Sophomores and Juniors Need To Get a Jump On Testing, Campus Tours

Our 2.20.2016 post got sophomores thinking about the Big Picture. Here is Part Two for sophomores and juniors.

Start your serious campus visit effort easily. Stay local. Walk around. Find three places on campus you read about online. Sample the food; you get bonus points by walking up to a student and explaining you are eager to learn what they think of their college choice. Then actually visit schools fitting into the small-medium-large genre to see if something catches your attention. We know teens who attend really big high schools who want to downside their college experience…and many from a tiny school who transition successfully to big State U. See the dorms; visit a classroom; learn how to compare school types, locations and distances from home, and especially, majors. By all means, try the food on campus. Remember, you are going to spend four years eating that food regularly. It may give you new insight into how mom/dad fed you your favorite meal three times a week all those formative years.

Many high schools put on a College Night. There is a mind-boggling amount of information at these events, but remember all the printed stuff is written by marketing people who want to promote their best face. It is worth your time to come with a list of five questions specific to your situation and ask the person on the other side of the table these Q’s. You will gain more insight in those five minutes than an hour spent reading marketing material. You could streamline your personal college short-list selection effort by weeks. This is now a great time to take your new list and re-read your Fiske or Princeton Review guide for greater clarity.

Standardized testing involves the three "P's"- planning, preparing for and practicing.  A standardized test tutor is extremely valuable for even the best students and is worth a few hundred dollars of investment. You are allowed to take the ACT and SAT as many times as you want...but three attempts seems optimal. Take the PLAN in October. The PSAT is what gets you into the National Merit Scholarship program. Take it your sophomore year and you will be much better prepared for the Grade 11 PSAT, which is the one that will count for entering the NMS program. Preparing for every standardized test you take helps develop crucial skills such as the ability to dig down to “the four levels of meaning within text” —word/sentence/passage/story. The sooner you become an expert at this learning tool, the better your testing skills improve. While taking the PSAT, consider the prize: becoming one of the 14,000 National Merit Scholarship Finalists. There are both NMS and corporate sponsor scholarship funds available. But bumping up the percentage of NMS Finalists is a huge boon to universities, especially in the way national school rankings are scored. Here is one example for 2016: There is Arizona State University, which has around 83,000 students and a reputation as something of a party school. But much less known is its esteemed Barrett Honors College, which touts itself as the "best honors college" in the U.S. For the 2016 NMS Finalist who picks Barrett as first choice for NMS Corp., ASU is offering:

A one-on-one personalized tour.

Eight semesters of non-resident tuition (worth more than $100,000).

$1,500 in research support and $1,000 in travel.

Imagine telling mom and dad you've got tuition covered. Smiles all around.

We'll have more tips down the road on the positioning of the high-achieving student.
- Mike Ryan

Stay Ahead of the Pack - Sharpen Your Year 2 Prep

In baseball there is an odd phenomenon called "the sophomore slump." Talented baseball rookies put the pieces together and by the end of their first season, they think they know it all. Somehow, their second season demonstrates all those finely tuned skills are a little bit off, and Year 2 can go off the rails.

Don't let something like this happen after a successful first year of high school. One transitional segment down, you have the two most important years ahead to build a formidable resume that will force universities to consider you a top prospect. In this first of two-part blog post, we help illuminate your path to the college of choice.

You should be on your correct track of classes already. If you are confident, take those AP and Honors classes. If you are struggling with anything, get assistance ASAP.

Seek out your school counselor. These are busy people helping juniors and seniors land at the best university. But you--as a sophomore--have a labyrinthine passage to arrive at the best place for you. Get on your counselor's radar and ask questions, never forgetting the counselor sometimes knows the college admissions personnel and a few tricks of the trade you don't. Your goal this year is to get that counselor to recognize your face, call you by name and understand you are serious about finding that best fit.

Sports and clubs. You tried out and made a sports team already. Now do something new or get on the track to move into a leadership position as an upperclassman. Hang close to a coach and ask questions about why certain game situations require different tactics. If in music, try a similar instrument to the one you have gotten good at playing. Sit in and gauge your interest in clubs from Anime Club to International Club to Youth and Government. Sophomore year is the time to firm up how your high-school resume will dazzle a college admissions officer. Variety and consistency are crucial, but this is the year to make sure you cast a wide net of activities--and include some public service whether local like the town animal shelter or national as in Habitat for Humanity. Now learn how to stand out within chosen programs. Demonstrate creativity, leadership, a special skill. Spend less time on Facebook and Instagram and begin to develop a LinkedIn profile. One tip: If you like Citizen Club or any of the young political clubs, sign up to be a High School Election Judge in states that have programs that encourage students to become part of the process before they can vote. For a university with roots in the political arena, it's a potential admissions game changer.

