Collegewise

How to succeed in small business

Jason Fried of 37Signals, when asked about how he created his company's uniqueness: 

So for us [our point of view] is:  let’s be honest about who we are, what we believe in, and let’s share those opinions and be open about it — because it’s going to turn off certain people and turn on others.  And the ones it turns on are going to be really loyal.  They’re going to be the ones behind you, who will fight for you.  And the ones you turn off, you don’t want anyway because they’re not the kind of people you want to do business with.  By being clear about what you believe in, you’re going to attract the right kind of employee, the right kind of customer, the right kind of media coverage, a bunch of things that are going to work really well for you.”

It's not just good advice for counselors trying to grow a practice; it's good advice for students trying to find, apply to, and get into the right colleges.

You can read the full article here.

10 stupid college application mistakes to avoid

Some mistakes on college applications are worse than others.  Here are my top ten application miscues that can hurt your chances, but frankly, are easy to avoid.  

1. Does any part of your application resemble a text message?  Capitalization, punctuation and complete sentences are your friends.

2. Do your essays use any words you used a thesaurus to find?  Thesaurus words sound like they came, well, from a thesaurus.

3. Did your parents write any part of the application or essays for you?  It will be obvious if they did.

4. Did you self-report any of your classes or grades incorrectly?  If a college asks you to report this information, don’t even attempt it without your official transcript in hand.

5. Did you make excuses for things that were your fault?  If you told them the “C” you got in Spanish was because of a “personality conflict with your teacher,” you’re making this mistake.

6. Does your essay about why you want to attend the school reference the wrong school (a surprisingly common mistake for students recycling essays from other applications)?

7. Speaking of recycling, are you reusing an essay from another school that doesn’t actually answer this particular prompt?  Revise or start over.  But don’t just recycle at all costs. 

8. Did you rely on spell check without a human to back it up?  A student once asked us to review an application in which he’d written that he struggled with “standardized testes.”  I swear I am not making that up.  Spell check doesn’t catch everything.  Find a good human editor to back it up.

9. Are you including extra materials the college didn’t ask you to send, like extra letters of recommendation, a resume, a DVD, an art project, a live reptile that you think best represents you, etc.?  Unless they ask (which some colleges do), assume they don’t want it. 

10. Did you use even the light-hearted questions, like, “What’s something you do just for fun?” as an opportunity to brag about an accomplishment, like, “I sincerely enjoy performing over 100 hours of community service at the hospital”?

P.S. If you’re applying to schools on the Common Application and want more advice about how to avoid mistakes and really make your application stand out, check out our Collegewise Guide to the Common Application.  It’s $12.99 and available as a downloadable PDF.

A formula for admission to a prestigious college

Here’s one formula we’ve found that’s scarily accurate in predicting admissions chances to the most prestigious colleges.

The amount of time a student spends obsessing about what will get him into a “prestigious college” is almost always inversely proportionate to his chances of actually getting in.

Curiosity, hard work, committing to activities you enjoy, being a nice person people like having around—that’s what makes you an engaged, likeable and interesting person colleges want.  Basing every decision on "what will look good to Harvard" doesn’t accomplish any of those things.

The key?  Spend less time looking for a magic formula and more time doing this.

Love your list

From Justin Pike, an admissions officer at Tufts:

Here is my advice: Love your list.  In the landscape of higher education, there is no excuse for feeling “bleh” about a school you apply to. Honestly, if you can’t see yourself going there why spend the effort writing essays, filling out forms, and shelling out application fees? Love your list.  Pick schools that deserve your talents but do not abandon reality. 'Safety school', 'match school', and 'reach school' should still be phrases running through your head. However, should loving your safety school be a foreign idea?  Imagine getting that first acceptance letter and genuinely being thrilled…woah…"

Read the full entry here

Stories make you stand out

It’s rare for a list of activities or awards alone to make an applicant stand out.  That’s why when you present yourself to colleges in applications, essays, and interviews, you should share the stories behind what you’ve done.  Your stories show off your curiosity, initiative and likeability.  And they make you memorable. 

