Crafting Your College List

Webinar Transcription

2023-02-09 – Crafting Your College List

Anesha: Hi, everyone, and welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha Grant. I’m a senior advisor, CollegeAdvisor, and I will be your moderator today. Today’s webinar is, “Crafting Your College List.” Before we get started, I just want to orient everyone with the webinar timing. Our presenter will share some tips, resources, and guidance, and then we will open up the floor to respond to your questions in the live Q and A.

On the sidebar, you can download our slides under the handouts tab, and you can start submitting your questions at any time in the Q and A tab. Now let’s meet our presenter. Hi, Brian.

Brian: Hey, how are you? I’m

Anesha: good. How are you doing?

Brian: Yeah. Absolutely. So hi everyone. Glad to be with you tonight. Um, my name is Brian Posnanski and I am, uh, a, uh, former admission officer.

Um, I worked for. Eight years in college admissions, um, in the start of my career. Uh, the first two being at a very small liberal arts college called Regis college, uh, just outside of, uh, Boston, uh, about 12 miles west of Boston. And then I worked for six years, um, at Boston university, um, as an admission.

Director there, um, where I also earned my MBA, uh, with concentration in public and nonprofit, um, administration, um, and more recently, uh, work in corporate recruiting, but also have been with CollegeAdvisor for, um, Roughly 20 months now. Um, so coming up on two years, um, it’ll end this coming spring. I’m so excited to be chatting with all, uh, all of you tonight.

Anesha: Counting the months. I love it. Okay. Um, before I hand it over to Brian, we’re going to just take a quick poll. So y’all let us know what grade level you are currently in. It will help us To make sure we’re keeping it focused on wherever you all are. Um, so take a few minutes and let us know. And then I always ask a food related question.

So what’s the best place to eat around BU? Um, if you recall, I have some, I have an opinion here, but I’m just wondering what?

Brian: Oh, yeah. No, that’s tough. Um, I mean, it depends on what you want. Um, I mean, a really big, uh, a good one is always, um, there’s a Caine’s chicken, um, right on campus. Um, which is a, you know, it’s a chain fried chicken place.

I think, um, you know, there are others in the country. Um, but a local place would probably be. Um, either, honestly, we would call it B Hot, Boston House of Pizza, or, um, uh, yeah, that was like my go to as a staffer. Um, there used to be a really good burger place on campus that unfortunately closed down, um, a couple years ago.

So, that was really sad because it was very, very good.

Anesha: I don’t think I’ve ever tried Bhop, but I think the next time that I’m in Boston I will try that. That sounds Pizza seems to be everyone’s There’s a New England battle over pizza right now. New Jersey supposedly won, but Connecticut Okay. Um, and they ignored that New York is there at all.

But anyway. Um, thanks for sharing some of those ideas. We’ll go ahead and close our poll. And just so you know, about 63 percent of folks are in 10th grade, 38 percent are in the 11th grade. So it seems like folks are just beginning to kind of think about colleges and think about how to start that research.

So I’ll be back in the Q and A, but I’ll hand it over to you, Brian.

Brian: Awesome. Thank you so much. Um, awesome. Well, you know, folks, I’m really excited to chat with you all a little bit about building a school list, um, this evening and kind of what goes into that process. I think, you know, I, I want to start with a very, um, kind of general statement in that, um, there’s a lot of generalizations that needs to be made in this presentation and, um, The college admission process is a very, very individual process.

Um, and so this is not, you know, a lot of the opinions or thoughts that I’m going to be sharing tonight is not mean that this is the end all be all, um, you know, that there are a lot of people that are going to be going through the process very, very differently. And, you know, if there were a hundred people on this process, they’re probably on this webinar, there would probably be A hundred different, um, different experiences that those, um, folks had.

So I just kind of wanted to, um, get that out of the way. So, you know, definitely some generalizations, um, that will be made, but with that said, um, you know, what. Is a school list and and and what makes for for building a good list. Um, well, I think that, you know, generally speaking, it’s it’s a list of schools.

Um, it’s a list of colleges, universities, you’re investigating. It doesn’t have to be the list that you ultimately. Uh, submit applications to doesn’t have to be your application list. Um, it can just be something that you’re building and, and, and you’re researching and you’re learning about these schools.

And maybe you’re doing a little visiting, you’re doing some online, uh, research. You’re talking to friends and family and counselors and teachers and all different people about these schools on. And, and you’re doing some, some research and you’re learning, um, it’s going to vary in size. Um, that’s definitely a big, uh, thing that will come up a couple of different times over the course of this webinar, really going to vary on size, uh, by student for a variety of different reasons.

And we’ll get into some of those reasons in a little bit, but I think what makes for a good list, um, is a balance. And this means a lot of different things. Um, you know, we’ll talk a little bit about college fit. Um, And so you want to have schools that are good fits for you as an individual, um, as a student, as someone that’s going to be applying.

But also when we talk about applying to colleges, we want balance of that’s most commonly referred to when we’re talking about the types and the rigor of institution that you’re applying to. And that’s when we get into the, that, um, those categories of reach. Target and likely schools. And we’ll get into a little bit about what all three of those mean.

Um, a little later, but ultimately what factors are going to be going into building out that list? Well, and, and, and what should you consider a lot? There’s a lot. That should be considered because there are a lot of different colleges and universities out there in the United States alone. There are almost roughly 4,000 colleges and universities.

So there’s a lot to choose from. Um, and that’s just in the U.S. you know, there are definitely folks on that may be on this webinar that are looking to go to school in, in Canada or, um, in Europe or other parts of the world. That’s totally cool too. Um, ultimately, we There are a lot of different things to look at, and so geographic location is definitely one of those, I think, is a good way to start maybe narrowing down some schools.

