Originally published on 5 September 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly

Bryn Mawr College | Courtesy Photo

The Road to College

It’s after Labor Day and that usually means the end of summer. Classes have begun in mid or late August so your children are settling into the new school year by now.        

Before I launch into the college guide, let me touch on a topic that often times causes family discord. Counselors tell their students to follow their passion when it comes to deciding what to pursue in college. That makes a lot of sense because people generally learn better when they’re studying something they are interested in. However, we also hear about researches that find STEM degrees are the most valuable, with the liberal arts the least valuable, to employers. Parents, anxious about their children’s earning potential, career future, and over-all financial stability then discourage their children from taking liberal arts in college and push their children into the STEM field.

On the other hand, employers also emphasize that they’re looking for applicants with excellent communications skills even when the job isn’t STEM-related. The contradictory information is enough to make anyone’s head spin. The one thing researchers and career advisors agree on is that earning a college degree will pay off in the long run. So whether your children are looking to get an engineering degree or are more interested in the humanities, the important thing is for you to support your children’s choice and help them to be ready for college.                        

My daughter’s high school administrators preached to their students that the college application process doesn’t start until the spring of their junior year and, therefore, they shouldn’t be working on it until then. As our family’s experience belatedly proved, however, the process really begins on the first day of 9^th grade. Hence, I advocate that your children start preparing as soon as they get into high school. Doing so makes a world of difference in their college search outcome.

In last month’s college search guide, I said that the College Board is expanding the use of the adversity score to the SAT in an effort to make college admissions more equitable. It had many detractors, however, and the College Board recently announced that it’s dropping the adversity score and will now use what it calls ‘Landscape.’

While it pretty much includes the same factors that were in the ‘Adversity Score,’ the College Board claims ‘Landscape’ is more transparent and provides admissions officers more consistent background information.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal on August 27, education writer Douglas Belkin, reported that the adversity score (also called environmental context dashboard) was a combination of 15 socioeconomic metrics from a student’s high school and neighborhood.

‘Landscape’ will add six ‘challenge’ factors that provide the ‘summary neighborhood challenge’ and the ‘summary high school challenge indicator.’ The factors are college attendance, household structure, median family income, housing stability, education levels, and crime.

Belkin noted that this is the second time that the College Board has rolled back efforts to reflect students’ socioeconomic backgrounds – it dropped a similar effort 20 years ago due to unfavorable reaction from colleges. And this will most probably not be the last word on the matter. The current admissions process is intrinsically flawed and band-aid solutions can’t make it right.            

I still think that adding ‘screening methods’ misses the point. Every student is different and can’t be lumped under a general category. But admissions officers can’t reasonably learn about each one when they have approximately 30 minutes to scan each application. With ever more American students applying and interest among foreign students to study here increasing, the competition will not diminish any time soon.   

FRESHMAN

Instill in your children good time management and organizational skills early on. High school is so much busier than what they’ve been through yet. These skills will help them have a happy, productive, and successful four-year experience.

If your children didn’t develop good study habits in lower and middle school, they need to buckle up and be serious about academics. Encourage them to immerse themselves in the culture of their high school and get involved in various extra-curricular activities that support their interests, and which they can carry on into the next three years.

Your children should find the time to meet with their school’s counselor to map out a four-year curriculum that meets all the requirements for graduating and going into college. Most colleges or universities require: four years of English; four years of mathematics; four years of science with advanced work in at least one of the three disciplines – biology, chemistry, physics; four years of a world language; three years of history, including American and European.   

They should take the most challenging courses they could handle. If their high school offers Advanced Placement (AP) subjects in ninth grade and your children decide to take the course, they have to be ready to take the exams after they complete it. Colleges usually only recognize 4s and 5s to show competency. Highly selective institutions also expect As on AP courses on students’ transcripts. 

