AO Advice: Crafting Your College Admissions Strategy for Juniors

Webinar Transcription

2023-02-02 – AO Advice: Crafting Your College Admissions Strategy for Juniors

Lonnie: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisors webinar, “AO Advice: Crafting Your College Admission Strategy for Juniors.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q& A. On the sidebar, you can download our slides and start submitting your questions in the Q& A tab.

Now let’s meet our panelist.

Chelsea: Good evening, everyone. My name is Chelsea Holley, and I serve as the serve as an admissions officer here at CollegeAdvisor. Um, I’ve been in college admissions for around 12 years. Um, I’ve worked at a variety of selective institutions, including large state flagships, public institutions, private liberal arts.

Women’s colleges and HBCUs. Um, and so I can speak very broadly about the college admissions process, but there are some nuances, um, about particular school types. So I’ll get into a little of the kind of umbrella strategy things that juniors might be looking for this year. Um, and then when I can, I will speak specifically to highly selective institutions, moderately selective institutions, depending on what you might be looking for.

I’m super excited. I need to get into this topic tonight. Um, I know our juniors are, um, seeing what the seniors are going through right now and maybe having some anxiety. Um, so this is a perfect time to start kind of thinking ahead about what your junior year might be like.

Lonnie: Great. This is a really good topic and on time topic for our juniors.

And so we want to know what grade you are in. Um, You know, before we assume I already have launched the poll and to no surprise, 96 percent of our audience is in the 11th grade. And then we also have, um, have a couple of ninth graders. And then we also have someone in the 12th grade. So the content today is definitely speaking directly, you know, to our juniors and then for our ninth grade student, you’ll be able to grab some gems to get you early, um, prepared.

So I’ll turn it back over to you.

Chelsea: Thank you. So the good thing is it’s never too early to start. So for our ninth grade student, these are definitely some things that you can look forward to. Um, in juniors, you all are pretty much in the sweet spot of when things get real for college admissions. Um, you begin to have a checklist, you begin to have a more predictable timeline.

Um, so let’s go over all of the things that happen or that you should be focusing on your junior year. Um, so the number one thing is focusing on academics. Uh, we’ll talk a little bit about deadlines shortly, um, but if you are looking at applying early action or early decision to an institution, this means that the last semester they’ll see the last group of grades that they will see.

is your junior year. So we can see the courses that you plan to take your senior year. We can see what you’re registered for, but the junior year is really that moment where you’re able to put together a final year that is strong, that has rigorous courses, and that can prepare you to compete in the applicant pool.

So focusing on academics is key. Um, focusing on academics includes Not only getting good grades, but also selecting the appropriate courses that will allow you to be competitive in the school that you’re applying to. And when we say appropriate courses, this typically means what are the most challenging courses available to you at your high school, um, a moderately selective school or a selective school would be looking for you to take the most challenging courses available to you.

So there are people on this call that maybe have access to 15 AP courses. Um, we may want to see you, um, striving for that nine to 11 range if you have that level of access. There are students on this call who don’t have access to AP courses at all. Maybe they only have access to five honors courses. So think about what would be a competitive range given your school context.

If you have access to no rigorous courses at your school, or you are at an independent school where there is kind of baked in rigor and all the courses that you have, then you are not penalized for not taking an AP course or an honors course. So that’s typically how colleges think about curricular rigor.

The second one is strengthen your extracurricular activities. By your junior year, you should have, um, a pretty good assessment of what your high school career has looked like outside of the classroom. Um, have you, uh, joined clubs and organizations? Have you done community service? Uh, have you held leadership roles?

Um, You should be able to do this self assessment and decide where there are holes in my narrative as a high school student, uh, and where can I strengthen my involvement? Um, one of the best things to do junior year is not to go out and join five random clubs, but it’s to double down on the things that you’re already involved in.

And the things that you’re already passionate about. So I encourage you to look back to freshman year, sophomore year, look back to those summers. What are some of those things that you really, really enjoy doing? And how can you make a point to extend that involvement through your junior year and then through your senior year as well?

Um, the third one, visit a campus. This is super important. Um, so I know that arranging college visits, Um, particularly if you’re looking at schools out of state can be really difficult and time consuming and involve a lot of resources. The most important thing is to get on a college campus. It doesn’t have to be your number one school, but what visiting a campus allows you to do is for you to start to understand what kind of college is the best fit for you.

Um, so do you enjoy a more rural environment or are you interested in a more urban campus? Um, do you like the small school feel or do you want to be at a school with 30, 000 students? Um, these are, categories of institutions that you can begin to either say, yes, I definitely want to go to a school like this, or maybe it’s not a good fit for me.

