Maybe it’s because the uncertainty and randomness of the college admissions process has increased, but it got me thinking about how creating a balanced list is not unlike building an investment portfolio. Why not purposefully include the amount of uncertainty or “risk tolerance” a student is willing to experience to the process of building a balanced “portfolio” of colleges to apply to?
There are tons of articles and advice on the balance of reach, target and safety schools to include, with varying definitions of what the “right” mix is. But why should that be expected to work the same for each individual student? Just like building a balanced investment portfolio, what that looks like varies by a person’s age, stage of life and their risk tolerance. Who is to say that an application list can’t contain all “safety” colleges, especially when “safety” doesn’t mean “default”! And how does one even determine what “reach” means anyway? While this article says it’s less than a 20% admit rate, this article defines it, more accurately, as less than a 40% chance of admittance which reflects the recent increases in applications to the top-ranked colleges. And when you factor in competitive majors such as engineering and computer science, it’s anybody’s guess.
That’s why I believe that “risk tolerance” should be added in to building the college list “portfolio”. Here are three steps to follow:
1. Assess your level of “risk tolerance”. Think about how you handle uncertainty. Are you someone who likes to know what’s going to happen or prefers to see what comes up? Do you thrive on keeping a schedule and making plans or are you more spontaneous? Grade yourself on a scale of 1-10 (low to high risk). Not sure? Take an assessment like 16Personalities. Or think about how you feel about the overall process already? Does it feel super stressful? How much more stress do you want to add to it? These are all things to think about as you’re putting together your list of colleges to apply to
2. Adjust the amount of “safety” schools based on your risk tolerance. And before you do that, redefine the term “safety school” to “likely school”. I tell my students that a “likely” school is one that has everything they’re looking for in a college experience, where the admit rate is above 60% and their academic profile exceeds that of the college. This is also a great way to get merit money!!
3. Apply to colleges with a variety of admission deadlines. Not only does it spread out the workload for applying, it also makes sure you don’t receive news from all colleges at one time. Applying to all UC’s or all regular decision means that a student might not receive admissions outcomes until April. Students who can handle risk can include more of those, while students who crave more certainty could add more rolling admissions or early action deadline colleges to their list.
Each student is unique in who they are, what motivates and inspires them and why they make the choices they do. As a college coach, that is what inspires me about working with them. I’m as much about the journey as I am about the destination. “How” a student goes through the process and “why” they make the choices they do provides them with a treasure trove of awareness about themselves. The more individualized and personal the journey, the more knowledge and awareness they experience which supports them to understand how they can and will create a successful experience at any one of the colleges they’re admitted to.