ADVICE FROM AN ADMISSIONS PRO
Your child has spent the past two years hitting the books, cramming for the SATs, and attending summer enrichment programs in hopes of getting into college. But how would an admissions officer go about selecting a school? To find out, Business Week Chief of Correspondents James Ellis chatted with Nanette Clift, director of recruitment at Washington University in St. Louis.
NOTE: This is an extended, online-only version of the Q&A that appears in the November 10, 1997 issue of Business Week.
Q: How early should the college planning process start?
A: Probably as soon as the freshman year of high school. Students are always better off taking the most rigorous courses that are appropriate for their level. So if you start off in your freshman year, by the time you're a senior, you will have worked up to honors or AP (advanced placement) courses. Start on these tracks early, particularly in math and science, to stay in sequence.
Q: When families begin visiting colleges in the junior year, how wide a net should they cast?
A: They should be looking for types of schools. Do they want small, medium, or large? Do they want suburban, rural, or urban? I would encourage students to start by visiting schools in the city or town where they live. You may not want to stay at home, but it can be a wonderful exploration without having to spend a lot of money.
Q: What's the role for parents?
A: It's important for parents to help set expectations as to what is reasonable as a family. There should be an open discussion about what kind of school the student is looking for in terms of expense, distance, and academic rigor--because the student and parent may have two different things in mind.
Q: How helpful are SAT test preparation courses?
A: I think they can help with anxiety levels. But I don't know that you have to go out and spend a lot of money to get that help. There are software packages, books, and all kinds of alternatives to a full prep course.
Q: How important is a school's reputation in the college search?
A: The most important thing to a student is finding a place that's a good fit for them, where they feel academically comfortable with some challenge, but also where they feel comfortable with other students and the campus environment. Too often students don't look at this as an individual choice. You get caught up in the frenzy of your friends, your parents, your parents' friends, and everybody has some advice to give. It can be very confusing.
Q: How important is the college essay for admission?
A: I can think of a million times where a good essay made a difference. The essay is important because it's the student's opportunity to tell what they want a school to know about them and in a way that's comfortable for them.
Q: Applying Early Decision is increasingly popular at highly selective schools. Is it really easier to get into selective schools if you apply Early Decision?
A: It depends. Some years it might be easier, other years it might not be. I don't think it should be used as a strategy because you are being asked to make a commitment pretty early on, about where you want to be. I think if a student has done his homework--the self-assessment part--and made his campus visit and knows pretty much beyond a shadow of a doubt, "This is where I want to be," there's probably no good reason not to apply early. But remember, if accepted, the student will have to live with the decision.
Q: Is Early Decision a bad call if you need financial aid?
A: Early Decision might not be a good idea if a family wants to aggressively compare financial aid because you probably want to keep your options open.
Q: How important are an applicant's outside activities to his chances of being admitted?
A: That can vary. For some colleges, it is not as important, but for other places, it can really make a difference. I think what's critical for the student is to enjoy whatever it is he's doing, and to maybe have one thing that he really loves, that he feels passionate about, and that he might even want to continue in college. It can be athletics, a job, community service, or the yearbook. I don't think it always matters what it is. The student just needs to be committed.
Q: So it's better to show depth of interest than simply exposing yourself to a million different things?
A: A lot of students will have depth in one area, and then they'll dabble in others, which is great. Other students are natural-born leaders, and they're going to have depth in several things. But if you can only do one thing, if it's your art or you just like to read, do it with some commitment. Then find a way to talk to the college, in the application, about how you've shown that commitment.
This is where it's important to know the places that you're applying, to understand what the campus community is like, because that can give you an idea of how you should emphasize those things in your application material. If you know that community service is really important at School X, then that might be something you want to talk about in your essay.
Q: What does an admissions officer look for in a letter of recommendation?
A: Well, I think what we'd like to see is some insight to the student: Does the student enjoy learning? What has the teacher or the counselor found to be interesting about the student? Or it should explain discrepancies in the student's record, such as explaining that a student had mono at the beginning of his sophomore year, and that briefly affected his grades.
Q: Do recommendation letters from community leaders, politicians, or business leaders really help an application?
A: I think where they're most powerful is when that person really knows the student--and you can tell the letters where they don't--and is sharing something about the student that we wouldn't know otherwise. A community leader can talk about a side of a student that a teacher might not even know, so I think they can really make a difference.
Q: What are the biggest mistakes parents or students make in the college search process?
A: Not being open to all the options, not being willing to look beyond reputation or prestige, and not being open to each other about family issues. The last thing you want as a family is to get to April and find out there were two very different ideas of what was possible financially, for instance. To get to the end and find out you haven't been on the same wavelength can be devastating.
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