So visiting a campus can be step one at really understanding what your college list is going to look like. Uh, the fourth thing, identify recommenders. So, Most college applications will ask you to have some sort of recommendation, whether it is from a teacher, a counselor, a mentor, a coach, you want to begin thinking of those people in your academic and professional life that can speak to who you are.

Um, these would be people who, um, know you well. So someone who has taught you for two or three years, These could be, uh, faculty members that have really seen growth in you. So maybe you only took their class for one semester, but this was a class you really struggled in and you made some serious strides from the first time you came to class until you got that final grade.

That is someone that would be a great recommender. What you don’t want to do is wait until your senior year and Start wondering who can I ask for recommendations and come up with a list of folks that really don’t have much to say about you because that can come through in your recommendation letters.

And if you are listening to this and are thinking right now, I don’t know if any of my teachers might be able to speak to who I really am, then it’s time to start building those relationships. Um, one of the best things that you can do is provide what we often call a brag sheet or a resume. Um, set up some time to talk to someone that you would like to write a recommendation, talk to them about the schools you’re interested in, and share with them a little bit more about yourself.

That way, six months down the road when you’re asking them for a recommendation letter, it will not be random and they will have some insight of who you are outside of the limited scope in which they know you. Begin essay mapping. So this one typically doesn’t happen until the summer. summer. Um, but if you are raring to go and just really excited about working on your college application, you can always begin essay mapping.

And this essentially means what are the things that you want to talk about in essay form and in your college application. Um, what experiences have you had either in clubs and organizations or in the classroom that you want to expand on? Um, are there elements of your personal background or upbringing that you really think that you want to put in your application?

Um, you can begin jotting these things down, even in bullet form, just to get your ideas on paper. And I Promise you that will be a great foundation when you actually sit down to write your essay, you want to compile a list of all the activities that you’ve done. Um, so as you’re strengthening your application, uh, through extracurriculars, I would say, start with compiling that list of activities that allows you to see.

If there are any holes in your involvement and where you want to add something different. And then lastly, finalize testing plans. So, uh, a growing number of institutions have gone test optional. Um, so as you are thinking of your college list, you want to find out what schools require a standardized test score from you and what schools do not.

Once you figure that out, you can determine whether you want to invest your time and resources in taking the SAT or ACT, or maybe you decide that I am going to only apply to schools that will accept me without a test score and I choose not to take them at all. No matter where you fall on that continuum.

This is a good time to finalize those plans because if you do want to take the SAT or the ACT, your junior year allows you at least three more opportunities to not only test, but to study and adequately prepare for those tests so that you can do the best that you can.

So how do you go about building the application strategy your junior year? So the first one is compiling a college list. Um, and I think some students might have a rough idea of the schools that they’re interested in, or they have one dream school. Um, and it is the only school that they think about, but I encourage you to think of this, um, in a more broader sense.

The average student applies from anywhere from eight to ten colleges currently. Um, we see oftentimes as many as 12 and 15. Um, so it is not common to apply to just one or two schools. In fact, the more selective the institutions that you’re interested in, The longer that list should be of the schools that you’re considering.

You want to identify schools in three different categories, your safety schools, your target schools, and your reach schools. A safety school is a school that based on their academic profile, you are fairly confident that you would be admitted or have a chance to be admitted. Um, and so a safety school may be, um, A, a large state institution, um, that is, that you’re an in-state student at, uh, that has, you know, 65 to 70% admit rate that might be a safety school.

Um, for you now the definition of safety, target and reach. Depends on you as a student, depends on your academic profile and the things that you’ve been involved in. Um, so it’s important to know kind of where you fall on that continuum. But that is an example of something that might be a safety school for some students.

A target school is a school where your GPA, based on their academic profile, is kind of right in that sweet spot or just a little below. So that with a lot of work, with a strong application, you have a good chance of competing in the applicant pool. So it doesn’t mean that you’re a shoo in, But it’s a school that is very appropriate for you to aspire to, um, and there is a good chance that you may be able to be admitted to that school.

That would be a target school. Um, if you think about admit rates for target schools, uh, those could be between, I would say 40 percent and that 65%. Um, typically that’s where you might see a target admit rate, maybe a little lower. It depends on what your college list looks like. Um, but reach schools, reach schools are important because reach schools are a reach for everyone.

And so if your list is filled with schools like, um, a Harvard, a Stanford, a Brown, uh, an NYU, uh, a Northwestern, uh, the list goes on there. So these are highly selective institutions. Um, everyone on the list that I just named has an admit rate under. 17%. Um, some of the Ivy’s that I just named have admit rates in the single digits as low as three and 4%.

And they’ve gotten lower and lower over the past couple of years. We call these reach schools because they receive so many applications. Of so many talents, talented students that you could be a top notch student and still not get admitted to those schools. We’re talking about schools that are denying 80 percent of their applicant pool.

