Question: I have to write several essays explaining why I have chosen particular colleges on my list. I haven’t been able to visit any of these schools or attend fairs or meet college reps, and I can’t think of anything to say that would sound genuine and show that I clearly have a believable reason for my attraction. Even after thinking long and hard, I haven’t been able to come up with any decent reason for wanting to go to specific colleges. I don’t want my essays to sound as if they came straight from the website or brochure. I really hate writing these essays and need some suggestions on how to approach them.
I hate those “Why This College?” assignments, too. I’ve seen students write the same essay for totally disparate schools, plugging in new adjectives, as needed, almost as if they were doing a “Mad Lib.” For instance, “I’ve always wanted to attend a LARGE UNIVERSITY” quickly turns into, “I’ve always wanted to attend a SMALL COLLEGE.” Or “I prefer a COLD climate” is transformed into “I prefer a WARM climate.”
In a perfect world, I think colleges should make this essay optional. The prompt should say something like this: If you have a truly compelling reason for selecting our institution, please explain. However 99% of our applicants should not respond to this question, and if you write a bunch of B.S., it will be held against you
Of course, it’s hard enough to compose these essays when you do know why you’re interested in your target schools, and harder still if your reasons for applying are as vague as yours are.
Here are some suggestions of ways to personalize the process of writing these nasty things. Hopefully, at the same time this little exercise will force you to look more closely at the choices you’ve made and see if they’re really the right ones for you.
1) Check out the comments about your target colleges on College Confidential. Feel free to quote CC members in your “Why This College Essay.” For instance, “Penn caught my eye when I spotted a comment on the College Confidential discussion forum by a member who called himself, ‘Ilovebagels.’ I love bagels, too (but that’s probably not a wise reason to choose a college!) and also I was interested when he said, ‘I’ve found Penn to be a remarkably centrist institution. Which as a right-of-center person, I felt put it ahead of the other Ivies with their legions of hippies.’ This made me think that Penn might be a good fit for me, so I started to dig deeper …”
2) Make e-mail contact with a “real” student. Many admission Web sites have links that allow you to connect with a current student. You can also do this though a friend or acquaintance who attends your target schools, by using college Web site directories to find students who share common interests (e.g., the president of the outing club or captain of the squash team), or by writing to the admission office and asking if they might be able to refer you to a Classics major or pre-med student or anyone who shares your interests, your home state or country, etc. Then, after corresponding with this student penpal, you can cite his or her words of wisdom in your essay.
3) Comb through college catalogs–either hard copies, if you have them, or online–to find classes/programs/activities that seem special and appealing then discuss your findings in your essays. Obviously, these offerings should be pretty unusual. Admission committees won’t be impressed if you say, “I want to go to Princeton because I found that I can take classes in Shakespeare and organic chemistry.” If you peruse entire catalogs and can’t find something that excites you, you really should be rethinking your college choices.
Finally, check out this thread on “Why This College Essays” on CC if you haven’t already to get some additional tips on those ornery essays. There is some great advice there from “Shrinkrap.”
I’m not sure why you haven’t been able to go on visits, attend fairs, meet with college reps, etc. Perhaps it’s geography and/or finances. But, if at all possible, in the months ahead, I do urge you to take a closer look at the schools that interest you, if possible, and even some that don’t, just so you’ll have options to compare.
Question: How do colleges view students who graduate from a therapeutic school?
“Therapeutic schools” are for students with a range of special needs. These include behavioral problems, ADD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, eating disorders, etc. So, for starters, all grads of such institutions are not lumped together. For instance, a student with ADD who has responded well to medication and who has performed successfully academically after treatment will not be viewed the same way as another student whose behavior problems or drug addiction seem to come and go. Thus, above all, admission officials will be looking for evidence that whatever problems led an applicant to the therapeutic environment are sufficiently under check that he or she can handle the more independent, more stressful academic and social demands of college life. And this isn’t always easy to discern. Moreover, in this post-Virginia-Tech-tragedy era, colleges are increasingly careful about trying to screen out students who might pose a danger to others, not just those who may struggle themselves.
