Take a spring break trip!

I know Spring Break—like spring itself—happens at different times across the country. But my kid’s school has spring break in one week, so it’s on my mind. I strongly believe that Spring Break should be a, you know, break from school and stress. But I also know that lots of students and parents ask me what they can do over Spring Break to help with college applications. There’s only one thing I recommend:

Go on a practice college tour.

For many high school students, especially juniors, Spring Break is a popular time for college campus visits. I wouldn't necessarily call this "normal." Sure, lots of students do it. But lots of students don't do many--or any--visits until they're seniors and visit only schools they've already been admitted to. And plenty of students don't visit a college at all. What's "normal" is up to you and what you think is really best for you. While I don't recommend skipping college visits altogether, neither do I recommend going on big multi-campus trips just because you feel like you have to. 

However, if you're a younger high school student--in the 9th or 10th grade--I urge you to consider going on some "practice visits." Unless you live in a very rural area, there should be at least a few colleges near you that you can tour. Sign up for a few, and do your best to get the full range of college types. Here in Houston I recommend touring Rice, the University of Houston main campus, and Houston Baptist University. If you live in the St. Louis area, for example, consider Blackburn College in Carlinville, Washington University, and U.M. St. Louis. This way you can get a sense of what a big state school looks like and how it differs from a medium-sized private school and how they both differ from a small private school. At this point, in your practice runs, I wouldn't even worry about the differences in cost. You're just trying to get first-hand knowledge of how different types and sizes of schools feel. 

Why bother visiting colleges you're not interested in attending? Isn't that a waste of time? Not necessarily. For one, it gets you a variety of experiences early. Imagine you do a big East Coast trip to visit Georgetown and G.W. in Washington D.C., Columbia and N.Y.U. in New York, and then Harvard and Boston University. You've hit six big-name schools with great reputations...but they're all medium to large private, selective universities in dense urban areas. If you're sure that’s what you want, fine. But if you're not sure how different sized schools feel and operate, or if not sure an urban school is for you, then it may save time and money to get a feel for those differences near home. 

It's good to try out schools you have no emotional attachment to. In this sense, think of college visits like any other shopping trip. It helps to survey what's available and do some research before walking into a store eager to buy something. You'll be a lot less susceptible to emotional sales tactics and a lot more confident in your control of the situation. Maybe you won't be so eager to attend a school because you were really impressed by the dining hall or the friendliness of the students—most schools have decent food and friendly students—if you already have a sense of what's available elsewhere.

It's also smart to get a few visits out of the way at places you're not necessarily interested in attending just to have some practice and be less jittery. You don't want to waste a visit to a top-choice school because you're nervous that you may say the wrong thing or that things won't look the way you expect them to look. If your first visit to a “contender” is your fourth or fifth school tour, you'll already be an experienced pro and can really focus on what you need to for that visit.

And, of course, you might end up really wanting to go that school, even if you hadn't planned on it. As in any relationship, you just may find your match in a place you weren't expecting. 

You don’t even need to leave home to get a better sense of a college. While there’s a lot to be said for physically stepping foot in a place and feeling its “vibe” first hand, most colleges noe have high quality online options available for getting to see the school. Spending an hour online to do a virtual tour takes…one hour. That’s a lot less of a time commitment than going on a visit.

If you do go for a physical visit during your Spring Break, check to see if it’s also the college’s Spring Break. Touring an empty school can be worse than not touring at all.

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:

   When should you tour colleges?

   Making the most of a campus tour

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.

Online resources for trans students

Last week the Texas Attorney General issued a legal opinion that gender-affirming medical care for minors constitutes “child abuse.” The next day, Texas governor Greg Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate any reported gender-affirming care as child abuse. Texas isn’t the only state making it difficult for gender nonconforming students and their families. Arkansas passed legislation making gender-affirming care like hormone treatments illegal for minors, and that law is being blocked while a legal challenge works its way through the court system. This Freedom for All Americans page tracks anti-trans legislation across the country.

Because all college-bound students, including trans students, need a place where they can thrive intellectually, socially, and spiritually, I want to share some resources for high school students looking for the most inclusive college environments.

All students, including LGBTQ students, are looking for a place where they can thrive. Here are a few online resources that may help.

The most practical place, and therefore the first place you’ll want to check out, is Campus Pride. They have all kinds of resources, training, and outreach to make college campuses safer for LGBTQ students. But as a high school student looking for a college, you will be very interested in their Campus Pride Index. It ranks hundreds of colleges on a five-star scale, helping you find which colleges on your list are the best when it comes to gender-inclusive housing and friendly policies. Campus Pride has been around for over 20 years, so there’s a lot of experience and wisdom in their approach. (I made a donation to Campus Pride, and you can find their donation page here.)

For an understanding of your rights as a transgender college student, as well as guidance on changing names and/or gender markers on documents, Lambda Legal has a great FAQ page to use as a starting point. (I made a donation to Lambda Legal, and you can find their donation page here.)

I always say that the best way to prepare for college is to be a good high school student. Fortunately, there’s support for LBGTQ students, allies, and educators in K-12 schools, not just universities. GLSEN has been involved in that support and education for decades. They have a resource page dedicated to supporting Trans and GNC students. (I made a donation to GLSEN, and you can find their donation page here.)

On top of other resources, Human Rights Campaign has a scholarship database for LGBTQ+ students and allies. (My family already has a membership with HRC, so I didn’t make a donation this week. But I bought a t-shirt. You can find their donation page here.)

Whoever you are, no matter your age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or race, I hope you find a college that supports you and accepts you for who are you and who you aspire to be.

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. 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.

Three quick questions with Rollins College

A magical fox who surprises the campus with a day off and pancakes? That sounds wonderful!

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission 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.

Today’s response is from Frank Thomas, Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

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

Fox Day is an annual tradition established in 1956. Each spring, on a day deemed “too pretty to have class,” the president cancels all classes for the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Professional Studies, providing undergraduate students with a surprise day off.

A statue of the Rollins fox is placed on Tars Plaza by the president early in the morning. The Chapel bell rings to alert students of the special occasion while the president hands out Fox Day proclamations and donuts to students who line up outside his office. A free pancake breakfast is offered in the morning, fun activities are planned throughout the day, and a family-style picnic is laid out on the Green, free for everyone in the Rollins community.

No one knows exactly when Fox Day will happen each year. But students are known to camp out on The Green eagerly awaiting the fox’s arrival during the weeks leading up to the highly anticipated day.

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 Rollins?

The overwhelming majority of Rollins College applicants are imperfect students! At Rollins, we aren’t looking for one reason to say no; we’re looking for lots of reasons to say yes. All students are going to face some setback or adversity in their high school careers, and the more interesting and instructive stories relate to how they faced and overcame those challenges. Any student who feels that part of their application is imperfect can make up for that with strengths in other areas of the application. For example, a lower level of rigor in course selection could be balanced by higher and more diverse involvement in internships, organizations, and service.

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

The Rollins Admission office is at the intersection of Fairbanks Avenue and Park Avenue.  Students walking north on Park Avenue from there will encounter charming downtown Winter Park, with blocks of local shops and restaurants, a park, and a light rail train station.  On weekends, there is a wonderful local farmers’ market at the park, which is also the center of holiday celebrations and decorations.  It is a great asset within short walking distance from campus.

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 Rollins. 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.

Slow down to speed up

I have a friend who is a financial adviser. When I first met him he was working in the “wealth management” side of a large international bank, helping wealthy clients figure out how to invest their money. Now he runs an investment fund and manages hundreds of millions of dollars. One time, back when I was still a high school teacher, I thought I’d ask if he had any reading recommendations for my students. None of them were looking for investment strategies for their millions…at least not yet. But financial literacy is a really important skill for people of almost any age, so I thought he might know some good books that taught the basics that I could pass along. He would only give me one answer:

“The Tortoise and the Hare.”

