Why Your Major Matters in College Applications

In the previous post, I spent some time digging into why the major your choose in college probably won't matter all that much to your future employers. Most students really don’t need to know definitively what they’re planning to study during college in the U.S.

So if you’ve been feeling pressure to decide, you can let that go. However, there is still a question worth asking:

How does major factor into the admissions process?

The most obvious impact is when you have made your mind up and are applying to direct-entry programs with limited spaces. Many colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees in areas like engineering, architecture, nursing, pharmacy, business, or the visual/performing arts often require students to apply directly into those programs, adding more stringent standards and in-depth application tasks in the process. 

There is also the issue, more broadly, of programs or campuses that are considered to be impacted, meaning that they consistently receive more applications than they have spots available for some or all degree programs. Here in California, most majors within the Cal State University system are officially impacted for first-time freshmen, and most of the more popular campuses are impacted across the board.

Both examples above are purely a matter of numbers. But, for students who are considering a course of study in traditional liberal arts programs where spaces are plentiful, what does major matter to the admissions process?

In my experience, starting to think about the subjects you want to study — and WHY you want to study them — is the first step in taking the reins in planning your future as an independent adult. 

Researching the programs out there — learning what they have to offer, what subjects resonate with you, how those subjects play to your strengths but also fulfill your needs — and communicating your findings and thought process through your application says a lot about you.

You're thinking ahead. You're taking control, exercising self-awareness. You're striking up a balance between moving in a more defined direction while also leaving yourself the flexibility to recalibrate the trail you're blazing as you learn more about the person you are.

To admissions committees, on top of everything that you're conveying about your character, you're also providing evidence for why the fit is right.

And as always with admissions, fit is everything.

Why is XX college right for you? What are you prepared to make out of the experience?

Why are you right for XX college? What will you bring to their community? Why are you someone that admissions officials should bet on, literally staking their jobs on the likelihood that you will not only choose to attend, but that you will be successful at — and contribute to the overall success of — their institution?

There are many different factors in determining fit, but remember that college is, first and foremost, an academic experience. Often the best way of making the case that you belong on a certain campus begins with how you will make that academic experience your own.

So dive into your online research. Head to the course catalogs for your top-choice schools and starting reading through the classes offered in the subject areas that interest you. Learn what kinds of research or industry initiatives the professors are engaged in. Beyond the introductory courses, what courses would you elect to take as you advance through a program of study? What professors would you like to work with on a more personal level, and why?

Again, there is no need to make any hard and fast decisions about your future direction of study. This is about having fun with a thought exercise, playing out a couple of your potential academic paths based on what you know about yourself right now. The way that you consider your interests and how they resonate with what you’re turning up in your research is just as important as what.

Many colleges will then give you the space to articulate some of your findings in the supplemental writings section. Have a look at a few examples below so that you can start to factor this dimension into your college research:

• How do you imagine yourself living and learning at Bard?

• How did your interest in Oberlin develop and what aspects of our college community most excited you?

• Which aspects of Tufts' curriculum or undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short: "Why Tufts?"

• Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.

• Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning.

How Much Does Your Major Matter After College?

Once second semester of junior year rolls around, I find that many students experience a fresh wave of anxiety around their future — and not just months coming up.

It's usually brought on when they are suddenly unable to make it through a conversation without the old question coming up:

What do you plan to study in college?

There are so many ways things can go wrong from there. You toss out that you're considering history and your physician uncle asks what you plan to do with that degree — "What will you do, become a high school history teacher? There's no money in it."

You say that you might want to study art, and your well-meaning parents hesitate just a little too long before voicing their support for "whatever you choose to do." You mention that you're thinking about engineering and then the questions start flying the other way: "Do you know how competitive those programs are?"

Maybe you just don't know — and in admitting it, a nasty little voice inside your head starts telling you that your entire future is about to be decided in the coming months. You're completely unprepared. You’ve been left behind.

Does any of these situations sound familiar? Any way the situation plays out, it can feel like an awful lot of pressure.

Let me send some reassurance your way. With just a few notable exceptions, what you ultimately choose to major in during college has relatively little correlation with the success you'll have in your future field of work.

Here are a few things to remember:

The employers looking to hire you right out of college tend to place more weight on your hands-on work experience. Their thinking is that you completed your degree, which meant succeeding in a range of different courses with a certain level of rigor. They can assume that you have the ability to learn and perform in an academic setting, so chances are that you'll be able to continue learning in a new environment. The big question is whether you can apply what you learn in real-life circumstances — outside the classroom.

The Role of Higher Education in Career Development from the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012

No matter what you designate as your major, with a liberal arts education, you'll still be exposed to a variety of different subject areas, and along the way, you'll develop skills that will help you succeed no matter what content you're focused on. That has to do not only with your experiences inside the classroom, but also your extracurricular activities and your socializing during college. Those transferrable skills are also highly sought after by employers filling their entry-level positions (see below).

Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success, Association of American Colleges & Universities, 2015

In fact, it can often be that exposure to other, seemingly less relevant subjects that can make workers such assets to their companies. The tech industry has made a strong case for seeking graduates with liberal arts degrees, and it's worth noting that a surprising number of doctors were actually English majors during their undergraduate years. 

In terms of salary, it's true that majors in the STEM fields tend to have a higher median salary directly after college graduation than most other majors, given their high degree of specialization. Once you project further into the future, however, things aren't so clear-cut. Studies show that there are clear benefits to completing an advanced degree in terms of earnings, for one. Also, don't forget about the risk to highly technical jobs: automation. 

Last thing: you have plenty of time to change your mind. Lots of people do, both during college and afterward, which reflects a broader trend in the number of different jobs more recent graduates hold after college. It requires a different type of preparation than perhaps your parents underwent years ago -- so take what your doctor uncle says with a grain of salt.

How to Plan for College in Uncertain Times

Even for families whose health and livelihood haven’t been harmed, it’s been a tough run for high school students — on top of distanced learning, curtailed socializing, and closed-down extracurriculars — to make their way to college.

The Class of 2020 went into quarantine just as the majority of colleges’ acceptances came out. They had to make decisions about where to spend the next four years as colleges scrambled to determine if and how they would accommodate students in the fall. (As we have all seen, it’s been a mess of mixed signals and reactive decision-making — which the results clearly reflect).

The Class of 2021, doing their college research and exploration almost entirely online, have similarly felt they were flying blindly into their applications. It remains to be seen whether they’ll set foot on the campus of their choice before showing up in the fall.

And now, Class of 2022, it’s your turn. The end of the pandemic is glimmering on the horizon, but it’s not clear how or when we’ll get there. How do you proceed?

Here are ten tips I’m encouraging students to keep in mind as their college preparation ramps up.

Stay active, adaptive, and aware.

However you can continue to explore your interests, pursue your passions, or keep up the activities that make your time in and outside of school meaningful, keep it up. One question at the forefront of the minds of admissions readers: “What did you do with your time in lockdown?” While they know options are limited, they have also seen some tremendous resourcefulness on the part of students who have pivoted from hitting the wrestling mat together to team workouts via Zoom; from summer camps to online internships; or from taking an art class to teaching art to the neighbor’s kids. You must keep on doing whatever it is that you find compelling, even if it must take a different form. The awareness, then, is necessary for tracking why you made your choices, and how the experience changed the way you’re looking ahead — it’s the perfect material for college essays.

