College Admission SOS

Thursday, February 22 

Atlanta, GA : 5 a.m. 

My vibrating watch alarm went off. After 20 years of marriage, I’ve learned the hard way not to set an audible alarm before 6 a.m. (actually, that only took me about two weeks). Groggily, I drug myself downstairs and fed the cat — which is better than feeding myself and drugging the cat, I suppose. (My daughter wanted to name her using a feline pun and my son wanted a “tough sounding” name. Ultimately, we arrived at Pawly. Technically, it is Muhammad “Pawly” Clark.)  

As I’m putting on my running shoes, Pawly rolled over to be petted. Immediately, recognizing my disinterested and half-hearted effort, she looked at me in disgust (yes, cats can absolutely do that), and walked away slowly, as if to say, “Loser.”  

After a few head-clearing miles, I jumped in the shower, grabbed a banana and a cup of coffee, and headed to the airport. Because I make this drive regularly, I did not need or use WAZE or Google Maps.  

Atlanta Airport: 7 a.m. 

I pulled up my boarding pass from the Delta App and noticed that my phone was showing a “SOS message” in the top right corner. (Note: SOS is an international distress signal: the ship is going down; we are in imminent danger; send help immediately.) 

At this point, I’m convinced it’s a “me problem.” I turned the phone off and back on again. No dice. Still SOS. A flurry of explanations went through my head: 

  1. Maybe Tech’s not paying for this phone any longer in my new role.
  2. Maybe the lint in my pocket finally won.  
  3. My daughter. I mean…you never know. 

Once I boarded the plane, however, I heard other passengers talking about the various phone carriers who were experiencing national outages. While it was moderately relieving, it did not fix the problem.  

Richmond, VA: 10:15 a.m.  

I rent a car and pull up to the exit booth.  

“Ummm…. do you have a map?” 

“No, Sweetie. Where are you going?” 

“Charlottesville.”  

“Ok. Go to the third light, take a left, and follow signs for 64W.” 

Got it.  

My realization that I had no idea how to find my hotel increased as the distance to Charlottesville decreased, but with the names of both the street and hotel, I figured I might get lucky and see one or the other on a highway sign.  

Nope.   

So, I randomly picked one of the four Charlottesville exits. I figured I’d give it five minutes and if I didn’t stumble on them, I’d stop and ask for help. Call it divine intervention or dumb luck, but at the second light I saw my hotel. Boom! 

Charlottesville, VA: 11:45 a.m. 

Grabbing my bag from the trunk I began wondering how someone who had never lived in an Alexa-less, GPS-less, wireless world would have dealt with navigating the journey I’d just made.  

Well, friends, I found out upon entering the lobby, because in an absolute puddle on the coach was a 20-ish-year-old (lots of hyphens there, I know) girl crying hysterically. 

“Can I borrow your phone?” she stammered. 

“Ummm…well, unfortunately, I don’t have any service right now– why don’t you ask at the front desk?” 

Apparently, she had not considered that option, so we went up together.  

I watched her search her contacts and call her mom from the lobby land line.  

Still crying softly, “Mom. I’m trying to get home…”  

She grabbed a pen and scribbled down directions. In the end, she lived about 5 miles away (How do I know? Oh, I was totally looking over her shoulder– I may not pet cats at 5 a.m., but I match their curiosity 24-7). 

My head: Noon 

So many questions and thoughts. 

  1. Was this really an emergency?  
  2. Who is responsible? (You know- because nothing solves problems like pointing fingers.)  
  3. What is the path forward? 
  4. How does this translate to college and college admission? (Naturally)

Admissions SOS 

Over the years, I have asked audiences from Atlanta to Argentina (actually, now in all hemispheres) to give me the first word they think of when they hear: “College Admission.” The number one answer on the board, and the response you’ll get most audibly and consistently, is “stress.” SOS!  

I’ve gotten many other interesting ones too: Hunger Games, black box, and most recently—divorce. Wow! Dark thoughts, people. Seriously, seriously dark. Sounds like the ship is going down and we need help immediately!  

And while I had no tangible solutions to remedy the AT&T outage on February 22– other than asking if someone had tried turning it off and back on again—I do have some thoughts and insight to share about alleviating stress in college admission.  For a more exhaustive exploratory, feel free to buy my book or check out our 8 years archived blogs. For the Executive Summary—read on. 

