Admission Decisions and alternative pathways

For high school seniors, the winter and spring bring life changing decisions made by people they might not ever meet. This is when admission decisions from colleges and universities are released. Unfortunately, many students will not receive the decision they were hoping for, but colleges don’t always slam doors in students’ faces. Indeed, sometimes when they close a door, they open a window.

Let’s call these “windows” alternative pathways. These can come in a number of forms and individual schools have their names, often some clever acronym, for them. At their heart, alternative pathways are a way for a student to prove themselves on the college’s designated proving ground (as opposed to a high school the college has a loose acquaintance with) before they receive a full-fledged admission. For students who receive such an offer, it’s essentially the college’s way of saying, “We see potential in you, but there are things that give us pause about you too. We don’t want to tell you a flat ‘no’, but we would like to see a little more from you via our program that is designed to ease a student into college rather than just drop you right in.”

For some colleges, this simply means an offer to alternative term like summer. You hoped to start in the fall (in August), they said you come starting in June or July. Summer terms are more laid back on college campuses. Students typically take less classes, there’s fewer students around including less party-hardy freshman who are away from their parents for the first time, there’s no crazy football weekends--it’s just a more relaxed environment. Students can assimilate to college life at a little slower pace before the hustle and bustle of fall kicks in.

Other ways colleges might offer alternative pathways is essentially through remote locations. This can include partner community colleges, satellite campuses, or online. Again, this can be ways for a student to prove they are capable of college level work without facing the distractions that life on a college campus can bring. When students receive offers such as these there is usually a time frame attached, i.e. “spend your first year here and if you meet a standard of success, then you may begin attending classes on the main campus.”

These types of offers can initially be disappointing to a student, but it’s important to remember something--you got in! Offers for alternative pathways are better than flat denials. You might have been very very close to getting a flat denial, be thankful. The college didn’t make a mistake and you won’t do yourself any favors calling them to explain how they screwed up your admission and you didn’t want to spend a year online. Sometimes, you can ask if there is anything to improve your admissions decision, they might tell you to try and improve your test score or something like that. However, I believe such inquiries should come with a significant amount of grace rather than indignation.

Teens, and voice calls, and emails, Oh my!

The way the world communicates has changed radically in the short time today’s high school students have been alive. The prevalence of text messaging and social media are increasingly ubiquitous and that is especially true with young people. However, that doesn’t mean that other forms of communication have been replaced. Adults and “the business world” use them regularly. Since voice calls, email, and snail mail are so ingrained in how adults communicate, those are second nature to us. I’m starting to see signs that we’re not instilling these communication skills in our young people and that is going to lead to problems.
Let’s start with voice calls. The majority of the calls I receive at school are from parents. No problems there. I do receive occasional calls from students though, and their phone skills are awful. They might ask me a question or to send their transcript, but I bet 90% of the students who call me fail to leave so much as their name in a voicemail. Thus, I’m left guessing who the call was from based on the sound of their voice. When I called one student out on this, he actually debated with me and said no one has to do that anymore because everyone has a cell phone and caller ID. I don’t know about you, but I’m not calling too many offices these days that just use their receptionist’s personal cell phone as their main line.

Another problem is email. Most students do have an email address, though they would be wise to choose an email that’s not going to be embarrassing in the coming years. Emails and usernames that contain references to sex, drugs, or childhood fads aren’t going to hold water down the road. Anyway, the bigger problem here is that not all teenagers check their email regularly. They are used to their regular text messages and the act of having to go into an app or logging onto a computer is a little much for some. Email is the most common way that colleges communicate with their applicants and the way that adults receive many important notifications. High School students are missing some of these and I’ve seen it be a problem with college admissions, for example. (Note: The day after I wrote this, a senior at my school discovered he was denied admission to the university he hoped to attend, and should have gotten into, because he didn’t check the email he received from the university that he was missing part of his application.)
Lastly, there is snail mail. Okay, maybe we don’t send letters with stamps and envelopes as much as we used to, but we do use these on occasion and everyone ships things from time to time. A parent of one of my students once told me a story about the time she asked her teenage son to apply stamps and return address labels to a bunch of envelopes that held invitations to a party she was throwing. It never occurred to him that everything has its place on the front of an envelope so he just put everything haphazardly right in the middle of it. This young man just didn’t know any better! Poor mom. Who thinks to tell someone, “You know the stamp goes in the top right corner, don’t you?”

