College applications--and the life you live that forms the basis of them--are daunting. This page mentions the many aspects you have to juggle starting in 9th grade.
Plan your curriculum. The difficulty level of your classes has an enormous impact on your application. When admissions officers read a transcript, they turn it into a story and you are its sole character. Are you a tragic hero? Attendant lord? Victim? Fool? If you don't challenge yourself enough, you appear unambitious and intellectually lazy. If you take on too much, your grades suffer. What's better: no honors classes but an A- average, or several honors and one AP class but a B average?
Plot Extracurriculars. You can't suddenly gain fluency in a foreign language or rewind to the summer you vacationed rather than completed an impressive internship. The decisions you make about what to do with your time outside of school are just as important as the ones you make about the classes you take. But whose voice do you listen to? Your parents? Your teachers? Your friends? Your own?
Cultivate Teacher Relationships. This starts as early as 9th grade. The more familiar your teachers are with you as a person--not just in their classroom--the better. Plus, having a teacher who's really on your side can make a world of difference in your life.
Preliminary Research and Building the List. Junior year is the time to identify, research, and narrow, a list of schools that are the best academic, social, geographical, and financial fit for you. Delve into websites, videos, and links to finalize the list. But before you look outward, look inward. I help you work through forms, questionnaires, worksheets, and online tools to identify, assess, and prioritize your needs before you start looking for schools that will fulfill them. After getting to know you, I suggest additional schools that I think you might like.
Balance the List. A strong, balanced list isn't just about rankings. You have to evaluate your chances based upon a number of criteria both objective and subjective.
Organize. The amount of information flooding in is going to get out of control. You need to have organized systems for keeping track of this information--not only to help you meet deadlines but also to answer the "Why us?" question that many colleges expect in a supplemental essay.
Standardized Tests. Due to COVID and the impossibility of administering tests safely, most schools have temporarily suspended this requirement. But many universities were already jumping on the trend to make standardized testing optional. I predict the pandemic will further this movement, so stay tuned!
Create A Profile. When they read your file, admissions committees are looking for who you are, not just what you've done. The trend is to refer to this as "branding," but this makes me shudder. Rather than viewing you as a commodity for sale, I help you create a profile that showcases what makes you unique: what fascinates you, what infuriates you, what keeps you up at night, and what inspires you. Together, we figure out how to make you a memorable candidate.
The Essay. By far the hardest part of the application. You have to figure out which prompt/s best showcase your strengths, brainstorm topics, come up with a unifying theme and a structure (narrative? flashback? montage?), organize your thoughts into a cohesive pattern, make the paragraphs flow together, check that your message isn't trite or cliche, convey your authentic point of view, illustrate with the best examples, draft, re-draft, and revise until your essay represents the best version of you.
Campus Visits. It's smart to spend time on as many campuses as possible to get a real sense for the schools. That's relatively easy if you live in New England and want to go to college in New England, but much harder for the rest of the country. You need to figure out how, when, and where to visit, what to pre-arrange, and what to do when you are on campus. Your visits should at the minimum include a session with the admissions office and a campus tour, but ideally you will also arrange to sit in on a class, talk to students, interview, and stay overnight. Due to COVID, many schools suspended in-person visits last year, but some are already starting to resume tours with caution and social distancing.
Explain Your Weaknesses. Maybe your freshman and sophomore math grades barely passed muster. Maybe you have a disciplinary note on your transcript. Many students live in fear of a weakness on their transcript that requires explanation. Often the Supplemental Essays offer a chance to address the problem, but you need to do this in a way that turns the weakness into a strength, or at least prove that you used the experience as an opportunity for growth.
Edit/Proofread. Attention to detail is critical. Every year, applicants make sloppy mistakes, often not because they are lazy but because they are applying to too many colleges to keep track of everything. You'd be amazed at how many admissions officers come across sentences like "Ever since I was 5, I dreamed of going to Stanford"--only they are reading your application to Duke!!! And trust me, some typos are critical. Don't be one of the many students who talk about going to public school and accidentally leave the "l" out of public!!!
Interview Prep. Times are uncertain as to whether or not schools will even offer a chance to interview in person, but should we go back to the "old normal," it's critical to conduct intense preparation before an interview. Mock interviews with someone playing the role of different admissions officers with unique personalities are the perfect way to prepare.
Stress Management. The pressure is coming from everywhere--your school, your teachers, your coach, your friends, your parents, society, and your own mind. Rather than letting it take over, it's possible to take a mindful approach to this time of your life. This can even make the whole process enjoyable.