90 percent of their applicant pool. Right. Um, and so. If you have reach schools that are dominating your list, you must balance out those reach schools with some safety schools and some target schools. So that’s the first thing to start. What kinds of schools are you interested in? Um, and how can we get that list down to something that is going to serve you?

Um, and is an appropriate list for you giving your academic profile and given your interest. Um, compiling a college list and identifying safety target and reach schools can be very difficult. Um, you can do it with a lot of research. Uh, CollegeAdvisor also offers tools to help you build a college list that you feel good about and that we can kind of co sign to say, Hey, I think this is a balanced list.

Now we can move forward with your strategy. After you get to that college list phase, you want to research deadlines for all the schools that are on your list that you plan to apply to. And I mentioned earlier, uh, early action and early decision. Um, and I will briefly go over the three general, um, decision, uh, plans for college admissions.

So we have, uh, our early action deadlines. Early action is probably the most popular, uh, admissions plan that students apply for. Early action deadlines can be as early as October 1st, and I would say as late as November 15th. Um, that’s kind of the sweet spot for early action. Typically, early action, uh, responses get back to you in December.

or January. Um, early action is a non binding plan. Um, so that means that you are able to apply to as many schools as you want. And if you get accepted into your early action school, you can still continue to apply to visit and consider other options. So you are not bound to that institution just because they admitted you early.

Early decision. Um, similar to early action in the deadlines could be from October to November and you’ll find out early. Um, so that December, January range, but early decision plans are binding. So that means for most institutions, if you apply to a school early decision, and you are admitted, then you must withdraw all of your applications from other institutions and enroll in that school.

Um, so you are really making a huge commitment by applying early decision to an institution. You should only apply early decision to an institution if you really want to go there. If you would be able to easily say no to every other school that you’re considering, um, if that school admitted you. So it is a pretty big commitment in the college application process.

So you really want to research and find out if that type of plan is for you. And then last, we have our regular decision group. Regular decision admissions plans are almost never binding. They are typically after the winter holiday. Um, so you’ll see regular decision deadlines in August. late January, February, they give you a little bit more time.

Um, however, regular decisions are a little late to the party. So you’re not applying until January. Um, but you’re also not finding out until April, which getting a decision in April. Is very, very common, but it’s not ideal. It leaves you just a few weeks between the time you find out if you are admitted or denied to make a decision about where you want to go.

Most institutions require you to commit or accept their offer. by May 1st. So when we talk about those earlier deadlines, they are particularly attractive because you can find out who’s admitted you a little earlier in your senior year, and then you can begin kind of comparing financial aid award letters, um, going to visits, finding out more about your major at those institutions.

It gives you a little bit more room to breathe. So early decision, early action and regular decision, there are some nuances in those for particular schools, but those are the general kind of rules that go along with each of those plans. This one is a huge, um, thing to consider as you’re building your application strategy.

How will finances affect your college choice? Um, this typically is a conversation that must be had with your parents, your family, your legal guardian, um, for you to really understand how will finances affect your college choice. So, um, examples of how finances might play a role. Maybe you’re a student who knows that you will not be receiving help from your family, um, through tuition room and board.

So you must receive a scholarship. So you would look at your college list and say, what are the scholarships available? I need to make sure that this school is meeting all My entire financial need. Um, there are many institutions where, um, your household income, you can see exactly how much tuition would be discounted or how much the institution would pay for.

Um, there’s institutions that if you have financial need, they commit to meeting all of your financial needs. So if you are in that boat, then that should shape your college list as well, because you don’t want to get a list of acceptances that aren’t going to work out for you financially. Um, another way finances might play a role is if you are looking at in state versus out of state schools, there can be some very affordable in state options.

And, And there can be some very unaffordable out of state options. Um, so definitely have that conversation, um, with the people that are supporting you and that will be helping to put you through college so that you can understand how that should affect your list. And then finally. researching your majors.

So there are some students who, whose academic interest in majors are driving their entire college lists. So I want to major in biomedical engineering, and I am building a list based on the best engineering programs in the country. That is a completely valid route to take. Uh, but there’s other students who are either, Not decided by a major.

Um, maybe they’re undecided completely. They have no idea what they want to major in. Um, and so find out where you are amongst that group. Um, and how much majors and academic programs. should feed into what schools make it to your list. I also want to note that selectivity can shift depending on your major.

So let’s continue using engineering as an example. There are many amazing institutions where engineering is a top major and it is actually harder to get into the engineering college than it is to get into the larger university. So you want to find out if your Target school now becomes a reach because it’s super, super hard to get admitted into the engineering major.