My point is that we’re not doing a good job forcing our children to develop these skills. Texting and social media are fine, but they still have to know and understand the “old way.” Yes, I’m including email in the “old way.” Honestly, these skills don’t fit nicely into any one place that the schools cover so they shouldn’t be relied on to teach these sorts of things. I think this is the type of thing that is most incumbent upon the parent to teach and we need to step it up.

Affecting School Size

I was recently at a luncheon with a large university and I heard a really good line: you can make a big school smaller, but you can’t make a small school bigger. For many students, the size of a college is a critical part in their decision about which school to attend. The size of a college is an important factor and what this quote says about school size rings true.

As with anything there are pros and cons to each. Chief among the advantages of a big
school are resources. They typically command a larger budget which translates
to more programs, more equipment and facilities for those programs, and more
money with which to attract professors to instruct those programs. There are
some parts of student life that many would see as more robust as well. They
might have more athletics, better housing options, and better student programs.
What the small schools bring to the table are smaller faculty/student ratios,
tighter-knit communities, and a familiar student body. Small colleges are where
every student might be on a first name basis with a school’s president, the
networking might be more personal, and students seldom feel lost in a sea of
thousands of students they’ll never know.

Each type of school brings something to the table, but the point of the quote above is
that it’s far easier to create the advantages of a small school within a large
school setting, than vice versa. Indeed, I’d encourage any student who chooses
to attend a big school to get involved. In doing so, a student creates their own family. If you’re in a club or a group at a big school and make a social effort therein, you’re inevitably going to synthesize the family atmosphere that is present at many school settings. It might be impossible to get to know every individual on campus, but you can create an atmosphere where you know some people and have a group that looks after you, while you look after them.

What it is extremely difficult for an individual student to do is to improve the resources of a small school. You can’t purchase equipment that cost thousands or millions of dollars, you can’t hire experts and noteworthy professors, and you can’t attract renowned speakers and celebrities in for speaking engagements. A small school student just can’t make resources materialize out of thin air. However, it might be possible to simulate some things a big school offers by attending a small school in a larger city. Larger cities might have some opportunities and resources available to its residents. While these won’t be available exclusively to students of a given school, cities could work to increase what a small school student is able to experience.

I’m not trying to make the argument that big schools are better than small, but I do
believe that small schools have a weakness that is more difficult to overcome
than what most perceive as the weakness of larger schools. Either way, any
student would do well to make strides to limit the effects of these weaknesses
which will only enhance their college experience.

Demonstrating Interest to Colleges

Let’s say there’s a girl I like. I might smile at her, flirt with her, ask for her number, or out on a date. These could all be considered components of what we’ll call a demonstrated interest. They are the overtures I might make to the girl to show that I am drawn to her. If I never made eye contact with her, never spoke to her, never showed any desire to communicate with her, would she have any indication that I was seriously interested in her? So it is with colleges and their applicants.

If you have a true desire and are passionate about going to a particular college, you need to demonstrate that. I think many families believe that colleges aren’t aware of their applicants as individuals. The families think that college admissions offices are just big clearinghouses where transcripts are fed into algorithms that spit out computed generated admission decisions. Well, they are not. They are offices staffed by human beings who make decisions about the fate of other humans. Just like the girl I like, if I can appeal to her and show that I’m genuinely interested, I might be able to improve my chances.

