5th Annual College Admissions Preparation Day

Re-upping this blog based on a few recent conversations with college and neighborhood friends who have kids in the admission process right now. Instead of texting or calling individually, I’ll just be forwarding this. You may call it impersonal– I call it efficient. Po-tay-toe, Po-taa-toe! 

Regardless, if you are a senior, or you are currently supporting one, I hope you will READ ON!

Text: “My daughter was deferred. We were SHOCKED! What does that really mean?” (FYI this was another school’s decision. If you are waiting on EA decisions from Tech, you have not missed anything.)

My first thought was, “Really? You were shocked? You know their profile and admit rate.” My second thought was, “I’ll deal with this on Monday,” and I put my phone on do not disturb (because that’s the kind of friend I am).

About 30 minutes later I was talking to another friend. He has one kid in college and two still in high school. He told me that after watching his older son go through the admission process he has been telling his current high school senior who is applying to colleges to be prepared to hear “no.” The dichotomy between these two approaches was both striking and instructive. More importantly, it made me realize we need to add another key date to the admission calendar.

August 1- Many colleges open their application.

October 1- FAFSA opens.

November 1- EA/ED Deadlines at lots of colleges and universities.

May 1- National Deposit Deadline.

PreparationSo, by the power vested in me (which is none, by the way) I pronounce December 1 as National Preparation Day!

By or on this day, henceforth, any high school senior applying Early Action or Early Decision to a college with an admit rate of less than 50 percent must put their hand on a large, preferably leather-bound book of some kind and take this pledge:

“I, (state your name), being of sound (though overly caffeinated) mind and (sleep-deprived) body, do hereby swear that I will not presume anything in the admission process. Upon advice of my wizened counselor sages, I acknowledge that I will not look at middle 50 percent ranges and expect that my scores, though in the top quartile, guarantee my admittance.

I will not look at middle 50 percent ranges of hitherto admitted classes and expect my scores, though in the bottom quartile, will be overlooked based on my amazing essay, parents’ connections, pictures of me in a onesie from that college, or the 12 letters of recommendation that have been sent on my behalf.

I understand the heretofore explicated concept of holistic admission is neither fair nor perfect, wherein I will likely not agree with, nor be capable of predicting all results, despite the complex algorithms I employ or the kingdom fortune tellers I visit.

Furthermore, I agree that I will not view an admission decision as an indictment of my character, a judgment on my hitherto demonstrated preparation, nor a prediction of my future success.”

Note: Slightly misused Olde English conjunctions does not negate the spirit nor effectiveness of this pledge.

So What Does Defer Mean?

Back to my friend who’s daughter was deferred… what does defer actually mean, and what do you do with that decision?

It means you have some work to do.

You need to send in your fall grades. You may need to write an additional essay or tell the admission committee more about your senior year extracurricular activities. Defer is a “hold on.” It is a “maybe.” Don’t like those characterizations? Fine—call it “tell us more.” They will be looking at how you’ve done in a challenging senior schedule, or if your upward grade trend will continue, or if you can juggle more responsibility outside the classroom with your course load. Bottom line is you have work to do. Are you going to get admitted in the next round? No promises. But if getting deferred is what helps keep you focused and motivated, you should look at their decision as a good thing. Finish well.

It means you may need to submit another application or two. 

If you’ve already got this covered, that’s great. You were ahead of Preparation Day. If not, then good news—many great schools have deadlines in January. The bottom line is you need applications in at a few schools with higher admit rates and lower academic profiles than the one that deferred you.

It means holistic review is a real thing.

If your scores and grades are above their profile and they defer you, they only proved what they said in their publications and presentations—admission is about more than numbers. At Georgia Tech we are knee-deep in application review. We have not released decisions, but day in and day out we are slating students for defer who have ACT scores of 35 or 36 and great grades. Is that “shocking?” It shouldn’t be. Institutional priorities, shaping a class, and supply and demand drive admission decisions. Similarly, if your scores are in the middle or below their profile, a defer also proves decisions are made using more than just numbers.

