Extracurriculars that "sell," not bore
Nary a week goes by without a question about a summer program, service trip opportunity or other similar queries. Here are my thoughts:
The world of extracurricular activities is divided into two parts: Typical and Atypical. Nothing against typical activities, but they won't move the proverbial college application needle. Examples:
Playing a sport is great for many reasons, but unless you're a recruited athlete, it will not help your kid get in anywhere. He doesn't have to step up his private tennis or fencing lessons to six times per week for college application purposes.
Being a member of National Honor Society is nice, but if your child qualifies, she will be joining the rarefied air of the top 70% of her peers. Not a game changer for the college apps. It's a participation trophy.
Enrolling in a service trip to Hawaii, the Dominican Republic or some other tropical paradise requiring travel by air -- instead of offering your...
Applying for Financial Aid: Hurt Odds of Acceptance?
Hello my College Planning Amigo,
During College Application Season, it’s unusual for a month to go by without a parent asking me whether they should check the “yes” box on the Common App, to indicate that they want to be considered for financial aid.
What do you think? Will it hurt your odds of getting in? Or…
Is that the right question? Here are my thoughts.
Most colleges are “need aware.” Meaning, they consider whether you need financial aid as ONE of the 25 ish factors that go into a college application.
So whether you need aid or not isn’t a make or break question across the board. However, it definitely is one of the considerations that could get you in or keep you out when it comes down to the wire, when admissions committees are making their final cuts.
On the other hand, a relatively small number of colleges, typically Ivy and other elite private colleges, purport to be...
How Did Northeastern Get So Hard to Get Into?
Even though I've been a college advisor for 21+ years, I admit that I still have a hard time understanding how things got so topsy turvy.
It's rare for a week to go by without a parent commenting to me, "When did things get so complicated?"
College costs are out of hand. And college admissions are kah-ray-zee!
There's no rhyme or reason. Yesterday's "Safety Schools" are today's Impossible Dreams.
Case in point: Northeastern University.
When I was a wee lad growing up in the 1980's in the Boston suburbs, Northeastern admitted 90% of its applicants. I hate to say it but here I go:
That's where you went if you couldn't get into any other college!
Last year: 6.7% acceptance rate.
You read that right, it wasn't a typo. How did this happen?
In a word, "marketing." Northeastern gamed the system, specifically US News and World Report, to rush the charts and become...
Less Than 5 Hours Left
In less than five hours -- midnight tonight -- we're pulling the plug on our last-minute, 11th hour college applications and essays "express" program, The November Sprint.
That means that, if you want help putting together a (nearly) perfect college application and a set of essays so compelling that admissions officers would (practically) crawl naked over broken glass to BEG your child to attend their college...
...In what looks like to be the most competitive, ridiculous college acceptance cycle ever (did you see last year's acceptance rates? Brace yourself!)...
It's time to make your choice.
Either sign up with us, so that our years of specialized college essay and college advising expertise is in your corner -- expertise that has helped our clients get into every top college you can think of...
...or, let this chance slip through your fingers and "wing it."
You've got an important decision to make. If you chose us, we're ready to go to work for you...
Only 16 Hours Left [Simplify Your College Apps]
College essays and applications don't have to be complicated.
I'd argue that the simpler, the better. That's how you avoid stress, frustration and confusion.
That's exactly why we designed the November Sprint, an "express" college advising program for high school seniors who are still treading water with their college list, applications and essays.
It's time to dive in and rescue them.
If you (really, your kiddo) are ready to roll up your sleeves and put together a winning application that positions yourself as an "Incomparable Applicant"...
...so that you give yourself the best shot at getting into your Dream School -- and winning tens of thousands of fat, juicy scholarships...
Then it's critically important that you take action right now, before we pull the rug out from under this offer.
It's go time.
- Andy Lockwood
P.S. If you're like most parents we know, you've done a LOT for your kid: spent thousands of dollars and...
Not a "college applicant?"
