Parent’s Guide to College Admissions Success

Webinar Transcription

2024-01-09 – Parent’s Guide to College Admissions Success

Hi everyone, my name is Stacey Tuttle and I am your moderator today. Welcome to “Parents Guide to College Admissions Success.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start off with a presentation and then answer your questions in a live Q&A. On the sidebar, you can download our slides and you can start submitting questions in the Q&A tab.

Now let’s meet our panelists, Brandon. All right. Well, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening to everybody. Whenever you view this and to all the people who are here live. My name is Brandon Mack. I am a former admissions officer from my alma mater, Rice University. I’ve been in the field of college admissions now for 14 years, 13 years of it at Rice, where I started as an admission officer and worked my way up to be an associate director of admission.

So I actually got a chance to chair admission committees for For all of the undergraduate schools at rice. In addition to that, I also work with the National Association for College Admission Counseling. One of the main organizations dedicated to people who work in the field of college admissions on how to make the admission process more accessible and equitable.

So I love this process and I love this profession and happy to talk to you about how you can best support your students in this process. Beautiful. So excited to get your insight tonight, Brandon. I was just telling him that the last time we were together was way too long ago and Brandon has such a wealth of insight to share with us.

So, um, before we get started, we do want to get to know you all in terms of who’s in the room today. Um, so you’re going to see a poll pop up in front of you in just a moment. Take a moment to complete that. Are you pre high school? Uh, are you in freshman, sophomore, junior? Senior year. Um, are you in the other category?

Are you maybe a parent or a guardian supporting a student? Um, i’m guessing we’re gonna have a lot of people fall into that other category, which is great And you know Brandon, have you I must ask have you personally? gone through any type of parent or guardian type situation with a student in the college application process?

And did you have a hard time taking your own advice during that? Not yet. Not yet. I have to admit, I am looking forward to when I get to that part of the process. I have five nieces and nephews. Uh, they’re all currently under the age of six. So it hasn’t happened for me just yet. But when I tell you, I am looking forward to when they go through this process.

And like you said, to see, do I follow even my own advice? It’s very empowering, uh, to have the knowledge that you have now, but hopefully that you’ll be able to share with the parents here, um, to be able to feel confident in the application process and advising, uh, someone you really care about. It’s a very special thing.

So Looking at the poll here, it looks like we actually do have some high school students with us, which is great. We have, um, some sophomores and juniors, and we also have some in the other category. I’m imagining some parents. So welcome. Welcome. Now we are going to turn it on over to the main part of our presentation to night.

Brandon, I’m going to turn it over to you for the next set of slides before our next poll. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. And once again, thank you all for joining for this presentation. So the first and foremost thing that I want everyone to do is to take a deep breath in and out. This process can seem like it’s a lot, but in all honesty, it’s supposed to be a lot of fun.

This is about the next transition in your child’s life. This is about the transition for the students who are watching in your life, and this should be fun. This should not be too cumbersome, this should not be too panic stricken, so I want you all to once again, make sure you’re taking that deep breath, letting it out, breathing through this process, because this really should be an enjoyable process, not a cumbersome process.

So the first part of the presentation, we want to focus on what do you need to know to best support your student and your child through this process. The first and foremost thing to know is where is your position in this ship that is college admissions. Literally, I always tell parents that you’re the first mate, not the captain of this ship.

What I mean by that is that this really is your child’s process. This is your child’s process. Meaning that they should be taking ownership of this process. They should be the ones who are looking in to where they want to go for a college or university experience. It’s their decision. I often say it’s very interesting when I hear parents saying, We are interested in Brown University.

We are interested in majoring engineering. You have to remember, you’re not going to be the one who’s living in the dorms. You’re not the one who’s going to be studying this subject. So, while we know you have your child’s best interests at heart, they have got to be the captain of this ship and should really be the one who is taking ownership.

Of this process. So they are the captain. They’re steering. They’re the ones who’s doing the information sessions in the campus tour, leading with their questions. They’re the ones who are deciding what they ultimately want to major in. They’re the one ultimately decide who’s What schools should and shouldn’t stay on that list, but you’re the first mate, which means that you’re offering that advice.

You’re there as a support your help to ask some of those guiding questions that they should be thinking about. But once again, in this process, Your child is the captain of the ship, and so you have to let them lead, but you’re always there as being that supportive first mate who’s helping to guide the ship.

But once again, they’re taking the reins and they’re taking the steering wheel. The other thing that I want us all to focus on in terms of supporting students is that time is your greatest asset. What I mean by that is it is never too early to start this process. The more time that you give yourself, the better, because as long as, if you are spreading this process out and putting that time and attention, even right now at this early stage, you’re going to save yourself a lot of time and frustration at the end.

But at the same time, if you are starting this process in 11th grade, you still have a great chance and a great ability to have a streamlined and stress free process. But you want to utilize as much time as possible. So for those of you who are in 7th and 8th grade, It’s time to start thinking about what’s that high school going to look like?

Am I taking the most challenging classes? Do I have at least some initial interest for my 9th and 10th graders? Are you exploring those particular extracurriculars and things of that nature for you juniors? Are you gearing up for that college list and getting that together so that when you become that Summer before senior year, you’re ready to hit the ground running with writing your essays and gearing up for this process.

