Posted in College Admissions

Would you rather be the “head of the chicken instead of the tail of the phoenix”?

One aspect I love about my job as a college counselor is that while the information I share with students and parents through the college planning process can be similar, each student is different and I have to adjust what I share, at what time and how much information.  I met with one of my international students this past week.  Typically, international students are looking at applying to competitive admission colleges because it is honorable in their country to graduate from a college that has “name recognition” in their country.  There are about 30 colleges that make up this “list” of schools and they are all in the top of the US News and World Report rankings.  Believe me, I’ve had a couple international students e-mail me the list.  This particular international student, however, was not interested in the “name recognition” schools even though he has pretty strong grades and will have great scores.  I asked him why and he said, “I would rather be the head of the chicken instead of the tail of the phoenix”.  I have never heard this phrase before.  I did a little research and saw that in China, there is a well-known idiom that says, “I’d rather be a chicken’s head than the tail of a phoenix.”  The idiom expresses a commonly held notion: It’s better to be in a position of prominence, even if in a less glamorous sphere, than in a low position within a more prestigious context. In the West, a similar saying calls it being a “big fish in a small pond.” In daily life, this sort of thinking can take many forms. Many Chinese businessmen, for example, will leave their low positions in a major company in order to take a high position in a local unknown company.

I appreciated this student’s wisdom because what this idiom is saying is what I try and get students to understand regarding their decision as to which colleges to apply to and eventually attend.  This student was alluding to going to a big state University and finishing higher in his class rather than going to an Ivy league school and finishing in the bottom half of the class. Before those of you reading this post think I am saying that going to an Ivy league school or another highly competitive admission is not worth it, I want to make it clear that there are certainly a few advantages to going to these schools.  One is the networking opportunities because of wealthy and loyal alumni networks.  Another is opportunity to find a job (studies show these colleges are helpful in providing jobs in finance and consulting, when it comes to other majors there isn’t any evidence that competitive admissions colleges have a distinct advantage when it comes to finding a job).  Third is that because the overwhelming majority of these colleges are 100% meet need schools, they can be great buys for students who can get in and have significant need.

Nevertheless, there have been studies that show that students who finish at or near the top of their class at less competitive admission colleges are still accepted to competitive admission law, medical and graduate schools at a very high rate.  That is why it is important to understand that there are hundred’s of great colleges in the United States, not just 30-40.  The most important thing when researching colleges that you want to apply to is finding the best “fit” school.  One that you are going to thrive at academically, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  If you have any questions about what factors are important to pay attention to please comment and I would be happy to provide more information.  You want to go to a college that you will earn merit-based scholarships and aid to go to so that when you are done with your bachelors degree, you are in great position financially to pursue a graduate degree and/or start a career.

Posted in College Admissions

What Does it Mean to be “Unhooked”?

A few days ago I was on the phone with an ivy league admissions officer.  I typically will follow up with each school that my students have been deferred or denied to through the Early Decision deadline. This is so I can get any information they can provide as to why they came to the decision they did and if deferred, what can they do over the next couple months to help themselves and be a more attractive applicant.  This ivy league admissions officer mentioned something that I have never heard before.  She said, “for the unhooked, their chances of getting accepted are even less”.  Now, I know what it means to have a “hook” when it comes to applying to a highly competitive university and I know what some good “hooks” are, but it was the first time I have heard an admissions counselor refer to the “unhooked”.

What are the top hooks that admission counselors refer to?

  1. Top committed recruited athletes
  2. Top legacy students
  3. Member of an unrepresented group
  4. Parents who have been philanthropic towards charities or colleges

This ivy league admissions counselor that I talked to said that the typical admission rate at their school is around 7-8% but for the “unhooked” it goes down to around 4%.

So who are the “unhooked”?  Everyone else.  You might say, “I am in the National Honors Society, top 10% in my class, take all the AP courses my school offers, am a three year varsity starter in two sports, play in the band and help construct our school Yearbook.”  This is all great!  It isn’t unique, however, to the most competitive admission colleges in the United States.  I am not saying that you cannot get accepted to an ivy league school if you do the above things.  I am saying that your chances of getting accepted are very slim.

What should I do then?  1) Do what you enjoy, 2) do it well, 3) grow in responsibility and 4) take risks.

What do you mean?  1)  if you are going to do something because you think it will “help for college”, don’t do it.  What you do on your own time should be things you are excited and passionate about and you would do them no matter what it meant for college. 2)  if you do what you enjoy and are passionate about, you will do it well.  Why?  Because you will have a desire to improve and it will bug you if you do not do something well.  You will want to be a continual learner.  3) You will enjoy what you are doing so much and love to learn more and more about it that you will naturally take more of a leadership role (editor, captain, president or even CEO!).  4) Taking risks is apart of learning and they will come naturally if you are doing the first three things listed above.  You will want to start selling something not knowing if anyone will buy it, make something not knowing it will work, start a fundraiser that you are not sure how much you will raise, etc.  These are great risks and if you fail, it’s okay, you learn and try again!

The overwhelming majority of us will fall into the “unhooked” category but we are all uniquely created by God and all have special gifts and talents that He has given us.  There are hundreds of really good colleges in the United States and you can thrive and excel at many of them.  Your “hook” may not be a fit for one school, but it can definitely be a “hook” that another great school is looking for.  Find the one that is the best “fit” for you keeping in mind that it’s you that will make the school that you attend “better” and not the school making you “better” because you are there.

