You should now be officially ahead of the curve because you submitted your applications last week.  Wahoo!  If not, keep working:  you still have time.  My gift to you is that this week's activity doesn't have to be done, in fact can't be done, until Janaury, after the winter break.  So take a load off and just file this away to look at bright and early on January 2.

As you now know, a college application is really an assembly of a lot of parts - some of which you control and some of which you don't. But, even though you don't control a part of the application doesn't mean you aren't responsible for seeing that it gets in and your application is complete.

This week I'm going to a 3-step process for making sure that the parts you don't control actually get in and your application is complete so it can be reviewed and an admission decision made.

Step 1. Doublecheck yourself and make sure that every "go-to" person (see list below) was given your final list of colleges, so that they sent their parts to the right places.

• Testing Services (ACT or ETS or Both): Virtual - Your Online Accounts
• Secondary School Report (SSR) or Its Equivalent: High School Guidance/College Counselor
• Teacher Recommendations: The Teacher
• Peer Recommendations: The Peer

Step 2. Check in with the go-to person for each part and make polite inquiry about when and how that part was delivered to the various colleges on your list.

• If you've discovered you left a college off the list, ask for another copy to be sent to that college.
• If you discover that the part is "still being worked on," encourage the person to get it done by explaining that your application can't be reviewed until this part is received, ask if it can be done within the week, and then follow-up after the week to see if it was done. If someone puts you off after that, then seek someone else to do it.

Step 3. If you haven't received notice that your application is complete by January 15th, contact the college and see what is missing. Repeat above steps until everything is in.

DO NOT hassle the college about what is missing from your application until after January 15th - it takes a few weeks for the mail that has come in around January 1st to be processed. You won't get good information if you call too soon - your recommendation may be in the still-to-be-opened stack of mail - and you'll only take time from the administrative staff that they could devote to processing the mail if they weren't having to answer calls and emails from applicants like you!

That's all you have to do. Not bad huh?  Really, it is no more than a "role swap" -- just imagine you are your parent or counselor and nudge others the way they have been nudging you for the last billion weeks!

Comments or Questions

Got a helpful hint or some information to share with you fellow applicants?  Have a sticky situation and need advice?   Post away!

Alison Cooper Chisolm writes the series 52 Weeks to College. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here.

If you've been rolling along with the 52 week plan, you should be ready to submit your applications this week. Excellent! Take a bow!

If you've let things slide, this is your wake-up call to get your applications done. I know, I know. Finals, holidays, and then a break when you can REALLY concentrate, so what's the big deal if everything isn't done right now?

The big deal is that submitting applications actually TAKES TIME all on its own. So your master plan needs to allow for that. Assume at minimum 30-45 minutes per application since every college has some wrinkle that is unique to it. For most of you, that means you need to set aside a good 5-6 hours for the submission process. And remember, there are tens of thousands of you with the same deadline and same strategy - that is why there is plenty of history of sites crashing and applicants melting down. You can avoid all that if you just submit now. So ramp it up, get it done, stop procrastinating or you (and everyone who has to deal with your New Year's Day meltdown) will be sorry.

A special word of encouragement to those of you who submitted applications for Early Decision and got turned down or deferred. It is disappointing. Allow yourself 24 hours to just wallow in your disappointment, write them a "I reject you too" letter (that you don't mail), or do whatever is your best strategy for processing disappointment. Then table it. You've got to rally so that you DO get into one or more colleges that are on your list. To borrow the familiar metaphor, dust yourself off and get back on that horse. You can do it. If you put together an Early Decision application, you are 75% there. You've got the other 25% in you. I know you do (and besides -- how will you show them that they were completely whacked to deny or defer you unless you get into another school, go on to become world famous, etc. etc.).

Now down to the brass tacks of actually submitting your applications. Here are the top 5 things you have to remember/do.

1. Be methodical: READ and follow the directions.

I suggest a checklist for every school. Make the checklist from the college's instructions and then check everything off as it is completed. In general, you will be required to submit the entire application at once. If you break your work sessions up and complete parts in different sessions, be sure and keep track of what you've finished and what you've got left to do.

