Thank you to education writer and guest columnist Martha Collins of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling for the following post:

This is the time of year when many high school juniors start to turn their attention to college admissions. Regardless of when you feel ready to begin your college application journey, don’t worry—you’ve got this!

Just like any other project, put a plan in place and check-off steps along the way to assure that you cross the finish line feeling triumphant. While the detail in your college application may be unique to you, there are common elements that make up every admissions file. These include:

• A high school transcript
• One guidance recommendation
• Two teacher recommendations
• SAT or ACT Standardized test scores (often optional)
• CommonApp, Coalition App or school-specific application

Your high school transcript is the record of the classes you have taken and the grades you have earned in high school. Your high school will send this electronically to the universities you select on your target list. Continue to work hard to achieve the best grades possible for you.

College admissions representatives aren’t going to immediately rule you out if you show a failing grade on one test, but they are going to look at the overall story a transcript tells. Did you take classes that were appropriately challenging for you? If you struggled early in a class, did you improve your grades by the end of the academic year? Rest assured, college admissions officials are acutely aware that many high school students, and their grades, were impacted by the pandemic.

Every college application also includes a recommendation from your guidance counselor, which is also sent directly to the target schools on your list. If your guidance counselor does not know you well, now is the time to make a one-on-one appointment so your counselor can get to know you and your college aspirations better.

Many guidance counselors will offer you an opportunity to complete a questionnaire or profile, which they may use when drafting their recommendation about you. Therefore, it makes sense to thoughtfully complete this, and use personal examples or anecdotes to paint a picture of a characteristic or quality you want to highlight.

Each college application includes two teacher recommendations. Most high schools expect you to take the initiative and connect with the teachers of your choice and request these recommendations before the end of junior year. Be forewarned: some teachers receive many requests to write recommendations, and your high school may limit the number that any one teacher is required to write in a given year.

Select a teacher who knows you as a student. If your college academic interests or intended major is in engineering, math or science, make sure that one of your  recommendations is from a high school teacher in an analytical subject.

Standardized tests provide the admissions office with a way to consider your aptitude relative to your peers nationwide. Plan ahead so you can take the SAT or the ACT on a day that does not add unnecessary stress to your busy schedule.

Many students find they improve their score the second time they take the test. This offers an opportunity to ‘super score,’ that is, use an Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score from one test, and a Math score from another test sitting, to maximize your score.

Standardized test-taking not your strength? No worries. More than 1,800 U.S. universities are now test-optional, and additional higher education institutions temporarily eliminated the standardized testing requirement during the pandemic. If you are not sure about the standardized testing requirements for a target college, simply check the specific school’s admissions website pages or the CommonApp for testing requirements.

The application itself, whether it is the CommonApp, the Coalition application or a college-specific application, typically includes sections that are ‘common,’ in that they are provided to all the schools you are applying to.

These include Profile and Family sections that largely require form-fill responses, an Education section where you list your current classes and five academic honors, a section for short descriptions for 10 extracurricular activities, and finally a writing section where you provide a 650-word personal statement or essay.

A second aspect of the application is specific to the individual schools you are applying to, and includes questions and supplemental essays tailored to each college, though some schools do not require any additional writing.

In my work at Admit Fit, I suggest students create a free CommonApp account so they become familiar with the elements of the application early in the college admissions journey. Knowing the specifications deescalates anxiety and provides a guide to complete the project, from start to finish.

Martha Collins is president of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling.

Thank you to education writer and guest columnist Martha Collins of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling for the following post:

By late March or early April, high school seniors who applied to college for admission this coming fall received acceptance or rejection notifications from the universities to which they applied. A third type of notification is placement on a waitlist.

College admissions offices have a target number of acceptances that they are trying to reach each year. They strive to compose a class that reflects a balance of gender and that represents a wide range of states and countries. The ideal class will be one that is diverse, and that represents students across a range of intended majors.

Few colleges achieve 100% acceptance from the students to whom they offer admissions. After all, if you applied to ten schools, and accepted admission and submitted a deposit at one school, nine other schools will then have an “open” position in their entering fall classes.

In response to this inevitable reality, colleges typically offer admissions to a larger pool of students than they expect will accept and subsequently attend. They also place a subset of students they consider highly qualified on a waitlist that may be tapped after May 1, once they begin to get a clearer picture of which students have accepted their offer of admissions.