Right, I said, I get the idea. Go for the slow, steady, wise approach, not the get-rich-quick schemes. But what can you recommend that translates that to money and financial literacy? “C’mon, help me out, don’t be so clever,” I thought (but didn’t say aloud). “No, The Tortoise and the Hare. I’m serious. Internalize that, and then you can learn the details when you’re ready.” So that was the advice. Read and learn that short fable, and then some day you might be ready to manage your own money. Got it.

Strangely, it was years before I made the connection between The Tortoise and the Hare and a phrase I’ve learned from chefs: Slow Down to Speed Up. “Slow down to speed up” is a lot like “slow and steady wins the race,” except in restaurants there is no finish line—it’s the daily grind of getting good food out to customers.

Slow Down to Speed Up has to do with keeping up with the crazy pace of a kitchen by slowing down first to perfect your skills. If you’re falling behind because you’re not chopping vegetables well or you keep forgetting ingredients because you’re in a rush, then speeding up the bad preparation doesn’t make anything better. You have to slow down and do it right until doing it right becomes automatic. Then, and only then, can you start to really stay caught up.

Slow Down to Speed Up is such an integral part of chef training that Dan Charnas devotes a chapter to it in his book Everything In Its Place: The Power of Mise-en-place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind. Here’s how Charnas puts it:

Chefs don’t panic. The basic concept is this: The natural human tendency in the face of imminent deadline is to rush or panic. Don’t rush; when you rush, your movements become sloppy. Don’t panic; when you panic, you forget things. When you find yourself rushing or panicking or both, just stop. Breathe. If your anxiety compels you to move, then clean. The act of cleaning…will force you to take some breaths. Look around you. Think about where you are and where you need to be. Think of the next step to get you there and take that step, slowly.

Though I’ve only known it in the kitchen context, it turns out that Slow Down to Speed Up is a concept taught in business and management, also. Here are short articles from McKinsey & Company, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review extolling the virtues of slowing down at key moments to do better in fast-paced business.

So financial planners, chefs, and business managers agree that you should slow down to speed up. What does Slow Down to Speed Up look like for busy high school students? How can you win your college admission race by slowing down?

First, focus on skills, not achievements. Chefs slow down to make sure they’re cutting vegetables right, keeping their station clean, cooking their proteins to the best temperature. When they’re in the kitchen getting orders ready, they’re not thinking about getting great reviews or awards. Rewards only come later as a result of the skills. As a student, take time to think about the skills you’re learning and the skills you should have already learned. Think more about skills and material, less about grades and rewards. Don’t use tricks and shortcuts to get an A in Biology—learn the Biology. Don’t spend 45 minutes trying to hide that you didn’t do the History reading—spend an hour doing the History reading. Make your audition monologue the best you can, without worrying about if you’ll get the starring role in the play. Practice your passing and raise your endurance without thinking about going to the soccer playoffs. Your skills will be rewarded sooner or later, but only if you focus on the skills. The more you slow down to focus on skills, the more substantial the reward, even if it’s a little later.

Do less, practice more. Students and parents often ask me what else they should be doing to help with college applications. What other activities should they add to their resume? How can they “round out” their application? Unless they’re doing absolutely nothing (and they never are), my answer is always not to do more. Go for quality, not quantity. Do fewer things, and practice them much more intensely. A student who plays one sport and is in one club, but participates with intention and experiences growth, will always be more appealing than a student who superficially participates in three sports and five clubs. This isn’t about “finding your passion.” If you have a passion, great. Spend more time practicing it. But if you don’t have a passion yet, that’s fine. Choose a few things that are good and worthwhile, and practice them with care and attention. It’s not about the passion, it’s about the practice.

Study a little more, cram a lot less. Set up a regular time to study and do homework. Ideally it’s daily, but that’s not always realistic. Then, use that time to study and do homework, all the time, even if there’s nothing big coming up. If there truly is nothing you need to do during that study time, use it anyway. Be in your study space and do something productive. Read ahead in a textbook, or read something for pleasure. The better you get about spreading your preparation for projects and exams out over time, the less panic you experience right before the big due dates.

Procrastinate better. Maybe I’m supposed to tell you not to procrastinate, but that would be naive. People procrastinate. But you can do it better.

There’s a good chance you’re like me: when I’m overwhelmed with too much to do or anxious because I’m not sure what to do next, I soothe myself by doing something low-stress and of low importance. Ironically, the more I have on my to-do list, the more likely I am to waste time. It’s a self-soothing mechanism. So if I really need to get back to a client, and I’m behind on writing a blog post, and I need to return some email, and there’s laundry piling up, and my kids are insisting on eating dinner (they seem to want dinner every night!), I find myself looking for a time waster. Twitter, Instagram, online shopping, re-organizing the bookshelves, things like that. It temporarily helps with the stress, but it makes the problem worse. The next time you catch yourself procrastinating, ask yourself if maybe you’re doing it because you’re anxious about what all you have to do and being unsure what to do next. Just understanding why you procrastinate is a major step.

The trick is to procrastinate with finite distractions, not open-ended distractions. Cleaning is a good distraction, because it makes it easier to feel in control. But clean something small; clean your desk, or make your bed. Don’t reorganize all the files in your computer or decide to overhaul your bedroom. When you’re in a procrastinating mood, stay away from the internet. Play a short and simple game, not one that takes hours. If you can procrastinate with something that’s time-limited and healthy, even better. Take a walk around the block. Do 25 push-ups. Stretch. Do a 10-minute guided meditation. Then, after a short procrastination break, take a breath, “think about where you are and where you need to be. Think of the next step to get you there and take that step, slowly.”

Sleep. It’s hard to get enough sleep as a busy teenager. It’s hard to get enough sleep as a busy adult. It’s a paradoxical circle, where you need to get sleep so you can be organized, calm, healthy, and happy. And you also need to finish all the things that an organized, calm, healthy, happy person does before you can get enough sleep. So I’m not going to get preachy or judge about sleep. I will recommend, however, choosing one night a week to become your regular “sleep night.” Choose one night a week—it doesn’t even have to be the same night each week—where you do everything within your power to get one hour of sleep more than you usually get. Maybe that will be a struggle. Maybe that will feel good. And maybe it will be so good that you’re able to increase it to three, four, or five nights a week. If that’s the case, reverse it and have a single designated “stay up late to catch up” night.

Slowing down to speed up is tough, especially at first. When you’re panicked about having too much to do, being in a chaotic state, and having pressures build up around you, stopping is one of the hardest things to do. But just like the chefs, just like the business gurus and fund managers, just like the tortoise—you have to slow down and plod along. Slow and steady is how you win the race, and it’s how you prepare yourself for 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:

   Study in the quiet places

   Stop doing that

   The two things you need for success in college and beyond

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.

Finding your meaning

What does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be alive in the specific time, place, and society you live in? What is your purpose? How do you find that purpose, and then how do you act on that purpose? How should you live, mindful of that purpose and—just as important—how do you live if you don’t have a clear sense of your purpose?

These are some pretty big questions, the kind of questions that philosophers, theologians, and psychologists deal with. And they’re the kinds of questions that high school students thinking about college deal with. Where will you go? What will you study? Will you actually have access to the place that seems right for you, and will you be able to do what it takes to succeed? Who will you meet? What will you do after college? How will college change you as a person, and will it be a good change? All of these questions—subtly for some, overwhelmingly for others—have to do with identity, meaning, and purpose. It’s one of the reasons college applications can be so difficult.