It means you need to check your ego and wait.

Does that sound harsh? Sorry—but sometimes, life is harsh. This is why you should take the pledge. It’s why have formally added Preparation Day to the admission calendar. Take the Pledge(Someone update the NACAC website!) If you are prepared for “no,” then a defer will not rock you as bad. Admission decisions feel personal. How could they not? Nobody loves spending a few more months in limbo. But this is not about you. This is about schools who are hedging their bets and wanting to evaluate you in context of their overall pool. Kind of sucks. I get it. But too many students do not send in fall grades, complete the deferred form, or send other information schools ask for because they’ve never heard of a “maybe” ( perhaps the first they’ve ever heard). Think of the admission experience as your first foray into your college years and start looking at maybes as good things. If you liked a school enough to apply, finish the drill. Give them reasons to admit you in the next round. It is called an admission process. There are rounds for a reason. Don’t go halfway and stop.

It means you need to look forward, not backward.

I was not going to text my friend back and say defer means to “put off or delay,” but technically that is the definition. For you it means to look forward to something in the future. DO NOT look back! DO NOT second guess whether you should have taken AP Geography in the ninth grade instead of band, or blame Mr. Thompson for giving you an 89 instead of a 93 that would have bumped your GPA by .00083. This is your MARTA bus moment.

It means control what you can control. 

People want so desperately to predict and analyze admission decisions that are influenced by macro institutional goals and made in rooms they will never enter. Defer means stay focused on the micro. This is your one and only senior year.  Do well—but more importantly do good. Don’t worry about those rooms hundreds of miles away, but rather the ones you walk into every day. Be a good friend. Be a good sibling. Be a good teammate. Go thank a teacher that wrote a recommendation for you. Hug your mama.

December 1 is here. Preparation Day. Take the pledge.

Listen to Preparation Day on the College Admission Brief podcast!: Spreaker | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

The Admissions Waitlist…..NOOOOO!!!!

Because both of our kids have practice or other obligations most nights, we do not watch much TV in real time. However, this spring between the NCAA tournament, the NBA playoffs, and Carson Garrett (a Georgia Tech student) on Survivor, we’ve been a bit more tuned in lately.

Naturally, along with the shows and the games come commercials. In my opinion, despite the big budgets, the AI enhancements, and the vast amount of market analysis and research companies direct toward their ads, I’m not terribly impressed.

Recently, this sparked a big debate in our house. Then or now? Has the heyday, specifically of humorous commercials passed us by—kind of like the use of the word “heyday?” They contend there are some funny spots out there currently, and they even pulled up a few on YouTube that I can’t remember right now (because they weren’t funny).

So, in an effort to enhance the quality of their lives, I showed them a few of my historical favorites.

  1. Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.
  2. The frogs, wassup, and then there’s the pandora’s box of Bud Light.
  3. Capitol One. David Spade’s “No”

“Of course you like the Capitol One ads, dad. All you do is say ‘No’.” I can see how they feel that way (I can also tell you some of their requests are absurd). And as Georgia Tech has become more popular and selective, it’s also true that I’m saying NO more at work.

Do I enjoy this? NO.

Did I get into admissions or parenting for that purpose? NO.

But, since it’s that time of year in admissions land, I’m going to embrace those two letters to explain a few truths about waitlists.

Can I give someone from the waitlist my spot? No.

When colleges put out acceptances during their early and regular rounds, they use prior year’s yield models in order to hit class goals. In other words, they over offer knowing a certain percentage of students will say NO and attend a different college.

Here is how this plays out:

Example College’s yield is 40%. If their class goal is 1000, they need to accept about 2500 students in order to hit their goal. Now, in order to be sure they don’t go over, they may choose to accept 2300 or even less (with the anticipation of using their waitlist later), but the point is many more students are sitting on offers than actual seats/beds exist on campus.

Is the waitlist ranked? No.

