Kevin McMullin is the president of Collegewise and the author of If the U Fits: Expert Advice on Finding the Right College and Getting Accepted. This is his blog. He also speaks at high schools and conferences, and generally tries to spread the word about saner, smarter college planning.
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If the U Fits: Expert Advice on Finding the Right College and Getting Accepted.
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How to Make Your Common Application a Lot Less Common
Is there a Future Doctor in the House? A Guide for Choosing a College and Preparing for Life as a Premed
Story Finders: How Counselors and Teachers Can Help Students Write Better College Essays (without Helping Too Much)
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Next week, we're releasing our Collegewise Guide to the Common Application. So we asked our managing editor, Mamie Cosentino, to review the final draft and give her editing stamp of approval. Here's a sample of what came back from her today.
That's attention to detail.
…than improving your qualifications does.
Applying to unpopular majors, repeatedly emailing admissions officers, relying on connections, applying early decision just because you heard the acceptance rate is higher, sending a letter of recommendation from an alum who knows your family, including a picture of yourself in the school’s colors, sending additional materials colleges don’t ask you to send, mailing a box of cookies to the admissions office…those are all gimmicks. And gimmicks don’t work.
If you want to improve your chances of admission, challenge yourself in school. Find subjects that interest you and excel in them. Show your teachers that you are an engaged and interested student. Find activities you love and make a real impact in them. Apply to the right colleges. Present yourself honestly and openly. Be happy, confident and excited about the opportunity to go to college.
That will work better than any gimmick.
The start of a new academic year is a great time to set goals. And a lot of students set ambitious ones, like:
Those are admirable. But the problem is that while they define what you want to achieve, they don’t help you with your steps to getting there. And that turns your ambitions into entirely pass or fail opportunities. You could work like crazy, but if you don’t achieve your outcome, you’ll feel like you failed.
Here are a few tips that will not only improve your chances of succeeding but will also make the process of getting there more valuable.
1. Identify the most important steps you need to take—and be specific.
What are the most important actions you need to take to actually achieve your goals? Figure those out first, and be specific. “Study more” isn’t specific. “Shut off my cell and my email until I’m done with my homework/studying each day” is specific. It’s easier to do the old “One day at a time” technique when you’re focusing on small, specific actions. And you can hold yourself accountable along the way. You’ll know exactly what you need to do, and whether or not you’re actually doing it.
2. Focus on what’s worked before.
When you’ve achieved goals similar to these, how did that happen? What did you do differently? For example, when you were named a starter for the first time on the soccer team, were you doing anything differently? Were you treating your practices like games? Were you setting up teammates for goals? Did you really kill it in the conditioning workouts? Eliminating things that didn’t work is good. But doubling those things that did work is even better.
3. Learn from little victories.
Let’s say you decide that for you to become editor-in-chief of the newspaper, you need to be recognized as one of the best writers. And in order to do that, you need to write at least two drafts of all your articles so you can have your journalism teacher critique them before you submit them to the current editor (good, specific action). When you actually do that for your first article, you should take the time to learn from it. How did you make the time to get those articles done early? How will you do it again? And don’t reserve your celebration for the day that you actually become the editor. Start now. Learning from and celebrating little victories keeps you focused on the positive. And it will prevent you from getting discouraged about a goal that might occasionally seem unrealistic.
4. Tell people about your goals.
Sometimes peer pressure is a good thing. Tell your closest friends about your goals. Maybe invite them to make their own? Then resolve to help each other achieve them. Telling people what you’re trying to do can help them be supportive, too. If you resolve not to be online until your homework is done every night, tell your friends so they won’t get bent out of shape when you take longer than usual to respond to their emails and texts.
5. Recognize that the process is even more important than the outcome.
You should set high goals for yourself—that’s what successful people do. But you should also remember that the efforts you make are just as important—if not more so—than whether or not you actually achieve the goals. If you resolve to do all the homework in your SAT class and to actually use every technique you learn, your score will almost certainly improve. But if you don’t get the score you wanted, you won’t have to blame yourself. You won’t have to wonder if it could have been better if you’d just put in the effort. And you’ll have the reward of knowing that you did all you could so you can confidently move on to something else now.