Counselors tell their students to follow their passion when it comes to deciding what to pursue in college. That makes a lot of sense because people generally learn better when they’re studying something they are interested in. However, we also hear about researches that find STEM degrees are the most valuable, with the liberal arts the least valuable to employers. Parents, anxious about their children’s earning potential, career future, and over-all financial stability then discourage their children from taking liberal arts in college and push their children into the STEM field. On the other hand, employers also emphasize that they’re looking for applicants with excellent communications skills even when the job isn’t STEM-related. All the contradictory information is enough to make anyone’s head spin. The one thing they all agree on is that earning a college degree will pay off in the long run.                    

SOPHOMORE

By this time, your children should be fully transitioned into high school. They should be picking up where they left off – taking AP courses, working on extra-curricular activities they had identified in their freshman year, playing sports for their school, etc.

Practice exams for standardized tests are given in your children’s sophomore year so make sure they are registered for the PSAT. Taking these tests will help them identify their weaknesses and study for them. Several companies and organizations offer test preparation courses; your children should register to one if they need help getting ready for these exams (ACT: www.act.org; PSAT: www.collegeboard.com; Educational Testing Service: www.ets.org; Kaplan: www.kaplan.com; National Association for College Admission Counseling: www.nacacnet.org; The Princeton Review: www.princetonreview.com)

It may seem too early to do this, but your children can start looking at colleges that offer courses in their fields of interest. Or they can begin considering all possible options, if they haven’t determined what they are thinking of taking in college.

JUNIOR

This is a very hectic, even stressful, time in your children’s high school life. It is also the last complete year that college admissions officers will see your students’ grades and accomplishments. It is a decidedly important year for them; they need to put the effort to show admission officers that they are capable of doing the work and are qualified for admission to the school to which they will be applying. If your children are thinking of applying to universities through early action/decision, their junior year grades and work will become all the more significant.

Aside from the rigors of school, sports, extra-curricular activities, there are standardized tests to take. Your children should be taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) early next month. I would like to remind parents not to put extra pressure on their children as they get ready for the standardize exams – they are stressed enough as it is and a higher than average SAT score does not guarantee admission to their dream university.        

You and your children should be going to College Fairs being held at their high school. They should be gathering information about colleges and universities – courses and diplomas offered; standardized test requirements for admission; deadlines for early action/decision, if being offered, and for regular admission. 

SENIOR

It is going to be a marathon for your children! From the moment they get in the doors of the school, they are going to be putting much of their focus on college applications. If your children are applying for early action/decision, they should have taken all the standardized exams required by the university during their summer after junior year. 

Make it a point to attend your children’s “Back to School Night” because the counselors would most probably be giving parents information about the college applications that would be starting in earnest.  

The organizational skills that I have been talking about since your children entered 9^th grade will be put to the test during their senior year. Encourage your children to create a calendar with standardized testing dates, counselor meeting schedules, application deadlines. 

Your children should have a binder with separate sections for each college or university and a log of what needs to be accomplished for each, like: required standardized tests (SAT or ACT, SAT II grades; AP test scores, etc.); writing supplement; how many letters of recommendation they require; application fee; how to send the application.      

Ideally, you and your children have visited the colleges they are thinking of applying to. One of the first things they have to do is finalizing the list of colleges and universities to which they will send applications – eight was the norm when my daughter was applying. However, students now are sending in 12 or more applications. This new normal, though, has only added to the competitiveness of the process. I would suggest limiting it to12 because applying to more schools doesn’t make a university with a 4% admission rate a more reachable goal.  

They should be ready to write their personal statement; they should also have provided stamped envelopes to the teachers giving them recommendations. 

One factor that makes the college admissions process really stressful for parents is the feeling of not knowing what’s happening. School counselors generally only have time to meet exclusively with students so parents feel shut out. However, there are books you can read to help demystify this process. A book I would recommend is called “Getting In! the Zinch Guide to College Admissions and Financial Aid in the Digital Age” by Steve Cohen, Anne Dwane, Paulo de Oliveira, and Michael Muska.

The professional guidance and insight the authors of this book provide will give you the ability to help your children navigate this complicated process. Use the book constructively; do not make it another source of stress for yourself and your children.   

Over the course of writing a College Search Guide, I have also met a few outstanding independent counselors and I highly recommend them should you feel more comfortable getting regular, face-to-face time with a counselor.