So, for instance, someone like myself, who grew up in the New England area, I’m from New Hampshire, I knew I wanted to stay in New England, I knew I wanted to be closer to this area. Um, that kind of narrowed down my search and kind of looking within, you know, uh, technically six different states on, and, and so that, that helped me out for some folks.

Um, you know, they might be like, you know what, I want to get as far away from home as possible. I want to go to the West coast. I want to go to Florida. I want to go on someplace warm, someplace, uh, not warm. If you’re from a warm climate, I mean, there’s a lot of different things, right? So you could be going to a couple of different places.

Size. Colleges comes in, come in many different sizes. Um, like I mentioned, I worked at a very small, what I would classify as a, you know, a pretty small, um, college. You know, we had roughly 800 undergraduate students, um, at Regis College when I was working there. That’s a pretty small school. I mean, there are some that are, are even smaller than that, but.

Um, that was pretty small. In comparison, BU, um, a pretty large private, private institution. It was the, when I was working there was the fourth largest private institution in the country. They had roughly 16,000 undergraduate students when I was working there. You know, that’s a, uh, you know, uh, a good size urban institution, but then there are That might even be small compared to some of the larger land grant state universities that have 40, 50, 60,000 students enrolled at their, their school.

So size is going to play a big role. What kind of classes do you want to be involved in, be enrolled in? Do you want to be in smaller classes? Do you want to be in lectures? Um, are you afraid of being lost in the shuffle? Um, are you afraid of it being too small? You know, um, it’d be, you know, Uh, that might be the case as well.

Um, what are the academic programs that they offer? Do they have the major that you’re potentially considering? Um, you know, I think as a first year student, or for some of you that are still very early in your high school career, you may not know what you want to study yet, totally fine. A lot of schools allow you to pursue a variety of different things.

And so maybe that’s a factor, you know, maybe it’s, it’s the academic programs allow you to choose. From a variety of different things. You can apply undeclared. You don’t have to declare a major until later on in your academic career at the institution, or maybe you’re one of those students that absolutely knows what you want to study, and you’re basing what school you apply to off of the strength of those academic programs.

You want to study business. You want to study engineering. You want to study pre med. Um, you know, those are a variety of different things that, that sometimes folks will do the campus environment and culture for sure. Obviously size is going to have a lot to do with that environment, that culture, um, you know, is it a religious institution, um, is it a public institution?

Is it a private institution? Um, You know, what is kind of that? That vibe? Is it extremely diverse institution? Um, you know, there are a lot of international students on campus. Um, those are all different things that build out the environment, the culture. Um, also, I would say, uh, you know, a school like Boston University, for instance.

Urban institution, once in the city of Boston on, you know, and you’re very much entrenched in in the city on whereas, you know, some other schools very rural or very suburban on, you know, and that would be a very different experience. Um, you know, I used to joke. Uh, you know that I had a choice of like three or four different Dunkin Donuts that I could go to get my morning coffee before I went to the office, right, at BU, um, that’s not going to be the case everywhere you go, um, and so that’s kind of, um, something, you know, walking, you know, is it a walking campus?

Do you have to drive around? Do you need a car? Should you not have a car? All of those things are going to play into the environment culture. Extracurricular activities. What are you doing for fun? What’s like, what is the big thing on campus on, you know, our athletics really big. Do you want to play sports on, you know, is it a D1 institution where, you know, they have a really big, you know, basketball or football program on, you know, is that play a major role in the campus environment?

Do you want that? Do you not want that? What about Greek life? Does Greek life play a big role in the institution? And, and, and, Uh, you know, kind of what folks are doing, um, outside of class and then any other clubs or organizations that you want to participate in, um, and, you know, do things outside of the classroom, right?

Classroom is only going to be making up a certain percentage of your time. Obviously that’s a really important part of your college experience. Um, but you also want to be involved in a variety of different things. And, and, um, hopefully that institution has, has a lot going on that, that you Would interest you.

And then lastly, um, but definitely a very, very important piece of rounding out, you know, your school list and determining factors are what some of those admission statistics might be, what the profile of the admitted class is, um, and do you match that, that profile? So this could mean a variety of different things.

It could mean, you know, um, kind of GPA, um, rigor of curriculum for the student that they’re looking for. Um, Um, if the school requires standardized testing, these are all factors that are typically given, and we’ll get into why this is important a little bit when we talk about, um, you know, target, uh, you know, target and reach and, and, uh, likely schools, um, But ultimately, the profile of an admitted class is something that is usually posted on a school website.

And it’s important to kind of help you understand where you fit within the context of that school and what they’re looking for from their admission profile. So those are some examples. Some, uh, factors that you want to consider, uh, in building out your list. Like I said, there’s a lot of different factors.

I’m sure I forgot some, um, you know, but those are some of the things that, that definitely come to mind. So when is a good time to start, uh, your, your school list and begin it? Really? The list can, can take place anytime. Um, throughout high school. I mean, I think generally speaking again is very general, big generalization here.

I think it probably starts late sophomore year. You know, I think back to my high school experience or when I was dealing with high school students, you know, freshman year, I feel like you’re still kind of getting in the swing of things, figuring out your classes, um, you know, getting used to being in high school sophomore year.

You know, kind of getting in the groove. Um, and then, you know, late sophomore year, you’re like, okay, maybe I can start thinking about what would be after, um, you know, these four years of high school. And, and so that’s, you know, typically a good time, um, to start forming that list and, and, um, thinking about, You know, researching these schools, um, typically over the course of junior year, you’re calling this list, you’re perfecting it.

You’re kind of, maybe this is when you’re doing some school visits, you’re talking to admission reps when they come to visit your school, you’re going to some college fairs, perhaps, um, this is a good time to kind of like really be thinking about the process a little bit more. And then as you go into senior year, especially that summer, um, you’re probably finalizing your list, um, and really kind of solidifying that group of schools that you’re probably most likely to be submitting, uh, an application to.

