students have answers in mind for every possible question!  Anyone needing more help with this can pick up our College Interview Guide. Current clients can download this from our shared documents site (see your passwords document for login access).

Job/Internship

Job and internship interview questions are typically not as focused on extracurriculars and academics, although this can vary depending on the position. Instead, most questions typically revolve around student experience with the duties that the position entails. One of our coaches, Megan, was recently sharing a story with a student about how she had unsuccessfully applied for a job at Anthropologie while she was in high school. She had a great academic history and plenty of experience in childcare, but nothing in retail.

In retrospect, she explained, she should have pulled from what she had and tried to connect the skills that made her successful in school and babysitting to skills that would make her a great employee at Anthropologie. This would have been much more effective than talking about how she was a great babysitter. Even students starting from a place with no work experience can try to connect what they have learned from academic and extracurricular experiences to the day-to-day duties of the position at hand.

Lastly, just like preparing for the “Why this school?” college interview question, students need to have well-researched and thought-out answers regarding why the particular job and internship is appealing to them.

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As you can see, there’s a lot of overlap between the college application process and the job/internship application process, but not enough to bypass dedicated preparation for the latter. Remember that parents can often provide great support in helping to segue from interviews and resumes geared towards the college admissions process to those geared towards jobs and internships.

If you’d rather come in to work with a team member, we have options available for both current clients and those who are not working with us on an ongoing basis but just need a little help in this area.

BRAND NEW: DC AREA SUMMER 2020 HIGH SCHOOL INTERNSHIP DATABASE

This is the season during which I speak to freshmen, sophomores and juniors about their summer plans, and every year I hear students complaining about the lack of high school internship opportunities. Everyone wants a summer activity that is related to their area of academic interest (because that’s what I recommend ;) ) and they can be pretty hard to come by!

It kills me to see so many great high school students (who have so much to offer!!) who are desperate to work for free and I know there are definitely organizations and companies - especially nonprofits and small businesses - who could benefit from their help.

As a result, I have helped match up high school students with opportunities throughout the years via my own personal connections, but I decided to take it one step further this year.

I put together this page of Summer 2020 High School Internships in the Greater Washington DC Area using curated posts and listings I found myself. I will continue to update it regularly over the months ahead.

However, my main objective is to use the page to match up local organizations without publicly-listed formal internship programs with high school students who are ready and willing to work. There is a link on the site where employers can enter information about any kind of academic or career-related volunteer or internship opportunity.

Please know that this does NOT need to be formal! Most of these students would be so grateful for any chance to work in an industry that’s remotely related to what they want to study - even if it’s filing or collecting mail. And they are all social media gurus, so don’t forget about that!

Each week, we will update the site and send out the updated listings to our clients and anyone else that signs up on the page. I want this to be accessible to every high school student in our area, whether they are clients of ours or not. I have no idea if this will be successful, but I’m game for trying!

If you are an adult reading this, would you consider sharing the page with your network or community group - or adding an internship listing for your own organization? The more listings we have, the more students we can help!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends!

I hope that everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable break. Those who follow me on social media have seen all of my posts about our big move over these last two weeks! We had a few snafus, like when the Ikea delivery people no-showed (!) but we got through it.. even when it meant renting a U-Haul and dragging my whole family to College Park since it was my au pair’s day off and I was that desperate!!

You can read directions to our new office here - we are not 100% up and running yet but will be by Wednesday (minus some small things we’re still waiting on like blinds and frames..and some big things like our outside sign!).

I’ll post pictures when we are finished but here’s a sneak peak of how things look right now.

Something else that might even be MORE exciting (actually I think it’s a lot more exciting) is a cool new initiative I’m trying for the first time this year!

Stay tuned for an announcement tomorrow when we’re back in the office for real!

How to Turn a Deferral into an Acceptance: Everything You Need to Know!

Students are beginning the college admissions process earlier and earlier, and it’s not rare anymore for my work with a student to begin in middle school. There are certain parts of the journey that I enjoy more than others, of course. But throughout all of our time together, I think that my absolute favorite part (or at least the most fulfilling) is working with deferred applicants - and especially those of the “Hail Mary” sort that I referenced in my last post.

If you’ve been deferred and are hoping to turn things around, I highly recommend following the steps below:

Step #1: Ask your school counselor to call your regional admissions representative to learn more information about why you were deferred.

This is critical. CRITICAL!

And you calling the school yourself is NOT a substitute for your counselor making the phone call. Admissions officers will generally not share detailed information with an applicant. However, school counselors can typically get lots of inside knowledge about the decision and why it occurred. This is extremely valuable information.

Moving forward without it is basically the equivalent of trying to overcome an objection without knowing what the objection is! Sure, maybe you’ll get lucky and hit the right part of the dartboard, but in all likelihood, it’s going to be an uphill battle.

NOTE: Unfortunately, some counselors do not realize that they are able to do this or don’t know what to say. In the last week alone I’ve guided a number of school counselors through this process and am happy to do that for any of my clients. For those of you following along at home, reinforce to your counselor that this type of advocacy is a completely acceptable practice. It even has a term - a “counselor call.”

Step #2: Based on the information your counselor provides, determine which deferral category you’re in.

I find that deferrals typically fall into one of three categories.

Category #1: The student has a decent shot of getting in regular IF .... (fill in the blank with a tangible objective). The admissions committee might be waiting to see if the student ends up with higher test scores, higher senior year grades, different recommendations, or so forth. This is the best-case scenario, and you need to know what you're working with ASAP so you can solve the problem.