Colleges have the resources and do take the time to track demonstrated interest. If you sign up for emails from their admissions blog, but never open the emails or click on the links inside, they can see that. They know if and when you’ve taken an official tour of the school. They can even Facebook-stalk you.

So let’s say in your college essay you write about how the only thing you want out of life is to be a “wildcat” (or whatever their mascot is). That’s your goal and that’s the only school for you. However, you never introduced yourself to an admission rep at a college fair. You don’t subscribe to the Youtube channel for the admissions office or any of their other social media. You didn’t apply by the priority deadline, and the only time you’ve ever been on campus was for athletic events (remember, even if you are an athlete, that is never the primary reason you are going to college). If this is case, what are you truly saying to this college? How do they know your essay isn’t just the same pick up line you give to every college?

You need to flirt--or, interact--with the colleges you are interested in. And, you need to do more of that with the colleges you are most interested in. Colleges are, first and foremost, academic institutions. They need to know you are interested in being a student (and not just a fan) and taking classes on their campus. Their sports teams are their good looks and it’s okay for that to be a part of why you want to go there. However, if you are going to have a meaningful relationship with this school, you need to show them it’s about more than watching their games. That takes some effort, and the humans in the admissions office are watching for it. How are you demonstrating your interest?

Don't Trick Colleges

Each fall, as I sit down families to discuss college admissions and financial aid, I find a handful who have a developed a secret plan that will guarantee their college admissions or produce incredible savings in the cost of attendance. Despite the millions of applicants to American colleges, these families I’m meeting must be the first to think of this strategy and the whole idea must be fool-proof. Right? I’ve got news. Whatever it is, the colleges have seen it before and there are measures in place to prevent the process from being “gamed”.

On the admissions side, your academic record is what it is. Trying to elaborately shield blemishes on your transcript or cover up lower test scores aren’t going to do much for you in the long run. If you got a D in World History but a B in European History, those are two different courses and you got a D in one. If your freshman year was lousy, it’s still your freshman year even if it was at another high school, online, or in a homeschool setting. Don’t try to cover up these things and don’t ask a school official to cover them up for you. In all likelihood, the colleges are going to sniff these things out. I think students would do much to be open about their shortcomings and use them as an opportunity to expand on how they’ve learned from their mistakes.

From a testing standpoint, I always recommend sending all of scores to the colleges you’re interested in at the time of registration. I’ve never had a college tell me they are going to blacklist students that turn in poor scores before it’s time to submit an application. In other words, if you have the opportunity to send scores to a college when you register for your first test at the beginning of your junior year, go ahead. You don’t know what that score will be but colleges are probably going to see it eventually anyway. That’s kind of like using a fake picture if you’re online dating. Your date is going to see what you look like if and when you meet in person so what are you hiding from? You are who you are and representing someone different only leads to disappointment.

A key point that colleges reiterate to counselors is that they don’t like surprises. Colleges do not like to find out that a student is not who they represented themselves to be when they applied. With more and more self-reporting entering the college admissions process, it is increasingly based on the honor system. Colleges, do however research their students they admit and there are tools in place for them to find out who you really are. If you purposefully try to manipulate your past into something that doesn’t accurately represent your academic history, you’ll be found out. From there, what impression have you given the colleges? What incentive do they have to carry forward your admission rather than rescind it? Be honest with the colleges you’re applying to and no tricks for them this fall.

