They put you on a wait list. Now what?

I was already planning to post the annual “what to do if you’re waitlisted” post, and then Rick Clark, the Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Georgia Tech, published this really great blog post about the wait list two days ago. Take a few minutes to read it, and then come back. As Clark points out, every school has their own wait list procedure, and you may have a wait list offer from someone other than Georgia Tech you need to consider. You read it? You’re back? Great.

First, let me say I’m sorry. Getting waitlisted sucks. In some ways a Maybe is worse than a No, because it keeps the suspense going and also starts to make logistical problems for you. Take a little time to be frustrated or angry or completely freaked out, but no more than a day or two. You’ve got to figure out what to do next.

What to do if you get waitlisted to a school that’s your only option.

This may be because you only applied to one school, or you got denials from the other schools you applied to. If it’s because you got accepted to at least one other school but the financial aid offer is so bad that you can’t afford it, then you should also consider ways to ask that school for more money.

First you’ve got to demonstrate a lot of interest and keep demonstrating it. When a college starts calling people from the wait list, they’re often in a hurry. Even if they’re not in a hurry, they don’t want to waste their time. They’re more likely to call people who they know will enroll over people they’re not sure about. How do they know you’ll enroll? Just putting yourself on the wait list isn’t enough. Email—once—the admissions office and tell them: “if you accept me from the wait list, I will attend.” Open all their emails and reply when appropriate. Spend time looking on their website. Ask them questions if you really have questions, but don’t pester them. While it’s a thin line between “eager and attentive” and “annoying and desperate,” make sure you don’t cross it.

Next, you’ve got to understand that there’s no senioritis for you! It’s normal for seniors to slack off a little bit once they see the end in sight and know that they’ll be at college next year. You don’t yet know that you’ll be in college next year. If you’re hoping to get a spot from a wait list and you’re in contact with the college that waitlisted you, you need to be able to tell them that you’re doing really well and trying to prove yourself. You’re not done yet, and that’s ok.

You also need a back-up plan. You can start searching for colleges with rolling admissions or late deadlines. If you haven’t already, check out your local community college, which is a real college. You can explore gap year options. You should probably do all of these, and make sure you talk to your family about your options. The only bad option is to decide that you’re going to give up on going to college. There’s no reason to do that.

What to do if you get waitlisted to a school but you’ve been accepted to other schools.

If you get waitlisted by one college you applied to, but have affordable acceptances from at least one other, then don’t sign up for the wait list. You don’t need it. Just tell them to go away, you have a better offer elsewhere. It can feel really good to know that you’re the one making the decisions, not the other way around. You have power in this situation—use it. Thank them for their time, and then move on and let it go.

What to do if you get waitlisted from your top-choice school and you want to stay on the wait list.

Sometimes it’s not that easy to tell them to go away, and you sign up for the wait list anyway. No problem.

First, do all the same things you’d do if the wait list school is your only option. Sign up the for wait list, and contact the admissions rep for your area and let them know that if they call you, you will come. Reply to all their emails and keep checking back on their website. Keep demonstrating your interest, because it really counts in this situation. Keep working at school—no senioritis for you, either.

Choose your “backup” school from the ones you got accepted to, understanding that it’s probably where you’re going next year. You can't refuse to make other plans hoping that you'll hear back from the school that waitlisted you. Depending on the college and the year (even if you look up their statistics from last year, they will surely be wildly different this year), your chances of hearing good news later are either slim, very slim, or maddeningly slim. Once you take a spot at your backup school, you might quickly find that it’s no longer your backup and change your mind about the wait list.

Take a rational approach to figuring out your limits. You need an analytical way to think about the costs and benefits of hanging on to hope that you hear back from this school. You could make a spreadsheet. You could study up on opportunity cost and the sunk cost fallacy.

You can also think about all the extra hoops you have to jump through as extra fees that the dream school adds on to your bill.

Say you get waitlisted from Dream School, and you accept a place at Decent School and put down a $1,000 non-refundable deposit, and then Dream School calls back and gives you a spot. Think of that $1,000 as a one-time fee. Ask yourself: do I want to go to Dream School even if they charge me an extra $1,000 fee they don't charge most people? If your answer is yes then you know what to do. But as time goes on, the fees add on. If you also make a $500 housing deposit, then the one-time fee to drop Decent School and go to Dream School is now $1,500. And if you've already paid transportation costs, add those to the fees.

The really hard part is that the fees can also be emotional. Would you take a spot at Dream School even if they charged you a one-time fee of $1,500, and made you get emotionally invested in finding a roommate who you will now abandon, and made you buy t-shirts for some other school and pretend for four months that you were going to some other school? What if Dream School will also make you register late for classes and have fewer options than other first-year students for the first semester? What if they'll also take away the opportunity to use Facebook groups to seek out your own choice of roommate but instead stick you wherever they have happen to have room left? These are all real possibilities of getting pulled from the wait list, and the sanest way to think about them ahead of time is to think of them as additional fees the Dream School charges. Think about where your threshold is, how much you are actually willing to pay. Talk to your family about it, too. Then you can rationally figure out, if you do get the call, whether you say Thank You or Bug Off.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts:

   The Glossary: rolling admissions

   Dealing with denial

   Making the call before May 1

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Three pandemic changes I hope will become permanent

It would be really foolish of me to say that the pandemic is over, or almost over, or close to almost over. There are still a lot of people left to get vaccinated, and there are still some scary new variants that may be resistant to the vaccines. There’s just too much that can still go wrong to start feeling confident.

And yet….

The past month I’ve seen a lot more people get their shots, a lot more kids go to school in person, a lot more people comfortable going out of the house. The pandemic may not be over, but we’re definitely in a new phase. So as the one-year anniversary of our lockdown came up last week, I started to think not just about what I was glad to be done with, but also the new habits and routines I picked up over the past year that I hope stick around.

I also, naturally, thought about changes in college admissions I hope will stick around.

The fall of standardized tests. Maybe “fall” isn’t the right word. There are still ACT and SAT tests, and there are still schools that require them. But the role of those two tests has certainly been diminished, and I don’t think they’re coming back to the prominence they had before. I’ve written about the tests a number of times in the past year:

Opting in and out of standardized tests

Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?

Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college?

It seriously looks like SAT/ACT testing is going away

Should you bother to take the SAT or ACT?

A more deliberate approach to campus visits. Last fall most college campuses were closed to student and parent tours, and many are still closed to visitors. However, a lot more virtual tours and online opportunities to explore became available. I hope this remains the norm, even after in-person tours get going again. While I think visiting a campus before committing to attend is still the best approach when possible, the past year taught many of us how to be more deliberate with visits. In the future, I hope people will get enough from the online options to feel comfortable applying to schools, and in-person visits will be limited to schools where you’ve already been accepted. I want to see more students touring schools online in the 9th-11th grades, and a lot fewer touring schools in person in the 9th-11th grades.

I hope that in the future, visiting colleges will be a lot more like touring homes for sale. Lots of people (including me) have fun checking out real estate listings both where we live and throughout the world. But we only book a visit with a real estate agent when we’re actually looking to buy. I’m sure they’re out there, but I haven’t heard of anyone saying “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out some homes for sale just in case we end up moving here!” But I know plenty of families who, once their kids are in middle school, will say “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out UCLA and USC, just in case!” They go on college tours wherever they happen to be, just to get the kids some exposure. I think you can do that much closer to home if you want, but colleges are making it much easier to get to know them without being there in person.

An appreciation for the old rituals. As a high school teacher, especially when I taught seniors and had AP exams to prepare for, I really didn’t like all the extra stuff that came with senior year. Prom; senior skip day; senior prank; senior trip; awards night; graduation rehearsal, sometimes several of them. I was fine with seniors doing college visits at places who had accepted them, but the rest felt like too much celebrating a win before they had crossed the finish line. But talking to students in the classes of ‘21 and ‘22, I keep hearing how much they miss those things. I’ve come to a better understanding of how important those transition rituals are, and I hope students do, too. School communities can reflect on which of the rituals and traditions they missed the most and why. The next two years will be a good time to appreciate and accentuate the really meaningful ones. It’s also a great time to let go of the ones that aren’t as special.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Taking time to reflect, Things for high school seniors to consider before committing to a college.

3. Ask a question in the comments section. Or let mw know what pandemic-related changes in your life you hope to keep.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

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Three quick questions with the College of Wooster

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admissions representatives at colleges all over the country, and then I hope to hear back from them. 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.

Todays response is from April Gamble, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to The College of Wooster?

A really fun and unique Wooster tradition is Filling the Arch. After the first big snowfall of the year, Wooster students gather together, no matter the time of day, and try and fill the iconic Kauker Arch with snow. Legend has it that if the Arch is filled, classes will be cancelled. This year, in spite of the pandemic, Wooster students still found a way to carry on this tradition.

