Your College Admissions Roadmap: What To Do and When

Webinar Transcription

2026-02-19 – Your College Admissions Roadmap: What To Do and When

Anna: Hello everyone. Welcome to our webinar, “Your College Admissions Roadmap: What to Do and When.” My name is Anna Vande Velde and I’ll be your moderator today. I’m a senior advisor with CollegeAdvisor and have been with the company for, uh, almost five years now. In addition to working with students one-on-one, I’m a co-captain on our essay review team.

To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re gonna start off with a presentation. Then answer your questions in a live q and a. On the sidebar, you can download our slides and you can start submitting questions in the q and a tab anytime. You don’t need to wait till the end, though. Some of the questions might get answered throughout the presentation.

Please note that super specific questions like, should I take X, Y, or Z class? Those are not gonna be appropriate for this format. Um, those require a bit of back and forth, but we’ll share later on about a free opportunity to meet with us to ask that exact type of one-on-one question. Uh, without further ado, I’m thrilled to introduce to you your presenter tonight, Dr.

Dr. Aya Waller-Bey. Dr. Aya, could you please share a bit about your background?

Aya: Absolutely. Thank you so much. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening depending on where you are in the world. I am Dr. Aya Waller-Bey, and tonight I will be your presenter. So just to tell you a little bit about me, I always like to begin with stating that I am a proud first generation college student, which means I was the first person in my family to attain a four year degree.

I was born and raised in the wonderful city of Detroit, Michigan, the city that put us on wheels. And I attended Georgetown University for undergrad, where shortly after I became an admissions officer and coordinator of multicultural recruitment. After my tenure in admissions, I went across the pond to get my master’s in Philosophy of Education from the University of Cambridge as a recipient of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

And while there, I became an alumni interviewer for Georgetown. So I got to interview Georgetown Hopeful and England, and across the pond, which was an fantastic experience. Um, last spring I defended my dissertation and officially became Dr. Aya Waller-Bey, um, where I completed a degree in sociology or PhD in sociology at the University of Michigan.

Go blue where I actually studied college admissions, specifically the college admissions essay. So I have 10 plus years of college admissions and higher education expertise, and I’ve been with CollegeAdvisor going on five admission cycles now. So it is my joy and pleasure to be able to talk to you about the college admissions roadmap, and I look forward to answering your questions later on in the presentation.

Anna: And we’re so grateful to have an expert like yourself with us tonight. So thank you for being here. Dr. Aya, before I hand over to you, I thought it might be helpful for us to know who’s in the room with us. I’m gonna open a poll. Please let us know what grade you are in. If you are here as a support person, uh, feel free to select other, and while we wait for your results, Dr.

Aya, I was wondering, knowing everything you know now about college admissions, is there anything you would do differently if you had to redo your application process?

Aya: Hmm, that’s a fantastic question. What I would do, it would, this is a yes. And so I think I, I did the, I had the process I was meant to have, but if I had the knowledge that they have now, I think I would’ve started visiting schools earlier.

I think there’s something about taking time to expose yourself to what various colleges look like, what it means to walk around certain colleges to, to experience in certain cities and communities. Um, so that’s something I think I would’ve, uh, done a bit more, or perhaps a bit earlier, was taking time to actually visit colleges that may have been even local, that may have been on my list, you know, just to get more exposure.

Anna: Absolutely. Um, I, I agree. Um, for myself. Alright, just so we are all on the same page, joining us tonight, we have about 20% in ninth grade, 10% in 10th grade. About half are in 11th grade and about 15% said others. So parents, educators, guardians, that sort of thing. Um, and we also had another poll that ran. So the results from that are that, um, were split almost evenly, um, between students who are researching schools and say they haven’t started the application process yet.

I would point out that you’re coming to a webinar to learn about the admissions process, so I’d give yourself a little credit, um, for that. You have started thinking about it and that’s really smart. Uh, so I’m gonna close those polls and then I’ll turn it over to you, Dr. Aya, for the presentation.

Aya: Fantastic. Thank you so much. Alrighty. So, as Anna mentioned, we are all, this is part of the journey, right? So even if you have never, you know, Googled or research a university, or you still don’t know what your postgraduate plans are, here’s a great opportunity to to learn, right? To get more exposure to what it means to navigate the college admissions and application process.

So one thing to, to start with is why is it important to start early and, and have some type of plan, right? So one thing I I really want to emphasize in our conversation tonight that is that the college admissions process is cumulative. Right. Decisions are shaped by four years or earlier. Some folks start their college admissions journeys or thinking about college a lot earlier than high school, and it’s not solely about your senior year, right?

It is often the senior year when you’re actually writing the applications and submitting the applications, and of course, making the applications or admissions decisions. However, it’s what you do before your senior year that contributes to the college admissions and college application process that you will ultimately have.

So early planning reduces last minute stress and stressors and allows for intentional course and activity choices. And so often students are. Kind of feeling overwhelmed and bombarded. And I feel like even students who plan, and even families who plan earlier still feel the angst, right? And the anxiety about navigating, you know, 12 applications and visiting schools and, uh, studying for standardized tests, or studying for AP exams, or, you know, contributing to their high school volleyball team, et cetera.

So for those who plan, there’s already a lot of stress. So early planning or planning earlier and having these conversations earlier and be strategic earlier allows for more intentionality. It also, and, and thinking about, you know, why planning earlier is important, it helps. You develop a stronger application where strong applications are telling more coherent stories and stories that take time to develop.

Okay? It also helps families align academically financially. In thinking about extracurricular planning, I want to emphasize, as I will do throughout our conversations, the importance of finance. What I’ve seen this application cycle and many other cycles, uh, before, is that too often families and students are thinking about financial aid and finances and scholarships, et cetera, once they’re receiving decisions or after they’ve already applied to college, and that is a conversation that should be happening.

Now, how will we afford college? What are our, our options, right? Are we a low income family? Are we middle class family? Did we run that net price, you know, uh, calculator on some of the schools we think we might want to apply to? Does, if you’re, you know, a parent, does your job have, you know, scholarships, you know, do, are there tuition incentives that you, your child can use?