So once again, the more and more time that you give yourself, the better prepared you’re going to feel for this process and also probably the less stress. So always say, Hey, let’s think about this. Think about different elements of this process and get started. But the other thing is, is that we also have to realize is that this process is an ever changing process.

Many of us were fortunate enough to go to colleges and universities when we went. But the process is very different than when we were there. I tell many students, you know, the process would have been very different for me when I went to Rice University, when I was applying, then now, I’m not even sure I would have gotten admitted though.

I am confident in myself. So I do think I still would have had a good chance. But the point is that this process is ever changing. So even with three years ago, This process is different than it is now. So many of you who have Children who have already gone through this process, if there’s been some time since then, this process has already changed.

Many things have happened since the college admission process was three years ago. We went through a global pandemic. The global pandemic literally changed the game since so many institutions went from being Test mandatory to test optional. That alone changed the ways in which universities and admission officers approach the admission process.

Also, one of the biggest changes happened just last year with the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court decision eliminated the automatic consideration of race in college admissions, where you can no longer just take a check a box and identify yourself on the lines of your race and ethnicity. And it’s not information that is readily available to a college or university, but that information is now available.

Still can be gleaned through essays, and many colleges and universities have changed their supplements to enable students to be able to talk about the way their racial and ethnic identity has informed their perspective. So, even though we don’t automatically. have affirmative action. There’s still ways in which you can talk about your race, your ethnicity, and other parts of your identity in this admission process, and that has changed the game in terms of the essays.

As I often tell people, what ended up happening is that this did not become more of a numbers based process or a return to a numbers based process because of the Supreme Court decision. In fact, this is actually amplified. The need for essays, even more so because colleges and universities still want people with all sorts of different perspectives.

So instead of just relying on that checkbox to say a lot for you, you now have to say even more in your essays. So right there, a change in this process, and one you have to be mindful of as you approach the college admission process. So remember, this is ever changing, and you have to go with the flow. So, be mindful that whatever is happening this year is what is unique to this year, and it may even be different than the next year.

It may even be different from the year after that. Um, one other thing that I really honestly want to emphasize with this being an ever changing process, is that once again, this is not a numbers game. Many of us are used to traditional assured admission processes, where if you had a certain GPA, a certain SAT, ACT score, you were guaranteed admission into that college or university.

It’s no longer that. It is the fact that the GPA and the class rank and the standardized test scores, they start the conversation. That means that we start talking about you and that we can consistently are considering you for the admission process, but it’s not going to be the determining factor is going to be those other things such as your extracurriculars, your letters of recommendation, your essays, why you’re interested in going to that particular college and university.

So for that reason, you cannot approach this process with thinking that your numbers are going to be the end all be all. You have to put that time and attention into every single element because all of those elements are going to be important in the ultimate admission decision and helping your student to realize that they need to put that attention into that application is going to support them in this process and not just to rely solely on their numbers.

Um, there’s a lot of information. That comes with the college admission process and it can come for a variety of different sources. But I always tell people, please verify the information that you hear secondhand. You can verify that with admission officers, your college counselors, your guidance counselors, even the wonderful advisors that we provide here at CollegeAdvisor.

com because you want to make sure that you have the correct information to approach this process correctly. One, Source that many people often turn to will be people who they know have gone through this process before. So they’ll reach out to alum friends that they know who have graduated from the schools that they’re interested in.

Children who recently went through the process and pick their brains about their essays, ask them to look at information. Now, while those individuals understand the process a bit, They are not authorities on the field of admission. What I always call these individuals, these are people who are one and done.

They’ve gone through the process. They’ve done it. They are done. Your advisors here, CollegeAdvisor, your college counselors, your guidance counselors, those individuals who are dedicated to understanding this process, we remain constant. We know the trends. We’re looking at the trends. We see different things.

We’re able to take that larger scale view, but also that closer view because we’re not going anywhere. So you should verify the information with those of us who are deeply. entrenched in this process and not just rely solely on those individuals who are just one and done. Because once again, what worked for that particular student may or may not work for you.

Also, the institutional priorities change every single year. What colleges and universities need are going to change, because populations change, interests and industries change. They’re responding to all those different things. So the things that they need for that particular year is going to be different than the previous year.

So you can’t automatically, Go based off of that previous information to think that that’s going to inform automatically what’s going to happen because many of you may have the same SAT scores, the same GPAs and things of that nature. As a previous group, it doesn’t mean that you’re automatically going to get in because you’re similar.

Because once again, those deep nuances, what you write about, what you talk about your own unique experiences, All those things govern this process. So once again, you can listen to that advice, but make sure you verify the information that you hear from those, uh, trusted authorities, but also. Be careful of rumors.

Rumors definitely can kill applications because if you once again use that information that you got through the rumor mill it may take you down the wrong path. So often times people will read a blind item on Reddit or they’ll read College Confidential or any number of other sources where people are talking about this process thinking that that’s going to be a trusted source when in reality it’s just a rumor.

And once again, if you go based off of that rumor It may direct you in a way that is not going to best support your application. So, be sure that once again, you understand that this is an ever changing process, the fact that we’re going to verify our information with some trusted sources, and we’re not going to pay attention to the rumors.

What we’re going to do is rest in the fact that we are securing ourselves and we’re submitting the best application possible. Doing that will be the best way of supporting your student through this process. Now there are some wonderful resources that I definitely recommend that you should utilize to help you through this process.

