Category: Admission Process

Why Go to College?

This week we welcome one of our admission counselors, Laila Flores, to the blog. Take it away, Laila!

Why go to college?

Our Director, Rick Clark, likes to ask prospective students first why they want to go to college, and next, to consider where they will best study. I could not agree with more with his approach, and I wanted to share some thoughts about “the why” and, as examples, draw lines to “the how” from my own family’s college experience.

To impress a girlfriend, ahem… future family

My grandfather enrolled in college because he wanted to win my grandma´s favor.  He did not feel an immediate need to enroll as he was to inherit his father’s factory (devoted to making parts for automobiles). But to keep his girlfriend happy, he decided to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering and it proved to be a great idea! He graduated among the top in his class in 1947, mastering the skills to build his own machines (and eventually marry my grandmother).

At Georgia Tech you can find lots of opportunities to amaze your family and friends by building your own machines or enterprises. For example, if you join our Create-X, you and your team will gain the expertise to understand market demand, build a working prototype and potentially win $20,000 in seed money to start a company.

So: if you want to go to college to impress, it will work… but first and foremost, think about YOU! Which brings us to another popular reason for attending college…

To get ready for the job of your life.

When my dad was young, he dreamed of being a truck driver. As he grew older, his admiration was fixed on his brothers who were pursuing engineering degrees. As one of nine children in a loving but crowded home, he was ready to gain his independence! He loved math, and his confidence in that subject matter was enough for him to dream of becoming an engineer, an economist, or an accountant. Luckily, he was admitted to a civil engineering program, and his passion for engineering was reaffirmed when his older brother (who held a job at the Mexican ministry of public works) brought him along to the construction sites of highways and housing projects. Later, his undergraduate thesis was directed by a professor that also worked at the Ministry. By the time he graduated he had the experience and network to land a job, and he was ready to pay the bills and have a home of his own. Can you imagine having your own place and house rules?

At Tech you can take advantage of our co-curricular programs like co-op and internships to develop professional connections and build experience and be ready for the job market. More than 90% of our students have a job lined up within 6 months of graduation, some have offers by the end of their junior year!

Not all people are seeking to win approval or gain a job.  Some people go to college because they care about the social good.

To make a difference by helping others

My mother wanted to pursue a career in medicine or dentistry to help others. Dentistry, she reasoned, would provide a better work/life balance. It proved true! She had an office in our house, so she could see patients in the mornings and spend the afternoons with me.

There are many opportunities for students to make a positive change through Georgia Tech! GT´s Engineers Without Borders or Key Club and those who participate in the Inventure Prize Competition build products that make can change the world! The last round of winners rolled out inventions to keep firefighters safer, provide fast medical screenings and make water potable in developing countries.

Complete a young adult rite of passage.

I arrived to college by default. No one I knew in my high school questioned that after graduation we were to attend college. I thought it was my duty to complete a college education, so it was more of a brain vs. heart decision. YOU, on the other hand, have time to snap out of the social conventions and take the decision to heart! You have time to think about your strengths and skills, research your options, and own this process!

In terms of then selecting a school, it helped me to compare information about the location, costs, infrastructure, number of full time/part time professors, and curriculum. If I were to choose college again I would also consider extracurricular activities, access to green space, opportunities for internships, as well as job placement rates. After graduation you will likely have to pay bills on your own, so I recommend to keep your eyes open for all the opportunities that can prepare you for the job market.

Once you get into college, you will see that some people are there to…

Experience a new lifestyle/see a new world outside your bubble

I did not pick a college that would “rock my world,” but I know that many people out are seeking just that! They want to live in a new part of the country, be in a city, or escape to a small town. They want to be part of a community that has lots of clubs, events, and traditions, or they want to get lost in a sea of people that will let them be.

For me the novelty came about during my study abroad program in Canada at University of Regina. For the first time I lived in a dorm and had to worry about my laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the bathroom… I also got to mingle with students from different parts of the world and my home, Mexico. Back at home, our classrooms were pretty homogenous. I went on a road trip with seven other friends to Banff, Edmonton and Calgary, and would have never dreamed of doing that journey sans “grownups” before that! Stepping out of my comfort zone was a great choice to learn and grow.

