Why You Need College Admissions Help

Webinar Transcription

2023-12-20 – Why You Need College Admissions Help

Anesha: Hi, everybody, and welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha Grant. I’m a senior advisor, a CollegeAdvisor, and I will be your moderator today. Tonight’s webinar is, “Why You Need College Admissions Help.” Before we get started, I just want to orient everyone with webinar timing. We will have our presenters share some tips and guidance, and then we will open up for a live Q& A.

On the side, on the sidebar, you can download our slides on any handouts tab, and you can start submitting your questions whenever you get ready under the Q and a tab. Now let’s meet our presenter, Brian. Hey, Brian, how are you doing?

Brian: Hey, Anesha. I’m good. How you doing?

Anesha: All right. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Brian: So, yes, my name is Brian Park. Um, I’ve been in the education industry now for over 20 years. Um, I’ve been in all different parts of the education process from S.A.T. Prep, curriculum, design and development. And of course, college admissions. So we’re excited to be here tonight.

Anesha: Awesome. We’re happy to hear from you today.

Before we get started, we’re going to go ahead and do a quick poll. Um, and so let us know what grade level you’re in. If you are a parent, We are happy to have you here, but you can go ahead and just select other. You don’t have to guess at the grade level of your child. Um, and Brian, I’m a big food person, so normally when we’re waiting for the polls, I always ask about food.

So I’m just wondering, where are you? What do you, what do you feel like is the best food in your city?

Brian: Ooh, that’s an easy one. So I’m in Philadelphia. So it’s a home of the cheesesteaks.

Anesha: Yeah.

Brian: Um, that’s my favorite food. Probably, uh, definitely here. Uh, maybe overall I’m a huge cheesesteak fan. Um, so yeah, that’s an easy one.

Anesha: Okay. Yeah, that is an easy one. I have not had a Philly cheesesteak in quite some time. I think I’ve only had about five and three of them have been in Philadelphia. So, um, it’s not an easily exportable food item. Anyway, we’ll go ahead. Have one for me this weekend. Oh, I will. We’ll go ahead and close our pool.

It’s not the majority of folks joining us today are 10th graders, but we do have a mix of 11th Um, okay. Well, I will stop talking. I’ll hand it over to you and I’ll be back a little bit later when we opened up for our Q& A.

Brian: Great. Thank you, Anesha. So, hi, everybody. Um, again, my name is Brian Park and, um, I’m a senior college admissions specialist with CollegeAdvisor.

So, um, yeah, we’re talking about why you need college admissions help. Um, so, um, You know, starting off, um, you know, this is just a hypothetical question. I don’t expect anyone to really respond. But, you know, when should you start the college admissions process? Right? Um, and I think the majority of people, um, and I meet students and families every day, um, will say, well, I think I’m supposed to start my application sometime in junior year if I start early, but definitely in the summer after junior year.

Um. Yeah, if you’re talking about the actual, uh, application itself, um, but the reality is college admissions all counts from freshman year in high school, right? So, nothing counts prior, um, to freshman year. Things you do 7th grade, 8th grade don’t count to your college application, um, but everything does count starting freshman year.

So, um. That’s really how we want to reframe, you know, the college admissions process is to think about it as far as everything counts from freshman year. So I should be thinking about this, um, as a process and a big part of that, um, the importance of thinking about it that way is related to the fact that College admissions is extremely competitive in today’s day and age.

Um, another little piece about myself. So I actually graduated from Cornell University a very long time ago back in the 90s. And, um, back then the admissions rate to Cornell was about 30%. Um, Which is a very high admissions rate compared to what it is today. Um, at about 7 to 8%. Um, it was still an Ivy League school back when I went in the nineties, believe it or not.

Um, but it’s just a function of how competitive. it’s become, right? It’s the number of, the increase in the number of applications, and schools simply have not, um, you know, grown, uh, as much as the number of applications. So, in order to have a strong college application, um, students need to start as soon as possible.

to develop, um, as unique of a personal application narrative as possible to stand out from the other applicants. Um, this is what we call your personal application narrative, your brand, your unique story. So again, your resume is three years of high school. Remember, college applications are due in the beginning of your senior year.

So you have a three year window to create a sort of resume that echoes your personal brand. Um, in creating that resume, that brand, um, that reflects your unique story, it takes time, it takes thought, um, and it takes planning. So I’m going to review the three main areas, um, that, uh, I think is really important to, to look at, uh, when we’re thinking about these things, which is understanding the selectivity of schools.

doing the right extracurricular activities, and of course, essays and applications. So give me one second, I’m gonna take a sip of water here.

Okay, so let’s talk about selectivity of schools. Um, why is it that Cornell’s acceptance rates have gone from, you know, uh, 30 percent acceptance in in the 90s to, um, You know, single digits 78 percent in the last 25 years or so. Um, so. You know, one of the main reasons is that, and colleges won’t tell you this, but colleges at the end of the day, um, operate as small businesses and organizations, um, at the end of the day, um, one of their core bottom lines is they need to, um, make enough revenue to cover the really high costs of what it takes to run a successful university.

Um, you think about. the cost of taxes and the land. Think about, you know, professor salaries, you think about maintenance, you know, all of those different factors contribute to a really high operating cost at these universities. So, um, they need to really look at their bottom line and how do they make money.

It’s intuition, um, from, from students, obviously. And so, um, one of the things that, um, unfortunately, um, is in the better, um, It’s in favor of what colleges are looking to do is, um, because things have become more competitive. It’s something that college is actually like, um, the lower schools admissions rates go, um, the more competitive they may appear.