Lately I’ve been listening to Making Meaning, a podcast series from Ministry of Ideas, a Harvard Divinity School initiative. Each episode is a short (around 10 minutes) interview with someone about how to think about our own meaning and purpose.

Episode four is really, really great. That episode features Michael Steger, the founder and director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University. I hope you’ll listen to the whole episode, but I want to point out two things from it.

One is that Steger reminds us that meaning ins’t something fixed and unchangeable. It’s an ongoing process that has no end as we grow. As he puts it:

We are not some iceberg just grinding our way toward a defenseless island. You know, we’re something that freezes sometimes and something that melts sometimes and something that drifts sometimes. And sometimes something that steers ourselves sometimes.

Remember this if you’re struggling to find meaning at times, or if you sense your purpose changing and you’re not sure how you feel about it. If you’re unsure what sort of a future you’re setting yourself up for, it can be difficult to know what to do for the next big step, which is college. But understand that your purpose can change, and that it’s influenced by a lot of things beyond just our choosing. So be kind to yourself and think about what you do know that you want, need, and have to give in return from college (or even not going to college). Don’t focus on what’s not there and what you don’t know.

The other great thing is that he gives a simple and practical exercise we can do to help us understand what meaning and purpose we already have for ourselves:

So just take a camera, or your phone probably. Take some time, limit the number of photos you’re going to take. Maybe just five. Maybe seven. Some small, singular, single-digit number. And take a photo of things that speak to you, what makes your life meaningful. It can be a person, it can be a pet. It can be something you made, it can be a special place. Particularly during the pandemic it might be a picture of a person, or a picture of a special place. You know, or it might be a souvenir you brought back. Who knows what it is. But take that picture and spend a little bit of time thinking to yourself about why you took that photo, why it’s meaningful to you. And then share it with someone, tell that little story.

Taking the time to do this photo exercise sincerely and seriously can be extremely useful. While Steger is the director of the Center of Meaning and Purpose, not me, I still want to suggest two things about this exercise he recommends. First, wait until after you’ve taken the photos and really thought about them before deciding who to share them with. If you have an audience in mind, that can skew what sorts of things you take photos of and then what you think about them. Do the sharing part significantly later than the thinking part. Also, push yourself to move past the first level or two of answers about why something is significant. Ask yourself why a lot. Dig deeper. Make connections.

I hope you enjoy the episode, and perhaps the entire series. Meaning and purpose are fun, if scary, things to think about. You’ll do it before college. You’ll do it in college. You’ll continue doing it long after college is over.

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:

   Making meaning out of your adversity

   What would you do as a bored billionaire?

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.

Lots of college admission news!

This time of year can be pretty boring for college admission news. While admission offices work through their piles of applications, there’s usually not much to report until they start sending decisions and stats. But this month has brought three major pieces of news. Below is a quick summary of each, with links to learn more, and my ideas about how likely the news is to affect you, a current high school student.

16 colleges are being sued over their financial aid practices.

What’s the story? Colleges aren’t supposed share notes with each other on their financial aid decisions. Each school has to come up with their own offers—and their own way of deciding how much to offer—so that students can compare offers and go to the school with the most financial aid if they choose. There has to be competition, and that’s the law. However, there’s a group with an exemption to the law. They get together and come up with a single shared “methodology” for determining financial aid awards. They’re able to do this because they don’t discuss who gets accepted, and because they’re all need blind, meaning your ability to pay isn’t part of their decision to accept you. That, says the law, is competitive enough. But the lawsuit, brought by five people, says that nine of the colleges aren’t exactly need blind. Because the admission offices may track which applicants are from families that are big donors—or have the potential to be big donors—then the ability to pay is in fact a consideration…and one that only works in the favor of wealthy applicants. They’re essentially competing for rich students and then conspiring with each other about how much to offer the not-rich students. So, say the people suing the schools, they’re not actually need blind and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to share information. What about the other seven schools? The lawsuit claims that since most of the schools in the group are tainted by the double-standard, the whole group is, because they all share their data to come up with a shared “methodology.”

Will this affect you? Probably not. Lawsuits like this take a long time to work their way through the courts. It’s likely that you will be through college, or at least already in college, before this litigation has any impact. But technically, if the group decides to disband soon, and if you apply to any of the 16 colleges and are accepted, then it could affect your financial aid offer. Technically. But nobody knows what that effect might be.

Want to read more?

Lawsuit says 16 elite colleges are part of price-fixing cartel. (New York Times)

Class action suit filed against to private colleges. (Inside Higher Ed)

Affirmative Action case is going to the Supreme Court.

What’s the story? Colleges and universities are legally allowed to consider race as a factor for admission. There are some guidelines, though: race can be used in order to increase the educational goal of diversity; it can’t be used to make schools intentionally less diverse. There can’t be quotas; a school can’t decide beforehand that, for example, 25% of their students will be Black. Race can only be used as part of a holistic approach; it can't be the only, or first, criteria. Affirmative Action has been upheld by the Supreme Court—including those guideline—as recently as 2016. But now the Supreme Court will hear two previously separate cases combined into a single one. Both Harvard and UNC won their initial Affirmative Action cases when they were sued by an anti-affirmative-action group. Harvard also won their case in the next level of appeal. But the Supreme Court is willing to hear both the cases, and the basic assumption is that they wouldn’t want to take the cases unless they were willing to change something about the laws.

Will this affect you? Possibly. The case won’t be heard until this October at the earliest, and nobody’s expecting a ruling until summer of 2023. But if there’s a major change to what’s considered legal, then universities may make some fairly large changes pretty quickly after that. But what kinds of changes those may be depends on the outcome of the case, which won’t happen for a while. So it’s possible there will be some major new rules around race and admission by the time younger high school students apply to college, but it’s far from guaranteed.

Want to read more?

Supreme Court will hear challenge to Affirmative Action at Harvard and U.N.C. (New York Times)

Supreme Court takes affirmative action case. (Inside Higher Ed)

The SAT is making some major changes.

What’s the story? Beginning in 2023 outside the US and 2024 in the US, the SAT will only be given online. It will be administered in test centers; students will not be taking it at home. Not only is the test going digital, but the format will change. There will be shorter reading passages with fewer questions. Calculators will be allowed for all math portions. Instead of every student answering all of the same questions, the computer program will use different questions to “figure out” what level you’re at in less time with fewer questions. The new test will take around two hours instead of three, and 80% of the students who took the pilot test said it was less stressful than the old pencil-and-paper test.

Will this affect you? If you’re in the 9th grade now, then absolutely it will. You may end up taking the new SAT, you make take the ACT, you may take both, you may take neither. But if you already hear strategizing and scheming at your school around standardized tests (Should I take the test? Which one? How many times? What do my scores mean? Should I report them to test-optional schools?), then those conversations are going to be amplified in the coming years as people try to figure out what to make of the new SAT. I hope you won’t get stressed about the SAT. But if you were already inclined to get stressed about the SAT, this is going to make it worse. At least until you take the test, which they say will be be less stressful. Maybe. Be prepared.

Want to read more?

Put down your No. 2 pencils. Forever. (New York Times)

The new SAT. (Inside Higher Ed)

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: need blind

   What’s important about the Harvard trial

   What’s wrong with Affirmative Action?

   Should you bother to take the SAT or ACT?

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 quick questions with the University of Oregon

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission 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.

Today’s response is from Olivia Manwarren, Regional Admissions Counselor at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to the University of Oregon?

A tradition at the University of Oregon is the walk to our football stadium, Autzen stadium.
We say "Over the river and through the woods to Autzen all Ducks go." On game days, follow the crowd through the windy roads to Autzen on the memorable walk that you'll always remember. You can always feel the excitement and energy of people as you brush shoulders and waddle your way into the stadium.

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 UO?

