April 2010

Expert Advice: On the Wisdom and Merits of Exploring "Less Visible" Colleges

by Marty O'Connell
Executive Director, Colleges That Change Lives

“You’re applying WHERE?” Academically talented high school students around the country tell me this is often the reaction they receive when sharing their thoughtfully chosen, but not “highly visible” colleges list with friends and family. We exist in a name-brand obsessed culture which creates stress inducing media headlines every year, in the fall, when high school students are winnowing their prospective applications list and again in May, when they are deciding where to attend. Articles and blogs highlight only the attention grabbing process of a very narrow band of highly visible colleges, and are translated by most students into “I’ll never get in anywhere!”

To counteract the notion that “a college can’t be any good if I’ve never heard of it”--another familiar student opinion -- I challenge students to think about the people in their lives who are happy and successful and find out where, or if, they went to college. Doing this same exercise using “famous” people, they discover that most often the name and visibility of a college choice has much less to do with success in life than do the experience and opportunities students take advantage of during their college years. Employers and graduate schools look for outstanding skills and experience, not college pedigree. In an attempt to flip the application process for students, I pose this question to them: “Would you want college admission deans to ignore your application, and the chance to learn all about your background and talents, only because they have never heard of your high school?”  Looking beyond name recognition when searching for colleges, students leave themselves open to more possibilities for colleges that will be a great fit for them.

If you had to choose a friend, spouse or partner for life, would you use a publication ranking him or her by income, IQ scores, and reputation -- as reported by others who have never met the person? As a culture, we love consulting search engines, consumer guidebooks, and ranking lists for shortcut methods to choosing electronics and cars; the college search requires a more thoughtful, personal and time consuming approach.  The process can’t be reduced to rankings with numerical values when it truly requires starting with who the individual student is and why he or she is going to college – not to mention personal needs, desires, learning styles, and interests. This self inventory is the start for finding colleges that “fit” for an individual, instead of beginning with the assumption that only the “Top Twenty” on the US News & World Report or other rankings lists have any value. These ranking guides sell big, but their purported value in the college search process can certainly be diminished if students, parents and counselors learn to go after fit, rather than name brand.

One of the biggest flaws in starting the college search process by using ranking lists is that the lists tout entering-class statistics, rather than focusing on what happens during the four years those students are enrolled. The late Loren Pope, author of Looking Beyond the Ivy League and Colleges That Change Lives, said that choosing colleges based on the entering statistics of the freshmen class, is like choosing a hospital based on the health of those in the ER — ultimately, it’s the treatment that really matters.  In the case of colleges, what matters is what happens between the first year and graduation, not on the desks of the admission office. Researching colleges based on student outcomes highlights many schools that outperform the Ivies and Name Brands, even if they don’t have the benefit of name recognition. The research from the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium on the Undergraduate Origins of Ph.Ds finds colleges like Beloit, Denison, Earlham, Goucher, Hampshire, Kalamazoo, Lawrence, Marlboro, Reed, St. John’s, Wabash and Wooster listed in the top ten, in various categories, of producers of future Ph.Ds -- often ahead more highly recognized colleges and universities.

Students need to examine their reasons for going before making a list of colleges to apply for admission. Why, really, are you going? What are your abilities and strengths? What are your weaknesses? What do you want out of life, or in life—something tangible or intangible? Are you socially self-sufficient or do you need warm, familial support? What kind of learning community do you want to be part of? And so on. Exploring these questions with family, friends and high school counselors -- the people who best know the student -- can help in choosing colleges that match their learning style and goals. NSSE, The National Survey of Student Engagement, is a wonderful resource for gathering information about college outcomes and provides a list of the right questions to ask during the college search.

The simple truth is that the majority of the colleges and universities in this country admit more students than they deny. The college search process should be an enjoyable and memorable experience, not an exercise to be dreaded! Students willing to investigate beyond the very narrow band of highly visible colleges will find many options that lead to a great fit and a worthwhile college experience -- one that will instill a lifelong passion for learning and prepare students to meet the challenges and changes they will face during their lifetime.

