The Two Numbers That Explain Every Rejection You Didn't See Coming
Here's a scene I've watched play out for 24 years.
Great grades. Great scores. The guidance counselor looks at the software and says that one's a target, you should get in there.
Denied.
The family is blindsided. They did everything right and the machine still said no.
Mistake number three is not understanding that college admissions is a marketing exercise, not a meritocracy.
Start with the software. Most high schools run Naviance, some run SCOIR, a few use something else. Whatever the logo, it does roughly the same thing. It plots your kid's GPA and test score against other kids from your high school who applied to that college, and tells you how you stack up.
That's useful. It is also badly incomplete, for two reasons.
First, the admissions decision isn't built on grades and scores. It's built on twenty-something factors. The software can see two of them.
Second, your kid isn't competing against the other kids at your high school. They're being compared to kids in your high school a...
The College You Got Into Would Reject You Today
Mistake number two on my list of the 12 deadliest college planning mistakes is the one almost every parent makes without noticing.
You assume it works the way it worked when you applied.
It doesn't. Not remotely.
I graduated high school outside Boston. Back then Northeastern admitted 90% of the people who applied. Nine zero. It was the school you landed at when the other doors closed.
Northeastern's admit rate today is around seven percent.
Same school. Same name on the sweatshirt. Completely different institution to get into.
Now go run that exercise on your own list. The safety school you're penciling in because your neighbor's kid got in a decade ago may not be a safety anymore. It may not even be a target.
That's the trap. Not that parents are lazy. Parents are working incredibly hard off a map that expired.
Here's the rest of what moved while nobody sent out a memo.
Admit rates at the selective schools are at all time lows. A lot of colleges now cost north of $100,000 a year all i...
Nobody Came to Hear This One. It's Still the Most Important Thing I Said All Night.
Last month I ran a webinar on the 12 deadliest college planning mistakes. About a hundred families showed up.
I opened with a poll. What's your biggest challenge right now? Getting into a decent school, paying for college, or you don't know where to start.
"All of the above" won. "Paying for college" came in a close second.
Nobody picked the thing I had listed as mistake number one.
That mistake is putting all your emphasis on the four years instead of the 40.
Everything in this process points at one moment. The decision letter. Families organize two years of their lives around it. And frankly the ads from people like me don't help. You've seen them. "93% of our students got into one of their top three choices."
You know how easy that is to pull off? Tell a Long Island kid to apply to Princeton, Stanford, and Nassau Community College. One out of three. Every single time.
So your kid gets in somewhere. Then what?
Getting in is not the finish line. It's the starting line. And where your ...
5 Self-Inflicted College Planning Mistakes
Good morning!
We're hitting the airwaves this morning -- 10:00am EST -- for College Coffee Talk, our live show about college admissions and financial aid news that you can use!
Here's what's on tap for today:
5 Deadly, Easily Avoidable, Self-Inflicted College Admissions and Financial Aid Mistakes...and how to avoid them!
Grab a cup of joe and we'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it)
- Andy Lockwood
Should You Take the SAT or ACT?
The new SAT caused a wee bit of a kerfuffle when it came out this year, but things seem to be in the process of stabilizing. However, there are still issues re: "adaptive testing," the availability of legitimate SAT practice questions from the College Board (there aren't so many...yet) and more.
The college application process is stressful and confusing enough, especially this past year with the Department of Education's financial aid fiasco, plus plummeting admissions rates, not to mention all the Israel-Palestine controversies raging on campuses coast to coast.
So yeah, you sure picked a great time to send your child to college! Jeez.
Permit me, if you will, Ito help you eliminate one source of stress: figuring out which test -- the SAT or ACT -- is best...for your son or daughter.
Tonight, our head tutor Marissa U will host a sneak preview class, online, that walks you through each section of each test, offering strategies and tips (and traps to avo...
Local College Planning "Secrets" Workshop
Announcing: "Secrets" of How to Triple Odds of Acceptance to Your Dream College...
...and how to comfortably afford tuition...
...even if you think there's no way your family can possibly qualify for any type of financial aid.
