Getting In
Supplementing the Application (Getting In)
mbelle, 17 from New Mexico writes...
I'm a rising senior, so I've been thinking a lot about my college applications. One thing that really stresses me out is deciding whether or not to attach a resume of my activities, awards, and honors (the Common App doesn't make them look as impressive as they could, I think). Do you have any advice on how to write a resume for college, what to include, or how colleges use this extra set of info?
Janet says...
I strongly recommend you attach a resume of activities, awards and honors! You're right, the Common App doesn't give you a lot of room to truly show the level of involvement you may have in some of your activities. It is better at explaining awards and honors, but even there if you feel the form is not adequately showing the work, effort, and importance of these awards and honors there is nothing wrong with putting it together on a separate sheet and attaching it.
I'd break up this document into at least two sections, one for activities and one for awards and honors. Activities should be listed almost like you would list a job on a "real" resume (and work does count as an activity if you feel it needs more elaboration too). Let's use the unit on my resume related to PurplePJs to go over how this can look:
Purple Pyjamas – Chief Administrator, Columnist
October 1997 to Present
- Developing and maintaining staff policies and procedures
- Working with external organizations to develop partnerships for advertising and marketing purposes
- Directly managing the editorial staff in the development of content, implementing policies, and retention of individual columnists
- Writing Getting In, the weekly column covering all subjects related to college and college admission
First and foremost, you want to have the name of the organization and your specific roles in the activity or organization (if applicable). Then you also want to have the dates of your involvement in the organization, which demonstrates to college admissions officers your commitment to an activity. Indeed, you can get away with fewer extracurricular activities if you have taken the time to become highly involved in a selective few. Once you've covered the basics, describe what you do in the organization, if you are currently involved in the organization or activity, use present tense and use action words. Also, list your accomplishments in each activity in this area, also using action words (verbs, -ing words).
When listing your awards and honors your entries can be simpler, for example:
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship Recipient - Awarded for academic excellence as a transfer student, 2005-2008
So you want to list what the honor or award is, what the award or honor is or means, and when you received it. If you still think this is insufficient and there's more information you need to include, you can add an item or two on a bulleted list, but think very carefully before you add more content than a simple explanation of the award.
Other rules include not letting this document exceed two pages (preferably closer to one page). While college admissions officers do find this type of data informative too much of it will probably have it pushed off to the side, you've got to consider that admissions officers have a lot of applications to look at and only a limited time to do it. Also make sure that the information you include is featured nowhere else on your application, don't duplicate content because again, admissions officers don't have a lot of time to dedicate to each application. You've got to focus on the highlights on and you attach extra sheets because there are highlights that are incredibly important to presenting who you are that are not adequately explained in the application itself.
Asking the Right Questions (Getting In)
Kt, 17 from United States writes...
I will be going on some college visits soon and I am making a list of questions to ask my guide. The thing is, I don't really know what to ask! The questions I have are pretty ordinary like how many people there are, what the dorms are like, is the food good, etc etc etc. What are some specific things that would be good for me to find out about the colleges I am looking at attending? Is there anything you wish you could have asked about but didn't even think of until after you actually started college? Thanks!Janet says...
It’s tough to know what questions to ask, especially now that we can get so much more information online about schools than in generations past. However, there is still plenty of ground that you can cover! Many examples of good questions to ask include:
If you were thinking about living on campus:
- Are the dorms spread throughout the campus or clustered in one area? Is there any kind of shuttle service between classroom areas, the library, the student union, and dorms? How late does it run?
- What is security like in the dorms?
- How are roommates chosen? If there are problems between roommates are there procedures in place to move one or both roommates?
If your tour guide or interviewer is a student:
- How many of your courses are taught by a big-name professor and how many by a teaching assistant?
- What are the strong majors? The weak majors?
- How hard do you have to work for your grades?
- Do fraternities and sororities dominate the social life of the college?
- What do students do on weekends? Do most go home?
- There are a lot of organizations on campus. Are they dominated by a few groups or is anyone welcome?
- What do you do on weekends?
- How many hours a week do you spend in class? Studying?
- Why did you choose this school?
- How is the food on campus?
If your interviewer is a college admissions officer or you’re just talking to an admissions officer:
- What makes this college different from other colleges?
- What percentage of freshman return for their sophomore year?
- Is it difficult to change majors or areas of study after the freshman year?
- Do I seem like a good fit with the college?
- What is the role of sports on campus? What options are available for different sports?
- What resources are available to help students make the transition to college life (or life at this specific college)?
Getting off campus:
- How easy is to get to places off campus? Are there places within walking distance?
- Are there places to get extra furniture, like bookcases, for your dorm room?
- Is there a supermarket nearby to stock up on snacks and soda?