Have you been saving for college? Uh, is there a college savings plan of sorts? Those conversations should be happening earlier. Okay? And again, when you start planning earlier, you’re able to get aligned with your priorities. You know, are you gonna think about schools, schools out of state at all, or across the country or international universities even?

So again, the earlier you start, um, the more intentional and again, um, the way families can kind of work together to make decisions. And again. Planning early allows students to stretch appropriately without burnout. So, incredibly important. If you start thinking about, and we’ll talk about this in, you know, pre next slides, if you start thinking about that personal statement, you know, your junior year as opposed to October, your senior year, it gives you a lot more time and space to stretch, right, to think so you’re not rushing and pro, you know, that procrastination can create a lot of anxiety for families, for the student, the applicant, also parents, and, and those are part of the process.

So we really wanna emphasize the importance of starting earlier and having a plan. So in thinking about starting earlier, what are some of the key steps that you can take in ninth and 10th grades to lay a strong foundation for college admissions? Well, you really, really want to prioritize your academics, right?

You wanna prioritize strong grades in your core academic courses. I cannot tell you enough, um, how important the academic transcript, your academic record is for the college admissions process. And I think. Back in the day, I used to hear this thing where folks say, your ninth grade grades don’t matter.

Your 12th grade grades don’t matter. It’s only 10th, uh, 10th and 11th. And that is not true. Uh, admissions officers look at your complete transcript. They look at how you performed in the ninth grade. If you are applying regular decision and they have those first semester senior grades, they’re looking at how you perform your senior year.

Now, the sophomore in, in, in junior grades are going to be, you know, the complete package, right? Uh, particularly how you most per most recently performed. Of course, admissions officers are going to take a look at that, but they’re looking at the entire package, right? They’re looking at how you performed.

And those English courses, those math, those science, social studies and those language courses were, were applicable, right? Um, you also want to choose appropriately rigorous courses and build upward over time, right? So if you’re thinking about applying to particularly selective universities, they wanna see rigor.

They want to see that if you are really interested in studying science while in college, that you start, you know, and that maybe that freshman, you know, freshman year you have to take bio or some other general kind of science class. But by the time you’re a junior, you’re taking the AP chem, you’re taking the AP bio, you’re taking those AP courses though, IB courses when and or those, uh, applicable dual enrollment classes, right?

So they want to see students who challenge themselves over time. Another, and I mean this, I cannot emphasize this enough, is another important key step to take in ninth and 10th grade is developing strong study habits. Very important, understanding how to manage your time, understanding how to use systems that aid your learning process.

You know, I think about all of the, you know, strategies I, I, I had in college, whether it was one thing I did, this is less of a study, um, you know, skill, if you will, is I always. Sat in the front of every single class I took in undergrad and graduate school and in, um, uh, my PhD program. I only sat in the front and I know some students like to sit in the back.

They like to hide, they like to skedaddle early, especially if it’s a large lecture. I forced myself to sit and be front every single class and help me stay focused. It reduced distractions. It, it, it made the teacher almost like my accountability partner. It allowed for the, the professor to see me, um, and to see how engaged I was.

Um, and it just allowed me to just. Also my eyes. I started to wear, you know, glasses. So it also helped with my vision, but also, again, that was something I made a commitment to do in college. And that was something I did in high school, unless there was a science seat to my last name, started with a w so then I was, you know, out of luck.

But again, even tools like that was something that I’ve carried with me that has helped me, um, be a stronger learner and a stronger student. Right? So developing study habits, I know I do not work well at night. When the sun starts to set, my eyelids start going down and I’m not productive. So, thinking about when you work best, I recognize as high schoolers, if your day is starting at 7:00 AM and you go, you, you know, you’re getting home at 3, 4, 5, 6, depending on what types of activities you’re involved with.

There are diff, you know, your, your time doesn’t belong to you in a way that it will in college, but just knowing that about yourself, maybe Sunday mornings is when you, you realize you, you thrive when you’re studying, right? Managing your time. If you say, you know, AP calculus is really giving me a run for my money.

I’m going to develop, you know, a schedule where I’m gonna do an hour of AP calculus, I’m gonna study it, I’m gonna review it every, every night. I’m one hour to AP calculus, regardless of what’s happening. I’m, I gotta develop one hour. Uh, devote one hour to AP calculus. So again, creating systems. Are you a Google Doc person?

I live and die by Google Docs now. So creating Google folders, having, you know, Google documents where you can keep all your notes. Are you a spreadsheet person? Do you, you know, live by your calendar? Um, one thing I do is I, in college, I took handwritten notes until I couldn’t anymore. Um, and I still, every day to this day, I write handwritten to-do list and I cross them out every single day, including today.

So again, you start to develop strong study habits. Organizational systems and time management. That’s something that you could start doing now. Um, exploring your interests through clubs and sports and arts and volunteering, and part-time work. Start to learn more about what you like, what makes you excited, you know, what do you look forward to doing?

I, I always think about, you know, things that I dreaded, like, ugh, here we go again. Versus things I was like, oh, I cannot wait. You know, lean into that feeling and be honest with yourself and we’ll talk more about this, of what it means to develop, um, activities and leadership over time. But begin to explore your interests.

Participate in summer programs and, and summer, you know, opportunities, right? Try out different clubs at your school. See what really sticks with you, and build positive relationships with teachers and counselors, right? Future recommendation writers. Start there, right? So. Build, and again, I, I don’t mean to be disingenuous as to Brown knows, but introduce yourself, right?

Um, continue to kind of think about what your goals are and just making sure your teachers know who you are. Don’t hide, right? So how can students identify their strengths and interests early and why to important, and I kind of alluded to some of this, but when you reflect on which classes, projects, or activities feel energizing versus draining, you can really begin to identify what some of those strengths and interests are.