So that’s kind of how I think about that timeline of doing your school research. Um, All right. So let’s get into talking a little bit about reach target and likely on. So reach target and likely simply stated are ways to kind of categorize, you know, emission odds, emission chances of Uh, a applicant to a specific institution on, you know, their, their likelihood of being admitted to that school really based off of the quantifiable metrics of a applicant and again, utilizing the school’s admission profile.

So, um, when we think about that, it’s, we’re talking about a schools, um, you know, that, that, that publishers say, you know, you need our average student has X, Y. Okay. You know, GPA X, Y, Z, S A T scores on. And so, you know, that’s kind of how you’re, and then you’re matching what you have up against that, that basis, that, um, comparison.

So reach would be really, um, your top tier institutions. I typically think about these really as any school in that kind of top 50 ranked, uh, Um, you know, you look at the U S news and world report or things like that nature, um, I have some strong feelings about, you know, the rankings and things of that nature, but typically these are top tier institutions.

They’re very selective. They typically have an admit rate below 20 or 25%. And so by definition, this is very selective. The majority of applicants that apply to these institutions are not being offered admission to the institution. And so. On, you know, typically, you know, this type of school probably has an emit profile that is slightly above yours.

Um, in some cases, though, this is, you know, there are reach schools for everyone, regardless of whether you have a 4. 0, you know, perfect, uh, S. A. T. A. C. T. score, you know, a million a piece. Um, they’re just really, really selective. You know, I’m not going to name those, but I think we, we all know, uh, those types of institutions I’m, I’m, I’m speaking of, you know, these top tier institutions, they have single digit accept rates.

So even folks, you know, they’re the best and the brightest that are getting admitted to these schools. So even with a 4 0 1600, you know, it’s kind of. You know, still a reach potentially just because of the nature of the selectivity of that school, that, uh, individual institution. So target, I think this is, you know, a little bit easier to understand.

It’s a school that matches your academic profile. You know, you feel fairly confident that based off of your GPA, the courses that you’ve taken, if you’re submitting test scores, your extracurriculars, all of your different pieces of your application that you’re putting forth, you feel relatively confident that that school and you are a match on that you fit together well and that you should, um, you know, that you should be admitted.

Um, you may not be. I mean, you know, there is still some variability there. Um, but target schools, you know, really, I For instance, um, if I’m going to give a specific number, if you have a 3. 5 GPA and, and, uh, average, um, for a school is like a three, six, you know, I would say that that’s still, you know, kind of a target it’s in your, it’s in your range.

Okay, so that’s kind of the idea of a target likely, you know, you feel very strong about your admission chances. Your, uh, it’s a school where you match and or above their academic profile in that same situation. Maybe you have a 35. Their average is a 3233 on your, your, your relatively confident acceptance.

A lot of times these schools have greater than a 50 percent admission rate. Um, and so you feel pretty confident about your admission to this institution. Um, again, generally based on the academic profile of the admitted class of the institution, and you should utilize your own academic profile to compare where you fit with within this process.

Okay. So, um, ultimately that’s kind of how I think about, uh, reach target and likely institutions. So what ratio of a reach a target? A likely school should students have when they apply? Um, it should be a mix. Absolutely should be a mix. Um, usually you should have a cup. It’s good to have a couple reaches.

Um, probably a few likely schools. Um, you know, kind of safety in your back pocket. Um, but The majority of your list should be target schools, schools that you feel relatively confident about, you know, that you’re going to be admitted to, um, you know, that you’re not going to be too surprised when admission letters come, come around.

Um, so that’s kind of, you know, what the ratio generally should be, but ultimately, obviously it’s going to depend on how many institutions you ultimately apply to, which we’ll get to, um, in a couple of slides as well. Um, so You know, a helpful approach for a successful admission strategy would be to look at opportunities, um, and compare, you know, multiple options, um, after your admission decision, right?

So, in other words, what that means is come, you know, March, April, uh, leading into, you know, May 1st deposit deadline day, ideally you would like to have 2, different options. You know, acceptance letters that you can compare and say, you know, I really like school a, um, but school B has, you know, this program and school C gave me this financial aid package and you can kind of compare, right?

And so that’s why you want to build a list that will hopefully get you to, um, the ability to compare. Um, obviously there are some situations where you know, it’s your number one, and if you get in, that’s great. And that’s where you’re going anyway. Um, and so that, that might not be, um, You know what you need, but for a lot of folks, um, you know, a way to approach it is to hopefully have the ability to compare, um, come, uh, decision time.

So when we talk about, um, you know, what, what defines a good fit? Well, a lot of it is those things that we talked about back, um, and, you know, I think it’s slide two or three of, you know, how do you build out, how do you start, how do you build out your list, um, what are factors to start researching? And so it’s, The academic programs that they offer.

It’s the rigor of the institution. Again, how you match to that institution. It’s the location. It’s the size. It might be the financials. It might be the cost. You know, it might be the tuition, um, you know, for the institution ultimately. And, and, you know, did that institution give you, um, some, some aid, whether it be need based aid or merit aid, um, You know, those are definitely obviously factors for many, many folks, um, is, you know, how much is it going to cost me to attend XYZ institutions?

I tend to advise folks, I, I hope that folks often take cost out of the equation when applying to an institution, um, because the sticker price, You know what the total cost of tuition and attendance is most often is not what an applicant ultimately ends up or an enrolled student ends up paying. Um, and so I wouldn’t want a student to miss out on an opportunity to attend XYZ Institution because of sticker costs.

And so Absolutely. You get to April, you get to the end and you’re kind of weighing decisions and it’s like, okay, well, this school is going to cost me X amount of dollars. This school is going to cost me two X of that many dollars. That is a reasonable, you know, decision to kind of go one way, but you never know what that balance is going to be unless you actually apply, unless you actually submit for aid, um, and go through that process, et cetera.

