Category: Underclassman

A View from the Trashcan: Navigating College Fairs, Part 1

I am not going to tell you how many college fairs I have attended in my 17 years in admission, but let’s put the over/under at A LOT. Why title this “a view from the trashcan”?

I have not always worked for a college that begins with the letter G, which currently puts me in the middle of a college fair floorplan (colleges are usually arranged in alphabetical order—more on that later!).  

I spent many years at an institution that put me at the beginning of the alphabet.  And coincidentally, right by the trash can.  Every time. I have literally spent YEARS of my life standing by a trash can with a view of the whole gym/convention center/mall/barn/breezeway/cafeteria/structure-hopefully-with-a-roof-but-not-always.  

Photo courtesy: NACAC

As such, I have been privy to the myriads of conversations that happen at the front door as students walk into a college fair, and I was often the last witness to the final words spoken as students head out. To put it in old timer’s terms, I’ve seen a thing or two, and I want to share the best takeaways from literally years of watching these social experiments called college fairs go down.  

What I’ve seen: First timers 

Here are some indicators of first-time college fair attendees: 

  • Freezing at the entrance to the fair, eyes wide and visibly overwhelmed. 
  • They spend 20 minutes staring at signage/map/layout.  
  • When asked their name, they look at the adult with them before answering.  
  • They drop every brochure on the floor at every table.  Every time.   
  • Bring a notebook with 15 questions – half of which are answered on the college’s website and in the brochure on the table. 
  • Don’t get to every college they want to see.   
  • Leave feeling overwhelmed instead of better informed. 

Sounds stressful? Read on, because there is a better way!  

Make a Plan.  

Pre-register – Whenever possible, look up the college fair website and pre-register. This unlocks useful information like a map of the facility, a place to load your information to share with the colleges you choose, a list of colleges attending, directions, parking information. All the details that help you feel less stressed and better able to tackle the college fair itself.  

Bring an empty bag – Colleges LOVE shiny brochures! But for you, shiny = slippery. Some college fairs give you a bag at the entrance, but savvy college fair shoppers will bring an empty bag. 

Get a floor map – Typically the check in table has a map of the fair layout. Ask how the tables are set up. Common layouts include arranging colleges alphabetically, in-state vs out-of-state school, public vs private schools, largest schools on the outside rim of the room, and sometimes, and this is a tough one, there is no specific order. Get the details before you launch yourself into the fray.  

Charge your phone! Many times, college fairs give registered students a QR code to show colleges, and when shared, that code gets you on the college’s mailing list. You want to be ready.  

When they ask your name, don’t look at your mom. You are going to college. That means you know and can say your name.  I am not throwing shade if you are nervous. That’s okay!! At the table you will probably be asked, what’s your name, what high school do you attend, what year are you in school, and what are you thinking about studying? College admission representatives love students and want to help, so don’t be nervous about talking with us.  

Pro Tip: Make a list of MUST-SEE colleges and visit them at the beginning so you don’t run out of time.  

Social Strategies  

Back to standing at the trash can watching students enter.  I want to address a few common scenarios: walking in alone, with friends, or with a family member. 

Alone – I see some successful college fair navigation from students on their own. The lone student visits tables that interest them, asks questions that matter to them, and, if they have a bag, gets loads of material and information to consider. Pro-tips for flying solo at a fair: pre-game with a family member to think about important questions, and bring a notebook. You won’t have anyone helping you remember, and key insights can be forgotten in the noisy atmosphere of a college fair.  

With Friends—I think this is the trickiest scenario to navigate as a student. You may feel that going with your buds will boost your confidence, but here are some thoughts.  What if you want to talk to a college that your friends think is uncool?  What if you waste 20 minutes at a table where you don’t want to be because the group thinks it is cool? I accept bending to peer pressure on where you go out to eat, but not where you will spend the next four years of your life.  Sometimes you need to break from the crowd. I am amazed at the negative things I’ve heard teenagers say to each other at college fairs. Pro-tip: if you want to go with friends, make a pact that you will do some solo exploring and meet back up to compare notes. Best of both worlds!  