Greg Kaplan is a local independent counselor and can be reached at greg@earningadmission.com and his website is www.earningadmission.com. There is a Boston-based counseling group called College Vine, which offers near-peer mentoring; one of their counselors is an Arcadia High School alumna, who is currently a senior student at Cornell.                   

If you are applying for financial aid, be aware that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov) submission date starts on October 1^st to align with the college application schedule.   

Research all scholarships available. Some online sites include: College Xpress (www.collegexpress.com); Fastweb (www.fastweb.com); Scholarships.com (www.scholarships.com); and Student Aid on the Web (www.student.ed.gov).

It goes without saying that as busy as your children are when they go through the college application process, they should also get the best grades they are capable of. The colleges to which they are applying will require their first quarter grades if they’re looking to gain admission through  early action or early decision.      

Originally published on 1 August 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly

Yale University | Courtesy Photo

The road to college

I hope your children got the chance to breathe, decompress, and savor the lull because they are now once more face-to-face with the realities of high school life. High schoolers in the San Gabriel Valley confront exceedingly fierce competition. Students here: get perfect SAT scores; have 4.0 GPAs; play varsity sports; are extraordinary cellists/pianists/violinists; are founders of school clubs; are presidents of the school body; serve as officers on several campus organizations. Everyone is so accomplished that it’s a challenge for anyone to stand out. Much has been written in the newspapers about how stressed out these children are. Happily, besides being sleep-deprived, most of them get through the four years relatively unscathed.

Every fall marks the time when the process of getting ready for college application begins, whether your children are just starting 9^th grade or are already in 12^th grade. The only difference is the pace at which they are working on their resume. They start building all the components that go into their transcript as soon as they get into high school. By the time they reach their senior year, they should have a transcript with excellent grades balanced with an equally impressive array of extra-curricular and enrichment activities.    

You and your children should determine their interests and career goals and see what courses the school offers which appropriately meet those. These should be the guidelines for your students during the four years they are in high school. The outcomes of their work then determine which colleges or universities they should consider when they put together their list of where to apply.

An important factor in the admissions process is the students’ (and parents’) preconceived ideas about where they should apply and what their dream school is. Oftentimes, kids apply to the same dozen or so most-recognizable university names. This creates an unreasonable expectation which, sometimes, leads to unhealthy behavior. There are innumerable institutions that offer excellent teaching; there is a school out there that is the right fit for your child. 

As if the application process isn’t complicated enough, this school year the College Board will begin expanding the SAT adversity score which was tested by 50 colleges and universities this past admissions cycle. In an article written by Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed, he quoted a spokesperson for the College as saying, “This is a tool designed for admission officers to view a student’s academic accomplishment in the context of where they live and learn.”

While the College Board’s intent may be sincere, many doubt the adversity score’s efficacy. In fact, critics of the plan claim it’s ‘a back door to racial quotas in college admissions.’ Still others  say that the recent bribing scandal has demonstrated the lengths at which affluent parents will go to game the college admissions system and an adversity score couldn’t possibly balance the odds.           

In recent years, universities have tried to close the gap in admissions between affluent students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2016 Harvard released a study called ‘Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through College Admissions.’ It was the first step in a two-year campaign that sought to reshape the existing application process.

I wrote an article that explored Harvard’s report and to get feedback from the local academic community as well as from ACCIS (Association of College Counselors in Independent schools). The high school counselors and administrators I interviewed for the story felt that as noble as Harvard’s intent was, they perceived it as something that just adds another hurdle for students to jump through. They also pointed out that “the extreme selectivity is what created this unhealthy behavior on the high school side” and they should change way they select which students should be admitted entirely if they really wanted to resolve it.    

The spokesperson for ACCIS, Jody Sweeney, said “Until we see that colleges are really recognizing and valuing a student who engages deeply in two or three activities and rewarding that with an acceptance, we won’t be making great changes to our college application process…. We’re waiting to see what impact this report has on admissions selection and their recruitment process. Right now it’s GPA- and SAT-based. We want to get a sense from college admissions officers how they’re going to tweak their process.”

