application
What to Do if an Interview Goes Awry
Students often ask what they can do if their alumni interview was horrible. How could an interview be horrible? Every once in a while, alumni interviewers (who often have zero training in how to interview) use their interview to reminisce about the “good old days” when they were college students and don’t give you a chance to talk about yourself at all. Though sometimes other problems occur, this is the most prevalent problem we’ve heard from students regarding alumni who felt the need to monopolize the time during an interview. They might even show how smart they are by grilling you unfairly or asking oddball questions. [Read more]
Waiting for an Interview!
What should you do if you have applied to a college and have not been contacted for an alumni interview? First, a word about alumni interviews: some schools have evaluative interviews (which means they “count”) while some schools have “informational” ones which do NOT count. Be sure to find out which type of interview you have for each school. Remember, once the admissions office receives your application, they create a regional list of names and pass them on to local alumni networks who then try to divide things up among themselves.
Private versus Public High School
Many parents ask us if for college admissions purposes it’s better to attend a well known private school versus a public school. The key to this question is, “for college admissions purposes.” The truth is, parents should not make ANY decisions based purely on college admissions odds – that’s the wrong way to address a crucial choice that involves far more variables than simply college admissions. One valid reason to send your son or daughter to private school is if you want him or her to have smaller classes, specific classes not offered at your particular public school, a different social environment, athletic opportunities not found at your local school, etc. The worst reason to send a student is in the vain hope of bettering college admissions odds. Most of the Ivies admit roughly 25% of their populations from private schools and roughly 65-70% from public (the rest from parochial or home-schooled), but that merely reflects the fact that more kids from publ ic school apply — again, the acceptance rates are usually about equal.
What To Do If You Were Deferred
Around the first week of March, admissions offices at top colleges sort through all their deferred candidates in order to see how many they will ultimately admit. Much will depend upon the strength of their applicant pool for regular admission — was it higher than usual? Were applications up? Was there a strong geographic spread? In other words, what does the statistical makeup of the class look like, and where might it fall short? For example, if there were a shortage of female apps, the office might accept a higher percentage of females from the deferred pool who showed a strong interest.
Calculate your Academic Index
The Academic Index is a formula the Ivies use predominately for recruited athletes (not to be confused with applicants who happen to have played sports in high school; if you’re being recruited, you know who you are!). It combines SAT scores, SAT Subject Tests and a student’s class rank. Even for non-recruits, it can be a helpful guideline to show students how they stack up among Ivy applicants.
Happy New Year – Now Think About Summer!
It’s hard to think about summer as you celebrate a bright new year, but we want you to shift your focus as the best summers take planning. But, we want you to shift your focus as the best summers take planning.
As you probably know by now, the Common Application has added a new category called WORK EXPERIENCE with five or so lines of description. Getting a job is as important today to admissions officers as community service was ten years ago. Likewise, many students are more career-oriented than ever before.
Plan Ahead for Summer!
It’s hard to turn our thoughts to summer when winter is just kicking into gear.
But, we encourage students to take some time before the Christmas break to begin researching their summer plans. Many of the top summer programs at colleges and private schools fill up well ahead of the spring deadlines.
Get a job
Many students think that doing hours of community service will get them into top colleges, but that’s no longer the case. The truth is that many high schools REQUIRE community service, so it’s hard to tell who put their heart into it and who did it because it was required. Admissions officers are tired of the long list of community service projects on applications and students who emphasis how many hours they worked.
More Early Decision Details
Most college early deadlines are coming up soon: November 1, although a few are still November 15 — you have to check. Don’t worry though — as long as you POSTMARK your application by November 1, it will not be late. BUT, do check each school as University of Michigan, for instance, changed its policy and requires applications to ARRIVE BY their due date rather than be POSTMARKED. It takes admissions officers a good 1-2 weeks to open and assemble applications. They encourage kids to apply before the deadline so they have some files to start with. If everyone sent everything in November 1, it’s possible they wouldn’t finish reading them. For those schools that offer alumni interviews, it’s actually better to mail in your application by October 15th to maximize your chance of getting an alumni interview on time.
Prepare for Early Decision
For most colleges, November 1 marks the early decision/early action deadline. Early applicants have a big advantage at top colleges—some, like U Penn, fill close to 40-50% of the freshman class from the early group. Narrow your search and prepare your apps in time for this deadline!
This week we are going to go over a few reminders for students who are in the process of finishing up early applications. If you aren’t applying this year, note these tips so when your turn rolls around you are prepared. These thoughts are based on some of the most common errors we see.
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