Uh, first and foremost, the wonderful advisors that we have here at CollegeAdvisor.com. We actually offer some amazing free resources. Webinars, some amazing resources and articles that are available to you, but also what is available to you. If you join this amazing service is the expansive network of primary advisors, specialty advisors, former admission officers who once again are deeply entrenched in this process to know what schools are looking for to help you Find that great fit for you and your student, but also to help you navigate those wonderful essays.

And so I definitely encourage you to look into our services because we are a trusted and wonderful resource. The U.S. News and World Report is a great resource in terms of finding out information about rankings and particular programs because they use a consistent methodology. That’s a very important thing when it comes to evaluating rankings is to see what exactly makes up that ranking.

What is, are the metrics that are being used that are behind those particular rankings and the U.S. News and World Report has been regarded as a trusted source because they have consistently used a similar methodology to maintain. There are rankings, so definitely encourage you to look into those particular rankings.

Niche as well has offered some amazing rankings in terms of understanding different programs and also, uh, providing you with some different reviews. Uh, definitely recommend going to YouTube. YouTube can provide you with excellent information, especially when it comes to specific institutions. Pretty much almost all colleges and universities have a social media presence, which would also include YouTube videos.

So it’s a great way for you to be able to learn more about those particular colleges and universities. But also YouTube can be a great place to find out the student perspective because many students will take to YouTube, film a video about their experience, and you’ll get to see What really goes on at that college and university?

Do students like it? What aspects do they like, but also what aspects do they dislike? And because of the fact that they’re not a part of the admission office, they’re probably going to give you a very different perspective that isn’t filtered. So I once again encourage people to look at those various videos because it’s open source and it is a great source of finding information about various colleges and universities.

But also, I definitely recommend that you contact the admission offices and the admission officers. They are trained to give you the correct information with respect to that admission process. It is actually required for any institution that gives federal funding to provide information about their admission statistics from at least the last year and a half.

So, because of that, you can definitely trust your admission officers to give you the correct information in terms of their admission statistics, but you can also go to the common data set to also find that information as well. And then the admission offices are also going to provide you with opportunities to engage more with their institutions through information sessions through campus tours.

And remember that they’re also virtual options as well. So if traveling to that particular area is going to be cumbersome, you always have the ability to do the virtual option. And I definitely encourage you to do that. So. Utilize all these resources in conjunction with the amazing advisors here at CollegeAdvisor, your college counselors, your guidance counselors, and get the correct and verifiable information about how to approach this process.

So in terms of what is recommended in terms of the timeline, once again, at this point, I want us all to take a deep breath in and out. The reason why I say this is because these are suggestions, and in case you see that you fell, fall outside of the grades that I suggest when this is supposed to happen, doesn’t mean that it’s too late.

You can engage in this, but this is a great opportunity for those of you who may think that you’re early in the process and that you’re doing this too early. You got some work that you can do. And for those of you who are a bit later in this process, you got some work to start on. But once again, it’s all about making sure you go through all these, through these different steps to help maximize your opportunities in the college admission process.

First activity that I always recommend students to engage in is thinking about activity and brand development. You can do this during 9th and 11th grade, and it’s about thinking about So what are you really interested in? This is the exploration part in terms of your own particular interests. If you’re someone who’s interested in going into engineering, then you probably should get involved in things related to engineering.

So are you getting involved in math and science based clubs? Are you investigating? Um, internship opportunities with the local engineering firm. Are you looking into research programs or research opportunities at your local university? So you can engage in that type of activity and brand development anytime through 9th through 11th grade year, because those are the opportunities in which you can engage in extracurricular activities, summer programs, other opportunities in your local community.

If you have the ability to travel, Maybe you have a study abroad experience or some other experience outside of your community that really shows and demonstrates that you know what you’re interested in and have connected to those particular activities and opportunities to really engage and sophisticatedly speak about why you want to go into that particular field.

Then there’s also school exploration and list building. Generally, I recommend that a great time to look at this is in 10th and 11th grade. Start big. That’s one of the great things about this process. You have the ability to explore amazing, amazing institutions, see what is truly out there. So dream big.

Think about what do you really want out of that experience for the next four years? Do you want to go to a place where it’s going to be a large school? Maybe you want a smaller school. Maybe you want to go to a different part of the country. Maybe you want to go outside the country. Maybe you want to go to a place that’s going to give you a lot of internship opportunities.

Maybe you want to go to a place that’s going to give you A real open and flexible curriculum where you can delve into subjects that you never experienced, but maybe you want a more traditional core curriculum because you want a curriculum that other people who have gone before you have also engaged in, but once again, this is your opportunity to dream big.

I usually say start with a very big list and then you go down from there because as you explore every single school, you start to learn for your own preferences. What do you like? Okay. And what do you don’t like? And when you start seeing those things that you don’t like, it’s okay to say, no, that’s not the school for me.

And it helps you to refine down to that wonderful list that is yours of schools that you really want to pursue, but you should have a reason for why those schools are on your list. One of the most common questions you’re going to see in the college admission process is, Why Rice? Why the University of Texas?

Why do you specifically wanna go to that school? And engaging in the school and exploration and list building is gonna help you in developing that list, which will better help you to address that question. Also, this is a great time to interview current students and recent graduates. Look at those YouTube videos.

