Category: College Admissions Counseling

I recently returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest where I toured seven Oregon schools and attended a symposium with several more. I was delighted to be on this group tour as Oregon schools draw heavily from California, and I was eager to learn more about them.

One major take-away from my trip is that it rains in Oregon. A lot. I will not be able to pretend otherwise with my prospective Oregon-bound students. Willamette pointed out that it rains more in Philadelphia than it does in Salem. I could not independently verify that nor could I believe Oregon State when they said that that day was the only day it had rained all year. Hmmm… However, several of our student tour guides hailed from California, and they each said that they easily adjusted to the rainy weather. One said he just decided that he couldn’t stay inside all of the time, and he needed to just “get over it.” Student tour guides are a valuable information source because although they work for admissions, their marketing skills are not quite as polished, and they typically answer questions honestly. I could not help but notice that in all cases, we had our hoods up and were huddled under umbrellas while our guides seemed to be oblivious to the massive amounts of water falling from the sky. It made the mother in me a little uneasy when one wouldn’t even zip his jacket (Yes, I’m talking to you, Lewis and Clark). Conclusion: It rains in Oregon, but it doesn’t dampen (sorry for the pun) the experience for students, even those who have had little exposure to inclement weather.

This isn’t going to be the most interesting thing you have read today, in fact my subject today is as dry as it gets. How is that for a hook? I am, however, going to share with you a little-known treasure chest of information. If you are a prospective college student or are the parent or guardian of such a student, you need to know about the Common Data Set.

There are hundreds of websites with college-specific information. One of the first things I tell my student-clients is that the best and most accurate source of information about a college is from the its own website. However not every question is always answered on their websites or in their colorful brochures. It is also not always practical to flip through their pages trying to find where they might have hidden what the average GPA of last year’s admitted students or how much money they gave in merit-based aid. These answers and many, many more can be found within their Common Data Set.