Students who flourish are those who are able to ask for help when they need it. They can make a mistake, learn from it and attack the problem again. Resilient, hard working, and communicative.

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

Hike Spencer's Butte, grab ice cream at Prince Puckler's, check out the Saturday market downtown!

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 UO. 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 Providence College

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission 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.

Today’s response is from Owen Bligh, Senior Associate Dean of Admission at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island.

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

The Development of Western Civilization program that all of our students take is definitely the cornerstone of our liberal arts core. It’s 16 credits and covers from antiquity and ancient Mesopotamia all the way through modern times. It’s one of the largest classes a student will have (about 75 students per section) but that’s because it’s team-taught by faculty from history, literature, philosophy, theology, and more. The interdisciplinary way that students explore the development of the western world is a new type of thinking for many of them. As the program nears its end, faculty from throughout campus are brought in for colloquia related to students’ academic interests. It’s a hard program…there’s no sugarcoating that you’ll definitely have days you struggle with it…but the majority of our alums look back fondly on it.

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 PC?

We certainly don’t view it as a negative, but since many students do during the college search, I think that students who have no clue what it is they want to study or pursue are ones who do particularly well at PC. As an institution, we’re built for exploration. There’s no programs that you needed to apply into as a first-year student to ultimately study. The various schools are really for administrative purposes and it’s quite common to see a finance major studying philosophy and a theatre major taking a quant class. While there’s certainly exceptions, the silos that so often exist within higher education don’t seem to on our campus and it’s a great place for students who are not just solely focused on studies in one area.

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

Downtown Providence is incredible and there’s so much to do, but if you want the true experience of living on our campus then you can’t go wrong with The Abbey and Newport Creamery. The Abbey is a no-frills sports bar with some of the best burgers you’ll ever have. Newport Creamery is famous in Rhode Island for their Awful Awful’s, basically their version of a milkshake. I don’t know how they’re different than a regular milkshake, but they definitely are and you’ll have to try for yourself! Both are walking distance from campus. If you’re set on exploring downtown, don’t miss the internationally-renowned WaterFire!

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 Providence. 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 Oregon State University

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission 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.

Today’s response is from Heather Woffard, Sr. Assistant Director of Admissions for Multicultural Recruitment at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Oregon State University?

There are so many ways to answer this question for Oregon State. Our Honors College has numerous unique classes that we could use as an example, including Farside Entomology, Experiential Marketing- Sports, Tourism & Performing Arts, The Truth is Out There: The Rise of Conspiracy Theories, and The Science of Science Fiction. We also have opportunities for students to study marine conservation biology and coastal ecosystems at our Hatfield Marine Science Center on the Oregon coast. No matter the class, students have an opportunity to get hands-on in their program and take their education outside of the lecture hall through research, internships, and special projects.

A favorite campus tradition happens each fall term when we start the year with our new students gathering at the Memorial Union quad and walking together through campus to Reser Stadium. The same path they will take four years later when they attend graduation and receive their diploma. There is so much pride and love for the OSU community here. You can walk across campus and yell “Go Beavs” and you’ll get a GO BEAVS in return from another student.

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 OSU?

Oregon State utilizes a holistic review process which allows for us to look at the unique skills and experiences students have and could bring to Beaver Nation. We want to build a strong community of thinkers, problem-solvers, advocates, and explorers who are ready to take on challenges in their field. We embrace our responsibility to Oregon and the world, building a future that’s smarter, healthier, more prosperous and more just. 

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

Since Corvallis is known for being one of the best college towns in the country, we recommend students check out downtown or take a stroll along Monroe to see where OSU students commonly grab a bite to eat off campus. Corvallis is located in the heart of the PNWonderland and there is much to explore around the area. Take the 1 hour drive to see the Oregon coast and visit the Hatfield Marine Science Center or stop by OSU’s college forest, McDonald-Dunn Research Forest, just a 15 minute drive from campus. 

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 Oregon State. 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 University of the Pacific

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission 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.

Today’s response is from Andrew Merenda, Director of Campus Visit Programs and Events at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to University of the Pacific?

New Student Convocation is a special tradition and ceremony where new incoming students are officially welcomed to Pacific at the end of New Student Orientation by the University leadership and faculty in full regalia and feature keynote speakers including the University President and Provost. The next time they will all be gathered again in a similar ceremony will be at their commencement. At the conclusion of New Student Convocation, the students walk out of the auditorium where they are surprised with loud cheers and applause, the Pacific Pep Band loudly playing the fight song, and current Pacific students throwing orange and black confetti onto their newly minted fellow Tigers. This is called the “Tiger Roar”. Afterwards, the entire Pacific community is invited to an outdoor barbeque on the quad to celebrate new students.

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 Pacific?

Average students will thrive at Pacific just as much as the class valedictorian. Pacific prides itself on offering small college caring with big university choices. We offer numerous hands-on resources and support for students who want to take full advantage of the opportunities their education can afford them.

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

The historic Miracle Mile on Pacific Avenue is my favorite place to frequent in Stockton! As a local, I spent a lot of my childhood growing up on the Mile and near Pacific’s campus. The Mile is a special place for me with lots of great memories. Many Pacific students enjoy spending time on the Miracle Mile as they explore Stockton and get to know their new home at Pacific.

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 University of the Pacific. 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.

What 9th graders should do this spring

Work at being good at high school

You're halfway through your first year of high school, and there's so much to deal with. There are often a lot of positive things associated with this time: establishing new friendships and networks, trying out interesting electives, learning practical skills. But there's also plenty of negative things to deal with: disappointment, feeling overwhelmed, feeling disorganized, having difficulty figuring out where you belong. Take time--not just once but at least once a week--to identify what's going well and what isn't. What are the positives to accentuate and the negatives to eliminate? Being self-aware and honest with yourself is going to help you get through this year, and if you'll stay in that habit it will help you every year of high school and beyond.

Improve your grades. Set modest and achievable goals--like improving your grade in each class by just three points--and track your progress at that goal. Do this in a positive way by studying a little harder and giving an extra half hour of effort, but also do this in a negative way in the sense of working to eliminate one bad habit or time-waster. 

Look for a mentor. Maybe you've already got a teacher, coach, or counselor who is a mentor to you. If not, go find one. You need to have at least one non-family adult who you trust to give you advice, to listen to you, and to have an academic relationship with beyond the time in the classroom. Maybe your school has provided you a mentor though some sort of advocacy program, but maybe that teacher is not really going to be a mentor to you for whatever reason. 

Continue to explore your interests. Remember that the whole point of education is to help you be a productive, happy, and interesting person. You can’t and shouldn’t wait until some future date to start working on those things. Explore activities and interests that you haven’t before. Try out a new club, sit somewhere different for lunch, find an interesting question to ask a teacher you haven’t connected with yet. The great thing about high school is that you get to do a lot of growing and changing and developing—you’re not stuck being the same person you were at the beginning of this year. But the hard part is that you are in charge of that growth and development; it can’t happen passively. So try new things, read new things, listen to new things, talk about new things, think new things.

Build confidence and clarity. There are dozens of ways to actively reduce your stress and build your confidence. If you haven’t yet, try at least one. Practice meditation; begin a workout routine; join a book club; take a low-stress online course; take on an art project; volunteer; write a short story; find a mentor; be a mentor.

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. Spring updates will available for all grades by the end of the week.

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 sophomores should do this spring

Work at being good at high school

Everyone’s experience is different, I get that. But there’s a really good chance that this semester is going to be your Golden Age. For one, you’re almost half way through high school and have got the hang of it. You’re not a clueless and picked-on Freshman any more. You’ve cultivated relationships with fellow students and, hopefully, a teacher or two. And also, the big jump to more rigorous courses and more college pressure usually doesn't begin in full until the 11th grade. 