This past year, one of my college counseling clients attended a therapeutic boarding school. She was a bright, engaging girl who was doing well there, but her track record before then was a disaster: she’d flunked out of three other private schools.
As we went through the college process, she would identify colleges that interested her and where her SATs and current GPA seemed to make her admissible. “I can get in there, can’t I?” she would often ask me. And, like a broken record, I would have to tell her over and over that admission officials would evaluate students like her in a special light. Some would surely be impressed by her excellent writing skills, her charm in an interview situation, and the vast distance she’d come since 9th grade. Others, however, would question whether her “success” at the therapeutic school would continue once she left the highly structured, supervised environment. In the past, she’d clearly demonstrated that she couldn’t handle any sort of freedom. So college admission committees might be wary of letting her loose in their community. I told her that she needed to provided references not only from her teachers and school administrator but also from her therapist, who was willing to attest to this young woman’s progress and to the likelihood that she was ready for the independence of college.
As my advisee submitted her applications, I warned her that she would also have to get a bit lucky. If her folder landed on the desk of someone who was sympathetic to her story and to the obstacles she’d overcome, then her admission odds would increase. But if it ended up on the desk of someone more jaded and cynical, who said, “Let her go elsewhere first and show us that she won’t fall on her face when she’s not being watched every minute,” then her news would not be good.
Ultimately she was admitted to more than half of the 9 or 10 colleges to which she applied. Two that rejected her are schools that are known for attracting motivated students who can work independently. Clearly my advisee had not yet proved herself in this way.
So, overall, students in therapeutic schools have to understand that, if they have made great strides and can garner support from school officials to attest to college readiness, then they will surely have options. But they also need to understand that these options can be hard to predict and that typical admitted-student profiles (SATs, GPA, etc.) are not designed for them
Question: My high school grades were awful. I am now 25 and am currently a sophomore at a community college with a GPA of 3.71. I plan on earning an Associate’s Degree by May of next year and would like to know how important my high school GPA will be when transferring to a four-year university.
I have some good (but maybe surprising) news for you: Your lousy high school grades won’t hurt you when you apply to transfer. In fact, in a roundabout way, they may even help you (!) You see, when admissions committees compare your poor high school performance with your community college success, the results will clearly proclaim that you’re now focused and mature and ready to tackle a four-year school. When it comes time to write your application essays, you will probably be wise to mention this obvious growth and explain how it came about.
So, don’t sweat the high school grades, just keep up the good work you’re doing now.
Question: I don’t see a question asking whether or not the applicant is applying for financial aid on the new 2008-2009 Common Application. It has always been there in the past — has something changed? If so, why?
The financial aid question is still on the Common App but, this year, you’ll have to play a little hide ‘n seek to find it (like so many other times in the admissions process, eh?) The question is now in a separate section called “Future Plans,” which you’ll see on the main Common App menu, and not under “Personal Data,” where you may be looking for it, if you’ve used the Common App in the past.
This is actually a good change, in my opinion, because it allows students to easily customize the information they send to colleges, which couldn’t be done on the old form … e.g., need-blind schools don’t require your answer to the financial aid question but need-conscious schools do.
Question: I am applying Early DECISION to Rice. Can I apply Early ACTION to other colleges?
College admission regulations can be confusing indeed, especially when it come to early-application options. In most cases, however, early decision candidates are free to apply to other colleges via NON-BINDING admission plans, which include early ACTION. But you’re right to be concerned–as well as confused–because not all colleges follow this protocol.
At Rice you CAN apply elsewhere while you await your ED verdict, as long as you’re not applying to other Early DECISION schools. You also have to be aware that, if you are admitted ED to Rice as well as to your EA schools, then you are obligated to enroll at Rice. (However, if you are a financial aid applicant, and you are admitted to Rice but do not receive adequate financial aid, then you CAN withdraw from your ED commitment. But, to do so ethically, the Rice aid package must be truly insufficient, and not simply less attractive than you’d hoped–or than what some EA school has offered.)
If you are deferred ED at Rice, then, of course, you are free to apply elsewhere, including under some other college’s Early Decision Round 2 option. You are also free to enroll where you wish, even if Rice does eventually admit you.
