College Counseling

College Flight Plan for Helicopter Parents

2012-01-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

Anytime I mention "Helicopter Parent" to a parent of a high school kid, they are quick to deflect any possible affiliation with that label.

My response, I think that a parent who isn't a "helicopter parent" during the college process hurts their child.

Now let me first delineate between the two types of helicopter parents.

There is the helicopter parent who provides their child low ground cover.

And there is the helicopter parent who provides their child low ground control.

The former parent helps their student manage the stress that comes with the college process.

The latter parent contributes to their student's stress that comes with the college process.

And there will be inevitable stress.

Recently in The Chronicle of Higher Education, there was an article on how pets experience stress during the college process. The study revealed that pets aren't petted enough by their owners during the waiting period, which as a result, heightens the pet's stress level.

So if pets experience stress during this process, you can bet that parents will. And certainly the student.

Too often we forget that this is the first foray for many of these kids into the "adult world". This will be the first time they are critiqued, judged, evaluated, accepted, or rejected. In our hyper therapeutic, self-esteem culture, our kids have grown up being told how amazing they are. It's like the kid who sings in the living room to an audience of family members one day and the next day is standing in line to audition with 20,000 other living-room singers for American Idol.

It's one thing right to sing in front of Aunt Bethany and Uncle Fred and Grandpa Glenny. It's quite another thing when it's Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, and Randy Jackson.

This summer I had a chance to sit under the teaching of Dr. JoAnn Deak. Dr. Deak is the leading field researcher at The Ohio State University on adolescent brain development.

In her session on "Understanding the Adolescent Brain," she opened by saying point blank: "You are going against neurobiology. The adolescent brain is not equipped to handle the stresses and strains that 17-18 years old are put under, especially when it comes to the college process."

Dr.Deak explained how the Corpus collosum is under massive construction during the teenage years. Dr. Deaks compared the Corpus collosum to a 10-lane highway, like I-5 in LA. In order for teens to be able to think, organize, judge, and make morally sound, non-destructive decisions, "all lanes" on the Cc have to be open. What often happens though is that stress causes the Amygdala (feeling center) to swell, which then triggers a suppression of the Prefrontal cortex, which then causes the "highway to shut down". What ensues is a series of emotional, academic, and volitional "crashes".

This series of events often happens more in boys than girls. Ever wonder why your 17 year old boy acts like a 5 year old? Now you know.

So what the new brain research shows is that adolescence is the worst time for organization. Many times kids are trying to juggle 10 balls with one hand and a finger.

This is then why we need to help create a flight plan that prevents our kids from crashing into a mountain.

So with that said, let's look at 6 ways we can help our kids navigate through the turbulence and around the mountains that are sure to come.

1. Map out timeline(s).

There are three timelines you want to help map out for your student.

Standardized Test Timeline. You can sign up your student to take the ACT by clicking here; the same for the SAT I/II here. Remember: students are responsible for sending all test scores to colleges. You get 4 free schools to send scores to and then you pay for additional schools. (My advice is for you to send all test scores). The goal is for the student to take both tests once, and one of the test a total of three times. Students applying to highly selective schools will want to take 2-3 SAT II Subject Tests in May or June.

College Visit timeline. Map out dates/times during breaks that you can visit schools. Parents should take the lead on coordinating visits. College web sites have information regarding tour times. They also have info regarding state/school admission rep. For the "tourist season", you will want to catch a tour and try to schedule an informal meeting with our rep (email rep to schedule time). For the "buyers season", the colleges often contact you to try and get your student out for a "shopper's preview".

College Application time line. The key is to get down where the student will apply, when they will apply, and what kind of application they will submit. We encourage our students to apply to "rolling" schools (often public universities) in Sept/Oct, then focus on "Early" applications (whether Early Decision [ED], Early Action [EA], or SCEA [Single Choice Early Action]) in Oct./Nov., and then "ED2"/Regular admissions (2nd Early Decision round - schools like Vanderbilt, American, NYU, Davidson offer this).

Admission Terms:

Rolling: non-binding; public institutions; apply July-May; quick turnaround with results.
ED: Early Decision; binding; public/private schools; usually Nov. 1 deadline; mid-Dec. results.
ED 2: Early Decision; binding; usually a Jan. deadline; mid-March result.
SCEA: Single Choice Early Action; non-binding > May 1 to decide; apply to only one school (public universities are excluded); Nov. 1/15 deadline; "bear trap" watch out! ("hook" students only).
EA: Early Action; non-binding > May 1 to decide; usually a Nov.-Dec. deadline.
Regular: non-binding; May 1 to decide; usually a Dec-Jan deadline.

2. Do your homework/have a plan for highly selective schools (25%-6% admit rate).

Click here to view Early Admission results. Click here to view Regular Admission application volumes at 50 highly selective schools. It's important to do your homework:

Application requirements: SAT Subject Tests - how many? required/or recommended? Teacher recommendations (1-2)? Peer recommendation? Interview?
Early vs. Regular admit statistics (app.volume/accept %)
Colleges within University admit statistics (engineering vs. liberal arts)
Mid-50% range for test scores (Early vs. Regular admission)
Hook: What is my hook? (Legacy, athlete, underrepresented minority, 1st gen, underrepresented gender)
Application Type I: Common App. Universal App., Institutional App.)
Application Type II: Early Action (EA)? Early Decision (ED)? Early Decision 2 (ED2)? Single Choice Early Action (SCEA)? Regular?
Supplemental essays (click here to find what students were recommended/required)

Have a plan:

Create Contact History - email/visit non-binding (EA or SCEA) schools
Apply to 3-4 schools other than ED 1 early (1-2 rolling; 1-2 early action) I compare this strategy to a archery target. If your "ED" school is the small bulls eye, then add a couple target rings that are easier to hit. That way your student gets a handful of "Yes" letters before or during the time they receive good or bad news on their "bulls eye school".
Additional recommendation letters (alumni, local dignitaries, youth pastors, people beyond school that can speak to character, leadership, excellence).

3. Be both a "cosmetic consultant" and "content consultant" on applications.

Examples of cosmetic consultant: grammar, punctuation, spelling, family information [employment, job title, email, name and year of college] on the application, etc. I have found that our texting, Twitter, and Facebook generation tends to slip into those modes of writing on applications. I can't tell you how many times I've had to "touch up" acme on the face of an application that is peppered with i's and u's.

Examples of content consultant: the overarching goal in revealing a student (not packaging) involves what I call the "framework work" in the application: this framework work involves narration (telling the student's story well), synthesis (connecting-the-dots of major themes, points of excellence, salient traits), and distinction (elevating that student from the pack; revealing what separates them from the massive blob of high test scores and numbers; and hurdling any preconceived "stereotypes" [i.e. the preppy rich kid; the ditzy blond; the dumb job; the brainy textbookcentric Indian kid; the poor black kid on scholarship, etc.]). This is never an easy task. And no student (or counselor) can create this framework without the parent's insights.

So what I encourage parents to do is help identify the major "spheres" of their child's life, and then help the student and counselor identify "narrative moments" that have a colorful "word picture" within that moment that we narrate. Winston Churchill once said, "The ear is 1/10th the organ of the eye." College admissions need more than reasons to accept a student. They need visions. We want to connect then not only with the admission officer's mind, but their imaginations. Too often we forget that the mind is not so much a debating hall as it is a picture gallery. So help think of key images, frozen "action moments", and metaphors that the student and counselor can pull into their essays, interviews, rec letters, etc,

4. Aim for 75/25. To your left is a picture of a class discussion from my Honors English class last week. Modeled after the Harkness Table, we have days in class where the students dialogue about the text we are reading, and I chart the threads of conversation between them. What I've found is that our Harkness Table days are my best days as a teacher. And it is not so much because of what I'm saying or doing, but because of what I am not saying or doing. My silence isn't absence; it's presence. And in my silence my students can hear the words, "Take ownership of your education. Make it an extraordinary experience. Take the conversation in directions that challenge, fascinate, and energize us for going further up and further in.

So here is the point: The more your student can “own” the college experience, the more satisfied they will be with the journey and end destination. Aim then to foster an environment where the student does 75% of the “college talking” – in meetings with college counselor or college reps, on tours, in info sessions, and in post-tour conversations.

Pre-Tour: Encourage student to research schools before they visit campus or visit with rep (on campus or at Casady).

Pre-Tour: Have your student write down 5 questions in their Phone to ask the tour guide.

Tour: Encourage students to jot down “Notes” on phone of major impressions, cool programs, specifics.

Post Tour: Ask reflective questions:

"What did you learn about yourself on this college visit?"

"Why do you think this school may or may not be a good fit for you?

"What are one or two specific things you liked about this school?

5. Help "lower the red line" (aka "stressed out big time"...aka "neurobiological crash"... aka "meltdown mode").

Senior Academic Schedule - consider allowing the senior to substitute out one class they don't look forward to taking in their senior year. Still aim for 5 core classes with upward traction rigor-wise in at least 4 of them.

College Application "Class" Schedule - help students think ahead and set aside a couple major blocks of time to work on college applications. It's amazing what a 3-4 hour, uninterrupted morning or afternoon sessions will do to help students get stuff done.

Create "Decompressor" Spaces - make sure to create time and space for non-college conversation and activities that are fun, relaxing, and stress relieving.

College Application Volume - You've heard the maxim: "Eight is enough." Try to cap the application volume at eight*. And aim for balance - 1-2 Reach Schools, 2-3 Target Schools, 1-2 Financial Likely Schools (these are getting tougher to find).
* Casady seniors averaged 4.7 apps in 2011.

6. If you place a premium value on affordability, then you need to consider "going merit-based", "going private", and "going high".

To "go merit" means you look at schools that are merit-based and not need-based. Most schools that are "highly ranked" and "highly selective" give only need-based aid.

To "go private" means you look primarily at private institutions where you will find more merit monies. State schools are not going to "show you the money" based on massive budget cuts (click here to read recent Times article on the emerging crisis). Most state schools will only give students money based on strict objective criteria (GPA; test scores).

To "go high" means to look at schools where your student's academic credentials (GPA; test scores) are higher than most in application pool (top 25%).

In closing, parents who provide this kind of "low ground covering" will help this student make what is often the most difficult and challenging transition in their life.

From childhood to adulthood.

God knows I needed my parent's help when I went through this tumultuous transition.

And I'm so thankful that they were there to help navigate me through to a safe landing.

Below is the "Prezi" I used for my presentation to parents.

"College Flight Plan for Helicopter Parents" on Prezi

11th Grade College Night - Parent Breakout Sessions

2012-01-24T09:49:00.001-08:00

11TH GRADE COLLEGE NIGHT
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25TH 7:00-8:30 PM
PARENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS (Johnston Math Building)

FORMAT: We are offering three rounds of breakout sessions. Each session will last approximately 18-minutes with a 2-minute pass period. We ask that if you want to chat with a presenter that you wait until the last breakout session ends.

SCHEDULE:

7:30 pm – 7:48 pm BREAKOUT SESSION #1
7:48 pm – 7:50 pm PASSING PERIOD
7:50 pm – 8:08 pm BREAKOUT SESSION #2
8:08 pm – 8:10 pm PASSING PERIOD
8:10 pm – 8:28 pm BREAKOUT SESSION #3

SESSION TITLE/PRESENTER:

“Trends/Strategies for Selective College Admissions” (Wes Waggoner, Dean of Admissions at SMU): This session will explore topics related to “selectivity reality”, major factors in admission decisions (the “Big 3”), other admission factors (essays, recs, resume), waitlists and why selective schools use them. There will be time for Q&A after presentation.

“The Small(er)/Private College Experience” (Rodney Grilliot, Assistant Director of Admissions at OCU): This session will explore myths that often derail students/parents from exploring smaller/private schools , as well as discuss the benefits/values of small/private college experience.

“College Athletics 101” (Jen Warden, Former Division I Coach): This session will orient parents to the different types of college athletics (D-1, D-2, D-3, NAIA) and effective strategies for getting on a “coach’s radar”. Expect ample Q&A time with Coach Warden.

“Standardized Testing 101” (Melissa Bruner, Princeton Review Territory Manager): This session will orient parents to the format, strategies, and testing programs available for the standardized tests (ACT, SAT 1, SAT II) used to evaluate applicants at most colleges/universities.

“College Flight Plan for HP’ers” (Josh Bottomly, Director of College Counseling): This session is meant to provide “helicopter parents” (positive connotation) with practical ways to help their students manage the stresses and strains of the college process.

College Flight Plan for Helicopter Parents

2012-01-23T08:48:00.000-08:00

Anytime I mention "Helicopter Parent" to a parent of a high school kid, they are quick to deflect any possible affiliation with that label.

My response, I think that a parent who isn't a "helicopter parent" during the college process hurts their child.

In other words, taking a "satellite dish" parenting approach - distant, remote, "hands off", signaling to their kid once in awhile - is not helpful.

Now let me first delineate between the two types of helicopter parents.

One is good.

The other is bad.

There is the helicopter parent who provides their child low ground cover.

And there is the helicopter parent who provides their child low ground control.

The former parent helps their student manage the stress that comes with the college process.

The latter parent contributes to their student's stress that comes with the college process.

And there will be inevitable stress.

Recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education, there was an article on how pets experience stress during the college process. The study revealed that pets aren't petted enough by their owners during the waiting period, which as a result, heightens the pet's stress level.

So if pets experience stress during this process, you can bet that parents will. And certainly the student.

Too often we forget that this is the first foray for many of these kids into the "adult world". This will be the first time they are critiqued, judged, evaluated, accepted, or rejected. In our hyper therapeutic, self-esteem culture, our kids have grown up being told how amazing they are. It's like the kid who sings in the living room to an audience of family members. When they finish, the family showers praise upon the kid. A few weeks later that kid and their parents are waiting in line to audition for American Idol...along with 20,000 other kids with their parents who have been told how amazing they are while singing in the living room.

It's one thing right to sing in front of Aunt Bethany and Uncle Fred and Grandpa Glenny. It's quite another thing when it's Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, and Randy Jackson.

This summer I had a chance to sit under the teaching of Dr. JoAnn Deak. Dr. Deak is the leading field researcher at The Ohio State University on adolescent brain development.

In her session on "Understanding the Adolescent Brain," she opened by saying point blank: "You are going against neurobiology. The adolescent brain is not equipped to handle the stresses and strains that 17-18 years old are put under, especially when it comes to the college process."

Dr.Deak explained how the Corpus collosum is under massive construction during the teenage years. Dr. Deaks compared the Corpus collosum to a 10-lane highway, like I-5 in LA. In order for teens to be able to think, organize, judge, and make morally sound, non-destructive decisions, "all lanes" on the Cc have to be open. What often happens though is that stress causes the Amygdala (feeling center) to swell, which then triggers a suppression of the Prefrontal cortex, which then causes the "highway to shut down". What ensues is a series of emotional, academic, and volitional "crashes".

This series of events often happens more in boys than girls. Ever wonder why your 17 year old boy acts like a 5 year old? Now you know.

So what the new brain research shows is that adolescence is the worst time for organization. Many times kids are trying to juggle 10 balls with one hand and a finger.

This is then why we need to help create a flight plan that prevents our kids from crashing into a mountain.

So with that said, let's look at 6 ways we can help our kids navigate through the turbulence and around the mountains that are sure to come.

1. Map out timelines.

There are three timelines you want to help map out for your student.

Standardized Test Timeline. You can sign up your student to take the ACT by clicking here; the same for the SAT I/II here. Remember: students are responsible for sending all test scores to colleges. You get 4 free schools to send scores to and then you pay for additional schools. (My advice is for you to send all test scores). The goal is for the student to take both tests once, and one of the test a total of three times. Students applying to highly selective schools will want to take 2-3 SAT II Subject Tests in May or June.

College Visit timeline. Map out dates/times during breaks that you can visit schools. Parents should take the lead on coordinating visits. College web sites have information regarding tour times. They also have info regarding state/school admission rep. For the "tourist season", you will want to catch a tour and try to schedule an informal meeting with our rep (email rep to schedule time). For the "buyers season", the colleges often contact you to try and get your student out for a "shopper's preview".

College Application time line. The key is to get down where the student will apply, when they will apply, and what kind of application they will submit. We encourage our students to apply to "rolling" schools (often public universities) in Sept/Oct, then focus on "Early" applications (whether Early Decision [ED], Early Action [EA], or SCEA [Single Choice Early Action]) in Oct./Nov., and then "ED2"/Regular admissions (2nd Early Decision round - schools like Vanderbilt, American, NYU, Davidson offer this).

Admission Terms:

Rolling: non-binding; public institutions; apply July-May; quick turnaround with results.
ED: Early Decision; binding; public/private schools; usually Nov. 1 deadline; mid-Dec. results.
ED 2: Early Decision; binding; usually a Jan. deadline; mid-March result.
SCEA: Single Choice Early Action; non-binding > May 1 to decide; apply to only one school (public universities are excluded); Nov. 1/15 deadline; "bear trap" watch out! ("hook" students only).
EA: Early Action; non-binding > May 1 to decide; usually a Nov.-Dec. deadline.
Regular: non-binding; May 1 to decide; usually a Dec-Jan deadline.

2. Do your homework/have a plan for highly selective schools (25%-6% admit rate).

Click here to view Early Admission results. It's important to do your homework:

Application requirements: SAT Subject Tests - how many? required/or recommended? Teacher recommendations (1-2)? Peer recommendation? Interview?
Early vs. Regular admit statistics (app.volume/accept %)
Colleges within University admit statistics (engineering vs. liberal arts)
Mid-50% range for test scores (Early vs. Regular admission)
Hook: What is my hook? (Legacy, athlete, underrepresented minority, 1st gen, underrepresented gender)
Application Type I: Common App. Universal App., Institutional App.)
Application Type II: Early Action (EA)? Early Decision (ED)? Early Decision 2 (ED2)? Single Choice Early Action (SCEA)? Regular?
Supplemental essays (click here to find what students were recommended/required)

Have a plan:

Create Contact History - email/visit non-binding (EA or SCEA) schools
Apply to 3-4 schools other than ED 1 early (1-2 rolling; 1-2 early action) I compare this strategy to a archery target. If your "ED" school is the small bulls eye, then add a couple target rings that are easier to hit. That way your student gets a handful of "Yes" letters before or during the time they receive good or bad news on their "bulls eye school".
Additional recommendation letters (alumni, local dignitaries, youth pastors, people beyond school that can speak to character, leadership, excellence).

3. Be both a "cosmetic consultant" and "content consultant" on applications.

Examples of cosmetic consultant: grammar, punctuation, spelling, family information [employment, job title, email, name and year of college] on the application, etc. I have found that our texting, Twitter, and Facebook generation tends to slip into those modes of writing on applications. I can't tell you how many times I've had to "touch up" acme on the face of an application that is peppered with i's and u's.

