Season 3: Episode 10 Transcript
Seniors: The Next Decisions are Yours
Lee Coffin:
From Hanover, New Hampshire. I'm Lee Coffin, Dartmouth Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, and this is the Admissions Beat.
Hello, seniors. You're at the end of your college search. The results have been appearing in your inbox for a few weeks now. This week the Ivies will release our decisions on Thursday night, and that usually signals the finale of the selective college results for regular decision. What does that mean? It means, as we hit this part of your calendar, channeling a little bit of March Madness, we pass the ball from the college admission officers back to you. What that means is that from now through the end of April, you have the opportunity to explore, to consider your results, whatever they might be, and to ask yourself this really important big question; Where do I see myself based on the offers I have right now?
Perhaps you have a wait list or two, and those options are still smiling at you from the sideline. They might happen, they might not. But for now, the question is, what's your best choice? You need to answer that question by May 1st, which is the national candidate's reply date for all colleges in the United States. At that date, you will put your little fanny in a seat in one of our entering classes. That means you have about four weeks from today's episode to the first day of May. In that time, you're going to make an informed decision about where you see yourself. This episode, we'll help you go from here to there. When we come back, two college counselors will return to the conversation and we'll help you think about what are the important topics to consider as you navigate the next four weeks. We'll be right back.
(music)
Welcome back to Admissions Beat. Two returning guests, Darryl Tiggle, Director of College Counseling at Friends' School of Baltimore, and Jennifer Simons, Senior Manager at Bright Horizons College Coach, have returned. They were here a few weeks ago for an episode to help the juniors think about how to get their lists in order and to start exploring. We had such a fun conversation that I thought, let's bring them back to help our seniors and parents make sense of what just unfolded, and to tap their wisdom as the seniors in high school wander from decision release to enrollment.
Jen, Darryl, hello. Nice to see you both again.
Jennifer Simons:
Hello. It's so good to be back.
Darryl Tiggle:
Indeed. This is exciting.
Lee Coffin:
Our listeners who are seniors in high school now have results. Some have been offered admission to hopefully one or more places. Some may find themselves on a waiting list. I'm sure others have results that they feel disappointed by. I want to have a conversation about all three of those possible outcomes and the way a student and parents move forward.
Jennifer Simons:
I think that before we move forward ourselves, I'm very curious to know what you thought of it, because I will say I found it to be a very challenging year. It was even more unpredictable. A lot of decisions surprised me, particularly from large state universities that I considered to be more likely for my students, if you will. I saw a lot of students getting deferred that I didn't expect. Of course at the time of this recording, we haven't heard from the Ivies, but I expect a lot of students will be wait listed or denied from those 6% admissions rate schools like yours, Lee. I think it was a hard year going into this end of March, and I'm a little bit nervous, to be honest with you.
Darryl Tiggle:
I had a similar experience, especially with the more widely known public institutions. I'm always curious at how the less-than-10%-admit-rate schools are behaving and what kind of pressures you're under, and how does the process change for you if you go from 10%, to 9%, to 8%. What are the dynamics that drive you?
Lee Coffin:
Yeah, my admission process is moving through three consecutive years of big volume. Big volume with a constant class means heightened selectivity. To Darryl's kind of question about admit rates that go from 10, to nine, to eight, we went from eight, to six, to six, to six. So hovering in that 6% zone, it's hard for admission officers as we read and have to make really precise decisions among a really big and rambunctious talented pool. The yeses are dwarfed by the no's, and I think that's part of the story of selective admission in almost every environment where at the end there's more Kleenex than confetti for students who kind of get the results and feel disappointed by them.
I think Jen, what you're seeing is the byproduct of volume. It's not just applicants and parents that feel strained by it. I think my colleagues as admission officers are feeling challenged to bring thoughtfulness to the way we read. And so, I think this headlines what will come at the end of this week, and I want to talk to you about that later, are going to trumpet volume that has not really ended selectivity that remains as tight as it's ever been, and selectivity that's now washed into places that might not have been as selective a few years ago. I think that's what you're both telling me.
Darryl Tiggle:
To what do you attribute the continue rise in application? Is it demographic? Is it popularity? Why... From UCLA to Dartmouth College, everybody is seeing this, so are there more people?
