Waiting on the Waitlist

With college admission decisions made and released, the attention of students and admission officers turns to the tricky challenge of the waitlist. And rarely has the process seemed more chaotic than this year, in which many selective colleges faced higher application numbers, lower admit rates, and greater uncertainty about their yield.

There are many reasons why colleges run waitlists. A waitlist decision acknowledges the good work of strong applicants for whom there wasn’t space in the class. It also helps placate alumni, donors, and faculty whose children were not admitted.

Above all, a waitlist helps a college manage its enrolment numbers. Colleges cannot afford to have empty seats in their first-year class because too many admitted students opted for another offer. But nor do they want double dorm rooms turned into triples because more students than expected accepted their offer. So, they take their best-informed shot – and it is a remarkably good one! – at estimating how many students to admit in excess of the actual number they want in their class.

Even as they decide whom to admit and to deny, though, admission offices also build additional flex into the system by waitlisting many strong applicants. They can, then, in the months after admission decisions are released, continue to add more students to the class if the yield is lower than anticipated. This buffer is especially important in a year such as 2022, when the usual calculations about yield have been blown up by the uncertainty sparked by test-optional admission. By using a waitlist to protect yield, colleges can also pick the candidates that will help them fill gaps in their list of institutional needs – more women mathematicians, oboists, chemical engineers, underrepresented students, first-generation applicants, and so on.

Being waitlisted leaves students in a tough spot. They are happy to remain on the admission radar, but also realize that coming off the waitlist can be a very long shot. In 2020, for example, Chapman in Southern California admitted well over half the students they waitlisted. More typical, however, is the experience at CalTech, which admitted only 10 of the over 300 kids to whom they made a waitlist offer. Or Michigan, which admitted 1,248 students after waitlisting 20,723.

Faced with such odds, what is a waitlisted student to do? The short answer is to continue pursuing the college while also committing to another:

  • Make sure you know the deadline for committing to the waitlist, and don’t miss it.
  • Note all instructions in the waitlist letter. Does the college encourage you to write an email, submit a note to the admission portal, or tell you unambiguously that they don’t want to hear from you?
  • If there are no instructions or if you are encouraged to submit a note, address and email it to the regional admission officer if you know who that is. The more personal your letter, the better! If you don’t have a name, address and email the letter to the Dean of Admission or, as a last resort, to Dear Admission Office at the general undergraduate admission address.
  • Be respectful of admission officers’ time constraints and keep the note reasonably short and concise.
  • On your way to stating your continued interest, it is okay to express some disappointment, but not frustration or resentment. Better to keep the tone clear, good-humored and optimistic. Being either obsequious or demanding will only alienate the reader.
  • Add reference to whatever drew you to the college in the first place – perhaps a particular major, research opportunity or such – to help remind the reader of your thoughtfulness in choosing that school and explain your continued interest.
  • If there are any updates to add – an award, an important project completed, or something of which you are particularly proud – tell the reader about it.
  • Normally colleges are reluctant to waitlist students who were already deferred from early admission. But, this year, many students find themselves in that position; if this is true for you, feel free to remind the college that your interest has not waned since you first applied.
  • Don’t refer to the decisions of other colleges, however. It will play no role in a college’s decision.

Colleges will make waitlist decisions based on their own needs and will likely do so in waves rather than at one set moment. Therefore, the coming months will require resilience and optimism on your part, but also common sense and honesty. You need to visit colleges that have already made you an offer, accept one of those offers (from which you can withdraw if you come off a waitlist), and along the way allow yourself the excitement and joy of this moment. Whatever experience you seek at college, achieving it will depend on the choices you make once on campus, regardless of where that is.

by College Goals

Empathy: Considering another’s perspective in a college application

In preparing their applications to college, high school students are encouraged to be authentic, engaged, passionate, and committed. These are indeed great aspirations, and, hopefully, kids get the message that being true and honest with themselves and putting together a good college application should not be at odds with each other.

One quality usually missing from this list of exhortations, though, might be the most important one: be empathetic. Empathy is a powerful idea whose definition often depends on context. For some, empathy is the same as sympathy, the state of caring for others and “feeling their pain.” It is an emotional response to a shared humanity. “I work in a food pantry for the poor because I feel bad for those who feel hunger; I teach kids how to play basketball because I know how much joy I get from it.” We believe such compassion to be a powerful part of children’s sociality and work to cultivate it. And when colleges ask applicants to write about how they help make the world a better place, it is this kind of empathy that students lay claim to and that admission officers wade through.

