College Applications Q&A

Early application deadlines are just around the corner. As many students finalize their essays and review their application, I would like to answer some of the most common questions I receive around this time of year.

Question: Can I wait to apply for the rest of my schools until I get my early action or early decision results?

Answer: Well, you could. However, in most cases, you won’t receive notification until early to mid-December and given that most deadlines are between December 1st and January 1st, you might eliminate a lot of opportunity for yourself if you wait. Also, it might give you more stress than you need, since you would need to finish your applications within a much shorter timeframe. I highly recommend students review the deadlines of the other schools they are applying to and try to finish their applications sooner rather than later for this very reason.

Question: How important is a resume?

Answer: Depending on the school you are applying for, they may allow you to upload an optional resume. A resume gives you the opportunity to list all your awards, activities and description in one document. Even some schools that accept the Common Application, which provides you with the opportunity to list up to ten activities offer you the ability to include a resume. It makes sense to include a resume if you have more than ten activities throughout your high school career and/or if you would like to elaborate on them more than the Common Application field allows you to.

Question: How strict is the word limit?

Answer: The admissions committee has many applications to review, including yours. There is a limit for a reason and many schools expect you to keep your essay within the parameters they have provided. You should keep your essay to the limit. If you essay is over the limit on your first draft, take some to to either review and edit it to be more concise yourself or with a parent or teacher’s help.

Question: If I am accepted into a school early decision, but change my mind later, can I back out?

Answer: You sign a legal agreement that says you will attend the school should you be accepted. If you are interested in applying early decision to a school, then you should have researched the school thoroughly before making that decision, including figuring out the financial situation. If there is a school you want to attend, but don’t know if you can afford, take 30 minutes and run the Expected Family Contribution calculator that is available on the school’s financial aid website. If you should decide to back out, then you do so with the consequence that you may not be eligible to attend any other school you applied for, so please take this option seriously.

Hope these help and feel free to contact me at info@eliteadvantageprep.com with any questions that you would like answered. Wishing you all the best as you apply for college these next few months!

Acceptance

Good morning! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday!

Hopefully, by now, all your seniors should have received your college results from the various schools you applied to. As I have been reviewing these results from my students, I've realized that there's been a balance between disappointment and amazement. For some students, they were accepted into all the schools they applied to and it is a great achievement.  However, that also means they may not have pushed themselves far enough in terms of the schools they chose to apply to. Some of them, although happy and proud of their accomplishment, may be stuck wondering "what if?" What if they had applied for that really reach school? Would they have gotten in? Many are also just happy exactly as they are with the options that are available to them, since their goal was to stay local.

There are other students who received letters of rejection and being wait listed. I would say that those are "healthy" results, because they picked some that they knew they were capable of getting into, while mixing it with some that might be more difficult. What surprised me though was how many thought they would get into those most competitive schools and were terribly disappointed by the results. It may be a sign of the times or how parents are raising their kids these days, but for many of those students, these results were humbling. They didn't realize that these schools were like shooting for the moon. Although they are outstanding students, this may be the first time, they realize just how big the pool is. They have good grades and scores, but they truth is, they do need to be in the top 3% of their class for example or they needed more leadership positions. Schools are much more competitive than they have ever been. I created an infographic to demonstrate just how competitive it is to get into the Ivies this year. Hopefully, this helps those students understand that they were great candidates and accept that they did they best they could.

As the next class gets ready to start their college application search and process, they should take a good look at what they have to offer, just as it is. If they are able to do this, then they can pick a healthy mix of safety, target, reach, and extreme reach schools.  No matter what the results are though, I truly believe we end up where we are meant to be and at least all of them are happy with having options to go to some amazing schools that are a good fit for them.

Greetings!

Hello to all you students out there! Some of you may be juniors in high school getting ready to take your SATs. Others could be freshman who are starting to plan their next four years, because they already know they want to be doctors or work in politics. However, for most of you, you're probably asking yourself - what the heck am I supposed to do with my life? If you feel panicked, because you don't have it figured out at 18, know that that's okay. There are people three times your age, that still don't know the answer to that question - and some of them even went to school.

I'm not here to tell you what you should do, where you should go, or what you should study. Rather, I'm here to help ask questions that upon answering for yourself will hopefully put you a little bit closer towards trying to figure out what interests or motivates you. I'm here to also tell you that you don't have to be a genius to go to college or to succeed in life - all you need is humility and hard work. If you're willing to work hard at what you want, what you want is attainable.

I hope you find these entries useful and feel free to comment, ask questions, or even suggest topics you are interested in reading more about. Look forward to helping you unlock the person you are meant to be.