I’m grateful that Katie was able to email me back this month, because she sounds really busy. She’s got a full schedule at school, a long college list with early audition deadlines, and a school play. Read all about her September below.
Writing about your unique circumstances
When colleges ask about your special circumstances, and not all of them ask, it's not about feeling sorry. It's about understanding what kind of resilience you have and how you got it. Nobody makes it out of high school and into college without friction and resilience, so it's okay to think about your own. There are plenty of ways to think about your special challenges.
Jenna has completed a lot
Survey Results
I put up an online survey for students about college admissions last month, and I’d like to report on the results. There’s nothing at all scientific about this survey: I only got 126 responses, and most of those were from a high school where I made a presentation…including time to take the survey. Percentages are rounded. I didn’t do any statistical analysis.
Still, I think the answers are quite illuminating, especially since the seniors who responded were a diverse crowd of college-bound, successful high school students.
The most significant overall theme I see is that local reigns supreme. Even for these students (at a college prep magnet school for gifted students) who have access to information and representatives from all over the nation, most of their attention is in state. Almost every school named was in Texas, a well-known “elite” university, or—in the case of Rice—both. Here at the details.
Three Quick Questions with Denison University
For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I’ll post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.
The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.
Today’s response is from Nick Radner, Admissions Counselor at Denison University.
Applying Early Decision
As I’ve been talking to clients and other 12th-grade students lately, Early Decision keeps coming up. Whether or not to apply E.D. is a difficult choice for a lot of people. While I’m generally more “pro-E.D.” than a lot of other advisors, that enthusiasm is tempered with a number of reservations. So let’s go over some of the reasons to apply Early Decision, and also some of the reasons not to.
Introducing Three Quick Questions
There’s a new feature coming to Apply with Sanity called Three Quick Questions. I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country (the subject line of the e-mail is “Three quick questions”), and then I hope to hear back from them. When I do, I’ll post them on Apply with Sanity. It’s that simple.
I sent out a test batch of 10, just to see if I got any responses. One came back almost immediately, so I’m considering that an initial success. Let’s hope more come in soon.
The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique and that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.
Here’s the first response from Conner Green, Assistant Director of Admission at Ohio Wesleyan University.
What to think of college rankings
Most college admissions counselors, at least publicly, will tell you that the rankings are worthless, that they’re one of the main villains ruining college, and that the world would be better off without the rankings. I don’t do this. Honestly, I’m glad that the rankings are out there. There are several things that rankings are good for.
Rethinking Legacy
I’m on the record as being fine with Legacy. I ran a blog post two years ago called “What’s wrong with Legacy admissions?” and I still stand by it. In fact, I’d like to reiterate why I’m not as bothered by Legacy as the New York Times editorial board. It’s not that I think it’s a perfect policy that needs to be defended at all costs; I’m just not nearly as bothered by it as the Times.
Meet Diana
Meet the Class is back for a third year! It’s an opportunity for parents, educators, and admissions professionals to get a look at individual seniors and what they go through to find their school. Below you’ll meet Diana. Diana is stressed and feels like she’s at the very beginning of the process. Read her full first interview below.
Meet Jenna
Meet the Class is back for a third year! It’s an opportunity for parents, educators, and admissions professionals to get a look at individual seniors and what they go through to find their school. Below you’ll meet Jenna. Like a lot of seniors, she has some strong ideas about what she wants, but isn’t as sure about how to get it. Read her full first interview below.
Meet Katie
Meet the Class is back for a third year! It’s an opportunity for parents, educators, and admissions professionals to get a look at individual seniors and what they go through to find their school. Below you’ll meet Katie, who is quite ambitious—she plans to apply to around 25 schools. Read her full first interview below.
To do better at school, think of studying like bathing
High school students have to study. (I’m using “study” to mean all the academic work that has to be done outside of class: reading, homework, working on a project, preparing for a test…all the stuff.) There’s lots of advice out there about different techniques of studying. How to take notes. How to read quickly but effectively. How to review before a test. But I don’t like to recommend certain study techniques. Different techniques work for different people; what works great for me may be disastrous for you. It takes trial and error.
What I’m more concerned with are the routines and habits behind those techniques, the background. I’m much more interested in recommending the culture of studying. And the more I think about the culture of studying, the more I realize students should think about studying the same way they think about bathing.
Studying, it turns out, is a lot like showering.
What 9th graders need to do this fall
This has an academic side—take the most rigorous classes you can, get the best grades you can, be involved in your education. But just as important at this point are the social and emotional sides. You’re easing your way into a new and exciting (and challenging) place. You’re going to have missteps, and you’re going to change your mind about things. That’s normal, and that’s fine.
What sophomores need to do this fall
What juniors need to do this fall
What seniors need to do this fall
This is a tough line to walk senior year. On one hand, you really ought to be shifting your focus to next year. You have a lot of big decisions to make, and you need to allocate time and resources to working on strong applications and making informed decisions. Your daily high school homework isn’t quite as compelling as it was a year ago. On the other hand, you also need to be preparing yourself to be a good college student, and the best way to prepare for college is to be a good high school student.
Are your test scores good?
It’s a question I hear all the time: “I got _____ on the SAT. Is that good?” Everyone would like to know that their test scores are good. That they’re valuable, that they’re going to help a student get what she wants, like admission to a top-choice college or a scholarship. The problem, of course, is that none of us are quite sure what makes a test score “good.”
What I’d like to do today is go over all the ways I can think to answer that question, from the fairly objective to the completely dysfunctional. There are a lot of ways to think about your test scores.
It's time to set goals for the new school year
As the new school year looms closer, it's time to think about your goals for the upcoming year. One mistake many students make is waiting until later in the year, often when something is going wrong, to think about their goals and aspirations. Of course you think about your goals and aspirations, but I mean thinking in a deliberate and analytical way. To do this, you're going to need to write your goals down. Let's take three typical goals for smart, ambitious high school students: make good grades, get a leadership position, and have less stress.
College-bound students do their summer reading
I was an AP Lit teacher for nine years, so I have fond memories of summer reading. I always read everything I assigned to my students, every year. So I did the summer reading along with them (or at least a few of them. I'm not naive, most of them didn't do the summer reading).
You've got, more or less, a month left of summer. If you haven't completed your assigned summer reading yet, now is the time. You must read your summer reading assignments.