Making a list, checking it twice

The number of students placed on a waitlist varies from school to school, and the number of students who may “come off the waitlist” and be offered admissions varies from year to year at any given school.

The good news: the number that make it to a waitlist is a small fraction of the original applicants, so if you are on a waitlist, you are a member of a select group. The not-so-good news: a small fraction of students on a waitlist will be admitted. While most waitlist movement happens in May, there are cases of the occasional late-in-August acceptance.

So, if you find yourself on a waitlist, what should you do?

First, make sure to submit an acceptance to enroll and submit a deposit before May 1 at a school which offered you an acceptance.

Second, carefully consider whether, if admitted, you would still want to attend the university that placed you on the waitlist. If the answer is an enthusiastic yes, then log in to your applicant portal and confirm your interest in remaining on the waitlist. If the answer is no, remove yourself from the waitlist so another on the waitlist has an opportunity for acceptance at the school.

Follow up is key

If you do accept a position on a waitlist, consider reaching out to the admissions representative from the university for your school. In this case, a personal phone conversation is superior to an email or text exchange.

First, thank the admission rep for advocating for your placement on the waitlist and further considering you for admissions. Ask if there is anything specific that you can clarify about your application or provide more detail on. If time allows, briefly describe your specific interest in the university and why it is absolutely your “first choice” school.

If you feel comfortable doing so, politely probe on whether there is anything you can do to improve your application and whether much waitlist movement is anticipated. In a small number of cases, a student on a waitlist may be offered admission for the following year. If this topic comes up and you would accept such an offer, say so.

Many university admissions offices provide an opportunity for you to provide an “update letter.” If this is the case, carefully read and follow the instructions provided by the university.

Open the letter by thanking the admissions office for additional consideration via placement on the waitlist. State with conviction that if admitted, you would attend. Based on any feedback you received in the live conversation with the admissions officer, describe any actions you’ve taken to improve your perceived shortcomings as an applicant. Provide an update on your academics since you submitted your application, and highlight any new or noteworthy developments in your extracurriculars.

Keep it in perspective

Next, emphasize your fit with the school. Describe why you’ve always wanted to attend, which specific classes you see yourself attending, and how you will fit in with and proactively contribute to the class. Try to avoid repeating information that is already in your original application. Strive to keep it brief.

In some cases, an admissions office will accept additional recommendations, but make sure to follow the university’s instructions on this point. More is not always better. Likewise, do not persist in calling the admissions office frequently to find out the status of your position on the waitlist. In nearly every situation, this will not help your case.

Last and maybe most importantly, put it in perspective. While the probability of admission off of a wait list are relatively low, the probability of you having a life-changing college experience is high: after all, you’ve already accepted a position as an incoming member of next fall’s entering class!

Martha Collins is president of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling.

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Thank you to Martha Collins of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling for the following sponsored post:

A logical first step when you begin the college application process is to understand the primary factors college admission officials consider when evaluating you for acceptance. These include:

• High school transcript
• Guidance recommendation
• Teacher recommendation(s)
• Application for admission
  -including extracurricular activities
  -including essays
• Standardized tests

Transcript

Your high school transcript is a report of the classes you’ve taken and the grades you’ve earned since freshman year. Admissions officers will review your transcript through the middle of senior year when evaluating you for acceptance.

Pick your classes carefully and challenge yourself—appropriately. Don’t ‘skate by’ in easy classes when you are capable of more, but don’t overload yourself with too many challenging classes or AP courses and set yourself up for possible failure.

Admissions officers understand that some students have a period of adjustment when they enter high school. They look for a general improvement in grades over time. Likewise, if you had a quarter or two where your grades suffered, it is not a catastrophe. Admissions officers appreciate seeing that you are able to recover from such a setback. Realize that hardly anyone has a ‘perfect’ transcript. Instead, focus on performing well and at a high level in the subjects that you particularly enjoy.

Recommendations

Your guidance counselor will be writing a recommendation that will become a part of your application. Many guidance counselors provide their students, or even a student’s family, with a form to complete that provides enough detail to help them write a tailored recommendation. If this is the case for your school, make sure to take the time to provide thoughtful responses.

