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[00:00:00] So I think we’ll get started. Welcome everyone. Thanks for joining us this afternoon for this webinar, college Admissions Overview, and my name is Julie Shields. I’m the director of college planning education and training at MEFA. And you probably know this, but this is a MEFA Institute webinar, so just as a reminder for.

All of you school counselors and others who work with students and families, um, you can visit the MEFA Institute often and look at all the different lessons that are there for you. And you can also earn a. Professional development points for, um, for attending. So we are thrilled to have a terrific speaker today.

We have Drew Carter from the College of the Holy Cross, and he’s gonna cover this topic and we want you to ask your [00:01:00] questions, uh, as you go along, but also we’ll leave plenty of time at the end to, um, to make sure we we cover any questions. Questions you have, and let me just talk through a couple of logistics.

So if you have a question, you should use the q and a feature that you’ll see either at the bottom or or the top of your screen. And that way we can, we can just keep track and make sure that we, we answer them. If you would like closed captioning, you can hit the live transcript button and that will allow you to see the, the words that we’re speaking across the screen and.

As an added feature, you can choose what language you’d like to see those words in, so I share that with you as well because that feature exists on our student and family webinars as well. And lastly, if you need to leave, just know that we will be sending a copy of the recording to you tomorrow, as well as a copy of the [00:02:00] slides.

And just a couple of words about MEFA. We have been around for a long time, since 1982, and we’re a state authority here in Massachusetts, although we serve, we serve the whole country and we help families plan, save, and pay for college. And, um, have a lot of, uh, products like the, the savings plans, the you plan and the you fund, and the attainable.

Fund for people with disabilities. We also have low cost loans, and then everything else we do is, uh, provide guidance to colleges, to high school, and to students and families around everything to do with. Planning, saving and paying for college. So with that, I am gonna turn it over to Andrew to talk about, to Drew to talk about the, uh, topics on the webinar today.[00:03:00]

Good friends, um, drew Carter from, uh, holy Cross. Uh, so happy to be with you here today. Really happy to be, um. Today, but most importantly, happy to be working with Julie. Um, and, uh, some of the topics we’ll talk about today, current trends in higher ed admissions, uh, talking about formulating a college list.

Um, certainly the importance and, and tips for campus visits. Um, the application process, um, though. Anytime we use the word process, we are likely to inspire fear in a high school, Euro a high school student. So, um, obviously financial aid umm, will be our resource there. And then many of the food resources that are available for families.

Um, so this is just a bit about, you know, some of the trends we’re seeing right now. Certainly, um, we’re seeing students applying to a greater number of schools. That’s made it harder for colleges and universities to, to get a sense, uh, and to predict student behavior when it comes to [00:04:00] enrollment. So colleges, uh, some colleges, not all, but some colleges are starting to, uh, lean a little bit more heavily on demonstrated interest.

Um, where I’m finding a lot of students right now are very interested in learning about colleges and universities through social media. Um, mostly because they’re trying to go work around our marketing efforts. Of course colleges and universities then are jumping onto social media to try to market at those students.

So it’s a little game of cat and mouse that’s going on. Um, obviously cost is a big factor and, um, the pricing game has become more competitive as schools, uh, sticker price goes up. But as, um, competitive pricing and merit scholarships, uh, has become, uh, more of a competitive advantage in enrollment. Um, certainly the pandemic introduced a lot of ways for.

Students and families to learn about colleges virtually. And most colleges and universities have held onto a lot of those efforts at their virtual recruitment. I think it’s probably the best, [00:05:00] um, the best development to come out of the pandemic, uh, for college admissions. Um, it, you know, gosh, speaking of great developments, test optional, um, has, has really taken over nationwide and I don’t think standardized testing has ever played a smaller role nationwide in college admissions than it has over the last few years.

Uh, which. From my perspective, it’s a really exciting development. Um, but then we’re seeing, you know, applications get flooded to schools that previously students may have thought, um, they didn’t have a chance to get into because they required testing. Now we’re seeing increases numbers of applications to some of those schools, which makes them more selective.

Makes it a little bit harder to predict, um, admissions rates from year to years. So schools are using their wait list a little more actively and building larger wait lists to use the wait list as a, as another method of enrollment. Um, and as a way to sort of fill beds and fill gaps. Um, and more and more colleges are planning to use [00:06:00] their wait list each year rather than using it as a, um, as an emergency contingency.

Um, those days are gone and schools are now using the wait list. Uh.

Okay. Um, this is a great tool that MEFA offers. Um, certainly a way for, um, families to keep track of all of the variety of different ways in which, um, students have to meet deadlines. Uh, it’s funny, I’ve been in a lot of schools over the last three weeks and, you know, talking to a lot of students about, um, the stress they’re feeling when it comes to the college application, um, period of time that they’re in right now.

And one of the big. Stress inducers has been keeping track of all the deadlines. Um, this, the college application manager would be a great tool for families to help them keep track of the deadlines and to stay on task and to make sure that they’re meeting the deadlines, uh, not chasing deadlines. Um, and also, um, I think reduce some of that stress.

And [00:07:00] when we introduce, uh, an easy tool for organization. Whether it’s with college application or your kitchen drawers, we help to reduce stress. And I think this would be certainly a great tool and available on the ME website.

Um, there’s certainly plenty of of resources available online now. For students to research colleges and, and more importantly, there’s a lot of tools that students can use, not just schools websites, but a lot of really effective tools, whether it’s the MEFA Pathway, college Navigator, college scoreboard, big future.

There are so many out there. Um, I think, you know, typically what I advise students is to, to stick with the larger companies. They’re more likely to have more reliable information. There’s a lot of information out there. And only some of it is reliable as even I’ve seen, um, uh, when researching Holy Cross’s presence on the internet.

Uh, but generally speaking, these are great resources and staying towards the bigger companies is more likely to get you, uh, more [00:08:00] reliable information online. And can I ask a question, drew? Sure. Just at this stage, you know, when a student comes to a counselor and says, I’m interested in. Um, you know, how does, how does that look?

Do, would, would the student just go and start using, um, these tools or is there anything else that, uh, that you might recommend? Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a great start. I think one of the, um, when students come forward that with that information, I think that’s a great start. I don’t think we should. I don’t think we should be trying to limit our high school students, particularly junior year or maybe the early part of the timeline.

Even if that’s senior year. I don’t think we should try to, we should be limiting them to certain academic areas if they’re not offering that information first. Um, I think students feel like they have to know what they’re gonna study, um, when they go to college because maybe they’ve heard [00:09:00] their friends say that or because we ask them so often.

What do you wanna study when you go to college? And there is a small number of students who have a very clear idea and that idea is not gonna change, but there’s a larger number and probably a clear majority who have some sort of idea, which may change or have no idea. And very often they’re gonna fill in an answer to that question, what do you want to study if we ask them?

Because they’re gonna feel an expectation to answer that question. Um, if students. Um, don’t have a, a readily available answer if they don’t offer that information up. I think we should be thinking more about, um, helping them discern what kind of person they are and maybe what kind of person they want to be, rather than, you know, narrowing down on a particular field of study that they wanna study or that they think they wanna study when they eventually get to college.

Thank you. I, I think that’s, that’s great advice. Thank you.

So, you know, here’s some few things to start with. Uh, institution size and location. [00:10:00] Again, I’m gonna, um, encourage everyone not to present these as binary options to students. You know, do you wanna go to a big school or a small school? Um, certainly you can only go to one, but some students, in fact, maybe many students would be happy at either a big school or a small school.

Um, and I don’t think we need to present. To present these options to students like you, you would only be happy at one or the other, uh, intended major. Right? And that may not be something specific. It might be more general. Are you more comfortable in the math and sciences, or are you more comfortable in the humanities and writing and reading?

Um, campus culture is something to consider sometimes that is related to size. Um, sometimes it’s related to on-campus residency. Study abroad programs. Certainly study abroad is available at most colleges these days. But if a student really has set in their mind that that’s something they want to pursue, then maybe finding a college where it’s more part of the culture and it’s [00:11:00] more supported, uh, would be a better option for them.

Affordability. Right. And that’s a, a big conversation. Um, and that certainly what we wanna be doing is encouraging our students to see beyond the sticker price. Um, to, to introduce the, the idea that not everyone pays that sticker price at every particular college and affordability might really depend upon the family resources as it relates to financial aid policies and merit scholarship opportunities at each individual college.

It is complicated, but I think it is important to introduce to families that it is more complex than just evaluating the sticker price.

Okay. Uh, I’m, I’m gonna start with informal visits. I’m a big fan of informal visits. I think sometimes we talk about college visits to our high school students in such a way that becomes intimidating. It becomes bigger than it really needs to be. [00:12:00] And, um, we, it has two effects. One. It makes them put off a college visit because they’re sort of intimidated by it, or number two, it makes them nervous when they go for a college visit.

