ROI: What are we really measuring?

I posted about a Georgetown study on Higher Education ROI on our Facebook page a few weeks back and promised to follow up with a blog post. I think there’s a lot of interesting information here, and while it may be surprising at first to hear about Maine Maritime Academy and the pharmacy schools, it brought up another point that I’ve thought a lot about lately: that it’s important to realize that when we consider these issues, we are looking at averages.

It’s absolutely correct that the average income of a pharmacist is higher than the average liberal arts graduate. There’s a whole sub-set of fields like this - engineering is another great example - where the starting salaries are high and remain consistent, without much risk of the student ending up unemployed or underemployed.

However, averages don’t tell the whole story. How many engineers or pharmacists do you know in the top 1%? I almost feel badly writing this out because I do not think that high incomes should necessarily be everyone’s goal (I have a master’s degree in education for goodness’ sake!) but if we’re going to use salary information as a ranking metric, I think we need to differentiate between the chance of achieving financial stability and the chance of becoming a high-income earner.

I know that the definitions of these are probably different for everyone, but let’s say for our purposes, a financially stable professional might bring in about $100k in the DC area and a high-income earner might bring in about $300k+ in the DC area. Give or take.

How would these rankings look if instead of taking the average incomes of graduates - which clearly speak to stability - they took the percentage of alumni earning more than $300k? Oh, and if they performed cost-of-living adjustments (I can dream, right? All my readers know how passionately I feel about cost of living adjustments!). I think this would give us very different results. No way would the Maine Maritime Academy come out on top, in my opinion - or the pharmacy schools.

Yes, there’s no question that liberal arts degrees bear more risk as opposed to pre-professional degrees. No doubt about it. But I really do believe that by and large, they also offer the most reward. When I look at myself, an English major with a master’s degree in education, I know that on paper I should probably be making a tenth of what I actually earn. On the other hand, though, maybe it was my relatively low income potential that led me into entrepreneurship. If I had a solid six-figure engineering job at age 25, would I have taken the risk of losing that income? Again, just speaking for myself here, but I don’t think I would have.

I think that the Wealth-X list provides a good point of comparison that comes a little closer to the point I’m trying to make, although we have to keep in mind that people with a net worth exceeding $30m are not exactly the norm. But I do enjoy this statistic: “University of Chicago and University of Virginia share the distinction of having the most UHNW [ultra high net worth] alumni with self-made wealth.” YES! That is right about what I would have guessed.

Now, how about just regular high net worth alumni? Time for someone to perform that study!

Colleen's Favorite Things

One for you, and you, and you, and you…

Anyone else love the Oprah’s Favorite Things list that comes out each year? I usually end up buying myself a whole bunch of things I didn’t know I “needed" but suddenly have to have! Fortunately (or unfortunately), this year ‘s list didn’t impress me all that much. Nothing really called my name!

Even so, I felt inspired to create my own list of “favorite things” for parents and students who are either in the middle of the admissions process or about to embark on it! Some are practical, some are fun - enjoy!

• Rick Clark and Brennan Barnard’s relatively-new book, The Truth about College Admission: A Family Guide to Getting In and Staying Together. Ok, full disclosure, I haven’t read it yet. BUT - I am a big fan of Rick Clark’s blog and have no reason to believe that the book won’t be just as great. I already had it on my reading list when I happened to sit next to the publisher on the flight home from NACAC, and he made me even more excited to read it.

• I’m not sure if I can really count a Southwest Companion Pass, because you can’t exactly buy one, but it’s my list so I make the rules, right? Every parent taking teens on college tours - and the teen himself! - will appreciate one of these so much. If you spend enough money on the card in early 2020 (or take enough flights), Southwest lets you select a companion of your choice. That companion can fly with you for free for the rest of the calendar year plus the following entire calendar year. You just have to maintain the same level of spending/flying and your pass will auto-renew for the following year and thereafter. I have had mine for several years now and am obsessed! My daughter and I zip all over the place and I can change my companion three times per year.

• How fun would it be to stick a homesick candle in the stocking of an ED admit!? These candles “tap into your sensory memory through nostalgic scents” and have probably the most amazing product descriptions I’ve ever read. Here’s what they say about the Durham candle: “The sweet scent of daffodils blooming in March and Carolina dogwood found flowering near K-ville. Cedarwood, musk, pecans, and burning bench wood round out the final four scents of this championship candle.” It looks like a lot of the college-themed ones have sold out but hopefully they will restock soon. And if the person who writes those descriptions ever comes across this post, please send me your resume because I would hire you in a heartbeat!

• The Rocketbook Everlast is a fantastic “smart notebook” at an incredibly low price point. It integrates with Evernote, Google Drive and more for seamless note-taking. I bring mine to information sessions all the time, take notes, and then can easily upload them to google drive without having to retype everything. Great for parents or students, but from the student perspective, these will make writing the “Why this college” supplemental essays so much easier - and at this price point, it’s not the end of the world if it gets lost.

• The stress involved in the college admissions process can turn even the most calm student OR parent into a basket case, but these adorable Mindfulness cards can help!

• Every ED admit I know stocks up on college apparel like there’s no tomorrow - check out Hillflint instead of buying whatever pops up first on google. They offer trendier, more upscale sweaters, sweatshirts and so on and are sold at stores like Nordstrom and Saks. Everything has sort of a retro feel and are much higher quality than a typical piece of clothing from a college bookstore, although now some bookstores have started to contract directly with Hillflint to provide merchandise, which is pretty cool too.

• Last but not least… a gift certificate for an 11th-12th grade Strategy and Planning Session will help students separate fact from fiction and move forward in the college process with a solid plan in place. The gift certificate includes a booking code that allows the student to book the session online at their convenience, so it’s really easy for nieces/nephews, grandchildren, etc. While I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone, a January session can also present a strategic opportunity for a senior who may have been deferred from her first-choice school. We can sit together to come up with an action plan to move forward in a positive way and maximize the chances of good news in the spring.

• We also have gift certificates for 8th-10th grade Strategy and Planning Sessions as well. And someone feeling VERY generous can purchase a gift certificate for an entire package - shoot us an email and we can provide details.

Meet Staci!

Our newest essay coach, Staci, is guest blogging with an introduction today! It is hard to believe she has only been with us for two months as she is such an integral part of the team already; she has been my right-hand man with our “late start seniors” this year and has worked a schedule so crazy it rivals mine!

Parents and students love her approachable style and the way she can help even the most reluctant writer craft an outstanding essay!

Thanks to the power of LinkedIn, I was fortunate enough to ‘link’ with DC College Counseling in August--just in time for the busy college application season. You may have seen me in the office, probably sipping on my venti iced coffee, or have spent sessions with me as we’ve brainstormed your essay prompts. I’ve had the opportunity to learn a great deal about all of you, so it’s only fair that you now get to learn a bit about me. 

I entered Franklin and Marshall College with every intention of becoming a lawyer. However, a year abroad changed my life (that’s a story for another time) and left me wanting to pursue a Ph.D. in English instead.  When I delved into my graduate work, first at Lehigh University and then University of Delaware, I began to realize that I enjoyed teaching English classes much more than conducting my own research. So after several years of graduate school, I abandoned my Ph.D. and started doing the thing I swore I would never do--teaching high school English. 

Fast forward over a decade, and I’ve literally been around the world teaching, traveling, and growing my career. I’ve settled in Northern Virginia, where I now train international teachers; develop courses and curriculum frameworks; work individually with students who have special needs or those who need extra reading/writing support; and teach dance and fitness classes for fun. 

I know I’ve worked with many of you as you’ve filled out these supplemental short answers, so I’ll practice what I preach and fill them out as well. Trust me when I say, I know how hard these questions can be! 

DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREE WORDS (25 CHARACTERS):

Gregarious; driven; creative

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SNACK?

Hummus and veggies

FAVORITE APP/WEBSITE:

Canva and Marco Polo

BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME:

The Goonies

HASHTAG TO DESCRIBE YOURSELF:

#doesntsleep

DREAM JOB:

What I am doing now...but it’s my dream to add ‘published author’ to my resume. 

WHAT IS YOUR THEME SONG?

Three Little Birds- Bob Marley 

DREAM TRIP:

Hiking the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain

WHAT TV SHOW WILL YOU BINGE WATCH NEXT?

The Great British Baking Show, Season 7

PLACE YOU ARE MOST CONTENT?

The Swiss Alps

I can’t promise the Swiss Alps, but if you’re a current client hoping to spend some time with Staci in the editing office, you can book one of her essay coaching or interview prep sessions here :)

NACAC, CEPP, DOJ: Too Many Acronyms!

I got a little behind with my blog posts this fall, but there’s actually been a number of interesting developments in the college admissions world that I’ve been meaning to share. Now that November 1 is over, I’m excited to get back to blogging regularly!

