Unlocking College Admissions: Insider Tips for 8th-10th Graders

Webinar Transcription

2024-06-06 – Unlocking College Admissions: Insider Tips for 8th-10th Graders

Anna: Hello, everyone. Welcome to our webinar on, “Unlocking College Admissions: Insider Tips for 8th to 10th Graders.” My name is Anna Vande Velde. I’ll be your moderator today. I’m also a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor. And they’ve asked me to share just a bit about my background. So I’ve been with the company for almost three years now.

And in addition to advising students, I am a co captain on our essay review team. For my undergrad, I studied psychology at Carnegie Mellon. Really thought I was going to end up a clinical psychologist, but life is full of unexpected twists and turns. I ended up at Harvard Law School, where I graduated three years ago.

So in addition to my work with CollegeAdvisor, I’m a nonprofit defense attorney and I live in Ottawa, Ontario. To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start off with a presentation and answer your questions in a live Q& A. On the sidebar, you can download our slides and you can start submitting questions in the Q&A tab now.

So please don’t feel that you need to wait until the end. When we get to the Q&A. Submit your questions as they come to you, because we want to make sure you don’t forget and that we get to as many of them as we can. Without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce our panelists tonight. Brandon Mac, I’m going to turn it over over to Brandon to introduce himself.

Brandon: All right. Well, good morning. Good afternoon. And good evening to everyone. And thank you once again so much for joining us here at CollegeAdvisor for this webinar. My name is Brandon Mack. I’ve been in the field of college admissions now for 15 years. Most of it at my alma mater, Rice University, where I started as an admission officer and worked my way up to being an associate director of admission.

So I got to chair admission committees for all of the undergraduate schools at Rice. In addition to that, I also headed up international admission and recruitment. I was the director of transfer admission and also the liaison to the School of Architecture. So that’s given me the ability to see admission from a variety of different lenses.

I’ve also worked with the National Association for College Admission Counseling or NACAC. It’s one of the main organizations dedicated to the field of college admissions on how to make the admission process more accessible and equitable. So that’s giving me insight into how other institutions have done this amazing thing called college admissions.

I’ve worked with CollegeAdvisor now for two years as an admission officer, working with amazing advisors like Anna and others on, on, um, making sure that our students are submitting the best applications possible for great outcomes. So very happy to talk to y’all this evening about this important topic.

Anna: And we are so lucky to have you here, Brandon. I can say from personal experience, uh, regarding the students we share, you are a wealth of knowledge, um, and just, Wonderful resource. So we’re so grateful for your time tonight. Before we get into the presentation, I thought it might help to see who’s with us.

So I’m going to open this poll. If you are here, please let us know what grade you’re in. If you are here as a support person, educator, et cetera, feel free to select other. While we wait for your answers to come in, Brandon, I was wondering if I could put you on the spot.

Brandon: Go for it.

Anna: Knowing everything, you know, now, is there anything you would do differently if you had to redo your college application process?

Brandon: If I could redo my college application process, the one thing that I would have done, and it’s probably going to be something that I talk about this evening is I would have researched more colleges. Um, I came into it because I am a first generation college student with kind of understanding like big names and, you know, names that were in my kind of immediate circle.

Um, knowing what I know now, I would have expanded my universe even more to explore some more schools. So that would be the one thing I would change.

Anna: That’s great advice. I would be the same. So, you know, Brandon, in the room with us, we actually have all 10th graders, which is exciting. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, but we’re so happy you’re here with us.

I’m going to close the poll and then I’m going to pass the baton to Brandon. He’s going to take the lead.

Brandon: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And once again, thank you all for joining us. And this presentation is definitely going to be geared towards our eighth graders, our ninth graders and our 10th graders that are with us.

And we really want to encourage you to start the process of college admissions early. So why should a student start early? Well, Planning ahead actually very much leads to less stress. So many students often will start the college admission process in the 11th and 12th grade, and that’s perfectly fine if you choose to do so.

But it can also put a lot of stress in the 11th and 12th grade to find the right schools, to prepare that profile, especially given if you want to study some specific subjects, and you may not have the ability to really focus on that. Um, craft the best profile for that particular area of study if you haven’t looked at it early enough, so that’s one of the best things about all of you who are joined us and all of you who are watching this particular webinar is that you’re starting early.

Being able to plan ahead is definitely going to lead to less stress. So if you know, you’re that person who wants to go into a particular area of study, you can start to engage in things that will prepare you to look like a really compelling applicant, which will get it to the second point of that. Um, but also it helps you to understand what What schools you’re looking at, what schools you’re applying to.

And then you set yourself up with a very strong plan that will lead to less stress when you get to the college admission process so you’re not scrambling to figure out why you want to go to a particular school or figuring out other elements because you’ve done a lot of that advanced planning.

Another thing is that you will develop a more competitive and compelling profile. As many of you know, certain fields are getting more and more competitive because that’s where industries are going. And also that’s where a lot of students interests tend to go. Some of those fields include, include computer science, uh, engineering, and also pre medicine.

So, If you’re able to understand here in 8th, 9th and 10th grade, that those are some of the fields that you could potentially be interested in. You can also, uh, develop your profile in a more competitive and compelling way, such as thinking about why is it that you’re interested in those fields. Doing some self study or some summer programs where you’re engaging in exploration to understand those particular fields in a much deeper way, as well as engaging in extracurricular activities that align with those particular areas of study.

All of those things are going to help you to be a more competitive and compelling applicant than someone who arrived at that decision in 11th and 12th grade. So, another reason for why you should start early. It also helps to define a school fit. Now, many students, when they come to us interested in going to certain institutions, there are generally two reasons for why they want to go to those schools.

Prestige and location. Those are the two most common reasons why students want to go to any college or university. And so you got to think about it. When you apply, you’re literally applying with thousands upon thousands of other students who are also expressing their reason for why they want to go to a particular school.

The thing that will help to differentiate you is that you know why you want to go to that particular college or university outside of. And location. So starting early helps you to establish that school fit. It helps you to understand. Do you like small schools? Do you like larger schools? Do you like school centered around a Greek or fraternity and sorority environment?

Are you someone who prefers a core curriculum versus a more open curriculum? All those things will help you to establish those school fit and answering those questions and getting that understanding of yourself earlier will also, once again, contribute to you having a more competitive and compelling profile.

Understanding selectivity. So once again, this is an ever changing process. Every single year is different in the college admission process because the applicant pools are different and what the students are bringing is also very different. But if you start early, it helps you to understand that selectivity.

You’ll understand that, hey, if I’m looking at a Stanford University, I know that currently Stanford University is without a doubt one of the most selective universities in the country in order for me to be a really compelling student. I need to be able to match that selectivity with a very competitive and a very compelling profile.

So once again, starting that early helps you to establish. That understanding of selectivity was then contributes to, you know, what you also need to bring in order to be a competitive applicant to match that selectivity. And then also, it helps you to develop your personal brand. So, what is that thing about you?

What are those particular qualities that, you know? You want emphasized in the application. So if you know that you want to demonstrate yourself as a leader starting early means that you know that you need to develop those leadership skills through engaging in leadership activities in having officer positions to really add to that personal brand.

If you know you’re someone who wants to demonstrate that you’re going to be the next great doctor, that also means that you have the ability of knowing that you need to contribute to things and get involved in things to once again develop that personal brand. So all of these things are great reasons for why joining this webinar and starting early are definitely going to serve you well in the overall college admission process.

So to my parents, why should you start early? Well, once again, very similar, planning ahead leads to less stress. So helping your students, uh, understand that they need to get involved very early leads to less stress when you’re trying to help them find additional extracurriculars later on. And also getting involved early in this process helps them to understand how building upon those classes and taking those honors classes early, those AP classes early, definitely builds them into a more competitive, competitive applicant to where you’re not having deal to deal with the stress of, well, how do we do these things in order to make them the most compelling applicant when we know we want them to go to these schools.

So, once again, it’s great that y’all are starting early because it will ultimately lead to less stress once you get into the thick of the process in your junior and senior year. Also, it is great for financial planning and for potential financial savings. So, once again, in developing those compelling profiles and those competitive profiles, you want students to get involved.

Well, if you get involved early, Oftentimes you will set yourself up for the most competitive and compelling extracurriculars and not have to spend a lot of money in order to get involved. However, if you end up waiting later and you need those extracurriculars and other opportunities in order to set yourself apart and develop that sense of exploration and that sense of compellingness to your profile, Oftentimes you’re going to have to spend some money in order to engage in that.

So starting early can ultimately save you a lot of money in a later on down the road. Also, you, you can set yourself up in terms of great potential financial savings when it comes to the application process. Cause you’ll know which schools you’re applying to. So you’ll know about those, um, application fees.

But also, this could set yourself up very well for getting application fee waivers because you’ve already expressed interest in those institutions early because you knew that your student was interested in going to those schools in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade, and therefore those schools, because you developed that sense of interest very early, may be willing to say, hey, you’ve been interested in us this long, let’s go ahead and do this.

We’re going to now waive your application fee. So once again, there are definitely some financial savings that can come from starting this process early, but also you can definitely help your student, especially in two different ways. One when it comes to test preparation. Generally, um, I recommend that students take their SAT and their ACT in the 11th grade. The reason being is because, um, for the math section, you generally are going to need pre calculus, uh, to really do very well on the math section. And many times students do not take pre calculus until the 10th and 11th grade. So therefore, if you start early, you know that you need to get your student prepared, especially for that math section by engaging in that math exploration.

So it helps them to understand that trajectory when it comes to course selection, but also in terms of test preparation. So, Um, you would of course take the PSAT nine if it’s available in your area. Definitely making sure you take that PSAT 10. And also that PSAT 11, which is also a great, uh, pretest for the, for the SAT, but is also the National Merit Qualifying Exam.

So it also, uh, having this understanding of it early helps you to prepare for those milestone tests, but also then to eng to engage in the test preparation. To perform very well on the SAT or the a CT. By the time you become a junior and a senior, generally the most number of times you ever want to take an SAT or an ACT is three times.

Research has shown that after that, you generally do not increase your score enough to justify the amount of time and effort that you put in taking a test. So doing this early helps you to prepare because you’re able to gather those study materials. You’re able to see how your curriculum can serve you best in this test preparation and ultimately perform better by starting early.

And then also, once again, Helping your student to plan early by understanding what it is that they want to study, helping them to develop those academic interests, also then translates into them finding summer programs and exploration. Summer is always a great opportunity for you to really demonstrate that you have investigated what it is that you’re interested in studying.

So that could be engaging in summer programs related to taking particular courses. It could be doing research programs. It could be even engaging in your own self study, as well as doing internships. So once again, planning ahead helps to set you up better. Then other applicants and also can lead to less stress and great financial savings.

So we definitely want to familiarize you with the common application. The common application will probably be the number one way that you are applying to colleges and universities, but every single institution is very different. So getting to know what institutions you’re interested in, once again, helps you to understand what are going to be those sections of the application that you’ll probably having to fill out and utilize.

Once you get into the college admission process, so on the common app, you do have the profile. The profile is generally where you have your demographic information, and it helps us to understand you and your particular context context is going to be a word. You’re going to hear a lot in this process because everyone’s context is different.

What schools you come from your family backgrounds. All of that is very, very different. And when we evaluate you as admission officers, we definitely take your context into consideration. So one of the ways that you help establish that is through your profile. Where are you coming from in the United States or from around the world?

Um, your particular background, so definitely be ready to talk about that particular profile. Your family information. When we talk about your family information, this helps us to once again understand your particular background when it comes to access to education. So oftentimes you’ve heard of the phrase first gen.

The way that we determine if you are considered to be a first generation student is through your family background. Now, generally, first generation students are students whose Both parents did not complete a bachelor’s degree, so both of your parents went to community college and have an associate’s degree.

Generally, you’re going to be considered a 1st generation college student. The same if your parents come from a high school background. Now, some institutions will consider you to be a 1st generation. American college student. If both of your parents did receive their educations from outside of the United States, regardless of if it’s at a bachelor’s degree or another level.

But once again, that’s helpful context for us to understand because it is very different if you have familiarity with the college admission process, because your parents went through it versus if this is very, very new to you and your family, because you did not necessarily pursue or complete. A bachelor’s degree.

So that’s why the family information is important to us. But also it gives us a sense of your background in terms of, uh, what acted, what, what occupations your parents have, uh, have conducted throughout their lives, but also even what have they studied. So one thing that I know that as an admission officer, I’ve definitely looked at is if I see that.

Both parents are doctors and you’re interested in pre med. An easy question that comes up is, is your interest in pre med yours? So that’s another thing for you to think about when it comes to how your profile and your background is going to speak to other parts of your application. Your education. Your education gives us a sense of what high school are you coming from.

Also, what sort of programs have you engaged in. This is also where we see your GPA. And other information related to your education. And once again, when we evaluate you, we evaluate you within context. So we understand that not every single school has the same educational set up. So providing us with this information helps us to understand your unique education in terms of what schools are you coming from.

This is where you provide us your testing. So in testing is where you get to self-report your S-A-T-A-C-T and AP scores. Generally, I recommend for you to understand what schools you’re applying to, to see what AP scores do they accept. So if you’re applying to a school where they accept, uh, fours and fives on the AP test for credit, then it’s probably a good idea to submit those scores where you scored a four or five, a three, two, or one.

May not be the best thing to submit given the fact that you know that you will not receive credit, but also this is where you can self report your S. A. T. And your A. C. T. If the school will accept self reported scores, your activity section. This is one of the sections. We definitely work on work with you with a CollegeAdvisor because you are going to indicate all of the amazing things that you’ve done.

From ninth through 12th grade do not include your middle school activities, even though some of you have done some amazing things in eighth grade and under. This is restricted only to 9th through 12th grade, but you’re also restricted by what you can write because the maximum amount of characters that you get for the activity section is only 150 characters.

So, you want to make sure that you’re providing the fullest descriptions possible about your activities, but you also have to be mindful of those limits of only 150 characters. And we definitely work with students to help maximize those particular descriptions. Also in the activities section is where you indicate the honors that you have received and they can go from the local level to your local school awards of being the best student in your particular grade to international awards such as being a top student in an international Olympiad.

The writing section, this is where your Common App essay will go. Having a knowledge and understanding of those particular prompts is also helpful to help you understand what is that additional perspective that you’re going to bring to that particular college or university, and that’s going to be a part of your essay.

Um, we help students with essay writing and helping them to understand how can this particular essay be additive to the overall profile that they’re presenting in these other sections. And then also your courses and grades. Many institutions do require that you use this particular section to enter in the classes and the grades that you took as part of your application.

So having an understanding early of all these different sections is definitely going to help you in terms of strategizing your overall application process.

