My recent pet peeve is the regular use of the term “resiliency” for “resilience.” Why was it necessary to switch to a longer noun instead of continuing to use a perfectly good one? What’s funny is that hearing “resiliency” causes people to think it’s the more correct choice, as I suspect many high school students do when they write “highschool” in their essays.
Language has always evolved. There’s the story about the widespread scorning of presidential candidate Warren G. Harding’s “Return to Normalcy” campaign slogan. “Normal” was fine, so why did “normalcy” have to be invented (people called out these aberrations more in 1920 than they do today)? Eventually, “normalcy” took root, and was a mainstay of Dr. Fauci’s pandemic speeches a century later.
We too evolve and adapt to the “new normal.” Colleges that looked like “targets” have become “possibles.” Some institutions, even for our high flyers, have become “unlikelies” because of the barrage of qualified applicants. How do we predict and move forward?
Coping with today’s reality means regularly comforting my strongest ED applicants if they are deferred to the RD pool. (The “fairness” conversation is irrelevant because higher ed was never fair.) But this week, I was thrilled when a deferred student, after getting “yeses” from nearly every other college on her list (some with large scholarships), was admitted to her ED college from the hyper-selective RD pool. After a stressful ride on the “rejection>maybe there’s a chance but RD is way more selective >acceptance” rollercoaster, her wish came true.
Her list was solid, and she would have been a standout at every other college if “institutional priorities” at her ED college hadn’t worked out in her favor. Despite the initial disappointment, her resilience helped keep the denial (I never say rejection) in perspective. She was always qualified, and she will always go beyond expectations. It’s the student, not the college, that matters in the long run.
It turns out that “resiliency” has existed in the English language as long as “resilience” but it was used less frequently in our part of the world. I will continue to correct “highschool” however.
Like language? Read below.
I’ve just returned from a Counselor Fly-in to High Point University, which is legendary for its opulent campus. It did not disappoint, as I was treated to accommodations in the on-campus hotel (lobby below), delicious meals (including dinner in the Prime steakhouse, where students learn to dress appropriately, put their phones away, and exercise proper etiquette), and genuine hospitality by the admissions staff, faculty, and employees. I enjoyed the snacks (no minibar charges) in my suite, and the many fountains, firepits, and pools.
We toured and marveled at the cutting-edge facilities for business, the health sciences, media, and both visual and performing arts. After a Q & A with a fabulous student panel (mostly from NJ and NY), a counselor in my group said, “These kids are great! But what about the kids who weren’t such stars in high school, the ones with lower GPA’s? What are they doing?”
Of course, the student panel presented to talk to families and counselors at every college is composed of campus stars. This counselor was skeptical because HPU admits students who may not have been at the top of their classes. But the response from Dr. Kerr Ramsey, Senior Vice President for Undergraduate Admissions, was perfect (I’m paraphrasing here):
“Why shouldn’t the students who had lower GPA’s in high school be given every opportunity to succeed? Maybe they weren’t motivated to challenge themselves then. We provide every student with a student success coach, teach them the life skills they’ll need to be successful in the real world, help them get internships, and watch them blossom.”
High Point’s belief in its students’ ability to succeed impressed me more than all the fancy amenities. Every student, from those in the Learning Excellence program to those who will deliver the news on ABC after graduation, has the potential to flourish. It’s great to see a college with so much faith in its method and its students.
The wisdom of my peers is an invaluable asset in my business. I have been doing this work for 12 years–some of my colleagues have done it for 20 or more. Here, a top NYC consulting practice shares its experience and truth…it may surprise you:
“Medical and dental school are a major part of our practice. In this past cycle, we have already have five clear admits to Harvard Medical School.
One was a neuroscience major
One was a fashion major
One was a biological basis of behavior major
One was a public health major
One was an English major
The fashion major did the best: He got full rides from Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Case; he got 25% from UChicago; he got into NYU (which is always a free ride), and Harvard. He ended up choosing NYU (barely edging out Hopkins).
Rigor is not really a thing in medical school admissions. All that time spent in honors classes could be better spent in research labs, hospitals, community service, and leadership. We had a potential client two days ago mention that taking anatomy, genetics, and physiology would be easier as a bio major. Our medical school consultant told her genetics is always a good elective for a premed, but there is no need to take anatomy or physiology. As many medical school admissions faculty have told me, "We'll teach you all the anatomy you need in medical school. Take the class if you're intellectually interested in it, but don't take it because you think it'll help you get into medical school."
Some colleges do have "premed" or "pre-dent" as a major. These majors do NOT look better on a medical school application.
In short, medical schools don't care about what you major in. They care about how you perform on the MCAT, how you perform overall as a student, how you perform on the specific group of prerequisite courses required to attend medical or dental school (such as general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology, etc.), and they care deeply about your extracurricular activities in research labs, clinical settings, shadowing, community service and leadership, etc.”