Examples of content consultant: the overarching goal in revealing a student (not packaging) involves what I call the "framework work" in the application: this framework work involves narration (telling the student's story well), synthesis (connecting-the-dots of major themes, points of excellence, areas of excellence), and distinction (elevating that student from the pack; revealing what separates them from blob of high test scores and numbers; and hurdling any preconceived "stereotypes" [i.e. the preppy rich kid; the ditzy blond; the dumb job; the brainy textbookcentric Indian kid; the poor black kid on scholarship, etc.]). This is never an easy task. And no student (or counselor) can create this framework without the parent's insights.

So what I encourage parents to do is help identify the major "spheres" of their child's life, and then help the student and counselor identify "narrative moments" that have a colorful "word picture" within that moment that we narrate. Winston Churchill once said, "The ear is 1/10th the organ of the eye." College admissions need more than reasons to accept a student. They need visions. We want to connect then not only with the admission officer's mind, but their imaginations. Too often we forget that the mind is not so much a debating hall as it is a picture gallery. So help think of key images, frozen "action moments", and metaphors that the student and counselor can pull into their essays, interviews, rec letters, etc,

To your left is a picture of a class discussion from my Honors English class last week. Modeled after the Harkens Table, we have days in class where the students dialogue about the text we are reading, and I chart the threads of conversation between them. What I've found is that our Harkens Table days are the best days. And why? Because they are taking ownership of their educational experience. They are driving the discussion in directions that are interesting, fascinating, and challenging for them. My job on those days is 1) to try and keep up (sometimes I can't draw and write fast enough because the conversation is bouncing around like a pin ball in a machine), and 2) interject ideas and commentary where I think it can "kineticize" the conversation - giving it a boost of renewed energy to go in a fresh direction.

Pre-Tour: Encourage student to research schools before they visit campus or visit with rep (on campus or at Casady).

Pre-Tour: Have your student write down 5 questions in their Phone to ask the tour guide.

Tour: Encourage students to jot down “Notes” on phone of major impressions, cool programs, specifics.

Post Tour: Ask reflective questions: "What did you learn about yourself on this college visit?" "Why do you think this school may or may not be a good fit for you? "What are one or two specific things you liked about this school?

5. Help "lower the red line" (aka "stressed out big time"...aka "neurobiological crash"... aka "meltdown mode").

Senior Academic Schedule - consider allowing the senior to substitute out one class they don't look forward to taking in their senior year. Still aim for 5 core classes with upward traction rigor-wise in at least 4 of them.

College Application "Class" Schedule - help students think ahead and set aside a couple major blocks of time to work on college applications. It's amazing what a 3-4 hour, uninterrupted morning or afternoon sessions will do to help students get stuff done.

Create "Decompressor" Spaces - make sure to create time and space for non-college conversation and activities that are fun, relaxing, and stress relieving.

College Application Volume - You've heard the maxim: "Eight is enough." Try to cap the application volume at eight. And aim for balance - 1-2 Reach Schools, 2-3 Target Schools, 1-2 Financial Likely Schools (these are getting tougher to find).
* Casady seniors averaged 4.7 apps last year.

6. If you place a premium value on affordability, then you need to consider "going merit-based", "going private", and "going high".

To "go merit" means you look at schools that are merit-based and not need-based. Most schools that are "highly ranked" and "highly selective" give only need-based aid.

To "go private" means you look primarily at mostly private institutions where you will find more merit monies. State schools are not going to "show you the money" based on massive budget cuts. Most state schools will only give students money based on strict objective criteria (GPA; test scores).

To "go high" means to look at schools where your student's academic credentials (GPA; test scores) are higher than most in application pool (top 25%).

Below is the "Prezi" I used for my presentation to parents.

"College Flight Plan for Helicopter Parents" on Prezi

The Myth of Procrustes, College Rankings, 5 Fingers, and Kevin Durant: What We Are NOT Going To DO With You in our College Counseling Program

2012-01-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

I need a volunteer.

Anyone will do.

Thank you. Come stand next to me. Don't worry about the sword I'm holding in my left hand (it's a nerf sword by the way - something my 5 year old swings with at his kid sister). Nothing to worry about there...as long as you answer my questions correctly.

Now I want to tell you a story.

It comes from Greek mythology.

Anyone familiar with the myths of Zeus and Poseidon...anyone see the Clash of the Titans?

Okay, good. An educated bunch in the ancient classics.

So there is this mythic figure named Procrustes. He's the son of Poseidon, which should tip you off that he's not a good dude.

His nickname was "The Stretcher".

See what Procrustes liked to do was rob people and then perform a very sick, R-rated surgical procedure on his victims.

The story goes that Procrustes would take his victims, "stretch" them on a table, and then lop off their limbs with his sword. And why? So that the victims perfectly fit the size of the table.

Pretty awful stuff, right?

Now what Procrustes did to his victims is NOT what we are going to do to you at Casady in our college counseling program.

We are NOT going to come up to you next year and ask you where you want to go to college, and if you answer OU, for example, take our sword and whack you.

In other words, we are NOT going to have you hold the Best Colleges in the US News and World Report in your hand and recite the colleges ranked #1-#10 on the first page of ranked schools.

"I will attend either Harvard,(whack) Princeton,(thwack) Yale, (lop) Columbia, (chop) MIT, (crunch) Stanford, (severe) U of Chicago, (slice) Penn, (swoop) or Duke" (smash).

Now those are all great schools. And we love it when our students aspire to gain admission into these highly selective schools. We love that kind of ambition. And drive. And focus.

But as far as fitting everyone of you into that mold - well that is not our way.

That's not our philosophy. And mission.

Our mission is to partner with students and parents to find the best college fit.

Now I want you to hold out your hand. I want to see all five of your fingers.

Here then is what we mean by best fit.

We mean that we are going to partner with you over four years to identify colleges that fit you in terms of 1) your passions, 2) your learning style, 3) your preferences, 4) your family's financial parameters, and 5) your academic parameters.

Pull all of those five fits together and you will have a "Tiger Woods fist pump" experience with college!

Our 74 seniors this year, for example, have submitted 292 college applications. That's what has gone out. Already our seniors have received 130+ acceptance letters from over 55 colleges/universities. So far only one application in the whole bunch has been denied. That's what has come in.

There is something else I want you to know. If you come by our office, you will find a Cyclone-Bound College Map. On it you will find 44 stickers that represent the 44 different colleges across the US where our seniors matriculated to last year.

This map of stickers debunks the myth that at Casady one size fits all.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

We take an "anti-Procrustes approach" to college counseling.

There is a final thing I want you to understand before you cross over to the upper division campus as incoming freshman.

I'm holding in my hand a college application. This application is called the Common Application. It is an application you can send to now over 500 colleges.

Now notice on page 4 of the Common Application that the first bubble you see under "Extracurricular Activities & Work Experience" is a bubble with the number 9 above it.

That number 9 stands for your 9th grade year.

What then does this tell you?

The college application begins the first day you step on our campus as a 9th grader.

Middle school, to switch analogies, is like practice and scrimmaging. It's like the two games the OKC Thunder played against the Dallas Maverickss.

High school - well that is game time. That's Christmas Day. The OKC Thunder vs. Orlando Magic. Everything counts. Everything matters. Everything has potential playoff ramifications.

I don't say that to scare you. Well maybe to scare some of you.

I say that to you to excite you. You listen to Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook during the pre-season, and all you heard them talk about was how pumped they were to start the season.

That KD and Westbrook attitude is what we want from you.

How does that sound? Can we do it?

I'm pumped for the journey ahead with you guys.

Pausing at Timberline

2012-01-17T06:56:00.000-08:00

It's the mid-point of the year.

Which means if we analogize to traipsing up a 14,000 foot peak like Mt. Elbert in Colorado, this is the stopping point near timberline, where we sit on an outcropping of rocks, hydrate and re-fuel with Gatorade and granola, and take a few minutes just to drink in the scenery that is both beyond and below.

Where earth-meets-sky.

And where we see the trail below us, a tiny brown string against the naked elements, which represents the college journey to this point.

So far our 74 seniors have heard good news from 56 different colleges/universities.

That's 136 Yes letters. To only 1 No letter. With a handful of Maybe letters.

That's a staggeringly good start. The best in my five years in the college counseling office.

Personally, this start reflects the wise and discerning choices that students have made in the college selection process. It also reflects a senior class that has truly embraced the philosophy of best fit.

Below is a list of the colleges/universities that our students have been accepted to so far:

Auburn University
Baylor University
Belmont University
California Lutheran University
Calvin College
Clemson University
College of Charleston
College of Wooster
Drury University
Duke University (Early Decision, binding)
Elon University
Hampden-Sydney College
Hope College
Lewis and Clark College
Louisiana State University
Lynchburg College
Maryville University
Mid-America Christian University
Oklahoma Christian University
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma Wesleyan College
Rhodes College
Roanoke College
Saint Louis University
Seattle Pacific University
Sewanee: The University of the South
Southern Methodist University
St. John's College
Texas A&M University
Texas Christian University
University of Alabama
Tulane University
University of Arkansas
University of Central Oklahoma
University of Georgia
University of Kansas
University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi State
University of Missouri at Columbia
University of Oklahoma
University of Oregon
University of Richmond (Early Decision, binding)
University of San Diego (football signee)
University of Tulsa
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Vanderbilt University (2 Early Decision, binding)
Washington and Lee University (Early Decision, binding)
Webster University
Westminster College
Westmont College
Wheaton College
Whittier College
Whitworth University

Congrats to all our seniors on their early success!!!

Now back to the trail head.

To go further up and further in!

"It's Kinda Like American Idol Auditions"

2011-12-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

Everyone is feeling it.

Students.

Parents.

Grandparents.

College counselors.

It's the bedlam of emotions raging within.

Excitement. Anxiety.

The letter could come any day!

The letter could come any day...gulp!

In the next couple weeks, high school seniors all across the globe will be getting admission decisions back from early admissions at selective colleges.

There will be rounds of champagne-for-everyone.

And there will be "hell to pay" for someone (college counselors usually).

But right now - we're all just waiting for the results.

I always tell parents, in particular, that it's kinda like American Idol auditions.

We're the folks that have to wait outside the doors while our kids go sing their hearts out to the college admissions judges.

For 12+ years these kids have been preparing for this moment.

This mother-of-all adolescent auditions.

And, of course, we all think that everyone of our kids is "American Idol" material.

Or in this case is UVA material. Or Duke material. Or Princeton material.

Do you remember Jordan Sparks?

For whatever reason she comes to mind.

Maybe it is because I'm not an American Idol junkie like my wife, but I do remember her audition a couple seasons ago.

Truth is, we all think our kids are Jordan Sparks.

I have 7 kids who applied Early Decision or Single Choice Early Action.

I think every one of those kids should come squealing out of the audition doors with a "yellow slip" (aka admission letter).

But I suffer from the same cockeyed myopia that everyone else does.

Because I live in a small little bubble world at Casady.

And I forget, like parents do, that at some colleges, there are 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 who are auditioning as well. And every one of those applicants has a family member standing outside the door thinking their kid is Jordan Sparks too.

In closing, I think that every parent of the 7 kids who applied early would agree with me that the hardest part right now is not the waiting.

That's penultimate.

What causes fits of insomnia is knowing that the decision is ultimately out of our hands.

All we can do during this wait period is take deep breaths.

Say longer prayers.

Keep the "big picture" in front of our faces (these decisions don't define our kids; they don't define our parenting skills, etc.; there is an excellent college fit out there; our kids are going to do great things regardless of where they matriculate...)

Tell our kids we love them.

And prepare ourselves to rejoice with those who will rejoice,

and weep with those who will weep.

And for those who get deferred (and the forecast seems to suggest a lot of deferred kids) - it means we get to do this whole audition-wait-outside-the-door thing again in April.

Nobody said this process was for sissies.:)

Freakonomics in an Age of Freakadmissions

2011-12-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

I read Levitt and Dubner's book Freakonomics for a book club a few years ago.

Very interesting book.

One chapter that really got my head spinning was the chapter titled, "Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?"

At the time, my wife and I were trying to sort through thousands of names to find "the One name" for our 1st child.

The chapter was fascinating because it essentially espoused the idea that the name you give your baby not only reveals things about your child, but can also reward or penalize your child.

Levvit and Dubner argued that names often have a correlation to socioeconomic status. Level of education. Names even play in, consciously sometimes, subconsciously other times, in job employment.

An audit study was done that Levvit and Dubner use as their argument's impetus, in which a researcher sent two identical (and fake) resumes, one with a traditionally white name and the other with an immigrant or minority-sounding name, to potential employers. The "white" resumes always gleaned more job interviews. A Molly or Amy advanced in a job interview. The same with a Jake or Connor. But an Imani or Shanice, a DeShawn or DeAndre, that carried economic penalty.

In a recent Huffington Post article entitled "Some Asians Don't Identify as Asians in College Admissions", the writer makes essentially the same argument for college admissions.

Being of Asian ethnicity, in particular, with a clearly "Asian sounding name" disadvantaged you in higher college admissions.

Why? Well because there are more Perfect SAT and perfect 4.0 GPA Asian students applying to the Ivies and other highly competitive institutions than non-Asian.

The article reveals that some Asians - who don't sound too Asian in name - are changing their ethnicity (checking the "Caucasian" box).

It makes me wonder if we're not going to hear stories in the near future of families changing their last names to something more "white sounding" to advantage their children in selective college admissions.

In what we might go ahead and dub the "Age of Freakadmissions" (patenting that phrase), perhaps the writers of Freakonomics have hit the nail on the head. Names and ethnicity can advantage or disadvantage. Asians are clearly getting creamed. Ironically, however, it could also be pointed out that the "blacker" your name is in highly selective admissions, the better chance you have at gaining admissions. While Asians/Indians are being held to a higher standard (200 points higher on the SAT, for example), African-Americans are being held to a different standard (sometimes 200 points lower on the SAT, for example).

I don't know. Last year, though, I did wonder if our top student, who had a non-white last name, might have received different news from Stanford if his last name had been more white. Who knows? And maybe the freakish nature of college admissions is at a point where almost everyone, minus athletes, are up against the Nile River to get in. No matter their name. Ethnicity. Test score. Pedigree. Socio-economic status.

Indeed these are freakishly crazy times in higher college admissions.

Early Decision or Not? Some Thoughts, Advice, and Stats

2011-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Should I apply Early Decision or not?

Early Decision, by definition, is where you apply to one school, and if you are admitted, you are in a binding agreement to matriculate the following fall.

Now schools like Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Boston College are offering Single Choice Early Action (SCEA), which just means that you can only apply to one school, but it's non-binding, which means you can say No to that one school, even if they say Yes to you. It also means that you have a greater length of time to decide (May 1).

So ED or SCEA - it's a common question I receive from anxious seniors in the fall.

My answer is always the same. That depends.

It depends, for one, on the degree of interest in that school. If your heart meter registers a 10 (on a 1-10 scale; 1 = "Bartleby"-level interest; 10="Rome and Juliet"-level passion) every time you think or talk about that school - then Yes, applying ED might be the appropriate decision.

But if your heart meter registers an 8, 9, or 10 with other schools too. Then you might not.

But there are also hash realities about the state of college admissions right now. Not everywhere, certainly. But at the top. Yes. Unless you've been living in an igloo in remote Alaska for the past five years, you know that the volume of applications to selective/highly selective colleges have skyrocketed. More high school graduates than ever before. More international applicants than ever before. More pressure on colleges to "raise their ranking" in popular magazines. The "attract-to-reject" marketing strategic formula could look something like this:

Higher app volume + Lower acceptance % = Higher US News & World Report: College Edition ranking (which means higher bonds rating, which then means more money to build more climbing walls, which means higher tuition rates...)

This is just the way things are at schools on the first and second page of that magazine, along with a couple others. So therefore, if you just look at the raw data, it's easy for the pragmatist and strategist in you to deduce that to apply ED gives you your best chance at gaining admission. It may not get you the best financial aid package, but it gives you the best chance to get a golden ticket in.

But also remember that though the fish bowl may be smaller, the fish in that bowl are that much brighter.

Here are just a few statistics I pulled from The Princeton Review: The Best 376 Colleges (2011 Edition) concerning ED applications/admits last year:

School ED app. Accept %/#

Brown 2803 22%
Duke 1482 32%
Rice 1214 25%
Columbia 2921 40%
Vanderbilt 2150 32%
Stanford (SCEA) 4860 753
Dartmouth 1574 29%
Northwestern 1395 40%
Richmond 585 40%
Williams 538 40%
Amherst 440 34%
American 565 73%
Boston U 897 44%
Bowdoin 740 31%
NYU 2854 39%

The news for early admissions for the Class of 2016 from the NYT is what most of us predicted. Gloom and more gloom. To see the numbers for yourself (if you haven't already done so) click here.

A colleague of mine at a high powered independent school in the northeast texted me that after speaking with their Ivy reps, their college counseling office is bracing for all the "non-athlete" applicants (and there a bunch of them) to get the defer or deny letter. Translation: the athletes get to eat first at the Ivies. The rest will have to wait until the spring.

So that is either good news if you can throw a ball or dunk a basketball or run really fast. But for those students who have solid academic and resume credentials only, it may not be as encouraging.

Now we must all wait and see.

And take deep breaths.

And say long prayers.

And make sure that you have a Plan B.

And Plan C.

And maybe a Plan D.

US News and World Report Lists - Writing in the Disciplines

2011-11-18T07:03:00.000-08:00

A final list. And one of my favorites as an English teacher.

Writing in the Disciplines.

These colleges typically make writing a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum. Students are encouraged to produce and refine various forms of writing for a range of audiences in different disciplines.

Brown University
Carleton College
Clemson University
Colorado State University
Cornell University
Duke University
George Mason University
Hamilton College
Harvard University
Miami University - Oxford
Middlebury College
North Carolina State U - Raleigh
Princeton University
Purdue University
University of California - Davis
University of Iowa
Washington State University

Jerry Maguire's Advice for Seniors on the College Admission Bubble

2011-11-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Today I got an email from a colleague on the admission side of the desk.

It was in response to a conversation this admission rep had with one of our students.

This student, as little bit of background, is on the proverbial bubble in terms of admissibility, particularly when it comes to GPA and test scores.

So what can this student do to augment his or her chances at gaining admission?

To answer that question, the college rep quoted one of his favorite lines from one of his favorite movies, Jerry Maguire.

Here is the scene in case you haven't seen the movie.

So often we forget that college admission reps want to see their applicants from their territory get into the school.

They are like sports agents who want to see their clients get the multimillion contract.

They are looking for any additional information they can leverage to help bolster their client's chances.

So how then does a "bubble senior" applicant "help a college rep by helping themselves"?

A handful of specific things to keep in mind.

First. They need to have their best academic trimester/semester possible. The higher the grades the more ammo you give a college rep to show an upward/college readiness trend.

