Social media makes it easier than ever to connect with colleges and their representatives. You can follow them on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, connect with them on LinkedIn, and follow their Pinterest and Instagram accounts. Demonstrate genuine interest and contribute to the conversations; but don’t flood their accounts with replies and questions. In this case, less is more.
When application decision time rolls around you should have established yourself as an interested candidate. College admissions officers should be able to look at their records and see that you demonstrated interest. Some will remember your face, look back on your interview and be able to recall any conversations they had with you during the admissions process. You will trump anyone who hasn’t expressed interest and was simply a casual shopper.
Here’s how you can leverage specific social media accounts and use them to communicate with colleges:
It’s that time of year. Students who applied ED and EA have already heard from the colleges regarding their admission decisions. Students who are applying regular decision will be sending off those applications this month and hearing early in the spring. What happens next?
Colleges will provide your student with one of four responses: offered admission, wait-listed, deferred, or not offered admission. Today, students hear as the notices are posted online. The days of waiting for the letter are over. We live in an instant gratification world. You can expect, however, for your student to be hitting that computer refresh button on the day notices are posted!
The impression a college gets of your student will affect their admission decision. Dressing for success is so much more than the clothes your student wears to a college interview. It’s how your student presents himself to the colleges and what image they see of him as they look at the overall picture.
How do you impress a college? It’s a combination of showing interest, marketing yourself and making a positive impression on social media.
Show interest
Colleges want to know you are interested in attending. They don’t want to be just another name on your college list. They want to know that if you apply, and are offered admission, there is a good chance you will accept and attend. You can show interest by taking an official campus tour, connecting on social media, and meeting with an admissions officer for an interview. Colleges keep track of how many times you have showed interest.
From Ivy League admissions expert Dr. Aviva Legatt comes an insider’s college admissions guide that teaches students to identify and harness their authentic passions, stand out from the crowd, and achieve their dreams in college and beyond, “Get Real and Get In”
“Get Real and Get In” teaches readers to think outside of the box and focus on what admissions officers are really looking for—young people who dare to be their most authentic selves. Through engaging, accessible, and empathetic prose, this book forms an inspirational roadmap for readers to uncover their true passions and leverage them to create applications that truly stand out from the crowd. Aviva encourages students to look beyond just getting into a “good” collegeand focus more actively on identifying and attaining their long-term goals.
The 2021-22 Common Application launched yesterday, August 1. Your student can now begin their application for the fall semester of college and part of that application includes a college essay.
According to Chad Hemmelgarn, an English teacher at Bexley High School, in Columbus Ohio, the college essay should be looked at like “a first date”.You’re telling us the stuff that makes you special.” He was speaking as part of a panel at an annual forum in New York sponsored by The College Board.
When you think about it, that’s a great analogy. The college essay is a way for your teen to let the admissions committee get to know them and an opportunity for them to focus on their strengths.
If you watched the Netflix Special “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal”, you might think that only rich parents cheat to get their kids into college. But according to a new survey from Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, you would be wrong.
What did the survey find?
According to the survey, cheating was more common among families from high-income households and parents who made less than $49,000 annually. In contrast, only 19% of cheaters are from middle-income homes.
“We’ve heard stories and scandals about college-admissions cheating among celebrity parents, but this survey reveals that it’s not uncommon for average parents to use unethical practices during the college application process,” Intelligent managing editor Kristen Scratton says. “Interestingly, 25% of our survey respondents cheated by listing false achievements, making sizable donations, or getting a test-taker to impersonate their child on the SAT or ACT test.”
Not all colleges are created equal. But are you looking for the college bargains?
Community college. State University. Private liberal arts college. Trade or technical college. Top-tiered business college. Ivy League college. Not all colleges are created equal.
If that’s the case, what makes a good college? Some might think it’s a #1 rated NCAA football team, or a college with an Ivy League designation, or even a school that is highly selective. A good college (as in good fit) meets the following three criteria: academic, social, and financial. The college that meets or excels in all three should be the college your student chooses. Even the best college (based on reputation) isn’t a good college if the student neglects the opportunities he is given while attending.
In terms of financial fit, does the college fit into your family’s college budget?
It’s college decision time and disappointed teens are receiving news they have been placed on the college wait list. A wait list decision does not reject an applicant outright, but it also offers an uncomfortable level of ambiguity about whether an applicant will receive an acceptance to the college later. So how likely are teens to be taken off the wait list, and is there anything they can do to increase their chances?
Netflix recently released a documentary/re-enactment of the Varsity Blues scandal over college admissions. You probably heard the news last year about rich parents paying bribes to get their less than stellar students into elite universities. If you have the time, have a student heading to college, or are simply interested to see how the scandal unfolded watch the documentary.
As I watched I realized how much the media highlighted the celebrities involved and neglected to examine why this happened. The college admissions system is broken. Granted, there has always been those who benefit from huge donors, legacies and connections. But the overwhelming desire to get into the “prestigious” colleges has caused parents and students to step outside the normal boundaries and into illegal and damaging practices.
I won’t go into details about the sting, or the characters involved, but I think it’s important to focus on some take-aways from the documentary and also think about what we learned from all of it.
You can’t dispute the facts. Statistics tell a story. You can use the numbers to get an overall picture of things, evaluate goals, and learn from the trends. College admission statistics and facts are no different. They tell us about college trends, college student behavior, and the future of college graduates.
The following are 12 facts about college. Will you be surprised?
75 percent of high school seniors are accepted to their first-choice colleges, but less than 57 percent can afford to attend. Although students are often accepted to their first choice colleges, they are unable to attend due to financial constraints, especially this year due to the pandemic. This means it’s critically important to investigate the college’s financial aid awards before you apply. Do they offer merit aid in the form of scholarships and grants? What percentage of accepted students receives college-based financial aid? What is the average financial aid award?
