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Demonstrating Your Interest to Colleges – Make it Count

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Franklin & Marshall College

As I visit colleges and talk with admission counselors, it has become rather clear that how much interest an applicant shows in a school really can matter.

Like anything in the college application process, applicants cannot afford to rely on doing the minimum and expect to be considered a strong applicant. Especially at the more selective schools where there are just too many applicants already.

What admission counselors are interested in are students who can do the work and who are likely to enroll. This is called yield and it’s something I talked about in a previous post:

Why Demonstrating Your Interest Matters

This is the aspect of the process that so many families fail to see. As much as an applicant may have worked hard to achieve strong grades and test scores, in the world of selective admissions, they have to be more than just grades and test scores if they are hoping to be competitive. At a certain point, a vast majority of the applicants can do the work but there are only so many seats in the incoming class. So as much as an applicant’s grades and test scores may look great on the surface, it’s also about how the college values other aspects of their profile when they are trying to make decisions.

And that’s where showing your interest in a school can help your chances.

But, there’s a catch.

As I mentioned already, if you want to make the most of this process and really position yourself as a strong candidate for a school that you are truly interested in, then you have to do more than the minimum.

What’s the minimum?

Just attending an information session and tour when a college offers an overnight program complete with an interview and the opportunity to sit in on a class and meet with current students.

Not even visiting a college who is within driving distance when they clearly state on their website that priority consideration for admission and scholarships will be given to students who visit.

An applicant who sends an email to an admission counselor to say how much he or she loves the school and then fails to continue the conversation when the admission counselor replies and asks the applicant a few follow-up questions.

If you really do love a college and you really do see yourself there then you really do need to go the extra mile to make sure the college knows this. Really, you do.

So, fill out the card and email the admissions counselor. Visit campus. Do all of those things. But, do more as well. Instead of just sending an email to say how interested you are, engage in a conversation about your major or a particular aspect of the school that excites you. Ask about meeting with or talking to faculty or current students. See if you can arrange to sit in on a class or spend an overnight on campus so you can attend an event or game. Schedule an interview with admissions – and don’t let distance dissuade you. Many schools will do interviews by phone or Skype knowing that finances can prevent a student from getting to campus. If you can’t get to campus, check to see if the school is running any admissions or alumni receptions in your area and connect with the school through social media.

College is one of life’s great journeys but it requires some hard work along the way. Put your best effort into this process and make the most of all opportunities to connect with colleges and admission counselors. You’ll be glad you did more often than not.

If you would like some assistance with your college search, contact me today for a free 60-minute consultation.

Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.

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Eric May 12, 2015 , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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How To Make Your College Essay Matter

College essays southington ct college consultantNow that summer is here, I have all of my students working on their essays. We start now so that they don’t have to try to work through what is one of the more difficult writing assignments during the beginning of their senior year. In fact, if done right, they should all be done with their essays by mid-August.

Of course, it’s rarely easy to do it right and it does require some time and thought.

If you’re struggling with how to get your essay started, here’s a few things to consider:

1. Your essay is a personal statement, not an academic paper.

Don’t try to impress the reader with an over-the-top vocabulary. Savvy admission counselors who read hundreds of essays each year know what teenagers’ voices sound like. Yes, it’s okay to spruce up your language a bit, but don’t go into a PhD dissertation-worthy dialogue. It will come across as phony and that’s the last thing you want.

2. A strong essay will show how you connected to something and what you learned from it.

And sometimes these moments can be rather ordinary. One of the best essays I read last year was about scooping ice-cream and dealing with a temperamental soft-serve ice-cream machine and how it taught this student about working hard, discovering new ways to do things differently and the value of teamwork. The student was accepted early-decision to Brown and her essay was deemed to be rather heavenly.

3. Seek help.

If you’re stuck and just can’t come up with any ideas that get you excited, ask your friends or parents how they would describe you to someone. What adjectives would they use? What would they say about you? How would they characterize you and your best attributes or traits? Sometimes other people see things in us that we don’t see ourselves and it is these ideas that can open up your perspective on what to write about.

