A Through Z College Planning
Today’s class is the influencer class. It’s the marketing class on how to sell yourself to college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. Potential. This is a great SAT word as well as a good uh word to use in your essay.
and intentional. An adjective is a function word that depends on something else or another word. So, we have to be intentional about things. Be intentional about our grades. Be intentional about our test scores, our involvement with clubs. We have to be intentional about our college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college a through z college planning. selection. Be intentional about our college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college applications. and of course be intentional about our college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair visits. So influence, the power of influence is the power to have an effect on people or things.
She used her positive attitude to positively influence the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiter’s admission decision. He used his energetic attitude to positively influence the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiters scholarship decision.
So we want to make ourselves into great college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college candidates and to make yourself into and make yourself into an easy to recruit candidate which makes their job easier and we want to make their job as easy as possible. So the first thing we got to do is figure out what a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college values and uh what they want and then of course do those things. figure out which figure out which college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college on your list is the hardest school to get into and then aim for those parameters.
Whatever those test scores are or GPA scores are, then position yourself for admission to that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Then when you hit that, by default, you have everything necessary for each college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that falls below that mark. It makes sense, right?
If you need help creating a list of college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, please do reach out to us.
So, how do we make ourselves into great college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college candidates and how do we market ourselves to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s? First, we need to know a few things and we need to know what college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value and what they want.
And the first thing that they’re going to look at is your grades and your test score. So, your job is to graduate high school with the highest grade, highest GPA you can. And they’re going to look at your unweighted GPA.
So get the best unweighted GPA that you can.
Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges value class rank
and that’s uh important at the highly selective college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s and you can name some of those college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges.
Those are going to be Harvard and Stanford and Duke etc. to increase your increase your
class rank. Take the most AP honors, dual credits, and IB classes that you can get a high grade in those classes. High grade means A. And those extra GPA points for those honors and AP classes are going to help you move up on class rank. Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges do value class rank. If your high school does not show class rank on your transcripts, don’t worry about it. The college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college will simply run its own calculations.
The third thing that each college, school, safety school and fit school, good fit college are looking at and asking questions about are your test scores. SAT, ACT, PSAT, even AP
scores. These tests are not going to go away. The main reason some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are test optional or even test blind is so
the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college can get more and more students to apply. Every application has an application fee.
When UCLA dropped the test requirement during a pandemic, their number the number of applications that they received skyrocketed. In fact, last year they had 145,000 students apply to UCLA and it cost $80 to apply. So when you do the math, $80 times $145,000, that is $1.6 million that was generated just in application fees.
So take the SAT and ACT as many times as necessary and get the best score that a through z college planning. You can. So the first three things are valued by college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s because of the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ranking system. College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges are big business and they do things for business purposes. Whenever there’s an upward trend in any category that’s ranked that attracts more attention and more attention means more application fees. Have you asked yourself why does a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college have any of these things? Why do they have a football team? Why do they have a basketball team? Why do they have, you know, whatever?
And the reason is because if a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s football team is successful, more students are going to want to attend that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . So, of course, they’re going to try and get the best athletes and uh and win those games. That will make their college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ranking in the football section. It will go up and that will attract more attention. And more attention means more application fees. The bottom line is money.
The next couple things are things that you can really kind of control and these are activities in school and activities outside of school. Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges value the activities that you’re involved with and will give some scholarships for those things. For example, if a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college values marching band, the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college may give a student a scholarship for being involved in marching band in college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
So, be strategic with the things that you do. If you need help choosing activities to make your resume pop, schedule a meeting with us and we’ll be happy to talk about the different clubs and activities and hobbies that you’re involved with. Also, be a leader in one or more of the activities that you do. Leader doesn’t always mean an elected position, president, vice president, treasurer, etc. It could be that you just take charge and offer positive influence.
Leadership also means being responsible. You’re responsible to do certain things. So, if you’re involved in a club and they’re like, “Hey, we need someone to do this.” You can raise your hand. Hey, I volunteer to do that. That is taking charge. and shows initiative and is leadership. Another example is Seattle University.
They will give out a scholarship to a select few who are leaders in volunteer and community service activities.
So we want to look at and ask the question of each college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that we’re going to apply to. What does this college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value and whatever that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college values? Then of course do those things.
