Would you buy a car without driving it first? Would you buy a home without going to see it first? Arrange for a college visit and see everything “up close and personal“. Can’t visit? Spend some time on YouTube and you can learn quite a lot about a college as well!
As I talk to students about the college application process, one of the concepts I try to get them to understand is how they can create opportunities to demonstrate their interest to colleges.
Demonstrated interest is a relatively new phenomenon in college admissions over the last several years. While some schools won’t care how many times a student has shown his or her interest, a lot of schools will.
These schools aren’t the ones you will find at the top of the U.S. News or Forbes rankings – but then again, you should already know what to think about these lists – because those schools don’t have to care. Being that highly ranked and being that selective in their application review means they don’t have to do anything and kids will still fall all over themselves to apply each year.
Other schools, however, are very interested in just how interested their applicants are in them and will often say so right on their websites. For one, they are trying to find students who are eager to attend rather than ones who are just eager to apply. A student who wants to attend is likely a student who will enroll and do well resulting in a student who graduates in four years. In the college world, this is called yield. And when an admissions staff can more accurately predict their yield, they can enroll a class that meets the institution’s goals. This is also why the elite schools who crowd the top of the rankings don’t have to put any value on demonstrated interest – their yield is already incredibly high.
So, just how do you demonstrate your interest?
1. Social Media.
Colleges are on social media just waiting for you. Go find them on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube. Like them, tweet them and follow them. Some colleges are tracking this information very closely.
2. Campus Tours
One of the best ways to get a feel for a college is to visit campus. But when a college asks you to RSVP and then to sign in when you get there, you can bet they’re tracking you. When you’re there, get business cards from everyone you meet and follow up with a thank you or a brief note saying what you enjoyed most about your visit.
3. Interview
One way to really make the most of your college visits is to schedule an interview ahead of time. It’s a great way for you to get your specific questions answered but it’s also a great way to make an impression with an admission counselor. Ideally, you want to interview with the counselor who will be reviewing your application. ALWAYS follow up with a thank you email.
4. Applying Early
You have choices in the way you apply to a college and applying early is one way to show a college how interested you are. By applying early, you show that you’ve done your homework and researched the college well before senior year arrived. You show that you’re a more serious applicant and, when combined with a visit, an interview and connections through social media, a college is more likely to feel that you are an applicant who wants to do more than just apply.
If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation. Also be sure to snag your free copy of the Top Ten Tips For Navigating The College Admissions Journey.
I received a call the other day from one my students, Nick, who had spent the day at SUNY Oneonta, a regional state university situated in the middle of upstate New York. He was scheduled to attend their information session but had also called ahead to secure an interview with an admission counselor. With the school residing nearly four hours from his hometown, it wasn’t likely that he was going back for a second visit before application season takes off. The school had only recently shown up on Nick’s radar and with a day off from school for Rosh Hashanah, he and his dad made the trek to campus.
Once the interview was over, Nick and his dad decided to skip the information session. He felt they had already received so much good information from the admission counselor that sitting through a 45-minute presentation would be redundant. They took a chance and decided to go off the beaten path to explore campus on their own.
Nick is a prospective music industry major so they decided to visit the music building to take a look around. Once inside, they ran into a few students. They made small talk with the students and then happened upon a professor who was on his way to teach a class. After introducing himself, the professor offered to show them around the building. He talked about the program’s strengths, the opportunities that were there for a student like Nick and also showed them around the sound recording studios. But it’s what happened next that got me so excited for Nick.
Realizing the time had come for his class to start shortly, the professor invited Nick to sit in on his class.
Nick accepted this professor’s offer and spent the next hour and half getting a taste of what a college class would feel like.
I’m so proud of him for doing what he did and I couldn’t have scripted it any better even if I had tried. If Nick had just sat through the information session, he would have missed out on all of this. He never would have sat in on the class, he never would have had a first hand look at the studios and he never would have called me with the level of excitement in his voice that I heard that day.
Instead, he took a chance, struck up some conversations and ended up having an experience that may just end up being a game-changer by the time his applications have been submitted and the dust has settled.
Now, that’s how you make the most of a college visit.
If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a FREE 60-minute consultation.