In late September, while I was at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference in Louisville, the membership voted to remove three provisions from our Code of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP). These changes have caused a wave of feedback across students, families, and college counselors...but what do these changes really mean for your college application process?

I’m unpacking the details in this post with a condensed, all-you-need-to-know version. Hopefully, families will be able to stay on top of the implications of these changes.

The History

NACAC’s long-time code of ethics, the Statement of Principles and Good Practices (otherwise known as the SPGP - another acronym!) had a big revamp back in 2017. The SPGP was a bit lengthy and some felt that it was outdated, so the creation of the CEPP (Code of Ethics of Professional Practices) was really welcomed. No matter the name, the purpose of these documents has always been the same: to protect students during the college admissions process.

Over the past two years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a major investigation against NACAC, believing that some CEPP guidelines are overly restrictive for both applicants (in terms of their ability to negotiate costs) and institutions (in terms of being restricted in their recruitment abilities).

The CEPP requires colleges to standardize their use of application plans, along with guidelines. For example, Early Decision is supposed to mean the same thing everywhere, and so forth. Colleges were not permitted to advertise exclusive incentives for Early Decision.

Additionally, all colleges had to abide by specific rules around the May 1st enrollment deadline: admissions representatives were not permitted to “knowingly recruit” students after that date who had already committed to other institutions. Along the same lines, they couldn’t solicit transfer applications from those students, either.

As a result of mounting legal bills, the organization decided to remove provisions from the CEPP to address these concerns. These provisions--you guessed it--include the Early Decision application incentives, recruiting after the May 1st college decision deadline, and the transfer student restrictions.

Early Decision

Before these changes, the CEPP outlined that colleges could not offer any incentive (special housing, financial aid packages, and special scholarships) to students to encourage them to apply under a binding Early Decision deadline. They were allowed to share the differences between admission rates, but that was it.

After the NACAC vote, this measure was removed from the CEPP:

"Colleges must not offer incentives exclusive to students applying or admitted under an early decision application plan. Examples of incentives include the promise of special housing, enhanced financial aid packages, and special scholarships for early decision admits. Colleges may, however, disclose how admission rates for early decision differ from those for other admission plans."

What does this mean? In short, colleges can now offer incentives under a binding Early Decision program. As our seniors know, Early Decision is a sign of serious commitment to the school and is only appropriate when it is a clear first choice and the student and his family are aware of the financial obligations if accepted. I am actually a big fan of using Early Decision as part of a student’s overall strategy, but it has to be a thought-out decision after careful consideration of the potential drawbacks.

Now that this provision relating to incentives has been removed, it’s sort of like “anything goes” in terms of what can be promised; high-pressure sales tactics are fine. If you receive any strange offers from colleges incentivizing an ED/ED II application, please let us know! These incentives may cloud some of the serious implications of an ED commitment--and they are not always guaranteed.

Check out High Point’s ED Incentives for an example of incentive offerings (you will need to click on the “Early Decision” link.

My guess is that the Class of 2021 will see much more of this than the Class of 2020, because of the additional time for the institutions to make policy changes.

May 1st Deadline/Transfers

I remember May 1st of my senior year so clearly: everyone was anxiety-ridden just weeks before, but then a switch flipped and they were all walking around proudly sporting t-shirts from their future colleges. May 1st is known as the “national decision deadline” for students to finalize their college admissions decisions. In the past, nothing changed after that date unless a student was admitted elsewhere off a waitlist. Both the SPGP and CEPP prohibited colleges from providing last-minute incentives (scholarships, housing, other benefits, etc.) to students to change their minds.

This measure was also removed from the CEPP during the recent vote:

"College choices should be informed, well-considered, and free from coercion. Students require a reasonable amount of time to identify their college choices; complete applications for admission, financial aid, and scholarships; and decide which offer of admission to accept. Once students have committed themselves to a college, other colleges must respect that choice and cease recruiting them."

Also removed…

"Colleges will not knowingly recruit or offer enrollment incentives to students who are already enrolled, registered, have declared their intent, or submitted contractual deposits to other institutions. May 1 is the point at which commitments to enroll become final, and colleges must respect that. The recognized exceptions are when students are admitted from a wait list, students initiate inquiries themselves, or cooperation is sought by institutions that provide transfer programs."

What does this mean? This has largely the same impact as the ED change. On May 1st, students are fully committing to an institution financially. These incentives, again, may cloud their judgment and cause second-guessing. While we are hopeful that colleges will still respect the previous ethical guidelines and each student’s right to make their college choice free from harassment, we will not know how this change will make an impact until after May 1st.  Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects involves the fact that the constant pressure may continue even after a student enrolls in college!

Here’s the last measure removed from the CEPP:

"Colleges must not solicit transfer applications from a previous year’s applicant or prospect pool unless the students have themselves initiated a transfer inquiry or the college has verified prior to contacting the students that they are either enrolled at a college that allows transfer recruitment from other colleges or are not currently enrolled in a college."

This has started already, as a number of colleges have started reaching out to freshmen enrolled at different institutions, offering them incentives to transfer.

The Wild, Wild West

Here’s the craziest part - in addition to outright removing the measures above, NACAC has put a moratorium on enforcement on every other provision that remains. Yes, you read that right. It’s like telling your kids: I’m getting rid of the rule about your curfew. I’m keeping the rest of our house rules, but I’m letting you know now that I won’t enforce anything. Hmm….

Actually, I don’t blame NACAC at all: they did what they had to do. But in the post-Varsity Blues world, it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. If you are interested in reading all of the (no-longer-enforced) provisions in the new CEPP, you can do so here.

What Now?

Amongst all these changes, there still lies some ambiguity.

Will NACAC member institutions choose to uphold the values of the eliminated CEPP guidelines?

What about the guidelines that do exist that aren’t being enforced?

At this time, we don’t know anything for sure, but here’s what I anticipate happening (keep in mind these views are my own and do not represent NACAC, nor those of any of the other professional organizations to which I belong).

• Enrollment deposits may rise to sky-high levels. Right now they are mostly around $300-500 or so. If a student decides not to attend the school to which they have deposited, they lose that deposit, but that’s not the real penalty of breaking an enrollment contract. The real penalty has always been that the student will not be able to enroll anywhere else, because all of the schools stuck to the SGPG/CEPP guidelines. What kind of financial commitment will make it hard for a full-pay parent to walk away if their child gets an acceptance to their dream school after their high school graduation? Not $1000, that’s for sure. Probably not $10,000 either, in my opinion.

• Colleges may be extra-conservative in their admissions decisions, knowing that their predictive models may be invalid. In these situations, it’s always better to err on the side of conservatism. It’s easy to fill the class from the waitlist, but as we saw this year with Virginia Tech, it’s not so easy to manage the overcrowding that can result from the opposite situation.

• Students will have negotiating power for merit scholarships. This is a good thing, at least!

• Regular Decision round will become much more unpredictable than it already is because of (a) the increased interest in ED incentives and (b) the May 1 date becoming meaningless. I have started telling my juniors that we cannot call any school a “safety” during Regular Decision if the school offers ED - no matter how high the acceptance rate. It’s just too unpredictable now and we can’t bank on it.

• Students will be put in high-pressure sales-pitch situations. This is unlikely to happen at the most selective schools, but I could definitely see it happening at moderately competitive ones. This has been common with waitlists - colleges may call and give the student 24 hours to decide. It’s hard to be in that situation. Mom and dad out of town? Too bad! A deadline is a deadline. I can definitely see this becoming a “thing” during every round.

This will be an interesting year, for sure. Again, we ask that all of our clients (current and past!) report unusual activity to us so that we can help everyone make the best possible decisions!

Relying Upon Natural Instincts with Kolbe Indexes

I jumped headfirst into the world of podcasts this past year. I have a whole bunch that I love, and it’s actually incredible how much I can learn while driving or getting ready in the morning.

While I was driving from the University of Wisconsin - Madison to Chicago last month, I listened to a podcast about the value of the Kolbe A Index. I’d never heard of it before but by the end of the episode, I was completely sold. I was dying to get to my hotel so that I could take it myself!

This index measures a person’s instinctive way of doing things in order to identify their strengths. Essentially, there are four categories: Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor. After taking the short assessment, a person is rated on a 1-10 scale in each category to learn about their instinctive action pattern in that particular category.

The key, though, is that none of this is “bad” or “good.”

A person who has a low score in the Fact Finder category might be great at looking at the big picture without needing to deal with details. On the flip side, a person with a high score in that category might be great at research, collecting information and making meaning of that information (data analysis, basically).

The objective is to use the findings to make sure that the person has a career and relationships that align with their natural instincts - this is what will lead to their happiness and success.

Don’t read into the actual names of the categories too much, because they aren’t as directly linked as you might expect (this is actually my only criticism - I find the names confusing).

For instance, Implementor isn’t about a person’s instinctive ability to implement, as I would guess; it’s about tangibles, and measures mental vs. physical implementation. Along the same lines, Follow Thru is more about adaptability and the need for processes.