So now is your time to shine. There are a few things you should do:

Improve your grades. Set modest and achievable goals--like improving your grade in each class by just three points--and track your progress at that goal. Do this in a positive way by studying a little harder and giving an extra half hour of effort, but also do this in a negative way in the sense of working to eliminate one bad habit or time-waster. 

Continue to explore your interests. By now you don’t need anyone to remind you that school is about more than the classroom. 10th grade is when a lot of people make the move to leadership positions in clubs and teams, to getting after-school jobs, to driving, to dating. It’s also when you see a lot more people get into parties, alcohol, and drugs. You know all this, so just let me remind you to stay focused on you. Think about your interests, explore new ones, and work toward building some kind of expertise. Whether moving toward High Achievement or Dropout Prevention, it’s all too easy to get caught up in some Flow that doesn’t really fit you. Resist this. Get help when you need it.

Build confidence and clarity. There are dozens of ways to actively reduce your stress and build your confidence. If you haven’t yet, try at least one. Practice meditation; begin a workout routine; join a book club; take a low-stress online course; take on an art project; volunteer; write a short story; find a mentor; be a mentor.

Make summer plans

This is the same advice I have for 11th graders. 

If you need to work or want a job, that's great. 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--you can still get a lot out of this. Just begin each 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.

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

Make fall plans

In his 5th century B.C.E. classic The Art of War, Sun Tzu says that the battle is won or lost before it even begins, because it is the preparation that wins the battle. Sports coaches love to repeat this wisdom about games being won during practice. The same principle applies to you and college admissions: the more you prepare now, the better it's going to be when the deadlines come.

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. Spring updates will available for all grades by the end of the week.

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.

What juniors should do this spring

Dates & Deadlines

I don’t think you should take the SAT or ACT unless you live in a state that requires it for public colleges. But if you live in one of those states, or if you decide to take it anyway, here are the dates.

SAT: March 12 (register by February 11); May 7 (register by April 8); June 4 (register by May 5).

ACT: February 12 (register by January 7); April 12 (register by February 25); June 11 (register by May 6).

AP Exams: May 2-13

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 for you. You haven’t had a “normal” year of high school. Keep in mind that everyone knows this. Everyone, from your teachers to school counselors to admissions officers, are in the same boat…or at least similar boars. They know that this 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, to 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 deny 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

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. But sitting around "doing nothing" is the enemy of any smart and ambitious student. That’s true in the summer, true in the fall, true in the spring.

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. Spring updates will available for all grades by the end of the week.

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 seniors should do this spring

Dates & Deadlines

AP Exams are May 2-13. The College Board plans, at least right now, to be back at traditional pencil-and-paper exams, given in schools, this year.

You should already know which AP classes you’re taking and which exams you’re likely to take. But seniors are in a weird spot. High school AP Coordinators have to turn in registration materials much earlier than students have decided which exams they want to take. So you have to sign up for AP exams not knowing how they might affect you or if you really want to take them.

For example, if you end up going to a college that doesn’t give credit for AP exams, or will only give credit for a 5 when you’re on track for a 3, then you may not want to bother taking a test that’s not going to benefit you directly. But you usually have to register for the exam long before you know which college you’re going to next year. Here’s the best thing to do: go ahead and register for exams and act as though you’re going to take all of them. Act as though each score of 3 or higher will get you college credit, potentially saving you time and money. If that turns out not be the case, then talk with your teachers and counselor about what to do. Many seniors end up going into the exam room knowing that the exam either doesn’t gain them anything or that they’re not likely to get a good score, and so they go to sleep. While this practice, honestly, is not likely to have personal negative repercussions for you, it may have negative effects for your AP teachers and your school. So be thoughtful about how you handle an exam that you’re neither expecting to get much from or put much into.

Work at being good at high school

It may seem silly to talk about being a good high school student in the spring semester of your senior year, but the fact remains that you're still in high school and there's still more to be done. And yes, I'm very aware of "senioritis." Your parents and teachers may not want me to say it, but slowing down your last semester is completely normal and fine. Because it's true, you're not just a regular high school student any more. On top of your normal classes and activities, you also have a lot of college decisions to make. Many seniors go on more college visits once they get their acceptances and have to make a decision. Your time in high school is just about over. There are often Prom and Senior Trip and Senior Gifts and Senior Pranks to organize. And so it's normal and fine to begin a transition and be less committed.

But think about it this way: how crazy would it be for an athlete to be told she's going to be on the Olympic team, and then stop working out and practicing? How self-destructive would it be for an employee to get a big promotion and then celebrate by not showing up to work half the time and being rude to her team that helped her get the promotion? You're almost out of high school and into college. That's wonderful! Keep acting like a great student.

One way that senioritis works is for students to suddenly take on the "I don't need it to graduate" standard. Even good students find themselves failing classes or dropping their extracurricular activities simply because they don't need them to graduate. If your family has raised you with the bare minimum of parenting required not to get arrested for neglect, and your teachers have only done what was required to not get fired, then the "I don't need it to graduate" attitude is understandable. Otherwise, it's pretty reprehensible. Don't celebrate your transition to adulthood by acting like a toddler. It's that simple.

So what is a more healthy and productive transition? What, if you will, is Good Senioritis? Good Senioritis is the kind that begins to move away from high school realizing that you're moving Up. You act even more like a leader in your extracurriculars to pass your skills along to next year's seniors. You let the adults in your life know you appreciate all they've done to help you get to this new space. Even though you really are tired and stressed, you ask a lot of questions instead of whining or dropping out. Seriously, the last thing your teachers and parents need is for you to tell them how hard it is to be a responsible adult. They know. So ask them for guidance and be honest about your fears.

If you begin to jettison time-wasting school activities, fine. But also think about jettisoning time-wasting activities outside of school. The best way to prepare for college is to be a good high school student. While it's different being a high school student your last semester, you still need to be good at it. 

Choose a college

Most colleges ask for a commitment by May 1, and that’s the standard deadline for accepting or rejecting their admissions offers.  Take a lot of time to think about this. Talk to your family. Talk to your trusted teachers and counselors. Talk to your smart and ambitious friends. Talk to the financial aid offices. You’re not just making a choice about classes and professors, but a big part of your identity. Go back over the Five Foundations, especially the part about treating it like a relationship. Remember that while some schools may be a better fit than others, it’s hard to make the “wrong” choice unless you choose not to go anywhere.

Get financial aid

Most students depend on at least some financial aid to get through college. For most, the final decision about where to go is heavily--if not completely--influenced by financial considerations. Look through your financial aid offers very carefully. Ask a lot of questions. Talk to you family about money, often. Don't be afraid to ask a school for more money.

Make summer plans

What do you need to do to get ready for college? Don't wait until the week before the fall semester to think about clothes for a new environment, bedding for a dorm, and transportation issues. If you've had a sluggish spring and need intellectual stimulation, see what your local museums or community centers offer. If you haven't had a job during high school, now is a good time to get some work experience, even if you don't think you need the money--especially if you don't need the money. It's tempting to treat this summer like a long nap, getting rested and doing very little before school next fall. But this is the best time to get prepared. Wherever you think you need improvement, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, intellectual, or any combination, now is the time.

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. Spring updates will available for all grades by the end of the week.

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.

Making new year resolutions? Focus on the How, not the What

You’re probably familiar with the Marshmallow Test. In the 1970s, psychologists put little kids in a room with a marshmallow. The test administrators left the room for about 15 minutes, telling the kids that if they didn’t eat the marshmallow sitting in front of them, they could have two marshmallows when the administrator returned. Some children were able to resist the temptation sitting in front of them to get the bigger prize, but many were unable to wait. Decades later, the psychologists met back up with many of the kids from the experiment, and they noticed that the ones who were able to resist as children had much better outcomes adults—better grades in school, higher paying jobs, more general happiness. The experiment seemed to show that children who have the inner power to delay gratification tend to have more successful adult lives. It proved, at least maybe, that will power is a real and powerful thing.

