Clinton Township Newsletter

2 4 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8 www.ClintonTwpNewsletter.com Navigating the college admissions process is a challenge for high school parents and students. The following article highlights key elements for consideration as parents and students strive to successfully navigate the process and maximize their college application success. The author, Jeff Knapp, is a 20 year resident of Clinton Township who has experienced the college application and recruiting process as a parent of three grown children, as a college alumni interviewer and as an advisor to families with students and student- athletes applying to college. Jeff is also a former member of the Board of Trustees of the North Hunterdon Education Foundation (NHEF). Please contact Jeff at jwknapp1@aol.com or text him at 908.581.9371 if you have any questions regarding this content or the college application process. The NHEF is a great resource helping students and parents to better understand the college application process. NHEF has created a number of programs to support parents and students throughout the college admission process, including: college financial planning, college essay writing, interview simulations, parent chat sessions reviewing key considerations for college application success, and various strategic workshops delivered during the school year and throughout the summer. Learn more about NHEF at www.NHHSFoundation.org. I encourage you to consider the following when navigating the college application and admission process. I have highlighted several key points. Once you enter high school it is not too early to start thinking about college. Your grades, extra-curricular activities, and accomplishments will all be relevant to your college application. Deciding where you will apply and then attend college requires a significant investment in time and energy. That doesn't mean that every decision you make or activity in which you engage must have a direct payoff on your college application. However, be cognizant that we all have limited time and resources available to us and engaging in activities that are of interest to you, and also meaningful, can pay off in many ways. It is important to have conversations with parents and guidance counselors regarding your aspirations and interests for college and career as they evolve. This will help assure that your academic schedule, course selection, and extra-curricular activities align with your goals. It is ctitical to be attentive to the timetable recommended for initiating specific tasks and/or activities associated with your college preparation and planning. Most guidance departments will have created a timeline that identifies key milestones and recommended tasks for each year of high school in preparation for the college admissions process. It is a challenge for most students to identify the schools to which they would like to apply for admission. It is helpful to go through this selection process in an organized manner. Selecting where you will apply and then attend college is a major decision. It is important to identify the criteria that reflect what you consider to be the most important factors in selecting a school. How each applicant weighs these individual criteria will vary, but generally most of the criteria are relevant to almost all high school students applying to college. Following are several criteria to consider when creating your list of schools, and for further evaluation later when you decide where to attend. Location is an important consideration. How far from home do you want to be (this has economic, family support, and convenience implications (as well as weather). What size school would you like to attend; a smaller liberal arts college, a large state university, or a mid-sized school? Recognize that simply looking at enrollment numbers for a school can be misleading in that universities may have multiple campuses and/or specific schools or program campuses that are focused on particular areas of study. A school may provide the opportunity to live and spend most of your academic study in a smaller environment with students who have similar aspirations and interests (this can be viewed as a positive or as more limiting), while still offering a large campus environment. What type of setting do you prefer for your college campus; do you prefer a rural setting, more suburban, or would you like your campus to be in a city. Consider the atmosphere, i.e. sports, cultural events, external visitors that may be exciting and/or interesting to you. Average class-size and faculty-to-student ratio are other criteria for consideration. You will want to understand this parameter more fully. And related, how much opportunity will you have to engage with professors? Many large lecture classes will have smaller class sections, usually led by a graduate student, to supplement the lectures. Many smaller schools will provide more individualized opportunities and a larger number of smaller class offerings in each major. Higher level course offerings in virtually all schools are generally smaller in size. Virtually all schools provide statistics regarding the composition of their student body; i.e. where do their students come from, by state and internationally, how diverse is the student population, what % of students are commuters versus living on campus. This last criteria can certainly impact what the campus may look like on weekends. Of course, all schools will share the academic statistics of their recently enrolled class (some will share the statistics for their accepted students – note the difference). The