Colleges want things done a certain way for a reason. They have to process all those applications that land on their doorstep with a Happy New Year thud. If you don't follow their directions, your application can easily get detoured, lost, or mangled in the system. You don't want to be a problem child. And you especially don't want to be the problem child who throws a big tantrum because you did too submit your application only to discover that the reason it was not received on time was because you failed to read and/or follow step #1 listed on the college's web site in 72 point font.

2. Save, save, save/trash, trash, trash.

Oh woe to the applicant who loses everything in an electronic malfunction. You should save regularly (save, not submit). If you create multiple drafts that are different documents, trash the old versions or use a naming convention that keeps you from accidentally using an old draft.

3. Proofread, proofread, proofread and then preview everything.

• Don't ruin a great essay with typos and grammatical errors.
• Don't make it obvious you used the same "why I want to go to your school" essay for all 15 schools by having it say "I am really impressed by the science department at Northwestern. When I visited Hanover, I went to a chemistry class that was excellent." Duh. Dartmouth is in Hanover; Northwestern isn't. Big fat liar or careless proof reader - neither is the impression you want an admissions officer to have.
• Don't assume what you see on the screen is what you will see when it is printed. Every online submission program has some sort of preview feature because cut and paste can go tragically wrong. Lost words, distorted font, weirdo embedded commands that keep the recipient from opening the document. The only way to ensure that this tragedy does not befall you is to preview everything! Everything. I mean it.

4. Put identifying information on EVERY page of EVERY document, image, CD, etc. that you submit.

Most electronic submissions embed this information in the header or footer and you don't have to worry about it. But many of you will be submitting things that you create and you'll need to add this header or footer yourselves.  Things do get separated in the application review process. Make sure all your materials make their way back to your file and you get credit for what you have submitted by identifying it all. At a minimum, you should have your full name. But a social security number also helps - particularly if you have a common name.

BTW, this is a really good life habit to develop. You should follow this advice for all college papers and job applications.

5. Keep documentation in case of problems.

• Save what you can electronically and keep it stored in multiple locations - not just on your laptop's hard drive. Back up with a zip drive, thumb drive or cloud storage system.
• Print out your application in its entirety or print the screen for online forms. A hard copy is always a failsafe should the cyberworld crash.
• Keep whatever confirmation you get that your application was submitted and/or received. Again keep both electronically and in hard copy.

Now it is time for me to submit this blog post, so that you can submit your applications. Happy day!

Comments or Questions

You really shouldn't have time for them right now. But if you do, I'm here and happy to talk with you, so post away!

Alison Cooper Chisolm writes the series 52 Weeks to College. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here.

I know you are worried about the "bad" stuff on your record. Every applicant is. Of course, "bad" is a relative term. So how worried you should be and what you should do about it depends on what you mean by bad.

Bad Means Imperfect

For most of you, "bad" simply means that your record isn't perfect. If you are in this camp, relax. Perfection is not the standard; maturity and accomplishment are. You can't mature without confronting and overcoming setbacks, failures, embarrassments, and mistakes. All those leave a little "bad" mark on your record, but if you respond maturely, you are the better for them. Likewise, you won't accomplish much unless you reach beyond what you can do perfectly - beginner anything is not pretty and all truly gifted folks have some ugly periods of growth to live down.

Generally, you probably don't need to address any of this kind of bad at all in your application. Your overall record will overcome the little blips. Furthermore, the overanxious applicant who tries to explain/excuse every imperfect aspect does not impress admissions officers. However, there are a couple of exceptions to this general rule. First, if the blip is recent and/or happening as your application is going in - something like a steep falloff in your grades during the spring of junior year - then, you should include a supplemental essay that explains the situation. Note I said explains, not excuses. See more about that below. Second, if the blip on your record is the tip of a notable iceberg in your life from which you learned much and/or were transformed - something like you got chosen for a national competition and bombed, but went back and won two years later - then, you may have the makings of a good personal essay topic.

