Finding Colleges That Fit You
In May, I visited the University of Salamanca, a public university in Salamanca, Spain founded in 1218. It is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation. Many international students study abroad at the University of Salamanca to learn Spanish. The university attracts more than 2000 students a year to its Spanish courses for non-native speakers.
It’s December, and students who applied early will be hearing back soon from colleges to which they applied. Here’s a flowchart that outlines the student’s next steps based on whether they were accepted, deferred or denied.
The ED Instructions in the flowchart can be found here.
If you have been accepted, you are probably very happy. Celebrate!
If you have been denied admission you may feel sad or disappointed. Being rejected is hard, but it doesn’t reflect on your personal worth. So, don’t take it personally!
It’s May 4. National College Decision Day, the deadline for students to select the college they would start attending in Fall 2023, was three days ago. If you are a high school senior who never applied, didn’t get accepted by any four-year college, or who doesn’t like any of the colleges you were accepted to, don’t despair.
Students still looking for an undergraduate college for Fall 2023 have many choices. Currently the National Association for College Admission Counseling website (https://www.nacacnet.org/college-openings-update/) lists 295 colleges with openings, and the list is updated daily. You can search the site by state (or country) or several other criteria, including housing and financial aid.
For example, when I searched for colleges with freshmen openings, housing and financial aid in New York, I found these sixteen 4-year colleges (listed alphabetically): Adelphi University, Alfred University, Hartwick College, Hofstra University, Ithaca College, Long Island University – LIU Post Campus, Manhattanville College, Nazareth College, Niagara University, Pace University, St, John Fisher University, SUNY College at Fredonia, SUNY College at Oswego, Utica University, Wagner College, and Wells College.
If you have been following the news, you may have read about ChatGPT and the controversy surrounding the use of ChatGPT for college application essays and schoolwork. I thought it would be interesting to ask ChatGPT some questions about these topics and share its response with you. Here are the questions I asked and the written responses that ChatGPT provided.
What is ChatGPT?
“ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI, capable of generating human-like text based on the input it receives. The model was trained on a massive corpus of text data and uses deep learning techniques to generate responses to prompts in a conversational context. ChatGPT can be used for various purposes, such as answering questions, generating creative writing, or even as a chatbot for customer service. The goal of ChatGPT is to generate text that is contextually relevant and grammatically correct, allowing for a more natural and fluid interaction between users and the model.”
Explain the dangers of using ChatGPT to write college application essays.
“Using an AI language model like ChatGPT to write a college application essay can be dangerous for several reasons:
It’s important to remember that college admissions committees are looking for evidence of a student’s character, interests, and potential to contribute to the university community. Using an AI language model to write an admission essay is unlikely to provide that evidence and could have negative consequences for the student’s application.”
Explain the dangers of using ChatGPT to do school writing assignments.
“There are several potential dangers associated with using a language model like ChatGPT to write school assignments, including:
In summary, using a language model like ChatGPT to write school assignments can be tempting, but it is important for students to understand the potential dangers and to consider the long-term consequences of their actions.”
My advice:
Don’t use ChatGPT for college application essays or school writing assignments.
My New Year’s wishes for college admissions are increased transparency and simplified applications.
I would like to see increased transparency in both acceptance rates and financial aid. For example:
I’d like to see the application process simplified. For example, I wish there were only one form for self-reported grades across colleges. I have had students who had to fill out three different forms to self-report grades: the SRAR, the Common App Grades section, and the section of University of California application. Each of these forms is tricky and prone to error.
Understand the high school class requirements of the colleges to which you plan to apply. Many colleges and universities require or recommend a certain number of years of English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Foreign Language. Students who don’t fulfill the requirements are often ineligible to be accepted.
Last year, a student I worked with decided not to take the third year of a foreign language in high school. I had him check with the colleges he wanted to apply to that listed a requirement for a minimum of three years of foreign language. Some of these colleges indicated that they would not consider him without the third year of foreign language. This decision changed the list of colleges to which he would apply. I wanted him to understand the implication of his senior year course selection and not waste time applying to colleges that indicated they would not consider him without the third year of language.
Challenge yourself academically, while balancing your life. Take classes that challenge you (e.g., Honors, AP, or IB) while spending enough time to be healthy (e.g., to eat, sleep, exercise) and pursue your extracurricular interests.
Most colleges look at students holistically, so a tiny change in GPA is insignificant. One student recently told me she was planning to take a required art class, Pass/Fail. She didn’t want the class grade to lower her weighted GPA since the art class wasn’t an Honors or AP class. I told her not to take the class Pass/Fail because a college she was applying to required a year of art with a grade of at least a C. A decision to take the art class Pass/Fail might have had the unintended consequence of making her ineligible to be accepted to that college.