A waitlist for a college is not the same as a line outside of a concert or restaurant. In other words, schools do not assign numbers or rank to waitlisted students. Instead, they watch their deposits closely in the spring leading up to May 1, and compare those numbers with their goals. If they see that their geographic, gender, academic, or other demographic targets are “soft” (i.e., not coming in at the level they are looking for), they may go to their waitlist early. Otherwise, they will wait until after their deposit deadline, assess the gap between their targets and their current number of deposits, and then begin making offers to “shape” their class.

Here is an example. Good College, located in Bonne, is trying to grow their Economics program. They have 560 students on their waitlist. After their deposit deadline, they see they still need 20 deposits to hit their overall class target. They also notice they have not seen growth in students for Economics—so guess who is getting the first wave of waitlist offers? You can replace “Economics” with a particular state or region of the country, another major, or any other priority the university has established.

Waitlist activity is influenced not only by the demographics and composition of the incoming students, but also by who is graduating and which current students they expect to return. In other words, if the university always wants to be able to say they have at least one student from each of the 50 states, none of the admitted students from Nebraska have deposited, and their one Nebraskan is a senior… “Welcome to Good, Mr. Bien from Kearney, NE.”

It’s May 2, 3, 4…so I’m calling to see if you can tell me my odds of coming off the waitlist. NO. First, we just established that the waitlist is not ranked. Second, while the majority of waitlist activity does occur in May, in the first few days after the deadline most schools are still refreshing browsers, checking to be sure commitments submitted prior to the deadline processed correctly in their system, and speaking with their president or VP about current deposits levels… or perhaps just getting ready for the office Cinco De Mayo party. Please don’t ask ChatGPT to generate another letter of continued interest and time it to send to the admission office on May 2 at 12:01 a.m.

Should I send another letter of recommendation? Mail a creative and colorful card reiterating my interest? Have my school counselor call? Convince an alum my parents know to text his friend who is a professor at the college to stop by the admission office? NO, NO, and definitely NO.

As long as you’ve accepted your spot, turned in what they asked for in your portal or the emails they’ve sent you, now is the time to do what the list says… wait. Admission offices regularly receive chocolates, cookies, and treats along with poems or notes. It is safe to say that a couple hundred grams of sugar and a few couplets are not going to outweigh institutional priorities. As a reminder, there is a distinct line between expressing interest and stalking.

The waitlist sucks. Some believe that so strongly they felt compelled to write a three-part series about the topic. You’ve been told to be proactive, to advocate for yourself, and to go after what you want. I get it. There are times for that for sure. Right now, the admissions roulette wheel is still spinning, and the little silver ball has not landed yet. NO. You cannot pick it up, make it go faster, or put any additional bets down. Instead, when it comes to the waitlist, I’m asking you to do the hardest thing…wait.

But contrary to what my kids say, I do like saying YES. So here are a few for you:

YES. You should be proactive- go thank a teacher, coach, boss, or counselor who has helped you along the way.

YES. You should advocate for yourself and go after what you want— focus that energy on what you want to see change on your team, in your job, or in a relationship.

Being in limbo is not fun or easy. It is, however, an experience you’ll continue to face in life with jobs, medical test results, relationships, and more. As I’ve said before, the admission experience, if you let it, has the ability to help you learn and grow in ways that will prepare you for college and life well beyond it. Hang in there. You got this!

Focus on Admission

It is Saturday at 5:30 a.m. and pouring rain.   

There are two ways I can view this fact: 

  1. It’s dark, windy, early, and of course… it is the weekend. Naturally, it’s been beautiful all week (while I was working and could not really enjoy the weather). I am only up because I set my alarm in hopes of getting some time before the day gets rolling to read, think, and take care of a few things for work. But now my son’s soccer game will be canceled, which means I definitely could have slept longer- something that does not happen often- and certainly not Monday through Friday.  

OR 

2. The rain is going to wash away all this God-forsaken pollen that has been caked all over our cars and porch and wreaking havoc on my allergies. No soccer game means no driving, no waiting around for the match to start, and more family and free time today. Also, I love running right after the rain, and sometimes heading out in the middle of it when nobody else is on the streets.   