That’s just an example.

So how do different parts of the application factor into the success of an applicant? Um, so again, this is a very general overview of application components, but for most selective institutions, um, There’ll be some components, uh, there’ll be some. Level of the components that you see here. So the 1st thing to know is if you are applying to a selective institution, um, and I’m using that word, I want to make the distinction that there are some schools, particularly in state options that will say.

If you have this GPA, you are admitted. So they are using a minimum GPA to determine whether you are admitted or not. Most selective institutions are not using a minimum GPA. They are using a number of factors that will determine whether you would be a good fit for their campus. We call that holistic review, and so that includes the academic element, it includes extracurricular element, and it also saves room for the institution, again, to see what kind of class they want to build and who is going to be a good fit for their campus.

This is called holistic review. Um, holistic review is incredibly important to understand as you are building an application strategy, because this is the way that admissions officers are viewing you holistically. The first big piece of holistic review that I think is the door opener is the academic transcript.

So while we’re considered, uh, considering all of these elements of your application, if you’re looking at a school that is, um, academically prestigious, um, they are going to care a good bit about how you’ve done in high school. And we find out that information from Your academic transcript, um, your academic transcript again, not only shows your GPA, but it also tells us the type of courses that you took throughout your high school year.

The school profile shows us what’s available to you, um, the demographics of your school. Um, it is all of those kind of nuances about your high school that you’re wondering, well, do they know that we can’t take a P courses until our junior year? Or do they know that I don’t even have a P courses. I only have the I.

B program and all my courses are I. B. We find that out on the school profile. So You don’t have to tell us that. Um, SAT or ACT scores, this depends on the institution, whether they require them or not. Um, activities, all schools, or I’ll say most schools are looking for you to have some involvement out of the classroom, the level of involvement and the type of involvement can shift depending on the type of school that you’re applying to.

Um, but essentially we want you to have done more than just go to class. Essays are often the, uh, one way that you’re able to articulate yourself and really talk to the person that will be reviewing your application. So essays, we’re looking for someone that is telling the story, um, for us to feel like we know you when we’re done reading your application.

And then recommendations are an extension of that. So a recommendation either co sign something that we already are thinking about you from your application, um, or recommendations can introduce new information that maybe you didn’t want to tell us or forgot to tell us and your recommenders fill in that blank for you.

So when you put all of these pieces together, the idea is we walk away from our reading of your application or from admissions committee thinking, wow, I really feel like I know this. And I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how they will perform on our campus.

Lonnie: Okay, so before we’re going to take a short pause so we can get a sense of where you are in the college application process. So we know that majority of our audience now is high school juniors, but we want to know where are you at? Because the college admission or college application process starts early as you all are starting to hear tonight.

So let us know where you are. Okay. And I am seeing some of the responses start to come in. I’m gonna give it another second. Okay, here it goes. So we have 72 percent that are researching schools. This is a great time to start doing that research. Uh, we have, 18 percent that haven’t started, but I’m pretty sure after this evening, they’re going to start, they’re going to start their process.

Um, we have 6 percent that are working on their essays and 7 percent that is getting their applications material together and 1 percent that’s almost done. So I’ll turn it over to you.

Chelsea: Thanks Lani. Um, I love the percentage that are researching schools. Um, that part is so, so important in the more research that you do on colleges.

the better you can understand the application process and the better that you can form a strategy. So that’s great. So how can students make sure they have a well rounded application? So starting early in the junior year is key. Um, focusing on last minute class selection can be very helpful. So if you feel like you need to boost your academic profile, um, Registering for some AP or honors courses that second semester of your junior year, um, or maybe you’ve been taking AP and honors courses your entire high school career, um, and you need some time where the rigors kind of dialed down so that you can focus on activities.

An extracurricular development that is also a very strategic decision to make. So that is something class selection and of course class performance is something you can look at. Again, extracurricular involvement is incredibly important. In junior year gives you just enough time to where. You can add some things in to boost your, um, competitive, competitiveness in the pool.

Um, waiting till senior year and trying to shift your extracurricular involvement almost never works. One, it’s oftentimes too late by the time that you submit your application and it can seem very inauthentic for you to all of a sudden join this club or take up this, uh, sport. In your senior year right before you start college.

So junior year is kind of that last crack at saying how do I want to get involved and make my mark while I’m in high school? Uh, summer plans. If you have not been taking advantage of your summers up to this point, um, definitely take advantage of this summer. It is the perfect time, um, to Have a little bit of a break from school and focus your energy into something else that is going to strengthen your college application.

Um, so examples of things that you can do in the summer, uh, attend a pre college program. Uh, it could be at the college that you’re interested in attending, or it could just be anywhere. Um, colleges, Are interested in seeing that you’ve done something on a college campus. It doesn’t always have to be on their campus.

