Blog Navigation

The College Admission Secret with Shannon Meairs | The College Admission Essay Blog with Justin Jeter | College Admission Buzz with Marc Istook

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced a new streamlined Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) just in time for students and families to complete the 2010-11 application. Improvements include a much more user-friendly online format and a large reduction in the number of questions asked. A total of 22 questions are eliminated, representing a 28% reduction in questions, and 17 screens are eliminated, a reduction of 65% of web screens.
 
These updates are in addition to those announced in August 2009. The full list of the most recent improvements can be found in the Simplification Update form from the Department of Education. Here are a few highlights:

*Student and parent sections are clearly identified with side tabs.
*Status indicators guide applicants through web modules, such as demographics, basic eligibility, and dependency status.
 *The display of the help text and instructions, which takes up much of the web screen on the 2009-10 form, is enhanced by the use of help     text that disappears when you are no longer in a particular section.
*Students with low incomes will no longer be asked for asset information, which is not used to determine their aid eligibility.
*Questions regarding additional financial information and untaxed income are presented in a simplified keyword "check box" format on one page.
*Later this month, students applying for aid for the spring semester using the 2009-2010 FAFSA will be able to retrieve and import their tax data from the IRS. In the summer of 2010, students applying for aid in the 2010-11 year will also be able to apply for aid using their tax data. In this process, a link to the IRS will display in the income section of the FAFSA with a message that students may access the IRS site to retrieve income information to complete the application.
 
Dr. Jill Biden blogged about the new FAFSA on the White House Blog. Be sure to check out the NACAC Admitted Blog post on the FAFSA updates, which also provides links to helpful financial aid information.
 
2010-11 FAFSA Available
The final version of the 2010-2011 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now available in English and Spanish. The PDF documents, among the FAFSA filing optionsavailable online, can be downloaded by schools and students to complete for submission. Corresponding FAFSA on the Web Worksheets are also available to assist students and families in completing the FAFSA.
 
English
2010-11 FAFSA
2010-11 FAFSA on the Web Worksheet
 
Spanish
2010-11 FAFSA
2010-11 FAFSA on the Web Worksheet

Colleges Want Students Who Want Them

It's kind of like dating. There's risk involved in dating. Guy likes girl...he's not sure if girl likes him, but he's really interested and if he likes her enough he's going to take the risk. But if the risk is too high and the girl doesn't show enough interest, it may not be worth it to the guy to ask her out. However, if the girl has shown interest, the guy has minimized his risk considerably because he's seen some intention from the girl and he's decreased his chances of being left high and dry.

Applying to college is similar. Colleges receive thousands of applications each year and they know not every student who is admitted will attend, but its important they choose the right students to admit. The greater the number of students they admit who actually attend is called yield and the higher the yield, the better for a school. Colleges will often take the risk on a student they are sure will attend...and not leave them high and dry. :)

Some facts on yield....

*Yield is a key determining factor in college rankings. Ie...the number of students a schools admits compared to how many accept the offer. Colleges want a high yield, which means, they need to admit students they think will attend.

*Colleges are faced with the obstacle of wanting to admit top students, yet knowing top students will have other offers. In this day an age students can apply to multiple schools simultaneously and the number of applications colleges receive is multiplying. However, that doesn't mean those students are seriously interested in the school; many students apply to several safety schools. How does a college know if they are a safety school for a particular applicant?

*Demonstrated interest is of high importance to college admission offices. They want to know an applicant is seriously interested in their school and didn't add that school "just in case".

*For example....College X is a highly selective school and is looking at two top applicants. Applicant A has a 3.8 gpa and a 2170 SAT. Applicant B has a 4.0 and 2290 SAT. They have similar extracurricular profiles and stellar essay. Applicant A visited the school, went on a tour, requested an interview, visited the rep at a local college fair and has been communicating with the local rep about the status of their application for months. Applicant B requested information online and hasn't had any other communication. Tough choice? Indeed. Applicant A clearly shows interest, is a solid student and has a strong profile. Applicant B is a better student with strong scores, but is also applying to several selective schools, a few of which are higher ranked than College X. These are the decisions colleges face daily. College X's yield is important, Applicant A looks like a sure thing, but Applicant B has better test scores...hmmm, what to do.