Here are my results:

In news that did not surprise me one bit, I am a middle-to-high Fact Finder and have the second-highest Quick Start score possible- meaning that in addition to my obsession with data, I have a natural tendency to innovate and problem-solve. I have a low Implementor score, so I’m good at figuring out ideas in my head and useless when it comes to fixing or setting up physical items.

My report actually advised that I’d be unhappy if I had to “take responsibility for maintaining equipment, demonstrate the use of mechanical stuff, or take apart small appliances.” You do not have to tell me any of that twice!

I also have a low Follow Thru score, meaning that I enjoy “cut[ting] through bureaucracy” and would be unhappy if I had to “adhere to redundant systems.” YES!

what I thought was really interesting is that parents can use this information TO IMPROVE THEIR DAY-TO-DAY INTERACTIONS WITH TEENAGE OR ADULT CHILDREN.

How often do we hear ourselves (and other parents) saying things like “I just don’t understand why she makes the same mistakes over and over again” or “Why isn’t he willing to visit colleges”? Well, this will help you understand exactly what’s going on - and how your child’s natural instincts impact their actions.

Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, parents can compare their own Kolbe A Index score with their child’s Kolbe Y Index score to learn about how the two align and how they can most effectively communicate and interact with one another.

We can also work with teenagers’ Kolbe scores to help them try to figure out which careers could be the best natural fit.

The idea is that if you force someone into a behavior or role that goes against the person’s natural instinct, they won’t succeed.

I learned that my score report above suggested that I would find success and happiness as a combined subject matter expert and entrepreneur.

Pretty cool, right?

(Note: This is not a sponsored post at all - I just really think Kolbe scores could be helpful for families!)

Nervous to click "Review and Submit"? You're not alone!

Over the years I have noticed that many families have a lot of anxiety over submitting applications. Totally understandable! It’s actually a very easy process but can be completely nerve-wracking at the same time.

It reminds me of a comment a pilot made to me once - that no matter how many flights he’s landed, he still gets a tiny bit anxious. I’ve helped submit probably 200 applications this month alone and I feel the same way! It’s a lot of pressure.

Before starting the process…

Step 1: Complete the application and ask a trusted adult to review it carefully! We do this with our clients, of course, but those working at home can pick up a copy of one of our application guides to help. Pro tip: the activities section is the most difficult part. If it’s not a little hard, you’re probably not doing it right. READ THE DIRECTIONS IN THE GUIDE!

Step 2: “Invite” any recommenders (teachers, counselor, parent for ED authorization, etc) through the “Recommenders and FERPA” tab. Again, we do this with all of our clients, typically at our early August college counseling meetings.

If any questions remain about Step #1 or Step #2, stop. Do not pass go. You are NOT ready to start submitting yet.

Let’s begin!

Step 3: Confirm that you have green check marks next to “Questions” and “Recommenders and FERPA” under the college’s name. If you don’t, there’s a problem with your completion of the initial steps and you weren’t ready to submit after all! Time to back up.

Step 4: Click “Review and Submit.”

THIS WILL NOT RESULT IN A SUBMITTED APPLICATION! I promise :) There is literally no possible way that you can submit this by accident.

Step 5: If the college does not require the Common App (R) essay, click “Yes, include my personal essay” unless you have a unique circumstance and are not doing so for a specific reason. Most colleges DO require the Common App (R) essay, so you won’t see this too often.

Step 6: Click “Review and Submit.”

Once again - you can’t submit by accident. I swear!

STARTING TO REVIEW

The next page that will come up is a PDF form of your Common Application (R).

Step 7: Either scroll down in the screen or click “Review PDF” to open the PDF in a separate window.

For your first submission, I’d recommend clicking on the “Review PDF” button because you will likely have to go back to make tweaks as you review the PDF. If you stay within the main screen, you can’t go back to revise while keeping the PDF up for reference. You’ll have to complete Steps 4-6 again each time you correct an error.

If you like reviewing on paper, you may want to just go ahead and print the PDF. This is what I usually do.

When submitting additional applications, you can scroll down to the individual school supplemental pages since you will have already reviewed the main Common App that stays the same for each school. These usually begin on page 10 of the PDF document, but the length can vary depending on the answers to questions in the application.

I don’t usually click on “Review PDF” for submissions #2 and beyond because I rarely have to make changes after that point. Personal preference, I guess!

Step 8: After reviewing the entire document, click the blue “Continue” button on the lower right hand side of the page, as you can see on the photo above.

Step 9: A pop-up will appear with directions. The gist of it is that you’ll be redirected to a third party site to pay. You MUST NOT FORGET to return back to the Common App after paying, because paying and submitting are not the same thing!

(I told you that you wouldn’t submit by accident! Accidentally NOT submitting is a bigger risk!)

PAYING THE FEE

Step 10: Confirm that your name appears and click the grey “Next” box.

Step 11: Indicate that you will be paying with a credit card. If you’re paying with an electronic check, you’re on your own because I do not have a clue as to how to do that! Click the grey “Next” box.

Step 12: You will be able to enter your credit card information. BUT WAIT. Don’t enter anything yet..

TIME FOR MY TIP!

Step 13: Open a new window - a google document, a blank email, whatever.

Step 14: Type out the following information on separate lines:

• Credit card number without spaces

• Expiration month and year (any format is fine)

• The name of the card holder as it appears on the card

• The house number and street of the billing address (a.k.a. 131 Park Street NE)

• The billing zip

• The student’s email address

• The student’s name

Step 15: Put both windows up side by side or at least have them next to each other.

COPY AND PASTE

Note: I did not include a screen shot for this page. There was so much personal information on it that it would not have been helpful once all of it was blocked out.

Step 15: Start copying and pasting the information over. First the CC#. The expiration month and year are in drop-down format but I like you to have it accessible anyway for reference. Name of the card holder. House # and Street. Select the state from the drop-down. Copy and paste the zip. Make sure “United States” is selected.

Step 16: Accept the CashNet Terms and conditions by checking a box and click “Next.”

Step 17: You will reach the page below. Copy and paste the student’s email address into the box. Click “Submit Payment.”

Step 18: You’ve paid! Great. Click “Return to Common Application (R).”

Remember, you have NOT submitted the application yet!

SUBMITTING! FINALLY!

Step 19: Read the boxes carefully and check them all.

Step 20: Type out your name in the “Signature” box and select the date. Click “Submit.”

YAY! You have submitted. Enjoy the confetti! It’s new this year and makes me smile every time.

Step 21: Click “What’s Next” (after you have gotten your confetti fix - if you need more just keep clicking “Celebrate”!)

College specific information will typically come up that shares next steps in relation to that school’s portal.

More on the portals in another post!

STOP AND DOUBLE CHECK

Some schools have essays in separate writing supplements. There is no rhyme or reason why some schools do this and others don’t. Under where it says “Review and Submit Common App(R)” under the school name, confirm that there is no mention of a separate writing supplement. If there is, click on “Review and Submit” and repeat the process for that (minus the payment screen). This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

AND… REPEAT!

This is fun the first time but gets old pretty quickly. You will thank me that you do not have to retype your credit card information in repeatedly. Just keep copying and pasting. This will save at least three minutes per application, which can add up if you’re submitting ten apps at the same time!

Check the Dashboard

When you’ve submitted your last application for the day, go back to the dashboard to confirm that each school is listed as having been submitted. You’re done!

Behind the Scenes at DC College Counseling

One thing is for sure - there is NEVER a dull moment around here! I thought it would be fun to track a day in my life during busy season! Here’s a day from earlier this week…

Client meetings: 4

Hours worked: About 15

Hours Billed: About 9

Essays Reviewed: About 5

Emails Received: 174 - I counted :)

7:00 a.m.: Start reading email in bed. I decide to pull out my laptop, send two urgent responses, and then get in the shower after that.

9:00 a.m.: Ready for the day, I have responded to a few more emails and my daughter asks if I can drop her off at school (my au pair usually does, but if I’m around I will). I go through the carpool line with her and see an email on my phone (while stopped) that a total debacle happened with one of my clients involving a HS visit. Ughh… I place a Starbucks mobile order and rack my brain for solutions to the problem at hand as I am heading down Beulah.

9:10 a.m.: Starting to get nervous about the fact that my meeting is at 10:00 and I need to handle this situation first, but I haven’t gotten through all of the 40 or so emails I’ve received since last night. Every time I look down at my phone, I have more email. I decide to run in to Starbucks to get my mobile order instead of doing through the drive through because it’s faster that way.

9:20 a.m.: Run into Rebeccah in the office. She is here printing out questionnaires and putting files together to get ready for the week ahead. Rebeccah lives in Vienna but works mostly remote. I have had more than one student ask me if she really exists in person because they only hear from her and never actually see her while she is in the office :) Yes, she definitely exists (now we have proof!) but is usually home with her kids during after-school hours when the office is busiest.