Posted in College Admissions

What To Expect In Colleges Admissions For 2017

In the college admissions world there are normally a couple notable changes/updates that take place in the course of a year that are important to understand and be aware of.  This past year (2016) was an unusual year as there were more “major” changes in the college admissions world in one year in any other year of my career.  These major changes were Prior-Prior Year when it comes to to submitting the FAFSA, the Redesigned SAT that was first administered last March and the Coalition for Access and Affordability launching it’s application.

Each of these changes are still going to be big factors in the world of colleges admissions in 2017.  Students and college admission offices will continue to get adjusted to the redesigned SAT.  Students will need to take advantage of the new test prep material (specifically online at collegeboard.org and Khan Academy) and college admissions offices will need to collect more data and develop norms this year because they will be reporting scores from the redesigned SAT on their school profiles for the first time this year.

The effects of Prior-Prior Year as far as submitting the FAFSA will continue to be seen throughout 2017.  Because parents can now submit the FAFSA beginning October 1st using their previous year’s taxes, it has placed pressure on the colleges to provide financial aid and scholarship information to accepted seniors a lot earlier than they normally did. Colleges who rely on the FAFSA information they receive from families to provide need based financial aid always send out their financial aid award letters in March.  Now colleges will be competing to get this financial aid award out as soon as December with some school waiting to see how this year goes and other colleges respond before moving up the time they release financial aid award letters.  It really effects when colleges need to put their budget’s together for the next year.  So stay tuned for adjusting and changes by colleges regarding Prior-Prior Year in 2017.

The Coalition for Access and Affordability college application is still a question mark in the world of college admissions.  It was said that the application would launch in April 2016 and then nobody heard anything.  Then at the beginning of the summer I was made aware that the application is available to be completed for member schools.  Then at the end of the summer we were told that only half of the member colleges were accepting it for this academic year.  My recommendation is that if a college accepts the Common Application, just complete this application and don’t worry about the Coalition application.  Those of us in the college counseling world still do not understand the purpose for this Coalition for Access and Affordability application.  We will hear more about this in 2017 but don’t hold your breath on when any new information is released.

So what is going to happen in the world of college admissions in 2017?

  1.  New SAT Test Date in August– The first SAT test date of the school year has always been the first Saturday in October.  For the first time this year, College Board will now have a test administration in August.  The exact Saturday in August hasn’t been released yet.  This will change the testing time table for a lot of seniors but it may also allow the colleges to change their early decision (ED) and early action (EA) policies as far as what testing they will accept for these early deadlines.  Since October was the first test in the past, they let students take the October test and even the November test and as long as those students sent the scores directly to them, they allowed these scores to be submitted and reviewed for early admission deadlines.  Now, you may see them not accept the November exam anymore since seniors now have two opportunities in August and October to take the test and the ACT already has tests offered in September and October.
  2. Admission Numbers (at Most Competitive Admission Colleges) Continue to Drop– The “train” that started 15-20 years ago by US News and World Report when it comes to their college rankings keeps getting faster. You would think at some point UPENN, Harvard and Yale for example, would sit back and say, “wow, our applications keep going up every year (which they intentionally try to do through their marketing and advertising strategies), now that we have gone over say 30,000 applications and we only accept 5-10 % of these applicants, let’s not try and get any more applicants so that we can deny more students.”.  Nope, instead they say,”let’s continue to try and get more applications so we can deny more students and stay at the top of the US News and World Report rankings.  We can hire more admission counselors to “read” applications”.   Obviously, this is my interpretation of what they are saying but it’s the only way I can imagine them thinking because they could do a couple things  right away that would reduce or at least level off the amount of applications they get.  First, adding another required essay will reduce the number of applications (just ask Boston College) and second, they can tell students that if you are not in the top 10% (even just say 25%), your chances of getting in to our school is less than 5%.  In the end, it continues get more difficult to be accepted to the most competitive admission colleges.
  3. You will see more colleges implementing EA or ED deadlines– I think you will see more colleges, who haven’t had an early action deadline in the past, implement an EA deadline or a college who had been EA only implement an early decision (ED) deadline.  Why?  Because of Prior-Prior Year and colleges now being able to get Financial Aid Award letters out earlier.  They can now market to their accepted students earlier and do their best to encourage them to attend their school either by creative marketing or by offering more merit-based aid to those accepted students who are in the top 20-25% of students applying to their school.  Colleges will want students to commit to come to their school earlier since they are going to have to provide financial aid and scholarship information earlier.

Posted in College Admissions

Starting 2017 With A Bang…I Mean Blog!

Happy New Year!  My name is Trevor Creeden and I am the Director of College and Career Counseling at Delaware County Christian School (DC).  I have been a college counselor for 16 years now and really enjoy guiding high school students and their parents through the college planning and application process.  I have been writing a newsletter every month for the past 7 years that I have been at DC called the College Counselor Corner.  I have realized for the past few years that I have been behind the times.  Writing a newsletter in Microsoft Publisher and attaching it as a PDF in an e-mail once a month is old school and I finally pulled the trigger and started a blog.  I am looking forward to serving the DC community through this blog but I also hope this blog can inform, serve and communicate important college planning and application information to anyone who reads it.