Be Smart and Beat The System

The online Common Application allows students to submit only the minimum number of Teacher Evaluations (recommendation letters). If a university requires one Teacher Evaluation, only one can be submitted online; if two are required, only two can be submitted. This is very restrictive and prevents students from submitting extra teacher recommendations. Extra recommendations show college admission officers you are willing to go beyond the minimum requirements and puts you a notch above other student applicants.

But how can you submit an extra Teacher Evaluation when teachers choose to submit their recommendations using the restrictive online Common Application option? Answer: You should ask one of your teachers to complete the Common Application 2008-09 Teacher Evaluation form and to print paper copies for each of your colleges. The teacher should sign the paper Teacher Evaluation forms and return them to you.

You then can include a signed paper Teacher Evaluation form with the application materials you mail to each college; typically these materials include a cover letter, an official copy of grade transcripts, a student résumé, and recommendation letters.

Go beyond the minimum and get recognized. Don’t let restrictions in the application process restrict you from shining in the eyes of admission officers.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org .

Tale Of Two Valedictorians

It is of paramount importance to apply early for financial aid! The reason is financial aid is given out from pools of money. So when you apply early, there’s money in those pools; if you don’t apply early, even though you may be eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships and grants, the pools of money may be dry. This is because all the money already has been awarded to other students who applied earlier than you.

Here’s a dramatic, real-life example. Last year, two valedictorians from the same high school were accepted to a top regional university in the San Francisco bay area. Both valedictorians had perfect grades, outstanding SAT test scores, and great extracurricular activities. One followed the early action schedule on MyCollegeCalendar and the other was too busy with high school coursework and activities to apply early. The student that applied early for financial aid received $145,000 in merit-based scholarships and grants for 4 years. The other student who did not apply early received $4,000 for 4 years. Students with virtually identical qualifications received dramatically different financial aid awards.

Lesson learned: APPLY EARLY!

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org .

Show Your Interest To College Admissions Officers

Students need to convey great interest and a sense of commitment to the colleges they’re applying to. This is because college admission officers favor student applicants who express true, heart-felt interest in attending their school. The official term for this is “demonstrated interest” and is defined as the likelihood a student will attend the college to which he or she is accepted.

One of the best places on college applications (and common application supplements) to demonstrate your interest is to provide a specific answer to the question, "Why do you want to go to this college?"

An excellent answer will include something specific about the college; writing about a specific college factor shows you have done your homework because you really want to attend that school. For example, you may choose to write about the course curriculum, a major department, a particular student organization, or some other aspect of that college. Each college’s website should have all the information needed to compose a specific answer.

Additional advice and examples are provided.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org .

Essays

Essays: Make sure your essays are really written by you. Some college admissions officers look at the writing sample from your SAT or ACT tests as more representative of your writing abilities than the college admission essay. If the quality of writing on your college admission essay is vastly superior to the writing samples from the SAT or ACT, college admission officers may question if you really wrote your own essays. Do not have an older sibling, counselor, or writing consultant make so many changes to your essay that it seems impossible that you wrote it.

Likewise, some parents are overly helpful with their student’s essay and make so many edits that they end up almost writing the entire essay themselves. This must be avoided! College admission officers see thousands of essays and are able to spot essays composed by parents. Essays written by parents use a style and language that is unmistakably NOT written by a teenage student.

If admission officers think you didn’t write your essays, your acceptance to that college or university will be in SERIOUS jeopardy.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org .

Gaming The System . . . NOT!

Recently, a top student at an International Baccalaureate high school in northern California was told by her counselor that she could only apply to five colleges/universities. When this student requested help from her counselor for recommendation letters, she was told that students who apply to more than five schools are, “Gaming the system.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. College admissions is not a game, it’s a competition. Each college-bound student is competing against the thousands of other student applicants at each and every college and university who is fighting for coveted acceptance letters. Most college-bound students apply to 7 to 10 schools; limiting a student to apply to only five schools hurts both student opportunities for college admission and for tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships and grants.