Question #1: Is this really an emergency?  

Answer: No. (Well, that was easy.)  

As my friend and colleague Katie Mattli says, “Nobody died in college admission today.” SOS is way overstated. Hunger Games? Really? And I don’t even know what to say about the divorce answer. 

Question #2 and #3: Who is responsible? What is the path forward? I’m going to knock those out together here by offering three solutions for both users (students and parents) and providers (colleges).  

Students 

  1. Your list doesn’t have to be balanced. What?!! You’ll hear a lot of people say you should apply to a “balanced list of schools.” What they mean is to identify a few schools you will likely be admitted to, a few where it is less predictable, and at least one that is highly unpredictable.

No, you don’t. The average admit rate for four-year colleges is around 65%. If the places you are excited about and make sense for you each have admit rates above that– well… you are above average. Who said schools with lower admit rates are better, or should be more desirable for you? Conversely, if you apply to 10 schools that each have a 10% admit rate, it does not give you a 100% chance of getting in. Admission math does not always work the same way regular math does— but in this case… yea. Commit to not applying anywhere you would not actually go AND be sure several (or all) are “predictable” in their admission and affordability outcome. Are we getting reception back yet? 

2. How > Where. I heard a Georgia Tech graduate give a keynote speech last night. In it she said, “No college can make you great. You are already great. Pick a place where you will be surrounded by classmates, professors, and opportunities that will bring that out in you.” Spoiler Alert: There are hundreds (not 25 or 50) of schools in America where that can and will happen for you. Your success, happiness, and fulfillment are far more connected to how you show up in college, rather than where. Until you believe that, it won’t matter how many times you turn your phone off and on — the SOS won’t go away.

3. Do Your Own Homework. The girl in the lobby in Charlottesville had clearly just been following Google Maps her entire life without looking around, paying attention, or thinking for herself. Too many smart high school students approach their college search this way. And then stress comes when they “do everything right” and it still doesn’t work out the way they thought was promised. Re-routes, speed bumps, and delays are inevitable. Expect divergences and you won’t end up crying on the couch—ohhh… and that applies not just to college admission but life well beyond.   

Parents  

  1. Parents of high school students should talk to fewer parents of other high school students about college admission, and more parents of current college students or recent college grads. Why? Because parents of other high school students lie. They do. They exaggerate and fabricate. Suddenly, their daughter’s 1340 magically becomes a 1430.  

“Did you hear nobody from our high school got in to X College last year?! (Beware the interrobang) And I heard that four kids from (the school down the road) got admitted with scholarships.”  

Ever wonder why it’s always easier to get in from “the school down the road?” Again, because people make stuff up to fit their narrative, aka THEY LIE. They drive up the stress by speculating, pulling threads of truth and portions of stories and re-telling them inaccurately. 

You know what parents of current college students or recent college grads never say in reflecting back on their experience: “I wish we’d stressed more. Yea, if I had it to over again, I’d definitely bite my nails more, drink excessively, and lose sleep worrying. Now that would have helped and made things better.” 

2. Money Talks. The biggest gift you can give your student is not an open checkbook—it is an open and early conversation (10th and 11th grades) about what you can afford or are willing to pay when it comes to college. This is going to require going into detail on your rationale and allowing your student to ask questions. The bottom line is we don’t give our kids enough credit when it comes to these kinds of discussions. Wait until senior year or after your student has applied or been admitted to talk about money and you’ll only have yourself to blame for the SOS communication blackout that follows.   

3. Success Lists > College Lists. Once your family begins talking about college in earnest (typically junior year), I suggest you write down 5- 10 schools you hope they’ll consider, visit, or potentially apply to—and then next to each school name write 2-3 sentences explaining why. (Note: Because I wish I’d gone there and am vicariously living through you… red flag).  

Then have them do the same and have a “curiosity conversation”—a discussion centered on trying to better understand everyone’s goals, hopes/fears, interests– and how that connect with reality.

But the more important Top 10 list you can create is one of your family members, friends, colleagues, and neighbors who have taken a variety of paths to success and happiness. Ultimately, our job as parents is to instill confidence in our kids, so that no matter where they end up, they are prepared and ready to capitalize on that opportunity (unlike the confidence and preparation displayed in the lobby in Charlottesville). We are coaches in perspective! Don’t get sucked into the tunnel vision, paranoia, and zero sum thinking that breeds anxiety. True success for our kids is making sure they have options and choices. Don’t get it twisted. 

