As I sat, coffee in hand, reading
The Boston Globe a couple of Sundays ago, I came across
Peter Schworm's article, which made me want to jump up and dance on my ottoman. The gist of the article was a message that college admissions counselors - and this consultant - have been preaching to applicants for years:
Demonstrate your interest in the colleges to which you apply!
Too often, I have had to convince parents to bring their college-bound child to visit campuses before he/she applies.
Some of the usual refrains and my favorite rebuttals are:
"We'll wait to see if Suzie gets in, and if she does, then we'll bring her to campus"
Would you take a job without seeing the place, meeting the people or having any chance to ask questions about it? Hire someone without meeting him/her? Move to a town you've never seen?
"I don't want Johnny to have to miss a day of school to visit colleges"
But it's OK for him to miss a week of school for the family vacation to Tahoe?
"We're all just so busy, it's hard to find even one day to visit a college."
Make the time. This is a huge decision that will impact the rest of your child's life, and it's a huge investment for you.
In my mind, common sense dictates that a person considering moving to a place for four (or more) years and immersing him/herself into a community would want to visit said community to see if it feels like the right place.
The bottom line is that when push comes to shove, many colleges - particularly those that are on the smaller side - will admit a student who has actually shown some signs of interest in the college. Just clicking through the website and pushing the application "send" button is not sufficient demonstration of interest.
So, high school juniors and parents of high school juniors, take note - especially if you are applying to private, liberal arts colleges or smaller universities. Get onto those campuses and be sure to take AND sign-in for a tour. Make and maintain contact with an admissions representative when they visit your school, and check-in with the college's representative if you attend a college fair. These actions certainly won't guarantee you admission; you will still need to meet the academic and other standards. But you will have a leg-up on similarly qualified students who are just too busy to be interested.