Cast a wide net in researching and building your college list.

Until you get the chance to really engage with the community at a college and/or visit the campus, my advice this early in the process is don’t say no…yet. You never know what insights exploring a college you never thought you’d seriously consider might yield, and in a year when adaptability is especially important, you’re going to want to keep a wide range of options available. In fact, that principle can extend beyond colleges as well, to options like taking a gap year or getting an apprenticeship right out of high school. There are a lot of changes taking place — you can only find out what option might best suit your needs and the circumstances once the moment comes to choose it.

Track your top colleges’ testing policies.

One of the most prominent shifts in the college admissions world recently has been colleges’ standardized testing requirements. Some have gone test-optional (they’ll consider SAT/ACT score if you submit them, but don’t require them), some have gone test-blind (they’ll disregard scores as part of their evaluation process even if you have them); some have made their change on a temporary basis, others have permanently done away with their testing requirement, and others are in transition, not having made a final decision. The key resources for any student are the FairTest list, as well as colleges’ websites themselves.

Form a test-prep plan.

This is a tricky one, given how many last-minute closures of testing sites we’ve seen in the past months. For students who feel they would benefit from getting test scores, normally, I encourage students try both the SAT and ACT in a mock-test format (most just choose to take a test at home), compare experiences/scores, and then choose the test they’ll commit to. Then I encourage students to take the exam for the first time sometime between February and April of second semester — which is soon — after a few weeks of practice. Most of my students then plan on taking the exam at least twice but not more than three times, over the summer and fall.

Given the state of the pandemic as I write this, especially here in Southern California, I’m encouraging students to approach testing more loosely at the beginning: get familiar with the exam, do some light practice, so that you’re ready to give it a shot if a date becomes available in your area in the next couple of months. Since vaccine distribution is more likely to diminish the health risks as more time passes, plan some time to prepare with practice tests over the summer, and mark out the anticipated dates of the exams through the summer and into the fall.

Go on virtual tours, read student reviews, and join information sessions.

For now, virtual tours are about the only way to start to get a feel for the campuses you’re becoming acquainted with. Before you tour, read the Fiske Guide profile and/or skim some student reviews on websites like Unigo to get a sense of which parts of campus current students connect with. If your high school is hosting virtual information sessions, make sure to sign up as part of demonstrating your interest. Ask questions! Take notes!

Take self-guided tours on local campuses, when available.

If you can take a day here and there over weekends to visit campuses within driving range, there really is no better means of getting an actual feel for campus size, type, locale, and maybe some inkling of the vibe there. Being there in person sparks the imagination in a way that nothing else can — even without the people.

Reach out to college admissions counselors.

It’s more important than ever, once you get your research rolling, to engage. Colleges need to know who you are, to establish a relationship with you — to whatever extent that is available — before your application passes across the admissions desk. As the prominence of test scores declines, admissions committees need other ways of gaining perspective on what you’re bringing to the table. Help them out! Send a thank-you email with questions after an information session, clarify what you read about in the Fiske Guide or saw on your virtual tour, or ask to connect with a faculty member from a department of interests. There are many avenues to start a conversation.

Connect with current students.

Use your network and reconnect with friends, family, or graduates from your high school to get an insider’s perspective on a particular school. Without the opportunity to experience a school’s culture and vibe for yourself, this is probably the next best thing. If you can, try to find a current sophomore or upperclassman to connect with so that you can get a before/after pandemic picture of what campus life is like. Again, take notes and pay attention to the details. (Also, many colleges specifically welcome applicants’ sharing of the names of current students or alumni they’ve connected with.)

Start thinking about summer now.

Yes, it’s up in the air whether in-person programs will be able to proceed, but start asking the key questions: What is it that you want to explore? What do you want to experience? To learn about? Or, on a very pragmatic level, what do you need to get done before senior year? Save some money? Get a required course out of the way? Gain professional experience?

In other words, start with the essence of the summer you’d like to have. What experience would ideally help you access what you desire? Of course, that might not be feasible because of social distancing, so…

Take a Plan A / Plan B approach…to everything.

…And we’re back to where we started. What are other ways to address your needs and your interests? Can you do it from your couch? Stay active, and be flexible in your planning. Embrace your resourcefulness and problem-solving faculties. Brainstorm with your parents, ask your high-achieving peers what they’re planning, reach out to family friends who may know of (or can think up) opportunities for you. There is an opportunity here to make the best of the circumstances, and rising to the challenge will provide you with an excellent personal story to share when it comes time to apply to college.

How a Personal Statement Stands Out

Whether you're just starting to think about possible topics for what you'll write or you are neck-deep in writing your main college essay, here's something to think about.

Imagine you're an admissions reader.

It's the week after the final submission deadline, and your office has just received thousands of applications to review. It's time to divide and conquer. You have only a few weeks to read through everything, and, as a committee, decide who is accepted, denied, and put onto the waitlist.

In order to get through everything on time, you have a quota to meet every day until the deadline. You will need to make it through dozens of applications each day -- possibly more if you want to have a day off here and there.

You block out a couple of hours to get started, and you sit down with a pile of applications, reading one after the other. It is a lot to keep straight: grades, GPAs, activities, schools...and then the personal essays:

They're a real mixed bag. Some of them are written like five-paragraph academic papers or are simply a rehash of student resumes. Bleh.

Others just seem to bleed together -- a hodge-podge of "eye-opening" travel stories, volunteer experiences that revealed "how fortunate I have been," game-winning goals, nerve-racking moments on stage, the death of a beloved grandparent or pet. Ugh. 

But then, every so often, all of a sudden, a student's piece seems to jump off the page. It's energizing. Refreshing. Striking. Why?

Because, as the reader, I got to join the writer on a little journey. I learned something about that person -- something that feels essential to understanding who that person really is. It stuck with me. Now, I feel connected to that person. I'm invested.

But I have other applications to read, and by the time I get through my 50+ applications for the day, I am spent. My brain feels a little mushy, and it's tough to remember any applicant with absolute clarity. But there were a few people who still stick in my mind.

So it goes for admissions counselors at peak season. For the students who want to be the ones who stick in their readers' minds, however, you have one central question to address:

What is the ONE thing I want my reader to know about who I am?

In other words, what's your headline? 

I like to differentiate a headline from a topic. Identifying the topic is simple: it's the noun that a writing piece centers around. For example, I had students last year who came into coaching wanting to write about these topics:

• my love of reading

• discovering writing

• keeping secrets

Topics in themselves are too simple, however, to communicate something essential about you. In order to determine the headline, we're asking for HOW a verb relates you to the topic. It's your topic in action -- in other words, your story as it centers around that topic.

Here's how the topics above evolved into these students' headlines:

• how rejecting the literary canon helped me rekindle my love of reading

• how discovering empathy for others through writing characters gives me a sense of place in the world

• how examining the secrets I was keeping enabled me to be more honest with myself and others.