Ultimately, our perspective, and where we focus, is a decision. In March and April, college admission is full of decisions. Admit, deny, waitlist decisions coming out from colleges. And as a student or family, receiving that information, coupling it with financial aid and scholarship details, and making big decisions yourself. 

Focus on Admission

A few years ago, my friend and colleague Akil Bello coined the phrase “highly rejective” colleges. I appreciate the reframing from “selective” and think it’s helpful to students in understanding the reality of supply and demand in higher education.  

For the same reason, I am an advocate of universities highlighting both the percentage of applicants they admit and deny, in hopes of encouraging students to consider a balanced list of schools to visit or apply to.  

At Georgia Tech this year, we admitted 16% of applicants. Some students did not complete their application, some canceled before we could make an admission decision, and some are currently waitlisted. Still, at this point, we have denied first-year admission to about 70% of applicants.   

In terms of motivating my team, and staying focused on our goals, I have two options:  

  1. I can embrace this moniker of being a “rejective” college (according to ChatGPT, “highly rejective” only kicks in at 10%). I could open my inbox and read the volley of angst from amazing students who were denied, frustrated parents who are… frustrated, or alumni who are considering removing Tech from their wills or “never stepping foot on campus again” (Yes. Those quotation marks are literal). I could go to the grocery store or church or my son’s soccer game and see neighbors and friends who Tech (sometimes perceived to be Rick Clark) denied this year. I could get really twisted up by the question posed to me on a panel recently, “How do you sleep at night knowing you turn down thousands of incredible students every year?”  

OR  

2. I can focus on the fact that Georgia Tech is the 2nd fastest growing public school in the nation behind UC-Merced (and they sort of have an advantage given they were established in 2005).   

I can focus on the 8,400~ first-year applicants we admit or the 11,000+ students we offer a Tech undergraduate opportunity to via first-year, transfer, and dual enrollment. I can appreciate that this year we’ll enroll 6000 new undergraduates and that this year we enrolled 3000~ more undergraduates than just five years ago.  

Of course, none of that changes the fact that we “turn down thousands of incredible students every year,” but my answer to that question on the panel was that I sleep just fine (sometimes aided by melatonin), because I choose to focus on admission. Our team works incredibly hard and it pays off. We create lots of opportunity and choose to celebrate the abundance of good news we distribute. Tech is a public good for our state that develops leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition at the local, state, regional, national, and global level. Our work is big, significant, and important, and as a result the future is bright!  

Focus on Admission  

As a student, you have a similar choice:  

  1. You can focus on the negative: you did not get in to your first choice; three schools waitlisted you; or you are experiencing the 8th level of admission purgatory—being deferred and then waitlisted. You can focus on the financial aid package that did not come through or the kid in your class or down the street (actual or imagined) who got into a particular college when you believe you are more qualified– or want to go there more.  

OR 

2. You can focus on admission. If you are a senior reading this, you have college choices and options. And be reminded, my friends, that was the goal from the outset. I am urging you to focus on the YES’. 

You can read back over those letters of admission that celebrate your accomplishments and welcome you into their communities. You can go to your mailbox or inbox and see invitations to admitted student programs or offers to visit campus and connect with other students.  

You can celebrate the hard work you have put in to get to this point and consider the innumerable and fantastically unknowable future opportunities you will discover at the college you select. None of that changes the fact that one (or a few schools denied you), but I am hopeful you will “highly reject” that vantage point, and instead FOCUS ON ADMISSION!  

Congratulations! Your future is bright– even if you happen to be reading this on what is (or simply feels like) a cold, dark, or rainy morning.  

What do colleges want?