Question from a parent at one of our seminars last weekend:
“My friend’s private counselor (not from Collegewise) advises her students to attach a photo to any email that they send to an admissions officer. She said that’s a good way to stand out and make them remember you. But it sounded odd to me. Is that really a good idea?”
Nope. Not a good idea.
This is college admissions, not online dating. And I'm pretty sure every admissions officer I've ever met would feel, well, pretty weird receiving photos from teenagers they've never met.
Here’s a post from last year about how to write a good email.
Before he became one of the best selling authors in history, Stephen King taught English composition to high school students. If he ever looked over any of his students' college essays, I’ll bet he gave them some of the same advice he offers up in “Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes.”
Here's what King would have told students who insisted they needed to go over the word limit to tell their stories.
"Remove every extraneous word...Get to the point. And if you remove all the excess garbage and discover you can't find the point, tear up what you wrote and start all over again . . . or try something new."
He would have told them that using big words kids don't normally use won't lead to great writing.
"Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule."
For kids who insisted on getting feedback from multiple sources (especially from those who'd never taught writing or worked in college admissions)....
"Listen carefully to what they tell you. Smile and nod a lot. Then review what was said very carefully...if everyone - or even most everyone - is criticizing something different, you can safely disregard what all of them say."
And most importantly, he would have told them not to get so attached to a story that you couldn't let it go.
"If it's bad, kill it. When it comes to people, mercy killing is against the law. When it comes to fiction, it is the law."
When the Segway design team wanted some initial feedback on their prototype, they brought in Steve Jobs (Apple's now-retired CEO). Here’s what happened in the first 30 seconds.
‘Good morning to everyone,’ said Tim, smiling at the front of the table. ‘Before we start, we'd like to ask you to hold your questions until after each presentation...Each pitch is about ten minutes.’
‘I can't do that,’ said Jobs. ‘I'm not built that way. So if you want me to leave, I will. But I can't just sit here.’
From Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger"
When you sit in class, are you like Steve Jobs in a meeting? Do you want to ask questions and participate? Or can you just sit there and be perfectly happy? Neither approach is right or wrong. But your answer to that question will tell you a lot about which colleges are right for you.
We just finished the first round of edits for our 64-page "How to Make Your Common Application A Lot Less Common." While we're doing the final editing and formatting, I thought I'd share a few snippets from the piece.
Table of contents
"How to Use this Guide"
We wrote this guide to pick up where the Common Application’s instructions leave off. The Common App outlines how to add your activities to the appropriate section, but we explain how to present them in a clear and compelling way. The Common App tells you where to upload additional information you’d like to share, but we tell you what kind of information is appropriate and useful for admissions officers. The Common App tells you to choose your preferred home number. We tell you which phone number you should prefer..."
Colleges and Universities
Continue reading "A sneak peak at our Collegewise guide to the Common Application " »
From Cal Newport, author of "How to Become a Straight A Student."
The single most useful lesson I learned as a student: Start things earlier than you think you need to; aim to finish them well before they’re due. If you want to produce great work, and really enjoy your life while doing so, I’ve yet to find a strategy that works better."
Yesterday, Gary Vaynerchuk did his final episode of The Daily Grape, his daily online video show featuring passionate wine education and Gary’s personal wine recommendations. Wine isn’t usually a topic for a college admissions blog, but Gary did his first show (originally entitled Wine Library TV) on February 21, 2006. And he went on to do over 1,000 episodes that routinely drew over 100,000 viewers every day. I think students, counselors and business owners can learn a lot from Gary’s example.
1. He’s passionate about what he does.
Watch any of Gary’s shows and you can tell he doesn’t just love wine; he loves educating people about wine. He’s not phoning it in—he’s throwing his energy and enthusiasm into it. He’s barely restrained. There’s no faking that kind of passion. You get the sense that he’d do this even if there were absolutely no business upside to it. That’s exactly how successful college applicants should pursue their activities. Play soccer or write poetry or volunteer at the hospital because you love to do it, not because you’re hoping it will help you get into Cornell. Of course, that kind of passion without regard for how it will look to colleges is what usually produces the most successful college applicants. And that’s why Gary’s videos brought in millions of dollars of revenue to his family’s wine business.