Bonus: If you read an article or social media post that features a college(s) with a first-year class size smaller than your local public high school or place of worship, it is not a trend but an outlier. Journalists know that clicks and eyeballs pop when they cite certain schools, which are frequently diminutive outposts, rather than large signposts for the direction or state of enrollment or higher education. Consider contacting the reporter and asking them to change their title to “lower education reporter.”  

Note: I was going to try to work in something about a drinking game with Ivy League school mentions but thought broaching cirrhosis may detract from my larger points. 

Now that we have talked about how the “users” can tamp down stress. How about “the providers?” 

Colleges and colleagues.   

  1. Data disaggregation and transparency.

Colleges should make it clear and easy to find admit rates based on each application plan; Early Action (EA), Early Decision (ED), Regular Decision (RD), and any other iterations, derivations, or acronyms. How do these vary by residency if it is a public school? What has this looked like in recent years, i.e. trends and patterns? Stress often comes from an absence of clarity.

If the college is test optional school, what is the admit rate for submitters vs. non-submitters? What raw number and percentage of students who applied with and without testing? Are there other academic ranges you can provide, i.e. GPA, number of AP/IB/Dual Enrollment courses for each cohort in isolation and comparison?  

Then break that down for the enrolling class and the admitted class. 

2. Eliminate weekend and holiday application deadlines. I mean…do I really need to explain why this would reduce anxiety and stress? C’mon, people. Do the right thing here. This one is easy.

3. Provide multiple mediums for conveying voice.

Ask most admission counselors what they are looking for in an application essay and you will get some version of: “We just want to hear the student’s voice.” Well, let’s solve for that. The truth is that many of these essays are already overly sanitized, AI generated, professionally tailored or tampered with, or a combination of all of the above. And it is the part of the application most students cite as the most stress-inducing. 

Allowing for voice-recorded responses, or short video clips, is the student’s voice, and it is a comfortable medium that could add value and diminish anxiety. Changing the medium of delivery to audio or video – or at least providing either as an option – gives a much better sense of how a student would engage in the classroom or on campus than does the essay. Importantly, if these were limited to a minute or so, it would not add time to review for colleges – and could be a welcome reprieve for the tired eyes of admission readers. Companies such as Initial View are offering this for students, and it is time for the  the Common application and Coalition application to modernize their platforms and integrate technology that allows us to more directly hear and/or see students, and the adults who support them. 

I am way, way over our normal 1000-word blog goal, so if you are still with me—Congratulations!  

At the end of the day, the way we tamp down stress in college admission is by keeping the end in mind: College admission leads to college. And college is about fun, friends, discovery, learning, testing assumptions, growing, and finding your own path to happiness, fulfillment, and your unique future.  

Again, I’d quote our keynote speaker from Tech—you are great! You are going to be great! And you do not need cell reception or a certain bumper sticker to confirm that, because it is already in you. Surround yourself with friends, classmates, and adults who keep helping you bring that greatness out. You got this! 

 

 

 

 

Value (Capture) in College Admissions

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about the concept of “Value Capture” – a phrase coined by Dr. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor at the University of Utah. Essentially, value capture occurs when a metric becomes the motivation for a certain behavior (Abstract and paper here.) 

For example, instead of posting pictures on social media to simply share with family and friends, we become focused on and consumed by the number of likes or impressions we receive. I appreciate Dr. Nguyen providing well- researched phrasing to what I tried to articulate with fewer citations (but more puns) in my blog: “What are you Strava-ing for?”, which served as a confession that my running had been hijacked by the stats of a fitness app.  

Before I had this app, I rarely brought my phone with me on a run unless I needed the flashlight or wanted to listen to a podcast. Before I had the app, I’d come home with new ideas or perspective, or just feeling lighter (minus my legs) because I’d tuned out and refilled my proverbial cup. Lately, I’ve been coming back and checking to see my pace, achievements, and who else I know has run those segments. Even in the middle of runs, I’ve found myself thinking, “I need to PR (personal record—it tracks those too) this mile or loop.” 

