This short paragraph can be an essential component of your entire presentation as an applicant.  In just a few sentences, you must convey something personal, meaningful, and interesting about yourself.

Seems impossible, right?  “How can I sum up my experience in my favorite extracurricular activities in 150 words or less?”

Well, it’s time to tackle the impossible. These tips may help you decide which activity to focus on, and how to write a well-structured paragraph that gives the reader a deeper understanding of your motivations and your priorities.

Choose the Right Activity

Don’t necessarily pick the activity that looms largest on your resume or activity list. If you are a star tennis player and a possible recruit for a college team, that fact will be clear on your activity list. If you are the best clarinetist in the city, then your activity list should reflect that fact.  Remember, the prompt asks you to “elaborate” on the activity. It doesn’t say you have to choose the one that takes up the most time, nor does it say that it must be the one that is your primary extracurricular focus.

More specifically, it may be that the activity in which you have achieved or excelled the most is not the activity that will be the best to elaborate upon in this short essay. Consider the other activities that may help to round out your application and present another view of what motivates and interests you.

Consider which activities carry the most personal meaning to you. Look back over your resume or activities list and ask yourself, “Which of these would I miss the most if I could no longer do it?” Perhaps it’s that annual scouting trip, or the weekends skiing with your family. Or maybe it’s that concert you organize at the nursing home twice a year that brings you particular joy. Choosing the right activity is the first step as you write your extracurricular activity essay.

Your “Hidden” Activities

Consider elaborating on an activity that is not on the activities list or resume. For example, perhaps your extended family shares Sunday dinner together regularly, and this ritual has had a big influence on you and helped to shape your feelings about family. Maybe you actually enjoy mowing your lawn every week, making it look nice by paying attention to details. Perhaps you ride your bike to school every morning, and you use that time to notice details on your route and get your head together before and after your workday.

Not Necessarily Your “Best” Activities

Consider taking one of your activities and giving it greater specificity and detail. As you know, the space on the application in which to elaborate on your activities is very, very limited.  So use this short paragraph to pull out some details. For example, perhaps you mention on your activity sheet that you have done volunteer work at a hospital, and that you have several responsibilities. But perhaps there is one responsibility, in particular, that you most enjoy. That one responsibility could be the focus of your extracurricular.

To take another example, perhaps you are a guitar player, and your activity list indicates that you’re fairly good, but not great. However, there I some particular aspects of playing the guitar that you enjoy. Perhaps you don’t mind playing scales over and over in order to improve your technique.

Or maybe you go to a music store on Saturdays where a bunch of bluegrass players get together and jam, and you join in, despite the fact you aren’t the best player; or you are a huge fan of Andre Segovia and have listened to every piece he has ever recorded. These sorts of details can say a lot about the depth of your interest in an activity, even if it is not where your greatest accomplishments lie.

The Focus: “Why?”

Your activity list or resume should address the questions of “What, When, and Where?” (the “who” should be apparent:  you!). This list explains your accomplishments and the range of your commitments. But it doesn’t explain your motivations or your priorities. This short essay-ette gives you an opportunity to do some explaining.

As with your primary college essay and with the supplements, the aim here is to give the admissions officer reading your file a bit more information about yourself.  What you convey in this short paragraph is something that they won’t find in the essays, and that they won’t really know from reading your activity list. This is another opportunity for you to present another interesting and important facet of your personality. All the essays give your application depth and dimension. Don’t throw away this opportunity to tell the reader more about yourself.

Tips for Writing the College Extracurricular Activity Essay

Start with a list of reasons you participate in this activity:

• What do you get out of it?
• Why do you enjoy it?
• Why would you miss it if you suddenly were unable to do it anymore?

Remember that not every aspect of your participation may be enjoyable. Are there reasons you participate in this activity that actually help you accomplish something else that is, in fact, even more enjoyable? For example, weight training may not always be fun, but it can make you stronger. Practicing the flute may be enjoyable in some respects, and not so much in others—but practicing makes you a better player.

Once your list of reasons why you participate in this activity, pick the top three. Write your essay in 5 sentences. One to introduce the activity, three to explain why you do it, and 1 to spare, either as a conclusion or as an elaboration on your introduction.

Some Prompts to Get You Going

If you are having trouble, try completing these sentence prompts to get you going.

• When I participate in this activity, I feel ___________.
• I originally got involved in this activity because ____________.  And now I continue this activity because ____________.
• My favorite aspect of this activity is ____________.
• My friends think this activity is ___________.
• I take the most pride in this aspect of the activity: ___________.

The College Extracurricular Activity Essay – Final Notes

For most of us–adults as well as teens–our activities are good reflections of our priorities, talents, and motivations. We often demonstrate excellence through the things we do outside of school (or outside our jobs or professions).

The supplemental extracurricular activity essay is a great way for you to share more about who you are as a person. If you focus on WHY you engage in these activities, you’ll be able to convey those motivations and priorities.

You have fun engaging in your extracurricular activities. Now enjoy writing about one that is especially important to you.

Need Help With Your College Extracurricular Activity Essay?

If you are having trouble putting together your college essays, including your college extracurricular essay for the Common App, then you might want to consider reaching out to Great College Advice. We help students with every aspect of the college admissions process, and we would love to guide your toward your educational objectives.  If you’d like to learn more about what we do, contact us.  We’ll be happy to chat with you!

Great College Advice Guide to Supplemental Essays

• See our guide to why supplemental essays are important;
• See our post with tips on the college supplemental essay about your academic interests;
• See our recommendations on the ‘community’ supplemental essay;
•  See our guide to writing a great ‘Why This College?’ supplemental essay.

Since 2007, the expert team of college admissions consultants at Great College Advice has provided comprehensive guidance to thousands of students from across the United States and over 45 countries across the world. Great College Advice has offices in Colorado, New Jersey, Chicago, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

In addition to our one-on-one counseling, Great College Advice extends its support through one of the most active and resource-rich Facebook Groups for college-bound students and their families: College Admissions Experts. With nearly 100,000 members—students, parents, and experienced counselors—this vibrant forum offers peer support and expert advice like no other.

The post The College Extracurricular Activity Essay first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

So given the subjective nature of the process, it isn’t entirely unreasonable to ask–over and over–what looks good on a college application?

So what looks good on a college application?

It’s not what you do, but how well you do it

Many parents believe there is some secret checklist that one follows to get into selective colleges:  

• community service,
• academic research, 
• leadership,
• sports,
• the arts,
• an internship.

But colleges care much less about the actual activity you pursue than the impact you make and the level of achievement you are able to reach. 