In urging students to feel sympathy for those with less privilege than they have, though, we might want to encourage them to do more than feel another’s pain. We also want to suggest a shift in perspective in which they go beyond describing their response towards imagining and interrogating how the other side in this equation feels. Social psychologists call this “perspective taking,” and define it as “the ability to understand how a situation appears to another person and how that person is reacting cognitively and emotionally to the situation.”

Why does this matter to how students present themselves in their college applications? In reading about or listening to how students describe their community service, I am always struck by how they see it as a one-way street: they feel bad for someone who might not have what they do and tell us what they have done to alleviate that need. They rarely seem to realize that there is also another side in this philanthropic equation. The result is variations on the so-called “poor but happy villagers” community service experience that has become so frustrating – and even toxic – to admission officers. They read countless essays about suburban kids teaching, contributing to, and “giving voice” to those who are less privileged. These essays are filled with good intentions but lack even a rudimentary understanding of the inequality and lack of reciprocity in such philanthropic exchanges: the less privileged are merely there to be acted on, to be helped and, hopefully, to be grateful for the assistance.

Don’t misunderstand me. I think such service work can be hugely enriching to a student and can reflect a well-honed sense of social obligation, which I applaud. But we might want to open a conversation with young adults – as parents and as counselors – about what and who is on the other side of that helping hand; to add to their emotional sympathy for the less privileged some of the awareness that comes from a more rational empathy.

Shifting perspective and seeing an exchange from the viewpoint of another, also offers students useful insights about other parts of the application process and, indeed, of life. When students present themselves in essays and interviews, it is often clear that they have not given much thought to who their audience is. It is a one-way conversation: they ascribe to themselves the qualities they feel colleges value (I am determined, helpful, diligent, resilient, keen to help others). It does not occur to them that what they’re trying to say may not be what the other side is hearing! They reference extensive foreign travel, for example, sure that the admission reader will appreciate their global citizenship, when, in fact, the reader hears a blithe catalog of great privilege. And when they describe tutoring an underprivileged fellow student, they rarely consider that admission officers might have been such low-income students themselves — and could find their tone patronizing.

As educational counselors we work in the hope that whatever kids learn from applying to college – about choices and consequences, about good writing – they will bring to bear on other parts of their young lives too. In this, there are few skills more valuable to them than moving from seeing the world strictly through their own eyes, to understanding that in their every interaction with another, there is another viewpoint present too.

by College Goals

The Advantages of Boarding School

Students who attend boarding school get to live, learn, and thrive with motivated peers from around the world, supported by compassionate and dedicated faculty who serve as teachers, coaches, and dorm parents. At boarding school, students wake up each morning in a community buzzing with energy and know they are part of something special and unique.

LIVE

Life at boarding school is exciting and full of possibilities. Boarding school students report spending more time engaging with their communities and exploring their passions than students at private day schools and public schools[1]. Since students live and work alongside each other and the faculty every day, from the stage to the studio to the field, students have nearly endless options for immersing themselves in their interests and discovering new ones.

Along the way, students form meaningful relationships with caring educators who offer inspiration, guidance, and motivation. Coaches, teachers, and dorm parents are committed to creating supportive, nurturing environments where students feel inspired to grow as learners, members of the community, and leaders. In fact, 77% of boarding school students say that boarding school gives them the opportunity to lead[2].

LEARN

Going to class at boarding school is inspiring. Not only do students learn from high-quality teachers, but students also report being surrounded by motivated peers, making the learning environment rich and rewarding. Students’ classmates are also their teammates, bandmates, and roommates — so the learning doesn’t stop at the classroom door. Exciting and engaging conversations happen in dorm common rooms, fueled by snacks made by dorm parents.

Students feel academically challenged at boarding school. Small class size and easy access to faculty outside of the academic day allow students individualized attention so that they can also feel supported on their rigorous academic journeys. Teachers meet with students one-on-one to review everything from math concepts to essay writing techniques. At boarding school, students are both challenged and supported and feel intellectually inspired and academically satisfied.

THRIVE

Ready to face the challenges of college and beyond, boarding school students are prepared to thrive in the world after high school. Living on campus, learning with motivated peers, and engaging in leadership opportunities are just a few of the ways that boarding school sets students up for success. A majority of boarding school students report feeling prepared to succeed in college.

When asked if they would go to boarding school all over again, 90% of graduates said yes! At boarding school, students develop self-motivation, independence, and the ability to think critically and creatively. These skills not only help with college readiness, but they also set the foundation for career success later in life. Boarding school — and all that it has to offer — is an experience that lasts for a lifetime.

