Reality Check... I love you just the way you are.

I used to love the idea of playing “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader”. When the commercials first aired, I thought, “Now there’s a game show I could actually win”. I graduated from high school, college and graduate school, so I have to be smarter than a 5^th grader. Since then, I’ve stopped watching. The reality is just too hard to take…I’m smarter than most, but not all, 3^rd graders, but 5^th graders have got me beat.

I mention this only because I am humbled by the intelligence of students I meet every day, students who are considerably younger than me, I might add. The funny thing is, they have no idea of the depth of their intellect because the focus of their concern is scores and grades and advantages versus disadvantages in the college application process. I can’t, in good conscious, say these grades and scores are not important. The college application wouldn’t ask for them if they didn’t play a role in the decision making process. But what gets me is the focus on identifying the advantage versus disadvantages within the system. The hard part is, this isn’t a board game.

I’ve noticed that in an effort to “Strategize”, students have started to focus on the minutia of the application process. Items that are so far removed from what’s really important, that students find it really difficult to articulate what they like about the college, or worse, what they like about themselves. “Do I have a better chance at getting in if I am a minority/a soccer player/from South Dakota?” My next thought is, aren’t you more complicated than that? Would you want to go to a college that could sum up your value that easily?

I hate it, but I understand the frenzy. I have to understand it, because I watch the news, read the paper (and the books) that tell me that there is an education crisis. Except, I can’t think of one student I know or have ever heard of that wanted to go to college, applied and didn’t get in anywhere. I’ve definitely heard students say that they didn’t get into their 1^st choice college, which can be frustrating, but not the end of the world. Further, I don’t know of a “bad” college…there are some that might have nicer dorms, warmer climates, more access to professors, but it’s all a matter of the student’s taste. So what I’m saying is, there’s good news. YOU ARE GOING TO COLLEGE. There. The pressure is off. Now the question is, where?

Just to keep it real, I’m going on the record and saying to students, “Take back the process.” Make it about you again. Stop trying to fit into a mold, and think about your values, your needs and your goals for the future. THEN look for a college. Try your hardest not to fall in love with a reputation. Fall in love with a place that shares your vision of your best self. Chances are, you’ll come out a winner…just like you went in.

Let's start at the very beginning...

Secret Agent Man…

I was born at a very early age. Sometime after that, I began my career as an admission officer. Time has been good to me, and I find myself happily typing away in a(nother) strange hotel room my first blog about the admissions world. I may have been in another random city, lost and/or sitting in traffic, sweaty from traipsing all around town lugging college materials, dining alone while people stared, but all in all, it was a good day. Here’s why:

I love the fall. I love airports. I love meeting people. I love talking to students about the most exciting time of their life. I love making people feel like the admissions process won’t kill them…I love saying, “Everything is gonna be alright” and knowing - really knowing- that I’m right. So yeah, it was a good day.

I have a strange job, and I know this. When I (infrequently) tell people I’m an admissions officer, people look at me and politely say “Oh…” before they move on to someone else who says “I’m a (insert lawyer, electrician, ballet dancer, stock broker, here). It’s these types of conversations that make me almost 100% sure that no one (not one single person) has ever written their 3^rd grade “What I want to be when I grow up” essay about being an Admissions Officer. People handle admissions officers like they handle Unicorns. We’ve all heard of them…but we’ve never seen one with our own eyes.

I think that’s why I’m writing this blog. I want people to know what I do, and perhaps more importantly, why I do it. I feel like understanding what I do will make the student’s part of the process easier to understand. The only example I can think of for this is the Food Network, when they show the “behind the scenes” footage at the Twinkie Factory at the point where they are inserting the cream…and once you understand that, you have so much more appreciation for the genius behind the Twinkie-making process. Except, I’m not a genius…(in case you couldn’t tell from that poor example).

Anyway, I’ll be writing every so often. If you have questions, just shout.

Until next time,

S.A.M.