2. He wasn’t trying to please everybody.
Gary can’t stand stuffy, pretentious wine snobs. He doesn’t believe you have to spend $60 to get a good bottle of wine (that's why he reviewed great $12 bottles). He wanted to make wine less intimidating to the uninitiated. That’s why he used terms like “Sniffy Sniff” and “My big-ass glass.” That point of view means that lots of people, especially the wine snobs, aren’t Gary fans. And he’s totally OK with that. He wasn't trying to win everybody over. He was appealing to the people who are most likely to appreciate him for exactly who he is. That’s how students should pick colleges. Don’t try to mold yourself into something that all colleges will like. Instead, pick colleges that fit you and who will appreciate you for who you really are. Private counselors should do the same thing with their businesses. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Instead, be honest and open about the types of families you love to work with. Politely turn away (or fire) those families who are predisposed not to like what you do and refer them to someone who will be a better fit. Then focus all your energy on pleasing those customers who are inclined to love what you do the most.
3. He marketed by sharing.
Gary understood that the best way to demonstrate his expertise was to share it liberally. So he gave away his knowledge and recommendations for free to anyone who would listen. He didn’t charge people to watch. He wasn’t worried that someone was going to rip him off and start a competing online wine TV show. Gary out-shared, out-taught and out-contributed the competition. When you market by sharing like this, people come to trust you. And that’s when your business grows. When they’ve learned from you for free, they’re more likely to pay you to learn more. Private counselors should follow Gary’s example and share as much as possible. You don’t have to give your services away. But sharing will lead to more sales than selling will.
4. He built an audience.
His willingness to share helped Gary build a huge, loyal audience. Every day, he did a show from his office that 100,000 people tuned to hear what he had to say. And it didn’t cost him anything. He didn’t have to advertise. He didn’t have to spam them. He didn’t buy mailing lists or set up a table at conferences. He built an audience who gave him their attention. His most fervent fans even called themselves “Vayniacs.” You can’t buy that kind of loyalty with advertising and marketing. You have to earn it by showing up, sharing and building trust. And Gary always knew that as long as he was making the Vayniacs happy, he’d have a good business. Share, build an audience, delight your most loyal fans, and repeat the cycle. That’s a good formula for any small business.
5. He was great enough to be missed.
At the time I’m writing this, 731 people have commented on Gary’s final show. They're thanking him for opening their eyes to new wines, revealing how much his daily shows have become a part of their lives, and telling him how much they’re going to miss him. People are sad to see him stop broadcasting. The Vayniacs are heartbroken. What better way to measure whether or not you’ve done a great job? If I stopped posting this daily blog tomorrow, would 731 people thank me and tell me they were sorry to see me go? Nope—but it’s a great goal to shoot for. Whether you’re a student running the Spanish Club, a counselor working at a high school or a private counselor running a business, let’s show up every day and do the kind of job that will make people miss us when we eventually move on to something else like Gary did today.
By the way, Gary graduated from Mt. Ida College. He didn’t need to go to a famous college to be successful. And neither do you.
Here's a snippet from David Heinemeier Hansson's Speech "Unlearn Your MBA" at Stanford. College applicants should take this advice about business writing and apply it to your college essays:
I have a funny example…This is Domino’s CEO David Brandon talking a few days ago:
‘The weakness in our value chain was really in our core product.’
What? What does that even mean? Well, I tried to translate that into human.
'Let’s be honest. Our pizza used to suck. I’m sorry. I swear the new ones will be better.'
… I’d say the most important technique, the most important competitive advantage we have at 37Signals is good human writing. And you just don’t have good human writing when you say sh*t like this. Nobody’s going to take you seriously because it’s just meaningless stuff. Try to get into the frame of mind that you’re speaking to humans. And nobody’s going to be impressed by big words.”
If you write sentences like, "Working on the student council taught me many important lessons about how to work with others," you're writing like the CEO. Write like a human, instead.