[1] Begin the Adventure of Your Life, © Copyright 2009-2019 The Association of Boarding Schools

[2] Begin the Adventure of Your Life, © Copyright 2009-2019 The Association of Boarding Schools

by College Goals

How Heavy Is Your Backpack?

While I was walking through the snow (yes … we still get snow in March in Rhode Island) with one of my best friends a few weeks ago, she began telling me about a coaching framework she’s been working on—centered around a backpack.  My friend Brountas (I call her by her last name … something that stuck during our college years together) owns an executive coaching business (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-brountas-16b731/).  She uses the backpack analogy as a way to help her clients prioritize the things occupying their headspace.  A backpack is a useful tool, but it has a limited capacity and a tendency to collect stuff that weighs you down.  I couldn’t help but think that her framework and analogy could benefit my students as they transition into a post-pandemic world.

Brountas described her backpack idea as a way to talk about what feels awful and what feels good in our lives, and the consequences of letting the best parts of ourselves get lost in the load.  I think a lot of my students would agree that the weight of junior and senior year of high school can “feel awful and overwhelming ” just like the weight of a too-heavy backpack.  Everything about these later years of high school feels important … there is so much pressure to have just as heavy a backpack as everyone else, especially when thinking ahead to college.  In fact, students often tend to “clip on” more responsibilities, like carabiners that create more weight on their shoulders. 

“Think about what you miss and don’t miss” is a phrase I’ve heard many times over the course of the last year.  I think most of us can quickly rattle off a few things we’ve missed throughout the pandemic and others we would happily toss out of our bags.  It’s fun taking the time to reflect, but it’s much harder to actually leave some of your old life behind—to physically remove the weight or change the way you engage with the items that gnaw at your side.  This spring, don’t just think about what’s next; instead, take action and make the leap forward to make your high school years the best they can be.  A “big” bag full of all the right “things” doesn’t need to be heavy.

Stop & Unpack:

What “Rona” (as my students like to call the virus) did was force you to stop.  It forced you to put aside your heavy load for a while.  As Brountas says, “Feel the release.  Step away from the bag and be conscious of what’s going on so that you can have a fresh perspective.”  Before you sling the heavy bag back on your shoulders, I encourage you to unpack each item and sift out the “trash.”  Is sitting on the bench at your team’s games getting you down?  Maybe let that go and pick up something that makes you feel lighter and better represents the person you’re becoming.  

Sort:

Sort the commitments in your life into categories: activities, clubs, the classes you’ve signed up for, jobs, internships, projects, time for sleep, time with friends and family, etc.  What means the most to you?  What would you like to leave behind?  This act of reprioritizing isn’t something you should be ashamed of, it’s something you’ll have to do for the rest of your life.  You’re just setting new goals!

Repack:

What do you want to take with you from the pandemic?  Did you learn new skills?  Strengthen your work ethic and confidence?  Include these intangibles with your other priorities and make sure you have enough space — the type of space you enjoyed in your life as your heavy commitments shut down this year.

Try It On:

How does it feel?  Is it still heavy in one area?  Uncomfortably rubbing your side?  If so, be aware of the irritating item in there that might need some reshifting.  Maybe you just need to look at it differently?  Perhaps a slight adjustment, like taking on a different role, forming a study group, or asking friends to join you in an activity can help make it feel more comfortable in your bag.

As schools go back to in-person learning, let’s talk through your re-entry and what’s most important — so that you don’t tip over from too heavy a bag.  I believe a strong college application is closely tied to the joy and personal growth that comes from making good choices, and as Brountas says, “Monitor your backpack’s framework: it should be powerful and effective but not overwhelming.”  An ideal weight, without filling your bag to the brim, allows you to walk with confidence and more intentionality as you move through your days and put time into what matters most to you. 

by College Goals

Major Myths, Revisited

[vc_column_textA recent article by Verónica Leyva takes issue with students paying undue attention to their choice of majors when researching colleges. In Major Myths, Busted, she argues instead for approaching the college search with an open mind, agnostic about any one path towards a degree. There are, after all, countless pathways to many careers, and colleges tend to be more interested in students who are motivated to learn than those narrowly focused on a major.

I think that Ms. Leyva's arguments are absolutely sound and we should encourage high school students to identify their academic interest - a desire to engage with certain ideas or questions or modes of learning - and not simply a prospective major - an academic basket of courses set by faculty in the field to enable students to reach towards mastery in one discipline.

To the reasons why high school students should not fixate only on their prospective major, I would add the fact that they will likely change their minds anyway! Little point to researching only colleges with outstanding programs in Astrophysics if in the end you might opt to major in Anthropology instead! (I remember fondly a freshman advisee of mine at Brown who came set on studying Physics, before cycling through Philosophy and graduating as a Music major!) As Homer Simpson reminded Lisa, there is a time and a place for everything and it is called college - a time to try new ideas well beyond the narrow prescriptions of high school and challenge your mind beyond your own expectations. And most high school students are so trained to the narrow "boxes" of five core academic disciplines that they have little concept of how those translate into the 100 or more majors of a typical liberal arts university anyway!

There are good reasons for our current pushback against the tyranny of the major in students' perception of where they should go to college and why. Many counselors have sat with students who, in months past, had lit up as they talked about their passion for the study of history or for the exploration of their favorite solar system. But then college admission comes into play, and suddenly they fixate on applying for the hot major du jour - computer science, chemical engineering, data science. This in spite of the work of economists like Doug Weber, who has shown that while right out of college STEM fields might yield more professional success, they do not inevitably pay better when measured by lifetime earnings.

And yet, having said all this, after twenty years as a college and academic advisor, I have also come to doubt how far we should go in the opposite direction, towards encouraging high school students to ditch all consideration of prospective majors. In part, this is because of the admission process itself (as I noted in a recent post). Majors are the bureaucratic building blocks of an undergraduate degree. Even the majority of liberal arts colleges that allow students to defer declaring a major for a year or two, still ask about intended majors in their applications. A college where the Environmental Studies department has just expanded might well want to make sure that those professors have a gratifyingly large number of prospective majors; and a college where the Classics faculty takes an interest in admission, might well take note of exceptional young Latin scholars.

Moreover, having students think about prospective majors is not at odds with having them identify exciting intellectual reasons for going to college. In fact, seeing how their intellectual interests connect with a particular academic discipline can help give teenagers a scaffolding with which to explore the things they find curious and exciting. I remember, when I first went to university eons ago, how validating it was to realize that people who were experts in the things I was curious about had thought those mattered enough to gather a corpus of knowledge about them and call it a History major! The practitioners of an academic discipline also use their own linguistic conventions to express their questions and concerns - and how liberating for young people to gain insight into that language in order to express their own ideas!

Ultimately though, my point is simply that an American liberal arts education is an extraordinary way of thinking about one's learning, and students should look at the exciting range of possibilities it offers them, rather than cast around for a narrow academic box to climb into. But college is also not summer camp, and a conversation about majors might be another way to encourage high school students to view their learning with an equally important and exciting search for rigor and intellectual depth.[/vc_column_text]

by College Goals

The Role of Majors in Applying to a Liberal Arts Program

[vc_column_textA liberal arts education assumes that students do not commit to any course of study before they are ready to do so. While there are several courses of study, such as engineering and art, where students do apply to a specific course of study, liberal arts applicants to American institutions will at most be asked to state an academic interest. In fact, many colleges require students to declare a major - such as mathematics, economics or sociology - only at the end of sophomore (2nd) year.

Admitting students with little reference to their majors recognizes the fact that they will change their minds as they discover new ideas and new interests. And liberal arts colleges think this is a really good idea! They want students to roam broadly through an interdisciplinary reservoir of knowledge, finding different lenses through which to look at questions that interest them.

It is easy though to confuse this opportunity to explore, with an academic drifting that lacks rigor and discipline. Many college applicants check the box that says they are undecided about an intended major because they are genuinely not ready to commit to a course of study. But others do so because they fail to see that going to college is ultimately an academic choice, not a simple rite of passage, and they are reluctant to think too deeply about what they hope to achieve there. It is a bit like embarking on a trip without having wasted too much thought on either the route or the destination!

More pragmatically, when you apply to selective liberal arts colleges without any thought about your academic direction, you weaken your application. At the very least it makes it harder to give a strong answer when, for example, Cornell asks you "about the areas of study you are excited to explore, and specifically why you wish to pursue them in our College." Or when you have to "describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically."

Thinking about your major before you apply has other consequences for your application as well. Your chances of admission will not improve because you checked Biology rather than Sociology. But in your explanation of that choice, you give a college the opportunity to gauge your "intellectual vitality." Compare a student who writes of an interest in how human behavior is conditioned by culture, with one who wants to study Psychology "because my friends always ask me for advice." Or compare one who limply expresses an interest in Mathematics "because I am good at it," with a student describing the beauty of Mandelbrot sets. Perhaps a student has in fact been motivated to study Sociology because "I am a social person," but her answer seems superficial and thoughtless at best, and simply not very smart at worst!