Athletics and college admissions

While it’s nice to play a sport–and American culture certainly emphasizes sports in our schools–the more selective colleges won’t care that much unless you are good enough to play for them and help them win the conference title.  Of course there are other benefits to sports other than the college application process, but if you want the sport to “look good” on the college application, you have to play well enough to get onto the college or university team.

Volunteering and college admissions

The situation is similar with community service.  Many people ask us how many hours of volunteer work look good on a college application. But it’s not about the number of hours. It’s about the impact.  For example, a student who spends 4 hours every Saturday for four years shelving books at the local library performs an important service to the community.  However, the impact is minimal:  if that student didn’t shelve the books, someone else would–eventually.  If, on the other hand, the student worked only a few hours a week over the summer to develop a new reading program for kindergartners and helped the library to write a successful grant proposal to fund it, the impact on the community would be much greater.  And imagine the two different recommendations the head librarian might write for these two students:  one was loyal and dependable and responsible, while the other was creative, innovative, and was able to envision a project and move it toward realization. It’s not the time you put in but the results you achieve.

Internships and college admissions

Similarly, internships are not about the time one spends or the prestige of the company.  It’s about what you do during your time on the job. It can be very useful for a young person to do a job shadow for a couple of weeks to learn about life as an engineer or a marketing director or sales manager. But that is a very passive sort of internship:  the student follows the principal around, attends meetings, and gets a feel for the world of work.  But what is that young person accomplishing? In some instances (though relatively rare), a high school intern is given a specific project to complete while on the job, and may also get some good supervision and access to various tools and systems that the young person can utilize to add value to the company. What colleges are looking for on the college application is your contribution, your agency, your impact on the organization. Most internships, to be frank, are of little value on the college application because most companies don’t have the wherewithal to conceptualize a meaningful experience for a high school intern–especially if the intern is going to be there only for a couple of weeks.  

Jobs on the college application

Having a job while in high school can look great on the college application. But here again, not every job is of equal impact. The student who slings ice cream a few evenings a week makes some good money and learns the value of punctuality, responsibility, loyalty, and adhering to the rules and regulations of the ice cream shop. However, the student who works very hard, goes above and beyond to build the confidence of the business owner may be promoted.

We once worked with a young woman who worked at In-N-Out Burger 20 hours a week all the way through high school. By the time she was a junior, she had been promoted to assistant manager and regularly opened or closed the store, handled all the money and receipts, and was trusted by the owner of the franchise to manage entire shifts on her own. Unsurprisingly, this young woman got a full tuition scholarship–in large part because of the outstanding letter of recommendation the franchise owner wrote on her behalf.  She clearly had a huge impact on this person’s business, and he was glad to tell the world what a responsible, considerate, diligent, and dependable human this young woman had become. So if you do get a job, and you want it to look good on a college application, look for ways to contribute above and beyond the expectations.

A case study of what looks good on a college application

Not too long ago we were working with a young man whose father insisted that he get a job. The father really loved the world of cycling, and he helped his son get an after school job at the local bicycle shop.  The young man was not very enthusiastic, but he was tasked with assembling bikes. By his own admission, he wasn’t very good at it, nor did he like it much.  But he showed up, day after day, and his coworkers liked him and engaged him in conversation. During these conversations in the shop, the owner learned that the young man was a computer whiz and enjoyed playing around with all sorts of programming software and had taken a computer science course in high school.  The owner then took him aside and showed him the inventory software they were using, and explained that nobody else in the shop could figure out how to work certain aspects of the software, and the inventory and sales data and reports weren’t matching up correctly. 

So the young man offered to help. And by the time he was done, he had completely reworked the software for the bike shop and created systems that the owner and other workers could use in a way that improved accuracy and efficiency–and profitability! And, incidentally, he never assembled another bicycle.  

Simply by showing up regularly, showing responsibility and a willingness to help, this young man made a tangible and useful contribution to the business he worked for.  When he put this job on the application, he could say much more about his work at the bike shop than reporting the number of hours worked and bicycles assembled. And his boss?  Just think of that glowing recommendation that was submitted along with the college application. 

Start ups can look good on a college application

The web is full of instances in which high school students started up new ventures, whether for profit or not-for-profit. These can definitely look good on a college application. Usually.

We worked with a young man who started up his own medical equipment donation organization–collecting supplies in the US and delivering them to clinics in Tanzania. Another young woman solicited donations to create back-to-school backpacks for elementary school students in low income neighborhoods. And another young man started up his own lawn care business that employed two other kids and made tens of thousands of dollars in a summer.  Yet another young man was written up in the New York Times because he refused to hear the word “no” when officials at this school said he could not create a film festival (he did it anyway). 

These are enterprises that the student conceived, planned, and executed themselves. Their motivations were sometimes different.  The young woman did her activity expressly to look good on her college application.  The young man with the lawn business need to pay for his car insurance, gas, and new tires.  What mattered, however, is that the students were firmly in charge of the programs they began, and had to resolve problems, react to setbacks, and interact with all manner of other people–almost exclusively adults–to achieve their aims. 

Less impressive start ups

Some start ups are less impressive, especially when it becomes apparent that parents are heavily involved in the success of the business, or provided the necessary seed capital to get it going (our lawn mowing student had to take out a loan from his dad to buy a mower), or otherwise provided too much support to make the venture go. Sometimes it’s hard to discern, from the outside, whether the venture is truly the brainchild of the child or the parent. But admissions officers have clues, most of which have to do with family income, social class, and privilege.  Kids whose ventures lie well outside the experience of the parents are most likely to be seen as creations of their own efforts–and not a result of parental guidance (or interference!). 

College admissions folks have become just a bit wary of the high number of start-up ventures that kids pursue.  It’s so easy in the US to set up a company or a non-profit company. The barriers to establishing a venture are pretty low. Here, as with any other activity, what’s important is not the establishment of the start up but the other metrics of success that the student is able to show: number of shipping containers delivered, number of kids who received backpacks, or the number of lawns mown and dollars earned.  Some ventures are able to show this sort of success, while others look good on paper, but don’t have the results to back up the claims.  

Intellectual curiosity is what looks good on a college application

These days, many kids are pursuing academic research as part of their college applications. They want to show that they have true intellectual interests and the skills and abilities to craft their own research. There are even programs out there for which families can pay to get the personalized guidance in developing and executing an academic research project. Other students make contact with academic researchers at local universities (or sometimes at far away universities) and develop research project with professors.  

Here again, however, not all academic research is treated equally in the college admissions process.  What’s important here–as in everything–is the impact, the substances, the quality of the research–and not the amount of time put in. It’s also not about the “prestige” of the university, the professor, or the department for which one works. In some cases, what is reported as “research” is nothing more than the student working in a lab cleaning test tubes or preparing samples.  It is not substantive work. 