Um, it also can sort of, um, Directly or indirectly contribute to, um, the school’s ranking. Right. So, um, you know, again, if you’re looking at your bottom line, you, you want to make enough money and have high enough tuition to cover your, your costs, then the more selective the school, um, um, The higher your you could raise your tuition, um, the better the school may be in the rankings.

Um, so when we look at, um, let’s talk about, you know, SAT And ACT Test scores for a second. Um, this is something I get a lot of questions about from families. Um, You know, what is why have schools gone test optional? Um, and, you know, let’s remember prior to covid. Um, you know, all schools were test mandatory, meaning you had to submit either an SAT or ACT test score in order for them to even look at your application. Right? So, unfortunately, If you didn’t do well in your SAT, um, that really boxed you in as far as what your options were going to be for schools to apply to. Um, when COVID hit, uh, every, you know, everything got shut down. Um, You know, schools could not, uh, you know, keep that rule because there were a lot of students who couldn’t take SATs.

Um, so instead they said, well, if you, if you were lucky and you happen to be able to take an SAT, um, we don’t want to, um, you know, penalize you for the fact that you took your SAT and you did all this hard work. So please report your score. We’ll look at it. We’ll consider it. But if you don’t have a score.

We’re still going to consider application with, you know, the full consideration. And, um, you know, of course they went on and they had a great incoming class, even though it was virtual. Um, but what they discovered was students took the opportunity to apply to more schools. because the test score was not, uh, required.

So maybe I have a 1300 SAT score. Typically, I wouldn’t apply to Harvard because it probably wouldn’t be good enough. But now I could potentially get in because I have really strong extracurriculars. I have really strong essays. So why don’t I take a shot? Um, schools loved that. Because what happened was admissions rates went down by a factor of about 20 percent year over year over the past three years.

Um, so if you have more questions about test optional and whether or not, you know, you should report your score. Um, that’s something that maybe we could talk offline about, but, um, this is the reality of college admissions today. Uh, therefore, uh, what this means is that. Admissions officers, unfortunately, can only spend a very low amount of time reviewing your application.

So at the end of the day, the average right now, and you can go Google this, is admissions officers spend about five to seven minutes Ring a student’s entire application, including all of their essays. So, um, you know, admissions officers won’t have the time to connect the dots in your application, try to analyze who you are.

It’s really just a quick, you know, skim of your application, um, and then, you know, a decision is going to be made on that. In addition, um, you know, more and more schools are relying on algorithms, um, or software to even pre screen applications. Um, UC schools, for example, are receiving over 100 to 130,000 applications per year.

It’s no longer cost effective to, uh, pay human beings, unfortunately, to, uh, review a lot of these applications in the current landscape. Um, so what that means is sometimes, uh, maybe a human doesn’t even look at your application. Um, So, uh, you know, it’s a small detail, but it’s important also to make sure you have the right keywords in your application, uh, to make sure that hopefully a human does get to, uh, take a look at your application.

Um, so yeah, uh, yeah, just a one, one last little detail on that. There was an article from, um, Inside Higher Ed recently that said over 50 percent of schools are using some form of, um, Automation or algorithms in the college admissions process. Um, and they expect that to go to 80%. Um, in 2024. So, uh, yeah, that’s the current landscape with college admissions.

Um, and as a result, we have to, um, unfortunately, strategize, um, and take a lot more careful of approach when it comes to trying to gain admissions into top schools. Um, And namely, that’s because, um, we want to stand out, right? Um, we want to make sure we have that unique brand to our application. That’s going to differentiate us.

from the other 50, 60,000 applicants to that school. So we’ve switched slides here to extracurricular activities. Um, so yeah, I mean, first question is what are admissions officers looking for when it comes to extracurricular activities? Um, just to take a step back. Um, I consider the three main buckets that Um, admissions officers will evaluate in a student’s application are their academics, number one, uh, which include obviously your GPA, uh, level of course rigor, and, um, you know, SAT or ACT test score, that’s one bucket.

The second bucket would be a student’s extracurricular activities. Um, and the third bucket would be, um, your applications and your essays. So, yes, you’ll also have, uh, recommendations from teachers, um, you know, there, there are some other factors that will be considered, but those are the three main, uh, buckets that a student can affect, um, Um, in the evaluation process.

So obviously extracurriculars are a major, major part of the application. It’s, it’s, it’s one of the most important, um, at the end of the day. So, um, this is, this is somewhat simplified, but, um, admissions officers currently, um, are looking for what I, what I consider two main, um, Um, aspects of extracurriculars.

The first is some kind of connection between the students, extracurricular activities, um, and their intended major. Um, obviously, you know, if a student does have extracurriculars that align and are connected to their intended major or field of study, um, we can demonstrate, you know, a certain amount of focus.

Passion and, of course, exposure slash experience, um, in that particular field. Um, You know, for example, a student who might be, you know, saying that they want to, uh, be a biology major and, uh, pursue the pre med field, um, yet their extracurricular activities don’t have any relationship to that, um, that obviously would lead to some head scratching and, um, you know, a little bit of doubt as to maybe whether the student is prepared or, um, you know, has done the appropriate, taken the appropriate steps, right, to, um, to follow their goals.