Your task: name the thing that your personal statement is about, and then create your own headline, a statement about HOW you grew in regard to that topic. It's the surest way to make sure that you stick in your reader's mind.
 

Researching Academics for Why Us? Supplements

When you’re working on the most common supplemental prompt in college applications, remember that you’re building a case in three parts:

1. What you bring to the table;

2. What the college has to offer;

3. Why and how you’ll make the best use of those opportunities — so that everyone wins.

Because college is and should be about academics first, that’s what I encourage students to focus on through the majority of their why us? responses. (The convenient thing is that the academic offerings are often the most thoroughly detailed elements on college websites.)

I had a student who attended her school's info session for my alma mater, Northwestern University. Erica came back thrilled about NU, specifically about the cognitive science program and the cross-disciplinary nature of studies at the university.

She had already developed a template for tackling these supplements with her goals for college, but wasn't entirely sure where to go next with her research. So we dug into the Northwestern website together.

Here are some tips for students trying to sharpen their understanding of how a college might meet their academic interests:

1. Start with an overview of the curriculum of a program or two of interest, which you can usually find on the department's main page from the "Academics" tab from the school's landing page. Look at how the courses progress from foundational classes to more focused subject matter. The program may even divide into different concentrations. That's where the good stuff is: the courses that you’ll get to customize your studies with.

Erica's attention went directly to the Neuroscience, Psychology and Learning Sciences concentrations, so we looked to see what courses fell under those umbrellas.

Because of Erica's volunteering experience teaching dance to children with learning disabilities, the Intro to Learning Disabilities class was a natural draw.

Cognitive Development in Atypical Learner was interesting, too, because of research she'd done in school about well known minds such as Einstein and Edison, who in today may have received diagnoses such as Aspberger's or dyslexia.

2. Look for course descriptions. Generally the best place to find them is in the course catalog, although some colleges’ catalogs are anything but user-friendly. If you run into trouble, go back to Google and search your course name.

This part was a little slippery for Erica because the Cog Sci department is by nature interdisciplinary, and so we had to go digging in other departments. But there were a few.

Sometimes the link isn't readily available from navigation, so go ahead and search for "course catalog."

Eh...it was a start. It left us with some questions about how the proseminar works, which is taken in fall of sophomore or junior year. Does it mean that Erica potentially has an opportunity to do research as an underclassman? GREAT question to reach out to the admissions office with (and demonstrate interest) in order to see if they will connect us directly to the Cog Sci faculty!

3. See what the faculty are up to. There was a link to the CS faculty page, and from there, Erica was able to click through links to some of the professors' landing pages. Faculty web content can be very hit or miss -- often too jargon-y, sparse, or outdated, or the link is broken altogether. Again, sometimes it’s better to go back to good ol' Google to look for news or articles about faculty elsewhere. 

But we turned up a few interesting things that she can reference in her NU supplement. Erica came away from the process with a better idea of how far-ranging the field of Cognitive Sciences is, and with loads of questions she can reach out to the faculty with (by way of the admissions office). If NU continues to track student interest in the way that they say they do, then it will be all over her record by the time Erica applies!

Of course someone studies the links between the brain and sense of smell. It was just that neither of us had really ever given it much thought.

Bringing Balance to the College List

As the school year begins — in whatever form it’s taking for your household (likely inside your household) — it’s more important than ever that seniors finalize their college list.

While many are clear about their top college choices (and are hard at work on those applications), families will soon learn how crucial a balanced list is for a low-stress fall and a successful application season overall.

We’re talking about balance in two respects. At the end of the day, it’s about making sure that, once the decisions are in, you have options. At the same time, it’s also about balancing your obligations — school, applications, activities, etc. — and making sure you don’t overextend yourself during these busy months.

With the aim of achieving both types of balance, I typically recommend that students lock in a list of 6 - 10 applications total. (Actually, this year, with the uncertainty of the pandemic, several of my students are going as far as 12 applications total.)

That doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to applying to 10 colleges overall! If you can submit to multiple campuses through a single application — for example, the University of California schools — then I’d count that as one application.

The same goes for any college you can add to one of the big application platforms, like the Common App, without having to write any additional supplements: it doesn’t increase the count because you don’t have to do any additional work.

To make sure you have a balanced range of selectivity, I suggest the following guidelines:

• at least 2 likely schools: 75% chance or above that you will get in

• at least 2 target schools: 35% - 75% chance that you will get in

• at least 2 reach schools: under 35% that you will get in

• colleges with under a 15% chance fall into the extreme reach category

How do you determine those numbers? Well, there’s good news and bad news.

The bad news is that there is no way of knowing those numbers with a high degree of precision. Any number of factors can affect admissions decisions from year to year, from the number of applicants you’ll be competing with to the specific backgrounds admissions officials are seeking in prospective students.

The good news is that there are many tools out there to help you get a better sense of your chances. Here are some suggestions of what to use and how to use them:

SOURCE: https://colleges.niche.com/tulane-university/

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Make sure, first, to ask whether the colleges on your list recalculate GPA. If so, what is their methodology? Again, to use the UC system as an example, those schools evaluate only your grades from 10 - 12th grade. They add weight for approved honors/AP classes, but they cap the total number of extra credits that can be counted toward that weighting — to 8 credits in total. If you want quick assistance with GPA recalculation, check out this tool from the website Rogerhub.

2. Next, check out the scattergrams that plot acceptances in terms of GPA and test scores (see the screenshot above). Naviance does this, if your high school has an account, but you can also look at Niche.com or Cappex.com at individual school profiles.

3. Last: go to Parchment.com and create a free profile. Take your time with this one! This is a company that securely transmits official transcripts between institutions like high schools and colleges, and so they have the insider's scoop on the kinds of profiles students who are accepted, denied, and waitlisted at various colleges applied with.

Bottom line: if you haven’t yet finalized your list, put that action item at the very top of your priorities list. Doing so will enable you to determine exactly how much application work you have ahead, as well as allow you peace of mind knowing that you’ll have options when everything is said and done.

Applications Are Open -- Time to Dive In.

It's nearly August! Welcome to college application season.

If you are about to start senior year and are figuring out where to dig into your application work, the best way to ease in is to begin with the applications themselves.

They're usually pretty straightforward once you get going. What students tend to underestimate is the time they'll actually take to complete -- something you'll certainly want checked off of your list once you're trying to find time for homework and all your other commitments.

I'd suggest approaching the main applications (saving the college essays and other supplemental requirements for later) in the following steps:

Identify which application platforms you'll use, and open the accounts. Check the schools on your college list to see which application type(s) they accept. The Common App; the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success; the University of California; and others all require different accounts. Most open on August 1st.

Gather your required materials. This list that the Common App puts out is a great way to make sure you'll have everything you'll need. 

Fill out the basic information. Two maximum-efficiency ways to approach this. If you have a parent or someone else to help you, open multiple accounts and fill out all the applications at once, using the same information. The other option is to go all the way through one application, and then use the PREVIEW button to generate a PDF that you can copy and paste from.

