Did Thom Yorke even go to college?

"Did Thom Yorke even go to college?"

Was catching up on some old email and came across a rather interesting tidbit in the Common Application’s October Counselor Update.   The 2010-11 Common Application will not go “live” until August 1st which is a full month later than the release date of July 1st in years past.  The Common App folks attribute the timing to a technical issue whereby the later date will allow high schools to submit final transcripts electronically which was previously difficult for some schools that ended the academic year late.

But as they note in almost an aside, “The later release date will also help combat the “admission creep” that concerns many counselors.” No, “admissions creep” is not your least-favorite admissions officer–though a few fit the phrase well.  Rather, it’s describing how a process that used to take place in the fall of the senior year and sometimes well into the spring, has moved all the way into the summer months before senior year in many cases.  The concern over the past few years is that kids are more focused on finishing their apps and getting decisions than being truly considerate of their best options.

I’ve mixed feelings on this.  It was nice for the more organized, more fast-track kids to complete their application in early July and then turn their attention to the personal statement while waiting for individual colleges’ supplements to also come online.  That obviously becomes trickier when the app only become available during the dog daze of summer as kids head into soccer practices and marching band rehearsals–and often a last round of test prep before fall SATs, ACTs, and Subject Tests.

At the same time, I think it allows for a subtle and appropriate shift in what to emphasize in those summer months.  It opens up the window just a little wider and maybe kids and their parents (and their counselors) will use that time to think just a little longer and a little harder about the schools they’re considering.  On more than one occasion, I’ve had a student show up in my office after an awesome summer internship and completely transform a college list that just weeks earlier seemed to be handed down straight from Mount Sinai.

Overall, it’s a small but significant change to the pace of applying for some of the most frenzied of kids–the ones who are undoubtedly setting the pace in the hallways of their schools.  And while I’ll miss the look of satisfaction from an anxious kid stopping by on July 6th to proudly tell me, “I’m done with my Common App! This process isn’t as bad as people say it is,” I think most kids will benefit from having just a little more time to mull things over before the urgency to start filling out the app itself seizes them.

Who knows, maybe a few kids will even use July to do things like go swimming, play a little baseball, hang out with friends.  (GASP!)  You know, fun things.