Common questions about the application process

Hello-
I hope everyone is doing well and adjusting to the busyness of the fall season. This week, I am preparing to go with other admissions officers and college counselors to the national conference for the National Association of College Admission Counseling ( NACAC). This conference is a wonderful opportunity for admission staff and counselors to get together and talk about programs and practices and best suit the needs of our students. I look forward to bringing back some wonderful information to share with you.

In the meantime, today's blog is a four part series from the President of NACAC, who is a Director of College Guidance and a former admission officer. He's answering some common questions that students and families have about the college process and I hope you find his answers helpful.

Of course, as always, if you have any questions or opinions about the article, or the college process in general, feel free to respond to this post or you can send me a message on our Facebook fan page.

Enjoy the article and have a great week!
~The Admissions Director

Guidance Office: Answers From the President of NACAC
By Bill McClintick
Guidance Office
Questions for the President of Nacac
Bill McClintick, director of college counseling at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and the president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a membership group, answers reader questions.
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The Choice at Nacac
Beginning Thursday, The Choice takes readers backstage as nearly 5,000 admissions officers and counselors gather in Baltimore.
On Thursday, nearly 5,000 college admissions officers and high school counselors will gather for the 65th annual convention of the National Association of College Admission Counseling.
Presiding over this gathering will be Bill McClintick, the director of college counseling at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. Mr. McClintick worked previously in admissions at Hartwick College in New York and Kalamazoo College in Michigan.
Below, he answers reader questions on common mistakes in applications, and on colleges that he considers liberal-arts gems. (Some questions have been edited.) He also emphasizes the importance of the high-school transcript, something, he believes, parents and applicants often overlook.
Mr. McClintick’s answers to select reader questions will conclude Wednesday.
Meanwhile, be sure to visit The Choice on Thursday and Friday, for regular blog posts from the conference floor. — Jacques Steinberg
Q.
What is the one universal mistake applicants make in completing the form or working through the process? In other words, what truly matters most for the administrator who has to process tens of thousands of applications?
Separately, as a matter of commentary, I believe the process has gotten out of hand. It is amazing children and parents alike can cope with the stress. Surely, we can do better.
—Eric Jaeger
A.
In response to the question of what are the most common mistakes that students tend to make on their applications, I have several observations. After reviewing applications for more than 20 years, the most common error I see is that students do not always correctly prioritize their activities. While this is not a huge factor in the decision-making process, it is interesting to see how often students put what they think colleges want to see as their top activity, as opposed to what they are truly passionate about.
I often tell students to think in terms of how they spend their time; whatever they spend the most time on should probably rise to the top of the list. The club that meets for one hour a month is not going to impress anyone. What is more important is to convey what a student is most passionate about.
We often say in the business that it is not the length of the extracurricular list that matters, but the depth of the commitment to a particular activity. Don’t try to build a lengthy resume by the age of 17. Rather, find one, two, or maybe three activities that are important to you and go as far as you can with them.
I’d also like to follow-up on your comment that the “process has gotten out of hand.” While I do agree with you to some extent (see some of my previous replies), I actually feel that for the most part the system by which applicants are evaluated works pretty well.
What most people fail to grasp is that the most important variable by far in the admissions process is the high-school transcript. You can hire all the consultants and test-prep tutors you want, but unless the high-school transcript is within the parameters of what a college is looking for, the rest really doesn’t matter.
While it is certainly true that test scores are an important piece of the puzzle, they never trump the high-school record. Too many people get wrapped up in what are relatively minor variables in the process — how they interview, how good the essay is, third-party recommendations, how many activities they have, etc. — and somehow think that these can override a mediocre transcript. I always try to stress this with my students — it is the transcript, the transcript, and the transcript that is the most important variable in this process by far.
Granted, in borderline cases—and at the most selective schools—the other variables become more important, but in the vast majority of cases, if you are qualified you are admitted; if you are not, you are denied.
Q.
My son is voraciously scholarly above and beyond the demands of his highly-competitive high school (His current bedtime reading is Milton). Although we had originally encouraged him to apply to a liberal arts school (my background), I am now wondering if he would be sacrificing scholarship for community. I am wondering your thoughts – either generally or specifically, where would you send a kid like this?
—js
A.
I think that there are a number of wonderful places around for the truly intellectual kid, but you do have to look for them. I actually would tend to agree with you that many of the small liberal-arts colleges might be a great place for someone like your son—and there are a number that still have their priorities straight when it comes to scholarly pursuits.
These would allow him more interaction with the faculty and greater flexibility as an undergraduate. Given what you have shared, he may very well end up in graduate school anyway, and that would be the time when a larger university with a more specialized program of study would be a better fit.
If he is willing to consider the liberal-arts path, I would suggest places like Swarthmore, Pomona, Reed, Grinnell, Carleton, Wesleyan, Oberlin, or even Deep Springs in California. He might also find a school like St. John’s (Annapolis, Md., or Santa Fe), which still offers the Great Books curriculum, of interest.
If he longs for something bigger, he might want to look at the University of Chicago, Brown, or Rice.