Page 4 - KnightTime News May 2019

KNIGHTtime News
GUIDING YOUR COLLEGE PROCESS
By Bea Hodavdekar
Imight be stating the obvious, but there is no shortage of college admissions advice. The following
query, “How to get into college” yields 2.5 billion results. Bookstores have entire sections dedicated
to this very question and whole communities on sites like Reddit host thousands of forums dedicated to providing college advice. The independent educational consulting industry generates millions, if
not billions, of dollars in annual revenue. Clearly, there is an appetite for this type of information; but unfortunately, I have found too
often, both as an admission officer and high school counselor, that much of the advice is not grounded in empirical evidence, such as that gained from working in an admission office or high school counseling office. It tends, instead, to be based more on hearsay, like advising families and students based on personal experiences. This should
go without saying, but the problem with the latter approach is that the person/organization dispensing the advice is often guessing, at best, which can result in an inefficient, frustrating process when the results yielded aren’t the ones the student/ family had hoped for.
I’m going to share with you
three pieces of advice that I have heard over the years that had my colleagues and I shaking our heads; to counter these, though, I will offer advice that would pass muster with colleagues on both the high school side and university side.
On Demonstrating Interest
“While you’re on campus, drop by
a professor’s office during their office hours to learn more about the university.”
Just no. Please don’t sully the
good name of Menlo School by pestering busy professors during whatever precious free time they have to meet with students, work on research, or perform one of the dozens of administrative tasks they are assigned. It is absolutely enough to only meet with admission officers and/or admission ambassadors. Your visit will be duly noted if
it is an institution which tracks demonstrated interest; if you can’t make it onto campus, be sure to attend a local information session, email the admission officer for your assigned area, or sign up to the university’s mailing list.
How to Sift Through
College Advice:
What’s Helpful vs. What’s Not
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