My wife has celiac disease. While many people do not know exactly what that is, they have at least heard of “gluten” and are familiar with the GF or grain symbol on food labels in the grocery store or at restaurants. 20 years ago, however, when she was first diagnosed, that was definitely not the case. In fact, going out to eat was an incredible hassle. “Can you tell me if this is gluten free?” inevitably resulted in a bemused and moderately annoyed manager emerging from the back. Most of the time, despite our best efforts to provide examples, there was more head scratching (disturbing around food) and eyebrow furrowing than recognition or appreciation of the issue. In many cases, to be safe, Amy would just order a salad- sometimes bringing her own dressing to be sure.

One Saturday a month we went to a “Gluten-sensitive support group,” aka GSSG, which was 20 miles from our house in Atlanta. In a city of several million people, there was only one group- giving you an idea of how little known the issue was at that time. During those meetings, people shared advice on which doctors to see, where they had been able to find gluten free products in health food stores (never regular grocery stores), and also exchanged recipes. At the end of each meeting, people shared their latest baked good product or casserole. I looked forward to those meetings the way you look forward to taking an SAT- that is to say- not at all. At best the food tasted like salty cardboard and at worst… well, let’s just say twice in my recollection I had to quickly walk to the bathroom sink to spit out whatever half masticated delicacy I’d partially ingested.

Bottom line is if you had celiac disease, or a significant gluten allergy at that time, there were extremely few choices and options. Even as a spouse, it felt limiting.

Choice and Options

Along with my staff, we have written extensively in the past about “what colleges are looking for.” We’ve covered GPA, rigor of curriculum, activities and involvement, essays, more about essays, plenty of ink spilled and callouses grown writing about writing, teacher recs, interviews, etc. And all of that is accurate, helpful, and worth checking out. But what do colleges really want? Regardless of their size, geographic location, or athletic conference, they want the same thing– Choices and Options. They don’t want to have to “just have a salad” and bring their own dressing. They want a full menu. And their desire- or hunger as it were (really just wrote this entire blog to use that phrase)- for choices and options explains a lot about your college admission experience.

College Search (mail, email, etc.) – If you are a sophomore or junior, you have started to receive more and more email, postcards, and other glossy, shiny solicitations from colleges. Maybe this sounds familiar:

“Dear <<insert name here>>” check out our campus.” Notice all these kids of different ethnicities hanging out together snacking while studying on our super green grass. It just so happens when we took this picture that there were three benches in the background occupied by students engrossed in important discussions about today’s issues.

They say they want you to visit, check out their website, fill out this card, or ultimately apply for admission. Does this mean you will get in? Absolutely not. Does it mean you are competitive for admission at their school? No. So why did they buy your name, spend money on bulk rate postage, or invest copious time debating whether to include a picture of the kid studying abroad in Spain or the one of the students looking closely at a colored liquid in a campus laboratory? Two words (ok, technically three): Choices and Options.

Colleges cast a very wide net to encourage students to check out their school, but they have limited information about you when doing that. Perhaps they have your test score or a sense of what classes you have taken. Maybe they are trying to attract more students from your state or city, or they saw you (or your mom) indicated an interest in Chemistry on a survey or test registration form (hence the lab pic).

Post- Covid (I’m just going to keep saying that ‘til it’s truly a thing) it is tougher to visit high schools during the school day. Traveling is also time intensive and expensive. Sending hundreds of thousands of emails and mailing broadly prospective students- what schools refer to as “student search”- is a big part of their enrollment strategy. Build a big funnel of students, see who is really interested, see who applies, admit those they want, and voila- a class.

What does this mean for you? The good news is contact from a variety of schools helps you see a bigger picture. At times, we all have a tendency to be too narrowly focused. Receiving information from places you have never heard of challenges you to ask bigger questions about what you really want or need- not just default to what you recognize.  On the flipside, too many students believe that the number of times a college contacts them correlates to their odds of being admitted. Nope. Just because a school sends you pithy emails or a lovely fold out poster of their gothic campus nestled just south of the city does not mean the wind is ultimately going to blow you into the admit pool. Take these mailings with a big grain of salt (or a sodium laced circa 2003 gluten-free experiment).