Um, so that’s kind of a piece of advice that I, I try to advise folks to have. Um, again, athletics, clubs, organizations, if that’s something that’s important to you, you wanna be playing athletics, maybe you’re a D1, you know, you’re looking to play D1 sports or even D2 sports. Um, you’re looking for a scholarship of some kind, you know, that may play a big factor in whether or not a school is a good fit.

And then I think that, you know, there is that. That feeling that folks get a lot of times when they’re visiting a school could be good. It could be bad. Um, you know, quite frankly, there were that that that happened to me in the school that I ultimately attended as an undergrad on. And that definitely happened in schools where I visited and I was like, this is not it.

You know, I walked in on or drove on campus and I was like, ma, like, I don’t even want to get out of the car. You know, this is just, is not, I’m not getting the vibes. Um, and, and this is just not it for me. So, um, you know, that trust your instincts, trust your gut. Like that’s going to be important. Um, you want to feel good about the place that you’re going, but there are a lot of different things that ultimately define fit for folks.

Um, and, and these are just some of them, um, that I think, uh, play, play into, um, defining that. All right. So. When we, as admission officers, are evaluating you as applicants, what makes us think that you’re a good fit for us, the institution? Many, many, many, many things that are evaluated. Um, I do, I’ve done an entire other webinar just on this topic.

but is through something called holistic review. Um, you’ll hear this a lot, um, through the admission process. Basically what it means is that institutions are evaluating every single piece of information that you send them. Um, that’s your high school transcript. It’s your standardized tests. If the school utilizes those, it’s the rigor of the courses that you took.

It’s your extracurricular activities. It’s your essays. It’s your, um, You know, maybe it could be depending on the institution, the program that you’re applying to. Um, it’s your recommendations from your, uh, school counselor or from teachers. Um, it’s all of those things wrapped up into one. It’s never really just one thing that ultimately will make or break an admission decision.

I know that’s really hard for many folks to understand. Um, and I often, This is the thing I would get pushed back on the most. And it’s like, you’re telling me that, you know, if student has X, Y, Z, S, A, T score that doesn’t automatically discredit them. Honestly, most of the time, no. Um, there are typically multiple things that go along with an admission.

application or profile, um, that ultimately would be, uh, classified in the process. Um, so we really do look at all different pieces of the application. I think the quantitative metrics, um, things like standardized test scores, things like your GPA, things like the rigor of your curriculum, those are easy to quantify.

And so that’s easy to measure. Um, and so I think that those typically play, and especially because it is an academic and merit merit talk, um, Uh, you know, is a meritocracy, uh, merit based system. Um, that those play the biggest role. Um, so you’re, you’re, those play the biggest role in the admission process, but we absolutely still want folks that are involved, have done a lot of different things that write a good essay, tell us about themselves.

Um, and obviously what other folks have to say about you, um, you know, your counselors, um, You know, one, one particular, uh, phrase that would really come out, um, to me to actually, I wrote them here is, you know, someone that’s intellectually curious. Um, I loved that, that always, you know, sparked, um, was, uh, uh, uh, sparked my ears, um, raised my ears.

And then, um, you know, this person is an addition to our community. You know, they made our school a better place because of their, um, you know, their enrollment here. So that’s always, those were some that always kind of sparked my interests. Um, but obviously you hear, you know, they’re a leader, they’re a hard worker.

Um, you know, they go the extra mile, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Um, and then, you know, many schools do. You look at demonstrated interests, you know, have you been interested in the program, um, in the school, um, have you visited, um, have you been in touch with an admission counselor? Do you apply early decision?

Obviously that’d be a big one. Um, so demonstrated interests, you know, that definitely plays, um, a role for some institutions. So those are some of the things that an admission officer looks at, um, and deciding whether they’re, You know, the applicant is a good fit. So how can students narrow down their college search on and and ultimately, you know, get a good list on down to a reasonable number.

I mean, The term reasonable is different for every single person again, right? So this is a very, very individual process. Um, I’ll give you two examples here. You know, when I applied to colleges back in 2007, I know I’m kind of old at this point. Um, but, uh, to many of you may be, um, but, uh, I applied to three target schools.

That’s it. I only submitted three applications. I got it. I ultimately got into all three. Okay. You know, which, you know, is defines, you know, why I thought they were target schools. And then I had my choices amongst those three, um, my sister, two years younger than me, two years later in 2009, she ultimately applied to 13, uh, schools and they were a mix.

She had a couple of reach. A variety of targets and and a couple of likely or safety schools as well. Um, so it really again, even in, you know, our, our household, we were two very different people. Um, we kind of approached it different, uh, different ways. Average now is about nine. Um, that is probably, you know, with the selectivity nowadays, I think that that, you know, probably makes sense.

But ultimately, again, it’s going to be dependent on you. If there’s one school or two or three schools. That you know, this is absolutely it for me. I’m a good fit. I love it. This is where I want to go. You know, then then maybe, you know, you’re going to be on the low end of that nine. Um, but that that is the average and there are some folks that are shooting, you know, shooting for the moon and they apply to many, many, many, many, many schools.

So, um, it really is going to vary for, for many, uh, people. People. But I think a couple of different questions to ask yourself when you’re going through this process is why are you applying to this school? You know, is it because you actually would want to go on if you were admitted? Um, because quite frankly, that probably should be a determining factor if you’re taking the time to submit an application to this institution.

Um, You know, again, to go back a slide, this is one of the things that admission officers are trying to evaluate. Are you a good fit for our institution? If you are just applying just to see if you can get in. I don’t know that that equals that fit, um, in that relationship. And I don’t know if it’s worth the time for you, um, or the investment, you know, again, sometimes there’s application fees here.