Save the Activities section for another sitting. This segment often takes more time than all the others combined (except the Writing). You'll need to write a very concise description for each activity, in addition to reporting how much time you spent in each throughout the year.

If you're filling out the Common App, add your colleges and waive your FERPA rights. For a college you'll be submitting letters of recommendation to, under "My Colleges," choose that school's name and select "Recommenders and FERPA" on the left. Choose "Release Authorization" on the next page, and then check the box to acknowledge the statement. On the next screen, check the box at the top to authorize all schools to release their records, and when it pops up, select the first radio button ("I waive my right to review...") and sign in the box below.

Long story short, according to the Common App, "waiving your right lets colleges know that you do not intend to read your recommendations, which helps reassure colleges that the letters are candid and truthful." If you want to learn more about the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, head to this page.

Add as many of the campuses you plan to apply to as possible to your application systems. That way, as colleges update their individual deadlines and supplemental requirements for this fall, you’ll see those updates as soon as you log in.

How Rising Seniors Can Demonstrate Interest to Colleges Now

Picking up from where we left off in the last post, we are now entering the season in which high school juniors (soon-to-be seniors!) should begin to engage with the colleges at the top of their list.

Many colleges and universities -- particularly the small to mid-sized private schools -- keep track of how much each individual applicant has done to express their interest in attending. When the time comes to read through applications, often the very first page of a student's file is a log of the date, time, and form of each contact that student made in the months leading up to the deadline.

Remember that, while demonstrated interest takes a backseat to criteria such as GPA, difficulty level of classes, test scores, etc., it can tilt the scales between two otherwise evenly matched candidates. In other words, you want to be on your top colleges’ radar well before you actually apply.

And in this environment, with all the asterisks placed by second-semester grades and test scores, every little bit really helps!

First thing’s first: find out which of your favorite colleges look at applicants’ level of interest. To learn the most convenient way of determining whether a college tracks demonstrated interest, visit this CCP blog entry.

Then get to work! Here are the six ways I encourage my students to connect with colleges and make their interest known:

1. Sign up for a virtual tour and/or info session. The first thing colleges want to know is whether or not you took the formal opportunity to learn about what they offer. Your registration will often go directly into your file, and, depending on the format, you may get to meet members of the admissions office in real time.

2. Connect with your regional representative. College websites often have a directory that lists admissions counselors by the region that they represent. Do some online research and if you can’t find that direct contact, again, call the admissions office to request an introduction. Call or email your representative, let them know who you are and where you attend high school, let them know how you intend to apply in the fall (if you know you’re aiming for an early deadline, that’s important!), and, if you don’t have any more in-depth questions at that moment, ask how best to reach them if any further questions about the college or application come up.

3. Contact the admissions office with questions. Use that call to ask the kinds of questions you would have otherwise asked in person. If you do visit and later find that you have follow-up questions or inquiries for particular departments or faculty members, call the admissions office anyway. If they don’t have the information you’re after, then they’ll usually be happy to connect you with the person who does.

4. Join the e-newslist. Nearly every college has some sort of bulletin or newsletter that they send out periodically. Make sure your email address is in their database; it’s helpful to be in the know about what’s happening on campus, as well, for when you interview or have other direct conversations with college representatives.

5. Follow colleges on social media. As with the e-newslist, this is one of the easiest things for colleges to track and store in their contact log, and it’s often the best source of the most up-to-date information about the latest news.

6. Request an interview. While the interview is considered an optional piece of the application process — more of an opportunity to get a better feel for your personality — taking the initiative is important for showing that you’re interested and serious about applying. Check out my breakdown of the different types of interview procedures, or these tips for preparing to learn more.

What Your Top-Choice Colleges Want to Know About You...Right Now

During the pandemic, with so much destabilization of many of the traditional metrics of colleges’ admissions processes (such as standardized testing and grading for virtual high school), there are a few factors that are such to take on heightened importance this fall.

One of those factors, for many colleges, will surely be students’ demonstrated interest, which was already gaining a much more prominent role in admissions decisions in recent years.

If you're not familiar with "yield" in the context of college admissions, Wikipedia puts it well: "Yield in college admissions is the percent of students who choose to enroll in a particular college or university after having been offered admission."

Back on the other side of the admissions equation, students and families tend to obsess solely over acceptance rates. But issuing acceptances, denials, deferrals, and waitlist spots is only part of the equation; those choices come with a great deal of uncertainty for most colleges. (Especially now.)

If too few students decide to attend, the college can find itself without the funds it needs to operate properly -- which is terrible for obvious reasons.

If, however, more students choose to enroll than there are actual spaces available, then it creates a different sort of nightmare scenario for the college. (The fiasco with UC Irvine's rescinding of hundreds of acceptances in July 2017 is a good example of that outcome.)

So, for all the students out there looking at this fall's application season, wondering what you can do to help your chances at your top-choice schools, I have a suggestion: start showing your interest now -- especially at colleges that consider the applicant's level of interest.

"Demonstrated interest" has become a more prominent factor in colleges' admissions decisions over the past decade.

 

How to determine whether a college considers "demonstrated interest":

1. Visit CollegeDATA online.

2. Enter your desired college into the search bar & click its name on the next screen to pull up its profile.

3. Click on the "Admissions" tab.

4. Scroll down until you see the "Selection of Students" grid. Look for the row called "Level of Applicant's Interest."

That's it -- tune back into the next blog for a checklist of ways to start showing your interest to colleges now.

A College Prep Reality Check

Covid-19 has brought us to face-to-face with an uncertain future—one that not even college can bring assurances of security to. 

For those whose families have held on to their health and some economic stability, the experience has been surreal. The disruption to our communities and the entirely virtual nature of our connection to others feels like a state of suspension. It seems that we’re just waiting for things to return to normal, and then we can resume our normal pace and activities.

Unfortunately, we can’t just wait. Time is slipping by. For the high schoolers who will be seniors in the fall, application season is coming up quickly. 

So let’s have a reality check. I’d offer up some questions that might act as benchmarks for juniors at this point in the year:

Do you have a running list of colleges you’re considering? By now, you’ll want at least three schools you’re virtually certain you’ll apply to so that you can start to learn about their individual requirements as well as the platforms (e.g., the Common App) that you’ll apply through. 

Have you connected with the regional admissions counselors at the top schools on your list? This year more than ever, with all of the changes in how colleges will view grades and test scores, it’s important that they know who you are before you apply. 

Do you know whom you’ll approach for letters of recommendation? Generally speaking, most private colleges with competitive admissions processes require letters from teachers in two core academic subjects and one counselor. You’ll want to ask them near the end of the school year, and provide them with a brag sheet or cover letter so that they have plenty of material to work with.

Do you have a study plan for APs and the SAT/ACT in the fall? While many colleges are adopting a test-optional policy at least temporarily, it doesn’t mean that colleges will discount scores that applicants submit—in fact, strong scores may carry more weight than ever. If you think that, with a little effort, you could do reasonably well, it may be worth your time. All that said, the SAT has already been canceled in June, and it’s not likely the ACT will go forward this summer, so how will you map out your time in late summer, when senior year is starting up and you have college applications to complete? 