How do we find what they value? By looking up their mission statement and then also looking up what types of scholarships they give out. If they give out a leadership scholarship, then you know that they value that. If they don’t give out a community service scholarship, then you know they don’t care about that.
The fifth thing that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s look at in a candidate is your passion or your spike.
So having a single passion about one or two things. You don’t have to be class president to show leadership. Employment or helping out the little kids are two examples of leadership.
I’m going to read an essay and I really like this essay. She got into Syracuse University in New York with this essay and I’m going to read it and then I’m going to talk about the things that are highlighted in this essay and explain why.
So, over the past six years I have been babysitting. I have noticed one major complaint among parents of children I watch. Their car seats are hard to install and use correctly and are a nuisance in their everyday lives with their children. Many of these parents resort to installing and using their car seats improperly because they are complicated. They also do not realize their tremendous importance. This is one major reason that car accidents are the number one killer of children in the United States. I have been researching child passenger safety since middle school when I learned of this frightening statistic. Child passenger safety is my passion. The loss of a child is tragic and something that no family should ever have to experience, especially as a result of something preventable, like injuries from a car accident. In effort to try and turn these numbers around, I plan to become a child passenger safety technician when I turn 18.
I would be trained to install car seats and in turn teach parents to install their specific car seats and use them correctly. However, I would like to take my passion for child passenger safety one step further by becoming an engineer. I hope to one day help advance the field of child passenger safety. In working with the child seat companies, my main goal would be to create an extremely easy to use car seat that is safe, reliable, and hard to misuse. I hope that this could reverse the statistic of car accidents being the number one killer of children in the United States. When I know that I have saved just one child from the death as a result of a car accident, I will feel my goal has been accomplished through public education, improved child passenger safety laws, and improved child seats. I believe a revolution can be made in keeping children safer in the car. I’d be thrilled to play a part in that revolution. Car accidents do not have to be the number one killer of children in America.
So, she first starts off by saying that car accidents are the number one killer of children in America. Then she concludes with that same statement. So she ties those two together. I call them bookends. You have this statement at the at the beginning and then you emphasize that same statement at the end. That’s kind of a book ends with the essay. So here are the things that are highlighted. I have been researching. What this tells the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is that she has the desire to want to learn and college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are a place of learning.
The next statement that’s highlighted, I plan to become a child passenger safety technician when she turns 18. Well, her birthday was in November and she turned 18 in November and went down to the fire department and got car seat installer certified. As soon as she had that certificate, she sent an email to each of the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that she applied to and said, “Hey, I just want to update you and let you know that I am now car seat installer certified.” What that does is several things. First, it continues to demonstrate interest, and demonstrating interest is critical.
Second, it shows the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that she’s being proactive and she’s not going on uh coast mode and dying of senioritis.
And the third thing is that she concludes and says hey I am going to do this and then she proves that she did do it. Okay.
So, and then the last is uh by becoming an engineer. The college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that she was applying to did have engineering programs.
Develop your passion and your spike. So, Lori showed her passion for safety engineering and child uh car seats in her essay and in her high school resume.
So, some ask how do I develop my passion and my spike? And the simple answer is to learn more about it. The more you learn about it, the more you appreciate it. The more you appreciate it, the greater your passion is going to be for that thing, for that subject, whatever it may be.
To develop your passion, it starts with your interests. What are you interested in? when you’re not doing school work, homework, what can I find you doing? What hobbies do you enjoy? What hobbies do you have? What hobbies do you want to start? And what kind of things do you like to
research online and offline? Those might be some things that uh can start with building your passion and building your spike.
So, here’s my story. When I was in college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , several of my friends had motorcycles and I was interested. I picked up a magazine on the topic, read some books. I would have browsed the internet, but that wasn’t available back then, and learned more about it. I learned more about motorcycles
and the first one is uh my first motorcycle and then I eventually got a Honda CBR and that passion continued to develop. The more I learned about it, the more passionate I became. And my passion for motorcycles led me to doing some motorcycle drag racing. And that passion continued to grow.
And that passion grew and my passion, one passion led to another passion. And that that one spike led to another. And my passion for racing led me to build a race car and race. And that’s a picture of me and my team. We took second place at Willow Springs. So, where will your passion take you?