I don’t know if it’s worth the investment for you, um, you know, in submitting that application. So it’s something to consider, something to think about. Um, and so again, what does the each application include, um, in time? You know, some schools require several extra essays. Um, you know, some of them, uh, require specific statements.

If you’re applying to a specific program, you know, college or major within the institution. Um, again. Many, most of them have some kind of application fee, um, and these really can range, um, in total costs. So, you know, ultimately it’s important to think about, uh, that process as well. So what factors should students take into, uh, consideration, um, and account when, when taking schools off their list?

Um, I mean, some of those things that I was just talking about, for sure. I think admission likelihood, you know, if you don’t think that you’re going to be admitted. Um, you know, it’s a really, really selective institution. Again, let’s say the average GPA of an admitted student last year at this school was a 3.8. And, you know, you have a 4. You know, it’s probably not gonna, um, be likely for you that you’d be admitted. You know, so you might want to think about, is it worth, again, that investment? In time resources, money, what have you, um, in, in keeping that school on your list and applying, um, again, why is the school on your list?

We we’ve kind of gone over this a little bit. Um, have your interests changed? You know, maybe there was a school, you know, At this point in your junior year, you know, this time in the calendar year, you know, February, um, that you’re like really jazzed about, but by September, October, when you’re submitting your applications, you’re like, you know what, I’m not as interested in that anymore.

That’s okay, too. Um, and maybe, uh, you don’t want to go that route. Um, you know, things change. Family, uh, situations change. Where you want to be, uh, in the country, what you want to study, et cetera, et cetera, um, all of that can change your application fee budget. I talked a little bit about this again. Um, you know, I think applications can range, you know, from like, I mean, you know, 50 to probably, you know, 100, maybe even a little bit more than that.

Right. So, you know, it can vary, uh, depending on, on, on what you want to do. Um, Um, and then obviously time. I mean, there can be a lot of essays, um, and you know, that can take a lot of time away from you. And, um, you want to put forth every application that you put forward, you should be putting your best effort on, you know, you want to put forward that time, um, so that when the admission officer is reviewing your application, um, you know, they’re, they’re giving you their time and, and, and you want to, you know, Uh, you know, put forth your, your best effort.

So you want to make sure that you have the time and, and, and the resources in order to be submitting, uh, all these applications, um, you know, when should students have a finalized list? I think, you know, that varies, but I think ideally it should be going into your senior year, you should have a pretty good sense of, of the final list of schools that you’re going to apply to.

I think there’s still some time. Over the course of first semester over the course of early fall, um, to do some final research to learn a little bit more. Um, maybe you find a school late. That always happens. Um, for many, that’s fine. Um, but ideally you have a good solid list. But it also depends on your application deadlines on, you know, if you’re applying to schools that have January 1st deadlines, you got a little time, but if you have schools that have October or November 1st deadlines, you need to have a pretty solid list going into that time.

So you have time to finalize your applications and get all that information in. Um, you know, you want to make sure that you have time to meet all those application requirements.

And a CollegeAdvisor, this is something we work with you on, on, right? Is finalizing that list, getting everything done, getting everything going, getting to go, um, so that you understand, um, you know, that timeline and, and, and, and make sure that everything, all your requirements are, are met on time. Um, okay.

So final advice that I would give, Um, so again, this is a very. Very individual process. It’s a very personal process. Um, and so, you know, I really would hope that folks go in with honest, um, eyes and eyes wide open. Okay. Um, there’s a lot to this process. Um, I think that, you know, definitely be prepared for uncertainty.

Um, there’s been a lot of uncertainty in the admission process over the last several years, it’s been trending that way for the last 10 or so, since I got into it, um, we’re seeing schools being, uh, Having more and more applicants and being more and more selective each year. Um, and so there’s a lot of uncertainty.

Um, I talked about this a little bit earlier, but I would advise not eliminating any school from your list based on, um, tuition costs. Again, based on that sticker price, you know, ultimately, if you get to, excuse me, if you get to that final process where you’re comparing schools on, you know, this school gave me X and this school is going to cost me.

Why? That’s perfectly legitimate, but I would, I would hate for folks to miss out on a potential, you know, a package, um, you know, based off of, you know, not even applying. There are many schools that have a higher sticker price that ultimately net cost, total cost that a student pays is less. Then what the total cost of another, um, lower institution might be, um, because of the aid, um, whether it be merit or institutional aid that’s given out, um, during that, that, that awarding process.

Um, and then lastly, you know, you should be happy to attend any of the schools to which you apply. That’s my personal opinion. I think it’s going to set you up for success. Um, you don’t want to be applying to a school being like, Uh, you know, I kind of don’t hope I get in there like that’s really like on the back burner because if ultimately that is, you know, a school that you have to consider, you don’t want to have that negative attitude, um, about that, um, hopefully, um, and so that’d be my advice, um, you know, ultimately there are some schools that people ultimately enroll in that they never thought that they would and, and, and then hopefully they end up loving it.

Um, They may not. And then you can always have the opportunity to potentially transfer on to another institution. So on, you know, there are a lot of different ways to go about it. Um, but then the last thing I would say is that again, very, very, very personal process. And so I would. You know, speaking to students specifically, I would put your blinders on, you know, kind of like you’re running a horse race.

Just put your blinders on. Don’t pay attention to, you know, what your friends are doing, or your fellow classmates, your cousins, your aunts, uncles, siblings. You know, obviously it’s, Typically going to involve your, your parents or guardians in the process. Um, but ultimately you are going to be the person that needs to enroll at this institution.

Um, you’re going to be taking the test, you’re going to be eating the food, you’re going to be living on campus in most cases. Um, you know, if you’re going to a residential institution, um, and so you need to be happy doing all of those things. And so, you know, there can be a lot of stress in this process.