With a parent/family member – Here’s the truth: many student/parent/family combos spend a lot of time fighting at the trashcan. They fight as they enter. They fight as they leave. (I have also witnessed them whisper fight in front of me at the table.) I know how deeply emotional the college search can be. It brings out the hopes, fears, joy, nervousness, insecurities… of your parents. Students feel all these emotions too. And sometimes those feelings clash at college fairs.

I am not a psychologist, but my pro-tip here is to be extra gentle with each other if you can.  If you can say ahead of time, “I am worried we may not agree on the colleges we visit at the fair. Could we make a plan, so you are happy, and I am too?” or “I know we don’t agree on what I want to do for my major.  I will look at the schools that are really important to you.  Would you support me in looking at few others that are important to me too?” or “I know how important it is that I look at your alma mater. I will. I will keep an open mind. Will you consider some of my priority schools too?”  

There is wisdom to be gained by the trash can.  I hope these observations make your next college fair a meaningful part of your college search process!  

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.

Tips for Your Campus Visit: Confessions of a Former College Tour Guide

This week we welcome Associate Director for Guest Experience, Andrew Cohen, to the blog. Welcome, Andrew!

Since there is no majoring in “admission” in college, I often get asked how I ended up in a career working in college admission — more specifically, managing campus visits and events. Like many of my colleagues in this profession, I started out as a college tour guide. (A story for another time is how I was not selected as a tour guide the first time I applied.)

During my time as an undergraduate student, I had the opportunity to welcome thousands of students and families to my alma mater and share a glimpse of what life was like for me as a student. As we head into the spring visit season, I thought I would brush off the cobwebs, reflecting on  my tour guide years, as well as my current experience managing Georgia Tech’s guest experience, to provide some helpful tips to make the most of your campus tours this spring.

Your tour guide is just one person representing the whole institution.

Thinking back to my campus tours, I think about the poor pre-med or science students in my group as I raved about all my experiences as a communications major (hopefully they realized we had great science programs too!). I hear this feedback often from tour participants – “My tour guide was a biomedical engineering major, but I want to study computer science.”

campus tourCampus tour guides are only one person and they share generally about most programs on their campus. Your tour guide is going to share information about the overall student experience on their campus, and many times their experiences are going to be similar to other majors.

Personally, I chose my alma mater because I toured the school of communications and was in awe of their television studios, camera equipment, and production facilities, which showed me the hands-on experiences that were offered. I enrolled as an advertising/public relations major and never stepped foot in one of the studios or held a camera during my time as an undergrad. What the tour showed me was that there was an emphasis on hands-on experiences, which ended up being very true to my major, but just looked different.

Remember that your tour guide is just one student representing the whole institution. Think about the stories they share broadly and what that means about the student experience and the programs offered at the institution. Use your time with your tour guide to get a good feel for the general student experience and the institution’s community. When you are looking for specifics about a particular program, seek that information from major-specific programs, visits, or tours that are offered.

Utilize the time between tour stops.

Within the profession of campus tours, there is a big debate about tour guides walking backward. Personally, I am not a fan… been there, done that! I think back to icy walkways in Upstate New York, crossing campus streets and parking lots, and the many puddles that ruined several pairs of shoes.  It is now more common to see tour guides walking alongside tour participants between each tour stop.

This time can be some of the most informative times of your campus tour. Join your tour guide up in the front and start up a conversation. Get to know them and ask them some more questions about their experience… even if you are on the quieter side, don’t be intimidated! Tour guides love to talk about themselves and will carry the conversation! This is a chance to hear more about their life as a student. This authentic conversation is a great way to make the most of your tour experience.

Pro-Tip: If you are not talking to the tour guide, make sure you are still looking around during this time. This is a great time to look through windows into classrooms and labs, take note of program flyers on the walls, or maybe even listen in to hear what students are talking about with each other.