I found this article in Scientific American, and I’ll just kind of read a couple sentences. Finding a passion implies that it already exists, fully formed, and is simply waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, this idea doesn’t square with what science tells us. Instead, passion like interests are developed. They often begin with a spark of curiosity caused by something in one’s environment. And in my case, some friends had some motorcycles.
So they often begin with a spark of curiosity caused by someone or something in one’s environment such as fascinating physics lectures or a moving piece of art or as I said in my case friends who had motorcycles through a process involving repeated
engagement positive experiences and cared knowledge people can come to personally value that content or activity and internalize it in simplified terms. Learn more about it.
Let’s talk a little bit about the what, why, how, when. And you can pick up this book, the official book of electronic etiquette, or you could just pay attention.
When you’re conveying your passion and your spike to college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, you may talk to them on the phone or on email, when you are communicating with a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , imagine that that person you are corresponding with is a stuffy old English professor. Use complete sentences, proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. All those things matter.
These things will have influence on the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college admission and college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college scholarships.
Don’t use abbreviations.
Spell out the whole word. Some people may not understand your abbreviations. So to provide clarity, use complete sentences and spell out the entire word.
When you are communicating with them via email, use a generic, plain,
professional email address. Don’t use a school issued email address.
So when you communicate with a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college with email and please check your email daily, use an email account that you control. A school issued email account may be turned off when you graduate.
creating a simple professional email address and then again check that on a regular basis charter school and then also create a signature file. A signature file is added to the bottom of every email that you send in and that signature file should include the following information. It should include your full name, first and last name. Should include your address, your phone number, and your email address. And you can put in there class of 26 or class of 27 or uh if you’d like to do that, that would be fine, too.
The reason why we are creating a signature file is we want to make their job easier. So, if they need to reach out to you and ask you a question or tell you about an event that’s coming up, hey, we’re going to be at the Scottdale or we’re going to be at the Phoenix College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Fair at downtown of the Civic Plaza. I just want to let you know. And so, they might tell you about different events or different things that are going on. And if they have your full contact information, your phone number and your email, that’ll make it easier for them t o get in touch with you and make their job easier. And if you make their job easier, they’ll be happier. And if they’re happier, that could increase your chances of being ad admitted and increase your chances of scholarships.
Electronic etiquette also includes social platforms. So, keep your social sites clean, clean language, and clean photos. No hate speech. Students have been rejected based on the information that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiters find on social sites. So, keep your keep your social sites clean. So, be intentional about your online presence.
When you are texting someone, include your full name.
Occasionally, I’ll get text messages like this and it’s uh, hey, I’d like to schedule a meeting. And like, oh, I’d love to schedule a meeting with you. Who is this? So when you text someone, include your full name. That will make their job easier for the tech for the person who receives your text. So then so they know who they are corresponding with. Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiters use text as a mean to communicate with potential college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college candidates. Sometimes these recruiters are sending out hundreds of text messages to hundreds of students. When you send a text message with your full name, it makes it easier for the recruiter to do his or her job. And if you make it easy for them, you can increase your chances of admission and scholarships.
Continuing with the what, who, why, and when. Demonstrated interest.
Demonstrated interest is exactly as it sounds. You’re showing the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , hey, I’m interested in your school.
The definition is de demonstrated interest is one indicator used by college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s to determine how interested applicants are in enrolling in their college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Demonstrated interest can be assessed through various contacts with the admissions office, including requesting information, campus tours, and contact with the admissions representatives.
Demonstrating interest is critical regardless of whatever the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college says.
Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges say we don’t care about demonstrated interest. They really do. And the reason why every college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college cares about it is because of the ranking system. And one of the categories that’s ranked is the yield percentage. The yield percentage is the percentage of accepted students who actually enroll in the their yield numbers. It costs the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college money in advertising to entice students and have them ultimately enroll as a student at their college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s want to control their costs by admitting students who are more likely to say yes if the student is admitted. And college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges will do this by tracking which students have demonstrated interest and which ones have demonstrated more interest and which students have not demonstrated interest at all.
So the best college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s for you are the ones that you can give you the educational opportunity and experience you want and schools that you feel are comfortable uh that have a good fit. And one way to determine that is by demonstrating interest, interacting with the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , going to their different events. And as you go to those different events and interact with the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , ask the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college questions, that will help you determine if that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is a good fit for you. And if it is a good fit, keep it on your list. If not, cross off and move on to the next one.