It’s hard not to remember (and like) a kid who shares things like,

“When I auditioned for the play my sophomore year and was not chosen for any parts, I volunteered to work the lights, just so I could stay involved.”

“When my soccer team needed new uniforms, I set up a car-wash fundraiser for which we secured sponsorships.  We raised $1200.”

“I really got into physics and especially enjoyed our projects.  I spent a lot of time after school working with my teacher to perfect my 'object projector' and even read additional books about catapults to learn as much as I could.  My project eventually took second place in the science fair.”  

“I love Spanish.  I like to annoy my friends by playing the Spanish station on my radio when I’m driving, and I often refuse to speak English to them, just so I can practice my Spanish.”

“The staff at the local bookstore probably thinks I am a depressed mental patient.  I buy a lot of self-help books like Prozac Shmozac, Love is the Drug.    But they don’t need to worry.  I’m not depressed.  I’m just fascinated with psychology.  And I think I want to be a social worker when I graduate from college.”

When you share them with enough detail, you’re the only one who can tell them.  And that’s what makes you stand out.

College is a buyer’s market

Dozens of colleges are likely visiting your high school this fall to give pitches about their schools and why you should apply.

If you go to a college fair, you’ll probably see over 100 colleges perched behind their tables eager to tell you about their schools.   

If you took the PSAT this fall and checked the box indicating that you would like to hear from potential colleges, your mailbox is going to fill with fancy brochures from colleges this spring in the hopes of enticing you to apply.

And if you'd joined us at the National Association of College Admissions Counseling’s annual conference this month, you could have strolled through the exhibitor hall and seen dozens (and dozens) of marketing companies offering their services to colleges to help them reach and attract students.  And none of those tables were without visitors. 

What do you think that all means? 

There are over 2,000 colleges in the country and only about 40 of them have the luxury of rejecting droves of kids with perfect grades and test scores.  The rest need the right students to fill their classes and dorms next fall.  They’re working—and paying—for the chance to reach you, to interest you, and frankly, to get you. 

The only folks for whom this isn’t a buyer’s market are the people who are convinced that the schools with far too many potential customers are the only colleges worth considering.

Ask Collegewise: How can I get a speaking engagement at a high school?

Melinda asks,

I’m a private counselor trying to get my name out there to people.  I’ve called the counselors at my local high schools and offered to do free workshops on campus for their students but they barely take my calls.  I don’t understand why they’re so reluctant to let me in when I’m not even going to charge anything.  Isn’t that a win-win?  How can I get them to see that I'm not a scam artist?”

It’s a fair question, Melinda.  But think of it this way.  If you got a call from someone you’d never met who said,

“My name is Kevin, and I’m a great cook.  Really, I am.  How about you invite 20 of your closest friends over to your house for a dinner party and I’ll cook the meal.  No charge.”

Would you do it?

Most people wouldn’t let a stranger into their house to cook for their friends.  What if the cook never shows up?  What if the meal is terrible?  What if he’s rude to your guests, or leaves the kitchen a mess, or undercooks the chicken and everybody gets sick?  Sure, it could be great.  But it could also be a disaster that would make you look bad to all your friends.  And while you didn’t pay any money, you did invest your time and reputation.  That’s just too much risk to take on a stranger.  And that’s how high school counselors feel about inviting their student community to a workshop given by someone they’ve never met.

But why do you need to do the workshop at a high school?  You could take an ad out in a local community paper and organize the workshop yourself.  You could ask your closest friends who know and trust you to pass along the invitation to their friends with high school kids.  If it worked, you could do a series of workshops covering different topics so the people who’d seen and enjoyed your presentations could come back for more.

If your workshops are *great*, people will tell their friends.  And if you eventually presented at an annual conference in your area, your local high school counselors could see you in action.  You could introduce yourself and enjoy some mediocre conference food together.  Then you wouldn’t be a stranger anymore.  And then they’d take your calls.

Thanks for your question, Melinda.  If you've got a question of your own, email me at blog [at] collegewise [dot] com.  If I pick yours, I'll answer it here on our blog.