Not up for Dr. Nguyen’s 50+ page paper? In this 8-minute interview with best-selling author (Scarcity Brain and Comfort Crisis) and UNLV journalism professor, Michael Easter, they discuss the recognition of value capture as an invitation to continually check our motivations.  

Why am I doing this?  

What is driving me? 

And have I lost sight of “my why” in exchange for chasing numbers- or the comparison to others?

As a high school student, now is a common time to be selecting classes for next year. Beware of value capture. What are you chasing—the grade or the preparation? They are not the same.  

Why am I re-taking the SAT/ACT? Because a school I’m applying to has a merit scholarship connected to a particular score range—value. Because if I get 20 points higher I’ll be able to beat my brother’s score to rub it in his face—capture! 

Again: Why am I doing this? What is driving me? And have I lost sight of “my why” in exchange for chasing numbers- or the comparison to others? 

Value Capture Meet College Admission 

The more I read, listened, and thought about this framework, the more I realized the college admission experience (for everyone involved) is tailor- made to be value captured…and it has been—ohhh, how it has been. 

“In value capture, we take a central component of our autonomy — our ongoing deliberation over the exact articulation of our values — and we outsource it. And the metrics to which we outsource are usually engineered for the interests of some external force, like a large-scale institution’s interest in cross-contextual comprehensibility and quick aggregability. That outsourcing cuts off one of the key benefits to personal deliberation. In value capture, we no longer adjust our values and their articulations in light of our own rich experience of the world. Our values should often be carefully tailored to our particular selves or our small-scale communities, but in value capture, we buy our values off the rack.” 

Well, damn. There you have it. Let’s look at a few ways that students and colleges can be value captured- and how to keep this in check.  

Rankings 

And the metrics to which we outsource usually engineered for the interests of some external force, like a large-scale institution’s interest in cross-contextual comprehensibility and quick aggregability.” 

Sheesh! Can you say, “US News and World Report?!” Students and families value going to a good school. They want a place where faculty care, students learn, and graduates get jobs (If this language is too technical, please let me know). All reasonable and commendable desires/ values. But if not checked we can effectively outsource critical and independent thinking for a simplified ordering of colleges.  

Every year we hear stories from students who say they were discouraged from applying to schools ranked below number X; or decided only to apply to schools within the Top 10 in a particular field; or were pressured to ultimately choose the highest ranked school from which they received on offer of admission. No! 

Instead of considering individual needs and wants; instead of asking big questions about the types of settings in which we best learn or thrive; instead of being confident enough to do our own research and ask the questions that most matter to us, “we buy our values off the rack.”  

They call it the “College Search.” But that is not meant to be literal- as in  one-click on Google to serve up prescribed list. SEARCH means within yourself. It means asking big questions not drawing little lines between numbers on a contrived list. 

And what is particularly ironic about the “rackings” (definitely calling them that from here on out) dictating where you visit, apply, or ultimately attend, is the biggest factor in the US News rackings (Told you. See, I’m not even using quotes anymore) are not even numbers at all.  

What? YEP, 20% of the methodology is generated from the opinions of people who work at other colleges.  

What?! And to show you how little effort people put into these, only about 30% responded. 

What!! In the end, 1500~ (1000 fewer than 30% of this blog’s subscribers) highly biased and self-serving people dictated numbers that generate millions of dollars annually. Disturbing. Deeply, deeply disturbing.

Value capture, people. Unshackle yourselves from the rackings by continually asking: Why am I doing this? What is driving me? And have I lost sight of “my why” in exchange for chasing numbers- or the comparison to others? 

If you are a sophomore or a junior, try this map, rather than a list, to help you think differently.  

If you are a senior, wanting to make a personalized versus prescribed decisions on where to ultimately attend, how about this quote from Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement address: Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Admit rates = College Quality 

“We are vulnerable to value capture because of the competitive advantage that such pre-packaged value expressions have in our reasoning and our communications. But when we internalize such metrics, we damage our own autonomy. In value capture, we outsource the process of deliberating on our values. And that outsourcing cuts off one of the key benefits of personal deliberation.” 

Too many students and parents look at admit rates as a proxy for quality and take these numbers in isolation to make decisions and assumptions. Literally, this week I talked to a friend who cannot understand why his daughter is leaning toward one college to which she’s been admitted when she also got into a school that has an admit rate 2x lower. (Cough… value capture.)  

Now I didn’t get all Nguyen-y about it, but I did ask him to consider why his daughter is more interested in one over the other– and why he’s having trouble reconciling this. 

I also thought it was helpful to point out a few things about “admissions math:” 

a. Denominator. Colleges don’t all count apps the same way, and can easily up their n. Some schools require a transcript, test scores, and a completed application with supplements to count as an app. Others? Well, you hit submit on a pre-populated form and then unsubscribe to all follow up comms… yea, we’ll go ahead and count that.

b. Numerator. Through binding Early Decision plans or other layered application deadlines, schools can radically depress their admit count  because of the guaranteed enrollment of those admits. Sound like some dark Bayou magic math? Wave if you are following.

c. Still Numerator. Number of admits can be further decreased by intentionally waitlisting to gauge interest, deferring to watch engagement, or implementing other levers in the process.

Translation. You can’t trust the math. It’s not apples: apples. It’s fruity. But it’s not fruit. 

The big question to be asking is: What do you value?  

Perhaps the answer is: I want to go to a college that denies at least 3x more students than it admits because I value exclusion.  

Or I am deeply committed to single digits. I’ve never had a uniform number above 9; I was born in a month prior to October; and I always measure people in feet rather than inches.  

Sound ridiculous? Go online and buy a shirt that says, “I’ve been Value Freed!” If not, go here and sort by “Admission Rate.” Then find a shirt reading, “Olin = RISD” or “Berea > Bryn Mawr.”  

Flipping the Mirror 

Suffice it to say, when it comes to both the rankings and admit rate, colleges should be asking themselves the same questions.  

Why are we doing this?  

What is driving us?  

And have we lost sight of “our why” in exchange for chasing numbers- or the comparison to others? 

However, I’m not holding my breath to find the answers to those questions on any college’s mission statement, list of values, or strategic plan soon. 

Values 

“Value capture occurs when an agent enters a social environment which presents external expressions of value — which are often simplified, standardized, and quantified — and those external versions come to dominate our reasoning and motivations.” 

I believe you are more than an agent. I believe you have agency. And as a talented high school student and a future college student, there is no better time than now to embrace that distinction.  

 

(Not) about me… and the blog 

(Warning: There are a lot of hyperlinks in this blog. If you have an aversion to URLs or words being underlined, proceed with caution. Otherwise, I hope they’ll give you a small sense of what we’ve covered over the last eight years.) 

For the last 15 years, I have had the privilege of leading Georgia Tech’s admission team and our undergraduate recruitment and review efforts (dual enrollment, transfer, first-year). During this time, we have been fiercely committed to continuous improvement, and as a result have overhauled our approach to recruitment, review, communication, policy, and practice… several times over. It has truly been fun to leverage our platform and megaphone in creative ways (including this blog) to help Georgia Tech become a thought leader in the college admission and undergraduate enrollment, and it has been my honor to serve as one of our primary storytellers in Georgia, around the country, and abroad. 

Much of that opportunity has emanated from Tech’s dramatic rise in reputation and impact driven by our research, entrepreneurship, innovation and more. But every team, company, and organization have its weaknesses, and while we have grown significantly in every other category and demographic, we have failed to increase our enrollment of low-income students and Pell Grant recipients. 

Ultimately, admission without affordability is not access, and as a public university- and a public good- we have a fundamental obligation to ensure Tech’s life-transforming, world-class education and experience is accessible to top talent, regardless of a student’s financial background. This is why our Transforming Tomorrow Campaign is centered on raising $500 million for need-based scholarships and our President, Dr. Ángel Cabrera, has made affordability, return on investment, and social mobility top priorities.  

In pursuit of these goals, Tech recently created a new position in our division of Enrollment Management: Executive Director for Strategic Student Access– and as of January 1, I have stepped into this inaugural role. My focus will be on developing/cultivating relationships and collaborating with stakeholders on and off campus, including school and school system leaders, community and government agencies, corporate sponsors, philanthropies, alumni, faculty, staff, students, and donors. 

My goal has always been to leave GT admission better than I found it- and to ensure our team, structure, and office culture are sound. I can say unequivocally that is the case. The talent on our team is incredible and imminently qualified to continue the path of excellence we’ve established in “Progress and Service,” and the culture I have helped create, while far from perfect, is built on trust, encouragement, humility, and a deep concern for the work and one another.

I am excited that my longtime friend and colleague, Mary Tipton Woolley, will serve as the interim director, bringing with her over two decades of admission experience, an established track record of vision and success, leadership positions both on campus and nationally.

So, what about the blog? 

After we released the story about this new role, I received a number of texts, emails, and calls that started with “Congratulations!” And quickly pivoted to, “So, what about the blog?”   

Well…I created the GT Admission Blog in the fall of 2015. My daughter was four; the Cubs had gone more than a century without a title; and tick tock was just a sound.  

Was there a grand strategic vision for the blog in the beginning? Hardly. The truth is it began because at the time, my regular Thursday afternoon “running meeting” was with my friend and Tech’s former director of enrollment communications, Matt McLendon. We’d lace up our shoes and set off with a full agenda. BUT inevitably somewhere along the Beltline (which was largely unpaved), I’d start rambling about a particular challenge or admission issue.  

One day (mid-run/ mid-rant), Matt gently suggested I “write this stuff down.” He asserted that families needed to hear more honesty and openness from admission deans and directors, and my random analogies and anecdotes may actually be a refreshing way to present subjects that often stir anxiety. (Although I suspect it was also his tactful way of trying to enjoy the run and keep us on task). 

In the 8 years and ~300 blogs since, that has been the goal. It has led to: myriad of sports references; many predictions- some of which have been spot on, and many others…spot off; extremely loose parallels; countless puns and dad jokes; an excessive number of (likely unnecessary) parentheticals (see what I did there?); as well as various chronicles of my kids’ childhood. 

But the blog has never been mine or about me. Instead, it is Georgia Tech’s– and it exists for you. Its real strength has always been the variety of voices we’ve featured and the feedback we’ve received. Unsurprisingly, some of the most popular blogs have come from Tech’s talented and brilliant admission colleagues. They have helped realize the initial vision of addressing broad admission issues to provide readers perspective, insight, and helpful tips in a relatable/accessible tone – and hopefully bringing some levity and solace along the way. 

Good news! All of that is going to continue.  

I am still focused on undergraduate enrollment and working closely with our admission team. And arguably there has never been a more dynamic and important time in higher education and college admission. Plus, Matt McLendon now works at the University of Alabama, so I can’t get all of my crazy parallels out on runs If you want to literally hear more from me, you can check out The Truth about College Admission podcast.

We have so many experts on our team who are excited to share their perspectives, stories, and tips with you. So going forward you can expect two blogs each month—one from me and one from a Georgia Tech colleague. 

Thank you for reading. Thank you for sharing. And please reach out if you want us to cover certain topics, find one of our jokes funny, or vehemently disagree. We welcome all of that- and ultimately it makes this blog an even stronger resource. 

In Progress and Service,  

Rick 

College Admission Signals

My son is 15 and learning to drive. Sitting (squirming/ praying) in the car with a new driver has brought back some incredibly vivid 30-year-old memories from my driver’s education experience. 

Our county offered this class at the district level. So, as sophomores we’d load the bus and head off to a joint facility shared by multiple high schools. After a month or two in rudimentary simulators, we finally hit the roads. Each car went out with three students (one driving and two in the back) and an instructor. My understanding is that this model is extremely rare now, and trust me, I see all the reasons it has gone the way of the VHS tape.  

One day, I was in the backseat with a girl from another high school. The kid driving was from my school. For this blog’s purposes, we’ll call him John. Actually, that was his real name. Since it was three decades ago and he has one of the most common names out there, there’s really no need to disguise his identity.   

John was unique. I had Biology with him the year before. Smart, quiet, but apt to both say and do some bizarre things at inappropriate times. Yea, if you are thinking, “Wow. That does not seem like a good combo for driving,” then buckle up, friends.  

We are in the right lane going about 35-40 MPH on a busy four-lane road and headed toward a big intersection. The instructor said, “OK. We are going to take a left at this light.”  

John continues to drive.  

Five seconds later and about a quarter mile from the intersection, she repeats, “Up here we’re going to take a left.” 

John was not picking up on this cue, and I could not help myself. 

An eighth of a mile out I say, “John. You need to get into the other lane.” Without checking his mirrors, he literally swerves into the left lane.

At that moment, the light turns yellow.  

Now, what he should have done was slowly brake. But not John. He punches it. (Told you- bizarre things at inappropriate times.) 

The girl in the back with me grabs my hand with a look of sheer terror. And that’s when things went from bad to worse.  

Unbeknownst (bonus points if you had that word on your blog bingo card) to all of us, the instructor had an override brake on her side of the car. Whaaaaaatttt???!!! And she steps on it hard.  

Meanwhile, John is still gassing it. The combination leaves us diagonally stopped in the middle of the intersection. Instructor lady is yelling at John, the girl next to me is starting to break bones in my hand, and John is looking down at his foot completely befuddled by how he can be hitting the gas and yet at a complete stop.

Outside the car things are getting ugly. Cars from every direction are beeping because we’re blocking all traffic. Chaos.  

Apparently, “the John factor” was not accounted for in the manual, because instructor lady was totally flustered. She takes her foot off the override brake without warning him. Meanwhile, he’s got the pedal literally on the floor and we fishtail through the intersection and onto an embankment.  

All blood has now effectively stopped flowing to my right hand. All blood has drained from the face of my backseat partner. But the blood is flowing big time in the front seat. John looks at her- and she looks at him- and they both start yelling. Chaos. 

Seatbelts click. Doors slam. They switch seats. We drive the entire way back to the Drivers Ed center in complete silence. The girl next to me didn’t loosen her grip on my hand until we exited the car. Chaos.  

Since my parents still live fairly close to that intersection, I go through it a few times each year. Every time we approach the light my hand goes numb, and I’m hyper-focused on the signal.

Red. Yellow. Green.

And while it’s probably just in my head, I’m still convinced I can see those tire marks ever so slightly up on the embankment.  

Signals Matter

In prior years, I’ve started January with Predictions, Messages for Students, and Hopes. I’ll likely get to the forecasting and unapologetic optimism in a few weeks, but unfortunately this year started the way they all have in college admission — with most nationally known and high-demand colleges posting January 1 deadlines. In my opinion, this is a terrible signal that creates an unnecessary traffic jam of frustration and chaos for students, families, counselors, and even admission offices themselves. And the truth is it is all avoidable.  

Red Light- Application Deadlines on Weekends and Holidays need to stop. 

A few years ago, Georgia Tech went away from having application deadlines on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays/breaks. This makes our dates kind of random: October 16, January 4, as examples. 

But let’s be honest, nobody needs a car stopped in the middle of an intersection with everyone beeping and yelling in frustration– especially on a weekend or a holiday. And that’s effectively what happens when students are working on applications without access to their teacher or counselor, or when they need to contact the college with a last-minute question only to find offices shutdown for winter break or closed for the weekend.  

The truth is these dates also frustrate most admission staff and counselors too, since they come back on Monday or post-break to inboxes and voicemails filled with vitriol, consternation, and petitions for extensions.  

Yellow Light 

When you see a yellow light, you are supposed to consider distance, speed, other cars, and ultimately make a smart decision for you and others on the road. At the end of the day, having deadlines on weekends and holidays is like gassing it through the intersection while singing “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” It’s a signal of laziness at best– and negligence or hubris at worst.

In 2024, I’m hopeful more enrollment and admission leaders will roll down their windows, pause to read the room (road), listen to the beeping, yelling, and chaos that deadlines on these days create and… well… actually lead. 

Green light 

There are many policies and practices in college admission that need to be re-examined. Some of those are hard, and in some cases perhaps impractical, to unwind. But the truth is that if a critical mass of well-known, highly- selective schools made this shift, it would green light a macro change–and we would be left with a safer, more friendly, and logical flow and pattern. 

I wish I had one of those override brakes, because I’d step on it hard. Instead, I have this blog and possibly your collective voices to join me. Let’s work to clear the intersection here, people. 

Oh… and Happy New Year!

3 Ways to Spread Cheer in College Admission

With a 15-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, we have many things in our house. Family consensus, however, is rarely one.

The variety of opinions between the four of us is comical at times. At times. Mostly it’s maddening. From seemingly simple decisions of what/where to eat to the conservatorship of Britney Spears, on nearly a daily basis, there are adamant divergent perspectives about music, sports, and what constitutes important or urgent.

The subject that garners the most consternation, however, is movies. Typically, two of us agree, and we can coerce one other to concede. But getting the fourth? Oh baby! It’s like the backroom machinations or public theater of moving Congressional legislation: name calling, bribery, blackmail, horse trading, posturing, grandstanding… and that’s all just from my wife.

Thankfully, at this time of year, there is a movie that we not only all agree on but are actually jointly excited to watch…ELF. You knew that was coming, right?! Who doesn’t love ELF? If that’s you, feel free to unsubscribe. If you haven’t seen this modern classic, do yourself a favor and check it out today.

Naturally, we still have some disagreement surrounding this movie, but it’s more about when to watch. My daughter contends it should be the first movie of the holiday season, while I advocate for it to be last. Typically, this means it is the one movie we watch twice in December. We also each have different favorite scenes: “Mailroom,” “Snowball fight,” “Unmasking Santa,” and the bathroom rendition of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” are our four.

The movie also contains fantastic lines that each of us quote during December and periodically throughout the year:

“Santa!! I know him.”

“He’s an angry elf!”

“Congratulations! The world’s best cup of coffee!”

“Make work your favorite. Work’s your new favorite.” (You can probably guess who says that one and when in our house).

Regardless of your favorite scene/line in ELF, I think we can all agree that “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” The truth is we could all use more cheer in our lives in general, and in college admission, particularly this year, cheer sounds pretty good right about now.

So, if you are a high school senior, here are three easy ways to spread admissions cheer:

  1. Make Celebrating Your New Favorite. When you into a college, whether or not it is your absolute top choice, your job is to celebrate. If you find yourself saying, “Yea. Well, I figured I’d get in there,” or “I’m in. But it’s my backup,” or it’s “just the University of X,” then you are doing this wrong. Wrong I say! Naughty list. C’mon, man. You put in the time, effort, thought, and money to apply to each college. When they come back with an admit, you are obligated to smile. What?! You don’t remember signing that agreement on the Common App? Trust me. It was there.

People call these offers of admission. Forget that. It’s an invitation- an amazing opportunity- and another choice you get to make! Amazing. What human doesn’t want invitations, options, and choices? Congratulations! Celebrate every win. Go to dinner, buy yourself something. You do you. But promise me you’ll celebrate. Spread that cheer, people.

2. Move the “Clausometer.” As we discussed recently, the college admission experience, if done right, is a chance to learn, grow, discover, and mature. But did you know it can also make you a better friend? That’s correct. For no additional charge, college admission can actually improve your relationships with classmates, teammates, and peers. I don’t know what’s happening with you right now. Maybe you have been admitted Early Decision and are excited, happy, and at peace. Maybe you were deferred or denied by a school where you were really hoping to be admitted—or likely somewhere in between. Not to get all Papa Elf on you, but… that’s life.

When things are going well and you are excited about your momentum and successes, it’s easy to forget to celebrate the wins and successes of others. Conversely, whether it be disappointment or lack of contentment with your job, relationships, finances, influence, etc., we can miss the opportunity to lift our friends up and come around them in their winning moments. “The best way to spread admission cheer, is to sing loud for all to hear.” Who in your life is fired up about an admit they recently received? What can you do to celebrate that? Be a good friend. Sing it with me—Loud for all to hear!

3. Celebrate that “Someone Special!” It is hard work being a teacher, a counselor, a coach, etc. Getting into college is an excuse to give them some love. My hope is that every time you get admitted you will be reminded that you did not get there alone. Somebody drove you to school and practice. Somebody taught and coached you. Somebody paid for stuff (technical term) and made big sacrifices along the way on your behalf. You are great! Of course. But you have been made great by a collective effort and consistent investment. The support that amplified your talent and potential.

Take the time this month to look around and “sing” thank you. A sibling, parent, teacher, coach, relative, or a manager…or all of the above. This is not text time, friends. I’m going to challenge you to step it up here and go to them in person. Imagine the joy and excitement you’ll be able to share together if you walk in, high five/fist bump/hug them and acknowledge that they are a big reason for the opportunities you have now. Let’s get ELF-ish here and sing this one with some real gusto.

Happy Holidays!

Fittingly, this makes the 23rd blog of 2023! I am deeply appreciative for you taking the time to read, consider, share… and SING! Enjoy time with your friends and family this season. I sincerely hope you will rest, relax, and be reminded of what is really important. You are bound for amazing things in 2024. Looking forward to being part of that. Much love and Happy Holidays, friends.