CollegeAdvisor Masterclass: How to Organize Your College Applications

Webinar Transcription

2024-05-22 – CollegeAdvisor Masterclass: How to Organize Your College Applications

Anesha: Hi, everyone, and welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha grant. I’m a senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor, and I will be your moderator today. Today’s webinar is a, “CollegeAdvisor Masterclass: on How to Organize Your College Applications.” Before we get started just to orient everyone with the webinar timing representative will share some tips, resources and guidance and then we will open up the floor to respond to your questions in a live Q and a.

On the sidebar, you can start submitting your questions whenever you get ready and you can download the slides under the handouts tab. Please submit your questions through the Q and a tab and one just warning. Please don’t share your profile with us or give us details about your application. We cannot give you an admissions summary or guess.

So just keep your questions straight to broad and general questions. But for now, let’s meet our presenter Chelsea. Hey, Chelsea. How are you doing?

Chelsea: I’m doing well. Good evening, everyone. My name’s Chelsea Holley, and I serve as an admissions officer here at CollegeAdvisor. I also write for our content team.

So we have tons of amazing blogs and resources that you can find on our website. And I have the pleasure of doing these amazing webinars. Um, I’ve been in college admissions for over 14 years, um, at a variety of schools. schools, um, mostly selective admissions offices and public and private institutions, um, liberal arts colleges, state flagships.

Um, so I’m super excited to share some information that can be applied across. schools that you might be interested in.

Anesha: We are interested in getting started with you, but before we do, let’s just take a quick poll to see who all is in the room. If you are a parent or a teacher, we welcome you, but you can go ahead and select other.

You don’t have to select a specific grade level as we’re waiting. Um, Chelsea, I was wondering about, you said, you know, you worked at a variety of institutions and I know I’ve asked you, like, what, what has been some of the differences before? So what do you think is like the commonality, commonality in their approach to regardless of the type of institution they might be.

Chelsea: Absolutely. So if you are applying to an institution that uses holistic admissions, which that is The majority of institutions that our clients are interested in, um, holistic admissions is focused on everything about you, your attributes, your background, um, your skills inside the classroom, outside of the classroom.

And so there’s some pretty basic tenants to holistic admissions that are going to be the same, no matter what school you’re applying to, um, the part that differs. Is the particular mission, value and institutional priorities of those specific schools, and that is what ends up shaping the class that ultimately gets in and ultimately enrolls.

Anesha: Thank you for giving that context. As we waited for our poll to go through, we’ll go ahead and close it. And just for your point of reference, about half the folks with us today are in the 11th grade, and then we have a split between 9th graders, 12th graders and some parents and teachers. So, um, yeah. Yes.

Yeah. All right. So I’ll wrap up the poll there and hand it over to you. I’ll be back a little bit later.

Chelsea: Thanks. Okay. So exciting. We have a variety of, um, grades as well as parents and teachers in the room. Um, so. I will speak to kind of each of those populations as we’re going through this process. So one of the first things that students are interested in is how many schools should be on my college admissions list.

Um, and let’s talk first a little bit about what a college list is. A college list is the schools that you plan to apply to. Um, this list should be well researched. Um, and we’ll talk a little bit about what makes a good list shortly. Um, but this is really important because there’s so much anxiety about getting into college right now.

Um, and one of the missteps that students make is they’re applying to schools that aren’t a good fit for them. And so, We talk a lot about assessing different categories. Um, that will be a good fit for you. And those are the schools that make up your college list. The average student in 2024 applies from anywhere from 6 to 12 colleges.

Um, I would say most hover in that 10 to 12 range. Um, and we also see students who apply to 20 colleges, 30 colleges. Um, I would say anything over 15 is likely overkill. Um, and more importantly, if you are building your college list correctly, Um, You won’t feel the need to apply to so many schools because each of the schools on your list are going to be really intentional choices.

Um, in the ninth grade or the 10th grade, you can absolutely begin kind of imagining a tentative list of the colleges you might want to apply to. For students, um, in their first or second year of high school, that list might look like, um, a college that is in their state, um, or a college football team that they follow, or where their sibling might have attended, or their parents.

Um, and so sometimes, you know, the, that very first list might be superficial, but we encourage you to really think about things like location and size. Thank you. Um, is it in a big city or rural environment? How far away from home is it? What is the cost? What types of financial aid or merit based scholarships do they offer?

Those are all of the things that are going to make a school a good fit for you. So, because of that, the perfect number of colleges on a list. Absolutely varies. Um, it is completely up to the student. There is no right or wrong number. Well, I will say a wrong number is one. You don’t want to apply to just one college.

Um, but anything over one is a good number. Um, and it just depends on what your interests are and what type of school you’re looking for. Um, next, we say a balanced list is a good list and a balanced list means that you want to have schools that you have a good chance of being admitted to schools that will challenge you and that, um, you would have to really put your best foot forward to be admitted to and then some, Uh, students like to put what we would call a reach school on their list and reach schools are those schools with very, very low acceptance rates.

Um, and we’ll talk more about safety target and reach short.