And maybe that’s, um, an indication of what, uh, the future might be. Maybe it won’t be, but, um, that would be an example of, um, maybe a weaker application. So that’s number one. Um, and number two, uh, obviously when we’re talking about especially competitive admissions, um, or competitive school, uh, applications, Um, there will be an expectation of, you know, a high level of achievement, um, or high level of impact, uh, with that extracurricular activity.

Um, Again, with relation to extracurricular activities, I think that, um, many students and families have probably heard this, but, um, admissions officers tend to prefer to see a spiked application, um, over a, um, you know, an application where maybe a student is quote unquote, uh, more well rounded, uh, where maybe you have a lot of different extracurriculars in different areas, um, but you haven’t necessarily gone really deep.

In those areas, sort of like a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Whereas, um, Now, the opposite of that would be someone who’s mastered or has shown some type of mastery, um, in one or two areas, uh, versus participating in several and, again, not having, um, that depth within their extracurricular activities.

Um, And finally, you know, with regard to, well, you know, I get this question a lot once I kind of get to this phase, um, of a meeting with a family is, well, what extracurricular activity should I do? You know, I’m interested in the medical path way. And, um, You know, right now I, uh, I play sports and, um, you know, I do some volunteering, but what are some of the extracurriculars that can kind of take me to the next level and strengthen my application?

Um, the simple answer to that is anything that, um, again, is especially in the case of a pre med. Uh, major that, um, is clinical in nature, or, um, you know, sort of that hands on, um, experience, uh, will be, um, obviously regarded as, uh, a lot of great exposure and experience. Um, so that’s where we can kind of get into talking about internships, uh, and and passion projects.

So, um. You know, let’s say an internship. Let’s say you’re interested in business management, um, and you’re able to get a summer internship at, um, and let’s say you’re interested in finance, um, you know, at a large bank or small bank or finance company in some way, shape or form as a high school student, um, that would be considered a strong extracurricular activity.

Obviously a lot of passion, commitment, um, in the field, um, but at the same time, we have to talk about sort of uniqueness to yourself, um, and how do we develop that personal application narrative where a student really stands out from all the other, you know, Perspective business majors who also want to go to University of Michigan or, um, you know, Northwestern or whatever school that, you know, you’re targeting, um, what are the extracurricular activities that that student is going to be doing?

Who’s interested in business? Um, well, they also, you know, be a part of, uh, future business leaders of America. Participate in different competitions. Um, well, they also have some type of summer internship under their belt. Um, what’s going to make me really stand out and be unique, um, in my extracurricular activity path.

So, um, Yeah, again, just kind of recap on extracurricular activities. Um, I would say especially if you are a younger student, um, a freshman or sophomore, this is your big opportunity to get a big, um, edge or a big, uh, advantage in your, um, profile and building your application is because you will have had the opportunity to do things, again, with thought, with planning, um, that a student who doesn’t do that, um, will not have done.

Uh, let’s say you’re, you’re a junior or senior. Oh my gosh, college admissions, I got to start working on my applications. And you look back and you say, well, what did I do? How does that align to what I’m trying to do? Um, if that alignment’s not there, unfortunately, there’s, there’s not as much you can do, um, because we can’t go back in time.

Right. So, um, that’s probably the biggest takeaway that I hope you guys have from this today is that, um, regardless of where you’re at, again, freshman, sophomore, big opportunity ahead of you. If you’re a junior, you have 10 months left. Um, right now it’s December. Uh, if you’re watching this on a recording, um, it’s December.

And so you would have 10 months until early decision applications. Again, you have an opportunity to really build the extracurricular activity profile. And a passion project is the exact type of thing that I think is perfect for juniors. You know, I don’t want to go too in depth on passion projects today because I do want to keep it a little bit more general on college admissions, but a passion project is something you want to look up.

It’s something that you do of your own design, Um, obviously you want to do a project that, um, echoes your, uh, passions, your interests and has some very important, um, accomplishments or impacts to your community, um, that not only will look great in your application, um, but it will be something that you can also, um, spend a lot of time talking about in your essays, which is, um, The next slide, um, that I’m going to go to and that we’re going to talk about is essays.

So, um, we’ve been talking about, um, you know, developing a brand, developing a personal application narrative around, um, your application in order to stand out. Um, and if extracurriculars is the 1st place that you can start developing this, um, your essays is sort of the final place and the maybe most.

Important opportunity to, um, really show the admissions officers, um, who you are, you know, and what your brand is. Um, again, I think it’s important to remember that, um, an admissions officer is never going to see your face. Um, they’re never going to hear your voice. Admissions officer is only going to be looking at, again, your academics, your extracurricular activities and your essay.

So this is the biggest opportunity for you to tell them what they need to know about you. Um, so. You know, just to break down on a very general level, uh, what essays to expect, um, that you’ll be writing about. Um, the first thing is the personal statement essay. Um, the personal statement essay, um, is a 650 word essay.

Um, there are several prompts within the Common App and Coalition App. Um, all of them have one prompt that literally says, you know, you can write about anything you want, um, sort of as long as it’s about you. Um, that essay that you write is so important because, um, most students will use that same essay in all of their applications.

Um, now if we’re talking about sort of more in depth sort of, um, you know, college admissions, You know, 301, like a more advanced level, uh, you might have different, um, versions of your personal statement essay, but by and large, you’ll use the same one. So it’s very important that that essay, um, is going to get across, obviously, the, um, personal brand or theme that, um, you’re trying to highlight throughout your whole application and how it relates to your extracurricular activities.

Um, so that’s a very important essay. Um, and then there are school specific supplemental essays, um, and there could be program or scholarship specific supplements as well. So, first talking about school specific supplements, typically, um, especially with most competitive schools, there will be approximately one to three.