Hope that helps. Good luck navigating the college maze!
Question: My son’s school has junior varsity soccer but doesn’t give out JV letters, only varsity. If my son never makes the varsity team, will not having a JV letter hurt his college applications? Do colleges ask about JV letters?
So, for better or worse, whether or not your son was awarded a letter for his JV efforts makes no difference to colleges. You also might want to read this previous “Ask The Dean” column (”College Admissions for Non-Athletes“) for a somewhat sobering look at the way admission committees view high school athletes who may be spirited but aren’t hot recruits,
Question: My wife and I have a difference of opinion concerning our son’s high school education. He is now a sophomore enrolled in the A.P. program at a parochial high school. Our question boils down to this: parochial vs. public high school? His current school is known for having a rigorous curriculum. Not everyone is accepted into this high school. My wife feels that a 3.5 GPA from this school is no different than a 3.5 average from any other public high school honors/AP program. Am I only fooling myself thinking that my son is getting a better education because he is going to this type of school? Will the name of the high school he attends make a bit of difference when applying to college?
It’s hard to answer your question without knowing a lot more about the specific schools involved. That is, there are some very good, well-regarded parochial schools, and, likewise, some public counterparts that can hold their own with even the tip-top prep schools.
When college admission officials evaluate a candidate, they pay close attention to the school he or she attends. Often they have visited the school, have seen numerous applicants from this school in the past, and are familiar with its standards and the type of student from that school that they have previously admitted (or denied!).
When admission committees don’t have that sort of first-hand information, they rely heavily on the “School Profile†that is submitted with each transcript. From this, they can learn something about the school’s admission standards, its course offerings, the percentage of students who head off to four-year colleges after graduation (and often where they go), how the school “weights†grades and ranks, etc. Thus, your son’s 3.5 GPA might indeed be considered by admission officials to be equivalent to the same GPA at your local school … or not. It depends very much on the schools in question.
In general (and this is a very broad and probably not very fair generalization) good parochial schools do not garner any more respect in admission offices than good public schools do. In some instances, I’ve even sniffed out subtle prejudices against parochial school students among “elite-college” admission officials who may feel that these students are taught to obey more than they are taught to think for themselves (though I bet that few admission folks would go on the record to admit this!) So perhaps your wife wins that round.
However, some Catholic schools offer smaller classes, far fewer discipline problems, and a solid grounding in religious and ethical issues that the public schools don’t cover, which may be what you seek for your son. While the top public school students can certainly hold their own against the top Catholic school students–and may even best them, too–the bottom-of-the-heap parochial school kids tend to be stronger than the bottom layer at most public schools, where the range is wider.
If the school your son attends has a good reputation, then college admission officials should be well aware of its rigor and will accord appropriate respect to your son’s transcript when the time comes. You should feel free, even this early in the process (if you have not done so already) to talk with guidance counselors about the school’s college admission track record, and see if students are applying to—and getting into—the kinds of colleges you hope your son will attend.
You should also ask for a copy of the aforementioned “School Profile.†Make sure that it clearly designates which classes are advanced, honors, or Advanced Placement level. If students are ranked, does it explain how their rank is computed and how grades are weighted when students elect the challenging classes? If students are routinely accepted at Ivy League and other highly competitive colleges, is that indicated on the profile as well? If not, you should urge your school officials to revise the information they send to colleges or at least you should make sure that, when it comes time for your son to submit applications, his counselor recommendation makes mention of the demands of the curriculum as well as any special efforts your son has made to meet these demands.
Although I said your wife may be right about how your son’s parochial school grades stack up against those earned in top classes at a good public school, don’t let her claim a true victory on this one because, depending on the actual institutions involved, you may be the one who’s really right when it comes to deciding where your son will get the best education. And how about your son himself? If he is happy and engaged, challenged and successful at his current school, then it sounds like it’s the right spot for him, regardless of how admission officials may view it when compared with the public alternative.
Question: I’m a high school senior and will be having several campus interviews this fall. I’ve heard that it’s not a good idea to ask a lot of questions that suggest that I’m only concerned with material things … like if I can bring a car or microwave to campus. Are there other kinds of questions that I should avoid, too?