Admission DecisionsIf you are a senior, unless you applied to a college who explicitly stated they are using a formula to make admission decisions, they are not using a formula to make admission decisions. Holistic admission means they draw circles more than lines. When you hear admission reps say, “We are looking for a well-rounded class…” they mean they want choices and options. It’s not just going to be about your test score or number of AP classes. This means a few things.

First, it means you are likely to see a student with lower grades or fewer activities get into a school that denies you. Their decisions are based on goals and mission. They want choices and options. They are trying to “build a class” not just hit ENTER on an Excel sheet to figure out who gets in. Is this fair? NO. But they don’t call it Fair Admissions. They call it Holistic Admission- probably because “Choices and Options Admission” rolls off the tongue like Debbie’s gluten free casserole in the GSSG bathroom.

Second, it means if you are deferred admission, they are not saying you are not smart, or they don’t like you, or that you should have joined the French Club back in sophomore year and that would have done the trick. Instead, they are saying we’d like to see our full set of choices and options. Send us your fall grades or maybe write another supplemental essay (good times!) about why you really want to come.

Fun to wait? Absolutely not. I polled 100 humans recently about their five favorite things to do in life and surprisingly nobody listed “Waiting.” But understanding the WHY matters. Too many students take a deferral as an ego hit. Or they are mad, confused, and feel wronged. Deferrals- and ultimately waitlist decisions- are part of the process. What do colleges want? Choices and Options, people. Choices AND Options.

Lastly, it means you may get into a school with a higher ranking or a lower admit rate than another school that denies or defers you. Each year after we release admission decisions, we get calls or notes starting, “With all due respect… (Note: This is the southern equivalent of “Bless your heart…” and basically should be interpreted as “I’m about to tell you why you are wrong or clueless.”) I think you have made a mistake. See, I was admitted to/ got a scholarship from (insert supposedly better college here), so I’d like you to re-review my application.” First, that’s not a valid appeal. Second, what led to the decision was that particular school’s choices and options based fulfilling their distinct institutional priorities.

As I said earlier, colleges often look the same on their websites or brochures. A picture is worth 1000 words, but when all the pictures are the same, it can seem like all colleges are too. Thankfully, they are not. At the end of the day, they all have different goals, different priorities, and different processes for enrolling our students. What they are “looking for” varies widely, but the one thing all colleges want is Choices and Options.

The good news is you can learn a lot about how to approach your college search and selection experience from understanding how colleges approach building their class. And we’ll cover that next time. Until then, have a great Thanksgiving Break. Eat well, take a nap, read something that’s not been assigned, and as always- Hug your mama.

Selective College Admission is March Madness

Learn more and listen to Q&A about this blog on the College Admission Brief podcast: Spreaker | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Have you ever had one of those moments when you see someone in a totally different way, or realize something that has been right in front of you for years?  

In my life, a few of these include- noticing the clock on the iPhone has a second hand, seeing both a duck and a rabbit in this picture, and well… my wife—it only took me seven years of friendship to recognize she was “the one.”

Watching the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Basketball Tournament this month I was embarrassed to realize that in almost seven years of writing this blog, I’ve never recognized the many parallels between The Big Dance and selective college admission. 

Selection 

GPA/Winning Percentage: In both the men’s and women’s tournaments, 68 of the over 350 Division 1 teams are chosen to participate. “The committee” evaluates and selects teams based on win-loss record, strength of schedule, i.e., rigor of competition, as well as a variety of other statistics. Like holistic admission review there is no predetermined formula for making at-large “bids” and awarding a slot.

In other words, your high school grades, like a team’s season record, matter. However, each year many teams with the same (or even better records) are not invited to the tourney, just as some students with the same, or even higher GPAs may not be admitted. On the men’s side this year, a good example is the University of Michigan (17-14, 56% winning percentage) receiving a #11 seed, while University of Florida (19-13 59% winning percentage) is left out entirely. While many people will call, email, or show up in person to argue that a 3.8 or 4.7 should have “been good enough” to “make it,” the bottom line in a selective process, is colleges (like the selection committee) don’t put GPAs into a spreadsheet, plug in a formula, and make offers of admission.  

