The College Admissions Scoop: Don't Sweat the Interview!

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Does the thought of having a college admissions interview make you break out in a cold sweat and make your heart beat faster?  It shouldn’t!  Here’s why.

The interview is an opportunity for the college admissions representative to get to know you.  Most are nice and don’t ask trick questions. The interview isn’t a test of academic knowledge.  It is a way to help college admissions officers see that you are more than the number on your transcript (GPA) and your test scores. Interviews add a face and a personality to your application.  They give you a chance to talk about your good qualities that are not reflected in your application.  Interviews also provide you with an opportunity to explain any blemishes on your transcript.  Many interviews are informational and conversational. You tell the college admission representative a bit about you and he or she will tell you a bit about the school.

When you meet your interviewer, shake hands and maintain eye contact. If you are with your parent(s) or a friend introduce them to the interviewer.  Make sure your parents understand that they are not to accompany you into the interview room.  If your parent(s) want to be in the waiting room when your interview ends so they can ask a question or two, that’s OK.  Don’t have a family discussion in the presence of the interviewer.  Don’t roll your eyes at something your parent says, even if you think it’s the stupidest thing you ever heard.  That will only show that you’re immature. 

Marilyn’s Interview Tips:

• Most interviewers will want to know why you’re interested in their school.  It helps to do your homework and to learn about the school before you interview.  Try to go on the tour before you interview.
• A firm handshake, eye contact and a smile are important.
• Always be yourself.  If you try to be something you’re not, it will come across loud and clear.  Besides, you have a lot to offer.
• When in doubt, be honest.
• If you’re feeling really nervous, it’s OK to say so.
• Go prepared with questions to ask the interviewer.
•  If possible rehearse with someone who has conducted interviews.
•  Ask the interviewer for a business card.  This will help you spell the person’s name correctly when sending a thank you note. 

The College Admissions Scoop: Tough Breaks and Silver Linings

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

For some high school students and their parents the perceived risk of failing to get into the schools of their choice can be very stressful.  For new or soon to be college graduates, the risk of rejection by a graduate school or a potential employer can be similarly stressful.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  Take a deep breath, and then tell yourself that failing to get into the school you want to attend or landing the job you thought perfect, can become a good thing -  especially when you use “failing” as the spark to ignite your strength and resilience.  "Failure is not the opposite of success, it is the stone to success," Arianna Huffington told the Sarah Lawrence class of ’11 in her graduation speech. And, Conan O’Brien told the Dartmouth Class of “11 that “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.”

Watch Conan O'Brien's speech here :

Watch Arianna Huffington's speech here:

2011-2012 Common Application Update

 By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

The Common Application lets students fill out one application online for all of their member colleges and universities.   While this saves some time, students need to be aware that about 2/3 of the member schools require additional information in the form of Supplements.

Yesterday, Scott Anderson, Director of Outreach at the Common Application, spoke about The Common Application for 2011-2012.  He began with some interesting statistics from this past year (2010-2011):

•          575,000 unique applicants
•          2.4 million Common Applications filed
•          70% of the applications were from public high schools
•          4.5 is the average number* of applications filed by applicants (* number is low for the northeast where the average is  up to 7.7)

Then, Scott went on to talk about enhancements to the application for this coming year:

•          There are 49 new participating schools, bringing the total number to 461 colleges and universities.  New members include University of Kentucky, UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California.  You can see the full list at www.commonapp.org and then click on news.
•          The new layout for listing foreign languages will help students’ better capture proficiency levels.
•          The “activities” section is reduced from 12 to 10, providing more room to write about each activity. Students will also be able to reorder their activities without redoing the entire section.
•          250-500 words are suggested for the personal statement.
•          There is a standard Early Decision (ED) agreement accepted by almost all members.
•          Students will be able to review application progress using their smart phones.

Rising seniors, please note that The Common Application will go live for the 2011-2012 school year on August 1^st.  

The College Admissions Scoop: Don't Obsess!

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Early this week the print and TV news media ran with the story of a mom who is suing her child’s pre-school for damaging her daughter’s chances of gaining an Ivy League education.  Why are some people are so obsessed with a small group of schools that they don’t want or allow their children a normal childhood?  Who or what factors create an environment where both parents and students think the value of education is in a name and will pursue actions that lead many to question their sanity?  In some instances, this parental obsession gets passed down to their children who also do - dare I say it – stupid things.  Take, for example, the teenagers in a suburb of New York City who allegedly hired others to take the SAT’s for them.  