College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s who value demonstrated interest and yield are going to track every student who comes in contact with their institution. Now that you know why these things are important, the next step is to implement a plan.
Get on the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s radar by attending the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. We’ll talk about that more in a little bit. and by filling out the request for information form. Go to the college’s website and in the search bar, type in request information and then fill out that form. This step will get you on the college’s radar and we’ll begin to track you. We want the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s to track you. You’ll get an email that says something like this.
Hey, we saw that you filled out the request for information form and my name’s Steve. I’m your recruiter contact. If you have any questions, reach out to me. Here’s my number. Here’s my email. So, those are instructions that you get in your email. So, do follow those instructions. And when you get that email, you know who your recruiter contact is and now you know who you can cultivate rapport with and develop that relationship.
Here’s an example of a form. Go to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s website. in the search bar, type in request for information. It should bring you to uh something like this. It’ll ask you for your name, your address, your phone number. Sometimes they ask you about what major it is you want to study. Sometimes it asks about what your GPA is or if you or what test scores you might have. Whatever information they’re asking for, you know, provide them with that information. If you don’t have a solid test score yet, uh then don’t report that. And then once you do get your your solid test score, then we’ll report those scores. If you cannot find this form, call the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college on the phone and say, “Hey, I’m interested in getting some information.” And they’ll ask, “What’s your name? What’s your phone number?” And they’ll put you in their database and you’ll start getting you’ll get on their radar and you’ll get flyers and brochures and emails and all that stuff. If you are getting an email from a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and you did not fill out the request for information form, you are on their prospect list.
To get off their prospect list and to get on their hot list, go to the website and fill out the request for information form.
The purpose of the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair is several things. One is to get information about the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and the second is to meet the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative, the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiter or the admission representative. They have different titles, but they’re all the same person. It will be the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative or the admissions rep
or it’ll be the admissions rep and a panel of people that make the decision. Do we admit you and do we give you scholarships? And the human psychology is if they know you and they like you, their probability of admission and scholarships goes up. So seniors, go to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair and let them know that you’ve applied to their college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college or you will apply to their college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college pretty soon. Juniors, go there and develop rapport with the admissions recruiter. Get some information, ask questions. sophomores and freshman and younger, uh, go to the fair and get information and ask questions. Here are the 17 steps on how to make the most of the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. There may be some specific fairs and a internet search can help you find those things. There might be an arts fair, arts college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s fair, a STEM college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, religious college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s fair, or just a general uh fair. And typically in Arizona, there are two fairs, one in the fall, one in the spring. Whether you’re in Arizona or a different state or elsewhere on the planet, a quick internet search will yield those results. type in the name of your city and college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair and attend that whether it be a in-person fair or it be a virtual fair before you go to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair find out where and when and if you live in a different part of country uh do the internet search for that tip number one register for the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair when you register online. The form will ask you some for some personal information such as your name, your address, phone number, and email. It might ask you what high school you’re attending, and what grade you are in high school. And you’ll you’ll fill in all of that data, and you’ll click the submit button, and it will create a barcode.
And then you can print that barcode off, or you can download it to your phone. By having that barcode, you won’t have to fill out dozens of cards as you go from booth to booth talking to different college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representatives. A quick beep and that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college has scanned and captured your information. I’ll send out an email and also in the dialogue box on the YouTube channel there’ll be a link to sign up for the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college grant. I did send out an email with a link to that previously.
I’ll send it out again. Tip number two, before the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, check the roster to see which college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s will be in attendance and which college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s you want to talk to. on my website, there’s a list of the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that will be at the Phoenix College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Fair. Again, just uh a quick internet search, name of the city, college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. Click on that link and there should be a roster list of the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that will be in attendance. Review that list so you can identify schools that you want to learn more about and uh make a priority to visit those college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college booths first. Tip number three, before the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, create a plan. Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fairs will give you a map. Check and see where these college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college booths are located. Then make a beeline to those college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college booths. So the the fall college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair in Phoenix, Arizona is the big fair. There’ll be about 200 or so college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that will be there. And when you go to that fair, there’ll be people out front handing out maps. uh grab one of those maps and bring a pen or a highlighter and then circle which college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s you want to go and talk to and then pick out two or three college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that you’ve never heard of and go talk to them. Who knows it might be a perfect fit. So check out the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that you are interested in first and then as time permits uh go and look at two or three or more college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s again depending on time.