One cautionary note: you should read on because you need to know what you should avoid doing in college. Often applicants have been protected from doing the really bad stuff during high school because of good parents. But, then you get out on your own and have some freedom. Then, wham -- some really bad things can happen, which then means you have to confront this stuff when you go looking for your first job or try to get into graduate or professional school.

Bad Means Really Bad

For some of you, "bad" means really bad. What are examples of this kind of bad?

• Academic Suspension or Expulsion
• School Disciplinary Action
• Criminal Record

These are things that signal to an admissions officer that you are a high risk admit either because you won't be able to perform academically or because you will injure the learning community in some way. If you are in this camp, you have reason to worry. More importantly, you have reason to take action both in your life and in your application.

First, the life stuff.

Solve the underlying problem. You don't want to peak in high school. Figure out what's wrong and deal with it. Are you struggling academically because you have a substance abuse problem? Get sober. Did you get an in-school suspension because you hit another student? Violence is not acceptable in a learning community. Learn to control your temper. Do you have a criminal record because you shoplifted? You may have thought it was a harmless dare that would make you a part of a more popular crowd, but it is really something that makes you untrustworthy. Establish your independence and self-reliance so you don't succumb to negative peer pressure.

Build an "after" record. Once you have dealt with the underlying problem, you need to build enough of a record that you can persuade others that you had a problem in the past, but it has been addressed and your future will not include that problem. If your bad thing happened within the last six months, you probably will have to adjust your college plans accordingly. You may need to extend high school for a year. You may need to enroll in a community college and then look to transfer. In other words, you need to accumulate some time and a solid record between you and the bad stuff. As a general rule, you need at least a year and some obvious examples of how you have addressed the problem on your record.

Now the application stuff.

Choose something positive about you to make the "center" of your application story. You want to highlight all of your good stuff, so that the bad stuff becomes one aspect of your record, not the whole thing. For example, you should write a personal essay that focuses on how you led the basketball team to its first ever state championship, not on your criminal conviction.

Disclose the bad stuff. Don't look for ways to hide it - it always comes out. A cover-up is its own bad and now you're back to square one. So just disclose it.

Write a supplemental essay to include with all your applications that addresses the bad stuff. The first part of the essay should be a straightforward, forthright presentation of the facts. No excuse making, no "totally unfair" etc. The second part of the essay should be how you have changed your behavior since the bad thing and should describe your commitment to never doing something illegal or wrong again. The third and final part of the essay should be what you have learned from the whole experience.

Fortify your story with how you have changed with other information. For example, you could get a recommendation from the teacher who turned you in for cheating if you subsequently won that teacher's trust and became an exam proctor for him.

Schedule a personal interview with an admissions officer if possible. You should go prepared to tell the officer your story during the interview - basically it should be a oral version of your supplemental essay. A personal encounter can be very persuasive and can go a long way to convincing the admissions officer to take a chance on you.

Final Thoughts

I'll let you in on what I've learned only through life and admissions experience.

You can't escape bad. Everyone I know has "bad" in his/her history. Every friend; every colleague; every applicant. Bad grades, bad relationships, bad deeds.

But, you can overcome bad. Some of the most inspiring applications I have read come from applicants who have done just that. And I admitted those applicants. I've admitted cheaters and felons because they were so much more than that. They were people who exhibited strength and courage and turned their lives around after some really bad stuff. They were worthy.

Be someone like that - someone who overcomes the bad. If you do that, you're in.

Comments or Questions? 

Post your "bad" and get ideas for how to handle it. 

Alison Cooper Chisolm writes the series 52 Weeks to College. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here.

Whew -- I've scheduled this week as a "catch up and breathe" week - for myself and for you. Unless you are a highly productive robot or an insane person, you are behind on something by now. I personally was behind with the blog, so I just published the Week 12 blog - halfway into Week 13. You are most likely behind on the following (in no particular order): sleep, college applications, school work, family or friend time. In other words, life.

So take the break to catch up and breathe. Don't add anything to your list, just work on things already on your list. And stop often to breathe - like every 30 minutes or so. And I mean really breathe - long inhale, long exhale.