This coming Wednesday June 26th, we're conducting our maiden voyage college planning workshop in our brand spanking new offices, live! (Not a webinar).
If you're the parent of a 9th, 10th or 11th grader with dreams of attending a top college, I created this presentation EXACTLY for you! Here's a closer look at what's on tap:
*The inconvenient truth about what it takes -- beyond solid grades and near-perfect SATs, "passion projects" and other nonsense -- to get accepted to a top college today (WARNING: Not "Politically Correct")
*Financial Aid "Loopholes" - how to legally "hide" your money from the financial aid office
*How to avoid Admissions Armageddon and build a balanced, strategic college list
*Are there any Safety Schools ...
"Late Stage" College Planning
Hidey-ho
I'll be quick as greased lightening because we don't have much time...
I'm running a brand new webinar tomorrow night for rising seniors, i.e. Class of 2025 families who have been putting off their college planning for months, perhaps years...
...and who feel like THEY are running out of time, have no clue about how to make a college list, write an essay, get scholarships or grants, whether to submit the SAT or ACT, whether to TAKE the SAT or ACT, pant, pant, pant...
If you're feeling under the gun, especially given the latest College Chaos to grip the land, then this webby is for YOU!
Sign up today, and I'll have you feeling better tomorrow night! At least a little bit better. Here's where to find all the deets:
- Andy "Calm Amidst Chaos" Lockwood
P.S. Share this with anyone you know who is freaking out about college applications, essays, getting into college, etc. etc. etc.
College Apps Bootcamp Price Increase
For 2025 students:
Our 10th annual summer Get College Ready Bootcamp is open for Early Action Registration. I've been sending more emails about this than anyone wants to read.
But the thing is, in college applications, you're either quick or you're dead.
I don't really know what that means either, but tomorrow, I am ruthlessly and mercilessly jacking up the price of the Bootcamp.
If you have rising high school senior, and you want to avoid the sh-t show that class of 2024 kids experienced this year with college acceptances (and denials and wait lists), I think you should hustle on over to the enrollment page while you can still save a few bucks, and whilst we still have room.
Here's where to learn more:
You can attend the bootcamp live -- in our new office (yay) -- or virtually.
- Andy Lockwood
P.S. Here's what you get, short and sweet:
*Help crafting killer essays that "sell," not bore (unlimited revisions)
*Help building a balanced and strate...
Shocking (not) Test Optional News of the Week #2
Tutoring | Appeal Your Financial Aid
Yesterday morning, on our weekly show College Coffee Talk, I covered the story about Harvard and CalTech ending their experiments with allowing students not to submit their SAT or ACT. I suggested (for the umpteenth time) that this seems to be part of a slow trend for Ivy and other elite colleges -- and less elite --see College of The Ozarks a/k/a Hard Work U (go Bobcats!).
Today Cornell University said See ya, wouldn't want to be ya, to test-optional policies, citing familiar reasons for reinstating testing requirements:
They're helpful predictors of academic performance in college.
Another interesting bit of information: 42% of students who submitted scores were admitted. Yes, I understand that students with stronger scores tended to submit them, but still.
I don't know if you're a betting man or woman, but were I placing a wager, I would bet big that this trend is picking up steam. Which means that, if you have a class of 2025 or younger...
SAT v ACT - Which Is Best?
It seems like more colleges abandon their test-optional policies every week. Last week it was Harvard and CalTech. I believe we're still in the beginning stages of a standardized testing comeback.
Why? Mostly because rampant grade inflation makes it super hard for admissions officers to gauge the college readiness of applicants. When everyone has a 94 average, how to you separate the wheat from the chaff?
A full discussion of that topic would take too long, but it appears that that the (new, digital) SAT and ACT are back to help resolve that issue.
The SAT changed formats earlier this year, switching from paper to digital. Reviews were mixed, to put it mildly, making it more confusing for students wondering which one to prep for, and take, in order to boost their chances of getting accepted to the colleges they want to attend...
...and clean up with fat, juicy scholarships :)
That's why, tonight, we're running an SAT and ACT preview class, walking you...