If you wish to persuade a college that you have intellectual depth and curiosity, you need to support your claim with action. Reading, learning from a part-time job, participating in research over the summer, and even engaging with your teachers beyond what a good grade requires are all good ways to develop your academic narrative. And when you research colleges - size, location, clubs - also make time to contemplate, with excitement and anticipation, the academic opportunities that will be at the heart of your college experience.[/vc_column_text]

by College Goals

The Role of Parents in the College Application Process

My husband and I live on a college campus where he is a professor. Over the years we have spent many entertaining moments watching families of prospective students doing the college visit – teenagers lagging behind pretending they do not know their parents, mothers excited about the grand adventure but fretting about the imminent pain of rejection, fathers equally enthusiastic but wondering if the place really warrants that exorbitant price tag. It ceased to be quite so amusing when we became one of those families ourselves!

College admissions present parents with difficult ethical, social and educational choices. We want our children to enjoy the adventure, act with integrity, feel good about the outcome, and be launched into successful and empowered adulthood under their own steam. Yet, we also witness the avalanche of requirements bearing down on them and we listen to other parents stressing about declining admit rates and soaring college expectations. In the end, many parents feel like they need to choose between allowing their teenagers the space to forge their own way to college or, given the stress and complexities of the process, usurping their child’s ability and right to retain ownership of it. The road to helicopter parenting is, like the one to hell, paved with the best of intentions!

There are no clear or easy answers to managing the application process well as a parent. But here are a few tips towards being appropriately and productively involved in your child’s college application:

  • You are their foremost model for how to deal with the stress, disappointments and joys of this process. It is not necessarily what you say but what you do that will likely have the greatest impact on their behavior and perspective.
  • Help your child develop the tools to evaluate colleges sensibly and thoughtfully – if you cannot move your own thinking beyond superficialities of rank and status, it will be hard for your child to engage constructively with the idea of a good college “fit.” If they don’t understand that what they do at college matters more than the rank of the school they got into, you might spend four more years worrying about the fact that being a mediocre or unhappy student at a highly ranked institution will probably not do for their futures what you had hoped it would! Remind your child – and yourself – that the college application process is only the opening act to the more important drama of succeeding at college.
  • The only thing perhaps more counterproductive these days than a helicoptering parent, is a snowploughing one! To be successful, students need self-motivation, independence and self-reliance in the absence of a parent herding them along. Admission officers always note at information sessions how parents ask all the questions. Resist! Give your child the opportunity – and the responsibility – to ask their own questions, make their own calls, and organize their own calendars.
  • Help set up campus visits, and then work at making these pleasant and instructive experiences for all. This requires that you bite your tongue when they express opinions that are thoughtless or even silly; keep your temper when they announce on arrival that this is not a good place for them; and listen for the subtext when they are having trouble articulating their dreams and anxieties. And remember to enjoy what may be your last extended trip with your teenager!
  • Overcome your reluctance to talk to them about money. College is expensive and there are few moments sadder than when families realize that getting admitted to a dream school is not enough to make the dream come true. This can be avoided if your family talks about what is affordable or beyond your means, and think about how to put the unattainable within reach. The financial aid process is largely in the hands of parents, so be organized about it. Do your taxes early, inform yourselves about requirements, and complete the applications in a timely manner.
  • Step away from that college essay! It is not yours to write, and in forgetting that fact you are not doing your child any favors. Essays written by parents often sound like it – smoothly written, adult in tone, and simply not very interesting. And if you do not model ethical behavior, will your child know that at college submitting another’s work as their own will get them ejected? And, more importantly, how can they have confidence in their own ideas when you show them that you don’t? But if they do ask you for essay ideas or comments, savor their trust in you and be supportive, thoughtful and gently honest.

Above all, help your teenagers develop a healthy perspective on this process by reminding them that your unconditional love does not depend on ivy growing on their colleges’ walls! As parents, we assume they know this. Yet this is a moment most likely to test their confidence and sense of self. But it is also a great opportunity for you to put finishing touches to the job you started 18 years earlier, and to send them off into the world knowing that whatever the outcome of their college application, you value them.

by College Goals

Protecting Your Family Against Digital and Identity Theft

My 24-year-old graduate-student son recently had a terrible experience that offers many lessons to college-aged students and their parents. As a nice, smart kid who typically thinks the best of people, he naively put himself into a situation (yes, he does admit he made a stupid choice) where his cell phone, credit cards and keys were stolen. The thief then managed to hack into his phone and into the banking app on his cell phone and drain his bank account!

