What should high school students do this summer to prepare for college?

What should high school students do this summer to prepare for college?

Students finishing 11th grade and preparing for college applications have some very specific things they should do this summer. But what about everyone else? Many of the usual summer rituals for college-bound high school students are unavailable right now, and probably for the entire summer. No campus visits. No local museums or libraries. No summer trips. Probably no summer job. And, of course, no clear picture about what this fall will look like. There’s always a wide variety of circumstances when it comes to high school students in the summer. Some are getting very bored and restless, others are in a catastrophe, and most are somewhere in between. That’s true every summer, of course, but so many students’ circumstances have shifted drastically in the past few months, and almost no one is left unaffected.

So, then, what would I advise you to do this summer? Anything. You can do just about anything, I mean it.

What rising seniors should do this summer

What rising seniors should do this summer

This spring has been, to say the least, very weird. This summer also promises to be weird, even if we’re not sure yet what kind of weirdness to expect. If you plan to go to college right after high school, though, then you can’t wait for things to return to normal—who knows what that will even look like?—to get started on your college application plans. What follows are my recommendations for things you can do this summer to make your fall semester a little easier. It’s not a checklist to do in order, though. Each piece can affect all the other pieces, and you’ll find yourself updating and going through the cycle multiple times.

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Katie has chosen!

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Katie has chosen!

I’ve been a little worried about Katie. She and several members of her family had been sick. Flu-like symptoms are bad enough, but during our current pandemic they can be pretty scary. Also, she seemed to be leaning heavily toward one college, but wanted to delay her decision until the end of May. I thought maybe she was having doubts. Katie has allayed my fears, though. Read the full interview below to see how she’s feeling and where she’s going to college. Congratulations, Katie!

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Diana is done!

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Diana is done!

This spring has been a little different than the past few years for Meet the Class. With everybody staying home, there have been few campus visits or tours. High school classes have been minimal. Prom and social events have been postponed or cancelled. There’s been little hand-wringing and no last-minute decisions. Below is a short and sweet conversation I had with Diana, who will be attending the University of Oklahoma next year! Congratulations, Diana, and thank you so much for sharing your weird, stressful school year with us. Read the full interview below.

Should you apply to all the Ivy League schools?

Should you apply to all the Ivy League schools?

It’s happened again. A high school senior has made the news for getting accepted to all eight Ivy League schools. (The eight Ivies are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University.) Whenever this happens, many—like me—use it as an opportunity to discuss fit, focus, and why applying to all the Ivies is probably not in your best interest. Also, whenever this happens others use it as an opportunity to discus why pointing out that it’s not in your best interest is itself not a good move. So there’s the news, the commentary on the news, and then the backlash on the commentary. What’s that all about, and what does it mean for you? Let’s explore.

Make your choice and don't look back

Make your choice and don't look back

This is the last week for most seniors to make their final decisions and commit to a college for next fall before the May 1 deadline. (There are plenty of exceptions, especially this year: students who have until June 1 because some schools pushed back their deadline, students joining waiting lists, students who are putting off college for a year.) Many made their choice a while ago, but I know that tons are still trying to decide. If you’re waiting until the last minute to make your choice, it’s likely because you’re choosing between options that aren’t easily compared.

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Things for high school seniors to consider before committing to a college

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Things for high school seniors to consider before committing to a college

For most high school seniors, this milestone year has really been ruined by Covid-19. Classes cancelled. Graduation cancelled. Prom cancelled. Senior trip, senior skip day, senior prank: cancelled. On top of that, somewhere around a million seniors are also trying to figure out if, where, and how they’ll go to college next year. Campus visits have been moved online. Some, but not all, colleges have pushed their decision/deposit date back by a month. Family financial outlooks are changing drastically. There’s just so much chaos, and it’s hard to know what to do. Unfortunately, I can’t make any of it better or easier. What I can do is give some tips and reminders to think about as you go through this process as best you can.

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Katie is doing ok!

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Katie is doing ok!

In the several years I’ve been following seniors through Meet the Class, I’ve never been as anxious and excited to hear back from them as I am right now. I haven’t met any of these students in person, but I’ve really come to like them over the past eight months. So I’m relieved to hear from Katie, who was able to make a campus tour before everything closed down, and is making use of her extended time to make her final decision. Read the full interview below.

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

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What's the right number of colleges to apply to?

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What's the right number of colleges to apply to?