Right? I learned very early that I love public speaking. I mean, I learned that in like Head Start. I was presiding in Langston Hughes poems. Um, and in high school I was doing morning announcements, like the very irritating voice of like, good morning, da da. That was me, right? But I learned very, you know, very early, I loved public speaking and I wasn’t intimidated to speak in front of an audience, right?

So just started to kind of see what, and that energizes me. Some folks are breaking out in hives, they’re sweating, they don’t wanna do it, right? They realize that doesn’t energize them. Um, and then what classes do you love to, to write and to read poetry, right? Do you love learning about history and political systems?

Did you really love dissecting those frogs or owl pellets? You know, really reflecting on the classes and the projects that really energize you. And again, notice patterns of what teachers praise or where growth happens most naturally too. Maybe you started a little. You know, not too strong in that Algebra two class, but you started to get notes in your papers from your teacher saying like, you know, I, I noticed that, you know, you’re doing better, or, I noticed that you seem to really thrive in this area.

Right? Um, start to notice those natural progressions as well. As I said earlier, take exploratory electives or summer programs to attach emerging interests. You know, summers are really great opportunities to explore, and that might be participating at, uh, programs at local universities. Those can be free summer camps.

Um, that they, you know, I’m in the state of Michigan, so in high school I participated in programs at University of Michigan, at Michigan State, at Wayne State. So I, I had a lot of exposure of like going to college campuses, staying overnight, um, journalism programs, business programs, which are areas that I did not major in.

Again, I’m a sociologist, but I got to explore, right? I also got to build some independence and know what it meant to sleep. You know, on a college campus, in a dorm, right? With other folks. So you really wanna explore again, to see what those interests are, and then early clarity can help students build death instead in death instead of random participation.

Um, and again, I’ll talk a little bit about this more, but. You want to make sure that you are being intentional again, we want you to explore. Um, but there comes a time when we start seeing students just stack random activities to, you know, pad resumes for college or to pad college lists or college activities rather.

And it looks just as random as it probably feels. So when you notice, like, I really love music, so you’re in the symphony orchestra, band, et cetera, and there’s an alignment. And again, I understand I had very diverse interests as a high schooler. Again, I was class president, I was doing morning announcements, I was doing after dance.

I was a yearbook. I was doing Mario in, I did a lot of different things, but I participated in these things over time. You know, I, I wasn’t just dropping into a lot of random things. I had sustained engagement over periods of time. And again, colleges value students who demonstrate some sort of directional authentic engagement.

I know you might be asking Dr. Aya, I literally don’t know what I wanna study or what I wanna do. Will that show that I have no, you know, zero uh, direction. No. Right. You can apply to college and be undecided. Um, again, but this is why we are encouraging you, or I’m encouraging you to be a little bit more reflective and introspective, right?

Think about activities that energize you versus draining you. So, and thinking about building meaningful extracurricular activities, again, start exploring in ninth grade, right? And think about moving towards commitment and leadership by 11 and 12th, right? So, you know, I, I was, um, in like our student government group, you know, my 10th, I started actually in 10th grade, and I was just a, you know, a participant.

And then I became, you know, historian. Then I became like the vice president by the time I was a senior, right? So. Progression and, and time and leadership. Okay. Focusing on quality and depth, right? So focusing on quality over quantity. We want to see, or admissions officers want to see sustained involvement, right?

Um, over a period of time, more than, you know, random activities or just. Sure. Again, you can try things out, but they wanna see students who are showing consistency, showing discipline, right? And look for ways to contribute meaningfully and not just attend meetings. This is another thing we’ll see students who add, you know, they join some clubs their senior year and it’s just, and, and then when they have to explain what they do, they say, you know, I just go to the meetings on Wednesday.

Well, we wanna see impact, right? We want to see involvement. We want to see engagement. What impact did you make? It could be you tutored two students, right? Weekly and, and in math. Or you volunteered at a local middle school, right? Or you planted trees and then you donated, you know, your time to a, a local organization, et cetera.

Or you, I mean, I, one student I worked with, uh, helped to get elderly neighbors like their groceries. Right. And, and he could speak to it thoughtfully because it was a real experience. It was something he did over time. Uh, and he was able to quantify it as well, right? He was able to refer to like how many neighbors he supported for how long periods of time.

Um, and, and that’s what they want to see. That’s what admissions officers and universities want to see. Again, competitor consider impact, right? Events you’re organizing, initiatives you’re launching, um, how you are engaging, how long, and like what are, what’s the goal, right? It’s not enough to just write like what the activity is about.

You know, most admissions officers will know what model you win is, so we don’t need you to explain, model you in to us. We want you to explain what you did, what you accomplished, how did you contribute, what impact did you make. Okay? And again, where possible try also aligning at least some of the activities with academic or career interests.

Now, we get this a lot because your, you know, perhaps your career interests, your school might not have those clubs or activities. That’s fine. Right? Um, also if you say you are, you’ve been a cheerleader all four years, and you may not, you know, your, your profession may not be a professional cheerleader. Um, but you’ve want to show you’ve done it for four years, but you actually wanna be, you know, an economist, right?

So, and you may not have an economist club, that’s perfectly fine. Again, sometimes the activities and the interests don’t always map out, but for those particularly, I feel like I see this in stem, you know, the robotics, some of the engineering clubs, some of the organizations to show that. They have, you know, contributed to the development of their curiosity and their interests, even outside of the core curriculum, that they participate in activities to show, um, that they’re serious about their interests.

And again, curiosity is so important. You know, how are you stimulating yourself? How are you learning about this particular area of interest beyond the classroom?

So we talked about ninth grade and, and then 10th grade and thinking about 11th grade, you know, what are the key steps to take in 11th grade? You know, again. Your academic record, your high school transcript is the most important part of the college application. It is, and I know folks say, what about grade inflation?

What about grade deflation? What about weighted unweighted, et cetera? Universities have their own formulas, their own systems, where they look at the grades you earn in those core classes, and they, they might recalculate based on their own systems, so they have a way of kind of learning about what a, a means at your school and et cetera.