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at Wooster?

As part of the CTCL coalition of colleges, Wooster believes the four years spent here will be transformational ones. We don't expect perfect students- we know that not everyone thrives and is successful in all areas of their high school curricula. We understand that the road through high school can be bumpy and uneven in spots. We're looking for students who want to grow and change and ask big questions—and we know that this kind of learning isn't without risks.

When people come to visit Wooster, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

Boo Bear's Brew or Wooster Memorial Park are my two favorite places to recommend. Boo Bear's is a tiny coffee/tea shop, located inside of an indoor farmer's market downtown. Wooster Memorial is a surprisingly large and rambling nature preserve right on the edge of town with ADA accessible trails that highlight the rolling hills and oak forests of northeast Ohio.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. See which other colleges and universities answered the questions.

3. Is there a school you’d like to hear from? Let me know, and I’ll make sure they get the questions.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth. [The banner photo is not of Wooster. I use the same photo for all Meet the Class posts so you can spot them easily.]

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Three quick questions with Hope College

I took a break from sending Three Quick Questions to colleges in January. I didn’t expect to get any responses or goodwill sending admissions offices unsolicited requests while they’re in the thick of reading all those applications. But March seemed like a good time to resume, and it looks like I was right—I have two new ones today.

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.

This response is from Seth Costello at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Hope College?

The first tradition that comes to mind is The Pull, it's a 3 hour long tug-of-war between the Freshman and Sophomores each year. The rope is a couple hundred feet long and is laid across the black river in Holland. The Tradition is the longest college tradition in America and is an awesome feat to witness each year. Although in terms of program, Hope prides itself on the model of our liberal arts that saturates each student in a wide array of diverse classes that provide a perfect base to use later on in life or to help an undecided student find a major. Each student will be required to take a few more elective classes to further their broad education.

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at Hope? 

I wouldn't say that we have perfect and even more, imperfect students. I think the person that tends to flourish at Hope is a student that values relationships. At Hope we pride ourselves on the culture and community of our people, we love creating new, long lasting relationships. So no matter if you are a student with high grades or not, you have the opportunity to flourish through the relationships that you make while being here.

When people come to visit Holland, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there? 

There are many great places to be, obviously the beach during the warmer months is a great attraction and only about 7 minutes away. But anything downtown no matter the time of year is a great place to visit. Downtown offers so many shopping, restaurant, boutique and service shops to explore, plus the people downtown are such a joy to have in your company. 

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. See which other colleges and universities answered the questions.

3. Is there a school you’d like to hear from? Let me know, and I’ll make sure they get the questions.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth. [The banner photo is not of Hope College. I use the same photo for all Meet the Class posts so you can spot them easily.]

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Breya is still waiting

The great news is that Breya has heard back from half her applications and has several options available to her next year. However, the financial aid offers aren’t all as promising. In the next few weeks she’ll hear from the other half. Read the full interview below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Breya attends a public high school in Ohio

Have you heard back from any other schools? What's your present situation?

I have heard from one more school since our last Meet the Class post. I heard from Spelman and I got in. So far, I have gotten decisions and acceptances from half of the schools on my list. The only schools I am waiting for now are the big ones.

It seems like you've still got a lot of options left on the table. How does that make you feel? Is that empowering to know there's still a lot of ways this can go? Or does it make you a little anxious? Both? What's your state of mind right now concerning the next six or seven months before you begin college...wherever that will be?

I am quickly learning just how bad COVID messed up things in the college world. While it seems that I have a lot of options, I am not able to afford most of them so far so that is definitely cutting down my list. Having some options is making me feel a little better but I’m nervous that I can’t afford to go anywhere.

I'm curious about all the ways that colleges--especially the ones you applied to--have communicated with you. Has it been mostly email? Do they send texts? Old-fashioned mail? Have you seen them pop up in your social media feeds in a way that makes it clear they're targeting you? How do you prefer to interact with colleges you're interested in?

I have experienced all of the ways you listed above, besides social media, which I feel is a good thing as I’m not really on social media. I’ve also had a few colleges call me. I prefer email because I check it everyday.

Based on the news you've got so far, what would you do if you had to make the decision today? What's your thinking behind that?

If I had to make a decision today, I would probably choose Xavier, due to it being the most affordable school at the moment.

Have you got any Spring Break plans?

I am planning on going on a few campus visits and a road trip.

What kind of "normal" spring activities will you have? Graduation? Prom? What are you most looking forward to in your final months of high school?

We are supposed to have all of the above. In the next two weeks, we are having senior pictures. We are probably going to have graduation the way they did it last year. We had a livestream where it was one person/family in the room at a time. Everyone got to walk the stage and take pictures. I’m looking forward to graduating, leaving, and never coming back.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out interviews with other Meet the Class seniors.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Julianna is finished!

The dream of many high school seniors: get accepted to your top-choice university, with a full scholarship. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes it does. Read all of Julianna’s exciting news below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Julianna attends a public high school in Kentucky

Let's go over your list to begin:

University of Georgia. Top choice. Accepted with scholarship.
Indiana University
DePaul University. Accepted with scholarship
Boston University
American University
Syracuse University
Northwestern University
University of Missouri
Ohio University

Have you heard back from any other schools? What's your present situation?

I heard back from Ohio University and received a large scholarship there, as well as admission to their Honors Tutorial College program. I am still waiting to hear back from Northwestern, Boston University, and Syracuse.

How did your interview for the UGA Foundation Fellowship go? When do you expect to hear if you get it? Are you still committed to Georgia?

My interview was fantastic, and my dad and I enjoyed a great (albeit virtual) weekend together getting introduced to the program. I have already heard back, and I was chosen as a Foundation Fellow! I'm thrilled and following notification of the news, officially committed to attend the University of Georgia. We have submitted the enrollment deposit and everything! I couldn't be more excited and I know this is the absolute perfect choice for me. I will be paying zero over the next four years. Not only does the Foundation Fellowship grant me full tuition and full room-and-board/fees, but it also provides almost $30,000 in travel stipends for me to spend lots of time abroad during my undergraduate career. All first year Fellows go on a Maymester trip to Oxford University to study, so that's the closest thing I have to look forward to. The rest of the travel is at my discretion to use. I couldn't be happier. Plus, UGA has already announced that fall 2021 will be fully in person with a total return to normal operations. I can't wait to begin college and move past this pandemic!

How are you feeling? Are there any lingering Covid problems?

I'm feeling great, I am completely recovered from COVID. I am technically an employee of my high school because I am paid for my work live-streaming sports games. This means I may be able to receive a vaccine soon! My dad is scheduled to receive his first dose later this month, and I'm so relieved.

Do you have any spring break plans?

No spring break plans as of yet! My aunt has suggested a girls trip to Georgia, though! I might take her up on it!

What kind of "normal" spring activities will you have? Graduation? Prom? What are you most looking forward to in your final months of high school?

Honestly, I'm feeling senioritis more than ever. There is no sparkle to senior year without the things like prom, senior Washington D.C. trip, and other key things I'll be missing out on. I just want to move forward. The school has released tentative plans for graduation to be held outside. It still won't be the same, but better than nothing I guess.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out interviews with other Meet the Class seniors.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Are AP classes really a scam?

Monday’s post had to do with choosing your high school classes with an eye to college applications, so I thought today I would re-share a post from a few years ago about Advanced Placement classes. Enjoy!

If you are a teacher—especially an AP teacher—or a high school counselor I’d love to hear your reactions and understand what I may be missing.

It's not too difficult to find people telling you that AP classes are a scam. That's usually the word they use, too: scam. Look here, and here, and here.

So, let's ask: are AP courses a scam?

In a word, no. 

Scam is a little overblown. Scam implies fraud and malice, that the College Board is knowingly selling something worthless just to make a buck. And that's not true. But if the critics were to change the headline to "AP programs are a lot more complicated than they're often made out to be," they would be right (even if it made for a boring headline).

Let's look at the main arguments brought against Advanced Placement and the College Board, and let's think about what they mean for you, the college-bound high school student.

1. You don't know what you're really getting. The College Board is pretty careful not to promise you that a 3 on an AP Exam will automatically earn you college credit, but that caution doesn't always make it down to the counselors and teachers at individual schools. Plenty of students are promised more than might actually be delivered.

Each college decides for itself what to give students for high AP exam scores. Some will indeed give you college credit for a 3 or higher; some will give you credit only for a 4 or 5, and some only award credit for a 5; some don't give credit, but will let you use the exam to meet course requirements; some give you absolutely nothing.