- If you move out of a dorm after freshman year, what are the options in apartment complexes or buildings?
Though the biggest tip I can give you is, if you can easy find the information online, don’t ask it! They know what’s on the internet and it can make you look uninformed or desperate to ask questions found online. In a way, this leaves the burden to you to come up with original questions, but it also proves to them how interested you are in that school, and is that not the primary goal?
Tags: getting in, college, admissions, admissions interviews, college tours, admissions questions
Does it Matter How Prestigious My College Is? (Getting In)
I have the answer to the one question that every single high school senior wants to know."Does it matter how prestigious my college is?"
As it turns out, it doesn't matter a whole lot.
Sure, at colleges like Harvard and Yale you are stepping into an environment of tradition that is smaller and fosters a more intimate and close knit relationship between alumni, students, and professors. However, going to Cal State San Bernardino isn't going to doom you.
It turns out that having a good balance of intellectual and social skills has a much greater bearing on a person's success in life.
However, it often does seem as if there are a disproportionately large number of successful people reigning from the Ivies (or other similar colleges). But if you think about it statistically, that makes sense. The middle 50% of students submitting ACT scores to Stanford scored 30-34 (out of 36) a few miles away at San Jose State University the middle 50% is 18-24 (out of 36). Stanford has a lot more students with higher intellectual skills and quite a few of those are going to have social skills (aren't they lucky?). But San Jose State has a fair list of notable alumni to brag about as well, including singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks, author Amy Tan (wrote Joy Luck Club among others), and Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson.
And while many American presidents have attended colleges as prestigious as Harvard and Yale, Warren G. Harding attended Ohio Central College and Jimmy Carter started out a community college in Americus, Georgia before completing his bachelor's degree at Georgia Tech.
I invite you to share your opinions on this subject--especially if you have attended college or what you expect if you've been admitted to college!
Tags: getting in, public universities, choosing a college, prestigious schools, college success, private universities, colleges, best colleges, finding jobs, state universities
That’s Not Just Bacon on Your Plate (Getting In)
College campuses are a thrilling place for viruses and bacteria. Students, staff, and faculty are all at risk for exposure to everything from the common cold, H1N1 (swine flu), and even conditions as serious as meningitis. These risks are increased substantially if you live in the college dormitories. This is not because your dorm-mates are necessarily dirty (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I've never met your roommate, the one that hasn't washed her hair since she was a freshman in high school because shampoo hurts the environment), but when you get a critical mass of people it's kind of tough to keep everything out, that's a lot of vessels that can carry all kinds of nasty cargo. So for the same reason that the ladies at Sex Ed will tell you to wear a condom, I'm going to tell you to do the following to stay safe at school:1. Wash your hands constantly -- don't use hand sanitizer as a substitute for good ol' soap and water
2. Stay home when you're sick, don't go to your Psych 101 lecture where you're going to effectively be coughing on 500 other people, you're doing no one any favors, just be sure to email or phone your professors or teaching assistants to let them know you are sick and ask how you can make up the missed work (if another method is not mentioned in the syllabus)
3. Cover your cough! When you cough or sneeze, cover it up with a tissue, handkerchief, or even your hand if you must. Then, wash or use a hand sanitizer on your hands
4. Avoid close contact with people that are sick, if some idiot chose to ignore item number two on this list, don't sit near them in class
5. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, ears, and mouth except when cleaning them
6. Practice overall good health habits! Get enough sleep, stay active, don't party too hearty (I'm not naive to think that you're not going to party even if I told you not to), manage your stress, and don't eat meals out of vending machines
Additionally, it's good to know what your school has to offer in regards to health services before you get sick. If your college distributed student handbooks the information is probably in there, if not the information is most likely on the website.
And if you do get sick and fall behind in your school work, don't wait to talk to your adviser and your professor, the most damaging thing you can do is sit on some late assignments until they become a true crisis for your GPA. There is always something you can do to try and help the situation, the first thing you need to do is ask for that help though.
Stay well this flu season and don't play tough when you feel like you're getting sick! It's often easier to get over illness if you take time off rather than tough through your regular schedule (besides, once you're out of college you might not get the chance to take a day off when you're not 100% so take advantage of it while you can!).
Tags: getting in, getting sick at school, dorms, health tips, success in college, sickness, student health, contacting professors, dorm health
It’s Not All In The Name (Getting In)
rosemary, 17 writes...
How do I find out if a college has a good reputation and is worth the money to go there? How do I find out the reputation of a proprietary school such as the Art Institute?Janet says...