Lee Coffin:
There aren't more. Well, there are more people around the planet. I think part of what continues to be true is an increasing pool of international students applying to colleges in the United States. And so you see volume in record numbers from all around the world. That's part of this, I think. I think test-optional in its third cycle continues to invite volume where students misperceive the policy as, "Well, I don't have scores, so let's see what happens." We know what happens. The transcript has not changed as a result of no testing. I think the test optional opportunity invites a degree of chancing. I also think what's going on in this cycle is volume as a byproduct of the restoration of in-person programming. We're back on the road visiting high schools, we're reopened for tours and programs. All of the things we were doing in 2019 happened again.
And so some of the volume was sustained by being in person, having that chance to come to a campus, see the place, touch the place, smell the place, feel the place was that too. I think all of this has made for a cycle that in many ways feels like business as usual. Then I think there's also the innovations that came from the pandemic lockdowns that are still with us. I think this episode is really timely because if you're both seeing outcomes that are surprising you, that means our listeners could use some guidance about what this all means.
So let's get to it. Regular decision, you have three possible outcomes. Let's just start with the ABCs of this. So you can be admitted, you can find yourself with a wait list offer, and you can have a deny. Let's start with the happy news. You get admitted. Darryl, from the guidance part of the world, how do you counsel students to sort through optimistically more than one offer?
Darryl Tiggle:
I think in many ways I tell them to still lean into the theme that I look back to and say "fit." Think about which one now that... You have options that are yes-able propositions, which one do you think is the best fit? Does it have the academic, social, other types of criteria that you're looking for, and that you can afford ? I think the one that feels the best is the best one for you. And in so much as I tell students on the front end, think about finding fit in the same way that you search out jeans.
I also love cars. I think at that point it's really test-driving the cars that you can absolutely at that point afford admissions-wise, hopefully afford financially; which one can you drive the best? Which one will get to you to where you're going or where you want to go in the best way? And that one is totally feel, I think at that point. You should have maybe visited a class online or in person. You should have maybe gotten some student testimony where you've got a good feel for the academic and the social. And then it's really what you want, what options you want, what things will get you where you want to go.
Lee Coffin:
Jen, do you subscribe to the "feel versus think?"
Jennifer Simons:
You know I do. You know I do. I will also add that this is a glorious time. You have put in potentially years' worth of research, and thought, and angst, and whatever else goes into this college research process and application process. And now the ball is in your court, friends. This is your opportunity to email professors and say, "I am an admitted student," versus "I am Jen from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and I'm interested." Now you are an admitted student. You are the one calling the shots. They want you. And so this is your time to ask the Career Services office to ask students that... Not just the students at the Admissions Office, sorry Lee, for you to talk to, but anyone that will stop and listen to you because you might be sitting next to them in a class next year. And so, they have a vested interest in helping you, I would think.
I think that Darryl was very gentle about it, but I'm like, go to those open houses, make the investment and really put boots on the ground and make the admissions officers work for you. Make them. Lee's going to put on his best suit and give a gorgeous speech at the open houses. Go up to him and say... All right, I'm putting Lee on the spot. But you know what I mean. Really, you are in the driver's seat and they will remember you even at a place with so many thousands of applications. If you are one of the admitted students, it is absolutely worthwhile to make your presence known and see what you're getting. I 100% go back to feel. That's what it is because the time to think and research and everything has passed. Now it's the time to organically say, "Is this where I belong?" on a gut level.
Lee Coffin:
I think you're right, Jen, about the students are in the driver's seat again. Before the deadline, it was a student who decided, where will I apply and how will I tell my story? And then for the last three months, the admission officers have been reading and thinking and shaping a class. And now we pass that baton back to the student and say, "Okay, you've got an offer. Do you want to accept it?" That's all you. I can't make you see something or feel something you don't see or feel. I think for parents, what I've noticed over many years of April Open House and admitted student programs is, your students really are absorbing the vibe. How do they feel about not just the campus, but they've also got this new phenomena called "an admitted student peer group." When we were high school seniors in the 20th century, you didn't see that. But I can guarantee you that the admitted students will be clustering on Instagram and Facebook and all these other social media platforms, and they're meeting each other immediately with this common denominator.
We were all admitted to this campus. We could be classmates and peers. They're checking each other out, and that's exciting. Then there are the in-person pieces too, but the feel piece is 100% what should be front and center right now. So you mentioned open houses, Jen. What do you recommend students do from the moment they open the decision and see "Congratulations" to the moment—and it could be immediately—you might get in and say, "This is exactly where I've always seen myself. I'm enrolling right now." Some people wait a week or two weeks, three weeks. Some people go right up to the buzzer on May one. What should they be doing?