9:27: I am not actually at my computer yet but a flurry of emails are sent that I actually wrote after midnight. I try to remember to set them to go out in the morning if I’m writing them really late.

9:30: Sit back down at my computer and start writing a response to the family with the crisis. See an email from a client with a scheduled meeting tomorrow who is desperately trying to change the meeting time to today. I weigh the options: I have a zillion things on my plate today but they really want the time. I decide to offer it to them because they have an extenuating circumstance with a relative in the hospital and a cross-country trip. I try to be flexible when I can.

9:40: Continue to go through email and see another big crisis that a student had involving an SAT administration this past weekend. This situation makes the first one look mild. AHH! I switch gears to that one before my strategy session.

10:00: Have a two-hour strategy session with parents I’ve worked with before. They are great and we end the session a little late, laughing. We got a lot accomplished.

12:20: Start regretting moving the other meeting around when I see that I got about thirty new emails while I was in the strategy session. Start replying as quickly as possible to make a dent. Also still dealing with the two crises from before, plus a transfer application I’m really trying to get wrapped up today, and a student trying to make a decision on his ED school. Quickly change plans for an essay meeting today based on a student’s weekend progress and update the coach.

1:00: Have the meeting. Spend the entire time writing down a to-do list of tasks that I need to take care of later including some that are very time-sensitive.

2:00: Thankfully, I only got a couple of emails during the meeting. Answer the most urgent of the emails, including one regarding one of the morning crises, and one with a parent regarding a later meeting tonight, and then put everything else aside to start the most time-sensitive project from the 1:00 meeting.

3:00: Realize I have not had lunch. Decide to order Uber Eats quickly before my 4:00 meeting. Say hi to Megan the essay coach after thinking she’s the Uber guy when I hear footsteps coming. Megan goes into a whole string of essay and interview prep meetings, and I eat lunch while still working on aforementioned project and answering emails.

4:00: Meet with the senior who is still trying to finalize his ED choice (fortunately his applications are done and they have been for a while). Email a detailed recap of our meeting after we finish so that his parents can read everything we discussed, and also so that he can have a to-do list. Tag Rebeccah to follow up on all of the items in the to-do list, to make sure that he actually does everything.

5:30: Back to work on the project.

6:00: Meet with a junior remotely via Zoom. She’s at her New England boarding school, although our last meeting was actually in person when I was in the area visiting Dartmouth a few weeks ago. Start discussing which week in August we will block out for her apps before we plan out her activities list and discuss instructions for beginning the Common App. I can’t believe we are talking about August already!

7:01: Raid the candy bowl. I think I have twizzler competition from someone else in this office!

7:02: Back to work on the project. At this point my inbox is going nuts and it makes me feel anxious.

8:01: Send completed project. YES! Begin to work on meeting recap and to-do instructions from 6:00 meeting.

8:15: Print out Halloween Phantom signs because we were Boo’ed at home this evening. Place a dinner order on Uber Eats after printing the signs (I keep Uber Eats in business).

8:50: Finally leave the office after sending the detailed meeting recap for the 6:00 meeting and tagging Rebeccah to follow-up on all of the items in the to-do list.

9:00: Thank God for my 8-minute commute and eat dinner.

9:30: Back to work! Review progress from the essay coach meetings this afternoon - make edits when necessary and send follow-up emails to the parents and students. Plan out tasks for the next essay coaching sessions for the kids that came in today and fill in the essay coaches on Asana. Start going through all of the emails that I missed today and last night (this involves helping plan a college visit, weighing in on art portfolio progress, engaging in a few back-and-forth emails about the crises from this morning which now seem to be mostly resolved, passing on feedback about a client’s confidentiality agreement from a tutor, editing a peer recommendation letter… and lots more.

12:01: Send my last email of the evening. WHEW!

Coming Full Circle in South Bend

Gosh, it has been such a busy fall and I have clearly been a failure as a blogger lately! I will start posting regularly again once things calm down a little. Today, though, I felt inspired.

As many of you know, I visit about 30-40 colleges per year. Often times it’s easiest to do them in spurts, on pre-conference tours with other counselors. These marathon visits are absolutely exhausting because it’s school after school after school, but we get great face time with the admissions officers, and the visits are much more in-depth than they’d be if we just signed up and toured a school as a member of the general public (although I do those too). During the past few days I have been to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University, University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, St. Mary’s College, and Goshen College. Tomorrow is Purdue University, Valparaiso University, and Bethel University. Then I am headed to Louisville for a conference and finally to check out the University of Kentucky in Lexington before heading back to DC. My feet are about to fall off :)

The reason I’m blogging today is not to share information about those schools, although I do want to post more about my visits because I have learned a TON. I’m writing a post because staying in South Bend has really made me think about the crushing disappointment of college admissions decisions and how they can be so utterly devastating for a teenager.

When I was 17, there was nothing more in the world that I wanted than to go to the University of Notre Dame.

I don’t think my desire to go to ND was based on anything concrete besides a really fun weekend visit on campus when I was a junior, but I had made up my mind and ND it was. My college counselor told me that despite my high SAT scores, it was a stretch. Obviously, though, she did not know what she was talking about. Of course I was going to get into Notre Dame! I had worked so hard!

When I think back to myself as a teenager, I was pretty savvy, or at least I thought I was! I went to boarding school, was very independent, thought I knew more than everyone about everything, and I was highly skilled at convincing people to give me what I wanted. I zipped up and down the Northeast Corridor on Amtrak most weekends alone or with friends, and even had elite status on my favorite airline because I was so used to jet-setting all over the place! The thought that Notre Dame would not accept me was a concern, sure, but I really did believe that I would get in. I deserved it. Just like tens of thousands of my peers did :)

Most teenagers believe that they are invincible. The rules do not apply to them. Common sense does not apply to them. Graphs and scattergrams on Naviance and Scoir do not apply to them. Girls, by the way, are much worse than boys when it comes to this.

When I got outright rejected (not even deferred!) from Notre Dame, I was SHOCKED. Devastated. Hysterical.

Of course, it wasn’t about Notre Dame at all. It was about the fact that I really wanted something that I couldn’t have. Man, that is a really hard lesson to learn. That no matter how badly you want something, how badly your parents want it for you, or how many people you can sweet-talk, it’s not going to happen. That is absolutely crushing, but it’s also part of becoming an adult and slowly realizing how the world works.

I see this same scenario play out year after year, and what I certainly didn’t realize at seventeen is that it’s even more devastating for the adults involved than the teenagers. To watch your child be rejected - it’s like a dagger to the heart. It’s just horrible. Especially when there are lots of tears involved.

So if find yourself in this position in December (which some of you will, given the absurdly low acceptance rates that we are sure to see yet again), here are my words of wisdom: getting rejected from Notre Dame was the best thing that could have happened to me. I really mean that.

It’s like that movie Sliding Doors: if I had gotten into Notre Dame, I would not have ended up at Wash U, which had an incredibly flexible curriculum that allowed me to graduate a year early without too much trouble. If I hadn’t graduated early, I wouldn’t have decided to “take a year or two off before law school”. I’d probably be an attorney somewhere with piles of paperwork on my desk instead of having a blast on my entrepreneurship journey. I would definitely not have met my husband the week after I graduated when I was 21, wouldn’t have my kids, and so forth.

Much more importantly, though, I wouldn’t have gotten the wake-up call I needed to understand that life wasn’t fair and that things were not always going to go my way - whether I “deserved” them or not. This rejection, as painful as it was, represented a turning point that helped me become the person I am today and had a very positive ripple effect on many other areas of my life. 18 years after I first stepped foot on this campus, I can truly say that I am so very grateful that things worked out the way they did.

So while there’s not going to be any bigger advocate for a student than me, know that if the dream school admissions decision doesn’t come back favorably, all is not lost. Things will work out. I promise!

Fall 2019 College Information Sessions, Fairs, and Events in the Washington DC Metro Area

Looking for some face time with admissions officers? Check out these upcoming events in our local area!

Exploring College Options Recruitment Program

When: Monday, September 9 from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM

Where: The Westin Richmond

6631 West Broad Street

Richmond, VA 23230

Event Description: Exploring College Options is a special recruitment program sponsored by the undergraduate admissions offices of five of the country's leading universities: Duke University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.

Click here for additional event details, including registration, arrival information, and directions.

Beyond the Numbers: Breaking Down Highly Selective Admissions (Tufts) - Washington, DC

When: Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM

Where:  Washington Marriott at Metro Center

775 12th St NW

Washington, DC 20005

United States

Event Description: Please join Joseph Duck, Dean of Admissions and Sayaka Smith, Assistant Director of Admissions for a look inside a selective college admissions process.  Insight into how and why admissions decisions are made will be revealed during this interactive workshop. Please consider joining us! The event is open to students, parents and guidance counselors.