Supplemental essays per college application. Um, some schools have as many as nine. Um, so, you know, these are a little bit different, whereas with. The personal statement. Um, it’s all about you. Um, the supplemental essays tend to be a little bit more about, you know, how do you fit our school? What do you plan on contributing here?

Um, tell us again, sort of. Why us, which is a very popular, uh, supplementary essay question. You know, why Duke? Um, why do you want to come here? What is it about us that attracts you? Um, this is a very big opportunity for students because, um, I think. Most of us as high schoolers. Um, we just kind of approach the application is let me just answer these questions.

Um, and you’ll write something like, you know, um, I love the campus. I know it’s a highly ranked school. Um, I want to do premed. I know you guys have a great premed program. Um, you know, I love, I love the campus and the city and all those different things. Um, obviously not going to convince. Um, an admissions officer that, um, the student knows a whole heck of a lot about the school or that they’ve put that thought and effort into really understanding how they’re going to benefit that community.

So, um, yeah, these essays take a lot of research. Um, my advice is to spend as much time learning about each specific school that you’re applying to. Um, You know, what are the unique clubs and extracurricular activities that they have on campus for college students? Um, and that’s going to help you write a really great school specific supplemental essay.

Um, and then, if you are applying to, um. Specialized programs, whether it’s a dual degree program, like, maybe, um, at Lehigh University, there’s a program where you can graduate in 4 years with an undergraduate business major and computer science major. There could be additional. Um, essay questions that they’ll ask you.

Um, another example would be if you’re trying to, uh, be accepted into a, uh, bachelor of science medical degree program, uh, uh, called BSMD, um, you know, they will have, uh, additional essay questions as well. So, overall, um, expect that you will be writing anywhere between 20 to 30 essays, depending on, um, how many colleges you’re applying to.

Um, if you’re applying to 20 colleges, you can do the math, um, you know, it’d be double that. And, um, yes, you can recycle some questions, but again, um, you want to be careful because, um, If, if one school asks you, why do you want to major in your major, um, you know, using the exact same answer for every single school may be a little too general and you might want to, um, you know, tailor it a little bit more to that particular school and, you know, why that school would be attractive to you for that particular major, for example.

Um, so a lot of strategy, uh, involved around supplemental essays. Biggest takeaway, um, from the essay section would be that, um, You know, again, this is your one of your biggest opportunities to tell them why you’re unique, why you stand out. Um, this is not something that you just want to complete and say, Hey, I wrote my 40 essays.

My applications are done. They’re going to be as good as they can be. And let’s submit them and keep our fingers crossed. Um, The more thought, time, and effort you put into this, the sooner you start thinking about these things, even as a freshman in high school, and understand what types of questions they’re asking, and just have it in the back of your head as you go on your journey, um, you know, it’s going to benefit you the most to make the strong application.

So, um, yep, looks like we’re coming up on time, so, um, Whoops, and I missed that slide, but I think you guys get the idea. If we just sort of bring it to conclusion now. Um, yeah, I would say that, uh, in summary, um, regardless again of whether you’re a freshman or a sophomore, um, or a junior, um, God forbid you’re a senior right now, it’s, it’s already the 20th of December and, uh, regular decision dates are going to be in the next, you know, uh, 10 days or so.

But, um, Regardless of where you’re at, starting as soon as possible is going to be your best path to having a strong application. Um, think to yourself where you are right now, what makes me competitive for selective schools, right? What are the things that make me stand out or help me show my uniqueness?

Um, what will be the brand that I’m going to eventually put into my applications, um, that can demonstrate that? Um, and You know, do I have the extracurricular activities that demonstrate my brand, um, and will give me sort of fodder to, uh, talk about in my essays? And, um, obviously, if you can answer those questions regardless of where you’re at, then you’re in really good shape.

Um, and if you’re not, um, that’s why it’s important to get help with college admissions. And that’s all for me. Anesha.

Anesha: Yep. All right. Thanks so much, Brian. Um, appreciate your time and energy with our presentation. That is the end of the presentation part of the webinar. I hope that you found the information helpful and remember that you can download the slides in the under, you can download the slides under the handouts tab.

We’re going to move on to the live Q and A, the way that it will work. I will read through the questions that you submit, um, and I will paste them into the public chat so that everyone can see them and then read them aloud so that Brian will have an opportunity to answer. If you are Able to submit questions, you might just have to check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page.

You may have to log out and log back in in order to submit your questions. Alright, so let’s get started with the question. So the first question. comes from a parent. Um, I’m assuming it’s a parent. Um, but they said, how should I manage the process when I have two children applying for college at the same time?

One is undecided on everything. How will this impact our planning?

Brian: Yes. Um, great question. I think, um, That’s one of the biggest challenges is sort of, I would call it project managing, um, this whole effort. Um, you know, it’s, it’s a lot of moving parts as you can tell and, uh, it takes a lot of management of, uh, the student and especially if you have two.

Um, to be honest, I don’t know. It’s, it’s a lot. I think that some families are in a unique position where they have the time and they have the resources to dedicate to it, and you can successfully project manager manage it yourself. You know, again, it just takes a lot of research, you know, talking to a lot of different people.

Uh, I think that’s one of the biggest benefits to employing the use of a CollegeAdvisor is, um, they obviously can manage this process for you and, um, and your kids. Um, they can create a specific plan with different deadlines, different milestones, different tasks they need to complete, um, and obviously make sure that they’re hitting all those different milestones.