4. Don’t be afraid of talking about a failure.

Sometimes, we learn the greatest life lessons after having failed at something. Remember, it’s about how you learned from the failure, not the failure itself (see #2 again if this point does not sink in) that matters.

Ultimately, you want your essay to compliment the rest of your application and show that you are more than just a combination of grades and test scores. You want an admission counselor to learn something about you that they haven’t learned elsewhere when reviewing your transcript, test scores and activities. You want them to put down your essay and say, “I really like this kid. There’s a lot here and he or she would be an awesome addition to our college.”

So put in the time and effort to make sure that happens.

If you would like some assistance with your college search or financial aid process, contact me today for a free 60-minute consultation.

Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.

 

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Eric Jun 23, 2014 , , , , , , No Comments
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Great Expectations? Let’s Just Start With Appropriate Ones First

Dobler College ConsultingLast week I talked about how some of you, as high school seniors, are trying to make your final decision on where you will enroll for the fall. It’s definitely not an easy decision to make, especially when there are probably several people chiming in with opinions. If you missed the post, check it out here.

This week, I want to talk about a decision that those of you are high school juniors are trying to make: what you will major in.

While some of the students I work with have been locked into a major for some time, I have others who are struggling with the decision. The reasons for the indecision are numerous but I would bet that you would recognize one or more of these:

“I’m afraid of picking the wrong thing. What if I go somewhere for one major and find out I really wanted something else and that school doesn’t have it?”

“I really love music, but I just don’t know if I can do anything with it in my life.”

“It’s hard. I have a lot of interests and what ends up happening is that whatever I am most into at the moment is what I think I want to do. But then something else comes along, and I want to change my mind. I just like so many things.”

Sound familiar?

If any of these stances do, my best advice to you right now is to relax. That’s right. Just relax.

First of all, it’s April of your junior year. It’s too early to be worried about a major right now when you should really be focused on doing well in your fourth quarter.

Secondly, unless you are interested in a pre-professional program like engineering, accounting, or nursing, your major may not even matter.

There. I said it. Let me say it again: Your major may not even matter.

Notice I said “may” and not “will.” Sometimes it will matter and I wrote a piece about this very idea last year. But, for the most part, it won’t matter.

What will matter is connecting with your professors and helping them get to know you so that they can introduce you to people or opportunities where you will develop professional skills.

What will matter is completing an internship or five of them. Experience is EVERYTHING.

What will matter is working hard, not just to acquire knowledge for a test but to become the owner of that knowledge for a lifetime.

What will matter is joining clubs and organizations and learning how to network with your peers and other professionals. Someday, you may work with some of them. Someday, some of them may work for you.

Now, this is not to say that you should just blindly begin your college search and application process with total disregard to a major. But it is to say that you shouldn’t set such great expectations for yourself. So, don’t worry too much about what you think your major is or even what it should be right now. Instead, spend some time figuring out what your VIPS are and then let them help inform your journey.

If you have any thoughts on picking a major or setting (un)realistic expectations, please use the comment section below. If you want some help figuring out your VIPS and what they mean for you, email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com or call me at 203.525.4096.

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Eric Apr 08, 2013 , , , , No Comments
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Why You Need To Explore Your Major

Dobler College ConsultingWhen I work with students, we always have the conversation about potential majors pretty early on. Not because I expect them to have a plan for the rest of their lives ready to be laminated and hung up on a wall but because I want to know what they are thinking about and why. I’m a firm believer that the first steps to a happy and successful life are grounded in identifying your VIPS.

If you don’t know what your VIPS are, check out this post I wrote a couple months ago.

Once you have a good handle on what you’re good at, what you’re most interested in and why it has meaning to you, narrowing down the endless possibilities of majors is easier. Note that I didn’t say it’s easy. Just that it’s easier to do.

Picking a major is never easy. Especially when you have your whole life ahead of you. In fact, what you end up doing as an occupation 15 or 20 years down the road may not even exist today.

