What to do if you’ve been deferred

By Brittany MaschalDec 19, 2017

Some colleges and universities just can’t admit all of the students they would like to via early decision or early action (“ED” or “EA”), so they defer a few and evaluate them again during regular decision (“RD”). These candidates have a shot (albeit small) at getting admitted RD. However, some schools just defer everyone or almost everyone—the dreaded courtesy deferral. Most students that fall into this category should move on. But before doing anything to “work” a deferral:

1. Stay positive for RD, or preferably, early decision II (“ED II”), and keep moving forward!

2. Consider ED II. Not all schools have ED II; check your Common App to see if ED II is offered at any schools on your list.

3. Understand the RD numbers. The RD round is tough; it is smart to get familiar with the RD numbers and understand why ED II can present a significant advantage over RD. Read this chart. Pay particular attention to the percentage of the class filled by early plans.

Other Tips:

–Get your guidance counselor’s support. Have your guidance counselor call the admissions office and advocate for you, as well as provide any additional information they may have that will support your candidacy. Ask them to back up what they say on the phone in an email. If they are willing, have them send an additional note to the top 1-2 schools on your list.

-Make sure updated grades/transcript are sent promptly. Your grades should have remained the same or improved, not dipped.

–Get an extra letter of recommendation*. This letter could be written by a teacher, coach, or someone else close to you who can speak to your background, performance, and potential.

*Side note on alumni letters and letters from well-known or famous people. Many students ask if these are helpful to send, and the answer is no unless the person really knows you or they have a solid connection to admissions.

–Make contacts locally and talk to students and alumni. Reach out to local alumni chapters and ask if there is anyone willing to meet with you for an informal informational interview. Use this meeting as an opportunity to learn more about the school, and demonstrate your interest in attending. Information learned in these meetings are beneficial to include in your deferral letter.

 -Write a deferral letter. This letter should contain information updating the school on what you’ve been up to, both inside and outside of the classroom since the time you applied.

Secondary Efforts:

-Visit the school and swing by admissions to reiterate interest. Sit in on a class and take advantage of any admissions events and/or programming you may not have the first time around. Keep in mind that if you already visited and the school is more than a drive or train ride away, this might seem extravagant.

-Use social media to your advantage. Don’t be afraid to follow your top choice schools on Facebook, Instagram, Snap or other social channels. Most schools also have LinkedIn pages you can follow. These touch points likely won’t help significantly, but can’t hurt as a way to demonstrate interest.

 

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December Action Plan – Seniors

By Brittany MaschalDec 01, 2017

Seniors! Many of you have already heard from one or more of your early application schools, and many more schools will release decisions on or around December 15th. Still, there’s plenty to do as early application decisions roll in. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

December Action Plan

  • Track your application status. Once your applications have been submitted, be sure to track their status online to ensure schools have received all of your application materials. Follow up with your school counselor ASAP if a college is missing your transcript or a letter of recommendation. Check your JUNK/SPAM email folder daily so you do not miss correspondence from schools.
  • Do you have any updates that might benefit your early application? An award or big upward trend in your grades? If so, please contact me about sending an update email to your early schools
  • Do the schools on your list require you send midterm grade reports? Check requirements online and talk to your school counselor about having them sent to schools as needed
  • It is very difficult to write your essays and complete your applications from December 15 through January 1 because of the holidays, and…
  • It’s always a good idea to submit apps two to four weeks ahead of RD deadlines as some schools have early RD deadlines for scholarship or interview consideration (for example, Duke should be submitted by 12/20 for interview consideration).
  • Meet with your school counselor. Share your RD list and make sure they know to send docs accordingly and far in advance of deadlines.
  • Prepare for interviews!

 

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College Interviews and Interview Prep

By Brittany MaschalNov 27, 2017

Not all colleges require interviews. In fact, many don’t offer them. At schools that do, they are not always evaluative or even considered in the admissions process. That being said, I still suggest you interview if you can. Why? It is a way to demonstrate interest, learn more about the school, and help the school learn more about you. Sounds worth it to me! If you can’t, don’t worry about it.

College Kickstart compiled some helpful interview data regarding colleges that require or strongly recommend interviews, and how that interview is used (or not used) in the admissions process. Head over to their website to check it out!

Below, you will find some common interview questions. Practice with a parent or friend. Never go to an interview (even those that are not evaluative) unprepared!

High School Experience

  • Tell me a little bit about your high school.

  • Tell me about the courses you are taking currently.

  • Tell me about your favorite class(s) you have taken. Why was it your favorite?

  • Which class has been your least favorite? Why?

  • Which classes have been the most difficult (or most challenging)?

  • What subjects do you plan on studying at [school]?

  • What activities and/or classes have you taken related to that field?

  • What is your dream job?

Extracurricular Activities

  • What extra-curricular activities are you involved with? What do you like to do for fun (outside of the classroom)?

  • When you’re not in class, studying, or doing homework, what do you do with your time (organized activities or things for fun)?

  • How did you get involved/started with ____ activity?

  • What activity is the most meaningful to you, and what is just the most fun?

  • What extra-curricular activities do you hope to be involved with in college?

College Expectations

  • What type of environment are you looking for in a college/university?

  • To what other colleges/universities are you applying?

  • How is the admissions process going for you?

University Specific

  • How did you become interested in [school]?

  • What do you find appealing about [school]?

  • Why do you think you [school] might be the right fit for you?

  • Do you know any students at [school]? Have you reached out to them to learn more about [school]?

  • If you had an opportunity to tell the Admissions Committee anything about yourself, what would it be? What would you want the Admissions Committee to know about you that may not come across on your application?

  • What have you learned about [school] that seems unusual or surprising?

Miscellaneous

  • Is there anything we haven’t talked about that you wanted to discuss?

  • Apart from looking at colleges, how have you spent your high school summers?

  • How would your best friend describe you?

  • How would your teachers describe you?

  • If you had a year to do anything you want, what would it be and why?

 

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After you’ve submitted early apps…

By Brittany MaschalNov 13, 2017

If you’re applying Regular Decision (RD) to colleges, you should continue to make progress on your essays and applications in case your early applications are denied or deferred in December/January. It is very difficult to write your essays and complete your applications from December 15 through January 1 or 15, and…

It’s always a good idea to submit apps two to four weeks ahead of RD deadlines as some schools have early RD deadlines for scholarship or interview consideration (for example, USC should be submitted by 12/1 for scholarship consideration, and Duke should be submitted by 12/20 for interview consideration).

I also suggest meeting with your school counselor and triple checking that all early app materials were sent. Share your RD list and make sure they know to send docs accordingly and far in advance of deadlines.

Don’t forget to prepare for interviews! If you have alumni or on-campus interviews, prepare now, don’t wait until the interview is scheduled.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:

Track your application status. Once your applications have been submitted, be sure to track their status online to ensure they received all of your application materials. Follow up with your school counselor ASAP if a school is missing your transcript or a letter of recommendation. Check your JUNK/SPAM email folder regularly (every day) so you do not miss correspondence from schools.

 

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Deadline Day! Time to Celebrate!

By Brittany MaschalNov 01, 2017

Happy November 1!

Congrats to everyone who submitted early apps that were due today (and earlier)! Take a breather, but don’t forget to keep working on regular decision applications—you don’t want to rush these last minute. By the time the holidays roll around, you’ll have much better things to do. Complete RD apps now!

Hopefully, your applications are in, and you did not wait until the last minute to apply. Why?

The Common App (CA) often has some glitches around this first big deadline. The New York Times reported on the most recent outage today, but the CA was not the only app with issues this fall. I heard the Coalition App was also having login issues this past weekend—in addition to all of the issues users have actually filling the thing out. The consensus is, it’s not a great app/interface.

Also, don’t forget:

It’s always a good idea to submit apps two to four weeks ahead of RD deadlines as some schools have early RD deadlines for scholarship or interview consideration (for example, USC should be submitted by 12/1 for scholarship consideration, and Duke should be submitted by 12/20 for interview consideration).

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Why Choosing Wisely Early is Critical to a Successful Admission Process

By Brittany MaschalOct 09, 2017

Now more than ever before, colleges and universities are filling the majority of their class via early admission programs. Unfortunately, this means applying early is a must at many selective schools, as regular decision admit rates are at crazy lows. Here are some examples from an  Applerouth article on the topic. If these numbers don’t encourage you to choose your early school(s) wisely, I’m not sure what will!!!