Second. They may need to re-take the SAT or ACT that best suites them. Tracking our student's performance on both the ACT and SAT, they tend to score highest on their 3rd test, which often occurs sometime in September-December.

Third. If a student gets deferred, it may behoove them to have a core teacher write an additional progress report to submit to their college rep, especially in classes where there is growth.

And fourth. Never underestimate the value of grit and persistence.

A recent NYT article recently argued that too often we forget that the best indicators for success in college and in life is character. So often we put so much emphasis on numerical data, and how we can raise our kid's scores or grades, that we end up forgetting what the impetus and thrust of education is truly for. We educate to develop flourishing human beings who can in turn become change agents in culture and society. We educate to see our students become the caliber of people who are full of zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism and curiosity.

This is ultimately how someone helps themselves, and by so doing, helps everyone around them, well beyond just college admission reps and college counselors like me.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Green Bay Packers- What Seniors Applying to College Can Learn from "Wild Card Teams"

2011-11-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Not long ago a senior came in with a question.

"Mr. Bottomly, what have you heard about Centre College?"

We talked about what I knew about Centre.

She then asked if it was okay if she added Centre to her "My Colleges" on the Common Application.

This student already had a clear #1 and was applying ED 1. She even had a clear #2, with plans to apply ED 2 if she was deferred or denied from her ED 1 school. She also had a nice constellation of schools in her final list that we're well within her wheelhouse, schools like Rhodes, DePauw, Sewanee, SMU.

I told her, "Sometimes the wild card team wins."

She looked at me quizzically. I knew she was an athlete, so my analogy/metaphor would work.

Take the St. Louis Cardinals. Two months ago none of the MLB prognosticators would have given the Cards a chance to make the playoffs, let alone win the World Series.

Or take the Green Bay Packers. It was last January, I know, but remember that they too were a wild card team, and they too beat the odds and won the Super Bowl.

Sometimes the team, or in this case the college, that you least expect to make a "deep run" ends up emerging as the winner.

Many times that college that you hear is "good", maybe from a peer, or surfing College Confidential threads, or in a conversation at an alumni event, can emerge as an excellent college fit for you.

This student obviously might never visit Centre, especially if she gets into one of her ED schools.

But you never know what could happen between now and May 1.

None of us are immune to the vagaries of college admissions, especially the higher up the chain of selectivity you go.

So seniors: don't be afraid to add a "wild card college".

You just never know what might happen.

Just ask the Cards and Packers.

Happiest Students, Best Campus Food, Dorms Like Palaces

2011-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Want more Top 10 lists?

Here you go. These three lists have student interests and preferences in mind.

This time again I'm taking these lists from The Best 376 Colleges book (2012).

Happiest Students

1. Rice University
2. Clemson University
3. Brown University
4. Stanford University
5. Bowdoin College
6. Loyola Marymount University
7. Penn State University
8. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
9. Pomona College
10. University of Mississippi

Best Campus Food

1. Wheaton College (IL)
2. Bowdoin College
3. Virginia Tech
4. Bryn Mawr College
5. James Madison University
6. University of Georgia
7. Washington University in St. Louis
8. Cornell University
9. Colby College
10. University of Massachusetts Amherst

Dorms Like Palaces

1. Bryn Mawr College
2. Loyola University - Maryland
3. Smith College
4. Bennington College
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. Christopher Newport University
7. Bowdoin College
8. Scripps College
9. Skidmore College
10. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

US News and World Report Lists - Internships, Study Abroad, Service Learning

2011-11-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

US News and World Report: College Edition have a section that includes lists for schools that get the nod for programs that help undergraduates thrive.

Here a few of those lists.

Internships (Schools nominated in this category require or encourage students to apply what they're learning in the classroom to work in the real world through closely supervised internships or practicums, or through cooperative education, in which one period of study typically alternates with one of work.)

Berea College
Drexel University
Georgia Tech
Kettering U
Northeastern U
Purdue
Rochester Inst. of Tech.
U of Cincinnati
U of Maryland-College Park
Wagner College

Service Learning (Required volunteer work in the community is an instructional strategy in these programs. What's learned in the field bolsters what happens in class, and vice versa.)

Bates College
Berea College
Brown
Calvin College
College of the Ozarks
Creighton
DePaul
Duke
Elon
John Carroll
Michigan State
Niagara
Northeastern
Ohio State
Portland State
Stanford
Tufts
Tulane
U of Maryland-College Park
U of Michigan
UNC-Chapel Hill
Penn
Wagner College

Study Abroad (Programs at these schools involve substantial academic work abroad for credit - a year, a semester, or an intensive experience equal to a course - and considered interaction with the local culture.)

American
Arcadia
Beloit College
Boston U
Butler
Carleton College
College of St. Benedict
Columbia
Dartmouth
Dickinson College
Duke
Elon
Georgetown
Goucher College
Indiana U
Kalamazoo College
Macalester College
Michigan State
Middlebury
NYU
St. John's University
St. Olaf
Syracuse
U of Illinois
U of Minnesota
U of Texas - Austin
Webster U

Princeton Review Top 20 List #2 - Best Career Services

2011-11-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

I often get asked by students and parents, "What schools have excellent 'exit' statistics' and solid student ratings in terms of job-placement and graduate school?"

Here is Princeton Review's Top 20 list for career services based on students' rating of campus career/job-placement services.

1. University of Florida
2. Northeastern University
3. Penn State University
4. University of Texas - Austin
5. Barnard College
6. Claremont McKenna College
7. Rochester Institute of Technology
8. Bentley University
9. Clemson University
10. University of Richmond
11. Missouri U of Science and Tech.
12. Spelman College
13. Yale University
14. Cornell University
15. Lafayette College
16. U of Missouri - Columbia
17. Worchester Polytechnic Institute
18. American University
19. SMU
20. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Princeton Review Top 20 List #1 - Most Accessible Professors

2011-10-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

I just picked up my 2012 copy of The Best 376 Colleges. This is one of my favorite "go to" resources for students.

One of my favorite sections are the 62 "Top 20" ranking lists in eight categories:

Academics/Administration, Quality of Life, Politics, Demographics, Town Life, Extracurriculars, and Social Scene.

My next 8 blog posts will provide you with my favorite "Top 20" list from each category.

Most Accessible Professors

1. US Military Academy
2. US Coast Guard Academy
3. Pomona College
4. US Naval Academy
5. Air Force Academy
6. Reed College
7. Sweet Briar College
8. Skidmore College
9. SMU
10. Williams College
11. Sarah Lawrence College
12. Wabash College
13. Claremont McKenna College
14. Amherst College
15. Franklin & Marshall College
16. Webb Institute
17. Colgate University
18. Hampden-Sydney College
19. Ohio University - Athens
20. Muhlenberg College

Money Saver: Free Online College Applications

2011-10-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

In today's economy, who couldn't use an extra $250-$700 dollars?

Below you will find a list of colleges/universities that will allow you to apply online for FREE.

Most of these schools are a part of the Common Application.

This is not an exhaustive list, but a selective one, based on past Casady students who have applied to one of these institutions. This extra savings should make the schools below that much more attractive compared to universities online.

Case Western Reserve University

Dayton, University of

Hobart & William Smith Colleges

Holy Cross College (IN)

Illinois Institute of Technology

John Carroll University

Juniata College

Kenyon College

Lewis & Clark College

Loyola University Chicago

Loyola University New Orleans

Lynchburg College

Manhattanville Colleg e

Marquette University

Maryville University of Saint Louis

Millsaps College

Morehead State University

Mount Holyoke College

New College of Florida

Ohio Wesleyan University

Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Pacific, University of the

Randolph College

Randolph-Macon College

Regis University

Rhodes College

Roanoke College

Saint Louis University

San Diego State University

Seton Hall University

Sewanee: The University of the South (Common Application only)

Smith College

Southwestern Oklahoma State University

St. John's College (MD and NM)*

St. Olaf College

Susquehanna University

Sweet Briar College

Trinity University (TX)

Tulane University

United States Coast Guard Academy

Ursinus College

Valparaiso University

Washington & Jefferson College

Wellesley College

Western State College of Colorado

Westminster College (MO)

Whittier College

Whitworth College

William Jewell College

William Woods University

Wittenberg University

Wooster, College of

To see the full list of schools click here.

ACT Superscore Colleges/Universities

2011-10-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

My colleagues with ACCIS (Association of College Counselors at Independent Schools) have been compiling a list of colleges and universities that superscore the ACT.

The list continues to grow.

Here is what we have so far:

University of Vermont
Pepperdine Univ.
Cal Tech
Connecticut College
Soka University
Tufts Univ.
Westmont College
UNC Chapel Hill
Amherst College
Babson College
University of Colorado
Eckerd College
Elon University
George Washington University
University of Illinois
University of Indiana
Lawrence University
Loyola Marymount University
University of Miami
Northeastern University
University of Puget Sound
Stanford University
Washington & Lee University
Washington University in St. Louis
Wesleyan University
Colorado College
DePauw University

10th Grade College Night Snapshot

2011-10-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had 10th grade college night at Casady.

This year we did this event with both parents and students.

We brought in Peter Van Buskirk, former Dean of Admission and author.

Mr. Buskirk did his 2-hour College Admission Game workshop.

Our hope was that our 10th grade students would be energized by the event to keep going hard and avoid the "sophomore slump".

Mr. Buskirk focused on the "big picture" in the first hour. Both the big picture of the college admission landscape. And the big picture of aiming for the "best college fit".

The second hour was comprised of mock admission simulation. Mr. Buskirk took his committee of almost 100 students and parents through 4 student applications. They discussed the strengths and weaknesses, possible "hooks" and possible hurdles. In the end, the committee made a decision on who to admit to their selective liberal arts college.

Here is a video snapshot from the mock admission discussion.

Freshman Parent College Night Recap

2011-09-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Last night we had Freshman Parent College Night.

We had about 50 parents in attendance.

Our central message was this: don't forfeit your child's present for the future.

In addition, we oriented our parents to our program's purpose, process, and pieces.

We ended by giving parents a list of 10 things to do in regard to college planning.

Here they are.

1. Begin mapping out your curriculum plan for all four years in the Upper School.

2. Aim for Breath and Depth: four years in five core subjects, moving upward to the next level of rigor (English, math, science, history, and foreign language) [Selective colleges aren’t looking for passion on the transcript; they are looking for appropriate level of challenge + consistent performance)

3. Become involved in leadership roles in your activities; take advantage of leadership opportunities available to you. (“To whom much is given much is required”)

4. Work hard in all your courses. This will improve your ACT score. Read more. This will improve your PSAT and SAT scores.

5. Take the PSAT in October for experience with standardized testing and to evaluate your progress.

6. Make good use of your summer; get a summer job (responsibility), go to camp, travel, take a course, etc. (What do you do when you don’t have to do anything?)

7. Make use of family trips and vacations to take a first look at colleges. Aim for variety: small, liberal arts; mid-size private university; big, public university; specialty schools. (What did you learn about yourself while touring the school?)

8. Begin in the spring using Casady’s Naviance program to explore colleges, search for those that seem to match your interests and abilities. Do the Learning Style module. Begin building your resume. Keep “Journal” notes about your freshman experience.

9. Parents: begin financial planning for college now! Don’t wait! Investigate college costs, saving plans, etc. and begin saving now!

10. Parents: read from cover-to-cover the College Bound Field Guide located on our College Counseling web page http://www.casady.org/podium/default.aspx?t=21741

Junior College Night, Part 1

2011-09-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night was Junior College Parent Night.

It was the first of two formal meetings with parents.

The next one is with students in January to kick off The College Seminar.

We had a full house on Wednesday and covered a number of topics related to the college process ahead for their student.

Perhaps you have a student starting their junior year, and you are a bit overwhelmed with where to start, what is ahead, what you should be doing, what your student should be doing.

Hopefully these next three posts will help allay mounting anxieties and provide some clearheaded direction.

So where did we start.

We started with first things.

If we keep first things first, second and third things will click into place.

So what comes first?

Simple.

Your student.

It's one of our motto's: The student first; the school second.

When we think about your student, our overarching mission is to partner with families to discern the best college fit.

We like to think of "best fit" in terms of four broad categories.

The first category for fit involves learning style.

Here is a simple question you can ask your student to generate discussion about the style of instruction that best suits him or her:

If given a choice, would you

A) take a scantron test,

B) take an essay test,

or C) write a paper.

I didn't learn until my freshman year in Dr. Grady's American Literature II class that I was suited for the take home paper. I got a C in Macroeconomics. Every test was rife with bubbles to fill in. But in Dr. Grady's class there were no bubbles. Just two major papers. I got A's on both of them and loved the writing process. It only took one semester in college to switch from business to English as a major.

In addition, some students learn best in a lecture format. Other students thrive in a seminar format. Does your student retain ideas and information from listening and note taking? Or does your student retain through dialogue and conversation?

The answer to these questions can help identify the kind of learning style that best fits your student.

The second category for fit is passion.

Sometimes students develop a passion inside the classroom.

I think, for example, of Aly M who developed a passion for Manderine Chinese in Mr. Svaboda's class. After four years of Chinese and two trips to China, Aly's college search focused on unique programs in Chinese. She is now at the University of Rhode Island, a scholar in their Flagship Chinese Leadership program.

Other times students develop a passion for something outside the classroom. That's Ben M who back in the 7th grade starting studying films, watching Pulp Fiction every night, dissecting frame by frame. He's now at UT-Austin studying tv-film in the College of Communications.

And then there are students who develop a passion for something that overlaps both inside and outside the classroom. That's Nathan P. On Facebook last week, he posted that he had made the Duke Symphony Orchestra. Nathan's love for the bass violin was nurtured in the classroom at Casady, but now as a freshman, he's studying Biochemical Engineering. At Duke Nathan is able to pursue his passion for the bass violin, but not as a lover of music not as a pre-professional student.

So whether it is a subject in the classroom, or an extracurricular activity outside the classroom, students want to look for colleges where they can pursue their passions.

The third category for fit involves admissibility + competitiveness.

To be admissible means that you have the basics for what the school needs for their profile. Your grades and test scores fall in their median range.

To be competitive, though, means that you have something that the school wants to move their profile forward. Sometimes it involves high grades and test scores. But often it involves something else. This is where the "hook" comes into play. A hook, by definition, is a competitive credential that elevates you as an applicant. The ability to play a sport? The ability to pay full freight? The family's ability to build a new rec center on campus? The color of your skin? The bubble you fill in for gender? The part of the country you hale from? Whether or not your parent is an alumni of the school? The academic discipline you are interested in? These are the kinds of hooks that can move a student from admissible to competitive.

The goal is to find schools where you are both admissible and competitive.

The fourth and final category for fit involves affordability.

Simply put, you have to ask honestly if as a family you can afford the price tag. Now many schools, especially private institutions, will discount and remove most (but not all) of the sticker shock. Nevertheless, with rising tuition costs, and the depreciating value of certain college diplomas, you really have to look at whether or not paying X amount of dollars is worth it. That's where as a family you have to decide what you value.

It's important then as you move forward into the college process that you are constantly thinking about the kinds of schools that fit your student's learning style, their passions, their admissibility + competitiveness, and affordability.

Blog Post 100!!!!

2011-09-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is my centennial blog post.

It's crazy that I'm now 100 posts in as a "blogger".

For this "milestone post" I want to wrap up my short series on the role of parents in the college process with their kids.

I want to a tell story to do this.

When I a senior, I felt immense self-inflicted pressure to become a third generation military man.

My Granddad graduated from West Point.

He went on to fly P-32's in WW II in the South Pacific.

Later in Vietnam, my Granddad flew F-105's and served as the youngest base commander (and colonel at age 26) in the Army.

My father followed in my Granddad's footsteps and matriculated to the Air Force Academy.

It wasn't though until I visited the Academy on my recruiting trip for basketball that I realized just how difficult this decision would be.

As I perused glass cases, filled with trophies, plaques, and recognitions from years past, I would stumble upon pictures like the one below.

There he was. My dad at age 21. Receiving award after award. As the top student-athlete of his class. And as the top engineering student.

The clincher for me came when I walked the long corridor to the Commander and Chief's office, and stopping at a life size portrait of the top graduate of the Class of 1969, I stood there and stared back at a picture of my dad shaking President Richard Nixon's hand.

Later that week, I went to lunch with dad at our favorite Chinese restaurant across from the Olympic Training facility in Colorado Springs.

It was there over our traditional cashew chicken dish that I told dad that I didn't want to go to the Academy. It was obviously a great college fit for him. It was not a great fit for me. I was a left handed and right brained kid who had a penchant for creativity and imagination. I was a metaphors and -isms kind of person. Not numbers and theories. I had struggled through calculus and physics, in particular, having to drop the latter after a semester because I was sinking so badly. I had had to take the ACT 5 times just to get the minimum score on the science and math sections to qualify for the academy. And the kicker was that the Academy could only offer me a spot at their prep school, which doesn't take someone who can cipher Morris Code to recognize I wasn't ready for the academic rigors of a cadet.

To put it another way: I was a "square-shaped" applicant trying desperately to squeeze into a "round-shaped" groove.

This was not a good fit for me.

Surprisingly, when I shared all this with my dad, he smiled warmly and responded in the most gracious and understanding way possible.

Dad said something like this.

"Josh, your Granddad was hard on me. You know this. But there were two things your Granddad never put pressure on me to do. One, he never pressured me to be rich. And two, he never pressured me to do what he did as a career. His only advice was this: Whatever you do, do it good."

Whatever you do, do it good.

A few months later I found myself at Trinity College outside of Chicago.

At Trinity I was able to study English, play basketball (in games not just practice), and eat the best deep-dish pizza in America!

It is some 20 years later now, and I am still eternally grateful for that moment with my dad.

It changed the course and trajectory of my life.

I tell parents that if it had not been for that conversation over Chinese food, I would not be teaching, coaching, and counseling your kids today.

Thanks, pop, for keeping first things first.

A Parent's Role - Taking the Ride

2011-09-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

This summer my wife and I took our son, Silas, to his first amusement park.

The Mall of America in Minneapolis.

Amy wanted to shop, so I got the task of going on all the rides with the S man.

And when I say all the rides, I mean I went on ALL the rides.

(What we won't do for our kids, right?)

You can see from Silas's facial expression, he's not so sure if he wants to go on this ride.

I remember telling him that when the chair lift launches us into the air, we both need to raise our arms up in the air and howl at the top of our lungs.

It took a few ups and downs. But it wasn't long before Silas's hand was semi-up in the air, and his mouth was filled with giddy laughter.

The college process with our kids many times involves a wild ride.

It has its ups and downs. Its emotional undulations.

Perhaps what our kids want from us more than anything during this process is simply to take the ride with them.

With them.

Not for them.

With.

Another First

2011-08-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

We are starting a new tradition at Casady with our seniors.

Outside our offices is an empty board.

