For Parents in the Process

I've been thinking about parents recently.  The college process is hard on them too; I know, I was there once, and the news wasn't always good.  As parents, most likely our first response is to get mad at the admissions office.  After all, don't they know how wonderful, creative, and interesting our children are?  How could they not see it??

This article, written by a parent and regional admission director at Lawrence University, provides a perspective for parents everywhere.  And my advice? Stop obsessing about "name" schools and lucrative majors and early decision and all those other things.  Celebrate your daughter's successes and mourn with her if the mail brings disappointment.  But more important, help her move on from there.  She WILL find a college that is the right place for her, and years from now that disappointment will be a thing of the past.

What really upsets me however, is when parents criticize their daughter for what she didn't do, and yes, every year there are some of those.  She didn't write the perfect essay; she shouldn't have wasted her time in the choir all those years.  Her activities should have been more important!  In reality, what is important is that she chose the activities that were important to her, the ones that gave her fulfillment and joy. Her essay topic was personal and meaningful to her, and trust me, she wrote multiple drafts and conferenced with her English teacher until they were both exhausted!  She has worked incredibly hard for the last six years to get to this point, and it's not her fault that she didn't get in.  It is actually no one's fault.

Colleges are funny, as the article implies, but they also care about your children.  It's just that they have their own institutional goals; they have their own priorities. They need athletes and philosophy or French majors, musicians and perhaps students from Maine or Alaska. They're looking for students that fit the culture of their campus, and in the end, it's a bit of a guessing game. And no matter how hard you try, you cannot predict what they will be looking for the year your daughter applies.

The only answer, I think, is to help your daughter be the best person she can be.  If she loves to dance, then let her dance! If she loves science, then encourage her to participate in every science-related activity she can find. And if she doesn't know what she loves? Then support her while she's trying the myriad of activities we offer at GPS.  She'll land on one eventually, and if she doesn't, that's okay too.  Many of us don't figure out our strengths until much late in life.  And sometimes we develop new ones we never knew we had! That's the beauty of it.

I have a button in my office that says "You are more than a test score."  I would add that you are more than the name of the college you eventually attend. I promise you that in the end, it's all good.  You were right, after all.  Your daughter is wonderful and creative and interesting and many more things.  She will be just fine. It's just the parents I worry about.

A No-Essay Scholarship Contest

Like many random scholarships, this one may be a long shot, but since all you have to do is enter, why not go for it?  No essay or recommendations required!

Summer Opportunity in Journalism/Writing

The New England Center for Investigative Reporting, based at Boston University's College of Communication, is offering a unique Investigative Journalism Workshop this summer.  The three, two-week workshops will begin on June 30.  During each session, students participate in seminars and work alongside BU faculty and award-winning local and national journalists on investigative stories that could be published on the center's website or in regional and national publications.  Students will live on the BU campus and gain hands-on experience in investigative reporting while developing critical thinking and writing skills.

For more information, visit their website:http://necir-bu.org/training/hs-journalism-workshop/ . If you apply before January 31, 2014, will receive a $100 discount on tuition. the program is open to students in grades 9-12.  For more information, we have provided a link to their flyer. 

Must we document everything with a picture (selfie)?

Yes, I know this post from The New York Times has nothing to do with college (except that the author is a professor at MIT), but I was so struck by it, that I wanted to share it anyway.  I cannot help but wonder if my students would agree with any of her ideas.  I know I do, but then again, you could accuse me of being too old school. 

Years ago I remember my sister, a former teacher, telling me how one of her seventh graders said she never talked to her mother in the car.  Her mother was always on the phone talking to someone else.  There was no catching up at the end of a day; no time to share her ups and downs because her mom was busy with someone else.  It's not really any different now.  We're so busy documenting our lives, as the author of the article says, that we're hardly really living it.  Pictures are wonderful, but if you can't actually remember the experience, you don't really have much, do you?

Scholarhip News for Seniors

1.  The Better Business Bureau will award $1,000 scholarships to current seniors based on overall personal integrity and character, personal achievements, contributions to their community and school, and academic accomplishments. 

Students must also submit an essay of approximately 500 words on "The Importance of Ethics in Business in our Community."

See Ms. Carlin for the application.  The deadline is Friday, April 4, 2014.

2.  The Signal Mountain Lions Club announces the continuation of the "Signal Mountain Lions Charity Scholarship."  Two awards in the amount of $800 per year (that's book money!) will be awarded to students based on financial need and academic achievement.  You must live in the 37377 zip code.

Again, see Ms. Carlin for the application.  The deadline is April 15, 2014.

As decisions come in...

I saw a tweet from the Common Application this morning that reminded me once again how difficult and how exciting this time of year can be for some students.  If they applied early decision or early action, the next few days can be very nerve-wracking as they wait for decisions.  So I wanted to remind everyone to give students their space if they need it.  If necessary, read my earlier blog post "Let's Stop Talking About College."

But students, you also need to heed the Common App's advice: "Before you view admissions decisions in public, think about how you'll react if the news you get is not the news you hoped for."  It's tricky though - if the news is good, you'll want to celebrate (and we hope you will!), but at the same time you need to think about your friends who might not be in such a celebratory mood.  It's a hard line to walk.

Good or bad, this is not life or death, and life goes on.  We'll keep saying that until you get it.

The Rise of the Video Essay

As more and more students are applying to multiple colleges and universities (our record is 23), colleges are looking for additional ways to separate the serious applicants from the not-so serious ones, and they're looking for ways to distinguish one student from another.  Enter the video essay.

I'm sure there were others before, but Tufts University is one of the first schools I know of that started offering students the opportunity to submit a video as part of their application.  Perhaps it is the natural extension of the "blank box" topic - that is when colleges give you a blank square box and tell you to do with it what you will.  Sigh...as if there isn't enough pressure on a high school senior.

Face it, how can students really convey who they are and what makes them tick on a paper application?  Girls can briefly describe their extracurricular life, and the essay might offer a brief glimpse into their dreams, values, and abilities, but is it possible for a college admissions rep to really know an applicant this way?  Recommendations will help, but I've often wondered how they do it? How do they tell one aspiring college student from another? 

I'm not convinced a video essay is the answer. Yes, these days just about everyone can make a video, but the wealthier among us can hire an entire production team if they want - complete with special effects, etc.  You might argue that almost everyone these days has access to all those effects, and even a less wealthy student can produce a pretty cool video.  And for some admissions people, perhaps simplicity will be more appealing. But that's the point.  What will appeal to one person reading you're application is no different than one essay being more interesting than another.  At some point, it's always subjective.

The video might have the "cool" factor for today's high school students, but is it any fair? The cynic in me thinks it just makes it more interesting for the person reading hundreds of applications, and if that's all it takes to stand out, than that's not fair.  But then the playing field has never been level, has it?