The experiment has been replicated, studied, and challenged many times. It turns out that the correlation between resisting the treat and better outcomes later stands up fairly well, but there are many factors that explain the results other than innate will power. Not surprisingly, if you grow up in a financially secure household and feel you can trust authorities, then it’s easier to have will power.

Here’s what stands out to me about the experiment: kids with a strategy did better. They didn’t just sit there, staring at the marshmallow in front of them, deciding over and over again not to eat it. They did something else to make it easier. Some of the successful kids did this on their own, by sitting on their hands, turning around, singing a song, or otherwise distracting themselves. Sometimes the strategy was built into the experiment: when the psychologists helped out by putting a cover over the marshmallow or providing the kids toys to play with, the kids did better at holding off and getting the bigger prize. Delayed Gratification is a how, not just a what.

If you’re making near year resolutions—or setting goals any time—keep this in mind. Most goal setting and self discipline are about delayed gratification, so remember the lesson: how, not just what. A large goal, any large goal, is essentially a Marshmallow Test. Can I resist the temptation to give in to easy treats in order to get a larger reward later? Can I resist the urge to check my social media feeds in order to do better homework and have higher quality studying? Can I avoid the temptation of…everything else…in order to keep an established weekly time for my college search? They’re all marshmallows. More abstract and more important marshmallows, but essentially marshmallows.

Setting a goal is good, but it’s unlikely to work. Most of us can’t simply decide to avoid eating the marshmallow. We can’t simply decide to be better students, better family members, have healthier bodies, have clearer minds.

Setting a goal and having a method for enacting the change is better. You’re deciding what you want to achieve, and you’re also deciding how you’re going to achieve it. You’re adding a how to your what.

And here’s the trick: setting a goal and having at least two layers of methods for enacting the change is even better.

The most common methods for achieving goals include routine, accountability, measurability, and help from others.

Here’s a personal example. I have made it a goal many, many times to exercise five times a week. I know that I should exercise to help out my blood pressure and weight. I know that I should improve my flexibility. I have frequent back pain, and exercise is the primary method for dealing with that. Despite making this sensible, achievable goal, I have never exercised five times a week. I’ve not been able to delay the gratification of doing other, less difficult things to get the reward of a healthier body. Simply deciding I’m going to exercise five times a week has never worked.

But here’s the thing: I always exercise at least twice a week. It’s not because I have a little bit of will power. It’s not because I try hard but not too hard to remember my goal. It’s because I have a method: I work out with a personal trainer on a set schedule twice a week. The routine and accountability make all the difference. Because those workouts with my trainer are always on my calendar, I never schedule anything else at those times. If I don’t show up to work out with my trainer, I have to pay her anyway. She sends me reminders and she gives me encouragement. I have podcasts that I look forward to listening to in the car on the way to the studio.

I have a goal for five days a week, but I only set up methods for twice a week. So I exercise twice a week.

If I’m going to make it a new year resolution this year to begin exercising five times a week, I’m going to have to include methods, not just the goal. The obvious answer is to use what has been successful so far and work out with my trainer five times a week. But that’s expensive, and I don’t necessarily have time to drive to the studio five times a week. I need to do most of my workouts at home. So what I should do is pile on a number of methods to make sure it happens. I should establish routine times to exercise on the other days, and put them on my calendar. I should set out my exercise clothes as a reminder. I should ask my trainer to check up on how often I work out at home to add a little accountability. I should find a new podcast to listen to while I exercise at home. Setting the goal isn’t enough—I need multiple methods to make it happen.

Let’s think about an academic goal typical of smart, ambitious high school students: get better grades at school. Deciding that you want to improve your GPA is a good thing, but it’s unlikely to work. You need methods, multiple methods, to set you up to achieve that goal. You’ll need to establish regular homework and study times. Ideally it would be the same time each day, but that may not be possible. But for each day, there needs to be a set time you’ll do homework and study. Set up a regular alarm on your phone to remind you every day that it’s time to study. Also set your phone up to go into “do not disturb” mode for your set study time. Establish a routine place where you’ll do this homework—not your bed!—and have everything you need for homework in that place. Tell a family member or other adult you trust about your plan, and ask them to follow up with you about how regularly you follow it. Decide what would make a good reward for following your plan at least 90% of the time, and remind yourself often of what that reward will be. If you’ll do all these things, you stand a much better chance of actually raising your GPA.

If you fail, it will not be a lack of will power. If you fail it will be because of circumstances beyond your control, in which case you will need to alter your methods and try again, or because you didn’t execute the methods in the first place.

So if you’re making new year resolutions this week, remember:

Decide on methods for success, not just the goal. Decide on the methods now, not later.

The more overlapping methods, the better.

Effective methods include routine, measurability (“I will raise my GPA by seven points” is better than "I will get better grades”), and outside help/structure.

If you succeed at implementing the methods but don’t meet the goal, you’ve still succeeded. If you set up a good homework/study routine and keep at it…but don’t raise your GPA significantly, you haven’t failed. You’ve set yourself up for easier success next time. Self-discipline and delayed gratification will always pay off in the long run. Always.

Happy New Year!

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:

   Study in the quiet places

   To do better at school, think of studying like bathing

   Take time to think about pleasure

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.

How to handle bad news

Yesterday, December 15, was a day of good news for many college applicants. Thousands of students learned that their Early Decision or Early Action applications had been accepted. Congratulations to all of them!

But it was also a sad day for thousands more, who had their ED and EA applications deferred or denied. (Colleges use the term “denied,” because although they are denying you acceptance to their school they don’t want you to feel like it’s a personal rejection. Every student I know calls it “rejection,” because—at least at first—it indeed does feel like a personal rejection.)

If you got good news, you know what to do. ED applicants—you’re done! Enjoy your break and enjoy your spring! EA acceptances mean you have some place to go and some place to compare your later offers to. That’s a nice spot to be in.

If you got bad news, though, you may not know what to do. You may be overwhelmed with questions or disappointment. So here’s some advice on dealing with the bad news.

First, understand what you’re looking at: is it a no or a maybe? If you are denied, then it means they are not going to enroll you. You won’t be going there; it’s decided. But very often with ED and EA applications, they don’t actually tell you no. They instead defer you to the regular decision pool. Your application will be looked at again, and you still may be accepted—or waitlisted—when those decisions come out. You may still be going to your top-choice school.

Either denied or deferred, if you applied ED this means you need to make sure you have other applications ready to go for regular admissions deadlines, mostly around January 1st. That gives you several weeks. That’s not a whole lot of time, but you were probably working on them anyway. You’ve got time to catch up. Make sure that your applications include a wide range of selectivity. Don’t assume that because you got denied or deferred once that it means you “can’t get in” at a low-acceptance-rate school and decide not to apply to any.

You should also apply to at least one or two schools where you are very confident you will be accepted. For some students, this means making sure you include schools with acceptance rates over 50%. For some it means making sure to include schools with acceptance rates over 70%. For some it may mean applying to schools with acceptance rates over 90%. You probably know which category you fit in—for most, 70% is a good standard, just to be sure.

If you applied EA, this probably doesn’t change much. You were already working on other applications and weren’t completely sure you want to go to this one school. Otherwise, you would have applied ED. So you’ve got emotions to work through, perhaps, but you’re on track.

If you’ve got emotions about the bad news—and you probably do—then you should work hard to name them and understand them. Work on at least one sentence that follows the “I feel _____ because _____” pattern.