Category #2: The normal "too many competitive candidates, the student looked good, nothing specific" blah blah - these can be frustrating because there’s less of a clear path, but you can still forge ahead with a plan. Sometimes we might have a variation on #2 with a smidge of #1 mixed in.

Category #3: Short of a well-timed discovery of a cure for cancer, the student has absolutely no chance of getting in RD and was deferred (a) because the school defers every single person and doesn’t deny a single applicant - looking at you, Georgetown - or (b) as a courtesy to any connections who were supporting the application. This is very helpful to know so you're not banking on something that could never happen.

Step #3: Strategize and formulate a PLAN!

Plot out the next several months with a step-by-step plan of attack. The details will depend on your specific situation, but will likely involve expressing a ton of demonstrated interest, a clear indication that you will enroll if admitted despite the fact that you are no longer legally bound to do so, more recommendations, and so forth.

Some applicants should retest, others need to buckle down hardcore to make sure their grades are their absolute best yet.. and so on and so on. But the key is creating this plan in advance - I would even assign due dates for each portion of it.

One part of the plan will definitely involve writing and submitting a Letter of Continued Interest. We wrote a very detailed post on how to write these letters last year - check it out!

Step #4: Follow the plan to completion.

This is pretty obvious, right? Unfortunately, it’s not as obvious as you’d think. SO many times, students are energized and excited about the initial idea of a plan but don’t take the steps needed to follow through on it. Things come up, senior year gets busy, and managing these details can feel overwhelming. It’s easy to tell yourself that one fewer recommendation than planned won’t be a big deal, or that you don’t really need to write that extra letter to the admissions officer - don’t fall into this trap, though!

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Good luck - and stay positive!

2019-2020 Early Decision Aftermath

It’s that time of year again and our students are hearing decisions by the day! Five years ago, anyone applying in the early round could expect to learn all of their early application results before the holidays. Now, the timeline has shifted a bit due to increases in application volume. With so many more applicants, the admissions officers just don’t have time to finish reading applications as early as they could. Each year, more and more schools shift to release EA decisions later and later.

Fortunately, schools are still generally following the model of a pre-holiday ED release, and we had a LOT of ED applicants this year. While I have always been very pro-ED in terms of strategy, this year I was a bit more aggressive in pushing every single family to give serious consideration to the option (as long as it made sense from a financial perspective) because of the trends I observed last year.

We had a huge number of students accepted to their top choice schools ED with only one decision that I was really bummed about. We also had a couple of others deferred from schools that were gigantic, “Hail Mary” type reaches. This year was without a doubt our most successful yet.

Our last student waiting to hear back from ED learned her decision on Tuesday (another acceptance! yay!) and I would say about half of the early action students have received notification thus far. These will continue rolling in throughout the next couple of days. The rest of the early action news will come in January or February, and regular decision results will follow in late March.

As much as I’d love to go into a deeper analysis of 2019-2020 trends from the early round, I’m going to save that until I have a more complete picture after the rest of the EA news comes in this winter - and the ED II news as well!

ROI: What are we really measuring?

I posted about a Georgetown study on Higher Education ROI on our Facebook page a few weeks back and promised to follow up with a blog post. I think there’s a lot of interesting information here, and while it may be surprising at first to hear about Maine Maritime Academy and the pharmacy schools, it brought up another point that I’ve thought a lot about lately: that it’s important to realize that when we consider these issues, we are looking at averages.

It’s absolutely correct that the average income of a pharmacist is higher than the average liberal arts graduate. There’s a whole sub-set of fields like this - engineering is another great example - where the starting salaries are high and remain consistent, without much risk of the student ending up unemployed or underemployed.

However, averages don’t tell the whole story. How many engineers or pharmacists do you know in the top 1%? I almost feel badly writing this out because I do not think that high incomes should necessarily be everyone’s goal (I have a master’s degree in education for goodness’ sake!) but if we’re going to use salary information as a ranking metric, I think we need to differentiate between the chance of achieving financial stability and the chance of becoming a high-income earner.

I know that the definitions of these are probably different for everyone, but let’s say for our purposes, a financially stable professional might bring in about $100k in the DC area and a high-income earner might bring in about $300k+ in the DC area. Give or take.

How would these rankings look if instead of taking the average incomes of graduates - which clearly speak to stability - they took the percentage of alumni earning more than $300k? Oh, and if they performed cost-of-living adjustments (I can dream, right? All my readers know how passionately I feel about cost of living adjustments!). I think this would give us very different results. No way would the Maine Maritime Academy come out on top, in my opinion - or the pharmacy schools.

Yes, there’s no question that liberal arts degrees bear more risk as opposed to pre-professional degrees. No doubt about it. But I really do believe that by and large, they also offer the most reward. When I look at myself, an English major with a master’s degree in education, I know that on paper I should probably be making a tenth of what I actually earn. On the other hand, though, maybe it was my relatively low income potential that led me into entrepreneurship. If I had a solid six-figure engineering job at age 25, would I have taken the risk of losing that income? Again, just speaking for myself here, but I don’t think I would have.

I think that the Wealth-X list provides a good point of comparison that comes a little closer to the point I’m trying to make, although we have to keep in mind that people with a net worth exceeding $30m are not exactly the norm. But I do enjoy this statistic: “University of Chicago and University of Virginia share the distinction of having the most UHNW [ultra high net worth] alumni with self-made wealth.” YES! That is right about what I would have guessed.