Okay. Um, so what does it mean to have a diverse list of schools? Um, a diverse list is an intentional list. Um, it includes some of the things that I’ve just mentioned. Um, and so, for example, let’s say we’re building a list. And you, um, would like to add a state flagship. Let’s say you’re in Georgia. Um, so you put UGA on your list.

Um, and then, uh, in addition to a public state flagship, you might be looking at an out of state option. And so you choose to put Duke on your list. You always want it to move to California. So you have some UC schools that are built in. Maybe your grandparents live in Connecticut. And so you put some Northeastern schools on your list.

And so oftentimes college lists kind of come together in very different ways, but a diverse list is great. Good because it allows you to one, try on the school that is the best fit for you. And it also gives you an opportunity to go beyond the super, super selective institutions, um, and look at some colleges that may not already be on your radar.

Um, a balance list and an, and a, uh, diverse list. Always includes target reach and safety schools. Um, and this is important because you want to maximize your chances of being admitted into a school that you would like. Um, sometimes it’s not your first choice school or your second choice school, but If a list is made correctly, your 3rd school on your list, your 4th school, and maybe even your 5th school are all schools that, you know, that you would do well at, um, that you would be excited to attend.

Um, and so it’s really important to make sure that you are kind of hitting each of these categories. So we talked, um, about them in the past slide. Um, but I want to go a bit more in depth. Um, so your safety schools are, um, often they could be schools that have a higher acceptance rate. Um, and so typically I would say anything over 60% to 75%, um, would be a safety school for someone that is looking mostly at selective colleges.

Um, once you get over the 60% mark, um, those are institutions that are less selective. A safety school for you also might be an in state school. Oftentimes, in state institutions have a commitment to their local population, and so they might be building the majority of their class with students from that state.

So in state schools are often considered a safety school. A safety school can also be an institution with a slightly lower admit rate, but that you find you would be competitive in that applicant pool. Um, and the way that you find whether you would be competitive or not, um, one, I encourage you to reach out to an admissions counselor at these colleges, but each school is going to publish a admitted student profile each year.

And it’s going to show the average GPA, um, average test score, if it’s required or if it’s optional, of the type of student that gets in. And that is one way you can begin to use, um, data to give you some understanding of your chances of getting into an institution. Again, remember, um, it’s holistic. And so there’s no way for you to know exactly the outcome of this process.

But there are some ways for you to understand kind of the levels of competitiveness between colleges and if you talk to your high school counselor or your CollegeAdvisor, advisor, there are opportunities for others to kind of give you some more context on those institutions, your target schools, target schools are schools that might have a lower acceptance rate, but you are hovering right around their average GPA or their average test score.

Um, or based on some other things in your background or your experiences in high school, you feel that you have a good chance of admission. Um, and I use the word you feel, um, but you feel must. Always be data informed. So you want to do your research. You want to talk to people. Um, and that can give you some insight into how you might fare in their application pool.

Um, and then last, we have our reach schools reach schools fall into a couple categories. One, a reach school will be any school with a, um, admit rate below a 20%. Um, I would say certainly, you know, the, the biggest reach schools are schools below a 10%, um, admit rate. We talk to, um, and work with a lot of students who are interested in the Ivy’s or other top 25 schools, um, most of which, um, have admit rates below 15%.

Many of the Ivy’s are now in single digit admit rates. And so when you have thousands of applications for a limited amount of seats, and you have a 3 percent admit rate, admission is a reach for every single student. Every year we hear about students that apply to 5 Ivy League institutions and they get into 2 and maybe they don’t get into the other 2 that they applied to.

And that is because you can be an amazing student, but you also. Are always subject to the applicant pool. You’re subject to whatever those institutional priorities are, and there just isn’t enough room to admit all the amazing applicants at these super selective institutions. And so it’s important to know.

That reach schools are reach for everyone. Um, very rarely could any student say for a fact that they’re getting into a school that has a single digit and mid rate. Um, and it’s really important to be realistic and to build a list that sets you up for success. You do not want to build a list that It only includes schools that are incredibly selective because you may be very disappointed at the end of the college application process.

So you want to find some schools that you can live with in each of these categories, and I assure you there are more than 2000 4 year institutions in the U.S. and thousands more abroad. You will find a school that is a good match, and we want to make sure that that is worked into your list. On your list, you may have some schools that you are incredibly familiar with, and I just shared some examples of how students are often introduced to different colleges.

But you also want to put some schools that you are looking to explore. So if your high school guidance counselor recommends an institution that you’ve never heard of, don’t be so quick to write it off. Do your research. Um, one of my favorite ways to get to know schools, uh, currently is to follow them on social media.

Um, go to their Instagram, go to their TikTok. Many of these schools have separate pages just for the admissions office. Um, and it’s a really good way to get insight into the campus community. You can see students doing Instagram takeovers and really showing what a day in the life looks like for those students.

Um, and that is a way that you can begin to, um, open yourself up to some new institutions, even if you aren’t able to step foot on campus.

Okay. So how do you get organized? Um, once you know that you need to build this, this college admissions list, um, there are, A ton of other kind of logistic things that you want to think about. And the biggest one is organizing by deadline type. Um, you want to know how long you have to complete your admissions application for each of the schools that you’re applying to.