Take some career-interest questionnaires. We guarantee you will discover some career ideas you didn't realize were a good fit. Pare down your list of potential majors; you probably know by now if you are STEM material or a gifted public speaker. Think about big, like 80,000 undergrads, medium, a dizzying array of midsize public and private schools, or maybe small liberal arts colleges. Scan The Princeton Review's Best Colleges and/or Fiske Guide to Colleges. Make a list of 10 or 20 or more.  Even if the list is big, it gets you focused. Read about the schools and follow them on social media; some of them will feel familiar but others seem completely new. Personally, I find the origins of universities and how they came to develop specialties and odd traditions very entertaining. Maybe you will, too, and in the process become curious about an intriguing college as a possibility.

- Mike Ryan

Recognizing Trouble With a Capital T

The admission decision stretch run is under way.  This involves comparing and contrasting final college contenders before the May 1st National College Decision Day.  Students are boiling-over with excitement as they sense imminent adult freedom. But every young adult needs to know that also means responsibility and awareness of important safety issues in a bubbling caldron of energy and activity.

The Jeanne Clery Act was passed by Congress in 1990. Any college receiving federal funding is required to post information about campus crime and school efforts to improve safety.

So before your child starts drilling down to see the social media comments on his/her freshman rhetoric teacher, identify ways to help them safe. Visit

http://ope.ed.gov/security/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx

and review the crime incidents on campus.

When you are 18 and feeling immortal, the safety speech can get lost in the banter of discussions about college. Don't let it slide. It is up to the parents to insist on assigning a speed dial number for campus police and loading apps like Companion, Circle of 6 or Watch Over Me onto your child's smart phone. Find out what school safety protocols for the Mobile Age are in place; make sure there is an up-to-date crisis management strategy to contend with worst-case scenarios. Scan this website if you are short on talking points:

notalone.gov

And while the Big Picture issues need action plans, it also is crucial talking with the schools and upperclassmen/women about how sexual assault, theft and burglary are addressed on campus. We know by now the where-and-when of first-semester classes. But find out what education programs are available for students on the crucial issues of trauma, bystander intervention and sexual assault. Face it, mom. Your daughter may occasionally drift off during family discussions, but when the campus police chief is talking the reality of underage drinking and the boundaries between consent and assault, your daughter will realize informed is better prepared. And while we all might get lucky leaving a phone in an unlocked car in the home's driveway, the protection of personal belongings in vehicles, residence and dining halls should become second nature from the moment your child lands on campus. Awareness and a sense of a situation being not quite right are life skills best developed before the first day of class.

And lastly, devote a minute to “Shoulder surfing,” Electronic device privacy screens are a must-have for keeping personal financial information just that. Sharing passwords with new friends are bad ideas. Visit a local bank and rent a safe deposit box for the really important items. 

As your family considers the various pros and cons offered by each college, the campus policy on maintaining a safe environment is critical to everyone's planning and peace of mind.  

-Mike Ryan

Be Careful Who You Wish For

Be Careful Who You Wish For

High school juniors must carefully weigh their choice of teachers for written recommendations. You often are allowed two, and most inexperienced juniors go for the "warm and fuzzy"--the teacher who seemed to like you. This is a mistake. Colleges do not want to read about how pleasant you were in Biology class. Think more like a job-seeking professional. The business executive doesn't ask her mom to write a job recommendation. She picks the person who challenged her to do the very best job and could relate actual work decisions that resulted in a successfully completed project. 

The best recommendations are a result of a collaborative effort between the student and recommending teacher. The student should proactively share with the teacher the vision of what needs to be conveyed to the college, while the teacher merges this information into a compelling and personalized statement. Don't settle for sweet; talk to your teachers who really pushed you, applauded your out-of-the-box solution to a difficult problem or genuinely appreciated a semester-long dialogue that kept a classroom on its toes rather than allow it to stare at the clock with 10 minutes left to go. 