Now, how about just regular high net worth alumni? Time for someone to perform that study!

Colleen's Favorite Things

One for you, and you, and you, and you…

Anyone else love the Oprah’s Favorite Things list that comes out each year? I usually end up buying myself a whole bunch of things I didn’t know I “needed" but suddenly have to have! Fortunately (or unfortunately), this year ‘s list didn’t impress me all that much. Nothing really called my name!

Even so, I felt inspired to create my own list of “favorite things” for parents and students who are either in the middle of the admissions process or about to embark on it! Some are practical, some are fun - enjoy!

• Rick Clark and Brennan Barnard’s relatively-new book, The Truth about College Admission: A Family Guide to Getting In and Staying Together. Ok, full disclosure, I haven’t read it yet. BUT - I am a big fan of Rick Clark’s blog and have no reason to believe that the book won’t be just as great. I already had it on my reading list when I happened to sit next to the publisher on the flight home from NACAC, and he made me even more excited to read it.

• I’m not sure if I can really count a Southwest Companion Pass, because you can’t exactly buy one, but it’s my list so I make the rules, right? Every parent taking teens on college tours - and the teen himself! - will appreciate one of these so much. If you spend enough money on the card in early 2020 (or take enough flights), Southwest lets you select a companion of your choice. That companion can fly with you for free for the rest of the calendar year plus the following entire calendar year. You just have to maintain the same level of spending/flying and your pass will auto-renew for the following year and thereafter. I have had mine for several years now and am obsessed! My daughter and I zip all over the place and I can change my companion three times per year.

• How fun would it be to stick a homesick candle in the stocking of an ED admit!? These candles “tap into your sensory memory through nostalgic scents” and have probably the most amazing product descriptions I’ve ever read. Here’s what they say about the Durham candle: “The sweet scent of daffodils blooming in March and Carolina dogwood found flowering near K-ville. Cedarwood, musk, pecans, and burning bench wood round out the final four scents of this championship candle.” It looks like a lot of the college-themed ones have sold out but hopefully they will restock soon. And if the person who writes those descriptions ever comes across this post, please send me your resume because I would hire you in a heartbeat!

• The Rocketbook Everlast is a fantastic “smart notebook” at an incredibly low price point. It integrates with Evernote, Google Drive and more for seamless note-taking. I bring mine to information sessions all the time, take notes, and then can easily upload them to google drive without having to retype everything. Great for parents or students, but from the student perspective, these will make writing the “Why this college” supplemental essays so much easier - and at this price point, it’s not the end of the world if it gets lost.

• The stress involved in the college admissions process can turn even the most calm student OR parent into a basket case, but these adorable Mindfulness cards can help!

• Every ED admit I know stocks up on college apparel like there’s no tomorrow - check out Hillflint instead of buying whatever pops up first on google. They offer trendier, more upscale sweaters, sweatshirts and so on and are sold at stores like Nordstrom and Saks. Everything has sort of a retro feel and are much higher quality than a typical piece of clothing from a college bookstore, although now some bookstores have started to contract directly with Hillflint to provide merchandise, which is pretty cool too.

• Last but not least… a gift certificate for an 11th-12th grade Strategy and Planning Session will help students separate fact from fiction and move forward in the college process with a solid plan in place. The gift certificate includes a booking code that allows the student to book the session online at their convenience, so it’s really easy for nieces/nephews, grandchildren, etc. While I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone, a January session can also present a strategic opportunity for a senior who may have been deferred from her first-choice school. We can sit together to come up with an action plan to move forward in a positive way and maximize the chances of good news in the spring.

• We also have gift certificates for 8th-10th grade Strategy and Planning Sessions as well. And someone feeling VERY generous can purchase a gift certificate for an entire package - shoot us an email and we can provide details.

Meet Staci!

Our newest essay coach, Staci, is guest blogging with an introduction today! It is hard to believe she has only been with us for two months as she is such an integral part of the team already; she has been my right-hand man with our “late start seniors” this year and has worked a schedule so crazy it rivals mine!

Parents and students love her approachable style and the way she can help even the most reluctant writer craft an outstanding essay!

Thanks to the power of LinkedIn, I was fortunate enough to ‘link’ with DC College Counseling in August--just in time for the busy college application season. You may have seen me in the office, probably sipping on my venti iced coffee, or have spent sessions with me as we’ve brainstormed your essay prompts. I’ve had the opportunity to learn a great deal about all of you, so it’s only fair that you now get to learn a bit about me. 

I entered Franklin and Marshall College with every intention of becoming a lawyer. However, a year abroad changed my life (that’s a story for another time) and left me wanting to pursue a Ph.D. in English instead.  When I delved into my graduate work, first at Lehigh University and then University of Delaware, I began to realize that I enjoyed teaching English classes much more than conducting my own research. So after several years of graduate school, I abandoned my Ph.D. and started doing the thing I swore I would never do--teaching high school English. 

Fast forward over a decade, and I’ve literally been around the world teaching, traveling, and growing my career. I’ve settled in Northern Virginia, where I now train international teachers; develop courses and curriculum frameworks; work individually with students who have special needs or those who need extra reading/writing support; and teach dance and fitness classes for fun. 

I know I’ve worked with many of you as you’ve filled out these supplemental short answers, so I’ll practice what I preach and fill them out as well. Trust me when I say, I know how hard these questions can be! 

DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREE WORDS (25 CHARACTERS):

Gregarious; driven; creative

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SNACK?

Hummus and veggies

FAVORITE APP/WEBSITE:

Canva and Marco Polo

BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME:

The Goonies

HASHTAG TO DESCRIBE YOURSELF:

#doesntsleep

DREAM JOB:

What I am doing now...but it’s my dream to add ‘published author’ to my resume. 

WHAT IS YOUR THEME SONG?

Three Little Birds- Bob Marley 

DREAM TRIP:

Hiking the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain

WHAT TV SHOW WILL YOU BINGE WATCH NEXT?

The Great British Baking Show, Season 7

PLACE YOU ARE MOST CONTENT?

The Swiss Alps

I can’t promise the Swiss Alps, but if you’re a current client hoping to spend some time with Staci in the editing office, you can book one of her essay coaching or interview prep sessions here :)

NACAC, CEPP, DOJ: Too Many Acronyms!

I got a little behind with my blog posts this fall, but there’s actually been a number of interesting developments in the college admissions world that I’ve been meaning to share. Now that November 1 is over, I’m excited to get back to blogging regularly!

In late September, while I was at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference in Louisville, the membership voted to remove three provisions from our Code of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP). These changes have caused a wave of feedback across students, families, and college counselors...but what do these changes really mean for your college application process?

I’m unpacking the details in this post with a condensed, all-you-need-to-know version. Hopefully, families will be able to stay on top of the implications of these changes.

The History

NACAC’s long-time code of ethics, the Statement of Principles and Good Practices (otherwise known as the SPGP - another acronym!) had a big revamp back in 2017. The SPGP was a bit lengthy and some felt that it was outdated, so the creation of the CEPP (Code of Ethics of Professional Practices) was really welcomed. No matter the name, the purpose of these documents has always been the same: to protect students during the college admissions process.

Over the past two years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a major investigation against NACAC, believing that some CEPP guidelines are overly restrictive for both applicants (in terms of their ability to negotiate costs) and institutions (in terms of being restricted in their recruitment abilities).

The CEPP requires colleges to standardize their use of application plans, along with guidelines. For example, Early Decision is supposed to mean the same thing everywhere, and so forth. Colleges were not permitted to advertise exclusive incentives for Early Decision.

Additionally, all colleges had to abide by specific rules around the May 1st enrollment deadline: admissions representatives were not permitted to “knowingly recruit” students after that date who had already committed to other institutions. Along the same lines, they couldn’t solicit transfer applications from those students, either.

As a result of mounting legal bills, the organization decided to remove provisions from the CEPP to address these concerns. These provisions--you guessed it--include the Early Decision application incentives, recruiting after the May 1st college decision deadline, and the transfer student restrictions.

Early Decision

Before these changes, the CEPP outlined that colleges could not offer any incentive (special housing, financial aid packages, and special scholarships) to students to encourage them to apply under a binding Early Decision deadline. They were allowed to share the differences between admission rates, but that was it.

After the NACAC vote, this measure was removed from the CEPP:

"Colleges must not offer incentives exclusive to students applying or admitted under an early decision application plan. Examples of incentives include the promise of special housing, enhanced financial aid packages, and special scholarships for early decision admits. Colleges may, however, disclose how admission rates for early decision differ from those for other admission plans."

What does this mean? In short, colleges can now offer incentives under a binding Early Decision program. As our seniors know, Early Decision is a sign of serious commitment to the school and is only appropriate when it is a clear first choice and the student and his family are aware of the financial obligations if accepted. I am actually a big fan of using Early Decision as part of a student’s overall strategy, but it has to be a thought-out decision after careful consideration of the potential drawbacks.

Now that this provision relating to incentives has been removed, it’s sort of like “anything goes” in terms of what can be promised; high-pressure sales tactics are fine. If you receive any strange offers from colleges incentivizing an ED/ED II application, please let us know! These incentives may cloud some of the serious implications of an ED commitment--and they are not always guaranteed.

Check out High Point’s ED Incentives for an example of incentive offerings (you will need to click on the “Early Decision” link.

My guess is that the Class of 2021 will see much more of this than the Class of 2020, because of the additional time for the institutions to make policy changes.

May 1st Deadline/Transfers

I remember May 1st of my senior year so clearly: everyone was anxiety-ridden just weeks before, but then a switch flipped and they were all walking around proudly sporting t-shirts from their future colleges. May 1st is known as the “national decision deadline” for students to finalize their college admissions decisions. In the past, nothing changed after that date unless a student was admitted elsewhere off a waitlist. Both the SPGP and CEPP prohibited colleges from providing last-minute incentives (scholarships, housing, other benefits, etc.) to students to change their minds.

This measure was also removed from the CEPP during the recent vote:

"College choices should be informed, well-considered, and free from coercion. Students require a reasonable amount of time to identify their college choices; complete applications for admission, financial aid, and scholarships; and decide which offer of admission to accept. Once students have committed themselves to a college, other colleges must respect that choice and cease recruiting them."

Also removed…

"Colleges will not knowingly recruit or offer enrollment incentives to students who are already enrolled, registered, have declared their intent, or submitted contractual deposits to other institutions. May 1 is the point at which commitments to enroll become final, and colleges must respect that. The recognized exceptions are when students are admitted from a wait list, students initiate inquiries themselves, or cooperation is sought by institutions that provide transfer programs."