Um, and these are some common deadlines that you will see, um, as you are researching the colleges on your list. Some schools have both an early decision one and two. Some schools just have early decision. Early decision is a unique application plan because it is binding. And so when you apply for a school early decision, it means that it is your number one school.

And should you get in, you will withdraw all of your other applications and attend that school. It is a very serious decision to make. And, um, Many students don’t apply to a single institution early decision, so there’s no pressure. But some students who are well researched and they know that they have a top, top choice, would choose to apply somewhere early decision.

Now, if you do not get admitted early decision, then you continue on with the application process to other institutions. Early decision deadlines can be as early as mid October and as late as the beginning of November. Um, next we have early action. Um, early action deadlines are often very close, if not on the same days as early decision deadlines.

But the biggest difference is they are non binding. So you can apply to 10 schools early action. If you get into all 10, you could keep applying to schools regular decision. There’s nothing preventing you. There’s no binding element to your application. And last, we have regular decision. Regular decision is the latest application plan that you can choose.

Regular decision deadlines can range from December all the way to March. It is a later application plan in this process. And so if you choose to apply a regular decision, it is important to know that you have fewer weeks, fewer months between the time you will find out if you were admitted and when you have to make a decision.

And so things like campus visits, asking all of those preliminary questions sometimes needs to happen while you’re still waiting to hear back from the admissions office. Each of these deadlines vary by institution, um, and so it’s important to know the deadlines for the particular institutions that you are applying to.

Um, one other thing to note as it relates to, um, organizing your applications around deadlines is that your junior year for at least early decision and early action is often the last step. semester, the last year of grades that college admissions officers will get to see. If you submit an application in October, November, even in December, college admissions committees will only see your in progress grades for the senior year.

Um, and so your junior year, um, it is incredibly important to finish off the junior year strong. Um, and how you’re doing in junior and depending on what your application strategy is, um, You may look into regular decision. Um, an example of that would be a student who’s trying to bring their GPA up and they finished the end of their junior year and they’re still wanting to do some work on their GPA.

They might benefit from an additional semester that 1st semester of senior year prior to submitting an application. That student might choose a regular decision plan. Another example is if a college. comes on your radar late. Um, you may have already had applications sent for early action or early decision.

You find out about a really interesting college in November and you end up submitting a regular decision application. So, um, there’s flexibility within this, but it’s incredibly important to know about these deadlines, know the differences between them and know how it will play into your overall application strategy.

Okay. Um, so here are some additional tips on how to get organized. Um, the first one, and I think this is the most important one, create some sort of database or list. Um, Excel spreadsheets are very common. Um, and I think they’re a great way, um, to really organize yourself, Excel or Google Sheets. You can make multiple tabs for each school.

You can begin making just a running list of the schools that you’re interested in. And as you get a little closer to junior year, you can refine and delete. Um, it’s a great place to take notes as you’re going on campus tours. You can come back and add all of your notes. Um, because if you visit multiple campuses, it will get confusing at some point what you saw where.

And so taking notes in this process, um, It’s really important, um, and will come in handy later in the application process when you’re sitting down to write things like a white by school essay, um, or other parts of the application. The 2nd piece is, um, listing the application requirements for each of the schools you’re interested in.

These also can vary. Um, there’s some pretty, uh, usual suspects when it comes to admissions requirements. Things like your high school transcript, recommendation letters, one essay or multiple essays. Um, some schools might look at an interview. Um, so there’s some basic things, but you want to find out specifically which colleges are going to apply, uh, require which transcripts.

Items from you. Um, you also want to be able to store documents in a central, I would say digital location. Um, and so again, this might look like a one drive shared folder or a Google folder that allows you to, um, drop. Different versions of your essay, um, brainstorming documents, um, a list of activities, a resume.

So you want to begin keeping all these things in a central location, and it’s really going to be easier when it’s time to hit submit. And then last, um, you want to build a list of the people in your college admissions village and reach out to them. Um, and you may be thinking, I don’t have a CollegeAdvisor.

I’m not really talking to my high school counselor much. Um, who is it? My college admissions village. Um, and so typically it is, uh, begins with your parent or your guardian. Those are people that might be in your college admissions village. Um, if you have some, Um, teachers that you want to write a recommendation letter.

Those are people in your college admissions village. Um, and at this stage, you know, it may just be a couple of people that you want to write a recommendation letter to, but there are a lot of people in your college admissions village that you want to reach out to, um, to see if you can shadow them for a class or just come to campus and explore more, um, teachers that you want to write a recommendation letter.

be listing who they are, um, how you see them aiding and how to contact them. Um, but as you get a little closer to the end of your junior year, you want to kind of tap these people on the shoulder and say, Hey, I’m going to be requesting a recommendation letter from you in a few months, and I just wanted to give you a heads up.

Um, this is really important because there’s some elements of the college admissions process that you need someone else to complete. Recommendation letters, high school transcript. More often than not, you have to wait, make that request with someone else, give them a timeline, follow up, um, and so you need to be prepared about how that will also inform your deadlines and your timeliness.