In other cases, however, students are given quite a bit of responsibility within a structured laboratory environment, and they can actually contribute to the success of the research project. 

Sometimes the student is able to publish the results of the academic work they did, either as a co-author on a published research paper, or as a student author in publications like The Concord Review. 

Research is not just for science, either.  We’ve worked with students who have performed substantive historical research.  In one case it was with a professor, and in other cases it was with the guidance of a graduate student. One ended up being recognized in the publication the professor later published, while the other submitted his lengthy research paper for publication on his own. 

Reading looks good on a college application

Read. A lot. We can’t emphasize this enough. Reading not only will help your test scores improve, but it will both be a demonstration of your intellectual curiosity.  We are often dismayed when we ask high school students what they are reading.  Very seldom are they reading outside the school curriculum.

It is particularly disheartening when a student who swear she wants to do academic research is not reading in their professed field of interest. We have met kids who swear they are interested in neuroscience who have not ever read an article or book on the subject.  Or kids who want me to help them find a research project in biomedical engineering who cannot share anything they have read about it. 

Reading shows intellectual curiosity

But when a student tells us they are intellectually interested in something like military aircraft, and can point to the bookshelf full of books about Japanese kamikazes, the Red Baron, the history of commercial aircraft, air battles over Europe, and the use of rockets in warfare, we are impressed. And so were college leaders.  After this young man was interviewed by the Vice President of Enrollment for a college to which he was applying, the Vice President called to say how impressed he was. The young man’s enthusiasm and knowledge for his little hobby was contagious.  Needless to say, that college accepted him with a huge scholarship. 

The fact is that colleges want to accept learners, and learners are not just people who get good grades in school.  They are not just people who sign up for summer programs or do “academic research” with the guidance of a professor or graduate student. 

Learners are people who read, who teach themselves things.  They are people who have curiosities about the world, and then set out to satisfy that curiosity–whatever it is. Yes, watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts can be informative.

But exploring the world’s libraries is really where we can find the repository of human intellectual inquiry. If you can’t find your library card or haven’t used it since you were reading Hop on Pop, now is the time. 

Do summer programs  look good on a college application?

Sometimes. 

The thing about the vast majority of summer programs is that they are relatively passive.  Someone else sets the syllabus. Someone else defines the parameters of inquiry. Someone else scaffolds the learning in ways that are digestible for younger learners (who have the attention span of a YouTube video rather than a 300-page book). And if there is a performance or assessment at the end of the experience, someone else has decided what that shall be, too. 

Summer programs can be a great way to advance your knowledge of a subject or get a taste of life or introduce you to an entirely new domain of knowledge. 

But, to return to the points above–isn’t that what the library is for?

The other thing about summer programs is that they tend to be expensive. In this way, they are beyond the reach of many, many students and their families.  And in some cases, the summer programs are great moneymakers for the colleges that offer them.  The Summer at Brown program is full of interesting intellectual offerings.  But thing of the profits Brown is spinning every summer.  The overwhelming majority of participants in the Summer at Brown program will have absolutely no chance of getting into Brown, while the kid who spend his summer reading histories of Civil War battles from the confines of his back yard may have a better chance of acceptance. 

Intellectual curiosity on the college application

What’s my point?  Intellectual curiosity comes from within. You can purchase ready-made programs to learn, and it can be helpful to learn in this way (after all, this is what college is all about–enter a classroom, learn from an expert, and perform an assessment to show you have enhanced your knowledge).  But the most selective colleges in the land are seeking young people whose intellectual curiosity is self-driven, not externally driven.  The self-motivated intellect is more desired–because those students are most likely to take best advantage of the resources at a place like Brown–rather than the kid whose parents paid a pretty penny for them to spend two-weeks on the Brown campus safely inside a college classroom learning whatever some graduate student cooked up on the syllabus. 

All this said, there are some summer programs that are very valuable and difficult to get into.  Examples include the Iowa Young Writers Studio, the Telluride Association Summer Seminar (TASS), and MIT’s MITES program and Research Science Institute (RSI).  And these programs may not even cost anything at all–but are offered on a competitive basis to the best of the best. 

Need help with that college application (and what looks good on it)?

The team at Great College Advice can help guide you in making choices about how to spend your time and how to ignite those inner curiosities.  If you want chat with a counselor to learn more about how we help young people craft interesting lives–and good college applications–give us a call or contact us via our website.  We look forward to the conversation. 

Since 2007, the expert team of college admissions consultants at Great College Advice has provided comprehensive guidance to thousands of students from across the United States and over 45 countries across the world. Great College Advice has offices in Colorado, New Jersey, Chicago, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

In addition to our one-on-one counseling, Great College Advice extends its support through one of the most active and resource-rich Facebook Groups for college-bound students and their families: College Admissions Experts. With nearly 100,000 members—students, parents, and experienced counselors—this vibrant forum offers peer support and expert advice like no other.

The post What Looks Good on a College Application? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

When a client asked me the other day about the importance of student to faculty ratios, I got to thinking about other supposed indicators of educational quality.

The other oft-cited statistic when visiting an admissions office is “average class size.” As with student-to-faculty ratios, the size of the classes at a college is assumed to reflect the quality and the intimacy of the educational experience. Small classes–so the assumption goes–are interactive and provide ample opportunity for interaction between students and faculty. The pedagogy of these classes is more a facilitated discussion than a lecture.

This assumption is generally true: small classes are more interactive. Yet I could cite numerous examples of professors I have known who stand and deliver lectures from prepared notes to a class of seven students. Just because a class is small doesn’t mean it’s any good.

The use of the “average class size” can be very misleading, however, and masks some more important facts about the quality of education delivered by a college or university.
Consider how the following scenarios have an impact on how “average class size” is calculated.

• Some of the smallest classes are taught by the least effective, least popular professors. In a world of university tenure, bad professors cannot be chased out. So they end up teaching ever smaller numbers of students, while the more effective, popular instructors see their class sizes swell.• Some of the smallest classes are in obscure subjects. Some of these are new courses professors are trying out for the first time.
• They can be experimental. And few students are willing to take risks of this sort (credits are too expensive, too dear to take such risks).
  Class sizes in some departments are much smaller than in other departments. Courses for popular majors such as history, economics, and biology may be large, while equally good courses in anthropology and art history may be tiny. Here quality of the individual course is not the issue–it’s the popularity of the major that may affect class size.
• Professors generally do not like teaching huge courses–not because they hate lecturing–but because they hate grading so many tests and term papers. So they ask administrators to cap enrollments, insisting that “small classes are better” (when, in fact, they are simply concerned about their own work load).
• Professors and administrators cap enrollments in popular courses in order to keep the average class size small. Even the most popular courses at small, liberal arts colleges are not allowed to grow large–because those colleges are protecting the ratio. In a competitive environment that values small class sizes over large ones, institutions of higher education are loath to allow classes to grow too large. So from an administrator’s point of view, the question is not so much access to great courses or the quality of the individual course (some large lecture classes in the hands of an outstanding professor can be awesome). An administrator’s job is to keep “average class size” as low as possible.