If a high school administrator (or anyone else) tries to limit the number of colleges and universities you can apply to, point out the competitive nature of college admissions and convince these people that you NEED to apply to as many as 10 schools. Completing quality applications and outstanding essays for 7 to 10 schools should put you in the college admissions driver’s seat; you will be in a better position to “shop” and compare colleges and to attend the school that best fits your needs in fall 2009.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org

College Fair

College fairs and high school “College Nights” give you the opportunity to both learn about colleges and universities AND to make positive impressions with college representatives. At these events, be ready to ask “intelligent” questions and to show how you are organized and prepared for meeting with representatives. Doing this will give you an additional edge with college admission officers when you apply for admission at those schools.

Prepare for college fairs and “College Nights” by doing the following:

1. Think about the college factors that are most important to you. This way you can focus on collecting information from schools that have the factors you’re looking for and appeal to you the most. Think about:

- In which area(s) of the U.S. do you want to go to college?
- What size college or university do you prefer to attend?
- What setting do you prefer for your college campus – urban, suburban, or rural?
- What major(s) are you considering studying in college?
- Which extracurricular activities are you most interested in?
- Is there anything special you want to see available at your college?

2. Write a short list of questions to ask college representatives; to compare several schools, ask identical questions at each table. Questions should be unique to your interests and situation. It may be helpful to print copies of generic questions to ask.

If a list of participating schools is available before the fair, you may want to research basic information about those colleges and universities so you will be better informed and able to ask more school-specific questions.

3. Bring several copies of your student résumé; it will be VERY impressive if you provide your résumé to college representatives.

4. To show excellent organization and preparation skills, bring several (20 or more) pre-prepared Avery address labels to put on college information request cards. Information on the labels should be typed and include your:
- Name
- Address
- E-mail address
- Telephone number
- High school
- Year of graduation
- GPA
- Intended major(s)
- Extracurricular activities of interest
In addition to impressing college representatives, having pre-prepared address labels will give you more free time because you won’t have to fill out the same information over and over at each college table. You just have to peel and stick.

Make college fairs and “College Nights” a two-way street; gather information from colleges AND give information about you to colleges. Take advantage of opportunities to meet with representatives who can influence decisions made in the admissions office at your favorite schools.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org

Letter of Recommendation – The Common Application

This year, for the first time, high school teachers and counselors can either submit paper or electronic Common Application recommendation forms. Students MUST request their recommendation forms using the procedure that matches the teacher/counselor chosen method of submitting recommendations. Below are instructions for students to request Common Application Teacher Evaluations (recommendations) and counselor Secondary School Reports.

1. Contact the counselor and teachers you are asking to complete recommendation forms.

2. Ask each teacher and counselor for their high school e-mail address.

3. Ask each teacher and counselor submitting a recommendation form on your behalf which method they are using to submit your recommendations:
a. Paper recommendation forms.
b. The Naviance system.
c. The Common Application Online Schools Forms system.

4. If your counselor and teachers want to use paper recommendation forms, go the links below and type your personal information in the top portion of each form. Print copies of the Teacher Evaluation form and Secondary School Report for each teacher/counselor and deliver to them IN PERSON to each recommender.

2008-09 Teacher Evaluation form

2008-09 Secondary School Report form

5. If your high school uses the Naviance system, see your counselor for assistance on how to submit recommendation forms.

6. If your counselor and/or teachers choose to use the Common Application Online Schools Forms system, follow the instructions below:

7. Register with the Common Application website. Click on “Never Registered? Go here” at the bottom page center – fill in your name, address, e-mail address, etc. Create a user name and password and click the “Register” button on the page bottom.

8. Next, click the “Search for Colleges” button in the list on the left side of the page.

9. Select your colleges, one at time, and check the “Select” box and click the “Add” button.

10. To add additional colleges, click the “Search” button and select a college. Check the “Select” box and click the “Add” button for each additional college.

11. After all your colleges have been added, click on the “Academics” button in the list on the left side of the page.

12. Complete this page by entering all the information about your high school and counselor (including counselor e-mail address) and the courses you are taking the first semester (fall 2008) and second semester (spring 2009). Click the “Save” button on the page bottom.

13. Next, click the “School Forms” button in the list on the left side of the page.

14. If the next page indicates your high school uses the Naviance system, contact your high school counselor for instructions.

15. If this page does not indicate your high school uses the Naviance system, click the “Invite” button.

16. Fill in the information about your high school counselor. Click the “Counselor” bubble and the “Yes” bubble in the “FERPA Waiver” Box. Check the “I authorize . . .” square in the “Release Authorization” Box.