One of the things that I hope you learn during the college application process is that we all need to allow for breaks where we catch up and breathe. If you are going to manage the ambitious life you have planned, you simply have to schedule some slack weeks. If you don't, your head will explode off your body. Guaranteed. Or if not that, then you'll blow something big at work or have a huge fight with someone important to you. All equally grim.

Practice this important skill now. Catch up. Breathe.

Comments or Questions? 

Not this week.  You don't have time to post -- you are busy catching up and breathing.  Enjoy.

 

Alison Cooper Chisolm writes the series 52 Weeks to College. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here.

 

We received a question about how the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) converts applicants' undergraduate grades. (I have posted on this topic before, because it's tricky!) The prospective law school applicant wrote:

Is it true that if I re-took some courses while in college to raise my GPA, the original scores will also be factored in for my LSAC GPA when I sign up for the service? For example, if I got an F the first time I took a class and an A the second time I took it, and the first grade (the F) is excluded from my undergrad's GPA calculations, will my LSAC GPA include both grades?

Also, would it be beneficial or recommended to take post-graduate classes in order to raise my GPA, before I apply to law school?

The LSAC will include the grade from the first time you took the class (the "F" in your example) and average that into its GPA calculation, along with the grade from the second time you took the class (the "A" in your example). See page 35, "Failing Grades" and "Repeated Courses" in the Law School Admission Information Book.

Post-graduate classes can help to mitigate a low undergraduate GPA, if you earn significantly higher grades and thereby demonstrate that your study skills/performance have improved markedly since college. Note, however, that grades awarded after your first undergraduate degree was received are NOT included in the LSAC GPA calculation (see page 34 of the Law School Admission Information Book); instead, you must provide a transcript for the post-grad courses, and you can write a short addendum to highlight the improvement in your grades.

Further questions? Post them here!

UPDATE for 2010-11: LSAC has recently changed all its links and no longer links to what used to be the Law School Admission Information Book. You can now find their information about grade conversion here, and information about which transcripts you have to submit here.

Nicole Vikan is a graduate of NYU Law School. She spent her first law school summer at a large law firm, and her second summer in the Homicide Investigation Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. She returned to the District Attorney's Office after graduation and spent five years as a criminal prosecutor, handling cases such as robbery and assault. Nicole then joined Fordham Law School's Career Planning Center, where she advised students seeking employment in the private and public sectors. She is currently a career counselor at Georgetown Law Center's Office of Public Interest and Community Service. As part of the Anna Ivey team, Nicole works with law school applicants and people exploring legal careers.

Interviews are rarely a required component of the college application process. But usually the college offers opportunities for applicants to interview with an admissions officer, an alum or a current student if the applicant requests an interview.

Do you want to request an interview? I say YES! You want to interview. You do. Why? Two reasons. First, you get a second chance to make your case for admitting you - this time through conversation rather than in writing - and two bites at the apple is always better. Second, you can get a lot more information about the college that can help you determine if the college is really a right fit for you and you want to know everything you can about the place that will shape your destiny. So you definitely want to interview.

Now that it is established that you will be requesting and scheduling interviews, I need to give you some advice about what to do before, during and after the interview to make sure that you use the interview to boost your chances of getting accepted and to learn if this college is the right fit for you.

Before the Interview:

1. Generate a list of possible interview questions and prepare your answers. There are lots of places to go to get possible interview questions. Google "college interview questions" and take your pick of lists. You definitely need answers to the following three:
   
   • Why are you interested in [fill in name of college]?
   • What are your academic interests?
   • What are your interests beyond the classroom?
2. Generate a list of questions that you will ask about the college. I encourage you to ask the same questions for each college, so that you have comparative information. These should be questions ABOUT THE COLLEGE, NOT ABOUT THE APPLICATION PROCESS OR FINANCIAL AID. Here are my favorite five questions:
   
   • Why did you choose to attend [name of the college]? (Assuming that you have someone who is an alum - many admissions officers are.)
   • What is the most popular major? Least popular? Why?
   • Can you describe a typical weekday in the life of a student at [name of college]? What about a typical weekend?
   • What is one "can't be missed" tradition, event, opportunity that I should take advantage of while I am a student at [name of college]?
   • I am really interested in [fill in a major, program, activity] at [name of college]. Can you tell me more about it?
3. Practice interviewing with your parents or your college counselor. And I mean a full-fledged practice interview - they should be seated at a table or desk, you should come in, greet them, sit down, they ask you questions, you answer, you ask questions, they answer, they end the interview, you thank them, leave. Then review the interview together.