So imagine two students at the same high school, who take the same 10 AP courses over three years, get the same grades in those courses, and get 3s on all those exams. One might start college with 30 hours of credit and graduate a year early, while the other may see no change in college. What's really frustrating for a lot of high school students that the critics rarely take into account is that you have to take the courses and sign up for the exams before you know what college you're going to and what they'll give you for good scores. While I don't think that's part of the College Board's plan and a scam, it definitely sucks.

2. AP classes aren't as good as they're made out to be. This is often true, for a number of reasons. Perhaps the teacher is new or just isn't that good. Maybe the students are a lot more interested in making their transcript look good than they are in actually doing college-level work. Maybe the students aren't prepared to do college-level work. Perhaps the school set up an AP class without committing the extra resources to make it a good AP class. I've heard of schools that actually labeled classes as "AP" without instituting AP curriculum just to use loopholes in the state "no pass no play" rules for athletes. The College Board is aware of these problems, and has been trying over the years to address them. Teachers are supposed to submit syllabi for an "AP Audit" to make sure they're up to standards (although the College Board can't really check to make sure the syllabus is followed). The College Board also has systems to let colleges know if your high school actually has students pass AP exams or just labels classes as AP.

Pretty much everyone whole-heartedly agrees that an AP class, even a good one, doesn't actually replicate a good college course. But most people will also begrudgingly admit that a really good AP class can be a lot better than a mediocre or remedial college class. For example, for two years I taught AP English Language using the exact same syllabus I used to teach freshman comp at the university where I went to grad school. Same reading, same essay assignments. But I had almost twice the amount of time with students per week, and much more dedicated students. (Plus, we had time to read The Great Gatsby on top of the rhetoric curriculum, and Gatsby is always a good thing.)

There's also no denying that AP courses--especially math and science courses--cover too much breadth to allow for much depth. This makes AP teachers feel a lot of pressure to keep going and make it through all the topics rather than slow down for good discussion and time-hogging projects that could help student understanding.

3. There are opportunity cost for high schools. AP classes generally cost high schools more money than regular classes. Even if the schools make students pay all the costs for tests, the training for teachers and time spent dealing with the audit paperwork and compliance means that schools have to pay more. AP classes often have much smaller student/teacher ratios than regular classes. The extra money and desks have to come from somewhere, and they usually come from regular classes. So AP classes take resources away from students who may need more help graduating high school and give them to students trying to get college credit. Add to that the disparity between upper-income and lower-income students in most AP classes, and the whole AP program can look pretty unfair and backwards.

4. The College Board makes money. The College Board regularly makes more money than it spends, and non-profit organizations are really not, by definition, supposed to make a profit. They also pay their executives a lot of money--the CEO makes around $1.3 million a year. These are valid and important concerns, but here's the thing: they have nothing to do with you as a high school student. "The company really ought to be taxed as a regular corporation instead of a 501(c)3" isn't the same as "AP is a scam." If their tax status changed, their exams would not. But what about all the money you pay for tests? Shouldn't the tests be cheaper instead of paying the executives a fat-cat salary? There were almost 4.5 million AP exams given in 2015. If all the executives gave back all their salaries and worked for free, just because it's the right thing to do...it might save you a buck on your exam. The non-profit status of the College Board is an interesting problem for policy-makers and consumer advocates, but it really doesn't affect you as a high school student.

There are other points that critics make about the AP program, and this quick summary obviously lacks the nuance and detail of the whole argument. But this is the gist of it. And based on these very real problems, many people conclude that AP is a scam. So how should you feel about that?

Let's think about something completely different for a moment: cars. Cars make a good analogy.

Cars are dangerous. Around 35,000 Americans die each year in car crashes, and that's just the deaths. When you add major injuries and property destruction to the figures, you see that driving cars is one one of the most destructive , dangerous, risky things people do. And yet there are over 250 million cars in the United States. You can legally drive years before you can legally drink alcohol or even vote! Car companies advertise their products everywhere, all the time, and (usually) make a lot of money.

Are cars a scam? Of course not.

While driving is indeed very risky, it's worth the risk for most people. It's pretty hard to imagine modern life working without cars. Chances are that you've already been in at least one car trip today. The trick, of course, is to get the full advantage of cars while minimizing the risks. You have to drive safely.

For high school students, AP courses are similar. While not a scam, they come with risks, and you have to be smart about them. The sky is not falling, but you're not guaranteed safety either. There are things you can do to get the most out of an AP program without feeling like you got scammed.

1. Understand why you're taking AP courses, and be ready to explain yourself. There are plenty of reasons to take an AP course. If your reasons are more in the range of "it's a strong class at my school in a subject I care deeply about," then you're great. If your reasons are in the realm of "because someone said I should" or "it looks good to colleges, right?" then you need to do some more reflective thinking.  Explain to yourself and be prepared to explain to others why you are taking a specific course or not. If you elect not to take an AP course that's available, then you will need to be ready to explain that choice to college admissions. If it's a good reason that you can explain well, then you run very little risk of it "looking bad" to colleges.

If your reason for taking or passing over an AP course includes the word "just," stop and think through what's going on.

If your reason for taking an AP class is because you think it will make you seem more worthy, then stop and think through what's going on.

Going back to the car analogy: it would be pretty silly to choose a car based only on the fact that a magazine called it "car of the year." It would also be really expensive to decide that, because you don't know exactly what kind of driving you'll be doing over the next five years, you'll go ahead and buy a sports car...and a minivan...and a pickup truck...and a motorcycle. Be thoughtful and realistic about your choices, in cars and classes.

(Sometimes you have to take an AP class you don't want to take, or cannot take an AP class you want to take, for reasons out of your control. It happens, and it stinks. Everyone understands, if you'll explain the situation and make the best out of it.)

2. Consider the risks. What I consider the two biggest risks to balance when deciding on how many AP courses to take are these:

  *  for most AP exams in most years, about 40% of students only get a 1 or 2. Only 10-20% get a 5 (foreign-language exams have higher rates). Taking an AP course does not come close to ensuring you get anything for it from colleges. 

  * there are colleges who will not give you credit for AP scores, but who still expect you to take AP courses in high school. They do this not because they believe the AP course is a good substitute for a college course (obviously), but because they see AP courses as "the most rigorous" classes available, and they want to see that you avail yourself of the most rigorous. If I were going to point fingers at the scammers, it would be these schools more than the College Board, but that's for a different post.

3. Think about opportunity cost. For every AP course you choose to take, spend some time brainstorming about the opportunity costs. If not for the more demanding class with more studying, what would you be doing with the time and energy? If it's something productive that helps you achieve your academic goals, then you may well choose to skip the AP class. If there's a good chance you'd waste the time in whatever manner you waste time, then don't sell yourself short by missing out on the better class.

4. Don't be a part of the problem. The critics are right: in most schools, advanced classes get better-trained teachers with smaller student loads than regular or remedial classes. While there are sound arguments for why this is ok, there are also sound arguments for why this is unacceptable. If you're getting the most from an AP class and can be a more valuable and productive citizen over time, you can feel fine about yourself. But if you're taking up resources just to goof off, knowing you're not going to take the exam seriously, you're contributing to the problem. Sure, it's the system that makes it easy for you to take advantage of inequity; you didn't set up the system. But you're still a part of the inequity if you don't take your AP classes at least as seriously as your school does.

Schedule, study, and drive safely!

**Advanced Placement, Pre-AP, AP, and College Board are trademarks owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and which does not endorse, Apply with Sanity.

**Full disclosure: over the years, I taught Pre-AP English 1 and 2, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, and AP Art History. I've taken many many hours of AP training. I was a reader for the AP Art History exam three times, which means I was technically an employee of Educational Testing Service. 

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Don’t just get into college, finish it. What are good test scores?

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What high school classes should you take?

It’s only the beginning of March, but it must already be the time when high schools are asking students to choose their classes for next year. I say this because I’ve already fielded several questions this week about class choices. Which of these two AP classes should I take? Which of these electives is better? Which classes are better for my college applications? What makes these conversations fun for me—but really frustrating for the students—is that there’s usually no clear answer. They’re choosing between two high-quality classes, and which one is “better” is really down to their own preferences or the nuances of the classes; there’s not an objectively correct answer about which one will help their college applications more.

The general rule to follow is that you should take the most rigorous classes available to you. But that’s awfully general. It doesn’t necessarily mean you should take five AP course per year, and it doesn’t exactly answer “should I take AP Calculus or AP Statistics?” Assuming you’re already on board with the general rule, let’s give some more guidelines to help you choose the classes that are right for your path to college, but also choose classes that are right for your present situation.