Tip number four have a list of questions. So before the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair be prepared with a list of questions. If you don’t know what questions to ask I have a list of questions. I’ll be happy to uh give you that list. So I’ll send out an email to everyone with several links. One link will be the link to sign up for the Arizona College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Fair. Another link will be a list of questions that you can ask. So, print that out or circle or highlight a few questions that are important to you. Then ask those questions. An important question to ask an out-of-state college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is how accessible is your campus to some form of major transportation, airport, bus, or train station or something like that? Write that question down. How accessible is your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college to some form of major transportation, airport, bus, train, etc. How accessible is your campus to major form of transportation? Because if you’re going out of state, you want to know how easy or difficult it is to get to your campus.
And a fun question that I love to ask is, does your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college have any secret traditions? So, I went to Biola University in Los Angeles and our mascot was the eagle and we had a giant 300 pound cement gold painted egg and it had the Biola logo on it and occasionally that egg would disappear.
Uh, I don’t know how but somehow that egg ended up in our dorm hall. Now that the statute of limitations has lapsed, I can kind of tell that story. So, it’s just fun.
Tip number five is forge your own path. Don’t be afraid to split up from your friends and your parents. In fact, ditch your parents. Parents, it’s okay if you go to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, but don’t be the one that engages with the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative because the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college wants to admit your student and not you.
Tip number six, bring a tote bag or something that you can carry the material that you collect from the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. Some venues only allow clear or see-through bags and uh backpacks. So, check the venue to see what they allow and what they don’t allow. Broachers and similar marketing materials are common at college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fairs. Pick up any and all printed material. Bring a bag that you can carry some stuff. Sometimes a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college will have a bag or something that they’ll they’ll give you to carry all the information that you’re collecting. If they do or they don’t, you know, it’s always better to be prepared.
Tip number seven, dress appropriately. Dress appropriately by dressing up a little bit. You don’t have to wear a suit or a tie or anything like that. I mean, if you want to, that’s fine. but you should dress nice. Um, a polo shirt or or a button-down shirt or something like that. Um, some nice shorts maybe or some nice long pants or a dress or a skirt combination or something like that for the for the girls.
You want to present an image that is professional and well put together. When talking to the representative, also remember to smile and make eye contact.
Convey that you are interested in attending their school. And do not wear a shirt or a hat that has a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college name or college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college logo on it. Wearing a University of Oregon shirt while you are talking to the representative of University of Kansas is not a good idea.
Let’s talk about tips during the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair.
Tip number eight, get there early, right as it opens. So, the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair is going to be from 11:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. And because it’s the big college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, they’re going to bus kids in from Yuma, Flagstaff, and Tucson.
And those students are going to arrive by bus around noon. You want to get there before everything goes completely crazy. And some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s have a just a limited number of hours. You want to get there early enough so that the representative that you meet is fresh and ready to go.
Tip number nine, during the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, introduce yourself and always try to ask the first question, not your parents. Remember, you ditched your parents, right? Say something like, “Hi, my name’s JD Smith. What can you tell me about the biology program at your school?”
And use your full name.
What can you tell me about the chemistry program, the engineering program, the whatever about your school?
Tip number 10, don’t ask the representative to evaluate your chances of admission. Instead, ask, “What are two or three cool things about your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ? What is your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s favorite tradition?” And then review that list of questions that I’m going to send out. A really great question to ask is, “What’s your best scholarship and what do I have to do to earn that?” Tip number 11, stay engaged while you’re interacting with the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representatives. Show that you are interested. There may be a lot of noise and distractions. Remember to smile and look them in the eyes.
Tip number 12, take some notes. These notes will help you remember things.
Plus, you could use these notes to help write your essay later on. Some college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are asking the essay question, why do you want to come to our college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ? And a really boring answer is your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college has a good football team or your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college has a good biology program. They already know that. But a really great individual response that only you can answer and you can ask is I want to go to your college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college because when I met the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiter at the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, he or she said this that intrigued me. I did some more research on your website and I want to be in that type of learning environment. That is a awesome powerful response. And by uh by telling them that you are taking notes well if you are taking notes on your phone, let the person know that you’re taking notes and you’re not just randomly texting someone. By telling them that you’re taking notes on your device, you’re being polite and you’re showing that you are staying engaged with that person. Remember tip 11, stay engaged.