This post originally made its debut on my blog last March, but as we’ve been talking college visits for the last couple weeks, it’s only natural that the conversation include interviews:
Last week I wrote about how important it is for students to be the ones to make the call when an interview needs to be scheduled. Today, I wanted to follow up on that idea with some tips on how to have a successful interview. In my career, I have interviewed hundreds of students – sometimes because I wanted to know more about them and sometimes because they wanted to come in and talk about their application and tell their story. I loved it when students sought me out first; when they wanted to make that concerted effort to demonstrate their interest and their potential.
From these experiences, here are seven tips to help you make the most of campus interviews:
If you have any questions about how to make the most of college interviews, please use the comment section below.
You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com for help on preparing for interviews and to complete a mock interview before you go in for the real thing.
Note: I will be conducting a free college admissions workshop titled, “Navigating The College Admissions Journey” on February 26th. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more.
With the long weekend upon us and a need for a change in scenery after 30+ inches of snow last week, I decided to visit some colleges. On Friday, I drove up to the Boston area and spent the day at two excellent business schools: Bentley and Babson.
While the tour guides at each school did a great job sharing information and talking about their classes and overall experience, I was really surprised that the students and families visiting had very few, if any, questions to ask. And it wasn’t for lack of opportunity either. The tour guides at both schools repeatedly invited questions but, for the most part, were met with silence.
So, I thought I would use today’s post to give you some inspiration for things you want to know more about when you are visiting a college campus:
1. Can a student in (insert your major here) graduate in four years but still complete internships and/or study abroad?
If a four year program becomes a five year program due to experiential opportunities being added in, you need to decide if the additional cost and time are worth it.
2. What’s it like to study (insert your major here) at this college?
This is a variation of the “Do you have my major?” question, but it is likely to yield a more informative answer since it asks the tour guide or admissions counselor to qualify what your four years will feel like.
3. What is the percentage of courses that close early or require signing up for a waiting list?
You want to know how the college departments handle this issue and if it prevents students from graduating on time.
4. What is the percentage of students who find work in their academic area within six months of graduating?
Four to five years of college should lead to something productive afterwards – knowing how many students in your field are finding something relevant and how quickly is worth knowing.
5. What kinds of career-related services does the school provide?
Some schools have departments specifically dedicated to career-related services that start working with students as early as freshman year. At others, the services may be minimal and not well publicized. How much career-related support the school offers matters.
6. As far as experiential learning goes, how early can students start doing internships and/or co-ops?
While a college education is earned through time in the classroom, success after college is mostly earned through experience and the mastery of skills and abilities. In today’s economy, completing one internship is an absolute must. Completing several is even better. To do that, you have to start early. Will the college support that?
7. How is the college trying to improve itself?
Seeing active construction or a new building obviously speaks to the physical upgrading and expansion of a campus. However, improvement is not always a physical thing. How is the university or college working to improve the quality of its teaching and its services?
8. What types of support services are offered for academics?
What is the support system on campus? Who are the advisors and what is the advising structure? Counseling? Is there a peer mentoring program or even a faculty/staff mentoring program? Is there a freshman year experience program and, if so, how is it run?
At the end of the day, tour guides are going to share with you what the colleges want them to share. Do yourself a favor by asking questions that get beyond the basics. Ask questions that affect you personally and that will help you qualify whether or not this school is the right one for you.
These are only suggestions to help you get thinking about what’s important to you, but if you have any questions you like to ask, 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.
Learn More at Dobler College Consulting’s College Admissions Workshop
I will be hosting a free workshop titled, “Navigating The College Admissions Journey” on February 26th at the Huntington Branch Library in Shelton, CT. For more information or to reserve your seat, head over to my Events page.
The workshop shares strategies to help your son or daughter navigate the college admissions process while eliminating mistakes that tend to reduce their chances of admission. Topics include college lists, online resources, essays, interviews, campus visits and what you need to know about making college more affordable.
All workshop participants will receive information handouts and will be eligible for special discounts off private college counseling services.
Don’t live in or near Shelton? You can easily get in touch with me to set up a free 60-minute consultation to help address your pressing college admissions-related questions and issues.