Because of this, I often tell students not to worry too much about what their major is. Granted, if a student is interested in pre-professional programs like nursing, education, accounting or engineering to name a few, then yes, choosing the right major is important. But it must match up with your VIPS if it’s going to be the right choice. There are plenty of articles out there talking about majors with the highest starting salaries and majors who will have the most lucrative careers. Go ahead and read them and let them help inform your decision, but please don’t think that just because a major has the potential to lead you to a high paying career that it’s automatically the right one for you.

Let’s say you read one of these articles and find out that computer engineering is a hot major right now. Graduates are earning upwards of $70,000 right after graduation and since you’re good with computers, you think this is a good choice for you.

Not so fast.

First, look up computer engineering programs online. Pay close attention to what the program is designed to do, what kinds of courses you will have to take and then ask yourself if it still sounds good. If you’re psyched about taking Calculus I and II and two courses in General Physics your freshman year, then you might actually be on the right path. But if it doesn’t sound so great, that’s when you have to head back to the drawing board and think a little more about your VIPS and how they might help you find majors and career paths that make more sense for you.

Another great way to find out if you’re cut from the right cloth is to do a job shadow or informational interview.

In a typical job shadow you’ll spend a few hours or, if you’re lucky, an entire day with someone who does what you think you want to do. You get to actually see what a day in the life of a professional in your intended field is like. In fact, this is probably one of the smartest things you can do to start clarifying what it is you want to do with your life. Work through your family, friends and teachers to identify individuals who could host you for a job shadow.

If you can’t secure a job shadow, an informational interview is a great back-up. Think of a job interview where you have to answer questions about yourself, why you want the job, what you can bring to the table and why the employer should hire you. Now, turn it around so that you get to ask someone questions about what they do, what they love and hate about it, where they went to school and if their degree helped prepare them for their job. Cool, huh?

At the end of the day, do some homework in your intended majors. Talk to people who are doing now what you think you want to do in a few years. Ask honest questions and really listen to the answers. I promise you it will be one of the best things you do for yourself on this crazy journey.

If you have any questions about choosing majors, your VIPS, securing job shadows or informational interviews, please use the comment section below.

You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com for help with any aspect of your college search and application process.

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Eric Mar 18, 2013 , , , , , , , , No Comments
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Why Your Application Needs To Stand Out

Each year the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) puts out a report called, The State Of College Admission. The report is free for NACAC members while non-members can purchase a copy for $25. The report talks about trends in college admission as reported by college admission officers and high school counselors from around the country. One of the statistics from this year’s report that I wanted to share with you today was the average number of applications that each admission counselor reads.

According to the report, the average college admission counselor in 2005 read 359 applications. By 2011 that number had nearly doubled to 662.

Think about that for a second. You are one of nearly several hundred applications that will cross an admission counselor’s desk in a very short period of time. Having reviewed thousands of applications in my old admission days, I can tell you that admission counselors do their best to give each application the time and attention it deserves. But when your application underwhelms or does not tell your story in full color, well, that review and the decision to say “no” can be painfully quick. Admission counselors want to connect with you as an applicant. They want to get excited about you. And they want to say “yes.” But sometimes it becomes very hard for them to do just that simply because you didn’t make the most of your application.

So, instead of putting off your college search to the last minute, start researching schools now and then visit some college campuses this spring. Think about what you might want to say in your personal statement and then record your ideas for when you get down to the writing process over the summer. Think about who you would want a recommendation from and plan on talking to them before the end of the school year. Create an account on the Common App and go through each section to familiarize yourself with how it works and what information is required. This will be great practice for when the new one launches on August 1st. Start a list of your activities, honors and accomplishments – great or small, so that you don’t forget anything when it comes time to completing applications in the fall.

At the end of the day, ask yourself what you want an admission counselor to know about you and why it should matter to them. Then, as you go through the next several months, spend time putting together an application and supporting materials that ensure your application will be one that motivates an admission counselor to say, “YES!”

Have something to say? Use the comment box below or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com. If you think this makes a lot of sense, consider sharing it with someone you know.

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Eric Jan 13, 2013 , , , , , , , , , , No Comments