This final point leads to some very troublesome effects on college campuses. An article a few years back from the alumni magazine of my alma mater, Dartmouth College, points out that the real, untold story is how the mania to protect the “average class size” statistic is shutting students out of popular courses. The article makes the point this way:

In [the department of] economics, with 453 students registered as majors, minors, or modified majors, students get closed out of as many of 20 percent of their course choices, a rate that far exceeds the rate of closeouts campus wide, as estimated by [Dean of the Faculty Carol] Holt.

To further elaborate the point, a “small class” in the economics department at Dartmouth is 30 students: the department would likely cancel a class with such “low” enrollment. While in the department of anthropology, a “small” class might be 5 or 6 (in my department at the University of Denver, a course with fewer than 7 students was considered “uneconomic” and therefore cancelled).

(Note to future economics majors: if you really want to small classes, go to a college where economics is NOT a popular major.)

Believe me, this is not the sort of information you will hear from an admissions counselor. They will sing out their statistics on student-to-faculty ratios (8-to-1 at Dartmouth) and “average class size” is probably around 15 or so.

Student to Faculty Ratios Can Mislead

But the statistics, beautiful though they are, do not tell you the whole story. In fact, they can be grossly misleading. And they do not necessarily bear any relationship to the quality of the education being delivered.

As an alumnus, of course, I would tell you that the quality of the education at Dartmouth is more a function of the quality of the faculty and the quality of the student body. Dartmouth can afford to be more discriminating in its offers of tenure, it offers higher salaries to faculty, and the student body is one that any high-quality faculty member would love to teach. And only teachers who love to teach undergraduates would be motivated to apply for a job at Dartmouth–for there are few graduate students.

In the same breath, however, I would criticize the quality of a Harvard undergraduate education, where the student-to-faculty ratio is an ultra-low 6-to-1, but average class sizes are generally much larger, and graduate teaching assistants perform the overwhelming majority of grading and lead almost all the class discussions. To be graduate student at Harvard is to be on top of the heap; to be an undergraduate is fun an exciting, but the teaching is just not as good.

Why would I say that?

Two reasons.  First, my experience while a graduate teaching fellow.  I was an assistant for two different courses over a few semesters.  These were 200-level courses in the economics and political science departments (international political economy and political theory, respectively).  While I enjoyed my experience, I found the lectures by the professors to be relatively boring, and I also found it weird that I was leading discussions on the readings despite my relative lack of expertise in either subject. I also was in charge of grading all papers and exams, some of which were awesome, and other were complete pieces of crap. But the professors allowed us to give nothing less than a “B” grade to anything, no matter how horrible or off the mark the work was.

The second is that a friend of mine wrote me a note about his experience in choosing and attending Harvard.  While he enjoyed his time at Harvard overall, his classroom environment not all that memorable.  Here is what he wrote:

I didn’t think very critically about which college was the right “fit”. All I knew about college was gleaned from family trips to University of Notre Dame for football games. I knew I wanted to go away to college, and I had been to Washington DC so I applied to Georgetown. I applied to University of Michigan Ann Arbor as my “safety” school. And at the last minute, my Dad told me he had spoken with a friend whose daughter had gone to Harvard and enjoyed it. So I applied to Harvard.
When I got into Harvard, I was so overwhelmed with people’s responses to that fact that it seemed to me the right thing to do to go there. I had never been to Boston and had no idea what Harvard looked like and no real appreciation for its history. In fact I almost cried when I rode into Harvard Square because it didn’t look at all like “college” to me!
It turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, not because of the undergraduate academic offerings (three or four truly exceptional courses) or the career guidance (zero) but because of the terrific students and graduate students I met and became friends with. It is a part of my life I treasure. Looking back, I’m not at all sure that I couldn’t have gotten an equally wonderful (though of course different) experience at any number of other colleges. I will say though that the Harvard name has opened many doors for me, many of which I am probably not even aware.

So how can you uncover the truth behind the statistics?

Here’s a short video I did a while back expressing gratitude for the clarity with which Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, calculated its student to faculty ratio.

The Truth Behind Student to Faculty Ratios

How can we compare and contrast the educational services offered by different institutions? How can we get beyond these simplistic numbers?

You must ask more substantive questions about how courses are taught, and not to focus solely upon the size of the class.

But there are other questions that prospective students and their parents might ask in order to understand and predict what their experience might be like if they matriculated to a particular college or university.

1. What is the “course load” for faculty members? How many undergraduate courses is each faculty member expected to teach every year? Is this number the same for all departments, or does it vary by discipline?
2. What percentage of courses is taught by adjunct or part-time faculty? Is this percentage the same across departments, or do some departments rely on part-timers more than others?
3. What percentage of courses has a waiting list? How does the college (or the individual department) determine who gets off the waiting list and when?
4. How many campus lecture halls seat 100 students? 50 students? 500 students? How many seminar rooms are there? What is the ratio of lecture halls to seminar rooms?
5. How small must a class be before it is canceled by the administration?
6. What is the most popular course on campus (or in your department)? Is enrollment in this course capped? Who gets in, and who doesn’t?

As you ask these questions, you should not permit admissions people to give vague answers. They will hem and haw. They will will be imprecise.

But these figures do exist on campus, and they exist in the office of institutional research. The administrators in this office crunch the numbers. They have the facts. If you really want to know this information, you need to ask to be put in touch with someone in the office institutional research who can provide this information to you.

Still, you must not focus solely on the statistics. Every educational institution has administrative problems like the ones at Dartmouth described above You will never be able to guarantee that your son or daughter will not be shut out of a class. You will not be able to ensure that every course he or she takes is a gem.

But if you dig deeply enough, you may be able to figure out how forthcoming and honest the faculty and administration is about the difficulty of measuring educational quality, and you will learn how they are working to deliver the quality you expect–and will be paying for.

Need to understand the data and how it applies to you?

The college admissions counselors at Great College Advice have access to the latest higher education data to help students and families make the right decisions about their educational paths. We can guide you toward the information you need to choose the right colleges and ensure that you get the educational opportunities you most desire. Give us a call for a free consultation or fill out our contact form. We’d be delighted to get acquainted and explain how we help families make the admissions process less stressful and more successful.

