For Juniors

Read this article from a recent Atlantic Magazine: “The College Admissions Process is Completely Broken”

Watch this 2013 Tina Fey – Paul Rudd romcom movie (with your parents – there’s nothing embarrassing!) called “Admission”.  Trust me – you’ll understand why I’m suggesting it when you see it!

One last thing before I get on to the topic of visiting colleges. If you find these emails useful, I would appreciate it if you would forward them on to your friends and acquaintances whom you think might also want to read them. I try to make these things chock full of information and advice as well as fun to read, and they’re the primary way (next to word of mouth) that I get the word out about my services. And you’re not going to hear most of the stuff I present from your guidance counselor or other consultants who just-don’t-get-it.

Let’s get going, shall we?

Let’s start with the basics. Why visit colleges? It’s not a dumb question, because most folks visit colleges for the wrong reasons. While most will tell you that college visits are of extreme importance, I’m not one of them. The mood you’re in, the weather, the personality of the tour guide and whether or not you’d rather be home doing that Calculus homework due tomorrow will all impact what you think about any given school you traipse around over a two/three hour time span than will the actual characteristics of the school!

PLUS a visit costs time and money, and at best gives only a superficial impression (can’t judge a book by it’s cover…., ya know?). The notion that you have to visit every college junior is thinking of applying to is bad thinking. Visit ‘em in March/April of senior year after you’ve been accepted, if at all, and save some money and time now.

But I do think you should visit some schools, and you should get going this coming three day Veterans Day weekend, and here’s why:

You need to familiarize yourself with what a college/university is all about.Simple as that.

See, if you need to buy shoes or a coat next week, you pretty much have the process down cause you’ve done it before, and you’ve grown up wearing coats and shoes.

Well you need to “buy” a college – actually if you take my advice you need to select six to dozen of ‘em by next November 1st – and you’ve got, um, 2,400 to choose from last time I checked.

So I think it’s a good idea to get yourself on to some real college campuses, so all of the mumbo jumbo talk about choosing colleges you’re going to hear and read about will start making some sense.

I think that what’s important at this stage of the game is NOT to try and see all the schools you think you’re most interested in applying to, but rather to visit a sampling of different types of campuses close by so you can check out first hand what this college thing is all about. Heck, most juniors I meet with don’t have a clue about where they want to apply yet, and that’s fine.

Some of you may be planning to visit campuses over next summer. That’s not an optimum time to visit schools because at that time of year you’re seeing a ghost town – the physical plant only. Unless it’s a major University with a full blown summer session, those kids you see walking around will likely be high school (and younger) dudes attending summer sport camps and academic programs. So three day weekends over the school year, as well as spring break is an optimum time for visits.

If you’re traveling with family or friends this winter and spring, consider that just about wherever you go, however you get there, there will be cool schools nearby or on the way.

So again let me emphasize that your visits for now are just PRELIMINARY and EXPLORATORY, so keep it mellow and just cruise a few schools that are easy to get to. It’s not so important to visit any particular school as it is to experience a variety of campuses:

After you’ve seen some various types you’ll be in a better position to make judgments about schools from the propaganda you’ll receive from them, as well as information from the books I’ll tell you to get your hands on, and off the internet.

Here’s how you go about it:

First, go on line to any school’s web page and link to “admissions” and then “visit” to register for a Campus Tour and an Information Session. Instructions for scheduling are on all colleges’ web pages, and most have nifty automatic registration options linked to a calendar of when tours and information sessions are offered.  If you can’t find what you’re looking for, call the admissions office or hit me with a text and I’ll find it for you. If you’ve got Chutzpah (and ya should!) request an interview from admissions if one is offered. Now I know what you’re thinking: “I’M NOT READY!!!!” (or is it “I’m not worthy!”?). Please don’t be uptight when you hear the word ‘interview’. Any sit down you have this early in the process will just be an informational interview, a chance for you to ask questions and to get practice in an interview setting. Only a handful of colleges (the super-selective ones) require EVALUATIVE interviews – and those will take place next fall and winter AFTER you’ve applied. Nevertheless, I think it’s great to take some interviews now for the experience of learning how to feel comfortable answering AND ASKING questions. Think of ’em as dry runs – and don’t sweat ’em!

BTW, not every school will give you an interview – they take up staff time – but if you’re assertive and ask the right way, many will schedule you.

Third, leave time (an hour!) for doing something I call going “FREE FALL” after the tour and info session. This means to SPLIT UP – student from parent, and also student from friend if you’re visiting with a buddy – and go wandering around campus with a knapsack so you look like, dare I say it, a college student. Make it a game as you try and blend in: see if someone mistakes you for a college student and asks you for directions (one point) or where the happening party is tonight (five points!) or for a date (you win!!! ?).  Find a comfy place to get some face time and hang out. Plan to meet back at the car or the admissions office in an hour or so.

The idea here is to get yourself AWAY from the comfort and familiarity of parents and friends, and to actually put yourself in the head set of thinking “could I see myself here as a student?!” I often hear from students that going ‘freefall’ was the best part of their visit – sometimes very groovy things happen! So leave time for this!!

So to review: every visit should include at a MINIMUM these three components: CAMPUS TOUR, INFORMATION SESSION, and FREE FALL. Add in an interview if you can get one.