Senior Testimonial and Advice for the College Application Process, Part 2

I asked a number of Class of 2015 seniors to write about their experiences with the college process. This next one is by Gianluca Milea of NYC. Enjoy!

The college process can be very intimidating at times.  While it is very important to have numerous options, I found it difficult to apply to a limited number of schools.  Although Xavier does not put a maximum on how many schools to which you are allowed to apply, application fees are very expensive and at the end of the day you will only be attending one college. 

To begin the process, I visited a myriad of schools, some of which were unrealistic options for me.  After visiting four schools in two days, I decided to create guidelines for my potential college.  While academic rigor is essential, there are many other factors that go into a final college decision: food, campus life, off-campus life, greek life, religious affiliation, athletic programs, housing, location and possibly two of the most important things, tuition cost, and how comfortable you feel on the campus tour.  Ultimately, this will be your home for the next four years, and while it may seem like high school flew by, you want to make sure that you enjoy your time in college as much as you were fortunate enough to enjoy your time at Xavier.  These parameters allowed for me to narrow down my search and my college list to a comfortable number.

Something that I was unaware of before beginning my college process is that many universities give automatic scholarships for activities outside of academics.  For instance, Catholic University has a scholarship if you know someone that attended their university and also a Parish Scholarship for weekly churchgoers.  Many schools have similar scholarships and they can be a great way to estimate a tuition (as you will definitely receive some type of financial assistance) and make sure it is affordable before spending money on an application fee.

I would also highly recommend keeping the number of schools that you apply to without visiting to a minimum.  Getting a feel for a campus is essential in the process and should not be overestimated.  Personally, I visited all of my schools except for a couple of reach schools, and will eventually visit them pending my admissions decision.  After visiting I would suggest using Naviance; it is a great website to keep order during a hectic time.  Naviance allows you to make a list of “Colleges I’m Thinking About” and rank them in your order of interest.  Another helpful feature of the website is that it gives scattergrams, which give you the opportunity to compare yourself to past Xavier students.  Overall, Naviance is a great tool that Xavier offers its students and you should really take full advantage of it.

Finally, while the college process can be overwhelming, it is completely worth it.  Make sure that you do not miss out on the opportunity to apply to a school because you were too lazy to write a supplement.  It is a great feeling when you hit ‘send’ and all of your applications have been submitted.  All in all: do your research, visit schools, make a comprehensive list, do not wait until the night before to apply, and then relax and wait for the decisions to roll in.  Good Luck!

College Quick-Hitters: Le Moyne College

Le Moyne College is a small, liberal-arts Jesuit school of about 2,800 undergraduate students located in Syracuse, NY. Only 4 hours from New York City, Le Moyne is situated on a beautiful campus only minutes from the action of downtown Syracuse. They have many different majors ranging from business to psychology to engineering, and have some excellent partnerships with Syracuse University. They have a 3-2 Bachelors and Masters engineering program with Syracuse, a 4-1 Bachelors and Masters Forensic Science program with Syracuse, and a 3-3 Law School Program with Syracuse and Fordham. Students in this law program with a 3.65 of higher GPA after junior year can bypass the LSAT exam and go right into law school at Syracuse of Fordham. Specifically, at Syracuse, students will also receive a 50% discount on tuition for years 5 and 6 (students do not receive this discount at Fordham). Le Moyne also has a brand new business building and a 20 million dollar science complex was completed three years ago, as well. If students apply early action, they will be notified by December 15^th, and all online applications will have no fee. The average class size at Le Moyne is 20, with a 13:1 student to faculty ration, and there are 21 different D2 sports, not to mention countless club and intramural sports. Housing is guaranteed all four years, and 85% of the student population lives on campus. Demonstrated interest is very important in their admissions process, so make sure you get up there for a visit, and make contact with the admissions counselors!

-Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

November...What Now for Seniors?

As many seniors have applied to schools for early action, early decision, or rolling admissions, a big question is what should they be doing now…besides waiting and waiting. For seniors who have applied to all of their schools, a few of their schools, or none of their schools, take a look at the following list of what you can be doing now for the college admissions process:

·         Revise your college list: Take a look at your college list and make sure you have 2-3 safeties, targets, and reaches in each category. Hopefully you have done your research on these colleges and visited some of them. It is imperative that you are happy with all of the colleges you apply to, not just the reach schools!

·         Be on top of your testing game: Hopefully you have taken your SATs or ACTs by this time. Make sure you know which test dates you will send to the colleges, or if you will not send test scores at all (test-optional schools). You have the ability to pick which test dates you send to colleges, and most of them will super score for you. If your November testing scores come in after application deadlines, call each school’s admissions office and ask about their policy for this. Schools will have different procedures, so make sure you contact each one.

·         Continue to demonstrate your interest: Whether you visited the college, sat in on an information session, or had an interview with an admissions counselor, remind the colleges of your interest in attending. Take a few minutes and write a brief e-mail to your admissions representative letting them know you have applied and if there is anything else you should be doing while awaiting a decision. Most colleges will not have you do anything additional, but the admissions representative will certainly know that you are very interested in the school, and that could go a long way.