*You've heard those stories of students with top gpa's and scores being waitlisted or denied over students with lower gpa's and scores. You never know what goes on behind closed doors...but a school is always thinking about their yield, for yield is a KEY factor in ranking.

So what does that mean for you?
This brings me back to my original point: Colleges Want Students Who Want Them. One of biggest mistakes students make when applying to college is not demonstrating enough interest. Students don't demonstrate interest in schools for various reasons. Some students don't want to come across too eager, which is a mistake, the more eager the better. Some students feel the school needs to woo and attract them to attend, but this is only true after a student has been admitted, not before. During the application phase, it's the student's responsibility to show the school they are the student's #1 choice. And finally, some students simply don't realize the importance of demonstrated interest and take a reactive approach to the admission process. Very few teenagers understand the concept of being proactive and intentional with getting what they want. The honest truth is when we're reviewing thousands and thousands of applications, they tend to all look the same and colleges want to admit students who want them and the only way we know they want to attend is if they show us, through many avenues.

The best way to show demonstrated interest is through a campus visit and personal interview. These actions take effort, intention and planning and a student would only go that far if they were really interested. Students should also connect with their admission counselor, attend college fairs and visit the reps, attend the high school visit when the rep comes to the student's high school, attend the info session in their local area and apply early (either early action or early decision).

Ralph Figueroa, of the NY Times "Choice Blog" on college admission recently wrote a piece about private college consultants and whether or not they're worth it and if colleges can tell when students have been coached. He answers the question well, by first stating colleges don't necessarily know if a student has been coached in the application process. There is the rare instance when a school asks for a graded paper from the student and if the writing style is dramatically different, the student's application could be suspicious, but that never happened in the thousands of applications I reviewed for Pepperdine.

The second part of the question is what he focused most of the piece on by basically stating that private consultants are needed if there aren't enough resources at a school. I've the dismal state of college counseling in California and we've found, more often than not, school counselors welcome any help to ease their work load, whether it be with dvd's, workshops, weekly newsletters with tips, etc.

Below is my response to his article....

As a private college consultant in the Los Angeles area, I've seen the tremendous need for college counseling supplementation. The counselor to student ratio in California is approaching 900:1 if it isn't already there. I regularly speak to schools and put on free college admission workshops for juniors and seniors.  Yes, I’m busy and swamped year around, but I’m not so above the system that I can’t spend a few hours a month helping a public high school. Inside the public education system, we're seeing first hand, the challenge counselors face with overcrowded and underfunded schools. We spoke with one counselor and in addition to being the only college counselor at her school of 2,500 students, she's also in charge of GATE, IB testing and coordinating state mandated tests. She said she's lucky to spend more than 10 minutes with each student during the year and on average spends about 30 minutes over the course of 4 years with each student. Students need more than 30 minutes of college guidance while in high school.

I personally believe students need about 5-10 hours of dedicated personalized college counseling; whether that comes from a private consultant or school counselor. Private college counseling doesn't need to be expensive and only available to the wealthy elite. A good private counselor will have a number of services available at several price points for families to choose. We recently launched an affordable package for families that gives them 5-6 hours of dedicated college counseling, self-discovery and essay editing for $499 and have seen incredible results for our students with as little as 5 hours of personalized help. Counselors we've talked to and worked with see private consultants as allies  who make their job easier, we're all on the same team here.

Should a family be spending $25,000 on a pricey package? No. Should a family spend anywhere from $500-$5000 on private college counseling? If they need it. It's an invaluable investment in a child's future and I've seen, first hand, the profound impact our services have made in lives of our families....at every price point.

In the world of entrepreneurship, we're always trying to solve a problem. What's the problem in education? I've found there aren't enough college counselors in each high school to walk each student through their own college admission journey. Every student deserves that right because the the college admission process is a time of self-discovery, not just a rushed process with the end goal of college.

In my last blog article, I introduced the concept of a "brand" in your college application. The concept of branding is nothing new, but most students don't have an underlying understanding of how to brand themselves. Before you're able to learn how to brand yourself, it's important we take a deeper look at branding and why it is absolutely essential to discover your unique brand, before you start your application.