A longtime Yale University dean said, "We look to see whether teachers incline toward calling each bright student 'one of the best I have ever taught,' or instead try to distinguish the really extraordinary individual from those who are strong in the usual ways."

You want to stand out before your college acceptance committee. Warm or fuzzy is for kittens; colleges want to hear from tigers who will rule the jungle.

-Mike Ryan

PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF ACADEMIA

You and your daughter may have passed her on a campus tour on the way to check out the student union restaurant offerings.

You didn’t recognize her, but she is one of those behind-the-scenes experts who can crunch the metadata to assess the probability of your daughter being admitted, and importantly, successfully hitting the finish line—graduation day.

Enter the Strategic Enrollment Manager.

While you are mulling whether the school is a good fit for your offspring—academic options, financial aid, teacher-student ratios and that campus food--the Strategic Enrollment Manager has taken taking a much more holistic approach.

"When applied astutely and ethically, [Strategic Enrollment Management] recruits students for success, links them to faculty and other mentors and helps them become college graduates and lifelong achievers,” said Paul Orehovec, consultant and longtime enrollment management officer.

Colleges need to balance such factors as academic program development, recruitment policies, faculty, student-living programs with special attention on retention plans and procedures.  Indeed, the SEM is weighing dozens and dozens of factors, from socioeconomic status to high-school extracurricular activities to where mom and dad went to college.  The enrollment team develops a strategic model that maximizes success—not only for the incoming four-year student, but for the stature and financial well-being of the university itself.

The SEM thrives on the concept of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)—Recruitment KPIs such as diversity, Retention KPIs such as probabilities of at-risk students and Operational KPIs such as total incoming revenue and social-media marketing expenditures.

And from the pool of potential students the SEM can parse “market niches,”--probable nursing students or STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)  majors or Citizen Club aspirants.

So while connecting with the regional recruiter and financial-aid officer is crucial, also consider finding the SEM, by email at least. Ask about the shifting number of declared majors, how the school parses urban from rural candidates, etc. Make sure your daughter is active on social media…Follow on Facebook and keep your profile clear of questionable activity; include the college on her RSS Feed; download the college’s student app; follow and be active on the university’s Twitter accounts; post an Instagram picture from your campus tour...

Success breeds more success. Your needs as a student/parent overlap more than you think with your top school choices….Just do the math. The SEM already has.

Recommendations for College Applications

It's not too early to begin organizing the supplemental components to college applications. This includes high school guidance counselor and teacher recommendations.

There is no better time than the present to reach out and get in touch with individuals who have agreed to provide a college recommendation letter. If the recommender has not received a copy of the student's most current resume, the student should make a concerted effort to get a copy to them as soon as possible. The resume gives the recommender an expanded overview of who the student is while also providing a document to reference when they begin to plan what to write.

As the most compelling recommendation letters are personal, specific, and insightful, it is a good idea for the student and recommending individual to meet and have a discussion. This discussion provides the recommender with an opportunity to ask questions while giving the student the opportunity to share any strategic plan for the college(s). Proactively discussing which elements are critical to share, and the preference for how that content should best be presented, is beneficial to all parties.

Rising High School Seniors Getting Busy!

If you are a rising high school senior you should be immersed in preparing for your college applications. If you have not finalized your list of schools for application by now, then a concerted effort toward establishing the colleges that will comprise that list should be a top priority.

Determining the application format (options include specific college website online forms, Common Application, Universal Application) that will be used to apply is an important step. It is not recommended to submit a paper application as the colleges prefer electronic submissions. Once the application format has been determined you can then begin to build a plan to create and submit the required elements.

Which application deadline options are offered at each college you are considering? The range includes Early Decision 1and Early Decision 2 (these are binding admissions contracts), Early Action 1 and 2, Restrictive Early Action (this is a restrictive admission process in certain circumstances), Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions. Rank your prospective colleges in order of importance to you. Use a calendar to plot your specific college application deadlines, backing into each deadline with the required and supplemental elements necessary in order to submit each application component in a timely fashion. A prospective candidate's file is not considered "complete" until all required documents have been received by the college admissions office.

There are other things to determine and add into the application completion mix. Do any of your prospective colleges require and recommend an interview? Are you able or encouraged to submit supplemental documents for consideration by admissions? How many letters of recommendation or reference are required or allowed? Determine which ACT, SAT, SAT Subject test scores you will be submitting, if your college requires they be submitted.

Staying organized and on-task is the name of the game!