And you thought he was talking about rims...

Regarding their transcript, I used to tell prospective students at Caltech, “Leave the killer B’s to Wutang.”  I was usually met with blank stares either because I wasn’t referencing some unbelievably complex physic problem or because it was a lame joke.  But today, I saw the Facebook status update of an old Collegewise colleague, Christina Wright, who is now an admissions counselor at Marquette University and burst into laughter.

A word of advice to high school students: The song “Throw Some D’s On It” should not apply to your transcript.

Never have truer words been spoken.  Especially by Rich Boy.

The answer was "Yes!" for hundreds of thousands.

Few people know this, but as a high school senior, I gave serious consideration to the United States Military Academy, a.k.a West Point.  I even went so far as to contact Senator John Glenn’s office in regards to the required nomination.  Being the little civic-minded nerd I was, I had already received my Eagle Scout award and an award from the governor for my volunteer work in the community.  Reality set in when I realized the commitments required post-graduation were daunting and that’s not even to speak of life as a cadet that would be a little more grueling than racking up merit badges.  (I didn’t even consider the Naval Academy because I was and am an awful swimmer.)  So, a free world-class education was not to be my destiny.

I have great respect for those men and women who join the service academies especially when their other options often include far less rigorous and demanding colleges.  (Unlike a Harvard or Stanford, you’ll never hear anyone say, “The hardest part about West Point is getting in!”)  I’ve also found it fascinating the continued role that military persons have on the American university system.  While debate rages over the role of government program in health care, you’re going to find few level-headed people who wouldn’t agree that one of the greatest governmental successes in the history of the United States was the G.I. Bill enacted after World War II.  It allowed for one of the largest class shifts in modern times.  All of sudden, huge numbers of well-traveled and well-lived men–many from working class backgrounds–flooded the campuses of schools around the country.  Even the most elite Ivies found their well-heeled prep-school boys nudged to the side by guys removed from the battlefields of Europe by just years.  It transformed America and arguably created the middle class that would keep us a superpower in the decades to come. A great review of the G.I. Bill can be found here and a small excerpt is below: Click here to read more »

Uh-oh. Someone hasn't read Eats, Shoots & Leaves. (H/T Depravda.com for image.)

The fall months alway bring emails like a swarm of locusts from well-intentioned friends sharing articles they came across regarding college essays. Occasionally, one does stand out for the exceptional advice it offers. However, most are filled with the most trite cliches passed off as wisdom. Some goes as far as to offer terrible advice.  Case in point, this bit from this morning’s Huffington Post which shared “advice” on why the personal statement might not actually matter:

1. I recall a public university representative confessing on a tour that the admissions people only read the full apps of seniors whose scores and GPAs were above a certain threshold. Below that line, essays worthy of fill in your favorite writer here went unread.

2. As many professional writers and lots of seniors will tell you, 500 words is a tough length; too long for glib, too short for substance.

3. The standard supportive advice is “be yourself” – but you are competing with applicants whose parents enhance “self” with the extracurricular equivalent of ‘roids, everything from international community service to a networked internship for a child whose most remarkable trait may well be his parents’ connections.

Wow. Every one of her points while perhaps true on occasion, hardly represent the essence of how this process works. Let’s break it down… Click here to read more »

As a fairly voracious consumer of online media, I often stumble so deep into the Internet that I lose any sense of what I’m actually reading.  A couple days ago, while reading through several articles offering lots of truly awful advice on college essays (write 25 college essays in 25 weeks “because practice makes them better”), I came across one announcing the College of Charleston was testing having students apply via Twitter:

“Succinct is the new in-depth,” said assistant deputy admissions director, Chip VanDerveld. “Anybody can make a case for admission if you give them the time and space to do it; the real challenge is to convince us that you belong at the College of Charleston in 140 characters or less.”

Well, after being convinced the Apocalypse was upon us and muttering a few choice four-letter words–totaling less than 140 characters, of course–I realized I was the sucker.

Click here to read more »

"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.

Click here to read more »

"I doubt Picasso ever imagined his sketch ending up on a blog about college admissions."

Earlier in the evening, I noticed today is the birthday of the long-deceased Grantland Rice.  Not likely a name that rings a bell for most folks, but one forever etched in my mind for two reasons.  One, he was a member of my college fraternity–one of those useless facts only fraternity guys hold onto.  Two, as a college football fan, he’s the author of perhaps the most famous passage in the annals of American sportswriting.  About a game between Army and Notre Dame in 1924:

“Outlined against a blue-gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below.”

Hyperbole?  Absolutely.  Poetry?  I think so.

I’m kicking off this blog with no expectation that anyone will remember my words a good 85 years down the road.  But I hope a few of them will stick around just long enough to give you a few good thoughts to chew on, an occasional laugh and, yes, there’ll be a little tilting at windmills.  My intentions are humble though.  I just want to share some of my thoughts about the world of college admissions.  Take a little bit of the edge off the process for some of you, add a little more insight for others.  Some days might see many posts, and some weeks none.  But one thing I can promise you, no Biblical allusions.  Mr. Rice has already put that horse out to pasture.