So the application strategy overall, um, application nuts and bolts. So those are some of the things we just talked about. Um, what documents are required? When do I have to submit these documents? Um, do I need to submit an official transcript or am I able to input my course grades some other way? Um, all of the very specific points.

Pieces of the of the process. The next one is time management and organization. I think this is just as important as anything else on this list. Um, it is going to make for a far less stressful experience if you do not wait until the last minute and if you stay organized. Um, a balanced list, the importance of a balanced list.

Um, I alluded to this earlier. Um, this is really the difference between students feeling, um, completely deflated about their options and students having a sense of optimism and feeling like they have choice. In most instances, you want to be admitted to more than one college. Maybe it’s only two, but you want to feel like you have a choice.

And so creating that balance list gives you choices and you want them to be realistic choices. Oftentimes we work with students and they have colleges on their list. That their parents want them to attend, um, that a counselor wants them to attend and that they really aren’t that interested in. And this is not helpful because if you have a list of 10 schools and 7 of them are some schools that other people are interested in and not you, it is not setting you up for success when admissions decisions actually come out.

Um, so definitely put some real thought and intention into that list. Financial aid and scholarships. You want to know early how money, how cost of attendance is going to inform your college search. And no matter where you fall on the socioeconomic spectrum, um. Financial aid, cost of attendance. It is a factor for everyone.

Um, so for a student who knows that they’ll need substantial financial aid, they may be looking at schools that meet full need, um, for a student who knows that their parents are going to pay out of pocket. Um, they may want to talk to their parents and say, like, what is the threshold here? Um, do I need to be looking at in state schools, or can we afford to go to an out of state school?

This is one of the first times that you need to be communicating about finances and affordability with those that are going to help make this possible for you. Also, your parents are going to need to fill out your federal application for student aid. And so you want to begin that conversation about finances.

Demonstrated interest. Demonstrated interest is a term that is used to describe the ways that Students interact with an institution prior to being admitted. An example of that is going on a campus tour, doing a virtual info session, coming up to our table at a college fair, opening 90 percent of the emails that we send you.

These are all things that are considered demonstrated interests. Some institutions will flat out say we consider demonstrated interest in our process. Um, and so we want to see that you’re interested. Um, the majority of of institutions do not say that demonstrated interest is helpful, um, as a quantitative measure in the process, but I can assure you that at some point, an institution cares how interested you are in the process.

In their college, whether it is at the waitlist stage or whether it is at the scholarship stage, um, or even if you were in admissions committee and, you know, um, they’re on the fence about you demonstrated interest can be something that is appealing. Um, and so you want to make sure that you’re doing your research for authentic reasons, um, but that you are also showing interest in colleges that you are truly interested in.

And then last we’re talking about application strategy. Um, but I always share with students, um, do not over strategize over strategizing. This process leads to an application, um, that feels. Not authentic. Um, it feels forced. It feels like someone else. Um, and so you want to always make sure authenticity is your North star.

Um, and kind of make sure that every piece that you’re putting in your application is re is a representation of who you are, what you want to do and what your background is. Essay writing essays are probably one of the most stressful parts of this process. Um, I’m going to share some quick tips and we have tons of resources as well as webinars.

That can talk to you more about how to write a strong essay. Um, but four quick tips make it personal. Um, these are often called the personal essay or the personal statement and when colleges say personal they mean it Um, this is often the only opportunity that you have to show us who you are To speak to the person that is reviewing your application and so this is very high stakes that you are able to You Paint a clear narrative of, um, who you are and what you want us to know about you.

Again, authenticity wins. Um, the more you can be yourself, the better the essay will turn out. Um, and that is really a tried and true, um, tip. Um, essays that are disconnected from your interests. Your motivations, your major, um, don’t really do well. And typically an admissions committee can kind of see right through that.

You want to connect with the reader and you want to write in your voice. Um, so there’s currently a lot of talk about AI in the college admissions process. Um, and some institutions have put out policies or statements regarding AI usage. I think one of the big things that, um, higher ed is trying not to do is to say, no, you can’t use AI.

So we talk a lot about, um, responsible ways for you to use AI during the college admissions process. Um, now, there are institutions that, um, have invested in tools to, um, find out if essays are AI generated. And there’s institutions that have not. So for all intents and purposes, you could produce a college essay using AI.

Um, it would answer the prompt, um, and meet the word count and all of those things. Um, but would it be a good essay? Would it be a personal essay is the question. Um, and oftentimes, you know, I think using AI, not only is it a shortcut, but it’s a missed opportunity. This is your one time to connect with the reader.

Do you want to leave this up to a I to speak for you? Um, artificial intelligence and large language models do great jobs of synthesizing everything that is out there on the Internet and coming up with a college admissions essay, but you don’t want your college admissions essay to be a summary of everything that is out there on the Internet.

You want it to be uniquely you. Um, and, um, using AI for outlining and brainstorming and tips on writing. That’s wonderful. Um, but you don’t want to, um, word for word copy over, um, AI generated text into your essay. Um, I think this is the 2024 version of having your parent write your essay or paying someone else to write your essay.

Um, either way, never really ends well for the student. It’s not super helpful in this process. Some final things that I want to leave you with, um, is that the toolkit for each college looks really different. Um, and so you want to do your research about the specific college, um, so that you can craft a strategy that is helpful, um, for that particular institution.

Um, and you do that by making sure you are well researched. Um, and well researched means more than just looking at national rankings. Um, that is helpful, but I encourage you to look a little deeper in the rankings. Um, find out why a school was given that particular ranking, what measures, um, went into this overall designation, um, and you want to use all of the data that is available to you on the internet, um, all of the resources that are available to you at your high school or through CollegeAdvisor or through your social network.

You want to use it wisely. Um, you want to kind of parse through the things and take what’s helpful for you. Um, and sometimes you give back the things that are not helpful because there’s a ton of mixed messages in this process. Um, and one of the best tools for success is to really kind of stay grounded, focused and organized, um, on your own application.

Um, so I think we will. Open it up for some questions.

Anesha: So, thank you so much Chelsea. So, yeah, that is the end of the presentation part of the webinar. There’ll be found the information helpful. Just a reminder. You can download the slides under the handouts tab, moving on to live Q and a, the way that it will work is I will read through this many questions under the Q and a tab, share them in the public chat and read them aloud.

So that Chelsea will have an opportunity to respond if you’re having any challenges with submitting a question to the Q and A. Just make sure you are logged in via the link you received in your email and not through the webinar landing page. All right, we’ll go ahead and get started. So, my 1st question for you, Chelsea is what online tools might you suggest to keep everything in 1 place?

You are muted.

Chelsea: Thank you. So I guess this isn’t particularly an online tool. But as I mentioned, Excel is helpful. Um, you can use Excel to link to share drives that are online. So whether it is a Google drive folder, one drive folder or whatever other kind of cloud based storage use. Um, I think that is helpful.

Um, you’re able to color code things. You’re able to use tabs. Um, that is one of the ways that we use, um, uh, tools to keep our students organized. And it’s something that you can replicate as well.

Anesha: One, one tool that I’ll use, uh, To shout out again, they’re not paid, but a notion, um, notion that so I think it’s a really cool online tool where you can kind of do similarly link to tabs, create and organize it yourself.

I’ve had a student who created all of her list that way and kind of kept track of things via checkboxes. So Excel and also shout out to notion. Okay. Um. My next question for you is how does what you shared differ for transfer students? Yeah,

Chelsea: it’s a really great,

Anesha: great

Chelsea: question. Um, so there’s there’s some things that are transferable for transfer students.

But the transfer process is different than the first year student process. So for transfers, you may have more documents to. Get a hold of, um, you may have multiple colleges that you attended. Um, schools may also require a high school transcript for you. So I think it is even more important, um, to be able to keep all of your documents in a secure location, um, transfer admissions also can be more competitive at some points.

specific institutions. And so you want to understand, um, if transferring is a common option at that school, um, you can ask them, you know, about how many transfer students they bring in each year, um, just to really make sure that your decision is informed. Um, and then the third piece, I think doing your research and finding a school that is a good fit, the stakes are a bit higher for transfer students because you’ve already attended one college and you want to make sure.

But the next institution that you enroll at is a good fit for you because transferring twice is not fun. Um, and so doing the research, um, will set you up for hopefully your second school being your final.

Anesha: I feel like for transfers, you have to be very, very in touch with your why, like, why this college?

Um, why not the college you’re at? So, yeah. Um, the next question for you is how many essays should I write?

Chelsea: So, um, different schools will require a different quantity of essays. Um, I think if you are starting out early and you’re getting organized, um, workshopping essays is great. a wise thing to do. You can begin thinking about topics.

You can begin drafting essays. Um, I would say, you know, the average student is submitting one personal statement or personal essay. And then depending on the types of schools they’re applying to, they may be submitting anywhere from five to 10 supplemental essays. Many of those essays, um, outside of the personal essay and the personal statement, but those supplemental essays that are going to specific colleges, you are able to use parts of the essay to apply to a different college.

Um, you. Always want to make sure that you are customizing whatever your message is for that college. And you certainly want to make sure that you are not leaving in the previous college’s name. Um, but I would say to get started, personal essay, personal statement, that is your bread and butter. That’s where you want to start.

That’s the bigger essay. Um, and then another essay to get you kind of prepared and beginning to think. Um, Why do you want to major in your major? Um, or if you don’t know what you want to major in, what are your interests in high school? What’s your favorite class? What was your favorite project? Do you have a book that you really enjoyed reading?

Um, these are the types of questions that supplemental essays might get at.

Anesha: Okay. Okay. Uh, my next question for you is, um, how critical are private college counselors in the process versus high school guidance counselors?

Chelsea: Yeah, so it depends on what you have access to and what your needs are. Um, so, you know, there are so many different types of, um, high schools. Um, we know some of our large public high schools have huge student to counselor, um, Ratios and so, um, the 1 on 1 help or attention, um, that students might get at a smaller school might be absent there.

