Students have a perfect opportunity, through the Common App Essay, to share any “story” of their life. Other than the Activities section, which is tightly limited by word count, the essay is the only section where students can let colleges know about their special talents, interests, or some aspect of their life story, that makes them a great match for their potential college.
For $1,500 per hour, parents can hire Command Education in New York City to guide their child’s college application process, according to a New York Post article just weeks ago.
Fortunately, most parents seeking a private advisor for their college bound children are not paying anything close to that figure.
Why is there such a great demand for private college consultants? It’s mostly a numbers game. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) calculates student-to counselor ratios at public schools throughout the country using data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Its recent report showed an average student to counselor ratio in New Jersey of 337 to 1. That’s more impressive than the national average of 470 to 1, but still quite alarming. (The ASCA recommends a ratio of 250 to 1.)
College bound students with a specialized talent are in high demand by universities with a revolving student body. Almost every college hosts a gamut of sports teams, dance teams, bands/musical ensembles, and other academic and cultural organizations that require members with a particular skill. As students earn their college degree and graduate, they need to be replaced with fresh talent from the incoming student body.
High school students applying to colleges should highlight the specific skills they would contribute – and the more unique the better. Athletes who excel at less popular sports, such as lacrosse, ice hockey, volleyball, water polo, fencing, and gymnastics, have a better chance of gaining acceptance, with scholarships, than those engaged in the more common sports where the competition is greater.
A similar scenario exists with music. The “rarer” the instrument, the better the chance it will secure a college acceptance, often with scholarship money. College musicians in high demand are typically those proficient on the harp, oboe, tuba, bassoon, and French horn. According to campusreel.org, there are 1,534 scholarships totaling $42,500,000 available to Band/Marching Band member students.
Among the multitude of lifestyle changes brought on by Covid was the opportunity to apply to colleges without SAT scores – known as going “test optional.” Colleges adopted this policy as a lifeline to ensure that they continued to receive applications from many more prospective students than they could possibly admit, maintaining their reputation as being highly competitive.
But the tide is turning, and current high school students who opt out of preparing for, and taking, the SAT are greatly limiting their options. The SAT (or ACT) is once again required by many of the most elite, and competitive, universities throughout the country including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Georgetown University, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, University of Florida and Florida State University, and the United States Naval Academy, Military Academy, and Air Force Academy. Colleges realize that no student is currently prevented from taking the SAT due to Covid, so those who do not submit scores either did not bother taking the test or did not earn scores worth submitting.
There’s a lot of talk these days about what colleges can and cannot consider on students’ college applications. Affirmative action has long been debated; so too has Legacy preference.
Students need to recognize what is in their control and what is not, and make the most of the areas in which they have full power.
On the newest Common Application, which went live on August 1st, there are still questions about place of birth and whether one identifies as American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White. Those who choose Asian are asked to be more specific. There’s also a “school specific” question asked by most colleges to identify which applicants have family members who are alumni. How this information is used is beyond any student’s control. For some, it may give their application a boost.