The first guideline: choose your classes for doing well in college, not just getting into college. I know it’s obvious, but it’s also really easy to forget: getting accepted to college is the beginning, not the end. If your high school strategy is just to get accepted to college without thinking about what you’ll do when you get there and how you’ll do it, you’re really setting yourself up for a rough time. You’ve got to think about the bigger picture and your longer-term goals and aspirations.

One big way students fail to plan for finishing college and only focus on getting in is by playing The GPA Game. I’m sure you’re familiar with that concept, but I’ll give a specific example of what I mean. For a few years I was in the position of teaching two classes of English III for juniors and a single section of AP English Language & Composition for juniors. I also had two sections of Honors English III, which had the same curriculum as regular English III, but also included more reading and usually an extra project or two. The Honors class had the same grade point boost as the AP class; it was a five point class, while the regular class was a four point class. Sometimes I’d ask “why are you in this class instead of the AP class?” I’d get answers like “I’m in all honors classes, and I also have band practice for two hours a day, and I also have a job. I don’t have time for the extra homework that comes with the AP class.” That’s reasonable. I’d also get “I’m going to take Dual Credit English next year, which I know transfers to Texas A&M, but I don’t know what I’ll get from A&M for my AP exam score or if I’ll do well enough.” That’s reasonable. But I’d also hear “Why would I take the harder class when I get the same extra points for this one?” That’s The GPA Game, and it’s not as clever as it seems.

First, anyone looking at your transcript can see that you took the lower-level class when a higher level was available, and they’ll keep that in mind when assessing your GPA. Admissions offices don’t fall for that trick. Second, the honors class wasn’t nearly as strong for college preparation as the AP class. (I know this for sure, because I taught both.) And finally, we are what we continually do, and continually playing games and trying to be sneaky doesn’t make you into the person you want to be. If you’re planning on college and have the capacity for the more rigorous course, then take it. Even if it risks lowering your GPA. Even if you can coast along in a less rigorous class. Don’t play The GPA Game.

Remember, though, that there are completely appropriate reasons for taking the less rigorous course. It’s ok to think about your personal development and not just your GPA. It’s ok to think about your long-term mental health and not just your GPA. It’s ok to take classes that are interesting and/or useful to you, not just classes to maintain your GPA. If you start college burned out because you pushed yourself too hard to take too many rigorous classes, then you haven’t done yourself any favors. Likewise if you begin college filled with shame and self-doubt because you cheated and took shortcuts to keep up your GPA. If you begin college with an impressive resume but no social skills because all you did was study alone, college isn’t going to be easy. This is why you have to choose your classes for more than just looking good to college admissions offices. You have to think about how you’ll be successful as a college student, not just a college applicant. It’s far better to graduate from your safety school than drop out of your dream school.

The second guideline: choose the higher quality class. Here I want to distinguish between rigor and quality. When we talk about rigor in high school classes, that usually has to do with classifications. AP classes are considered more rigorous than regular classes. High Level IB course are more rigorous than Standard Level. Core classes are more rigorous than elective classes. Those have to do with general classification, but they say nothing about the actual quality of an individual class. Quality has to do with preparing you for college and life beyond. Quality has to do with the experience of being in the class, which differs from school to school, teacher to teacher, year to year. There may be a lower-rigor elective that will actually provide much more knowledge and wisdom than a more rigorous core course. Which class is higher quality is often only known at the specific school level. You know which classes are higher quality, and you have to trust yourself (within reason) to choose those classes.

At your high school, does being on the yearbook staff provide useful training in publishing and leadership, or does it provide a free period where you mostly drop someone else’s photos into pre-made templates? At your high school, is AP Physics a place to explore the workings of the universe with interesting discussions and labs, or is it a place to do endless multiple-choice practice while being berated for not having enough natural talent? Let the quality of the courses guide you, not just the rigor labels.

Thinking about quality classes is especially useful when choosing between different courses within the same rigor classification. For example, I got an email last week from a client asking if she should take AP Biology or AP Environmental Science. She said she might have room for both, but the scheduling would probably work out so that she could only take one. She’s hoping to go to vet school after college, or possibly into agricultural policy, so this is an important decision. Which is better? I didn’t have a clear answer. I said:

If all else is equal, then I would recommend Bio as the priority, and adding Environmental Science if you really think it's feasible to do both. However, if there are circumstances that make you think Environmental Science may be a better choice for you, then trust that instinct. For example, if you know that the AP ES teacher is good about lots of hands-on field work, while the AP Bio teacher is just focused on drilling for test prep, then definitely take the higher-quality class. Or if taking both means letting go of one of your extracurriculars that you're passionate about, then AP ES probably isn't worth it.

It wasn’t a clear-cut answer, but it was the right answer. She almost immediately replied that she would

go with AP Environmental Sciences, because the teacher facilitates more learning. The AP Biology teacher is notoriously cruel and generally bad, she doesn't have many kids pass the AP test. Unfortunately I can't do both, I have to take Economics as well.

Once I asked her to think about quality and not just what would look best on an application, she knew exactly what to do.

The third guideline: how you explain your choice is at least as important as the choice. You will have opportunities in your college applications to explain class choices you made or grades on your transcript. A lot of people only think about this defensively—if they had a low grade or got put into a class that they didn’t really want or think was good enough, then they can plead their case. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you made a choice that you think might raise eyebrows, in either a good or bad way, then feel free to explain yourself. Let the colleges know how you think about things, not just the list of your choices. For any time when you had to pause to decide which was the better class to pick, be prepared to explain that decision.

Especially for the choices where there isn’t an objectively correct answer, the explanation will carry a lot of weight. Say you’re having a hard time choosing between one more year of soccer or taking a history elective that isn’t an AP class. “Even though I knew the history course is more academic than soccer, I decided to stick with my team for senior year because on the field is where I get to practice skills like self-discipline and teamwork that jut don’t happen as often as regularly in the classroom.” That’s compelling. “It was hard to say goodbye to my teammates, but I knew that if I was serious about going to college I needed to spend that time on more upper-level academic classes.” That’s also compelling. Either of those makes sense. “I’m good at soccer and get a lot out of it, but my counselor said it would look better to colleges if I take a history class I don’t care about, so I did.” That’s….not compelling. The explanation is a lot more important than the choice, and many times simply explaining your options to yourself will help make the choice much easier.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Don’t just get into college, finish it. Are Advanced Placement classes a scam? Questions from students.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Should you go to a community college?

I worked for four years as an English teacher at a large high school in suburban Houston. Talking with my students—all of them juniors—I got the sense that the school counselors gave the exact same advice to every single student: go to community college first; get your basics out of the way; save money. I got really annoyed by this. It wasn’t annoying that they advised community college. Community college is real college, and don’t listen to anyone who tells you different. What annoyed me was that they made the advice universal, the same for everyone. Community college is real college, but like any other type of college, it isn’t the best fit for every single student. In fact I think it’s a bad fit for most college-bound high school students.

I’m going to explain why you should be cautious about planning on community college, but then I’m going to tell you when you shouldn’t listen to me about that. My advice to avoid community college isn’t any more universal than the counselors’ advice to start with community college.

My main concern with beginning at community college and then transferring to a four-year school for a bachelor’s has nothing to do with quality or curriculum. There are really amazing professors at community colleges, and it’s easy to get a high-quality education at most community colleges. My concern is that college is more than curriculum, it’s culture. While you’re at community college getting your basics, a lot is going on at your eventual four-year college with the first- and second-year students there. You’re missing two years of the social bonds that come with starting at a university. Yes, you get social bonds at community college also, but not all those people will follow you to the same university. (If you go to a community college where most of the graduates do go on to the same university, then this problem is of course minimized.) When you begin at a community college, you don’t get early exposure to the professors who will be teaching your upper-level courses in your major and possibly recommending you to graduate programs or internships. You aren’t getting to know any clubs and organizations, and you aren’t making yourself a part of them.

If you’re only in college for the diploma and the credentials, then you may not be bothered much by this. That’s fine. But for a lot of people their university becomes a fairly big part of their identity and the launching point for the trajectory of their life, and doing the first two years of that someplace else can have an outsized effect. This applies not just to community college students but anyone who transfers from one college to another. As someone who transferred from a small liberal arts college to a state university after two years, I can still remember the feeling of not really belonging to either of them. It took a while to get past that. Obviously, lots of people overcome this problem. I did, and millions of others did. But I still think you should be warned that the problem exists.

Also speaking of culture: if you do go to community college, pay close attention to who you’re spending your time with. If you find yourself hanging out and studying with people who are all determined that this is a step on the way to a bachelor’s degree, then it’s easier to keep up your own determination. If you find yourself with a group who are drifting and biding their time, then you can easily end up with the same approach. Normal is, by definition, whatever you’re surrounded by. Choose mindfully what your normal will be at community college.