So, what is a holistic admission review process? Many people believe that the admission process is a numbers game. For some institutions, it is. But for many institutions, it is not. Because I know many of us, as far as parents and support systems, we were used to You had this GPA, this SAT, ACT score, this class rank, you got admitted into that particular college or university.

That type of admission is assured admission, where institutions put out there, if you meet these particular markers, you are assured admission. However, many schools, including schools that do offer assured admission, admit students through a holistic process, where they look and consider everything. In your application.

So once again, a holistic admission process is more than just the numbers because they are looking for many things that you just cannot qualify or cannot quantify. So, for example, intellectual curiosity. What are you interested in studying? What are you passionate about? What do you like to study? You can’t quantify that in a number.

So do we see evidence of that intellectual curiosity throughout your application in terms of the courses that you took? Which ones did you take at the higher level versus at the standard level? Or which ones did you take at the AP level versus the honors level? How you talk about what it is that you want to study?

What activities you engaged in? All of those things can contribute to your intellectual curiosity. Engagement in and contributions to one’s community. Are you involved in your church? Are you involved in your school community? Are you involved in your family? And how are you going to bring those involvements and contributions into our universities?

Because we want you to contribute to our student life. Because the students are the university. A broad perspective and differing points of view. We want you to bring all of yourself. To that college university because we don’t want just the same students. We want people who are going to bring their lived experience and challenge academics.

That is how academics grows because each individual is bringing themselves and helping to see themselves within that particular discipline. Are you going to do that? One way you can demonstrate that is through your essay because of that perspective that you’re bringing. Another way is through Your letters of recommendation and what other people are saying about you.

So we want the broadest perspectives and differing points of view. And once again, a variety of talents and a desire for growth. The reason why colleges and universities exist is for the growth of our students. So once again, this is where School of Fit comes into play. Are you going to be someone who’s going to take the fullest advantage of what that institution has to offer?

Or are you only going to be a student who goes to class? So once again, having a sense of the full picture is going to be very helpful in the process. So one way of thinking of a holistic review. is looking at the whole file, meaning that we don’t make a decision only based off of just the GPA number, just the SAT, ACT number, just the class rank number.

We’re making a decision on everything in that application. The whole person, meaning not only are we looking at you academically, we’re also looking at you extracurricularly, as well as from your character. Your unique context, what school you’re coming from, family background, all those factors, all of those lead to a holistic review.

So ultimately everything counts. So for those institutions, and many of them are the highly selective prestigious institutions that many of you want to apply to, use a holistic admission process so everything counts, meaning you can’t just rest on your numbers to speak for you. You have got to speak for you and you’ve got to make sure that you’re speaking for you in every single aspect of that application.

So there are a lot of myths about this process, so we want to cover some of them. First and foremost, that getting all A’s is the most important thing. You can go to an amazing college and university even without having all A’s. Now, of course, we want you to be an academically prepared student. So do your very, very best, but do understand that having a perfect GPA is not a guarantee in the college admission process.

So A’s is what we like to see, B’s are alright, very few C’s, try not to have as many D’s or F’s. But do understand that one thing that is taken into consideration is academic progression, meaning that over time, you will improve. You’re going to develop as an academic student through taking more and more rigorous courses, but also we look to see your academic trends.

So maybe you didn’t do as well in ninth grade. We want to see did you improve in 10th grade, in 11th grade, and in 12th grade. So once again, you don’t have to have all A’s, but we definitely want to see that you prepare yourself and that you perform well academically. Test scores can make or break your chances of getting in.

Once again, A definite myth. Uh, many schools are test optional. Many schools, including the UC’s are test free. So they don’t even look at your admissions, uh, at your mission tests. So once again, when it comes to standardized testing, the higher the score, the more competitive your application is, but once again, it is not going to be a make it or break it.

It is truly a holistic admission process. So we look and consider everything. The more clubs and activities on your resume, the better. You should do something because you want to do it. You shouldn’t do it just to put it on your application, because I have definitely seen students who have been, who have had very few extracurriculars, but they’ve given up themselves deeply to those extracurriculars who have been better than students who have a perfect.

Full list of extracurriculars, but I’ve only done it at the service level. When we look at your involvement, we want both breadth and so once again, having more clubs and activities does not automatically mean that is better. We want to see your involvement and your impact. You should ask for a recommendation only from a teacher who gave you an A.

Not necessarily when it comes to letters of recommendation. You do want people to speak highly of you, but you also want to take some things into consideration. I generally recommend that students get letters of recommendation from teachers who are similar to what it is that they want to study because that gives us an indication.

Of what type of student you’re going to be in those particular classes, so if you’re wanting to go into natural science or engineering based subjects, you should get them from math and science based teachers. Now, once again, you may not have gotten an A in that class, but getting that letter of recommendation will be helpful because it gives us a sense of what type of student you’re going to be in that class, but also.

It will demonstrate your work ethic. They can speak to who you are both in and outside the classroom. So think of all those different factors when it comes to your recommendation letters, that it shouldn’t just be your grade performance. It should be, what is this teacher or what is this counselor going to say about me?

