I’m impressed when my students tell me about the lists (often color-coded) they keep to manage their busy lives. I get it–high school is full of academic, extracurricular, and social demands, especially as junior year moves to a close. Excelling in your courses and studying for AP tests (if you’re taking them) tops the lists. Spring sports, DECA and Robotics competitions, and dance recitals require hours of practice before final events. Time for activities outside school (jobs, personal research/study, etc.) becomes tighter. Even prom prep is more demanding!
Then come college-related commitments. For many students, meetings with the test prep tutor and taking repeated practice tests (the real key to raising your score) are required.
Relax a bit and find balance. Here’s my suggested order of priorities:
Academics: you will get your final GPA–that goes on your transcript sent to colleges–in June. This includes AP and other tests you take.
Do Extracurriculars you love: Focus on those that matter most to you and let those go that don’t. However, choose wisely if they relate to a possible major or career.
Standardized Testing: Nearly all colleges will remain test-optional, except for Florida and Georgia public colleges and MIT (a few others still haven’t made announcements). If you’re applying to large state colleges, those that were test-optional prior to the pandemic, or after a few tests, your scores are below the 50th percentile for your colleges, it’s ok to cross testing off your list.
College visits: for those who find the time or manage to snag the few campus-visit openings available. Visit, but plan smart–many families schedule trips to Boston or Washington without considering if the schools there are good options. Time is precious! My slate for juniors is full, but I am happy to meet for an hour to help you.
Some of my colleagues advise students to read a college's mission statement before writing essays or visiting campus. It can be helpful, especially if the message is unique. My mission--to make the college process less stressful by managing the work ahead of schedule and focusing on the excellent education students can receive at many institutions--is somewhat unique in the world of "scare tactics and negativity" (words on my homepage). I also realize that it isn’t easy to block out negativity when it’s all around, as well as inside us.
An episode of the Freakonomics podcast entitled “Reasons to be Cheerful” illustrates how "negativity bias" is rooted in our basic human psychology. We are drawn to worst case scenarios. Think about how the earliest humans faced danger before hunting, sleeping, taking any action--you'll agree they needed to worry more than we do. Musician David Byrne, a guest on the podcast, founded a website called “Reasons to be Cheerful” after noticing how one small criticism in an otherwise rave review would cancel out all the positives for him. Perspective, as always, is everything.
Byrne took the website name from perhaps the goofiest song to emerge from the height of the punk era in 1977: "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3.” During a period of austerity-level budget cuts and eventual recession in the UK, punk rock was a logical reaction to privations and anger; but the band Ian Dury and the Blockheads instead released an upbeat tune featuring laundry list lyrics about what people could still feel good about in bad times. In keeping with that ethos, Byrne--ever the optimist who created "American Utopia"--began a website/newsletter that emphasizes positive global events.
I too will always emphasize the positives, the advantages that so many of us have. As I watch my students graduate from college each year, get excellent jobs or attend graduate school, I see my beliefs borne out: college achievements matter much more than which colleges they choose to attend.
A year ago, I wrote a post in reaction to the new test-optional admissions era. Thankfully, though my 2022 grads are all happy, 2022 admissions tells me that this point needs to be made--and questioned--even more strongly.
Learning the definition of “prestige" on Jeopardy! really clicked for me as an independent college consultant:
From the original Latin praestrigae juggler’s tricks...derivative...of praestringere “to blunt (sight or mind), literally, to tie up so as to constrict. >French: deceits, delusions, juggler’s tricks, 1650-60
When I visit campuses, I enjoy seeing new halls of science (bonus points for planetariums), small classrooms that spark great discussions, and living/learning dorms that house individual tutoring and even career centers on the first floor. These educational pluses serve students--should they choose to use them--directly.
Colleges also seduce families with gyms with climbing walls, lazy rivers, tanning salons, and outdoor pools. All are designed to conjure the mood of an upscale resort on a campus. Most of all, the name of a college is its most seductive attribute. But a name's power grows as acceptance rates plummet and certain schools gain popularity. Does a lower acceptance rate mean those colleges offer better outcomes than they did five years earlier or is it simply the mask of prestige?
What role do amenities and names play in student success? Do they truly enhance the value of four+ years spent at a college? Families and the media focus on how few are admitted to top universities, but colleges fight hard and smart. They follow the demographics, knowing that the number of students, especially those who can afford full tuition, is declining. Colleges play the prestige card, but we play a role in opening ourselves to the illusion.
Do we really believe there a spot on campus for every qualified applicant to a hyper-selective college? When we choose to deny logic by expecting admission to be "fair," we buy into the delusion.
Where does the conjuring truly originate--with the colleges or within us? I've posted many times about the flawed methodology of the USNWR college rankings in this blog and on social media, yet we allow them to work their false magic on us. Can we honestly state what creates real transformation on college campuses?
Our students are real, prestige is not. They transform themselves and their institutions, creating what we equate with prestige (knowledge, reputation, achievement) when they engage on their campuses. Some of them may not be ready to actualize or define their version of it until they are older, in graduate school or the work world. There is no magic, but there is always promise. And belief in that promise, what students will actualize beyond the juggler's tricks the colleges sell or what we may tell ourselves, is what captivates me every time I walk onto a campus. Best of all, students make it happen all the time at many, many colleges.