At Tech we have over 120 study abroad programs, you will definitely be able to enhance your second language skills and get ready for the global market place after trying one of them.

Why are you going to college?

Keep this question in mind as you create life plans. Attending college is a huge investment of time and money, so having a clear idea of why you want to go, and what you want to get out of it, is key to make the best out of the experience!

 

 

What’s Next for College Admission?

While there’s never a slow time for college admissions, the cycle is about to pick up as a new crop of high school seniors work on their applications and think about where they’ll be next fall.  There are several changes that will affect the class of 2021 and beyond. Here are a few trends I’m keeping a close eye on.

Prior-Prior Year FAFSA

Starting this fall the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be available earlier, now in October as opposed to January. And the forms will now use tax information from two years ago, known as Prior-Prior Year, as opposed to just the previous year.

Why does this matter? The change will enable students and families to file FAFSA earlier and receive federal aid eligibility information sooner in the college application process. Currently, financial aid information doesn’t become available until students and their families are nearing college decision deadline dates. While the schedule for Georgia Tech’s financial packages will not alter this year, the new rules will allow families applying to many schools nationally to receive their financial aid information earlier in the process, which will allow for more thorough and informed discussions about where to attend college. Even though the changes start this year, it will take a couple of years before we see the full impact across the higher education landscape.

Every individual family handles things differently, but I think that for the majority of people this is a very good thing. You will have more complete information on the table earlier and be able to rule in and rule out some places. I’m for anything we can do to eliminate some of the stress and anxiety over deciding where to go to college.

Turning the Tide

Turning the Tide, a report, released by Harvard University, calls on colleges to attempt to reduce application angst by not putting as much emphasis on test scores, redefining achievement and promoting meaningful contributions to the public good.

It is forcing people in admission to think differently and strongly consider what’s on their applications and how they are training their staff to review applications. These outside reports put colleges in the healthy position where we are asking good questions about how we can refine and improve the process.

For example, we’ve changed one of our supplemental questions on the Common Application to line up with the Institute’s motto of progress and service as it relates to how applicants are within their families. The new prompt is: Tech’s motto is Progress and Service. We find that students who ultimately have a broad impact first had a significant one at home. What is your role in your immediate or extended family? And have you seen evidence of your impact on them?

The idea is to communicate to students that impact is not only achieved through playing sports or involvement in clubs, etc. We care about your relationships, character, and who you are in your family. These are indicators of your fit for Georgia Tech.

Changes to the ACT and SAT

The two major college entrance exams – the ACT and SAT – have both gone through major changes, and students who are the first to take the revamped exams are stressed over how these new tests will impact admission decisions. Students, and their families, need to remember that colleges aren’t changing how they use these scores. The scores are just one of many factors considered during the holistic review of applications.

I know people don’t like change, and being the first to do something is scary. But I’m looking forward to getting an admission cycle under our belt with these changes so students will see they are being admitted and that this is not something they have to be worried about. Once colleges start releasing admission decisions in December, the tension and anxiety surrounding both entrance exams will begin to subside.

Statewide Tour

Part of Georgia Tech’s mission as a public university is to serve the state and help produce a more educated workforce and a stronger economy. Later this month, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University and University of Georgia will kick off the annual Peach State Tour information sessions to meet with high school counselors, students and parents.

This year’s program is bigger than ever. Georgia State was added to the tour, and the three colleges will hold information sessions in 23 different towns and cities, nearly double what was done last year. This means Georgia Tech’s admission team will be within 50 miles of every Georgian.

I’m excited to travel across the state and meet with counselors, principals, students and families in communities to develop relationships that will last years. We want the best students in our state to strongly consider some of Georgia’s research institutions. We will not only talk about the opportunities at our three premier universities, but we will also answer questions in general about the college admission process.

The Welcome Manual, Step 2: Don’t Sit!

The Welcome Manual, Step 2

At Georgia Tech we’ve made a real effort to clarify holistic review , de-stress the admission process, and use a variety of mediums to try to help you do a great job on your application.