Um, I think that matters, um, a lot less than students think it does. Um, so attending a pre college program, um, getting an internship. in the major that you’re interested in, um, taking dual enrollment courses at a local college, um, doing a self guided project. Maybe you want to major in computer science and over the summer you say, I’m going to do this coding project.

Um, these are all examples of things that you can do in the summer that are impressive to colleges. Know the schools that you’re applying to. Again, this is all about the college list. This is all about, um, knowing how to build a balanced college list and researching schools ahead of time. Um, one of my favorite things, or it’s not my favorite, but it, it always cracks me up.

Um, there is an essay on many colleges. College applications, and it’s called the why school essay. So you fill in the name of the school with whatever school you’re interested in. So why Harvard? Why Georgia Tech? Why WashU? And essentially they’re asking what about our institution specifically makes you want to enroll?

What, what do you know about us that is really drawing you here? And I work with students all the time and they struggle so much to answer this question. And that is a red flag. If you sit down to write the why school essay, and you’re not sure what to say about the school, it probably does not need to be on your college list, or you need to go back to the drawing board and really do your research so that you can speak the language that the school is speaking.

Um, knowing the schools that you’re applying to allows you to know their academic profile. So, you know, whether they are a safety, a target or reach knowing their mission statement allows you to connect elements of your experience of your interest and your passions with the things that they say they believe in.

So, again, this is not. Making up things that they say they believe in and pretending you care about them. But it’s finding parallels and what you’ve done and who you are that make you a good fit for that institution. One of the best things that students can do is check out the mission and value statement on a college.

Oftentimes in these selective admissions committees, they are literally looking for you to connect with the values of a college and what they say that they want, um, on campus, the things that they’re striving for. And you can find all of those nuggets. by reading their mission statement. There are so many more research resources for researching colleges than there were 10, certainly 20 years ago.

So take advantage of all of the online resources. My favorite, uh, resources is for researching the college are blogs that are often written by the admissions offices themselves and social media. So, Check out their Instagram. Um, check out their admissions blogs and they are literally producing content telling you what they’re looking for in this process.

So what are admissions officers looking for in a college application? Um, I want to say that this also dovetails with what makes me stand out, which is probably the number one question that students ask. What makes me stand out to college admissions officers? Number one, it depends on the school. So you have to know your school in order to know what is going to make you stand out in that environment.

Um, once you know your school, then. Academic ability is going to be oftentimes the thing that first perks them up, right? So you fit the academic profile of what a student looks like, their fit to the institution. This goes back to those mission statements and values. Um, is there a cohesive narrative? So these are things that you can control that are going to make you stand out or not stand out.

A cohesive narrative means, are there, Elements of your application that are confirming and underscoring each other. So if I am looking on your activities list and you have listed, um, three creative writing organizations that you’re involved in, are we also hearing your passion or demonstration of creative writing in your essay?

Um, are we also receiving a letter from your. science teacher that talks about how you bring creative writing elements into your science class. So these are things that create cohesion and make us feel like, okay, I know this student. This is the one who is an amazing writer. So a cohesive narrative is important.

Um, your voice and authenticity go hand in hand. So I almost never want to answer What makes you stand out in the application process because what makes you stand out is you, your unique interest, uh, experiences, background aspirations are what makes you stand out. What you have to do is find a way to present those to the admissions committee in a way that’s compelling.

And make sense. Um, so think of your entire application as a portfolio or a snapshot of you. What are those elements that you would be remiss if you didn’t mention? Um, so maybe you are an amazing cook. Um, and that has really shaped your life at home. So that’s something I got to put in there. Maybe you also like to skateboard.

Oh, I have to say that I like to skateboard. That’s a huge part of me. Um, and maybe your favorite subject is history. Um, so you have to talk about how drawn you are to history. You want to think of who you are and how you can convey that to the admissions committee. That is the only thing that’s going to make you stand out in this process.

And the best way to do that Is to be authentic. Um, think less of what you think they want to hear from you and more of how can I best package and convey myself who I really am to these people who don’t know me and might only spend seven or eight minutes reading my application. You have a short window of time to make an impression.

And the best way to make that impression is being authentic. Um, if you’re wondering how to get there, right? So how do I share who I really am? Um, I’m not sure. Right. I’m still finding that out. Introspection and vulnerability in your application always wins. Having those moments where you’re reflective in your essays, um, reflective in, uh, how your recommenders talk about you, um, and what they know about you.

This is helpful because this makes the application feel authentic. Um, if you are telling us a story about something that happened, tell us how you felt in that moment. Tell us how this experience shaped you, changed you, molded you. Um, all of this happens through introspection. So I encourage you even journaling, journaling about Um, what you’ve experienced in high school is a really great way to get your feelings and your experiences down on paper.