There’s another ugly truth to four-year colleges you should be aware of: most people don’t graduate in four years. If you’re really going to spend five to seven years in college, then doing two of them at a much more affordable community college makes a lot of sense. But please keep in mind that not all your credits will transfer perfectly or fulfill requirements for your major. For some, beginning at community college is actually what hinders them from graduating in four years. There’s not a simple and easy way to know which approach will be most affordable, especially without financial aid packages in hand to compare.

My biggest concern about community college is for the students who don’t make a decision to go to community college, but use community college as a way to avoid or delay a decision. They’re not sure if college is “right for them,” or they’re not sure where they want to go to college, or they didn’t have the help and resources they need to make a good college decision. So they’re going to go to community college to just give it a try. This is often where the word “just” comes into the equation, as in “I’m just going to go to community college for a year and figure out what to do next.” Whenever “just” is part of your thinking, there’s a problem. It usually means you’re selling yourself short and not realizing everything you’re capable of.

So I think community college is probably not the best option for college-bound high school students. If you’ve got the motivation, skills, and resources to do community college right, then you’ve probably got what it takes to go straight to a four-year college and do it right, too.

So this is when we talk about when you should not listen to me and should go ahead and plan on community college. If for any reason you haven’t yet got the motivation, skills, or resources to thrive in a four-year college, then community college is a great option. There’s no shame or problem with that. If you graduate high school without the motivation, skills, or resources to begin college, it’s almost certainly not your fault. You are at a high school that doesn’t have college readiness as a focus, or you had trauma or difficulties that got in the way. Your financial aid documents weren’t ready in time or you didn’t have support in getting them in the first place. You didn’t have help putting together a balanced college list or the resources at home and/or school to do it successfully. For many people, all of the above are true. If this is the case, then community college is absolutely the place for you. It’s the place where you decisively change your path and the course of your future. It’s where you refuse to let the failures of the system you came from affect the system you go into. It’s a resourceful and affordable and, for many, liberating place. It’s a different path to a bachelor’s degree than going straight to a four-year college, but it’s a well-worn and viable path. And it needs repeating: community college is real college.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Don’t just get into college, finish it. Where you’re going has what you want.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

So NOW where do I want my kids to go to college?

About four years ago, I wrote a blog post about where I hoped my own two kids would go to college. I named three schools—Deep Springs College, St. John’s College, and Olin College of Engineering—but the main idea was that I picked those schools based on my own aspirations and prejudices, not anything to do with my kids. I warned students and parents to watch out for getting student goals too mixed up with parent goals. They often overlap, but they’re absolutely not the same thing.

My oldest is now a high school sophomore, so the “where do you want your kids to go to college?” question is a lot less abstract, and the consequences for my expressing too much of an opinion—or too little—can be much greater. So…where do I want my sophomore to go to college in two years?

The list is longer than three; there are around 25 colleges that would make me super excited to send my high schooler. And there are easily another few hundred that would make me happy. But now the list is based a lot less on my desires and lot more on my kid’s. They want a good school to major in mathematics, a low student-faculty ratio, and a small student population. Deep Springs, St. John’s, and Olin are all small schools with a great faculty ratio, but not as “math-y” as my kid wants. So my “dream school” for my kid has changed based on what they want to more closely align with their “dream school.”

That being said, I still have my own desires and blind spots I have to watch out for. For example, I don’t want them to go to Rice, because we live in Houston and I want them to go farther away from home. I also prefer a school with a strong humanities curriculum. I can say as much as I want that has to do with wanting a well-rounded experience for my kid, but we all know it’s because I’m a former English major and English teacher who wants my kid to take a lot more literature and art classes than they probably want to take. My kid’s probably going to be a full-pay student. I’m not necessarily looking for the least expensive option, but I’m going to make a big deal out of getting the most value for the money…even though I’m the first to admit that value is difficult to define.

There’s also a long-standing joke in our house that the kids can go wherever they want for college, as long it’s in a place their parents will enjoy visiting for a vacation. It’s just a joke—I won’t insist on California, the Rockies, or the New York City area. But man, I still hope they don’t end up in the rural Midwest.

I think I’ll be able to set my prejudices and aspirations aside and help my child choose the best option for them, but I know it’s going to take effort on my part. I have a lot of knowledge about colleges, and I have a lot of knowledge about my children. It would be irresponsible not to help guide them. But I also have my own interests that are separate from theirs, and that’s hard to let go of. It’s tricky work, and virtually every parent has to help their kid go through the same tricky work.

So what should families do?

Talk openly about the places where what the student wants differs from what that parents want. Make everyone aware of their own and each other’s dreams and blind spots. When it comes time to make difficult decisions, you can all keep each other honest and rational.

Identify dealbreakers for both parents and students. If parents have any “we will absolutely not support you going to _____ kind of college,” then they should state that as early as possible. For example, I worked with a student whose parents told her upfront that, although they could afford just about any school in the country, they were not willing to pay more than $40,000 per year. Nor would they support her applying for loans. So the student knew that she was welcome to apply to expensive private universities, but she would have to get scholarships to cover anything over $40,000. (She’s now at the much less than $40K University of Texas.) I understand that there are very few parents able to pay $160,000 cash for college, but it’s an example of parents making their dealbreakers known ahead of time.

I’ve learned over time that many students don’t have a strong geographic preference, but the ones that do don’t back down from those preferences. Students who say “I want to go to a small school” often end up at large schools. Students who say “I want to major in STEM” often end up with a humanities degree. But students who say “I don’t want to go to school in the South” don’t go to school in the South. If students have dealbreakers, they should make those clear.

Talk about money and understand what’s affordable. Every family has a line between “affordable” and “unaffordable.” The sooner you all know where that line is, the better. Affordability is likely to be the main factor for your final decision on where you go. So get the whole family used to that reality. But also make sure everyone in the family understands—really understands—the difference between list price and what you’re likely to pay. An admissions dean at a small liberal arts college once told me that they had students whose families could probably afford to buy the whole school, and they had students who literally couldn’t afford to go to the school if the school didn’t give them a full ride and pay for the bus fare to get there. The dean said it was important to have both kinds, and everything in between, for their mission. No student should decide not to apply to a college just because they don’t think they can afford it. But at the same time, no student should assume that a college will provide them with all the aid they need. You’ve got to spread a wide net.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Where do I want my kids to go to college? Three things parents should stop saying to their children, A good example of a family doing it right.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Breya has finished applications

Breya’s school situation is still in Covid-related chaos, but her college application process is right on track. She’s applied to 10 schools, already been accepted to four (congratulations!), and is expecting financial aid information soon. Read the full interview below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Breya attends a public high school in Ohio

Last month you were worried that this semester might end up being "like a ton of bricks." How's it going so far at school? And how's your Phlebotomy prep going?

School is still the same right now, but it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We are supposed to be going back in the end of March. I’m not sure if I am going to go back or not though. My Phlebotomy prep is going great so far. We are learning about the different tubes and tube tops, along with the sizes of needles.

Did you get your 10th application out? Did you throw in any other last-minute changes to your list? Have you heard back from anyone yet?

Yes, I got my last application out. I didn’t change anything else about my list. I heard back from Ohio State and I got in. I have gotten into all of my Early Action schools (Xavier, Hampton, Ohio State, North Carolina A&T). I probably won’t hear from any other schools until later as I applied to them for Regular Decision.

A major topic in college admissions for the past year has been testing and colleges going test optional. Did you submit SAT or ACT scores with any of your applications? Did you have test scores to submit, and if so how do you go about deciding if you'd include them with your application?

Yes, I took the ACT twice and the SAT once. I only sent my test scores to two schools, which are Hampton and Howard. I only sent them because they were required for merit scholarships in the program I applied for. I only sent my highest ACT scores.

How's it going on the financial aid front? Are schools being realistic? Generous? Disappointing? How likely does it seem right now that your top-choice school will also be affordable?

It is going pretty good. I finished my FASFA before I started applying to schools so I should start getting my packets in a few weeks. For many of the schools, I would say between generous and disappointing. I will probably have to do work study or something along those lines wherever I go.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out interviews with other Meet the Class seniors.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Tyra is set in her path

It’s been a strange and difficult school year for the three seniors I’m following for Meet the Class. All of them have described chaotic and frustrating school experiences. All of their schools have had waves of Covid, and at least one of them had Covid herself. The year has been bad in so many ways.