Still, when I ask current freshmen to reflect on their admission process, I’m surprised by their misconceptions of the basic elements. Either these were not well communicated, not really heard (despite a lot of nodding heads when I look out into audiences), or perhaps not believed. I’m still working on my “trust me” hand sign, but I have to admit: it’s frustrating to know there is still so much misinformation and misunderstanding. And to be honest, often these conversations are with kids whose parents attended college, and who have access to college counselors in their high schools. That being said, it worries me to think about students who are in schools with student:counselor ratios of nearly 500:1 (the– disturbing– national average).

In Part 1 of The Welcome Manual, we talked about separating yourself in your writing– being you, conveying your passions, and looking at your essays and supplements like an interview. Today we are going to hit on another “lesson learned” or “wish I’d known” from college freshmen who have just gone through the admission process.

Since The Common Application opens August 1, let’s walk through this together (cue the dream sequence).Step2_Banner

The Schedule

August 1-3: You create a username and login. You quickly knock out your name, address, date of birth, and overall biographical information. Maybe you get slightly delayed for an evening or two while finding out mom or dad’s work address or details on length of citizenship in your state– but this section is pretty straightforward (note: if you find questions such as address or middle name difficult, please see your school counselor immediately).

August 8 (being generous): You come to the extra- curricular portion. Let’s allow some time to consider and deliberate over the order to list these activities. “Will they think it’s more impressive that I played cul-de-sac whiffleball or was awarded ‘Bee of the Month’ for April as Applebee’s hostess?” Again, however, that section is pretty straight forward. Couple nights and DONE– because effectively it is what it is.

August 12: Understandably, when you get to the essays and supplements, you are going to need some time (although, many college freshmen say they actually wrote those over the summer, which we advise.) You write, revise, edit, solicit an editor or two, remind the editor to do their job, consider those edits, revise. This process should take a month, max.

Mid- September: Students I talked to said they hit some delays in making a few college visits or determining exactly which schools to apply to. Or, they had a big test or project that kept them from immediately submitting, so we will account for that.

Oct 1: Submit. Done.

Sit-Less-Walk-with-Attitude-BlogThe Reality

Does reality follow the schedule above? Nope. Students said they just just sat on their applications… and admitted they sat on them way too long. They sat and sat. They ate and slept and went on an occasional date, and then they sat some more. If the application were an egg, it would have long since hatched and then been crushed by mama for not moving.

My question: “WHY?” Most said they were nervous– anxious about being judged. I also heard, “I thought I might realize something was missing” or “that I might want to add something to improve it.”

My Advice

ME: “Ok. So did you?”

They said: “No.” And similarly they unanimously said how relieved they were once they finished and could move on with their senior year. Now they had time to focus more on their senior grades, or on Homecoming, or simply on not sitting.

I’m just reporting what I’ve heard (and adding a few occasionally cheesy parentheticals). But here’s the bottom line: Knock it out and send it in! And tell your friends. “See Sitting, Say Something.” #ssss — it’s a thing.

If you would like to subscribe to receive blog entries when they post, please click the “Subscribe” button in the header at the top of this page. We also welcome comments or feedback @gtadmission on Twitter.

 

The Welcome Manual: Part 1 of 3

I woke up to the sound of rain on the windows and roof. Not a completely uncommon noise but somehow this seemed different. Then the water started hitting my arm and face and I forced my eyes open.

I was sleeping on a porch at the beach. My family took a vacation last week to Cape Cod, MA. Beautiful area and great to escape the Georgia heat at this time of year. But after a long night of stories by the fire, I had decided to sleep on a porch bed to enjoy the cool evening.  Looking around me at the wet sill and blanket it was clear that it had been raining a while. I went back into the house and began closing the windows in my wife and kids’ rooms. Then I went into the bathroom. Oddly, it was here that it felt like rain was falling directly on my head… and it was.

I looked up and realized there was an open sunroof that I had not noticed during the beautiful, clear days before.  Not wanting to turn on the light or wake anyone else up I stared up at the skylight. Rain was coming directly into my face at this point.

This house was built in 1920. The ceiling was a good 12 feet high and there was a precariously archaic looking crank to close this hatch. I searched the wall hoping perhaps it has been modernized and one of the switches would control it. Flip, lights. Flip, fan. Flip, not sure what that does but it does not control the sunroof.

