Collegewise

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.

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.

Our guide to the University of Washington application (free for now)

Katie and I just wrote a guide to the University of Washington application.  It’s 39 pages and covers all 12 sections of the application, including the essays and the journal of activities and achievements.   As of today, it’s free. You can download your copy here.

Here's what we ask in return.  If you find our guide helpful, please share it.  Email it to your friends who are applying to UW.  Post it to your Facebook or your blog.  Print up a copy and show it to your counselor.  Everyone—students, parents, and counselors—can use some extra support during college admissions season.  Sometimes that means we all have to help each other.  We make the guide free to you, you use it and (if you think it's great) spread the word.  That's the bargain. 

Here are some excerpts from the guide:

Discuss how your family’s experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals. 

Here’s how to think about this prompt.  If you weren’t given the chance to share anything about your family life on a college application, would you feel like colleges didn’t really know the whole story about you?  Would you feel like your application was missing something?  If the answer is 'Yes,' this prompt was written for you.  If the answer is, 'No,' no problem—just choose the other prompt."

Tell us a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

A lot of students see the word 'character' in this prompt and immediately think it refers to morals, ethics, principles or something else that inevitably leads to an essay like, “When everyone else cheated, I was the only one who resisted the temptation,” or “It was difficult to face my fear of the unknown, but I went river rafting anyway.”

The University of Washington seeks to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints.  How would you contribute to this community? 

Some UW students chose the school in part because they knew that they’d be able to find their niche in such a diverse environment.  Some enrolled because they knew they’d be able to find other people who celebrated Vietnamese culture, or were proud of their homosexuality, or planned to go to church every Sunday while they were in college.  And even those students who didn’t specifically enroll because of the diversity still see it as something that makes UW a great place to go to college.  Are you excited about those things, too?  What life experiences have you had that make you want UW’s diverse environment for your college experience?  What could you contribute to, and learn from, your fellow UW students?"

Describe an experience of cultural difference, positive or negative, you have had or observed.  What did you learn from it?

One of our former Collegewise students was the lone liberal in an AP government class.  She talked about how dismissive she was with the opinions of people she initially dubbed as 'ignorant conservatives,' but acknowledged that while she never did agree with their politics, the opportunity to debate with those students made her a better analytical thinker.  Looking back, she appreciated how her experience improved as a result of being in class with people who were very different from her.  The key here is respect.  Talk about an experience that strengthened (or initiated) your respect for differences and be open about how it did so.  The fact that you can identify such an experience and appreciate what made it valuable will be good evidence that you're likely to do the same thing once you get to UW.  "

Journal of Activities and Achievements

An admissions officer will know what “Varsity soccer” is.  But if you list “ASB Director of Sales and Marketing,” or “Internship at Harty Media Group,” or “Cosmos Award,” you should lead off with a description, like:

• 'The ASB Director of Sales and Marketing is in charge of selling ads for our student body newsletter, as well as for publicizing all our student government events.'

• 'Harty Media Group is a public relations firm in Washington DC, and I was one of two high school students they hired to intern at their offices last summer.'

• 'The Cosmos Award is given to one member of the junior class who is selected by the faculty for outstanding achievement in science.'"

How does the Honors Program fit into your imagined future at the University of Washington?

Try to imagine yourself studying and learning at UW while you’re in this program.  Do you see a clear picture in your mind?  Have you really investigated your chosen major?  Have you looked at the classes you could take, what will be expected of you and what types of students seem to flourish there?  And when you're answering those questions, how much of what interests is specific to the Honors Program?  Don’t just rattle off a description of why the Honors Program is, or why you are, great.  Describe why you would be great together."

Stanley Nelson, filmmaker of Freedom Riders says, 'The lesson of the Freedom Riders is that great change can come from a few and small steps taken by courageous people.  And that sometimes to do any great thing, it’s important that we step out alone.”  What steps will be taken by your generation, and how might you step out alone?'

One way to think about your future goals and work backwards by first describing something that you’re doing today that shows you’re already planning on taking those steps.  For example, if you want to be a teacher and you hope to work with students in a low income area, what are you doing right now to prepare for that?  Who are you helping?  What are you learning about yourself?  And what will you need to do both during and after college to achieve that goal?"

Go here to download it.  Enjoy.  And remember, let's all help each other--please share.

Duane gets it right

The clothing they sell isn’t my style (I don’t dress well enough to even use the word “style”), but if it were, I’d feel comfortable buying from Duane.

You get to the home page and there he is, talking to us honestly about what they do and how they do it.  He's not trying to sound like something he's not.  In fact, he wants you to know that his store isn't one of the big guys.  He's reveling in being small.  Makes them seem more trustworthy to me.  I feel like I can count on Duane.

Not a bad way to write a website…or a college application.

Perfection is not a prerequisite

From a 2002 article featuring several university deans of admission commenting on what they like, and don't like, in an applicant:

 I may be guilty of exaggerating, but the student I remember [most] quickly admitting a few years back was a young man who told us straight-out that after four years he was still the ‘worst soccer player on the worst soccer team in the state.’  Another who I remember saying to myself was someone who…asked if there was anything else we should know, wrote, ‘As you will have noticed, my SAT scores are low.  They are accurate.'"

Fred Hargadon
Former Princeton Dean of Admissions

Just being yourself is impressive enough

My friend Paul from The Princeton Review knows more about standardized tests than anyone you will ever meet, so much so that he is a sought-after public speaker who is routinely flown all over the world to teach audiences how to put these tests into perspective.  Everyone leaves his speeches glad they gave up the time to attend.  He’s also a savvy businessman who for 20 years owned and ran the most successful branch of The Princeton Review before he sold it in 2009.  He’s mentored countless employees, high school counselors, and entrepreneurs who are grateful to him for his support and advice.  He’s the picture of success.  