You don’t have to eliminate the “creature comfort” questions entirely, but just go easy on them. Sometimes, in fact, students have important reasons to ask such things, and it’s always wise to let your interviewer know if you do. One student in my orbit, for instance, is hoping to take a car to college so that she can visit her ailing grandmother who lives in a nearby town, several hours from all other family members. Another student I know has kept kosher since she was 12, even though the rest of her family does not, so having her own microwave would help her continue this in college. But you certainly don’t need to ask if your dorm room gets HBO.
Do avoid all questions that can be easily answered by visiting the college Web site or reading other propaganda (”Do you have a Spanish major?” “What’s the Early Decision deadline?” “Is there a women’s lacrosse team?”) Also try to steer clear of questions that sound like they’re straight from some “How to impress your interviewer” article, written by someone who’s probably never impressed an interviewer. (”What percentage of tenure-track professors receive tenure and what is the average waiting period?”) And be wary of questions that have a negative tone. For instance, instead of saying, “How many freshmen get stuck in triples?” ask, “Can you tell me about the rooming options for freshmen?”
Unfortunately, you shouldn’t expect an answer to what you may want to know the most (”Do you think I’ll get in?”). In fact, don’t even bother to ask … at least not quite that way. But, if you think you may be out of your league, you can try saying something like, “Is this school a huge long shot for me?” You will probably get a vague, party-line reply along the lines of, “It’s impossible to say without all your application materials in front of me.” But you might, instead, be told that indeed you’re reaching very high, which is usually code for, “You don’t have much of a prayer,” since most interviewers are trained to encourage applicants, not scare them off.
A question that seems harmless enough but always somehow bugged me when I conducted interviews is, “What’s your best department?” No admission official is going to single out one area above all others or dump on any of the potentially weaker ones. You’re better off being more specific by asking, “Is there anything that you know about that sets your English department apart from others … internship opportunities, popular profs, etc.?”
Sometimes, even worse than asking the “wrong” question is asking none at all. Coming up empty at question time suggests a lack of interest in the college or a lack of curiosity in general. But, in my interviewing days, I was always okay with a “No questions” response as long as it came with other context (e.g., “I’ve already read everything I could get my hands on about your school” or “I just grilled the tour guide for 25 minutes!”).
As you hit the interview circuit, whatever your questions are, it’s fine to write them down in a notebook and take that notebook into the session with you. This will not only keep you from blanking out if you’re nervous, but also it will show your interviewer that you are well prepared. Even so, don’t shy away from spontaneous questions either. Sometimes the things you truly want to find out are those that come to mind as you look around you on campus or react to something the interviewer has just said.
Even though you may feel like you’re on the “hot seat” at your interviews, do remember that they also present a great opportunity for you to learn about the schools you’re seeing, so do take advantage of this chance to find out what you really want to know … besides, “What are my chances?”
Question: I’m about to start my senior year in high school, and my coach said that I am good enough to play Division 3 Softball in college. What does this mean and how do I get a scholarship?
Colleges and universities that belong to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (better known as the NCAA) typically offer sports at either the Division 1, Division 2, or Division 3 level. Division 1 is the most selective and Division 3 the least … but, even so, there’s a big jump between being a good high school athlete and being qualified to play at college on any level, even Div. 3.
NCAA rules prohibit athletic scholarships at Division 3 colleges. You’ll have to go to Div. 1 or 2 for softball dough (more on that in a minute). But, if you qualify for need-based financial aid or some other form of merit scholarship (e.g., for academics, arts, etc.) then you may indeed receive $$ to attend a Div. 3 school … you just can’t get the money specifically for softball.
Note, however, that some Div. 3 colleges do tend to “sweeten the pot” for athletic prospects. For instance, let’s say your family qualifies for need-based financial aid. Instead of giving you an aid “package” that is mostly loan and some grant (the good stuff that you don’t need to pay back), you may find that, as a sought-after softball player, your aid package turns out to be all–or mostly–grant money.