Finding The Solution

Do I put down towels and go back to sleep? Appealing but irresponsible. Do I wake my wife up and ask for help? No. It’s 3 a.m. and she was buried under 2 pillows and taking up the entire bed at this point. Plus, she’d much prefer a wet bathroom than being woken up with questions I should be able to answer.

So… the only solution: climb. I’m not saying I’m Spiderman or anything, but having young kids has renewed my playground acumen, which as this point was looking to prove necessary. I step up onto to toilet. Put a foot into the wall and my hand on the window sill and pulled myself onto that and the top of the door frame.  I was 6-7 feet off the ground and could reach to 11 or so. Almost there. I stretched further and could almost touch the crank now. But it was slick and rain was picking up. I jammed my back into wall and reluctantly reached to the crank and closed the sunroof. At this point I was dripping from both sweat and rain.  I eased back down to the top of the toilet careful not to make the final step the one that sent me to the Cape Cod hospital. And that’s when I saw it. Sitting in the corner, right next to the plunger was a 2 foot silver rod.  I picked it up. What the…?!  Expanding it out to a good 6 feet like a tent pole, there was a perfect aperture for the crank.

That would have been good to know! I’m so glad the welcome manual for the house included directions to the beach and restaurant recommendations, instead of helpful nuggets like this one. Yelp and Google Maps have got me covered in 2016, but so far there is no “crank” app that I’m aware of.

The Admission Welcome Manual

Part of what creates anxiety in the admission process is what brings about stress in all of life: uncertainty.  When we don’t feel like we have all of the details or good information on something, it shakes us. And then questions start swirling: Should I apply or is this school too far out of reach? Will they like my essay and find it compelling? Have I done enough outside the classroom to complement my good grades? How much will they look at test scores, and will that be the only factor they care about? Will the fact that 10 other students are applying from my high school hurt my chances?

As we head toward August and the opening of applications around the country, it’s clear we need to go back to the basics. Today, we’ll cover the first step in our three-part series, the“welcome manual” to college admission.

Step 1 – Separate yourself

The other day I was talking with a student who just finished his freshman year at Tech. Crazy talented when it comes to film and media. He’s going to have a very successful career, and he’s majoring in business to complement his creative skills. We started talking about the admission process, and I fired off a few questions I love to ask: where else did you apply? Why did you choose Tech? What would you tell a high school student now that you wish you would have known?

And his answer to that surprised me– he said he did not highlight his passion for film because he thought Tech admissions would question if he were a good fit. He didn’t want to “look too different from others I knew were applying.” He actually wrote different supplemental essays for Tech than he did for University of Chicago and Stanford. At this point, my mouth was agape. “What?! Wait… what?!”   I know we talk about “voice” in every presentation. We write about “conveying individualism” in blogs and in publications. We have made videos speaking to this very point. It’s one of those moments that makes me want to throw up my hands.

The entire purpose of the supplemental essay is to separate you from other applicants. This is your interview. This is the one time in the app that you get to convey your voice. That voice is precious to us because it does not come out in test scores, course choice or performance, or even in the activities you choose to participate in. We need your authentic, passionate, individual voice and content there. His desire to combine business and film is PRECISELY what makes him an attractive candidate for us. We saw that he had his own film company when reading his activities and noted he had worked in that capacity within school and the community.

Like many applicants, we Googled him and checked out some of his work during file review. We want to know these things you care about. Shaping and building a class means finding many distinct pieces and combining them to create a beautiful puzzle.

So repeat after me, “Step 1: Write to separate yourself.”  When we read essays and make comments, we use a rubric. On our scale the mid-range is “dime a dozen” or “not a separator.” Basically this means that the essay does not hurt but does not help. It’s neutral. It’s effectively mediocre. Reaching the higher end of the rubric is achieved by augmenting your application with writing that helps us hear you, helps us remember you, understand you. Think about going out on a first date. You want your answers and conversation to be interesting, elaborative, insightful, creative. One word answers that you give your parents about where you went, who you were with, and how your day was are mediocre. (Try stepping that up too– they love you.) You know the difference. Now show us that!

