What is Demonstrated Interest?

Demonstrated Interest is a factor that some colleges and universities use to gauge your interest in the school as they weigh your level of interest in the admissions decision. In other words, they are trying to decide if you will attend if you are admitted. Here are some tips on how to show demonstrated interest to a school.

1. Now more than ever, colleges and universities are tracking demonstrated interest through their websites. Make sure you register your email address with each school you are interested in. The student’s email address NOT the parent’s email address.

2. Start to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ college and university social media accounts. Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram all have college and university accounts for different schools and departments. Start to follow them. But remember, you should always be professional in ‘liking’ their posts and reels.

3. Respond to and click on university emails; If a school sends you an email message make sure to open it and respond to it, if need be. Always be professional in your communication.

4. If a school visits either in person or virtually be sure to attend. Attend college fairs and sign in with your QR code.

5. Complete an in-person tour on campus or virtual tour to show demonstrated interest.

6. Apply Early Decision or Early Action if the college or university offers these options; especially applying early decision shows demonstrated interested because it is binding if you are accepted, you must enroll and attend.

7. Complete an interview if offered. If the school offers admissions interviews, definitely sign up early for one either with an admissions rep or with an alumni.

8. Say thank you. If you visit a school say thank you to the tour guide, admissions reps and anyone else you meet with.

9. If you are unsure if a school tracks demonstrated interest, ask! They will let you know if it is considered as part of the admissions criteria.

The importance of the School Profile in College Admissions

One important piece of your student’s college application is the School Profile. It is submitted by your school/guidance counselor along with their letters of recommendation and high school transcript. Why is it so important? Let me break it down.

1. High Schools across the country vary tremendously. Some are focused on math and science, others are focused on the performing arts and some are private or public. They all vary. The school profile gives a summary of the high school and what it offers to its students: course selection, size of student body, location, size of faculty, etc.

2. The School Profile also gives insight to course selection at the high school by listing every course offered at the school. This is very important for an admissions committee to see so they can see whether or not an applicant has taken full advantage of what is offered at their school. How many AP courses, IB or vocational offerings are listed.

3. The School Profile will summarize the average SAT and ACT scores for the student body and compare it to the national average.

4. It will usually also describe what percentage of students go on to a four-year and two-year college.

   The School Profile is a very important piece of the application. If you want to see your student’s high school profile, you can usually find it on your high school website on the guidance department page and, if not, email your guidance counselor for a copy.

Honors Colleges and Programs

There are numerous strong honors colleges and programs offered at mostly public universities and at some private ones. Here is a general breakdown of the differences between honors colleges and honors programs.

• Size: Honors colleges tend to have a larger average enrollment than honors programs. But their student ratio to faculty is better.

• Staff: Typically honors colleges have more staff members per student because they tend to be larger programs.

• Structure: Honors colleges have more structure with honors-only seminars and honors programs could be more department-based.

• Average class size tends to be the same at both.

• Housing: Honors colleges tend to offer more suite-style dorms to honors students than honors programs.

  Please remember that these are typical characteristics and many honors colleges and programs across the country may feature different characteristics.

• For more information go to:

  https://publicuniversityhonors.com

Brag Sheets: the do’s and don’ts

Each Spring, high school guidance departments request that each rising senior and his parent(s)/guardian complete their own brag sheet. These brag sheets help the guidance counselor write his own letter of recommendation for the student . The brag sheets can be very helpful. Here are a few tips on how to complete it.

1. Be descriptive: Use as many adjectives and nouns as you can to describe yourself or the student throughout the brag sheet. Tell specific examples of how and why.

2. Do not describe your weakness or biggest struggle. This will be used if you write it so leave it out. Only use positive stories and description about the student.

3. Do not list awards, honors or accomplishments. This can be found in a resume or on the application. It should not be duplicated in a letter of recommendation.

4. Do not pigeonhole yourself by mentioning a major unless you are 100% sure you want to major in that field.

How to write an amazing college essay!

