By now most of us have read an article with portions written by ChatGPT, one of the newest and currently free “Generative Pre-trained Transformers,” aka AI-based writing tools. Editorialists include these excerpts as examples to demonstrate both ChatGPT’s abilities and weaknesses. Spoiler alert: I am not going to use AI to write any of this, but I admit it might do a better job. Although grammatically perfect, algorithmic language falls short in other areas due to a lack of true understanding and a tendency to stick to generalizations without citing examples. Professors agree that ChatGPT papers would mostly get D’s and F’s, but many feel that there are productive ways of using it in the classroom. It might not actually be the death knell of human-generated expository writing as feared, but how will college admissions folks deal with the possibility that some admissions essays will not be the applicant’s work?
Spring cleaning starts for me as soon as I put away the holiday decorations. It’s a time when I love to organize and throw things away, any item not nailed down is in jeopardy. I’m sure you have heard Marie Kondo’s advice that if something doesn’t spark joy, then dispose of it. The same practice can be used with your approach to the college application process. Get organized and be willing to throw some ideas away. This will reduce your stress and bring the most satisfaction when submitting your applications. There are three simple steps you can take to a better college application process.
I was perplexed the first time I heard, “Colorado School of Mines.” Is there really a school about mining? Who would go there? Answer: Students looking for a STEM-based education with abundant experiential learning opportunities. Its location explains everything. Golden, Colorado, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies, was a product of the Gold Rush. Later In 1874, Colorado School of Mines was founded to “educate and develop” this immerging tech workforce. The Gold Rush ended, but Golden and its college survived. Colorado School of Mines’s mission continues to be to prepare students for the evergrowing and changing needs of the world today.
When I put Boomer in the car this morning, he was anxious. He likes his morning routine, and this was a big departure from it. He didn’t know if he was going to doggie daycare (not his favorite thing) or maybe to the vet (even less of a favorite thing). In short, he didn’t know what the future had in store for him. Sound familiar? I am writing this on the eve of our own version of March Madness. I work with 20 very capable and talented seniors who are anxiously waiting for colleges to release their admissions decisions. Until they do, these outstanding young people don’t know what lies ahead; they don’t know where they are going.
This time of year, I frequently tell my own story of my uncharted journey to college. I was wait-listed at my number one choice and ended up attending a school that, although just up the road, I had never seen before the day I moved into my dorm. I had honestly never seen that number one school either, but that didn’t seem to matter to me. I was outraged by all of the events and circumstances leading up to my matriculation at this “backup” school. It wasn’t fair. My good friend got into #1, and, from my perspective, her resume didn’t differ much from mine. Okay, not entirely true. She played badminton, and I have no athletic ability. Was that the magic ingredient to get into that school? I’ll never know.
“At Princeton, we value diverse perspectives and the ability to have respectful dialogue about difficult issues. Share a time when you had a conversation with a person or a group of people about a difficult topic. What insight did you gain, and how would you incorporate that knowledge into your thinking in the future?”
“The University of Oregon values difference, and we take pride in our diverse community. Please explain how you will share your experiences, values, and interests with our community. In what ways can you imagine offering your support to others?”
“Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.” – UC prompt
“What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?” – UC Prompt
Can you write meaningful answers to questions like these? If so, you are to be commended, but for many these prompts leave them with little or nothing to say. Is it their fault? Their parent’s fault? The colleges’ faults for asking too much? I don’t have an answer. I do, however, have a solution.
With the start of a new school year and the last day to drop/add classes looming, I have been flooded with questions about the importance of certain Advanced Placement classes. We know that rigor in the curriculum and performance in core academic classes carry the most weight in admissions decisions. This is true for schools with and without holistic admissions approaches. Rigor is demonstrated by taking as many core academic classes as possible in the four years of high school and by taking advanced classes such as Honors, AP, IB and, dual-enrollment college classes.
Advanced Placement is the most popular of these advanced classes for several reasons. Unlike dual enrollment, the curriculum is set at a national level and can be reviewed and evaluated by colleges. They are also more prevalent in high school offerings than is the prestigious International Baccalaureate Program. However, when it comes to selecting AP classes, not all are created equal. Many on “both sides of the desk” feel that some APs are “softer.” Usually mentioned in this list are Human Geography, Statistics, Environmental Science, Studio Art, and Psychology. Sometimes mentioned are English Composition, Seminar, and Spanish Literature. This does not mean that a student shouldn’t choose to take any of those. It means that their relevance on a transcript is dependent on a student’s intended field of study in college. Calculus is preferable to Statistics for most STEM and Business majors at highly selective schools, but Stats is a solid choice for others. AP Biology is the right choice for a pre-med student but taking AP Environmental Science demonstrates a deep interest if the student intends to be an Ecologist. In addition to intended majors, one should consider their academic strengths when picking an AP class. Statistics, for instance, is usually easier for students who process language well; strong reading skills often help. Calculus BC is the same as AB but with an additional two or three topics. Pre-Calculus is the prerequisite for both, so the choice would likely depend on how fast you absorb new math concepts and if your school allows you to “skip” AB.
Another thing to keep in mind is that every college has its own list of AP tests and minimum scores for which they will give credit. It might be worth investigating the AP policies of schools on your list before you decide to add/drop an AP class. Additionally, many schools and especially the UCs like to see that students who took an AP class followed through and sat for the test. They see taking the tests as another demonstration of challenging oneself. AP test results are not typically considered in admissions decisions, at least not yet, so this is not risky.
