Students

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Should you hire a college admissions consultant?

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Should you hire a college admissions consultant?

I've had a slow month as seniors are (for the most part) done with the college admissions process and underclassmen are busy with exams and finishing up the year. But the first week of June I have at least four initial meetings with new clients coming on board. I'm still pretty new in the Educational Consultant business, but there are a lot of Independent Educational Consultants out there, with a lot of different approaches and price ranges. Should you consider hiring an admissions consultant? Who are they for?

Your end-of-year assignment

Your end-of-year assignment

Around this time of year, when people are graduating from high school and college, I like to have a look at graduation speeches. Most graduation speeches are not very good--how could they be?--but that doesn't mean that there aren't some really great ones. Over the past week I've been perusing this year's best (Chance the Rapper and Oprah seem to be the hits so far, but there are still plenty to go) and the best from last year. 

And here's your assignment: draft your own graduation speech. Don't worry, you won't have to deliver it, or even write it. But give it some good thought and make an outline. Do this whether you're a graduating senior, a soon-to-be sophomore, or a been-there-done-that parent. 

Here are the ingredients to a good graduation speech.

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How universities are organized

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How universities are organized

Here's a pop quiz for you: what's the difference between Harvard College and Harvard University? I'll answer at the bottom.

But first here's a story. A few weeks ago I was at a conference for educational consultants, in a session about demonstrated interest. One of the presenters gave an interesting example from when he was an admissions officer at a major university in the Mid-West. He said a high school student flew in from the West Coast to do an on-campus interview. That's definitely a sign of demonstrated interest. However, the student ruined it when he said in the interview that he was really excited about studying business. This particular university has a well-known business school for people getting an M.B.A., but doesn't offer business as a major in the undergraduate program. And this, the presenter said, was a negative sign of demonstrated interest. The kid says he's really interested in the school, but doesn't even know they don't offer the major he wants?

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The Glossary: need blind

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The Glossary: need blind

There are currently around 100 colleges and universities in the U.S. that claim to offer need-blind admissions. Need blind sounds really great, but what exactly does it mean?

Need blind means that the school's admissions staff don't take your financial situation into account when they consider whether to accept or deny you. Your ability to pay isn't a factor. It does not mean that they don't know anything about your financial situation.

Where you're going has what you want

Where you're going has what you want

The odds are high that you're going to a "safety" school, and the odds are very high you're not going to your "dream" school. That's very normal; it has a lot more to do with the economics and logistics of admissions than you as a person. Just ask yourself how many times you've heard some sad person say "my problems all began when I graduated from a university that wasn't my dream school." You're going to be fine.

But there's a way to make sure you're going to be better than fine, but great. And that's to remind yourself that whatever it is you were looking for is available where you're going.

When you strip away the names and specifics but instead focus on the qualities that you were looking for, you can almost certainly find those qualities at the school you're going to attend.

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The Glossary: early action

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The Glossary: early action

Early Action is just like regular admissions...only you do it earlier. You have an earlier deadline, and you get an answer back early. Whereas most regular application deadlines are somewhere around January 1, most Early Action deadlines are around October 1. And instead of getting a decision back in March, you get it in December. It's not Early Decision--you aren't committed to going to the school if you get accepted. You have until May 1 to make your decision, and you're welcome to turn them down even though they accepted you Early Action.

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The Glossary: early decision

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The Glossary: early decision

Not all universities offer an Early Decision option, and each one might have its own fun little stipulations and rules. But the basic idea of Early Decision is that you turn in your application early, you get a decision from the school early, and if you get accepted you agree to go there and withdraw any other applications you may have also sent. This requirement that you enroll if you're accepted is why Early Decision is usually referred to as "binding." Early Decision is often confused with Early Action, which I'll write about separately next week. But for today, remember that Early Decision is exactly what it sounds like: you decide early that you really want to go this school; they decide early if they're going to accept you; if they do, then it's decided--early--that you will definitely go there.


Thinking about lemurs at college

Thinking about lemurs at college

Yes, lemurs. As in the little primates. Like Zoboomafoo. I was in North Carolina this weekend, going with my wife to her 20-year law school reunion at Duke University, and we got to go visit the Duke Lemur Center. The Lemur Center has the largest population of lemurs outside of Madagascar, including many who roam freely in the forest around the center.

Making the call before May 1

Making the call before May 1

I'm assuming by this point you've already checked all the major information you might want to know about the schools you're considering, things like "can I afford it?", "what's the graduation rate?", and "what's the student-faculty ratio?". You may also be going back for on-campus visits at some of the schools who have accepted you.

I'd like to throw out a few other things you should research before choosing a school. I seriously doubt any of these factors are going to be The Deciding Factor. However, if you end up just "going with your gut feeling" on April 30, these are some things that may end up affecting your gut feeling.

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Jack is ready to make decisions

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Jack is ready to make decisions

I didn't hear back from Jack's March questions until April 1, when I was about to send April questions. So this will count as a March/April installation, and we'll hear back from him after he makes his final decision by May 1. It looks like he's going to be choosing between Pitzer and Brandeis, although you never know how last-minute decisions work out. Read the full interview below, and check back in May to see how things wrap up!

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What if you get a full ride?

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What if you get a full ride?

Let's be clear: getting a full scholarship is very rare. Fewer than one percent of college applicants end up getting to go for free. It takes more than just being a good student who wrote a good application essay. But still, one percent is still thousands of students a year, so you may want to do some thinking and planning, just in case.

Here's a simple rule to help you know how to think about full scholarships: you should not pass up a full ride. If you apply to a school and they offer you a full scholarship, go to that school.

Some book recommendations

Some book recommendations

Last week I gave a talk at a local P.T.O. meeting, explaining to a room of parents why the phrase "it looks good to colleges" is a red flag, what the "Am I worthy?" mindset is, and why it's a better idea to treat college admissions like a relationship. After the talk, a woman asked if I had any books I could recommend. Of course I do! Here are four, in no particular order.

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The Glossary: holistic admissions

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The Glossary: holistic admissions

Most American universities use some form of holistic admissions to determine who they will invite to enroll at their school. "Holistic" means that they look at the whole applicant and the whole application, and it usually means they look at the whole application together. There are no cut-off test scores; there is no formula for how to score and weight each portion of the application; there is no "magic bullet" that will earn you admission or get you rejected. This means that you can't necessarily make sense of the results by only looking at a part, because they take the whole into consideration. So a person may get accepted while someone with lower test scores does not. A person who writes a really crappy essay may still get accepted if the other parts of the application look great. 

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Making the most of a campus tour

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Making the most of a campus tour

My main piece of advice for college campus visits, whether it's a multi-day event or a one-hour walkthrough, is to remember to be an active investigator while you're there. Unless it's just an early practice tour, you're not there to just be led around. Ok, you're literally there to be led around, but not in the big picture.

Dealing with anxiety about leaving your family

Dealing with anxiety about leaving your family

Whether or not you're the first in your family to go to college, whether or not you feel a strong family achievement guilt, you're probably experiencing some level of anxiety about leaving home and your family for college. Even if you live at home, you're still entering a new world and new ways of interacting with your family. There are some strategies that anyone can use to help ease the transition.