They look at your, uh, high school profiles, which most schools have on their websites, or they’ll ask the high school counselor to send to them to make sense of what grades mean in each course. Given that you want to challenge yourself and take the most rigorous courses appropriate for your preparation, emphasis on appropriate for your preparation, do not load it up on every AP and IB class you have, and you are barely making it right.

They don’t wanna see all CS in AP classes, right? They want someone who is challenging themselves taking the appropriate rigor. Uh, while also performing at the highest level you want to prepare for and take standardized tasks in your 11th grade. Um, this is important. Um. I know that we have schools that are test optional.

Um, you have test blind and the ucs, there’s various testing systems. Now, it, it’s actually a bit confusing for, for everyone involved, frankly. Um, but if you, you want to kind of test out to see, you know, how well you perform, you wanna take some practice exams and I’ll talk a little bit more about that. Um, and then continue to research colleges and visit campuses virtually or in person.

I mentioned earlier, I went on to ask that question about things that I would perhaps. Do differently or, or, you know, add to my, my college admissions process. And one of the things I mentioned was visiting more schools. One thing I want to point out is universities recognize that not all students have the resources and means, you know, if you live in New Jersey, flying to to LA to visit schools may not be, uh, realistic for you, uh, for a host of reasons.

And that’s okay too. You can do virtual, uh, campus tours as well. But if you want to leverage those summer, uh, vacations or those, um, school year breaks you have for the various holidays, you know, visit some schools, right. And also research them. Back in my day, not to sound like an elder. I had one of those big college, um, admissions, uh, books that listed all the universities and all the key information about them.

And I used to go through that thing. And at the time I. I wanted to study business when I was, um, my sophomore, junior year. So I was flipping through and I have a highlight what, what, what were the best business schools. So I’d be like, okay, you UPenn the Wharton School of Business, and I’ll look at the minimum a CT score or the, you know, or the range.

And I’ll say, okay, this is the ACT/SAT score that I need. At the time, Michigan was the ACT state and I created a, a, a binder, a physical binder, and I had those little, uh, paper, uh, covers that you can kind of slide paper into. And I literally flipped through that. I would dedicate hours on weekends and read through the large book that listed all the colleges, universities, and I identified the best business programs and what the requirements were.

That was how I educated myself on college requirements. Again, times have changed. You could do a spreadsheet, you know, or something like that, but that’s how I did it. And that helped with my own education about college admissions and I don’t see, might been a start of my admissions kind of experience.

You also wanna develop relationships with teachers for letters of recommendation again. You don’t have to be disingenuous, but teachers know this comes with the territory. You know, to be an educator, to be a high school counselor means that students are gonna ask you for letters of recommendation. So it’s power for the course.

But you do wanna start thinking about, again, if you wanna study biology and undergrad, you know, do you know your, your science teachers, right? Do you know the bio teacher? Do you know the AP camp teacher? You know, do you know those teachers? And will they be comfortable writing you a strong letter recommendation?

You wanna reflect also seriously on your academic interests and potential majors. Um, you know, think about, you know, again, what, what excites you? Are you thinking about majoring something because mom and dad wants you to major in there? Is this a personal decision? Uh, what do you do well in? How are you thinking about post-grad and job prospects?

You know, just do some reflection. Again, you’re 11th grader, you’ll be 15, 16 years old. You don’t have to have your entire life figured out. In fact most people don’t, you know, in their forties, fifties, on their life figured out. But again, be reflective about it and then brainstorm personal statement, essay topics.

Uh, this says topic, but there are, you know, common app. There are six options. You know, start thinking about, you know, what you want to write, that personal statement which you would submit with the common app. Um, in some schools, uh, 11th graders actually draft personal statements in like English classes.

Sometimes if you can draft that personal statement even before the summer of your senior year, I think that would be a really great way, um, of get really getting the ball rolling. Um, in the 11th grade. So, as I mentioned earlier, um, standardized testing is still a part of the admissions process. Despite some of the shifts we’ve seen, so many colleges remain test optional.

Some, again, some don’t require tests at all. Some, some are test blind, you know, um, there’s various levels of kind of affinity for standardized testing. Um, so although it may not be required for a lot of schools now, strong scores skill, uh, still can strengthen an application. So tests can provide context for the GPA, especially across varying grading systems.

So it might help standardize, um, grades for some universities, for the schools that require them at least. And then think about your preparation. It should be structured in time, you know, start out with a diagnostic, just see where you might fall, right? Take a a, a proper practice test, like set out the four hours.

Quiet, you know, have mom, dad, or siblings, someone test you. Um, get your pen and your, you know, everything you need. And take a, a real practice test, right? To see where you fall, uh, and then see where your strengths are, what areas you shine in, right? And then take the exams, right? Then take the standardized test.

You know, you might take it twice, you know, you might take it one time. I mean, we’ve seen students take one time and they’re like, oh, this is the score I need. I’m not taking it again. I’ve seen students say, okay, the math is strong, but the English is not. Or this section is strong, but this section is not.

So now I’m gonna, now that I know I have a near perfect math section, I’m gonna try to devote as much time on the, the reading section. So, you know, you want to be strategic and targeted and, and, and you’re, you know. And your preparation. So again, earlier preparation is, is, is, is the best, right? If you think you’re going to submit standardized tests, uh, again, students should test early enough to allow for retake if needed.

So it may not be the smartest thing to take the test for the first time, December of your senior year. Right. Um, you wanna give yourself a lot more opportunities to retake, um, for those, you know, regular decision applications of you’re of applying during that cycle. So you wanna give yourself enough time.

Again, it’s spring of junior years where a lot of folks take the real kind of test. Um, you know, I think Sophomore Springs when students might take the PSAT. So, you know, if you’re taking it springs, uh, junior year. And you get a score that you think is great, but you wanna improve, take some time, you know, maybe six weeks, eight weeks to to study, two months to study and then take it again during the summer, right?

Students often do that, um, and then take it again in the fall, right? So, again, whatever works best for what your testing needs and if you are choosing to pursue a testing strategy, but give yourself enough time and again, always research the college current testing policy. Do they require testing? Is it test optional?