Um, so, yeah, I mean, to answer that question, I don’t know. Um, I have a, uh, one young daughter and I don’t know what it would be like if I had two. Just on a general level, uh, with college admissions, it would just be, uh, I don’t know, a whole other level. But, um, yeah, I, I think in, in, in your case, employing a, a college admissions advisor would be really useful.

Anesha: Yeah, I would, I would echo that. I would just say, I think, especially for the student who’s undecided on everything, that might be the student to If you have to make an economical choice, that might be the student to push towards an advisor, um, so that they can have a person who kind of sits down and talks to them and helps them get some, make some decisions.

Um, if you have a more kind of targeted focus student, maybe that person, that, you know, that other child doesn’t need as much support. Um, okay. Do you have tips for meeting application deadlines and managing my schedule?

Brian: Yep. Another good one. I think, um, A lot of students and families will just use, you know, traditional Excel spreadsheets, um, you know, to sort of, uh, lay out all the different deadlines and, you know, college lists and try to stay on track that way.

Obviously, if you’re really good with like, I don’t know, Google calendaring and all those different things, um, Again, the sooner you get started and compile all that, the better. Um, it’s also one of the unique things that, you know, CollegeAdvisor brings is that we do have a platform that, um, sort of more efficiently and effectively tracks, um, all those deadlines, um, and trying to make sure you’re reaching all those deadlines.

Um, and then, I don’t know if this was part of the question as well, but, um, you do have to make sure that you have a strategy for Whether you’re going to apply to schools early or regular, um, you know, there’s early decision, which is the binding application. You have to go to that school if you get accepted.

You have to pay, uh, the amount of money, uh, the tuition that they’re asking with, with or without aid. Um, and you’re binded into that. There’s early action non binding, there is um, regular decision of course, there’s restrictive early action, early decision one, early decision two, so a lot of strategy can be played in your deadline strategy as well, um, so, uh, again, you know, obviously a CollegeAdvisor is someone that can bring a lot of, um, You know, benefits to helping you kind of navigate all that.

But the sooner you figure that out, the better off you’ll be. The last thing you want is to be, um, in December of, uh, your senior year right now, and you realize you have six more regular decision applications that you have to finish, you haven’t started on supplements. And you have about 10 days to do that.

Um, so just don’t, just don’t be in that position, uh, at all costs.

Anesha: I think that question connects back to what you kind of said at the start of it of like, when does the application process actually start? And I think if you’re asking yourself some questions, if you’re getting your list together, if you’re thinking about what schools you really want to be in, you’re kind of been having that conversation all throughout high school.

And then the year the application opens is when you kind of start in earnest. So I think if folks are thinking ahead and trying to be thoughtful ahead of time, um, it speaks to like being able to manage your schedule in the long term. Um, all right. Uh, the next question, um, in this section is, uh, what are the disparities between freshman applications and transfer applications?

Brian: Hmm. Interesting. So the disparity between the two, um, I think

Anesha: it’s more, there are a lot of students who I think try to be strategic. Um, Like, I’m not, I don’t know if I’ll get in. Is it easier to get in if I transfer? I think it’s honestly at the heart of this question.

Brian: Thanks for the clarity and insight.

Yeah, I was going to go a couple different ways on that one. I think that, um, So first of all, when you’re applying as a transfer student, um, essentially the application’s the same, right? So you still have to fill out the extracurriculars. You can report an SAT score, which would contribute obviously to the strength of your application, um, if you have a good score.

And also you have to complete all of the, um, the same essays, right? Personal statement essay and supplements. So the process is the same. The way you’re evaluated is the same. And I would say that it depends on the college you’re applying to as far as whether or not the rate of admissions would be slightly better or slightly harder as a transfer applicant.

And also the program you’re applying to, right? That’s going to matter as well. So, um, I wouldn’t look at it as, well, you know, let me just go to any old college or go to community college and then try to transfer later. That’s going to increase my chance of getting in because, um, for all intents and purposes, I would say on a general level, um, It’s not necessarily going to increase your chance of getting in.

Um, now it could be beneficial, right, depending on the student. If, um, you know, depending on where you’re at and, you know, the likelihood that you have to get in where you’re at by the time you’re applying. Um, but I would say don’t use it as a strategy per se, um, to improve your chances. is my personal opinion.

Do you have any thoughts on that, Anesha?

Anesha: Uh, no. Yeah, I also agree not to use it as a strategy. My only, I think, add on would be just for folks in California and I, I only know this in the California context because there are certain CSUs that have transfer agreements or articulation agreements where they will You can kind of continue from the community college to a CSU or to a UC.

So I think if you’re in California, there are some pathways through transferring that you might have to do a little bit of extra work in, but I only know that to be true, um, for California. But generally I would say yes, transferring is, I always tell students it’s a more competitive pool cause it’s smaller.

They’re not going to take as many students. Um, and you one have to be applying to college while you’re still doing your freshman year. So I think it’s a way trickier time to navigate as well. I would advise. Again, so that if you can’t avoid it, unless you have, you know, extenuating circumstances. Um, but yeah, I agree with everything you shared.

Okay. Anything else to add on that one?

Brian: No,

Anesha: no. Okay. Thanks. Uh, okay. Sure. Um, all right. So I’m going to move over. I’ve tried to categorize the question. So I’m going to move over and ask a few questions about essays. Um, so my first question for you is what types of information should be in the essay and how long should it be?