And then you can use that in your college applications. So my last advice, things that I probably already said, but be authentic, always number one, um, allow your unique interests and skills to drive this process. Um, do not try to over engineer what you present. Start with yourself and let that drive where you apply, what you talk about, um, all of those things.

A symbol of village, right? So a lot of other people besides you will be involved in this process. Your parents will be involved whether you like it or not. Um, your high school counselor will be involved. Your teachers will be involved. So begin getting everybody on board with what the plan is, um, and allowing everyone to know, uh, what parts of the process they can help you with.

Finish your junior year as strong as possible. Remember, this is the last semester that schools will see if you are applying early action or early decision. And despite all of these things keep your stress low. It is not a helpful element in this process. It is already stressful enough. Um, so if you’re feeling yourself getting overwhelmed, if you’re seeing your parents getting overwhelmed, allow yourself to have some moments where you can kind of decompress, step away from the process, um, and then return back when you are, um, not running as hot.

So I think we might be at Q and A.

Lonnie: We are at Q and A. Okay, so how this is going to work. I am going to read out your questions and thank you to everyone who’s already started to ask their questions. We’re going to try our best to get to every question that you have asked. Um, and then Chelsea’s going to answer it for you.

So here’s the first question. Uh, let’s see if I don’t get in through early action, can I apply through regular decision?

Chelsea: That’s a great question. So If you get denied early action, typically you cannot apply in any other rounds for that college. So you can’t do a regular decision. You’re kind of out of the running for that specific college.

But I do want to share one thing that I did not talk about, which is getting a deferral decision. So many colleges defer a large portion of their early action applicants. And if you get deferred early action, it’s essentially means we don’t want to deny you yet, but we don’t feel confident enough that we can admit you.

We’re going to wait. We’re going to push you to regular decision and then we’ll consider you then. So, um, deferral percentages have increased quite a bit in the past few years. I’ve seen them as high as like 60 percent at selective institutions where they’re not denying a bunch of people early. They’re just deferring them.

And then that gives them more time to either admit or deny at the end. So, um, I wouldn’t shy away from early action because you’re scared that you might get denied early. Um, because if you’ve built that balanced college list, and it is a target school, more often than not, you would see a defer versus a deny early.

Lonnie: Okay, thank you. Next question that we have is, um, this is still about early decision. Are students that apply early decision eligible for financial aid slash scholarships? And then what happens if a student is accepted early decision but cannot cover the cost of tuition?

Chelsea: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, students who apply early decision and early action are almost always eligible for, um, the institution’s highest merit awards.

They also have the advantage of being kind of the first people to apply. Um, so even need based awards and all of those things, um, they’re at the front of the line, if you will, for those type of awards. Um, so yes, it is absolutely possible. Um, with that being said, there are plenty of students who get accepted into their early decision school.

financial aid letter and it is not what they were hoping for. They don’t have the scholarship offers that they were expecting from the institution. Um, and it just doesn’t work. So if you were accepted into your early decision school and you are unable to attend due to the financial aid award letter, you would decline their offer and it releases you from the early decision agreement and then you go on about your business and continue applying to other schools in the future application cycles.

Lonnie: Okay, next question is, if I didn’t do as well, um, you know, as I wanted to in my junior year, will my senior year classes and grades still help?

Chelsea: So it depends. So if you are ending your junior year and you’re thinking, Oh my gosh, I didn’t really perform how I wanted to, you might be a good candidate to apply regular decision.

What this gives you is another semester where a college can actually see how you performed, um, because you would have your final grades back by the time you submit an application in January or February. So if you’re concerned about the second semester of your junior year. I would consider applying regular decision.

Um, if you do still apply early, just remember they’re only going to see your in progress course listings. They won’t even see how you’re doing senior year. So there’s nothing to go off of. All they can go off of is what you’ve done your junior year. Um, and and prior. So definitely consider regular decision.

If you’re concerned about grades junior year,

Lonnie: um, When is the, what’s the best time to ask for teacher recommendations or when’s the best time?

Chelsea: Um, so I would say as soon as school starts your senior year, if you have a relationship with, um, a, a teacher where, you know, you’ve had them your junior year, um, and then you’re going to have them again senior year, you could broach the conversation at the end of the junior year.

Um, it just really depends on the level of relationship that you’ve established. The more that you know them and they know you, the earlier you can ask. Um, if you are asking someone who’s only known you for maybe one class, then I would say the beginning of the senior year, carve out some time to talk to them.

And that would give them typically about two months to get a recommendation letter together.

