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Your Eight-Point Self-Marketing PlanOkay, so what's this great self-marketing plan? Briefly, it's all about finding a key contact at the school that has deferred or waitlisted you and feeding that person carefully planned information about your accomplishments and passion for that school. #1 - Find out the name of the person who has authority over your application. In most cases, this will be the regional admissions representative for your area of the country. You can find out who s/he is in several ways. Start searching immediately. Don't put this off. First, you can check the school's Web site. Most colleges have a separate page or segment of their site devoted to undergraduate admissions. In some cases, depending on the size of the school, they may have the admission officers' names, their geographic assignment, and (if you're really lucky) their email address. If this information isn't available on the school's Web site, then you'll have to call the admissions office. Don't chicken out here. You've got to remember that you get one shot at the process and this is your chance. By the way, don't have (or let) mom or dad do the talking here. Why? Well, right off the top, if an admissions officer ends up speaking with one of your parents, s/he'll immediately think that you don't have the commitment or maturity to handle this important task for yourself and may even question your true motivations about attending that particular school. Make these calls yourself. When you finally make phone contact, briefly explain who you are and what your situation is: "Hello, this is Julie Smith calling. I was deferred [or waitlisted] and I would like to know the name of the admissions representative in charge of my application." Say it something like that. The receptionist will then probably ask you where you live and quickly tell you the name of your representative. S/he may also ask you if you would like to speak with that person. That's great, if you're prepared to say something intelligent. If you're just calling for a name, politely decline and end your call. If you're ready to begin stating your case, though, then go for it. Most times, however, the receptionist will just give you the name of your rep without offering to connect you. Remember, there are probably lots of other deferred or waitlisted applicants vying for their rep's attention too. Admissions offices are extremely busy places after decision letters go out. When you get the name of your rep, also ask politely for his or her email address (assuming that it's not on the school's Web site, as mentioned above). Of course, there's always a slim chance that the receptionist will not cooperate in giving you your rep's name. This is unlikely, but if it happens, just ask her for the name (and email address) of the person to whom you may direct correspondence concerning your situation. That will get you somewhere. Bottom line: Your goal is to identify a human being inside the admissions office with whom you can correspond. #2 - State your case. Okay, so now you know the name of your admissions representative. Good. That's your first crucial step. My recommendation is to make your first contact with your rep in person by telephone. S/he'll be able to make some mental notes about your tone and infer the level and quality of your commitment to attend that school. You may think that you'll be too nervous to sound convincing. However, the thing to remember is that admissions reps are people too. They understand how stressful and important your application process is. Accordingly, any admissions rep worth his or her salt will give you more than the benefit of the doubt when you speak with them. Try not to be nervous, though. Above all, be organized and to the point. Tell your rep that you're calling to get some perspective on your deferral or waitlisting. In most cases, the rep will retrieve your folder or look up your data on their computer while you're on the line. Then, s/he'll do a quick review of his or her notes and be as forthcoming as possible about why you were deferred or listed. I've even heard of reps commenting on the "degree" of deferral. That is, s/he might say something like, "You were a high (or strong) deferral," or some similar comment. If you hear a positive comment like this, that should charge your up even more and invigorate your self-marketing energies. After these preliminaries, you'll want to tell your rep briefly that you're still extremely interested in attending that school and you would like to stay in touch and provide further evidence of your worthiness to become a student there. Regardless of how you put this—as long as your sincerity shines through—your rep will understand what you mean. S/he'll most likely be delighted that you took the initiative to call and introduce yourself. After your discussion has concluded, your rep will no doubt make some kind of notation in your admissions folder summarizing the nature of the call. S/he'll note the date too. They make these notations because there's not much hope of them remembering all the discussions they will have during the period between deferral letters (mid-December) and RD decisions (late March or early April). Side note: It's conceivable that you could be deferred in December and then waitlisted in April, a kind of exquisite, special torture that I wish on none of you. However, if this does happen, the self-marketing process described here will work for you nonetheless. If you choose not to make your initial contact by phone but by email, your presentation should be much the same. One crucial difference, however, will be your forum. You'll have a bit of an advantage because your written message will give you total control. You won't have to think on your feet, answering unexpected questions, the way you might have to in a phone conversation. The downside of written contact is that you won't have the opportunity to "read" your rep's manner, voice inflections, and general demeanor. That's okay, though. Any rep worth his or her salt will respond characteristically in answering your e-mail inquiry. #3 - Schedule your contacts and updates. Now that you have the ball rolling, get ready to keep it rolling. If you've been deferred, you're going to have about three months (give or take) to deploy your self-marketing plan. Let's say you have 12 weeks. You'll want to make about three-to-six contacts with your rep, depending on how much update news you can generate. Keep in mind that you don't want your rep to feel that you're a pest. If you have something to say, then say it. However, don't just talk to hear yourself talk, or type so that you can send your rep some words. On the average, a brief email or phone contact every two or three weeks ought to do it. Now that you understand the schedule, it's time to get to work. #4 - Turn up the academic heat. This is mainly for those who have been deferred. You may be thinking, "What else can I do? I'm already doing the best I can." You probably are. However, recall that you submitted your application in early November and you learned of your deferral in mid-December. There's an early-February mid-year report waiting to go in on you that will report on your academic progress for the first half of the school year. Obviously, you want to show some positive improvement, if that's possible. This would also be an excellent time for you to consider entering or completing any competitions that involve your "specialties," be they forensics, writing, poetry, speech, moot court, or whatever. Your goal is to position yourself as a strong finisher, someone who has not yet realized his or her full potential. Since you're a quality, talented student, you probably have some reserves that have thus far been untapped. Now is the time to call them into play. Hold back nothing. You get one shot, and this is your shot. |