It’s a mistake to get creative with your essay. It is not a myth. Um, one of the things that I say to students is this. You gotta trust your creativity. Your essay is intended to be a reflection of you. So if you’re truly a creative person, go for it. But understand, we still want a full fledged essay. So what I mean by that is this.

Don’t do a tweet. Don’t do a rap. Don’t do any of those other types of alternative forms of writing with your essay. This needs to be a full fledged essay, but feel free to be creative in that essay. Because once again, it’s a reflection of you. But you gotta trust and feel secure in your creativity. This is not where you need to try your comedy act.

So don’t be funny. If you’re not funny, we may laugh at you instead of with you. And then finally, that your essay needs to be very dramatic and exciting. Definitely a big myth. Now, If you have had dramatic and exciting things happen to you, and you want us to know about it, feel free to write about it. But if those things have not happened to you, that doesn’t mean you cannot write a compelling and wonderful essay.

I’ve had students write essays talking about how boring it is. But the reason why they talked about that is because that’s how they feel about themselves currently, and they want to go to institutions that are going to give them different experiences. I’ve had students write essays about their bus rides home.

I’ve had students write essays about the coffee shops that they work at. You could write a wonderful essay that gives us insight into who you are, and it could be about any number of, um, Situations, any number of circumstances, but please don’t believe that you absolutely have to have a dramatic or exciting story in order to write a compelling essay.

You make it compelling by putting you and your uniqueness in it.

So, some facts about the college admission process. So, college admissions isn’t as competitive as you might think. That is very, very correct. There are literally thousands of institutions here in the United States and across the world. And many of us only focus on the very selective. Well, in terms of selective institutions, there are actually fewer than 100 colleges and universities that are considered to be highly selective.

And by that, I mean institutions that have an acceptance rate of 25 percent or less. There are only fewer than 100. There are close to 500 colleges and universities that actually accept way more than 75 percent of their students. So keep that in mind in the fact that there’s a variety of institutions that are out there with very different selectivities, but also don’t think that selectivity is an indication of what’s going on.

There are many quality institutions that actually have higher rates of acceptance, but they offer amazing opportunities for students. So that’s why I definitely encourage you to look at the broad spectrum of what you want out of a college or university experience and find the right institution. But don’t think that only the college university landscape is only the highly selective institutions.

Admission officers are human beings. Yes, this is a human process. This is not just a numbers game. There are real people behind these processes that are reading your applications. So please know that this is a human process. Process is not just a robotic process. So that’s why we really want you to understand that you’re putting your humanity into these applications because human beings are operating it once again.

And I cannot stress this enough. Schools evaluate you within the context of the school. You’re coming from. We do not say. This school is better than this school. What we say is, what did this student have access to because this is what the school has to offer? Did they take advantage of that? That is how we look at you.

So please know that you are not disadvantaged in this process. Based off of what institution you went to, we want to see, did you challenge yourself to the best of your ability? What was offered within that school? And did you take advantage of the opportunities that were available to you within that school?

Now, here’s a phrase you’re going to get sick of. But it is very true. It truly does depend on the school. Many times people will ask us very specific questions and the phrase you’re going to get is it depends because every college and university is different. Every college and university is different in terms of their mission.

Their vision, their institutional priorities. So that’s why when you’re engaging in this process, you want to understand the uniqueness of that particular school, because everyone is going to do this differently. So students responsibilities over all of your academic years. So once again, These are the things that we want you to do as you are starting this process early.

And this will be true from eighth grade, all the way to high school. And even beyond, we want you to challenge yourself to the best of your ability. And that is once again, with what’s offered within your school. So if AP is the highest level, we want you to take advantage of that. If it’s honors, if it’s on ramps, whatever is the highest level curriculum within your school.

Take advantage and make sure you’re challenging yourself. Explore your academic and personal interests. If you’re truly interested in something, go for it. We want that evidence of exploration. And if it didn’t work out, that’s perfectly fine as well. You can pivot and figure other things out. But truly give yourself that ability to fully explore all of your different interests.

Get involved in your school and community. I definitely want to encourage you to get involved in extracurriculars across one, once again, that broad spectrum. If you’re someone who’s interested in going into medicine, look into that future doctor’s program, HOSA, or whatever opportunities are there. If you’re someone who just wants to try speech and debate, cause you found it interesting, do that, but get involved, be honest with yourself.

Truly be honest with yourself. If you’re someone who does not like a particular subject, Be honest with yourself and say, Hey, I don’t necessarily like that subject. So for example, I’m not going to necessarily do the AP because it’s not the subject for me. But also be honest with yourself in terms of your academic interests.

Don’t do it because your parents want to do it. Don’t do it because your counselor wants to do it. You are the one who’s going to go to this college and university. So it’s got to be the best experience for you. So be honest with yourself. Explore. All of your options. Once again, the selectivity is not just based on a few institutions.

College admissions is not based on a few institutions. There are thousands upon thousands. Explore all those amazing options and figure out if it’s going to be the best option for you. Above all, take ownership of this process. Your high school career is your high school career. You want to enjoy these four years.