Lonnie: Okay. This question asks, is GPA and rank more looked at than SAT scores and applying to college?

Chelsea: So I don’t want to speak for all institutions, um, but I would say generally speaking, yes. So looking at what you’ve done for four years is a better indicator than what you did one Saturday morning in a room for five hours, right?

So most people, most colleges are looking at your transcript as the bulk of your academic performance. And then if they are requiring standardized test scores or considering standard That’s just an additional element. Um, you can find out how the specific schools you’re looking at, uh, weigh those two things.

You can, they’re typically pretty frank on the website. You can kind of tell how they’re viewing transcripts versus SATs. But I would say as an industry standard, Transcripts and GPAs are always the, the first thing you go to, not the SAT score.

Lonnie: Okay, so let’s see. Next question that we’re gonna ask, um, this is kind of related to being homeschooled. Um, so this, um, participant asked, um, if I’m part of homeschool, how can I know I have accomplished everything I need to know, like, Attending a public school.

Chelsea: So unfortunately, there’s no way for you to know what every student attending a public school in the United States has done.

Um, public schools vary widely. Um, we also have independent private schools and boarding schools and online institutions. So don’t feel like you are just on an island because you are homeschooled. Everyone’s high school is different. And the way that admissions committees. compare, if you will, students across high schools is that school report that I talked to you about.

Um, so for homeschool students, we don’t always get a school report. If you are at an organization, um, in which you’re homeschooled under, they may have a school report. Report that they send to colleges. But if you’re not, we are thinking of your application within the bounds of home school students. So you’re not being compared to some student at a huge public school that has access to all of these courses and extracurricular activities.

We are thinking of you in the context of your educational experience. So I would find solace in that. Um, and as a high school, as a homeschool student, make sure that you are documenting and submitting, um, as much materials and artifacts as you can. Um, especially if you don’t have a traditional transcript.

Lonnie: Okay. Let’s see this one. This is a great question. Um, should we talk about ourselves and our. our lives in our application essay or should we talk about our ideas and philosophies in our college essay?

Chelsea: It depends. Um, so I would say a little of both. Um, I would argue that your ideas and your philosophies come from who you are.

Um, so you can talk about How you came to believe something or came to know something based on your background. So I would say both. I think sometimes when school, students are applying to schools that they see as very intellectually rigorous, they want to play up the ideas and the philosophies piece and downplay the kind of This is who I am.

You want to make sure that you have a balance of the two. Um, so it’s not helpful for us to know what you think if we don’t know who you are. Um, so I would say definitely both of those things. Um, you’ll likely have an opportunity to do at least one Um, there are ways that you can integrate that into, um, both of those essays and not feel like you have to choose one.

Lonnie: Okay, let’s see. What is the first thing an admission officer sees in an application?

Chelsea: So, um, it depends on how, uh, they’re reading. So admissions officers, um, there is a standard for how we approach applications, but, um, there is some autonomy in how we approach an application. The first thing I looked at when I read applications was the school profile.

I have to understand your educational context to know where we’re going with this. Um, I would say another top piece of information that you might start with is the academic transcript. Um, those begin to kind of lay the foundation For what are the other elements you wouldn’t start at the recommendation.

I don’t know if you would start at the essay. Um, the school profile and the academic transcript, um, really are the pieces of information that you can begin to get to know what the students done.

Lonnie: Great question. Okay, so we’re gonna take a short pause for me to share more about CollegeAdvisor. So for those who are in the room who aren’t already working with us, we know how overwhelming the admission process can be.

especially for competitive applicants like yourselves. Our team of over 300 former admission officers and admission experts are ready to help you and your family navigate all in one on one advising sessions. I’ve seen some really, really great questions that you all have been asking, and those are definitely questions that we can be able to support you more with.

So take the next step in your college admission journey by signing up for a free consultation using the QR code on the screen. And then during that consultation, a member of our team will review your current extracurricular list, discuss how it aligns with your college goals, and help you find opportunities for growth as well as leadership as you prepare for the college application process.

After scanning the QR code, you’ll be able to select a date and time for a phone conversation with a member of our team. Okay, I am going to leave the QR code on the screen as we have time for just a few more questions. So we won’t be able to get to every question, but we’re going to try our best. Um, so let’s see next question.

Do

colleges have a set Student body makeup. They’re looking, you know, as they’re looking to construct for each incoming class in the fall kind of as they think about admitting their pool of students.

Chelsea: Short answer is it depends. Um, and it can change from year to year. So, Admissions committees could have, uh, goals based on major, um, particularly if you’re talking about state schools, they have goals based on in state versus out state, out of state ratio.

Um, so absolutely, yes, there are some constraints, um, in those areas depending on the type of school.