So I’m a big believer in the informal visit. I think sometimes you’re just on the way home from grandma’s house and you’re on 4 95 and you see a sign that says, this college, this exit, and you just get off that exit. You drive slash walk around that college campus for 15 minutes. Um, every one of those exposures is helping to build a vocabulary within that student of things they appreciate, of things they identify of things they don’t want in colleges.

And I think those informal visits are not only, um, are not only good, but I think they’re valuable and sometimes even more valuable than the formal visits. Formal visits are great to learn about admissions [00:13:00] policies and to really hear that sort of the talking points that the school wants to identify. Um, maybe even more so to meeting students, whether it might be a student tour guide, um, or students taking part in an open house program or a panel as a part of an information session.

Um, those are valuable as well. Um, but sometimes that can be the, the.

Second go around to really celebrate the informal visits, um, especially early in the timeline and help students get more comfortable visiting college campuses and spending time on college campuses. Oh, oh, I skipped over. There you go. Okay. There we go. Um, so this is, there’s some tips for college fairs, right?

Um. Certainly making sure the student is registered to attend the college fair. It’s always great to see who’s gonna be there ahead of time. So, um, students aren’t spending their whole time wandering around, maybe circling five to 10 colleges on that [00:14:00] list that they wanna visit. Um, it definitely helps to, for students to have an idea.

Most college fairs are self set up alphabetically, but if it’s a larger fair, like a NIAC or even a nak a fair, it may not be set up alphabetically. So sometimes navigating the rows to find, to find those colleges can be confusing. Just a little shout out to those schools that may not be under H, they might be under C, um, university of, sometimes those schools are under you.

So, um, advising your students just to be wary of where those colleges might be located. Um, and again, making sure to, to look for those events. ’cause it is a great one. Stop shopping where? A student and maybe, uh, parents, guardians or friends can connect with multiple admissions counselors, multiple admissions representatives from a variety of colleges and even some that they’ve never heard of before.

It’s a great opportunity for a wide range of exposure.[00:15:00]

Okay. Um, there’s lots of different approaches to developing. A list, uh, of which, you know, the student may apply to lots of different verbiage. I think it’s fair to just hope and advise our students to have balance on their list. And that balance can be represented in two ways. It can be represented in the way of, um, admissibility, um, a more traditional likely possible and reach.

Um, certainly it can, we can have balance on our list in affordability and can assign those labels. Um, I’ll just, uh, remind everyone, and I always remind students to, to put the, like in likely, um, those schools that are on your list, you have to imagine that you would be happy going to those schools and not just putting schools on your list that you know you can get into, but putting schools on your list, that you have a, that you have a likely chance of being admitted and that you like those schools as well.

And you could [00:16:00] see yourself on those campuses for four years. So putting the like and like is an important step here and having balance with both admissibility and affordability.

Okay. So all the college application types, right? Regular decision, um, is the sort of the standard. Um, usually has a deadline in January or early February with notification, usually early in the spring. Early action. Incredibly popular these days. Deadlines, gosh, in the south as early as October these days, but more commonly November, December, those are non-binding early decision.

Um, most likely November, December. A few southern schools are in October. Those are binding applications. You can only have one active early decision application at a time. Admissions. Those are where, um, that where decisions are offered on a rolling basis. Uh, good to be early in that timeline. And then finally open admission.

Um, those are schools [00:17:00] that, um, may ask for some information from a student, but it is just to process their acceptance and hopefully enrollment. So lots of different college applications out there and sometimes. Where you apply is certainly important, but which application round you’re applying in from the student perspective can be just as important as which schools you’re applying to.

And can I ask you something about that, drew? Can you just talk, say a little bit more about that? About which round and, and why that’s so important for students to think about? Um. Because we, we have seen, particularly since the pandemic, um, a wider range of acceptance rates between rounds within the same school.

Um, there are some schools who, you know, just to give you an example, some schools, maybe one school I know has an, an early acceptance rate in the seventies [00:18:00] or eighties percent, and a regular decision acceptance rate in the single digits. Um, and so you can understand and that the pools are smaller for early and bigger, for regular.

Um, gosh, your chances of getting in are less based on whether you apply to that college or not, but it’s, which round you’re applying in can really sway your chances of getting in. Um, some schools might tie merit scholarships to specific rounds, whether it’s early action only, or early dec or early decision only.

Other schools are gonna, are gonna have no preference for merit scholarships and no rollout, merit scholarships equally in both rounds. But you know, there can be a big gap in admissibility and gosh, even if it’s we’re talking merit scholarships, even in affordability, sometimes families are uncomfortable asking that question.

