Advice- SAT Retake? Researcing College List?

This is a letter to a student considering retaking her SAT and also talks about how to go about researching her target list of schools:

Hi!!

Nice improvement! Would still like to see writing higher, but CR and Math more important anyways. Yes, for all schools except the University of California, they take your highest scores from multiple sittings and furthermore could care less about any lower scores. So you can count on your "super score" with the higher math from January!

Whether to take again or not entirely depends on you and whether you think that you would score significantly higher in any of the sections. Looking back on your latest practice tests, these scores seem to be pretty indicative of your practice tests, and therefore, I would say that with the sufficient preparation that you have done (more than 10 practice tests and hours of individual practice!), you hit your expected target range. While further extensive practice may bring the score a bit higher, it is unlikely that it will go that much higher and therefore not really make much of a difference in admissions.

Given your current list though, it does make the upper categories a bit of a stretch, but then they are a bit of a stretch for anyone, regardless of the SAT scores. Remember that the sun does not rise and set on the SAT's alone. It may be time to put this to rest and focus on other elements that strengthen your profile.

Regarding researching universities: it is tough, no doubt about it. The goal is to try to find as many specific things that will align you, your interests and your achievements with the goals of the school. The more unique and uniquely personal, the better. College Prowler is good, but keep in mind that it is using bigger categories, so not likely to have enough particulars. I like College Confidential a lot (Oh, the hours that pass with Prab reading endless threads on College Confidential), but also keep in mind that it is user generated, so often has more negative (since people are more likely to take effort to post for negative than positive reasons) but that can balance the positive that is ubiquitous on the colleges own websites. These resources are good to generally narrow your list, but for research to convince the school, i.e., to address the "Why this school essay", you will need to dig deeper into the school. I find admissions people's blogs useful, department sites, research that interests you, clubs and organizations, school newspapers, all to be good hunting grounds.

I will be sending some resources for thinking about your overall message (Personal Brand) and for the Common App Main Essay very soon. The goal will be to work on some of these essays that we know will be there next year and not change during June and July. For now, I would stay focussed on narrowing the list to 10-12 schools.

Regarding the Journal, I can see your notes if I go and look, but Journal is generally there as your own reservoir of notes to help you when you begin researching for your "why" essays, and also to be a good log of your process of researching schools. I recommend talking to everyone who will listen to you and practice explaining your reasons for liking various schools. This kind of practice in articulating your reasons will really help you hone in on the things that most genuinely reflect your personal reasons for liking the school and will also help you recognize those things that do not resonate as authentic or seem too general or common among schools. That latter bit is not bad, in fact, it is good that there is a common thread that connects your various schools (shows that you have chosen all schools that are a good "fit") but if you are going to tell the school why you love them, you need to dig into their specific qualities that make them unique for you. For instance, you would not describe the reasons that you like your best friend as general things like, s/he has hair on her/his head! You will point out the qualities that you really care about that make him or her unique for you.

Love the questions, keep them flowing and can't wait to also see some of your own generated answers!!

Best, Prab

A Rite of Passage For The Young Adult

DEVELOPING A CULTURE OF ACHIEVEMENT

Adolescence is a difficult time for young adults; it is a constant tug of war between childhood and adulthood.  Parents expect a certain level of responsibility in their child, and yet with many decisions the young adult makes they will respond with, “You’re not old enough to do that yet!”  Going from the shelter and care of high school, where many of these young adults have scarcely understood how to clean their own clothes much less cook for themselves, to the sometimes bewildering independence of college in a foreign country can be quite a shock to many.  A shock that often affects their academic performance in the first year.

The challenge of this rite of passage into adulthood is for the student to take ownership for his/her life and their choices.  The importance of this is that the student begins to be accountable for their performance, as opposed to parents being the motivating factor for elements of development at this age.  This shift is likely the single most important element of an adolescent’s development and is critical to making the jump to adulthood in a constructive way.  It is not necessarily an easy step though, for either the parent or the young adult because of repetitive patterns in communication that have established a certain way of interacting.

The effect of a professional third party coach is that this person does not fit into the same communication pattern and can develop an unbiased communication with the young adult on the mutual understanding that this is a process undertaken for their development.  It is important to note that this process is an integration of both the parents and the student’s objectives, not a microphone for the parents.  It is often necessary to be the facilitator between these sometimes seemingly divergent goals in order to find middle ground.  The Coach is a senior, experienced and knowledgeable person with excellent communication skills who can develop a relationship with the student, guide the student and be a resource to the student in his/her path towards achievement in their goals.  This is done through various methods and strategies, but the ultimate vehicle is to push the student to make the shift to ownership for his/her life decisions.

One of the most important influences, either negative or positive in a person’s life, regardless of age, is one’s peer group.  We will rise or fall to the expectations of the peer group we have around us.  Young adults are even more susceptible to the power and influence of this as they are still developing their unique personalities and they feel extreme pressure to belong to a group.  Negative influences in the way of unmotivated peers make it extremely difficult for a student to improve their performance.  Like crabs in a bucket, once one starts to pull away, the others pull them back down.  Similarly, if a young adult surrounds himself with positive influences, it is much easier to cultivate achievement.

Vector Performance works with students from 9^th grade to 12^th grade and also with undergraduate students through a Rite of Passage approach to coaching.  Although the eventual milestones and goals along the way are focused on college admissions, we are focused also on guiding the student through this rite of passage into adulthood.  We provide the type of guidance and mentorship to be a resource for the family in this process while at the same time, preparing the student to get into one of the more competitive schools in the US. 

To Hire or Not to Hire: The Independent Counselor

I was reading through an interesting article last week:

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/should-we-hire-a-private-college-counselor.htm?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

and thought to add some of my own thoughts to this relevant question.

Typically in India you have excellent sources for help with parents, friends and college ranking magazines as you make your way through the college admissions process. But chances are Mom and Dad can offer little more than moral and financial support, friends may be misleading and rankings are not based on where you will fit in best. On average, the ratio of students to college counselors in schools is 150 to 1. In some cases, a single counselor manages the college planning activities of the entire school! That doesn’t leave a lot of one-on-one time for you.  In all but a few cases, these counselors do not have in depth knowledge of the over 3500 universities in the US. 

 A personal college consultant can provide the individualized attention your family needs to properly understand how the college admissions process works. Whether you’re the first person in your family to go abroad to college or your parents are old hands at college admissions, a consultant gives you the edge to find—and get in to—your perfect college fit.

What can an Independent Counselor offer that no one else can?

    •         Personalized, one-on-one consulting time: Make sure that your the counselor does not have so many students that s/he won't be able to focus on you. It is hard to know how many students s/he works with, so speaking to past clients may be best way to find out about personalized attention.

    •         Expertise that only a full-time professional can provide: Does the counselor have another job? Does s/he spend 100% of their time in working on strategies to improve a students knowledge of and chances at getting into the best school for their own goals and objectives?

    •         There are no “Tricks of the trade”! If the counselor uses phrases like "I have contacts in Ivy Universities", or "I Placed students at...college", they are probably not right for you. Navigating the process of admissions is challenging, but there is no special magic involved.

    •         Unbiased, inside knowledge of a wide range of colleges—you may be surprised to learn where you’re best suited to attend!  Personalized plan for finding the “right fit” school for each unique student ~ no cookie cutter type college choice questionnaires. While I do not believe that it is necessary for someone to have studied abroad to be a good independent counselor, I would test their knowledge of universities abroad. Questions to ask the potential counselors to judge this: "How often do you tour colleges abroad, can I read about your recent trips somewhere?" "Are you a member of any counseling associations?" (They should be member of either IECA (Independent Educational Consultants Association) or OACAC (Overseas Association for College Admissions Counseling).

    •         Complete understanding of how the admissions process works in various locations—from test preparation and college search to financial aid, applications and transition. This should not be presented as "Hand Holding", but instead the goal should be to empower the student to succeed in this process using the counselor as a resource.

    •         Personal insight into your individual goals, which can shape where you want to go and what you want to study: The 10 Year “forwards to backward technique”.  Career exploration, choosing majors, understanding the living-learning environment. Find out how s/he keeps in touch with students once they leave. Again, if a counselor works with too many students, this is not possible.

    •         Understanding of what it takes for admission into the nation’s most competitive schools: Indian families very often have aspirations for the most selective colleges in the US and UK. You are not looking for the independent counselor to be your Cheerleader, but to give you Frank and Honest advice.

 Many private counselors will have specific questionnaires or feedback databases to help you find the right fit, these are general searches that typically asks you important questions about your academic history, personal background, future career and college goals, and what types of things you would like to discuss with your consultant. What extra-curricular activities do you participate in? How many? Do you have a part-time job? What grades did you receive in which classes?  While all of these questions are very important, sometimes students have not really defined these yet.  This is one of the most important areas to define prior to targeting schools.  This is time consuming and requires input from the entire family, how does this potential counselor incorporate the family into the decision?

Competition for acceptance in colleges and universities is at an all-time high. But more importantly, this is a huge investment and you want to be sure that you are choosing the right fit for you. In this kind of environment, it pays to have someone with the time, expertise, and commitment to ensure you get in where you want to go.  I always look at it this way, if you are making a $200,000 + investment, wouldn't you want to have a professional help with the due diligence first? But, you need to do your own due diligence to make sure that the "professional" is actually a Professional!