So if it’s something that you truly want to do, take ownership of that. This college admission process is once again about where you want to go. So take ownership of that process and say, Hey, these are the places that I want to give myself an opportunity and ability to go to, because the only way you’ll ever know of any college or university is an option for you.

So as long as you’re putting forth your best options and you are taking ownership of this process, you’re doing it the right way. Now in terms of parents, what you should do. What you should do is listen to your child. Once again, this is about them taking ownership. This is an amazing time for you to see growth.

in your child and for them to transition from a child into adulthood. And so I definitely encourage you to please listen to your child and let them be the guide. Let them, um, really verbalize what they’re feeling. Let them verbalize what they’re thinking and be that listening ear. You’re there once again to offer guidance.

and support. But let them be the ones who lead. Be honest with yourself and with your child. Be honest with what are your particular expectations, but let them guide. But also especially be honest with what are the limitations, if any, about what their options could be. This is about having that difficult conversation related to financial aid habit.

So that way you both are going in with eyes wide open into this price into this process because it can be devastating. If you don’t have that conversation, honestly, and we want you and want to encourage you to do just that. And once again, let your child lead the conversations. When you go to a college fair, let them be the ones who are asking the questions.

And also, it should never be we. are interested. They should be interested. So we are not interested in Harvard. We are not interested in going into medicine. They should be interested in their academic interest and in their personal interest because we’re looking for that. We’re looking for their authenticity, and we’re looking that they are truly interested in this.

And if they’re not, then it’s gonna read as you Remember, you’ve already gone to college. You’ve already been there, done that. We want to see why they want to go. So please, I cannot stress this enough across all these next years, listen to your children, provide them with guidance, but let them lead the way.

So some things to remember, this is truly a fun process. This really should be fun. It is not about drudgery. It is about fun. You are embarking upon the next phase of your development and you should be fun and exciting about it. And this is the opportunity for you to think about the world and what you want out of it.

So approach it like that, that the world is truly yours and that you’re looking for that next great place that’s going to let you fly. So have fun with this process. You should be enjoying your high school experience and not doing it for the sake of college admissions. High school really is about fun.

It is about having fun with your friends. It’s about having fun with the things that you’re doing. Exploring all these different options. It is not about applying to a college or university. So have fun. And once again, We want to admit you the real you, not a manufactured version of you. So once again, you’re developing this profile, but this profile is really who you are.

It’s not the manufactured version of that. And always, always. Give yourself space and grace. You are human. You’re going to make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. We want you to even make mistakes as you’re doing this. So once again, we’re not looking for perfect humans. We are looking for humans and your humanity and what you specifically are going to bring to that college and university.

So always remember, have fun with this process, bring all of yourself into it. And if you do that, You’re going to have a great process and be very successful in this process. All right, let’s have some questions and answers.

Anna: Oh, thank you so much, Brandon, for all that wisdom you shared. That is the end of the presentation part of our webinar.

We hope you found it helpful. Remember, you can download Brandon’s slides from the link in the handouts tab on your screen. And now we’re going to move on to the live Q& A. Awesome. So I’m I’ve been reading through the questions students submitted both in the Q& A tab and when they registered. So we have some pre registration questions.

Uh, as we get to each one, I’ll paste them into the public chat so everyone can see them. I’ll read them out loud and then hand it over to Brandon for an answer. As a heads up, if your Q& A tab is not letting you submit questions, just double check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page.

You might need to sign out and sign back in. All that said, I’m going to start with a question we got during registration for this webinar. Brandon, someone asked, what extracurricular activities should they be doing in high school? I know you talked about this a bit, but could you expand and maybe include some advice about how to emphasize What should be emphasized on their application?

Brandon: Absolutely. Absolutely. So in terms of what extracurriculars you should engage in, what I usually tell students, especially when they’re starting high school, and you can even do this. If you’re already in high school, look to see what is the fullest things available to you. Start with that. See what, what is all offered.

You can find that generally in maybe your course catalog. Go to your school profile, your school websites, see what extracurriculars are offered within your school. Then ask yourself what are the ones that you may want to try, right, that you may have an interest in. And then go to the first meeting, go to a current meeting, see if it’s something that you’re interested in.

And then if you get interested, continue with it. That’s one of the best ways to kind of get started. Another way to start though, is for you to think about, okay, I know I am interested in computer science. Okay, which of these activities is probably going to give me some experience related to computer science?

So, for example, robotics probably can give you a lot of things because it can involve coding. It can involve other things related to like engineering principles. The computer science club. Definitely very, very direct, but maybe getting involved in some of these competitions like, um, the United States computer Olympiad or even math competitions.

That’s another way of approaching it is thinking about what is it that you potentially could want to study and what are some of these activities that align with it. But also I would say don’t limit yourself only to just what’s in your school. There can be some other opportunities that are outside of your school because your school doesn’t offer it.

So definitely utilize, uh, the internet. Definitely utilize your amazing advisors and other people in your life to say, Hey, what are some of the other ways in which I could maybe explore doing these things? And so those are some ways to definitely approach the extracurriculars that you could engage in is by seeing once again, what’s offered to you thinking about what you’re interested in, but then also thinking about what could be some potential opportunities that are out there for me to engage in this level of exploration.