You know? What’s your policy on financial aid [00:19:00] and merit scholarships between your different rounds? Gosh, I think that’s. It’s a suspicious question, but it’s a really good one. Um, and also in what’s your admissions policies? Like what’s your acceptance rate, how do your standards change, what’s the size of your pool that really can impact, um, a student’s chances, whether they submitted an application within the proper round that suits them best.

Thank you. And we, we have one follow up question on that. Also. When you say the early acceptance rate, does that equal early action? Or early decision? Or, and early decision. Yeah. Yeah. I, I’m, I guess I’d say yes to all of them. Um, right. Some schools may have a big difference between early action and regular.

There’s some schools that only offer early decision, and then there’s that, there’s handful of schools out there that offer both early action and early decision. Um, you know, maybe I’ve read too many listservs and have too many friends, but, you know, in the last few years there have been these stories of.[00:20:00]

Particular schools out there that are admitting such an incredibly small percentage of their regular decision pool. Famously, one in unnamed school in the south admitted fewer than a hundred schools, uh, sorry, fewer than a hundred students in regular decision a few years ago. Um, so if you were in their regular decision pool, you were outta luck that year.

So now that’s an extreme example, but it is used to illustrate the fact that, um. While some schools have similar acceptance rates and a student might have a similar chances of getting in early or regular, that is more uncommon than common these days. Um, it’s more likely that it’s very different and that’s been a, certainly a big change probably the last five years.

Thank you.

Uh, gosh. Here’s some great, uh, places to start researching how to apply. Um, common app is most popular for sure. Um, coalition application. Is well received. Some schools still have their own, uh, [00:21:00] applications, um, and uh, that’s their crazy wacky choice. Um, and uh, it’s, it’s nice that there’s a little bit more competition in this marketplace.

But, um, these are great places to start and every school, certainly as this information available on their website, but it is good students to good for students to keep track of because they can leverage. Are common materials, whether it’s the coalition application or the common application, most, most, um, often they can leverage those common materials to apply to a variety of schools with less effort, um, hopefully than sending an application to every school like, like I did when I was in high school.

So

application requirements certainly can vary and some schools are continue to update this year by year, but certainly. Most commonly an application form transcript, standardized test scores, most commonly to be, uh, optional these days. [00:22:00] Some schools are requiring recommendations, some just from a teacher, some just from a counselor, a school representative.

Some schools are requiring both, um, an activity list, which would most likely be a part of the application, um, uh, especially the common application or the coalition application. Many schools still requiring, uh, an essay. Then of course there’s a variety of, um, optional forms or if you’re applying to some specific academic program, perhaps required, that could be an interview or addition or portfolio.

Depends on, uh, especially at some performing arts schools or some undergraduate programs for larger universities might have more specific requirements. Again, all that information would be available on the school’s website.

You know, some of the things that we think about in the world of college admissions when evaluating a student’s academic readiness is not just, um, the high school they’ve been attending, or high schools that they’ve attended, [00:23:00] the courses they’ve signed up for, and the rigor of those courses as it relates to what, uh, courses and course levels have been available to them at their high school.

Um, and not just. Sort of meeting the minimum requirements, but exceeding those and, and pursuing challenge. Um, you know, in some situations, uh, depending on some academic programs at the college level, they’re gonna look for specific, um, courses to be accomplished at the high school level. And sometimes grades, uh, you know, sort of most famously is engineering programs are gonna look for specific math courses.

And possibly specific science courses on the high school students’ transcript. And certainly the sliding scale at the Massachusetts public Colleges and universities is, uh, public information and the student’s able to get an, you know, an some early information about where they might fit on the sliding scale.

Um, and I think there’s a little bit of science to [00:24:00] this from the admissions side in evaluating academic readiness, but there’s also some art. Um, that’s. Start goes beyond the sliding scale and you know, students are always looking to, to be able to anticipate what the likelihood of being admitted is. And you know, we understand that, um, and sometimes we’re able to give students some information, but certainly not all.

And I think that what that really depends upon is not just the student’s academic readiness, but how they compare against the overall applicant pool and what that means for that college’s admissions policies for each year. And if I can ask you a question here, because we get this question for from high school counselors often or once in a while.

Um, how, how do. Admissions folks, uh, keep up with the details of how, of the, how strong a certain school is. Um, and you know, I [00:25:00] think there’s sometimes worry about, uh, schools that have a lot of AP offerings and fewer AP offerings and changing that structure. So how, how do you keep up with all the high schools in the country around that?