This year we're asking seniors to come sign and pin up their college acceptance letters.

Just like this one.

Our first acceptance.

And fittingly it is to OU. "Boomer"....."Sooner"!

Come April, we hope this board is bedecked and layered over with acceptance letters.

Last year we had a lot of colleges say to our seniors: "Yes, I see a potential fit!"

This year we hope to continue the upward trend of finding excellent college fits (plural) for each of our 73 seniors.

Moments of Influence

2011-08-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

I always love the "firsts" of a new school year.

The first day of class.

The first major assignment.

The first home football game under the Friday night lights.

The first college application. And therefore the first college recommendation I get to write.

And the first blog post.

As we begin the new year, I want to remind you as parents of what we all deep down want to keep and preserve as first in our lives.

If life is moments, then these dots represent moments of influence.

Moments where you (the parent) have the opportunity to positively impact the life of your child.

Or negatively impact them.

One of the things I most appreciated about my parents is how they intentionally carved out time with each of the four of us kids to "make a moment".

Dad and I, for example, would do lunch together, just the two of us, once a month through the high school years.

We had a favorite Chinese restaurant just across the street from the Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs.

Over cashew chicken, we would talk honestly and openly about the present and future.

Somehow dad was able to keep first things first.

I challenge you as we start the new year to carve out moments of influence with your son or daughter..

Make time just to be with your child.

To nurture what will last long after high school and the college search are over.

I am sure glad both my parents did that with me.

College Seminar Cycle #4: College Application Hooks and Hotspots Part 2

2011-05-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Page #2: Family

On this page the hot spot involves information regarding the college or lack of a college a student's family has attended. If a student applies to a college where a parent or sibling has graduated from or is attending, then you become a legacy student, a legitimate hook.
In a recent interview, Maria Laskaris, Dean of Admission at Dartmouth College, was asked about legacy applicants. Here is her response:

We give all legacy applicants at least one additional review in this process. The dramatic increase in selectivity that we’ve experienced makes the admissions process more competitive for everyone, but our legacy applicants are admitted at a rate that’s roughly two-and-a-half times greater than the overall rate of admission. It’s never easy to turn away the children of Dartmouth alumni.

(To read the entire interview with Dean Laskaris click here).

In addition, if you are a 1st generation college student, this too can become a hook. Programs like Questbridge, for example, are actively seeking talented, low income, 1st generation students, who they can link to many highly selective schools.

Page #3: Education/Academics

The first arrows above are for information regarding Casady School. Make sure you know what type of school you come from and get the basic information about the college counseling office from your counselor (Casady is an independent school, by the way).

Now on to other hot spots and hooks.

Grades and test scores. We encourage our students not to record their GPA or test scores. We send official transcripts and students must submit official test scores (via ACT or College Board). If, however, the student's test score is big, then it is worth including, because a big test score (i.e. 34 ACT or 1540 SAT) is a possible hook. Colleges like big numbers. It ultimately helps their US News and World Report rankings.

Current Courses. A multiple choice question.

Among the following, the biggest reason that capable students might not get into selective schools is:

A. They don't have the right contacts.
B. The admission committee failed to recognize the strength of their credentials.
C. They made unwise choices regarding classroom performance.
D. Their scores were too low.

If you picked D, you are correct.

What a senior decides to take their senior year does in fact count. It's a myth to believe that a senior can "coast" or let up. Selective colleges want to see that seniors challenges themselves appropriately.

Rule of thumb: Seek to take the next level of rigor in each core academic subject.
(English 3 to English 4, AP US History to AP Government/AP European History, Chemistry to Physics, Spanish III to Spanish 4, etc.)

One caveat: If you apply Early Action or Early Decision, the chances are that the school you apply to will not see your first trimester (or semester) grades, but they will see the courses you took in the first trimester. Now if your application gets deferred, then these schools will see two trimesters of grades. Often the reason that a student gets deferred is because these colleges want to see more grades.

College Seminar Cycle #4: College Application Hooks and Hot Spots, Part 1

2011-05-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

Let's say that a college admission officer at a selective school gives your application 20 minutes.

Obviously there is not enough time to internalize every piece of information.

Reading then is not in the cards for the admission officer.

Scanning however is.

Specifically a college admission officer is taught to scan for what former dean Peter Van Buskirk calls "hooks and hotspots".

What is a hook?

Something that elevates the applicant out of the pack.

What is a hot spot?

The physical space on the application where information regarding a hook can be located.

In our last college seminar I took the juniors through the Common Application.

Page by page.

Section by section.

Hook by hook.

Hot spot by hot spot.

My hope was that my students would actively highlight, circle, draw arrows to, green flag, red flag, and jot marginal notes like an admission officer.

To know then what admission officers are looking for is to help our students know what information they need to provide on the application.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Or something like that.

Here is a quick page-by-page summary of our seminar's content.

I've broken it up into four blog posts.

Page #1: Applicant. Future Plans. Demographics.

First arrow: make sure if you provide the college your cell # to have an appropriate cell message. Your favorite lines from Hangover 2 is probably not a good idea.

Second arrow : make sure your email address is 1) the email address you check most frequently, and 2) appropriate (sexual innuendo email addresses are not advised).

Third arrow: your social security # is "optional". However, if you plan to apply for need-based aid through the FAFSA, then you will be required to provide the college your SS information.

Fourth arrow: Hook #1: Sometimes an applicant from Oklahoma can be a hook, especially if you are applying to a school a long ways away from Oklahoma.

Rule of thumb: Colleges close to the Red Dirt state = unhooked. Schools further away from Oklahoma = possible hook.

Fifth & Sixth arrows: Hook #2/#3: What you plan to study in school could be a hook. Colleges are looking for "underrepresented" academic fields. A female applying to an engineering program, for example, is a shimmering hook. A female applying to a liberal arts program is NOT. In addition, if you circle in the bubble that you "do not need need-based aid" that is a possible hook. To circle that bubble in won't necessarily hurt you in the process, but it won't necessarily help you either. To colleges, if you leave that bubble blank, you suddenly become a FREE STUDENT.

Seventh arrow: Hook #4: If you come from a racially/ethically underrepresented demographic, this could work in your favor as a hook. Remember: a college wants to look like an international airport with lots and lots of diversity.

Class of 2011 College Choices

2011-05-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Below is our new "College Bound Cyclone" US Map.

You can find it hanging between my office and Coach Warden's office.

You'll notice tiny strips of paper on the map.

These paper strips indicate where each student is matriculating to in the fall.

Our hope is to replace these strips of paper with stickers that have each college logo on them.

In the meantime, the paper strips will do.

Roughly 60% of our seniors will matriculate out-of-state.

40% will remain in-state.

Congrats to our seniors and the college adventure ahead of them at the following colleges and universities:

Auburn University
Belmont University
Boston University
Centre College
DePauw University
Denison University
Duke University
Georgetown University
Hendrix College
Louisiana State University
Northeastern University
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma State University
Parsons New School of Design
Point Loma Nazarene University
Pomona College
Philander Smith College
Rhodes College
Rollins College
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Sewanee: The University of the South
Southern Methodist University
St. Olaf College
Texas Christian University
Trinity University
University of Arkansas
University of California at Berkeley
University of Indiana
University of Liverpool
United States Military Academy (West Point)
University of Mississippi
University of Missouri at Columbia
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University of Oklahoma
University of Texas - Austin
Vanderbilt University
Virginia Tech University
Washington University in St. Louis
William Jewell College
Wittenberg University

More College Decal Stickers!

2011-05-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

College Decal Stickers and the End of a Journey

2011-05-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

These days I love walking around the senior parking lot with my iPhone in hand.

Ready to take pics of college decal stickers.

It's my way, I guess, of celebrating the end of a journey with my students.

A journey that involves a process of exploring, discovering, narrowing, selecting, applying, waiting, receiving, and deciding on the best college fit for them.

College decals have become a symbol of that shared experience.

That epic adventure.

And taking these pictures always seems to energize me for the journey ahead.

With a new set of juniors.

And working with them closely to find that excellent college fit.

(Excuse the unprofessional quality of my pics. I should have thought about shooting the pics at an angle to avoid my reflection.)

.

The College Admission Game

2011-04-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

Last night we had Peter Van Buskirk with us, former dean, inspirational speaker, and author of the Winning the College Admission Game.

Mr. Buskirk is also now a regular blogger for the US News and World Report.

Below you will find my video summary of what Buskirk shared with us.

Regular Admission Results

2011-04-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

Regular admission results continue to trickle in for the Casady class of 2011.

In spite of a historically competitive year in college admissions, our seniors continue to experience great success.

Our 82 seniors have now been admitted to over 120 colleges and universities.

That's the largest number of schools a Casady graduating class has been admitted to in quite some time.

Perhaps a visual will help us all appreciate this accomplishment.

What diversity, huh?

With acceptances from small, liberal arts schools.

To old, tradition-rich historical black colleges.

From major, public research universities.

To everything in-between...even international universities in England.

Now our seniors face the curse of choice.

At Casady we value choices - plural.

We want each of our students to have at least two options.

With May 1 looming, many seniors are taking their final college visits,

weighing pros/cons,

talking finances with parents, sending in the deposit check,

then celebrating with hats, sweatshirts, and car decal stickers!

Here is an updated list of the spring college acceptances:

Allegheny College
Auburn University
Austin College
Baylor University
Belmont University
Boston University
Cameron University
Centre College
College of Wooster
Colorado College
Colorado School of Mines
DePauw University
Denison University
Drexel University
Duke University
Emory University
Eugene Lang College
Hampshire College
Hendrix College
Juniata College
Knox College
Laguna College of Art and Design
Langston University
Lewis and Clark College
Louisiana State University
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola University (Chicago)
Macalester College
Marymount Manhattan College
Maryland Institute of Art and Design
Northern Oklahoma College
Newman University
Northeastern University
Occidental College
Ohio State University
Oklahoma Baptist University
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Philander Smith College
Prairie View A&M
Randolph College
Reed College
Rhodes College
Rice University
Rollins College
Saint Louis University
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
School of Visual Arts
Sewanee: The University of the South
Southern Methodist University
Southern University and A&M College
Southwestern College
Southwestern University
St. Olaf College
SUNY Purchase
Texas Christian University
Trinity University
University of Arkansas
University of California at Berkeley
University of California at Santa Barbara
University of California at Santa Cruz
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Georgia
University of Illinois
University of Kansas
University of Liverpool
University of Manchester
University of Michigan
University of Mississippi
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina - Greensboro
University of Oklahoma
University of Oregon
University of Puget Sound
University of San Diego
University of Sussex
University of Texas - Austin
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Washington University in St. Louis
Wittenberg University
William Jewell College

Congrats to all our seniors on finding their college thumbprint!

UVA Top Twitter Posts

2011-04-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what admission officers at highly selective schools are thinking while they are reading thousands of applications?

Well, now you can...to some filtered degree.

The University of Virgina has provided us such a portal through Twitter.

Just start following @UVaDeanJ on Twitter and it won't be long before you read some colorful and quite revealing threads.

Here are some of my favorite. (Please note the sarcasm underneath.)

A student who didn't apply to UVA is spreading a story about pledging $100K and being admitted...

Family member of an applicant who's still waiting for a decision just accosted one of the other reps.

Another day's worth of files done. First day without an essay about 1984 in a while. Well done, applicants!

This is interesting. I'm reading an app for a student at a school where the lowest GPA in the senior class is a 3.0

Just read an interesting app. Student ranked #1 in a class of 300. Applicant shared #1 rank with 299 others. Trophies for everyone?

Came across an applicant from a school where 38% of seniors have GPAs over 4.0. They have GPAs we didn't even dream of as kids!

Looking at a school with 500 seniors and 200 of them have a GPA over 4.0

It's a day for firsts. Previous record for most recommendations letters sent in was 37. New record: 56

If suddenly drop from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.3, you should really consider an explanation...I promise you it's noticeable

Looking at a 16 page resume with pictures embedded. How many hours did this take? Wish they had just filled out the @CommonApp chart

I know what AP Study Hall is, but I still chuckle when I see it on a transcript. :)

Chicken Little Part 2

2011-04-14T08:12:00.001-07:00

Earlier in the week I wrote a blog post on the inevitable Chicken Little moment.

Need a humorous refresher?

Not long ago I was visiting with a potential candidate for our Associate Director position.

This candidate asked me about how I deal with student and parent disappointment over not getting into a top choice school.

I explained to this person that when you put yourself in the shoes of the students and parents during this process, you begin to understand why some of them go Chicken Little.

Here is my working thesis.

The degree of our response to any goal is determined by the depth of our investment in the process.

Let me explain.

When we go see a Razzie nominated movie like The Last Song (that's code for very bad), we walk out and shrug our shoulders at how bad Miley Cyrus's performance is, but that is about as far as our response goes.

Oh well, we're out 2 hours and $10 bucks.

Who is up for Orange Leaf?

But take a different medium.

Like a novel.

Right now, for example, the juniors are reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

That sucker is 619 pages.

It's epic.

Now when our juniors finish that novel, are they simply going to shrug their shoulders.

Okay, some might.

But those are going to be the students who only read The Sparknotes version.

But for those who really read the novel,

there reaction will be much more visceral.

Some will absolutely love the last tableau that Steinbeck leaves us with.

Others will loathe it so much that they will start a Twitter thread with the hashtag #grapesofwrathbites.

Why is this?

Because these students read 619 pages!

They divested themselves of mental, emotional, and imaginative energies.

They coughed and spitted and crawled across Route 66 with the Joads.

They nurtured the dream of a cozy house with the white picket fence in the San Fernando Valley.

They came to care about the fates of Ma and Tom and RoseofSharon.

It's human nature, in other words, to react to the degree to which we have invested.

The same is true in so many other ways.

We study 3 hours for a Honors Chemistry exam, and we get an A - how do we feel?

Elated.

We put in 10 minutes during A block before the vocabulary test, and bomb it - how do we feel?

Indifferent.

I think back to moments where I've shown spontaneous bursts of emotion.

I think of the eurphoria of winning the state championship in basketball my junior year.

I cried tears of joy as I held the gold ball.

I think of the agony of losing the state championship my senior year.

I can still taste the salty tears I cried as the final buzzer sounded.

Why the tears?

Because distilled within those tears were my adolescent hopes, dreams, time investments, etc.

The same is true with college admissions results.

If we apply to a school that we have only investigated on Naviance,

or read about in Newsweek,

and then get denied - oh well, I am out a $60 dollar application fee ( my parent's are, not me) and a couple hours filling out the application.

But if I visit the school, and work my essays over ten times, and interview, and follow-up with email threads, and wear the college's sweatshirt to bed every night, and then get denied - it's a completely different reaction.

Therein lies the rub.

If we plunge our metabollic energies into the college research, selection, and admission process, we may discover in the end, that our efforts were seemingly in vain.

We took a great risk, and instead of a great reward, we suffered a great penalty.

On the flip side, we may experience the euphoria of gambling and hitting the jackpot.

But I guess that's just the deal.

In college admissions.

And in life,

Love anything with great intensity, and there is always the possibility of that love not being reciprocated.

Perhaps this is one of the taproot reasons why more students are looking for the easiest application, and the easiest route to a college destination, is because they fear the hard, the pressure, and the possibility of failure. They don't want to let their parents down. They don't want to see that illusion shatter into a thousand pieces.

So how do we avoid this?

It comes back, I believe to keeping first things first.

If we keep the student at the center of this process, then I submit that the fear will quickly give away to excitement.

Because when a student and family follows the "compass of right fit",

more times than not, the journey is a fulfilling one,

where initial anxiety is supplanted with sustained enthusiasm.

Therefore, it's important then to keep the end goal in mind.

We want our students to plunge themselves into the college process.

Because students who do this are always the most satisfied with the end results.

Where they will leave high school feeling validated for who they are,

and what they can bring to serve and enhance a college community.

The Inevitable Chicken Little Moment

2011-04-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I got an email from a distressed colleague.

"What do you do," my friend asked, cutting to the chase, "when a senior comes in after she's been rejected from her top choice and believes her life is over?"

College counselors all dread these moments.

Because what you are dealing with is a minor apocalypse.

A lacerating revelation.

With a cataclysmic end.

Rejection.

No doubt, in those moments, there is nothing to say up front to mitigate the disappointment.

This student's world has orbited for the last year, heck four years, around that one particular school, like the earth revolving around the sun.

And now that sun has imploded,

sending her entire solar system into a state of chaos.

In this line of work, there will always be "chicken little" moments.

Moments where students and families will feel like the sky has fallen.

In late spring, we are showing our juniors and their parents the award-winning documentary film 500 words or less.

Here is the trailer for it.

This is a documentary about 4 seniors who go through the college admission process.

It's a must see for any student, parent, teacher, or coach that works with students in their senior year.

One of the most important questions the film poses involves how are we to responsibly handle the student who gets denied from their dream school.

What do we say?

And not say?

What do we do?

And not do?

Thinking through a positive response to a negative outcome is not something we really want to think seriously about.

All of us on some level would like to believe that we are beyond the vagaries of college admissions.

That our student doesn't have a chink in their armor.

Or a "kryptonite-like weakness".

That somehow all our time, money, and sweat will pay off.

That that A- in Honors Chemistry (the "road less travelled") will make all the difference.

That that project building a Habitat for Humanity home will earn an extra gold star.

That that expensive test prep course will reap benefits.

That our "contributions" or "connections" will come thru.

But in this admission climate,

of record application volume,

and historic low acceptance rates,

there are simply no guarantees at the top of the food chain.

And therefore there will be inevitable heartbreak.

One of the things I've learned is that you have to be proactive and candid earlier and earlier with students about reach school.

When a student comes in with a list of dream schools, for example,

I try not to crush their spirits.

Nobody wants to hear, "You can't get into any of these schools!"

Instead I try to calibrate their expectations.

I encourage them to pick two of their dream schools.

Just not five.

And then I work to help each student shore up the middle.

The more "target" schools,

the better chance that student has not only of getting accepted,

but procuring significant scholarship monies.

It's always a delicate tight rope to walk with students and families,

balancing objectivity and subjectivity,

cautious optimism with veiled skepticism,

always trying to keep the focus squarely on the student

and the schools that are the best fit for them.

I had a mentor once tell me,"Part of your job is for students/parents to leave frowning in the fall (of the senior year) so that they are smiling in the spring."

This is not easy for me.

I'm a "golden retriever" type,

which means I hate those awkward conversations.

I want students and parents to like me.

I want my kids to have the courage to go for it.

But I also don't want my kids to get so mangled by this process that they go limping into college.

I do my students and families a great disservice if I don't speak the truth with grace and love.

The truth may sting early, but it could prevent a gaping wound later.

This student my colleague spoke of,

who earlier got denied from her top school,

she also applied to other schools on the front page of the US News and World Report.

If only she would have been willing to talk about the schools on the second page.

