This is a joyful and stressful time of year for seniors who are applying to colleges. Those who applied under the EA (Early Action) or ED (Early Decision) deadlines are receiving their decisions. For those seniors who have been accepted it’s a very exciting time but for those who have been deferred or denied, it’s a frustrating, disappointing and stressful time.
I invite you to attend the next College Planning Night meeting on January 15th where a representative from Revolution Prep will be talking about the Growth Mindset in today’s youth and I will be talking about “When to Reach for a ‘Reach’ School”. As sort of a precursor to that meeting, I wanted to share with you in this post what I think is one of the more underrated aspects of applying to a competitive admission college (freshman admission rate under 20%). This aspect is to not think about the typical checklist of items (courses, grades, test scores, essays, letters of recommendation, and even extra-curricular activities) but to think “outside the box”. Let me say, however, that the above list of items is still very important and if you are average or even just above average in any of the above items, that will hurt your chances of admission to a competitive admission college. Nevertheless, “elite” colleges get thousands of applications where students are excellent in all of the above items and yet they need a way to distinguish which students stand out. Below are three points to explain what it means to “think outside the box”.
- What do YOU do to serve others?
Colleges want to see how you spend your time. Your time could be spent doing things that you benefit from or are about you (sports, test prep, clubs, drama, music, etc.) or you could spend your time doing things that benefit others (employment, volunteer work, community service, etc). Let me reiterate that the things you spend your time doing that are about you are still important. I am not saying that when you do them you are selfishly thinking about yourself because teamwork and collaboration are crucial to success. You are hopefully using the gifts, talents and abilities God has given you to glorify him and colleges still want you to participate and be involved in these areas, BUT, the students that the “elite” colleges are accepting, go beyond just participating in these things. They look to find ways to use their experience, leadership and platform to go beyond and invest their time into benefiting others and into those less fortunate. This is not easy for a 15-18 year old to understand or wrap their head around because up to this point in their life they just needed to get to the next “rung on the ladder.” They had to take the next course, check off that they will be in the same activity the next year, get to the next game, etc. They grow up with this “checklist” mentality but this is normal for teens to think this way. In my perspective though, the “elite” colleges are looking for the “extraordinary” student who thinks like a 22-23 year old when they are 18 (not saying all 22-23 year olds think this way but hopefully you know what I mean). The last thing I will mention about this is that the student needs to drive everything. Colleges will easily see through if Mom or Dad “set things up” or the student isn’t the one taking the initiative. These “elite” colleges are excellent at knowing which students are more mature, are proactive and lead naturally.
2. What did you do last summer?
This is a popular college interview question. The summer is an excellent time to get involved, serve and spend time doing things you cannot do during the school year because you no longer have school work which takes up the majority of your time from September-June. Colleges WILL want to know what you did in the summer and the summer is also an important time to take on more responsibility and participate and lead in ways you can’t during the school year. It’s natural to sleep more, spend time chatting with friends, work a part-time job, go to the beach and/or pool and just relax. The “elite” colleges though, are going to see if students NATURALLY gravitate towards community service spending time with those less fortunate to make their lives better. I am not referring to missions trips with your youth group or doing something with your family or attending a course at a college over the summer. These are all great things as well and you should do them if you want but they are not showing initiative by the student. This is where the “thinking outside the box” comes in because it’s not normal for most teens to do this…and that’s okay! Sometimes kids just want to be kids and there is nothing wrong with that. The “elite” colleges are not for the overwhelming majority of students out there; however, these are the types of students they are looking for. The things that these colleges like to see sometimes are the things that are really hard, cause you to face real adversity and are uncomfortable experiences because you work with difficult people (or young people): but these show grit, maturity, selflessness and determination to overcome true adversity. What is tough is that the most meaningful experiences are not planned but result from true intention to serve. So think of ways you can serve others, think of situations you can see yourself doing this and don’t be afraid for it to be difficult and uncomfortable at first.
3. It’s Not The “What” but the “Why” That Matters
Students (and parents) can get so good at answering the “what” question when preparing to apply to the “elite” colleges and universities. They got straight A’s, very high test scores, were a student government leader, played two sports, were in the choir, etc. These are all great things to do and you should do them. The problem sometimes lies with why they do them. A number of times in meetings I get the sense that students do the “what” thinking that it will look good on their resume or look good when they apply to colleges. However, this is not a good answer to the “why” question. Students should do what they enjoy and have a gift and talent for and not do things because they think they have to in order to look “good” when applying to college. The “elite” colleges and universities are excellent at looking past activities and extracurriculars to truly see “why” the student does what they do. My advice is to use 9th and 10th grade as a way to see what a student may enjoy (this can be done in 8th and 9th grade as well) and then they will know what they want to continue to do in 11th and 12th grade. If they want to stop doing something because they no longer enjoy it, that’s fine. Hopefully they will continue to pursue the things they do enjoy and that’s what colleges like to see. Parents cannot be concerned when their child chooses to stop an activity because they no longer enjoy it. They also may they think their child is doing too much but it’s what their child wants to do. Let them make the decision. When a student gets to 11th and 12th grade students should be encouraged to participate in what they enjoy. Obviously, they aren’t adults yet so we will encourage them and give advice & guidance. Nevertheless, the final decision needs to be up to them.
In conclusion, I want to point out that I work with great students who have great futures ahead of them. God is going to use them in amazing ways to bring glory to Him. If you know me, you may know that I always say that there are many great colleges in the United States and a student’s success in life after college is determined by the effort, taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them and networking with the number of people that have influence on them at whatever college they end up attending. I also say that going to a college that is going to pay you to go to their school and you not having to pay a lot from your own pocket is also very smart. Yes, going to a highly competitive college can have its advantages but recent studies have only supported this for certain majors (Finance and Political Science) and not others (Engineering). Another study says that for males going to an Ivy League school compared to a non-Ivy it has no bearing on their salary after they graduate and for females it could mean a 14% increase in salary but a 4% decrease in marriage.
If you do what you love and enjoy, God will bless you in ways you can’t imagine and provide for your needs. If you continue to trust in Him and use the talents, gifts and abilities He has given you, you do not need to be anxious about the college application process because He will bless you in ways you can’t imagine. There are definitely things in our control that we can do when it comes to preparing ourselves to apply to the most competitive admission colleges, but there are also things that are out of our control that always factor in to these colleges decisions. These can be things like family background, ethnicity, race, etc. but also how God uniquely created us to be may not be the best fit for these colleges and that’s okay! The goal is to apply to colleges that fit YOU the best.