Lonnie: Okay. So is it better to declare a major when applying or is it okay to apply un major? Declared.

Chelsea: It is absolutely okay to apply undeclared if you are truly undeclared.

Lonnie: How can we go about a campus tour since they’re usually during the school hours?

Chelsea: Yes. So, um, most students will take a day off of school to go take a college tour.

Um, college admissions offices will provide you with an excuse letter. Um, and as long as you can fit it into your schedule and you’re not having a test, that’s absolutely acceptable. You might also look into visit weekends. So there are opportunities to visit on a Saturday. There are also overnight opportunities to visit.

So those are options if you don’t want to interrupt your school week.

Lonnie: Yeah. Um, next question is if I’m not accepted into the school of my choice after senior year, can I apply again in the next academic year?

Chelsea: Absolutely. Um, you would have to apply again as a new student. Um, typically we would call that taking a gap year.

So if you plan to do that, I would figure out what your strategy is for your gap year. So you want to come back with, you The fact that you did something. Did you travel? Did you work? Did you, um, do an internship? What were you doing in that year? Um, and why should you now be admitted to the school?

Lonnie: If I want to study architecture, is it better that the recommendation comes from classes that are related to design or Or should it, is it okay if it come from any teacher?

Chelsea: So it depends on the type of architecture school that you’re applying to. Are you applying somewhere that requires a portfolio? And is wanting you to have had some experience in that subject?

If so, then it would be great to have a design or architecture teacher. give you a letter of recommendation. But remember, a lot of these admissions decisions are happening in a central admissions office. It is not necessarily the major that is reviewing your application or admitting you. So you want to decide or you want to determine if the school is, um, uh, admitting you into the college.

So the entire college, regardless of major, or if there are people in the actual department that are reading your application. Um, I think that might have answered that question.

Lonnie: Yes, yes, it does. Uh, do colleges look only at your final grades all three years or your grades for each grading period being taken into account?

So maybe you could share like what grading periods are, you know, college admission officers looking at?

Chelsea: So if you, if you’re, if you’re meaning when you say grading periods, um, semester one, semester two, that’s not quite as relevant. We are looking for whatever that final grade is in that course. Um, but we are going class by class looking at, What you made in math, what you made in science, what you made in English and not just looking at a GPA overall.

So they are looking line by line at every class and looking at how you did in those subjects.

Lonnie: Is it okay to not have specific hours on volunteering but instead have general service work done over some time?

Chelsea: So most likely if you are applying through the common app, you will be asked to quantify your, your work in an organization anyway.

And we know that, you know, a lot of involvement in, um, a high school organization, you’re not sitting there and logging your hours, but you are asked to give an estimate for how much you’re involved. So you will have to estimate that it could be something really, really broad. Like I volunteered, um, Three weekends over the course of a month, um, for a year.

And then they’ll ask you to add up those hours. So you will have to quantify at some point, but you can absolutely make an educated guess.

Lonnie: This question is more specific. I’ve been involved with BAM for seven years. Would that make my application seem a bit boring being involved in only one thing?

Chelsea: Not necessarily.

Um, so there are students that are involved in only one thing because they’re just super passionate about it. And, I know that band takes up a whole lot of time. Um, and so I wouldn’t say that it would be boring, but you want to make sure that, um, when there are elements of your application that you can show your flexibility or how dynamic you are.

Maybe it’s through the recommendations. Um, maybe it’s through your essay, talk about another subject besides band, um, that will allow the committee to see a different side of you.

Lonnie: Okay, let’s see. Um, and this question will be our last one. Can I switch and go to one college for two years and another for the next two years?

Chelsea: Sure, that would be called transferring, um, from one college to the next. Um, you can definitely do that. However, that often adds on time to, um, your, your ultimate degree and sometimes adds on money to the ultimate degree.

Um, so, um, I typically when a student makes that decision in high school, it’s starting out at a community college and then transferring to a four year, which can be very, very strategic. Very rarely would someone decide to start out at one four year and transfer to another four year while they’re still in high school because there’s a lot of red tape and things that may not be beneficial for your overall college journey by transferring.

Lonnie: Okay, well, thank you. This is now concluding the end of our webinar. I hope you found some valuable information. I know that I did just listening to the presentation. Um, and just a reminder, if you’re interested, which I highly encourage you to just learn more about CollegeAdvisor, how we can support you.

There also will be an additional screen that will pop up at the conclusion of this webinar. And then speaking of webinars, we are continuing to host more webinars this month. We’re going to have some more that are going to be coming up. So, so far, these are the webinars that we have listed on our website.

So please sign up so that you can learn more about preparing for your college application process. And thank you all for the thank you notes as well that you’re sharing. And have a great night. Bye bye. Bye everyone. Bye.