Ultimately, each student and family must decide the path they will take,

and when it doesn't work out as they expected,

that's where we enter back into the storm,

where there are no easy answers,

and no quick fixes,

and no formulaic responses to when a student gets rejected from their top school.

Some things just have to be endured.

But from experience, I've discovered that on the other side of that storm

is a new horizon of possibility.

A new world of opportunity.

And promise.

It's just takes time.

And sometimes an April campus visit to a school that did say Yes.

It's amazing how many times a student who was crestfallen in the spring,

returns in the fall as an alumni,

happy with their college choice,

loving their college experience,

that stormy memory having completely blown away.

Seinfeld and Ivy League Admissions

2011-04-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

The word is out on the street.

College Confidential has gone manically viral.

The blogsphere, Facebook, Twitter - they are all burning it up.

And the media - they are devouring these anorexic statistics like ravenous vultures.

Here is one recent segment entitled "Ivy League Letters".

Harvard admits 6.9%.

Stanford 7.1%.

Yale around 7.4%

Even Dartmouth went single digits this year.

Ever seen the "Soup Nazi" episode on Seinfeld?

I can't help but think of this scene when I think of Ivy League admissions.

Why is it that the Ivy League schools grow their business every year through customer dissatisfaction?

It's totally counter intuitive.

Last fall we had Maria Laskaris, Dean of Admission at Dartmouth College, on campus for an event. She was absolutely delightful. She talked about her daughter, a senior in high school. And going through the process as a mom. And how much she loved reading essays from students about their mothers. Ahhhh! But that was in September. In March Laskaris's alter ego takes over. She becomes the "Admission Nazi". "No Ivy for you!"

All joking aside.

What always amazes me is the glaring irony.

Every year more and more students (and parents and college counselors and board members) fall in love with these schools.

And every year these schools do not reciprocate that love.

They spurn. We woo. They spurn. We woo.

And the more these schools spurn, the larger the line is the next year with wooers.

"Pick me!""Pick me!""Pick me!""Pick me!""Pick me!""Pick me!""Pick me""Pick me!""Pick me!"

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Maybe.

To see acceptance statistics for Top 50 colleges/universities click here.

The numbers don't lie.

More applications.

Fewer admits.

I wonder now that most of the Ivies (minus Penn and Cornell) are admitting single digits,

how much longer will it be before the "New Ivies" will be admitting single digits as well:

schools like Duke, Northwestern, Wash U, Georgetown, etc.

When is it going to stop? I can't help but ask.

No doubt we're all frustrated.

Students.

Parents.

College counselors.

School communities.

Heck, even alumni interviewers.

A recent Bloomberg article goes so far to interview alumni admission folk who are quitting.

In the meantime, we must all go about helping our students move on to embracing the schools that want them for what they can bring to that school.

And helping our parents find a new bumper sticker to put on their cars.

And helping explain to board members why Joe and Susie Casady with almost perfect ACT scores didn't get into these elite schools.

But ultimately I come back to this.

The Ivies are great schools. No denying that.

But there are so many excellent schools where our students can flourish.

And if you begin with the student and their thumbprint,

and proceed from there to schools and their thumbprint,

there will be many wonderful, validating matches.

Which is my definition of success.

And metric for measuring the health of Casady's college counseling program.

I am reminded today,

that as we near the end of another admission cycle,

we must go back to the beginning.

To remember our mission.

Our telos.

Our goal.

And that is to find the best college fit for each student.

The "Netherland" of College Admission Decisions

2011-03-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

We have officially entered the season of regular admission returns.

April 1st is right around the corner.

Which means that for our 84 seniors there are a 164 decisions coming their way

(gulp)

by mail

or email.

There will be thick letters.

And thin letters.

Emails that begin with "Congratulations on being selected to join the Class of 2015."

And emails that begin with "After reviewing your application, we are sorry to inform you..."

For some there will be celebration dinners.

For others there will cartons of Maggie Moo ice cream to spoon away the disappointment.

And then there will be this odd letter and email.

Where you discover that just when you thought the admission process was over,

wrapped up,

done -

you realize that you face another lengthy process.

Another road map.

Another set of sign posts.

Another journey fraught with great uncertainty.

We're talking about the "netherland" of the wait list world.

Let's first talk about the facts.

Wait Lists are the growing trend at many competitive colleges.

Admissions experts anticipate 10% increases at many selective schools.

Last year schools like Duke, Wash U, and Stanford had wait lists exceeding 3,000. (click here to read The Times article on this topic)

Real encouraging, right?

So why the long wait list?

Colleges are doing this to buffer themselves against a possible onslaught of "no thank yous" from accepted students.

To say the least, this is a high anxiety time for colleges.

Who will yield?

Who will take money over prestige?

Who will stay in-state?

By May 1, deposit day, many colleges will know.

That's when they will see the gaps between

the number accepted,

the number enrolled,

and the number of vacancies.

It's at that point that the wait list game is on.

(Yes, I know I'm switching metaphors.)

It's overtime.

Like the Thunder-Golden State game last night.

If you assume the game is lost, you can't win.

If you keep playing - hard and smart - you may have a good chance.

So take heart.

Again most selective colleges in the country will admit students from the wait list every year in numbers ranging from half a dozen to well over 100.

Last year, for example, Harvard pulled 200 off their wait list. That triggered a domino effect among other selective schools. As a result, wait list action was hot all over the US.

So how do you put yourself in the best position to win OT?

My suggestions.

Make sure to X the box or click the link that will allow you to indicate to the college that you want to pursue a fall admit thru the wait list program.

Email your admission officer a short paragraph. Admission officers won't admit it, but they are exhausted. Brevity, then, is a virtue. In your email, let the admission officer know why you really want X school. Highlight 2-3 specific things you love about X school. Add 2-3 winter/spring highlights. From academics. To athletics. From fine arts. To study abroad opportunities over spring break.

If you have not interviewed with the college, ask to see if you could schedule a brief phone interview or Skype interview with the Oklahoma rep.

Consider making a campus visit if you have not already and meet in person with the Oklahoma rep.

Ask your college counselor to contact the admission officer to advocate for you.

If there has been a question about financial aid, be clear about what your family can afford. Your need for assistance could well be a determining factor.

I was reading today from Peter Van Buskirk's book Winning the Admission Game. On Wait List, he writes:

"Contrary to popular belief, most Wait Lists are not usually ranked numerically...Admission committees constantly search for new information upon which they can base an acceptance. The key then is to provide new information...Most importantly, you need to stay on the radar screens of the schools that have placed you on the WL. Make sure they know you are available and ready to accept an offer of admission. Continue to show your interest without becoming a pest....Finally, don't become so preoccupied with the WL situation that you lost track of your more immediate options. You don't want to talk yourself out of another school that you really like."

Good advice.

And insight.

In the end there is no guarantee that you will get off the waist list.

But for most, if not all of you, there are thick envelopes and "Congratulation" emails that you need to revisit to remind yourself that you have excellent options. Remind yourself why you chose those schools. And remember: ultimately you want to end up where you will be validated for what you can bring to that school community.

What Should I Take Next Year? Part 2

2011-03-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

In late April, Peter Van Buskirk, former dean of admission at Franklin & Marshall, and author of Winning the Admission Game, will speak to 9th-11th grade students and parents about key topics in his book.

In a recent blog post, Mr. Buskirk asserts his insights on the topic of academic programming, particularly for seniors, but germane for all upper division students.

Mr. Buskirk writes:

The basic message is this: “Take courses that present reasonable challenges for you academically, do well in them and choose colleges that value you for your efforts.”

The following are questions I have received since that might speak to issues you are confronting.

Question #1: “If I know that I don’t want to pursue sciences in college, would it be okay to drop science (probably AP Physics)? I have gotten B+’s in science so far but I have to work real hard in those classes to get the grade.”

Answer: The answer depends on two things: the course you plan to take in place of the science course you are dropping, and the colleges to which you want to apply. As a rule, it is best to replace a dropped course with another that would provide the same level of challenge. Generally speaking, dropping AP Physics for a survey course in government or economics won’t reflect well on you.

That said admission officers at highly selective schools are watching to see what you do when you think the pressure is “off”—when you don’ think you have to push yourself any longer. They’re looking for the slightest reasons to turn students down. Dropping the science course without adding a suitable replacement gives them a reason to say “no.” Less selective schools, on the other hand, are not likely to view your course selection as critically.

Click here to read the rest of Mr. Buskirk's answers.

What Should I Take Next Year?

2011-03-09T08:49:00.001-08:00

My office has recently been heavily trafficked with students.

My phone, in addition, has been burning up.

Why is this?

Academic programming.

Should I take Honors Genetics or Pre-AP Physics?

Do I have to take a fourth year of language?

Does my rising 9th grader have to take his or her fine arts classes next year?

Can my rising 9th grader double up in math?

It's my senior year, and I was hoping to try to get two "Rumsey courses" - is that possible?

What is college X going to want me to take?

Can you talk to my mom? She wants me to take at least 4 AP level courses!

These are all pertinent and pressing questions.

What is my response?

It's pretty much the same.

And that is...

It depends.

Specifically, it depends on the student.

Some students can juggle more balls than others.

Some students have a greater penchant for time management than others.

Some students (or should I say parents) are more "GPA-centric" than others.

Some students are better in history than science,

or better in math than language,

or better with paints and prints than formulas and test tubes.

Some students want a big, public university like OU.

Other students want a small, liberal arts college like William Jewell.

Some students (and parents) have lofty ambitions to attend an Ivy-caliber school.

Other students have realistic expectations about the price of an Ivy-caliber school.

Some students have dreams of mastering Mandarin Chinese and living in Shanghai.

Other students have dreams of starting a non-profit business like charity:water.

While other students have dreams of their art hanging in the Museum of Modern Art.

And on and on it goes.

It's so important through the whole process of deciding on an academic program that all parties involved keep the student at the center.

As I like to say, It's about the student, not the school.

If we keep first things first, second and third things will fall in line.

And remember - the goal with academic programming is to discern for each student what combination and level of challenge in lieu of extracurricular commitments and college ambitions gives that student the greatest chance to flourish both at Casady and beyond.

College Seminar Cycle #2: Who am I?

2011-03-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

When my juniors entered the classroom for the second cycle of the College Seminar, I handed them a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.

Sitting down, I asked them to draw two pie charts.

The first chart involved them answering the question - how do you spend your time now?

The second chart involved them answering the question - how do you want to spend your time in college?

For many the first pie chart was cut in half.

Half was "Academics".

The other half was sliced into many different pieces.

From "Sports".

To "Theater".

From "Garage band".

To "Youth Group".

From "Dance".

To "Horse back riding".

Heck there were even pie slices for "Thunder games" and "Sleep".

The second pie charts, however, were the most interesting.

Some juniors drew charts that looked similar to their charts now.

But for most there were nuances.

For some "Academics" went from half to a quarter.

For many "Social" went from quarter to a half.

What's "Social" look like?, I asked the juniors.

Greek life.

Tailgating.

Concerts.

Parties.

Shopping.

Surfing.

Road tripping.

For many sports even fell under social.

It wasn't about competing to win as much as connecting to know/be known.

For those who haven't seen the Oscar award winning film, The Social Network, it is a must see.

The film captures the spirit of a generation and helps us understand why kids are far more about social interactions/networks/webs than they are about anything else.

One junior confessed that she wanted a college where the "academics were challenging but not suffocating". She wanted room for more "spaciousness to enjoy friendships".

Quite revealing, don't you think?

Just last week The Times did an article entitled "College the Easy Way" on this trending issue among college-bound students. Worth the read.

Moving on to the next exercise, I had the juniors draw a stick figure of themselves, then a linear line across the page, and then another stick figure with a cap and gown on.

Above this drawing I had them write out this question:

"What do you hope to experience/do in college before you graduate?"

To help my juniors think about what to put on that linear line, I mapped out with bullet points what I experienced in that bracket of time.

played college basketball (on scholarship)
lived in a major city with trains (Chi Town)
lived in a dorm (three fellow b-ballers and my roommate from Minnesota)
rode a bike instead of drove a car my freshman year
had a girlfriend (her name was Amy...a different Amy than my bride)
got season tickets for football (one year at OU...the Schnellenberger year...enough said)
studied literature and education
ate Lucky Charms three meals a day
knew and was known by my professors (Dr. Grady and Dr. Washington)
worked a couple job to pay the bills (bus driving/assistant coach)
lived in a house off campus with a bunch of guys (405 Chautauqua Ave)
road tripped over spring break (Panama City Beach 08')
got an internship (student teaching at OCS)
studied abroad (Regent College in Vancouver...does Canada qualify as abroad?
wrote a mini-thesis (Tolkien and Lewis: The Christian Imagination)
got a job (OCS)
got into graduate school (UCO)
graduated with minimal debt ($1500 total)
bought my first car (silver, 1998 Honda CRV with 42K)

Parents then - don't be afraid to ask your student this question. It really can corkscrew open conversation about what your students desires to get out of those four years.

Because in the end, college is an experience.

Think about what you (parents) remember about college.

Is it really that lab on Friday afternoons?

Or that Pulitzer winning professor?

Or nights curled up with your textbooks at midnight?

Or are the memories you hold dear about moments with people you formed a bond with through mutual experiences?

Certainly there was that professor who helped awaken in me latent desires and gifts.

Dr. Grady comes to mind. His American II class was a turning point for me academically and professionally.

But for the most part, my memories are rife with moments like...

playing Spades with teammates for a penny a point on road trips,

running button hooks on the sugary sands of Florida in a tackle football game with 10 fellas over spring break,

and building a Mountain Dew wall in the Chautauqua house (1076 Mountain Dew cans total).

At Elon, there is a tradition that when a student graduates, they not only get a diploma but they get a resume of all that they have done, experienced, and accomplished during their years there.

Pie charts and sketches.

It's a place to begin.

Casady Advetorial

2011-03-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Our admission/marketing team asked me to write an "advetorial" for a local magazine.

I didn't know what that was.

But I learned that an advetorial is a column that serves as an advertisement.

So after writing, editing (thanks to Mark Hoven), and re-writing, here is what I came up with.

___

Molly faces a dilemma.

May 1^st, deposit day, looms on the horizon.

Back in September, Molly feared she wouldn’t get into any of her top schools.

Now she is cursed with a bright triad of choices.

From the University of Michigan and its top East Asian program; to Austin College and its innovative Language House; to UT-Austin with its live music scene, 50,000 students, and sorority central.

The last option, of course, makes Molly’s dad cringe at the thought of wearing burnt orange.

But every college choice for Molly shimmers with possibility.

Which school though is THE ONE for her?

In those moments, Casady college counselors like to remind students like Molly and her parents that we’re not chasing a trophy we’re making a match.

At Casady School our mission involves partnering with families like Molly’s to discern the best college fit.

Sometimes fit involves admissibility. Can the student get in?

Other times fit involves affordability. Can the family pay the sticker price?

And other times, like in Molly’s case, fit involves pursuing a passion to study Mandarin Chinese and rush as a Theta.

The truth is that there is no perfect college.

That’s a myth.

Instead there are many excellent schools where each student can pursue their passions, make connections, graduate in four years, and either matriculate to graduate school or compete in the job market.

Over the past four years, 100% of Casady graduates have been accepted to a total of 250 colleges and universities (220 private/50 public).

From Ivies like Dartmouth and Penn.

To BCS bowl winners like TCU and Ohio State.

From single sex schools like Wellesley and Hampden-Sydney.

To small, liberal arts colleges like Pomona College and Rhodes College.

Overall, our acceptance rate has shot up in four years from 40% to 74%.

And our merit money from $500,000 to $3.6 million.

As a whole, Casady students are discovering that each of them have a thumbprint that matches what colleges are looking for. Nothing has been more self-validating.

So what school, you might wonder, did Molly end up matriculating to?

Just ask Molly’s dad. He sports a Longhorn baseball cap on weekends. Except, of course, on the first weekend in October.

College Seminar: Cycle 1 - Myths and Misconceptions

2011-01-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Myth of Procrustes

Casady college guidance does not operate like the Greek mythological robber, Procrustes.

We are not out to cut up our students to fit the highest ranked colleges in the US.

We don't measure our success by whether or not our kids get into or matriculate to colleges on the first page of US News and World Report: The College Edition.

At Casady it is a myth to believe that we have only one type of student that fits only one stripe of school.

One size, in other words, doesn't fit all.

Casady students, notably, have been admitted to 250 colleges the past four years.

* Stars represent schools Casady students have been admitted to 2007-2010.

The last thing we want our rising seniors to think is that we start and sustain the process via the rankings.

In contrast, we start with the student's thumbprint.

Where each concentric ring reveals their...

Personality.

Passions.

Gifts.

Goals.

Dreams.

Preferences.

Learning style.

Matching each student's thumbprint with the right set of schools - that's our mission.

The Myth of Fit: There is ONE perfect college for me.

Truth: There is no perfect school.

It's easy to romanticize the college experience.

And think that there is ONE school out there.

One Romeo.

One Juliet.

This approach to the college search can easily lead to massive disillusionment.

It's not coincidence, I think, that our national college drop out/transfer rate (40-50%) and divorce rate (50%) are almost the same.

Our hope is that Casady students don't approach the college search with a "glass slipper" mentality.

But instead they approach it as a shopper looking for a new coat.

The coat may not fit comfortably at first. But with time one will grow into it.

(Click here to read an excellent article on the myth of fit.)

The Myth of the Good and Bad College

Truth: There are colleges that are good for you. And there are colleges that aren't.

Story Time: My dad went to the Air Force Academy. He thrived at the Academy and graduated at the top of his class with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

I, however, discovered on my campus tour that I was not cadet material.

I was not good at math or science; I didn't like keeping my room tidy; I had poor vision (forget flying); and I looked silly in a buzz cut.

In other words, the Air Force Academy was NOT a good college for me.

But I had to go through the application process to discover this...and have the courage to tell my father this.

A month later I visited Trinity International University, and I realized here was a small, liberal arts school where I could play basketball (aka scholarship), study literature, and hang out in Chicago on the weekends. This was a good college for me.

All colleges have something good to offer. It's just a matter if what the college offers is a good fit for the student.

Myth: Only high ranked schools produce successful people.

Blake Griffin. OU.

Sam Presti. Emerson.

Tom Hanks. Chabot College.

Steven Spielburg. Cal-State Long Beach.

Condolezza Rice. Denver.

Warren Buffet. Nebraska.

Truth: Success can come from anywhere. It's part of the genius of America. Just ask any of the people above.

Myth: Future Employers only recruit from prestigious universities.

Truth: Future employers are recruiting creative, problem solving, adaptive, imaginative, collaborative, and hard working 21st century employees everywhere.

