During the last two college admissions cycles, test-optional policies resulted in many colleges receiving record numbers of applications from many more fully-qualified candidates than they could possibly admit. This, in turn, has led to historically low admissions rates and more than a few disappointed students who were rejected from their top-choice colleges.

These trends are leaving students and families feeling pessimistic and confused by what appears to be the randomness of current college admission decisions, since many students who were rejected or waitlisted from some colleges appear to have similar stats (GPA, course rigor, leadership, etc.) as those who were accepted. While a college's institutional needs are considered foremost when admitting an incoming class, colleges are also hyper-focused on protecting their yield rate.  A college's yield rate is determined by dividing the number of students who ultimately commit to a college by the number of students who were offered admission to that college. Simply put, colleges want to know that if they offer you admission, you are likely to accept and attend their university. If your stats are higher than their averages, they might assume you will get into and likely attend a more competitive university.

Today, more than ever before, it is important for students to demonstrate interest to the colleges they are applying to, so that the colleges feel confident there is a good chance they will attend if offered a spot in their freshman class.

How can you show your commitment to attending a college during the admissions process? Here are some suggestions:

• Attend in-person or virtual campus tours and information sessions. Register for these official events with your email (not your parents'), preferably one that uses your first and last name for easy tracking.  
• Attend college admissions representative visits to your high school. Most high schools host information sessions with college admissions reps throughout the school year. This is an easy way to gain an audience with the person who will be reading your application, learn about the college, and show your interest. Check your high school  calendar regularly and attend sessions for all the colleges on your list.
• Send thank you emails. After attending an information session (in-person, virtually, or at your high school), send a brief email to the admissions representative who gave the presentation. Thank them for helping you learn about their college, tell them one or two things you found compelling, and let them know you are excited to apply to their school. Sign your email with your full name, the name of your high school, and your home city and state.
• Attend a summer program at one or more of the colleges you are considering.
• Spend time on your colleges' websites. Some colleges use tracking software to see what pages applicants are visiting and how long they are staying on each page.
• Sign up to be on your colleges' email lists and open all emails they send you. Admissions reps often track whether or not applicants are opening their emails and clicking on included links in an attempt to gauge true interest.
• Follow your colleges on social media.
• Email your admissions representatives. Many colleges list their regional admissions reps. on their websites. If not, you can call the admissions office and ask, or consult with your high school college counselor to obtain the name of your high school's regional rep. If you have a thoughtful question to ask, reach out to your regional admissions representative. This would be a good way to get your name on their radar, but make sure you do not contact them too often or request information that can easily be found on the college's website; this could have a negative impact. 
• Submit your applications early. While applying early decision is the best way to prove a college is your top choice, not all colleges offer this option and not all students are ready or financially able to commit to one college for early decision. Submitting your applications as early as possible (by the early action deadlines if offered) can signal your enthusiasm for your colleges, while waiting until the latest deadlines can make colleges question whether your application to their institution is an afterthought.
• Once you have applied to a college:
  • Set up your portal and check it regularly. This is where you will be notified if you have anything missing from your application and where you will receive your admissions decision. Colleges can track when you access your portal and how often. If anything is missing from your application, the colleges expect you to take care of it in a timely manner. If you don't, that could indicate a lack of interest.
  • If your stats are in the top 60%-75% of admitted students for a college, apply to their Honor's College and apply for merit scholarships (if applicable). Taking the time to fill out these extra applications and write the often-required extra essays, shows your commitment to academic excellence and helps you continue to demonstrate your interest in the school.
  • Sign up for an admissions office or alumni interview if offered.
    

Now is the perfect time for high school juniors to start finalizing their college lists, thinking about an application strategy, and demonstrating interest in the colleges they will be applying to in the fall. For personalized assistance with any part of the college search and application process, please contact UFit College Consulting.

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As parents, we want our kids to go to college and find their passions that they can convert into a meaningful career, preferably one that earns them a decent salary and allows them to be independent. No parent wants their young adult returning from college with a degree that only affords them a room in the basement of their family home. Without sounding too clinical and practical, how can parents guide their children to find a major in college that fulfills them and provides a decent return on their college education? 

High school is a great time to explore academic interests outside of the core high school graduation requirements. Students should consider enrolling in electives offered by their high school and use their summers to discover fields that might interest them. For example, a student who wants to explore a more niche area of study in weather science could take courses in meteorology, seismic science, climate change, etc., at a local college, attend seminars or workshops hosted by organizations specializing in these fields, or sign up for an online class. Students can also gain real-life experience through job-shadowing and internships. Students interested in law or medicine can find opportunities at local hospitals or legal-aid clinics, where they can volunteer their time and learn from professionals. If they are interested in politics, perhaps they can take a course in public policy or volunteer to work with a local politician. The idea here is to show students the practical application of their interests in the real world. 

Most students don't get much time in high school to truly reflect on what they would like to pursue as a major or career. They don't understand what a job in a particular field entails. They don't necessarily even know about the abundance of configurations and combinations of majors and minors that they can pair up and study in college to reach their ideal future job or career. You may be asking, “How can they possibly be expected to know what career they want at 17 years old?” We are not suggesting your teenagers pick a major or career and carve it in stone. Rather, we suggest they take the time to explore as many options as possible, and reflect on what they care about and might want to do in the future.  This way they will be more likely to  start their college studies in the right neighborhood, even if they change their mind about the specific house a few times. 