Post-Tour Recommendations

Tech students enjoy access to thousands of dining options throughout the city of Atlanta.

As your tour guide is wrapping up and sharing with the group why they chose the institution, think about what is next for you. A campus tour is never going to show a full campus or college town/city. As you near the end of your tour, this is a great opportunity to get recommendations from your tour guides (or even admission staff) on what else there is to see or do. This is your chance to find out what places were not shown on tour but might be worth checking out on your own (again, just looking through windows, reading posters on walls, or listening in on conversations can give you a very different perspective).

For me, I went to school in Upstate New York and had about a 45-minute drive on a two-lane country road after getting off the highway, which was an interesting experience during my first visit when my family arrived late the night before my tour. This place ended up being my home for the next 4 years; I needed to make sure I liked the college town and community. Make sure you plan some time to explore off-campus and eat at a local restaurant. As a tour guide, I had my top favorite restaurants that I could easily rattle off!

Make sure to get these types of recommendations from current students to gain a better feel for what your experience might be like. Your tour guide will have some recommendations and happily share some must-dos while there.

Whether you are a high school sophomore or junior just starting your college search or a senior working on narrowing down your decision, I hope you enjoy your time on campus tours this spring. Take advantage of every minute you have during your campus visit and talk to as many people as you can. And don’t forget to say hi to my fellow campus visits colleagues out there! It’s a busy time of year for all of us!

Andrew Cohen joined Georgia Tech in 2018 and currently oversees the guest experience for all Undergraduate Admission visitors. His love for providing visitors with informative, authentic, and personal experiences started as a student tour guide at his alma mater, Ithaca College. Andrew’s passion for the visit experience has led him to his involvement in the Collegiate Information and Visitor Services Association, where he currently services as the President-Elect on their executive board.

 

Juniors, College Admission is a Stereogram

On Saturday night I was at a party. In these settings, when I am talking to people I don’t know very well, I find they generally broach a few central topics with me- sports/running, my kids/their school, and college/college admission- not always in that order.  

While it may surprise you based on this blog or our podcast, my goal is always to move as quickly away from the college admission discussion as possible, especially when people start breaking out their daughter’s transcript. I’m still working on how to smoothly segueway to different subjects, and admittedly, some are smoother than others. To this point, I’ve only had to resort to my nuclear options (pretend like my phone is ringing or fake a coughing fit) twice.  

Saturday night I pulled an amazing transition that took us from a spiraling commentary on standardized test scores to reminiscing about the prevalence of “stereogram” posters in college dorm rooms in the 90s. For those of you born after I graduated college, a stereogram is an image that gives a three-dimensional representation of another object. While I do not have the sales data for my time at UNC, I’d put stereogram posters just below Air Jordan, but decidedly ahead of album covers or motivational quotes on landscapes.  

The trick to seeing the hidden 3D objects is not to focus on the poster itself, but instead to allow your eyes to see “into” the colors and let the real image take shape. In some cases, you need to close your eyes and reset, change positions, or step away momentarily to see beyond what your eyes are naturally trained to recognize. Try a few for yourself here. 

Admission as Stereogram 

January and February are extremely common times for high schools to host programs for juniors.  “College Kick Off,” “Starting the College Conversation,” and “Admission 101” are a few of the panel titles I’ve seen recently. Often, the moderator will ask, “What is one thing you would like to leave folks with before we conclude?” Over the years, I’ve had a variety of responses, but one of the most important is- focus on what really matters to you, rather than being distracted by many of the initial or obvious components of the college admission search. Like a stereogram, look into what you see. And more importantly, look beyond what you see.  

Applications are not the REAL picture. Many colleges around the country had final deadlines in early January. Invariably, they will produce a myriad of press releases, infographics, and social media posts about “record numbers” of applications or comparisons to prior years; journalists write articles about application increases and decreases by sector or geographic region; educational companies create tables to compare app numbers across universities; and university boards will either tout or bemoan this specific metric. As a student considering colleges, I’m encouraging you not to focus on application numbers- and definitely not to use this as a comparative tool between schools.   