And does every college require it? This is like a running list of questions, but what type of information are students be trying to convey in the essay?

Brian: Yeah, so I mean, first of all, um, you know, by and large, all schools will require some type of essay. It’s, it’s not across all, but, but most competitive schools will, uh, require at least the personal statement essay.

It, I think, again, depends on the student’s own personal story and their brand and what you feel is best to put your best foot forward and make you stand out. That will depend what kind of answer you’re going to choose. You may choose one of the prompts that asks you a question like, for example, an example, a common example prompt is sort of talk about a challenge you overcame.

Amen. Who that makes you today. Um, you know, that could be something that really resonates with you and, um, a topic that you wanna, you wanna write about. Um, you know, I think, again, in the current landscape with how competitive it is, you wanna be careful because just because it resonates with you and you feel like it’s, you know, A really strong topic to write about, um, if 50 other, 50 other people, if 500 other people, 5, 000 other people, um, you know, literally write the kind of same story or similar story about, you know, I overcame the sports injury and, um, I built some character from it.

It’s not that it’s, it’s important to you or that it’s not that, you know, it’s a big part of who you are, but for your application, might not be the best thing to talk about. So, um, at the end of the day, you want your personal statement essay to highlight and echo the things that you feel like, um, make you stand out and make you unique.

Also that make you relatable, that make you someone likable. You know, college admissions officers want good people on their campus. So it’s not just about, you know, being the best at something or, or, or anything like that. But, you know, and I think that’s an important point. I know I’m kind of straying to the side, but, um, being unique and being, um, and standing out isn’t always about like an achievement, but, um, something about yourself that could be just really super relatable that, um, But again, if 10, 000 other kids are using that same type of Theme in their application.

Maybe not, um, the most strategic way to go about it. So, um, yeah, at the end of the day, it should be about you. But you also want it to, um, stand out.

Anesha: I will say, I think that’s in the essay writing process, It’s one of the reasons why I appreciate when I have packages and there’s an AO on it who can give kind of context of the types of essays that they read.

And kind of give that feedback of like, this is, you know, these are the themes that come up. These are the topics that will help you to be a little bit more. Unique in the process. So I think AO is often at a really great perspective on, on helping students figure out, you know, if you’re going in the right direction, absolutely.

I’m going to do a quick PSA for any folks who are in the room and aren’t currently working with us. Um, we know you have a lot of questions and the admissions process is can be very overwhelming. As you said, it just requires sometimes a project manager. We have a team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts who are ready to help you and your family navigate the process through what I want advising session so you can take the next step in your admissions journey and sign up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session.

With an admission specialist like Brian on our team using the QR code that is on the screen. During that conversation, they’ll discuss your college list. They’ll talk about your extracurriculars and help you start to put together an application strategy and outline the tools you’ll need to stand out in the competitive admissions world.

So we will leave that QR code up on the screen and go back to our questions. So please take advantage of that if you are interested. Our next question, someone asked, what are the first steps in creating a college essay? How can I jumpstart the process?

Brian: Great question. Um, first thing I would recommend is to, um, Do some research.

Um, there’s so many great resources out there where you can look at sort of, um, effective or good examples of, um, you know, really strong essays and get a feel for, um, you know, what has worked for students in the past. Um, I think it’s a good place to start. Um, obviously be well, you might want to start writing beforehand just to see kind of what comes out.

But, um, brainstorming is probably, you know, the most important part of writing. Writing a very strong essay for your college applications. Um, because again, it’s, it’s all about you decide to write about, um, versus just answering the question. Um, so, uh, yeah, I think starting with brainstorming, ideation, um, you know, and once you feel like you have, um, a strong idea to write about, um, then you want to obviously write a draft.

Um, and then, you know, at that stage, you want to, uh, do continuous drafts to perfect it. Um, you know, obviously adding examples, um, structure, all of the You know, more finer details about an essay again, no matter how well written an essay is, um, if the content of what you’re writing about isn’t, um, you know, relatable, or if it’s, um, not helping you stand out, then, uh, maybe it’s not such a strong essay for your application.

But, uh, process wise, I would say, do research, see what’s out there, see what has worked for some people. Um, and then a lot of brainstorming, a lot of, um, You know, thinking and reflection on, you know, what you might want to write about. And then once you feel like you have an idea, you want to do multiple drafts.

Um, and hopefully it’s, it’s starting to come through that this is why you want to start even with personal statement writing as soon as possible. Um, you know, a lot of it has to do with creativity as well. So the sooner you start, uh, the wheels turning, uh, most likely the better your results will be. Um, and again, you know, if you work with a college, um, advisor that can kind of help you with that drafting, um, obviously help you from the beginning with the brainstorming as well.

Um, but especially I think with revisions and, you know, kind of what works and what doesn’t work, um, can be a really big help.

Anesha: I would say I agree with you and I also often encourage my students to journal because the type of writing you need for the college essay isn’t the type of writing you’re always asked to do in school.

Um, like personal narrative writing is a different approach to the persuasive essay or the academic essay. Becky. Just getting used to writing about yourself, um, also kind of allows students to kind of let some walls down and then get into the, you know, brainstorming process to figure out what stories they want to tell them.

Cause I find, I have a lot of students who just struggle to write about themselves cause they haven’t had to do it in school yet. So, um, yeah, that’s one piece of advice I would, I would tack on. Um, okay. I’m going to ask you a few questions about the testing process. Um, so someone asked, do they need to take, um, Um, the ACT And the SAT Is one preferred over the other.

