In like a lamb, out like a lion?

The month of March can be an interesting time for high school juniors and seniors.

For seniors, March begins with the calm relaxation of the last semester of high school and the last gasps of relief at finishing those college applications on time. But as the days pass, that calmness might fade as anxiety sets in for college decision letters. Maybe some of the colleges on your list even let you know a little earlier, so you hold your breath each time you check your email, or you race your parents to the mailbox as soon as you get home from school. That top choice is probably waiting until April, but it can't hurt to check, right?

The one thing that might make some seniors feel better is watching as their junior friends and classmates get their first taste of college panic. SAT, ACT, infosession, Common App? Seniors can say "been there, done that" and smile; waiting might seem hard, but it's probably the easiest part of the process. Meanwhile, juniors are swimming in a sea of brochures and vocab flash cards as they step onto college campuses as prospective students for the very first time. (Juniors: we highly recommend going to visit at least a few colleges over spring break!)

Seniors, take a deep breath. Just a few more weeks and all of your waiting will be over. And remember that once your letters come, you'll have some pretty big decisions to make! So enjoy the unknown while it lasts.

Juniors, this is the beginning of a very exciting time! Take this opportunity to chat up the seniors to get advice on how to get through the whole process. They'll love to impart their wisdom on you... plus, they need a distraction!

Technology in Admissions... Friend or Foe?

YouTube.com has been around for several years now, hosting thousands of videos of skateboarders falling down, amateurs dancing to "Single Ladies," and baby pandas sneezing, but this year several colleges have entered the virtual media fray as part of the college admissions process.

This past application season, one of Tufts University's optional essays on the Common App supplement asked students to choose from a variety of unusual prompts; one option was to
share a one-minute video that says something about them and upload it to YouTube. About 6% of applicants actually took them up on the offer, and many of these videos have hit counts in the thousands (of course, articles in the Boston Globe and in the New York Times have probably helped those numbers).

Here's a sample video that has been particularly popular. Do you see the charm?


Applicants are forced to wonder whether they'll be at an advantage for going out on a limb to make a mediocre video (at least I tried to be different!) or whether they should just stick to the familiar territory of Microsoft Word. Will admissions officers appreciate your step into the unknown, or will some shudder at the thought of having to watch another minute of off-key singing or thinly veiled boasting? As there are thousands of kids out there without webcams or the desire to broadcast their faces to the all-knowing (and all-archiving) World Wide Web, I'm betting you'll be just fine if you go for a fun and creative one-pager instead.

The Tufts Admissions Office isn't the only college getting in on the YouTube action. In January Yale released a video entitled "That's why I chose Yale" on the popular video site. The video features an infosession-gone-broadway as a Yalie begins to sing in response to a student's question, "Why did you choose Yale?" The video has been immensely popular with enthusiastic Yale applicants, students and alumni (those already predisposed to the university), but what effect has it had on the uninitiated?

Check it out for yourself:


Reactions certainly range from rolling eyes to memorizing lyrics. Will the video be a gamechanger in swaying undecided applicants towards Yale? In the opinion of this blogger, probably not. Will the video prompt other admissions offices to come up with new ways to strut their stuff online? Only next year's application season will tell.

Don't Underestimate the Value of Courtesy

In case you haven't seen the New York Times blog called "The Choice: Demystifying College Admissions & Aid," maybe you should check it out. Especially if you are applying to college (or the parent of a college applicant).

Recently an admissions officer from Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, wrote a blog entry in The Choice about what colleges really want to see on your high school transcript. It includes some solid basic advice; challenge yourself with respect to the courses you choose (don't just take easy classes to get good grades), and know that the situations of every student and every high school can be different (so what if your neighbor who went to private school didn't get in? You might be different). But the blog also includes a picture of an actual sheet that Holy Cross admissions officers use to boil down a student's transcript and high school profile into just a few facts and figures. If you don't follow any other links in this blog, at least follow this one to the student academic summary sheet.

There aren't a lot of surprises on this sheet-- but many college applicants may not expect that little box in the lower left hand corner. This box indicates all the ways that you have (or could have) made contact with the university. Did you visit campus? Did you take a tour? Did you have an interview? Did you send a thank-you note? Visiting campus may seem like a no-brainer, but how many people remember to be polite in this crazy admissions process?

You've studied hard for the SAT, spent hours on your essays, and paid those exorbitant application fees. Remember to send a quick thanks to your recommendation-writers, guidance counselors, interviewers, and anyone you may have contacted in the admissions office. After all, if they bother to include it on the one-page summary of your application, it has to count for something.