Kim Spencer

2021 College Application Cycle

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There were many long-held educational processes and procedures that were upended during the past year. Completing college applications and essays and submitting them to your chosen schools can be stressful in the best of times. As schools moved to virtual models and scheduled standardized testing dates were canceled, students, parents, counselors, and admissions officers had to adapt to navigate the constantly changing landscape with the ensuing consequences.

With students unable to take the SAT or ACT,  many colleges shifted to a test-optional or test-blind admission policy. If a college is test-optional, students may still submit scores for review, whereas test-blind colleges do not look at the scores at all. This is a lingering result going into the 2021 college application cycle with many colleges keeping this policy in place. Many anticipate that the role of standardized test scores in the college admission decision will be forever changed.

The traditional end of semester AP testing schedule also had to be modified, as students moved to taking the tests at home. In addition to the expected hiccups with a test of this size moving to a virtual format so quickly, it also raised questions of fairness and equality to those students who may not have reliable technology at home and for those with disabilities who require assistance or modifications in the testing environment. 

Students had to prepare for these tests and try to maintain GPAs while suddenly adapting to an online environment with many teachers who had not received extensive training in virtual learning. Dropping into your guidance counselor’s office to ask questions was no longer an option; counselors began meeting students virtually. Students could not even participate in the tradition of visiting campuses, as colleges and universities called a halt to in-person tours. It isn’t surprising that there was a record number of students in last year’s cycle electing to take a gap year with so many changes and uncertainty. Would campuses even be open in the fall?

So how is this affecting the current application cycle? With vaccines rolling out across the country as we slowly return to normal, there is hope and expectation that campuses will be fully open in the fall and will start to resemble the traditional picture of college life we know so well. No one has a crystal ball and there are many differing predictions for what the application numbers are going to look like after last year. The students I’m working with now have all had time to adjust to various levels of online learning. They are invested in completing the application package and are excited about attending college in the fall. Some schools are resuming college campus tours, and traditional standardized testing procedures are being put back in place. With so many schools remaining test-optional, the application essay takes on increased importance. Even for schools that are still requiring test scores in the application package, the essay is more important than ever after the past year in a holistic review of the applicant. Admissions officers look to the essay to pull the student’s package together and to get to know the student. The essay really is the student’s voice speaking to the admissions officer, and appropriate topic selection is key. It is not about producing a beautifully well-written essay; it is finding that topic that will help a student stand out from the crowd and make an impression.

Students beginning the process now need to remember that they have just gone through a crucial year of high school during very extraordinary times. They should work to put together an application package that really illustrates who they are and what matters to them. When building the list of colleges to apply to, it is important to look at changes and trends in their applications and admissions. This will help them determine realistically which schools are safety, target, and reach. When this group of students transitions to college life after high school, they will do so with the knowledge that they are capable of persevering in unprecedented times. That is a quality that will help them succeed in college and beyond.

 

College Acceptance and Rejection

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College campus tours are finished, applications are complete, essays are written, reviewed, rewritten, and polished.  College lists are created and modified. Standardized test scores are submitted, transcripts are sent, and letters of recommendation have been requested. 

And now you wait.  As explained in an earlier post on the college application process, it is now multi-layered with many moving parts and can be very time-consuming. Many times, students are honestly just happy to have the task complete to turn their attention to their schoolwork and senior year activities. It is very common initially to not give any attention to the next event in the timeline. The next event in this timeline, of course, is receiving the college acceptance or rejection notifications.