Click here for registration and directions.

The Oberlin Preview

When: Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 3:00 PM until 4:30 PM

Where: Bethesda Marriott

5151 Pooks Hill Rd

Bethesda, MD 20814

United States

Event Description: The Oberlin Preview is an opportunity to learn more about the distinctive features of our school.  Come and learn more about the academic community, the musical and artistic atmosphere, the commitment to sustainability, and the passion our students and alumni have for changing the world.

Click here for registration and directions.

Oxford University Information Session

When: Tuesday, September 24, 2019 from 6:30 PM until 10:30 PM

Where: Washington International School

3100 Macomb St NW

Washington, DC 20008

Event Description: This free information session for students, parents, teachers and guidance counselors will be delivered by Alice McCallum, Student Recruitment Officer (UK & North America) from the University of Oxford's Undergraduate Admissions Office.

In this session we will cover applying to Oxford, as well as outlining some of the distinctive features of the teaching and learning environment offered by the university. Oxford is the top university in the world according to the Times Higher Education World Rankings 2018-19 and therefore entry to this institution is competitive. This presentation will include detail on every aspect of the application process including, course choice, entrance requirements, admissions tests and interviews. This session will not cover graduate programs at the university.

The session is aimed at those considering undergraduate study at Oxford, and will be most relevant to those who intend to start their studies in Autumn 2020 or 2021, although younger years are welcome. We warmly welcome teachers, guidance counsellors, and parents/guardians to attend too.

Click here for registration and directions.

NYU Information Session

When: Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM

Where: NYU Washington, DC

1307 L St NW

Washington, DC 20005

United States

Event Description: Each year, NYU Admissions goes on a world tour. We visit dozens of cities so prospective students can learn more about what our three campuses have to offer. Join your regional admissions representative, Joal Chen, for a special presentation specific to NYU. At these receptions, you can talk with your admissions officer and staff and learn about academic programs, student life, and the benefits of living and learning at a truly global university. 

Click here for registration and directions.

VCUarts National Portfolio Day

When: Saturday, October 5, 2019 from 9 AM until 5 PM (Click here to view the event schedule)

Where: Fine Arts Building 

1000 West Broad Street

Richmond, VA 23284

 and

The Depot 

814 West Broad Street

Richmond, VA 23284

Event Description: If you are a high school or college student interested in applying to an art school for fine arts or design, then National Portfolio Day is for you! Representatives from the nation’s leading art colleges and universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design will travel to VCUarts to review your artwork, discuss your educational and professional goals, and share information on art programs, careers, admissions, and financial aid and scholarships. This event is free and open to the public.

Click here for additional event details, including the list of participating schools, contact information, and event schedule.

Harvard, Princeton, UVA, Wellesley, Yale Information Session in Washington, DC

When: Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at 7:00 PM

Where: Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel

999 9th St NW

Washington, DC 20001

United States

Event Description: William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions at Harvard; Karen Richardson, Dean of Admissions at Princeton; Gregory Roberts, Dean of Admissions at UVA;  Joy St. John, Dean of Admissions at Wellesley; and Jeremiah Quinlan, Dean of Admissions at Yale will discuss academic programs, campus life, selective college admissions and financial aid. Please bring your friends and family.

Click here for registration and directions.

2019 Fairfax County Public Schools College Fair

When: Sunday, October 20, 2019 from 7:30 PM until 9:30 PM

Where: Fair Oaks Mall

Fairfax, VA 22033

Click here for directions.

2019 Fairfax County Public Schools College Night

When: Monday, October 21, 2019 from 7 PM until 9 PM

Where: Hayfield Secondary School

7630 Telegraph Rd.

Alexandria, VA 22315

Event Description: 2019 College Night Workshops, Hayfield Secondary School

The following list includes some of the workshops that might be available:

• Considerations in the College Search Process and Beyond for Students with Disabilities

• Dual Enrollment: Earning College Credits in High School

• Earning a Degree Abroad

• Funding College for Underclassmen

• Helping Teens with Mental Health and Wellness as They Transition to College

• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

• Scholarships 101

• The Common Application and The Coalition

• The SAT and ACT: Their Role in the College Application Process

Tulane University Tysons Corner Information Session

When: Tuesday, October 22, 2019 from 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM

Where: Tysons Corner Marriott

8028 Leesburg Pike

Tysons, VA 22182

Event Description: Meet Tulane admission counselors when they come to you! Tulane hosts several receptions in cities throughout the country for any interested students and their families each fall.

Click here for registration and directions.

Greater Washington, DC National College Fair

When: Sunday, October 27, 2019 from 1:00 PM until  4:00 PM

Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

Exhibit Hall C

801 Mt Vernon Pl NW

Washington, DC 20001

Phone: 202-249-3000

Click here for registration, list of participating schools, and directions.

DC National Portfolio Day

When: Saturday, November 2, 2019 from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM

Where: The Art & Design Building

4515 Patriot Circle

Fairfax, VA 22030

Event Description: If you are a high school or college student interested in applying to an art school for fine arts or design, then National Portfolio Day is a great resource for you. Representatives from the nation’s leading art colleges and universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design will travel to the George Mason University School of Art to review your artwork, discuss your educational and professional goals, and share information on art programs, careers, admissions, and financial aid and scholarships. This event is free and open to the public.

Please note: Admissions decisions and scholarship awards will not be offered at National Portfolio Day. Some colleges may accept your portfolio as the visual portion of your application while others have policies which prohibit making an admissions decision at the time of your review. We recommend speaking to and having your work reviewed by as many representatives as possible.

Click here for additional event details, including pre-registration, list of participating schools, contact information, and event schedule.

Recent Updates (a.k.a. why August is so CRAZY)

Here in Northern Virginia, Fairfax County Public Schools have instituted a couple of recent-ish changes that have made life a little more difficult for us here at DC College Counseling. This is not to say that I personally disagree with them (I can see pros and cons) but boy do they present a logistical challenge.

CHALLENGE #1:

The school board made the decision to shift start times about an hour later during the 2015-2016 school year. I appreciate the rationale (more sleep!) and can identify with the need for it, but it's made an already-short window of time to meet with students after school even shorter. I get home way later each night than most people I know (I try to cut off meetings at 8), but at the same time we're still talking about a pretty limited amount of time in which my team can actually meet with clients.

Because of less time after school, this scenario pushed everyone to feel even more insistent about finishing their applications before senior year. I think this is best anyway, so i’m on board - but it definitely made things a little more hectic for us in August. Remember, the new versions of the applications are not released until 8/1. We do as much as humanly possible beforehand but there’s still some tasks that can’t be completed until that date.

CHALLENGE #2

This has been the real doozy!! FCPS was granted a waiver to begin before Labor Day, and our already-short window of time became even more compressed. In 2015-2016, school began on September 8. This year it's August 26. Suddenly, five weeks of sixty-hour work weeks became three weeks of … well, you do the math. Then you add the Coalition, which didn’t exist a few years ago, and it’s a perfect storm!

Fortunately, we have great systems in place to make things as streamlined as possible, but it’s still quite a month!

—

I share all of this for a few reasons:

1. To apologize that we can’t be as flexible during this time of year as we’d like. Last week I was in the office most days from 9 am until about 10-11 pm, and then came home and worked for a few more hours each night. So brutal. I’m a pleaser by nature and HATE having to tell someone that I can’t squeeze them in, but it’s truly out of my control at this time of year. I’m sorry!!

2. To beg prospective clients to book the right package from the start. Parents grossly underestimate the amount of time this process takes, and while we do make sure that we have at least some wiggle room at the end for families hoping to add extra hours, we realistically can’t leave half our calendar empty in our busiest month. That would not be a very good move from a business standpoint :) We have to plan based on the packages that have already been purchased, so please take our advice if we recommend more hours from the start. We have plenty of business and are absolutely not trying to up-sell anyone. It’s just that we know what’s ahead and it will be difficult to accommodate last-minute adjustments in our busiest time of year.

3. To explain some changes in our offerings. I recently changed the names of our packages (not the pricing or included services - names only!). I initially chose our former package names a decade ago in a very different landscape, and I realized recently that that are not representative of the services we provide today. When I started this business, we had three packages representing 10, 25, and 35 hours. 25 hours was plenty to get a typical student through the process and 10 could definitely make a substantial dent. Now, 75% of clients choose the 35-hour package and it’s often a struggle on our end to finish in that amount of time. 25 hours makes a substantial dent for a motivated student and 10 will cover a very small component of the total work.

We added a 55-hour plan a couple of years ago to provide a realistic option for students needing more help than others (recruited athlete, an artist with portfolios, etc.), but we never really adjusted the others accordingly. I realized that it made no sense to call our current 25-hour package the standard plan, because it’s far from standard. I was thinking about making the 35-hour package the standard plan, but realized that could get pretty confusing. We ultimately just chose new names (except for the 55-hour plan, which will not change).