I feel disappointed, because I really wanted to go to that college, and they denied me. I feel discouraged, because this denial makes me question how well my other applications are going to go. I feel embarrassed, because I acted as though this was going to be my college, and now I have to find another one. I feel angry, because I think they underestimated me and are taking away an opportunity.

You’ll probably have more than one feeling, and they’ll change over time. If you’ve got negative feelings, that’s not a problem. Don’t listen to the people who tell you not to feel that way. You don’t, in fact, need to stay positive. But one of the most productive ways to make sure your negative feelings don’t sabotage your chances with future applications is to have a clear idea of what your feelings are and where they’re coming from. Naming your feelings is a way to help keep them from controlling you. You’ll probably want to discuss those feelings with someone you trust.

If you got bad news of any kind, you may be wondering what you did wrong. It’s normal to do this, to want to know that one thing that messed things up for you: they must not have liked my essay, or my test scores were too low, or even I know someone with worse grades who got in, so there’s something unfair going on. Let go of this thinking as soon as you can. It’s normal, but it’s not useful or productive. Holistic admissions means that there’s no one thing that you did wrong. It’s just not that simple. The truth, which you may find reassuring but may find frustrating, is that you probably did absolutely nothing wrong. It may be that you did everything fine, but the school had more applicants who did everything fine than they could accept. This is why, other than politeness, they don’t call it a rejection.

If you’re experiencing strong negative emotions and making strong negative assumptions—things like “I won’t be able to have a successful life now that I’m not going to my top choice school” or “I’m not going to be accepted to any college”—then you may need to work on what psychologists call decatastrophizing. You can search for “decatastrophizing worksheet” and find plenty of examples, and they all ask you to logically and honestly ask yourself what the worst possible outcome really is, how likely that worst-case scenario really is, and what you plan to do if that worst case does (or doesn’t) come true. No matter what it feels like right now, the odds that this one college decision will actually be your downfall and ruin your life are incredibly small.

Remember that you planned for this. You knew this might happen, and you planned for it. Even if you applied ED, you knew that you would need a plan B and had other schools in mind. If you applied EA, then you definitely had other schools in mind. You certainly hoped to get good news in the first round, but you knew that it might not be the case. You have a few weeks to finish other applications to most schools, and even longer for some schools with late deadlines or rolling admissions. This is disappointing, but it’s nothing you aren’t prepared for.

The only thing left to do is take the next step. And unless you applied ED to one school and haven’t got a back-up, you already know what the next step is. Feel disappointed or frustrated or sad or embarrassed or whatever else you feel, and then finish up those other applications if you haven’t yet. Don’t decide that you need to throw your entire plan out the window and start all over again at zero. Don't decide that you’re a failure. Don’t decide that you will not even bother applying to college. Don’t spend the next two weeks feeling too bad to do anything about it. Just do what’s next, the logical next step, and you’ll be fine.

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

   What are your chances of getting into your top 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 Angela Elisabeth.

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

Expect surprises

In my years teaching high school seniors who were going though college admission, I learned to expect surprises. Several times I had fairly intense conversations in April with a senior trying to choose between two colleges. And on the May 1st deadline I would learn…that they went someplace completely different. I saw seniors celebrate in December their early acceptance to their dream school only to have very different dreams—and enroll at a very different school—in the spring. I learned never to consider a decision final until the student actually committed on paper. Even then, sometimes students will change their minds or do something completely different. When it comes to college admission, which is a very big, complex, and important decision, we should all expect surprises.

As a consultant, I often remind clients to expect surprises and not to be afraid of them. I’ve had clients begin the process in their junior year with a very clear set of goals, only to find themselves with a very different set of goals by the end. I’ve heard a shocking number of times: “I don’t actually know why I applied to that college.”

I had a couple surprises last week as I was checking in on people to see what news they’ve heard so far and what I can do to help them over the next month. One client initially told me that she’s not interested in going to school in the South, except maybe Florida. Still, I wasn’t too surprised when she told me a month ago that she applied to the University of Alabama. And this week she told me she’d been accepted to 11 schools so far, including Ole Miss. I didn’t know she applied to Ole Miss until she’d already been accepted. Surprise!

Another client had a plan. She was going to apply to UT Austin and Texas A&M, where she knew she would be accepted through auto-admission. She was also going to apply to Harvard and Cornell. And that’s it. Four schools: two assured acceptances, two long shots. So was I surprised when she told me this week that she was offered a scholarship at Auburn and is interviewing at Baylor? A little. But I’ve come to expect surprises.

Students, it’s ok to change your mind about things. People do it all the time, and you’re still growing and figuring things out. All that I ask about changing your mind and embracing the surprises is that you’re honest with yourself about your reasons. Self-knowledge is the best knowledge, and understanding your own motivations is honestly more important to your future success than what college you attend.

Take a (relatively) common example: the senior who gets accepted to an exclusive private college, one that they had as their top choice school, but ends up going to the less selective public university that’s much closer to home. They choose less prestige than they might. Why might a student do this? There are plenty of reasons.

A student might realize that they were only applying to the selective school to see if they would be selected, not because they actually want to go there.

A student may have known all along that they were unlikely to afford the private school but wanted to find out for sure. This student is fine with the decision.

Another student may have just assumed that a big scholarship would fall in their lap, and when it didn’t they changed plans and are very not-fine with the decision.

A student may have applied for the selective school with a major in mind, and then changed their mind about their intended major.

They may have visited the selective school and realized that the culture isn’t a good fit and not worth the extra money for them.

They may be experiencing mental or physical health problems that make being near home more practical.

They may be experiencing a major case of poor self-esteem and feel like they don’t deserve to go to the more prestigious school even though they were accepted.

They may change their mind and have no real idea why.

There are so many reasons to change your plan; there are probably overlapping reasons. But be honest with yourself. If what’s happening is that you’re scared of failure and so you’re setting yourself up for something that seems easier, don’t tell yourself that you’re changing your mind because of the dorms. If you’re freaking out because you now understand your family’s financial situation isn’t a stable as you assumed, don't tell yourself that you’re suddenly philosophically against private education. You can’t grow if you’re not honest about what the problems are. That’s really important.

You don’t have to tell everyone your reasons for changing your plan. You can always say of the school you enroll at: “it turned out to be the best academic, financial, and social fit for me.” And leave it that at. But if the reasons for your surprise move are things you need help with, you have to be honest with yourself so you can get that help.

Parents, keep yourself open to possibilities. When I talk to a student who doesn’t know what they want to major in but feel pressure to figure it out by their senior year of high school, it’s always their parents who are doing the pressuring. The reasons for the pressure are completely valid. It is indeed easier to choose a school suited to your field of study if you know what your field of study is. You are more likely to graduate on time if you go in with a plan and a schedule. College is indeed an expensive place to just explore interests. And yet you have to expect surprises. A third of college students change their major at least once. Forcing them to figure it out before applications doesn’t actually make things go more smoothly. When you’re helping your student choose colleges, focus on things other than fields of study and majors, especially if your child seems unsure. I don’t worry about clients who don’t have a major picked out. They’ve got a lot to discover and a lot that can go right. I worry a lot about clients who seem to have the next five years mapped out. They’re in for surprises, and there’s a lot that can go wrong.

Surprises happen, all the time. Those of us who see them over and over again are not that phased by them. Students going through the process for the first time, and especially their families, are often really distressed about it. Many high school students don't know what they want to do, what they want to study, where they want to be in the world. While I could share a bunch of exercises on trying to figure it out, instead I’m going to share the words of Zen Master Seung Sahn: “Good. Keep this ‘don’t know mind.’ It is an open mind, a clear mind.”

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:

   Making a very important decision in a very difficult time.