Anna: While we’re on this topic, a student asked about having a job. Is it necessary? Is it valuable? What’s your take on that?

Brandon: So I definitely say it is a great thing to have a job because you can gain so many things from having a job. Uh, when I was, um, In high school, I had a job at a library and I was a shelver at the library.

And when I tell you, I enjoyed that job for a variety of reasons. One, cause I love to read books, but two, it was great to be able to earn money. I was able to manage money. I was also able to work with different people. So you get so many different skills. From having a job and you can definitely put that into your application.

So I was able to demonstrate that I understand how to manage my money. I’m able to work with different people. I’m able to bring skills such as understanding the Dewey decimal system. Uh, so once again, I definitely say, uh, job is a wonderful experience for you to have. And once again, notice Shelver in the library.

Did not necessarily align with what I academically did. So once again, it doesn’t always have to fit it, but it can be a very additive experience if you want to have it. So if you have a job, I say go for it. But once again, there are not many hard and fast absolutes in this process. So it doesn’t necessarily mean that having or doing one extracurricular or one thing is going to be privileged or better than another.

Anna: I completely agree. I worked in a pizza shop, which is not related at all to anything Right. That I’ve done since then, but it was a great experience, um, and it allowed me to highlight certain skills on my application.

Brandon: Oh, yes.

Anna: I’m gonna give you a bit of a break, Brandon, so I can talk for a bit about CollegeAdvisor.

So, for those in the room who are not already working with us, We know how overwhelming the admissions process can be. Our team of over 300 former admissions officers like Brandon and admissions experts is ready to help you and your family navigate the whole admissions process in one on one advising sessions.

We’ve already helped over 6, 000 clients in their college journeys, and I’m excited to share we’ve done some data analysis recently, and from our 2021 to 2023 data, we found that CollegeAdvisor students were 3.6 times more likely to get to Stanford, 4.1 times more likely to get into Vanderbilt and 2.7 times more likely to get into Harvard.

So increase your odds and take the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team. You can do that by scanning the QR code on the screen and remember these slides are available for you to download so you can have access to this QR code after our time live tonight.

During that free 45 to 60 minute strategy session, you’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile along with some initial recommendations. At the end, you’ll also learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, all of the things Brandon has talked about tonight and more.

Um, so please give that QR code a scan. Uh, that strategy session is free. For the rest of our time, we’ll go back to the Q& A, but that QR code is going to remain on the screen, so please scan it at any time. While you do that, Brandon, students may be aware of the trend towards test optional policies.

Brandon: Do

Anna: you advise that students take the SAT or ACT?

Do you advise that they submit scores? How should they be thinking about that?

Brandon: Absolutely. So I definitely recommend that students take standardized testing because once again, you want to have the fullest options of schools out there. As we have seen, especially over the last couple of months, Many institutions have actually returned to requiring testing.

So, therefore, if you want the opportunity and ability to be able to go to those institutions, you’re gonna have to do standardized testing. And, you know, especially for those of you who are starting early in this process, which is all of us who are watching this. It may be very different by the time that you become a junior and a senior when you’re applying to colleges and universities, where there may be even more institutions that have returned to requiring tests.

So I definitely recommend that students take the SAT and the ACT. I usually recommend that you take both. The reason being is because you may not realize that one actually is better suited to you than the other. So always Take both at least once. Um, and then once you see which one is better suited for you, that’s the one that you engage in a lot more preparation for.

Um, when it comes to applying test optional and submitting the scores. Usually, I recommend looking at the middle 50 percent to kind of gauge. And I mean, middle 50 percent of those students who were admitted to the institution to kind of see. Well, these are the scores of the students who have been admitted.

Now, once again, it’s a middle 50%. So that means that 25 percent of students who were admitted have below the 1st number and we’re still admitted. And 25 percent of the students had above that number. Generally, I recommend if you are within 50 points, it’s Of both numbers, it’s usually a good idea to submit your score.

If you are further away, especially from the lower 25th percentile, then it may be more beneficial for you to apply test optional because, you know, you’re still a strong student. given the other indicators and the other things within your application. So once again, those are some things to consider as we are still navigating the test optional landscape.

Anna: Absolutely. How does the financial aid process intersect with the admissions process? And can you explain a bit about need blind versus need aware institution?

Brandon: Absolutely. So actually the need blind and need aware is exactly where financial aid. And admissions intersects. So if a school is need blind, that means they do not look at financial information when they are considering you for the admission process.

So for need blind institutions, that means that the admission officers do not see your FAFSA. They do not see the CSS profile. They do not see any financial information when they’re considering you for admission. The only things that they’re considering Your application itself. In fact, even on the application, if you’re if you answer the question of yes or no to apply the financial aid, they don’t excuse me.

They don’t even consider that what they’re considering is the merits of your application and what you’re going to bring to that institution. If a school is need aware. They are going to consider financial information in the process. So need aware institutions will have access to your financial aid information because they are considering that, uh, amongst a variety of other factors.