[Read more…]

Thank you to education writer and guest columnist Martha Collins of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling for the following post:

Between mid and late December, high school seniors who applied Early Decision or Early Action to a college or colleges will receive admission decisions. The decision notifications are typically delivered via a university’s online portal, email, or even a snail mail letter. For some teens, the news will bring shouts of elation, for others, disappointment, and for others, questions.

There are three possible outcomes for an early application: acceptance, rejection, or deferral.

If you applied Early Decision and are accepted, your college application experience is largely complete, other than submitting a deposit. Because Early Decision is binding, unless there are financial circumstances, you should withdraw any pending applications to other schools. This opens up possible admissions slots for someone else, maybe even a classmate.

If you applied Early Action, an acceptance means you are admitted to the school, and since the admissions decision is  non-binding, you are free to consider whether they are excited to attend the university that accepted them, or whether you want to expand your options by applying to additional schools before the regular decision deadlines. In either case, students typically have until May 1 to accept admission and submit a deposit.

What if you’re rejected

If you receive a rejection, this may be the first time in your life this has happened to you—and it hurts. You are not alone. Because nearly all students apply to multiple schools and are rarely admitted to all, rejection is an unfortunate part of the admissions process for most. Each year, colleges receive tens of thousands of applications, and admission officers frequently comment that there are many more qualified applicants than they could possibly admit due to class size constraints. Note that if you are rejected by a college via either Early Action or Early Decision, you may not reapply to the same school during Regular Decision.

It is perfectly natural to need a few days to come to terms with the rejection, but be confident that once you apply to a few more
suitable fit schools before the Regular Decision deadlines, you too will have an acceptance in hand by early April.

If you are deferred, you have not been rejected. The university’s admission team considers you a strong candidate, but would
like to evaluate your application alongside others in the regular decision pool. While the number of applicants in the Regular Decision pool is greater than in the early round, the regular decision pool is typically not quite as strong as the early applicant pool.

Some universities that defer students ask for confirmation that you are still interested in being considered in the regular decision pool. You may be asked to do so by a specific deadline via the school’s online portal or an online form. Some schools may also provide a specific deadline and process for submitting any updates you’d like to include to bolster your application, such as a transcript of final grades for the fall semester, or an update on your accomplishments or extracurricular activities. When in doubt, contact the university’s admission representative for your high school directly.

The voices of experience

In closing, consider these comments from recent high school graduates/current college students:

“The news will come when it comes. Try to set a limit for yourself, and only check the online portal once a day, so you are not checking it obsessively.”

“Relax—thinking about it won’t change anything. It’s important to know that your admission decision is not an indicator of your worth. Self-worth comes from you.”

“You and your friends may hear from schools, even the same school, at different times. Just because you have not heard yet does not mean that you have been rejected.”

“You’ve done what you can. Hope for the best, but prepare for any outcome.”

“If you got in, don’t gloat. Be sensitive to others.”

“Parents, don’t be more upset than your kid is. He or she should not be consoling you because they did not get in. Give them space.”

Thank you to education writer and guest columnist Martha Collins of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling for the following post:

Crafting the personal essay, aka the ‘main’ college admissions essay, is easier than you think. At its most fundamental, the personal essay is simply a storytelling exercise that demonstrates your ability to write. It should reveal a bit about what makes you tick—your passions, your point of view, your motivations, or an anecdote that demonstrates personal growth.

Ideally, you will paint a picture with your words. That picture will enable the admissions reader to understand the kind of person you are, and, as a result, imagine you as an admitted freshman on their college campus.

Avoid reciting information that is already included in your application, such as your transcript or extracurricular activities. Instead, tell the admissions reader something he or she might not know about you by reading through ‘just the facts.’ For example, you may have included your summer job as a lifeguard in the Activities section of the CommonApp. But the admissions reader might learn more about you if you share the story of the 80-year old former Olympian you carefully watched swim each morning, and the enduring friendship you developed through daily poolside chats.

Keeping it real

You be you. It is easy to overwork the personal essay by stuffing in too many adjectives that you might not normally use in everyday speech, or by using cumbersome sentence structure. Your essay topic might not be unique, but your voice as a writer is, so don’t lose it in the editing process. Use an active voice. Write it as you would tell it to a classmate.