What is Branding?
We all know what branding is conceptually. We can name hundreds of brands off the top of our heads and we know exactly what that thing, person, company is all about with one word. Starbucks, Nike, Whole Foods, Disney, Tony Robbins, Suze Orman, Madonna, you get the point. When you think of Starbucks, what do you think? Books? No, you think coffee, yes, they have books, mugs, coffee makers, cd’s, etc but those are revenue streams, not a “brand”. When you think “books” most people think Amazon or Barnes and Noble, though Amazon and B&N both sell dvd’s, music, gifts, trinkets and other crap…but their “branding” is “books”.

What does this have to do with the college admission?
Everything. An applicant has about 2 minutes to convince an Admission Counselor that they are a perfect fit at X University. Not. A lot. Of. Time. Could you do it? If you had 2 minutes to convince someone who held your future in their hands, would you be able to do it? Most people can’t because they don’t understand the 8 simple truths of branding. Which are:

1. If you have a solid brand, people can easily identify what you’re worth: The problem is that most people don’t know how to showcase themselves to look like rockstars.
2. Avoid the Personal Branding Kiss of Death: You are involved in so many things, no one can figure you out and you haven’t articulated it well.
3. Intentional Self-Discovery: Discovering your brand doesn’t happen by accident, it’s a calculated process revealing who you are, what’s important to you and where you want to go
4. Passion Integration: The art of aligning your talents, passions, achievements and professional goals into one cohesive brand.
5. What were you born to do?  We were all born with a genetic predisposition to be great at certain things, what are yours?
6. Patterns and Archetypes: We are creatures of habit and tend to behave and act in patterns throughout our lives.
7. Narrative:  Our brains are wired to think in terms of narratives and storytelling.  Storytelling is a universal human trait. Learn how to do it for yourself.
8. The Purple Cow (borrowed from Seth Godin):  Boring stuff is easily forgotten.  Something remarkable is worth talking about. If you saw a purple cow on the side of the road, you would remember it. And probably talk about it.  Be the purple cow in the admission process.

There you have it...Personal Branding 101. We'll go deeper into personal branding and how to really figure it out for yourself in the next few blogs....so stay tuned!

Shannon

The kiss of death in college admission is coming across as nothing more than "well-rounded.”  It was the buzz word in the 80's and 90's...and most parents / teachers / counselors think students need to be well-rounded; however...colleges aren't looking for well-rounded students, they are looking for a well-rounded class.  This means, a student's application must have a key, compelling story as the driving force with the "well-rounded" activities as support information.  I've come to believe that a student's brand is made up of four components and the "brand" is essentially the intersection of all four, which are:

1. Greatest Talent
2. Strongest Passion
3. Best Achievement
4. Future Vision

It's important the brand be woven through all parts of the application, not just the main essay.  There must be branding in the short answer supplement questions, common app activity question, school activities, work experience, recommendations, interviews and the personal essay.

Next week, we'll look specifically at branding and unpack what it means to apply branding to the college admission process.

1.    Don’t assume high-priced schools are outside your budget.

In a down economy, there’s a great temptation to assume pricey universities are out of the question. Many of these colleges have endowments and though they’ve been hit too, family’s economic situations are changing and allowing families to qualify for more need-based aid. Students should still apply to the schools that seem to best fit their needs, regardless of cost. Fewer than 25% of families pay the “sticker price” listed for tuition.

2.    Take AP’s and go to a Junior College.

Community college isn’t just for Thursday nights on NBC! Transferring AP and junior college credits is an easy way to earn a Bachelor’s degree for less money and less time. Universities will typically accept a maximum of 60 outside units, which is about 2 years worth of classes. Take advantage!

3.    Go to the web!

If travel costs are keeping you from visiting schools, reach out to the wealth of information online giving students information about applying to college. Universitydrive.com has great videos if you don’t have time to read another book. Collegeboard.com is a comprehensive resource to help you search for schools, sign up for SAT’s and get financial aid information.

4.    Find an affordable personal consultant.

Research has shown students, on average, are only receiving 8 minutes of college guidance each year. Many schools are overcrowded leaving students without personalized guidance. There are number of affordable private consultants ready to help walk you through the process, check out Full Ride Inc, Accept Edge and Top Test Prep.