Why? Because application counts are not apples: apples. Many people will equate the number of applications a school receives as some barometer for popularity or value. The truth is colleges often count and publicize their total applications even if they are not “actionable.” As an example, this year Georgia Tech received over 52,000 applications. That is a lot. And it’s a lot more than last year or five years ago. It’s also more than some schools and less than others (I know. You are here for the mind-blowing data). Georgia Tech, however, at the direction of our state system, requires test scores. Currently, 4500 of our applicants have not submitted a test score. Still, when asked about app totals we will report over 52,000 received, because some portion of that 4500 will ultimately become “complete.” Other schools have multiple steps and stages in their application process. If you only complete Part One of four, the odds are they are counting you in their reports, even though you were not ultimately a viable candidate for admission.  

Admit rates are blurry. I get it. They seem straightforward. You see an admit rate in a column on some online table or presentation and think, “Got it.” Nope. See, that’s exactly how people felt back in the day walking into college dorm rooms. “Nice poster, man. I like all the random colors and swirling lines.”  

Look closer. Step away if you need to. Admit rates vary within the same institution. Where you are applying from, when you are applying, and sometimes what you are applying to study all enhance the swirl and blur of the stereogram. For instance, if you are applying to a school with Early Decision, it’s important to ask questions and do your homework to determine any gaps or variance between applying under that plan vs. Early Action or Regular Decision or some other acronym, date, or plan they may offer. If you are applying to a public school, ask about admit rates for students from in-state or out-of-state, or even students from “my state” or region of the country.  

For far too long colleges have boasted about (and people have assigned disproportionate value to) the number of students a school turns away. My hope is you will be more interested in determining the type of people who are actually on campus, rather than who or how many did not end up there. 

The Real Image 

Rankings, number of benches on campus, student: squirrel/deer ratio…. I could list many other numbers that people tout or hold up as signs of quality or importance. As this new year begins, I am hopeful you will treat your college admission experience like a stereogram. Numbers, percentages, and many of the other statistics are where people too often start and focus. I’m not saying you should completely ignore all admission data, but beginning by quantifying, especially now knowing how jacked up some of this data really is, can prevent you from seeing all of your choices and options. And they often create a blurry, swirling, initial picture that distracts you from focusing on the true image—YOU.  

As a junior, start by asking yourself questions that have nothing to do with numbers. Why do I want to go to college? What type of people bring out my best? What environments bring out my best as a person and a learner? What are my short- and long-term goals? If you will invest your time honestly considering what you really care about and what you want; if you will periodically step back, close your eyes, and re-focus, then you’ll find plenty of colleges that align with your answers. College admission is a stereogram– have the patience and perspective to allow it to emerge and take shape like a 3D image.  

Choices and Options- A Blueprint for College Admission

Would you rather eat a bowl of worms or drink a gallon of sour milk? 

Would you rather walk to school naked one day or walk to school backwards every day? 

Would you rather sit on a nail or stand on a push pin? 

These are just a few of the queries I overheard recently at a sixth-grade girls spend the night party. Hold on. Let me clarify- I have a sixth-grade daughter and I was washing dishes while they were playing this game in the adjoining room. (Just didn’t want you canceling this blog based on the wrong idea.) Anyway… none of these or the other options sounded great to me. And I thought about them. Really, I’m still thinking about them. I mean worms or sour milk? Just not sure. It’s the gallon that gets me. If it were a pint, I’d go milk without question. The quantity was a brilliant add. 

 I actually find would you rather instructive for college admission, because ultimately, (just like the colleges I wrote about last time) having choices and options is the goal for students and applicants. Unless you get into a college under an Early Decision plan, the ideal situation is to be able to sit down in the spring of your senior year with multiple offers of admission- and financial aid packages from those places that make it affordable and enticing for you to attend. Unlike sixth-grade girls who clearly only incorporate embarrassing or painful options, you want to have to make a tough decision because the options are so good. And in my experience, the college students who are the most satisfied with their choice are the ones who know they intentionally picked that school over other viable options.  