Get a sense of why do these people enjoy their experiences, and is that gonna connect to the type of experience. That you want to have. Once again, I encourage you to go on the tours and information sessions to once again gather that information that you need in order to really develop. That’s why you’re interested and parents.

This is a great way for you to support your students and saying, hey, let’s sign up for these information sessions. Let’s sign up for these campus tours and take them on those wonderful, amazing experiences as well. Eventually, you get down to that wonderful list of the 10 to 12 schools that you’re going to apply to, and we once again want to make sure that you have a balance in those, so you should have those reach schools, those schools that are going to be difficult for any student to get into.

Typically, a reach school is going to be any school where the acceptance rate is under 30%. Then you have those target schools, those schools where you know your admission chances are on target. With the students that generally get it accepted by those schools, and then you have your safety schools, those schools where, you know, you are well above their admission criteria and, you know, it’s still going to be a good school that you want to go to.

So, give yourself that opportunity to have all those choices, but engage in the exploration work that is needed. To help craft that great list, then when we get into 11th grade is usually when you want to start thinking about the application strategy and the standardized testing. So once again, this is where you can utilize data, utilizing the information that’s on a university’s admission website to see, hey.

Am I within that middle 50 percent of the SAT and the ACT score? Am I within the middle 50 percent of their, of their GPA? Do my qualifications align with that? If so, that’s probably going to be a school that I’m on target with, or it could even be a safety school. Then you also want to talk about your own standardized testing.

Are you going to take the SAT? Are you going to take the ACT? I usually recommend the students do both, because the only way you’re going to know if one test suits you more so than the other is through taking both. And the 11th grade is an excellent time to be able to do that. You have the opportunity to take the PSAT, which is also utilized for the National Merit Award.

Um, scholarship qualifying test. You usually do that in the fall of your 11th grade year, but you have the opportunity and ability to be able to take those tests throughout that entire 11th grade year. Maybe in the fall, you take 1 SAT, 1 ACT see what your scores are. Determine which test you like best.

And then in the next semester of your 11th grade year, you retake that test to do to to prepare better, but also to make a higher score. One thing to remember is that generally, colleges and universities do not care about how many times you take the SAT or the ACT. We’re going to look at the highest scores, um, that benefit you and reflect your performance.

Usually my recommendation for students is the maximum amount of times you should ever take it is three times. After that, the research shows you generally don’t increase your scores enough to justify taking the test again. But once again, when you get all this information, do your own self evaluation. Do you meet the credentials?

Does your student really fall in line with those particular credentials to where we know this school is going to be a one that’s going to be on target, this is one that’s going to be on safety, but if we’re going to take the reach, we know we’re taking the reach, but it’s because we know we really want to go to that particular college but also does what you have match With your interest and your intentions.

So, for example, if you know, you once again want to go into engineering, are you engaging in those things that would align with making you a competitive engineering applicant? So, looking at your grades, for example, if you’re someone who says that they want to go in engineering, but you’re making B’s and C’s in all of your math and science classes.

You may want to rethink that. Maybe your strength really lies more in the humanities and social sciences because you’re making A’s in all of your English and social studies classes. So really giving yourself that understanding of, am I going to be a good fit for what it is that I think I want to study?

And looking at your grades, looking at your test scores, looking at your extracurriculars to see, is it gonna fit that particular narrative, that particular intention, that particular interest. If not, maybe we need to pivot. So that way we’re giving ourselves the best foot forward in presenting ourselves in the college admission process.

Then the fun part, the essays. Generally, I usually recommend that students start working on their essays during the summer before their senior year. It’s a great chance to, um, work on your common application essay, or whatever central essay that you’re going to work on, because typically those prompts are determined, uh, usually in the spring.

Before you begin that process, so it’s a great way for you to start thinking about that. But then after August 1st, usually is when you’re going to find out about the supplements and the school specific essay prompts, but using that summer to really think about what it is that you want to write about.

This is also a great chance to get to understand the culture of each school. Every single school is different and you want to know how are you specifically going to fit into the culture of that school. Many students apply to a school because it’s a top university. All the top universities are very, very different.

Dartmouth is a very different place than Columbia. Brown University is a very different place than the University of Texas at Austin. All these places are different and they all have their own unique culture. You should have an understanding of that culture and how you’re going to fit into it. And that’ll definitely help you in developing your essays, especially when you’re asked, Why do you want to go to that particular university?

And how do you fit into that particular community? It’s a great time to build your outlines, your individual narratives for each essay. Now many essays are going to be very similar in terms of what they’re asking, but they all have their own unique nuance. Once again, why? Because every college university is different and also even the questions based off of what their word, their wording could also be a bit different.

So you want to be careful about recycling your essays, meaning using it. The same essay for the same type of topic for each institution. They want to see are you catering specifically to that institution? So I always say you can use the same essay as a base, but we’re going to make sure we’re doing that retooling work to make sure it is specific for that institution.

And once again, when it comes to your essays and your entire application, you should think of it as a puzzle. What does each piece bring in? To make up this full picture of who you are. So what you write for your common application essay, you probably shouldn’t write in your supplements. Because they already have that information.

This is now about what are you specifically going to add to what you’ve already written. What are the other sides of you that we’re going to get if you come to our college university. So this is great in essay development to take that 10, 000 square foot view. What does my transcript say about me? What does my letters of recommendation say about me?