While seniors have a few more weeks before they have to make their final decisions, it’s ok to let them go and start focusing on current juniors and sophomores who are planning for their admissions season, not ending it. One of the most basic, and common, questions about the whole experience is how many colleges to plan on applying to. Most years there’s a news story about someone who is accepted to all eight of the Ivy League schools—though so far there’s no report of that this year—and there’s also usually a story about someone accepted to a large number of universities, sometimes over 50. Are these role models for you to follow? How many colleges should you apply to?

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Diana is doing ok!

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Diana is doing ok!

I felt nervous sending out interview questions this month. We’re in the middle of a global health crisis, a global financial crisis, and a near-complete shutdown of society. So…how’s your college search? But I also want to know that these seniors, who I’ve been checking in with since September, are doing ok. So far, I’ve heard from Diana, and she’s fine. She’s still on track to head to college in the fall. The University of Oklahoma is her frontrunner, though Texas Tech is still in the running, and Texas A&M has decided that they want to be on her list too. Read the full interview below.

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

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Making a very important decision in a very difficult time

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Making a very important decision in a very difficult time

The final stretch of college admissions for the high school class of 2020 is, to say the least, a giant mess. Some schools have moved their decision and deposit deadlines back a month to June 1, while many are keeping the May 1 deadline. Tours, visits, and accepted-student events are cancelled. As millions of people find themselves unemployed, financial aid will have to be re-figured for many would-be college students, and already many seniors are changing their minds and deciding that they will not be going to college next fall.

But many, many seniors are still making their decision as best as they can. Make sure you look up any online events your possible schools are hosting, check on their deadlines and how to appeal financial aid offers for changes to your family’s situation. Understand that you may not have as much information as you would like to make this decision, but you’ve got enough. You knew to apply to these schools, didn’t you? Other than that, here’s my advice for the coming weeks.

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Katie is almost there

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Katie is almost there

Although it’s now early April, Katie answered these questions almost a month ago. She got busy—as we all did—and didn’t have a chance to send them until earlier this week. Keep that in mind as you read these—they were written before most of us were in Social Distancing. By early March, Katie had, unfortunately, heard “no” from a number of schools. But she heard “yes” from one that has the program she’s most interested in, so there’s good news in here too! Read the full interview below.

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

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Resources for an extended time at home

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Resources for an extended time at home

With that in mind, I want to take this time to share some resources for making your own Social Distancing time more useful and productive. Right now my social media feeds are full of memes, questionnaires, video recommendations, and projects. They’re largely aimed at a bored and slightly stressed audience. And those are good, there’s nothing wrong with that. But my fear is that the “answer these questions about yourself” and “share a photo of _____” mini-conversations are still grounded in passing the time and not making something of the time. Here are some suggestions for making something of the time.

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Revised: what should seniors be doing now?

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Revised: what should seniors be doing now?

Apply with Sanity always has a “What Should I Be Doing Now?” section, updated for fall, spring, and summer. Obviously, the idea of what students should be doing right now is quite different, so I’ve updated the section for seniors to reflect what’s going on right now.

For 9th, 10th, and 11th grade, the “What Should I Be Doing Now?” entry is simply last week’s blog post “Don’t write a Coronavirus essay, but act like you will.” That’s really all the college admissions planning you should be doing right now while we’re in this emergency.

It is my largest hope right now that the Summer section, when it goes up in May, will be the same as every summer. Stay safe, stay home, and wash your hands.

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Questions from students

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Questions from students

A few weeks ago, back when students were still in school, I gave a talk to around 100 local juniors about three myths of the college admissions process. I only had time to take about two questions from the audience before they had to run off to class, so they compiled a list of follow-up questions. Since they won’t be back in class for at least three more weeks to get my responses, I thought I’d put them up here.

Don't write a Coronavirus essay, but act like you will

Don't write a Coronavirus essay, but act like you will

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

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Three myths about college admissions

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Three myths about college admissions

This week I got to give a 45-minute talk to the 11th graders in the International Baccalaureate program at my local neighborhood high school. I’ve talked to several classes there, and to the PTA, but never to a large group of students. Several of the teachers asked me to come, because their 11th graders are getting into full-on college application mode, and because the teachers have noticed a serious uptick in stress, competition among students, and “I heard that…” statements about college admissions that aren’t necessarily grounded in fact.

I prefaced my talk, as I do most talks with the usual disclaimer: each school is different, so there’s no rule or custom that works for all of them. What I’m about to say doesn’t relate perfectly to some of the super-wealthy and super-elite colleges like the Ivy League, nor does it relate perfectly to non-selective public or specialized schools. But it relates pretty well to a lot of the colleges out there, and to the ones where most of you are likely to go.

The talk was called Three Myths about College Admissions.