5.    Don’t be afraid of student loans.

While it’s unwise to take out $140,000 in students loans for undergrad, $20,000-$30,000 is reasonable and often the difference in attending college or not. College loan interest can be written off on taxes once a student has a job, gives them a credit history and teaches students about personal finance at an age when they need to learn it.

6.    College is still the best investment.

In spite of the increased costs, a college education is still the single most important investment a family can make in their child's future. Beyond earning potential, college is a four-year experience where students are exposed to diverse thought, critical thinking, and learning how to network to prepare for a successful career.

In the last blog, I talked about Todd, an average high school student with a number of accomplishments, none of which included anything on his report card.  Lucky for him, colleges aren’t only focused on GPA and test score in college admission. In part 2, I will talk about other ways to stand out, what happened with Todd and where to apply when your GPA isn’t your greatest strength. 

And after you’ve discovered your wow factor…it’s VERY IMPORTANT to tell the college you can’t wait to be a student there! Drake University in Iowa, for example, is interested in students who are interested in their school. Tom Delahunt, the VP of admission and financial aid at Drake University, says “With academic profiles of two students being even, we will choose the one who has shown us the most interest.” In this uncertain economy and with applications numbers on the rise, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for colleges to predict who will accept their offers of admission. This is a wonderful opportunity for an average student to express to a college their desire to attend and prove why they would be a great fit for the school. It would be pretty hard to convince USC they are your dream school if you’ve never made contact (ie, campus tour, college fair, email the admission counselor, info session, etc). Schools want students who want them, remember that. 

So what happened to Todd? Well, Todd was charged with the task of convincing his dream colleges that despite his low GPA and average test scores, he was an entrepreneurial wunderkind and would be a tremendous asset to the student body. He was diagnosed with severe ADD as a child and managing his ADD had become a chief mission in his life as he saw several talented CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies struggle with ADD as well. Many students with ADD, although they struggle academically, are tremendously creative, driven, passionate and charismatic. Todd had all those traits as captain of his championship football team, CEO of a learning development company, and youth volunteer. Todd proved he was a success despite his average grades. He demonstrated consistent success both on and off the field…and I’m not sure how many colleges see C students running successful, socially responsible companies from their bedroom. He knew how to accentuate the positive, explain his average grades, and demonstrate his potential for future success. And you better believe he emailed, called, visited and lightly stalked the Admission Office at Lewis and Clark College…where he is attending this Fall.  

And as promised…here is a list of schools that accepts students with a wide range of academic performance: 

Here is a sample of schools, chosen for regional variety, that accept students with a desire to achieve but less than stellar grades.  Click here to see the full list of 304 schools. 

    * College of the Atlantic (ME)

    * Drexel University (PA)

    * Flagler College (FL)

    * Fordham University (NY)

    * George Mason University (VA)

    * Grand Valley State University (MI)

    * John Carroll University (OH)

    * Oklahoma City University

    * Ouachita Baptist University (AR)

    * Providence College (RI)

    * St. Mary's College of Maryland

    * University of Dallas

    * University of Delaware

    * University of Portland (OR)

    * University of Puget Sound (WA)

    * University of Redlands (CA)

    * University of San Francisco

    * University of Vermont

    * Valparaiso University (IN)

    * West Virginia University

Todd was a straight C student who managed to finish his junior year with a mind blowing, overachieving B-minus average. He had a lot going for him in just about every area, other than academics. With headlines that read “Top Colleges See Record-Low Acceptance Rates” and “College Rejection Letters are Glitzier, but Rejections are Harsher” he was starting to lose hope that he’d ever get into one of his top picks, much less even get into college.  

What parents and teens don’t realize is while admission at top universities IS getting more competitive; more students AREN’T necessarily applying to college. What is happening is students are applying to MORE colleges. What this means is there’s an open playing field for the majority of colleges in the US.  There are over 3,000 colleges and universities in the US, but only about 100 are uber competitive.  Some of these less selective colleges often struggle to fill their class because they lose students to more selective colleges. David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association of College Admission Counseling, “Data shows that four-year colleges on average accept about 7 out of 10 students who apply…that means that even if grades don’t qualify a student for the most selective colleges, there are a host of places out there.” 