Great College Advice

The post Class Size & Student to Faculty Ratios: What Research Says? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Thanksgiving is not the best time for college tours

During the week of Thanksgiving, colleges are often open, but the students have already ventured home to be with their families. College admissions officers, too, are very often out of the office entirely–finally getting a few days to spend with their families during a grueling travel season. Rarely do colleges even offer tours and information sessions during Thanksgiving week. You may be able to meet with someone in the admissions office, but it will be difficult to get a feel for the college culture without students present. On many campuses, all dining facilities and campus amenities will be completely shut down as staff are given a few days off for the holidays.

So we recommend you forget Thanksgiving as a viable time to visit a campus, unless all you want to do is look at a bunch of locked and empty buildings.  Not a super helpful time to get to know a school and its’ community.

The winter holiday is not the best time for college tours

Winter holiday break is just as bad, if not worse. When students leave campus, many offices also close up.  Dorms are locked up tightly while students are away.  The library may be on limited hours if it is open at all.  Faculty leave town and go on their own vacations.

Most colleges may be completely closed from December 23rd to January 2nd. If you venture to a college that third week in December, a few admission counselors may still be in their offices, but they will more than likely be knee-deep in reading applications. So here again, unless all you want to do is see a bunch of locked and empty buildings, the winter holiday is not a great time for college tours.

What about summer for a college tour?

For many families, summer is the best time for a college tour.  This is when students are no longer wrapped up in the demands of the academic year and time is a bit more flexible.  While summer is not a perfect time to visit a college campus, it is better than Thanksgiving or the winter holidays. Some colleges and universities do have summer sessions, and most will have some sort of activities going on–even if they are not set up for their regular student bodies.  Offices are generally open, as are most facilities.  During the summer, you may not see the campus operating as it does during the academic year, but at least the admissions office is set up to show you the best of what the campus has to offer.  While you’ll find it harder to have conversations with current students, at least you’ll get an idea of the what the campus feels like when there are actual humans around.

So when is the best time for a campus visit?

Unfortunately, the best time to visit a college campus is during the school year. This is when you will see the college or university in actual operation.  Students will be going to class, all the facilities will be open–and bustling–and you’ll get a better idea of not just geography of the campus, but the people who animate it.

Try to pick a time, such as a February or March break, but be careful not to overlap with the college’s spring break if possible (once again, the college just won’t look or feel the same when the students are not around). Make sure you do your research and look at the school’s campus tour calendar. Most colleges have sign-ups online.

For more tips, read our previous blog post:  Planning the Perfect Campus Visit.

The post Holiday Breaks – Not the Best Time for College Tours first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

What is University of San Francisco known for?

1. The University of San Francisco is different from the other Jesuit college in terms of its location and the composition of the student body. USF is a school of minorities: only 24% are white. There are plenty of students from other ethnic groups, including Asian (26%) and Latino (21%) and Black (8%). But get this: 30% of the students in the Gospel Choir are white. USF is a place where students can get outside of the cultural constricts of their childhood and high school experience. Students can “mix it up,” literally. Thirty percent of students are the first in their families to go to college. Socio-economically speaking, this place is also pretty diverse: forty percent come from families who make $60k or less per year–and who are attending an institution that costs $50k per year.
2. Who are the “majorities” at USF: Catholics 51%, and women 65% (note that the strong School of Nursing pulls this average off because 95% of schools of nursing are women). Also, 75-80% come from the Western states, though there are representatives of most states and a whole bunch of foreign countries (11% of students are international). Just over half (55%) come from California.  But California is a big state!
3. Like most Jesuit institutions, USF is a mission-driven college. They focus on “education the whole person” and learning is considered a “humanizing social activity rather than a competitive exercise.”
4. USF has 5,000 undergraduates, with another 3,800 graduate students. Seventy-five percent of classes have 25 students or fewer.
5. It has a core curriculum, like most Jesuit institutions. But there are still differences. There is a total of 11 core classes, plus a class that includes a service learning component (not just a “bunch of hours”)—service learning is integrated into the classroom, making it an integration of service and learning.
6. Admissions officers at USF encourage phone calls from both students and counselors. They do not have a “wall” between web users and the admissions staff. The admissions office representatives said repeatedly, “Pick up the phone; we’re old-fashioned.” USF also lists all the phone numbers of faculty right on the website. So if you’re interested in how good the biology department is, or what the major’s priorities are, you can just get on the horn with the chair of the department and ask.
7. Twenty-five percent of faculty are “of color;” 45% of faculty are women. One of USF’s core values is diversity.
8. If you are interested in the nursing program, you must apply separately, and the nursing program is very competitive. There are about 600 students in the nursing program.
9. USF offers great scholarships for those it deems to be “high value” students:  those with a high GPA in grades 9-11. While USF is test-optional, a high score certainly wouldn’t hurt and might help you land more merit-based scholarships.
10. Some students may opt for the Saint Ignatius Institute, an interesting Great Books program within both the Jesuit and the liberal arts traditions. SII is also a living and learning program, whereby students in the program also live together. Students read the classics of Western Civilization (Plato, Homer, Augustine, Dante, Göethe, Kafka, Borges, etc.). This program is open to all students, but spaces are limited. For students who want the “Great Books” sort of program offered at St. John’s (but who don’t want the strict focus of St. John’s), this might be a great fit.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time at USF, though I wish the weather had been warmer. It was blowing a gale, despite the fact that the sun was out. I hear that Mark Twain had this to say about this fair city (and I’m not quoting directly): “I spent the coldest winter of my life in San Francisco one summer.”

The post University of San Francisco–an urban, Jesuit college first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Sadly, there is very little research to indicate how much you could expect to earn after gaining a degree from this, that, or the other college. We do have statistics reports of averages. This one at Payscale.com is an example. But an average is not a prediction of what your son or daughter will make upon graduation. About half the kids make more than that. And half make less. Which will be your child? Above or below the average?

Even with salary averages by college, educational ROI would not be predictive for an individual student. An average is an average, after all, and how could we predict that Susie would earn above the average and that Sam would earn below that average? (Unless, of course, Susie were from Lake Wobegon…where all the children are above average…).

Plus there are kids at cheaper schools that make way more than the averages for those expensive private schools. Who made the better bet: the kid who paid less for college, or the one who paid more?

The fact is that aggregate data is unhelpful in providing clear guidance to individual high school graduates. Would you buy a Harvard degree if you were destined to earn below the salary average for that institution? What crystal ball will tell us where we will end up five, ten, or twenty-five years after graduation?

The reason for the dearth of the sort of solid research for which we all pine is that it cannot be done. Solid, scientific, and predictive research requires double-blind experiments with variables that can be controlled. When it comes to educational ROI, such controlled experiments would be impossible.

Why? Because human beings are darned complex, and too many uncontrollable variables enter the equation. What are the variables that have an impact on one’s financial success in life (other than the name of the university on one’s diploma)?