As a parent 6,000 miles away, this was a nightmare scenario…. a son in a large city without access to cash, fear that his social security number might have been compromised, police who opted not to pursue this fraud case because they had more pressing issues, and a banking institution that refused to freeze his bank account after the theft and before the account was drained.

After many, many hours spent helping my son manage the results of the situation, we as a family have learned some big lessons about protecting family members against identity theft and digital theft in today’s world:

1. DO NOT share any login or password information by text or email…. ever! Do this over the phone.

2. Make sure a parent has every family member’s Apple ID login info, bank login info, and copies of current credit cards (in a secure place). That way, someone can lock phones and initiate freezes immediately in the event a family member is robbed or hacked, because time is of the essence.

3. Use a Password Manager. There are many programs out there, some with fees and some free, with a wide variety of features. The key is to choose one that works for you and use it consistently!

4. Make sure to keep anything with a social security number secure and NOT in your wallet (nor in a folder on your desk)! Take a look at what’s in your wallet and take out any credit cards, IDs or other things you don’t use regularly. And remember that your liability for a stolen debit card is greater than the liability for a stolen credit card, so report the theft or unauthorized use quickly.

5. Freeze the credit of all family members.  First, read this article: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/pros-and-cons-freezing-credit/. Then go through the process of freezing credit for all family members at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, either by phone or online. In my son’s case, I found this to be a relatively easy process. Credit freezes have to be renewed every year. When you know your student or another family member is going to apply for credit (e.g., car loan, credit card, student loan), temporarily “unfreeze” the credit.

6. Read these articles about how to protect yourself from identity theft:

7. Be careful about what apps you keep open on your cell phone! And, use a thumbprint or cell phone passcode that is not something obvious, such as part of an address, a birthdate or phone number. In my son’s case, not only did they hack his banking app (which was password-protected) but they also used his Uber app to order up a bunch of food for delivery.

8. Here are some articles about ways to protect your privacy online:

Parents, if you have a student heading to (or back to) college next month, now is the time to have a candid discussion about safety, online privacy, digital theft and identify theft.

by College Goals

Interviewing

What is an interview?

We go through our lives interviewing and being interviewed every day. An interview is basically an encounter in which two people, who may not know anything about each other, are consciously working to form an impression of the other. Thus, many of your daily interactions and conversations could be considered ‘interviews’. If you can begin seeing some of these moments as mini-interviews, you will begin to gain greater insight into the way you portray yourself and, therefore, greater control over the way you are perceived. When you are in a conversation, try and imagine how the other person is seeing you and what it is you can and cannot do to influence that perspective. Observe your friends when you talk to them – what are they doing or saying that could give a stranger a negative impression of them, or simply a wrong one?

A successful interview is the outcome of your conscious and thoughtful choices about how you to present yourself to others. Thinking about this process will also help you to better explore and evaluate all of your personal and professional relationships. After all, if you can understand more about how others view you and how you can influence that view, then you can also begin to grasp a little more about why you see other people (or even judge them!) – friends, relatives, teachers, strangers – in the way you do.

Why do colleges do interviews?

As with every aspect of the application process, keep in mind that most American colleges use a holistic evaluation of your candidacy – they consider not only your grades and scores but also look for intellectual depth, social maturity and civic concern. The interview is another chance for you to add more such evidence to your application. Having presented yourself to the admission officers in your essays and having had teachers describe you in their letters of recommendation, the interview is a chance for you to advocate for yourself. You may be offered an interview either before applying to a college or, in the case of the most selective schools, after you have submitted an application. Many schools will offer some interviews on campus, but most will now give you the opportunity to interview with an alumnus closer to home. Whatever the location or circumstances, seek out and accept any opportunity for an interview that you can get!

How to prepare for the interview?

Whether you are interviewed by an alumnus or an admission staff person, he or she will ask questions meant to elicit an impression of you in relation to that college – is this student the kind we want at our college; is this student a good fit for our institution; is this student likely one day to become a good representative alumnus?

But an interview is by definition a dance between at least two people – in other words, you have as much of a role to play as the interviewer does. Prepare for that role! Do not go into it thinking that all you have to do is answer the interviewer’s questions honestly. That is a great start, but probably not enough! After all, when you have a conversation with another person, there is a give and take in which you are not a passive bystander but an equal participant. An interviewer will ask questions to form an impression of you, and your role is to shape that impression while also eliciting information about the college. In short, do not go into the interview feeling like the proverbial lamb being led to the slaughter! Whether or not this conversation will be fun and interesting will depend just as much on you as on the interviewer!