Some schools they require tests. If your GPA falls below a certain GPA, um, some schools, again, don’t require them at all. Some schools, you know, don’t look at them. Even if you submit them. Some schools will look at them if you submit them. So it, again, it, some honors colleges require you to submit them, even if the policy is test optional.

So please research each college’s current testing policy, emphasis on current. Um, and also, again, look again in the fall because policies are shifting every year, as you all might see. So we’ve talked about visiting colleges and thinking about, you know, um, preparing yourself with tests and et cetera, but how can you build a strategic college?

So one thing we emphasize here, and, and you know, I always emphasize with the young people I work with is including a very balanced list, right? So we have those likely schools, people used to use the word safety schools. I don’t particularly like that language the way that mission cycle is. You know, now these days you really don’t know.

Nothing is technically safety in my opinion. Um, but there’s likely schools, right? Um, schools that you’re likely to get into. Those might be regional universities. You might already get mailings from them saying that you’ve been accepted with, you know, a hundred thousand dollars scholarship. You know, you’re like, wait, I didn’t even apply to this school.

How do they even know and I, who I am, right? So those are schools where your academics, your, your, you know, your profile is much higher than like their ranges, right? So you’ll be very competitive and also more likely to get merit scholarships from those schools. Right? Then you have target schools where your academic profile fit kind of squarely within the ranges and intermediates.

Then you have those reach schools and those aspirational schools. I like to say any school that’s accepting, you know, really less than 30% of their applicants in my opinion, is a reach school. And then any school that’s accepting less than 16%, um, is an aspirational school. And those are schools that no matter, you can have 4.9 GPA 1600 in SAT, um, and working on a publication in a major journal and working with professors at Johns Hopkins and.

It could still be a no. Right? So those are the reach schools. So you wanna have a balance, right? You wanna prioritize those target schools, have some of those likely schools and have a few reach schools, right? You can be aspirational, um, but you need a balance. You wanna give yourself as many options as possible, as many yeses as possible.

You also wanna consider academic fit, campus culture, location, financial affordability, which you see I voted here, and outcomes, right? You really wanna take into consideration all of those things, and that might be postgraduate outcomes from the university themselves and also what you see as what the outcomes you wanna have.

Right? Do you want to work in like politics or government? Yes, you might, you know, students tend to go to schools in DC or the DMV area, which is where I went to school, right? Naturally the location is just aligned with that kind of culture, um, campus culture, and also some of those outcomes that students might wanna have.

If you wanna work in Wall Street, you might find yourself on the East Coast, right? In New York City proper, or Boston, or some of the schools on the East Coast, if you wanna go into acting right. Um, and media. Some students might either go, you know, to USC or think about the other coast, NYU. So again, thinking about academic fit, please, please, please look beyond prestige, okay?

You wanna focus on programs that, and support systems and graduation rates and demographics. So often we have students who entire lists are just reach schools and aspirational schools, and it’s like, do you want any options for college? You know why? You know, and they don’t have. You know, 10 schools that are all Ivys and reaches and plus, you know, Ivy Pluses, and they’re so different.

So they’re often not a rhyme and a reason. It’s just like, this is the most elective school in the country, or this is the school we hear about all the time. Or it’s Harvard, so I’m just gonna apply anyway. Um, and if your whole list is like that, it, it does not show that you’ve taken kind of genuine approaches to building a list or really, it really also show, you may not know like what you, like, what your goals are, what you’re trying to do.

So you, again, you wanna be strategic here and ensure financial reality is a part of the conversation early in all caps, as I said earlier, right? Talk about finances early. I know it’s a difficult conversation. Um, I know folks say maybe it’ll work out. Um, but you really want to talk about that early. Okay.

An A for a list that is exciting, realistic, and affordable. So try to have all of those elements in, in your list. So, and thinking about your admissions timeline for their senior year, again, summer four 12. Drafting essays. Again, I try to, we try to tell students this and folks do procrastinate until Halloween and it’s like everyone’s stressed out trying to reach all those early action deadlines.

And it’s like chaos. Ah. So summer before 12th, draft those essays. Try to finalize that college list and prepare, prepare materials, because once you have a list, once you have, you know those, at least a personal statement. ’cause your schools might have supplemental essays, those are those additional smaller essays, 250 words, 500 words, essays.

You know, once you have that personal statement draft in the college list, it allows you to feel kind of confident and gives you a path forward. Right? A letter of recommendation in early fall. Confirm your transcript submission process. What does that look like? You know, also what is not on here. Um, you wanna create your common app profile, um, when it releases and refreshes, and that’s August 1st.

Typically, you wanna create the common app profile as well, and that’s free. Um, October to November, you wanna submit early action decision application. So that’s that November 1st, or sometimes November 15th deadline. Depending on the school. Sometimes there’s a November 5th thrown in there. But if you’re supplying early, or if you’re applying early, and remember, early action is that non-binding submission process where you submit early, you get your decision early, but it’s not binding.

And then you have early decision, right? Um, which is binding. Meaning if you apply, you are accepted. You are kind of saying, I will go, right? You’re signing a contract saying, I’m applying early ’cause this is my top choice and I wanna go, okay, winter, you’re completing those remaining apps, right? You’re completing your financial aid forms, you know, and that can happen also in the fall too.

You know, when the FAFSA releases, which. Sometimes in October. And then, you know, department of Education’s kind of all over the place. But when FAFSA releases, you wanna complete that and also complete the CSS profile if your school requires by the recommended deadline. And then spring, we’re comparing financial aid officers and we’re making a form enrollment decisions.

That might mean going to admitted student receptions that might be locally in your city or visiting the schools. Some schools have fly in programs where they fly certain admitted students out right to visit themselves with their families and their parents. Uh, or if you’re from an underrepresented group, there might be programs particularly for multicultural students.

So you then want to kind of start to compare those offers so you can make a really informed enrollment decision. So in thinking about the common mistakes I see, or we see often, um, students are waiting till the last minute, I said this earlier, waiting until senior year to think seriously about college planning is really setting yourself up to.