Colorado College accepted 87% of its class through early admissions programs (they have ED and EA). Although hard to believe, the regular decision admit rate at Colorado College was just 5% this year.  For students applying ED, the admit rate was 26%.

The story is not much different at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt accepts about 53% of its 1600 freshmen through its EDI and EDII programs.  This past admissions cycle, students who applied to Vanderbilt EDI or EDII had a 23.6% admit rate. Students who applied during the regular admissions cycle had an admit rate of just 2.7%.

Regular Decision candidates didn’t fare much better at Tulane.  Lindsay Hoyt, Assistant Director of Admissions at Tulane, said during a presentation in San Antonio that the university’s inaugural ED year was “successful” for the admissions office. She estimated that Tulane’s incoming first-year class for 2021 would have around 1470 total students, just 50 of whom had not applied either ED or EA.  

I often advise students (and their parents) to not waste their early decision card. It is not because I don’t want students to give their dream college a go—it’s because they may end up at a school that is far less selective than their profile warrants solely because RD is nearly impossible these days.

Here’s an example. Your top choice is Harvard. You have all A’s, a 34 ACT, 2-3 subject tests that are above 750, a strong but standard profile (which is most applicants), and attend a well-known competitive high school. You are not a recruited athlete, legacy, or underrepresented minority student. Harvard is a reach for you; I would advise you not to apply. You apply anyway and are rejected (or worse, deferred, which almost never works out!).

Your sights are still set on an Ivy, so you end up applying to all of them RD, plus Stanford, and Emory, Rice, JHU, Vanderbilt, and Duke. Best case scenario you get into Emory and *maybe* (with a bit of luck) get into Cornell, JHU, Rice, Vandy or Duke—but there are no guarantees for you at those schools RD. Chances are you’ll get into at least one, but you could not get into any of them depending on how the early round played out at your high school. If it was a bloodbath (this sometimes happens), you could get shut out of all these schools because competition RD will be that much greater at your high school. A smart option would be to apply somewhere ED II (UChicago is a great choice).

When you have to apply during RD, you need to cast a very wide net. You need to throw in some schools that are safe bets from your high school, and this means safety schools. Apply to your state school early just in case, or if you apply ED, pair that app with as many “match” EA’s as you can so you can avoid relying on RD. If you have a top choice on your list that has ED II, highly consider that option if you do not get into your first choice early.

Contact us to learn more about our college counseling services, and how we can work together to choose your early school(s) wisely!

 

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Gotta Have It: Standout College Application Essays

By Brittany MaschalOct 02, 2017

You might be finished your personal statement by now (congrats!), but if you haven’t this one is for you.

A bit about how I approach the process. I send out sample essays to the students I work with so they get a sense of “what works”. There is no one size fits all approach, but I’d like to think the sample essays I share all have a few things in common.

  1. Showed a side of the student not reflected in other parts of their app
  2. Explained something that was not going to be/could not be explained in another part of their app
  3. Highlighted a special interest/talent/experience
  4. Well-written

An awesome personal statement needs to hit a few if not all of the above (well-written is non-negotiable), and those that do not might represent a missed opportunity. We go through an extensive brainstorming process with students, which results in a topic that doesn’t miss the mark. If you’d like to learn more about how we help guide students on the essay writing process and make best use of what I believe is one of the only parts of the app you have total creative control over, shoot me an email.

Anyway, I initially started writing this post because I wanted to share a New York Times article that includes four personal statements that are quite good. Give it a read, and happy writing!

 

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Harvard Decision Emphasizes What We’ve Been Preaching All Along

By Brittany MaschalJun 15, 2017

Our educational consulting services include more than just helping you complete your applications. We see college and early career applicant’s digital footprint, and the presence of a digital portfolio, as vital components of their candidacy. The recent Harvard decision to rescind the acceptances of at least 10 students makes it wildly clear: your digital footprint matters. We believe this means not only engaging in appropriate behavior online, but also proactively creating a positive online image.

Some colleges don’t proactively ask for online resources yet, but with a rise in the use of platforms like ZeeMee in college admissions, it’s a no-brainer to create a digital portfolio (LinkedIn, SoundCloud, personal website, and/or blog). College students who are looking for internships and full-time jobs need their digital footprint and social media game to be on point to stand out from the crowd.

Fill out the contact form to learn more about how a digital portfolio can help you tell your story, get into college, and land your dream job or internship!