What am I extracurricular say about me? Then what am I going to write about in that central essay that is different from all of that? And then what is the extra things about me that I can write about in those supplements? So they get the fullest picture of who I am. And what am I going to bring to that college or university?

So parents, helping your students follow this particular timeline will definitely be a great way of supporting them in their aspirations. And I believe it’s time for another poll. You are correct. Thank you, Brandon. What a great overview. Um, I really appreciated the outline that you gave of what to start on things.

I think there’s this real sense that you need to get started on the essay writing early, but I, I do agree that summer, I think that’s the best time to do it. Um, before we get into a little bit more about essays, let me Start the poll. So there’s going to be another poll that appears in front of you all.

We want to get a sense of where you are in the college application process. So I’m imagining, um, a lot of you might fall into that, but I’m already seeing an almost done category because we’re approaching audit lines or we’ve had some pass. But some of you might be in that research phase, which is great.

In terms of the the essay writing process, now if you start in the summer, right Brandon, A lot of, especially the Common App, um, a lot of colleges won’t release their essays until August. What is your suggestion for getting started on essay writing, given that maybe some schools might change their essays come August?

Do you have a general recommendation of, you know, types of prompts you can prepare for so that you can apply them across the schools? Sure. So generally what I recommend is looking at previous essay prompts, um, that the schools have used, because in general they’re probably going to be similar. They may change.

but usually that’s going to be an indication of the values of that particular school. So already thinking about, okay, they asked this type of question, probably should be thinking about that type of essay. So usually I say going with the previous year’s prompts is a good way to start, but once again, don’t rely solely that that’s going to be the essay that you’re going to write.

Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. I will say that the Common App prompts tend to stay about the same, or maybe there are some that overlap, right? Uh, but, you just don’t know. You don’t know. And then, the Common App usually always has my favorite, which is Topic of Choice. That’s right. Which means you can literally write about anything.

I think my favorite might be UChicago’s which is the choose your own adventure. Yes. Love that one. That was a fun one. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Uh, so let’s see the poll result just came in Some folks haven’t started that makes a lot of sense to we have some folks who are earlier in their high school careers So, um, you might be really thinking about how you’re gonna get started Started very soon.

We have some researching schools now. It’s a great time to do that for those of you who might be juniors, sophomores, new parents, um, and then we do have some who are almost done. So congratulations to you, Ryan. I’m gonna turn it back over to you for the remainder of the presentation before q and a.

Awesome. Awesome. And once again, I wanted us all to say that collective inhale and exhale, no matter where you are in this process, it is your process. So please don’t feel that you have to rush this for anybody. Okay. So keep that in mind. Now, once again, this is for my wonderful parents. What’s the role that you should play in the college admission process?

So as I mentioned, first and foremost, you’re that first mate, but you’re also that teammate and that cheerleader. Being supportive, encouraging your student throughout this entire process, saying, Hey, have you researched this particular school? Hey, how is those extracurriculars going? You know? Hey, how’s that SAT and ACT prep work going?

Being there, supporting them, encouraging them, telling them, They should dream big that they you want the best for them. You want them to do well and that you want to be there to be supportive. So being that team teammate, being that cheerleader in this process, definitely the role you should play, but also being a timekeeper.

So students, many of y’all are great when it comes to short term projects, you know that that deadline is coming. You like to procrastinate, but you’re good in a short term project. College admissions, as you have seen is a long term project is one that you could, you start from ninth grade, sometimes even earlier than that, All the way to 12th grade.

So you need to make sure that you’re consistently working at it. And parents, this is where you come in to be that timekeeper project manager, right? Helping them to remind, how about those deadlines? Hey, have you worked on that essay? How about that deadline? How about, have you worked on that resume?

You’re going to need that. So being that timekeeper once again, to remind them of the timeline that we just went through is also a great way for you to support. And once again, doing it in that teammate, cheerleader, supportive manner, and then also having the financial conversation with your students early.

Without a doubt, in this process, that can be one of the greatest stressors, is wondering, how am I going to be able to provide this experience for my child? And so, I always tell parents, have that conversation with them early. That hey, we want you to dream big, but the financial reality is, In order for you to go to this school, you’re going to need amazing financial aid.

If that amazing financial aid is there, we can do this. But if that amazing financial aid is not there, then unfortunately, we’re This is not going to necessarily be an option. So having that honest conversation is something that you want to do on the front end. One of the saddest things is when a student thinks that it’s an option.

And then unfortunately when they get in and it’s presented because they didn’t have that first conversation, it’s now being taken away. And so you want to minimize that heartache. And one way of doing that is by having it on the front end. So definitely make sure of that, but also be open. Okay. The greatest way to be open in my honest opinion is making sure that you apply regular decision.

Because if you apply regular decision, it gives you the freedom and the ability to see all of your different financial options. Equally, rather than doing maybe an early decision or an early action where you don’t necessarily know what all your financial opportunities could be, so it’s something to consider.

So, what aspects of the application process do the students have control over? So, remember, your student is the one who’s performing in class, not you. So your student has control over their academics, especially when it becomes to their performance and their academic rigor. You can definitely be that supportive cheerleader who encourages them to take the most challenging classes.