Tip number 13, remember to get the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representatives contact information or their business card. If you have any questions after the fair, you’ll be able to reach back out to them because you have their contact information. Ask the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative for a business card. Don’t just take one off the table. introduce yourself, ask questions, and say, “Hey, do you have a business card?” And they’ll hand it to you. And now you’ve got their contact information with their phone number and their emails.
Tip number 14. After the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, spend some time getting organized. Take a moment to sort through the brochures and business cards with their related notes. You took notes, right? create a folder or something like that that you can keep all this information together.
Tip number 15, after the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, you may have some additional questions or perhaps you visited one college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college booth later on that prompted a question that you should have asked or could have asked the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that you had visited first. Follow up with that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative and ask those additional questions. By following up and asking more questions, you are continuing to demonstrate interest. Demonstrating interest is critical.
Tip number 16.
After the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, follow up with a thank you email. Because you have the representative’s business card and you got their contact information. You can follow up with that thank you. If you really want to stand out, send a thank you. You’re not going to believe this. Less than 1% of students follow up with a thank you. This is one of the most important steps that can make you stand out. And it’s just a simple short little email. Hey, hi Steve. I met you at the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. Thank you so much for talking to me about the biology program.
And then if you have a question, you can uh put your question in there. Sincerely, JD Smith, class of 2027.
Here’s my phone number. Here’s my email.
Tip number 17. After the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, check your email regularly. Preferably, check your email daily. College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s communicate with students via email. Sometimes, college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s email students with important tips or events.
Check your email regularly so you don’t miss those important things.
I had a student who applied to a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . It was a prestigious college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college in Chicago and he got a preliminary acceptance letter in December and that letter said uh you’re admitted and the letter continued and said there are several things that we’re missing. One thing that we’re missing is your final transcript. And that’s going to be true for every college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . We know that when you graduate from high school, you’ll send in your final transcript. And then it said the second thing that we’re missing is recommendation letters.
Well, this student went and talked to his teacher at his high school and asked his teacher, “Hey, can you write me a great recommendation letter?” And the teacher said yes. And then the teacher promptly forgot. And then the student promptly forgot.
Jump forward to March of his senior year. He got a second letter from the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and I’ll paraphrase it. It said, “You missed the deadline. Too bad. So sad you ain’t coming here. We never got a recommendation letter.” Well, I can tell you that this student never checked his email. Please check your email regularly, preferably daily.
So to do a quick recap, whenever you’re communicating with a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative, admission staff, college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college professor, use proper grammar and punctuation. That is important. Before you send in the email, letter or an essay, reread it.
Have a parent or counselor or teacher read it and then correct it. And I always say read it out loud because when you read it out loud, you can hear things that sound funny. Sometimes when you read it in your brain, your brain corrects things. But when you read it out loud, if it sounds funny, then you can look at it again and go, “Oh yeah, this is weird. Let me correct that.” And then always conclude with your full contact information, first and last name, address, phone number, and email. So that it whenever that crores whenever you correspond with a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative, if you conclude with your full contact information, it will be easier for them to get back with you because they have your full contact information and that is on everything that you send them and you will make their job easier.
And when you text someone, um, reply in a complete sentence.
Don’t just reply yes or no or whatever. Um, reply with a complete sentence. Yes, I would love to meet you at Starbucks on Thursday at 400 PM. JD Wyczalek. And then put in your name in there as well.
Imagine how frustrating that could be for a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college representative who’s who’s talked to thousands of students and texted thousands of them. We want to make their job easy.
Send that email, that thank you email. Very few students actually send out that thank you note. It’s that extra personal touch. This can also help you develop rapport with that admissions recruiter.
Thank them for telling you about the weather at that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college or whether or not they have a golden egg that goes missing every once in a while and just thank them for that. So, please remember to send that thank you note. It is super important. When a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiter comes to your high school and it is a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that you are interested in, go and meet that recruiter. Ask that recruiter some questions and then follow up with that thank you email. If you are a freshman or a sophomore in high school and your high school does not allow you to go meet the admissions recruiter, they’re doing you a disservice. Bring in the big guns, mom and dad, and go and meet those recruiters.