What is a Self-Reported Student Academic Record

A newer movement in the world of college admissions is the concept of the self-reported student academic record. This is a clever initiative on the part of colleges who choose to use it and seems to be gaining momentum with larger schools.
The self-reported student academic record, often called SSAR, is essentially the student’s version of their transcript. In other words, the student inputs their course history into a college’s database themselves rather than that coming from the high school. Therefore, students who are applying to a school that uses a SSAR do not need to have their transcripts sent to the college from the high school like so many students and families are used to. Instead, students should request an unofficial transcript and use that to transcribe the information themselves. When I explain this, sometimes I get pushback from families who insist I send a transcript to the university. I promise this isn’t how this works. If the colleges who utilize a SSAR get a transcript in the mail for one of their applicants, they are going to throw it away.
When you think about it, using a SSAR is really a genius move on the part of the universities. Decoding transcripts is an extraordinarily labor-intensive task. High school’s use a wide array of databases to store their student information. Everyone is using a different system so the process is not as simple as just downloading a transcript and instantly having the information you want, how you want it. With the SSAR applicants are doing the hard work here for the colleges. They are decoding their own transcripts into the systems of the university.
So, isn’t easy for a student to, you know, lie? Well, yes, but the concept of SSAR has a safety net for this too. Students who are admitted will then be required to send in an official transcript from the high school. Those transcripts will be processed by the university and checked against what the student input. Getting caught in a lie would not have a good outcome for the student. Their admissions offer would most likely be rescinded. This is still a time-saving measure for the college. If they get 40,000 applications and they admit 10,000, they really only have to process 10,000 applications themselves. The applicants have done the legwork on all the others.
I suppose there is one downside to the SSAR. I find many families, who don’t deal with transcripts every day like counselors and college admissions offices, are paranoid they’ll answer a question on the SSAR incorrectly and their offer will be rescinded. “I said I took AP Microeconomics on the SSAR and I just realized I took AP Macroeconomics!”, “I was using a transcript I got over the summer for the SSAR and it said my rank was 14 of 228, I just got a new transcript and with all these new students my rank is 15/240! I lied on my SSAR!”  Don’t sweat the small stuff. The colleges understand they have people who are not experts completing the SSAR. If a question is a little confusing to you, it’s certain someone else is having a hard time too. If you made a D in a course don’t tell the school you made a B, but minor inconsistencies shouldn’t make or break you.

Don't Write Off Your English Teacher

Each year in school, students spend considerable time studying language arts. We pay a great deal of attention to this in early grade levels, but by high school, enrollment in yet another English class becomes rather rote to a student. To the adolescent, doesn’t that just mean they have to read more books written by some dead people? They can already speak, listen, read, and write. What else is there to do? Well….

This is where I see a lot of school high school students failing to see the value of what a class can give to them. They are right in that hopefully by high school they can communicate with others with just fine. However, this is the opportunity for them to hone their ability to communicate and become so much better at it.

This is particularly true in the area of writing, or composition, I should say. Composition is the basis of all our communication regardless of how we deliver it. Whether we are texting with friends or presenting at a formal work meeting, we spend tremendous amounts of mental energy in the art of crafting the messages we want to convey and high school is a time when we can really grow in our ability to do this.

I’m not so sure teenagers have a strong grasp on the quantity of important composition adults do on a daily basis. When I was in high school, I certainly didn’t consider the fact I would end up as a high school counselor sending countless emails a day, meeting with parents to discuss the struggles their students are having, texting families answers to college admissions questions, drafting recommendation letters to colleges and scholarship committees, and then writing about it all for you to read here!  Here I am though in a state of constant composition, and I consider myself fortunate to have been blessed with some high school teachers who valued teaching me how to communicate the right way.

It is difficult to quickly see development in language arts. It’s not like math or science where one day you don’t know what osmosis is and the next day you do. Learning language arts is a gradual process and it takes perspective to see improvements. As a high school student progresses, they learn more vocabulary, they have a better understanding of grammar, they read good writing and know what it looks, they become enlightened by the things they read, and learn how to find and research the things they don’t know. Language arts students develop a more mastered control of their language and therefore are better at communicating with the rest of the world.

So, my point here is don’t blow off your high school English class. Instead, embrace it as an opportunity to enhance the skill you’ll use more than any other for the rest of your life. Soak up the lessons from your English teachers and work with a mindsight that even if you “speak English just fine,” you can always get better. Who knows what you’ll need to say one day?