   It’s not the choice, it’s how you explain it.

   Getting good advice from your family.

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.

Three quick questions with Iowa State University

For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission 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.

Today’s response is from Dakota Carpenter, Senior Admissions Counselor at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Iowa State University?

A unique event at Iowa State is the Fashion Show. It is one of the largest student run fashion shows in the nation. The Fashion Show brings together students from across disciplines to draft press releases, execute set and stage design, design and model garments, and more. This event brings in around 2500 attendees each year and often features alumni judges who have gone on to work for companies like VANS, Marc Jacobs, JCrew, Vineyard Vines, and more.

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 Iowa State?

Iowa State is a public, land-grant, tier one research institution. Currently, the institution has an emphasis placed on research, innovation and entrepreneurship. Students who arrive to Iowa State with curiosity, an open mind, and a desire to obtain and share knowledge in their discipline will thrive.

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

Visitors to Ames often find that the Cyclone spirit exceeds far beyond our campus. “Iowa Nice” is very real and visitors will find that to be true as they explore various business and restaurants in the community. One place folks must check out is Reiman Gardens! Reiman Gardens sits on 17-acres and offers 26 different garden areas with displays that change with the seasons. It is home to the Christina Reiman butterfly house and is home to one of the most diverse butterfly collections in the county.

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 Iowa State. 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.

Looking forward to winter break for 9th, 10th, and 11th graders

What does a non-senior high school student need to do over this winter break to help prepare for college? In most senses, nothing. This is a break, after all. And, unlike 12th graders, you’re not finishing up applications for an early January deadline.

But in another sense, this is a great time to work on college applications, in the most broad way. The best way to approach college admission is as the beginning of a relationship. You’re trying to find the best match for you as a whole person. It’s not about proving that you’re worthy, or trying to rack up a lot of “impressive” things for your resume. You are, however, trying to be the best whole person that you can, and a break from school is a good time to plan and practice.

First, look over what I wrote for seniors. On top of finishing up college applications, I suggest that they should rest, read, re-asses, and spend quality time with people. Those are all true for you as well. Below is a list, which I first put together for my own 15 year-old, of things to try over the break that are neither difficult work nor passive consuming. I hope you’ll try some.

Go for a walk long walk, at least 30 minutes. Don’t play music or have any distractions. If you’re already a walker, take a different route than you’re used to. Pay attention to all your senses as you walk.

Watch some Healthy Gamer videos.

Clean and organize your room, bit by bit. Choose a small, discrete section--like a single shelf on a bookcase or one part of your desk--and clean it thoroughly. Then, when you’re ready, move on to the next. If you have the time, energy, and ambition, do a full “Konmari” of your room.

Read a novel. A good one. Preferably by an author you’ve never heard of. Read with your full attention.

Begin a meditation practice if you haven’t already got one. I like Andrew Weiss’s Beginning Mindfulness.

Improve your organization. I like Dan Charnas’s Everything in its Place: The Power of Mis-en-place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind.

Listen to some music. Preferably something you’ve never listened to before. Listen with your full attention.

Choose a work of art and learn as much about it as you can. Find information about it from as many good sources as possible. If it’s a work you can see in person over the break, even better.

Do a creative writing exercise.

Read a college profile. Or more than one.

Watch some School of Life videos.

Choose a place you’ve never been and plan an imaginary vacation there. Research online. Be as detailed as possible in your itinerary, learning as much as you can about the place.

Stretch. Then exercise.

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 three related Apply with Sanity posts:

   Treat it like a relationship.

   The secret to success? Here are two of them!

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.

Looking forward to winter break for seniors

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! The first day back from Thanksgiving may seem a little early to be writing about what to do over the winter break that’s still a few weeks away. However, I know many students are already planning for—or at least daydreaming about—their winter break already, so it makes sense to go ahead and start thinking about it a little.

These suggestions are made with seniors in mind, but they’re good advice for anyone with a few weeks off this winter. I’m also assuming a reasonably “normal” December. While a few of the students I work with are still very much in pandemic chaos, most are living relatively normal lives. Not all have been going on college tour trips, but a lot more have than last year (which was zero). Most are vaccinated and schooling in person. At this moment, though, the world is bracing for the Omicron variant and wondering how bad things can be. Please, please be careful out there.

Rest. This sounds obvious--of course you're going to rest. You have several weeks with no school! But for lots of students--and adults--it never quite seems to work this way. You stay up too late, thinking you'll sleep in, and then you have to get up earlier than you expected. Or you spend too much time in bed or on the couch, and you feel sluggish and dumpy. You can only get good rest from your break if you decide that you're actually going to and schedule for it. Decide that you're going to get 8-10 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, and then plan accordingly. The time you spend awake will go much better if you do.

Spend quality time with people. Now is a great time to catch up with friends and family, but, like good sleep, quality time with people is also elusive. You go to parties and gatherings, you have text or Snapchat conversations, you spend a little time with people...and then you realize that you didn't really have any good conversations. Quality Time is usually thought of as time you spend with another person giving them your undivided attention. Schedule some time for this with a few good friends and/or family members.

Re-assess. Now is a great time for reflection and regrouping. Here are several exercises to try to keep that conversation with yourself productive and useful.

Highs and lows. Like a lot of families, at our dinner table we often go around and share our high and low moment of the day with each other. It's a better conversation starter with school-aged kids than "how was your day?" and it reinforces that every day has both the good and the bad. Take some time thinking about--and sharing with someone else--your high and low points over the fall semester and your college quest. What worked? What didn't? What felt good? What felt bad? Consider it all.

Two-month time machine. When evaluating your semester and planning ahead, think about a two-month time machine. If you could go back two months to re-try the fall, what's one thing you really wish you could change? You obviously can't really do it, but it's a good way to think about "lessons learned."

Restate your dreams and aspirations. Take some time and write a personal mission statement for the year, especially if you're a senior and moving on to college next fall. Or if you don't want to be so college-centric but want to spend time thinking about what's really important to you, try the "last-year test" method of thinking about New Year's Resolutions. 

Read. It's really tempting to read nothing--or nothing of merit--over the break. You've read so much over the past few months, so why do it on vacation? The answer is simple: now you get to choose what to read, and you can make engaging your intellect fun for yourself. Besides, if you're ready to concede that the only reason you read or learn is because you're assigned to by authorities, then you may want to re-think the whole college thing. Take back control of your mind by reading something. It doesn't have to be Important Literature if that's not what you like, just choose not to be a mental slacker.

Don't do any more college stuff than you absolutely have to. As contrary as it may sound, you really should use your time as a true break and not college-planning time. If you put things off with the idea that you'd do them over break, that's perfectly normal. But get them done first and with focus. You're not going to send out good applications if you're finishing them a little bit at a time while you also finish gift shopping and meet with friends. Make a plan to finish your college to-do list as quickly as possible into the break. If you have December 15th or January 1st deadlines, get those things sent out first and with focus. There's no good reason to wait until the 14th or 31st to send those out.

Don't expect other people to work over the break just because you do. Virtually every year of my time teaching high school I got at least one over-the-break plea from a student. They wanted one last look at an essay, or a last-minute recommendation sent, or help getting their English grade up a little but before the final grades were turned in. How I responded depended on the nature of the request and the student doing the requesting. Sometimes it really was an unexpected opportunity for a really on-top-of-things student, and I happily did what was asked. Sometimes I put forth a minimal amount of effort to just get along. Often I just said no. But please remember that sending other people things to do over the break feels about as crappy and unfair to them as it would to you if they gave sudden unexpected homework over the break. Don't do it.

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 three related Apply with Sanity posts:

   “What movies should you watch before going to college?”

   “What are the strongest signs of success?”

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

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