Next, we also dropped our 10-hour package after we filled up for the 2019-2020 season. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and just felt like it was the right thing to do. The truth is that I can’t provide meaningful help to an applicant in such a small period of time when I don’t have full control over how each minute is allocated.

Instead, we created an option that I believe to be a much better package for clients who want to stay at the same price point - it’s about the same amount of time, but in a standardized manner that gives families what they actually need, not what they think they need.

You can read the offering updates here.

It’s fun for me to reminisce about how far we have come over the years and all the kids we’ve helped. Actually, as I was writing this post, I received an email from a past client requesting help for her son’s graduate school admissions process. It is so hard for me to picture him as an adult when most of our work together took place during the summer of 2014 or 2015. 2013? The years all blend together! I was still in my K Street office and my second-grader was a baby.

I can truly say that I LOVE what I do, and I know how fortunate I am to be spending my life this way - even if my schedule is a little crazy. Sometimes I really feel sorry for people who have “real jobs.” Honestly, for 11 months out of the year, mine doesn’t feel like work.

And then August comes :)

One week to go!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It will not come as a surprise to anyone that our essay coach Jennifer will be taking some time off this fall! We are going to be so sad not to have her around for a while but are thrilled for her to be welcoming her baby girl! McClain will also be taking some time off during the school year and we will miss her a ton too, but she’ll be back next summer!

Some of our students have already met Megan, one of our newest additions to the team! Megan is a Vienna native and a graduate of the Potomac School. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Elon, she was awarded an ultra-prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and taught English in Spain in this capacity. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at George Washington University.

Since we’re all about supplements these days, I asked Megan to answer the fun “getting to know you” questions at the end of the University of Southern California supplement.

Describe yourself in three words (25 characters):

Thoughtful, curious, and empathetic

What is your favorite snack?

RX bars or bananas

Favorite app/website:

Duolingo

Best movie of all time:

Shrek

Hashtag to describe yourself:

#alwaystraveling

Dream job:

Child clinical psychologist working with children with autism (and speaking Spanish daily!)

What is your theme song?

Run the world (girls) -Beyoncé

Dream trip:

Tibet and hiking part of the Himalayas

What TV show will you binge watch next?

Money Heist (Casa de Papel)

Place you are most content?

In the mountains or at the beach in Tenerife, Spain

Current clients can book an essay coaching meeting with Megan here!

Meet me in St. Louis?

Another day, another scandal.

What's frustrating to me (and I tried to get it across in this article - but I think a lot of what I said was edited out) is that this is indicative of a FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM in the way that financial need is calculated without taking cost-of-living adjustments in mind. It's just ridiculous.

Why do we live here again? YIKES

A family with a bunch of kids in a high cost of living area like Northern Virginia could absolutely, ABSOLUTELY struggle to pay the cost of attendance at their state university - over 31k at UVA - with a HHI of $200k. (I do not, for what it’s worth, consider anyone in our area with a 200k HHI to be wealthy. Far from it.)

But many of these people have “no financial need" on paper because the calculators do not take cost-of-living adjustments into account. SIGH!

I do realize that the kids could just attend community college. And I have no idea about whether this had anything to do with the situation in Chicago. I am not saying that it is okay to commit fraud, because it’s obviously not - at all. What these people did was wrong.

But I do know that the FAFSA calculation methodology is a real problem that's affecting so many families in our area, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why the government can't stick some kind of cost of living adjustment on there. This is NOT a hard problem to solve!

For what it’s worth, I’m not even saying that I think financial aid guidelines should be loosened, or that a Bernie Sanders type of “free college” system is what we need - I actually really don’t think that. I work my tail off and pay a fortune in taxes already.

But if we’re already giving this money away, why are we doing it inequitably? And why are the families in high cost of living areas just sitting by and letting it happen without throwing a fit?

Differentiation in College Admissions

I haven’t really discussed this much, or at all, but over the past year I have started providing coaching services to other independent educational consultants. To be honest, it’s been really fun for me- like a “brain break” of sorts from working with teenagers all day (obviously, I love working with my students but sometimes it’s nice to interact with adults too). I didn’t intend to go down this path at all, but other educational consultants kept coming to me for advice and the opportunity just sort of just fell into my lap.

Through these conversations, I’ve been thinking a lot about a lesson I actually learned back during my own freshman year in college. (Little known fact: even though I graduated as an English major, I entered Wash U as an accounting major despite the fact that I hate math and I’m terrible at it. My mom thought accounting would be practical. I mean, she was right, it is practical, but not for someone who is terrible at math!).

I learned in Management 100 that the most successful businesses don’t just do things better than other businesses - they do things differently.

Case Study #1 on Differentiation: Southwest Airlines

If you really think about it, this sort of goes against our natural inclinations - or at least mine. I am a little (ok a lot!) Type A and competitive, and I want to be the best. At everything. If I’m going to be a college counselor, you better believe I’m going to be the best one out there!

That’s not going to result in a successful business, though. The reality, we learned, was that there’s always going to be someone else who can do things faster, better, cheaper. And if there’s not someone better today, there will be tomorrow. The companies thinking outside the box and really differentiating themselves are the ones that win in the long term.

From a business perspective, I’ve always done that with DC College Counseling. Obviously, like I said, I do want to be the best and I think I am :) but I also do things very differently than others. I provide an unparalleled level of project management support that I’ve discussed before. I honestly think I’m the only college counselor in the country that operates this way and it makes a difference in my bottom line. People trust my team to get things done. Or, I should say, people trust us to make sure their kids get things done!

I had a dad call me from his vacation in the South of France last week in a panic. He asked me to call his daughter, a former client, to make sure she took care of something important because she wasn’t listening to him and he didn’t know what else to do. We laughed about it together because it was funny, but at the same time it warmed my heart that to know that he would think to call me of all people. He was right, though: I was able to resolve the whole situation in five minutes. Vacation saved! And that’s why people hire me.

Teenagers can learn from this too. I see so many students trying to be the “best,” but in a really generic way. And again, I can understand and identify with this mentality. But sometimes you have to ask yourself - to what end? Recently I had a student in my office who earned a 1580 on the SAT on the first try (I know, right! Smart kid). I told him not to worry about retaking it. His mom looked at me like I had three heads. I’m sorry, but there is zero reason why that kid should be forced to retake the SAT. He might get in to his top choice school and he might not, but his admissions decisions will have absolutely nothing to do with whether he applies with a 1580, 1590 or a 1600.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that test scores don’t matter. Not even a little bit. They matter A LOT. You can differentiate yourself all day long and it won’t matter to a highly selective school if your test scores and grades aren’t strong.

It’s just that once you get to the point where you’re already excelling, you don’t need to make yourself crazy by attempting to achieve the tippy-top level of mainstream perfection. Sure, you can take six APs during senior year but there’s always going to be that girl who took seven. Or who self-studied for AP Music Theory on the side. It’s so much better to put that effort into differentiating yourself from the masses.

Here are a few examples of memorable ways that some of my students have differentiated themselves:

• An absolutely BRILLIANT student whose resume would put a grown adult’s to shame wrote his college essay about how the best part of his ultra-impressive internship was eating lunch with his coworkers. It was such a funny, amazing essay. I still think about it. 99% of the other kids in his position would have written something really boring about programming to try to look smart.

• A current student studied abroad during high school - not just a summer program but actually took it upon herself to enroll at a high school in a foreign country. This isn’t typical at her school at all - she just did it on her own for the experience. How cool is that!

• I’ve told this story a million times, but a student with whom I worked a few years back set up this really interesting neighborhood website to connect elderly people needing snow removal with high school students looking to make money. Ultimately it expanded to include babysitters too. It ended up being a HUGE success and he became a local celebrity of sorts, no kidding! I think it took him something like three hours to set up while he was watching tv on a snow day, but now he’s at an Ivy League school.

• One of my favorite graduating seniors was actually NOT a perfect straight-A student but was probably the most interesting person I’ve ever met. She has a very unusual interest (so unusual I can’t even really write about it without outing her) and she was able to monetize by turning it into a profitable local business.

• Another favorite graduating senior wrote her essay about her favorite reality tv show. IT WAS SO GOOD. It started out with her mom yelling at her for watching “that trashy show” (lol) and led into the unexpected lessons she learned from it. Wow, I loved that essay!

I could go on and on.. but the point is, differentiate! And pay attention in class because you may just remember snippets of useful information fifteen years down the line :)

Sleep Training and the College Admissions Process: Different Ages, Same Lesson

Did anyone else have kids that were awful sleepers as babies? I was always so envious of parents whose babies slept all night or woke up just once or twice.

That is NOT how things went in my house! When I had my daughter, I thought there must be something wrong with her because she just wouldn’t sleep. It was like she was nocturnal or something. Then I had my son and realized that maybe my daughter wasn’t quite so bad after all.