Prestige and reputation do not determine whether or not it is worth the money to go to a college. Furthermore, you can’t find a list of the most prestigious schools because it is a qualitative factor, which means that there’s no unified method of measuring it. The most effective way to determine whether or not your school has a good reputation is probably to ask people in your desired field about it, while that may be difficult to do in person, the internet is a wonderful tool. The forums on Yahoo Answers and College Confidential are choc full of people that would love to tell you how great or awful your prospective school is (though you’ve got to take any advice from those places with a grain of salt). Additionally, you can see if a college makes any of the Princeton Review’s lists by visiting their website, they are who authors the popular best 371 college books as well as more general lists of the best schools in the different regions of the United States and, of special interest to you, a list of “Best Value Colleges.”
What you really should do though, rather than base your choice on reputation, is form a list of schools that, based on things like their website, you’d be a good fit for. Then touch base with the admissions office and see if you can’t get in touch with some of the professors and students. It would be even better if you could visit campus to get a feel for the campus. You want a good value for your money and that value might be found in the most unlikely place, at a school without a big name, but has a faculty that will support you as an individual, students that are both comfortable for you to be around but that expose you to new ideas and experiences, a campus that inspires you, and the curriculum that will best send you on your way to your future. And this method works regardless of whether it’s a public school, small liberal arts college, or proprietary art school!
Good luck with the search for the perfect college and if you (or anyone else) have any other questions from the general to specific feel free to send them my way!
Tags: getting in, choosing a college, prestigious schools, school rankings, what to look for in a college
College Spam Mail (Getting In)
rosemary, 17 writes...
I randomly received an email from the U of Portland (never been to their website or sent them my information) offering me a priority admissions application due to my “accomplishments throughout high school”. At the bottom in fine print it says “I received your contact information from the National Research Center for College and University Admissions” which I have never heard of, and the only thing I can think of is that this is somehow affiliated with the College Board website, which I am a member of. I have no intention of answering it, but it looks legit and I was just wondering if you have any insight into why I may have received this. Thanks!
Janet says...
The National Research Center for College and University Admissions is a company that offers matching services for both college admissions professionals and high school educators/counselors. So basically you've ended up on a list that indicates that you are a high school junior or senior, your data on that list may include your SAT scores, GPA, some of your extracurricular activities, and possibly even some of your demographic information (age, sex, race, and etc.). Sometimes high schools will subscribe to these services, other times the student may have unknowingly signed up for it while registering for the SAT, registering for the CollegeBoard's site, or even attending a college fair or informational session. The reason the school sent you that email is because enough of your criteria met the criteria of the University of Portland's admissions staff as a desirable student to have on their campus. Whether that match was done electronically without human review or with careful review by an admissions officer with a few spare moments is unknown. However, it certainly does mean that the university is interested in you and it is not uncommon at all for colleges to pursue specific students that seem extraordinary. If the University of Portland is a school of interest to you it wouldn't hurt to get in touch with them as this email does give you something of a bargaining chip for things like financial aid, especially if there are other schools that you're much more convinced about attending but issues like money, faculty, residence halls, and etc. could sway you. However if you're thoroughly not interested in the school you should probably let yourself feel flattered and forget about the email. The former suggestion is an important one. While it's basically form mail, you got it out of recognition for how awesome you must be.Tags: getting in, university of portland, national research center for college and university admissions, scores, admitted without applying
Getting Educated in Parking (Getting In)
It’s a known fact that colleges and universities are some of the worst places to park, and in many cases a large factor in that problem is the fact that campus police just love writing parking tickets! At Cal State Fullerton they’ve decided to step things up a notch. They know that parking is tough for students, but in the less prestigious of the two public university systems in California, facing epic funding shortfalls, and a dire need to acquire more parking spots, the administration sees an opportunity! If college expenses alone aren’t enough (although in-state tuition in the Cal State system is among the lowest in the United States) students, faculty, and campus guests are paying well over a million dollars in parking fines each year! So, what do you think about the aggressive behavior of Cal State Fullerton’s parking patrol and their nifty little friend, the Mobile Plate Hunter 9000 (if you read the original story, you’ll know I’m not even kidding about the Mobile Plate Hunter 9000)?
On the same token, how do you propose Cal State Fullerton (or any other school) fill the budget gaps?
Check out the original story, Some Cal State Fullerton students get Fs in parking.
Tags: getting in, budget cuts, student life, fees, commuter campus, parking, campus life, cal state fullerton
Community College Could be a Disaster (Getting In)
A more and more common practice these days seems to suggest students go to community college as the first stepping stone toward a four year degree. Common reasons behind this include a money savings, less of a “culture shock,” and a school is likely closer to home. However in California a closer look has been taken at how many students actually transfer to four year schools from community college and the news is not good. A report was recently released to these ends.