·         Have all of your supplemental materials prepared: Although most colleges use the Common Application, they will all have a variety of additional information that needed to be completed. Some are simple, others are more intense, and they vary greatly. A few colleges need two teacher recommendations, and others specify which subjects they want to see for recommendations. Take initiative and have all of the supplements organized and completed.

·         Students who have applied ED…be prepared: Hopefully you will be accepted to your ED school, but there is a chance you will be deferred or denied. Have your other applications prepared and ready to go. Most will have time between when they hear from their ED school and the regular deadlines, so no need to submit your other applications just yet (save tons of money!). But be ready to go, so if you hear bad news from the ED school, you can just hit submit on the applications and move on!

·         Beware of deadlines: You should memorize (or at least keep track) the deadlines for everything associated with the college application process. This includes application deadlines, financial aid deadlines, and eventually deposit deadlines (most likely May 1^st). It would be a shame to put in all of this effort, but miss an important deadline, possibly being left out.

·         Show gratitude to your counselors, teachers…and parents: We commend you for all of the effort you put into this process, and we understand how much time it took. But the majority of you had support from school advisors and family members. Take a moment to thank your counselor and teachers for assisting in the applications and recommendations. Also, realize that as much stress you felt during this process, it was probably doubled for your parents. Share the joy of being accepted and selecting a college with your family and let them know how much you appreciate their time and support…especially when it comes time to write the college checks!

·         Try to relax…but not too relaxed: Once everything is submitted and being reviewed, try to relax and don’t focus too much on what the decision may be. At this point, there is little more you can do, so there is no sense in worrying about it. However, this does not mean you should stop working hard in your classes. Even after you are accepted, if your grades drop drastically, colleges have the right to revoke your acceptance. You have worked very hard for 3 ½ years during high school, so try your best to finish strong!

Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

The True Meaning of Early Action Plans

The first of November is usually an exciting time with Thanksgiving right around the corner, and the rest of the holiday season not too far behind. However, for many seniors, Thursday, November 1^st, 2012 is a day they have had circled on their calendar for many months, for an entirely different reason. This is the Early Action deadline for many of the competitive colleges and universities across the county. Another popular Early Action deadline is November 15^th and you many see a few schools that have Early Action a little later than that. Since the Early Action season is near, I thought it would be appropriate to explain early application plans, and everything that goes into them.

First, it is very important to understand that applying under Early Action, will NOT improve a student’s chances of admission. Since EA is non-binding, it does not benefit a school to accept a student who is on the border, as that student is not committing himself to the college. Additionally, the regular decision candidates are in a much larger pool, and admissions counselors will often wait to compare students on the edge to that larger, more representative pool. Applying Early Decision can often give students an advantage of being accepted, even those who may be a bit lower than the average student accepted.  The reason for this is simple; ED is a binding agreement, and colleges are assured that if they accept the student, that student will be attending their school. For Early Action, unfortunately if you are well below the average student accepted, applying this way will not give you an advantage of being accepted.

For students who are satisfied with their current grades and testing scores, and are competitive with the middle 50% of accepted students, the real advantage to applying early is for peace of mind. For most schools, students will hear back before Christmas, which can be a great present, and will put students and parents in a better mental state! Applicants applying through Regular Decision often will not be notified of an admissions decision until March or April, so finding out 3-4 months in advance can make a huge difference (emotionally and mentally).

Next, let’s discuss the decisions that come from applying early to schools. Unlike regular decision, where students are accepted, denied, or waitlisted, students applying early will be accepted, denied, or deferred. Being deferred is not necessarily a bad thing, as it really just means that the admissions counselors like the student’s application, but they just need more time to make a decision and need to compare that applicant to the larger pool of candidates. The applicant will then be moved to the regular decision pool and will be reviewed again, with a final answer coming in March or April.

Finally, make sure you truly understand the parameters of the early action plan you are applying to, as there are numerous options, and various ways colleges approach early action plans. Take a moment to review the following types of early application types:

Early Action: Non-binding and student can apply to as many schools as they want this way. Student usually needs to apply by the 1^st or 15^th of November and will receive a response by Christmas.

Early Decision: This is a binding agreement, and if a student is accepted, they must withdraw all other applications.

Restrictive Early Action (REA): Non-binding, but a student should not apply Early Decision to any other schools (i.e. Boston College).

Single-Choice Early Action: Non-binding, but students agree not to apply early at all (EA, ED) to any other schools (i.e. Princeton).

Rolling Admissions: Non-binding and students can apply anytime throughout the year and will have an admissions decision generally anywhere from 3-4 weeks after application submission. It is usually a good idea to apply earlier to schools that have rolling admissions (SUNY schools).

Priority: Non-binding, but students should apply before their priority date, as this increases chance of admission and will make them eligible for merit-based scholarships (i.e. Penn State, USC).

-Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA