Meet the Class is an opportunity for parents, educators, and admissions professionals to get a look at individual seniors and what they go through to find their college.
It’s updated each month from September to May. Each month will feature an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.
In this first post in the series, we meet Grace. Grace is a senior in the Houston area. She attends a public magnet high school.
Work at being good at high school. This has an academic side—take the most rigorous classes you can, get the best grades you can, be involved in your education. But just as important at this point are the social and emotional sides. You’re easing your way into a new and exciting (and challenging) place. You’re going to have missteps, and you’re going to change your mind about things. That’s normal, and that’s fine.
When you get recruiting information from colleges, hold on to it. Make a special email folder to archive all the "college stuff.” Have a box to keep all the materials you get in the mail. You don’t have to examine it all closely and make decisions about schools—but keep those resources near you. When it comes time to find a school that’s a good fit, starting with the ones who reach out to you early is a great strategy.
You probably already know this—you’re living it—but 11th grade is generally acknowledged to be the toughest year of high school. There’s a major jump in the rigor of your classes. You’re moving into leadership positions in your extra-curricular activities. You have some major high-stakes tests. People are beginning to ask you more and more about your plans after high school. You’re more likely to be working an after-school job, you’re more likely to be driving, you’re more likely to be dealing with the ups and downs of dating and relationships. You likely have growing responsibilities at home. You’re more likely to be dealing with emotional or social issues.
Your daily high school homework isn’t quite as compelling as it was a year ago. On the other hand, you also need to be preparing yourself to be a good college student, and the best way to prepare for college is to be a good high school student. As tempting as it is, you can’t just coast through senior year; that never works as well as it seems like it should. So it’s perfectly normal and appropriate for you to be less diligent your senior year than your junior year. The important thing is to ask yourself why.
But maybe you're out of the most direct danger and wondering what this means for your financial aid. Maybe, on top of the distress of 20 trillion or so gallons of water being poured on our area and entire neighborhoods being destroyed, you've realized that what's going to help your family get through this is spending your college savings on something other than college.
Depending on how your school calendar works, you probably have somewhere between two and six weeks of summer left. If your house is anything like mine, you're beginning to run out of planned activities and good ideas. So I thought I'd give some suggestions to smart and ambitious high school students for wrapping up the summer.
It's been a quiet, slow summer for me. But that doesn't mean I had nothing to say! Here's what I wrote about this summer.
I gave a concrete example of how to put your College Mission Statement to use.
I responded to the Harvard Meme Incident and gave some advice about taking control of your communications.
I explained that supply and demand work the opposite way than many of us think about it: there are more universities trying to get you in than there are universities trying to keep you out.
I gave a summer homework assignment to research income trends. I've no idea why this was such an unpopular post!
I tried to make sense of the report that an alarming number of Americans think that universities are doing harm to our nation.
I argued that there are few good reasons to pass up a full scholarship, even though people do it all the time.
I'll be keeping my only-on-Thursdays approach to blog posts through August, and then moving back to twice a week when things really get moving in the fall. Thanks for reading Apply with Sanity!
Photo by David Leggett Photography
Why have Americans--especially, but not only, Republicans--turned cold on college? Do they no longer value education? No, despite some of the over-the-top headlines, this probably isn't it. While the Pew poll doesn't ask each of the respondents to explain their answers, there are a couple good guesses as to what's going on.
Last week The Atlantic published this article by Joe Pinsker titled "Rich Kids Study English." It's a really fascinating piece that I hope you'll take the time to read, but here's the main idea: "the amount of money a college student’s parents make does correlate with what that person studies. Kids from lower-income families tend toward 'useful' majors, such as computer science, math, and physics. Those whose parents make more money flock to history, English, and performing arts."
If you only read the major news headlines, you might think that there's too much demand for universities and not enough supply. The news is dominated by stories about the really, really low acceptance rates at places like Harvard and Stanford. But the reality is often the opposite: most colleges are trying to get people in, not keep them out.
It’s wonderful that you’re willing to make dramatic efforts toward something: staying up all night to study for a test; starting an extreme fitness routine before a sports team try-out; concocting an elaborate Promposal; doing extra credit work to boost your grade. But run before the bell and do those things at a time when they’ll be more beneficial: stay up a little late five nights before the test instead of a self-destructive all-nighter; start exercising months before the try-out; ask that person out now in a non-theatrical way instead of waiting until Prom season; keep your grades up so you don’t have to beg for extra credit. It’s not as dramatic, but it costs you a lot less.
I've written about how and why to craft a college mission statement, but I want to follow up with more detail and give a sense of how you might use the mission statement to help make your college search more efficient and effective.
This week I had a great coaching session with a client working on her mission statement, so let me walk you through what we did.
May is such a busy time for high school students! Finishing classes, taking AP and IB exams, studying for final exams, and--for seniors--making college decisions. Almost everything I wrote last month had to do with these transitions.
I provided links to a few of the best graduation speeches ever.
I explained what a 9th, 10th, and 11th grader should do this summer to prepare for college admissions.
I used a podcast about economists to explain why you should consider applying early and colleges should allow people to apply early to two or three schools.
I gave some unusual advice about social media and your college applications.
In my most popular blog post so far, I reacted against a popular story and explained what being valedictorian actually means...and what it doesn't.
I offer both individual coaching and group workshops to students who'd like to use the Five Foundations to make their application process a little more sane.
Thanks for reading! You can follow Apply with Sanity on Facebook and Twitter. Contact me if you'd like more details about coaching or workshops.
Photo by David Leggett Photography