We’ll hit Step 2 next week. In the meantime, don’t go climbing up wet walls in the night groping for a rusty crank.

Fisher vs. Texas… It’s all about the data

I just returned from a 3-day hiking trip in the Pacific Northwest with a couple friends that I’ve known for 30 years. It was an amazing time to catch up and unplug. Before we left we downloaded a GPS app, purchased a topographic map of the area, and checked multiple trail and weather reports. As we gathered our gear at the trail head, we talked to people coming out about the downed trees, river crossings, and overall conditions. We did all of this to try to understand what to expect, how to prepare, and what to bring in order to have a fun and safe trip. We all do this when we buy a car or are thinking about asking someone out on a date, right? We read reviews, we talk to friends, we “shop around.” For any important decision we always want moIMG_1607re information, not less. And so it goes too for the college admission process.

Fisher v. Texas 

If you have been reading or watching the news lately, you know the Supreme Court is adjourning for the summer. In advance of that, they released a bevy of rulings last week, including the Fisher v. Texas decision, in which they ruled 4-3 (with Justice Kagan recusing herself) to uphold the University of Texas at Austin race-conscious admission policy.  For those of utilizing holistic admission processes, this is important because it protects the current precedent (established in Bakke, Grutter, Gratz and Fisher 1), which allows for race to be one of many factors in the admission process.

One of Many Data Elements

In my opinion, however, upholding the ability to utilize race in admission is symbolic of the larger win. To be honest, it’s more about the data. Maybe someone should write a song called, “It’s all about the data, ’bout the data.” Not sure that quite has the same punch as “the bass,” but the concept is absolutely accurate. If you start to take away data points, you begin to deteriorate the effectiveness of a holistic file review process. The entire reason you go beyond a formulaic process (only looking at classes, grades, and test scores) is to get a full picture of each student while reading an application. Take away data elements and you begin eroding the complete picture. It’s like removing critical pixels in a larger graphic. First, you remove race, then gender, then parents’ marital status, and the list goes on.

In fact right now the White House is pushing a “Beyond the Box” initiative and is encouraging schools to sign the Fair Chance Pledge. This calls for “colleges and universities to help remove barriers… that prevent citizens with criminal records from pursuing higher education.”  One of the factors that they cite is that students are less apt to apply if these questions are on the form. I’d like to see the research on that because certainly if that is deemed to be prevalent, it’s a reasonable argument. However, in general, I like to see those questions and the responses. Questions we ask in committee are: “What did the student do… and when? What has happened as a result? Is there evidence of grit or lessons learned?  Did they write about that?” Most of the questions we ask are in hopes of finding evidence that the student has grown and will contribute and flourish on campus.

Seeing the Bigger Picture

Applications are built to form a picture, to tell a story, and to provide context. This is why we want to know what extra-curricular activities a student has chosen to pursue; it’s why we read the essays; it’s why admission officers or alumni take the time to interview students. We are constantly looking for history, background, and context.

Undeniably, race is a sensitive subject. And the court points to this stating, “it remains an enduring challenge to our Nation’s education system to reconcile the pursuit of diversity with the constitutional promise of equal treatment and dignity.” The race/ethnicity of students, however, is only one facet of a much broader diversity goal that schools have—and what’s crucial to remember is why diversity in all of its forms (geographic, gender, extra-curricular, etc.) matters.

When students live and study alongside classmates from a wide variety of backgrounds, their experience is ameliorated. Rich dialogue and enhanced learning stems from differences. And those differences serve to improve classroom discussion and the overall campus ethos. Being respectfully asked “Why are you wearing that? Why do you believe that? Why did you jdiversityust say that?” in a college setting produces graduates who enter the workplace capable of being challenged and excited about being stretched to broaden their perspective. Ultimately, these graduates go on to bolster communities and enrich their workplace, because they are more aware of people’s differences, needs, challenges, and desires. They create better products, better policies, better communities, and a fundamentally better world.

So while many will take a myopic view of the Fisher result as being about race- it’s really about the data—and colleges need that to improve not only the learning environment on campus but, more importantly, our nation and workforce in the future.