Jennifer Simons:
Well, exactly what you described. I mean, of course you're going to go on Instagram, you're going to join, if there are still Facebook groups, all those social media things. This is the time to go back, even if you know that you are enrolling, I think it's helpful to go back. I was always surprised—I guess in retrospect I'm not—but when we were at Tufts or Northeastern, how many ED students would come to the open houses. But in a way, it's helpful for the students that are making up their minds to see those students who committed to the college even months before. Again, that's what the class is shaping up like. I think that most colleges also do sort of road programs where they'll bring admissions. My friend Fiona from UCLA is going to be coming to Massachusetts to greet her students they admitted from UCLA, and she's going to greet them and talk to them.
It's very, very important that they meet her because she is the face of that institution. So if the kids from Massachusetts can't get to California, then go see the representative that's coming to you. Do the admitted student program at the alum's house that they're hosting. Whatever they invite you to, take advantage of it. There'll be lots and lots of virtual programming with professors and everything because this is their opportunity to woo you. So do it. Have your parents do it. Just get involved in any way that you can.
Lee Coffin:
Darryl, let's suppose I'm a senior in your class and I was admitted to six places. I had a really happy finale. Do I need to narrow my focus?
Darryl Tiggle:
I think you need to narrow your focus. Let's pretend you found them all out this coming Friday. You've only got a month to see six places. So unless they're all super close to home, it's going to be hard to probably go and see each of them. I think either you start from the top or you start from the bottom. The ones that are non-starters, and if you can ascertain that from finances, distance, what have you, get rid of the non-starters. If that shaves off one or two, maybe you can go and visit three or four. Or if you've got from the six you say, "All right, these three are definitely my top three," try to engage them in all the ways that Jen just described. If we go back to our thinking cap, it's being thoughtful about what is the right choice.
I think that embarrassment of riches really makes a young person grow up in a way that they're thinking about options that have been presented to them and they really have to ascertain which one is the best one for them in a lot of different ways. The schools they've applied to are probably similar in many different ways. So, being able to delineate what are the criteria, the distinguishing factors in between each school that most resonate with them. If you've got six and you narrowed it down to three, you still might need a checklist of academic, social, finance, distance from home, and like. Then I think if you've got six, I think you've got to get to two or three and put your feet on the campus, and meet the people if you can. Or in all the other ways that Jen described. Reach out to a faculty member. Reach out to students.
Lee Coffin:
Darryl, when you advise the student with six offers to get rid of "a couple", how do they do that? How do they decline the invitation?
Darryl Tiggle:
You can only go to one. You have to be able to get rid of not three, five. I say, let's start with that piece. Then I ask them, "Think about where you want your life to go. What do you think will be the best springboard for you to get to where you want to be?" I'm a fisherman and I say, "Where do you think you'll be the biggest fish?" That's always been my, "Where do you think you can go and really flourish and really thrive and make an impact?" That's how I tell them to try to sort them out.
Jennifer Simons:
I love how poetic, and all these great metaphors that Darryl's giving. I'm like, okay, if you don't want to go to this school, you're going to email them and you're going to withdraw your application so they can admit someone else. You're going to tell them where you are going instead. Because they don't care. They're not going to take it personally. They love to have that. It's just data. They want to know what their overlap schools are. So Darryl's going to give you all these lovely flourishes and where are you going to be the biggest fish? And Jen's going to be like, "Okay, email them. Take yourself out of the pool."
Darryl Tiggle:
Get them out.
Jennifer Simons:
"Go to their wait list. Move along." Move along, kids.
Lee Coffin:
I appreciate that, Jen, because while I appreciate poetry and the lovely metaphors, when I was about to follow up with Darryl and say, so I think what you're telling an admitted student is when a place has been eliminated from consideration, the important step is to let the college know that you are declining the offer.
Darryl Tiggle:
Yes.
Lee Coffin:
Yeah, and that is something that I think some students overlook, that you have an opportunity to enroll and at some point you will do that, but you also have, I think, an obligation to say no thank you to a college that is not going to be your alma mater. As Jen points out, saying no thank you is important for two reasons. One, as the Dean of Admission, I am paying attention to how many students from the admitted cohort have enrolled, but I'm also tracking how many students from the admitted cohort have said no, thank you.