Let’s start a list.

• Educational background prior to entering college (e.g., Philips Exeter vs PS 142)
• Socio-economic status prior to entering college (e.g., New England blueblood vs. first-generation Sudanese)
• Grades earned in college (e.g., a studious 3.5 GPA or a slacker 2.4
• Major in college (e.g., engineering vs. education)
• Location a person chooses to live in after college (e.g., Santa Barbara vs. Omaha)
• The type of profession one seeks (e.g., teacher vs. neurosurgeon)
• Other skills a student develops beyond the major (e.g., the philosophy major who also studies organic chemistry)
• Jobs or internships the student might have had during college (e.g., dishing ice cream on Cape Cod vs. doing an accounting gig with PriceWaterhouseCoopers)
• Absence or presence of well-connected family members (e.g., a mom who CEO of Acme Technology and raised gobs of dough for a presidential campaign vs. a dad who drives a cab in Brooklyn)

Get the picture? Controlling for all these variables so that we could develop a scientific study that gave us meaningful comparisons to help us predict educational ROI for a particular student is virtually impossible. No aspiring academic with an understanding of research methodology would take this on.

But the biggest problem is that we can never compare a single kid who had two lives one in which he went to a high-priced college and one in which he went to a community college and later transferred to the state school.

Or the student who majored in business in his first life and then majored in English in his second.

Or the student who earned good grades in his first life, and then floated by with a C-average in his second.

Now, if we could clone people and set the clones off in two different directions that would be really cool. And conclusive. We could see which genetically identical person earned the most after having attended this school or the other. As long as those genetically identical individuals had lived identical lives in the same household to the age of 18 (if, however, the clones were “separated at birth,” we’d see our research devolve into the nature vs. nurture morass).

The fact is, folks, that we all want to be able to scientifically tote up the numbers to come up with a predictive return on our educational investment.

Can’t be done.

So we’re left with a silly, vapid argument between those who say “spend the money” and those who say “save your money.” Both are right.  Both are wrong. The argument gets us nowhere.

Fundamental principles we can consider in making the decision

Still, might there be some fundamental principles we can consider in making the decision about whether to spend tons of money on a college education? Let’s see if we can’t come up with some.

1.  How big an investment is the price tag, relative to current family income? Some can easily afford a quarter of a million dollars for an education. Some cannot. So if you have the money, it’s worth it. If you don’t have it, it’s not worth it. (Remember Aesop’s fable of the “Fox and the Grapes”?). Hmmm…this is not a very satisfying fundamental principle. Next!

2.  Will you have to go into debt to finance this expensive degree? The bigger the debt burden, the less likely the return on the investment will cancel out that debt. Then again, it depends on what you end up doing after that degree. If you’re a brain surgeon or a successful venture capitalist, then who cares? You’ll be able to pay off that debt in the blink of an eye. But if you become a teacher or an unsuccessful venture capitalist, then clearly the investment wasn’t worth it. But notice: you can’t know whether the investment was worth it until AFTER you have a successful–or unsuccessful career! This is getting frustrating, isn’t it?

3.  Speaking of which, your professional aspirations do play a role. If you plan to be a kindergarten teacher or an orchestral musician, then spending a quarter of a million bucks for an education isn’t worth it. However, if you want to be a brain surgeon, you have no choice but to go to college…and then go into debt for medical school. But here’s a contrarian thought: do you have to go to college to be a successful business executive?

Not necessarily, of course (we all know the story of Bill Gates, for whom Harvard “wasn’t worth it”). To go a step further, do you really have to go to college at all to make a lot of money? I have a cousin who went to school to learn how to do auto body work. He can now buy and sell me several times over, sends his kids to elite private schools, drives a brand new Mercedes, and has a vacation home in Vermont. Where did I go wrong….?

4.  Savvy shoppers for educational services should do some price comparisons. But the fact is that very few students pay the actual tuition sticker price. You see, because of the way financial aid (both merit-based and need-based) is allocated, each individual pays a different price for that education–especially at the colleges with heavy price tags.

So here again we have another variable for which we much provide some scientific control in our research: we need to compare students who paid full price or students who received a full scholarship. Or half a scholarship. Or something. (Oh my:  not another variable for which we need a control!)

5.  There are aspects of education that do not boil down to dollars and cents. For some, education is not merely about preparing for a profession. For some, it’s also about intellectual inquiry–pushing your capacities to the limit. There is a spiritual element to education that transcends a “market price.” This is all well and good: but it certainly doesn’t get us any closer to calculating our educational ROI. To do a calculation, we need numbers, and these folks who find an intrinsic value in education just aren’t numbers people.

The fact is that the argument as to whether or not an expensive private education is “worth it” simply cannot be won. The argument isn’t really an argument: it all boils down to one’s personal values and preferences.

Can people who go to state universities have satisfying, successful careers?

You bet. Can Ivy League graduates end up earning less than $40k per year for the past 25 years? You bet (I have a Dartmouth friend who is a respected ornithologist who lives in the Amazon, has discovered many new species, and has never made more than $40k in a year: was his Ivy League investment “worth it”?).

Advice on the worth of an expensive private college education

So in the absence of research, we need a crystal ball. Or we need good, solid, personalized advice from someone who can help a family identify their priorities. Perhaps a professional guidance counselor who can help a student explore his or her academic strengths and weaknesses.

Who can discuss “educational philosophy” with a family to find out whether the educational priority is on “getting a job” or on “leading the examined life.” What it all amounts to is “different strokes for different folks.” My job is not to win an argument. My job is to figure out which stroke you’re swimming and help keep you moving in your chosen direction.

Great College Advice

The post Is An Expensive Private College Education Worth the Money? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

If you’re interested, I also explained need-based financial aid in this post.

If you’d prefer to read my comments, you’ll find them below.

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I’m here right now on the campus of Dickinson College, which is in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and I want to talk a little bit about financial aid. But I want to set the stage by saying Dickinson College is just a gorgeous place. I’m here just kind of outside the library in a little courtyard, the azaleas are in bloom, and students are packed in the library right now studying for finals.

Architecturally speaking, this campus is one of those harmonious campuses, all in gray brick. It’s just absolutely stunning. The landscaping is beautiful. Every facility I’ve gone into so far has been stupendous, superb.

But let’s talk about financial aid. And we’ll talk about merit aid because merit aid is the money you get because you’re a good student. And, at Dickinson, in order to get merit aid you need to be a very good student. Dickinson reserves only a very small portion of its financial aid budget for merit and awarded at the very top.

