A Calm Launch to College
Life is Full of Transitions. As an educational consultant and school counselor, I have come to realize that a student's life is filled with numerous transitions. Each season in their…
Life is Full of Transitions. As an educational consultant and school counselor, I have come to realize that a student's life is filled with numerous transitions. Each season in their…
In the world of the Common Application, demonstrating interest is showing colleges that you are truly interested in their institution and not just checking a box. Why do colleges care? Colleges are very interested in yield, or the number of students who are admitted that choose to enroll. Yield is important because it has become a proxy for popularity—the higher the yield, the more popular the school. Yield is also an important number in the US News and World Report rankings. If colleges want to move up the ranks, increasing yield numbers is very important. In general, the highly selective colleges (think Stanford and the Ivies) do not need to measure if students are interested. They are always going to have high yield numbers. However, many other private and public institutions use demonstrated interest as a factor in admissions.
For our College Calm students, check each school on your list to determine if they care about demonstrated interest. The scale is: VERY IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT, CONSIDERED, NOT CONSIDERED. You can find this on your College Kickstart report from your family meeting or in Counselmore in the grid version. If demonstrated interest is considered, important or very important, you should do a few of the following things, so each school knows you are genuinely interested.
Below are definitions and examples of different types of colleges (liberal arts colleges, research universities, specialty schools and comprehensive colleges). Much of the content is from College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, by Robin Mamlet and Christine Vandevelde. This is a great book if you are looking for a comprehensive and easy to read book for both parents and students about the college process.
Choosing the type of college that matches your educational priorities and goals is just one step in the process of finding schools that are a good match for you. One of the best places to start is to look at a school’s mission statement or letter from the President. The language, tone and content of a mission statement can tell you about university priorities, values and strengths.
These are just ideas . . . . highlight the questions you are interested in and then plan to ask them on your visits.
ACADEMICS:
In the world of the Common Application, demonstrating interest is showing colleges that you are truly interested in their institution and not just checking a box. Why do colleges care? Colleges are very interested in yield, or the number of students who are admitted that choose to enroll. Yield is important because it has become a proxy for popularity—the higher the yield, the more popular the school. Yield is also an important number in the US News and World Report rankings. If colleges want to move up the ranks, increasing yield numbers is very important. In general, the highly selective colleges (think Stanford and the Ivies) do not need to measure if students are interested, they are always going to have high yield numbers. However, many other private institutions use demonstrated interest as a factor in admissions. Keep reading for 5 specific things you can do to demonstrate interest right now. (more…)
Now is the time to start thinking about how you and your family will deal with financial aid. From filling out the FASFA to checking the box on the Common Application, this process can be a bit complicated. Read on to learn about things you can do to make the process much easier.
BUILDING YOUR TEAM
Getting into college is a team effort. You are the captain of your college application team, but you will need to surround yourself with individuals who can help make your college application shine. Your team should include your family, counselor, teacher(s) and College Calm! Below are some ideas regarding the roles that each group can play in helping your application be the best it can be. (more…)
College Calm’s class of 2017 received aid offers of over 1 MILLION dollars in merit aid per year- over 4 million dollars over 4 years. We want to give you…