Strangely enough, it’s been the calmest and most drama-free year of Meet the Class I’ve done in terms of college. By early February, two of the three have their college choices settled. When Tyra said last month that she was ready to coast through the end of high school and soak it all in, I was skeptical. But so far, so good! Read the full interview below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Tyra attends a public high school in Iowa

Just checking: the plan is still to begin the vet tech program at Iowa Lakes next fall? Has any of that changed?

My plan has not changed one bit.

Most of the people I work with are still very much in the middle of things and waiting. Maybe they've got acceptances or deferrals from early admissions, but for the most part they still need to hear back from other places to know what's in store next fall. How does it feel to be done? You had one application and one plan B ready. Does that feel good? Do you have any tinges of "what could have been" had you applied to more places? Do you recommend more people begin at community college?

I have no regrets with my choice. I know what I want and I am excited to graduate. I am also empathetic towards my peers who are struggling with their acceptances and trying to decide where to go. I was actually waitlisted for my plan b school which ended up not being needed anyway.

Last month you mentioned needing to raise some money for dorm room shopping. Is that all the fundraising you're doing? Is your school affordable otherwise? Is there any financial aid involved?

I will rely heavily on financial aid as my mom is a single mother and my father is not in the picture. I currently have a job and am saving up my money in order to make it more affordable.

Your plan to relax and "soak in" your last semester--how is that going? Is all well?

It is going well, I am taking a lot of pictures with my friends and really realizing how much I will miss my high school.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out interviews with other Meet the Class seniors.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Julianna has decided!

Julianna has some news: Boo Covid! Yay Bulldogs! Read the full interview below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Julianna attends a public high school in Kentucky

Last month you were very much in waiting mode. Has there been any news?

There has been lots of news since I last answered these question! I actually found out that I am a finalist for the University of Georgia’s Foundation Fellowship, which is their full ride scholarship program. There are 48 finalists, and after an interview weekend at the end of this month, 30 will be awarded the full scholarship. However, all finalists are automatically awarded Ramsey Scholarships, which are also extremely generous. With all of this in mind, and with UGA being my first choice anyway, I have committed! Go Dawgs!

How's it going on the financial aid front? Are schools being realistic? Generous? Disappointing? How likely does it seem right now that your top-choice school will also be affordable? I ask this question of almost everyone, but I know that you were hoping to specifically hear from UGA by the end of January.

I haven’t heard much about financial aid from my schools so far, and I’m still waiting on admissions decisions from Boston University, Northwestern, and Syracuse. Those are set to come in March. Although I’ve already committed, I’m looking forward to hearing back. I expect more financial aid information will be sent my way in the months to come.

How's school going? Are you still on campus and still relatively safe?

School has been good! We are fully in person. In the last week of January, I actually was diagnosed with COVID-19 and I’ve been at home. I’m going back to school this week though, so I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again and I’m feeling much better.

A major topic in college admissions for the past year has been testing and colleges going test optional. Did you submit SAT or ACT scores with any of your applications? Did you have test scores to submit, and if so how do you go about deciding if you'd include them with your application?

I am lucky enough to have been able to take the ACT multiple times, and each time I had a score in the high thirties. For me, submitting scores was a no brainer. I know that many students aren’t as fortunate to have that option though, and I believe that test optional admissions is the future, one step below eradicating standardized tests completely.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

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2. Check out interviews with other Meet the Class seniors.

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Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

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Opting in and out of standardized tests

There has been some big news in the past few weeks concerning college admissions testing.

The first is a single announcement: the College Board has discontinued SAT Subject Tests and the optional SAT Essay. While I was pleased (but not surprised) to hear this, the SAT Subject Tests are not really a big part of my world. Few of the students I’ve worked with in the past five years took any Subject Tests. When they did take them, it was because they wanted to apply to a specific school that required one or more of the tests, and the students took it once. There had been no multiple-year build up to the Subject Tests the way there is for the SAT (and/or ACT). The Subject Tests and Essay were essentially opt-in tests, meaning those tests were something that people only did once it was clear they had to—it wasn’t “normal” to take those tests.

The second news item is a series of announcements: many colleges are already declaring that they will remain test optional for at least another year. (I’m not surprised at this development, but expected it to come later in the spring, not this early.) With so many test-optional choices available, that means that the regular SAT and ACT are becoming opt-in tests as well. I wouldn’t advise any high school student to take either of those tests until they’ve chosen to apply to a school that requires it. Those tests had been, until last year, opt-out tests: it was “normal” to take those tests, and you needed some good reason not to. But things have shifted drastically.

This news is good for you on a personal level. Eliminating the SAT/ACT requirement, or at least reducing its outsized importance, makes your admissions tasks more manageable. You get to focus more time and energy on things that have a lasting effect and less time and energy on tests that have no value once you enter college.

It’s also good on a wider, systemic level. When it comes to inequities in college admissions, the opt-out nature of the standardized tests is a major factor. First-generation college students are less likely to take the tests before their senior year, or at all. Students in high schools that don’t make test administration part of their focus are less likely to take the tests. For them, the SAT and ACT were opt-in tests, and many didn’t or couldn’t opt in in time. With that barrier to college access reduced, those tests will be less of a factor for equal college access. Of course there are other barriers, especially during a pandemic with widespread unemployment, but making the tests essentially opt-in for everyone can help level the playing field a bit. That’s a categorical good thing for everyone.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Test-optional isn’t going to last: Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?; Should you submit your scores to a test-optional college?

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What should 9th and 10th graders do this spring?

Last March I wrote a post called “Don’t write a Coronavirus essay, but act like you will.” I made the pretty naive prediction that people would be back to “normal” school by fall at the latest. That was, obviously, wrong. I also said that students should not write an admissions essay about their pandemic experience “unless asked.” And now the Common Application does indeed have a short, optional prompt about Covid-19. But I stand by my main idea, that perhaps the best way to make it through this—or any other—really difficult period is to think about how you would hope to describe the experience once it’s passed. So my advice for 9th and 10th graders, high school students that are not yet in the thick of admissions season, remains to focus on being the best high school student possible, given your circumstances and limitations. Below is that original post from March, with all its bad assumptions about the time frame. “Month” and “months” should be changed to “year” and “years.” You may be out of the house more than you were last March, or possibly less. But a focus on actions and activities that make you feel like your most successful self is still what you should be doing right now.

You’re probably not at school right now. You’re probably not going back to school, at least physically, for at least two weeks. You may not go back to school until the next school year this fall. We’re in the middle of a global crisis, all of us.

And so the next month—months?—may be really difficult for you. Even given the best-case scenario—that your family is insulated from job loss, doesn’t need extra medical care, and has plenty of supplies—being together all day as you work and study with Social Distancing may reveal things about yourself or your family that you didn’t realize before. It may significantly change the way you think about school, about your place in the world, about what your future may look like.

If you’re a high school student planning to go to college, you’ll be tempted to write about this for an admissions essay. And that makes sense—it’s probably going to be one of the major events in your life so far. But don’t do it. It’s likely to be a major event in everyone’s life. As extraordinary as this is, its universality will make it difficult to write anything that stands out. It will be like other major life events that almost nobody writes about because they’re so common: starting high school, the difficulties of puberty, realizing that all families have weirdness in them. You should just decide right now that you’re not going to write about this unless asked.

But something that may make the month go better for you and the people around you is to act as though you are going to write an admissions essay about it.

I always advise students to begin the essay process not with the prompts or some story they think will be good, but to begin with thinking about their defining characteristics. Curiosity. Persistence. Kindness. Boundless energy. A talent for planning. Charisma. Those kinds of qualities. What are your defining characteristics? What do people praise you for? What kinds of actions or activities make you feel most successful at being yourself? Start there.

And then think about how you can best apply those qualities to this situation and the people you’re with. And I mean the people you are physically with, day after day. How can you practice, in ways that are meaningful even if they’re small, your best qualities? How can you best put your talents to use as you hunker down with your family and those around you? Once you’ve practiced that, very intentionally, for several days, then think about how you can use the same qualities to help the greater community around you. The answer may very well be that you can’t right now, that social distancing means you won’t interact with many people and definitely not strangers. But think about it and plan as much as possible.

Extreme situations and changes of routine can bring out the worst in us, but it can also bring out the best. Decide right now that you’re going to make sure it brings out your best by practicing your best each day.

Work to make this month as essay-worthy as possible. You don’t have to cure the sick or single handedly re-organize society or publicly criticize each mistake you see other people making. You just have to make this ordeal a way to keep doing the things you’re best at with those around you. Doing this won’t make a better essay, because you’re not going to actually write the essay. But it will help you make the most of this horrible situation. It will help you be an active and useful part of your suddenly much smaller community, and it will help you know yourself much better. Surely that’s more important than a single-use essay?

Be careful out there. Wash your hands. Be the best you can.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read What Should I Be Doing Now? for other grades.