While grades are important in the college admission process, they are not the only factor. At most colleges, 60% of the admission decision is academic (GPA and test scores) and the other 40% is everything else (personal statement, short answer questions, recommendations, extracurricular profile, interview, demonstrated interest, etc). A student can’t be admitted based solely on a perfect GPA and test score, nor can a D student win over an admission committee with a charming personality. There are 26,000 high schools in the US, each with a valedictorian. Harvard admits about 1800 students each year. Do that math; being a valedictorian isn’t going to get you into Harvard.  

So where’s the good news?  Well, the good news is that even schools like Harvard fundamentally understand there is MORE to a student than GPA and that’s where the B/C students can play up their wow factor, personal brand, accomplishments, assets, talents, etc. Once you get beyond the super-selective schools, grades matter less. This is where you need to dig deep and really figure out what sets you apart from the rest of the applicant pool. So, your grades are sub-par, but what makes you a rock-star? High school students don’t know how to set themselves apart and if you can figure this out now…you are well on your way to dream job. If you think getting into college is tough, just wait until you graduate and look for your first job. J The same rules apply when interviewing for jobs; SET YOURSELF APART and bring something to the table. When discovering your wow factor, I want to you look at your key talents, past accomplishments, passion and professional goals. Take a hard look at all those things and figure out the pattern. Where you do you consistently excel over your classmates? Sit on that for awhile.  

Part 2 will cover other ways to set yourself apart, what happened to Todd and the list of schools that admit less than stellar students…stay tuned!

Welcome to the first University Drive Blog!  I'm happy you found us/stumbled upon us/were forced to read us/etc. However you discovered us, we're happy you're here and we hope our resources help you understand the college admission process and take some of stress out of applying.

First, a little about University Drive and myself.  My name is Shannon Meairs and I am Co-Founder of University Drive LLC.  I started the company with Marc Istook, a producer and TV host in Los Angeles (You can see him weeknights on the TV Guide Network on "Hollywood 411".)   Our vision was to create innovative and edgy media to help students/parents navigate and simplify the process of applying to college.  We were joined by Justin Jeter, our Chief Operating Officer, in 2008 and have since made significant process in launching the company.  We recently finished production of our first six-episode DVD entitled "College Admission. Simplified" (available for purchase on UniversityDrive.com and Amazon.com) and are in the process of developing a pretty slick Facebook application that we believe will revolutionize Facebook and college admissions.  Just you wait….

My journey in college admission started at Pepperdine University, where I was an Admission Counselor and Assistant Director of Admission for four years.  In 2004, I had an idea for a college admission reality show where we took 10 high achieving high school seniors, who wouldn't otherwise have be able to afford college, and had them compete for a full ride scholarship to college.  I joined forces with a co-creator and we spent the summer of 2004 developing the show and ultimately pitched and sold it to ABC.  "The Scholar" aired during the summer of 2005 and we had 10 amazing students on the show competing for over a half a million dollars in scholarship money and prizes.  Melissa Hanna ultimately won and received a $250,000 Full Ride Scholarship to one of the most competitive private liberal arts schools in the country, Pomona College.  The other nine scholars each received $25,000-$50,000 in  scholarships and are currently in their senior years at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Chicago, USC and North Texas.  While developing "The Scholar", I launched my college admission consulting company, Full Ride Inc (www.fullride.com) and have worked privately with hundreds of students and families as they apply to college.

The University Drive Blog is going to be a space where I'll post thoughts, advice, tips, information and more pertaining to the college admission process.  I understand the process of applying to college is intimidating, stressful and so overwhelming that many students don't even know where to start.  In my experience…breaking down intimidating processes in small yet manageable pieces is the easiest way to tackle a HUGE mountain of a task, and that's what I hope to do with this blog.  If there's a specific topic you'd like me to blog about, I'm happy to consider your ideas so this space can be an effective tool.

Thank you again for your interest in University Drive and I hope you're excited about the next few years....applying to college is a journey….enjoy the ride!

I'll leave you with this quote…and hope it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and start this process with great expectation!
 

"To the degree we're not living our dreams; our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves."  --Peter McWilliams

Shannon