What does this mean? This has largely the same impact as the ED change. On May 1st, students are fully committing to an institution financially. These incentives, again, may cloud their judgment and cause second-guessing. While we are hopeful that colleges will still respect the previous ethical guidelines and each student’s right to make their college choice free from harassment, we will not know how this change will make an impact until after May 1st.  Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects involves the fact that the constant pressure may continue even after a student enrolls in college!

Here’s the last measure removed from the CEPP:

"Colleges must not solicit transfer applications from a previous year’s applicant or prospect pool unless the students have themselves initiated a transfer inquiry or the college has verified prior to contacting the students that they are either enrolled at a college that allows transfer recruitment from other colleges or are not currently enrolled in a college."

This has started already, as a number of colleges have started reaching out to freshmen enrolled at different institutions, offering them incentives to transfer.

The Wild, Wild West

Here’s the craziest part - in addition to outright removing the measures above, NACAC has put a moratorium on enforcement on every other provision that remains. Yes, you read that right. It’s like telling your kids: I’m getting rid of the rule about your curfew. I’m keeping the rest of our house rules, but I’m letting you know now that I won’t enforce anything. Hmm….

Actually, I don’t blame NACAC at all: they did what they had to do. But in the post-Varsity Blues world, it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. If you are interested in reading all of the (no-longer-enforced) provisions in the new CEPP, you can do so here.

What Now?

Amongst all these changes, there still lies some ambiguity.

Will NACAC member institutions choose to uphold the values of the eliminated CEPP guidelines?

What about the guidelines that do exist that aren’t being enforced?

At this time, we don’t know anything for sure, but here’s what I anticipate happening (keep in mind these views are my own and do not represent NACAC, nor those of any of the other professional organizations to which I belong).

• Enrollment deposits may rise to sky-high levels. Right now they are mostly around $300-500 or so. If a student decides not to attend the school to which they have deposited, they lose that deposit, but that’s not the real penalty of breaking an enrollment contract. The real penalty has always been that the student will not be able to enroll anywhere else, because all of the schools stuck to the SGPG/CEPP guidelines. What kind of financial commitment will make it hard for a full-pay parent to walk away if their child gets an acceptance to their dream school after their high school graduation? Not $1000, that’s for sure. Probably not $10,000 either, in my opinion.

• Colleges may be extra-conservative in their admissions decisions, knowing that their predictive models may be invalid. In these situations, it’s always better to err on the side of conservatism. It’s easy to fill the class from the waitlist, but as we saw this year with Virginia Tech, it’s not so easy to manage the overcrowding that can result from the opposite situation.

• Students will have negotiating power for merit scholarships. This is a good thing, at least!

• Regular Decision round will become much more unpredictable than it already is because of (a) the increased interest in ED incentives and (b) the May 1 date becoming meaningless. I have started telling my juniors that we cannot call any school a “safety” during Regular Decision if the school offers ED - no matter how high the acceptance rate. It’s just too unpredictable now and we can’t bank on it.

• Students will be put in high-pressure sales-pitch situations. This is unlikely to happen at the most selective schools, but I could definitely see it happening at moderately competitive ones. This has been common with waitlists - colleges may call and give the student 24 hours to decide. It’s hard to be in that situation. Mom and dad out of town? Too bad! A deadline is a deadline. I can definitely see this becoming a “thing” during every round.

This will be an interesting year, for sure. Again, we ask that all of our clients (current and past!) report unusual activity to us so that we can help everyone make the best possible decisions!

Relying Upon Natural Instincts with Kolbe Indexes

I jumped headfirst into the world of podcasts this past year. I have a whole bunch that I love, and it’s actually incredible how much I can learn while driving or getting ready in the morning.

While I was driving from the University of Wisconsin - Madison to Chicago last month, I listened to a podcast about the value of the Kolbe A Index. I’d never heard of it before but by the end of the episode, I was completely sold. I was dying to get to my hotel so that I could take it myself!

This index measures a person’s instinctive way of doing things in order to identify their strengths. Essentially, there are four categories: Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor. After taking the short assessment, a person is rated on a 1-10 scale in each category to learn about their instinctive action pattern in that particular category.

The key, though, is that none of this is “bad” or “good.”

A person who has a low score in the Fact Finder category might be great at looking at the big picture without needing to deal with details. On the flip side, a person with a high score in that category might be great at research, collecting information and making meaning of that information (data analysis, basically).

The objective is to use the findings to make sure that the person has a career and relationships that align with their natural instincts - this is what will lead to their happiness and success.

Don’t read into the actual names of the categories too much, because they aren’t as directly linked as you might expect (this is actually my only criticism - I find the names confusing).

For instance, Implementor isn’t about a person’s instinctive ability to implement, as I would guess; it’s about tangibles, and measures mental vs. physical implementation. Along the same lines, Follow Thru is more about adaptability and the need for processes.

Here are my results:

In news that did not surprise me one bit, I am a middle-to-high Fact Finder and have the second-highest Quick Start score possible- meaning that in addition to my obsession with data, I have a natural tendency to innovate and problem-solve. I have a low Implementor score, so I’m good at figuring out ideas in my head and useless when it comes to fixing or setting up physical items.

My report actually advised that I’d be unhappy if I had to “take responsibility for maintaining equipment, demonstrate the use of mechanical stuff, or take apart small appliances.” You do not have to tell me any of that twice!