Because this leads me to my second status, which is we have a group of students who have been offered a place on the waiting list, and a wait list activates when we realize the students who were admitted in the first wave will not fill the enrolling class. And so, the wait list then activates when there are still seats to be offered. Let's go down lane number two. You open your decisions and you realize, "Oh, I was admitted to three and I have three offers of wait list." Two questions. What does it mean to have been wait listed? And what do I do?
Jennifer Simons:
It means to me, it means that the college wanted you, but they just didn't have the space, that you were admissible. I would argue that at many colleges, you were still technically admissible even if you got denied, but there wasn't room for you. But for whatever reason, you landed in the middle and they said, "Okay, if we have space, if enough students say no to us, maybe we'll take you in." At many colleges, every place that I've worked, the wait lists weren't ranked. It was really a function of, okay, let's see who does enroll, as you said Lee, and then see if we're missing anyone. And if so, who are we missing, and what majors, and what geographical regions, and that sort of thing. ,
Then I've been in touch with students now... Again, I think this might be a public university thing, but some wait lists are ranked and they are very clear with their students. Some places say you are number 10 on the wait list, or you are in the third group of students on the wait list, but they try to give you the best sense that they can before May 1st, again because that's a really important date if you will have a spot. I will also say I've sat in my office and admitted students off the wait list in June and even July. You technically should not give up if you really want to go to a place before they sort of say, "Sorry, party's over. You can go someplace else, but you can't come here."
Or you can sort of take yourself out of it, again which I think is helpful for other students in the same way, taking yourself out of the admit pool is helpful because the wait list also dwindles. So, I want to also put in a plug for saying thank you for putting me on the wait list, but I'm not interested in staying on the wait list. That also helps sort of the funnel get narrowed.
Lee Coffin:
Well, you're putting your finger on a really important technical piece of information, which was the wait list letter is an offer to join the wait list. You're not automatically on the wait list. And so if you open your decision and it says, "Dear Jen, we'd like to invite you to join the wait list", and you do not respond, you're not on the wait list. You have just closed yourself out. A wait list offer, step one, is asking yourself, "Is this a place I would like to consider to explore?" It doesn't mean it's going to activate, but you want to keep yourself in the mix in that college. If it's yes, tell them that. If it's no, tell them that and say, "You know what? I'm happy with the offers I have. Thank you, but we're done."
I would also say to a wait listed student, if you have a wait list offer from the place that had been your first choice, it's okay to send us a letter and express that and say, "I have always seen myself at this college, and if you have room and make me an offer, I will come." If you know that, tell the college that. If we get to May 1st and I look at my enrolled class and say, "Well, we wanted 1,150 and we enrolled 1,140, I have 10 spots that I could invite 10 more students in." Jen's, correct. I will look at the 1,140 and say, "What does this rainbow look like? Is anyone missing?" Or "Things look great, I just have 10 more spots." And these 10 have said, "This is where I see myself," helpful to know that. Is that how you approach wait lists at Baltimore Friends?
Darryl Tiggle:
Yeah, absolutely. I said I'm going to give you both my... I'm going to put on my Jen hat and my Darryl hat. My Jen hat will tell them, "Look, it is as it sounds. It's a wait list and you've got to wait very likely until late April, very likely early May. First, manage the schools you've been admitted and then know that the waiting will give you the opportunity to reach out to the school again, reaffirm your interest, let them know if it's your first choice. But that waiting, that wait piece is kind of non-negotiable. You're going to have to wait a little while, so while you are waiting, make sure you're doing the reaching out and considering the birds that are already within your hand.
Lee Coffin:
The birds in your hand. I think that's right because I think some students get distracted by the wait list as the thing that must be pursued, and then doing that, ignore the offers that are now open.
Darryl Tiggle:
I tell them it's not the pining away list, it's just the wait list.
Jennifer Simons:
I like that. I also would stress, and I think you will thank me for this maybe, but I tell my students, "Don't drive them crazy." Do what Lee said, send a letter, tell them you just got the Girl Scout Gold award since you've applied. Fabulous. Tell them that. Pick one or two accomplishments. Keep your grades up. That's very important. That's very important for all students, even those that have been admitted. You have to make sure that you graduate with essentially the same transcript that you applied with. But really, they don't want to be constantly hearing from you. They want to know that you're interested. They want to maybe know one or two things that you've done that might impress them, and feel free to brag about that. But they've got a job to do and they've got to enroll that class so they can see if your waiting can come to an end. So, don't drive them crazy.
