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.

Application to a Selective College: The Addendum-Friend or Foe

So you’ve decided to apply to a fairly selective college or university. You’ve completed all the steps that you need in order to apply and are now in the final stages prior to hitting the submit button and getting this daunting process behind you is your top priority. In fact, you may have tried to submit your application and found that it could not be processed because you did not complete the particular school’s addendum.

So what is this beast and why is it of importance in some cases when you apply to a selective school? Well, in many cases it is not and the addendum simply asks for additional demographic or family information. For these addenda you simply fill them out as per directions and you then apply to that particular school. These selective schools use other factors than the addendum to differentiate admission offers.

Today we are also seeing selective schools looking for creative ways to shape their incoming classes. They are looking for diversity in such traditional areas as geography, ethnicity, and socioeconomic circumstances and they are also looking for real diversity in thought. One way to accomplish this goal is to challenge prospective students with addenda to the application that will demonstrate a student’s creativity as well as their problem solving and critical thinking abilities. The key here is that the student must respond to these addenda in a way that reflects their best in demonstrating these skills.

Let’s look at an example. Wake Forest recently went SAT/ACT optional. One the reasons for this was that they wanted to achieve some of the class-shaping/diversity goals described above. Wake was quite transparent and when it made this announcement it explained its new process for admission. One addition was the interview while another was a strong emphasis on the addendum. This addendum could have a powerful impact on an admissions decision. The questions are potential minefields or golden opportunities. The student completing the document must be in “I’ m applying to a very selective school mode” and answer each question with thoughtfulness, clarity and in some cases innovation and creativity. Some students may answer a question such as “What outrages you?” with “I hate it when I work in a team on some members do not do anything and I have to do their work”. This is not a good answer. In fact, it reflects an image of a whiner and of someone that is immature and self-centered. When one thinks about it, a proper response to this question (as expected by the admissions staff) might be to reflect on the situation in Darfur, or cruelty to animals or man’s destruction of the planet. If you look at each of the questions in Wake’s addendum you’ll find similar opportunities to shine or fail miserably.

Many other selective schools have these addenda. You must be careful and take a larger view when you fill them out. While you cannot have anyone other than yourself make these responses, you should strongly consider having parents, peers, or a guidance/counseling professional review your work. Putting in the extra thought and review can clearly make the difference between acceptance and rejection.

The College Application-Are you on the track or headed for derailment?

Here we go again. The senior class is now in various stages of getting ready for applying to college. Perhaps you are assuming that you are ready to start applying to schools and filling out the application. This assumption is a pretty big one in that most or all of the bullet items below should be complete before you begin the actual application process:


· You’ve looked at yourself in an unvarnished way in terms of assessing where you stand with your grades, your class rank and the difficulty of your high school curriculum


· You’ve taken your standardized tests and understand what role they might play in your admission to a specific college and made plans to prep retake them if necessary


· You’ve confirmed with your school counselor that you have or will have the necessary requirements fulfilled by the time you graduate next year


· You are clear on who needs what by when from the guidance perspective. (they mail transcripts, updated grade reports, etc. to each of the schools that you choose for application)

· You’ve picked the teachers you think will give you the best recommendation and gotten their commitment to provide that recommendation by a predetermined time


· You’ve set expectations for the kind of school you want to attend: public vs. private, large vs. small, social vs. intellectual, liberal arts vs. pre-professional along with other considerations : financial, demographic and geographic preferences/necessities or school reputation


· You’ve given a lot of thought to what possible majors you might choose based upon your personal strengths and passion and then looked carefully via the Web to have a firsthand virtual “visit” to the school


· You’ve narrowed the school list to 6-8 choices with a variation in selectivity i.e., probable admission school vs. a possible vs. a high reach institution and visited the ones that interest you the most


· You’ve prepared your “brag” sheet or resume


· You’ve consulted with your parents and college counselor and obtained their input


So now if you’ve done all that you are pretty much ready to fill out the application to each of the schools to which you wish to apply. You may find the Common Application to be a wonderful tool if most of the schools on your list are private and of higher selectivity, The Common App allows you to apply to multiple schools using only one online effort for the main application. However, in order to differentiate applicants, many schools now make use of supplements (this will be discussed in a future post) which are separate addenda to the Common App, but can still be submitted online to that school along with the regular Common App. Unfortunately many smaller private schools and most public institutions have their own application and as such each app. must be filled out and submitted separately. Depending on how many schools you want to apply to, you can start to see that this activity can be tedious and eat up a lot of time. Patience and careful scrutiny of your work is still a must.


Perhaps the most vexing part of the application process is the writing section. Most schools have a short essay and then have a “personal statement”. We find this task to be most challenging to students because they are asked to write about themselves and to do it in a manner that will present a very clear picture of them to an admissions staff. It is critically important that you are able to show vs. tell about yourself in the essay. Doing a good job on this part of the application can be a key factor in the admission decision and is not to be taken lightly. While we recommend critical review of the essay by your parents, teachers or other respected adults; the essay must be written by you: trained admission personnel can easily spot a perfectly crafted essay created by a well intentioned parent or a writing professional. Be yourself, stay in character and show the reader what makes you tick. You want them to see you someone that they want on their campus next fall.


Most importantly if you haven’t completed most of the bulleted items above, you really need to get focused and moving on this now. Make a timeline, create a checklist and enlist the aid of a classmate to keep you accountable and on to ask. If you start now the train will never have a chance to come off the track.


Next post : The application supplement friend or foe?