I also have a low Follow Thru score, meaning that I enjoy “cut[ting] through bureaucracy” and would be unhappy if I had to “adhere to redundant systems.” YES!

what I thought was really interesting is that parents can use this information TO IMPROVE THEIR DAY-TO-DAY INTERACTIONS WITH TEENAGE OR ADULT CHILDREN.

How often do we hear ourselves (and other parents) saying things like “I just don’t understand why she makes the same mistakes over and over again” or “Why isn’t he willing to visit colleges”? Well, this will help you understand exactly what’s going on - and how your child’s natural instincts impact their actions.

Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, parents can compare their own Kolbe A Index score with their child’s Kolbe Y Index score to learn about how the two align and how they can most effectively communicate and interact with one another.

We can also work with teenagers’ Kolbe scores to help them try to figure out which careers could be the best natural fit.

The idea is that if you force someone into a behavior or role that goes against the person’s natural instinct, they won’t succeed.

I learned that my score report above suggested that I would find success and happiness as a combined subject matter expert and entrepreneur.

Pretty cool, right?

(Note: This is not a sponsored post at all - I just really think Kolbe scores could be helpful for families!)

Nervous to click "Review and Submit"? You're not alone!

Over the years I have noticed that many families have a lot of anxiety over submitting applications. Totally understandable! It’s actually a very easy process but can be completely nerve-wracking at the same time.

It reminds me of a comment a pilot made to me once - that no matter how many flights he’s landed, he still gets a tiny bit anxious. I’ve helped submit probably 200 applications this month alone and I feel the same way! It’s a lot of pressure.

Before starting the process…

Step 1: Complete the application and ask a trusted adult to review it carefully! We do this with our clients, of course, but those working at home can pick up a copy of one of our application guides to help. Pro tip: the activities section is the most difficult part. If it’s not a little hard, you’re probably not doing it right. READ THE DIRECTIONS IN THE GUIDE!

Step 2: “Invite” any recommenders (teachers, counselor, parent for ED authorization, etc) through the “Recommenders and FERPA” tab. Again, we do this with all of our clients, typically at our early August college counseling meetings.

If any questions remain about Step #1 or Step #2, stop. Do not pass go. You are NOT ready to start submitting yet.

Let’s begin!

Step 3: Confirm that you have green check marks next to “Questions” and “Recommenders and FERPA” under the college’s name. If you don’t, there’s a problem with your completion of the initial steps and you weren’t ready to submit after all! Time to back up.

Step 4: Click “Review and Submit.”

THIS WILL NOT RESULT IN A SUBMITTED APPLICATION! I promise :) There is literally no possible way that you can submit this by accident.

Step 5: If the college does not require the Common App (R) essay, click “Yes, include my personal essay” unless you have a unique circumstance and are not doing so for a specific reason. Most colleges DO require the Common App (R) essay, so you won’t see this too often.

Step 6: Click “Review and Submit.”

Once again - you can’t submit by accident. I swear!

STARTING TO REVIEW

The next page that will come up is a PDF form of your Common Application (R).

Step 7: Either scroll down in the screen or click “Review PDF” to open the PDF in a separate window.

For your first submission, I’d recommend clicking on the “Review PDF” button because you will likely have to go back to make tweaks as you review the PDF. If you stay within the main screen, you can’t go back to revise while keeping the PDF up for reference. You’ll have to complete Steps 4-6 again each time you correct an error.

If you like reviewing on paper, you may want to just go ahead and print the PDF. This is what I usually do.

When submitting additional applications, you can scroll down to the individual school supplemental pages since you will have already reviewed the main Common App that stays the same for each school. These usually begin on page 10 of the PDF document, but the length can vary depending on the answers to questions in the application.

I don’t usually click on “Review PDF” for submissions #2 and beyond because I rarely have to make changes after that point. Personal preference, I guess!

Step 8: After reviewing the entire document, click the blue “Continue” button on the lower right hand side of the page, as you can see on the photo above.

Step 9: A pop-up will appear with directions. The gist of it is that you’ll be redirected to a third party site to pay. You MUST NOT FORGET to return back to the Common App after paying, because paying and submitting are not the same thing!

(I told you that you wouldn’t submit by accident! Accidentally NOT submitting is a bigger risk!)

PAYING THE FEE

Step 10: Confirm that your name appears and click the grey “Next” box.

Step 11: Indicate that you will be paying with a credit card. If you’re paying with an electronic check, you’re on your own because I do not have a clue as to how to do that! Click the grey “Next” box.

Step 12: You will be able to enter your credit card information. BUT WAIT. Don’t enter anything yet..

TIME FOR MY TIP!

Step 13: Open a new window - a google document, a blank email, whatever.

Step 14: Type out the following information on separate lines:

• Credit card number without spaces

• Expiration month and year (any format is fine)

• The name of the card holder as it appears on the card

• The house number and street of the billing address (a.k.a. 131 Park Street NE)

• The billing zip

• The student’s email address

• The student’s name

Step 15: Put both windows up side by side or at least have them next to each other.

COPY AND PASTE

Note: I did not include a screen shot for this page. There was so much personal information on it that it would not have been helpful once all of it was blocked out.

Step 15: Start copying and pasting the information over. First the CC#. The expiration month and year are in drop-down format but I like you to have it accessible anyway for reference. Name of the card holder. House # and Street. Select the state from the drop-down. Copy and paste the zip. Make sure “United States” is selected.

Step 16: Accept the CashNet Terms and conditions by checking a box and click “Next.”