And so, um, a student who is unable to have a close relationship with their college counselor may find it beneficial to get a private counselor. I will say, uh, for institutions that have, um, a fully staffed counseling office that, um, is putting on engaging programming, um, and doing work, um, sometimes the private counselor is to help execute a very specific strategy.

Is there a specific major that you’re interested in, um, or are you really eyeing a specific Selective institution, um, in that case, having an additional person, um, to assist you can be helpful.

Anesha: All right. Um, I’m going to do a quick PSA before I let you get on to your questions. And so we just want to share that CollegeAdvisors team of over 300, former admissions officers and admissions experts are ready to help you and your family navigate the process in.

In 1 on 1 advising sessions, we’ve already helped over 6,000 clients in the college in their college journeys, and in our 2021 through 2023 data, we found that CollegeAdvisor students for 2 to 4 times more likely to get into colleges like Stanford Vanderbilt and Harvard. You can increase your odds and take the next step in your college business journey by setting up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team by using the QR code.

That’s on the screen during that meeting. for your time. You’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations, and you’ll leave with some more knowledge about our premium packages and be paired with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays and helping you get organized.

So we’ll leave you with that. Keep the QR code up there and get back to the questions. My next question for you is more of a, an emotional, I guess, question. What strategies can I use to stay motivated and avoid procrastination and during the application process?

Chelsea: Um, I would say providing rewards for yourself. Um, so there’s a ton of like small pieces to this process, breaking apart, um, the deliverables. So instead of saying like, oh, my to do list, complete the first draft of my personal statement, right? You might say, um, brainstorm six personal statement topics and write two sentences each.

Um, and that’s something that you can walk away and feel like, Oh, I accomplished that. That feels good. Um, let me reward myself in some way, um, for that. And then begin moving on to the next step. Um, I think the process can feel really daunting and, and procrastination is usually a tool, um, that people use when they are overwhelmed by what is in front of them.

Um, and so breaking it down into smaller pieces has been a helpful strategy and scheduling time, putting things on your calendar, even if it’s just to look. At your college, um, application folder or opening up the common app, um, scheduling those checkpoints can also be helpful.

Anesha: Yeah, I love that time management and then also rewards.

I love the reward suggestion of rewarding yourself and then trying to break things down into smaller chunks of time. I’ve tried to have some students do that of like, don’t worry about trying to write the whole 10 minutes. Give me something. That will come out of your brain for 10 minutes and then we can move on from there.

Okay. Um, the next question is, I lost it. Sorry. Um, how do I manage and organize the information that I received from college visits and interviews?

Chelsea: Um, so college visits first, um, you’ll likely get some kind of physical documents. Um, I, okay. Talked a little bit about the admitted student profile. Um, a lot of institutions will give you that in writing when you visit.

Um, and so, like, an accordion folder or some sort of binder to kind of throw all of those physical items in is great. And then circling back to really taking notes, bringing a notebook on those visits. Um, and documenting what you saw, questions that you still have, um, that’s going to be helpful to kind of go back to either an Excel spreadsheet, or maybe you’re keeping this by hand, um, and actually compiling a summary of each of those questions.

Um, same thing for interviews. Um, the preparation for an interview is, um, actually good preparation for the college application process. It’s getting to know the school. Um, so whether it’s visiting campus or combing their website, um, having those notes that really talk about what the school stands for and what they offer will be helpful in the interview process.

Anesha: Thank you. Our next question goes back to a specific student population. Do you have any recommendations specific to homeschooled applicants?

Chelsea: Yeah, really great question. Um, so many institutions will have an admissions counselor that is dedicated to reviewing homeschool applicants. Um, and so I think homeschool students are one of those populations who, Think that admissions offices just are not even realizing that they’re out there and that they’re participating in the process.

And that just couldn’t be further from the truth. We have so many different types of secondary schooling and homeschool is not even 1 of the most rare examples. And so 1, I would encourage you to find out. If there is a homeschool counselor that can talk to you specifically about, um, different requirements that may be out there for homeschool students.

I also think organization is. Even more important for homeschool students. Oftentimes, um, you may have a transcript that provides, um, or that needs some additional explaining. You may not have a school school profile. And so you really need to talk about how your. Online homeschool or parent taught homeschool, um, connects with this extracurricular program that you’re enrolled in.

Um, and so being able to provide documents to help inform the admissions committee and being really, um, clear yourself about what you’re bringing to the table. Um, even though it’s not a traditional, if you will, um, high school experience.

Anesha: I’m going to move on to a little bit more of a process question. So someone asked, how do I decide which teachers to ask for letters of recommendation?

Chelsea: Um, so I think the number one requirement is teachers that know you, um, that’s important. So, uh, teachers that are familiar with you, maybe they’ve known you for, um, a few years, maybe they’re familiar with you in a number of settings.

Um, these are going to be the best, uh, recommenders. Um, You know, some students think that, you know, I should just ask the teacher that likes me the most or the teacher that’s nicest to me. Um, and sometimes that’s an indicator of, you know, how the teacher views you, but they could just be a nice teacher and they could just be nice to everyone.