There are a number of obstacles that plague students in community colleges seeking to go to four year colleges from day one. Perhaps the most obnoxious is that of course requirements: the course requirements for an associates degree at a community college may not mimic those to get into those of your dream four-year school—so what do you do? Many students try and do both. Unfortunately that’ll take you right off of the four-year plan—that can cost you money (and if you were just planning on transferring to a public four-year school, you end up costing you more in the long run anyway).
Behind the problem of meeting course requirements is counseling. Not every community college counselor is an expert in building the perfect transfer curriculum for a student wanting to go to a specific four-year school. Because a counselor is an expert in the requirements for Cal Poly Pomona doesn’t mean they know what’ll get you into Cal State Long Beach—even though they’re in the same system! This has nothing to do with the will and desires of the counselor at the community college, but a lack of coordination amongst the state’s 4-year colleges.
The problem really becomes most obvious in students at community colleges, but from reading the study it is evident that the problem has less to do with the students and more to do with the entire education system in California. The system in California is intended to catch students that are bright but may not have the strongest backgrounds for college due to a family or financial background, the problem is that from there the government system is letting students down. Indeed it seems that if state government would let students excel on their own and not push them into community college they may find themselves doing better in 4-year schools.
But then again, maybe I’m way off, you can check out the report for yourself here.
Tags: getting in, community college, california, transferring, california state university, uc, csu, california community colleges, csus, first generation college students
Funeral Being Held for Higher Ed in California (Getting In)
Amidst California’s budget woes, their higher education system is taking an absolute beating. Today at Cal State Long Beach they are holding a funeral and on the first day of classes (which are normally held today because they are all on the quarter system) many faculty members are talking to students about how to ensure the long-term feasibility of public education in addition to going over syllabi rather than delving right into Shakespeare or supply and demand curves.
This really should be a word of caution to you high school kids though. College is not a right. In recent years admission and financial aid has been relatively easy to come by if you’ve gone through the motions of filing the paperwork on time. Things may be on the cusp of changing. Truthfully, many states have become perhaps a little too inclusive with their higher education schemes in allowing some students that perhaps are not great fits for college into college. And other states have focused all of their energy into putting everyone onto a costly four-year college track rather than realizing that it may not be for everyone and giving students options for less costly vocational tracks (that can often lead to just as, if not as profitable careers). Though talk of changes like these are a ways down the pipeline and don’t help students in college now or those in the applicate process right now. In the meantime, the actions of high school counselors isn’t going to change, yet the number of slots available in public colleges and amount of financial aid money are both going to get smaller. It’s time to get more competitive.
Good thing the school year is still early. A few quick tips this for October:
-Pick a fresh hobby for the winter (especially if you’re in a sport that’s season is ending soon… I’m talking to you, football players!)
-High school juniors, get to know your club and sports advisors and coaches well because this time next year you’ll be asking them for recommendation letters!
-If it’s not too late, make sure you’re in a foreign language (preferably at least in year 2 or 3 of said foreign language, high schoolers!)
And of course, check out that LA Times article on that funeral at CSULB.
Tags: getting in, california, budget cuts, public universities, csulb, cal state, la times, financial aid crisis, california public school, recession
Learning from the Troubles of a College (Getting In)
Chicago State University, on the South Side of Chicago is in deep trouble, a recent article from the Chicago Tribune reported. Indeed, if it doesn’t correct a number of problems soon it could lose its regional accreditation, which is what makes it eligible for a number of key federal financial aid programs as well as what makes its credits, overall, transferrable to most other institutions in the US and even many schools globally. So let’s look at the issues specifically and what you, the prospective student, can look for and ask about before you apply and commit to go.
Graduation rates, students are lingering or dropping out. At the school you’re applying to, find out how many students graduate within four and six years. You want to be out of there in four and no more than six years, after six years you want to see that at least 75% of students have graduated and are out of there (the other 25% we can chock up to attrition, a few too many changes in majors, or perhaps they just really, really, really like eating cold pizza for breakfast).
Retention rates, how many students are sticking around for year two? You want to see a number that is at least 70% and preferably in the mid to high 80s. Some of the most prestigious schools will boast retention rates into the high 90s, so expecting at least 70% of an incoming freshman class to stick around for year two is not asking for very much.
Student financial aid availability. The current economic situation has been tough for a lot of institutions, schools included, but seeing large cuts in financial aid is a red flag. Most schools try to protect their funds for financial aid as they are quite aware that if there is a sudden interruption it could mean students have to drop out or slip to part-time status—taking even longer to graduate (and we talked about that with the first item here).
On the bright side, losses of accreditation are rare. Maintaining it is so important to schools that they will bend over backward to retain it. That said you can typically be assured that your credits will retain their value, but a school on the brink is still one to be extra careful about.
Tags: getting in, public universities, graduation rates, financial aid, accreditation, illinois universities, regional accreditation, first-year retention, chicago state university, north central association of colleges and schools