Patrick O'Connor comes through again by helping students avoid these three frequent college application mistakes. 

My college buddy, Shane, emailed me to recommend
Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art
of Battling Giants, as “a goldmine of material” for my blog.   And loyal reader George forwarded me this podcast featuring Gladwell’s discussion of the book.   At 24:40, Gladwell explains why a student
might be better off choosing “Hartwick over Harvard.”

I’m sure many people will dismiss Gladwell’s argument
that many students are better off attending a college where they are sure to shine (I don’t actually agree with
the point for every student).  But I will
say that I have seen some students who attend prestigious schools have a lot
of difficulties adjusting to the new reality that they’re no longer at the top
of their classes (and may in fact now be near the bottom).

I’d use Gladwell’s research as a reminder that no
college, not even a prestigious one, is perfect.  Many students thrive at the most selective
schools, but those colleges aren't the right fit for everyone.  Find the right school for you and resist the
temptation to make prestige a driving factor of your choice. 

I wish that parents who are agonizing over the college
application process could have sat in row 7 with me on the cross-country flight
I just took.  The woman sitting next
to me was flying out for “Parents Weekend” at her daughter’s college, and this
mom could not have been more excited.

She said that her daughter is flourishing at her new
school.  While shy and introverted in
high school, her daughter has “totally come out of her shell” and has made “so many
great friends already,” all of whom Mom will get to meet this weekend.  Her daughter is enjoying her classes, she’s getting
involved in activities, and she’s regularly calling and texting with glowing reports
about her life in college.

The school? 
University of Puget Sound.

Parents, please remember that whether or not the dream
school says "yes," this is all going to work out eventually.  Good kids who work hard pretty much always
end up someplace where they can be happy. 
And wherever your student goes to college, you’ll get an invite to
Parents Weekend where you can see for yourself just how perfect the fit really
is.

It doesn’t have be a prestigious college.  It just has to be the right one. 

Few writers do satire better than those at The Onion.  And this piece could just as easily be trying
to mimic a clichéd college essay about how participating in one community
service project taught the writer the importance of serving humanity.  Thanks to Rhiannon for sharing it.  

And don't miss their take on “Traveling to a Foreign Country
Broadened My Horizons.”

Nearly all of our counselors who worked as admissions officers have mentioned that they would often read applications or essays in which nothing was capitalized.  Or they’d receive emails from applicants written like text messages—no punctuation, capitalization or even complete sentences.  And some emails were written in ALL CAPS (always a bad idea unless you want the person to feel like you’re shouting at them). 

Yesterday, Shanta’ put this in context for me with this question for students—is that what you’d want up on a screen in front of an admissions committee? 

Now that so many applications are electronic, it’s not uncommon for your application, essay, or even your email message (if it was about something relevant that required admissions discussion) to be projected onto the wall during committee meetings so that everyone can read what’s being discussed.  It’s greener and more efficient than making copies of each item.  And the projection on the wall never boded well for those applicants who wrote applications like text messages, especially on those days when a professor would join the committee. 

Admissions officers aren’t out to get you.  A typo or a misuse of an apostrophe isn’t something that’s going to sink your admissions chances.  And a student who speaks English as a second language may not write as eloquently as others in the pool.  Nobody’s looking to be unfairly critical of those teenage applicants who are trying their best to get it right.   

But when you fundamentally ignore the rules of grammar and punctuation—in a college application—it’s the educational equivalent of committing a flagrant foul in sports.  You knew the rules, you ignored them, and you’re essentially telling the people in charge, “I don’t care.”

Some rules of written communication are changing (texting and emailing just-get-the-point-across messages is a more accepted practice than it used to be).  But the rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation are still the same.  So when you write to someone, consider the audience.  Your counselor, teacher, college admissions officer, letter of rec writer, or boss is a lot more likely to care about the formal rules than your best friend or sibling is.   And when in doubt, go old school and follow the rules.  You’re never going to look bad for writing correctly. 

For many students, applying to college is their first step
into independent adult life.  That’s why
the most successful college applicants drive their own process.  They don’t expect their parents or college
counselor to research colleges, complete applications or otherwise assume
responsibility for the college admissions process for them. 

You don’t have to do this alone.  In fact, you can and should ask for help from
people you trust and who have your best college interest in mind.   But you’re the one who will spend four years
at whatever college you end up attending. 
So don’t let anyone else care about your college future more than you
do.  

Many students (and even more frequently, parents) find fault
with their high school for somehow hurting the student’s chances of getting
into a selective college.  It might be
that the school uses (or does not use) class rank.   Sometimes students believe they would stand
out more if their school were less rigorous. 
Sometimes they claim the counselors don’t do enough, or that too many
kids are applying to the same colleges, or that the lack of a particular AP
class has put them at a disadvantage. 

High schools alone don’t get kids into—or keep them out
of—college.  Like colleges, no high
school is perfect.   The students who are
most successful are those who take advantage of what their schools offer and
find a way to work around everything else. 

Your high school may have faults.  It might even have serious faults.  If that's the case, take it as a challenge and
an opportunity.  Show colleges you’re a
kid who finds a way to learn, contribute and thrive in any environment.  

“Passion” is a word that gets thrown around often during the college admissions process.  So many students and parents have heard that colleges reward passion in applicants that it can begin to sound like a high school kid needs to identify her life’s pursuit if she wants to get into college today.

But colleges understand that what lights up a seventeen-year-old student today may not continue once that student gets to college.   What makes passion appealing for colleges is the fact that it’s the passionate kids who tend to be curious, dedicated and capable of making an impact doing something they care about.  The focus of the passion might change, but the characteristics that drive it tend to stay the same.

So students, find what interests you today.  Commit to it enthusiastically and make the kind of impact that will be noticeable when you move on.  And if that interest is something you genuinely want to continue during college, say so.  But if not, no pressure.  The fact that you found and committed to something you care about is what impresses colleges in the first place.