Obviously, not much has changed since. In March this year, at the height of the college admissions scandal, Harvard released ‘Turning the Tide II: How Parents and High Schools Can Cultivate Ethical Character and Reduce Distress in the College Admissions Process.’ It reiterates that ‘intense focus on academic achievement has squeezed out serious attention to ethical character in many high schools and families, especially in middle- and upper-income families,’ which ‘Turning the Tide’ alluded to and was the impetus for them coming up with the study in the first place. ‘Turning the Tide II’ goes a step further by criticizing parents who ‘fail to be ethical role models to their children by allowing a range of transgressions – from exaggerating achievements to outright cheating – in the admissions process.’

San Gabriel Valley is notorious for having very competitive independent and public schools. As much as the parents, these schools want bragging rights for sending their students to the Ivies. But I have yet to meet or hear about parents who go so far as bribing university coaches or hiring someone to take the SAT exams for their children. What we do, however, is ensure that our children are fully prepared for the application process and that they actually earn their admission to the most selective universities – which make for over-scheduled and exhausted teen-agers. If  only we could find a happy medium.                      

Photo by Annie Spratt for Unsplash

FRESHMAN

High school is vastly different from middle school. Teachers have higher expectations from the work students turn in. Your children need to develop their analytical skills as their teachers will require deeper thinking and subject exploration from their papers. They should also have better time management skills to handle the more rigorous course load and extra-curricular activities.

Likewise, there is a big change in campus life – they no longer have a “home room” and they have varying sets of classmates for each subject. One glaring difference is that they now have to make their own choices of courses and activities. Your children need to confer with the school counselor to map out a four-year curriculum that meets the requirements of colleges.

Usually there is a “Back to School Night” when parents get to meet all the teachers. This is a chance for you to see what your children will be learning during the school year. While you will no longer be as involved in their activities as in previous years, find the time to be aware of what’s happening. Some schools welcome, even solicit, parents’ help for certain campus events.

In the first few days of 9^th grade, your children will have several things they will be making decisions on, and tackling. I have to add here that high schools send their profile to the college or university to which your children are applying. Admissions officers will know what opportunities were available and if the applicant took advantage of them. I have listed them here with a brief description or explanation:

AP COURSES: Make sure your children choose the AP subjects they will need in the course(s) they will be taking in college. They shouldn’t pile up on APs to pad their resume because they will need to take the AP (and SAT II) exams for these subjects. Some universities only accept 4 or 5 on an AP exam for it to have any merit at all. While college admissions officers favor students who took on challenging AP subjects, they don’t look kindly on low AP grades either.   Encourage your children to take courses they are truly interested in; students who study something they really like generally do well in it.     

CLUBS: Your children should join the clubs they actually want to be involved in; encourage them to participate actively. Ideally, your children would start a society based on their interest or something they feel strongly about. It can be something socially impactful, or it can be a fun club for student members to take a respite from their heavy academic load. In my daughter’s school one student formed a Superhero Club where they go to all the openings of the latest Marvel or DC Comics films.     

ATHLETICS: If your children are into sports and would like to play it in college, they need to start looking into the NCAA requirements now. Several universities offer scholarships for superior athletes and being a standout in a particular sport gives an applicant an edge.

ARTS CLASS: If your children’s school offers art electives, encourage them to take a course.  Usually, in the first year, the grade level dean encourages students to try various classes on offer so they can determine what they really want to focus on in the next three years.        

LANGUAGE: Besides the core subjects – English, History, Math, Science – a world language is a requirement for admission into college. In some elementary schools, students can take Mandarin and Spanish immersion classes. The Pasadena Unified School District, for one, offers French in addition to Mandarin and Spanish. If they continue on, these children will be ready not merely for college; they will be well-equipped for an increasingly global society.   

COMMUNITY SERVICE: Your children should do something they feel strongly about and work it every summer; it shows commitment to the activity they took on. This is going to be an essential component in your children’s transcript. Admissions officers are looking for depth of community involvement.       