Are you thinking about what you’ll write about in your college essays? I’m encouraging students to get started on the writing process a little early this year. It’s one of the things you can do while sheltering in place, and it’s something you’re going to want to be ahead of the curve on once social-distancing restrictions ease up. If you need help getting started, check out this free Teen LAUNCH program.

On that subject, do you know how you’ll answer the question, “What have you done with your time while sheltering in place?” when admissions readers ask? Whether they ask you directly or pose the question while reviewing your application this fall, I can assure you it will be at the forefront of their minds this fall. 

Two suggestions here: start laying out alternate summer plans where you can gain meaningful experience from your own home, and ask yourself some questions about what it means to be living through this moment in history. 

I hope you’re already beginning to ramp up some momentum! Please feel free to leave any questions below. 

Questions for the Future

I was on a Zoom call with a student the other day, discussing all the disruptions to the regular college admissions cycle. As with many high school juniors, his SAT on March 14th was canceled, he's working out a fall-back plan for spring college visits, and he's trying to understand how the AP exams can possibly work as at-home, online tests.

Interestingly, because Greg is a competitive sailor, he had transitioned at the beginning of this semester to all-online courses. He needed maximum flexibility so that he can focus on his training out on the water. He's a sharp, extremely hardworking student with a solid load of honors and AP classes, but even though he's a capable guy, staying on top of all his obligations has been a big challenge.

And then the pandemic hit, social distancing took over, and things changed drastically. Weeks of travel plans for trainings and regattas were suddenly canceled, SAT preparation became a much longer-term proposition with no definite end date, and his course curriculum shifted to reflect the new format of the AP exams. For now, he has a lot more space to work with in his schedule.

Given that time, he asked, what should I be doing to get ready for college applications? Because we had already worked out a plan for researching and reaching out to the colleges he could no longer visit in mid-April, I suggested that it might be a good time to start the writing process.

I explained that I'd begun imagining what the year of the coronavirus college essay might be like for college admissions readers. Greg’s immediate reaction was that he didn't want to join the crowd on that one. There are plenty of other experiences, including natural disasters, that he's been through that he could write about. This whole shelter-in-place situation has been more like a weird vacation.

I'd love to hear about any other ideas, I replied, but it’s important that we really examine this moment in time and what it means for you. Believe me—this is not a vacation. Have you been keeping up with the news?

But I'm just being affected in the same sorts of ways that everyone my age is, he responded.

That may be right, I admitted, but what really matters here isn’t as much what you're experiencing. It’s way more about how you, individually, are experiencing it. And it’s going to matter to admissions readers, all of whom are experiencing this time in their own way.

We are living through history. I wish someone had told me that when I woke up on 9/11 and planted myself in front of CNN; the gravity of that moment really only set in later. 

There is a paradox in what each of us has to do in times like these. On one hand, carry on, adapt, keep up with normal life in whatever way we can best approximate it. And yet, we have to find the space to process the meaning of this experience and all the ways, many of them subtle, in which we’re being affected by it. 

We are undergoing change globally, as a human species. For all the wonders of society and civilization and technology, is it apparent yet how fragile the systems are that our entire lives are built upon? Is it apparent yet how fragile we are, as living, thinking, emotional creatures with the entire range of needs that correspond to our range of capabilities? 

What else is this moment meant to reveal to us about ourselves, both collectively and individually? If you’re a teenager who will be staying in during spring break and prom and graduation, what might these circumstances mean for all the plans ahead of you, which you might have taken for granted, like going off to college? 

More importantly, how does this situation activate your sense of future purpose? What can you do, given the right tools and training, to make a meaningful difference in the face of disasters of similar scale in the coming years? What are you doing now to make a difference in your various circles and communities? 

What does this moment signal to you—about what’s ahead, what we are made of, what is activated in you as part of all of humanity stretched across the entire globe? 

There are many questions to ask. Simply ask them, and keep asking new questions as they occur to you; it’s not about coming up with answers. Keep calm and carry on (online), and make your questioning part of your new normal.

If you need help, you can find it here. 

How to Choose Courses that Are Right for You

Some of the most fulfilling meetings I have with students are less focused on college than on what's immediately ahead in high school. 

They're also a great opportunity for students to put a framework in place for an important set of choices in college: course selection.

In our meetings, the process of weighing students' choices of future classes happens in a fairly conversational way. But as I've thought back over those conversations, I've recognized that there are six important steps every high school student should cover:

1. Research the course progression pathways and graduation requirements at your school. If you look at the sample chart above, you can see that there are four fairly distinct tracks for four years of math at Santa Monica High School (tracks that are similar to those of most high schools). Here you're getting the birds' eye view so that you can determine where you want to wind up by the time you graduate. I find that it's much easier to stay on track with the work I'm doing during any given semester if I have a sense of where it's leading.

2. Think about your interests. What types of classes do you typically like? What subject areas are you eager to explore? What topics grab your attention right away? Make sure you're taking the time to really listen to that voice in your head while still taking into account what will make you a strong college applicant. Where do you stand to benefit personally from a particular class? How will you start to develop the life skills that not only colleges but future employers will want to see?

3. Get a sense of what colleges require and recommend. College prerequisites are usually not the same as high school graduation requirements. If your goal is to be competitive for the Ivy League or an Ivy-like school, remember that most successful applicants take a minimum of 8 - 10 AP courses over their high school career, depending on what's offered at their high school. That's a hefty load. One good resource for checking to make sure you're on target for your top colleges is CollegeDATA.com -- look up your college of interest and head to the "Admissions" tab.

4. Do some class and teacher reconnaissance with friends who are older. It's always striking to me how many students tend to overlook this step, given the fact that it's usually the teachers who make or break their experience in current classes. Ask around! If there are multiple teachers running a single class, who will you fit with? What is their teaching style and philosophy like? Are they tough graders? Do they pile on the work? Do students tend to feel like it's worthwhile or more like it's a bunch of busywork? How many hours of work do they tend to assign each night or each week for homework? How much writing is there in class?

5. Lay out your entire schedule and assess your commitments and capacity realistically. Once your options start to shape up, lay them out in one place, along with all of your other commitments outside of school. I recommend doing this in two formats: (1) on a calendar for the full school year + summer; and (2) on a weekly template. The full-year layout will show you clearly your seasons of overload and lightened pressure; the weekly template can give you a much more realistic picture of the hours you have in the week to commit.

6. Strike up a good balance. For the students who have their sights set on the elite schools, this is a near-impossible task because the competition is so stiff, and because the system is essentially set up to weed out anyone who can't handle almost superhuman workloads. For everyone else, it's about challenging yourself to a degree that gets you outside of that comfort zone slightly, but still affords the opportunity to enjoy your high school years while actually learning a few things that feel interesting and relevant. This type of balancing act will be an ongoing challenge for you throughout life -- now is the time to start giving it the attention it's calling for!

Which Type of College Tour Is Right for You?

Spring break is right around the corner. For the upperclassmen in high schools around the country, it's a prime opportunity to visit college campuses.