Sometimes, I'm not exactly tactful.
Case in point, last week I was sitting with an 11th grader, reviewing his grades, PSATs, extracurricular activities and preliminary, highly selective, college list.
I told him that his record was pretty strong. But..."Don't take this the wrong way," I offered.
When you throw your hat into the ring with thousands of kids with equal or better accomplishments, you become something else:
A Dime a Dozen
Colleges are businesses, they sort, exclude and choose kids for acceptance based on their own internal desires and guidelines, some of which have nothing to do with an applicant's qualifications.
A LOT of which, actually.
So if you agree that colleges are actually in business (despite their non-profit status - hah), you might see why I implore my clients to understand things a bit differently about themselves:
They Too Are in Business
They're in the business of getting into the colleges they want, and to win scholarships.
I...
"Don't Write About Death"
This August, a Class of 2024 client, Sally (not her real name) told me that she had just met with her guidance counselor. They chatted about her essay topic. The counselor was alarmed.
“Don’t write about death, you’ll depress your admissions officer!”
Sally (still not her real name) and her mom asked me what I thought.
“STUPID!” I offered, tactfully.
"Oh this is fun," Sally's mom said. "I have to come to these meeting more often!"
The back story is that Sally had attended five funerals in a span of four months. Not only is that unusual for a high school senior, it seems like it might be kind of important in her young life, don't you think?
“If this was a big deal, it’s something to consider writing about. Actually, it might be weird to NOT write about it”, quoth the college advisor.
The essay doesn’t have to be about “death,” I said.
I continued, "What if you used the services and eulogies as a lens...
Announcing: 11th hour essays and applications help
For Frustrated, Worried Class of 2024 Parents...
I'll be quicker than Senator Fetterman's morning grooming routine, because the clock is a-tickin...
If your high school senior son or daughter hasn't made the progress on their essays and applications you hoped for this summer, we might be able to help.
I say "might" because
- We have only a tiny handful of spots currently open
- We're pretty picky about whom we work with;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Here's the scoop -- my team and I are finishing up the application and essay writing process with a bunch of our 2024 private clients. What that means for you is that we have limited capacity to help your kiddo bring the applications and essays over the goal line, if they have October, November and December deadlines.
We call this program The November Sprint, and it's designed exclusively to relieve the blood pressure of moms (and dads) who are ripping out their hair over their kids' looming Early Action, Early Decision and other...
On Rankings
It's back to school time, which also means it's college ranking season.
I think ranking colleges is a pretty silly exercise, but I understand that we humans are wired to compare A to B to C and so forth. And I read them too.
To me, one of the most striking things about the various and sundry rankings is what they leave out. Probably because it is unrankable:
Student effort
A couple of the Big Rankers measure average salaries, post-graduation, at each college. Fine. But here's what does not go into those rankings, as far as I can tell:
- Elite colleges generally get the highest marks. But elite colleges are heavily populated by kids from wealthy families. It's great that Chip graduated from Princeton (and Exeter/Andover/Choate/
Fieldston) and is pulling down $125K in his first year in consulting, but is that really because he went to Princeton? Or that Chip's old man (also Chip) called in a favor for his boy. - The aforementioned effort. What...
It's Here
Coupon Code: PREVIEW23
BREAKING -- the Common Application is out today!
I haven't been this excited since the new phone books arrived (bonus points if you got the movie reference).
Putting my giddiness aside, today's the day when Class of 2024 college-bound kiddos can get a clickin' and a clackin' on their little computers and officially start the college application process. Some thoughts:
- There's no race. Even for rolling admissions colleges.
- However, there's no need to wait until hours before deadline to start your applications. These easily avoidable faux emergencies occur in November and December. Today's August 1, but those deadlines will sneak up on thousands. Maybe even some of my readers (not you of course :)
- Generally, the Common App is straight forward. The parts that require some thought and strategy are 1. the personal statement, 2. supplemental essays and 3. the Activities Section. Work...