Um, but I think a lot of that is brought on by, you know, the Kind of comparing yourself to others. Um, and you know, kind of, so if you can, you know, to the best of your ability to kind of quote unquote, ignore the noise, um, and really just focus on your process and what is the right fit for you. Um, I think that that will, um, serve you really well.

Um, in the process. And I speak on this from kind of a little bit of experience in the sense that I remember, you know, again, Way back in when I was in high school, the ancient days, right? Um, you know, I remember when S. A. T. S. Came out and I remember when students started getting their college acceptances and it was, Oh, Brian, would you get in your S.

A. T. Or, you know, where are you going to school or where did you get in? And, you know, it felt I felt really stressed about it. Right? And, and, you know, you end up Starting to compare yourself, and that’s natural. But ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, again, it’s ultimately what’s the best fit for you on and where you’re going to be happy, where you’re going to do your best work, where it’s going to set up, set you up for future success.

And here’s the secret. No one After the college process, no one cares what your SAT score was. I don’t even remember what I got on my SAT. Um, it was good enough to get into the institutions I got into. Um, and then I honestly never even thought about it after that. So, um, you know, ultimately, uh, you know, that would be kind of my advice is to really just focus on your individual process and ultimately kind of ignore the noise.

Um, Okay, so I think that that is, uh, the end of our presentation for now. And we’re gonna take some questions and hopefully I have some, some good answers for you all, um, and some, some insightful questions coming our way here.

Anesha: All right. Um, I appreciate you calling yourself ancient knowing that I am older than you, but just for context, I applied to about six schools and I did even, so I think it, I think it shows the trend of like.

The number increases, especially because I did six. You did nine. Your sister did 13. So I think nine to 12 seems to be the average. I just wanted to follow up with that. Yeah, you made earlier. Um, well, the first question that I wanted to ask was, Well, first let me say we are now in the Q& A section. If you have questions, please submit them under the Q& A tab.

And as a reminder, you can download the handouts on the handouts tab. If you’re having any challenges with submitting a question, you may have to log out and log back in and make sure you’re logging in via the link you received via email. Um, okay. So the first question is, can you explain what the importance of acceptance rates, graduation rates, and retention are when thinking about selecting a college for your list?

Brian: Sure. So they all play a very different factor, I think, in, um, kind of considering a school. So, acceptance rate, I would think about, You know, kind of in evaluating again, your likelihood of being admitted to that institution on and you know, that is a stat that you would utilize in the, um, reach target, uh, likely category, right?

So if a school has a 10 percent acceptance rate, um, I would consider that to be a reach for the vast majority of applicants out there. Um, because it is a, that is a very selective school. Um, and so that’s kind of where that would be used. Graduation rate, um, and retention rate, I think, are typically, you know, they’re thought of, I think, um, often as, you know, kind of the quality of the institution.

I think that there’s a lot of

misnomers there and kind of, you know, it doesn’t. You know, uh, two plus two doesn’t always equal four and, and, and, you know, a school having a really high graduation rate or high retention rate or, or vice versa for a variety of different reasons. Um, but ultimately graduation rates are, um, typically you want to look at the stat.

Is it students that graduate in four years? Um, or is it students that graduate in five years? And is it from their, their intended program? So there’s a couple different variations there. And then retention rate is typically, um, the stat that I most often see is students that stay from freshman year to sophomore year.

Um, and I think that that typically is used as like, People are happy with their choice, um, at their institution. But again, I think there are a lot of different factors, financial factors, life factors, what have you, that could cause a student to unenroll. Um, uh, or unfortunately maybe academically they, they, they are not, uh, sustaining and, and, uh, maybe it wasn’t their choice, uh, not to stay.

Um, there’s a lot of different factors that go into all of those numbers. Um. But ultimately, those are kind of quick snapshots, I think. Um, but I would always encourage folks to ask. You know, when you do those tours, ask, um, you know, admission professionals, if you can ask, um, you know, a professor, someone in the academic, uh, academic department or a student life, um, type person, uh, you know, why their number, they feel their numbers might be, Um,

Anesha: so you’ve touched upon this in a few different ways, but I’ll ask you, I guess, to reiterate your answer.

But, um, one student asked, like, how do I know if my college is certified for the career that I want to do? So I think certification may not be the right word, but how did they go about kind of investigating the major that they are potentially interested in and how their college can help them get?

Brian: I think first and foremost, does the school offer the program period?

Um, do they offer a degree in that program? Um, and then, you know, there are some folks that are like really interested in, okay, is this the bachelor of arts or is it a bachelor of science or is it a bachelor of fine arts or, um, kind of things of that nature? Um, I think generally speaking when a school is accredited, um, um, Most folks will say, Okay, this program is is is strong.

Um, if you need a certain type of certification when you graduate in addition to your degree, then that’s kind of a separate situation. Um, I can speak to kind of my, my, my fiancee is a dietitian. She needed to get certified in the state that she practices in, in addition to just having not only a bachelor’s degree, but a master’s degree in nutrition.

Um, and so that’s an example where it would be a very specific, um, you know, certification that, that, that you might be looking for. Um, for someone like myself, I studied politics. Um, Obviously, I didn’t do anything with that in in that specific academic realm. Um, but, um, you know, even if I had, um, I would have been less concerned about kind of the certification of that specific degree other than the fact that I earned a Bachelor of Arts from an accredited college.

Anesha: Yeah, I studied anthropology, which clearly I I’m not doing right now. I’m not.

Brian: And I thought about it, you know, I think about it as a liberal arts degree. Right. So I learned all about a lot of different things. Um, and like, I utilize things that I learned in that degree. In my day job now that in different ways that at the time I didn’t think I would necessarily be utilizing it.