In addition to exploring different subjects and careers in high school, there are many personality tests and questionnaires in the form of multiple-choice questions that purport to help your student find a career that is suited to them. In reality, this format does not allow students to really reflect about themselves; they simply fill-in bubbles from a stated list of options. These questionnaires result in a generic, computer-generated conclusion based on weights assigned to the questions answered. In our opinion, this is not a valuable way to gauge your teenager's interests or personality. 

At UFIT College Consulting, we have created a proprietary questionnaire with open-ended questions that delve deeply into a student's personality, strengths, and passions. It is an exercise in self-reflection that provides better insight into a student's mind. The consultants at UFit analyze these answers and prepare a document that showcases the various majors a student can pursue and the careers they can choose to realize their life goals. This exercise equally benefits students who have specific interests and those who are undecided. It also helps illuminate areas they can explore through classes, volunteer work, and internships and informs a student's potential college list and application strategy while creating a strong college application that tells a cohesive story with greater clarity, particularly if the student is applying to a particular major or department within a college. For parents, it provides relief knowing that their students have some foundational direction that they can build upon to create a successful college experience.

If you would like your student to fill out this questionnaire and/or receive help finding specific ways to explore their interests, please reach out to us at info@ufitcollegeconsutling.com.

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It’s August, which means the kids are getting ready to go back to school and, if you are the parent of a high school junior or senior, you are going to start hearing a lot about the college admissions process. As with many other industries, the college industry uses many buzzwords that can be unfamiliar and confusing to anyone who is a newbie to this process. To help make things a little easier, we will outline some of the most common college admissions buzzwords and explain what they mean.  We will start with the multiple ways students can choose to submit their college applications. 

When many of us parents applied to college, there was a single deadline for submitting applications and admission decisions were mailed out on a given date or on a rolling basis. If you are like us, you probably remember checking the mailbox daily and hoping to find a fat envelope which meant good news. Today, most colleges offer a variety of application deadlines to students and a subsequent variety of decision notification dates. Understanding all of these options as well as their acronyms will be the focus of this blog. 

ED stands for Early Decision (the binding one). Applying to a school early decision or ED means that if your student submits their application for their top-choice college by the ED deadline, they will receive an admission decision by the middle to the end of December. This is a binding decision, meaning if your student is offered admission, they must attend.  Therefore, we only advise students to apply ED if there is one college -- from their curated list of colleges -- that they want to attend more than any of the others on their list. For some competitive colleges, applying ED can increase your student’s chances of admission a great deal, but they can only apply ED to one school. If your student gets admitted during the ED round, all other EA applications or rolling admission decisions have to be withdrawn.

EA stands for Early Action.  Some schools do not have an ED option, but they may have the non-binding early action option. If a student applies to a school early action, they must submit their application by the EA deadline and, in exchange, they will hear back from the college earlier than those who did not submit the application by the EA deadline.  Students are not limited on the number of colleges they can apply to early action. Usually, students can apply EA to public schools and some private colleges along with an application to an ED school. 

SCEA stands for Single Choice Early Action.  It is also commonly called Restricted Early Action. Only a handful of very selective colleges offer this option, and while SCEA is a non-binding agreement, there are varying rules regarding what other colleges you can also apply to in the early cycle.  The advantage of applying to a top-choice college SCEA is that you will receive your admissions decision in December rather than March, while also signaling your strong commitment to the school. However, the opportunity cost here is that your student will likely not be able to submit an early application to any other private colleges. This choice is great for someone who has an extremely competitive application profile. Deadline for applying SCEA is typically November 1st. If you are accepted in December, you still have until May to make your final decision. 

RD stands for Regular Decision.  All colleges have a general application deadline that is the latest date students can apply. This is the regular decision deadline. Applying to a college regular decision is non-binding, and students can apply to as many schools as they want. They will just receive their decisions later than if they had applied ED or EA.  January 1st is a common deadline for regular decision applications, but the date varies from college to college. 

Rolling Admissions:  Some schools process applications as they receive them and send out admissions decisions on a rolling basis. Some rolling admissions schools get back to students as quickly as within a week or two.  The earlier a student submits their application to a rolling admissions school, the earlier they will hear back.

ED I and ED II (both are binding). Recently, some colleges have added an ED II application option. To explain the difference between ED I and ED II, imagine that your student has applied to their top-choice school ED I but is rejected when admissions decisions come out in December. They would then have the option of applying ED II to a different school that offers this option, which is ideal if they have a clear second choice. Like all ED decisions, an ED II decision is binding. If your student is accepted by the school they apply to ED II,  the same rules apply; they must attend that school. ED II deadlines are usually in early January (shortly after ED I decisions come out). If your student has already applied to their second-choice school early action or regular decision, they can change their application to ED II at any college that has this option. Similar to applying ED I, applying ED II can make it easier to get into some schools because you are committing to attend that school, if accepted. 

Having so many application options can be both a blessing and curse for students (and parents) today. The terminology can be confusing and looking up all the options offered by each school on your student’s college list can be time consuming.  However, being strategic about how and when to apply to each school can help yield the best possible outcome for your student - being accepted to one or more of their top-choice colleges! 

​If you and your student need help navigating this complicated territory and creating an application strategy, please reach out to UFit College Consulting. Our certified college consultants would be happy to guide you.

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