So, to give you some examples, I picked up this fact sheet outside the admissions office. I’m here on a Saturday; it’s not the best day to come, but it’s what I could do. So, I picked up this fact sheet and for financial aid, first of all, the tuition for 2024-2025 is just over $68,000, just for the tuition alone. About 2/3 of students receive some form of financial aid so 1/3 are paying $68,000, okay?

So, just so you put that in perspective. It also says that they do offer academic scholarships to almost 30% of the student body. Okay, so, 2/3% are paying full price and almost 30% are getting some sort of academic scholarship for their high school labor.

The other thing is that the middle 50% of scores – let’s just take the ACT score because it’s a little easier, sometimes, to remember. Out of 36, the mid 50% is between 30 and 33 in terms of their admitted students who submitted test scores. So, 25% of students who are admitted that submitted an ACT score have a 33 or above.

Now remember, I said almost 30% of students actually get merit-based financial aid. So, in other words – and these are rough numbers – in order to get a merit-based scholarship at Dickinson, you likely need to be in the 32-33 and above ACT range (or equivalent SAT) or have an impressive GPA or other talents.

I mean, that’s not based on your ability to pay, but if you are trying to reduce the price of college by maximizing other people’s money – and in this case, the college’s money – to get scholarships from the college, you need to roughly be in the top 25%.

Now, in several of the other liberal arts colleges that I’ve been visiting on this tour. If you’re in the top 50%, you’re likely to get some sort of merit-based financial aid, but not at Dickinson. You need to be closer to the top of the applicant pool to pull down merit-based aid.

So, it really helps to know who’s getting the money and to do the research and to look at the numbers as you apply. Because if you’re one of those students whose family believes and wants some sort of merit-based aid in order to pay for college, reduce the price. you’re not going to get it at Dickinson unless you are at the very top of their applicant pool – the top 25%.

Again, other colleges that’s not the case. The top 50% of the pool receives some sort of merit-based discount, but Dickinson, well, there’s a reason why there are such wonderful facilities here. So, it’s a great school, it’s beautiful.

I would recommend it. I think academically, it’s quite good, but if you’re looking for a bargain, it’s only going to be a bargain if you’re in the top 25%.

Great College Advice

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.   

The post Merit-Based Financial Aid Explained first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Not too long ago, there was a major ethnographic study of how college students actually use libraries for research and learning demonstrated the degree to which students make use of libraries and librarians: not much.

The fact is, college libraries now serve multiple purposes. If I take a college tour, and the tour does not include at least a cursory look at the lobby of the library. Then I double back after the tour and try to figure out why. Some of them are palaces for the studious. The library at Grinnell College has tiered study carrels that all face the windows, each with its own comfy study chair and lamp.

Libraries also do store a bunch of stuff. But as the world goes digital, some of that stuff can be stored off-site, away from campus, and held for those who really take an interest in 16th century mining techniques in Serbia. Some libraries, like Widener Library at Harvard, are gigantic, with many sub-basements and tunnels connecting to other libraries. Being something of a geek, I always enjoyed studying in a library.  Something about the smell of all that ancient paper, the binding glue, the leather-bound volumes helped me take my task seriously.

But libraries have always been social spaces, too. Some of the rooms in large libraries are places to meet people, pass a few pleasantries, or to make eyes at one another. At my alma mater, it was the ’02 Room where more social interactions took place. The stacks (yes, that’s where I hung out) were a sort of solitary confinement that people enforced upon themselves to get their work done.

The last decade, however, has taken the social aspects of the library to new levels. At most places, you will find that each floor–or parts of floors–that are designated as “high volume,” “low volume,” and “silent” workplaces. At some, you can barely hear yourself think above the roar of the cappuccino machine, which has become de rigeur on an increasing number of campuses (and parents wonder why college costs keep going up…we’re all addicted to lattes).

Anyway, I have begun to ruminate on the place of libraries on college campuses, and I did this short little video at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on a recent trip there. Libraries will continue to evolve. This video points to the fact that the digital age may actually allow some colleges to recover beautiful common spaces that had to be refitted to hold “stuff.”

Have a quick look. Or you can read the transcript below, if you are so inclined.

Right now I’m on the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and I’m in the library. It’s a very nice space, but I noticed a couple of things that were kind of interesting. This room is a vast, old room. Architecturally, quite nice, but you can see here behind me that these metal shelves were put in here—this is the periodicals room—and to shelve periodicals; so there’s a copy of the London Times, Le Monde, La Stampa from Italy, Die Zeit from Germany; all these newspapers and then periodicals, including scholarly journals.

An interesting phenomenon happening on campuses today is that all of these periodicals are being eliminated because everything is available digitally. There are some libraries that are actually moving their entire book collections off-campus so that they can repurpose some of the buildings and the storage spaces. So you can see that this room—I don’t know how many years ago, but not all that long ago—was divided up, and they put these metal shelves in to actually create more storage space. Well, now the storage space is all on a computer chip.

It’s going to be interesting to see what colleges do with their space—if they repurpose it and if so, what are they going to repurpose it for?  I’ve talked before about the fact that a lot of common spaces on campus are not used that much. Because students are connecting via Facebook and text rather than actually congregating in particular places as they used to. So I think college campuses will make a pretty rapid evolution to repurposing the spaces that they use. It’ll be interesting to see.

Great College Advice

The post What Is a College Library For? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

I reviewed a question the other day on LinkedIn. The question was this:  what can you do with a major in philosophy? I thought I would share my response with you.

Here’s the question:

Is philosophy a good major?  Why?  Just wondering what you can get with a philosophy major or if it’s worth the time and money.

And here is my response:

Good question. I get this sort of question a lot in my line of work.

The answer to your question does not lie in the opinions of others. It must come from within yourself.

What can you do with a liberal arts major?

Let’s be philosophical. Some value college as training for a profession. Others, who tend to pursue degrees at liberal arts institutions, see college as a process of training the mind. As you may have experienced, most folks who hear this question. Immediately begin thinking about the economic value of a philosophy degree–immediately upon graduation. But what they don’t know, is that plenty of philosophy majors at liberal arts institutions go on to very successful careers.

Did you know, for example, that statistically one of the best majors with the highest percentages of acceptance to medical school is (drum roll….) philosophy? Medical schools like people who have thought deeply about what it means to be human, to appreciate beauty, and to have thought theoretically. Medicine has plenty of technicians, but not an awful lot of deep thinkers. And medical schools value deep thinkers.

Furthermore, in a liberal arts context, I firmly believe that it matters little what you major in. What matters more is what you can do–the skills you acquire (a second language, computer programming skills, strong economics, scientific research skills). You can acquire some of these skills even as you complete a philosophy major. Or you may acquire them in graduate school or in the working world after graduation.

It’s possible that you can prepare for several careers (as you are statistically apt to have at least seven before you retire) simply by training your mind to be flexible, creative, analytical, and quick. If you read Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. For example, you may be convinced that philosophy actually is much better training for careers of the 21st century than accounting or marketing or biology, even.