3. Ask a question—or share other resources—in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What should juniors do this spring?

Dates & Deadlines

SAT: March 13 (register by February 12); May 8 (register by April 8); June 5 (register by May 6).

ACT: February 6 (register by January 19); April 17 (register by March 12); June 12 (register by May 7).

Should you plan on taking the SAT or ACT this spring? NO.

AP Exams: May 3-14, with “full length digital contingency exams” in early June for students unable to take the regular exams.

Work at being good at high school

The best way to prepare for college is to be a good high school student, and there may be no more important semester of high school--as far as college planning is concerned--than this semester. When admissions counselors look at you transcript next fall, this semester is the most recent and full picture they have. While they'll look at all your grades and activities, the junior year is more important. It lets them see how you perform in more rigorous classes and more leadership roles than you're likely to have in the 9th and 10th grade. 

What it means to be a good high school student—what it means to be a high school student at all—is drastically different this year. Keep in mind that everyone knows this. Everyone, from your teachers to school counselors to admissions officers, are also struggling through this year. They know that this past year hasn’t been normal and that transcripts and activity lists look really different.

So you don't need to add any stress or anxiety about this. You need to give this spring all that you have, that you be as fully engaged and active as possible. Nobody is asking the impossible of you. If your circumstances require you to scale back your efforts this semester or are getting in the way of your success, begin thinking about how you will talk about those circumstances with colleges.  If you find yourself falling behind, take the time to talk with your teachers and family about how to catch up—if you can. If you need emotional help, go get it. Don't wait.

A lot of the pressure that smart and ambitious high school students have to deal with is the idea that one wrong move or bad grade will ruin your chances of getting into a "good" school. This isn't true.

Reach out to colleges

By now you've probably got a good idea of what type of college you think will be good for you, and you've likely got some schools in mind. If you haven't done so yet, reach out to them now. As a starter, check out their admission web pages and read what's there. Watch the videos and take the virtual tours. If there's an easy way to ask for more information or get on a mailing list, do it. If there's an easy way to ask a question, ask it. Many schools will even make it clear on their web site the name of the admissions counselor for your area. Remember their name and reach out to them. If you find yourself feeling anxious, remember that this process isn't about proving that you're worthy. This is just an introduction, a saying "hello." It's not going to hurt you or count against you.

If you don't have a good idea yet where you might like to look, do some exploring. I’ve found that students’ geographical preferences are usually their strongest preferences. People who thought they wanted a big school end up at a small school. People who wanted to major in STEM end up majoring in Humanities. But people who want to avoid hot places rarely end up in the Southwest, and people who want to be in an urban area rarely end up in the country. So try this: think of three states you might like to live in. For each of those states, spend some time looking online at their big state university, a liberal arts college in that state, and at least one other school in that state. In this case, it's ok to search for "best colleges in...." Don't take the list's word that those schools are indeed the best for you, but it's a staring point to look around.

Once you find something that looks interesting to you, reach out to that school. This reaching-out process is really important, but not necessarily for obvious reasons. Even though some schools take "demonstrated interest" into account, it's not real likely that filling out an on-line form in your junior year is going to be the one thing that gets you accepted to a school that would otherwise reject you. It's also unlikely that an admissions counselor will, a year from now, remember your name and feel more inclined to be generous. The reason reaching out is really important is because it helps to shift your own mindset. Proactively reaching out to schools and taking that initiative reminds you that you're not just a passive product to be offered to colleges. The power in the relationship isn't only with the schools--you also have a voice in asking questions, making decisions, and finding what's right for you. When you treat the process like finding a good person for a relationship, then you understand that you have to be an active participant.

Talk to 12th graders about college

If you're in the 11th grade, then you know 12th graders. Talk to them about college. Ask them where they applied and why. Ask them how they went about their search. Ask them where they thought about applying but didn't. Ask them for advice. Be a good listener when they talk about their own experiences. 

Lots of schools have some sort of get-together where graduates get to come back and give advice about college. If your school has this option then go, and listen carefully to what they say. Ask them not only about their college experiences, but about their application experiences. Remember not to take any of their advice--or anybody's for that matter--as the only or best advice. What worked for them may not be appropriate for you.

Make summer plans

If you had asked me last summer to predict what this spring would look like, I’d have been very wrong. I would have told you that after a very difficult lock-down and widespread mask use, by January things would be largely back to normal. Yes, there would still be people getting Covid-19, but it would be a managed situation and not still a crisis. So I’m not going to make any predictions about this summer. I’m going to repeat my standard summer advice, with some Covid edits, humbly knowing that I have no idea how to give targeted, practical advice at the moment.

Here's where I'm supposed to give very pointed mandates about thinking strategically and making plans for this summer that best align with your college goals and help "round out your resume," whatever that means. But really I can't make myself do that. Because it really doesn't matter so long as you do something and you're thoughtful about it.

If you need to work or want a job, that's great. [Covid: it’s a lot less likely you’ll get a job.] As far as college is concerned it really doesn't matter what that job is so long as you work hard at it and are reflective about what you learn from the job. As you go to work, remind yourself to work as hard as you can. And when you're done, ask yourself what you learned from that day's work. Those two things matter so much more to everyone than the job title or name of the company. 

If you don't need to work, then make other plans. And here's the trick: treat it like a job, in the sense that you decide to do your best and be reflective. Even if you have the cushiest summer imaginable--maybe you're going to spend two months as a VIP on a cruise ship sailing around the Caribbean [Covid: you probably won’t be traveling], you can still get a lot out of this. Just begin each day [Covid: even if you’re stuck at home all day, every day] reminding yourself to make the most of the day, and end each day reflecting about what you learned. Whatever is you do, it can be useful for your college applications and useful for your productive and interesting life.

Another way you can make sure you make the most of your summer is to give yourself a goal of 20. Make 20 visits to local museums or parks. Have 20 intentional interactions with older members of your family asking them about their experiences. Read 20 books. Watch 20 of the best movies of all time. Find 20 items to donate to charity. Run 20 miles, spread out over as many days as you need. The number 20 is arbitrary, but an arbitrary number helps make a vague idea an achievable goal. Every time you knock out one of your 20, remind yourself to be deliberate and reflective.

Sitting around "doing nothing" is the enemy of any smart and ambitious student.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read What Should I Be Doing Now? for other grades.

3. Ask a question—or share other resources—in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Seniors, it's time for thank-you notes

If you’re a senior who’s sent out all your applications, it’s a weird time. After all that working, now you’re waiting. Waiting to hear back from everyone—both in terms of acceptance and financial aid—before you make a final decision. While you wait to hear from schools and think about how to choose from your acceptances, take some time to write thank-you notes. Write a thank-you note to everyone who has done something for you along the way: teachers who wrote recommendation letters, counselors who sent off transcripts, college admissions personnel who answered questions, people who took time to interview you. Everybody. They gave some of their time to help you, and you should thank them if you haven't already.

Do it in writing. I hope you remembered to thank people along the way in person, but you should also send a written note. Many people still insist that you only send hand-written thank you notes, but for most of these email is really fine. If you have less-than-great handwriting or don't happen to have good stationary ready to go, then email is really better. Be specific in what you're thanking them for: "thank you for taking the time to write and send recommendation letters," or "thank you again for the time you spent with me in our interview." Also let them know that you appreciate their time and expertise. 

Do it individually, not in batches. No matter how alike they may sound, send every thank you note individually. Use the person's name. I can tell you from experience that being included on a "thanks to all of you" email with 11 other people doesn't particularly feel like being appreciated. And on that note, even if the only reason you're sending a thank you is because your mother is making you or you feel obligated, don't tell people that. (Yes, I’ve seen this before.)

Gifts can be tricky. You may be tempted to include a gift. You probably shouldn't. If you're sending a gift to a person at a university while your application is still being processed, it can look like an attempted bribe. Same goes for giving a gift to a teacher before they've sent out the recommendation or if you’re still in their class with more grades coming this semester. If you decide that it is appropriate to give a small gift, then be thoughtful about it. There are very few adults in the world thinking "I sure wish someone would bring me another coffee mug!" People who don't drink coffee may be tired of receiving Starbucks gift cards. People on diets probably don't want candy, and a huge percentage of adults think of themselves as on diets. While there may actually be some teachers or counselors who want a piece of leftover birthday cake or your first attempt to bake cookies, they probably don't think it's a good thank you gift. Unless you know the person well enough to really know something that they want, you should probably just stick to a note. 

Don't wait. You're thanking the person for their time and effort, not your results. So don't wait until you hear back from colleges and only send thank you notes to people associated with the ones who accepted you. (Yes, I've seen this too.)