Which AP to take can be a complex and individual decision. It should be made based on the student’s future interests. It should also be made with one’s strengths in mind and with awareness of the subsequent workload. The student who takes every AP available is probably sacrificing other important activities and maybe even their happiness. At the end of the day, your mental health is more important than a college application.
Have you ever been to a farmers market in the middle of the summer and been so taken with the abundance of heirloom tomatoes, just-picked sweet white corn, summer squash, melons and peaches that you bought more than you could eat? I have, and then a few days later when I realize my folly, I scramble to make sauces that I can freeze in order not to waste the food. It’s actually a bit stressful because I don’t always have the time to be Ma on The Little House on the Prairie preserving things for the winter. Later I reflect on my produce choices, and I not only bought too much, I bought some items that weren’t really good fits for me and my lifestyle. I don’t love eggplant, it’s a textural thing, unless it’s breaded and covered in marinara sauce and cheese. Why did I buy that eggplant? I guess because it was a beautiful, glossy purple and others around me were snatching them up. In the end I had a full basket of beautiful produce worthy of a Gourmet Magazine photo shoot, but my choices were inappropriate and excessive.
Inevitably as the application season starts to wind down, many seniors experience the results of having applied to too many schools. Some just stop and don’t apply to the remaining schools on their list, others blindly proceed submitting inferior essays, ones that they have retrofitted for every school. I’ve heard horror stories about students who forgot to substitute the name of the current school for the name previously used. In short, they bought too much fruit that now needs to be preserved or thrown away. They cast their nets too wide.
How many is too many? The answer is different for each person. The important thing is to make sure that every school on the list is a school that the student could be excited about attending. Parents and friends will influence this list, and it will grow and grow and may quickly become unmanageable. Here are five reasons to reduce your unwieldy list:
1. Lack of Clarity
High school students often fail to realize the amount of work it takes to put together a solid application that best presents themselves to admissions. The best applications flow from a fountain of knowledge about the school and solid reasons for wanting to attend. College-bound seniors with twenty or more colleges on their lists often find that they can’t remember details about each school. From experience I will tell you, the devil is in the details. It might be that they don’t remember the unique qualities about the programs at each of their schools or simply what the requirements are. Either way, their applications will suffer if they can’t articulate what it is about XYZ University that makes them want to attend. An excessive number of schools on a list will lead to confusion between schools and thus a weaker application.
Boomer is my puppy Golden Retriever. When the weather warmed up, it was time to introduce him to the pool. It’s in his DNA to like the water, but he didn’t know that. In fact, he didn’t know that he inherently knew how to swim. His first attempts were awkward, to say the least. He excessively kicked and sputtered and generally looked as if he might drown.
As I watched Boomer one day flailing in the pool with a terrified look on his face, I couldn’t help but think about ACT and the College Board. They, too, appear to be flailing while trying desperately not to drown. ACT and the College Board added dates to their fall testing schedule in an attempt to accommodate the thousands of students who had had their test dates canceled in the spring and summer. Fall registration opened Monday at ACT, and by 3:00 Eastern time, they had tweeted, “We are in the process of soft-launching a new registration system, which is experiencing some performance issues due to unusually high demand. We are working diligently to improve the experience for all users.” Two hours later they took the registration page down. In July they had to apologize to the students who were not given advanced warning that their test centers were closed; those students discovered that when they showed up to take the test. This follows their decision to postpone the online testing they had promised until 2021. Also, ACT’s system is set up so that if your test is canceled, you still have to pay to register for a new date. They say your original money will be refunded in 3-5 business days. Does that sound like drowning to you? It does to me. It is not their fault, of course, that the pandemic is forcing last minute closures of testing centers, but decisions such as launching a new untried portal on a day that predictably would have an unprecedented number of users, reveal an industry in utter turmoil.
Today’s San Diego Union Tribune had an article about families protesting the Vista Unified School district’s decision to use a credit/no credit grading system for this semester. The sentiment is that this will put the junior class at a disadvantage with college admissions. Parents and students in other local school districts have had the same mistrust with a system that does not allow for letter grades. They worry because other school districts have implemented different policies. A Vista High School mother was quoted as saying that colleges they have talked to “prefer data to no data.”
I empathize with these students and their parents. The college application season is stressful under normal circumstances, but the Class of 2021 has been saddled with so many additional, legitimate concerns. They can’t visit campuses or attend college fairs. Every time they sign up and prepare for ACT or SAT, they get canceled. What will the the at-home AP tests really be like and will the scores be universally accepted? Is test-optional really optional? What does an holistic approach to admissions mean? The list goes on and on. Being cooped up at home with more questions about college applications than answers is creating a pressure cooker. Families feel insecure and are looking for something they can control.
By now we have all been, at worst, sickened or at best, inconvenienced by COVID 19. In the education world, there are many questions and few answers: How long will school be out? Will my classes be offered on-line? What about my AP tests? What about the ACT/SAT? The class with some of the most difficult hurdles will be the Class of 2021. They haven’t started the application process and many (most?) have not started standardized testing. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will have some answers, but one thing is almost certain, college tours and information sessions will not be available. Sadly touring schools is the best way to get a feel for the campus, learn more about its programs and admissions, and to meet and question current students; all to ascertain if it would be a good fit. In the absence of this luxury, here are three suggestions I am sharing with my students of how to research colleges without visiting:
