Why I chose University of Virginia- over Stanford, Duke, Cornell....

I will be posting several student letters that I have collected over the years from students that I have worked with who have written to current students:

Past student here attended UVa for Physics and is currently in Medical School at George Washington University:

I am glad to hear you are working with Prab – definitely a smart move.  He helped me out during my college search and application process and only great things resulted, so if I may offer you a general piece of advice, it is to listen closely to Prab.
 
As for why I chose UVa over Stanford, Duke, Cornell and some University of California schools –
 
In terms of quality of education, I should mention that I was actually advised to make UVa my choice by pretty much every single university professor in physics or a related field (at schools other than UVa I might add), and industry scientist that I spoke to prior to making my choice:


-          I met a University of California graduate school recruiter during my internship at Sandia National Laboratories who was a Stanford graduate.  He explained to me that Stanford is a place you want to go for graduate school, and that I need a real education during undergrad.  I said I was also thinking about UVa, and he says “now that would be the choice to make!”


-          I visited the University of Arizona during one summer and met a physics professor there.  He was the lead for a study to find out which top 10 or so universities had the best undergraduate physics programs in terms of how well the university actually teaches the students.  In no particular order, UVa was on that list.
 
And so it went on.  I came to understand that there is a big difference between quality of teaching and “top 10 schools according to US News”, in a search for a good program.  As a side note though, UVa is ranked 2nd in US News’ top public schools.  Though UVa may not strike the typical high school student in India as a dream school, it is very well sought after, and highly respected as a world-class institution in the United States.  I have numerous, numerous friends who have turned down schools like Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and pretty much every Ivy League school in the United States to accept a place at UVa.  Both for financial reasons, and otherwise, which I will get to.
 
In general, UVa is known to be very strong in a wide array of departments, which I feel is especially important in the American education system.  As you may have learned, undergraduates have various basic area requirements that are independent of your major within a college.  That is, in general, you will have writing requirements, humanities requirements, science requirements, language requirements etc. whether you are a politics major or a physics major, so you had better hope science isn’t the only thing the school is good at teaching.  How good do you think a technical school will be at teaching history?  Furthermore, the American college system allows for you to change your mind easily (which happens A LOT), or even double major in a completely different field.   My roommate is an Economics major who discovered a love for Art History here.  He will be double majoring, with Art History as his ‘hobby major’.
 
One very important reason I chose UVa was the offer I received to join the Echols Scholars Program, which exempts me from all area requirements and gives me priority registration over all other students.  That is a crazy good deal, let me tell you.  In fact, this was a huge factor in my choosing UVa.  I never have to worry about not getting a place in a class, and have been given the privilege to entirely design my education (with my advisors of course) outside of the physics and math majors.
 
One thing I greatly, greatly appreciate here, is the Honor System, which a huge part of UVa culture.  Basically, all students are bound to not lie, cheat, or steal – a system that was created and run entirely by the student body itself.  Take home exams are commonplace; professors leave the room during exams (and no one speaks!); your word is trusted.  I could go on, but I greatly appreciate the privileges the Honor System gives us.  Student governance is huge here.  Even the University Judicial System is student run.
  
This e-mail is getting to be some pretty lengthy reading material, so I’ll go easy on you and jot down a few more points and would be more than happy to elaborate on anything that particularly strikes you anywhere in this e-mail, just let me know.


UVa is ranked #1 for fitness (facilities included) in the nation; UVa has an immensely wide array of student clubs and organizations opportunities.  I think of how I wish I had more time to go to this event, and join that club too on a daily basis; UVa has a fantastically well developed system for studying abroad (which you would already be doing I guess) and for just traveling and doing service abroad; UVa has an incredibly rich history – there is so much tradition here and so many amazing benefits to this.
 
Anyway, just let me know if there is anything above that you would like me to explain further, I would be happy to tell you more (as I have much more to say).  Just let me close my stressing how important it is to find the best fit for you in terms of student life and quality of teaching.  I am sure Prab has talked to you about this, but think about it – you are in college for 4 years and it would definitely nice to be happy during that time.  I have friends who picked the school they thought would be the best choice based on which school they felt had the “best reputation”.  My friend at Johns Hopkins for pre-med is unhappy, my friend at Cambridge (even though it’s in the UK, it still illustrates the same point) is unhappy.  Unhappiness is bad for college, as you may guess.
 
 

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

Personal Branding - The Secret to Success in Admissions

Ever considered yourself as a brand? Well, its time you started considering yourself as a brand… a Personal Brand.

A Personal Brand is co-related with the values, abilities, and personality traits that each person is associated with.

The Personal Branding Phenomenon is all about taking control, whether you're an ambitious professional, a student or an entrepreneur. It becomes essential to look at how and why Personal Branding works - and how to leverage it to your advantage. Personal Branding is the intersection of three facts, namely what the person is, what he wants to be and what his organization/ customers/ college want him to be. Personal branding highlights certain skills and special talents in a person that other people value.

Personal branding is creating a revolution in the way one manages their careers or businesses. It's a way of clarifying and communicating what makes them different and special. Using these qualities one can separate themselves from their peers so that they can greatly expand their success. Personal branding is the strategy behind the world's most successful people. People like Oprah, Madonna, Richard Branson and Bill Gates. It is the difference between an ordinary career or business and an exceptional one.

Today’s market place has become overcrowded and increasingly sophisticated. In such a situation it becomes essential to stand out and be noticed. Personal Branding is for people who want to take charge of their lives, who want to develop a strong sense of identity and purpose and for people who want to raise their profile and positively influence the way others perceive them.

A trend that is setting in is identifying Personal Branding in the early stages of choosing the right career and aiding students procure admissions in colleges of their choice. After all, Personal branding is more than personal marketing. It is an ideal method to communicate the optimal delta of personal skills with entities that value these skills highly. Education consultancy firms such as, Vector Performance not only assist students in university admissions, but also lay special emphasis on the concept of personal branding. We feel that it is very relevant for students and Professionals who want to proactively manage their career path.

Together, we develop a brand to differentiate you from peers, and capitalize on the uniqueness discovered. Through the consistent expression of a student’s Personal Brand, we help you to stand out and achieve your professional goals.

In the end, The Personal Branding is an authoritative guide to the art and science of managing personal identity.

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 9th grade to 12th 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!