Finally, you ask whether the degree is “worth” the time and money. Well, be philosophical: define “worth.” Certainly a philosophy major does not have immediate, tangible value that is easily calculated in “return on investment” (ROI) terms. Such a calculation is easier with a professional degree (MBA, JD, Engineering) or with a licensing program (e.g. teaching/education).

But if you define “worth” more broadly, you might agree with Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So maybe you want to examine human nature, appreciate the concept of beauty, think about what constitutes the “good life.”

While I respect the opinions of those who pooh-pooh the value of a philosophy major, I wonder how many of them have actually ever taken a philosophy course. How many of them know successful people in business, the arts, the law, journalism, medicine, and other professions who pursued a liberal arts degree and majored in philosophy?

So what can you do with a major in philosophy?

So to reiterate by returning to your question: “what can you get” with a philosophy degree? On the one hand, absolutely nothing. On the other, everything.

People who major in philosophy can work in artificial intelligence, science policy, medicine, law, banking, and just about any business you can imagine. Philosophy majors work in high tech. They work in government. They run organizations.

The skills of analysis, logic, and problem solving are relevant to any profession.

In the end, doesn’t the answer to your question depend on many variables well beyond your choice of major?

As was inscribed above the entrance to the Oracle at Delphi: “Know Thyself.” Start there, and the answer to your question will be come, well, self-evident.

What if I can’t decide my major?

Most young people have a difficult time settling on a major. Despite the Oracle at Delphi, most teens are just getting to know themselves and figure out what is important to them. If your family has a teen who is struggling to make this sort of decision–and struggling to create a solid college plan, give us a call at Great College Advice. We helps students wade through these tough decisions and create an action plan.

Mapping College Journeys. It’s what we do.

The post What Is Value of a Major in Philosophy (or the Liberal Arts in General)? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

As you plan the general goals of your campus visits, plan the logistics, take the tour, listen to the information session, and investigate the campus surroundings, keep in mind these few tips for making the visit as productive, successful, and fun as possible.

Parent Tips for Campus Visits

Don’t ask too many questions, either in the information session or during the campus tour. Even if your kid is silent, try to restrain yourself. Silence does not indicate that your child is comatose. I can guarantee that even the most taciturn teen is taking it all in, trying to incorporate new ideas about their own future, some of which are really exciting, and some of which may be sort of terrifying.

Don’t try to fill the silence by embarrassing or annoying your child. I can’t tell you how many tours I’ve taken on which students and their parents have traded eye-rolls, verbal jabs, elbows to the ribs. This is a stressful time for everyone, so don’t your parental instincts interfere with your child’s experience.

Do help your student to brainstorm the questions he or she has about this college and its campus before the visit starts. What information do you already know about this campus, and what questions remain? What things are important to see during the visit—facilities that may be important for your child? Encourage the student to ask the questions by helping to formulate the right questions in advance.

Do seek answers to your own parental questions. If you have particular questions about financial aid, for example, that remain unanswered in a general information session, you may want to call the financial aid office and seek their counsel. Similarly, if you want to learn more about a particular sports program, an academic offering, or more details about the curriculum, make sure that you check the college website thoroughly.

Colleges have become pretty adept at putting tons and tons of information online. If you can’t find what you seek, by all means pick up the phone. Better, if it’s a question that you and your child share, encourage the student to do the communicating. Empower the student to take charge of gathering the information that will help him or her find the right college match.

Don’t even think about accompanying your student to the interview with the admissions officer. Just asking the question could be a red flag for admissions officers who really don’t want to have to deal with overbearing, bossy, and domineering parents. Assume that you are uninvited, and be surprised (and pleased) when the admissions officer engages you in some conversation before or after the interview. If such a conversation does take place, don’t talk about anything beyond pleasantries. The worst thing you can ask is, “what are my kid’s chances?” Not only will they not answer that question, but they may be a bit annoyed that you even ask it. So don’t.

Student Tips for Campus Visits

Do take charge of the visit. Don’t be passive. Don’t let mom and dad do it all for you. Look at the maps and figure out where you are and where you’re doing. Take the lead as you wander around campus. Know what you want to learn during the visit, and know how you are going to learn it. At this stage of your transition from high school to college, every parent is a bundle of nerves, and they hate a power vacuum. When parents sense that their student is disengaged, they engage more forcefully. So don’t give them the chance. Do your homework, be involved in planning the visit, and take charge of the visit once underway.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is a big decision, and you are going to make it based on the information you have gathered. This is not the same as asking a question about proof in geometry class or about mitosis in biology. This is about your future. Everyone (including your parents) knows that you have about a zillion questions rolling around in your brain during a college visit. So ask a few, especially those that you think that a tour guide or an admissions officer can ask. If you can’t figure out how to formulate your own questions, perhaps memorize one or two from this list.

Don’t be afraid to talk to other students on campus, and to ask them what they like about their school. In most cases, students on campus love their choice of college and will be only too happy to share their thoughts with you. You can also ask them what they don’t like—for no place is nirvana. Usually, they will readily tell you. Of course, the answers they give will be based on their own, personal experience of that campus, and cannot be said to represent the entire student body. But if you ask several students the same question or questions, you may find a pattern that will help you confirm (or disconfirm) your own impressions.

Do focus on academic factors at least as much—if not more—than social, environmental, and geographical factors. Remember, you are choosing a school, not a vacation resort. You will spend a great deal of time in class, studying for exams, preparing lab reports, and writing papers. And you will spend a lot of time interacting (or not) with professors.

So try to gather relevant information about the academic program. Tour guides will all say that “professors are accessible” and the “average class size is low.” Dig beneath those platitudes, especially when you talk to other students on campus. Are professor-student interactions limited to office hours? Do academic departments host activities open to all students?

Do guest lecturers come to the campus, or is there not enough of a scholarly audience (or budget) to attract them? Do professors offer open lectures frequently about their research or other timely and interesting topics? How active are academic societies on campus? Do the honorary societies merely hand out certificates, or do they sponsor academic activities? How often do individual professors or departments host meals or other social events for students?

Prepare for Campus Visits

Campus visits contain some of the most important moments in the entire college selection and application process. You need to prepare. You need to be aware. And you need to know what things are important to you—and which are not. As with every other aspect of the college search process, the focus should be on you: your abilities, your preferences, your desires, your needs, your aspirations. The primary question in your mind should be, does this campus fit me?

The more you are able to keep yourself at the center of the visit, the more productive and helpful your campus visit will be.

Great College Advice

The post Tips for Successful Campus Visit For Parents and Students first appeared on College Admission Counseling.