It’s a struggle not to fail, but to struggle because there’s just a lot of moving pieces, right? And again, a lot of shifts in the application process. We often work with parents and say, oh man, if I applied today, I don’t know if I, if I would’ve got in. And I often think about that myself when I applied to school a hundred years ago.

Even the process has shifted so much since then. Right? So you wanna start early choosing courses based on ease rather than appropriate challenge or the reverse. Choosing core courses only because of rigor, despite academic misalignment. So you have students say, I’m gonna take the easy way out, don’t challenge themselves or anything.

And then it’s just, officers know what courses your school has ’cause they’ll have the school profile. So if you’re applying to really selective schools, taking that easy way out is not really gonna show the rigor that they would like to see in the reverse. If you are only taking AP classes because you’re trying to like show that you can challenge yourself even though you’re not doing well in them.

Common mistake. Okay. Overloading activities without meaningful involvement. And is another mistake. Again, I see it all the time where students, I look at their resume, I’m like, when did you join? You know the basket weaving club, and when did you join this club? And it is like all these random clubs I’d never seen before.

’cause they’re just trying to path the resume, as I said in previous slide, building a list based solely on rankings. Common mistake. Please don’t do that. Um, ask yourself, why do rankings matter? Uh, ask yourself like, what are you trying to kind of prove? Ask yourself like, how does this align with like your future goals?

Ask yourself, can you afford these institutions? Just really be honest, uh, about that. Um, and then also other estimating deadlines, recommendation timelines, and financial aid requirements. I mean, I’m in Facebook college admissions groups and I’m seeing parents go off in the fall ’cause they’re like, my student has not, their teacher has not submitted their letter of recommendation.

And they, my student asked them, yes, you know, yesterday and the application’s due tomorrow. So you really have to be cognizant of how long, you know, letters of recommendations might take. So having those early and honest conversations with high school counselors and teachers and appropriate times and final advice as we kind of near the end of my formal presentation, but you know, we’re definitely about to take questions, is I want you to think of college admissions again as this four year journey.

Right. Or even longer. I think four year may actually, it is a longer journey. Right. Um, it’s not a single application. That’s the point. It is not just this kind of one and done thing there. It’s, as I said in the the initial slide, it’s cumulative. Um, I want you to think about death and growth and intentionality matter than, uh, they matter more than perfection and.

Oh, I, I just get so concerned sometimes I work with young people and I mean, they get an eight minus and it’s like they’re having panic attacks and I’m trying to let them know that they’re fine and that they’re more than grades and more than a number. And it just, you know, a lot of the self-worth sometimes becomes entangled with academic performance.

And I, it’s, it’s, it’s a learning process. There’s a lot of unlearning rather, that needs to happen to disentangle those things. Um, also use each year strategically, you know, these small decisions compound, right? So think about the clubs you participate in. The colleges, you might, you kind of tour the summer programs, um, but they’re all kind of working together, right?

So these larger goals, again, cumulative, seek guidance early. Right from counselors, mentors, families, teachers, right? Um, you could start having conversations with teachers. I would, you know, ask your teachers, where do they go to college? Right? And maybe you’re in a small town and you’re like, okay, I don’t wanna go to that school.

But just kind of ask ’em about their process. Let them know that you are college curious, as I like to say. And then ask regularly, does this choice move me closer to who I want to become? And that is in the decision you might make to do something that perhaps you should not be doing. Um, the decision might be what class you might take as opposed to another one, the activities.

Um, and you know, this is not written on here, but I also want to encourage you to have fun. I think, uh, high school was a very joyous time, and college was also a lot of fun. And I also, I think that’s very important. So you wanna have some fun because you, you only have that one high school experience while also taking into considerations your mental health.

What aligns with you? What brings you joy? What energizes you, what makes you excited about life and your future? So I will end there and we’ll transition to answering some of your questions.

Anna: Thank you so much, Dr. Aya, and we hope you found this information helpful. Remember, you can download the slides from the link in the handouts tab.

I also wanted to say that this presentation, um, and the q and a section as well, all being recorded, and it will be emailed to everyone who registered and available for you to view on our website. We’re gonna move on to the live q and a. As I get to each one, I will first read it out loud and paste it into the public chat so everyone can both see and hear them.

Before Dr. Aya responds. As a heads up, if your q and A tab isn’t working, if you’re not able to submit questions, just make sure that you join the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. All right. Um, here’s a question, Dr. Aya. Um, someone’s heard that some colleges open their applications as early as August 1st, and they’re saying, so wouldn’t that mean we should do the timeline earlier than you’re suggesting?

Aya: Thank you for that question. Not necessarily. I mean, when a college application opens doesn’t mean you have to submit it at that time and, and think about this. So a college open, you know, applications go live for some schools on August 1st. Most high schools are not back in session until mid-August, some, not even to September.

I think that after Labor Day, so students don’t have access to, um, high, the counselors might not be available. Um, the teachers may not be available. So one thing you have to keep in mind is the capacity of the counselors. And this is something I’ve seen high school counselors complain about sometimes that students and, and parents panic because they’re like, oh my God, I gotta submit my application as soon as it opens.

And it’s like they’re still on vacation with their families in Disney World. Um, you know, the school’s not back in session. So, um, yes, there are applications or schools that have rolling emissions. That’s another application where when you apply, they start reading, um, uh, uh, immediately. And that means you can get your decision earlier, right?

As opposed to you apply on November 1st and they release decisions after that deadline. So yes, application portals often open. Again, common app and some other application portals might open on August 1st. Does that mean you have to submit your application in August? No. Um, does that mean you’ll be put at a disadvantage if you don’t submit in in in August?

No. Um, you want to submit your application when you are ready and you could put the best foot forward. Okay. So typically students have the fall kind of deadline because teachers are back in, in the classroom, students are back in school. Uh, high school counselors are back. Um, and not all students kind of take standardized tests as early.