The Wall Street Journal did an article on the top schools that corporate America recruits from annually. One would automatically think that the Ivies would top this list. Surprising as it may be to some, in fact, Penn State was #1. Unlike Harvard with a 6.9% acceptance rate, Penn State has 51% acceptance rate. None of the Ivies, in fact, were even in the top 5. The other top recruiting schools included Texas A&M (70%), Illinois (69%), Purdue (72%), and Arizona State (90%).

To see the full list click here.

Myth: Selective colleges are really only interested in the student's test score.

Truth: Selective colleges are interested in your test score, along with many other criteria (rigor and academic performance, resume, hooks, etc.)

* Click here to see the 800+ colleges that are Test Optional.

Myth: Selective colleges always choose the best well-rounded student.

Truth: Selective colleges always choose the best well-rounded class.

Most colleges make their admission requirements as visible and easy to understand as gazing at the Rocky mountains. At the University of Arkansas, for example, a student with a 3.25 GPA/24 ACT qualifies automatically for in-state tuition.
Some selective colleges, however, are as ominous and precarious as an iceberg in their admission practices.

And the truth is that at these schools there are underlying market forces and institutional agendas that affect admission outcomes.

We might call this the "hidden agenda".

The media then likes to work us all into a crazed frenzy over this small constellation of schools.

Who are these most selective schools and their admission rate? (Harvard 6.9% 30,000, Stanford 7.2% 32,000, Yale 7.5%, Princeton 8.18%, Brown 9.3%, Dartmouth 11.53%, Vandy 16.3%, Wash U 20%, NW 23%, Duke 14%, GT 20%, Chicago 18%, ND 29%, Amherst 16%, Williams 20%, Bowdoin 19%, Middlebury 20%, "Hot Publics - UT 40%, UNC 32%, UVA 24%, W&M 34%, Michigan 50%, Cal-Berkley 21.7%)

Here is the hard-edged truth:

At the top of the " selectivity pyramid" (admit rate % 6-25%)...

It's not fair.

It's not predictable.

And it's not about you (it's about them - their ranking, their bottom line).

The pursuit of the "well rounded" freshman profile then includes but is not exhausted to the following "hooks":

Gender, Geographic Location, Ethnic Minority, Sexual Orientation, Legacy, Athletics, Athletics, Fine Arts, Ability to Pay, under represented academic disciplines, etc.

It's a myth to believe that most colleges are looking for a reason NOT to admit you.

That's just not true.

Only 50 or so operate on this premise.

The majority of colleges, though, are looking for a reason TO admit you.

And don't forget this one unequivocal truth: the most selective party in the admission game is you.

Think about it.

You will apply to an average of 5 schools.

There are over 4,000+ colleges.

But let's just take the 250 colleges our students have been admitted to.

Do the simple math.

And what do you get?

2%.

That means that the University of You has a selectivity admit rate that is significantly below Harvard's at 6.9% or Stanford's at 7.1%.

The Myth of Marketing: Selective colleges are sending you "snap apps" and materials to offer you admission.

Truth: Selective colleges are sending you snap apps and materials because they are trolling for your application.

Many of these schools pay .99 cents for each name from the College Board. Wash U, for example, buys close to half a million student names.

It's all part of an "attract to reject" marketing strategy.

The logic is as followed: The higher the application volume, the more the college can reject, which equals a lower acceptance rate, which in turn results in a higher ranking!!

The Times have closely chronicled the rise in application volumes. Here is one recent article.

The Myth of Big and Small

The big college experience (15,000-55,000) will provide me more opportunities.

The small college experience (1,000-2,500) will provide me fewer opportunities.

The big college experience will equate to greater anonymity.

The small college experience will equate to greater connectivity.

Truth: Small can mean Big in terms of Participation.

Highest % in Sorority/Fraternity = W & L (74%), DePauw (70%), Wofford 61%, Rhodes (52%)

Highest % in Study Abroad = Austin College, Centre College, St. Olaf, Elon, DePauw, Kalamazoo, Lewis and Clark.

Best Career/Job Placement Services: Northeastern, Claremont McKenna, Wabash College, Sweet Briar, Hampden-Sydney(The Princeton Review)

Truth: Big can mean Small in terms of Participation.

Big to Small: Sorority/Fraternity, Honors College, Clubs, Intramural Sports, Residential Hall, Study Abroad Program, etc.

Myth of the College Counselor

I am not the Godfather.

I am not Jerry Maguire.

Sometimes I am Reggie Bush.

Other times I am Gandalf.

The truth is though that YOU get yourself into college.
We simply offer some advice and write a letter narrating YOUR story.

The Myth of Undecided: To be undecided means to be undefined.

Undecided does not mean undefined.

Nor that the student is somehow behind the back.

Or should start worrying because they don't have everything figured out.

It's okay if the only place you know where to start is by identifying what you don't want in a college.

What you are against will eventually evolve into what you are for.

In the end, we are all a bit undecided. We are all like 80's cinematic icon, Loyd Dobler, when it comes to our "future plans".

Say Boom? What Nike and Casady have in common...

2011-01-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

In my 9th grade English class, we talk a lot about the Boom factor.

The Boom factor is introducing your topic in an intriguing way.

It's grabbing your reader and pulling them in from the opening sentence.

It's writing your opening paragraph with this Nike commercial in the back of your mind.

At a school like Casady, where we are known as THE "college prep" school in the state, we traditionally love to wow people with our prestigious list of colleges and universities.

Ivies like Dartmouth and Penn.

Public Ivies like UC-Berkeley and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Say Boom?

It's easy then at an event like this Open House for us to use Nike-like marketing tactics.

Because let's face it.

Talking about Ted M. and his American Idol future after he graduates from Vandy - can you say Boom!?

Or Olivia B. and her bright future as an intellectual in the field of philosophy/literature after she graduates from a school like the University of Chicago. Can you say Boom!?

But what this kind of marketing approach does is only reinforce the "Casady sterotype."

And that is...

We only teach and coach and counsel to the top.

We care more about prestige than people.

We have only one type of student who matriculate to one stripe of school.

And that we measure success by only one rubric - the US News and World Report: College Edition.

Now, yes, we do have students who experience success by getting into these top ranked schools.

But the Ted M's of our community don't apply there because of a ranking.

Ted applies to Vandy because he feels the fit. He has this gut sense that he'll flourish there.

So the truth is this:

We don't start the college journey with rankings.

We start the college adventure with your thumbprint.

Take a moment, in fact, to look at that fascinating slab of skin on your thumb.

What do you see?

Concentric rings that coil out - each centrifugal ring revealing a passion, a gift, a propensity, an ability, a potentiality.

What we do then at Casady involves matching your individualized thumbprint with colleges that believe you put a positive imprint on their community.

You see, while we are a college prep school, we are also a college match school.

And our overarching mission is to help each student find the best college fit.

Our statistics certainly speak to our mission's success.

Over the past four years, 100% of our graduates have been accepted to a total of 250 colleges and universities (220 private/50 public).

Overall, our acceptance rate has shot up in four years from 40% to 74%.

And our merit money has gone from $500,ooo to $3.6 million.

But, you know what, it's the stories that energize me.

Especially the narratives of the students who started the college process with fear.

The kind of fear we all face when we think about prom and the prospect of going stag.

But came late April, these same students have more prom date offers than they know what to do with.

They are suddenly cursed with too many college choices.
_

The story of Molly comes to mind, for example.

In one hand Molly holds her acceptance letter to Austin College.

There she can pursue her passion for Chinese in a Language House.

Travel abroad and study Chinese politics in Tienanmen Square.

In the other hand Molly has her letter and scholarship offer from Arkansas.

Her 3.25 GPA/24 ACT qualified her for in-state tuition.

At Arkansas, Molly can drink deep of SEC culture.

Pledge Theta.

Get a business degree in the Sam Walton School of Business where literally thousands of companies recruit.

And take road trips with girlfriends down to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl.
_

Or it is the story of Big Brian.

To meet him is to love him.

He instantly reminds you of Jack Black's character in Kung Fu Panda.

Brian's passion is film.

Studying the old masterpieces like Citizen Kane.

Writing screenplays.

Directing, producing, photographing, and editing films.

Brian's college essay was on how 3-D movies are destroying the quality of film making.

How cool and original is that?

In one hand, then, Brain holds his acceptance letter to LMU.

From day one at LMU, Brian can work in the studio labs,

state-of-the-art edit bays,

carry a camera around,

with Hollywood in his back yard as a kind of sand box.

Or Brain could stay at home.

Making his momma happy.

Save money for graduate school.

Go to OU.

Join a frat.

Spend Saturday's in the autumn tailgating and cheering on his beloved Sooners.

Not to mention still get a degree in film from our flagship university,

while taking courses at O trip C where Brian can continue to study under Greg Mellott, a former USC film professor, along with Gray Frederickson, a producer on Godfather, where Brian could continue to use the Red Camera, a $250,000 camera used in films like The Book of Eli.

These are the stories and the predicaments that I live for here.

And in the end, it's the stories of Molly and Brian, along with the Ted's and Olivia's - these stories represent the BIGGER BOOM at Casady.

Let the Great Adventure Begin

2011-01-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday Mark and I met with the Junior class for the first time.

It was our opening ceremony, so to speak, for our new College Seminar.

Pulling out a tattered copy of The Hobbit, I opened to an early scene where Gandalf chooses Bilbo for the expedition.

Gandalf's choice is met with consternation among Gloin and the other dwarves.

"Let's have no more argument," Gandalf gently exclaims, "I have chosen Mr Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you...There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself."

The college search is indeed an adventure.

A journey of self-discovery.

And hopefully self-validation.

Deep things reside within all of us.

And to be educated is to experience a connection with those passions, gifts, and abilities within us.

That's the kind of education that our College Seminar hopes to provide our juniors.

Visiting with the juniors, I shared with them that Mark and I essentially have four roles in the college search and admissions process.

We are servants. Like Sam Gamgee. We are always here to serve the needs of our students.

We are leaders. Like Aragorn. We hope to lead from behind as much as possible.

We are guides. Like Gandalf. We seek to provide a compass when the path disappears.

We are supporters. Like Gimli and Legolas. We will always have your backs.

And who might you ask are the Juniors?

They are the Bilbo's and the Frodo's.

They carry the ring of responsibility through the college search and admission process.

And they will eventually carry the weight of choice.

In the end we hope all of our seniors have at least two colleges to choose from. The majority, however, tend to have 4 or 5 excellent options.

So as we step outside our hobbit holes and leave the Shire, I remind you that the journey ahead will be fraught with uncertainty, difficult, and frightening moments. But rest assured that this adventure is not a solitary undertaking. It is and always will be a communal effort.

I was Deferred - What do I do now?

2011-01-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

This morning I had a senior come in holding a letter from SMU.

"It says I was deferred," the senior gentleman exclaimed, "what do I do now?"

An excellent question.

I immediately explained to this student that defer does not mean deny.

Not even close.

Some schools will shift the student's application from the early admission pool to the regular admission pool.

Certainly this will then involve competing in a larger application pool.

SMU, however, convenes a Defer Committee that usually meets in February or so to make decisions on deferred applications. This is usually a full month before Regular Committee.

But what it will allow the admission staff to do is re-evaluate the student's application with a strong emphasis on the student's performance in the senior year.

Simply put then, this student still has work to do. It's not time to succumb to senioritis. But the ball is in his corner.

I encouraged this student to reach out to our SMU rep. Schools like SMU, who admitted a strong early pool, with a 3.6 GPA/29 ACT, will experience inevitable melt. Many of these early admits will play the field at the top, applying to schools like Duke and Georgetown. If admitted to one of these top shelf schools, most likely they will matriculate. Which then triggers the melt. Which then could potentially open up a spot at SMU or many other schools.

However, as our SMU rep pointed out to me in a gentle email of correction, it's not always a 1:1 situation. As a more selective school like SMU sees prospects choose other schools, they will evaluate their numbers and percentages for existing admitted students, and potential wait-list offers down the line, etc. Seeing melt doesn't always help a deferred student; they must still demonstrate acumen so as not to be put in a situation where they wouldn't be successful at SMU.

It's important to remember that searching for the right fit goes both ways. SMU is also trying to discern if this student is a good fit. Believe it or not, the admission reps at schools like SMU want every applicant they review to experience success in college. It's a hard truth to swallow, but some rejection letters are really meant to prevent a student from experiencing crippling failure at their school.

So my final advice to this student went as followed:

Fill out the SMU Application Update, submit it expeditiously, and then follow up with a short email to our enthusiastic rep.

SMU will certainly weigh in their final evaluation whether not they believe this student has a high probability of enrolling if admitted.

So practically, I encouraged this student to write a short, pointed email to our SMU rep.

Highlight your strong academic start.

Narrate leadership moments - in athletics or the musical or within your youth group.

Keep it to a paragraph.

And end with a sentence like, "Please let me know what else I can do to help augment my chances at gaining admission into SMU this spring."

And then prepare for a loooong wait. It will be spring before you are probably notified.

Within an instant informational age, college admissions may be one of the last cultural artifacts that requires a season of waiting.

Thus waiting invites a posture of anticipation but also requires the virtue of fortitude.

You can do it! And don't forget, Mr. Hoven and I are both here to help advocate on your behalf.

Early Admission Returns

2010-12-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

Casady seniors have enjoyed great returns in early admissions from colleges and universities.

Roughly 70% of our seniors have already been admitted to 1 school of their choice.

6 of our seniors have already signed on the dotted line through Early Decision programs.

And 2 seniors have already committed to take their athletic talents to D-I programs.

Here is a current list of the colleges/universities who have admitted Casady seniors thus far:

Auburn University (Athletics, swimming)
Austin College
Baylor University
Beloit College
Boston College (Honors Program - Top 5% only)
Boston University (Early Decision, binding)
DePauw University
George Mason University
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hendrix College
Hope College
Indiana University
James Madison University
Loyola Marymount University (Film School)
Manchester College
Northeastern University
Oklahoma Baptist University
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma State University
Point Loma Nazarene University
Pomona College (Early Decision, binding)
Regis University
Rhodes College
Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design
Santa Clara University
Sewanee: The University of the South (Early Decision, binding)
Southern Methodist University
St. Olaf College (Early Decision, binding)
Texas Christian University
Trinity University
University of Alabama
University of Arizona
Tulane University
University of Arkansas
University of California at Berkeley (Athletics, rowing)
University of Chicago
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Kansas
University of Mississippi
University of Missouri at Columbia (School of Journalism)
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University of Oklahoma (Presidential Scholars Program)
University of Rhode Island
University of San Diego
University of Tulsa
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Valparaiso University
Vanderbilt University (Early Decision, binding)
Washington University in St. Louis (Early Decision, binding)
Westminster College (Fulton, MO)
Westmont College
West Point (United States Military Academy)
William Jewell College

Congrats to all our seniors on their early success!!!

Great Article

2010-12-07T10:09:00.001-08:00

I came across this great article on Derryfield High School's college counseling philosophy.

Reading through the article I could barely suppress my "Amens".

Similar to us, Derryfield champions a college fit approach over a college prize approach.

Like us, Derryfield's community has been able to subvert the impulse in our "serial applicant" culture to apply to 20 schools.

This year our seniors are averaging 4-5 applications which is a clear indicator that our kids are going against the current as opposed to going with it.

Reveal Your Gifts

2010-11-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

To close out this month's focus on applications, I thought I would connect you to a pro on the topic. In April, by popular demand, we are bringing back to campus author of the book, Winning the Admission Game, and former Dean of Admission at Franklin and Marshall, Peter Van Buskirk.

Today Mr. Buskirk blogged on the topic of applications and provided some shimmering insights. His blog title, "Reveal Your Gifts".

In preparing your applications for admission, it is important to remember that the application you submit is like a personal statement. You are saying to the admission committee, “This is who I am and what I have to offer.” In a tight competition, your ability to make a compelling statement in this regard can make all the difference.

It is critical, then, to bring your talent to life. If you are a musician, make a studio quality recording. Audition if you can. If you are an artist, attend portfolio days or assemble a portfolio of your work to submit with your application. This demonstration of talent will be required for entry into highly selective conservatory or specialty programs in the arts. It can also make the difference for you at schools that value the arts but are not pre-professionally oriented. You do not need to have professional aspirations as an artist, musician, actor or dancer in order for your talent to give you a competitive edge in the selective admission process.

To read the rest of this article click here.

10 Warning Signs That the Senior's Family is Losing It

2010-11-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

I came across this Top 10 list posted on our faculty billboard.

I'm always a sucker for Top 10 lists.

Here then are the Top 10 warning signs that your whole family may be losing its grip on reality thanks to the college admission process:

10. Son ignores State Department travel warning in order to seek re'sume' building community service experience among Kurdish separatists near the Iraq-Turkey border.

9. Daughter complains that classmate who uses a wheelchair has a better college essay topic.

8. Son is distressed that the SAT does not offer extra-credit problems.

7. Mom has a sudden falling out with best after the best friend's daughter is accepted early at Yale.

6. Dad proclaims that only SAT vocabulary words may be used in dinner conversations.

5. The family hires a private investigator to verify that the student's great-great-grandfather was half Cherokee.

4. Thanksgiving dinner conversation is devoted to critiquing essay drafts.

3. Daughter memorizes Tiers 1 and II of the US News National University rankings.

2. Mom searches the Web for a car-window decal that says "also accepted at..."

1. Message on the family answering machine notes that daughter is a National Merit Semifinalist.

Application Madness, A Response

2010-11-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

In response to the application madness gripping our country, here are my thoughts and advice:

Avoid the Easy. A lot of the application volume stems from an emerging trend among adolescents. Colleges are picking up on the fact that seniors either want to apply to schools with the easiest application (that's code for no essays), or find the easiest way to apply to the most schools (that's code for Common Application). "Snap apps" and other free or abridged applications are capitalizing off of this "easy" mentality. But in the end, most of the students who take the easier route, either find a dead end at the end of the road, or they discover that the road lacked any real satisfaction. My advice then: Take the time then to fill out the harder application. When you choose to write an essay or two, it will not only give you a greater sense of fulfillment when you submit it, but you will also communicate to the college a greater sense of interest.

Broaden the Bull's Eye. Too often we think that if we apply to more selective schools, it will increase our chances of getting into one. My response: Imagine you’re an archer. The target stands 1000 feet away. The bull’s eye is the size of a pea. According to Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard, that’s your odds at getting into a Top 20 University – about 3% without an admissions advantage. The fallacy here is to think that if you apply to all 20 schools that you will broaden the bull’s eye. Fitzsimmons' response: All a student has done is drawn a circle around the same pea-size target 20 times. My advice then: shorten the distance to the target and broaden the bull’s eye. This means then that you apply to more schools where your GPA and test scores fall into the median range. And it also means looking at Naviance, analyzing objectively via scatter grams where the Casady threshold for acceptance is, and applying to more schools where your circle on that scatter gram graph falls squarely within the green boxes. By doing this, you will significantly increase your chances of hitting your target.

Debunk the Myth of Fit. In our office we have punted the term "first choice" college. The myth of fit is that there is only one college that was meant for me. The truth is that there are a number of colleges that fit your foot like a glass slipper. Most of our seniors believe this now. The fact that we only have 4 ED applications validates this. Polygamy, in this singular case, is a good thing. Loving many schools, especially schools that have a reputation for loving many students (85% of colleges and universities admit 50% or more), can turn a fear-ridden journey into a fun-filled adventure. Too often we get our heart set on that one school, and then the whole college search process gets tainted forever by bitterness when we are rejected. I can't tell you how much more fun I would have had at my senior prom if I hadn't asked the one girl who had a college boyfriend. Her "no" made that night miserable for me. Your prom night college-wise doesn't have to be a bummer. What I've always found ironic is how schools like Stanford and Harvard have gained more lovers by spurning them. Their desirability is increased by marketing rejection.

Reach Out where there has been Out Reach. One of our program's strengths involves outreach. Over the past couple years, Casady School has made a serious commitment to reaching out to colleges and universities all over the country. Mr. Hoven and I have now visited almost a 100 schools (you will find this list on our web page). That's not even including the national conferences and colloquies that we have attended. By reaching out, we have been able to network with admissions officers, tell them what makes Casady unique, and let them tell us what makes their college unique. Colleges, especially along the coast, that no longer have the budget to send reps out to the Midwest, really appreciate our gesture. Most importantly, we are now able to pick up a phone or pull out a business card and call/email a dean or rep on our student's behalf. By doing this, we can help a student go from a specter to a story, from a number to a name, and from two dimensional to three dimensional. This also means that our students (and families) have an opportunity to reach out because of our outreach and graft into the connective tissue of relationship that has already been formed.

Be not afraid. So often we allow fear to drive our decisions. It's essentially part of America's DNA. All you have to do, for example, is go to an airport to experience it. What's the terrorist level today? Yellow? Orange? Red? Or just turn on the local news. What's the journalistic rule of thumb: If it bleeds, it leads? Or just head north on I-35 into Kansas just past Emporia, and you will find signs aligning the highways like, "Accept Jesus Christ or REGRET IT FOREVER", or my favorite, "Stop, Drop, and Roll Won't Work in Hell". I think you get the picture. My hope then is that faith will replace fear. Perfect love, the apostle John writes, casts away fear. Faith takes root in us when we realize that we are loved by our divine Creator. Inevitably that will spill over into every other facet of life, including the college search.

Last year 74% of our seniors' applications were greeted with love and a glass slipper. When Chris Bright announced that statistic at graduation, there was an eruption of warm applause. In that moment, graduation felt more like a wedding where we celebrated the matches that had been made between seniors and colleges. There is no reason that graduation at Casady can't be more like a wedding ceremony every year.

The Application Madness Reality

2010-11-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

It's all over Facebook and Twitter today.

As of 10:55 am, I've already counted five "re-tweets" of the article published by both The Times and The Chronicle.

It's the hot-button topic of the season.

Application inflation and the pressures that college admissions are under to increase their applicant pool and decrease their acceptance pool.

Here's a little sampling from the article, entitled, "Application Inflation: Bigger Numbers Mean Better Students, Colleges Say. But When is Enough Enough?"

The numbers keep rising, the superlatives keep glowing. Each year, selective colleges tout their application totals, along with the virtues of their applicants.

For this fall's freshman class, the statistics reached remarkable levels. Stanford received a record 32,022 applications from students it called "simply amazing," and accepted 7 percent of them. Brown saw an unprecedented 30,135 applicants, who left the admissions staff "deeply impressed and at times awed." Nine percent were admitted.

To read the rest of the article click here. (Cautionary note: For senior parents and students who just filed applications to some of the schools mentioned in this article, I am fearful this article will only raise anxiety levels from orange to red. But at the same time, this article speaks the harsh truth about what's happening in selective college admissions. There are agendas in play that have nothing to do with education and nothing to do with the student's best interests.)

So what does all this application madness mean for Casady students?

That's the question I will attempt to answer carefully and thoughtfully in the next blog post.

Stay tuned.

The Application Season, Part 3

2010-11-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

At NACAC last month in St. Louis, I attended a seminar on the "creep trend" that's spreading across our high school landscape.

More students are applying earlier and earlier.

This stems from a shared concern among seniors that if they don't apply early there might not be a spot left in the spring.

And there is a shared concern among parents that there might not be any money left in the spring.

Just yesterday, consequently, the Times did an article on this trend. The article's title gives away the overarching thesis: applying early is the new black.

So I thought I would test this thesis a bit.

Based on data I gathered from Naviance, here is a November 1 Application Report for our Class of 2011:

Total Applications: 148
Total Colleges: 64
Early Action Applications: 52
Early Decision Applications: 4
Regular/Rolling Decision Applications: 87
Priority Applications: 2

Right now about 35% of our pending applications are earmarked for "Early". This is really about the same percentage as last year. Our overall volume of early applications, however, is significantly up versus last year. Last year at this time we had about 75 total applications pending versus 148 this year. This year's spike mainly reflects the number of Casady seniors who have applied to state universities.

In lieu of this trend, the glaring irony is the fact that while students are applying earlier and earlier, the vast majority are waiting later and later to decide their final choice.

My guess is that we will see this same trend within our own community. This stems largely from the fact that our students tend to fall in love with many schools. This is one reason why our team has punted the word "first choice". Our students and families value choices - plural.

Our goal then is to help students apply to a range of schools across the spectrum of admission selectivity in order to ensure that they have choices.

Last year almost all of our seniors were admitted to 2 or more colleges.

We hope to continue that trend this year. Stay tuned.

The Application Season, Part 2

2010-10-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, an article came out about the book that my wife and I co-authored. The newspaper that published the article will remain anonymous. But in the article, the writer wrote, "After Josh and his wife struggled with infidelity for six years, they turned to adoption."

Staring at the computer screen (online version), I did a double take. Did she really use the word "infidelity"? My face went ash white with horror. I looked a bit like that ghoulish figure in Munch's expressionistic painting "The Scream". My public reputation was sure to suffer irreparable damage!

At about that time, I got a call from the chief editor. Her voice quivered through the entire explanation. Come to find out, the writer had used the appropriate word, infertility, but in a final spell check, the program had changed the word to infidelity. I was reminded then that words do matter. Even letters and their proper ordering.

The moral of the story perhaps could go like this: the devil can be in the details.

It's important then that seniors invite a couple of editing eyes to comb through the application to look for blunders. Because in the end, it can be the difference between being "accepted" to college and being "excepted".

Recently, The Times wrote an article on this very topic. It read like a good horror film, filling my gut with paralyzing fear and howling laughter.

Here's a sample from the article.

You’ve filled out the application and added the personal statement, supplemental essay and activity sheet. Finally, it’s time to click “submit.”

Freeze!

Take a few minutes to proofread. Applications that are sent electronically don’t permit students to unseal the envelope and take one last look on the way to the post office.

Admissions offices see files littered with misspellings, grammatical mistakes and poor word choice. Students rely too much on programs that purport to check spelling and sentence structure.

A computer failed to catch this slip: “I love to turn on soft music and light scented candles because I love the smell of incest.”

To read the rest of the article click here.

The Application Season, Part 1

2010-10-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

We have officially entered the application season.

From now until early January, 84 Casady seniors will be filling out applications to hundreds of colleges and universities.

So to kick off this Application Season, I'd thought I would do a trilogy of blog posts on this crucial topic.

So let's begin.

It goes without question that Application Season is often when the madness really begins.

It's as though college suddenly becomes the only planet in the family's solar system, and like the sun, everything else seems to revolve around it.

Parents can't stop nagging their senior about it.

There seems to be like a hundred little tasks to accomplish from writing essays to stamping envelopes for teacher recommendations.

And all the while the clock is ticking, ticking, ticking.

Deadlines are imminent.

And if it is not postage stamps or plastic zip lock bags to separate applications from each other, it's the ubiquity of the college topic thanks to grandparents, and friends, and teachers, and coaches, and youth pastors, and even your college counselor (yes, I am guilty as charged!)

It's like you feel you have no place to just be yourself.

Where you aren't reduced to your GPA or ACT score.

It wouldn't surprise me if I don't see a few Casady seniors slumped down in the back row at AMC Quail Springs, wearing shades and a hoodie, sitting among 3 year olds like Silas, my son, watching Toy Stoy 3, just in search of a couple hours of respite from the constant, unstinting, 24-7 college talk that is rife with a staccato of pressing questions and unsolicited advice and doomsday statistics.

"So where are you applying to college?" Um...

"Thinking about rushing? What house?" Um...

"Possible majors?" Um...

"Are you taking the ACT again?" Um...

"You're thinking about applying where? Never heard of it? What does your mom and dad think about that? I mean aren't you interested in an Ivy? Or at least going to a college that is ranked high in Newsweek?"

"Oh, wow, you're applying there. I heard like only 1 out of 35 got accepted in the whole state last year. Good luck with that application."

Someone just shoot you now - right?

If one person can feel your pain it's Lloyd Dobler. Who's Lloyd, you may ask? He's just an 80's icon from the movie Say Anything. In one famous scene, Lloyd, a rising senior in high school, faces a firing squad of adults who want to know what his plans are for after high school.

Lloyd's response is a cult classic.

As we launch into this application season, I hope that you will remember that what is most important to you.

The people you love.

Lloyd certainly understood this.

But how easy it is to forget this when you are competing for a spot at colleges during a time when 1.5 million seniors will attend college, where colleges are tripling the volume of applications they are receiving (Standford topped 50,000 applicants last year), and where international students are flooding admissions with applications, many willing to pay full price to get in.

There will certainly be stressful moments.

Maybe even heated exchanges at the dinner table.

But my hope is that parent and student are both able to maintain a healthy sense of perspective and humor through it all.

Because in the grand scheme of things, it is just a season of life. A single chapter.

Selection Month, Part 4

2010-09-27T18:48:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I ran into a Casady mom at Krispy Kreme. She introduced herself and told me she had a 9th grade daughter. She shared with me that she had attended the Dessert with the Dean event on Wednesday with Maria Laskaris, Dean of Admission at Dartmouth College. What she took from that night was the importance of helping her daughter move from the "what" to the "why". Before her daughter decided to join a club or volunteer her time, she needed to explore why she wanted to do it. The mom then referenced Dr. Powell, and how on UD Parent Night, Dr. Powell explained to a room full of parents that in high school,the question that students learn to answer in their essays and writing is the "Why" question.

Too often, I think, we don't ask why, especially when it comes to our college search and final selection. We rely instead on US News and World Report and their ranking system to answer that question for us. It's a symptom, really, of a much larger, systemic problem. Too much of our curriculum is done to kids. As I've witnessed first hand, this pedagogical approach to education doesn't produce "autonomy, mastery, or purpose," to borrow from Daniel Pink's new book Drive. Instead this approach produces in our kids an unhealthy co-dependence, shoddy apprenticeship, and an anemic purposelessness.

I tell my 9th grade English students on the first day of class, for example, that I'm not going to answer the "why" questions for them. This is their education. Not mine. And though I will certainly help them in their exploration, I won't climb that mountain or dive into that oceanic depth for them.

This brings me then to what I most appreciated about my two full days interacting with Maria Laskaris. Beyond being an Ivy Dean, Maria is a mother, in fact, one of only three moms among the Ivy League Deans. Therefore Maria knows what the college admission process is like on the other end. She's been in the "other's shoes". She knows the anxiety that comes with not knowing whether or not the college will accept her daughter. She's suffered sleepless nights. She's calculated the odds. She's rehearsed the rejection speech to comfort her daughter. And she's had to deal with the vagaries of competitive college admissions. But what Maria discovered through the process that alleviated personal anxiety and made the process more enjoyable was realizing that her daughter's college thumb print was not the same as her own.

And even though Maria wanted her daughter's thumb print to match the one at Brown, in the end, she knew that her daughter's anatomical match was at Wesleyan. Now with her second child going through the college process, Maria has been able to relax and enjoy the match making process all the more, where her daughter's artistic thumb print will probably best match a school like Oberlin.

It's ironic to me, in closing, that a Dean of Admission at an Ivy School can understand more clearly than most parents that a college is not a match to be arranged, but a match to be made.

So let's not be afraid to ask why. And let's not be afraid to discover the answer that lies beneath and let that be the navigating instrument that leads us to our True North.

Selection Month, Part 3

2010-09-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

My favorite movie of all time is Dead Poet's Society.

It's the story that inspired me to become a teacher.

On the first day of class, Mr. Keatings (played by Robin Williams), gives his students a lesson on literature and life that his students will never forget.

Too often we approach the college search/selection process from the Neoclassic School. We seek to do what is most linear (prep school - top tier college - high powered job) and logical (good college + good grades in college > good graduate school = good paying job.) We draw a graph and measure the college's merit in a formulaic way. The x-axis represents the college's prestige. The y-axis represents the college's ranking.

But what are rankings, really? Colleges know that rankings are like sex - they can help successfully market and sell their school. What US News and World Report: The College Edition is to seniors and parents is what Sports Illustrated: The Swimsuit Edition is to libidinous men. Moreover, rankings tends to underscore the binary way we view the world - there are winners and losers; successful people and unsuccessful people; BCS Bowls and Sun Bowls; championship banners and consolation ribbons. I would argue this dualistic worldview derives its potency from our Greco-Roman heritage. We've been conditioned to split the world into two halves and divide people into two categories. We do this in sports. In politics. In religion. In zip codes. In school districts. And on and on..

Now don't get me wrong. First, I love competition. I love winning as much as anyone. And I love cheering for a winner. The fact that my CU Buffs are riding a four year losing streak in football, for example, eats me up. And last year, beating Heritage in basketball - well, I'll be honest, it felt reaaaalllly good!

Second,I grew up in a logocentric family. My dad was of the head chief of our "linear Bottomly tribe" (Air Force Academy > Purdue University > Pilot). I was raised to use common sense and be prudent. I was also raised to understand the value of an education. But it wasn't rankings that ultimately determined my college path. It was a combination of personal reflection and family conversations about the realities we faced. On the reflection side, I realized I wasn't Air Force Academy material. I was a words and ideas guy. Not a numbers and graphs fella like my dad. At the top of my families priorities was affordability. They had invested in my college-prep education; I was largely responsible for funding my college education. Big loans, therefore, were not an option. It didn't make fiscal sense to spend inversely to what I would make professionally as a teacher (I knew early on that putting "Tolkien and Lord of the Rings scholarship" on my resume wouldn't put food on the table.)

Honestly, based on observation of our students, what disturbs me most about rankings is the way that they often stymie reflection. Not long ago, for example, I asked a really smart student, "Why are you interested in Stanford?" He shrugged his shoulders and responded, "Well, because it's prestigious and ranked high." I pressed this student a bit and he acknowledged that he didn't really know why he wanted Stanford, just that it was what anyone of his academic stature should consider.

Our headmaster, Chris Bright, cited in his last blog post an article by Mark Taylor, the chairman of the religious department at Columbia University. The article bemoans the fact that his students, who are like the Casady student I talked with, really don't know why they are at Columbia. Reflecting on this, Taylor writes:

In today’s market-driven economy we constantly hear that choice is the highest good and that competition fuels innovation. But this is not always true. Choice provokes anxiety and competition can quell the imagination and discourage the spirit of experimentation that is necessary for creativity. In a world obsessed with ratings, well-meaning parents all too often train their children to jump through the hoops they think will lead to success.

Part of the problem, I believe personally, is that we have as Wendell Berry puts it, "provided a cure that preserves the disease." We are so driven by success that we have forsaken the heart's deepest hunger, which is to find significance.

For Mr. Keatings, he understood that business, medicine, and law were all noble pursuits and necessary for culture to thrive, but he also understood that we are not robots, but that created in the imago Dei, we were designed with a restless soul that hungers for beauty and truth and relationships and love. Without this form of divine photosynthesis, we will dry up at the roots, wilt, and die.

So my challenge to students and parents as they come down the "September selection" stretch is not that they rip out the rankings from Newsweek. But that they use them as a starting point, not a stopping point. It's time then to do some real soul searching, reflection, and personal examination. It's that time to determine as a family how you measure and rank a school's value. Perhaps "alumni giving" is not as important to you as the retention percentage each year, or the graduate school/job placement percentage upon graduation.

In the end, I hope that you discover that the college selection process can be like falling in love. And when it comes to falling in love, there is no real science to it. When we decide whether or not to marry a person, we don't pull out our calculator or spreadsheet to crunch numbers and fill in cells with datum. We throw caution into the wind. We jump out of a window and yell, "Geronimo!" Because love, in the end, is a mystery. It can not be reduced to utility. The same is true with a radiant and dazzling college match.

I like what Jim Miller, the Dean of Admission at Brown University, tells prospective students about how to navigate the selection process. "Become a 'gutologist'," Miller exclaims, "in other words, go with your gut." I like that. And I would add this: It takes guts to follow your gut, but in the end, it's often when we follow our gut that we feel the deepest sense of peace in our own skin.

So how will you approach the college selection process?

From the Neoclassic School of formulas and graphs?

Or the Romantic School of feelings and guts?

Selection Month, Part 2

2010-09-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

His name is Lloyd Dobler.

Who's Lloyd, you may ask?

He's just an 80's iconic figure from the movie Say Anything.

He's your quintessential existential romantic; an 18 year old who yearns for authenticity, and lives for the moment.

Ask Lloyd about his "future plans", specifically about college, and Lloyd says what all of us at one point have wanted to say.

Kickboxing. The sport of the future. You got to love Lloyd's honesty about his chances at "greatness."

But in all seriousness, we are all often like Lloyd in that we're far more comfortable telling people what we're against as opposed to what we are for.

Teens do this every day, right? They are against excessive homework, curfews, limits on Facebook, text messaging, and what they can wear.

The same is true when thinking about college.

There are the anti-Ugg boot'ers. These are girls primarily who are not opposed to wearing Uggs for style, but adamantly opposed for wearing them to stay warm. These are the girls that exclaim "Ugh!" anytime you mention parts of the country that involve snow.

There are also the BBB'ers. These are the fellas primarily (and girls) who are not interested in any schools that are not "Big Bowl Bound". If the college isn't competing in a big time, D-1 football conference, to be blunt, and isn't winning enough games to go to Tempe or Miami for the BCS championship, then forget about it.

Then there are the hobbits. These are your students who are not interested in any colleges that don't border the state of Oklahoma. For these students, "the Shire" includes Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. Flying is simply not an option. (ps. I love hobbits. They are my favorite Middle Earth creatures.)

And finally there are the SAT'ers. These are the students who will not consider a college that has an average SAT score below 1500.

Parents aren't any different, I've learned. They are Lloyd Dobler's in their own way.

There are those parents that will not consider any colleges whose team colors are burn orange or bright orange for that matter.

