Collegewise

What’s the worst thing that could happen?

If you’re skydiving, going in for open heart surgery, or running into a burning building to save someone, the worst thing that could happen is that you could die.  That’s a pretty bad worst-case scenario.  But to my knowledge, nobody has ever died as a direct result of applying to college.  If people made more of an effort to remember that fact, a lot more families would enjoy the college admissions process instead of suffering through it as though an admissions decision from a dream school were a life or death matter.

If you’re feeling far more anxiety than you’d like to feel around the college admissions process, try this. 

First, ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

If your answer is, “I/my kid might get rejected from USC” (or Yale or Amherst or whatever the dream school is) and you’re still lying awake at night over that scenario, you need to gain some perspective.  A rejection from a dream school is disappointing, but it doesn’t merit devastation, especially if you’re healthy and still going to college someplace.

If your answer is, “I might not get into any college,” or “I might not be able to go to college because I can’t afford it, congratulations.  You're assigning worry to outcomes that deserve it.  So here’s what you do to prevent it.

1. Apply to plenty of “target” and “safety” schools. 

Too many students play the admissions lottery and apply to a lot of dream schools where they don’t have a good chance of being admitted.  That’s not a smart way to play this game.  So apply to plenty of “target” and “safety” schools.   At Collegewise, we define a target school as one where the students from last year’s class who got in look very similar to you on paper.  We think you have a good shot, too.  And a safety school is one where we’re so sure you’re going to get in that we would go into cardiac arrest if you got rejected (which admittedly would be a college admissions-related life or death matter, but at least it would be happening to us, not you).

Ask your counselor to recommend some good targets and safeties, and make sure those make up at least 2/3 of your college list.  Most of the 2500 colleges in the country take pretty much everybody who applies (there are only about 100 schools that reject big chunks of their applicant pools).  So pretty much everybody can find a target or a safety school. 

2. Apply to at least one “financial safety school."

A financial safety school is one where you’re not only virtually guaranteed to get in, but you’ll also be able to pay for it even if you received no financial aid.  Again, speak with your counselor, and investigate some of your state’s public university options.

If your family doesn’t have enough money to pay for any school, refer back to tip #1 and apply to plenty of target and safety schools.  There are billions of dollars in financial aid available, and your best chance of getting it is to apply to target and safety schools that fit you well.  Your counselor is probably your best source of advice for finding those schools. 

There—you’ve probably just eliminated your “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” scenario.  So what are you so worried about?  No matter what happens, you’re not going to die from a college admissions-related accident.  Work hard and do your best—your college future is important and deserves your best effort.  But while you’re at it, try to enjoy the ride a little bit.

Land the plane

An admissions officer at a conference last week shared a great phrase in a session about letters of recommendation--"Land the plane."

"Land the plane" is what he thinks to himself when a letter of rec drones on, adding far more words than real information. "Land the plane" is like "Wrap it up."

It's important for teachers, counselors and most of all, applicants, to remember that admissions officers have to read hundreds, even thousands of files, every season. They're only human. They get tired and bored just like the rest of us. So make your letters of rec, applications and essays clear and forceful. Say what you want to say, but don't say more just for the sake of filling up all the available space. Remember that brevity is a mark of well-edited writing.

And when in doubt, land the plane.

Challenge yourself sanely

When you're picking your classes, here's something we tell our Collegewise students--challenge yourself sanely.

You should take difficult classes to prepare for college.  Hard work is good.  A little stress is good.  The occasional late night is OK.  Successful people know how to take on and manage challenges, and a rigorous curriculum helps you learn that skill.

But you should it in a sane way. 

If your courses are so difficult that you have to stay up until 2 a.m. every night just to keep up, that’s not sane—you’re overscheduled. 

If you have to quit an activity you love just to manage your schoolwork, the challenge is no longer sane. 

If you’re constantly worried about school, if you can’t name a favorite class or teacher, and if you’re working so hard that you just don’t like school anymore and can’t wait for the year to be over, your classes are too hard.  You’re challenging yourself, but you‘re sacrificing sleep, fun and sanity to do it.  It’s not worth it.  You’re giving up more than the challenge will pay back.  And no college wants to admit a student who’s academically burned out before they even get to college. 

Challenging yourself sanely means that you enroll in the most difficult classes you can handle while still sleeping enough, enjoying your activities, and seeing your friends and family on a regular basis.  When in doubt, identify your favorite subjects (which will usually also be your strongest) and direct your efforts towards excelling there.  Be an enthusiastic and engaged learner.  Thrive in your best subjects and just do your best in the others. 