 

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How to ease student stress

By Brittany MaschalJun 12, 2017

Students are stressed. I read about it all the time in the news, and hear about it all the time from my colleagues and parents of my students. It stinks, but it makes sense. Students today are high achievers, motivated to excel in school and sports, rise to leadership roles in clubs, and serve their communities. So many of them I know really do it all, and in some cases, do it all really well. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost. They sleep little, stress lots, and don’t always put their wellbeing before their achievements. What’s worse, is they often aren’t doing it all for a good reason. Instead of a true intrinsic motivation to explore what interests them, exercise and engage in healthy athletic competition, and do good for the sake of doing good, a lot of students are driven by a desire to reach a specific goal, namely, admission to an uber selective college or university.

One way to ease student stress (at least in many of the students I work with) is to get students to realize that attending an Ivy League school, even a top 20 or 30 school, is not the key to success in life. Leading a successful—and let’s not forget happy life—has nothing to do with where you go to college. The Ivy League and other uber selective institutions have a lot to offer, but they are not the only schools in the game. They own the rights to a powerful brand, but that doesn’t mean there’s some magic taught on these campuses instilling success and happiness in every single one of the students who attend—there is not! My advice to students and parents is to take a deep breath (literally, research says so) and look beyond the Ivies and other uber selective institutions. Create a list with some breadth and depth. Do some exploring and see all the wonderful options that are out there—you may be very pleasantly surprised.

Speaking of deep breaths, another way to ease student stress is to practice some of the techniques espoused by positive psychology. A recent NY Times article highlighted a few stress relieving techniques via Dr. Seligman at UPenn that I want to share. (I know…I just said look beyond the Ivy League and the article I linked above cites research from Stanford…but I will still cite some of the outstanding research that comes out of Penn and other top research institutions that fall into the uber selective category on this blog).

To cultivate the components of well-being, which include engagement, good relationships, accomplishment, and purpose, Dr. Seligman suggests four exercises based on research at the Penn Positive Psychology Center, which he directs, and at other universities. These exercises are not specifically geared toward high school students, but I see no reason why they would not apply. Enjoy!

Identify Signature Strengths

Write down a story about a time when you were at your best. It doesn’t need to be a life-changing event but should have a clear beginning, middle and end. Reread it every day for a week, and each time ask yourself: “What personal strengths did I display when I was at my best?” Did you show a lot of creativity? Good judgment? Were you kind to other people? Loyal? Brave? Passionate? Forgiving? Honest?

Writing down your answers “puts you in touch with what you’re good at,” Dr. Seligman explained. The next step is to contemplate how to use these strengths to your advantage, intentionally organizing and structuring your life around them.

In a study by Dr. Seligman and colleagues published in American Psychologist, participants looked for an opportunity to deploy one of their signature strengths “in a new and different way” every day for one week.

“A week later, a month later, six months later, people had on average lower rates of depression and higher life satisfaction,” Dr. Seligman said. “Possible mechanisms could be more positive emotions. People like you more, relationships go better, life goes better.”

Find the Good

Set aside 10 minutes before you go to bed each night to write down three things that went really well that day. Next to each event answer the question, “Why did this good thing happen?”

Instead of focusing on life’s lows, which can increase the likelihood of depression, the exercise “turns your attention to the good things in life, so it changes what you attend to,” Dr. Seligman said. “Consciousness is like your tongue: It swirls around in the mouth looking for a cavity, and when it finds it, you focus on it. Imagine if your tongue went looking for a beautiful, healthy tooth.” Polish it.

Make a Gratitude Visit

Think of someone who has been especially kind to you but you have not properly thanked. Write a letter describing what he or she did and how it affected your life, and how you often remember the effort. Then arrange a meeting and read the letter aloud, in person.

“It’s common that when people do the gratitude visit both people weep out of joy,” Dr. Seligman said. Why is the experience so powerful? “It puts you in better touch with other people, with your place in the world.”

Respond Constructively

This exercise was inspired by the work of Shelly Gable, a social psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has extensively studied marriages and other close relationships. The next time someone you care about shares good news, give what Dr. Gable calls an “active constructive response.”

That is, instead of saying something passive like, “Oh, that’s nice” or being dismissive, express genuine excitement. Prolong the discussion by, say, encouraging them to tell others or suggest a celebratory activity.

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