You prepare for the “dance” that is an interview by being ready both to ask and answer questions. At the very least, an interview is meant to give you information about the college and answer some burning concerns you may have about it. And let’s be honest, asking questions is often a great way to help cover those awkward silences that occur in conversations between strangers!

But asking questions is more than the chance to get information and to seem socially gracious. Of the following five behaviors that candidates exhibit in interviews, which one do you think recruiters find most unforgivable?

  1. Poor personal appearance
  2. Overemphasis on social aspect of college
  3. Failure to look at interviewer while interviewing
  4. Doesn’t ask questions
  5. Late to interview

Well, yes – any of these five behaviors can be deadly – but the answer, according to professionals, is #4. So prepare yourself with some (not too many! not too few!) well-considered questions. That way, you can gain some control over the flow of the dialogue, as well as demonstrate your knowledge of and interest in the college. You can add to what you have tried to say about yourself in your essay, and you can reassure the interviewer of the seriousness of your interest in his or her school without feeling that you sound awkward or fake in saying it! Of course, do avoid the other four pitfalls too!

What to do in your interview?

Having prepared some questions for your interviewer and having done the research to answer his or her questions, enter the interview with confidence. During the ensuing conversation, keep in mind the attributes and qualifications that the interviewer is looking for, so that you can demonstrate that you have those by reflecting on your own experiences and by offering thoughtful questions and informed answers. A college interviewer is looking for:

  • Commitment/interest in the college – neither gush with exaggerated enthusiasm nor leave any doubts about your interest in the college.
  • Knowledge about the university’s expectations and unique offerings – do you know what the college has to offer you that is unique and a good fit for you, or are you applying simply because others told you to do so?
  • Your interest in being part of a community of very diverse people – have you been a good member of a team and do you work well with others?
  • Leadership experience – can you lead and organize well?
  • Will you, both as a student and subsequently as an alumnus or alumna, be a good representative of that college in the wider world?

What can you do to help answer these questions in the interviewer’s mind?

  • Show social grace by smiling, shaking hands when meeting, sitting straight and not slouching, saying thank you, waiting for an older person to take his or her seat before you do, not interrupting, and being respectful without being obsequious (look it up – it is good SAT practice!).
  • It is fine to let the interviewer know you are nervous – it shows that you care and gives the interviewer a sense of your ability to handle stress.
  • Be sure to talk about how your goals and philosophy blend and are strengthened by the goals and philosophy of the college/university, and back it up with examples and details … this is where that earlier preparation comes in!
  • Ask the interviewer about his or her own course of study as a way of introducing the academic aspects of the university that interest you – perhaps a particular program you like, a researcher you read about or a professor whose book you use in school? A college is above all an academic institution.
  • You need not hash out all of your courses, grades or activities – the admission office will see these in your application – but it can be good to refer to them in passing as a way of making the point that you are a good fit for that institution and that you have a contribution to make – as a team member, as a leader, as a good citizen. But be a person, not a transcript or a list of activities! What’s interesting about you?
  • When the interview is done, be sure to thank the person for his or her time with a short note (so get contact information!) – this shows your good manners alongside with your gratitude.

What to avoid in your interview?

But there are also behaviors that should be avoided, and some are so obvious that they are easily overlooked!

  • TURN OFF YOUR PHONE AND DO NOT ANSWER IT OR CHECK YOUR TEXT MESSAGES DURING AN INTERVIEW! EVER!
  • Watch your language! This does not mean simply avoiding vulgar or off-color words and phrases, but also the linguistic mannerisms that teenagers like and adults despise! Excessive use of the word “like,” for example!
  • Avoid familiarity! You are not applying to become the interviewer’s best buddy, but for admission to a university. Moreover, wait until you are invited to address a person by their first name before you use it – older interviewers may be particularly sensitive to this.
  • Listen! Alumni and admission interviewers will share with you their own ideas about their institution and what is most significant about the place. To learn what those ideas are, you have to pay attention. You need not agree with everything, but you do need to show a respectful interest.
  • Do not be rattled by a poor interviewer! Yes, it can happen that you encounter someone who is not particularly adept at the art of interviewing – who talks too much, too little, asks silly questions, plays ridiculous games that are meant to test you somehow. Answer as well and as honestly as you can, and know that the admission officers who read these things will probably read several reports by that same interviewer and develop their own views of how well or how poor he or she does the job. Alumni interviewers are not doing this professionally, and admission officers know and understand this when reviewing the results.