The common app essay is a unique part of your college application. Aside from your transcript, application, and test scores (possibly), it is one of the only parts of the application that can show a part of who you are that stands a part from the rest of the other applicants. It is your voice. I have helped hundreds of students write their essay. Here is my advice and my tips for how to write an amazing essay!

1. The essay should tell an authentic story about you. You have complete control over this part of your application.

2. Admission committees do not take a long time to read and review each application. Therefore, an essay that ‘hooks’ the reader will stand out in the admission officer’s mind, for whom, will inevitably, be the person that delivers and discusses your application to the committee.

3. Don’t write what you think the admissions committee wants to hear. I repeat, don’t write what you think they want to hear. Your entire application should be about you, not someone who you think they’ll accept.

4. Do not repeat any information about you that has already been communicated in other parts or your application.

5. Speak directly. Your voice will be heard. Discuss parts of you that you are most proud of.

Here is a quick outline of how to go about creating your essay.

1. Writing is a process. Have patience. Many students have been asked to write a personal narrative. If so, you can refer back to that assignment to help you start the process of your college essay. It should take at least 3 to 4 drafts for a well-crafted essay.

2. Take time to choose the right topic. A unique quality about you, experience or event should be discussed but it should be relevant to who you are today and who you want to become in the future. So, take time to write down a number of topic ideas. Think about them and start a draft of one or a few of your ideas. Over time, you will see which topic stands out and for which you feel most passionate about.

3. The idea you chose to write about should be simple. Simple.

4. Share a piece of who you are and reflect: For example, I am a listener. I like to ask questions and take the time to listen. At one of my first jobs, I realized that I enjoyed advising and working with students because I was a person in their life that listened to their thoughts and problems. It has helped me to be a strong student advocate, counselor and teacher.

5. Make sure you are answering the essay prompt. The common app essay is a 650 word essay.

6. Have a teacher or counselor review your essay.

7. Ensure that you have carved out time over the entire summer to dedicate to working through each stage of the writing process. Manage your time. You’ve got this!

Here is the website for the common app essay prompts:

https://www.commonapp.org/blog/2022-2023-common-app-essay-prompts

A few thoughts on how to make your final decision….

After you receive all of your college admission decisions, you will need to assess your choices and make a final decision.

1. Lay out all of your acceptances on a table. Look at each school and think over how each makes you feel.

   1. How does the college make you feel?

   2. Review the location and size of each school

   3. At which college can you imagine yourself at most? Why?

2. Re-visit Campus: Many schools offer an accepted student day. If not, make a plan to re-visit a few campuses, if you are unsure of which to choose to attend.

   1. Meet with financial aid if you have any questions.

   2. Ask about important issues to you such as housing, res life, support services for students such as disability resource center or mental health support.

   3. Talk with current students while on campus.

3. Compare financial aid awards and contact the offices with questions.

4. While there is no rush, make sure you do not miss the deadline for notifying a college.

5. There is NO perfect school. Sorry folks, but it’s true. Just like all decisions in life, it’s part of your journey and what YOU make of college is what you’ll gain. And congratulations!

How to request a letter of recommendation

Now that the end of the school year is near, it is time for high school juniors to ask teachers for letters of recommendation. Spring is the best time to ask. This gives teachers the summer to write letters. Remember, teachers do not get paid extra for writing letters of recommendation. They write them on their own time. Here are my tips for how to ask.

1. Ask in person: Find a time, either before school, after school or at lunch time to ask a teacher when they are not too busy. Make eye contact and ask if they’d be willing to write you a letter of recommendation for your college application. During the conversation, share with the teacher anything of interest about you that may help the teacher write a compelling letter. What major you may be interested pursuing, courses you might be interested in taking, an internship you are looking into etc. If your school provides a brag sheet for you to complete to help the teacher write the letter, make sure you complete it.

2. Ask a Core Course Teacher: Admissions offices look for letters of recommendation to be written by core course teachers. So, request a letter from your science, math, history, English, or foreign language teacher. If you are applying to a specialized college (STEM) and they request that you have a science or math teacher recommendation, make sure you follow through.