At/During the Interview

1. Dress for success. You should wear "business" attire. For a young man, that means a collared shirt, belt, nice pants (not jeans) and dress shoes (not sneakers). It is fine to wear a suit and/or a jacket and tie, but generally not necessary. For a young woman, that means a nice pantsuit, a dress with jacket, or a skirt and nice top with dress shoes. Do NOT wear something that is clingy, "date clothes" or otherwise designed to highlight your sex appeal. Don't make me explain any of this advice. You should already know these things. Really.
2. Arrive early and take three deep breaths before you go into the interview. You need to be calm, cool and collected. That's not possible if you are late and/or rush into the interview.
3. Bring a copy of your resume (just your educational history, honors/awards, activities list in resume format), your list of questions, and a pen and notebook for taking notes when the interviewer asks you questions.
4. Shake the interviewer's hand when introducing yourself.
5. When the interviewer begins the interview, offer your resume, saying "I wasn't sure if you would have a copy of this, so I brought an extra."
6. Listen and answer the questions the interviewer asks - do not just give canned answers. This is a conversation, so respond in the moment. Your prepared answers will be incorporated in a spontaneous and authentic way if you just answer the question asked.
7. Ask the questions you have and take notes when the interviewer answers.
8. At the end of the interview, thank the interviewer for his/her time and make sure you have contact information (including the interviewer's full name spelled correctly) for him/her.
9. Shake the interviewer's hand on the way out.

After the Interview

1. Take 10-15 minutes and write down your thoughts about the college based on what you learned in the interview. For example, did you learn something that made this college more attractive to you, less attractive to you? Is there anything you need to investigate further? File this information in the file you keep for that college.
2. Write and send a thank you note to the interviewer. This note may be sent by email IF, and ONLY IF, you send an email that follows all of the conventions of business correspondence. No emoticons, no abbreviations, no sentence fragments. It may also be sent as a handwritten note if your handwriting is legible. Again, follow the conventions of business correspondence. No exclamation points, no slang.
3. Let the college admissions office know that you had your interview if the interview was with an alum or a student. Thank the office for their help in setting up the interview and tell them how much you enjoyed it. (This little bit of follow-through will ensure that the interviewers' evaluation becomes a part of your file.)

At ALL Times

1. Be polite. Rudeness is a huge negative. If you're not sure what polite means, ask your Mom or if she's not a "go to" person on this front, get an etiquette book. I'm not kidding.
2. Be respectful of people's time and effort. Interviews are big investments for everyone involved. Under no circumstances should you fail to keep an interview appointment or fail to respond to an invitation to interview. I know, why am I stating this obvious point? Because tragically, I would say about 10% pull a "no show" or simply fail to respond....and guess what, they don't get in....even with perfect scores. No lie.
3. Be a grown up. This is not the time for your "fun-loving kid" side to assert itself - even with student interviewers, be a grown up. What do I mean? Don't answer a question by telling about the time you got wasted or played a wicked practical joke or ask a question about the "party atmosphere" of the school. Again, you think I make this stuff up? You haven't done hundreds of college interviews then. Maturity counts.

Comments or Questions? 

Try out an answer to an interview question on us or get your question about interviewing answered -- post a comment! We'd love to hear from you!

Alison Cooper Chisolm writes the series 52 Weeks to College. She has worked in admissions at Southern Methodist University, the University of Chicago, and most recently Dartmouth College. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. As part of the Ivey Consulting team, Alison works with college applicants and their families as they navigate the college admissions process. Read more about Alison here.