Yeah, it’s funny. It’s. It’s the piece of applying to college that I think is hardest for high school students to understand. They just cannot wrap their brain around the idea that we will know their high school. Um, and I’ve, I’ve answered that question for high school students so many times, and they just, they believe me when I say it, but they just can’t believe that we will know when it, you know, we get our information in a variety of different ways.

The first is the document called the School Profile, which accompanies the transcript. It’s all the information that we would want to know about grading structure courses available, sometimes matriculation profile requirements and you know, AP courses available, how students register for certain courses.

Um, it’s all the [00:26:00] questions we would want answers to. Also though, on the college side, we have our own database of our own information that we’ve accumulated over the years. From past applicants, and every year that goes by, we get more and more information there. Now, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t questions that come up every single year that we don’t understand.

Um, and that’s why it’s imperative upon the admissions reader to follow up, to look online, to find out those answers if they can’t find out, to reach out to the school. And I say to students all the time, like, geez, you think you know, you, you can’t believe that. I would know the difference between the, you know, the courses offered at.

Linfield High School versus Wakefield High School. I say like, I can tell you the difference between the offerings at Beijing, number four and Beijing National Day School. Like we have to understand from every high school around the world. And that’s why this is a 12 month job. And it’s actually one of the best parts, is the variety of [00:27:00] schools we see around the globe and the challenge of learning.

The environment in which that student has been studying over the, their high school experience. Thank you.

Um, uh, some brief information about standardized testing. Um, gosh, we’ve got juniors, uh, getting ready for the PSATs right now. Uh, I’m from Midwest where the a CT is very popular. Um, gosh, everybody. Everybody in the ac, everybody in the Midwest takes the a CT and only some take the SAT. Uh, obviously it’s reversed here in the northeast where pretty much everybody takes the SAT and only some take the a CT.

Um, I think both are are valid exams and I think it’s good for students, uh, if they’re starting when they’re sophomore or junior year to explore both. Maybe take practice tests in both and find out which of the two, um, meets their strengths and their academic abilities Best. And certainly sometimes we will see [00:28:00] AP exam scores.

There’s a strong list out there now of schools that are not requiring standardized testing. Um, I still think it’s good for students to, um, to research the tests and I still even encourage students to take the test, but to do so with much less pressure, um, to put much less pressure on themselves now than students have in the past.

Of the wide ranging test optional schools out there.

Can I, I, can I ask you two questions? Um, sure. Well, one is, is from one of our counselors who said, do you think with many colleges remaining test optional, that colleges will be reporting scores that are higher than in the past, uh, because they’re, you know, attributed only to students who actually send the scores?

Yeah.

We’ve been test optional Holy Cross for about 16 years, and for the first 10 years we [00:29:00] did not really see a change, um, because what we saw was there were still a number of students with really high test scores who chose not to submit their scores. They were choosing not to submit their scores because they were coming from high testing communities.

And even though their testing would be very competitive in our pool, their testing may not have been competitive in their friend group. So they didn’t think their scores were very high. And then still we have students who would submit their scores even though their scores was below our profile. And that may have been because they were unfamiliar with our test optional policies, or because in their friend group or in their community, their scores were pretty competitive even though they were below our profile.

So you would be surprised to see how many scores are out of profile, and if the school is truly test optional. Um, you consider scores when they’re submitted, but they can’t be a huge part of your, of your decision making process. [00:30:00] Now I’m gonna contradict myself and say scores are growing up. Um, the test is keeps getting a little bit easier over time, and, and we’re seeing, especially since the pandemic, a smaller number, smaller percentage of students submitting their scores than ever before.

That stood a school like mine that was test optional pre pandemic. During the pandemic now and post pandemic. So I think we are seeing slightly higher scores, um, because right, it is only the students who are, who are submitting those scores, they’re self-selecting, but there’s still some low scores in there.

Um, it’s not, the scores aren’t as high as you’d think they would be with such a self-selecting population. Thank. And then I don’t know if you wanna mention that the SAT is going to be digital or is any anything that you could share about that or I, and I can say that we actually do have a blog post about that, that people can read as well.

But that’s exactly what I was gonna say, Julie. I was gonna say read me’s blog post. [00:31:00] Great. About the new SAT. Perfect. Alright. I won’t go to the next.

Okay. Activity list. You know, here’s another really misunderstood part of the college application. Um, you know, we really like to see what students have been involved with in their free time. We don’t, in the admissions world, we don’t really like, bring a huge value to that part of the application. We don’t think some activities are better than others.

We don’t think. French Club is better than lacrosse. You know, we don’t think student government is better than a job at CVS. We tend to think something is better than nothing, but the degrees of something are are mostly the same. It does help us just get a picture of who that student is, picture of their interests, and maybe who they might be at the college level.