Step 17: You will reach the page below. Copy and paste the student’s email address into the box. Click “Submit Payment.”

Step 18: You’ve paid! Great. Click “Return to Common Application (R).”

Remember, you have NOT submitted the application yet!

SUBMITTING! FINALLY!

Step 19: Read the boxes carefully and check them all.

Step 20: Type out your name in the “Signature” box and select the date. Click “Submit.”

YAY! You have submitted. Enjoy the confetti! It’s new this year and makes me smile every time.

Step 21: Click “What’s Next” (after you have gotten your confetti fix - if you need more just keep clicking “Celebrate”!)

College specific information will typically come up that shares next steps in relation to that school’s portal.

More on the portals in another post!

STOP AND DOUBLE CHECK

Some schools have essays in separate writing supplements. There is no rhyme or reason why some schools do this and others don’t. Under where it says “Review and Submit Common App(R)” under the school name, confirm that there is no mention of a separate writing supplement. If there is, click on “Review and Submit” and repeat the process for that (minus the payment screen). This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

AND… REPEAT!

This is fun the first time but gets old pretty quickly. You will thank me that you do not have to retype your credit card information in repeatedly. Just keep copying and pasting. This will save at least three minutes per application, which can add up if you’re submitting ten apps at the same time!

Check the Dashboard

When you’ve submitted your last application for the day, go back to the dashboard to confirm that each school is listed as having been submitted. You’re done!

Behind the Scenes at DC College Counseling

One thing is for sure - there is NEVER a dull moment around here! I thought it would be fun to track a day in my life during busy season! Here’s a day from earlier this week…

Client meetings: 4

Hours worked: About 15

Hours Billed: About 9

Essays Reviewed: About 5

Emails Received: 174 - I counted :)

7:00 a.m.: Start reading email in bed. I decide to pull out my laptop, send two urgent responses, and then get in the shower after that.

9:00 a.m.: Ready for the day, I have responded to a few more emails and my daughter asks if I can drop her off at school (my au pair usually does, but if I’m around I will). I go through the carpool line with her and see an email on my phone (while stopped) that a total debacle happened with one of my clients involving a HS visit. Ughh… I place a Starbucks mobile order and rack my brain for solutions to the problem at hand as I am heading down Beulah.

9:10 a.m.: Starting to get nervous about the fact that my meeting is at 10:00 and I need to handle this situation first, but I haven’t gotten through all of the 40 or so emails I’ve received since last night. Every time I look down at my phone, I have more email. I decide to run in to Starbucks to get my mobile order instead of doing through the drive through because it’s faster that way.

9:20 a.m.: Run into Rebeccah in the office. She is here printing out questionnaires and putting files together to get ready for the week ahead. Rebeccah lives in Vienna but works mostly remote. I have had more than one student ask me if she really exists in person because they only hear from her and never actually see her while she is in the office :) Yes, she definitely exists (now we have proof!) but is usually home with her kids during after-school hours when the office is busiest.

9:27: I am not actually at my computer yet but a flurry of emails are sent that I actually wrote after midnight. I try to remember to set them to go out in the morning if I’m writing them really late.

9:30: Sit back down at my computer and start writing a response to the family with the crisis. See an email from a client with a scheduled meeting tomorrow who is desperately trying to change the meeting time to today. I weigh the options: I have a zillion things on my plate today but they really want the time. I decide to offer it to them because they have an extenuating circumstance with a relative in the hospital and a cross-country trip. I try to be flexible when I can.

9:40: Continue to go through email and see another big crisis that a student had involving an SAT administration this past weekend. This situation makes the first one look mild. AHH! I switch gears to that one before my strategy session.

10:00: Have a two-hour strategy session with parents I’ve worked with before. They are great and we end the session a little late, laughing. We got a lot accomplished.

12:20: Start regretting moving the other meeting around when I see that I got about thirty new emails while I was in the strategy session. Start replying as quickly as possible to make a dent. Also still dealing with the two crises from before, plus a transfer application I’m really trying to get wrapped up today, and a student trying to make a decision on his ED school. Quickly change plans for an essay meeting today based on a student’s weekend progress and update the coach.

1:00: Have the meeting. Spend the entire time writing down a to-do list of tasks that I need to take care of later including some that are very time-sensitive.

2:00: Thankfully, I only got a couple of emails during the meeting. Answer the most urgent of the emails, including one regarding one of the morning crises, and one with a parent regarding a later meeting tonight, and then put everything else aside to start the most time-sensitive project from the 1:00 meeting.

3:00: Realize I have not had lunch. Decide to order Uber Eats quickly before my 4:00 meeting. Say hi to Megan the essay coach after thinking she’s the Uber guy when I hear footsteps coming. Megan goes into a whole string of essay and interview prep meetings, and I eat lunch while still working on aforementioned project and answering emails.

4:00: Meet with the senior who is still trying to finalize his ED choice (fortunately his applications are done and they have been for a while). Email a detailed recap of our meeting after we finish so that his parents can read everything we discussed, and also so that he can have a to-do list. Tag Rebeccah to follow up on all of the items in the to-do list, to make sure that he actually does everything.

5:30: Back to work on the project.

6:00: Meet with a junior remotely via Zoom. She’s at her New England boarding school, although our last meeting was actually in person when I was in the area visiting Dartmouth a few weeks ago. Start discussing which week in August we will block out for her apps before we plan out her activities list and discuss instructions for beginning the Common App. I can’t believe we are talking about August already!