Three important questions. What is your best scholarship and what do I need to do to earn that? What kind of student are you looking for? And another great question, I’m interested in your school. What’s my next step? So, when you go to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, ask that question. I’m interested in your school. It sounds awesome. what’s my next step? And they’ll tell you what the next step is.
And of course, do those things follow their lead as directed? You can ask one or all three of those questions.
I saw this article and it was on Newsweek and here’s the title of the article. Ignoring emails from college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s could hurt students chances at being accepted. Admission experts say if a student hasn’t p and this I’m reading a couple sentences from this article. If a student hasn’t paused and clicked on an email that may show lack of demonstrated interest. So they may not take a chance on admitting that student even if they’re a qualified candidate.
So on that note, check your email regularly. Click on the links in the body of the email. There will be instructions in that email and those instructions will be something like, “Hi, my name is Steve. I’m a recruiter contact.” Instruction number one is call me or email me with any questions. Instruction number two might be like and follow us on YouTube or Instagram. If you don’t have an Instagram account, don’t create one. Um, but if you do, uh, follow them. And a third instruction might be, hey, we’re having a Zoom presentation next week. Sign up for that. Do those things. So interact with the email. Click on the links, watch the videos, read the articles. When you click on those links in the email that you get and it opens up the web page, they’ll know that you opened it up because there’s tracking code embedded in that email. and they’ll also know how long you are on the web page. So, if you click on the link and it opens and then you click on the X and you close it, they will know that you’ve been on that uh page for one second.
So, read the information that’s on there, watch the videos or open the page and go in the other in the room, go in the other room, get a glass of water, and then come back. But better yet would be to watch the videos and read the information that’s on there.
Five ways to demonstrate interest. Fill out the requester information form on the college’s website. Click on the hyperlinks that are embedded in the body of the email the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college send you. Go to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. Meet the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college admissions recruiter and follow up with a thank you email. Attend virtual events, Zoom meetings, etc. Those will be emailed to you. Check your email regularly, preferably daily, and physically visit the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . First, do a virtual visit and then go and visit physically visit your top two, maybe your top five college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. So, and when you visit, visit the c the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college when school is in session. So, great time to visit is going to be your fall break or your spring break because your high school fall or spring break typically doesn’t coincide with a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s fall or spring break. And you want to go when school’s in session so you can see the other college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college students that are there and you can ask yourself the question, do I feel comfortable? Do I feel as if I fit in? Do I feel as if I can make friends? If the answer is yes, then keep that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college on your list. If the answer is no, then cross it off of your list. If you feel yes, you do fit, then when you when you do go to that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , because you fit, you’re going to thrive at that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . And because you thrive, you’re going to have better grades at that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Because you have better grades at that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , you’re going to have better rapport with the professors. Because you have better rapport with the professors, those professors might tell you about opportunities So when I was in college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college at Biola University, my favorite professor, Professor Craig, I was in his class and at the end of class, he he pulled me aside and he says, “Hey JD, there’s this internship opportunity that’s coming up and I think you should apply for it and if you do, I’ll write your recommendation letter.”
I applied for it. He wrote my recommendation. I got it. So, those things do happen and that happens with starting with fit and thrive. Here’s a quick little story about Max.
Max did not check his email. He applied to University of Miami and he should have been easily admitted, but he was not. Max called me. He applied to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and then he called me in December and he said I was not admitted to the college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . I was not admitted to University of Miami. I was deferred admission. Deferred means not admitted, not rejected. You’re kind of in limbo state. And what had happened is University of Miami looked at Max and they said, “We like his stats, but we’re not really certain if he’s going to choose to come to our college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college because he didn’t demonstrate interest or did not demonstrate interest enough.
So, please demonstrate interest at every college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that you’re going to apply to.”
What we ended up doing was I ended up creating a 10-week plan and for the next 10 weeks, once a week, Max demonstrated interest at that college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . And they did reverse the decision after about eight weeks. That whole headache could have been eliminated had he demonstrated interest right from the beginning. Please demonstrate interest right from the beginning to every college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that you’re going to apply to. And remember to send that thank you note. So here’s the NACAC National College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Fair and NACAC is the National Association of College each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Admissions Counselors. They host fairs all across the United States. even do it globally. you can check that out. Again, just do an internet search of the name of your town and college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair and tell a friend about a college each school, safety school and fit school, good fit college planning.
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