available courses of study, and their relative strength, available facilities, faculty, course offerings, research opportunities, if relevant, and potential internship support, are all important considerations. You want to attend a school that offers the academic programs and majors in which you are interested. Why apply if they don't? It is important to identify and discuss with your parents/guardian the financial circumstances that need to be considered. These vary for every applicant, and may reflect different priorities for each family. What money is available for school for you; do you qualify for grants based upon financial status, what level of debt is acceptable to you and your family? Is it worth assuming significant debt to go to a specific college? Should you consider and prioritize in-state public universities or colleges; these are generally lower in cost than private schools and there are many excellent in-state academic institutions? It may be worth speaking with a financial professional who specializes in helping families optimize their resources for college. Your college financial planning process should begin as soon as possible. Does your academic performance in high school make you a candidate for a merit scholarship at various schools? It is important to realize that it may make great sense to include on your list some excellent schools that may not have quite the same 'prestige' as some of the most 'elite' schools, but for whom you may be a very desirable candidate and from whom you may be able to get a significant academic scholarship. It is very unusual for any student to get an academic-based scholarship at an Ivy League school or one of several other extremely elite academic institutions. Leadership and initiative are important. Your clubs, extracurricular activities, community service, etc. should reflect and correlate with your true areas of interest and commitment during high school. Ideally this interest and involvement has been over the course of your high school career, and ideally you will have risen to assume a position of leadership, i.e. president, vice president, officer in the organization. It is never too late to become involved but I do think, unfortunately, any new activities senior year, unless accompanied by explanation, will be viewed as transparent attempts to pad the resume simply for the application process. Of course, it is always important to speak to how and why these activities are relevant and meaningful to you in your essays, interviews, and during your college visits. Leadership does not require that you be President of the organization or Captain of the team. If you are not President then take the initiative to be Chair or Captain of an activity or event and discuss why it is important to you, the results of your involvement and how you have evolved and/or been affected by the experience(s). Let the college admissions office know, in your interviews and essays, that you plan to continue your involvement, (if this is so) with these activities in college. It adds to your credibility and communicates that you will be an engaged and contributing member of their campus community. Authenticity is very important; the colleges want to see what you are truly passionate about. Your activities and your essays should reflect those areas of real interest and commitment and they should discuss how you have been impacted, how these activities and/or interests have affected you, informed your decisions, caused you to evaluate priorities/conclusions/actions, etc. Colleges can generally tell when a student is fabricating or greatly exaggerating an interest or adopted cause and whether they have written their own essay. Your essays should not include information presented in other areas of your application, i.e. grades, scores, a list of extra-curricular activities, honors/awards. W h e n s p e a k i n g w i t h a d m i s s i o n s representatives, as well as in your essays, let them know that you look forward to working with and contributing to the college community, and the ways in which you will interact with students from different backgrounds and cultures, and be an engaged member of the community. If you aspire to attend an academically competitive school it is important that you have challenged yourself during high school and taken advantage of the more challenging courses available, i.e. AP, Honors, etc. A higher GPA, with few challenging courses will be discounted at more academically competitive schools. I think you are generally well- served to take the more challenging level of study if you are able to attain at least a B in the class. Selecting your mix of classes is always important; your guidance counselor should be able to be helpful. I recommend the more challenging classes in subjects in which you have a greater interest in the material to be studied. Whenever you can, schedule a college interview with an alumni interviewer and, if available, with a college admissions officer. Very rarely is an interview the wrong move; however one does need to prepare, be energetic and enthusiastic, prepare questions specific to those programs (for each respective school) in which you are interested, make eye contact and be personable. You want the interviewer to leave thinking that you would be a great addition to their college or university community. If possible, (meaning practical) visit the colleges in which you are really interested. Colleges keep m a x i m i z e y o u r C o l l e g e a p p l i C a T i o n s u C C e s s Copyright; Jeff Knapp, 2018 by Jeff Knapp continued on page 25 ...

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