As an independent educational consultant I visit between 30 and 50 colleges each year, all over the United States, as well as some international schools.  My visits have reinforced what I knew to be true – there are many, many wonderful institutions of higher learning.  These colleges and universities have professors invested in teaching undergraduates, interesting and unique course offerings and spirited campuses. Most importantly, the students who attend these schools are happy to be there because they found the right environment for them to be successful academically and happy socially.  So, instead of obsessing about a few schools, keep an open mind and help your child broaden his or her college search. 

Tips for parents:

·         Don’t believe everything you read or hear about college admissions.

·         Don’t compare your child to your neighbor’s child or any other child.

·         Don’t make your child’s college admission your hobby or your job.

·         You are there for parental support, not parental interference.

The College Admissions Scoop: The Complexity of College Admissions

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Every morning on my business facebook page I post links to articles related to college and graduate school admissions.  This week one of the posts linked to a report from the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center on Parent and Research Perceptions of Complexity in College Admission.  The first phase of their research shows that while students, parents and guidance counselors may complain that the decision process is not transparent, most found the college application process to be fairly easy to understand and only moderately stressful if a student applied to four colleges or less.  The research also showed that the more schools a student applied to the more complex the application process became.  This was particularly true if the schools were private rather than public.

Given the small number of surveys used for the study, what I take away from the research is the need for accurate information that gives parents and students a better understanding of the college admission and college decision process.  

Traps to Avoid When Visiting Colleges

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Assuming that one student represents the entire student body - When your son or daughter goes on a college tour, generally their tour guide will be a student. At some schools, the tour guides are employees of the admissions office. While tour guides can be a great resource for information about the academics and social life on campus, it is a good idea to get the opinions of other students on campus too. Hearing others’ opinions and gathering information from different sources will allow your son or daughter to better decide whether or not the environment on campus is right for them.

Rushing to judgment - Give your child time to internalize what he or she has seen and heard. Give your child time to think about the school before asking for their opinion. Remember that each school is a new experience and they will need time and space to put what they have seen and heard into perspective. Teenagers might not be able to express their thoughts as clearly as you might like.

Voicing your opinion first - As a parent, you want what you think is best for your child. This may be in conflict with what your child thinks is best for him or her. Do not, either with words or body language, tell your child your thoughts before he voices his opinion.

Not listening to your child - It is very important to respect what your child tells you, even if it sounds ridiculous. Often teenagers have a hard time articulating their feelings and they may draw seemingly peculiar conclusions. Do not get annoyed. Think about what your child is trying to say. One young woman told her parents that she didn’t like a particular campus because the students weren’t wearing shoes. What she really meant was that the campus felt a bit “alternative” and the students were not the type of students she wanted to go to school with.

Not allowing your child to change his or her mind. Do not be so quick to agree or disagree. This is the time for you to listen. As students continue to visit colleges, learn about colleges and mature, their thoughts and opinions might change. They need to feel secure enough to say so.

What High School Students Should Consider When Visiting Colleges

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP and Jana Jett Loeb

A high school student’s view of whether a college campus is the right place for them can be influenced by many factors:

Academic Offerings – Does the college or university offer the types of courses and programs the student is interested in? While it is not necessary for students to know specifically what they want to study, it is important that the school offer courses and programs the student feels are intriguing and want to learn more about. Students also need to think about how they learn best. Is it in small or large classes? Students can get a sense of academic offerings and size of classes by sitting in on a class. Sometimes, admission offices post a list of approved classes students may visit. If this list is not available students need to contact the admissions office directly to determine which classes allow visitors and how to be approved to visit a class. Students should be sure to observe the students in the class as carefully as they do the professor; how the students interact with one another in a seminar or ask questions in a lecture can reveal a good deal about the intellectual motivations of the student body.

Extracurricular Activities – As students tour campuses, they will likely pass bulletin boards and posts with flyers and notices about upcoming events. Students should be sure to examine these. It is one thing to hear in an information session that a school has 400 clubs, but seeing these boards is a glimpse of how student life actually takes shape on campus.

Distance from Home – Whether they drive or fly to visit a college campus can make a difference in a student’s view of being far away from home. Traveling from the East Coast to the Midwest can be a two hour flight or an 8 -10 hour drive. It is important for students to understand the differences between flying and driving as they formulate their thoughts about what it will mean to be living away from home.

Campus Living Arrangements – For some students, where they will live will heavily influence whether they choose to attend a particular college. Students need to think about which living conditions are important to them and ask direct questions about residential life. A few questions that they might want to consider asking are:

• · Are all students required to live on campus for four years?
• · What housing options are available?
• · How are roommates assigned?
• · Are there any restrictions in the dorms?

The Area’s Culture – Specific customs, weather patterns, the pace of life, and even language and speech patterns contribute to the culture in different parts of the country. Students should consider their personal comfort level – are they open to differences or do they prefer the familiar?