Um, I think since the pandemic we’ve seen [00:32:00] students with a more liberal reporting of their involvement outside the classroom to include family responsibilities and hobbies, and I think that’s been another great development since the pandemic. Um, it’s really, I think we’re seeing a more complete picture of who these applicants are as people than we ever were before the pandemic.

The essays, gosh, another, um, area for a lot of stress. Um, you know, in the admissions world we’re trying to get a sense of whether students can write and whether they can write about themselves. Um, and I think sometimes students feel like the essay has to be, I dunno. Has to be their moment in the sun where they convince the admissions office that they should be admitted.

And the truth is, that’s not really the point of the essay. The point of the essay is just for students to prove that they can write and that they can write about themselves. [00:33:00] Um, we hope that students will start early. We hope that students will be creative and think about topics that they want to write about, not just topics that they think they should write about.

I know that. Chat, GBT and AI are certainly, uh, perhaps playing a larger role in the creation of these essays. I’ll just say that in the world of admissions, we’ve always, we, we’ve always understood that there are a variety of influences on students’ college essays. Now, it might be chat GBT and ai, but.

Before that it was older brothers and parents and best friends and college consultants. Um, so we’ve always been suspicious and we’ve always, um, looked through these through a, a critical eye and, and used it to sort of triangulate with information we’re gathering from course selection in the humanities and maybe grades in English and recommendations.

Um. From, uh, writing intensive [00:34:00] courses. So, um, it’s certainly not the most important part of the application, but it’s something worth worthy of the student’s attention and it’s worthy, uh, of the student’s effort. Uh, but it’s not worthy of becoming overly stressed about,

here’s the common App essay prompts, uh, for this year. Um, when I talk about the prompts to students, I tell them not to look at them. I tell them to, to spend time brainstorming topics that they want to write about. And if they run into a roadblock, if they run into a writer’s block, if they run into a topic block, then they could possibly use these prompts as a little nudge, as a little shove, as perhaps a little bump in the direction of a topic.

But I think sometimes students see these prompts and they think it’s. This is a test and these are the, the, their possible options. And I don’t like students to get so [00:35:00] wrapped up when we’re reading essays in the, in the, um, college admissions world. We’re not really thinking about what prompt they’re answering.

I see these as more of a tool for the student who’s having trouble coming up with the topic.

Um, there’s a recommendation, right? Um, so certainly students sometimes are, are sending those from teachers, sometimes from a school counselor. It can’t even be sometimes from an employer or, um, you know, a teacher who’s an advisor to a particular club. Sometimes it’s from a coach. Sometimes it’s just from the, um, the neighbor for whom, uh, the student has babysat or done chores.

Um, again, I think it’s just an opportunity for we, in the admissions world to get a more nuanced picture of who the student is. A more, um, high definition picture. More important than who wrote the recommendation really is what the re recommendation is gonna say and how well that person [00:36:00] knows the student.

Always my best advice to the students. Pick people who know you well, not necessarily what their job title or, or role in your life is.

I mean, interviews, um, some schools are offering interviews, uh, some schools are not. Those who are, um, pretty much all of them these days. Either strictly gone virtual or have retained the virtual option for interviews. Um, school I work at, we do in-person interviews, but also virtual interviews as well. Um, it can be confusing for students to know which schools offer interviews and which schools don’t.

It can also be intimidating for students to sign up for an interview, but when an application has an interview, it feels like it’s in three dimensions, um, instead of a flat 2D. Um. I said to a group of students the other day when I was traveling, I said, because I know what I know about college admissions.

When [00:37:00] my kids apply to college, they will absolutely interview at every school they apply to that offers interviews. And that’s not based on who my kids are. That’s based on what I know about college admissions. Um. The advice I give, I would give to my kids is probably pretty good advice to follow when it comes to college admissions, when it comes to fixing cars, don’t listen to me.

Um, but I think students are, are, you know, the two big roadblocks is that they don’t know if it’s really actually gonna play a role. And number two, they’re a little nervous about the idea of it. Number one, it certainly can play a role, especially for the investment of time and effort. It’s certainly worthy.

And then the second is, um, it’s a conversation. It’s not a quiz. It’s not a contest. Students aren’t asked any questions to which they don’t already know the answer, because the questions are about them and not just about them, but the questions are about the [00:38:00] things that students talk about every day.

Their friends and their family, their high school and their hometown, their clubs and their classes, their hopes for college, their dreams for college. And then, you know, at the end there are questions about college. And I think it’s a good opportunity for students to turn the tables and to ask questions of that interviewer so that they can discern whether that college is a good match for them.