So if AP is the highest level. Seeing that they take advantage of that. If it’s the International Baccalaureate or IB, taking advantage of that. If it’s honors courses, dual enrollment, but really helping them to understand they are the ones who have to perform well in the classroom. And then, A’s of course is what we want to see.

B’s are alright. Very few C’s. No D’s or F’s. And if you do make that D or F, know that the admission process is not over for you. We want to see that you turn it around in that next semester, that next grading period. So once again, cheering them on, encouraging them to do their best, to turn around, can keep them in this process.

But they’re the ones who are in control of their academics. They’re academic interests. So once again, they’re going to be the ones in the classroom. So are they truly interested in going pre med? Are they truly interested in going history? Are they truly interested in going into any subject and asking them those questions?

What are you truly interested in? Is art your thing? Great. Let’s engage in that. Is architecture your thing? Let’s engage in that. If it is, you know, ancient Mediterranean civilizations. So once again, really being honest about their, uh, their opportunities and their interests is going to be a supportive role that you can play.

But once again, They should be the one who’s dictating what their interests are school selection. So once again, why do they want to go to that particular college university? It should be rooted and based on their own preferences. So, do you like certain environments versus when it comes to size? Do you want an institution that’s very heavy on Greek life?

Or do you prefer one that’s more heavy on extracurriculars? Um, do you prefer an urban setting or a more rural college town setting? And also, what resources are important to you? So, do you need a office dedicated to first generation college students? Do you need an office dedicated to international students?

Do you need resources for people who want to explore different careers? So also decide, uh, helping your students decide what are going to be those important necessary resources that they need to have a successful college experience, time management. Once again, you want to engage in this process early as possible because once again, the more time you have, The less stressful it’s going to be, but once again, maintaining your work ethic is going to be up to your student.

So once again, you can help them with knowing that those deadlines are happening, but they’re the ones who have to write that essay. So keeping them on track is going to be helpful, but once again, they have to be the one who writes and works on this process. And once again, students have got to be committed to this process.

Once again, they’re the ones who are driving, they’re the ones who are captains, they have to be the one who is committed to this process. You want what’s best for them, you want to cheer and guide them, but once again, if they’re not committed to this process, it’s not going to be a successful one and it’s not anything that you can really do about it.

So students have got to are in control of their commitment to this process, even with your support.

So some strategies that can help lower that stress level and also to prevent student burnout. Once again, and I can’t emphasize this enough, starting as early as often as possible. The more time you devote, the more time you stress this out, the less stressful it’s going to be. Once again, it’s about working in those stages.

So, doing that activity and brand development towards the beginning. Working and developing that school list. Then thinking about your strategy and approach to the applications. Essays, like I said, we’re going to wait until that summer before our senior year to do essays. So, please don’t be thinking about essays in the 10th grade.

Please don’t be thinking about essays in, um, the first part of your junior year because they may very well change. So, once again. Doing these things in stages and not feeling like you have to do it all at once, because once again, it’s an ever evolving process. So taking it in stages will help you be able to better guide through these stages and changes that happen in the process.

And then after you apply, or even during the application process, is where you’re applying to scholarships, looking into those financial aid opportunities, and then once you get that amazing acceptance, you’re making that all important decision where you’re going to enroll. Uh, having frequent family chats, talking about this process throughout the entire process so that everyone is on the same page and there are no big surprises.

So having those conversations when you go to an information session. Some of the best memories that I’ve had was definitely talking to my mom and my dad after visiting a school saying what I liked and what I didn’t like. And then having another conversation. Just over dinner or just together. Just really thinking about what is it that I wanted for my future.

It’s an amazing time. So having those frequent chats can also be very helpful so that everyone is on the same page and it minimizes that stress level and keeps you engaged. Because also engaging in that family chat can also be a supportive aspect and a supportive measure that shows that you’re dedicated to your child and their success.

But also, take breaks. Take breaks. Like I said, this is a joyful process. This is a fun process, so you should have fun doing it. So, take a break from writing that essay. Go get some ice cream, whatever dessert. Do an activity that you love to do. Take a break from the process when it is needed, and then get back into it.

But at the same time, your 12th grade year is not about applying to college. Your 12th grade year is about being a senior. And being a senior isn’t just about applying to college. It’s also about enjoying those moments with your friends, enjoying your extracurriculars, enjoying those amazing traditions, you know?

So make sure you’re taking those breaks and enjoying this process. So some last advice that I want to give to all the wonderful parents out there. You’re not alone. You’re not alone. You have us amazing advisors. You have counselors. You have a full team that is here to support your student, And who’s also here to support you.

So lean on to your support. Also lean on to the support of your fellow parents who are also going through this process. They’re also in it with you. And also learning, but making sure that you’re verifying the information from those who came before. But once again, you’re not alone in this process. You can do this.

You can do this. You have saw your child all the way up until this point. You’re just getting them to that amazing finish line for the next transition. But you can do this and believing in yourself helps minimize that stress. Always remember you’re doing your best for your child. It can sometimes feel like you’re coming up short.

It can sometimes feel like once again, that you’re alone, but once. And always when you keep it at the forefront of your mind that you are doing the best for your child, it eliminates a lot of the stress in this process. The admission decision is not a comment on your parenting. If your child does not get into their dream school, their first choice, it does not mean that they failed.

It does not mean that you failed. It is just that in this moment, through this process, through this needs of this institution. This student does not fit that at that moment. That’s all it is. So it is not a comment, once again, on you, your parenting, any of that. So please, as hard as it may be, do not take this personally.