Tips for Parents Planning College Visits

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S. W., CEP

Marilyn’s tips for parents who are planning college visits:

• Ask your son or daughter if they are comfortable having you ask questions during the visit. If they are not comfortable, respect their feelings and don’t ask questions. You do not want your offspring focusing on his embarrassing parents instead of the colleges you are taking the time to visit.

• Set up appointments for the schools that require them. Some schools allow you to do this online while others require a telephone call. Most tours are 45 minutes to an hour and most information sessions run an hour. Colleges usually schedule tours and information sessions back-to-back.

• Always check to make sure the times listed in the guidebooks or on the websites are correct. You don’t want to arrive on campus and find that they are not offering tours and information sessions because it is a special day on campus.

• The timing of your visit can influence how comfortable your child is on a particular campus. Although it is ideal to visit colleges during the academic year, going in the summer is still valuable. Think about when would be best for your child and your family.

• Arrange your schedule so that you are not rushing from campus to campus. Do not visit more than two schools in one day.

• In addition to the tour and information session, set aside time to have a meal in the dining hall. In addition to checking out the food this will allow your child to eavesdrop on conversations, and if they are comfortable doing so, to talk to other students. If your child is concerned about being seen in the dining hall with his parents, gently remind him that you will not be the only adults there as faculty and staff use the dining hall as well.

• If you will be staying overnight near the campus, check to see if there is a sporting event, a theater production or an a cappella concert taking place on campus. If necessary, get tickets. You might need to, once again, gently remind your child that faculty and staff attend these events as well as parents of the students involved so you will not be the only adults there.

Juniors: Plan Visits Wisely

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

It can seem overwhelming to plan visits to colleges when there are so many types of schools to see. There are only so many days of vacation or long weekends, and overloading them with college visits may do more harm than good. If you visit too many schools, especially in too short of a time, they will often run together and it will be difficult to get much out of the visits. So, at the beginning, it is important to choose schools that are different in significant ways in order to maximize the value of visiting.

Some important factors to consider are size, location, academic offerings, and selectivity. If students are unsure whether they would be happy at a large university with a bustling environment, or a small liberal arts college in a rural area, then it is important to visit both of these types of schools as well as schools that fall in-between. Be sure that each school has something a bit different to add to the mix.

Students should not get too caught up in what they assume they want before they have an opportunity to experience different types of environments. It is much better to be able to say that you don’t like something than to say that you wish you had known this type of school existed. Even if a student is convinced he only wants to attend College X, it isn’t advisable to only visit College X and schools exactly like College X. It is crucial to push the boundaries of one’s expectations, and visiting can help students narrow their interests and options. Even if students return from visits just as committed to attending College X or schools like it, that commitment is now more informed by the experience of seeing what such schools—and others—are actually like.

Once you have determined which schools to visit, there are a number of things that students and parents can do to make the most of the visiting experience. Our next post will provide tips for how to make visiting colleges exciting, fun and informative.

Juniors: It's Important to Visit Colleges

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

Visiting colleges in an important element of the college search process. In the beginning, a search means casting a wide net. After students use guidebooks and the Internet to find schools that seem appealing, they should begin to think about visiting schools. Experiencing different college environments will confirm if what they have read and think they want meshes with their campus experiences.

Visiting is important because it allows students to get a realistic sense of the culture of a campus. Visiting gives students the opportunity to sit in on classes, speak with current college students, witness daily life, and get a feel for what a school has to offer. It is also the way students learn how a college wants itself to be seen, a useful indication of what college leadership think is important.

But, perhaps the most important reason to visit campuses is the instinctive way students respond to the experience of visiting. The ‘gut feeling’ is a hugely important factor in directing students’ college preferences; it usually doesn’t lie. A junior touring a campus will often know instinctively whether a campus is a good ‘fit.’ While not every visit will elicit a strong response, some probably will, and those will speak volumes. Stay tuned for our next post about choosing the right range of schools to visit.

The College Admissions Scoop: Deferred - What Does It Mean ?

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., C.E.P. and Jana Jett Loeb

Note to Parents: If your son or daughter has been deferred from an early program, s/he is probably experiencing a combination of relief and confusion, and you might be too. What does it mean, exactly, and what is the best way to proceed? Hopefully these next two posts will help your child make sense of a deferral decision as well as understand the appropriate next steps.

If you have been deferred from an early program, you are probably feeling a combination of disappointment and confusion. While you would have wished for a definitive acceptance and might find it hard to imagine waiting throughout the next coming months for another decision from the same school, you probably also feel a sense of hope that when your application is reconsidered, you may yet be admitted in April.