On that note, try reading your essay aloud to yourself or to a trusted friend. This will help you understand how the flow of your ideas is digested by the reader. If you find your meaning getting lost in the reading, consider shortening your sentences by dropping in a few periods. If your read-aloud audience doesn’t ‘get’ what you are trying to say, revise.

Wasted words

Avoid repeating the essay question in the essay itself. This does little to engage the reader and uses up your precious 650-word count limit. Don’t tell the reader what you are going to tell them—just tell them. For example, if your essay begins with something like, “When asked … I would have to say that …” there is a high probability some of this introductory content can be eliminated.

Avoid using words that do not add much value, like ‘really,’ ‘very,’ or ‘interesting.’ Proceed with caution when using superlatives. Make sure your essay fully answers the essay prompt, and confirm that your essay is not so generic that it could have been written by just about anybody. Be specific with details that are true to you and which will show, not tell, the reader why you are a perfect fit.

In conclusion…

Ask a counselor or teacher to read through your first draft and provide suggestions. Alternatively, give yourself a break. Write your first draft and purposefully avoid returning to the essay for a week or two. At that point, do a read-through with fresh eyes, reviewing not only for grammar, but also for story line, transitions, readability, voice, and tone.

You may find, as I often do, that your story really begins in the second paragraph, and the writing before that point can be trimmed. This is also a helpful approach if you are struggling with a conclusion. So give yourself a break  and come back with your mind recharged. You may find you have a fresh perspective that will enable you to get to the finish line.

Martha Collins is president of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling.

The college admissions essay. Just the mention of it is enough to create a pit in the stomach of any rising senior. And by senior year, although most teens have gained plenty of experience writing essays on assigned topics, this may be the first time they find themselves writing a personal story. And it can be uncomfortable.

I use the word “story,” rather than “essay,” for a reason. The best college application essay reads much more like a short, compelling first-person narrative then a dry recounting of adolescent accomplishments.

It’s all about YOU

What are the experiences you love to laugh about with friends? What are the stories your family members relish telling about you? What are the first three words that come to mind when people describe you? What are you “into”? Use examples from your life that demonstrate what you’re all about.

These are the topics that result in a college admissions essay that demonstrates your ability to write, tells the admissions reader more about who you are and what makes you tick, and conveys this information in a way that is genuine to you. (BTW, that is pretty much all the essay needs to accomplish.)

Unfortunately, most teens (and their well-meaning parents) place far too much emphasis on the college admissions essay. This can be utterly paralyzing. Instead, keep it simple. The essay is a 650-word story that tells a tale about you. It’s not the memoir of your life up until age 17.

Do not feel the need to recount your high school honors and accomplishments, since those will be listed elsewhere in the application. Do be true to who you are, or as one student I’ve worked with put it, “Don’t overthink it. No words will be the perfect words. As long as the writing is yours, your personality will shine through, especially if you choose to write about something that you’re passionate about.”

Freedom of speech

Ready to dip a toe in the water, or still need a little push? Scan the Common App or Coalition App essay prompts. Both include a prompt that gives you the freedom to write about a topic of your choice.

Still seeking inspiration? Ask a few friends or family members to describe three qualities about you, including anecdotes of when they think you demonstrated those attributes. Or instead, write about an object from your life and its special meaning to you.

Alternatively, give yourself a ten-day, ten-topics assignment. The rules: nothing is out of bounds, the topics must be different, and you must resist self-editing. Take a look after ten days and see if something speaks to you.

Or pretend for a moment that you’re a seminar day speaker, or that you’re leading a teen TED Talk, or even that you’re a stand-up comedian doing your bit on stage. What story would you tell, and how would you tell it?

Write as you would speak, and be descriptive. Be in the moment: show or demonstrate, rather than describing as an observer. Consider the reader, and how they are “hearing” your story.  Free-write your first draft — no editing.

Only then consider the conclusion. Summarize your story and the personal qualities you want to highlight. Land on how you’ve changed, the insight you gained, how this experience has shaped you as a person, or even how this experience has inspired you to contribute to your future alma mater.

Next up in Wellesley Education Spotlight: avoiding common essay errors.

Martha Collins is president of Admit Fit College Admissions Counseling.