Some students need that summer to prepare for that August exam or that October exam. So, to answer your question, applications do start. Uh, you could start applying as early as August. Um, that’s often not recommended because again, the people you often need to submit applications, the high school counselors, the teachers, they’re not often ready and available and, and, and sit, you know, in schools.

So, um, again, if you have all your materials, by all means. Feel free to do that, but I don’t think it necessarily puts you at an advantage to apply, uh, to college as soon as the application portals opens or becomes available.

Anna: Thank you, Dr. Aya. That was really helpful. When do you suggest students start applying for scholarships?

Aya: Great question. Now. Um, I, I think students can start apply applying to coll, um, college scholarships, um, in high school. I mean, they, they vary. I, I feel like most of the scholarships I do see, particularly the larger wards tend to become available. Um. Fall of senior year or junior year. However, there are scholarships.

You know, I, people often come to me. I’m that person in my community. Um, I work with students here, CollegeAdvisor, identifying scholarships. There are scholarships that are available to any, any grade level freshman, 10th grade, you know, junior, senior year. So if you see that any grade level is available or any student can apply to this scholarship, go ahead and start applying if you, you know, um, everything helps.

And I’ll tell you this, sometimes students say, oh, it’s not worth the trouble to, to apply for that $1,000 scholarship. It adds up, save that money or put in a high-yield savings account, you know, make a little money on it and then use it for books or betting or your airplane ticket or shipping, et cetera.

It all, all adds up. So I start applying to scholarships early. Uh, for sure. I, you know, I, there isn’t a strict kind of scholarship timeline as soon as they become available to you. Um, I would, I encourage folks to start applying.

Anna: Thank you. Um, what advice do you have for athletes, particularly athletes who do more than one sport, um, if they just don’t have the time for many other extracurriculars?

Aya: Yeah, I appreciate that question. I would say it really depends on what their post, uh, secondary goals are. Uh, and I say that because I, I’ve seen it, I’ve worked with students who were such skilled athletes and um, and they had multiple sports, winter, sports, summer, you know, et cetera.

And they were, they were great. They were varsity, they were captains, and it took up all of their time. So it was like the twos, it was literally, I worked with a hockey student. He traveled, uh, you know, he was on a traveling hockey team. He was a decorated hockey player, and he probably did one other thing and he also got into his amazing schools.

Um, because what he talked about often was like how much, you know, hockey really was his north star and how, how he had been planning his whole life and the, the bonds he built with his teammates and, and the things he was able to achieve, the places he was able to see. I mentioned though, I say this with the asterisk, what are your goals?

Because if you are applying to more selective universities and you’re not thinking about pursuing these sports in college, like you’re not thinking about being recruited as an athlete, you are going to have to have a serious conversation about what your goals are. Like if you want to go to a very, very, very selective university, it may not be enough just to have those scores.

They might need to see other types of leadership. And again, that’s just like an honest conversation. So this requires a more, um, to be strategic. You know, I would start even, you know. Start reaching out to the schools and having conversations. I think sometimes folks get a little intimidated and think they can’t reach out to universities and admissions officers to kinda ask questions, um, general questions, and you can, but again, if you are applying to, if you’re trying to be a recruited athlete and you wanna lean into those sports because you want to be competitive, then I think that’s appropriate thing to do.

If you’re applying to schools where, you know, they don’t kind of specify like the importance of leadership and those two activities or the ways you show your leadership, by all means you’re fine. But sometimes students have to make really hard decisions. I work for the student this year, or I have to make a hard decision about stepping back from one of her activities.

Um, because she could not commit to all of her AP exam, uh, classes, all of her very selective, uh, college admissions, uh, kind of school she wanted to apply to, and then all the essays. So she had to sacrifice. Um, a, a physical activity, um, in lieu of other activities that align with some of her professional goals.

And one of the goals was to be a veterinarian. So again, I know it’s not an easy, uh, response or a very simple one, but it, it really requires you to think seriously about what are your, what are your goals, right? Are these sports gonna help you achieve your goal of being a, a physician or were they, are they a part of that larger goal?

If not, do you need to make some shifts so you can accommodate other activities that might also help you shine, um, long-term in the application process?

Anna: Thanks, Dr. Aya. Um, I’m gonna make this question maybe a little more broadly applicable.

Aya: Okay.

Anna: Um, what if a student has been all in on something like music for for years?

Aya: Yeah.

Anna: And then they’re approaching their senior year and they realize. Oh, actually for my career, I don’t wanna do music. I want to do health science or something. What do they do? They’re approaching their senior year, uh, with joining health clubs. Look like they’re just trying to pad their resume. How, how can they convey their passion and, and come across genuine?

Aya: Yeah, that’s a fantastic question. And I actually worked with a student like that this year. You know, one of my favorite quotes is, is never too late to be who you might have been. So students are often making shifts and thinking about goals and, you know, shifts are happening ex they have exposure to different things and we’re all growing and maturing.

I think for a student like that, getting them part of, you know, clubs and activities that might show that they’re interested in, you know, health science and et cetera, their senior year, their junior year would not, um, signal that they are disingenuous because there will still be some alignment also. This is, that’s a perfect example of.

Um, life decisions or things you’re thinking about, um, making great material for college essays, you know, I think that also could be, I can see that being a really amazing, you know, personal statement, right? Where you talk about the, how the love of music has led you to this epiphany or how you talk about that.

You once was all in, in music and then you made these shifts because of these particular reasons and how you actually truly want to be a physician or a nurse or what, what have you. So I think that’s okay. You are not alone. Again, and I feel similar to the sports question that we, that we discussed previously.

Sometimes students enter senior year and again, I worked with a student like this this year who said this particular activity, I’m okay with taking a step back. I’ve done it for eight years of my life. It’s not, it’s still something I love. I can still do it on a side and even, you know, do it in college, but I really wanna shift my focus on these, you know, medicine, veterinarian oriented clubs and activities.

Um, and then she wrote at length about that throughout her essay and, you know, happy to report that she got into her, her top choices, you know, so, um, I think you’ll be okay. And I also think it might be an opportunity to even write about it in some of your essays as well.