Lee Coffin:
Before I forget to agree with a point Jen made, the offer of admission says "This offer is made with the expectation that you'll maintain the level of academic and personal achievement that characterized you as an applicant." Most of the time the answer is yes. Every once in a while, Darryl was naughty and the grades are not consistent. The personal piece is also really important, which is, we expect the integrity and the personal characteristics to be true. However, you might have family circumstances that created a shift in your transcript. You might have been ill. You might have had a death in the family. You might live in a place where there was an earthquake. Something might have happened that is a really understandable situation, and we move on.
Jennifer Simons:
Just to save you, Lee, a couple hundred emails too, I want to state that it's not if your grades go from A in calculus to an A minus, or even a B plus. We're talking about significant changes.
Lee Coffin:
We're talking about As to Cs, or As go Ds. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so before I move on from wait list, just to point out, if a wait list activates, it is after May 1st. It is very rare to see wait list activity during April. This is something that some wait listed kids get a little itchy and they'll start checking in latter part of April saying, "I need to make an enrollment decision by May 1st. What's happening with the wait list?" And it's kind of a chicken and an egg. We can't react to the wait list until we know what's happening with the students who are offered admissions. So, waiting is the right word. It requires patience for the month of April to play out and for the enrollment situation to be clarified in early May. It could be early May. It could be mid-May. It could be Memorial Day before we know what's happening, but it will be after that.
Let's spend some minutes on the third category. People are getting denied. As I say, many times that is not the purpose of the admission process, but it is a very real unavoidable byproduct of the admission process, particularly in a really selective environment. So Darryl, you've counseled many students over the years who show up in your doorway or your inbox, or maybe it's a parent of a student showing up in your doorway or your inbox and they're processing disappointment. How can somebody digest the declines?
Darryl Tiggle:
You know, have to be somewhat sympathetic. I tell them, I understand their distress, but that the denial of their application was not a denial of their person. It was just a natural outcome of the admissions process and that they should not start to ponder or worry about what was missing from their application, if there were any shortcomings, what did they not do. Because in almost every case, it wasn't a shortcoming in their application as much as there just weren't enough spaces for that student to be admitted and to let them know, even if you knew, even there were a couple of reasons why you were not admitted, and I could find them out for you, you would be super unsatisfied with those answers.
So let's take this as another learning opportunity to say, "This is how we grow and this is how we deal with disappointment and move forward," but that the denial offer is always, I'm going to say almost always, a really thoughtful decision that came from lots of people looking at their application, especially at schools that are doing the super selective admission. They did get a really good shot and the reconstruction of that process will not happen. Again, the reasons that they didn't get in are kind of nebulous and super unsatisfying if they were to get them and if they existed.
Lee Coffin:
That's really well said, Darryl. I'm nodding as you say that because I often get questions in April, usually from parents for a reconstruction generally, "Can you explain to me why my daughter was denied. My son was qualified, and you said no."
Jennifer Simons:
I think the worst part is not "my daughter was denied," it's "my daughter was denied, but you admitted her best friend, or you admitted her worst enemy." That's the other part too that I find. I'm glad I'm not in a school like Darryl is, to have to deal with that because it's hard.
Lee Coffin:
To that comparative piece, my news you could use is don't compare.
Jennifer Simons:
Yeah.
Darryl Tiggle:
Don't compare.
Lee Coffin:
No one but the student who filed the application and the admission officer who read it knows what was in the file. So you may have some sense of a student's academic credentials or broader points of merit. You don't know. Set that aside. Nor will I ever give you an answer to the question, "Why did you take Jack and not Jill?" I can talk to Jack. I can talk to Jill. But I'm not going to talk to Jill about Jack, or Jack to Jill. It's just not going to happen. I think people get stuck on the argument that "My child was qualified," and parents, I'm really talking to you now, "My child was qualified and should have been admitted, or its sibling deserved to be admitted." What do you say to that, Darryl?
Darryl Tiggle:
As we start the process out, we let them know this is a super competitive process and we're reaching high. The qualification piece, we sort of had a long time ago when we did the admit break. In these couple of places we fell short. Let's again focus on the places where we got in. We already knew qualification was not something that would deliver us. The "deserved" part is, again, that's hard to ascertain. This again, we entered the competitive process and we stood a good chance, but at this place we didn't get in. At these other competitive places, our application did shine.