There are those parents who will not consider any colleges that Southwest Airline doesn't fly into.

And there are those parents who will not consider any colleges where the car decal sticker won't invoke oohs and aahs from onlookers in the neighborhood.

The truth is that all of these "anti's" are actually roundabout ways of identifying the college criteria that is important for students and parents.

It's okay then to begin with what you are against.

Eventually you will break through into what you are looking for.

I want a warm, Southern, rah-rah, Super Greek school.

I want an open curriculum where I can dabble, explore, and create my own kind of academic fusion.

I want to be able to jump on I-35 or I-40 and get home in time for dinner and mom to begin a load of laundry.

I want to study in Paris, work a paid internship, and write a thesis with a professor.

I want to play college athletics, but not at a school where sports will consume my life, but compliment my college experience.

I want to bleed crimson and cream - period.

I want to wear purple and learn how to make a horn frog sign with my fingers.

I want to know my professors, learn in small classes with a Socratic pedagogy.

I want to live in a big city with skyscrapers, long lines of yellow taxi cabs, and steam rising like mist above the crowded streets.

In closing, one question I find that helps students really clarify what they want to get our of their experience is this one:

When you walk across and receive your diploma, what do you hope to have experienced and accomplished?

Perhaps this is as good as any place to jump in over Chinese food or mom's famous lasagna.

Selection Month, Part 1

2010-09-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

September is the month of selection.

Finalizing one's college list to be more exact.

I often tell my seniors: "You can choose where you apply, but you can't choose where you will be admitted. So choose wisely."

Last year our seniors embraced this guiding principle.

74% of the 343 college applications were deemed admissible by 110+ colleges and universities.

Many seniors were not only admitted to the majority of the schools they self-selected.

But they were also offered financial merit money to matriculate.

This year our seniors are off to a fantastic start! Many seniors have already finalized their college list. Others are getting closer.

Just today a senior came in and told me that he had spent the weekend researching and "soul searching" over college.

What he presented to me was his final college list.

The week before we had met and his college list looked like drip art, something of a hybrid between a Jason Pollock painting hanging in The Chicago Art museum,
and something my three year old would create if he were given goggles and a spray paint bottle.

His school list was sprayed all over the place, not just in terms of colleges, but types of colleges, from liberal arts schools to specialized schools, not to mention a panoply of college majors.

I shared my concerns. He listened. I told him that it was normal to be scattered, for the list to feel muddy and messy, and therefore emotionally to feel a bit overwhelmed, anxious, and bewildered. I reminded him that he had time for order to emerge from the chaos. For clarity to emerge from the convolution. And for confidence to emerge from the insecurity.

Somehow over the weekend, this student experienced a provocative convergence. Everything just came together in clarity.

Instead of 12 colleges. He now had 6.

Three colleges were "Likely" schools, two were "Target" schools, and one was a "Reach" school.

Pulling up his Naviance account - there they were listed under "Colleges I'm Interested In".

Looking up from my computer I could almost feel the palatable peace that had settled within in his own skin.

If there is one hope I have it is that I can help supplant a student's anxiety over the selection process with a sustained excitement for the application season.

In the next blog post, I'm going to explore the thought process that goes on in the college selection process. But not just the teen psyche. But also the parent psyche.

A Word to Parents: The Great Temptation

2010-08-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

There is an ancient Greek story about a legendary robber named Procrustes who used to force his victims to fit a certain bed by stretching or lopping off their legs. Sometimes as parents we can unknowingly do to our children in the college process what Procrustes did to his victims. We stretch our kids to apply to more highly selective colleges. We lop off any schools on the list that aren’t ranked by Newsweek. We coerce our kids into applying to only “car decal” colleges, because let’s be honest, the bumper sticker matters!

So easily we forget that the college process is not about us. It’s about the child. Michael Thompson, a well-known psychologist, noted that the college process is really about separation or individuation, about the students defining themselves in terms independent of their parents. Thus when we take over, we rob our kids of that “rite of passage” experience into adult-decision making.

Our goal is to subvert the Procrustes impulse that often quickens to a manic beat around the release of the US News and World Report College Edition. Now don’t misinterpret our cautious posture: It’s not that we don’t want to “stretch” our kids; it’s how we “stretch” our kids and in what directions. Our hope then is that we “stretch” them to find the absolute best fit college.

Frank Sachs said it best: "College is a Match to be Made, not a Prize to be Won." It's important to remember through this entire college process that your student is the prize.

In the end, we are confident that your student will have college choices - plural. And our overarching hope is that your student doesn't just "gets in", but that they flourish while they are in college, and Lord willing, graduate in four years ( your pocket book is saying "Amen" isn't it?).

To the journey.

College That Changes Lives College Fair

2010-08-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

Mark Hoven and I would like to formally invite ALL rising senior students to caravan up with us to Tulsa's Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center for the College That Change Lives college fair.

We will leave the Bennett Athletic Center at 5 pm. The event lasts from 7 pm - 9 pm.

There will be a 30-minute panel presentation by CTCL deans and directors, and then immediately after the panel presentation, the college fair begins, lasting approximately 1.5 hours. Casady seniors will be able to collect information from and speak directly with admission representatives from the 40 colleges and universities that inspired noted education reporter and former New York Times education editor Loren Pope to write the book Colleges That Change Lives.

In the recent past, these 40 colleges have grown in popularity among Casady students, and as a result, we've seen more and more students matriculate to some of these 40 colleges.

I think of Taylor Helm, a 10' Casady graduate, who will attend DePauw.

I think of Rose Dubiskis, another 10' graduate, who will attend Hendrix.

I think of Lindsey Henderson and Tori McCune, both 10' graduates, both of whom will attend Rhodes this fall.

These are just a few of our outstanding Casady graduates who have matriculated to one of the 40 colleges that Loren Pope argues are as "good as the Ivies".

Below is a complete list of the 40 colleges that will attend the fair:

AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE
ALLEGHENY COLLEGE
AUSTIN COLLEGE
BELOIT COLLEGE
BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE
CENTRE COLLEGE
CLARK UNIVERSITY
CORNELL COLLEGE
DENISON UNIVERSITY
EARLHAM COLLEGE
ECKERD COLLEGE
EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE
THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE
GOUCHER COLLEGE
GUILFORD COLLEGE
HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE
HENDRIX COLLEGE
HIRAM COLLEGE
HOPE COLLEGE
JUNIATA COLLEGE
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE
KNOX COLLEGE
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY
LYNCHBURG COLLEGE
MARLBORO COLLEGE
MCDANIEL COLLEGE
MILLSAPS COLLEGE
NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
REED COLLEGE
RHODES COLLEGE
SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, MD
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, NM
ST. OLAF COLLEGE
URSINUS COLLEGE
WABASH COLLEGE
WHEATON COLLEGE (IL)
WHITMAN COLLEGE
WOOSTER, COLLEGE OF

If you have any questions about the college fair this next Monday, you can contact me at bottomlyj@casady.org or Mark at hovenm@casady.org.

Bootcamp Session #1!!

2010-08-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

Session #1 is in the books.

And what a hit it was.

The MD lab was jam packed with rising seniors

ready to get a jump start on their college applications through the Common Application.

I did a little iPhone video to capture the moment.

In our session we perused the 418 colleges and universities that accept this application. (Click here to see the 2010-2011 "all member" list).

We worked through every section together, and paused at many spots, exploring questions, seeking clarification.

My favorite question of the group: "So if my cell phone contains a voicemail that includes somewhat questionable lines from a somewhat questionable movie - you're suggesting that I might want to change it just on the rare chance that a college rep might call and hear that message?"

Many seniors also had a chance to look at the supplemental pieces to each school. Wake Forest University always asks creative, thought provoking supplement questions. Curious what they are? Here are the 8 essay prompts:

Please list meaningful readings you have completed during the past two years in order of their interest to you:
Describe the culture in which you grew up. What are its strengths and weaknesses?
What outrages you? What are you doing about it?
As a part of 2010 Wake Forest orientation, the freshman class examined The Andes of Ecuador, a painting by Frederic Church. Next year what work of visual or performing art should the incoming class analyze? Why?
Think about your academic passion. Design your ideal seminar class in the context of a liberal arts curriculum.
What idea most challenges you?
What final Jeopardy category would ensure your victory?
I wish I knew....
What should we know about you that we haven't yet learned?

If I could answer just one prompt - "I'll take J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord of the Rings for final Jeopardy, Alex!" :)

Okay maybe one more. What many don't know about me is that I can dance. Like Michael Jackson-meet-Justin Timberlake dance. Break dance-meet-hip hop. I'm serious. I may be 35 years old, but I still got enough moves not to look like a total fool.

Switching gears; we are looking forward to our next bootcamp session on Thursday.

Let's pack the place again!!

Common Application Bootcamp

2010-08-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

I thought I might begin by setting the mood.

While you listen you might want to stretch, do some leg kicks, maybe take a lap around Casady lake.

Because rising seniors, the time has come.

It's the 2nd annual Common Application Bootcamp.

414 colleges and universities await your application!!!

On August 1st the Common Application went live. To go ahead and register with the Common Application you can go directly to their web site by clicking here.

Or you can enter into the Common App. web site by going through your Naviance accoun t.

Tomorrow and Thursday from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm you have a chance to join Mrs. Cockrum and myself to "run the gauntlet" with us.

It's first come first serve.

There are about 18 computers to work on.

Once the computers fill up then we will ask you the senior to return the next session.

Don't fret, because if we have significant overflow, we will add a session this week, and we are working on adding 2 sessions during the week of August 16th-20th.

We want to ensure that every senior has a chance to participate.

As far as the objectives for our sessions:

We will go through each section of the Common Application so you understand what a "holistic application review" constitutes.

We will address any questions.

Input personal information.

Work on rough drafts for short and long essays.

Organize resume info that reveals your passions and interests.

As far as what to bring, you will need to know your social security #, your parent's email, your email, your parent's employer, your parent's educational pedigree.

That's the most pertinent.

In addition, if you have any essays or resumes, you will want to bring them too.

Put them on an E drive and we can insert them.

Don't worry if you don't have any of the major content pieces done (essays and resume).

You have ample time to get that done.

This is just a jump start workshop.

Last year we had over 50 seniors participate.

I hope we top that number this year.

So come all 82 of you!

Mock Admission Event - June 2nd

2010-05-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Mark and I are so excited about the 1st ever Mock Admission Committee Fly-In for the Casady class of 2011 on Wednesday, June 2. At the event, our admission reps from Vandy, LMU, SMU, KU, Hendrix, and the OU Honors College will run a workshop on the college admission process.

Students will work in six committees to evaluate 3 applicants for admission to a fictitious liberal arts college. The students will have to admit, wait list, and deny one applicant. Our sense is that the kids will be enlightened by all that factors into an admission decision.

Today we met with the "seniors in waiting" to explain to them our expectations in terms of attendance, dress code, and behavior. We told them that we know it is prom day and that we have tried to schedule everything to fit around hair appointments, make-up sessions, etc.

Below is the event schedule. Students will meet from 9:30 – 2:00 p.m.

Parents will meet from 1-2:00 p.m.

9:30-10:15 a.m. Welcome & General Q&A about college application process (Fee)
10:20 a.m. Breakout Session for Mock Admission Committee (McClendon)
11:30 a.m. Return for Debriefing of the Committees (Fee)
12:00 p.m. First Senior Class Cookout (TBA)
1:00-2:00 p.m. "Two minute drill"/Q&A session Parents w/ Admission O's (Fee)

We believe this event will help launch our seniors into the exciting college application season!

We hope to see all junior students and parents at this event!

Let's finish strong together.

Show Me the Money Part 4

2010-05-17T09:44:00.001-07:00

In a report I had to submit for our 10 year ISAS evaluation, I was asked to identify 5 challenges that we will all face in college admissions over the next stretch of Casady life. Here is what I enumerated:

· Affordability issues in post-Fannie Mae economic climate

· Depreciating value of undergraduate degree

· Greater regionalization in post-9/11 era

· Student selection of soft academic programs in fear of low grade point

· Monetary lifestyle choices that undervalue education

You will notice that the majority of our challenges ahead involve finances.

Looking closer, you will notice that 2 of the 3 are challenges beyond our control.

Like the golf ball size hail that blasted the Village and Nichols Hills like artillery shells on Sunday.

A thin financial portfolio.

Tuition hikes.

Corporate job cuts.

It's no wonder then why more families are taking a calculated, conservative, economically-centered approach to the college admission search.

It's not uncommon then, when we are discussing colleges, that I can literally see the geometric graph in mom and dad's mind, where the X axis represents the COS ("Cost of School" = tuition, room and board, books, travel expenses), and the Y axis represents the ROI ("Return on Investment" = job securement and salary cap). It makes perfect sense to do this exercise for those reasons.

However, 1 out of the 3 challenges we face is within our control.

This has to do entirely with our "purchasing choices" - a term I learned taking Dave Ramsey's Money Make Over class. What Ramsey helped me understand is that how we spend our money ultimately reveals what we both value and don't value. If, for example, I choose to buy Silas a really nice sports car when he turns 16, earning major "cool dad points", and possibly securing him a date for prom, as opposed to investing that money in a 529 Plan, which would probably result in a temporary but massive Dow Jones drop in "cool dad points" - what ultimately does that reveal about my personal value system?

So in the final analysis, I want to encourage you to focus your energies on what you can control. I certainly hope to do this both for Silas and our daughter, Olive. I truly want them to know that when it comes to their education, I was willing to "put my money where my mouth was".

Show Me the Money Part 3

2010-05-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

I've asked Mary Ann Cockrum, our endearing registrar, to offer a few pearls of wisdom and practical tips as someone who has just been through the college admission process with her son Guy.

She knows first hand what it is like to experience "sticker shock".

She knows the prevailing myths swirling around in the atmosphere like Panhandle dust that can wreak havoc on parents anticipating college costs.

She knows what it's like to call and introduce herself to her new best friend - her financial aid officer.

She knows what it's like to fill out forms like FASFA and the CIS Profile.

She knows what information you will have to be ready to divulge.

She knows what EFC stands for.

Most importantly, she knows the value of a college education, and understands that if you really value education for your children, there will inevitably be challenges and sacrifices.

To read Mrs. Cockrum's insights and thoughts on financial aid, click here. She's written multiple posts on the topic. Enjoy.

Show Me the Money Part 2

2010-05-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Gold Medal "Show Me the Money" Colleges/Universities: $300,000 - $200,000

Baylor University
Oklahoma University
Rhodes College
Southern Methodist University
Texas Christian University
Tulsa University

Silver Medal "Show Me the Money" Colleges/Universities: $199,999 - $100,000

Hendrix College
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma State University
Sewanee (University of the South)

Bronze Medal "Show Me the Money" Colleges/Universities: $99,000 - $40,000

Austin College

DePauw University
Drexel University

Hampden-Sydney College
Kalamazoo College
Knox College
Loyola (Chicago)
Loyola (New Orleans)
Ohio Wesleyan
Regis University
Saint Louis University
Trinity University
Tulane University
University of Arizona
University of Michigan
University of San Diego
Westmont College
Wooster College

Honorable Mention "Show Me the Money" Colleges/Universities: $39,000 - $5,000

Averett University
Colorado School of the Mines
Cornell College
Furman University
Ohio State University
University of Cincinnati
Virginia Polytechnic Institutes
Whitworth University
William Jewell College

Show Me the Money Part 1

2010-05-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've seen the famous scene below.

If not, I invite you to watch. It will on take a minute or so.

Plus it's hilarious.

So let's be honest: we are all Rod Tidwell's in regard to paying for college, especially in our post Fannie Mae era, where stocks and bonds are slowly recovering, but not nearly at the speed or proportion of rising tuition costs.

So what does this mean?

I'd argue it means that we are seeing a new, emerging trend.

Where getting into college is not as important as getting more from a college.

Affordability, in other words, has vaulted above admissability.

Not for everyone.

But for a majority.

Consider, for example, that 20+ Casady seniors will be attending a state university.

Families who decided that it was in their best interest to say "No" to schools like Trinity, Wash U, and Notre Dame who said "Yes" to them in admission.

Now as an important caveat: the quality of education at our state universities is on the rise. It's hard to find a better deal than the one you can get at OU or OSU.

Nevertheless, the trend toward staying in state does seem to underscore that the price tag really, really matters.

To our senior families today.

To our senior families tomorrow.

That's why it is not uncommon for families to ask the questions:

"Where can I get the best deal?"

"What are the best college buys?"

"In other words, who is showin' our families the moooonnneeey?"

Tomorrow I will unveil the Gold, Silver, and Bronze "Show Me the Money" Clubs for colleges and universities that offered our student's scholarship monies.

To date, as a teaser, our 74 seniors have been offered 113 scholarships for $3,576,890.

Perhaps the trail of money will help guide some of you along the unsteady path of college admissions.

Shines Like Stars

2010-05-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

What stands out to you from the chart below?

Two things shine like stars for me.

One is the application-per-students between 2006 (7.4) and 2009 (5).

Two is the acceptance results between 07' (40%) and 09' (69%).

What this reveals is the dramatic shift that we have made together in the face of humongous cultural forces.

What we have done is counter cultural, especially in the independent school world, and somewhat counter intuitive.

With 3.3 million high school graduates, a swelling influx of international applicants, the mainstreaming of the Common Application/Universal Application, and the media's fixation with rankings and admission statistics, one would think that the best strategy is to apply to more colleges. The logic is simple: the more colleges I apply to, the better chance I have of securing many choices. And the better chance I have of getting into a "name brand" school.

I would argue that this logic shaped how Casady families approached the college admission process through 06'.

Today, though, I believe the evidence points us in a new direction. Instead of "shotgunning" out 15 applications, our students are fine tuning their search, where they are investing themselves in their research (thanks Naviance), keeping an open mind to "hidden gem" schools, placing an accent on colleges that want them for what they will bring, and shopping for the best deal.

In other words, our families have bought into our new paradigm for college admission in which it is all about the right FIT.

Sometimes that fit points to a "CTCL'er" - a "College That Changes Lives" like Rhodes and Hendrix.

Or a "BBB'er" - a "BCS Bowl Bound" university like TCU.

Or a "SS'er" - a "Single Sex" school like Hampden Sydney. (Okay so we haven't had a boy make the plunge yet...but I stress yet...we had 2 applicants this year, both accepted, both awarded scholarships. One visited; loved it; but thought it was just too far away).

Consider, in closing, this year's statistics.

Total Seniors: 74
Total Applications: 366
Application Average: 4.8
Acceptance %: 74%

I don't think it is a coincidence that as we ( as a community) have embraced a philosophy of "best college fit" that our acceptance rate has gone up.

That we are applying to more schools and new schools (30+).

That the scholarship monies offered continues to increase (more on this soon).

And that ALL of our students have excellent college choices.