This article originally appeared in the NY Times blog, The Choice, in July of 2009. Summit would like to thank Marty for allowing us the opportunity to reprint the article here, and for speaking at our annual "Lunch and Learn" event earlier this month.

About Marty: Having served in college admissions for twenty-eight years, most recently as vice president for enrollment and dean of admission at McDaniel College (Westminster, Md.), Ms. O’Connell has counseled thousands of students about college choice. Today she devotes herself to the Colleges That Change Lives mission: helping students and families better understand the college admissions process to find the best college fit possible.

Spring Cleaning

With warmer weather comes the centuries old tradition of Spring Cleaning. While this typically refers to the actual cleaning of your home, it can also be applied to your workspace and schedule. After about seven months of school, you’ve probably built up a cluttered work area and schedule. Here are some tips to help sweep out your bad habits and set up the good ones before finals.

• Scrub Your Space

From your desk to your backpack, take some time to purge and cleanse. Throw out any trash that has accumulated and recycle old paper that you no longer need. Dust your desk, and disinfect it if necessary. Throw your empty book-bags in the laundry if they are washable, or just wipe down with a damp rag if not.

• Sort Your Stuff

Now that your desk and bags are freshly cleaned, you can organize what goes in them. Store books, binders, and folders in one easy-to-remember place, and take the time each day to file away old papers for future reference. If your bag has different pockets, assign what should go in them (pens and pencils in one place, personal items in another, notebooks in another).

• Streamline Your Schedule

It’s not just our bags that get cluttered! Today’s students are busier than ever before, and all those activities can pile up. If you’ve got events, meetings, and lessons taking place multiple nights of the week, create a color-coded weekly schedule. It will help you and your family to remember what’s happening each night, and will give you a useful go-to guide if you are considering adding anything new.

• Straighten Out Your Standing

Take some time to review your grades and test scores. If you need improvement in anything, now is the time to take control. Whether you decide to work with a tutor, add more study time, or cutback on an activity, make sure you are doing all you can to end the year with your best grades possible.

• Set Up Your System

To ensure your efforts at Spring Cleaning don’t go to waste, follow up with periodic mini-cleanings. Make sure you don’t get cluttered again by taking a few minutes each week to scrub, sort, streamline, and straighten.

"Lordie be!!! Mary got a composite 30 (up from a 27) on her ACT. Math-26 (up from a 20), Science 25 (up from a 23), English stayed a 32, and Reading a 36 (up from a 34). She is so thrilled, as are we." -Patty G., Summit Parent

Get to Know Summit:
Roy Astley

Every month we shine the spotlight on one of our expert One-on-One, In-Home Tutors or Classroom Program Teachers. This month we spoke with Massachusetts area tutor Roy Astley. Students call Roy "awesome," "very knowledgeable, and devoted."

How long have you been with Summit?

Three years or so -- next year I'll be a full-fledged senior.

What do you do outside of Summit?

As any teen celeb might say, exercise, listen to music, hang with my friends. Actually, I've written a screenplay that I'm fixing up. Also, I like to read and write and spend time with my family. One special pleasure is to re-read novels I first encountered years ago -- I see entirely new things in them now.

Which subjects do you tutor?

I tutor both math and English, each of which I enjoy in different ways. One might predict math to be more tricky-but-trustworthy, and English more emotional, but I'm not certain it's totally true. Probably there are folks who find math more emotional. I think I've met a few.

What kind of tutor are you?

For me, tutoring is very rewarding when it's like a conversation in which people are comparing different points of view.

What was your favorite subject in school?

Even though I wasn't especially good at it at the time, English, because I got absorbed into the fictional adventures and characters.

Where did you go to college?