Hard work should feel good.  It should give you a sense of pride and accomplishment.  If your curriculum is making you tired and demoralized, make some changes and start challenging yourself sanely.

Can you ask a teacher for a letter of recommendation now?

A Collegewise parent asked me recently, "If students know which teacher they'd like to write their letter of recommendation for college, can they ask now, or do kids have to wait until they apply?"

Good question.  Most colleges require that the teachers who write your letters of recommendation either 1) Fill out a form from the application and mail that with their letter, or 2) Submit the letter online using a link that's part of the application. 

Both of those actions require that the college's application be available.  So your teachers can’t actually do anything for you until you know where you’re applying to college and you have the respective applications in hand.

But here’s what you can do now.

1. You can research the application requirements for the schools that interest you.  Do they allow for letters of recommendation?  How many?  Do the letters need to come from teachers, or can they come from personal sources?  It's important to follow directions on your college applications.  And even if the applications aren’t available yet, most colleges’ websites will provide this information in the “undergraduate admission” section.

2.  You can start considering which teachers to ask. But remember, a college doesn't need a teacher to tell them that you got an "A" in their class (that's on the transcript).  Colleges want to know where you've delivered great performances.  So think about the classes where you've done that and the teachers who've seen you do it. 

3.  You could use the summer to get organized.  Check the colleges' websites regularly to see if their applications are available.  Print up the required forms.  Get your envelopes ready to give to your teachers.  Don't wait until the fall to start sifting through all of that information.

Your goal should be to enter your senior year knowing exactly what each college needs and which teachers you would like to ask.  As soon as the applications are available, then print up the forms and start asking. 

I've also written two other posts about letters of rec here and here.

Which applicant would you pick?

Imagine you owned a software company and you were hiring a programmer.  You narrowed down over 300 qualified applicants to two that you want to interview. 

Applicant #1 gets genuinely excited when he talks about some of the software he's written.  It's obvious he loves computers and programming.  Applicant #2 rattles off a list of programming languages he knows, and shows no emotion when he does.

When you ask them to describe one of their biggest weaknesses, applicant #1 shakes his head, smiles, and admits that he really needs to work on being more organized.  Applicant #2 tells you that sometimes, he can be too focused on his job (which is the old "name a strength but call it a weakness" trick). 

You ask them why they want to work for your company.  Applicant #1 gives a heartfelt answer about what he's looking for in a career and why he thinks he's found that opportunity at your company.  It's clear he's done more than just read your website; he's really thought about what he wants his work day to be like.  

Applicant #2 tells you that your company has a great reputation and a beautiful building, and that the job would look good on his resume.

Who would you hire?  The applicant who loves the work and is honest, who acknowledges his faults but is proud of his strengths, who genuinely loves programming and has given serious consideration to the personal, professional and cultural fit he thinks he can find at your office?  Or would you hire the applicant who rattled off a list of accomplishments, who wasn't honest and open enough to admit a weaknesses, who didn't seem to feel a real connection with your company and just seemed to be going through the job-seeking motions?

Just about everyone would hire applicant #1, assuming both are equally qualified. 

If you want to get into college, approach the admissions process like applicant #1 approaches the job search. 

Can you really tell the difference between Harvard and other schools?

The American college admission system would have collapsed long ago if bright applicants were actually hurt in any lasting way by not getting into Brown and Amherst.  If you don’t think so, ask your boss or your mayor or your school superintendent where they went to college.  There are at least a hundred American universities whose academic resources are indistinguishable from Harvard’s…"

Jay Mathews
Harvard grad and author of Harvard Schmarvard

What to do if you didn't get into an AP class

So you wanted to be placed into an AP class next year (like Bio, US history or English) but you didn't get the class.  What should you do about it?

First, here's what you shouldn't do.  Don't send your parents in to fight with your counselor or otherwise put pressure on the school to let you into the class.  Unless you were the rare victim of a scheduling snafu or other mix-up, the reality is that there is room for only so many chairs in a classroom.  If you didn't make the cut, it's unfortunate, but it's not a miscarriage of justice.

Here are a few productive ways you could channel that energy into the non-AP class.  You don't have to do all of them--any combination would show that just because you're not in AP doesn't mean you aren't a hard-working and engaged student.