An important thing to know is that a deferral is not a disguised “no.” Colleges have every intention of reconsidering your application in the context of the wider applicant pool during regular decision. In fact, they have chosen to hold off on making a final decision until they can see the full context in which your application is situated in their pool. That said, it is also important to be realistic about your chances of admission at this point. While you will certainly receive another review by the committee, your chances of admission are now lower. It is fair to continue to hope for a positive response from the school, and indeed, students can be admitted after being deferred. However, it is also important not to focus primarily on your early school.

The best way to proceed after a deferral is to move forward with the rest of your applications. Be sure to compile all of your materials for the other colleges to which you are applying, and to submit your applications as soon as possible. Doing so will help you to avoid any last-minute problems. It will also help you feel more secure about your college plans while you are in somewhat of a limbo phase with your early choice school.

While a deferral is a disappointing middle ground, be sure to keep things in perspective. You should put your best foot forward, both with the school from which you received your decision and also with your other applications. Most importantly, you must continue to maintain impressive accomplishments as the year continues!

Note: Our next blog will contain information on how to be proactive with your ED school after a deferral.

Rejected - It's Their Loss, Move Forward

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

A Note to Parents: If you son or daughter has been denied from an early program, you likely share in their considerable disappointment. A denial this early can definitely sting, but it is important to put your feelings aside and encourage your child to put their effort into the schools that remain on their list and to keep this decision in perspective.

What follows are some thoughts for students who might trying to make sense of their early denial.

Your ED, REA or EA application has been denied. You are probably—and quite understandably—disappointed. For some of you, “disappointed” might even be putting it lightly. You put in a tremendous amount of work to show your best self to your top choice school and they rejected you. That hurts! But you are not alone.

It is common for students to be denied to early programs. If you have heard that schools only defer or admit students early, then you have been misinformed. It is important to know that these early denials do happen, and that they are not highly unusual. It does not mean you were a terrible applicant or “never had a chance.” It does not mean that you could, should have done things differently. It does not mean that you were not academically competitive with the other applicants. It does not mean you are a failure. It does mean that they probably had more qualified applicants than they had space for.

Schools want to be clear with their applicants, and by giving you an honest decision at this early date, they encourage you to vigorously and enthusiastically pursue the other colleges on your list.

Hopefully, all your other applications are ready. If not, get to work immediately. This will help you to feel more proactive and positive, and will help you to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.

Don’t let your disappointment get the best of you. Everyone feels the sting of rejection, but what says the most about your character is how you rebound. Get excited about the schools on your list and the many wonderful college options that remain! There are certainly “fat” envelopes in your future.

Education Must Meet the Challenge

Two recent events made me mad! At first these happenings might not seem related, or even have anything to do with college admissions. So, please bear with me. The first was the oil leak in the Gulf. As of today, we are up to the seventh plan for stopping the oil leak. Engineers are trying to cut off the pipe and then lower a dome over it in the hopes of containing the oil.

The second, I have actually seen again and again. It is not limited to a particular high school or to a certain region of the country. I recently met with a student who excels in math and science who had no idea what he wants to do after graduating from college. That did not bother me. Rising high school seniors often do not, and probably should not, know this. I became angry, not at the student, but at our system, when upon suggesting to the student that he consider engineering as a career, it became apparent the he had never thought about engineering. Further, no one at his school, no teacher or counselor, had ever mentioned engineering. Not only did he have no idea about the different types of engineering, he really did not know what engineering is.

Are you beginning to see the link? Engineers apply the principles and theories of science and math to technical problems. By doing so, they find solutions. The tragedy in the Gulf reflects the failure of a challenging and very difficult engineering project. In a broader sense, it highlights the critical need for the "best and the brightest" to step up to the real challenges our nation faces. By encouraging excellent math and science students to think about engineering we will be doing our country a service. It is very important for high school teachers and counselors to spur excellent science and math students to think about studying engineering.

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

What Should I Do On My Summer Vacation?

It’s time for high school students to start thinking about what they might want to do this summer. College admissions personnel expect summers to have been spent productively. They expect students to take advantage of available opportunities. There are a wide range of good options. Examples include working, volunteering or taking courses. Many colleges offer summer programs for high school students. The University of Delaware, for example, offers a five week residential program for high school juniors, where students take two courses (for college credit) and get a taste of college life (http://summercollege.honors.udel.edu/ ). If you don’t have five weeks to spend, other colleges offer programs of shorter duration. Ithaca College offers a one week and a three week residential pre-college program (http://www.ithaca.edu/summer_college/ ). Stevens Institute of Technology lets high school juniors and seniors earn college credit through The Euclid Program, an online program of Physics, Computer Science and Math courses (www.stevens.edu/undergrad/precollege.html ).


While I do not advocate doing something because it looks good on a college application, I do advocate doing something – anything you enjoy. After all it is summer vacation!

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP