This morning I attended the 'Exploring College Options' counselor breakfast and got to hear from representatives from Duke, Penn, Stanford, Harvard and Georgetown. These kind of events are useful both to hear directly from the schools about their offerings and most recent admission cycle and to connect with other college counselors in the area.
Topics covered included:
-Harvard's return after three years to Early with the option for Restricted Early Action for the applicants next fall. This means that students can submit a non-binding Early Action application to Harvard so long as they do not file Early Action or Early Decision applications at any other schools.
- The repeated theme of extensive resumes being unnecessary.
-The common thread for all five schools of very strong need based financial aid, particularly for families with household income below $60,000 per year (with significant aid available for those at or around the $100,000 mark).
- The school specific mini-essays are important. To be given one of the coveted spots at these schools they are looking for candidates that have meaningful connections with their campus. Wanting to go to Penn because you want a 'good school on the East Coast that is strong in Business' isn't going to cut it.
It goes without saying that these 5 schools have exceptionally low admission rates. This means they are looking for exceptional candidates. Every applicant in their pool is presumed denied until proven admissible. That isn't a bad thing, but applicants have to know going in just how steep a climb they have ahead of them. Don't be overwhelmed though - tomorrow I attend the breakfast for Colleges That Change Lives - schools that are equally as exceptional but that don't have such daunting admission statistics. Regardless of if whether you are talking about Reaches or Likelys a good college list should have a little bit of both.
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