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For most high schoolers, college applications can be a daunting prospect. Nationwide, millions of students apply for college every year with the hopes that their application will stand out among the crowd. To help ease the process, Rhodes College’s director of admission, Megan Starling, offers advice to rising seniors.
Memphis Parent: When should high school students start preparing for college and the college application process?
Megan Starling: The best way to start preparing for college, and even the application process, is to make the most of the high school experience. There is no need to wait until junior or senior year for that to happen! The various ways that a student might explore their interests and get involved in their community will help inform their college search and prepare them for the best transition to college. Freshmen and sophomores can join clubs and organizations, participate in arts and athletics, and dedicate time and attention to succeeding in their classes.
As juniors and seniors, these same students will start to think about how these extracurricular interests translate to opportunities in college. They will have gotten to know their teachers well and challenged themselves to rigor that stretches them. Choosing the right academic schedule will help them identify favorite — and least favorite — subjects. These students will have what they need for the college application, but more importantly, they will know something about their interests and strengths to pursue the best college fit.
What are ways that rising seniors can prepare for the college process?
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, seniors can still pursue an effective and rewarding college search. Rising seniors need to first figure out what kind of college experience they are seeking. Do they want a large school experience? Do they want to live in a city or a small college town? How far from home do they want to travel? What are the aspects of college that they can’t live with and what are things they can’t live without? What role will finances play?
I talk with so many seniors who haven’t spent any time answering these questions for themselves — and started their search only considering what colleges needed from them to be admitted. To build a college list, with the above criteria in mind, students should consult web resources like Cappex, Niche, and Colleges that Change Lives, as well as their college advisor, should they have one. With the list made, the exploration begins. Colleges and universities have invested lots of resources into making sure students can research them virtually.
While the campus visit would be ideal but may not be possible, students can participate in virtual events that can be as engaging and informative — and no one is limited by the cost or time required to travel! If a campus visit is in your future, please adjust your expectations for what you might experience during your tour. At Rhodes, in an effort to keep guests and community members safe, new policies and procedures might impact how you can experience a residential college campus. You might even find that the virtual offerings more closely represent campus life and culture.
Besides shaping and researching the college list, rising seniors should begin thinking about applications themselves. Some early work will be appreciated once a hectic senior year begins. They can begin working on essays, update their resumes, and think about the best candidates for letters of recommendation.
Many seniors would also include standardized testing in their summer and early fall plans. I recommend reviewing the testing requirements of preferred colleges and universities to see how important accessing an ACT or SAT will be. With the number of institutions who have announced a “test optional” policy, this might be an area of preparation (and stress) that becomes less important.
What advice would you give to seniors trying to balance their school work, college applications, and extracurricular activities?
In some ways, these lessons in time management and balance will serve them well for college and beyond! Keeping up with courses, college applications, and extracurricular activities are all important during senior year, but so is enjoying the many fabulous memories and experiences that are only associated with this final year of high school. It’s important to find balance and set priorities that will allow students to actually enjoy senior year.
It can be helpful for students to get some of the work related to college applications done early. Many applications open as early as August 1st. Essays can be started over the summer. Designate a regular time each week to spend on college-related needs, so college doesn’t overtake life.
Students should also consider what really matters to them during this time, especially if choices can be made that benefit physical and mental well-being. Many students pursue and continue certain courses and activities in hopes of impressing colleges and universities. The truth is, we want students to pursue a level of difficulty in class that still allows them to enjoy it. We want students to be internally motivated to participate in activities. Staying healthy and happy in the midst of the stresses of senior year and college applications should be the priority.
What do you look for when reading college applications? Do you have any tips for rising seniors?
We spend time connecting all pieces of the application to understand a student’s overall story, what’s known as holistic review. We are trying to discern how academically prepared they are to enroll at our institution and how they will contribute to our campus community once they arrive. Certainly, we get the greatest sense of preparedness from the rigor of the curriculum, the grade point average, as well as individual grades and trends and the standardized test score.
Moving forward, Rhodes and many other schools across the country have decided to make the test score an optional part of the application. Too many students won’t be able to take a standardized test in time for fall deadlines, so accessing testing would serve as a barrier to admission. You can expect admission offices to pay closer attention to the high school record when a test score isn’t required. Now, more than ever, it’s important to make sure that an anomaly on a transcript is proactively addressed by the applicant. Students should offer an explanation, rather than ask a counselor to guess.
We get an idea of how they might enhance our community through letters of recommendation from counselors and teachers, the student’s own personal statement, and a review of their activities and interests from high school. One of my tips comes from that list of activities and interests — please don’t submit an additional resume. A resume is a great way to plan for the college application by collecting all of one’s achievements and experiences in one place.
From there, students should use the space provided in the application itself to communicate how they spent their time outside of class. The limited space sometimes requires students to prioritize what they include, and that is by design. Conversely, there is no need to use every line of the activities section. We are looking for quality over quantity, meaningful over trivial.
What are some tips that you would give to students that are having difficulty with applications?
Some of the stress of completing applications can be solved through better organization. Keep a folder for each college or a spreadsheet that clearly outlines items that are required, when each is due, and whether or not it has been submitted. Scholarship and financial aid requirements should be included, too. You might also include login information if the school has an online portal so that you can quickly confirm what the school has received. Staying on top of deadlines helps avoid lots of last-minute stress!
It can also be helpful for students to reframe the way they think about college applications. It’s true that there is some biographical information to complete, which is tedious and hardly rewarding. However, the majority of many college applications ask students to tell their stories: How have you spent your time in high school? How did you perform in your classes? What do you want to share about yourself through a personal statement? How have you made an impact on your teachers and your school community?
Rarely do people get the chance to convey so much of what matters to them and why as in college applications. If students consider the storytelling opportunity that their applications represent, they might not seem so arduous to complete.
Any extra tips or advice?
Give yourself and the schools on your college list grace and patience in this process. There is so much you can’t control, even in “normal” times. There is also so much about this application year that remains unknown to both students and families and the colleges and universities. There are enough outstanding questions and what ifs to drive us all crazy.
We are doing our best to remain flexible while providing answers and alternatives. Your concerns about an unrepresentative spring semester, canceled activities, lack of access to standardized testing, the inability to visit campuses, and financial instability are all founded and legitimate. Remember that your concerns are shared around the world by your peers — you are not alone. Colleges and universities hear you and are working hard to ensure that you can still find the best academic, social, and financial fit possible.