WHEW! Students and families all over are exhibiting a collective sigh of relief as the last of the colleges send out their admission decisions. Whether the overall feeling is joy or sadness, at least there is closure to this very long and surprising season.
This year was a particularly rough one for a variety of reasons. A record number of applications were received with more students than ever applying early action and early decision. This article is from the Daily Northwestern but many colleges were also able to fill anywhere from one-third to one-half of their incoming freshman class from the early pool, leaving more students deferred or wait-listed than in years past.
In California, the Cal State colleges turned away 32,000 students because campuses were too full to accommodate them and trustees are under pressure to fix this. And feedback I’ve received on my Facebook page say that states like Florida are experiencing similar challenges.
The results this year from the UC’s are so unexpected that many counselors moving forward are reluctant to categorize any of them outside of a “reach” school for their students.
There are no easy answers or quick fixes to these or any of the other numerous factors that make the admission process increasingly more challenging. Many of these factors are due to the sheer increase in the number of students who are applying to college, but there are a few things we can do to take back some of the control.
Here are a few ideas:
#1 – Just say NO to random applying to the UC’s.
I’m all for making the process easier. There is no need to do a separate application for every single college when much of the data is redundant. But not SO easy that students can easily double the number of colleges they apply to. The Common App streamlines that process while also including a separate section for each individual college, which often requires unique questions or supplements. Not so with the UC application or the Cal State application. Almost all of the information, including the essays, are all the same which makes it far to easy to randomly apply to all of the colleges without researching much about the college or the fit, hoping to get into one or two and then deciding where they want to go. Multiply that by hundreds of students and it easily increases the number of applications received by, well, a LOT!
Even so, I can almost forgive that practice over the students who apply with absolutely no intention or desire to even attend a UC. The stories I’ve heard from students about friends who didn’t even want to go to a UC or stay in California but applied “at the last minute, just because…” or “because my friend/relative/neighbor thought I should" makes me cringe. Especially when I hear about students who were waitlisted at UC Santa Cruz or denied at UC Santa Barbara who had that as their dream schools. It’s hard not to think about how those decisions might have been an “admit” with less “random” applications submitted.
#2 – Embrace the area between the east and west coast.
The plethora of applications this year was a good thing in that it helped families get creative and think outside the box. For students who said they wanted to be in the Northeast (meaning NY or Boston) they ventured north and south to explore Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. My California students expanded their definition of “near family” to include relatives and friends which opened up many options in different states. Those that wanted to be "near skiing” found that it’s a lot less crowded to do so in Idaho, Utah or Montana than Colorado. Want four seasons but don’t want to travel far? Flagstaff has that plus it’s a cute college town.
#3 – Explore different lists.
Notice how the lists of “reach” colleges tend to correlate with the ones on U.S. News & World Report lists? Families tend to think that if they haven’t heard of the college it isn’t that good. But the question is, good in what? There are tons of colleges out there that excel in many areas and, based on your criteria, can provide an amazing college experience. For example, if school spirit, traditions and athletics are your “thing”, you can find some great schools off of this list. Or check out the recent NCAA Basketball tournament bracket. Plus, the ones in less "demand" are also the ones that may be able to offer more "financial incentives" (merit aid) for attending.
#4 – Get paid for good grades
The “prestigious” and “name” colleges are not only difficult to get into, they also offer little if no merit money or scholarships. If you’re into prestige, how about graduating in 4 years with little or no debt. That's an achievement that's noteworthy! Taking your hard work and good grades and test scores to colleges that are in less demand can do that for you!
#5 - Put together a purposeful, well-rounded list, based on what's important to you and why
Combine all of the above and put together a list of criteria based on what is important to you and why so that you can create a targeted and purposeful college list. One that includes a wide range of acceptance profiles that are well researched AND that you are interested in attending. It doesn’t mean that you can’t add to it as you go along, based on input from friends and family, but when you do receive input, you’ll have a foundation against which to evaluate the information.