Uh, variety of decisions that can be offered. Right? Um, let’s work from the bottom up, uh, wait list. Wait list does not mean that the student may not eventually be admitted. Um, it is a holding pattern, um, and it can be, uh, discouraging to some students and certainly would be to me. I understand that. Um, but for students who’s not too discouraging, then I generally encourage them to keep an open mind about wait list.

The students denied enrolling at that college won’t be an option that year. Deferred means that [00:39:00] school is moving that application from one of their early rounds to a later round, most likely regular decision. And if the student has been admitted, then that’s very exciting for them. And uh, they might be offered a variety of different acceptances, whether it’s to an honors program or whether it’s to a, a different campus or the main campus.

And obviously there’s the financial package that comes along with that, which may include loans, grants, um. Work, study, uh, merit scholarships, a variety of different things that will help that student understand whether or not that college will be the right destination for them.

Oh gosh. Understanding, um. College affordability. Affordability. This sounds like a fun slide, and I feel like Julie would do a better job on this slide than I, I’m happy to jump in. Yeah, so I guess I will just also mention that, um, that if you’re listening and wanna learn a lot more about college affordability and the financial aid [00:40:00] process.

Please know that MEFA has a lot of webinars, a lot of lessons on the different financial aid topics, including completing the fafsa, the CSS profile. Um, so take a look at at some other offerings to get a more in-depth view. But a few things that, that, uh, you can help families think about early on are to get some information, collect some information about the cost of attendance at different.

Colleges, but then more importantly, the net price. So that is, uh, the price that they are going to end up paying. So, and there are ways that, that, uh, PE people can estimate that upfront. There are net price calculators on college websites that allow families to go in, put some information as they will on a financial aid form and get a general.

Estimate of what they might be eligible for, um, in financial aid [00:41:00] at that college, which would give the family a, you know, a little bit of a sense of, okay, this cost of attendance might say $70,000, but when I do this calculator, maybe for us as a family, it will only be $40,000 or something. So, and again, you can’t know for sure.

The only way you know for sure is when, when you have those financial aid offers, but that’s a way that you can help families do a little research ahead of time. And then it’s important to know what financial aid applications are required and when, like Drew talked about the admissions deadlines, um, financial aid deadlines are equally important.

Um, and it’s good to understand if colleges award need-based aid. Merit based aid or both, and need-based aid is based on your. Financial information and merit-based aid can be based on a variety of factors, [00:42:00] uh, such as, um, academics, number one, sports, other, other qualities. But basically if you, uh, fall high in the admissions pool at some institutions, then they have merit-based aid that they, they award.

Um, so I understand that a little bit. Also that you can always encourage your students to be looking outside for private scholarships, maybe through your high schools or their parents’, employers, or, um, with some of those online scholarship searches. Then I mentioned about net price calculators and what those are.

And again, they’re not, uh, the be all, end all. Um, they, they can vary from, from school to school as well, but they do provide a little bit of information. Um, when you’re thinking about creating that balanced list and making sure that you have, um, some colleges on your list that will, that you’re sure will be [00:43:00] affordable.

And then the forms that students will need to use to apply for financial aid are number one, the fafsa. All colleges require that form. And what’s important to know this year is that the FAFSA is having an overhaul. It’s getting an overhaul. And uh, so it’s gonna be a new, and I’m gonna put this in quotes, simplified fafsa, um, or better fafsa.

They’re telling us. So let’s. Let’s hope it, it does, it does look good. I’ve seen some drafts, uh, but all of this transition is causing, uh, a, a timeline change for this year. And so the FAFSA usually available on October 1st, will not be available until December this year. Um, and then many colleges or some a, a good number of colleges also require an additional forum.

Called the CSS profile from the college board. And that is usually colleges that have a lot of their [00:44:00] own institutional money to offer to students. Um, and they feel like they need a little more information than is asked for on the FAFSA to be able to make those determinations about. About awarding that, that money.

So if, if the college requires that form, in addition to the fafsa, students have to do that as well. And sometimes colleges will have their own institutional. Financial aid application. So do look at the financial aid page of the different colleges. Um, this is especially true, we’re finding this current year because of the delay with the fafsa.

There are some colleges who don’t use the CSS profile, but are creating their own institutional applications so that they can, uh, get, uh, estimates of financial aid offers out a little bit earlier. And then a couple of other programs that you can alert your [00:45:00] students to. One is mass transfer. That’s the program here in Massachusetts that allows students to begin at a community college and then transfer to a four year a Massachusetts public college at a very affordable price.