3. Ask a teacher that gave you an A: Did you do well in the class? Even if you received a B for one quarter but improved your grade after that you can still ask that teacher. You want to ask a teacher from a core course that you did very well in and showed participation and enthusiasm.

4. Is the teacher from 11th or 10th grade? You should request a letter of recommendation from a teacher from 11th grade. But if that is not possible 10th grade would be the next best option. 9th grade is too far in the past. 11th grade teachers can write about your most current performance which admission offices look for.

5. Does the teacher specialize in what you want to study? If the teacher teaches in the field in which you want to study, bonus! This will help support your application tenfold!

Last, make sure to say thank you when asking for the letter of recommendation. Send a thank you note after the letter is written. Teachers who write letters of recommendation should be thanked!

Time to make your summer plans…

Although it is still early spring, this is the time to make your summer plans. Here are a few ideas. Remember, you can’t go wrong with plans that make you feel happy and fulfilled. But, you can go wrong if you don’t do anything over the summer. Do something, for sure.

1. Job: Job rates for summer employment are down but that does not mean that it’s looked down upon to hold a job. In fact, your resume and college application will look great with some type of work experience, especially if you find the work fun and rewarding. Every type of job has a take away, in fact, working by waiting tables, serving food or helping others teaches many life long learning skills. (I worked for the US Post Office for two summers and I learned a lot about myself from that job experience!)

2. Volunteer: To me, this too is a job and can be more rewarding than a paid position if you find a volunteer opportunity that fits your interests. I worked with a student who was interested in nursing, so she volunteered at a local hospital. She delivered menus, newspapers and magazines to patients. This position exposed her to the operation and administration of how a hospital functions. And it also helped her decide whether she definitely wanted to pursue a nursing degree.

3. ‘Job Shadow’: This entails reaching out and asking a person who works in a professional field that may be of interest to you and ‘shadow’ her for a day. The summer is a great time to do so. A student I worked with last year, reached out to her former elementary school teacher as she is very interested in pursuing a degree in elementary education. She was able to ‘shadow’ her former teacher for a day and learn more about teaching.

4. Create something new and think outside the box!: Use your time over the summer to create a business, organize a camp or create a project. For example, a student I work with, who is an avid golfer, created a golf camp for kids. It is a three day camp, that he and his former high school teammate organize and they even have a tournament and trophy on the last day. He used creativity, leadership, and management skills to design the golf camp from scratch!

5. Rest: Yes, you read it, rest. Although I do not mean to say, rest all summer but make sure you travel, rest at home, take time off to re-charge between your school years. Summer is a time to enjoy yourself!

4 Tips for getting off the Waitlist

Respond to being put on the waitlist at a certain college by letting that school know you’d like to stay on the waitlist. This is usually done through the admissions portal or by email.

1. Let your guidance counselor know that you are waitlisted at that certain school and that it is your top choice. He may call the school on your behalf.

2. Contact your Admissions Rep and let him know that the college is your top choice and that you would attend if offered a spot in the incoming class. This can be done via email or through your admissions portal.

3. Make sure to deposit at a school that you were accepted to by May 1st. Waitlists vary in movement. There are a lot of variables as to why a student is or is not offered a spot off the waitlist. Institutions wait to see what their enrollment looks like before determining if they will need to use their waitlist after May 1st.

5 Tips for Accepted Student Day

So you’ve been accepted into a number of colleges and universities. Now you need to decide which to attend. A great exercise to help you make the big decision is to attend Accepted Student Day events. Here are my five tips on how to make the best of these events:

1. Talk to as many current students as possible. Ask them about campus life, courses, housing and everything else.

2. Go on a campus tour and ask the student tour guide as many questions as possible. Read bulletin boards around campus during the tour as well. This will give you a feel for events held on campus.

3. Eat a meal in a dining hall. It is a great way to see a lot of current students and to check out the food.

4. Sit in on a class to get a sense of the faculty.

5. If offered, attend an activities/club fair. This will help you determine what activities are available to students.

   Good Luck!