Follow up. If a teacher, counselor, or other adult helps you in any way with a college application, follow up and let them know how it went. I've had students who I spent several hours with looking over essay drafts, writing recommendation letters, or giving advice who never told me what school they ended up choosing. Don't get people emotionally invested and then leave them hanging!

If it helps, here is an example of a basic thank you note:

Dear Ms. Washington,

Thank you again for writing recommendation letters for me to Stanford and the University of Alabama. I know you don't write them for everyone, and I'm honored you would spend time to do that for me. In this especially crazy year, I’m especially grateful that you could spend extra time helping me. Wherever I end up going to school, I know that my experience in your class will have me prepared. I'll let you know when I hear back from the colleges!

Thanks again.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: What to do when you get waitlisted, Asking for more financial aid, how do wealthy kids get into elite colleges?

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Some notes from the Inauguration

I spent almost the entire day yesterday watching the inauguration and official events afterwards. There are three college-related notes I want to quickly pass on.

1. Joe Biden went to the University of Delaware, and then on to Syracuse Law School. He is the first president since Ronal Reagan not to earn a degree from an Ivy League school.

Add to it that last October, Amy Coney Barrett became the newest justice on the Supreme Court—and the only whose law degree isn’t from Harvard or Yale. Maybe we’ve past Peak Ivy? That would be nice.

2. One thing I like to stress about college and about why finding the right fit is so important is that for many people, their college isn’t just a “piece of paper” but an integral part of their identity. Want evidence? Check out Representative Jim Clyburn wearing his South Carolina State University ball cap on the inauguration platform. That’s dedication to his alma mater, where he graduated in 1961.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images News / Getty Images

3. Speaking of HBCU power, all the commentators on MSNBC actually stopped their talking and commenting to just let the audience listen to the Howard University marching band for a minute. Sorry, U. Delaware band, but they just talked right over you.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read this related post: The Glossary: Ivy.

3. Ask a question—or share other resources—in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It’s not trying to sell you anything. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Banner photo by Zoe Herring.

Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?

There’s an ACT test coming up on February 6, and the regular registration deadline is tomorrow, January 15. There’s an SAT on March 13th, with a registration deadline February 12th. Should current juniors consider taking either of these tests?

Nope.

The main reason I'm not recommending anyone take the ACT in February or SAT in March is simply the Covid situation. With the numbers as high as they are, I just don't feel comfortable encouraging anyone to go into a group setting in the near future. Last fall there was a lot of chaos surrounding test administration, with many test sites closing at the last minute, so I don't have full confidence that registering for the spring exams will even get you into the spring exams. I would look ahead to the June or August exams instead of spring. That will still give you plenty of time to re-take if you want.

Another reason to put off testing is the number of universities that are test optional. A growing number of colleges were already test optional. And then last year a whole lot more went test optional, some for one year and some for multiple years. But the ones that only gave a one-year break are likely to do it again (at least one already has), because the pandemic is even worse right now than it was last June. By the time you are applying this fall, It may be that the majority—or even all—of the schools you’re considering won’t even be requiring test scores. So risking an unhealthy situation for an unnecessary test just doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Let’s also look at reasons why you might want to take the test soon:

You want to take the test once, early, to get it out of the way and focus on other things in the summer and fall. I love the thinking behind this. I don’t, however, think it’s all that likely to happen. In my experience, almost nobody is ever happy with their test scores. Even if you take the test and get what you think is a good score, there will still be some tempting reason to take it again and aim for a higher score. Your scores will be just under the mid-range of a school, and you want to get them up just a little bit more. Your scores will be just under the top 25% of a school, and you want to get them up just a little bit more. Your score will have a 9 in it—either a 29 composite for the ACT or a combined SAT score that ends with 90—and you want to get it up just a little bit more. That just a little bit more is going to be hard to resist, and so the “once and early” strategy often fails. But if you think you will actually do it this way, go for it…in June. Not right now.

You want to get a baseline score to help you plan for test prep and retakes. Again, this is completely rational and practical. You probably have an idea of where you want your test scores to be, so now you need to know where you are. I get that. But again, you can put off your first exam until June and still be able to execute that plan. You can also take practice tests to get a good idea of your starting point, and they are free and can be done from the safety of your own home.

You want to take the exam as often as possible for superscoring purposes. This is something I hear less often. Most the people I’ve worked with who took the exam a bunch of times thought they’d take the test once, maybe twice. Then they just ended up taking it three or more times because they kept chasing that just a little bit more. Some students, though, absolutely do decide early on that they’ll take the exam four or five time to get the highest possible score. While I don’t endorse this approach, I do understand it. And again, if this is your plan you can take the SAT five times between June and December. Give it time.

But there’s another way to think about testing, an approach I do endorse: don’t take them at all. Not this spring, not this summer, not this fall. Decide right now that you’re only going to apply to test-optional or test-blind schools. There are lots of reasons to dislike the tests, and Fairtest is good at explaining them. Here’s the thing that I always come back to, though: every other part of your college application has value far beyond college applications. Doing well in your high school classes, being involved in your community, strengthening your writing skills, practicing interviews, taking action to pursue your interests—all these are valuable on their own. But a college-entrance exam has no value once you enter college. It’s extremely limited in usefulness. So I encourage you to skip that part. It’s not worth it.

Does that mean you’re eliminating choices based solely on their testing policy? Yes. But there are thousands of colleges and universities. You’ll only apply to maybe a dozen, and only attend one. Elimination is what the process is all about. But isn’t testing policy a pretty arbitrary reason to eliminate choices? Yes. But so are other reasons. You want to stay within 100 miles of home? Arbitrary. You want to avoid places that are hot, or avoid places that are cold? Arbitrary. You want to go to a college with a “good reputation?” Arbitrary. It’s fine to use an arbitrary reason to pass on a college. But could you be letting go of a college that would otherwise be a really great fit? Absolutely. But remember that wherever you go to college, you will also be letting go of colleges that are also a really good fit.

If you’re not ready to make that leap, I understand. There may be a college you really have your heart set on, and they require you to take the SAT or ACT. That’s fine, I’m not judging you. But I still believe it’s time we all—students, parents, counselors, consultants, teachers, all of us—start thinking of the SAT and/or ACT as a special opt-in circumstance, not the default that only a certain subset of students opt out of. You can go to a really great college and have a really great career and a good life without ever taking one of those exams. Think about how nice that can be.

Be safe. Be careful.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read these related posts: Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college? and It seriously looks like SAT/ACT testing is going away.

3. Ask a question—or share other resources—in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It’s not trying to sell you anything. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Breya is having a rough time

Breya’s school year has been up and down. This month sounds pretty down. She’s got most her college applications out and is still moving along, but she’s showing some doubt about this school year. Read the full interview below.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.

Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy. 

Breya attends a public high school in Ohio

How were your holidays? Do you feel rested and ready for the rest of the school year?

My holidays were good. Maybe not the best, but it’s usually the same. I’m not sure. I’m kind of nervous for the rest of the year. And I feel that next semester is going to be like a ton of bricks.

Have you now got all your applications out? DId you change your list at all? Is it still Ohio State, Hampton, Howard, Spelman, North Carolina A&T State, Xavier, Columbia, UChicago, Michigan, and UPenn?

I have 9 out of 10 applications out. I have not changed my list at all.

Have you got any news? I know you already had some acceptances come in. Any more?

No, I haven’t gotten anything else yet. It made me nervous at first but maybe it is a good thing. I don’t know.

Assuming you've sent in all your college applications, reflect on the past five months: do you have any regrets? Have you gained any wisdom you can share? Is it what you expected it to be?

I regret putting too much on my plate. Everyone talks about how senior year is the year where you can relax a little bit after finishing exams and applications but I haven’t been able to just have time for myself. It is not what I expected it would be. I thought that I would have more help or at least have people who cared. I have learned that a little stress can push you a long way, but a lot of stress can make everything not as fun or exciting as it should be. My advice is to make time for yourself and do what makes you happy.

You've reached the point where you no longer add to your college list but start reducing it to the final one. What's your plan? What are your priorities? What's your best-case scenario that will make you the happiest?

Right now, I am thinking about if I can actually afford to go to a certain college and if it feels right for me. I’m not really sure right now of my complete process yet.

What does your spring semester look like? How's your school holding up?

My spring semester looks about the same as my fall semester. I’m still taking the same amount of courses. I’m hoping that it might be a little less stressful than the previous semester. I am currently prepping for my Phlebotomy certification test that is in March.

My school is still pretty much the same. They are still going back and forth with whether or not they want to open back up and how.

Do you have any college-related events coming up, either in person or online?

I am hoping to go on a few more visits before I have to really choose where I want to go. Along with some more videos and things.

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