Harvard, a long time ago. Since they use their alumni as admissions interviewers, I even have a volunteer job now to talk to students who want to go there. Many have better credentials than I did! They're very engaging and strong. Could I still get in today? Well, possibly, maybe. I tell myself it takes all kinds.

What was your major?

Since I was interested in people and learning, I tried several different things I thought might connect the two -- social studies, psychology, history. As presented, they all seemed pretty dull. To my surprise, Biochemistry, with its sharp explanations of, e.g., vision, energy transfer, and nerve toxicity was irresistible, even though it kept some of its mysteries from me. This was in 1963, and DNA had been identified, as I recall, just ten years before, in 1953, and one of its discoverers, Watson, was working in the department, which seemed just excitingly right. 

What do you love most about tutoring for Summit?

I find that if I pay close respectful attention to individual students, they often surprise me with the originality and depth of their personal ideas and observations -- in other words, I get astounded, and I also get to continue learning. It's a very privileged experience.

What is your greatest Summit tutoring success story?

One bright student, a senior at a high-level private school, felt she had been badly misled by algebra teachers and tutors. She and her family told tales of two years of instructional struggle and woe, and, of course, disappointing grades. After listening to her for a while, I was able to make a couple of suggestions that she could use to re-structure her approach to percentage calculations. She used them, they worked, and she apparently derived a lot of confidence from the experience. She evidently took her new insight as a personal jumping off point, and gained understanding in several other areas of math as well, finding insight into stuff we'd never even discussed. When I left, she was leading her class in math and got into her first-choice college, early admission. It seemed such a moving story, especially with its elements, as it were, of evil wizards who cast a spell, an imprisoned, slightly desperate princess, a secret formula, and a happy ending -- a Harry Potter story come to life!

What advice do you have for any families considering tutoring?

I'd checked several other tutoring companies before deciding on Summit. Here I feel I have more opportunity to teach in a manner I feel is appropriate to the individual student, rather than having my actions (and the student's) robotically controlled by a formalized curriculum or set of lesson limits.

What have you learned from your students?

Although you could never prove cause-and-effect, one very pleasant surprise for me has been that, while tutoring in one particular area, students sometimes tend to accelerate in other areas also, completely outside tutoring. One student, for example, began a scoring streak in soccer, often shooting left-footed which he'd never done before, to his coach's astonishment! Another took a series of prize-winning photographs. Another decided to run for President of his fraternity, and won. So I've learned that individual students really know how to create and use their own personal knowledge in specific ways that are inconceivable to others. This realization affirms my general approach of trusting that students know a great deal, and can generate their own original ways to use what's offered. I look forward to more pleasant surprises.

Roy has helped countless students maximize their scoring potential, but he is only one of our expert tutors. Call us today at 1-800-MYTUTOR (800-698-8867) to speak with a Program Director to learn more about our One-on-One, In-Home Tutoring in your area.

FREE Practice Tests

Summit Practice Tests offer students a great opportunity to take a standardized test under simulated proctored and timed conditions. These practice tests are a free service we offer as part of Summit's commitment to helping students maximize their test preparation. Students will receive a diagnostic analysis of their results in the mail.

New England Region

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tests Offered: SAT, ACT, or SAT Extended Time
Time: 9am-1pm (SAT and ACT), 9am-3pm (SAT Extended Time)
Locations: Brandeis University

Mid-Atlantic Region

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tests Offered: SAT or ACT
Time: 9am-1pm
Locations: George Mason University

Test Offered: SAT Extended Time*
Time: 9am-3pm
Location: Summit Office: Bethesda
*Online registration is not available for this test. Please call 1-800MYTUTOR (800-698-8867) to register.

Space is limited, so make sure to register soon!

Call 1-800-MYTUTOR (800-698-8867) or click here to register.

SAT Word of the Month

debase: (v) to put down, lower in value---Related Words: desecrate, taint, blaspheme

April 2010, VOL. 8, ED. 4
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