Lee Coffin:
I find the moments after decisions are released is the moment when reason and emotion part company.
Darryl Tiggle:
Yeah.
Lee Coffin:
Emotion wins. I do understand that, but I think it's, to those of you listening, just prepare yourself for that. The emotional component is intense in ways that you might not expect. I think it gets compounded by a student who has filed numerous applications in a very selective space, and so there might be an alarming number of declines that sting. I do understand that.
Jennifer Simons:
I just scratched off a lottery ticket yesterday and I was disappointed. It's so irrational because you know your chances are low. I'm not an athlete. However, one of my favorite expressions for my students is, "You skate where the puck is going. You don't skate where the puck was, and you move ahead." As a mom, as a coach, you give yourself the time to mourn and cry and be angry, and burn your sweatshirt or whatever you need to do on TikTok or however you want to do it. I actually wouldn't do anything that you would be sort of embarrassed about later. Don't write a nasty letter to Dean Coffin saying, "I got in at X college and I didn't get in at Dartmouth. Screw you." Sorry. I think that you have every right, because I knew I wasn't going to win the lottery even if it was $10, but I still had that expectation and I was still disappointed for a moment.
And you're going to be disappointed for a lot of moments, and you're going to wallow in it, and it's going to stink. And then you know what? You are going to move on to where you were admitted or to what plan B is because sometimes kids are wait listed a lot of places, they don't get in maybe anywhere they want to go. And so then we assess that, and I'm sure we'll talk about that, but there comes a point where you say, "Okay, I'm done now. What's my future hold? What am I going to do to make the most of this?"
Lee Coffin:
Let's do a speed round of a few topics related to what happens in this month and just have you react quickly. So Jen, start with what you just touched. A student gets to early April and realizes, "I don't have a home." What should that student do?
Jennifer Simons:
The student goes to their school counselor and has a sit-down, even if it's someone you don't know super well. Obviously, you know Darryl Tiggle really well at Friends, but you sit down with your counselor and you say, "Okay, what next?" You think about whether you should take a gap year. You think about whether you should reapply as a freshman or a transfer because you can always go to community college and that's a really, really wonderful option for a lot of students. So talk to the admissions officers, actually, if you developed any sort of relationship with them. Say, "Look, this was my first choice. What do you recommend of the students that reapply? Do you recommend reapplying as a freshman after I've done something to make my credentials look different?"
That's very important. Do you really recommend that I should apply as a transfer, because there's nothing I could do to make a freshman application look different, if that makes sense. Then you think about applying early decision. You have to have someone that is going to guide you a little bit. This is the one time, and even though I'm an independent counselor too, I never sort of pushed for that, but this is the time when I think you could get another opinion. Someone that knows you, knows the circumstance if, and only if, your school counselor has got too many students to really know you very well.
Lee Coffin:
Let's talk about celebrating on social media. Darryl, is it a good idea for students to plan a reaction video for what is known as Ivy Day? So they're recording themselves opening their decision with the goal of posting that reaction on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok.
Darryl Tiggle:
The advice I give my students throughout the process, I say to them, it's really important to be a good winner. Be a humble and gracious winner because some of your friends have not yet won. They're going to be a eventual winners. So I say think about that as you celebrate yourself, and especially if you go to a school with friends who know you or you go to a school with friends who are also going through the process, that thoughtfulness and how you celebrate says a lot about you. If we pick on the Ivy group, that's a super good celebration.
You can just show up with a sweatshirt that says Dartmouth and say, "Got in." Right? Don't do the trampoline and the fireworks. Or "I got into Harvard," right? Because some kids got in to, and if they were lucky, to Union College like Darryl Tiggle. If they had Instagram at the time, the post I would've done would've been completely over the top, but someone would hopefully have dialed me back. I think with other things in life, be gracious and thoughtful, and be a good winner. We often talk about being a good loser. Be a good winner.
Jennifer Simons:
Can I just add to that? Because Lee's going to be so impressed with all my sports metaphors. I love Darryl saying, "Act like a winner." Vince Lombardi said, "When you get into the end zone, you act like you've been there before and you're going to be there again." You have to be kind of classy about it. You have to act like you've been there before and you're going to be there again, and you will. You just act like a winner and the most gracious sportsman, sportswoman-ship like way you can.