Students often do not realize that many colleges and universities will re-compute their GPA. The re-computed GPA may exclude certain classes and will often weigh the grades differently than their high school.
Read and carefully follow instructions when self-reporting grades in college applications. When self-reporting grades, carefully categorize courses. Some colleges only count English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Foreign Language courses when they re-compute GPA.
Recently, a student listed their Public Speaking class in an “Other” category instead of in English. Having more than four years in English would have been a plus for her, but her miscategorization would have jeopardized that.
Another student took a high school Geometry class in 8th grade and made the mistake of leaving that class off her self-reported grades. That error might have disqualified her from consideration at a college she was applying to where high school Geometry was required.
When something about self-reporting grades is unclear, reread the instructions. Check with your counselor or the college if that doesn’t clarify the situation. Don’t guess.
I just finished preparing a list of books for independent educational consultants and the families they serve for the Higher Education Consultants Association website.
These books would be great reference material for you, if you are a high school student or a parent of a high school student:
Dispelling College Myths
How College Admissions Works
College Selection
College Financial Concerns
College Majors
General College Guides
Specialty College Guides
College Application Essays
Going to College Advice
Most high school and college students fall into one of three categories with regard to career:
If you fall into the first category, you may want to investigate the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook to learn what level of education is needed for the career you have chosen, what the job forecast is for that career, and what the job typically pays.
If you are in the second category, you may want to find out what career options you might have if you major in that subject in college by checking out a site like this.
If you have no idea of a career or subject of interest, it might be best to determine your personality type using a Myers Briggs personality test and then see how the careers for that personality type appeal to you.
Whichever group you are in, it is good to get first hand career exposure for careers you are considering by doing as many of the following as soon as possible:
Be sure to take advantage of the career guidance available in high school and college. For example, your college advisor or a professor in your major can help you by:
Don’t forget to take advantage of your colleges Career Services offices which provides services like:
You can help yourself in your career search and growth by:
While you are in college, don’t forget to keep your grades up and make use of these services so you can do your best academically:
At many colleges and universities, the Computer Science major is impacted, that is the major continually gets more eligible applicants than it can accommodate. This is a problem that has existed for several years and appears only to be getting worse. At the Cal State University campuses “impacted” is also a designation that allows the Computer Science department to require a higher GPA or specific major preparation as a way to reduce the pool of applicants to those who are best prepared to enter the major.
If you or your student wants to major in Computer Science, you will want to read these three articles to better understand the situation:
If you are wondering what your chances are at getting accepted to a particular college or university here are four things to consider:
What percent of students do they accept?
The higher the percent of students the college accepts, the better your chance for admission. If the percent acceptance is very small, your chance of admission is very small.
Percent acceptance ranges between 2 or 3 % and 100%. Schools that accept 100% include many 2-year community colleges and some 4-year colleges.
Some schools accept a much different percent of applicants depending on whether the student applies as an early decision, early action or regular decision applicant. Percent acceptance may also vary by gender or ethnicity. In-state and out-of-state acceptance rates vary significantly and many public colleges and universities.
What criteria is important?
Important criteria may be reflected in the school’s mission statement. It also may be reflected in published data (see collegedata.com) which indicates how important (i.e., very important, important, considered, or not considered) each of the following is to the particular college:
How well do you meet the criteria?
For every criteria that is very important, important or considered by a particular college, consider how you will measure up.
For example, consider how your grades and course rigor and how your SAT/ACT test scores compare to the students the college accepts. If your high school has Naviance or SCOIR, you can use scattergrams to get an idea about how your grades and test scores stack up to others from your high school that applied to a particular college or university.
Will the major you have selected have an impact on whether you will be accepted?
The acceptance rate at some universities may also be dependent to the college which you are applying. For example, the College of Engineering may be more competitive than the College of Arts and Science.
Some majors which are in high demand and/or which there are few professors may be “impacted” majors. They may be more difficult to gain acceptance into than other majors. You may get accepted to the college or university, but not for your first choice major. At some schools, no one is accepted directly for a particular major. Students can only declare that major after meeting certain criteria as a college student (e.g., completing certain college courses with a particular grade).
Conclusion
Be realistic about your chances of admission. Be sure to include colleges with a high and medium probability of acceptance, not just colleges with low probability of acceptance.
If you need or want assistance with the college selection and application process, work with an experienced independent educational consultant like me. I help students select colleges which meet their academic, social and financial needs and I work with them throughout the application process to make sure they put their best foot forward in their applications.