SUMMER CAMP/ENRICHMENT COURSE: If your children have a passion for a particular activity, they should pursue a summer program related to it. Guidance counselors in some schools compile a list of the most engaging courses locally, out-of-state, or internationally.   

It goes without saying that all the above activities are merely supplements to good grades in the core subjects. Loading up on extra-curriculars at the expense of grades is definitely ill-advised.  While admissions officers at all the universities talk about their holistic approach in their selection process, a student’s GPA remains a very critical, if not the single most important, component of your children’s college application. 

SOPHOMORE

Your children have fully transitioned into high school, the demands of which were drilled into their subconscious the past school year. They have to put 9^th grade behind them and face 10^th grade with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

JUNIOR

Hopefully, your kids got a lot of rest this summer because in a few weeks they will be embarking on one of the most hectic years of high school life. Make sure your children confer with their school’s counselor to ascertain they have all the courses required for graduating and for college.  They need to know what standardized exams they’ll need to take for the college application. They should research which colleges and universities offer the course(s) they would like to pursue.

Take the time to attend this year’s ‘Back to School Night’ as it will take on greater significance than previous ones. The school counselors are usually present to give parents an overview of what you and your children will be expecting when the application process shifts into high gear in the spring.  

SENIOR

By this time, your children should know where they will be applying and have visited the schools. They should have taken all standardized exams required for college applications, firmed up their college/university list, researched all kinds of scholarships, lined up teachers to write their recommendations, perfected their personal statement, and learned how to complete the common application. They practically have to have their running shoes on by the time they get in the door of their high school!

COLLEGE FRESHMAN

Are your kids ready to leave their childhood behind? In a few weeks, they will be on a road not traveled. College life exposes them to the real world and I hope you let them practice how to live independently of you during their summer break. Things they took for granted before – eating hot meals without having to turn on the stove, getting clothes laundered weekly for them, rooms being miraculously cleaned – will suddenly be their responsibilities. If their dorm offers catered meals, that’s one less chore for them to worry about; but they will still have to do their own laundry.   

Congratulations, parents!  You have successfully launched your child to college and adulthood. Hello, empty nest syndrome!                     

Originally published on 6 June 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly

Howard University | Courtesy Photo

The road to college

The mere mention of college applications is enough to cause apprehension among parents and high schoolers. To say that the process is a complicated one to navigate is a spectacular understatement. Frantic parents are now deeply involved in the process that should have been between their children and the high school counselor.

While we’re already dismayed about legacy admissions, finding out that some parents have resorted to downright fraud makes us enraged. It also calls into question the credibility, much less the integrity, of the American education system. The bribing scandal that was exposed a few months ago is proof that the process isn’t a meritocracy and it benefits mostly the wealthy. It’s a tragedy for the thousands of students who worked so hard but were denied acceptance because they had no other means but their best efforts.

We can only hope that all the negative publicity would lead to the overhaul of the admissions process. It clearly isn’t working. The College Board, for one, is expanding the adoption of the adversity SAT score which I plan to talk about in greater detail after the summer break.

June 21^st is summer solstice, marking the beginning of summer. Most high schoolers have recently graduated, or are about to graduate. When I was in school, the onset of summer meant taking a break from the harried pace of schoolwork, extra-curricular activities, and campus club events. But our children have a widely different experience from ours. Increased competition to gain admission to highly selective universities has forced teens to fill summer hours with other pursuits to pad their resume.

There was a time when teenagers worked summer jobs. More than the financial gain, having a summer job shows admissions officers that your children took on responsible roles and gained invaluable real-world experience. It also gives young people the satisfaction that they have the ability to earn money.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC), an outplacement career and transition service company, forecasts that teens will see a hot job market this summer to fill the 180,000 total jobs created per month this year. It predicted job opportunities could increase around 5% and the teen participation rate could rise as well.

According to the CGC outlook released last April, teens gained 1,388,000 last summer, which was 7.8% higher than the 1,288,000 jobs gained by teenagers in the summer of 2017. This was the highest number of teen jobs gained since 2012, when 1,397,000 jobs were added.