Product highlight: The Collegewise guide for future premeds

Last month, we released our guide, Is There a Future Doctor in the House? A Guide to Choosing a College and Preparing for Life as a Premed.  It’s 44 pages, sells for $9.95 and is available as a download.  Here are some of the reasons we made it, and what you can expect to find in the guide.

Why we wrote it

Our premed hopefuls at Collegewise consistently said things like,

“I want to go to UCLA because it’s good for premed.”

“I’m applying to Harvard because they also have a good medical school.”

“I’m going to major in biology because I want to be a doctor.”

Statements like those made it clear to us that while our future premeds knew they wanted to be (or were at least seriously considering becoming) doctors, most knew almost nothing about how to actually get there.  They didn’t know that there is no magic list of schools that are “good for premed.” They didn’t know that it doesn’t matter whether or not your college also has a medical school. And they didn’t know that a desire to go to medical school is not a good reason to major in biology.  Had we not been there to advise them, these future MDs would have made fundamental premed planning mistakes before they even got to college.

There’s too much at stake for premeds to pick colleges without knowing what they’ll need to do to achieve their goal and what they’re going to need from their colleges to get there.  So we wrote this guide to help high school students answer three questions:

1. How do successful premeds get accepted to medical school?  The best way to make good premed planning decisions is to understand how the people who’ve succeeded did it.
2. How can you find the right colleges for you to have a successful premed career?
3. What can you do in high school right now to prepare for life as a premed?

What’s included?

Our guide tackles those three questions in reverse chronological order.  After we explain what a successful premed’s college career looks like, we back up and talk about how to evaluate and choose the right colleges so you can identify which colleges—for you—would be good places to stand out as a successful premed.  Then we share some steps you can take now to prepare for life as a premed later.  And it’s not the same advice you’ve already heard like, “Study for the SAT” or “Volunteer at a hospital.” Some of the suggestions might surprise you (we even explain how reading novels about serial killers can actually help you get into medical school).

How we’re using it

Our job at Collegewise is to help our students make good decisions and select the right colleges.  So our Collegewise counselors are using our premed guide to educate themselves about the medical school admissions process, and using that knowledge to give good advice to our Collegewise students.

Who is the guide for?

Students

For students who are starting their college search or even just considering becoming premeds, our guide takes away the guesswork.  You’ll know exactly what to do now—and later—to become a doctor.

Parents

For a parent who’s helping your student with the college search, this guide will help you really evaluate what kinds of schools are the best places for your kids to start their medical journey. 

Counselors

There is no established list of schools that are the best places for premeds.  Our guide will help you understand the process so you can give your students the best advice. 

Results

We’ve been really happy with the reception for our premed guide, and the feedback from both students and counselors has been overwhelmingly positive.  We’re hoping that by making this advice available, a lot of future premeds will make better decisions and avoid common mistakes.

You can download your copy here for $9.95.

Before you apply to college this fall

Seniors, before you apply to your chosen colleges, please show your list to your high school counselor.  Ask what she (or he) thinks your chances of admission are, and give them permission to be honest.  Listen to what they have to say, even if you don’t like the answers.  It’s fine to ask for clarification so you can better understand.  But you are not allowed to let your feelings be hurt if every school on your list only accepts 15 out of every 100 students who apply and your counselor tells you your odds of admission are slim.

Your college list can and maybe even should include a few reach schools.  But applying to a list of schools that are all reaches puts all the admissions power in the colleges’ hands.  It leaves you crossing your fingers just hoping to get into one.  And it presents you with a very real chance that you won’t get accepted anywhere.  You deserve better than that. 

Talk to your counselor and make sure you have a balanced college list.  And please don’t accept the same advice from friends, hearsay, or any other source that isn’t A) your counselor, B) an admissions officer, or C) a qualified private counselor. 

Your college list is too important not to ask the question.

The Net Price Calculator is here

I wrote a post last month about the then-soon-to-be-available net price calculator, an online tool that estimates your financial aid eligibility, subtracts that from the sticker price of your chosen college, and estimates how much you will need to pay to attend that school next year.  The federal government has mandated that colleges must have the tool available on their websites by October 29, 2011.  But if you don’t want to wait until then, the College Board has it available here.