Test 2

A colleague of mine pointed me to this article at StateCollege.com, written by Heather Ricker-Gilbert, an "independent college consultant" operating in central Pennsylvania. In it, she talks at length about the college admissions process, and early application process (i.e. early action or early decision) specifically.

Many college-bound students are applying two months ahead of the traditional January admissions deadlines through early action or early decision.

The trend toward early application has been expanding and many colleges and universities now often fill a third or possibly even half of their upcoming freshman classes through early action or decision, according to a recent article in the Washington Post aptly titled “Early Applications Surge at Prestigious Colleges. So Does Early Heartache.”

Okay. I'm with her so far. But then she brings Penn State into the conversation....

In 2018 Penn State also initiated an early action program and, like the University of Michigan last year, had so many early action applicants that it could not review them all by the published deadline and had to defer many perspective students until late January.

My emphasis there. First off, here are a couple of my observations:

1. There was no "published deadline". Penn State's early action (EA) deadline was November 1st, but we never made any promises about reviewing applications by that date. Rather, that is the date by which applicants needed to complete their application to Penn State. What we did do is tell students that if they completed their application by the EA deadline (again, November 1), they would have an admission decision by December 24th. By our own definition, an admission decision can be admit, deny, or defer.

2. It's prospective students, not perspective. That's a pet peeve of mine.

But, let's set those two trivial points aside and keep reading.

So what do you do if you are deferred?

Make contact. Be sure to inform the college that you are still interested, if you are, and that you want to remain on the list for reconsideration through the regular admissions process. Write a personal email or actual letter to any admissions staff who you have met, any coaches, or the admissions representative for your geographic region and tell them of your continued interest. If you can honestly say that you will attend their college, if accepted, let them know. If you have had an interview, email or call your interviewer about the status of your application. Ask your school counselor to update the college admissions office with your latest grades and keep your contacts informed about new accomplishments since you first applied to their college.

Have you received any awards, started a new volunteer activity, been elected to a leadership position? In other words, update the college where you have been deferred about what you will be able to contribute to their campus. If you think you can improve your scores, take the SAT or ACT again. Send a link to your updated resume and to your LinkedIn account. On that LinkedIn account you can feature your experiences and accomplishments along with photos and any videos to showcase your achievements.

Waiting to hear about where you will be going to college next fall is not easy. But remember, you can only control so much of the process. When you have done all that you can, realize that there are many colleges where you can be equally happy and successful.

Joel McHale gives you a slow clap.

Look, there are some salient points here:

Waiting ain't easy, but be patient. These things are beyond your control.

Indeed! And that point is what really deserves some applause. As of this writing, we have received 95,562 applications for the 2019-20 admission cycle at Penn State. The evaluation of your application and the rendering of an admission decision is not a process that happens overnight, or in a couple of days. In other words: our admissions operation needs time to sift through the applications and make admission decisions. A LOT of admission decisions.

Okay, maybe it is just one salient point. What about the rest...

Make contact, inform the college about how awesome you are.

Because you're awesome and you need to show us! Because that will get you an admission decision faster - and it will be the decision that you want!

This is the item that drives me CRAZY about this article - at least from the Penn State point-of-view.

Look, I used to work in admissions at several small, private, liberal arts colleges and completely recognize the value of the personal touch. In that environment (and, frankly, market), we were encouraged to be in touch with as many of our prospective students and applicants as possible. Personalized attention was clutch. I would take an individual student and their family out for dinner if I was in their area recruiting. And I did this - frequently. A banner year for my team was if we received over three thousand applications.

But, now I work at Penn State (see the previously mentioned application numbers). Our staff does not have the time to respond to emails and telephone calls about addendums to a student's application. If you are in the Mock Trial club, put that in your application. But, if you join the Mock Trial club mid-way through your senior year - that's great! - but we don't need the update. That won't change your admission decision.

Oh, and don't get me started on your LinkedIn account. We barely have time to review the applications that we receive - we certainly don't have time to review your social media presence.

Call your admissions staff. Call the coaches. Have your school counselor contact the college(s).

Strikes one, two, and three.

If you have legitimate questions, you can certainly call our admissions office(s). We are happy to help guide students through the process and explain application requirements as well as programmatic, and campus options at the University. But, if you're just calling to ask about the status of your application - and the status in your MyPennState account hasn't changed, then you are wasting both your time, and that of our staff.

If you are being recruited by a coach, that is great! But, coaches do not have access to, or information about the status of your application for admission. I would encourage you to reach out to coaches about sport-related questions. Not admissions.

And as for your school counselor - leave 'em be. With few exceptions, school counselors (especially at public high schools) are overworked and under-resourced. Many are responsible for not only assisting high school students with their college and career searches, but also have caseloads for actual counseling issues. They have way too much on their plates to take the time to call us about why your application was deferred.

Admittedly (see what I did there?), I'm approaching this from the viewpoint of someone who works at Penn State. This writing is solely from the perspective of a big school with limited human resources to respond to these types of requests. If every one of our more-than-95-thousand applicants called or emailed us to update us about a club that they have joined or a goal that they scored on the field, we would be completely overwhelmed. If you are a student that is looking to attend one of the many fantastic small schools around the country, then the points that Ricker-Gilbert makes are good ones.

Although I'm suspect because she confused prospective and perspective students...