But you ultimately do. Um, and I saw a question that kind of relates to this. I’m just going to jump into it if you don’t mind. But it was kind of like, how do you figure out what you want, like what you want to do if you don’t know what you want to do? Right? And so my personal opinion, um, and I understand that this is, you know, There’s a certain, I’ll admit right off the bat that there’s a certain amount of privilege that comes with even owning this opinion is that college is a really great opportunity to figure that out.

Um, and one of the purposes of colleges, college is to learn and kind of figure out what it is you want to do. Um, you know, next in, in your life, I totally understand that there’s a cost associated to figuring, figuring that out. And so, like I said, there’s a certain privilege associated with that kind of mentality, that thought process, but, um, I think that call it.

I worked with a lot of students, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of students that either a had no clue what they wanted to study when they were applying and enrolling in college, or they got to, they thought they knew what they wanted to. They got to school and they ultimately went in a completely different direction on both.

I view as totally fine. Um, yeah. Most of those people that I know and still are in contact with are very successful individuals. And, you know, they, they, you know, did well, um, and they weren’t punished not knowing what they wanted to do. So I’ll be honest, I do view the college experience. If you are want to go to college and you want to kind of study something, I view that process as kind of figuring that step out.

It is a journey. And again, I’ll use again, myself again, as an example, I studied politics, um, as an undergraduate, I never ultimately, other than volunteering and like door knocking and things of that nature and studying it, um, and still getting myself worked up about it and watching the news. I never did anything active.

I never worked in government. I never worked in a political environment, um, that I was paid to do. Um, but I have utilized again, those skills in other aspects of, of,

Anesha: I’m similar to you and, or somewhat similar in that I ended up with, um, political science degree, but accidentally I went in for anthropology, came out with government.

Um, so one of those students who kind of figured, found my way through, um, during college and changed up my trajectory. Uh, just want to give a quick PSA for those in the room who aren’t already working with us. We know there are a lot of questions. Uh, it can be an overwhelming process and you’re trying to Figure out how to navigate it.

So we do have a team of over 300 former admissions officers like Brian and admissions experts who are ready to help you and your families navigate this process through one on one advising session. So you can take the next step in your journey by signing up for free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team by using the QR code that’s on the screen during that meeting.

We’ll talk about extracurricular lists. application strategy and also help you figure out how to strategize your college list in order to stand out in the admissions world. We’ll leave that QR screen up on the, we’ll leave the QR code up on the screen and get back to our questions. Um, so I have a question.

I’m going to combine it, um, with a couple of other ones, but so the student says, should I still apply to a school if I meet the school’s GPA requirement? But my GPA is lower than the average admitted students. So how should they be looking at some of those academic stats? Um, so average GPA, average SAT scores, and whether or not, how the, should they leverage that to decide that the school should, should or should not end up?

Brian: Yeah. So, um, I think, look, the average is the average. So by definition, it means that there’s a certain percentage of students that, um, were below that. That still were offered admission, um, how low below. It’s hard to know. Um, I think something that we did, we reported when I was at BU that I found really helpful was the mid 50 percent range for standardized testing specifically.

Um, so it gives you a little bit more information, a little bit more contact context than that dead set average. Um, But, but look, if, if, if the average GPA is a three six and you have a three, Oh, I mean, quite frankly, you probably are not, you know, quite in the caliber of, or, or kind of, I shouldn’t put it that way, but you’re, you’re probably not.

Um, in, in, in the pool that they’re looking to admit, um, academically, here’s the other thing about, um, admission. I just want to say real quick. If you don’t get admitted to a school, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or you’re not smart or you’re not going to be successful. It’s just that that institution is not a fit for you for some reason.

Um, and so I think that that is just really important. It is really important to say, because look, you’re burying your soul in a lot of these applications that can feel very personal. If you’re not admitted, it is not the end of the world. It is not a personal reflection on you. It doesn’t mean that school thinks you’re a bad person or you’re not, um, you know, qualified.

The other pieces that, um, and I’ll add on to this You still may be qualified for the school, but they can’t offer you admission because of the number of simply the number of students that apply, um, and and kind of how that matches up. So to be completely honest, that’s what we’re call kind of that holistic admission piece comes into play.

There were quote unquote academically qualified students that I reviewed every year that ultimately we were not able to admit, and it’s really hard. Um, but it’s not always about. You know, strict GPA, strict GPA, if

Anesha: you can, some schools on college board will divide it by percentage. So they’ll tell you how many students within a percentage. Uh, so 50 percent had a 3. 75% 15 percent had a 3. 2. Um, so if you are searching on college board, some schools will list that breakdown for you. Uh, if you want to follow up there that way to understand where you fall within the range on average, how many students with a specific GPA they’re at.

Yeah, that

Brian: is helpful.

Anesha: That’s nice. Um, but again, not every school has that, but check it out on college board.

Brian: Um, switching gears to ask admission officers, call us, email us. Come talk to us in person. Um, you know, they’re there to share the information. So,

Anesha: um, switching gears to, from academics, athletics, um, I’m not sure if you can, but, um, on a similar structure, when students said that they feel like they are, they have the athletic ability to be competitive for division three, should they even put division one schools on their list if they know that they’re performing athletically at a, at a D three level?

Brian: Yeah. Well, ultimately I think it depends on whether or not. You gotta decide, do you want to play sports in, in college? Um, and, and what is the deciding factor there? Um, so when I worked at Regis College, that was a D3 school. Um, I was recruiting someone that had admission offers, um, to other institutions that were like really, they were really excited about.

Um, but we were offering him a spot to play lacrosse on our team. And ultimately he was like, you know what, I want to continue playing lacrosse in college. Um, and that is going to be an important part of my, you know, academic, um, or excuse me, collegiate journey. Um, and so he ultimately enrolled at that institution.