Um, and so I want you to think beyond who’s nice and who you like, or how much they like you and really think about what are you trying to get the admissions committee to understand because a recommendation letter is a. third party to cooperate or give additional insight into the information that you’re sharing with us.

And so sometimes the great recommendation letter is from the teacher who you really struggled in their class. Um, and math is your least favorite subject. And somehow you ended up in this math class and it was just like a rollercoaster ride. Um, but there’s a really great story about, um, you. Going to office hours and getting tutored and really making some improvement in their class.

Um, so think about. Which teachers are going to speak to the things that you want to share with an institution, um, if you are applying directly to a major, like engineering, maybe there’s some specific subjects. That you want to kind of keep an eye out and it would be nice to have a recommender from those subjects to really speak to your aptitude and math or science or robotics or whatever the course is.

Um, but again, that should not be the driving factor because sometimes students choose. a teacher where the class makes sense. It fits in with the strategy, but they’re just not a teacher that’s going to write a good recommendation for a number of reasons. Um, one of the ways to find out if the teacher is a good person to write a recommendation, talk to them before you ask them.

Um, Let them know, you know, these are the schools you’re applying to. Um, do you feel like you have enough information about me or know me well enough to write a recommendation letter? Most teachers will be completely honest with you and say, um, yes, no, or. No, but I’ll still write it if you want me to. Um, that’s probably not the best recommendation letter.

Um, you want them to be enthusiastic about writing.

Anesha: Uh, great, great advice. Um, my next question for you is how do I balance applying to reach match and safety schools? So I guess I think it’s more about a numbers of like, how many?

Chelsea: So, um, again, that total number is going to differ. By the student, um, but I’ll, I’ll share like a healthy ratio. So let’s say if you’re applying to, you know, 10 institutions, it may look like 2 or 3 safety schools, um, 5 or so target, um, and then just a couple of reach institutions.

Um, so you want target. Schools to make up the majority of your list, and you want to have, um, at least 1, I would say at least 2, depending on the types of schools you’re applying to to safety schools. Some, um, some students won’t put a single reach school on their list. It just depends, but if you find yourself, and you find your list being dominated by super selective schools.

You probably have even more of a need to be intentional about the safety schools that you put on the list.

Anesha: Uh, this next question is, do you have any tips, excuse me, for staying informed about changes in application requirements or deadlines?

Chelsea: Um, so follow social media outlets, um, for the colleges you’re interested in.

Um, some colleges do, like, Fantastic jobs of sharing information through social media. Um, so that’s always a good option. Also website, websites are great. Um, college admissions websites, they need to be current. They need to have, you know, the most up to date policies and deadlines. And so, um, the website is always great.

Um, and then, um, Your counselor, your admissions counselor at the college, they are there to talk to you and for you to ask them questions. And so, if you have a direct question, you want to send an email and that also helps with demonstrated interest and beginning to build that relationship.

Anesha: Thank you. I’m going to ask you more again about components of the application.

So how important are extracurricular activities? In the college application.

Chelsea: Um, so depends on the college. Um, but if we’re talking about institutions that are quite selective, um, the academic piece is kind of the getting your foot in the door. Um, you know, the, the, the goal of the admissions process is identifying students who are going to be able to succeed at the institution.

And so the academic piece is incredibly important. But the more selective the institution, the more likely they have a surplus of applicants who are excelling in the academic arena. And so the ways that you begin to stand apart from the crowd to show your depth to, um, kind of convey other value outside of the classroom.

Our activities are essays. Um, and so I would say they’re generally important. Um, they’re more important for some schools than others. But if you are looking at a selective institution, they are likely going to be very important in your overall admissions outcome, just because of how competitive the pool is.

Anesha: Um, my next question for you is, do you have any for getting back into the academic mindset for someone returning from a gap year?

Chelsea: That’s such a great question. Um, so gap years, you know, have always been common, but particularly around the pandemic, we saw more and more students taking gap years. A true gap year should have some sort of Intellectual, professional or personal development.

Um, and so I would say reflect on what you spent the gap you’re doing. Were you on a missions trip? Did you travel? Did you have an internship? Um, and finding ways to connect those experiences, um, to what your career aspirations are or what you want to major in is helpful. Um, one of the ways you can do that is just by.

Some essay writing some free writing about a topic and planning to tie what you spent your gap year doing to what your goals are while you’re in college

Anesha: question for you, I guess, just like, broadly, um. And going back to that curricular question of just why is it more than numbers? There was a, there was a question submitted through the registration of like, I have all of these, I have the right scores, I have the best GPA, and I’m still not able to get into the schools, or I guess a secondhand story.

So I guess, um, simply put, my question is to like, why is it more than just the numbers? Why if I have the GPA and the scores, is that not enough for admissions especially? Highly competitive institutions,

Chelsea: so I have two answers for that. Um, the, the first answer is, um, there are thousands of students who have the numbers, there’s thousands of students who have nearly perfect test scores and perfect GPAs.