As a college consultant who has been working in Florida for the past four years, I know preparing and planning for a possible rejection from your first-choice school is also a necessary step in this process.  The two biggest state schools in Florida, UF and FSU, have both made US News & World Report’s list of 20 public schools with low acceptance rates. Both schools received over 60,000 applications last year which was over an 8% increase from the year prior which saw a similar jump from the year prior. With this increase in numbers, it obviously has become that much more competitive with the average 50% of students accepted demonstrating outstanding academic achievements:

           UF         FSU
GPA: 4.3 – 4.6 GPA: 4.1- 4.5
SAT: 1330 – 1460 SAT: 1290 – 1410
ACT: 29 – 33  ACT: 29 – 32

When working with a student, I look at the student’s application as a whole and the acceptance rates at the schools the student expresses interest in attending.  I advise applying to a minimum of five schools: two safety, two target, and a reach.  All acceptance rates are publicly published and easily attained.  Students and parents should always look at those rates when starting the college application process to ensure realistic conversations. After watching such hard work for so many years, it can feel disheartening to see a student disappointed but as we all know, disappointments are a part of life, and not getting into the first-choice school is not the end of the world. The internet is loaded with success stories by people who were rejected from their first choice school. Huffington Post listed five reasons why the rejection may actually be a blessing in disguise.

Colleges are aware there are many more very qualified students applying these days than available spots, and many are creating alternative pathways to enrollment to combat this trend. FSU has created their Pathways Program, and UF has both the Innovation Academy as well as the PaCe Program. Similar programs are rolling out at colleges across the country.

When waiting for college acceptance and rejection notifications to arrive, everyone hopes for that “fat envelope” which is now computer screen confetti, but obviously, everyone is not going to receive it.  Parents and guardians can help prepare students by monitoring their own emotions and expectations. When students receive disappointing news, it is important they have the ability to put it in perspective. The focus should continue to be a celebration of all they’ve accomplished thus far and excitement over this next big life milestone.

Your Essay is Your Voice

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The college application essay has become a very important component in a candidate’s ability to stand out from the crowded field vying for acceptance to a university.   In the application itself, students have opportunities to list honors, describe activities, and report GPA and test scores.  The essay is the place where a student can actually be heard and show personality.  The Admission Committees are reviewing thousands of essays each year.  The majority of these essays are very well-written.  A perfectly written, well-researched essay may earn an A in English class, but it is likely to blend in with all the others in the college application arena.  So how does a student stand out from the crowd?

Prompt Selection

The first step is to spend some time really reviewing the prompts to select one that will allow for a personal story.  This does not have to be a story about a grand achievement or adventure.  The best college application essays are those where the student’s passion comes through.   The Coalition and the Common App release a list of prompts each year.  While reviewing the prompts and forming a writing plan, students should always think about how many other students could write about what they are considering for their topic.  If a student writes a great essay about technology being a blessing and a curse for teenagers these days, just about every other teenager could write the same essay.  There needs to be a personal connection to the topic to have it resonate with the reader.  

Start Early

Once a prompt and topic have been decided, students should let their ideas come out in the rough draft without being too focused on mechanics.   If the topic is good, spelling and grammatical errors can be identified and addressed through editing, rewriting, and polishing.  The College Board offers 8 Tips for Your Best College Application Essay:

  • Get started by brainstorming
  • Let your first draft flow
  • Develop three essay parts
  • Be specific
  • Find a creative angle
  • Be honest
  • Get feedback
  • Proofread and make corrections

Know Your Audience

While it is important to let your individuality shine, students also need to be careful.  In the effort to personalize and have their voices heard, many students become too informal and conversational in their college application essays.  Students should be cautious when trying to inject humor and also avoid casual second person references – you know?  This is an academic essay; students should maintain a mature tone and steer clear of slang.  It is also important to remember the information admission officers will get through the actual application. This is not the place to list awards or talk about all the student’s extracurricular activities. 

This can be the place to pull the unifying thread in the application together by telling a story that highlights a “theme” in the application.  

Word Limit

I discussed the intricacies of the word limit in an earlier blog.   The Coalition App and the Common App have different word limits.  However, many schools have their own school-specific college application essay word limit.  Students should be aware of the confines of the word limit for the essay they are writing as they are working on their rough draft.  The essay does not have to go to the limit.  It is better to be clear and under the limit than too wordy with repetition and unnecessary information.  