Next week, Paul is scheduled to speak at a prominent local high school.  Today, the head counselor emailed him asking for a high resolution headshot they could use to promote the event.  This is the photo he sent.

If you know Paul, you’re not surprised.  In a word, Paul is silly.  He wears outrageous clothing.  His outgoing voicemails are always outlandish.  He’s always the first to poke fun at himself and takes only a few minutes to establish himself as the funniest member of any group.  This photo isn’t shtick.  It’s just Paul being himself.  That’s why people love and respect him as much as they do.

If you’re applying to college this fall, learn from Paul’s example.  I’m not saying every student should be goofy in your college applications.  But you should unapologetically be yourself.  Whether you’re a jock or a math geek, the lead in the school play or the tech-expert who runs the lights, a musician or an artist, a dancer or a poet, a kid who takes karate classes or one who works part time at a hamburger stand, a straight-A student or an average scholar who’s still a nice kid looking for the right school to spend the next four years, don’t be afraid to reveal yourself to colleges.  Be proud of who you are.  And never try to mold yourself into somebody you’re not just to impress admissions committees.    

As long as you’re applying to the right colleges, just being yourself is impressive enough.

Don't fight the sixth senses

If you put a college essay in front of me that a parent got a little too involved with, a parent who took too many editing or flat out writing liberties, I’ll know it.  Immediately.  After doing this for 12 years and reviewing as many applications as I have, I’ve developed a sixth sense for this kind of thing.  Most counselors do.  

But after even just one year on the job, most admissions officers will have already read more applications than I have.  How good do you think their sixth senses are?  Pretty damn good.

Parents see the world differently than 17-year-olds do.  But the colleges want to hear the 17-year-olds’ thoughts, not the parents’.  In fact, most admissions officers are much closer in age to kids than they are to parents.  Maybe that’s why their sixth senses are so good?  They know when something didn’t come from a teenager.

So parents, let your students do the applications and essays themselves.  It’s fine to proofread and offer feedback, but once you start jumping in and doing it for them, you’re going too far.  And the sixth senses will know.  It’s not worth the risk.  

Just answer the damn question

Just once, I'd love to hear a corporate spokesperson just answer the damn question.  College applicants make this mistake sometimes, too.  So here's a corporate example you don't want to follow when writing your essays, completing your applications or doing your interviews.  

This is Target's vice president of communications on the Today Show talking about the launch of their new line that caused Target's website to crash this week (apologies for the ad at the beginning).

The question was whether Target anticipated this kind of response. But instead of answering it, Target congratulates themselves for having so much buzz ahead of time. They obviously didn't anticipate the demand or they (hopefully) would have been better prepared. 

What would be wrong with admitting that?  Target's spokesperson could have said something like,

"We knew there would be a lot of interest.  But honestly, we never expected this.  It was embarrassing for us to do such a good job getting the buzz going and then be unprepared when it worked so well.  But we've learned our lesson now.  If we're going to sell these items in our stores, we need to be ready to handle just how many people seem to want them.  We blew it this time. But we won't make that mistake again."

Things didn't get much better when she was asked if more stock was on its way.

So, does Target know when the stock will be replenished or not?  What about the viewers who want to buy this stuff?  Is the best Target can do really to ask customers to keep coming back over and over again to check and see if the stock is back?  It's frustrating to hear a company hem and haw like this.  You had a chance to give people some helpful information and instead you gave them spin.  Just answer the damn question.

Whether you're applying to college or running a business, it's never a good idea to duck a fair and reasonable question.  When you instead just spin your answer to make yourself look good, nobody's going to listen to you. 

But you have an advantage when applying to college that not every company or politician enjoys; nobody is out to get you.  Colleges aren't trying to catch you looking stupid or guilty.  Some of their questions might make you worry that an honest answer will hurt your chances of getting in.  But colleges don't expect you to be perfect.  They just want to know if you're mature enough to acknowledge your mistakes or failures and learn from them.  People who know how to do that are much more likely to be successful during and after college.

The Collegewise store and online counseling are officially open for business

It’s been a long time coming, but today, both our Collegewise store and our online college counseling program are officially open for business.

Our online store currently has three great products we’re excited about—a guide to the Common Application, our new book for teachers and counselors to help their students with college essays, and our guide for future premeds to help you choose colleges and succeed on your way to becoming a doctor.  Later this month, we’ll be releasing online videos of our college essay, college interview, and financial aid seminars.  If you’d like us to update you when we add new items to the store, just keep following our blog, or you can sign up to be notified here.   

And our new online college counseling means that no matter where they live, students anywhere in the world will now be able to get the same great Collegewise admissions advice we’ve shared with over 3,000 students since 1999.

We're excited about them and hope we'll add a lot more of our blog readers to our little Collegewise family in the years to come. 

Why a college’s application deadline isn’t the real deadline

Some students look at a college’s application deadline and get the impression that as long as you submit your application by that date, your application will be complete.  But don’t forget that you aren’t the only person who needs time to meet that deadline. 

Your counselor will need time to send your transcripts and complete your secondary school report.

Your teachers will need time to write and send your letters of recommendation.

The College Board and ACT will need time to send your official score reports to your chosen colleges. 

If you want someone to help you proofread your college essays or your applications, that person will need enough time to do a good job. 

Remember that while you may be OK waiting until the last minute and pulling a few late nights to finish your applications, the other people who will play a role in those applications aren’t likely to feel the same way.  Find out how much time they’ll need to do their respective parts.  Then do your part to give them that time.