In terms of the admission process, often it’s because they have to think about their budgets and their ability to support students. So keep that in mind that that’s where the intersection is going to mainly come from is in need aware versus, uh, need, uh, need aware, need sensitive institutions versus need blind institutions.

Anna: Thank you. Now, our group of students is a bit away from submitting. But as they’re pulling together their list of planning their application strategy, what advice do you have for them thinking about early decision, early action versus regular decision? And do you mind defining what those terms mean?

Because it’s possible not everyone here has heard of them yet.

Brandon: Absolutely. So first let’s start with the early options. So early decision is a binding decision. What does that mean? If you apply for early decision, you get accepted. Welcome to that school. They expect you to accept the offer of admission and go to all other schools that you applied to and basically break their hearts.

Let them know you’re going to go to that school and that you’re withdrawing your application to any other school and that you’re not going to apply to any other institution. So early decision is the highest level of demonstrated interest because you’re making that commitment to that school saying, if I’m applying early decision, You are my first choice.

Now, the key thing to remember is that school has got to be your number one first choice, irrespective of financial aid. What I mean by that is once again, it can’t be, Oh, it’s my first choice if I get a scholarship. It’s my first choice. If I get a full ride, no, it’s gotta be your first choice, regardless of any of those circumstances.

So one of the things to consider is number one, is it with, is it 100 percent without a doubt your number one, first choice school and two, will you be fine attending that institution? Especially if they do not give you any sort of scholarship money. One way to determine that is to use the net price calculator that is available at every college or university.

Uh, so use that information. You enter your family’s financial information into the calculator and it gives you a sample financial aid package. You can use those figures to determine, okay, if me and my family are great with these figures and it is truly the school that I love, then go early decisions.

But once again, early decision is binding. Early action, early action is you are applying early, but you are not making a commitment to attend that institution. So you can only apply to one school for early decision, because that’s 100 percent without a doubt your first choice school, but you can apply to multiple institutions for early action, as long as it’s not a restricted school.

Early action or a single choice. Early action. Those function a little differently and are more. Uh, we do have an amazing website. I mean, an amazing webinar about that. So I definitely encourage you to check that out too. But going back to early action, I usually recommend for students to apply early action if they are interested.

in that school, but don’t necessarily want to make a commitment because once again, it’s a great way of demonstrating interest, but you’re indicating that interest by applying early, getting the decision early, but you’re not having to make a commitment. Regular decision is the regular process. So the biggest thing should always be, where is your interest?

If it’s 100 percent your interest, and you’re also Fine with what the net price calculator has given you and the other financial aid tools that that institution has given you. If you’re fine with that, then it’s a great thing to go regular decision. I mean, go early decision. If it is not, then maybe it’s going to be better for you to do a combination of early action and regular decision for the other schools, because you want to give yourself the fullest ability to compare all those offers.

Anna: Absolutely. Thank you. That’s a lot for students to think about, so I appreciate you walking them through it. How have you seen the role of social media evolve in the admissions process? Is there anything students should be aware of when they are applying? Yes,

Brandon: social media has definitely evolved more and more into this process, uh, for a variety of reasons.

So things that I would make sure that you’re mindful of, admission officers and institutions can go and look at your social media. And oftentimes that happens because your fellow students who are also competing with you will tell us that To go and look at your social media and what are the reasons for why they are doing that is because you’re on there and you have, let’s say, applied for early decision or early action indicating that you’re interested, but we go to your social media and we completely see that you are rooting for and wanting to go to another institution.

That’s a big indication that maybe you’re not truly interested in us. So that’s one way that I’ve definitely seen social media impact students, but also it’s a way of us being able to get an insight into you. So you want to always be portrayed in the best light. So be mindful of that in terms of your social media content, because if you’re engaging in things that maybe don’t perceive you in the best light, remember it’s out there.

So institutions can go and look at that and take that into consideration. So there’s some things to think about in terms of moderating and curating your social media.

Anna: Absolutely. I see we’re almost at time. So Brandon, one last question. Maybe you can sum it up in 30 seconds. I know that’s a hard ask,

Brandon: but

Anna: one piece of advice that you give to every college applicant, regardless of interests, background, et cetera,

Brandon: that’s easy apply.

Apply. It’s always to your benefit to apply because once again, you might be that student that that institution is looking for, but the only way you’ll ever know that is to apply. So don’t let the numbers just guide your decision. Apply if you want to go to that institution.

Anna: I love that. Don’t say no for them.

That’s great advice. Thank you so much, Brandon, for all of your help answering questions tonight and for your presentation. Really appreciate it. This is the end of our webinar tonight, but please check out our calendar of upcoming webinars. We are going to cover all sorts of topics from essays to scholarships, um, to an HBCU panel, ACT, SAT, everything.

Um, most things we’ve touched on tonight, we’re going to do a deeper dive into lots of topics in these webinars. So sign up, check them out. And thanks for being here tonight. We appreciate you all and take good care.

Brandon: Take care everyone.