Election Night 2016. A terrible night in every respect! We found out later that he had acid reflux.

He routinely screamed all night long. Every night. For months. It was extremely unpleasant and ultimately got to a point where I just couldn’t take it anymore.

As soon as he was old enough to sleep train, we sought the guidance of a sleep trainer who we also used with my daughter five years earlier. (If anyone knows a parent with an infant, her name is Suzy Giordano and an hour with her is probably the best gift you could ever give someone).

I can honestly say that this woman saved my sanity and my marriage. Probably more than that. My business. Everything. I could not function because I was not getting any sleep and had to work all day.

So now that I have finished singing her praises, I will tell you that Suzy is not cheap. At all. I gave her information to a friend in an equally awful situation, and she was appalled that I would pay so much for sleep training. She clearly thought the sleep deprivation had gotten to my head.

Don’t get me wrong - I know she’s expensive, obscenely expensive. I am not the kind of person who routinely pays people $500/hr to do things for me, let’s put it that way. But the one thing I learned from paying Suzy Giordano was the difference between cost and value.

Let’s think of the value that woman brought to my life. I am not exaggerating when I say that I would have taken out a second mortgage on my home at that point to get some sleep. I was in a seriously desperate situation. Paying Suzy $500/hr actually represented an incredible value when you consider how working with her turned my life around. She was worth sooooo much more than we paid.

Recently I had a mother ask me to tell her point blank why my team is worth the cost of the prices we charge. In almost a decade, no one has ever actually asked me that.

After thinking about it more, I decided we probably weren’t worth it for every family. I’m being honest. There are definitely cheaper options out there - much cheaper - particularly if you’re willing to work with someone that doesn’t have college admissions experience but has helped their own child, or maybe knows absolutely nothing about college admissions but is a good writer who can help with essays.

If your situation meets all of these criteria, you are reading correctly - we are not worth the cost. Find someone cheaper!

• Your student already knows exactly how and where he wants to apply and the schools aren’t all crazy reaches (I say this because someone who only wants to apply to crazy reaches has a very high likelihood of ending up at NOVA when they don’t get in anywhere at all. Then they call me in May and the whole family is in tears and can’t figure out what went wrong. Every year this happens.) I’m talking about the straight-A kid with a 35 ACT who is involved in every activity under the sun and applying ED to UVA/ED II to William & Mary, as well as a number of other safer options. No out-of-the-box strategy or tough conversations about being realistic needed. Just write strong essays and make sure that the recommendations and applications are also done well.

• Your student is 100% (or at least 95%) motivated and does not need constant reminders to stay on task. You tell him that he needs 20 essays by August 1, he is able to self-regulate his time while meeting with a tutor once per week for extra help, and has 20 perfect essays ready to go on July 30. This kid does not need Rebeccah reminding him multiple times per week about every individual task he needs to finish in order to meet his ultimate goal and then checking up to make sure he completed each of them.

• Your student appreciates constructive criticism from his parents and takes it at face value without giving pushback or needing an intermediary to deliver tough messages. No fighting. “Thanks for your input, Mom! I’ll make that edit right away!”

• Your student is good at developing original ideas (he doesn’t have to be amazing in terms of style- you can hire a writing tutor on the side to help with that - but somebody familiar with the school, without the voice of a 50-year-old mom, has got to be able to help with content creation for that 600-word “Why College X” essay!).

• Your student has taken detailed notes from every college visit, is a regular on “College Confidential” and generally understands the specific unwritten requirements that many individual schools have. Yes, that means that the “Why Columbia” supplement needs to reference the core curriculum and the “Why Penn” supplement needs to reference the city of Philadelphia.

Okay, so I was kidding a little bit about having a teenager that appreciates constructive parental criticism, but other than that, there really are families out there whose kids meet the other criteria. They typically do not work with me on an ongoing basis but I see them for strategy sessions.

For the other 90% of families, it’s important to consider the difference between cost and value. College is likely the most important investment you will make as a parent - ever. I’ve written about this before in our FAQ: while we are not the cheapest option in town, there is absolutely zero question that we provide the best value.

P.S. My friend’s kid did not sleep through the night until 18 months. Mine did by 5 months. She will be hiring Suzy the next time around.

Smarter Supplements: Digging Deeper

Last week, I shared our approach to supplemental essays and discussed a specific example of the way that one general answer could be modified to fit four separate schools’ prompts. Today, I’m going to dig a little deeper to model the DC College Counseling approach to the entire supplemental essay writing process.

Let’s pretend I’m the student.

STEP ONE: Outline a plan of attack during an essay coaching meeting.

My essay coach would work with me to complete the tasks in the last post, mapping out common themes between supplements and helping me select an appropriate text. This may involve needing to read a new book if I hadn’t read anything appropriate (but we try to avoid extra work as much as we can!).

If students want (or need!) to start fresh with a new book, we often recommend the New York Times bestseller list to choose something that’s not too fluffy (but that also sounds like a piece of fiction they might actually read in their spare time). It’s better to pick something recent because it sounds like the student reads on a regular basis and isn’t digging up the one book he read on vacation three years ago.

For the purposes of this post, I’m going to have to use a book from 2016 because… I’m digging up the one novel I read on vacation three years ago :) Don’t judge - I read a lot, but it’s all non-fiction! I am choosing to write about “Eligible: A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice” by Curtis Sittenfeld. I was an English major in college so this isn’t too out of left field for me. An admissions officer would see that it fits with the rest of my imaginary profile. It was also a New York Times bestseller as well as a “Best Book of the Year” from NPR, so it’s not quite as random as it seems.

STEP TWO: Free-write some general thoughts on the book without responding to any of the specific prompts.

Note: I wrote these as myself as if I was actually completing the assignment. So, if this sounds like the voice of a 35-year-old instead of a high school student - that’s why! As we have covered before, we work very hard to help our students maintain their own unique voices.

Here’s my stream-of-consciousness free-write: In addition to being a fun book for me to read, this book also pushed me to think critically about myself as a reader. I chose to major in English in college because I really enjoyed writing (and I knew that I was good at it). I also absolutely loved to read, but not obscure texts from centuries ago. What I didn’t realize at the time is that English majors don’t read or write any more than other humanities majors - they just stick to English literature rather than history, politics, or other subjects. Eventually, I got really sick of analyzing decades or centuries-old literature that actually didn’t interest me all that much. I spent a lot of time skimming and reading Spark Notes (are Spark Notes still a thing?).

Eligible showed me that a “boring” or “outdated” read can actually be exciting if one gives it a chance. I was able to step back and think about how centuries-old language can mask relevant themes, and I wondered about how much I had missed over the years because I was turned off to various texts for superficial reasons.

I also thought about how our struggles as individuals persist over the generations. Pride and Prejudice was written more than 200 years ago, but women are still thinking about the same kinds of social and economic issues - just in a different context.

STEP THREE: Use information from the free-write to craft a RESPONSE TO EACH PROMPT.

NOTE: I’m not going to write out a full essay for each prompt in this blog post the way a student would, but I’ll give a general idea of the approach I’d take.

Boston College Supplement Essay #1 (400 w): Great art evokes a sense of wonder. It nourishes the mind and spirit. Is there a particular song, poem, speech, or novel from which you have drawn insight or inspiration?

I have always been an avid reader, but Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible gave me important insight into the value of broadening my literary horizons to include classic works of literature. I used to avoid these books, believing them to be outdated and difficult to read; yet, as I tore through the pages of this re-imagined version of Pride and Prejudice and acknowledged the present-day relevance of Austen’s original themes from the 19th century, I realized that social and political issues are often timeless, persisting from generation to generation. Moreover, I recognized that I had likely missed important lessons by always reaching for the latest best-sellers. With Eligible in mind, I felt inspired to read some of the texts that I had avoided over the years: 1984, Animal Farm, and Fahrenheit 451.

UVA College of Arts and Sciences Supplemental Essay (250 w): What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?

Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible challenged me to push beyond my natural inclination for modern literature. As I tore through the pages of this re-imagined version of Pride and Prejudice and acknowledged the present-day relevance of Austen’s original themes from the 19th century, I realized that social and political issues are often timeless, persisting from generation to generation. Moreover, I recognized that I was likely missing important lessons by always reaching for the latest best-sellers. With Eligible in mind, I resolved to read some of the texts that had intimidated me over the years: 1984, Animal Farm, and Fahrenheit 451.

Dartmouth College Supplemental Essay D (250 w): “Yes, books are dangerous,” young people’s novelist Pete Hautman proclaimed. “They should be dangerous—they contain ideas.” What book or story captured your imagination through the ideas it revealed to you? Share how those ideas influenced you.