“Teens have not participated in the job market at the same rate they did since their peak work years in the 1970s. In fact, teen participation has dropped since the recovery in 2009, when 37.5% of teens were in the labor force,” Andrew Challenger, Vice President of CGC, said in the same press release.

While the teen participation rate hovers near 35%, the sheer number of opportunities, as well as student desire to gain employment experience, may bring more teens back into the labor force.

“Employers value work experience, in some cases, more than education. The summer job for teens is incredibly valuable in showing future employers they are able to work in a professional setting,” pronounced Challenger.

High school counselors all agree with Challenger’s assertion. However, if there are no job opportunities in your area, I hope your children will find some beneficial ways to spend the summer months. The gap between school years is so big that kids forget everything they learned then go back to school in the fall unprepared for the work. Parents should let their children have a variety of fun, educational, productive activities that stimulate their brain.

It’s also the time to look at what your children have accomplished, and what benchmarks they need to achieve to propel them to the next school year. 

Photo by sofatutor for Unsplash

FRESHMAN

Ninth grade is behind them! Your children’s grades should indicate that they took high school seriously and that they put all their efforts at getting good marks. They should have already made plans for summer programs, internships, and community service work. They should engage in activities that truly reflect their passion. Instead of yearly joining a group of kids building houses in Guatemala, they might consider an activity that would really mean something to them. 

College admissions officers see the same pursuit on all the resumes they receive that your children would not be doing anything memorable. Encourage them to think outside the box, avoid the herd mentality. If your kids enjoy music and performance, for instance, they might consider organizing an original musical to be presented to seniors at your city’s retirement center.         

In 2016, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released a seminal report called “Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good Through College Admissions” which was endorsed by 80 colleges and universities. It points out that today’s process puts much emphasis on personal success rather than service for others. 

It recommends students engage in: meaningful, sustained community service; collective action that takes on community challenges; authentic experiences in diversity; work that helps them appreciate the contributions of the past generations; contributions to one’s family.

All the recommendations in the study, however, are courses of action that high school counselors are already preaching to students. So, in that regard, it really isn’t anything new. What’s new is the strong emphasis that admission officers place on the depth, rather than the breadth, of students’ engagement with any given community service.     

Should American universities really take this study to heart and use its recommendations, it is incumbent upon you to encourage your children to do well in school and to put a lot of thought into what community service they want to embark upon.          

SOPHOMORE

Your children’s end-of-year marks in 10^th grade should have improved over last year’s if they didn’t do well in their freshman year. College admissions officers want to see students who continue to better themselves. 

They need to take whatever standardized tests are required – ACT or June SAT subject tests are the norm. They also need to continue the community service activity they started last summer.  While it is advisable to show consistency for admissions officers to know that your kids have a passion for such work, they could do a variation of it; they don’t want to be monotonous.

They can start researching about colleges, specifically looking for the institutions offering the courses they want to major in.

JUNIOR

The school year that just ended was a pivotal one for your children as it would be the last full year that college admissions officers will see on your kids’ application. It should reflect your children’s efforts at getting the best marks they could muster, and an improvement over the first two years of high school. 

Make sure your children have their community service work, internship, and enrichment program ready for summer. These activities should be a continuation of the previous years’.   

This is going to be their busiest summer with standardized tests like the ACT, SAT, SAT IIs, and APs.  If they have not seen the schools they are considering applying to, this would be their last chance to visit college campuses. You might consider making it a fun summer trip for the family (my daughter and I spent two weeks visiting universities as part of our summer vacation).

Your children should start thinking about their essay topic; meeting with their school counselor to make sure they have taken all the required courses for graduation and college (the UC and Cal State universities have their A – G requirements that need to be completed); and lining up teachers they would like to ask for recommendations.   

SENIOR

Well, your children have accomplished a major milestone – successfully completing high school and getting accepted into a college or university! This period in their life will never again be repeated, so let them revel in what they have achieved. Give yourself a pat on the back while you’re at it, you’ve been a major influence in whatever path they choose to take from here.