Um, and students self select into competitive institutions. And so if you’re applying to a M. I. T. The other people that are likely to apply to an M. I. T. Are going to have the numbers as well because they’re applying because they think they have a shot. Um, and so the college just can’t accommodate all of the people that are superb in academics alone.

Um, so that’s. One part of the of the question, but the 2nd part is most colleges, um, value students outside of the classroom as well. And so, depending on what their mission and their values are, they may want a student who does more and test well and makes A’s in classes. They may want a student that’s service oriented or a student that.

Is a leader or a student who has potential to be a change agent, or who is creative and artistic. And so if you read a college’s mission statement, um, and, you know, I, I think mission and value statements can. Sometimes just seem heady and something that you skip over, but I think they’re really helpful and understanding how the admissions committee is going to view.

You read those statements and colleges are telling you exactly what they value in those statements. And technically academics is like a little bitty piece of it, and there’s so many other elements that are going to make you a good fit for that college. Thanks

Anesha: for entertaining that question. All right.

Uh, the next question for you is, do admissions officers proactively research student applicants on the web?

Chelsea: Good question. Um, not really. So, I mean, I think it may happen, um, in the same way an average person might like Google someone, right? Like, but generally speaking, do admissions officers have time to formally research?

No. They do not have time to do that at all. Um, sometimes students will link like a portfolio or a website and write. You could go down a rabbit hole that way. Um, I think this question dovetails into the, like, our admissions officers, looking up your social media. Generally, the answer is no, we don’t have time to do that.

Um, but. Some of the scenarios that I’ve seen is, um, I’ve managed a social media account for a previous institution, and, um, you have those students that are just like really active on social media, and sometimes their name is their full name. And so, you know, you are now inadvertently. Familiar with a student through social media that you will now see in the college application pool.

So, um, what do they call it? Offense to maybe to follow your college admissions if you do not have a college. Crystal clear, clean, pristine social media presence.

Anesha: Interesting. A strategic Finsta. Finsta just for college admissions. Um, and watch that. That’s, that’s a name that’s taken. Um, that must be account, uh, just for colleges.

Uh, okay. My, one of my questions for you might be my last one is, what do I do if I’m worried about application fees or other related costs? Like setting scores and the CSS profile.

Chelsea: Yes. Great question. So there are a ton of resources that are actually pretty easily available, um, to defer the cost of applying to college.

Um, most institutions will have information about an application fee waiver on their websites. And in fact, on the common app, you can submit a college application just by saying, I will be using a fee waiver. So you don’t even have to have obtained the fee waiver, and it will allow you to submit your application.

Now, you do have to go back and actually produce the fee waiver. Um,

but, you know. The system is taking their word, um, and saying, okay, we’ll, we’ll receive whatever, um, documents we need to fully execute the fee waiver at a later date. Um, the college board, um, the organization that, um, manages SAT testing as well as AP courses, um, they grant college admissions, um, fee waivers or application fee waivers.

They also grant SAT. Um, and so College Board is a great, uh, resource to look for that. Um, and then another resource is NACAC, N A C A C. Um, that’s the National Association for College Admissions Counselors, and they also grant fee waivers that you can send into colleges and they’ll waive your application fee.

Anesha: Thank you. I’ll sneak in our very last question because I know I feel like it’s probably a popular one. How important is the SAT score? And will it hurt my application if I don’t share the score?

Chelsea: Great question. So, um, we are in a moment where some schools have returned back to requiring test school test scores.

The majority of schools have not. Um, I think that a lot of the big name schools over the past year have, you know, announced that they’re going back to using test scores, but it is still really the minority of the schools that are out there. Um, so when you want to find out what is the testing policy at the schools that you’re applying to?

Um, the second piece is pay attention to the language that a school uses. And so there’s schools that will say we’re test optional and we don’t care whether you submit scores or not. And then there’s schools that will say we’re test optional, but we really value a test score as part of our process. And that is their way of telling you that it’s a selective environment and a test score can be really important for students in particular situations.

Um, I will say that, um, if you do not, if a school is test optional and you choose not to submit a test score, they are not thinking about the reason that you chose not to submit it. Um, they are moving on and reviewing the application documents that they do have. Um, and so if you Have a school that’s test optional.

You’ve read their language and you feel comfortable based on the way that they portray their policy. Um, that that a test score is not going to hurt you in the review process. Not having 1 is not going to hurt you. Um, then you should feel confident in submitting a test. A test score, if it’s going to help you or withholding it, um, if you want to.

Anesha: All right. Thank you for taking that and staying on a little bit longer. But that is the end. Thank you. everyone for coming out. And thank you Chelsea for a lovely presentation. That is the webinar. We hope you gain some tips and strategies for organizing and managing your college applications. Also hope that you’ll join us.

For other webinars this month, tomorrow, May 23rd, we’ll have a session on why college application help is necessary, and we’re going to close out the month of May with a session on finalizing your extracurriculars as a high school junior. So, for any students who are interested in thinking about that strategically, um, at the end of junior year, will join us on May 29th.

And then we will have an alumni panel for Johns Hopkins University on May 30th. Hope to see you soon. But until then, take care, everybody, and have a good night.