Welcome Back Dear Readers… (just kidding)
Welcome back! We hope you had a few restful days this summer and are excited about the year ahead. Ten of my 17 years in admission have been here at Georgia Tech and during that time Rick Clark and I have had many a conversation. Conversations about our families, admission, the state of the world – all the things.
One of the reasons I have loved my time at Tech is because my personal values are in sync with the culture in this undergraduate admission office. I have long believed that part of our duty as admission professionals is to dial down the temperature in a very high stress, high stakes environment. Students, counselors, and families all feel a deep pressure surrounding the college admission process.
For that reason, we feel a deep commitment to be transparent, to empower the student and counseling community, and to anchor all the interested players in comforting common sense, tough love reality checks and much needed moments of lightheartedness and humor (come back for my next blog on College Fairs: A View from the Trashcan).
Over the years the blogs on our site have made me laugh, made me tear up, and always made me think. That is what you can expect from the blogs to come this year too. That same thoughtful alignment of care, information, and emotional buoyancy and we will begin right now.
Your College Admission Strategy
This post is for the seniors and their care team (feel free to read this ancient post on my thoughts about a care team. It is from 2018, and the message is still relevant —and for those keeping score, the Centennial Lightbulb is still burning!). Consider this our college admission strategy meeting and it begins with this: in just over 10 months every senior reading this will be celebrating graduation.
Did that just do the opposite of dialing down stress?? Well, let me be true to my word. For practicality, here is a detailed article on the college application timeline with helpful definitions, but before you put together a college timeline strategy, stick around for some thoughts on “enough.”
A Countercultural Concept: You are enough.
I have been thinking A LOT about what it means to do “enough,” to produce “enough,” to be “enough.” Our applicant pool attracts the type of student that is always seeking improvement. That drive starts before a student enters college, and we see it evidenced in so many different ways: how a student cares for their family, how they lead organizations, how they protect the environment, how they put in countless hours at a job, how they voraciously learn about topics that interest them… all expressions of passion, commitment, and motivation.
Far be it from me to slow you down when you pursue something you love. Your genuine passion for subjects, people, and ideas shows in your application and we LOVE that in the admission office.
But I want to take a pause and start the year off right, anchor your college search, application, and eventual admission to many fantastic schools with this statement: You are enough.
No Matter the Circumstances: You are enough.
There will be feelings of highs and lows this year. As you investigate which colleges you want on your list (and which ones you are volunTOLD to put on your list), in that mixture of excitement and nervousness as you explore possibilities, you are enough. When you contemplate what essays and short answers you will write, you are enough. As you are making your own decisions about what college or colleges are the right fit for you considering academics, campus culture, location, financials, and if it “feels right,” you are enough.
As you navigate admission decisions, some hoped for and some hurtful, REALLY remember that you are enough. In all those varied moments remember, take a deep breath, and know that you are enough.
Don’t mistake your “who” for your “do:” You are enough.
While your accomplishments in the classroom, your commitments to others, your responsibilities at home and outside of it are valued and have value, the things you do are still separate from who you are as person. I often see that get lost in the noise of senior year.
If you remember nothing else from this post, remember that this time next year, you will be starting college – because you are enough. In fact, you are better than enough!
I will end with what I see from my vantage point of reading applications and working with students for many years. If your inner voice ever says that you are not enough, fight back with the words I hear describing our applicants year after year. Check out how people describe you: motivated, smart, happy, innovative, forward thinking, passionate, creative, determined, outside-of-the-box, dependable, kind, and thoughtful. I know those words were written about students who at times did not feel like they were enough. When you can’t see it or feel it, believe the supportive words of people around you.
I hope you approach your senior year with the same commitments that we have made when crafting this blog – a promise to focus on common sense, tough love reality checks and much needed moments of lightheartedness and humor. We hope you have a great start to your senior year!
Katie Mattli has worked in college admission for over 17 years. She joined Georgia Tech in 2014 and works with first-year recruitment initiatives. Her previous years at a private liberal arts college for women fueled her love of student leadership and advocacy. She cares deeply about transparency in the admission process and supporting students, families and student advocates as they navigate the college admission process.