1. Set a goal to be the highest achieving student in the course.  Ever earned an A+ before?  Here's the perfect time to do it. 

2. Participate in class regularly.  Put your hand up, ask questions, and contribute to the class discussion.

3.  If there are any papers, oral reports or other projects outside of tests and homework, make yours memorable.  Do something that the teacher will tell future classes about.

4.  If you really love the subject., don’t let the learning be limited to class time.  Ask your teacher how you could learn more through outside reading or additional coursework.

5.  And if you really want to show that you should have been in the AP class, take the class at a local community college and then take the AP test.  Make sure your counselor knows you're doing it so he or she can tell the colleges you apply to how far out of your way you went to get the AP curriculum.  Even if you didn’t pass the test, you’d still look pretty gutsy for taking a shot at it without actually having taken the official AP course.

The right tone for college essays

College essays aren’t formal, academic pieces of writing like those you write in your English classes.  Instead, they should sound like you so the reader can figuratively hear your voice and get a sense of your personality. 

Here’s a good way to strike the right tone without being too informal.

1.    For everything you write in your college essays, ask yourself, “Would I say this to someone else?”

No athlete in the history of high school athletics has ever said the words, “I personally feel very fortunate to have participated in varsity athletics because it has taught me the value of committing to my goals." 

If you wouldn’t say it to someone else, don’t say it in your college essays.

2.  Pretend you’re describing this story to a teacher you liked and felt comfortable with.

It’s possible to be too informal in a college essay.  It shouldn’t sound like you’re talking to your best friend (and it shouldn’t be written like a text message). 

So imagine you were describing your story to a teacher that you liked and felt comfortable with.  You wouldn’t talk like you were speaking to your high school principal, but you wouldn’t be quite as relaxed as you’d be if you were just talking with your friends. 

Too formal: 

“I found chemistry to be a particularly challenging subject, as my natural academic strengths lie with writing.”

Too informal:

“Chemistry is stupid.  I’d pretty much rather write 10 papers in my English class than do one problem set in chemistry.”

Just right:

“Chemistry and I just don’t get along.  I don’t know what it is about my brain, but it works a lot better when I’m reading Shakespeare than it does when I’m trying to memorize the periodic table.”

How can you tell if you've chosen good activities?

If a college interviewer said to you, "Tell me a little bit about (insert one of your activities)," what would you say?

Would you have stories to tell?  Could you give some examples about your participation, what you've given and how you've made an impact?  Could you talk about the reasons why you've enjoyed it?

If you'd be stumped, you're either doing the wrong activities, not doing enough within them, or both.

When students love their activities and really try to make an impact, they have stories to tell.  Whether it's about quarterbacking the football team or riding the bench, holding the lead in the school play or running the lights, taking summer classes in Latin or teaching yourself to cook, working a summer job at a law firm or flipping burgers at Burger King, the right activities coupled with the right effort should produce good stories.

Pick things you like to do.  Then find a way to make an impact within each of them.  As long as you’re enjoying yourself, chances are you’ve chosen a good activity.

The truth about class rank

Some high schools will assign you a numerical class rank to measure your academic achievement relative to that of the rest of your classmates (Example:  you’re ranked 28th out of a class of 214).  But many high schools, convinced that class ranks foster too much unhealthy competition between classmates, have abolished class rankings.  And no matter what a high school does with class rank, I’ve found there will always be a small group of students who feels they were hurt by policy.

But the truth is that whichever choice your high school makes about class rank, it’s not going to hurt your chances of admission to college.  Most colleges find a numerical ranking to be a nice shortcut.  It makes their job a little easier.  But it’s still just one tool they can use. 

Lots of colleges assign readers to particular geographic regions.  That means the person reading your application will also be reading the applications from any other seniors from your school. They won't need a class rank to get a sense of how you stacked up against your classmates.

Counselors also write “high school profiles” for colleges summarizing the courses available, percentage of students who go on to college, average GPA of graduates, etc.  That helps colleges assess where you rate in relation to other students.   

And if that’s not enough, most private colleges require that applicants ask their counselor to submit a “secondary school report” on which one of the portions asks the counselor to describe the applicant’s level of academic achievement relative to the rest of the class.

So don’t worry whether or not your school chooses to rank students.  You have no control over that choice.  You do have control over the classes you take, the grades you get, and the attitude you bring with you to class every day.  Get those things right, and you'll be appealing to colleges with or without a class rank to measure you.