College Admissions: It’s All About ADD

By Chip Law

It’s February and time for the annual pandemic of ADD!

Aha, if you are thinking this story is either wacko or just another rant about Attention Deficit Disorder you are incorrect. This seasonal event starts in late December and can last until April and in some cases even into the summer. This ADD has to do with college admissions and only students truly immune from this syndrome are those that have had the joy of receiving an offer of admission from the college to which they applied via the Early Decision process.

The ADD in this case is Admitted, Deferred or Denied.  For the rest of those susceptible to ADD, the symptoms run the gamut: euphoria, confusion, indecision, depression, inertia, anxiety and many others. These terms are often taken as defining a student. Their young life’s “body of work” has gone into getting into that special college or university that just calls their name. Even though the word admitted sounds like a terrific outcome, it can present problems albeit different than the noncommittal deferred or the funereal tone of a denial. Let’s look at the components of ADD, see what they might mean and how you, the student, can make the best of their impact.

Admitted

Okay, let’s say several colleges have said they see you as a match for their college and they have made you an offer of admission. Wow, now you’ve got choices! How you approach the choices can make the A in ADD a positive or not. The more intimately you get to know the colleges that accepted you, the easier it will be to make a decision. You will need to revisit the campus and use that opportunity to grill students and faculty with questions that you feel you MUST have answered in order to make an informed decision. Stay overnight, use online forums and social media to get the pulse of the college and see if it really meets your expectations both from a social and academic interest point of view.

Problem solved right? Not so fast my friend. Most families are bracing for the hard economic realities of today and college funding is an important, if not the most important, factor in making a college selection. This is the time to look VERY carefully at the TOTAL cost of attendance at each college that’s offered you a place in their incoming class. Along with your parents and perhaps an external advisor, you need to understand the world of loans, work/study, and budgeting time and money. Once you understand the REAL cost of attendance, then you will be in a position to make a decision on which college will be the total best fit for you AND your parents.

Denied

This is rough. It is agonizing. It is a traumatic event. It can crush you and take away your motivation…the list of negative things could go on and on. A denial is nothing more than what it implies: the college did not see you as a fit and it let you know so that you could move on to consider other possibilities. It is how YOU take the denial that is most important. It is okay to cry, to grieve, to be angry, to think about telling the college how sorry they are going to be for not taking you and so on… You are now at a pivotal point in your development of coping skills that will be a part of the formation of the future person you will become. Go through the Kubler-Ross psychological steps of the loss: the first being-guess what? : Denial, then Anger (no problem there right?), Bargaining (I’ll do ANYTHING to change this outcome), Depression (it's okay to feel bad, you’re human) and then most importantly Acceptance.

Acceptance (amazing how these college admission words keep coming up!) of the result allows you to move on. Moving through the stages quickly will get you focused in the right direction instead of playing the "If only I": woulda, coulda, shoulda blame games. You can now look at your other choices and if you really look carefully you’ll find some wonderful things in the college that DOES want you on their campus.

Deferred

This is the beast of ADD because it leaves you in limbo. This is your absolute first choice in colleges. You compare yourself to others that were admitted and don’t see how they could have been chosen over you. You do the math based on what is the probability of getting in as an admitted student if you were originally deferred. You feel panicky because you do not have the path cleared for you like the admitted or denied student. Well, DON’T let paralysis creep into the picture. You must put a plan in place that deals with the possible outcomes and you must do it right away.

First, let the college know that you still have a strong desire to attend. You have established some level of email communication with the admissions officer that is responsible for your geography, right? Let them know how you feel. If you get ANY good news, academic or otherwise, that might shed new light or reinforce a positive bit of information about yourself, make sure that the college is informed. To do this you can use your email contact or if appropriate, your college counselor, but don’t be a pest and email every day. Once you have done these things you must move on to make other plans. Be prepared to go through the same grief steps of those that were denied and then generate and direct your enthusiasm on to your next college. Lighten up and make the best of a (not so really) bad situation. Doing nothing is NOT an option and fretting will only take a toll on your mental and physical health. You must put yourself into a position where you can envision a positive outcome NO MATTER what happens.

For behavioral ADD, people are now asked to use the acronym ADHD instead of ADD. So for this rendition of ADD let’s add the “H”. In this case, H stands for HOPE. Not hope like winning a lottery, but hope in terms of optimism, future promise, and the filling of expectations. While the content of your ADD may be immutable, the way you hold and interpret and act on the context will define how you can handle this form of ADD.

Thomas P. “Chip” Law is an IECA Professional Member and an Educational Consultant. He helps students and parents find the best college match for them.  He can be reached at 843-278-1271 or chip@eduave.com

Copyright 2012 Educational Avenues, Inc. All rights reserved.

The College Admission Game: What's the Ante?

Like Poker,  To Play the College Admission Game You Have to Have Jacks or Better

Yep, when you apply to a highly selective school it's a real crapshoot. So how can you improve your chances in this seemingly random lottery? Using a poker analogy, you must have Jacks or better to play the game, Here are some tips to "stack the deck in your favor".

1. At selective colleges, strength of secondary school curriculum and performance (GPA) within that context are the most important criteria for initial consideration. Additional differentiation can be seen in the Standardized test scores and class rank. Students applying to these schools have to have stellar grade and test scores. To achieve them they had to do their BEST at ALL times.

2. Excerpts from college admission officers selection attributes: "Our students have individual passions: things they really care about. They see themselves as playing a significant role in world and know how to accomplish this by making a contribution in their area of concentration using their passions as a driving force.

From a college admissions interview: "We ask about what current events you follow, favorite subjects, what you're involved in at school, what you want to do at our school, your family, who you look up to, in what area are the "king of trivia of", etc.

3. Select colleges have the cream of the crop applying to them (see # 1 above). Part of the ante to play in their league is to differentiate yourself and do so in a way that makes you unique and standout. Playing a sport, being on the newspaper/yearbook, playing an instrument are all nice and may be significant but they are really basic and only par for a course where birdies and eagles are expected. Competing on a school team that has a basis in intellect AND achieves higher level (state/national) recognition WILL stand out and be duly noted as a real positive on the student application. Participation in such areas indicates intellect, critical thinking, teamwork, competitiveness and problem solving skills. These attributes combined are highly valued by admission professionals. These activities can also help you have the ability to answer difficult essay or interview questions such as:

* "If there were five students competing for the same seat in a class, what would be your sales pitch to        the professor for letting you take it?"
* Name a class you have taken that has changed the way you think.

4. The ability to read both in quantity and quality is an imperative to college performance. College students receive multiple reading assignments every week, each of which is usually associated with an accompanying written paper. Learning to read in volume with a high level of comprehension is the acquisition of a skill that will have a lifelong positive impact. Such reading will increase vocabulary, enable better scoring on standardized tests, and perhaps most importantly help you develop critical thinking and problem solving skills while stimulating intellectual curiosity. From another college interview application supplement:

* What book have you read recently that you would tout as a "must read" to your friends? 

* What are your top five favorite books and why are they interesting to you.

5. Colleges look at how students spend their time. While not evaluating things such as playing video games, they are looking for meaningful pastimes that enrich the student's life and help them understand what they will be able to contribute on their campus. From a college brochure: "Students should strive to add things into their lives that will be meaningful to them. This requires effort and a self-starting mentality which will ultimately fully develop intellectual curiosity and the truly valuable attribute of seeking to be a lifelong learner."

6. Schools have two opinions of the concept of volunteerism/community service. The first is compulsory volunteer activity that must be completed as a requirement for graduation. This is seen as a given for all students regardless of selectivity. The second type of community service or volunteerism reflects a drive within the student. This activity demonstrates to the school that the student has matured to a level where their own self-interest is superseded by a real desire to help others over their own immediate needs. The select colleges expect that their student body will be cognizant of the needs of others and actively participate in areas to which they feel drawn.

A recent article and survey in the NY Times : "In the most positive light, such service teaches children and teenagers to look beyond themselves and understand the role they can play in their community and country. In the most negative light, it is one more activity to tick off en route to college."

A 2008 survey of admissions officers from the top 50 colleges and universities by the organization DoSomething.org, found that admissions officers consistently put a higher value on continuous volunteering over several years at a local place than a short-term stint overseas. In the survey, the admissions officers said they were confident they could discern when a student was being disingenuous about her commitment to community service. One noted that "insincerity seems likely when there is a laundry list of activities with minimal commitment."

7. College admissions personnel: We are looking for tomorrow's leaders. The fate of the world is literally in their hands. Students should actively seek any opportunity to take leadership during their secondary school years: captaincy of sports teams, student government, the lead in a school play or become known as a "go to" person that can resolve conflict. Not only will having these experiences help gain admission to a select college, they will provide a development and skill building cycle that will have a significant positive impact throughout the student's life.

8. Many students "hit the wall" at some point in their college career. Hitting the wall is finding that class work is overwhelming. Getting behind in a class can quickly lead to discouragement, and possibly failure. Students must develop the necessary skills that will minimize the chances of hitting the wall. In addition to the importance of reading discussed above, organization, time management and assignment completion planning skills are very important to keep a student from hitting the wall. It is critical that healthy habits are formed during the high school years and to be able to quickly correct a situation while at home where resources and assistance can be readily applied using parents, teachers or a tutor’s expertise.

An IECA Conference: Perfecting Life-long Learning Skills and Passions

We’ve been really busy over the last month. We attended our semi-annual IECA conference and boy was it jam-packed with incredible seminars, updates on schools, colleges and programs!

At the IECA conference, we shared information with our colleagues and Claire and Chip Law organized and presented information on College Financial Aid in a preconference workshop. We proved that we really know our stuff when it comes to understanding the difference between a college’s sticker price and the true net cost to families. This a major factor in determining affordability and its impact on college choice. Educational Avenues will be giving free seminars late this year and into 2010 to help families understand where their student can get in for an affordable price.


As an introduction to her upcoming book Find the Perfect College for You, Claire Law presented ways for her colleagues to determine their personality type and how personality type applies to the Educational Avenues process when helping students find their best college match.
Claire Law worked on the IECA conference committee and secured the appearance and introduced the conference keynote speaker, Nido Qubien, who is currently the president of High Point University and among many other notable things, is known internationally as one of the top speakers in the world, as well as a successful business executive and philanthropist. Qubien presented his formula for success to the IECA conference attendees.

As usual the conference provided us with incredible learning opportunities. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind gave us a very compelling argument about how our educational focus and training needs to change radically and quickly. Only those that embrace change, develop the cultivation of right brain skills which include creativity, innovation and critical thinking will have mastery over the exciting yet unknown opportunities and challenges we face in the future.
The conference concluded with an absolutely fascinating master class that covered the essence of addiction in a developing young adult. The material presented by Jeffrey Georgi, a clinical faculty member of the Duke Medical School and the Duke Addictions Program was both enlightening and frightening. We at Educational Avenues plan to help our families fully understand the nature of this disease by providing factual data, resources and advice on how the family system needs to become a stronghold of support for the prevention and/or treatment of this corrosive malady.


Respond to our blog or contact us by email if you want more info on these topics. Claire@eduave.com, chip@eduave.com or (843) 278-1271 or Skype us at Educational Avenues or Chip Law. Visit our website-www.eduave.com.