PARENTS, accept and understand this is your child’s moment. No matter how keen you are to chat with the interviewer, no matter how strongly you feel about your child’s achievements, you cannot and should not join in the conversation. Under any circumstances! The interviewer may understandably come to doubt your child’s ability to cope as an independent adult on a college campus, and that assessment will go in their reports.

Interviews matter, whatever other students and parents will tell you! No college will spend resources to set these up if they were irrelevant. Interviews are often conducted by alumni to be fair to those many students who cannot travel to campuses for interviews and often because admission officers are already overburdened. Informational interviews may serve only as an opportunity for you to ask questions. But even these are of value to you – what better way to prepare yourself to answer a college’s question on “why are you applying to us?”

Many colleges, especially more selective ones, offer interviews that are evaluative – that means the interviewer will write a short report on you to be used in the application process. Of course, a 30 minute conversation when you are on your best behavior will certainly not trump what you did, or failed to do, in your classroom over several years, nor should it. But it will give you the chance to “inhabit” your application some more, and another chance to argue that you are a good fit with a college. Bad interview reports are few and far between, and are usually the result of specific behaviors – arriving late, refusing to meet the interviewer’s eye, an inability to say more than yes or no, apathy or indifference, lying! Interviewers usually give students the benefit of the doubt and really enjoy the rare chance of chatting with a bright and interesting young person.

Many interviewers believe that your interest in their alma mater is already evidence of your good judgment! Relax, have fun, and build on that goodwill!

 

by College Goals

Why Choose College Goals?

Why choose College Goals to guide your child and you through the critically important challenge of preparing for and gaining admission to college? You will benefit from the collective knowledge, experience, and wisdom gained from professionals who are familiar with every aspect of the admissions process and its significance for academic success. While you work with one of us, we conference regularly about information that can benefit our students.

We have read literally thousands of college applications, and talked to hundreds of students during their college careers. WE KNOW what makes a successful college student. Motivation to learn and to contribute to a learning community that ‘fits’ is the key to success — not just motivation to ‘get in’. The right attitude and the right environment provide students with the confidence that is necessary to succeed in college and in life.

For three decades, we have been mentoring, motivating and celebrating students. We enjoy young people – their energy, their courage, and their dreams.

We support our young clients to discover their personal passions and achieve their highest academic and personal goals. College Goals’ students know that their counselor is there for them personally, to cheer and commiserate, as well as to advise.

Here are some of the services included in an on-going consulting relationship:

College Goals Consultants:

  • Guide, encourage, motivate and coach students and parents through the complex, confusing and stressful process of college preparation and admission.
  • Establish realistic educational goals and expectations.
  • Review the student’s academic record and ability for balance, notable achievements, and weaknesses.
  • Realistically assess talents, skills, accomplishments and interests, and determine how best to present exceptional abilities and goals.
  • Enable the student and family to determine at least ten colleges appropriate for application.
  • Develop a personal admission plan and schedule.
  • Provide guidance and timetable for obtaining necessary standardized test preparation (SAT, ACT, Subject Tests, TOEFL).
  • Provide preparation and guidance for college visits and interviews.
  • Assist the student to highlight strengths in a personal presentation (resume/’brag’) sheet.
  • Provide guidance about whom to ask for recommendations, and how to approach recommenders.
  • Recommend initiatives and programs to maximize and demonstrate strengths or to improve student’s weaknesses through enrichment and/or summer programs.
  • Guide and motivate the development of and provide editing for the student’s all-important essays and personal statements, and all parts of the application preparation. (Yes, spelling and grammar, too!)
  • Mentor the parents as well as the student to facilitate their child’s process of preparing for college and their transition towards learning to adjust to the changes that come for them, when their child becomes a college student.
  • Listen to the student; listen to the parents.
  • Respect individual learning styles and recommend supports when needed. Make sure each student understands how s/he learns best and that s/he applies to colleges that have appropriate teaching/learning philosophies and facilities.
  • Encourage applicants to take ownership of the admissions process so they know exactly why they are applying to each school on their list, and that they know, understand and are excited about the opportunities that are available to them there.
  • Help review and evaluate the student’s admissions and financial aid options after college decisions are made, to help determine the best possible outcome.

Receiving a college degree is one of a young person’s earliest major accomplishments, and the importance of the college experience is unquestionable. Frankly, we would have to say that this experience is even more significant – and more challenging – than the most over-anxious pre-college student or their parents could imagine.

Yet the issues that are important are OFTEN not the things that are seen or considered prior to attending. We try to anticipate and discuss these ahead of time, with the student and the parents, so informed decisions can be made after the family has looked at the full picture.

by College Goals