1. Navigating the process
College admission
Navigating the process

2. College admission… Is not a prize to be won; it is a match to be made.
Choose a car
8 first choices
Finding your people –
who you are vs. who you want to be
Your learning style
Inside – Out

3. Approximate Timetable
Summer before 12th grade:
Identify colleges to consider applying to
You make 2 of the three decisions!
Begin “roughing out” personal essays
Investigate thoroughly the tests you must take. Register for them. Some schools are test optional.

4. Money Family talk about money! Applying, visiting, testing
The cost of college
Investigate funding options, policies, scholarships, deadlines, forms, etc.

5. Approximate Timetable
Fall of 12th grade:
Create “final list” of colleges
Speak to teachers and counselor about letters of recommendation
Finalize essays
Apply:
For Early Decision/Early Action, usually in November
For Regular Decision, usually in late December or January

6. After you apply Your school sends Mid-year grades (January-February)
Other academic updates (not awards or certificates!)
Common Reply Date May 1
Wait list options—
Need to respond to be “active”
Offers typically May-June
One final transcript
Commitment to enroll

7. Application Components
Common Application vs. Other Options
Personal & Family section
Academic Information
Extracurricular Information
Writing section & supplement(s)
Information that the specific college wants

8. Pieces of the Puzzle Academic Information
The context is critically important
Transcript (grades, rigor of academic program, etc.)
Scores (SAT or ACT, TOEFL, SAT subject exams, AP, etc.)
Recommendations from counselor and teachers
Which teachers and how many?
Again, you can exercise some control.

9. Pieces of the Puzzle Extracurricular Information:
How do you spend your time? Per week/ per year/ how many years? Show level of commitment to each activity?
How diverse a range or how concentrated?
Programs/ internships/ research
Things you may not think of: travel, family responsibility, work, hobbies

10. Special Talents
What about special talents or leadership (artistic, athletic, other)?
Samples of talent (ONLY if you are good enough for it to make a difference, and ONLY if the college wants it!)
Example: Portfolio of artistic talent (music, dance, drawings/paintings, research papers, images of maker material,etc.)

11. Pieces of the Puzzle Personal Information:
Basic information about you and your family
Essays
Things you might also contribute:
Interviews (depending if they are available and when)
Additional letters of recommendation (ONLY if they will shed new light!)
ONLY give us what we ask for;
don’t be “gimmicky”

12. Various Application Programs & Terminology
Early vs. Regular Decision vs. Rolling
Early Action, Early Decision, Early Notification, etc.
Need Blind vs. Need Aware
Demonstrated interest
Institutional Priorities

13. What do selective colleges do with this information
What do selective colleges do with this information? How does the selection process work?
The Challenge: Selective colleges have many more highly qualified applicants than we can admit.
It is not simply finding out who can succeed in class or who meets minimum eligibility

14. Crafting a Class
The Goal: To admit the most diverse and interesting “mix” of students possible from different backgrounds and experiences.
Types of diverse qualities: intellectual, geographic, socio-economic, cultural, extracurricular, talents and expertise. (i.e., not simply the “smartest” freshman class!)
Why? Students learn just as much from each other as they do from their professors.

15. Crafting a Class
The Solution: Create a highly personalized, nuanced, and labor-intensive decision-making process that evaluates the credentials of each candidate in the context of opportunities available
It is not formulaic (i.e., no GPA or score “cut-offs”)
It can seem subjective sometimes
It is people making judgments given the information in front of them – in the application
It is NOT a referendum on how worthy you are as a person

16. What we look for and look at
Academic information is FIRST & FOREMOST
But:
80-90% of applicant pool is usually academically qualified to be successful
Very few students are admitted for academic reasons alone (usually a combination of factors are involved)
The more selective the college, the more difficult it is to stand out in the applicant pool purely on academics

17. What do we hope to find?
Will vary by college and sometimes by the academic program within the institution
Evidence of curiosity, self-motivation, discipline, initiative, resilience
Passion in your approach to your life and your studies
Maturity, selflessness, perspective
How has a student contributed to make the community a more interesting place? How might that translate in the context of a college community?

18. What do we hope to find?
Who is the real person behind the grades and scores?
Be authentic! Don’t “second guess” what you think the application reader wants to hear!
Does this person seem like someone you would want around the seminar table, as a roommate, a dinner partner, or on a team?
You are creating a narrative for us!

19. 6 Tips Find YOU. Go Inside- Out. You are creating a narrative for us!
This is NOT a referendum on how worthy you are as a person.
Finding a good learning environment
Research vs. teaching
Net Price Calculator
Common Data Set

20. Questions
The answer is probably: “It depends” ;-)