If you’re an especially strong Div. 3 player, then you might even be a contender at some Div. 1 or 2 institutions, too, where athletic scholarships are permissible. If so, you’ll have to register with the NCAA and make sure that your course selection, grades, and standardized test scores meet certain minimal standards. For more information about these standards, as well as most everything you want to know about playing a sport in college, see the NCAA’s Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete: http://www.ncaastudent.org/NCAA_Guide.pdf
Note, however, that scholarship money for sports is hard to come by–only the most talented athletes will qualify–and even if a coach is considering you for an athletic scholarship, most of these scholarships are not the “free rides” that we all hear about on TV or through the rumor mill. Many coaches are given a fixed amount of scholarships but then may divide them among several recruits, so the result is that no single player receives more than a few thousand dollars. Thus, if a coach expresses an interest in you and mentions the possibility of scholarship help, don’t hesitate to ask whether you’re looking at serious bucks or just pizza money.
To find a list of colleges with NCAA softball teams, go to: http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec/sponsorship Note that this list indicates if the program is in Division 1, 2 or 3. There are also other colleges that are not affiliated with the NCAA but do offer softball as well.
To find more softball schools, use the College Board “Matchmaker” at http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofschool.jsp Under the “Sports & Activities” heading, select “Softball” in the “Women” column, and then, down below, you have the option to narrow down your search to Div. 1, 2, or 3 (and also intramural).
Keep in mind that, even if the Division 3 colleges can’t offer scholarships for athletic prowess, what they may be able to provide is a boost in your admissions odds, if you’re a promising recruit. In other words, if you find that you’re a borderline candidate at a top-choice school, the coach’s clout may make a difference in your admissions verdict. So, as soon as you discover any colleges—at any level–that interest you, feel free to contact the coach to express your interest. At the Div. 1 and Div. 2 levels, the NCAA has strict rules that govern the sort of exchanges that coaches can have with recruits, but at Div. 3 colleges, those rules are laxer.
A final thing to keep in mind is this: Some Division 3 coaches are straight shooters and some are not. At Div. 1 and 2 colleges, prospective students often sign a “Letter of Intent” which helps the coaches know which athletes are sure to matriculate. At Div. 3 schools, however, it’s hard for a coach to assess which players will eventually enroll. So, it’s common for coaches to suck up to all potential athletes with the hope that at least a couple will show up in September. So be wary of promises made by Division 3 coaches. The nice guy who tells you that you’re a “likely four-year starter” in December may forget about you entirely by the following fall, if his recruiting season has been successful. So be sure to query coaches about team size, returning players (and their positions), how many players will be cut after try-outs, etc. This will help you to determine if the coach is serious about you or maybe leading you on.
Good luck with your senior year and you college search. I hope you find a lot of colleges that are in the ballpark for you and at least one that may even be a homerun.
Question: Why do college applications ask where my parents went to college, and will it help me or hurt me that they went to small, little-known state schools?
The main reason that applications ask this question is to give admission officials a bit more insight into where you’re coming from. In other words, when they evaluate your grades, your writing, and, especially, your SAT or ACT scores, it’s helpful to know about the intellectual climate in which you (presumably) live. Admission officials may have somewhat different expectations of the son or daughter of a factory worker who did not attend college than they would of the child of a surgeon with an Ivy League degree. Perhaps these expectations aren’t entirely accurate–or fair–but, nonetheless, the admission folks view your parents’ background as part of your “big picture.”
When it comes to admission decisions, there are some advantages to having parents who attended snazzy colleges (e.g., you may hold “legacy” status at one or more of your target colleges; also, admission officials know you probably hail from a home where education is valued and you’ve most likely been exposed to literature, arts, etc. in a way that will help ease your adjustment to a demanding college). But there are also some disadvantages (e.g., more forgiveness when it comes to marginal grades, writing, or test scores goes to those whose parents may not have offered them the same academic opportunities).
If your parents did not attend college at all, then you might get a “hook” in the admissions process for being “first generation.” In your case, however, the fact that your parents went to college but not to any “name” school will probably end up being neither a plus nor a minus in your admission process.
The question is now in a separate section called “Future Plans,” which you’ll see on the main Common App menu, and not under “Personal Data,” where you may be looking for it, if you’ve used the Common App in the past.
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