Um, if you want. If that’s not you, and the academics are going to be the more quote unquote important factor, then you can go ahead and do that. The other thing is, just because you’re applying to a D1 school or a D2 school, something to look into is, does that school have a club team or some form of intramural club?

Is is a really great way for folks to still be involved in a competitive nature. Um, you still play against other, um, often other schools. Um, but it’s not, you’re not competing at the D one level. So it doesn’t quite have that same, you know, practice and, and, and kind of Um, intensity that the D one, uh, comes with D one athletics.

Anesha: Uh, I’m gonna you talked a little bit about financial aid and not wanting the sticker price to sway a student. So one student asked, and this is somewhat relates the list, but do you find out the price of your school before after you’ve applied or have been accepted? So where does the Where are they figuring out costs and

Brian: typically it’s included in your admission, um, and your admission letter.

So typically you’re finding out, um, your admission decision, any of, and any financial, um, you know, aid, whether it be need based merit based institutional aid all at the same time. Um, so that depends on when. Schools are releasing information. Um, most schools that have, you know, like January 1st or later, um, deadlines or are big schools like a BU, for instance, um, we would release all of our decisions in March.

Um, and we’d have all that information rolled in. And so, um, you’re able to see, okay, I was admitted and I got, you know, X, you know, um, Hopefully X thousands of dollars, uh, towards, you know, that institution, uh, to be utilized. Um, so yeah, it’s after, after you apply and when you find out if you’re admitted or not.

Anesha: I also shared with some students that you can do the FAFSA calculator in each school. For sure. Yeah,

Brian: very good, very good point. There, um, all schools have, you know, what’s called the need based calculator. Um, the most important thing Um, in, you know, figuring out the need based calculator is being as honest as possible, um, about not only your financial situation, but your academic situation, um, some of the calculators will ask, you know, what’s your GPA?

Um, you know, what’s your test score? Things of that nature. Um, and, you know, if, if, if you say you have a 3 5, but you really have a 3 2, that could vary, you know, kind of, you know, the variables, um, going into, to that algorithm.

Anesha: One, uh, other question that I had was, um, as far as clarifying terms, I think, what does the faculty, the student faculty, um, ratio mean, and why does it matter when picking a college?

Brian: Well, in matter, I’ll say it matters to some. Um, it doesn’t necessarily matter. I mean, it doesn’t have to matter to you. Um, I think what’s nice to know about it is that it kind of, um, what it’s saying is that for every, um, you know, for every faculty member, for every professor on campus, there’s X amount of students.

So, you know, even though, um, so when it’s. typically equated as is that that usually means that there are smaller class sizes. And typically that also means that you have more access to faculty. You have more time for things like, uh, faculty office hours or research alongside faculty, or you’re just getting to know your professor as opposed to being.

Yeah. Um, you know, in a lecture of, you know, three, four, 500 people, um, you’re probably not going to be, you know, knowing your, your professor all that well in that situation. Um, so oftentimes it can lead to, um, kind of understanding that, that student to faculty relationship.

Anesha: And then one student again, I know you, you address this, but I guess we’ll end on in the repetition of this.

How can students go about just trying to remove colleges from their list? This one student said. They have about 20 schools on their list. What, you know, would be some parting factors to consider of, like, take the school out or keep it in?

Brian: Yeah. I mean, again, I would consider like, why, you know, ask yourself why, why was the school on your list in the first place?

Um, do those reasons still, um, you know, still make sense. Um, you know, is, Is there, um, you know, does it meet the geographic? Is there a theme of the 20? Right? Like my guess is that you don’t have this person doesn’t have five schools that are you know, 50, 000 in size. Um, all in the city and five schools that are less than 1000 in, you know, um, you know, a rural environment, right?

There’s probably some kind of theme there. And so if you can figure out what that theme and that, you know, You know, play a little bit of, you know, what doesn’t look like the other, um, you know, you can kind of, you know, figure that out. Um, again, academics, um, you know, what do you want to study? Do they have that program?

Are they known for that program? clubs, organizations, uh, residence life. Um, that’s something I didn’t even talk about. I mean, look, residence life, food, like these are, these are things that matter, right? If you’re going to be living there, like it, it does matter. I don’t think that you should apply to a school because they have a good dining hall necessarily, but.

It is if you’re going to be eating there 234 times a day, whatever the case may be, it should be something that you that you want. Um, and that that should matter. So I think that, you know, a lot of effort is put into Oh, this school has XYZ dining hall or this school has XYZ fitness center, the state of the art fitness center with a lazy river and all this, right?

I think that those things matter, but they matter on the fringes. And those aren’t the reason why people attend schools or the reason why Why people apply, but it could be a reason why you keep a school on a list or you take it off if, if those things are important. And again, if you’re someone that’s going to be living on campus and utilizing those services.

So,

Anesha: yeah. What I was hearing from you was also visit the campuses. It’s like, yes, absolutely.

Brian: Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. That might

Anesha: help knock those schools off.

Brian: I am a huge believer in. Um, if you can get there, you know, if it’s financially feasible, if it’s, you know, within reason, um, you can do so. And, and in many cases, like, again, I, I know my, um, my backyard, you come to new England, you can do a weekends or an extended week and hit all a lot of different schools, um, all within, you know, a couple of days.

Anesha: Thanks so much, Brian. That is the end of the webinar. Um, thank you all for joining us. We hope that you gained some tips and strategies for, uh, creating a strategic, uh, balanced list for yourselves. Also, we hope you’ll join us for our future webinars this month. We’ll have a masterclass on the college interview on February 12th. We’ll explore why college admissions help is integral on February 21st, and we’ll end the month with a session on maximizing your summer break in order to build up your resume on the 27th. Uh, join us, come back at another time, but for now, take care and have a great evening. Thanks again, Brian.

Brian: Thanks, Anesha. Bye. Bye.