So how do you end up with choices and options?  

As a freshman and sophomore this starts with doing well in high school classes, and doing good outside of them. In other words, challenge yourself academically to the point where you can learn, enjoy, and still have capacity to contribute to your school, family, and community beyond school hours. At the end of the day, colleges want good high school students. They want kids who are well prepared academically and ones who will add to their campus life and ethos too. Your goal in 9th and 10th grade is simply to set a foundation. Work hard academically, learn to study, focus on time management, advocate for yourself, and get involved in things where you can really have an impact or influence.  

When colleges review transcripts, they start with the ninth grade and work from there. They are asking questions around what you could have taken, what you chose to take, and how you did in each class during each grade. On the Common Application, you’ll also be asked to indicate which years in high school you participated in various activities.  Your goal is to be kind to your current self by getting sleep and not overloading and be kind to your future self by investing now inside and outside the classroom. Having choices and options for college as a senior, comes from making good choices throughout high school. 

As a junior starting to explore colleges (and likely starting to receive lots of mail and email from schools), you should be thinking honestly and earnestly about what you really want and need in an academic environment, and the type of setting in which you can thrive. Does 30,000 students sound exciting and dynamic or terrifying? Does snow from October to March bring about visions of skiing or crying? Does the college you root for or know best have the major you really want?  

Honing in on places that focus on what you are focused on will help you eliminate colleges that don’t match your interests and invest time, money, or other resources visiting and exploring the places that do. This is not easy. It demands keeping an open mind when brochures from places you have never heard from land on your desk or kitchen table. This means being confident enough to tune out unhelpful voices (sometimes the loudest and closest in proximity) and humble enough to seek out information, perspectives, and details that may be less familiar or easy to attain. 

Ask your high school senior self this: Would you rather end up at your state’s flagship or your parents’ alma mater or the closest college to your house or know that you eliminated other options, thought seriously about what you really wanted in a college experience, and intentionally chose your state’s flagship or your parents’ alma mater or the closest college to your house?

To have choices and options as a senior, you have to do your college homework as a junior.

As a senior in the fall, please do not apply anywhere you don’t actually want to go. That’s just dumb. And please do not let anyone convince you that you need to apply to “a few more places” justso you have some arbitrary number they have conceived for you. Instead, be realistic about your grades, your profile outside the classroom, and the competition you will be facing. Again, don’t forget that the end goal is to be able to afford to go. Do your homework by talking to your school counselor, using net price calculators, and consulting sites such as MyIntuition or BigFuture. Be reminded that your chances of being admitted to a school with an admit rate below 20% do not go up 20% by applying to 20% more of those schools. Trade out “dream school” for IRL colleges. Apply to a group of schools (you figure out the number but generally more than 2 and less than 10) where you know you will be thrilled to get in and excited to go. People, there are 4000 higher education options in America and many more around the world. When you eliminate 99.9% of them, it should only leave you with places you are fired up to attend.

 

As a senior in the winter, if you are deferred, please do not write these places off if you are still legitimately interested. Julie Andrews lists raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens/ Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens/ Brown paper packages tied up with strings/ but I note she doesn’t include being deferred and having to wait during college admission as one of her favorite things. Still, if we agree your goal is choices and options, then be reminded a deferral is not a closed door. Ego bruise? Perhaps. Annoying? Sure. But you applied in their admission process not for one round. Stay the course. Send in fall grades, complete the essay, fill out the form, do the interview, or whatever else they may ask. Don’t lose sight of the end goal. Ask yourself if you would rather see it through or wonder later what might have happened?

To recap- how do you end up with Choices and Options? 

  • Do well – and do good. 
  • Do your college homework. 
  • Only apply to places that excite you.  
  •  Stay on Target.  

Spring of senior year. Voila- CHOICES & OPTIONS. You got this! 

 

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 Decisions– If 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.