High School Seniors: Wise Words of Advice

I would like to share with you an article written by Detroit Free Press Columnist Mitch Albom. In his March 20th column, he shares his thoughts on college rejection letters and how these denials could actually be doing you a favor.

Dear High School Seniors,

I know you weren’t expecting a commencement address. It’s still March, and you haven’t even gotten to throw up at the prom yet.

But you are at a crossroads. In a matter of days, you will get letters from colleges you applied to. Some will be thick. You will like those. Some will be thin. You won’t like those so much.

I am here to say: Don’t fret if that letter is thin. You will survive. You may even prosper.
It seems incredibly hard to get into colleges these days. You wouldn’t think so, given what they charge. You can run an airport on their room and board bills.

Yet last year, places like Princeton and Brown had nearly 20% increases in applicants from the year before. The University of Chicago jumped 42%. You’d think they were giving away diplomas, instead of asking for your house, your keys and your firstborn.
But even worse than the financial burden on your parents is the implied standards they are setting for you kids. Today, excellence isn’t enough. Gandhi would be put on a waiting list.

When we were applying to college, you needed good grades, a decent test score and one teacher willing to forget the time you pulled the fire alarm and write you a recommendation.

Today, you need to cure cancer.
Preferably before your junior year.

The mythical cream of the crop?
As an uncle to 15 nieces and nephews, I have been seeing my share of these applications. I have to say, I don’t know how you do it.
First of all, when do you have the time? Your nightly homework is as much as we got the entire ninth grade.

And the application itself? Some universities use the “common app,” which permits millions of kids to stuff their credentials into the same essay question.
But let’s talk about those questions. They ask you to write about an experience that changed or influenced you. And instead of writing what really comes to mind (a first kiss after soccer practice), you feel compelled to write about saving manatees from extinction off the gulf coast. Even if you never did save manatees. Because you heard about some kid who actually did save manatees, and he also carried 100 pairs of pajamas to victims of Hurricane Katrina, and he also plays jazz bass (upright) and in his spare time finished a sequel to “Catcher in the Rye.”

Oh, and he scored 36 on his ACT.

I’m not sure such über-students really exist. But people talk about them. You hear about them getting in to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford. So much so, that good, intelligent, ambitious kids don’t even want to apply to those places, because they don’t feel “special” enough. It’s as if schools today put out a vibe: “What, you don’t know how to reconstruct a hydraulics system? You should have studied harder — in grade school.”

Never too young for the fast track?
So it was no surprise this past week to read of a New York City woman who is suing a private preschool academy for putting her 4-year-old daughter with younger kids and therefore affecting her chances at an Ivy League education. Never mind that all 4-year-olds should be covered in orange paint. This mom is already thinking about the day you seniors are about to face. And she’s terrified.

Well, relax. Because here’s the thing: When you get older, you realize college doesn’t make you, you make college. Many an Ivy Leaguer is now lying on a couch, and many a community college grad is running a profitable company.
Ironically, just as elite universities have become so precious in their selection, they are being debunked as the only way to success. The Internet has changed everything about information flow.

Remember Matt Damon’s character in “Good Will Hunting” who taunts a Harvard student by saying in 50 years he’ll realize he “dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a (bleeping) education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library”?
Of course, you don’t remember. You were 4 years old. But there was truth in those words, more today than ever.

So believe in yourself. You can springboard from any decent school. Open those mailboxes. And if choice No. 1 doesn’t come through, just remember, even Michael Jordan watched two players picked ahead of him in the NBA draft.
What’s that? … Who’s Michael Jordan?

Thank you, and good day.

Forward Thinking: Summer Plans

Don’t shriek in horror when I say that you should be thinking about summer plans. No, not the laying on the beach type of summer plans, but the ‘let’s do something meaningful’ experience. There are many different approaches to cultivating a meaningful experience and it will certainly vary depending on who you are and what your goals are, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, you should never participate in a summer experience because you think you should for college applications. If it doesn’t impress you, it won’t impress anyone else. If you are doing something to pad your extracurricular resume, it is probably also a bad idea.

What can you do? Well, the first step is to set up a time to talk to me and we can develop a plan specific for you where you will not only be involved in something this summer, but you can continue to grow in this area of passion. You can also read this great article that recently ran in the New York Times – Does Helping Help You Out?

Kiplinger’s 2011 Best Values in Public Colleges

Kiplinger’s has announced its 2011 best values in public college report and the news comes as no surprise. Despite sweeping budget cuts at state universities across the United States, the magazine asserts that there are deals to be had while still receiving a quality education. Editor Janice Bennett Clark offers this advice to prospective students:

Look for schools that deliver an outstanding, affordable education in good times and bad. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, ranked Kiplinger’s number-one best value for public colleges and universities for a remarkable ten times running, is a prime example. Carolina’s admission rate remains among the lowest on our annual list; its students are among the most competitive; and its in-state cost, at $17,000, is not much higher than the average price ($16,140) for all public universities. For students who qualify for need-based aid, the total price for this top-tier university drops to an average of $7,020.

Colleges Can Rescind Their Offers of Admission

I know what you are thinking seniors – it is all downhill from here until graduation. You have officially enrolled at your future college and you are ready to coast to the finish line. But there is a little something you might not know – your college acceptance can be rescinded. At the end of this semester, your guidance counselor will send off your report card and if there is something questionable on it, a college might pull their offer to you. With bulging waitlists, colleges can quickly fill your spot, and there will be eager students to take it.

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s 2009 State of College Admission report, 21% of colleges reported they revoked offers of admission in 2008. They cited a drop in final grades (65%) as the number one reason for retraction, followed by disciplinary issues (35%) and falsification of application information (29%). Public colleges were more likely to revoke admission due to final grades whereas private colleges were more likely to revoke offers of admission for disciplinary reasons.

My final advice – continue to work hard and play wisely, especially when heading out to prom and graduation parties. Be smart about your image on social networking websites and continue to exhibit strong character.