Juniors are just diving into college research, getting familiar with the options out there. Seniors are just hearing back from their regular-decision colleges. Both juniors and seniors can get a lot of benefit from visiting colleges -- but with very different mindsets.

It's why I like to encourage families to think of college visits in two different categories: "sampler" tours, and "test-drive" tours. 

“Sampler” Tours: These tours are for when you are still building an understanding of your options: learning what your college criteria really feel like in person.  Second semester of junior year is perfect timing for the sampler tour. They're part of casting a wide net; after you return home, you should have a much sharper sense of what you must have as well as what is a deal breaker when it comes to your college choices.

The following items are typically true of sampler tours: 

• They take place before (or very early in) senior year.

• They enable you to test out a lot of different options.

• They span a variety of campuses (usually about 5 - 10).

• They mix official tours/info sessions with “drive by” visits, & stops for fun.

• They help you to experience the different variables in determining the right-fit college, such as student body size, campus locale, & institution type.

REMEMBER: knowing what you DON'T want is often just as valuable in the college-application process as knowing what you DO. The campuses you visit on these types of tours, therefore, do NOT need to be a perfect match, or all campuses that you already think you have your heart set on. Just get out there and check out the variety of choices you'll have!

Here are some of the different options and criteria to test out on a sampler tour:

• CAMPUS SIZE: small (less than 3,000 students); medium (3,000 - 10,000); large (10,000 - 15,000); or extra-large (15,000+)

• PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE

• RESEARCH UNIVERSITY VS. LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE

• LOCALE: rural, suburban, or urban campus

• PREFERRED MAJORS / PROGRAMS OF STUDY

~~~

On the other hand, once you've reached second semester of senior year, it's time to make the final decision about where you'll spend the next four years, you might want to think about a test-drive tour.

“Test-Drive” Visits: These tours aim to immerse you more deeply in campuses' social and academic atmosphere in order to develop an up-close-and-personal sense of what life as a student will be.  This IS about narrowing down your options & focusing your ability to make the final decision.

You can think about test-drive tours in the following ways:

• They take place after you’ve received college acceptances.

• They focus on a smaller range of schools (sometimes one at a time).

• They happen after you’ve done all your investigation into a college's offerings and correspondence with your contact at each school.

• They include overnight stays, sitting in on classes, meeting with professors.

• They often lead to a gut feeling that this is the right school for you.

The idea is to clarify your intention behind visits before you go.

5 Things to Remember: What College Is All About

Since we’re not moving into the "off-season" for college applications, this is the time of year when families have the chance to be very reflective of what the college experience will stand for.

If you’re a junior in particular, and starting to think about where you’ll be applying in the fall, start by really envisioning the experience you want to have. Future goals are important, no doubt, and your academic experience should certainly serve them, but what kind of person do you want to be when you graduate?

If you're headed to college, the nice thing is that you don't have to plan it down to the last detail. Your undergraduate years are set up to help you develop the tools you'll need to manage your adult life. And while getting a job that will enable you to support yourself after graduation is certainly important, it's not the only game in town.

The role that college plays in preparing you for the "real world" isn't exactly a matter of going from Point A to Point B, either. For most students, college is a more complex, subtle, and often indirect means of getting ready to live a meaningful and fulfilling adult life.

I've found that many students tend to find a new degree of confidence and relaxation when we discuss some of the benefits of a liberal arts education that aren't always obvious:

1. You learn to follow your authentic interests.
   
   While you'll have some general education or "distribution" requirements, sometimes in subject areas you're not all that crazy about, you still get a range of different courses you can choose from to get those credits. Say you're not a math person but can take Statistics in Sports Management, or perhaps history isn't your thing but you can take Geometry from Euclid to the Modern Cityscape, learning to approach a subject from a preferred angle can make any experience more enjoyable. It's when you get to choose your electives and upper-level courses, however, that you discover what you're really all about -- and often that informs your career path in ways you never could have expected.
   

2. You get much clearer about your "types" of people.
   
   The social aspect of college is really no less important than the academic. When you thoroughly research your college's culture and come to understand the values you share with your future classmates, that self-knowledge pays off for many years to come. (For me, encountering other Northwestern alumni in Los Angeles has become one of the greatest blessings my alma mater could have given me.) Not only do you have overlapping experiences that help you relate in conversation, but you start to understand more of the nuances of people and the kinds of relationships you're most likely to form (i.e., you know who'd make a close friend, a solid roommate, an effective collaborator in a business venture, etc.).
   

3. You become more fluid among different fields of thinking.
   
   College is when you really dive deep into your coursework -- you learn about the distinctions among different schools of philosophy; the defining characteristics of a generation of writers; the various dialects of a parent language; or even the applications of multi-variable calculus in real-life scenarios. You acquire vocabularies and systemic understandings of the ways that people from various walks of life have made sense of the world around you. Which brings us to...
   

4. You greatly improve your communication.
   
   With that range of exposure and new terminology, you begin to think in different ways. You practice building arguments. You are pushed to be razor sharp in the way you articulate your thoughts, both in speaking and in writing. Because you have had a better glimpse into the ways in which other people's minds work, you have an easier time finding the language you need to reach those minds. Those skills are the foundation for your ability to integrate yourself into every future organization or community you wish to become a contributing member of.
   

5. You learn how to learn -- independently.
   
   Perhaps the most important skill to acquire amid all the work, study, and exploration that you'll do during college is becoming a self-directed learner. Understanding how you can best find, process, and retain important information is only the start; more crucial than ever in the internet age is knowing where the most credible sources can be found, and how to verify and cross-reference your information. It's not just reading online articles or checking out books from the library; it's also connecting with mentors who can help guide and teach you along the way. Ultimately, what we're talking about is your ability to grow and make meaning out of your life -- for the rest of your life.

Deferred? Show Your Continued Interest!

As decisions for early applications arrive over the next couple of weeks, many students will find themselves in limbo with some of their top-choice colleges: neither accepted nor denied, they’ll be deferred to the regular decision pool of applicants.

What do I make of a deferral? What does it mean?

A lot of students are prone to interpreting a deferral as a rejection. It is NOT!

In most cases, it actually means that you fulfill the admissions committee’s standards for acceptance—otherwise, they’d do you the courtesy of saying no, and then you’d move on with your life.

It also usually means that you were part of remarkable group of applicants—so many that it was difficult for the committee to make a decision. By placing you into the regular pool of applicants, they’re giving themselves an opportunity to get more context, and to make sure that they’re not squeezing out other stellar students who have yet to submit their applications.

They may also want to see more from you: how much does that college really mean to you? If you applied Early Action and are not bound to attending if they were to admit you, then how can they feel confident that you’ll attend when given the option?

Here’s where the Letter of Continued Interest comes in. I offer students the following points of advice:

Follow directions! If a college expressly requests that you send no further materials…then don’t. Disregarding their instructions is not going to help your case. If a college states a preference for how to reaffirm your enthusiasm (such as Tulane’s Continued Interest form, for instance), make sure to use that pathway.

Before you begin your writing, do a little more exploration: make contact with current students who share your interests or background in order to gather more details for why you want to attend (you could also reach out to a professor in your department of choice or reconnect with your alumni interviewer).

Make your address personal: make sure that you’re writing to someone specific in the admissions office—preferably your region’s representative.

At the outset of your letter, reaffirm that you’re grateful to be included in the second round of consideration; acknowledge the scope and difficulty of admissions officials’ job, and NEVER show a hint of frustration, disappointment, or other negative emotion.

Present new details on why you’d like to attend; don’t rehash your original application. This is why you’re looking for the inside scoop from current or former members of that campus community.

Share developments in your personal aspirations: recent academic accomplishments (e.g., an A on a major paper and why it was important to you), exposure to new subject matter that impacts your choice of major or minor, or new realizations about what you want from your college experience (and connect them to what that college specifically has to offer).

Make important updates to your application: improved SAT/ACT scores, a new undertaking through your school club, placing in the championship of your sport, breaking a fundraising record during your winter donations drive, etc.

Submit your letter before the end of January. The sooner they receive the letter, the more authentic your interest seems; you replied without hesitation. However, making some time to gather together your research and updates is also important. Since admissions committees will have begun reviewing regular-deadline applications shortly after January 1st, you don’t want to wait much longer to make your letter part of your application.

Need examples? There are plenty of threads online about Letters of Continued Interest: check out these links from ThoughtCo, CollegeVine, and Reddit. Good luck!

How to Tackle the UC Personal Insight Questions (and Avoid the #1 Mistake Most People Make!)

By now, if you are a senior, you've probably heard again and again the cardinal rule of writing the personal statement:

SHOW -- DON'T TELL!

Your main personal essay is supposed to showcase you: you personality, your interests, your experiences, the way that you see the world. But when it comes to the University of California Personal Insight Questions, exactly the opposite is true. You must reverse your normal mantra:

TELL -- DON'T SHOW.

Here's why: UC application readers are expressly forbidden to read between the lines when evaluating your applications. They are not allowed to connect any dots that you have not explicitly connected for them. They can assume nothing.

If you noted in your Activities section, for example, that you served as treasurer of your Habitat for Humanity, you'll need to spell out exactly what your responsibilities were, the scope of budget you were working with, how you raised funds, what you learned about your style of leadership through that role, and what desirable qualities you developed through the experience. 

In other words, leave nothing to the imagination of your application readers.

Spell each and every single detail out -- that's what the PIQs are for. As you choose four out of the eight questions and start your responses, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Use the handy UC brainstorming PDF. This worksheet adds clarifying questions and breaks each PIQ down into smaller, more manageable steps for students just getting started.

2. Look out for overlap. Some of the questions tend to elicit similar responses; for example, PIQs #2 and #3 ask, respectively, about how you express your creativity and what your greatest skill or talent is. Especially for the artistic types, expressing themselves through a creative medium IS their greatest skill. Don't waste an opportunity to add new details to your application!

3. Familiarize yourself with the 14 factors of the UC application review. If you're reading through this list and see something that applies to your experiences that you haven't had the chance to fully explain in the application, look for a PIQ that will allow you to lay out the details.

4. Make your responses concrete. Use plenty of "I" statements, making sure to relate the information explicitly back to your actions and experience.

5. Fill in the gaps left between your activities. If you look back over the activities section and see an entry that could use more detail, ask yourself whether you can work it into your PIQ responses.

Last word of advice — remember that your goals is to add three things to the record:

Clarity, depth, and context.

Use those factors as a critical lens for when you are polishing your responses to ensure that you never waste an opportunity to make yourself stand out!

The Home Stretch: How to Power Through Fall Applications

I’ve been hearing it (and thinking it) all week: what happened to September?

If it’s fall of your senior year, I have a reality check for you: 

How many weeks do you have to get those applications in?

Let me throw a few numbers at you:

• Most early applications (both Early Decision and Early Action) have submission deadlines of November 1st. That's five weeks from this Friday.

• For those applying to California schools, the UCs and CSUs have a submission deadline of November 30th. That's nine weeks from this Saturday.

• Then, many students' regular decision deadlines fall on January 1st. But who wants to spend the holidays working on applications? Today, we have about twelve weeks until winter break.

Thinking in terms of weeks really helps to put things into perspective, right? You just never have quite as long as you might think you do. 

But here is how you can use this perspective to your advantage: map out a week-by-week schedule of all deadlines and application tasks on your to-do list through the rest of the fall.

It's a tool I refer to as the Home Stretch.

Here are the steps to start your personal Home Stretch timeline:

1. Open up a blank document and make a list of every week from now through next January (or later, if you have deadlines that fall past that window). Label each with the first or last day of the week, whatever you prefer.

2. Add all major exams, travel, shows, other commitments that you know of this fall. (Keeping your personal calendar and any of your classes syllabi on hand makes this part much easier.)

3. Add all of your colleges' application deadlines.

4. Choose a date by which you intend to finish ALL of your application work.

5. Choose your intended submission date for each college application — make sure it's at least 3 - 7 days before the actual deadline in case anything is missing.

6. Make a to-do list at the very top of all the supplements and word counts. Make sure to include items from the Summer College Checklist if you have not already completed them.

From there, you'll want to work backward, breaking each task into the smallest, most manageable pieces possible, and spreading those sub-tasks across the weeks. 

Here's a glimpse at one past student's Home Stretch as he started to flesh it out:

You can also download a different, more detailed example here.

The longer your to-do list, the easier it is to cross those items off — and get that momentum going to power through the weeks ahead!

Good luck.

How to Make College Essays Both Unique and Relatable

There's a paradox in the kind of writing that goes into personal statements:

Your writing must be both unique to you as the writer and central character, and yet it must also be relatable—meaning that you must communicate your personal experiences in a way that resonates with others, as if your reader had been there with you in the moment.

Balancing those two aspects can be difficult.

When a piece of writing is too universal, too broad, then it becomes a cliche and reveals little or nothing about the writer as an individual.

On the other hand, if a piece lacks that relatable quality, then there is no way for the reader to share in the experience of the writer; the piece feels dull and distant as a result.

Each year I see both problems come up in students' college essay writing.

It makes me think of when I had a student (let's call her Jenna) come to me with two separate drafts of what might be personal statements.

Jenna's first piece centered on the death of a beloved aunt. The language and some of the details that Jenna used to paint the scene were poignant and poetic—I remember a great anecdote about gifting a set of salt-and-pepper shakers that hilariously turned into something like a scene from a Wes Anderson movie. The problem was that shortly after that, I found myself feeling like I was floating in space; there wasn't anything that tied those sensory details back to the writer's internal experience. I felt like I was on the outside looking trying to look at something I knew was supposed to be meaningful for the narrator...but I didn't really know why.

Jenna's second piece had the opposite problem. It was a whirlwind of the many ways in which Jenna takes in the world around her, from photography to journaling to breathing in the spices wafting on the breeze in an outdoor market. While I, as the reader, have had my own versions of those experiences in my life, when I finished reading, I didn't know what distinguished Jenna's experiences from mine. There wasn't enough detail to make the piece unique and therefore memorable.

I share Jenna's story because I think it highlights the need for three essential components in any effective (and affective) autobiographical writing: concrete details, an angle, and reflection.

Concrete Details:

You've heard the old advice "show -- don't tell," right? Using concrete sensory details in your writing -- including some dialogue here and there -- invites the reader into the scene. Their imagination activates and they can feel as if they're standing right there, taking in everything that you were experiencing in that moment. 

An Angle:

We're not talking about this word in the sense of a hidden agenda; you could just as easily think of it as your "perspective" or "filter." Your angle is where the external details meet your internal thoughts and feelings. It can be the unusual way that you define "leadership," your individual take on required community service hours, or your surprising reaction to your required summer readings. In short, this is where you begin to put your individual spin on the details you include, and set yourself up for looking back and putting your more immediate reactions into a broader context. Which leads us to...

Reflection:

This is the point in your writing at which you fully take a step back and consider how your past experiences have informed the person you are at this moment in time, and the direction you think you're headed in the coming years. The quality of reflection in your writing directly mirrors the quality of your personal growth, and gives meaning to the perspective and details that you've chosen to highlight about your past experiences.

Put a Face with Your Name Before You Apply to College

Imagine that you are part of a committee in charge of putting together a team for a science competition.

The participants are from all across the country, and you haven't had the chance to meet any team members in person, but they have submitted all of their credentials to you for consideration. You have a record of their past activities, their transcripts, their resumes, and a couple of recommendations from their teachers (whom you've also never met). 

Say that you have one last spot on the team and that you have two excellent candidates to discuss with your committee. On paper, the candidates have similar qualifications. They have taken many of the same classes, they have similar grades, and the cover letters that they've included with their applications make both seem intelligent and friendly.

But then one of them contacts you to see if you have a few minutes to chat.

Because you don't live in the same city, you set up a conversation over Skype. Over the course of fifteen minutes, you ask a couple of questions about the AP Physics course she took last year and the internship she's doing this summer. She asks questions about the competition and what you're looking for in the team members. You even wind up on a quick sidebar about the Netflix show you're both watching.

The next day, you meet with your committee. When it's your turn to present your candidates, which one will you make a more persuasive case for?

A little connection can go a long way.

College admissions counselors want to know their applicants so that they can make the most informed decisions possible about how well those students might fit in.

Every little bit can help. If your admissions counselor knows you on a more personal level, that familiarity can make a stronger case before the committee.

Here are five tips for making a more personal connection with your admissions officials:

1. Reach out yourself. If you know you'll be applying to a certain college in the fall, jump on the school's website and look up the contact information for their admissions office. Many websites will explicitly tell you which official represents your city or region. If not, call the admissions office general line and ask to speak to that person. CAUTION: DON'T leave this step to Mom and/or Dad!

2. Show up in person. Most admissions counselors either live in or travel to the regions they represent each fall. Find out if they'll be coming to your high school for an information session. If not, are they doing any other local events, like a college fair? After their presentation, make sure to walk up and introduce yourself. Which brings me to tip #3...

3. Practice your introduction. Aside from your name and high school, what are one or two things you want your admissions counselor to remember about you? Are you interested in cognitive science? Are you a committed tuba player? Will you be applying to their college early decision? Make sure that your talking points roll off the tongue -- it usually takes some repetition, so practice at home with a friend or parent.

4. Ask great questions. If you're reaching out to the admissions office for the first time, perhaps you'd like to know if your possible field of study is in high demand and therefore has tougher admissions standards. Maybe you'd like to know how many people are in the program or if you might have a conversation with a faculty member from that department. Maybe you'd just like to introduce yourself to your admissions rep, let them know you'll be applying in the fall, and ask if it would be okay to contact them directly if any questions about the application process come up. IMPORTANT: DON'T ask questions that can be easily answered with a Google search or glance at their website.

5. Remember that they want to know and help you. Don't be shy. It is perfectly okay to express your interest in a college directly or even to say that you simply wanted to put a face with your name. It's not cheating or gaming the system; it's about showing professionalism and an understanding of how this system works. That said, be mindful of the fact that college reps have very busy schedules, be concise, and make sure to show your gratitude for their generosity with a thank-you note.

How (and When) to Ask for Outstanding Letters of Recommendation

One important step for college-bound students wrapping up their junior year: request those letters before the year is out!

When do recommenders typically write letters?

The vast majority of recommenders write their letters during the fall. However, there are some very industrious and forward-thinking recommenders who will actually write at least some of their letters over summer. Remember that (a) your teachers who write your rec letters do it as a personal favor (i.e., they're not paid for the time they spend writing); (b) it's always better to give someone doing you a favor plenty of time to do it so that they don't feel rushed; and (c) the earlier your recommender writes their letter about you, the more energy and enthusiasm they're likely to have while doing it. 

In other words, regardless of when your recommenders will write the letter, the sooner you can make the request, the better. 

What do they need from me?

Most high schools put into place a series of deadlines by which you need to have requested your recommendation letters and submitted some supplemental materials, such as a brag sheet, cover letter, and/or list of colleges you'll apply to. Some recommenders will actually supply you with their own questionnaire so that you can spell out exactly what you'd like for them to convey about you. 

Don't skimp on the work that you put into these materials! Remember that your recommenders, because of their adult perspective and area of expertise, add a lot of dimension to your overall application. If you have all the content teed up that helps put your best foot forward, using it will make their workload much more manageable.

When do I request them?

NOW, before the end of junior year -- before finals, if possible. Don't wait. Be among that first wave to ask.

How do I request recommendation letters without either coming off as pushy or like some sort of kiss-up?

That's the money question. I would suggest working off of a basic script like this:

"Do you feel like you could write me an outstanding letter of recommendation for my college applications this fall?"

The most important part of the whole thing is the superlative (look it up!) you use to describe the letter of rec. Think about it: you don't want anything less than the best that this potential recommender has to offer. Any ambivalence on the part of the person endorsing you will immediately let the wind out of your sails. A lukewarm letter, while not outrightly negative in itself, will create a strong contrast to the tone you're working to strike up through the rest of your application, and that can blemish (and effectively ruin) the picture you're trying so hard to paint.

If your prospective recommender hesitates or flatly uses the opportunity to beg out of the job, look somewhere else. Trust me. If, on the other hand, you get an unflinching yes, well, score one for you! Ask what you can do to make the job as easy as possible, and what sort of timeline they plan to work on so that you can follow up appropriately.

To recap, here are your next steps:

1.  Identify your recommenders ASAP. (Not sure who or how many letters you'll need? Check out this handy guide.

2. Prepare your brag sheet (or junior questionnaire, as it's called at some high schools) with talking points about yourself. (Don't have a brag sheet at your school? Check out the questions that Santa Monica High School asks.

3. Build your personal rapport (without overdoing it) with your intended recommenders, and, before the end of junior year, ask if they'd be willing to write an EXCELLENT letter of recommendation for you for the fall.

4. Ask away! Be among the first students to ask for your recommenders’ time and careful thinking, and make sure that you’re ready to supply everything needed to make the job easy.