Lee Coffin:
I think I wrote in my notes "admission citizenship" a bit ago, and I think in this space it's being a good winner and being mindful of peers who might have different outcomes and are processing that. It's saying no thank you to an offer that allows a peer to be considered for the seat that you are surrendering versus ghosting us. I mean, I'm always surprised when I get to May 1st, a couple of hundred admitted students just never tell us. They just…lights out. Maybe I'm old, but I always think that's rude. It doesn't take much to go online and just click no thank you and let us know. But all of these things are interdependent and I think being a good winner, being thoughtful about the end zone dance is really helpful.
Speaking of end zone dances, inevitably this moment of the admission cycle invites a lot of coverage from the Admissions Beat. There will be a lot of stories across mainstream and social media about admissions and outcomes. How should parents digest what they're reading in the weeks ahead?
Darryl Tiggle:
Reach out to your counselor or someone else that you know who is well-versed in admissions as you sort out some of the things that you might be digesting because there is a lot of information out there.
Lee Coffin:
ABC News had a story last week of a student who was admitted to 50 places, and it said "She received scholarships worth $1.3 million." I see stories like this every spring, and that was one of those moments where I yelled at the television, because getting into 50 places is not a win, and $1.3 million in "scholarships" was meaningless as well. It just meant all those places offered financial aid. It's not like Jen's scratch ticket came home to roost in this. But there are a lot of stories like that this time of year that I think are noise more than information. What happens if someone's financial aid hasn't come through? Can they appeal?
Jennifer Simons:
You get right back and you talk to the Financial Aid office and you tell them why you think it's... If it's need-based aid, you tell them why you think it's not accurate. If it's merit-based aid, then if you have a higher offer from another school, you can certainly bring that forth and say, "This college offered me this much more money. Can you do any better?" I mean, there's no harm, right? You're admitted. You can negotiate. You can try to negotiate. But certainly, if a need-based aid package is different from what you expected, ASAP go to the Financial Aid office. Don't wait until April 28th.
Lee Coffin:
That's really important because I think a lot of students do wait until the very end of April to come forward, and if something was missing, there's just not enough time to process all the new information. But yes, appeals are welcome. It doesn't mean I want more aid. It's this aid award seems to have missed a key ingredient and can we understand what was there? And sometimes a surprising change can occur when a missing piece is introduced. So yeah, good advice to be proactive about financial aid awards when they don't seem to make sense. What's your parting wisdom to the high school class of 2023 as they move into April of their senior year and think about college?
Jennifer Simons:
This is not the end. This is the beginning. The thoughts now that you've been accepted someplace once you make a decision… they should veer towards "how am I going to focus all my energy to making the most of this new experience to wrapping up my high school in a way that's meaningful to me?" Because that's also I think important. How am I going to say goodbye to the people that I'm leaving behind while also figuring out how to make the most of this next step in my journey? That's really, really important. It's not where you go. It's what you do with where you go that I think really makes a difference.
Darryl Tiggle:
Beautiful. Beautiful. I think the early decision students, they know where they're going and I think the students who are now who deciding where they're going to go next to school, but really in their lives, they very likely had other influences determining where they went to school up until now. This is the time where they're maybe for the first chance getting an opportunity to make a grownup decision. I think it's even one of the questions that's asked: when did you realize you grew up? I'm still checking in from time to time, but this is one of those times you were absolutely growing up. You are making a decision about where your life's going to go, and it's super exciting. So, grow up. It's super fun.
Lee Coffin:
I would say to the seniors of the world, take a deep breath, give yourself a pat on the back. You have completed this process known as the college search, and it is time to focus on what you want, what makes you happy, and pick the place that makes you smile. Pick the place where you can imagine spending four years where you will thrive. In many places, it's a community that will be part of your life for the rest of your life, and which one feels like home.
Darryl, Jen, as always, thanks for joining me on Admissions Beat.
Darryl Tiggle:
Our pleasure.
Jennifer Simons:
Thank you so much.
Lee Coffin:
We're now moving into April. When we come back, we will have a couple of episodes that help you think about some of the things we talked about this week. For now, this is Lee Coffin from Dartmouth College. Congratulations to all the seniors, and look forward to seeing you in April as you think about where you're going. See you soon.