Once again, this should be fun. This is an amazing time in your child’s life, in your life, a new transition. Be happy and fun and joyful with this process. Think of all the amazing possibilities. That are out there for them and keep the fun that’s supposed to happen in this. It’s also a great way for the student to explore themselves.

What are they truly interested in? What are their real motivations? So it should be fun. But above all, don’t be afraid to seek help. There are no dumb questions in this process. It is ever changing. So once again, the things that were there when you applied may or may not be there now. So it’s much better to ask for the help and to seek the help than it is to not ask.

So please don’t ever be afraid. And us wonderful advisors here at CollegeAdvisor.com are always here to help and support you in this process. So with that, I want to turn it over to Q&A. Awesome. Thank you, Brandon. And so that is the end of the presentation part of the webinar. I hope you found that to be as informational and helpful as I did.

And remember that you can download the slides from the links in the description. In the link in the handouts tab, excuse me, so we’re going to move on to the live Q&A I’ll read through the questions you submit in the Q&A tab Paste them into the public chat so you can see them and then read them out loud before Brandon can give us an answer. As a heads up if your Q&A tab isn’t letting you submit questions Just double check that you joined the webinar through the custom link In your email and not from the webinar landing page.

So to get started, um, let’s pick a fun topic. Test scores. Uh, I know you talked a little bit about that earlier in the presentation. Can we touch on test optional schools? Sure. How should parents approach test optional cases? Great. So when it comes to test optional schools, once again, you should know that it truly is that if you submit a test, that’s just one additional piece of information that you’re giving the school.

It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the end all be all that gets you in. Generally, when I’m advising a student who’s applying to a test optional school, I’m always looking at that middle 50%. Right? That means that 25 percent of students who submitted a score and were admitted had the first number. And 25 percent of those students who had above, you know, um, who had above the second number got admitted, right?

So it’s that middle 50 of who, where, where they land, if they’re underneath that, they probably, you know, had a lower score, still got in, but still it’s giving you that sense of where do you fall if you’re in that middle 50 percent and above, I usually say submit the score if you’re under that. You may want to reconsider how is that score going to either help or hurt my admission chances.

And once again, this is where that self evaluation I talked about comes in because let’s say you did really, really well on a math score, but you’re Uh, verbal score or your reading score is a little lower if you’re someone who’s going into a math science based subject or natural science or engineering, it may make sense that you want to submit that math and science score because it’s going to support your candidacy for that particular subject.

So, once again, you got to think about all those factors when it comes to it, but generally, that middle 50 percent will be the guy that you want to use to determine. Should you apply with the score or should you go test optional? Beautiful. And I do think there is a sense that if you don’t submit your test score, that’s going to be a red flag for admissions officers.

It is not. I want everyone to rest assured that it is not. It is just one piece of your total profile, like Brandon was saying. And if you submit it, it should add value. To your application. Um, understandably, not everybody is a good test taker, um, or feels comfortable when they’re taking a standardized test like that.

And therefore, it impacts their scores versus maybe how they’re performing academically in their courses. And so it’s just one less for the admissions officer to review if you do not submit it. So, um, when thinking about test scores and which tests are going to take, can you touch a little bit high level on the difference between the SAT and the ACT?

Sure. So the SAT, um, tests on two subjects. One is called evidence based reading and writing. The other is math. And so, um, you just have those two scores. Um, they range from 200 to 800. So the combined score that you can get is a maximum of 1,600. There’s that. The ACT tests on multiple subjects. It tests on reading, writing, math, science.

Now the science is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not going to be on actual like scientific information. So biology, chemistry, physics, not going to be that. It’s going to be how can you comprehend Something given to you in a scientific way. So can you read a scientific graph or, um, you know, a, uh, a research report?

You know, that’s how that is. Okay. And so you get that and you get a composite score, um, that’s out of 36. So, that’s the main difference is that there’s more subjects that are tested in a very different way. And the style of questions are going to be different between the 2. both are acceptable by college universities.

They don’t privilege 1 versus the other. Wonderful. Um, thank you for that. And I do, I will say that some of my students do much better on one test versus another, so I wouldn’t necessarily make a decision on which one your student might be better off taking until they take p practice tests in both. I always encourage practice.

Yep. I personally did better on the ACT than I did on the SAT and I took the ACT later. In my college career in my high school career, because I didn’t think about that, but I, that’s why I’m a big proponent of take those practice tests for both to really see which one suits you best. Absolutely. I actually just had a student who wasn’t even considering the ACT, was really struggling to get his desired score in an SAT.

I told him to take the ACT and he got a perfect score. I mean, who knew, right? So before I move on to more Q& A, I just want to take a moment to talk about this really great resource with CollegeAdvisor, um, for those on the call with us. Tonight, CollegeAdvisors team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts like Brandon and myself, are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process in one on one advising sessions.

We’ve already helped over 6,000 clients in their college journeys and after analyzing our data since 2021, we have found that CollegeAdvisor students are 3.6 times more likely to get into students. Stanford University, 4.1 times more likely to get into Vanderbilt University and 2.7 times more likely to get into Harvard University.