Rigor of Curriculum/Strength of Schedule 

Listen to any admission representative from a selective college articulate what they are looking for academically, and they will inevitably talk far more about the rigor of your course choice than your actual GPA. When a reader opens your application, the first question is, “Where does this student go to school?” Their goal, as they read your school profile and understand your curriculum, is to understand what courses you could have taken versus what you chose to take. Ultimately, the selection committee wants to bring teams to the tournament who have been challenged and are prepared to play at the highest level. With college admission—same, same. 

Some spots are held

Yes. There are 68 spots available each year in the tournament. But… not exactly. 32 Conference Champions are automatically included, leaving 36 “at-large.” The same is true for colleges.

  • At Georgia Tech, for instance, 60% of our class comes from Georgia, even though only 17% of applicants are from the state.
  • Schools account for the number of recruited athletes who will be part of their class.
  • Some colleges have special programs for artists or other specific talents– and the overall applicant pool is simply not going to be considered in the same manner for those positions.

  • If  young Candler Woodruff (whose actual blood type is Coca Cola) applies to any Atlanta college, you can believe that spot is taken. Same for Leland Stanford VII applying to The Farm in Palo Alto. Two years ago, much ado (yes, I largely wrote this blog to use that phrase) was made about Gap Year students “taking spots.”
  • At Georgia Tech, we guarantee admission to valedictorians and salutations of in-state high schools. Go ahead and lump all of these examples into “conference champions” or held spots or a reduced class size.

Call it what you want. Colleges like the NCAA Tournament are going to create a diverse mix, but they do not go about this in a completely uniform (no pun intended) way. Fair? Perhaps not. But this is the Big Dance, friends. It exists for a purpose. It has a mission—and like colleges, it is a business. Not a conference champ? Get over it and play.  

The Waitlist… aka Play-In Games 

This year, in the NCAA Women’s tournament, Dayton, Howard, Missouri State, and Longwood all advanced to the first round, after having to win their play-in games. Each of them could have made an argument for why they should have received a higher seed, and another 20 teams could have contested they deserved the play-in slot. The parallels continue between holistic admission and the NCAA Tournament.

If you are currently on a waitlist, you have a decision to make. You can opt- out, cancel your application, deposit at another school, buy the t-shirt, and get ready to lace ’em up for that college in the fall. That’s not a bad or wrong decision, as long as you are fully committed to it. 

Or you can claim your spot on the waitlist (we have covered this before, friends). You are not just on the list typically, so read your email closely- and do what it says. While there is no guarantee you will “advance” (see Florida State, Incarnate Word, DePaul, Mount St. Mary’s), the magic of March Madness starts on the opening tip of the first play-in game… but you have to show up to shoot your shot. In other words, if a college you really want to attend offers you spot on the waitlist, don’t let your ego or criticism of the committee selection process hold you back.

Make the most of your opportunity 

The pandemic has shown a bright light on the power of deciding how we show up each day. Regardless of the circumstances around us, we put our feet on the floor in the morning and make a choice about our attitude, our investment, and our goals. You may not have been admitted to your “first choice,” or you may receive a financial aid package that makes your “dream school” financially unaffordable.

If this is the case, I’d invoke the now holy name of St. Peter’s, who became the first #15 seed in NCAA Men’s Tournament history to advance to the Elite 8. Along the way they knocked off #2 Kentucky, #7 Murray State, and #3 Purdue along the way. Some will call them a “Cinderella.” I say they made the most of the opportunity they were given.  

If you are a senior, it’s my sincere hope that in the weeks and months ahead, as you receive admission decisions and weigh your college options, you won’t concern yourself with the committee selection process, or what someone else “got” that you feel you deserved. Instead, embrace the opportunities you have been afforded. Lace ‘em up, keep your eyes forward not backward, and head into the fall ready to embrace your “One Shining Moment!”  

Learn more and listen to Q&A about this blog on the College Admission Brief podcast: Spreaker | Apple Podcasts | Spotify