Through Eligible, her re-imagined adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Curtis Sittenfeld helped provide new meaning to the old adage: “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Eligible captured my imagination with the idea that the core challenges of modern life are not so different from those with which Jane Austen’s 19th-century characters also struggled. I realized that social and political themes are often timeless, persisting from generation to generation, and that I was likely missing important lessons by always reaching for the latest best-sellers over classic works of literature. As I tore through Sittenfeld’s pages, I resolved to use her influence to choose to read some of the texts that had intimidated me over the years: 1984, Animal Farm, and Fahrenheit 451.

Emory University “Tell Us About You” Essay 1 (150 w): Which book, character, song, or piece of work (fiction or non-fiction) represents you, and why?

Reading has always been my guilty pleasure. For as long as I can remember, I got my fix wherever I could: under the covers with a flashlight as a child, slipped between textbooks in high school math class, or by the dim light of my iPad while feeding my newborns more than a decade later. Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld’s re-imagined modern-day version of Pride and Prejudice, represents me in that it mirrors my long-standing ability to find relevant meaning in text, regardless of setting. My love for reading has always aligned with my ability to grasp themes and connect them to my own experiences, hopes, and dreams, despite superficial differences.

Points to notice:

• Even though my responses didn’t require me to be all that specific, this would have been really difficult to write if I hadn’t read the book.

• I was able to cut and paste a lot between the first three answers, giving myself a solid base from which to approach each of these prompts.

• None of these answers are exactly the same: I had to modify each individual answer to bring language from the prompt into my response. In order to do this, I had to constantly ask myself: are you answering each question that the prompt asks?

• The last response was ultimately very different and I had to take some creative liberties with the actual content: that’s fine. Remember, colleges will only see the essays submitted to their own school: they won’t see what is sent elsewhere. It’s okay if the various answers don’t perfectly align with one another when they are all on the same page together.

STEP FOUR: Bring drafts to essay coach meeting.

After receiving TONS of reminders about completing the step three drafts in a timely manner, I would then bring my drafts to my next scheduled essay coach meeting. During the session, essay coaches would help me to further develop and edit these initial pieces.

STEP FIVE: Look for follow-up edits from Colleen.

Okay, this is getting confusing now with “Colleen-as-student” and “Colleen-as-Colleen,” but hang in there with me. If I were a student, I would wait a day or so for the actual Colleen (me!) to follow up with an additional level of edits above and beyond those completed at the essay coaching meeting. I do this for all of our students without charging them for any additional time beyond their essay coaching appointment, because I think that it’s helpful to have another layer of review.

STEP SIX: Finalize edits at home before next essay coaching meeting.

After “Colleen-as-student” receives her additional edits and suggestions from “Colleen-as-Colleen,” “Colleen-as-student” would then finalize them at home before bringing them back to the essay coach meeting for final approval.

STEP SEVEN: Make additional changes with essay coach during the meeting and begin to plan out the next round of essays.

I would go back to meet with the essay coach to put the finishing touches on everything and we’d begin Step One again with our next round of essays.

STEP EIGHT: Approve any additional post-meeting “finishing touch” edits from colleen, confirm with Rebeccah that the essays are considered complete, and write the second round of drafts for the new essays.

As of mid-July, we have extremely limited availability for ongoing work with seniors in the Class of 2020. If you’re interested in grabbing one of the very last first-round slots or having first priority for the second-round waitlist, don’t wait to book your Meet & Greet session.

Work smarter, not harder (but don’t take it too far!)

In our work tracking the pre-release of the HS Class of 2020 / College Class of 2024 supplemental essay prompts, we have begun to link similar prompts together. This allows students to reuse as much material as possible while making modifications to existing essays, rather than reinventing the wheel for each school.

We share this information with our students to try to make things as easy as possible for them as we help them outline their essays.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The key to success with this method is making sure that students ACTUALLY ANSWER THE QUESTION ASKED IN EACH PROMPT. Most of these can’t be copied verbatim- they need some adjustment.

Here’s an example:

Boston College Supplement Essay #1 (400 w): Great art evokes a sense of wonder. It nourishes the mind and spirit. Is there a particular song, poem, speech, or novel from which you have drawn insight or inspiration?

UVA College of Arts and Sciences Supplemental Essay (250 w): What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?

Dartmouth College Supplemental Essay D (250 w): “Yes, books are dangerous,” young people’s novelist Pete Hautman proclaimed. “They should be dangerous—they contain ideas.” What book or story captured your imagination through the ideas it revealed to you? Share how those ideas influenced you.

Emory University “Tell Us About You” Essay 1 (150 w): Which book, character, song, or piece of work (fiction or non-fiction) represents you, and why?

By choosing to write about a novel, a student could theoretically write about one work while meeting the requirements for each prompt:

• A “novel” for BC

• A “work of literature” for UVA

• A“book or story” for Dartmouth

• A “book” for Emory.

This is SO much easier than writing about a song for Emory, a story for Dartmouth, a work of science for UVA and a speech for BC.

However, the prompts aren’t all the same: the student would need to modify the response for each school to varying degrees.

BC and UVA are pretty similar - drawing insight and inspiration from a book can be discussed in a way that = feeling challenged from a book. On the other hand, Emory’s approach about how the book represents the student would require substantially more tailoring. The reason I keep emphasizing the modification is because a lot of students miss this step, for some reason. They see a similar prompt and just copy verbatim and call it a day. I’m all about shortcuts but that will NOT work!!

To recap:

1. Look for themes across prompts.

2. Adjust the responses to fit the exact questions asked.

2019-2020 Coalition Updates

Anyone who has set foot in my office during the last twelve months or so has heard me complain about the Coalition Application. It’s seriously the most user-unfriendly software I’ve ever used. It’s also hard to fully grasp how frustrating it is until you’re in the midst of using it.

In any case, we have two major updates today:

1. The University of Florida, one of the first schools to go Coalition-Exclusive (before Virginia Tech), made the decision today to join The Common App®. This is HUGE for Floridians! Here in the DC area, most kids don’t apply to UF, but there’s a lot of chatter that maybe some of the other Coalition-Exclusive schools will follow suit (cough cough Hokies cough cough).

2. The 2019-2020 Coalition Application launched without much fanfare. I tried to log on to update my guide for students, and… well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Welcome to the new season, folks!

In other news, I have continued to update the database of 2019-2020 Supplemental Essays - check out the latest additions!

The Common App® New (Grammatically Dubious) Member Question

Who in your life is depending on you? What are they depending on you for?

You heard it here first! This query will be added to the Member Screen short answer questions that colleges will be able to include on their individual supplements. Start thinking about this- who depends on you?

Siblings, parents, neighbors, club members, teachers, volunteers.. there will be many ways to answer this question.

We don’t have any information about word limits yet, and it’s likely that they will vary on a school by school basis. My prediction is that most schools will choose limits between 100-250 words.

You can actually see all of the Member Screen questions here. Again, schools decide on an individual basis which questions they would like to include, so every single school will not ask every single one of these questions.

Current clients will work on these questions during the first few days of August before coming in for editing sessions during their two-hour individual college counseling meetings that begin on August 5.

P.S. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t point out the fact that this question ends in a preposition. #smh

Database of 2019-2020 Supplemental Essays

We are knee deep in supplemental essay work over here (for schools both on and off The Common Application®), and it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon!

Rather than continuing to compile various blog posts with updated essay topics, I decided to create a separate page that I will continue to update as the season continues. Click here for the latest, and don’t forget to bookmark the page for future reference!

Since the last time I posted, we have a number of new essays, including University of Richmond, Tufts, and more. We also have confirmation that Villanova will not be reusing the same essays that they used last year, so don’t start on those!

Common App® vs. Coalition vs. Institutional: How to Choose?

With so many choices, it can be hard to know which application to submit for which school, so I thought I would provide some guidance to help families navigate the various application options.

Always choose the Common App®

If a school accepts The Common Application® and ANY other application, always go with The Common App®. Always. Regardless of the other factors involved (the only exception to this rule would be for a “priority” application that waives the application fee, IF AND ONLY IF the application fee represents a financial hardship or concern). This will save you a lot of time!

Coalition App vs. Institutional/Systemwide Apps

Unfortunately, this decision isn’t as clear-cut because there’s more to consider. This became lengthy as I typed it out, so I decided to put together the infographic below to make it easier to understand.

Don’t Forget: Not every school offers a choice!

There are still plenty of schools out there that do not offer an alternative to their institutional and systemwide applications. When you’re considering the infographic below, make sure that you only include the ones that offer a choice when asked to do so.

Examples of Schools in Various Categories

Schools requiring institutional or systemwide applications:

The University of California system-wide application, College of Charleston

Schools requiring the Coalition Application (a.k.a. Coalition-Exclusive):

Virginia Tech, University of Maryland

Schools with abnormally difficult institutional or systemwide applications that offer the Coalition Application as an alternative:

ApplyTexas (the University of Texas systemwide application)

Schools with typical institutional or systemwide applications that offer the Coalition Application as an alternative:

JMU, Clemson

Note: All requirements are accurate as of June 11, 2019