Brian: Great question. So, um, all colleges in America except both the SAT And the ACT Um, equally. So there’s no, um, there’s no need to take both tests. Um, and, you know, you can take both, um, and submit scores from both, um, but, um, My recommendation is to figure out which of the two tests better suits you, um, because You know, on the one hand, both tests will most likely come to the same resulting score, which is why they’re both equally accepted, right?

Like, if you get a certain score on the SAT and you take the ACT and you convert it, it should be essentially the same. Um, but that being said, some students, um, because the personality of the two tests are different, um, some students tend to do slightly better on one or the other or just feel more comfortable with one or the other, um, So my advice is to find that out first before you go and prepare for both and, um, take a whole bunch of real official tests, uh, figure out which tests you are more comfortable with.

Concentrate all your efforts to prep for that one test. Um, and of course you can always switch over, right? Like, if you feel like you hit a wall on the SAT and, oh, let me, you know, try to give the ACT a shot, you can always do that. Um, but again, my advice is to save yourself some time. Um, do yourself a favor, take a practice test at home.

It’s going to take you three and a half hours. Uh, score it, see how you do. Um, You know, a lot of you probably taking the PSAT, so you have that, um, test score already. But go and take an ACT or vice versa, right? Maybe where you’re from, you’ve already taken a PACT, but not the, uh, the PSAT. And then just take the other one at home, you know, score it, see how you do.

It might be a immediate, you know, oh my gosh, that ACT was so fast. Which, by the way, it is. It’s, you have to answer, uh, way more questions in a shorter period of time, so. Oh my gosh, that was so fast. Like, there’s no way I could finish that. I don’t want to even look at that test. Or, maybe it’s, it’s more comfortable for you.

Um, because the questions are, uh, essentially a little bit more straightforward. Um, so, yeah. Uh, you do not have to take both. You can take both. Um, go with whatever test, uh, you feel more comfortable and obviously hopefully get a, get a higher score.

Anesha: I like that you use personality of the test. I think that’s a good way to describe the, the differences between the personality of the test are different.

Um, and then I’ll also share last, I think last week at some point we had a student who, Said she preferred taking the digital SAT over the paper ACT. So like mode might also be, um, Like how you test if you feel like you’ll do better on paper versus digital, you know It might be to your benefit to go with the ACT which will have options whereas SAT is gonna be a hundred percent digital So as that shift is kind of coming in the new year, that’s something to keep in mind of digital versus paper, um, as well in test prep and actual test execution.

Um, so this is the question we get asked a lot when it comes to testing. Is an application less strong if you do not submit your test scores?

Brian: Great question. Great question. So, um, in short, if, You have a strong test score. That is a score that that particular school, um, is looking for. It’s going to strengthen your application.

Um, so that’s just the bottom line there again. It doesn’t mean you cannot get accepted into a school without reporting your score. You can actually look up, you know, um, uh, the percentages of students who get in without test scores. Um, there’s a percentage of students who do, right, every year. Um, but the important thing I think is that you have to ensure that the rest of your application is extremely strong.

To maybe, you know, outweigh the fact that, you know, you haven’t reported a score, um, the, the assumption will be that if you’re not reporting a score that you probably didn’t have, um, the score that they’re looking for. So, um, you just want to make sure that, um, your extracurricular activities, your essays, um, and of course, your, your grades, your GPA.

Difficulty level of your classes, um, are all as strong as they can be to, you know, increase your chances of being accepted. So, um, the test score is not the defining, um, aspect of your application. Uh, in fact, there are going to be students who have nearly perfect SAT scores and do not get into, um, top schools.

And there will be students who do not report test scores and get into those exact top schools. So just remember, it’s a holistic application process. It’s not just based on that, but, um, it is not the case that they do. They do not matter right now. And I think that’s that’s important to remember is, um, and this is something that Just a sentiment.

It’s anecdotal, but a lot of families have been telling me that they’ve heard, um, you know, recruiters from colleges come to their school and say, Oh, the tests, you know, the SAT Doesn’t matter anymore. Uh, don’t don’t worry about it. Don’t don’t take it. Don’t worry if you don’t have a good at just apply.

Right. Um, and, uh, going back to the earlier part of my presentation, if you missed it, um, you know, it’s just part of the process. That’s, you know, unfortunately, they, they, they’re a They’re looking to increase the number of applications. Um, and so it’s not that it’s not true what they’re saying, but it’s maybe not the whole truth, right?

That, hey, don’t worry about that and just apply, you know, as if you have the, you have the same footing as someone who has the score that they’re looking for. It’s not necessarily the case. So just keep that in mind.

Anesha: Yeah, that always the tricky. I’m like, yeah, apply anyway. And it’s like, yeah, um, I don’t think so.

But yeah, um, right. The next question, uh, essentially, this question is AP classes versus dual enrollment, which is better.

Brian: Ooh, another, another really great question. Um, so I would say from a general level, um, both AP and, um, dual enrollment are, um, exactly where you want to be. Because at the end of the day, um, you know, uh, colleges want to see that you can complete coursework at, um, a very high level of rigor, um, and that means, you know, if you’re doing college level material, whether it’s AP or, uh, dual credit, um, that’s obviously, by definition, college level, right?

So that’s, that’s the strongest, uh, you know, you can be doing. So that’s great. Now, it’s kind of like splitting hairs, but, uh, one might argue that APs could be better. Um, when compared to dual credit, just because there is the, um, national, uh, you know, AP exam, um, that’s given as part of the course. So it’s very simple for admissions officers to look at, you know, AP exam scores and sort of say, well, you know, some students got five, some students got four, some students got ones.