Anna: Yeah, that’s exactly what I wrote about in my, uh, application to law school.

I’d been all in on clinical psychology. I worked for a few years in the field, was planning on applying to a PhD program and then, you know, I just worked through some things.

Aya: Mm-hmm.

Anna: Realized that wasn’t the path I wanted to take, so. I embrace that in my application and I said, this is how my background in psychology is gonna prepare me for law school.

And so a student who do has done music could do the same thing. This is how music is gonna prepare me, uh, for health sciences. Um, Dr. Aya, you’ve been going strong almost an hour, so I’m gonna give you a little break now, um, just to take a quick pause so I can talk a bit about CollegeAdvisor for those in the room who are not already working with us.

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At the end, you’ll also learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, managing the timeline, uh, and so much more. We are here for the whole process. Uh, we’re gonna go. Back to the q and a for the rest of our time, but that QR code’s going to stay on the screen.

So please do give it a scan. Sign up, it’s a free hour, uh, with someone on our team. You can ask your admissions questions, um, specific to your profile. If you are unable to scan the QR code for whatever reason, remember you can download the slides from our handouts tab. The QR code will be in there. And also know that if you just stay in the webinar and don’t close out at the end, you let it automatically close out, it will redirect you to that page where you can book that free meeting.

So however you get there, I hope you get there and take advantage of that, that free opportunity to meet with us. All right, Dr. Aya, back to questions. Uh, we’ve had a few about this. Do schools assess out-of-state applicants any differently than in-state applicants?

Aya: Do they assess them differently? Um. Yes and no.

So let’s think oftentimes when there’s an instate, outstate disparity or difference, that means the university is public, right? If it’s a private university in-state and outta state, students are paying the same amount of money in similar process. However, a public university, which is funded by in large part, or should be at least by the state, um, there is a priority of for in-state students, right?

Where the tax dollars that we are paying, like in Michigan, is going to fund University of Michigan and Michigan State. Um, so you’ll often see, um, there might be different to, you know, it’s cheaper financially to go to school in-state, right? Because our tax dollars are subsidizing those costs for in-state students so that you often see those, um, those things.

You often see it though, however, in some of the. Other public universities, probably perhaps less selective. Um, there might out-of-state students with high higher grades, test scores are likely to get a, a higher merit, $8. So they’re trying to entice you to come to the university because you’ll still be paying a little bit more than those in-state students.

But they’ll give some large, uh, merit dollars to offset. So I have seen, uh, on the financial side, that’s one of the bigger kind of decisions. Um, for more selective universities. Again, there’s actually tends to be like a 50 50 split of in-state, outta state. Again, universities make a little bit more money for out-of-state students because they have to pay more.

Um, but I, I think generally, um, there aren’t. Too large of discrepancies. You’ll hear, you know, some people say, oh, it’s, it’s harder for out-of-state students, uh, at public universities, uh, to get in. And in some cases it’s harder for out-of-state students to get money. You’ll often see that in this case of like the uc school.

So it really varies on the types of institutions, whether it’s public, whether it’s private, and if your goal of playing, you know, the advantage, applying, you know, in-state is often the financial incentive. People are often trying to stay in state because it’s usually cheaper, a lot cheaper, um, to stay in state.

So that’s often the cost decision that people are making. Uh, I, I rarely hear people make the decision to apply out of state for an admissions advantage. Um, and I, and I think that is usually a, a rare rationale. And, and Ana, is that generally your impression as well?

Anna: Yep. Totally agree. Um, Dr. Aya, when do you think students should start visiting campuses?

Aya: Yeah, again, you can start visiting campuses in middle school. I mean, I started to visit some campuses in middle school, um, after the, I think high school, the, the spring break, uh, sophomore year. I feel like it’s a really popular time, right? ’cause people are then truly thinking about that application, you know, cycle.

Uh, I, I know a lot of students use spring, their spring breaks to, to do, you know, so they’ll go to Boston and visit all the schools in that area. I think that’s always a really great strategy. Go to DC and then visit the five, you know, five to 10 universities in the, the DMV area. So, again, I don’t think it’s too, I mean, I guess it is too early if you, if you can’t walk and you’re a baby, you won’t remember.

But I think, you know, middle school, that exposure can be really critical. And then as again, as early as ninth grade, you could start, start visiting those schools.

Anna: And I’ll add if you, especially if you can’t travel to visit schools, but you know students who graduated before you Yeah. And might be there.

Um, send ’em a text, ask if you can chat or video call to see, see the campus.

Aya: Yeah.

Anna: Um, I’m gonna try and shorten this question. Do you think colleges have a preference between different types of advanced coursework, AP, IB. Dual enrollment,

Aya: there’s typically no, there’s generally no preference between AP and IB from my experience.

Uh, however, with dual enrollment, um, if you’re applying to selective universities, um, and by, and when I use the word selective, I’m saying these are schools that, you know, um, Demi deny more students, they. Then they admit, uh, they tend to, uh, prefer AP and IB over dual enrollment. Dual enrollment is great where, um, if you’re thinking about in-state, largely like public universities or regional universities, those credits can transfer, right?

So you can, um, you know, take out some of the classes so it can be a little bit more affordable for you. Or say if you maxed out the eight, the, the highest course sequence at your school and your school, say your school doesn’t have a AP calculus class, so you take a dual enrollment calculus class at a local community college, that looks great too, but you should, you know, AP and IB, if that is offered at your school, you wanna max out those classes.

Uh, and then dual enrollment is a, a nice addition to show curiosity, curiosity and rigor. If you do, you know, if you already kind of maxed out the sequence, the AP IB sequence. But from my experience, selective universities prefer AP IB courses.

Anna: Thank you so much Dr. Aya. Thank you to everyone for your questions and for joining us tonight.

We’re so glad you were here. Um, reminder, if you haven’t been able to scan the QR code, just stay on this link until the webinar closes. It’ll automatically send you to our scheduling page for that free, um, ad admissions strategy meeting. Um, and with that, I will sign us off. Thank you everyone. Take good care.