Um, they can really cut costs a lot by choosing a path like that. There are things like guaranteed credit transfer, tuition credits and freezes. So have your family and students check out that website, mass.edu/mass transfer. And another way that some students are able to save, um, on college costs is through the tuition break program, and that’s through the New England Board of Higher Education and that.

Is a program where, uh, new England public institutions outside of Massachusetts, um, will have certain programs available that if a student is interested in those specific programs can [00:46:00] sometimes pay Massachusetts in state tuition, which is a lot less expensive than paying out of state tuition. Um, and attend those out of state colleges.

So that’s another great website for. Your students to look at. And then Drew, I don’t know if you wanna go through the timeline here.

Sure. I mean, I think we’re seeing more and more students start early in their junior year, um, sometimes even sophomore year now. But I think, um, especially during the junior year, it’s good for the student to start to research the varieties of types of colleges and universities to start those introductory conversations, maybe at college fairs.

Their, um, with their school counselor, um, and also maybe some of those informal visits to campuses to start to think about, um, teachers to identify, to ask for recommendations. You know, get that PSAT out of the way, uh, and outta [00:47:00] the way, but, you know, get their best effort towards that PSAT. Um, and then to begin to sort of, at least, at the very least, to marinate on a college essay and maybe topics that they might enjoy writing about all the senior year.

Seeing a lot of students who are doing their last test administration right now, securing those letters of recommendation, attending as many MEFA webinars as possible, um, hearing Julie speak as many times as possible. Um, list, uh, subscribe. Maybe this is, that would be for the students, for the parents to subscribe to the MEFA podcast.

To get updates that way, I would put that back on junior year so that you can start slow dripping information about, uh, searching for colleges, affording college. Um, it’s important senior year also to be thinking about application deadlines, getting the FAFSA in on time, applying, applying for those private scholarships.

And maybe that’s a good, um, project for the fall is to be researching those, um, private [00:48:00] scholarships. And then the spring, the senior year, right, is not only to, to get those offers, but then to think, what do I do with these now and how do I afford college? What do these, um, award letters mean? Sometimes it can be really difficult to understand and using me a’s websites to help understand those award letters so that the student is in position and a position of power to choose their college by the national deposit deadline, which will this year be May 1st, 2024.

Thank you and thank you for plugging the podcast. Yes, we, we do. We have some great guests. And I guess I’ll just mention about MEFA Pathway is also a, a free web portal for students, um, who, you know, are in those early stages maybe and wanting to explore different career paths and then colleges that have programs that lead to those career paths.

Um, it’s, it’s engaging [00:49:00] and, uh, so you know, any students that, um. That might like to try that out. It’s, it’s easy and free to just set up an account and play around in there and, um, find information about themselves and, and, uh, again, colleges and careers. And here are all the ways that you can connect with MEFA on social media.

And in fact, we tell, uh, we tell students that we publish a lot of scholarship information as we learn about a scholarship. We tend to put that out on social media. And you can always connect with Mefa by calling us, by emailing us, and, uh, could be a quick question or, um, or a longer, more in depth question, and we’re happy to to help you with that.

So I’m gonna just see if there are any questions. Um, so actually we have a, uh. [00:50:00] I guess a question about, about MEFA speaking with students. I’m, I’m gonna answer that, I’m gonna answer that, um, privately. Any other questions that anyone would like to, um, ask while we’re closing up here?

Well, drew, thank you so much. It’s always. Just great to hear your expertise and your thoughts about this whole process that you know so well from the college side. So, um, appreciate it and I appreciate the questions from, from all. Um, thanks to you Julie. I will, um, I will mention, um, not as a plug but as a resource a few weeks ago, um, a few friends of of mine and I from other colleges got together and recorded a webinar.

Um, what are colleges looking for in counselor Recommendations? And it was [00:51:00] three of us, three different colleges. We recorded it. It’s, um, posted on the Holy Cross website. Now, if you go to admissions and we have a counselor page, there’s a link right there to the YouTube recording. So you’ll hear from Kate Ton from Dickinson, ed Zeros from UMass Lowell, and Drew Carter from Holy Cross.

Um, brainstorm about what colleges are looking for in school counselor recommendations, and so that’s on YouTube, so I hope you’ll check that out if interested. Um, and it was, uh, great to be a part of another, um, awesome program from Miha. Thank you. I’m, I’m gonna check that out. That’s, that’s terrific.

Thank you. Alright, everyone have a great afternoon.