Um, you look at extremes, you know, Oh, the student had all fives on 15 APS or student who took five APS. They don’t have any scores or, uh, didn’t pass. You know, there’s there’s sort of a difference there with regard to, um, the students performance in those classes. Um, with regard to dual credit classes, you know, um, No one can say what was the level of rigor at the community college that you took that, um, dual credit course.

So again, I’m not trying to say that, you know, it’s a huge advantage to take APs or that you shouldn’t take dual credit. Not at all the case. But if you’re going to ask, is there one that, you know, you could argue that maybe AP classes have a little bit of an advantage there. Um, but I also wouldn’t go and run out and, you know, Stop taking dual enrollment and just do APs just for the for the sake of that either But if you’re asking the question, that’s that’s how I would answer

Anesha: And also I want to acknowledge that there are parts of students where Only one is available to you.

And if you if only one is available then do that one You’re missing out because you don’t have APs at your school. You only have dual enrollment. Do the dual enrollment The only caveat I think with dual enrollment is Don’t get married to your credits transferring over or taking those credits with you at your new school, especially if you’re thinking about more competitive schools, they’re less likely to take some of those dual enrollment credits.

They’re somewhat more likely to accept a four or five AP exam, um, you know, to get out of an early, uh, registration or early, um, requirement or something like that. So a lot of, a lot of math to think about, a lot of like transferring of credits and things like that to consider. But I think in summary, just like take what is most available to you.

That is most challenging. And easy for you to access the most challenging reading the rigor of the course not hard, but yeah, okay I’m going to move on to extracurriculars Can extracurricular activities negatively impact one’s chances of getting in I’m in several and they don’t have a specific Focus some are in the arts Others are STEM.

Will that look bad?

Brian: Uh, very complex question.

Anesha: Sorry, I’ll put it in the chat if you want to read it.

Brian: Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, I don’t, as far as the answer, I don’t know if there’s a simple answer to that question. I think it’s, it’s kind of multifaceted, but, um, Yeah, I mean, again, going back to what I think, you know, maybe sort of in one way, you could look at it as a goal that you want to have extracurricular activities that highlight your personal theme and brand and narrative.

Um, and certainly if, You know, you look at this kind of trend towards spiked applications. Um, if you have extracurriculars that are, you know, very aligned to a particular one or two, um, areas that, that could potentially strengthen your application, right? You’re sort of like that, uh, master of a few, uh, uh, expert in a few areas versus master of none.

Um, but at the same time, you know, I, I don’t want to, you know, you take that to an extreme and, you know, a student who just does one thing and they’re amazing at it. But maybe. They could seem potentially a little bit too, um, one sided as well. So it’s a bit of a balance you have to play. Um, and I don’t know that if you have, you know, two completely almost seemingly different, um, interests and extracurriculars that that would necessarily hurt you either.

But you do want to think about, you know, what is, how am I going to portray that, um, In my application that it makes sense and that it shows who I am, um, in the right way, because it just leads to the risk when you have so many sort of disparate things going on, if you can’t put it together in the right way, that makes sense that it could lead to, again, they, you know, admissions officers, these days only have about five to seven minutes to review your application.

They’re not going to be able to like analyze, right? So if they just see something on paper and they say, Oh my gosh, well, Student did some great stuff, but I don’t really get it. It’s, they just have to pass. They have too many students they have to reject to even think about it twice, right? Just don’t get it, pass.

So, um, that’s your biggest challenge is, um, how am I going to, you know, bring this together? Which again, is another reason to start early. That’s something you have the luxury of doing in your freshman year, right? Is to, um, you know, we, I call it the year of exploration. Like try a lot of different things.

See what you like. You’re, you’re so young, you’re just trying to figure stuff out, right? Like try a lot of different extracurriculars, be active, um, start whittling it down by the end of your freshman year. And then, you know, once sophomore hits, you should start to try to, you know, align your activities toward a particular field or theme or path.

Um, and then by junior year, everything should really be aligned if you want that kind of, um,

Continuity in your application. That would be the best way to go about it. Yeah,

Anesha: no, I fully support that. I had a student who had, she told me she started off with 17 student groups her freshman year and like had to figure out how to cut them down over, over time. And I was like, yes, you must cut these down.

I think the other way you can show differentiation in that example is perhaps by the roles you play, um, on the different activities, maybe your editor of the newspaper. But you’re only just a member of, you know, this other committee or things like that. So the activities that you give more time to, or you have more responsibility in, might stand out as being, okay, this is where this person’s head is and might better align with your overarching narrative or your theme.

All right. Um, well, we will leave it there with the questions. Thank you so much, uh, everyone for coming out tonight. Thank you, Brian, for your comments and, um, presentation today. Um, that is the end of the webinar. We hope that you gained some insights on the type of support needed. For a strong college application.

We also hope that you’ll join us for our upcoming webinars. We’re going to end the year and the month with a conversation tomorrow on December 21st about finding and applying for scholarships. And then we are going to kick off 2024 with a variety of sessions, one being crafting and winning college resume on January 4th.

We’re going to have an AO who will share some advice about starting starting early in order to develop a standard application on January 7th, and we will share a parent’s guide to college admission success on January 19th. Those are just a few options that we have going on next month. We hope to see you soon, and until next time, have a great evening, everybody.