17. Click the “Save” button at the page bottom.

18. Click the “Invite” button again (located under the counselor’s name).

19. Fill in the information about one of your high school teacher recommenders. Click the “Teacher” bubble and select a subject in the pull-down window in the “Subject Area” box. Click the “Yes” bubble in the “FERPA Waiver” Box. Check the “I authorize . . .” square in the “Release Authorization” Box. Click the “Save” button on the page bottom.

20. Repeat 18. and 19. above to add additional teachers, if needed.

21. Next, on the “School Forms” page, click on one of your selected colleges shown near the page top.

22. In the “Teacher” box near the page bottom, click the “select” pull-down window to choose the teacher you wish to submit a recommendation on your behalf to this college. Click the “Save” button on the page bottom.

23. Repeat 21. and 22. for each of your colleges.

24. Your counselor and teachers will be contact by e-mail from the Common Application website to complete and submit your recommendation forms online.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org

Interest Calculator

Students should convey great interest and a sense of commitment to their favorite colleges. This is because college admission officers “calculate” the interest expressed by student applicants and applicants showing genuine interest have a better chance of being accepted for admission. The official term for this is “demonstrated interest” and is defined as the likelihood a student will attend the college to which he or she is accepted.

In 2007, 76 percent of colleges and universities assigned some level of importance to student “demonstrated interest” (Source: State of College Admission, September 2008: National Association for College Admission Counseling). In essence, students get a “bonus factor” for showing they REALLY want to attend a particular college or university.

One of the best places on college applications (or common application supplements) to demonstrate your interest is to provide a specific answer to the question, "Why do you want to go to this college?"

An excellent answer will include something specific about the college; writing about a specific college factor shows you have done your homework because you want to attend that school. For example, you may choose to write about the course curriculum, a major department, a particular student organization, or some other aspect of that particular college. Each college’s website should have all the information needed to compose a specific answer.

A student planning to major in biology could respond to the above question with the statement, "I plan to major in biology and the curriculum offered at University of X is a great fit for me. In particular, the biochemistry courses offered by Professor Smith are especially interesting because I am anxious to learn how to apply chemistry to the field of biology."

This future biology student simply reviewed the biology department’s web page, looked at the variety of courses offered, and researched the professor who teaches their favorite aspect of biology (biochemistry). This student’s answer clearly shows genuine interest. The worst answer this student could give is, "The campus is beautiful so I want to attend this college."

So, take the time to research each college and university you are applying to and provide specific answers to application questions. This will increase both your value on the college admission officer “interest calculator” and your chances for admission.

For more information visit MyCollegeCalendar.org .

Blackberry Free Themes

While some people search for Blackberry free themes, college-bound students should be working to improve their chances for college admission by creating their “Student Theme.” Having a consistent Student Theme in all application materials will dramatically enhance students’ acceptance rates.

What is a Student Theme? It is a clear, consistent and compelling picture of your personality and character. It is a portrait of who you are and should show your interests, educational goals, supporting activities, and uniqueness; it should clearly link your interests, activities and college/career goals. This is not that difficult to do, but will take some thought to work into your application materials.

Last November, the New York Times reported on the importance of students “Branding” themselves to standout on their college applications. This is an important aspect of student applications and has long been advised by MyCollegeCalendar.org. We refer to student “Branding” as a “Student Theme” that should run through all student application materials (detailed in Step 2 of the MyCollegeCalendar’s College Application Strategy).

Each college admission officer reviews hundreds and hundreds of applications. Sure, they evaluate students’ GPAs, difficulty of curriculum, and SAT scores, but they also try to understand the personality and character of each student. Admission officers want to know where students will fit into their college community and how their college will benefit from each student being part of the incoming freshman class. So students, YOU need to tell THEM where you fit in and how your enrollment will make their college community a better place for everyone.

Therefore, develop a Student Theme that is used as a common thread in every part of your application. Your student theme must demonstrate your individuality, best qualities, and spirit as a student and person to college admission officers reading your application. Don’t forget to tell adult recommenders to include important aspects of your Student Theme in their letters of recommendation.

College-bound students: For now, develop your Student Theme and create outstanding college applications. There will be plenty of time later to find favorite Blackberry free themes.