So increase your odds and take the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for this free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admissions specialist on our team using the QR code on the screen here. And during that meeting, we’ll review your extracurricular. List an application strategy, discuss how those align with your college lists, and outline the tools you need to stand out in a competitive admissions world.

So a little bit more personalized approach, right, to everything that Brandon has really talked about, um, today. And so on more, to a few more Q& A before we wrap up tonight, um, my next question for you, Brandon. Outside of a college visit, how else can a student demonstrate interest and learn more about a school?

And does it matter if you demonstrate interest? Sure. So let’s talk about the fun that is demonstrated interest. So, um, as mentioned, demonstrating interest is once again, how are you engaging with that college or university? So visiting like physically visiting is a way of demonstrating interest. When a college or university is in your town.

So that means that they’re doing an information session that may be at a hotel, maybe at another school. Um, maybe even they come to your own school. You showing up at those visits is another way of demonstrating interest. Um, signing up for the virtual information session and the virtual campus tour is another way of demonstrating interest.

But to be perfectly honest, the best way to demonstrate interest is how you write that. Why that school question. Did you do the background information and the background research to know why you connect with that school? And how did you demonstrate that in the application? That’s actually the best way of demonstrating interest.

Now, do all these other parts where you do the visits and things of that nature, do they become a part of your application? They can, because some schools are very specific in that they will consider your application. Those aspects when they look at you. So I always say if you see that wonderful information card or a QR code, fill it out because it then shows you’ve interacted and it can be used in the mission process to really show, hey, this is someone who’s taking advantage of really looking into us and therefore are more likely to yield or say yes to the mission offer.

But the best way, once again, how do you write that? Why do you want to go to that school? Cannot deny that enough. That’s the best way to demonstrate interest. I so agree. And. helpful to know that it’s really great to take notes, detailed notes. I highly encourage you to keep, um, your, or your student to keep a document as they start researching schools, going information sessions, write it down because you might not remember all of the important things that are mentioned when you start writing the why.

No, I call it the why us essay. Yes, definitely definitely definitely great advice how okay, so switching over to extracurriculars now how Late is too late to get an extracurriculars. And do you need a magic number of extracurriculars on your applications? Sure, so There’s extracurriculars. There’s a lot of circumstances and a lot of context that are involved in extracurriculars for some schools.

They don’t offer any extracurriculars. So, therefore, we can’t expect you on your application to have those extracurriculars. Right? You may live in a environment that is less resource. So, therefore, you don’t have access to as many extracurriculars as possible. So, in general, there isn’t a fundamental guiding rule in terms of extracurriculars.

I always say get involved because you want to get involved. That’s a very big part of that is because you want to get involved every single year. I have students ask me what’s the minimum number of extra of, um, of community service hours that I should have. And I always say, do you like doing community service?

If they say no. Don’t do it. The purpose of community service is because you want to give service to the community, so therefore it needs to be something that you want to do. Not because you think it’s going to look good on your college application, because guess what? It’s not because you have to write a description.

We can tell if you really like it because your description. It’s going to be very vivid. It’s going to be very detailed. It’s going to show that you really like it. So that’s the first thing is that these have got to be things that you want to do and that you are looking forward to doing. Secondly, is the fact that, um, there’s not a magic number.

Of extracurriculars. Because once again, there’s so many things. But when it comes to extracurriculars, you should be thinking about what are you doing? Why? And why are you doing it? But also the impact that your work is having in your school community and in the larger world. So think about it that way.

Don’t do it for the sake of doing it, doing it because you want to explore. You want to challenge yourself. You want to enjoy that activity. Those should be the reasons for why you do extracurriculars, but don’t think that there’s a magic number. Once again, this isn’t highest number wins. Amazing.

Absolutely. I do think we have time for one more question. I want to ask the passion project question. So you’ve definitely gotten this one in the past. Oh yes. What’s a passion project and do I need, does my student need that? Sure. So a passion project is, think of that, the two separate words. Passion. It has to be something that you actually love and enjoy doing.

And you’re taking that love and what you want to do and putting it into something that’s being created into a project. So generally your passion projects are going to be students who maybe start a 501c3. It could be that they’re working on an invention. It could be that they’re writing a book. It really is a way of them demonstrating that what they are passionate about, they’re They’ve turned into a project that they’re giving out to the world.

Do you have to have a passion project? No, the vast majority of students who apply to admit for college admission don’t have a project, a passion project. And once again, you should only do a passion project if what you have a passion for it, because if you don’t have a passion for it, guess what? It’s going to show in your work.

So please don’t feel any pressure to have one do it because once again, you love doing it. That should always be the guiding principle. Absolutely. And I would say the vast majority of students who I advise with passion projects, they happened organically. Nobody told them to do it. Um, it was not a strategy in the application process.

It happened because they actually wanted to do it. Oh yeah. And on that note, that is the end of the webinar. We had such a great time telling you about parents. Guide to college admission success Uh, here is our January webinar series. We have a ton of really great webinars coming up I highly encourage you to join us for these Um in particular, I think it’s worth especially the parents in the room Going to that unlocking financial aid session.

Um, there’s a lot of, there’s an admissions officer panel on AO advice. There’s so many great resources here and Brandon, thank you so much. We learned so much tonight. Um, thank you for being with us today. Thank you all so much. And once again, know that you’re doing the best for your student and for your child and go out and enjoy this process.

Wonderful. Good. Goodbye everybody. And good luck.