7:01: Raid the candy bowl. I think I have twizzler competition from someone else in this office!

7:02: Back to work on the project. At this point my inbox is going nuts and it makes me feel anxious.

8:01: Send completed project. YES! Begin to work on meeting recap and to-do instructions from 6:00 meeting.

8:15: Print out Halloween Phantom signs because we were Boo’ed at home this evening. Place a dinner order on Uber Eats after printing the signs (I keep Uber Eats in business).

8:50: Finally leave the office after sending the detailed meeting recap for the 6:00 meeting and tagging Rebeccah to follow-up on all of the items in the to-do list.

9:00: Thank God for my 8-minute commute and eat dinner.

9:30: Back to work! Review progress from the essay coach meetings this afternoon - make edits when necessary and send follow-up emails to the parents and students. Plan out tasks for the next essay coaching sessions for the kids that came in today and fill in the essay coaches on Asana. Start going through all of the emails that I missed today and last night (this involves helping plan a college visit, weighing in on art portfolio progress, engaging in a few back-and-forth emails about the crises from this morning which now seem to be mostly resolved, passing on feedback about a client’s confidentiality agreement from a tutor, editing a peer recommendation letter… and lots more.

12:01: Send my last email of the evening. WHEW!

Coming Full Circle in South Bend

Gosh, it has been such a busy fall and I have clearly been a failure as a blogger lately! I will start posting regularly again once things calm down a little. Today, though, I felt inspired.

As many of you know, I visit about 30-40 colleges per year. Often times it’s easiest to do them in spurts, on pre-conference tours with other counselors. These marathon visits are absolutely exhausting because it’s school after school after school, but we get great face time with the admissions officers, and the visits are much more in-depth than they’d be if we just signed up and toured a school as a member of the general public (although I do those too). During the past few days I have been to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University, University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, St. Mary’s College, and Goshen College. Tomorrow is Purdue University, Valparaiso University, and Bethel University. Then I am headed to Louisville for a conference and finally to check out the University of Kentucky in Lexington before heading back to DC. My feet are about to fall off :)

The reason I’m blogging today is not to share information about those schools, although I do want to post more about my visits because I have learned a TON. I’m writing a post because staying in South Bend has really made me think about the crushing disappointment of college admissions decisions and how they can be so utterly devastating for a teenager.

When I was 17, there was nothing more in the world that I wanted than to go to the University of Notre Dame.

I don’t think my desire to go to ND was based on anything concrete besides a really fun weekend visit on campus when I was a junior, but I had made up my mind and ND it was. My college counselor told me that despite my high SAT scores, it was a stretch. Obviously, though, she did not know what she was talking about. Of course I was going to get into Notre Dame! I had worked so hard!

When I think back to myself as a teenager, I was pretty savvy, or at least I thought I was! I went to boarding school, was very independent, thought I knew more than everyone about everything, and I was highly skilled at convincing people to give me what I wanted. I zipped up and down the Northeast Corridor on Amtrak most weekends alone or with friends, and even had elite status on my favorite airline because I was so used to jet-setting all over the place! The thought that Notre Dame would not accept me was a concern, sure, but I really did believe that I would get in. I deserved it. Just like tens of thousands of my peers did :)

Most teenagers believe that they are invincible. The rules do not apply to them. Common sense does not apply to them. Graphs and scattergrams on Naviance and Scoir do not apply to them. Girls, by the way, are much worse than boys when it comes to this.

When I got outright rejected (not even deferred!) from Notre Dame, I was SHOCKED. Devastated. Hysterical.

Of course, it wasn’t about Notre Dame at all. It was about the fact that I really wanted something that I couldn’t have. Man, that is a really hard lesson to learn. That no matter how badly you want something, how badly your parents want it for you, or how many people you can sweet-talk, it’s not going to happen. That is absolutely crushing, but it’s also part of becoming an adult and slowly realizing how the world works.

I see this same scenario play out year after year, and what I certainly didn’t realize at seventeen is that it’s even more devastating for the adults involved than the teenagers. To watch your child be rejected - it’s like a dagger to the heart. It’s just horrible. Especially when there are lots of tears involved.

So if find yourself in this position in December (which some of you will, given the absurdly low acceptance rates that we are sure to see yet again), here are my words of wisdom: getting rejected from Notre Dame was the best thing that could have happened to me. I really mean that.

It’s like that movie Sliding Doors: if I had gotten into Notre Dame, I would not have ended up at Wash U, which had an incredibly flexible curriculum that allowed me to graduate a year early without too much trouble. If I hadn’t graduated early, I wouldn’t have decided to “take a year or two off before law school”. I’d probably be an attorney somewhere with piles of paperwork on my desk instead of having a blast on my entrepreneurship journey. I would definitely not have met my husband the week after I graduated when I was 21, wouldn’t have my kids, and so forth.

Much more importantly, though, I wouldn’t have gotten the wake-up call I needed to understand that life wasn’t fair and that things were not always going to go my way - whether I “deserved” them or not. This rejection, as painful as it was, represented a turning point that helped me become the person I am today and had a very positive ripple effect on many other areas of my life. 18 years after I first stepped foot on this campus, I can truly say that I am so very grateful that things worked out the way they did.

So while there’s not going to be any bigger advocate for a student than me, know that if the dream school admissions decision doesn’t come back favorably, all is not lost. Things will work out. I promise!