 

The Winning Essay!

With the volume of applications colleges receive these days, the essay can be the determining factor between two candidates with near identical stats. 

  • Students should check, double check, and triple check their essays before submitting.   If a trusted advisor or friend is not available to proofread, there are many online proofreading services; students should always have another set of eyes look over the college application essay.  
  • If a student isn’t a natural writer and seems to be hitting a roadblock with the process, free-writing exercises are wonderful as a warm-up activity.  Get a journal and write, write, write without the pressure of a formal essay.  This will help to start the writing process flow.
  • Reading the essay aloud is an effective way for students to catch grammatical errors, missing words, and repetitive phrases.  When reading silently, students often “hear” what they meant to say and not what is actually on the page.  This is also a good way for students to hear their own written voice.  Knowing and owning one’s written voice is an essential skill in college.

 

 

The 22-23 FAFSA Opens October 1st!

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Parents of high school seniors across the country have been seeing numerous FAFSA announcements, and many parents with a student going through the college application process for the first time are wondering exactly what this even means.  Just like the college application process has become more involved, so has the process for finding financial aid to help with the skyrocketing cost.  Yesterday, a parent asked me if they filled out the FAFSA to receive the Florida Bright Futures award.  This is a reasonable question, but illustrates the lack of information being given to parents to understand the basics of these programs:

FAFSA

The FAFSA is a Free Application for Federal Student Aid.  The application is available on October 1st and remains open to submit for a full 21 months.  However, each state and many individual schools have their own deadlines.  It is advantageous for families to complete the FAFSA as soon as it opens.  US News & World Report breaks down a simple explanation of the FAFSA and also current individual state deadlines.  

To fill out the FAFSA, parents need to visit the Department of Education’s site: DOE create FAFSA. It is a lengthy, but straightforward process; it does take some time to complete, and accuracy is essential.  Of the many FAFSA mistakes one could make when completing the application, one of the most common is using the wrong tax year information. In 2017, the Department of Education began releasing the application earlier and requiring the prior year’s tax data.  Before 2017, the application was released January 1st, and many families hustled to get their tax information completed for the application cycle.  The earlier release date takes away that stress, but it does add a little confusion as to exactly which financials parents should report.  Luckily, there now is also an IRS retrieval tool that enables parents to link the correct tax data directly to their application.  

The FAFSA information provided is used to determine student loan amounts as well as eligibility for work-study programs and federal grants.  The federal student loans have very low interest rates, and federal grants are “gift awards” that do not have to be repaid.   Students who qualify for work-study programs can be building a resume while taking down their college cost.  

BRIGHT FUTURES

The Bright Futures Scholarship Program is a Florida specific program to provide different types of educational funding options for qualified students.  Florida high school guidance counselors play a large role in helping the students with the Bright Futures process.  There are three Bright Futures scholarship programs each with their own eligibility requirements and award amounts:  FAS (Florida Academic Scholars), FMS (Florida Merit Scholars), and GSV (Gold Seal Vocational Scholars).  The FAS scholarship is the most competitive requiring a minimum GPA 3.5, ACT 29, SAT 1290 and at least 100 service hours.  There is also required coursework included in these minimums. Full eligibility requirements for all three programs can be found in this downloadable Bright Futures Handbook. 

GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Grants and scholarships are referred to as “gift awards” as they do not have to be re-paid.  Grants are usually need-based whereas scholarships are typically merit-based.  Many universities have school specific scholarships for both in-state and out-of-state students.  When researching schools, students and parents should always check the school’s published information about available scholarship opportunities and requirements.  

Students can also conduct a broad scholarship search directly through their College Board account: College Board scholarship search.  Just like the application process itself, sifting through all the possibilities of financial help with college cost is the most productive when it is broken down into steps.  The first step in this process is completing the FAFSA.